Theology Thursday: Christmas Discussion

Bob: The Christmas holiday is slowly creeping into my soul, but there is one nagging question that I have dismissed as unimportant, but I would still feel good to have an answer. December 25...It is officially Christmas Day, but I'm not sure how to take this day. Is it an actual date or an observed date? It would be great to believe that it is an actual day, but calendars throughout time have changed, and lunar cycles change, so I'm left with a sense that the day doesn't matter as much as the season and the events that are celebrated. I feel like I need more information about this question, so I can put it to bed forever.

Short Video of the History of Christmas

Matt: I think what we run into with Christmas (and many other dates/holidays) are a combination of celebrations - syncretism religiously, genius-marketing culturally. It seems to me that Christian holidays arouse a lot of ire (of course, as a pastor I MIGHT be more sensitive), and I think it is because we forget to highlight the focus. Very few people/scholars will dispute that Jesus of Nazareth existed, but an equal few actually live their lives feeling the weight of his (supposed) resurrection. Meaning: the Bible doesn't really get into Christmas the way we do, but if we are confident of the resurrection (and then, the atonement and so forth) then we celebrate the fact that God got personally involved. Then we are left - as individuals, families, churches - to choose what we celebrate and how; the focus being that God chose to get involved (Ryan A. quote), and then the rest being fun, old traditions.

A Decade of music - Retrospective

As this is kind of, but not technically, the end of the decade I find myself confronted with all kinds of lists. There is no such thing as a perfect list, they are all terribly subjective, and I try to avoid strong opinions of subjective material in these parts. Not today. The following list is the albums from each year of the 00’s that represents that year in music to me the most. I am not pretending to post the best album; I am focusing more on their staying power with me and their effects on me and other culture. The basic test is what is the number 1 record I think of when I think of that year. Since I know next to nothing about mainstream pop this list is almost completely devoid of it. My hope in this is to either peak your interest in something you missed last decade, or remind you of something that you will want to listen to again. Here goes nothing…

2000: Radiohead, Kid A
This is an album of desolation, mourning and, in my opinion, it expanded the boundaries of what pop music can be. This is a concept album, it isn’t for the faint of heart, it is difficult, but it is as close to perfect as recorded music can be. It is my record of the decade.
Honorable mention: Modest Mouse, The Moon and Antarctica.

2001: The Strokes, Is This It
I really wanted to dislike this album. I tried hard to but it is infectious, especially as I am farther removed from the hype. It is tight, lean, and a great pop record.
Honorable mention: Oh Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack

2002: Coldplay, A Rush of Blood to the Head
I personally consider this the last good Coldplay album. I know that will bother some of the readers so I won’t go further into that. All I need to say about this record is that it was featured prominently in my wedding. Songs like Clocks and The Scientist were instant classics. When I think of this record I think of my wife – I think sappy thoughts, Coldplay is a sappy band, 2002 was a sappy year for me.
Honorable mention: There is a lot to choose from here, in the interest of mass appeal I choose Wilco: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

2003: The Shins, Chutes Too Narrow
One indie-pop gem after another. The only negative is that it lasts less that thirty minutes. This album is irresistible, the lyrics are great and the guitar lines are better.
Honorable mention: The Postal Service, Give Up

2004: The Arcade Fire, Funeral
If not for my irrational Radiohead fandom this would be my record of the decade. Alas, it must take a photo-finish second place in my book. The theme seems to begin with escapism, the desire to flee our Neighborhood in our youth and then the desire to return to it, and its security, when we reach adulthood. This album combines grief, pain, and failure with hope and love. In other words, it is a picture of the Gospel. If you haven’t listened to this yet, and you care about music, do it now.
Honorable mention: TV on the Radio, Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes

2005: Sufjan Stevens, Illinois
This album features glorious melodies and countermelodies grounded in actual locations and true stories. Stevens writes about people in incredibly insightful ways. Who else could make the mind of a serial killer seem relatable?
Honorable mention: Wolf Parade, Apologies to the Queen Mary.

2006: Band of Horses, Everything All the Time
2006 was the most difficult year for me on this list. Unless I am missing something, which is highly likely, not much came out this year that has really stuck. It could be that I started law school this year and thus hardly listened to any music. Anyway, this record is a compilation of a bunch of lonely rock songs. It is good, but forgettable – like all of 2006 for me.
Honorable mention: Phoenix, It’s Never Been Like That

2007: Feist, The Reminder
The Reminder is my daughter’s favorite album to dance to. Though it was almost ruined by Ipod commercials, 1-2-3-4 is still great. Beyond that, it is an incredibly deep album. It is a very complicated record anchored by Leslie Feist’s brilliant vocals. In stark contrast to the previous year, this was a great year for music. This one edged out the rest for me due to its family friendliness, but just barely.
Honorable mentions (multiple just for this year): The National, Boxer; Radiohead, In Rainbows; M.I.A., Kala; Spoon, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga; Arcade Fire, Neon Bible

2008: Fleet Foxes, Fleet Foxes
It took me a long time to get this one. It is the perfect music to make pancakes to on Saturday morning. It feels right. The harmonies are great, and the influences come from all over the place; Folk, indie rock, jam bands, the beach boys…you name it.
Honorable Mention: Frightened Rabbit, Midnight Organ Fight

2009: Grizzly Bear, Veckatimest
This is one meticulous record. Grizzly Bear is a band devoted to the craft and it shows here in a huge way. It isn’t for everyone, it is labor intensive for the listener, however a little work and patience pays off. This is the number three record of the decade in my opinion. This is a must listen for anyone that takes music seriously. If you don’t, stay away.
Honorable mention: Phoenix, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

I hope this list helps you find, or rediscover something. I would love to read your favorites of the decade in the comments or by e-mail.

- jason

Being Without Tools

The Google Reader can be a fantastic tool aggregating information that you would normally have no time to get around to reading, but it can also bring to the surface some odd information that you wish that you wouldn't have been subjected to. This has happened before, but the latest piece of information was called, "why do you believe in God?" It is a pamphlet created in 2005 by someone named Jason Curry that is associated with the humanist society in New Zealand. See what I mean about the Google reader phenomenon about never looking for things, but always finding them. There is no way that I go looking for this document, but now I have to mentally do something with it. This pamphlet is a slick piece of orgranization and layout, and it walks through a number of "issues" with Christian beliefs. I read through some of it, and I realized that I had no answers to any of these things. It made me want to be a Christian scholar or more grounded in my faith. It scared me to have no answers to these questions. After shifting from a very passive religious upbringing to a more active Christian, it has become clear that I have a lot of work to do, and I have hoping that in this season of giving that I can share my gifts with many of you as you share some of your answers with me.

-Bob Dillon

Don't ignore the ordinary: A poem

Our Work

The place He gives us to inhabit.

The few things He gives us to do in that place.

The persons He invites us to know there.

These our days

until He returns.

It is enough then,

this old work of hands

His and ours

to love here

to learn our song,

like crickets that scratch

and croon,

from nooks unseen,

carrying on with

what they were made for,

the night songs of

unnoticed faces,

with our wings unobserved,

until He walks again

in the cool of the day,

to call our names once more.

And we then,

with our stitched white flags,

will with haste from behind His evergreens

finally unhide ourselves.

Unblushed and eager to walk leisurely on.

(Zack Eswine, 2009)

Living without identity

Two incidents recently have reminded me that though I'm in a huge pool of white, male Christians, there is a lack of identity that goes with these parts of who I am. I often represent as friend, father, husband, and principal long before I think about my whiteness or my Christian identity. There is a sense that our culture in many ways supports these other identities, and only through personal efforts are the others a true part of my identity.

How did I get to this point?

I was watching the movie Taking Chance. It is a great movie, and there is a scene in the movie where Kevin Bacon is looking at a set of dogtags from a fallen soldier, and the dogtags have the name, rank, serial number, and claimed religion of the soldier. This took me by surprise. I didn't realize that our soldiers wore their religious identity around their necks. As I thought about this, I concluded that this information was listed mostly to provide Jewish and Muslim soldiers with their specific religious needs if killed, captured or incapacitated. I was wondering if the term Christian was on the dogtags for any reason. Did it mean anything to the Army that they had a Christian identity?

The second part of this comes of the data that I examine daily in my role as a middle school principal. We spent a lot of time looking at important acheivement data, and we spent a huge amount of this time looking at subgroup and minority achievement. I can say with certainty that in the ten years that I have served as assistant principal, there has maybe been 5 times that we have ever talked about white achievement scores. There is a saying in business and education that if you don't measure it, it doesn't matter. I don't know if I believe this phrase, but it does limit our ability to think about whiteness and what having identifying as white means.

We should all have pride in who we are, not in an arrogant limiting way, but in a way that allows us to be strengthened by our identity. I struggle at times to have pride in being a white, Christian male. I wonder if I am alone in this....

-Dr. Robert Dillon

Waiting and Comfort

Okay, so I'm a bit late on this post (Bum finger. See below); many apologies. "Late's better than never, right?" Alas, you'll be the judge of that...

This past Sunday began the season known as Advent, or more commonly called Christmas time, or in the retail world: "The month that will make-or-break us this year." Advent simply means "a coming to," and Christians ponder and celebrate God's "coming to us" during this time of year. As I wondered about preparing my heart for this season, I've been reflecting on a few things.

1. The above Rembrandt painting has been very helpful. Here, Simeon (of whom we spoke on Sunday), stands in awe as he cradles the Lord's Christ. Simeon had been promised that he would not see death until he gazed at The One Through Whom God Would Make Everything Right. What would all the days have been like up until that day of release at the Temple? Rembrandt captured the old man's face and hands perfectly. Awe and wonder in the eyes and mouth, and feeble hands that would not dare drop this Little One. To know of Simeon means to know of his waiting and the vindicating comfort he found as the Baby wiggled in his now-strained arms. Christmas is for those who have (and still are) waited on the kind guarantees of God. The expectant know it best.

2. I broke my finger on Thanksgiving. And there is nothing I can do about it except wait. I can't make the osteoblasts work faster as they repair what is fractured. I don't like this posture of waiting. It reminds me that I loathe my limits and the "draught of Control" goes down nicely. "Simeon, you trouble me."

3. Lastly, I don't want to be 'that guy' that takes to task the current, cultural 'air' (both secular and ecclesial) surrounding Christmas. But, I do (kindly, humbly, and genuinely) ask, "What makes Christmas so joyful in the first place?" More stuff(ing)? The Arrival of a fire insurance policy? Don't get me wrong: Gifts are good and Jesus saving you from your sins is both necessary and true. But Simeon was waiting for something much bigger: the World, at last, being put to rights (you can listen to the sermon for more). God, finally, rent time and space like wet toilet paper to rescue a Pining Bride and mend what faded in the Garden.

Watts' Joy to the World only 'sings' when Brooks' "hopes and fears of all the years" are known deep down. I'm seeking to know this and look forward to the Second Christmas. If you're waiting like this, you've got something to teach me.

Pop Poetry - Pink

It seems to me that Pink has always made it a point to be honest with her lyrics, and I appreciate that - especially in the world of pop music. In her latest album, Funhouse, Pink deals with many demons and processes emotions from her divorce. The reason I'm featuring two of her songs today is that I think there is something important for us to hear in her lyrics.

In Please Don't Leave Me I hear the fear and vulnerability that comes with my human attempt at unconditional love. I can't understand why the people that I love the most are usually the people that I can be the harshest with. It's scary. It's scary to see the darkest parts of my heart exposed when I let my anger get the best of me. It's scary to think that when the people I love see that darkness, they might want to leave.

God tells me, "I will never leave you or forsake you" (Josh 1:5) It is only when I am walking in the truth of God's unfailing and unchanging love that I can love others well and accept His grace and healing for the darkest places in my heart.

Pink – Please Don’t Leave Me

I don't know if I can yell any louder
How many time I've kicked you outta here?
Or said something insulting?

I can be so mean when I wanna be
I am capable of really anything
I can cut you into pieces
But my heart is broken

Please don't leave me
Please don't leave me
I always say how I don't need you
But it's always gonna come right back to this
Please, don't leave me

How did I become so obnoxious?
What is it with you that makes me act like this?
I've never been this nasty

Can't you tell that this is all just a contest?
The one that wins will be the one that hits the hardest
But baby I don't mean it
I mean it, I promise

Please don't leave me
Oh please don't leave me
I always say how I don't need you
But it's always gonna come right back to this
Please, don't leave me

I forgot to say out loud how beautiful you really are to me
I cannot be without, you're my perfect little punching bag
And I need you, I'm sorry

Please, please don't leave me
Baby please don't leave me
No, don't leave me
Please don't leave me no no no

I always say that I don't need you
But it's always gonna come right back
Please, don't leave me

Baby, please, please don't leave me

Sober brings me face to face with the vices in my life; the things that I run to for comfort, for distraction, for temporary peace. Pink sings about being the girl she doesn't want to be, and trying to figure out how the better side can win. It reminds me of when Paul said, "For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. (Romans 7:15-20)

Pink - Sober

I don't wanna be the girl who laughs the loudest
Or the girl who never wants to be alone
I don't wanna be that call at 4 o'clock in the morning
'Cuz I'm the only one you know in the world that won't be home

The sun is blinding
I stayed up again
I am finding
That's not the way I want my story to end

I'm safe Up high
Nothing can touch me
But why do I feel this party's over?
No pain Inside
You're my protection
But how do I feel this good sober?

I don't wanna be the girl who has to fill the silence
To cry it scares me cause it screams the truth
Please don't tell me that we had that conversation
I won't remember, save your breath, 'cuz what's the use?

The night is calling
And it whispers to me softly come and play
I am falling
And If I let myself go I'm the only one to blame

I'm safe Up high
Nothing can touch me
But why do I feel this party's over?
No pain Inside
You're like perfection
But how do I feel this good sober?

Coming down, coming down, coming down
Spinning 'round, spinning 'round, spinning 'round
Looking for myself
Sober

When it's good, then it's good, it's so good till it goes bad
Till you're trying to find the you that you once had
I have heard myself cry, never again
Broken down in agony just trying to find a friend

I'm safe Up high
Nothing can touch me
But why do I feel this party's over?
No pain Inside
You're like perfection
How do I feel this good sober

So, Pink as poetry. Think it's a stretch?
-Natalie