Video: Handlebars by Flobots

 Check out this music video. It’s a song called “Handlebars” by the band Flobots. Look for the symbolism throughout the video. Once you see it, it’s pretty obvious, but I missed it the first time I watched it. Be warned, the video is pretty intense, especially at the end.

So what do you think?

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My Baccalaureate Speech

I recently had the great honor of speaking at my University’s Baccalaureate ceremony, here is what I said:

My last quarter here I have had the privilege of being an academic mentor for a Christian Formation class taught by Dr Nienhuis. Part of my role was attending most of the class sessions, which, trust me, was a very good thing. Experiencing the class for a second time, I realized that it has been a kind of “capstone” for much of what I have learned about my faith while at SPU. One of the main goals of the class is to emphasize the unity that exists within all the faith traditions of Christianity. I have become increasingly passionate about this issue, especially as I observe so much division within the Body of Christ.

I think it is a part of our fallen nature to divide into groups. We see it in the world everywhere. We divide based on economics, race, education, ethnicity, religion, sexuality, gender, culture and language, just to name a few.

In Christianity it is all of these issues and more. We add in interpretation of scripture, worship style, leadership structure, baptismal practices, doctrinal statements… the list goes on.

I’ve become more and more convinced that if we want to have any voice of witness in the world, we desperately need to seek to heal these divisions. And we can. But not by our own power. Sadly, when we try and do things by our own power, we often fall short, even when our intentions are good. I’ll give you an example.

A student places a sign up that reflects an opinion. Many feel that the opinion encourages exclusion. Some are very concerned about including others, of promoting unity. So how do we react? We insult this person. We yell things at them through the window. We send hate-filled emails. We do everything in our power to make this person feel… excluded.

Ironic? Sad? Discouraging?

“Have I not commanded you?

Be strong and courageous.

Do not be afraid;

do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”

Sometimes being courageous is speaking out clearly, speaking with conviction and compassion for those who have no voice, even when fear is choking your own.

Sometimes it takes strength to be silent in the heat of the moment when every human emotion, every natural desire is to cry out, to insult and demean.

Fellow graduates, I pray that we will look to God for the wisdom to discern when to speak and when to be silent. I want to thank the friends, professors and mentors who have given me tastes of this wisdom, and have taught me how to find it for myself.

So, can we heal these often overwhelming divisions?

I have faith, I believe we can. I am not afraid. I am not discouraged. Because I know that wherever we go in this world, the Lord our God will be with us.

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Does Marriage Complete You?

I attended a wedding last weekend, so naturally my mind contemplated the issue of marriage. I’m 22, graduating from a Christian college, and single, so yeah, it has been on my mind a little anyway. The wedding was enjoyable, but a couple of things the pastor said during the ceremony made me uncomfortable. He focused on the Genesis story, and how God saw that it was “not good” for Adam to be alone. I can’t remember if he said it outright, but the overall impression I was getting was that humans are incomplete without a spouse. I know he was trying to express how special and important marriage is, so it’s probably more of an issue with my interpretation of his words. Either way, it unsettled me a bit.

My independent spirit fought against this idea of being incomplete without a wife. Part of it is my own arrogance which makes me think that I don’t “need” anyone. Another side of me (probably the better side) was uncomfortable because I know that I can only find completeness in Christ. I think that is a dangerous slope that could lead someone towards viewing their significant other as their savior, the person who makes them whole.

I put this question of completeness to a mentor of mine, who is married. He used both/and language to describe his thoughts. He said, yes he feels like he is a “better” person because of his wife. Yet he was also uncomfortable with the idea that marriage completes someone, especially with many Christians who emphasize marriage so much. It kills him that in many churches, single parents and single people can feel left out because they are not married.

I will probably be married someday. But right now, I feel complete. Maybe the language of completeness comes from the idea that when two complete people come together they become one fully complete whole. So it’s not that marriage is what “completes” someone, but rather what allows two complete people to be completely “one”.

What are your thoughts?

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It’s nice to be appreciated

I work at the library at my school. It’s an easy job, a lot of times I can get some homework done during the time I work. It’s great.

Well, we just had a little appreciation party for those that are graduating and will be leaving the library. Everyone received an award. Mine was “Most Likely to Help Your Grandma Across the Street.” They said some nice things about everyone. It was unexpected, but was actually really cool just to have a little encouragement.

All that to say- why not encourage someone today? It never hurts to tell someone how much you appreciate them.

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To be young, to serve truth…

Reading a novel is one of my favorite things to do, and I’ve been able to enjoy some reading during my Spring Break. I’ve been reading The Brothers Karamazov for a few months (actually since the summer, but who’s counting?). I finally finished it. What a great book! There are some passages in that book that really moved me. It took a long time to read, but it was definitely worth it. Check it out from your local library if you want a good read.
I read this passage back in the summer, and it has stuck with me. Take a second to read it carefully, then I’ll explain why I find it significant.

…he was to a certain extent a young man of our own times, that is, honest by nature, demanding truth, seeking it, believing in it, demanding to serve it with all the strength of his soul, yearning for an immediate act of heroism and wishing to sacrifice everything, even life itself, for that act of heroism. Though, unhappily, these youths do not understand that the sacrifice of one’s life is in most cases perhaps the easiest of all sacrifices, and that to sacrifice, for instance, five or six years of their life, full of youthful fervor, to hard and difficult study, if only to increase tenfold their powers of serving truth so as to be able to carry out the great work they have set their hearts on carrying out - that such a sacrifice is very often almost beyond the strength of many of them.

The passage is the narrator describing a character named Alyosha, the hero of the story. Immediately when I read the passage I thought to myself, “That’s me! Or at least I want it to be.” I desperately wish to serve truth “with all the strength” of my soul. Sometimes when you’re memorizing the functions of Micro-tubules, or the structures of the 20 amino acids, it is difficult to feel like you are serving truth. In fact, at many times it feels pointless. I take comfort in this passage. Perhaps it is naive, but I truly believe I am sacrificing a few years of my life “to hard and difficult study” in order to better serve God later.

This is not to say that I cannot serve him now. This is not to say that I cannot serve truth now. But I need to recognize that God may be using this time in my life to prepare me for more difficult service at a later time.

Maybe God has you in a difficult place right now. Maybe you are frustrated with what you are doing. Maybe it seems pointless. Maybe you’re right. Or maybe, God has some big plans for you. Think about it.

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New look

I’m trying out some new looks for the blog- let me know what you think.

I’m on Spring Break! This means I can actually write a bit.

Look forward to more posts.

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What Kanye teaches us about culture and values

One thing that many people don’t know about me is that I enjoy a good rap song now and then. There’s really only a few that I like and I can’t exactly pin down what it is that makes me like them.

So I listened to a Kanye West song today called “Diamonds from Sierra Leone”. As I listened to it, I realized Kanye had some very deep insights concerning the values that culture stamps onto our lives. I have a professor that tells a story about culture in nearly every one of her classes. I’ve had her a few times, so I know the story well. The basic message is that one’s culture cuts deep. The culture that you grow up in forcefully instills values and shapes character in a way that is often impossible to change. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but problems occur when our culture instills values in us that we eventually want to change. Kanye recognizes this tension in the song.

He starts out describing his new found knowledge of “conflict” or “blood diamonds”. He talks about how he owns some diamonds, and is afraid that they may be conflict diamonds. He goes on to say this:

Though it’s thousands of miles away
Sierra Leone connected to what we go through today
Over here, its a drug trade, we die from drugs
Over there, they die from what we buy from drugs
The diamonds, the chains, the bracelets, the charmses
I thought my Jesus Piece was so harmless
’til I seen a picture of a shorty armless
And here’s the conflict
It’s in a black person’s soul to rock that gold
Spend ya whole life try-na get that ice
On a polo rugby it look so nice
How could somethin’ so wrong make me feel so right, right?

The line that strikes me the most is “It’s in a black person’s soul to rock that gold”. While that proclamation may be debatable, Kanye clearly believes this. In his culture, it has been instilled upon him to value diamonds and jewelry, and the status that those items bring. But he can’t shake the knowledge that his jewelry may have funded war in Sierra Leone. “How could somethin’ so wrong make me feel so right, right?”

I love the song. It reveals Kanye’s own personal struggle, but I also think it reveals a prevalent struggle in human nature.

I can relate somewhat. As I’ve grown in my faith, I’ve come to believe that possessions and money should be valued much lower than my culture values them. But translating that belief into practice is much more difficult. All my life growing up I’ve been taught to value financial security. I remember college being strongly promoted for the financial advantage it provided and very little emphasis put on the personal growth and academic education that would occur there. How do we get past this value that has been instilled so deep?

I’m not sure it can be done by human power. As with any deep change that needs to occur, we need to turn to God. I think praying to God for change is an extremely useful practice. We can involve others in our lives to pray for us and hold us accountable to the changes that we want to occur. God is in the business of transforming, and I think it is within God’s power to transform even the deepest values that have been instilled in us.

Can you think of some other values that your culture instills in you that aren’t in line with God’s kingdom?

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The restoration of “Christian”

Is it just me, or are people of faith becoming less likely to use the word “Christian” to describe themselves? I was in church this past Sunday, and a man up front was talking about his reasons for tithing, and he used the phrase “before I was a Christ-follower…” I thought about this later while I was hiking on New Years day. I realized that I am somewhat uncomfortable with the word “Christian”, and the more I thought about it, the more examples I could think of how others shy away from that word. A quick scan of my facebook friends reveals much more creative ways to describe their “Religious Views” than the generic term “Christian”. I have to include myself in that category- mine says “I think that Jesus guy is pretty cool…” I thought that was witty when I wrote it. : )

Why am I a little uncomfortable with the word? And why does it seem to me that people are more likely to use other terms when describing their Christianity?

As I was struggling not to get blown of the mountain I was climbing (it was kind of windy), I could not help but think of the word euphemism. Is “Christ-follower” a euphemism for “Christian”? Are people becoming so ashamed of the word “Christian” that they use other terms to avoid it?

I ask because I think that’s the root of my discomfort with the word. I’ve heard and read too many negative reactions to “Christian”. I’ve seen people identified as Christians do and say too many horrible things. I don’t think I need to catalog the list of offenses, as I’m sure you can think of quite a few yourself. If you can’t, well, maybe you need get out some more as well as read up on a little history.

Is substituting “Christian” with “Christ-follower” or “Jesus-follower” the best way to respond to the negative feelings that people get when they hear the word? I’m not sure it is. It’s not a bad thing. But I don’t think it’s the best response.

I think Jesus is all about reclaiming what is lost. I think he is about restoration and renewal. Instead of abandoning the word “Christian” why can’t we restore it to something closer to it’s original meaning? What would it look like for Christians to identify themselves as Christians, and then go out and do their best to serve Christ? Maybe we can change the perception of Christianity to something that is a little closer to the true message. That’s my hope.

What do you think? Should we abandon the word “Christian”?

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