Food for thought from Culture Making:
In the paradox of Jesus Christ--Yeshua from Nazareth, anointed One of history--the paradox of God's cultural agenda is summed up most perfectly and completely. God is for the poor--the oppressed, the widow and the orphan--and he is for humanity in our collective poverty, our ultimate powerlessness in the face of sin and death. But he makes known his redemptive purposes for us through both the powerless and the powerful, using both to accomplish his purposes. When God acts in culture, he uses both the powerful and the powerless alongside one another rather than using one against the other. To mobilize the powerless against the powerful would be revolution; to mobilize the powerful against the powerless would simply confirm "the way of the world." But to bring them into partnership is the true sign of God's paradoxical and graceful intervention into the human story.
I believe this pattern--God working with the poor and the rich, the powerless and the powerful--serves as a kind of template for seeking out what God might be doing in our human cultures. When elites use their privilege to create cultural goods that primarily serve other elites, that is nothing but the way of hte world, the standard operating procedure of culture. Furthermore, even when the culturally powerful deign to share their blessings with the powerless, but in ways that leave the powerless dependent and needy, this too is simply another marginally kinder version of the way of the world. Likewise, when the powerless cultivate and create culture that simply reinforces their oppression without bringing any real change in the horizons of possibility and impossibility, or when those is desperate circumstances rise up against the powerful, simply creating new structures of power in their place, we rightly recognize what is happening as business as usual. (pg. 209)
I first came to recognize many of these truths while reading Shelby Steele's The Content of Our Character: A New Vision of Race in America (1990). Steele argues that much of the problem in race relations centers around the idea of power.
Both races instinctively understand that to lose innocence is to lose power (in relation to each other). To be innocent someone must be guilty, a natural law that leads the races to forge their innocence on each other's backs. The inferiority of the black always makes the white man superior; the evil might of whites makes blacks good. This pattern means that both races have a hidden investment in racisim and racial disharmony despite their good intentions to the contrary. Power defines their relations, and power requires innocence, which, in turn, requires racism and racial division. (pg. 6)
To follow Jesus faithfully, powerful and powerless, black and white, innocent and guilty all must converge as they do on the cross. We are guilty, He is innocent. We are God's "innocent" children, beguiled by sin and Satan. Jesus is powerful, we are powerless. During the passion, it appeared that the people were powerful and Jesus powerless. But as the Messianic kingdom call goes: the lion will lay down with the lamb, children will play over an asp's habitat.
After reading Sam Wells' Power and Passion, it is clear that the cross and resurrection were all about power. If this is so, why aren't we spending more time identifying our roles of power?
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Monday, July 20, 2009
The Man in the Mirror
I know, another MJ post. I'm just as annoyed with my fascination as you probably are. But as I've been revealing in my posts over the last few weeks is that there just might be a deeper reason as to why I'm so fascinated with Michael Jackson.
I youtubed "michael jackson" and "charity" and I watched this gutwrenching video of MJ spending time with little children, the sick, the elderly, and the poor. These were not just the sick of our nation of the sick of the poorest places on Earth for a good publicity photo, but these clips came from around the world. A kiss on the head to child whose burned and mutilated face was wrapped in cloth or a child with a bald chemo head. A nudging hand across the emaciated cheek of a starving child. Christmas gifts given to each child with a hug and a kiss. Michael making funny gestures to make a child laugh through their pain.
Tears began to roll down my cheek. For a few moments I didn't see the King of Pop, but the King of Kings. Surely those actions remind me of the Jesus I know, the Jesus who I want to know deeper and the Jesus I want to emulate.
As I prepare for two weeks in Uganda, I'm both haunted and encouraged by the love of these two men. Can I love like that? Can I put my own tender body into the path of the sick? Can I have the imagination and the hope to cheer up small children? Will I have the courage to touch and to kiss bodies that no longer seem to be capable of harboring human life?
This is what it looks like to follow Jesus. I'm thankful for these visual reminders of the possible so that I can drawer nearer to truthful and couragous faith.
Other noteworthy ways of seeing Jesus in MJ:
--"We Are the World" I don't think it really can be said enough, but MJ gave much of his money to charity
--Although the relationship between Jackson, Neverland and children has been tainted by scandal, I find myself in awe that the glamorous lifestyle that Jackson enjoyed was ALWAys shared with the less fortunate. I LOVE that underpriviledged kids got to experience the wonder of childhood and amusement because MJ opened his home to them.
--It may have led to his downfall, but MJ was an advocate for the sick. He was often known for footing the bill for folks who couldn't afford their expensive medical needs.
--Most common place that paparazzi would find MJ in his final years: taking his kids to the zoo or Barnes and Noble. Gotta love the quality time between parent and child.
--I think most theologians would get a kick out of his lyrics: for the sin problem all of the worlds problems start with "the man in the mirror," in "heal the world" he asks for the nations to turn their swords into plowshares, in "earth song" we see him calling for the restoration of the world that God had put man in charge of--the song and video are definately charged with biblical imagery. There are so many other songs I could mention, but I'll leave it there to encourage you to find some of these things on your own.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Culture Worth Making and Preserving
Much of my latest posts on culture have been under the influence of a book called Culture Making: Rediscovering Our Creative Calling by Andy Crouch. The book has been quite a challenge for me.
Crouch outlines the idea that our mandate to create culture begins in Genesis and is a fundamental part of our identity as image bearers of the Creator God. A point that I have paid little attention to, until now, is the continuity of the role of cultural goods. In Revelation, there will be a new heaven and a new earth. The people of God will congregate and live in a city where God is present with us. Here is how it is described in Rev 21:22-27 and I'm highlighting a few things that I want to focus on:
I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. Its gates will never be shut by day--and there will be no night there. People will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. But nothing unclean will enter it, nor anyone who practices abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life.
Crouch indicates that people and "the glory of kings and the nations" are both eternal. In the evangelical community, we are very keen on pointing folks to the eternality of people, but little thought has gone toward thinking out what the glorious goods that the nations will bring in. Crouch makes an interesting distinction between people and cultural goods. First, people come into heaven through faith and being named in the Lamb's book of life. Secondly, cultural goods will be purified as well and will also be present in the new heaven and new earth.
Given the focus on Michael Jackson in the last few weeks, I'll use him as a hypothetical example of questions that are raised for me due to Crouch's points.
So if MJ has real faith, he'll show up in heaven and be present in the Kingdom of heaven in a purified and heavenly body. But if MJ does not show up in heaven due to not having faith, then according to the presence of cultural goods, will we as Americans be moonwalking in heaven, given that the moonwalk is a quite rad, creative wonder that mimics our Creator? An even cooler thought to me (which Crouch also points out) is that if the "kings" of the Kingdom of heaven are "the least of these" then these amazing breakdancing moves (which Jackson self-admitted came from cultures of poverty and dancing he'd seen from urban children) then this amount of creativity can definately reflect the values of Our Creator. But what aspects of culture are "unclean"? Will be breakdancing like MJ minus the crotch grabbing? Or is our American culture unduly sensitive about a nature feature of the body that God gave us for procreation? What qualifies as national glory?
So many questions!! It radically messes with my head of what I think about culture. I have a love-hate affair with culture. There are things that excite me, things I don't get, things that I take for granted, etc. My eyes feel newly opened to experiencing culture that may be a part of our daily living in the kingdom. What gifts and cultural goods will we bring to honor our King at the Wedding of the Lamb? At times it is easier for me to think about this in terms of other cultures or attributes, but not physical goods, especially not American physical and cultural goods.
As confused as I feel about this, I feel that the cultural outpouring, grief and celebration we have seen honoring one of our own cultural (ugh, I can't think of another word other than icons) in the person of Michael Jackson Crouch's way of thinking about the eternality of cultural goods such as music, dance, etc., gives real meaning to what folks are feeling. "It's not so bad because he's in heaven." "But his music will live on forever." Normally I roll my eyes at such things, but perhaps I'm the one who is missing out on a piece of eternity and connection with collective admiration and cultural impact.
Crouch outlines the idea that our mandate to create culture begins in Genesis and is a fundamental part of our identity as image bearers of the Creator God. A point that I have paid little attention to, until now, is the continuity of the role of cultural goods. In Revelation, there will be a new heaven and a new earth. The people of God will congregate and live in a city where God is present with us. Here is how it is described in Rev 21:22-27 and I'm highlighting a few things that I want to focus on:
I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. Its gates will never be shut by day--and there will be no night there. People will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. But nothing unclean will enter it, nor anyone who practices abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life.
Crouch indicates that people and "the glory of kings and the nations" are both eternal. In the evangelical community, we are very keen on pointing folks to the eternality of people, but little thought has gone toward thinking out what the glorious goods that the nations will bring in. Crouch makes an interesting distinction between people and cultural goods. First, people come into heaven through faith and being named in the Lamb's book of life. Secondly, cultural goods will be purified as well and will also be present in the new heaven and new earth.
Given the focus on Michael Jackson in the last few weeks, I'll use him as a hypothetical example of questions that are raised for me due to Crouch's points.
So if MJ has real faith, he'll show up in heaven and be present in the Kingdom of heaven in a purified and heavenly body. But if MJ does not show up in heaven due to not having faith, then according to the presence of cultural goods, will we as Americans be moonwalking in heaven, given that the moonwalk is a quite rad, creative wonder that mimics our Creator? An even cooler thought to me (which Crouch also points out) is that if the "kings" of the Kingdom of heaven are "the least of these" then these amazing breakdancing moves (which Jackson self-admitted came from cultures of poverty and dancing he'd seen from urban children) then this amount of creativity can definately reflect the values of Our Creator. But what aspects of culture are "unclean"? Will be breakdancing like MJ minus the crotch grabbing? Or is our American culture unduly sensitive about a nature feature of the body that God gave us for procreation? What qualifies as national glory?
So many questions!! It radically messes with my head of what I think about culture. I have a love-hate affair with culture. There are things that excite me, things I don't get, things that I take for granted, etc. My eyes feel newly opened to experiencing culture that may be a part of our daily living in the kingdom. What gifts and cultural goods will we bring to honor our King at the Wedding of the Lamb? At times it is easier for me to think about this in terms of other cultures or attributes, but not physical goods, especially not American physical and cultural goods.
As confused as I feel about this, I feel that the cultural outpouring, grief and celebration we have seen honoring one of our own cultural (ugh, I can't think of another word other than icons) in the person of Michael Jackson Crouch's way of thinking about the eternality of cultural goods such as music, dance, etc., gives real meaning to what folks are feeling. "It's not so bad because he's in heaven." "But his music will live on forever." Normally I roll my eyes at such things, but perhaps I'm the one who is missing out on a piece of eternity and connection with collective admiration and cultural impact.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Messed-up-tid-ness
"Dang, that's messed up." That's all I could think about after staying up all night reading Michael Jackson articles, watching ALL of his music videos and his Martin Bashir interview.
Before re-watching the interview, I found that my new attitude of trying not to judge and moralize Jackson greatly enhanced my appreciation and understanding of the man. I was particuarly struck not only by his genius, but by the oppressive forces that attempted to control him and created him into both an intelligent and idyllic personality a mix of psycho-social disorders. I came to find that the disorders to be a reflection of oppression that he did not seem to bring on himself.
I can't imagine the horror of growing up with Joe Jackson as a father. He physically abused and beat his children. He provoked enough fear in Michael that he would vomit at the mere sight of him. He did not allow his children to call him "daddy." He verbally assaulted a growing adolescent enough that he "wanted to die." He stole childhood from him and forced him to work. He exploited his son's talent and made him feel shame and guilt by making him the model for his older, less talented brothers (at least in that arena of talent). He thrust his internally wounded child into the spotlight--one which he was gifted for, but definately did not ask for. Imagine having your entire life open to the public beginning at age 10--especially if you are a shy and sensitive child?
Socially, Michael was surrounded by people who might turn on him at any point. It could be his father, record labels, the press, etc. That would drive a person to question most social relationships. The disease vitiligo further affected his understanding of his appearance and created many complex questions about his race--questions that are hard enough to deal with, but to find your identity change before your eyes and have others make accusations that you are uncomfortable with your identity could only be disastrous to one's self-concept. Ironically, for one who could dance insanely sexy, he was incredibly shy and innocent of sexuality off stage. This brings many questions, but I wonder about the impact that "sleeping" in the same room where his brothers had sex on tour would only exacerbate these issues for him.
No wonder Jackson sought to get away from the horror of his world through plastic surgery, Peter Pan syndrome and "love" crusades. Maybe there is an intelligence from his brokenness that reveals why he argues on the bizarre Bashir interview that "the family unit has been broken down and needs to be restored to love" and when questions are put to him about his skin color he says, "if you want to ask why I have vitiligo you better go and ask God." No wonder he had totally given up on trying to please the media anymore. His eccentricities are a result of him finally letting himself become unglued.
There is still much more I could scrutinize, but there must be more depth to this man than we would like to admit. Last night I was able to experience the beauty and pain of sitting in the confusion. The hurt and pain that Jackson experienced and the disturbing reality of his personality and behavior. The depth of that kind of messed-up-tid-ness is the kind of stuff that Christ said he came to die for--the sick who needed a physician. To Jesus he would not be Wacko Jacko, but the one that Jesus loved.
Before re-watching the interview, I found that my new attitude of trying not to judge and moralize Jackson greatly enhanced my appreciation and understanding of the man. I was particuarly struck not only by his genius, but by the oppressive forces that attempted to control him and created him into both an intelligent and idyllic personality a mix of psycho-social disorders. I came to find that the disorders to be a reflection of oppression that he did not seem to bring on himself.
I can't imagine the horror of growing up with Joe Jackson as a father. He physically abused and beat his children. He provoked enough fear in Michael that he would vomit at the mere sight of him. He did not allow his children to call him "daddy." He verbally assaulted a growing adolescent enough that he "wanted to die." He stole childhood from him and forced him to work. He exploited his son's talent and made him feel shame and guilt by making him the model for his older, less talented brothers (at least in that arena of talent). He thrust his internally wounded child into the spotlight--one which he was gifted for, but definately did not ask for. Imagine having your entire life open to the public beginning at age 10--especially if you are a shy and sensitive child?
Socially, Michael was surrounded by people who might turn on him at any point. It could be his father, record labels, the press, etc. That would drive a person to question most social relationships. The disease vitiligo further affected his understanding of his appearance and created many complex questions about his race--questions that are hard enough to deal with, but to find your identity change before your eyes and have others make accusations that you are uncomfortable with your identity could only be disastrous to one's self-concept. Ironically, for one who could dance insanely sexy, he was incredibly shy and innocent of sexuality off stage. This brings many questions, but I wonder about the impact that "sleeping" in the same room where his brothers had sex on tour would only exacerbate these issues for him.
No wonder Jackson sought to get away from the horror of his world through plastic surgery, Peter Pan syndrome and "love" crusades. Maybe there is an intelligence from his brokenness that reveals why he argues on the bizarre Bashir interview that "the family unit has been broken down and needs to be restored to love" and when questions are put to him about his skin color he says, "if you want to ask why I have vitiligo you better go and ask God." No wonder he had totally given up on trying to please the media anymore. His eccentricities are a result of him finally letting himself become unglued.
There is still much more I could scrutinize, but there must be more depth to this man than we would like to admit. Last night I was able to experience the beauty and pain of sitting in the confusion. The hurt and pain that Jackson experienced and the disturbing reality of his personality and behavior. The depth of that kind of messed-up-tid-ness is the kind of stuff that Christ said he came to die for--the sick who needed a physician. To Jesus he would not be Wacko Jacko, but the one that Jesus loved.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
MJ and Cultural Redemption
I must begin with an apology that I was quite critical of Michael Jackson in my post Iconography. Although I agree with the truth of what I said, I find that as I watched the memorial service today that in these days since his passing that my theology head has impaired my heart from embracing the power and god-given mandate of culture.
Martin Luther King's two children (MLK 3 and Bernice) so beautifully remarked that Michael obeyed and delivered on God's commandment to live and work hard and well. MLK 3 quoted one his father's sayings that it didn't matter which talents God gave you, but that you used them to the best of your ability. This I can certainly agree with that yes, Michael Jackson lived the life of an entertainer quite well. He sang, danced, peformed, and created with everything that was inside of him. He selflessly devoted himself to his fans. I think it would be hard to identify another entertainer who legitimately cared so much for his fans. This is part of accepting and growing into what it means to give all yourself. Not only did MJ do all of these things, but his charity and humanitarian works touched the world and opened up realms for folks to care and truly love others.
It is not up to me to judge Michael's standing with the Lord, but many claimed that he sought to follow Jesus and that his acts of charity were inspired by his understanding of God's Word. So I can not judge, but I can hope that that is true.
So although there are pieces of me that still doesn't get it, I say "thank you" in the midst of my confusion. I need to appreciate the grand scale of the cultural mandate rather than pharisizing humanity.
Martin Luther King's two children (MLK 3 and Bernice) so beautifully remarked that Michael obeyed and delivered on God's commandment to live and work hard and well. MLK 3 quoted one his father's sayings that it didn't matter which talents God gave you, but that you used them to the best of your ability. This I can certainly agree with that yes, Michael Jackson lived the life of an entertainer quite well. He sang, danced, peformed, and created with everything that was inside of him. He selflessly devoted himself to his fans. I think it would be hard to identify another entertainer who legitimately cared so much for his fans. This is part of accepting and growing into what it means to give all yourself. Not only did MJ do all of these things, but his charity and humanitarian works touched the world and opened up realms for folks to care and truly love others.
It is not up to me to judge Michael's standing with the Lord, but many claimed that he sought to follow Jesus and that his acts of charity were inspired by his understanding of God's Word. So I can not judge, but I can hope that that is true.
So although there are pieces of me that still doesn't get it, I say "thank you" in the midst of my confusion. I need to appreciate the grand scale of the cultural mandate rather than pharisizing humanity.
Friday, July 3, 2009
An Update on East Africa
It's a sad day for me as I have been running errands to make my way to Uganda. I did some more research on the work of Invisible Children--one of the first agencies that put Uganda on my rader--and found that they have put out a relatively new documentary on rescuing and seeking justice for the children abducted by the Lord's Resistance Army. This video is violent, yet IC is very tasteful in their documentation. The video is only 36 minutes long and mixes pain and hope--the theme of my pilgrimage to Uganda. You should check it out.
http://therescue.invisiblechildren.com/en/#/watch/
After having watched this film for the first time last night, I am appalled and in mourning over the latest meeting of the African Union (AU) that has decided to not work with the ICC (International Something Court) that has put out indictments for the President of Sudan (for war crimes in Darfur). Joseph Kony, the LRA leader who is wreaking havoc in East Africa was the first to be indicted on such charges. Please pray for a solution for human rights activists to be able to work and for Africa to also feel that they are not being coerced by Western powers against their will but will step onto the side of justice.
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