I think my impressions of Washington, DC first changed in January 2006. I represented Acting on AIDS in a meeting with the ONE Campaign about their involvement (and the involvement of a certain Irish rock star) at Urbana 06.
While walking around the city, I noticed the raw ambition and thirst for power that seemed to embody the vast majority of people around me. Whether someone was an old veteran of the capitol or a young determined intern, everyone had a sense of importance. The whole city seemed self-consumed in itself as leader of the free world, yet so disconnected and foreign from the realities outside of itself.
It reminded me of my time in student government at college. At the time, every little thing seemed like the most important thing in the world. Every task and decision seemed so relevant to the rest of the world. Yet it all seemed to vacate my mind as soon as I graduate. All of a sudden, my little world of governance seemed so trivial.
“Distance does not decide who is your brother and who us not. The church is going to have to become the conscience of the free market if it’s to have any meaning in the world – and stop being its apologist.” –Bono, rock star/prophet
I am already getting sick and tired of Christmas – not of the celebration of Christ’s birth or fellowship with friends and family, but of the countless commercials, news stories, and traffic jams promoting and producing mass consumerism and debt. Coming off fresh stories about how much we eat on Thanksgiving, the news reports quickly turn today to Black Friday, the day many businesses begin generating a profit for the year. This is the high holy day of Theocapitalism.
To me, this concept of Black Friday is both scary and telling. It means that our entire economy is dependent on this buying frenzy. For many this frenzy only leads to greater levels of individual debt; and with the trade deficit only getting larger, we seem to be consuming much more than we produce. The result is an unsustainable economy. (more…)
“Our definition of success doesn’t necessarily mean coming in first.”
– Clinton spokesman Mark Daley, quoted by the Chicago Sun Times, already playing the expectations game in Iowa.
I’m actually starting to think that of the three major contenders, Hillary Clinton is the least likely to win in Iowa. A loss would really open up the race for the Democratic nomination. I still believe that an Obama win would propel him to the nomination, and a third-place for Hillary could be devastating.
The other big news out of Iowa is Huckabee. I think Huckabee could very well win Iowa, which would really open up the Republican race. He’s still way behind in New Hampshire, but with such dissatisfaction among the field, Republicans could easily change their choice at the last minute. I think a Huckabee surge helps Giuliani the most, splitting the social conservatives between Romney, Huckabee, and I suppose Fred.
If you’re interested in staying on top of political news, I highly recommend the Political Wire website.
I really enjoyed today’s Thanksgiving blog post on Sojourners’ “God’s Politics” blog. Here’s the first paragraph of Obery Hendricks (author of The Politics of Jesus):
In many pulpits during this Thanksgiving season, love of our country and pride in our citizenship will be pronounced in the same breath – and often with the same intensity – as declarations of love for our God. But we must be careful, for patriotism can be destructive as well as constructive. Worse, it can become idolatrous.
I just found out that I will be the only person in America not eating on Thanksgiving.
In general I haven’t felt very thankful lately. Most of you know about all my latest health issues. The latest is that I need to be on a three-day liquid diet before an exam on Friday. We won’t talk about all the other details, but one of the drawbacks is that I will be resorting to turkey-flavored Jones Soda for Thanksgiving.
You expect to fall short of the Gospel, which makes the disappointment easy to swallow. When you grow up in church culture, you learn to live with a certain level of guilt; knowing that you’re not quite measuring up. You also learn how to live with a certain level of grace; knowing that you will always be imperfect and make mistakes, but that your heart is to do better and that God ultimately forgives us for being human.
Out of necessity, disappointment in self becomes easy to live with. But when you live in church culture, especially in American church culture, it is difficult to handle disappointment with your religion or country. It’s also difficult to handle disappointment with your local church or a particular politician – but luckily you can easily move from one to another without ditching the broader body of believers or citizens.
When you grow up in American church culture, you are indoctrinated into believing the core ideals of America and Christianity are as perfect as Jesus Christ – when practiced and lived correctly. That’s why it can be difficult to find that both are so flawed, based on incomplete pictures of the Gospels. (more…)
The organized church comes immediately under a compulsion to think of itself, and identity itself to the world, not as an institution synonymous with its truth and its membership, but as a hodgepodge of funds, properties, projects, and offices, all urgently requiring economic support…
If it comes a choice between the extermination of the fowls of the air and the lilies of the field and the extermination of the building fund the organized church will elect – indeed, has already elected to save the building fund…
No wonder so many sermons are devotes exclusively to “spiritual” subjects. If one is living by the tithes of history’s most destructive economy, then the disembodiment of the soul becomes the chief of worldly conveniences.
– Wendell Berry, by way of Brian McLaren’s Everything Must Change, by way of jamespedrick.com
Rob Bell was in town for his “The Gods Aren’t Angry” tour. I’ll wait to post anything super-profound… but two general thoughts:
1. It is amazing how little we have truly progressed. Bell powerfully demonstrated how the human psyche has formed fears, anxieties, superstitions, and rituals to appease the gods and external forces we are so dependent on.
2. It is especially amazing how large of a god we have made the economic forces of our day and how dependent we are on them.
Earlier today at my church (Soma), the pastor introduced “The Advent Conspiracy” that Soma is doing alongside Imago Dei in Portland and many other churches. The goal is to worship more, give more, and spend less this Christmas season, and in general. I couldn’t help but wonder what would happen to our economy… the economy where our President told us our patriotic duty was to spend more after our country was attacked… what would happen to our economy if we all followed my pastor.
When I awoke this morning, I was surrounded by a room that was cluttered, laundry that needed too be dried, and a list of things that had to be done today and over the next two weeks. I couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to abandon all these things and obligations. I woke up with a desire for freedom and simplicity.
I am often inspired by story, and in this case, my thoughts were inspired by Into the Wild, the real-life story of Christopher McCandless, a privileged young guy who abandons everything for a simple life in the wilds of Alaska. His idealism is an exaggerated story of so many twenty-somethings. (more…)
