Existential Rock is All the Rage

Well, I think its because Conor Oberst thinks he always has to be so freaking trendy that he chose to blend Rasta and sci-fi in the new Bright Eyes album, The People's Key. Oh, and he also gave a nod to Pete Seeger--that's the populist in him.

Yet--alas--much to my own chagrin, I am a huge Conor Oberst fan. I *love* the depressive-existential-stickittotheman approach to folk rock that he endorses. And I am a big fan of the new album.

I had the realization the other day that I would much rather listen to an atheist (or humanist, as he refers to himself) who writes thoughtfully about existential issues than a Christian constructing pat performances of formulaic and shallow lyrics. Mr. Oberst does not endorse a worldview that I am comfortable with, but a worldview that if I am being honest, I am apt to slip into from time to time. His music takes me to the brink of my beliefs and challenges me to examine my convictions and the Relationship around which I center all of reality.

Can Conor Oberst strengthen your journey with God?

Although he might not have imagined it, I think its possible.

Here's a sampling from the album:

"Pilgrim across the water
We are the same brother
Hitchhiking back to Zion
Holding our tears as we flip the album
What if this leads to ruin?
You got a soul, use it"

Greetings to all in the Cyber Diaspora

Well, after a long hiatus, I have made the decision to enter back into the blogosphere. Mostly the result of realizing how much I miss my friends far, far away from the barren land of Suburbia that I now dwell in. In which I dwell.

To say that these last few months have been transitory would be to douse my emotions in a cerebral wash and to uncomplicate the matter. There have been great joys: getting married to my best friend and beginning the process of conquering life by twos, settling in to a wonderful liberalesqueartsy Mennonite Church (Lombard Mennonite Church), camping in !rural! Illinois, and getting to know people in the Wheaton graduate program. Yet, it has also been a time of great transition and some challenge: It has been difficult being away from our families and aways from the familiarity of Ohio, much more difficult than I anticipated. Also, it has been a bit more difficult to keep up the energy to keep plowing through the Academic Field.

Wheaton is unlike Malone in many ways, and I have found myself missing the relationships I had with faculty and students while I was there.

In a sense, I am still trying to get grounded here and develop a new community and a new purpose.

I am learning of my need to rely on God more, of the spiritual nature of the work I am entering into. I am wrestling with how to empathize with people's suffering in an authentic way, as Jesus would have us do. I am realizing my own weak points and my own brokenness as I have been able to examine myself before working with others who are in need of help.

These are many of the thoughts that are swirling around in my head, and I will touch on these themes in a more coherent manner as I proceed to blog more regularly (most likely once a week).

Anyhow, I hope all of my friends in the Cyber Diaspora are doing well, and that we can harness this ecommunication thing to foster community from a far.

I.

Whiteface

Revelatory thought of the night: our culture engages in "whiteface," in which we demean those of Appalachian ethnicity by parodying their culture, because there are no social morays against such action. think about it: redneck joke versus black joke...which is more morally acceptable?

God Provides

Recently, I decided to tithe with the money I had made over the past two summers. It ended up being a rather healthy sum of money, but I knew it was the right thing to do, so I did it.

Recently, there have been a number of expenses that have seeped into my life, almost unnoticeably: fixing my car, buying an engagement ring, buying a new laptop, etc.

Unfortunately, being that my job is a student, I do not have a steady, reliable source of income.

I guess I just ended up in this spot where I was like "Crap, I cannot, of my own powers, make anything happen in this circumstance."

Enlightened as to my humanity, I came to understand why it is that we tithe. It is to put ourselves in the position where we must rely on God. Truthfully, we are always in that positions--but playing with our money in such a way that we inflict that feeling upon ourselves--this brings us closer to God necessarily.

And you know what?

God does provide.

This weekend, my Mammy handed me a card with two fifty dollar bills in it, and the card said it was for the purpose of fixing my car.

I know now something that I could not have understood had I simply *read* or *thought* about it.

God is continually breaking into my world, like a thief in the night.

Never when I expect him, but always and faithfully on time.

Resident Aliens

I just completed the first chapter of Resident Aliens by Hauerwas and Williamson.

For me, being able to digest this text really speaks to the quality of Christian education I have received at Malone. The book centers around this idea that Christians represents somewhat of a "colony" in mainstream culture.

Although we are called to reform culture, we will always feel the rub of the Gospel against competing, and sometimes more appealing philosophies.

I guess this is something I am coming to embrace, and to be proud of. Not in the sense that I am better than all the other un-saved savages (sarcasm), but in the sense that I feel like I am becoming more firmly rooted in the Christian worldview and starting to understand how Christian belief is very particular, and not always amenable to the life I would want to live if I simply listened to my culture or to the deception in my head.

I need to work on the idea of Christianity as "relationship" in addition to "worldview," however...headiness should not supersede friendship with God.

Culture Wars

"What matters ultimately in the culture wars is what we do in our daily lives--not the big statements that we broadcast to the world at large, but the small messages we send through our families and our neighborhoods and our communities." Michael Medved

I read this statement yesterday as I was catching up on some social psychology reading.

It resonated with me because I have found this to be true in life.

Oftentimes the people who are crying out the loudest drown in their own noise, and this is exactly what they want--a universe that revolves around the important statements they make, a world that waits on their next vitriolic attack against injustice, a nation waiting for them to pitch the next Big Idea...

Why do we praise the revolutionary and overlook the family man?

Which of these is actually slave to the system?

Highlights and Lowlights

Highlights

1. Learning about Coordinated Management of Meaning.

2. Sitting on the back porch with Erika.

3. Learning that my workload is not as heavy as I thought.

Lowlights

1. Stepping on my laptop

2. Rain.

3. Almost passing out in Senior Seminar.

This is the stuff of life.