Tuesday: The Peace of Wild Things

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.


— Wendell Berry

A Week with Wendell Berry: Monday: "The Mad Farmer Liberation Front"

Wendell Berry is one of the most prolific poets alive today. His thought is shaped by his desire to see and effect a Christ-shaped justice in the world, toward all arenas of God's creation. I thought that we could spent this week reflecting on his very celebrated work.



Love the quick profit, the annual raise,
vacation with pay. Want more
of everything ready-made. Be afraid
to know your neighbors and to die.
And you will have a window in your head.
Not even your future will be a mystery
any more. Your mind will be punched in a card
and shut away in a little drawer.
When they want you to buy something
they will call you. When they want you to die for profit they will let you know.


So, friends, every day do something
that won't compute. Love the Lord.
Love the world. Work for nothing.
Take all that you have and be poor.
Love someone who does not deserve it.
Denounce the government and embrace
the flag. Hope to live in that free
republic for which it stands.
Give your approval to all you cannot
understand. Praise ignorance, for what man
has not encountered he has not destroyed.


Ask the questions that have no answers.
Invest in the millenium. Plant sequoias.
Say that your main crop is the forest
that you did not plant,
that you will not live to harvest.
Say that the leaves are harvested
when they have rotted into the mold.
Call that profit. Prophesy such returns.


Put your faith in the two inches of humus
that will build under the trees
every thousand years.
Listen to carrion -- put your ear
close, and hear the faint chattering
of the songs that are to come.
Expect the end of the world. Laugh.
Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful
though you have considered all the facts.
So long as women do not go cheap
for power, please women more than men.
Ask yourself: Will this satisfy
a woman satisfied to bear a child?
Will this disturb the sleep
of a woman near to giving birth?


Go with your love to the fields.
Lie down in the shade. Rest your head
in her lap. Swear allegiance
to what is nighest your thoughts.
As soon as the generals and the politicos
can predict the motions of your mind,
lose it. Leave it as a sign
to mark the false trail, the way
you didn't go. Be like the fox
who makes more tracks than necessary,
some in the wrong direction.
Practice resurrection.


-- Wendell Berry

A Picture Shared

Erin, Sienna and I went walking by the beach this Sunday with some friends (Leah and Tyler) and their new baby (Asher), and I thought I would share this beautiful picture with you. I can't get enough of her!

Blessings.

"Media and Religion" Trailer

This is a documentary I am working on. Thought I would share the trailer. Hope you enjoy.

God @ the Movies: Amazing Grace

The film Amazing Grace has a US release on Feb. 23 (none in Canada yet). It is the story of William Wilberforce's political opposition to slavery. His politics were most informed, of course, by his faith and his understanding of what it means to oppress another human being made in the image of God.

A vocal Christian -- and a renowned orator -- he expressed his opposition to slavery with great passion, writing: "If it please God to honour me so far, may I be the instrument of stopping such a course of wickedness and cruelty as never before disgraced a Christian country." Wilberforce spearheaded a movement which, after many years of struggle, led to the 1807 abolition of human trafficking throughout the British Empire.

I am encouraged by the release of this film, not least because it is another in a line of films that is Christian-based and quality. Until recently the only Christian movies which had money behind them had to do with the "rapture"-- a horrific myth of evangelicalism, that somewhere along the way got mistaken for gospel truth-- the disappearance of all the Christians from the world so the world is left to its own demise. Good Hollywood plot, bad Biblical theology. But that is a story for another day.

Amazing Grace might help the churches begin to think about social justice. It might get us reflecting on the message of Philemon: in a world run by the economy of slavery, the Roman Empire, Paul sends Onesimus a run-away slave back to his owner, Philemon, and declares that all slavery/social barriers are abolished in Christ. Hopefully this film helps the church to realize that mission does not have to choose between evangelism or social justice--but that they are two sides of the same coin-- you can't have one without the other.

The gospel declares that God has worked in Christ to restore humanity and that every human being inrecious in his sight and that those who put their faith and trust in his saving work are forgiven and made a part of his covenant family, not because of anything we can do but because of what he has done (which is what grace itself is all about; undeserved favor). But the gospel does not leave this world unchanged--those presently in relationship with God thorugh Christ are called to reflect God's image in the world in order to re-humanize it. We are called to pray and live the Lord's Prayer: to do what we can to see God bring his Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. Fighting for those Jesus called "the least of these" is part of fulfilling that role.

Happy Saint Valentinus Day

Well, it is Valentine's Day, which begs the question: what is Valentine's Day? Glad you asked. Saint Valentine or Saint Valentinus refers to one or more martyred saints of ancient Rome. The feast of Saint Valentine was formerly celebrated on February 14 by the Roman Catholic Church until the revised calendar 1969.

His birth date and birthplace are unknown. Valentine's name does not occur in the earliest list of Romans martyrs, that compiled by the Chronographer of 354. The feast of St. Valentine was first decreed in 496 by Pope Galasius I, who included Valentine among those people "... whose names are justly reverenced among men, but whose acts are known only to God." As Gelasius implied, nothing is known about the lives of any of these martyrs.

According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the saint whose feast was celebrated on the day now known as Saint Valentine's Day was possibly one of three martyred men named Valentinus who lived in the late third century, during the reign of Emperor Claudius II (died 270):
--a priest in Rome

--a bishop of Interamna (modern Terni)
--a martyr in the Roman province of Africa.
Various dates are given for their martyrdoms: 269, 270 or 273. As Gelasius implied, nothing is known about the lives of any of these martyrs. The name was a popular one in Late Antiquity, with its connotations of valens, "being strong".

Many of the current legends that characterise Saint Valentine were invented in the fourteenth century in England, notably by Geoffrey Chaucer and his circle, when the feast day of February 14 first became associated with romantic love.

So, let this romantic holiday with your lover be immersed in reflections on the death of faithful Christian martyrs for the sake of the gospel in an Empire that was vying for their worship and allegiance. I'm sure that is what you were thinking about doing anyway. Like so many other things, Valentine's Day is a reminder that God brings life from death. That 'God makes beauty out of ugly things.'

"Rich Man's War"--- Steve Earl

Jimmy joined the army ‘cause he had no place to go
There ain’t nobody hirin’‘round here since all the jobs wentdown to Mexico
Reckoned that he’d learn himself a trade maybe see the world
Move to the city someday and marry a black haired girl
Somebody somewhere had another plan
Now he’s got a rifle in his handRollin’ into Baghdad wonderin’ how he got this far
Just another poor boy off to fight a rich man’s war



Bobby had an eagle and a flag tattooed on his arm
Red white and blue to the bone when he landed in Kandahar
Left behind a pretty young wife and a baby girl
A stack of overdue bills and went off to save the world
Been a year now and he’s still there
Chasin’ ghosts in the thin dry air
Meanwhile back at home the finance company took his car
Just another poor boy off to fight a rich man’s war


When will we ever learn
When will we ever see
We stand up and take our turn
And keep tellin’ ourselves we’re free

Ali was the second son of a second son
Grew up in Gaza throwing bottles and rocks when the tanks would come
Ain’t nothin’ else to do around here just a game children play
Somethin’ ‘bout livin’ in fear all your life makes you hard that way
He answered when he got the call
Wrapped himself in death and praised Allah
A fat man in a new Mercedes drove him to the doorJust another poor boy off to fight a rich man’s war

"Beauty": A Poem

"Beauty" they say "is only skin deep."

I think it is deeper.

Deeper than flesh and bone.

Deeper than muscle and sinew.

Deeper...Soul deep.

I have watched the sunrise.

I have watched trees dance.

I have seen water sing.

I have seen my daughter smile.

Deeper.

Deeper than skin and shade.

Deeper than length and bredth.

Deeper than weight and style.

Soul deep.

Life gives birth to life, and grace to grace again.

Shallow minds can see the beauty and never comprehend;

Where it is, why it is, how it came to be.

Help us Lord to understand, it comes from You and not from me.

It does not exist in the beholders eye, But the Eyes of one who cares;

Who works to mold and shape and try, The Eyes of one who dares;

To give His world a glimpse of who He is.

Forgive us if we never see. Give us eyes.

Forgive us if we never hear. Give us ears.

Reflection on Pop-Culture (3): Music

The final reflection in this series that I want to offer is on music. Music is somewhat touchy because its beauty lies in the eye of the beholder, but I think we can all agree when something is quality but not our style versus just plain garbage. And most of the music being created today is just that--garbage. It is all tied in to our earlier reflections on media and conglomerates ownership of multi-media outlets and the selling of records. We have moved away from quality musicians to images we can sell. Thus, the biggest thing in the music industry right now is American Idol. This is what makes money.

The decline of album sales due to Internet sharing is a large blow and one that record labels feel. There are now only four or five major labels around--again owned by the larger media corporations--Sony, Viacom, TimeWarner, Capitol, Universal, Dreamworks. But for the last number of years music has been about selling albums by a single or two. Thus the quality of an entire album suffered at the hands of acts that producers, managers and public relations people created--so they coud sell a few millions albums and then move on. Music has suffered. Go through the list of popular "musicians" of the last few years and the same is true about them as the movies an shows that are popular--directed and twelve year old kids--not to say that hasn't always been, but corporate agenda's define the field so much now that those are the only choices: Britney Spears or Backstreet Boys or Ashlee Simpson...this is the end of music. But out of the ashes something can be restored...

The hope lies in this: that the decline in music sales will forces labels to produce better quality albums and not just singles. Here's to hoping!

Reflections on Pop-Culture (Part 2): How the Brightest are becoming the Dumbest--- Amused to Death

"You cannot do philosophy on television. Its form works against the content...our discourse has become shriveled and absurd."
-- Neil Postman

"He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore."
-- Isaiah 2.4


I am afraid that the smartest generation is on the brink of becoming the stupidest, in part, because of media. 'Media' is a wide ranging term encompassing all kinds of areas: print, broadcast, electronic, news. The existence of such a thing as media has not made us dumb--in fact the opposite is true--but the decline in the quality of media has helped add to our cultures present and prevailing shallowness. Again, we are the most educated generation the world has ever seen, and yet we consider CNN and FOX News to reflect our many-sided and complex opinions. The debates we see and hear are 5 minutes long in totality, one side screaming about some issue: always extremists, representing the extreme sides of issues, and then commercial. Is that what has become of the sacred institution of public discourse? Two animals not listening to each other yelling about absurdities because it gets ratings. Because this is all people can handle?

This fact contradicts the myth of 'progress' that makes up the Western narrative that media, schools and religious institutions tell Western societies day in and day out. You know the myth: civilization keeps progressing to a more civilized state with the advancements in technology etc. This is untrue. Humankind simply changes the way it packages itself, but are our atrocities any worse then the Mayans? Are our depravities any worse then Rome's? Let's remind ourselves that it was the Western world that dropped a nuclear bomb on innocent civilians less then a generation ago killing hundreds of thousands of people in a matter of days. Have that amount of people ever died so fast in all of human history? So blindly and without remorse, guilt or conviction? We continue to fight the ancient barbarian battles of centuries ago, but unlike the prophet Isaiah had hoped, we continue building swords instead of ploughshares. But our swrods have become much more dangerous and less personal. And we have not grown frightened of using them.

But what of media and progress together? Though we have progressed, we have not. We are educated, have degrees--send ourselves to the moon--and yet, as "entertainment" we watch the kind of stuff at one time only a twelve year old boy would covet. So, what happened?

Acclaimed writer and thinker Neil Postman argues that it was a change in our epistemology (the way we learn and find meaning). He says the major epistemological change was our cultures move from a word-based culture to an image-based culture (Amusing Ourselves to Death, 61). At one time politics, theology and philosophy were about ideas, and words. They have now become about image. "It is quite likely that most of the first fifteen presidents of the US would not have been recognized had they passed the average citizen on the street" (60). Such reliance, indeed, dependence on image has caused us to sacrifice content at the expense of being amused and titillated. Postman does not believe in an epistemological relativism. He says

Some ways of truth telling are better than others, and therefore have a healthier influence on the cultures that adopt them. Indeed...the decline of a print-based epistemology and the accompanying rise of a television-based epistemology has had grave consequences for public life...we are getting sillier by the minute. (24)

Interestingly enough Postman was writing in 1985, a decade before the image saturated society that was pushed even further by the invention of the Internet--where for instance the latest Presidential hopefuls launched their announcements to run for President--sitting comfortably on sofas in warm rooms. All of which is part of what Noam Chomsky argues to be the case in Manufacturing Consent--that the corporations and the media control the discourse because they control the medium.

I close with a reflection from Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death, in light of the sound-bite messages we have become accustomed to to inform our thinking. When Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas were getting into politics they debated each other as follows:

On August 21, 1858---Douglas would present his views for one hour/ Lincoln would take an hour and a half to reply/ Douglas a half hour to rebut Lincoln's reply. On October 16, 1854 Douglas delivered a three hour address, Lincoln sent people home for dinner and they returned for his four hour reply. What kind of people were these to give themselves to seven hours of oratory? They were regular farmers who were attending state fairs in the middle of Illinois (where the two aforementioned stories took place). Note: these two were not even senate or presidential candidates when speaking, they were just political educators. (44-45)

My point is this: Something has changed. We perceive ourselves to be smarter then all other civilizations and yet our level of discourse, I fear, has been lowered to that of an introductory class on tenth grade sociology. What makes up the landscape our discourse? Friends, the OC, "24"----do we have reason to celebrate our intellectual "arrival" or are we to lament our descent?

Reflections on Pop-Culture (Part 1): One of these Do Not Belong

Aldous Huxley prophesied in A Brave New World that humankind would be taken prisoner not by externally imposed oppression, as Orwell had thought, but by our pleasures...as he saw it people will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think. Those capacities have been undone and the discourse has been shrivelled to nothing more than "winners" of game shows and the latest sex scandal on the latest soap with the latest big star with the latest...you get the picture.

Is this the legacy of "art" our generation wants to leave behind? The writing of the Elizabethan period, the paitings and scupturesd of the Renaissance, and the winner of AMerican Idol XXV from the era of Pop-Culture?