The Angry Song

Remember about, um, ten years ago, there was this cartoon called “Anamaniacs”? I used to love that show. It was really funny—well, silly—and it had these three siblings who ran around and pulled pranks and sang songs about the capitals of the 50 states. Once, they sang a song about being mad. At least, it started out about being mad. It was like, “I’m mad, I’m mad, I’m reallyreallyreally mad…”

Well, yesterday that song was stuck in my head.

Why? you ask. What made you so mad that only a song could capture your turbulent emotions?

Well, it’s been building. I was forwarded a link to something Donald Miller wrote—about President Bush, republicans, and conservatives in general. His timing could not have been worse as far as I’m concerned. I’d been reading his “Searching for God Knows What” and that already made me more than irritated. I actually had to stop reading, put the book down, and move on. Breathe. Write. Vent.

I mean, okay, everyone’s entitled to an opinion. Obviously. I mean, I love giving my opinion on things.

But I was severely irked by Miller’s attitude. If you want to, you can read his article. But if you are conservative, be warned: you, too, will be singing the angry song. I went to a place where you could post comments about the article and proceeded to do so.

It seems to me that there is something going on within Christianity. A division of sorts. A chasm, if you will. A rift this deep has two distant sides, and, so it seems, no middle ground.

Personally, I am tired of the grand, sweeping, generalizations being made. I don’t like being lumped in—I never have. I’m sick of feeling like I have to choose a side, that I’m in a tug of war between Hilary Clinton and Jerry Falwell. I really don’t want to be associated with either of them. I don’t think I completely agree with any political party. You know why? Because nothing is perfect. And you know why that is? Because no one is perfect.

Salvation is not found in a political party or in its leaders. Or in its followers.

And everyone is going to have an opinion. Usually it will be in conflict with someone else’s. Does that mean we can’t get along? If I met Donald Miller, would I be able to have a civilized conversation? I would like to think so. We are, after all, brothers and sisters in Christ. I know we must have some theology in common.

The truth is, we have all been burned by those whose opinions were different from ours; we have all had those frustrating conversations that end up being a one-sided rant by someone who refuses to listen or think about anything other than what he has already made up his mind about. For me, those conversations have come from both sides of the political and religious spectrum. I’ve been just as frustrated by some conservatives I’ve known as I have with some liberals. Being annoying isn’t a trait exclusive to either party, unfortunately.

But what really gets me is this sudden, vicious turn of popularity against Conservative Christianity by the “relevant” and “post-modern” branch of Christianity. I’ve heard a lot of things lately that have really set my teeth on edge. Like I said, I’ve had my share of things that have bothered me about the conservative church. However, both of the good and the bad I’ve experienced has been the result of individuals. You can’t lump an entire branch of Christianity together and label it all “bad” or “malfunctioning.” That won’t solve anything. Actually, it creates problems: alienation and division.

We as a body ought to stop focusing on our differing political views. We are Americans, so we have an obligation to be involved in our country. But when it gets in the way of unity, perhaps we need to step back. At the end of the day, I think we all want the same things. We may go about it in different ways, but we are all reading the same Bible. We may have different interpretations, even different focuses, but the bottom line is, we’re part of the same Body. We have to work together. It’s not an option. Jesus, our Head, is already at work making us unified. Fighting over political stuff just gets in the way of that.

I could go on and on; but I won’t. Any more and I’d be on a rant of my own…and just doing the same thing I got so mad about. 



[Edit: I've since reconciled my opinion of Donald Miller...I think it's safe to say both of us have grown and been stretched and developed a little more grace & humility since these words were first written.  I would recommend "Blue Like Jazz" and "A Million Miles in a Thousand Years" to just about anybody.]

Jubilant...?

So this weekend I went to a conference here in Pittsburgh. It’s called Jubilee, and it’s sponsored by CCO (Coalition for Christian Outreach)—which my dad works for. It’s annual. It’s for college students, which I am not. But…Lauren Winner was a speaker, so I signed up.

That's right, Lauren Winner—as in Lauren F. Winner, author of Girl Meets God, Mudhouse Sabbath, and most recently Real Sex: the Naked Truth about Chastity. Brianne told me to read GMG for about year before I got around to it, but I did come across a couple of articles of hers that I really liked. Seeing her in person was…interesting. I got to meet her and had her sign a couple of books. I was completely uncool and babbled. Rule #1 when you meet a famous, brilliant author like Lauren Winner: Don’t talk about stupid stuff like football. But she was very nice. I have to say, though, that in her session, I didn’t really appreciate her remarks about President Bush. Why everyone got to be a hater?

Actually, that brings me to some of the things I didn’t like about Jubilee. I was a little annoyed with the way everyone was kind of bashing on America. Now, I’m first in line to admit that America has its share of problems. What country doesn’t? What culture, what society doesn’t? Do we create a lot of problems? Yes. But again, who doesn’t? Vilifying the U.S. is not going to make anything better. And pointing the finger isn’t exactly helpful, either.

I think if the speakers had even stepped back a minute and graciously added that they themselves were part of the problem (and not the solution, as at least one seemed to imply) it might have gone over better with me. But I don’t like being yelled at, and I don’t like being guilted. There were a lot of good points made at Jubilee, but I at least felt like some of the speakers poured it on too strong. Yes, I believe in social justice, I believe in helping the poor, I believe in living simply. But I think God calls people to all different walks of life. Okay. Off my soapbox now…

…And on to happier things. First, I’d like to say that one of my favorite things about Jubilee was the worship. Led by Steve Fee, it was excellent. They were an awesome band, just as good as you’d expect someone like David Crowder or Matt Redman to be. And he was very humble, never once used the stage to promote his CD’s, and didn’t even use any of his own songs until the very last (and even then he didn’t mention that it was his). Very nice guy, very talented band. Very worshipful times…it’s been a while since I was in the audience.

Also, another highlight of the weekend was that I got to see a screening of the new Steve Taylor movie, The Second Chance. If this is playing in a theater near you (click on the link to go to the site) go see it. It was an excellent movie, despite whatever misgivings you might have about Michael W. Smith being in a lead role. The whole crowd gave it a standing ovation afterward. That was really cool, because actually Steve Taylor and the other lead actor jeff obafemi carr were there for discussion afterward. They had some interesting stories to tell about how the story evolved a little. And btw, if you don’t know who Steve Taylor is, shame on you.

So, yeah…I had an interesting weekend. I roomed with some neat college girls, and hung out with my dad. I walked around the ’Burgh a bit, even took the “T” (the subway). And…I bought like ten books. Which is kind of sad, considering I have no time to read them before…well, actually, I will leave that for another post. Coming soon.