Archive for the ‘conforming’ Category

“Put the ‘Christ’ back in Christmas.” This is just one of many Facebook Groups that frustrates, agitates, and irritates me. If you are a part of a similar Group or Fan Page then I highly encourage you to “un-Group” or “un-Fan” (which seems fitting since “unfriend” is the 2009 Word of the Year). The real problem is not that the word “Christ” is substituted with an “X.” On the contrary, it is our modern, western, and commercial/consumptive adaptations of Christmas that need rethought and reformed. The ancient symbol “X” was used to represent the Christ. “X” is the letter “Chi” (pronounced Kie) which begins the Greek spelling of “christos” or what we now call “Christ.” The “X” in “X-Mas” is simply an abbreviated form of the same idea but involves an ancient representation of the person of Jesus. What if we reclaimed an “ancient” celebration of the birth of Jesus? What if we were less concerned with wrapping paper, stuffing stockings, shopping trips and what to buy? What if we ushered in a new/old way of celebrating Christmas that reflects more genuinely the person of Jesus? What would that look like?

It’s coming. The day marked for the celebration of the birth of Jesus is nearing. Comments are frequently made about the origination of the holiday being pagan. I would argue that which was pagan and made religious has largely become pagan again. The “celebration” that we now call Christmas has become the commercial exploitation of God coming into the brokenness of humanity.

It’s coming. Black Friday. The day after Thanksgiving, millions of people will sacrifice a full night of sleep and either stay up all night or awake very early to drive their vehicles to shopping malls and retail stores across the country. Long lines, crammed traffic grids, and hateful behaviors are no deterents from the “cost savings” for the mass purchasing of items that may or may not be needed. We’ll discuss the idea of a “need” soon (for those of you coming to the Narrative Gathering on Monday nights be thinking about what a need is). Black Friday is an interesting social phenomenon. Why do consumers think they are “saving” money? Do consumers consider what money actually is? Are the majority of purchases on Black Friday for items that would be purchased even if “sales” didn’t exist? Is the purchasing of items encouraging unfair trade or even slavery in other countries? Pick a question or add a question and we’ll kick it around. Of course, my hope is that we all begin to consider the fullness of what it means to consume, buy, worship, purchase, and enslave while imagining what alternative behavior may be more life sustaining as we celebrate the coming of God into human reality.

In honor of our most recent Election Day in the U.S. I decided to republish this post from the archives:

I am somewhat frequently interviewed by students here at MVNU for Research Writing projects, Public Speaking presentations, or Christian Life and Ministry papers. Tonight I was interviewed by Daniel Coutz. It was one of the more thoughtful interviews that I have experienced and I appreciated the approach. The conversation went something like this:

Daniel: “Respond to this statement: The United States is a Christian Nation.”

Travis: “No earthly empire is distinctively in keeping with the way of Jesus. Those who claim the United States to be a Christian nation need to enroll in a post-reformation church history course that discusses the period of American colonization. Also helpful would be a study in theology and philosophy to explore the definitions of theism, deism, and idolatry.

Daniel: “Do you feel the American flag should be displayed in churches? Why or why not?”

Travis: “No. The church is laced with a history of symbol and icon for visual engagement in worship and when one considers what the American flag represents I would have to question what one is worshiping. I would have no problem with displaying a flag in a church if it was displayed beside every other flag of every other nation so long as the symbol is understood to represent equality and unity.

Daniel: “Respond to this statement: The loyalty of a person belongs first to his country.”

Travis: “Why would one view an earthly empire as something to which giving loyalty is necessary or a priority? My suggestion is that most would give said loyalty due to an enculturation that promotes a sense of loyalty as nessecary. I would also suggest it has something to do with the supposed ‘safety’ provided by the military branch of a certain country’s government. Fear would be that which fuels loyalty to an earthly empire.”

Daniel: “Respond to this statement. Christians living in the United States should be patriotic about the United States.”

Travis: “One’s definition of patriotism would be primary. I find it problematic for a follower of Jesus to pledge his allegiance to an earthly nation. So in the sense that the recitation of the ‘Pledge of Allegiance’ is patriotic, then patriotism may be considered contrary to ‘worshipping no other gods.’”

[Be sure to check out the questions at the end of this post.]

I just read a blog post by Prodigal John (Jon Acuff) at Stuff Christians Like. I realized as I read his confession that I, too, am a Christian Culture Snob (though I think I already knew that I was). I would suggest that the proper language to use would be “Christian SUBculture Snob” since the Christian subculture is not a dominant presence within a broader culture to which many Christians conform, the dominant culture of the American empire. Nonetheless, I am a Christian Culture Snob according to Jon:

A Christian culture snob is a Christian that makes fun of people and things that are deemed “Christian.” I believe am cooler than you and able to edit “Love your neighbors” to actually say, “Love your neighbors unless you deem them cheesy and then instead feel free to kick them like a hacky sack woven of burlap and sarcasm.” Basically, I am prone to turn my nose up at some of the things you do.

Although I’ve reduced my degree of Christian culture snobbery in the last few years, during high school it was at an all time high, which is when I ran into you Carmen. I think you were doing that Champion song with the devil cameo and maybe the whole God’s Army thing with the dog tags at the time. And Christian radio, you were just so bright and chipper all the time. I had a field day with both of you. But looking back on it, and fearing that I’ll fall prey to Christian culture snobs when my book comes out, I realize that I was wrong and really unloving. And even though I wish I could eradicate Christian culture snobbery, I am but a meager blogger, one man who wears a retainer at night, a unibrowed writer with only a small voice. But the least I can do is to help other people know if they’ve fallen into the same trap as me. The least I can do is create the …

Christian Culture Snob Scorecard. Here are my results:

1. +0 points. I equally crucify cheesy Christian programming and The Bachelorette.
2. +3 points. Not “Jesus Junk” but I do have some other phrases to describe the knick knackery that Christian bookstores often sell at the front.
3. +2 points. Chris Tomlin, no. I met him and he was cool. Casting Crowns, absolutely!
4. +1 point. I don’t get the goosebumps from “I Can Only Imagine” but Shane and Shane might get me a little.
5. +5 points. But… you can usually tell.
6. +10 points. This is my worst offense!
7. +3 points. Ha! Ha!
8. +2 points. Only mildly embellished jeans.
9. +5 points. That’s me.
10. +0 points. Nope. I’m fully aware.
11. +3 points. Indeed. It’s true.
12. +3 points. Not Man on Fire but… yes… many other films.
13. +1 points. Maybe even 18-19%.
14. +1 points. Ditto “The Fray.”
15. -2 points. I’m proud that I went to a Michael W. Smith concert because I brag about the fact that I fell asleep.
16. +2 points. You have an abnormal amount of disdain for the movies “Facing the Giants” or “Fireproof.”
17. +8 points. Once again… I fell asleep after 5 minutes of “FtG” and refuse to watch “Fireproof.”
18. +2 points.
19. -2 points. I regularly criticize the cheesy nature of Christian culture but do all that I can to change it.
20. +3 points. He is intense. Saw Stephen Baldwin at Ichthus and the crowd started chanting, “Bio Dome.”
21. +10 points. I just say that there is no such thing as Christian music.
22. +2 points. Kirk is right up there with pleated khakis and the Republican haircut.
23. +3 points. I’m not a middle-aged female.
24. +0 points. I checked out the site because I was hoping it would be satire.
25. +16 points. Indeed.
26. +4 points. Complete lack of wisdom.
27. +0 points. Not really.
28. +3 points. Oh, Thomas.
29. + 4 points. Forget the strong, godly man with the mysterious past. I just make fun of Christian romance novels in general.

I scored 93. Off the charts. Once again, I have to agree completely with Jon:

How did you score? To be honest, I fluctuate a little but on most days, I am on off the charts. But what this site is teaching me is that mocking doesn’t really do awesome things for Christianity. I’ve definitely blown that sometimes with what I write and am probably the guiltiest of all of us, but I realized something the other day. I’ve never once had a non-Christian say to me, “You know, this faith you’re making fun, this Christian culture you’re mocking sounds really intriguing. I think I do want to start an everlasting personal relationship with Jesus. Thank you for being so willing to make fun of Carmen for me.”

I must ask a question. OK… a couple of questions. Is it good that there is a Christian subculture? Is the current, popular Christian subculture even really “Christian?” What does a real, healthy, and good Christian culture look like?

One of my more recent posts entitled, "Teaching Little Kyla… Languages (and about Tattoos) " received over 150 hits in the first hour of its publication. 25 comments have been posted in addition to a barrage of comments in response to my posted Facebook link. Adam Walker-Cleaveland published a similar post on pomomusings.com (a blog worth a daily read).

Are tattoos really that big of a deal? Maybe I’m just surrounded by enough people who don’t think its an issue for discussion or who maintain a place of conforming with society and recognizing trends as legitimizing for any behavior. Maybe the historical and religious context of the levitical writing needs studied and taught.

Are people (including myself) so self-absorbed that we prefer to talk about inking ourselves rather than loving our enemies, living missionally, ministering with the marginalized, practicing discipline, and thwarting our individualism for the sake of community and friendship loyalty? Why is there so little interest in the violence of apathy and the elusiveness of sabbath? Why are we not as concerned with the movement of the Church? Are we distracted? Are we addicted consumers of brain-dead "conversation?" Why is a tattoo so much more of a fascinating topic?

“Teaching Little Kyla…”
A series on Travis and Sarah’s journey of parental flubs, flaws, failures and accidental^ fortune.

I have been considering getting a tattoo for way too long now. I need to just do it. The one thing keeping me from it is that I don’t want to be in the “everybody’s doing it / it makes you a trendy ‘with it’ emergent” category. If I do proceed to have a colored liquid substance commonly called ink injected/burnt into my epidermis I would choose to have some combination of either Hebrew or Greek lettering imprinted. I know Greek better so I am more likely to go with that. My current choices are as follows:

1.) The 5th chapter of The Gospel of Matthew in Greek text line after line across my shoulders and back.
2.) Same as above but down my side along the rib cage area.
3.) Alpha on one forearm. Omega on the other.
4.) ek statis  in Greek (somewhere).
5.) splaxnizomai in Greek (somewhere).
6.) ekklesia in Greek (somewhere).
7.) “I heart Mom” on my shoulder inside a heart (ok, not really… just to clear that up).

Kyla has been learning the English alphabet. She is really starting to get it down and is not yet 2 years old. “J-K-L-M-N-O” is giving her some trouble but she nails the “P.” I’ve started to teach her Hebrew and Greek. She does well with “Aleph-Bet-Gimel-Dalet” and “Alpha-Beta-Gamma-Delta.” I was thinking about making up some flashcards for her but then realized I could simply use my tattoos.

Should I get a tattoo?
What should it read?
If you had a child age 13-19 who wanted a tattoo would you allow it?
Should I be teaching my daughter the biblical languages?

^ There is someone(s) greater than me/us (a divine being and a community of people) that intercede with grace and giving.

Thanks to "makeesha" and Julie Clawson for their thoughtful comments and contributions to some ongoing dialogue on my previous post concerning Emergent Village , their^ recent gathering, and the ideas of home and church. makeesha pointed out one thing that i was attempting to suggest or about which i was honestly inquiring. The blogosphere and twittersphere are quite confusing when dealing with anything other than the regularities of life. Many things are hard to communicate when the conversational dynamics of tone, vocal inflection, facial expression and body language are absent. Yet, inconsistently, I continue to blog. Ha! In the same way I wonder about the clarity of communication during a gathering of those with limited to no historical and proximal connectivity (maybe that is an incorrect assumption). How does Emergent Village benefit one’s local context? How does EV benefit a community’s love toward neighbor? What is the value to Emergent Village’s global presence? Are these some of the questions discussed at the gathering in D.C.? What are some perspectives about the value of the family and the family being the agent of change with the church in order for the church to be the agent of change within society?

Julie, I am glad that you were not permitted and/or discouraged from Tweeting during the gathering. A friend recently tweeted that even though there were a good number of people attending a Bible study gathering that none of them really seemed present – to which I replied, "It’s good to see that you are fully present since you are tweeting." I also recently wrote a short book review on Reggie McNeal’s Practicing Greatness: 7 Disciplines of Extraordinary Spiritual Leaders where I focused on the the idea of centering our time and energy so as not to have the distractions of internet, mobile phones, and television consume us.

^ I realized after writing this post that I used the possessive language of "their" when referring to Emergent Village. I hope this is not offensive as I know that any of us who have every associated ourselves with or been labeled as "emeregent" (whether for good or bad) do not wish to be an exclusive group that claims ownership of some institutionalized system.

I have had my Twitter account for a while now. At first I hardly ever used it except with a few international friends or those who are "with it" enough in the states to "tweet." I am excited that more people are now tweeting. A little birdy (ok, that was too far; not funny) told me that Twitter is the new Facebook, a name which continues to bother me since the application is not a book at all. The funniest thing about Twitter is that I have "followers." Now I really have a messianic complex since I feel like a first century rabbi in Israel. I’m not sure if I want to call my followers my "Tweeps" or my "Tweeple." Both terms are tossed around the Twitterverse so as to signify that one is "with it" when it comes to using the "with it" online connectivity tool.

What does it mean to be "with it?"

If you would like to follow me [and thereby know where I am and what I'm doing at all times (yes, i know... captivating and irresistible)] then please click the link to the right (it’s the one that says "Twitter"). Come, follow me… and I will make you ____________________.

I’m taking out for lunch or dinner whoever fills in the blank with the most creative and funniest response. Click on the comments to add your… comment.

My friend Matt Frye commented on my last post about parenting. I was simply going to reply in the comments but his thought were too funny and legit to leave there. Here is his comment followed by my response:

"dude, remember that scene in ‘the little memaid’ where flounder and that seagull and ariel (spelling?) are naming things. like they named that fork something strange. and then she started combing her hair like it was spaghetti. man, that was funny. i don’t know why ‘the littler mermaid’ came to mind, but it did. maybe because of that scene and because of flounder the fish. and because the dad in the movie is awesome. remember that beard? and his deep voice. and his trident. and also, i feel that one does not have to be a parent, or a good parent to offer good words about parenting. like i’ve never been deep sea diving before, but if i read a few books about it i am sure that i could offer some good words. especially if the book was written by sebastion the lobster. or was he a crab? and why did he have a sweet caribean accent and everyone else spoke plain english. ok i’m done. see you daddy."

MY RESPONSE :

I know why "The Little Mermaid" came to mind. It is Kyla’s favorite movie and Ariel is her favorite character. Well… I’m not sure… she also really likes "Annie" and "Monsters, Inc." I like her favorite movies because Ariel has a substantial identity crisis and subverts the imperial reign of her father the king (though I don’t hope that I’ll need to be subverted; nor do I plan on bearing a trident or running for political office). I really hope that Kyla realizes that her identity is "in Christ" rather than being defined by voices that represent the popular appeal to human goodness or self-hatred. The fork is called a "dinglehopper" and, yes, Kyla always tries to comb her hair with her fork (which she is now beginning to use quite well unless she is stabbing peas). Sebastian is a crab not a lobster. All crabs have Caribbean accents. Or… do they? Maybe crabs speak "normally" and we’re all just too arrogant to realize that we (whoever "we" is) are the ones with the accents.

On to other movies… Annie. Annie is an orphan and Kyla loves her. Enough said. Monsters, Inc. employees Mike Wazowski and James P. Sullivan are just plain funny and Kyla looks and acts like "Boo." The children in the movie are like the "untouchables" of 1c. Israel (except that children get scared by monsters in their closets and I don’t think that ever really happened). "Sully" ends up being the figure that redeems the monsters’ relationship with the children. Rather than scaring the "dangerous" children, Sully leads the energy-creating-and-capturing-monster-world-industry to not fear the children. Interestingly, those named "monsters" are the ones who must learn to not fear the "unclean" and "untouchable."

Many MVNU students have been attending the Sunday morning gathering of Christians who call themselves "Journey Church." Here is the first (1st) of six (6) reasons why MVN(azarene)U students have been so highly attracted to the non-Nazarene gathering place that is Journey.

1. The perception that going to a Sunday morning gathering is still necessary.

It begins here. The church is instilling habits and thought patterns that centralize the concept of church around a large(r) corporate gathering with usually mediocre to poor music [(not Journey) and (maybe I need to reread my post and the comments from "Decemberists are Good? ")] and a lecture. Students are encouraged by faculty and staff members, parents and former youth pastors to become involved in a "local congregation." Attending chapel services three (3) to four (4) times a week , participating in on campus small groups , being involved in community service and mission organizations , studying as an act of worship, serving in student leadership/ministry as RAs /SLAs /SGA , and going on Spring Break and summer cross-cultural mission trips is simply not enough.

In the profound words of ________________, "We’ve always met on Sunday mornings and these kids need to keep going to church. We’re losing this generation. What can we do to keep them involved in the life of the church? I think they need some good holiness preaching." I’m not sure how to react to that statement except to ask few questions:

• Does this sound a bit skewed to anyone other than me ?
• Is a Sunday morning gathering necessary? Is it more good than harmful or more harmful than good?
• Why might one feel as though his/her entire belief system is constructed around that gathering that is called "church?"
• Should students attending a university with distinctive theological education systems be guilted into maintaining the existence of the current, popular ecclesial system?

Since students have been successfully convinced that attending a Sunday morning gathering is either the fullness of or necessary for one’s life reflecting the way of Jesus, students wake up on Sunday mornings for…

TO BE CONTINUED.