Amena Brown took the words right out of my mouth
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_R1HB6yasYg&feature=related
This is the true story of ONE poet picked to stand behind a mike
To find out what happens when you stop being RELIGIOUS and start getting REAL
This is my Real World and you might think you know but you have no idea
So let this poem be the pages of my diary
Cuz I’m about to share my secrets
Brothers and sisters lend me your ears and if you have some, lend me your tears
These are intimate fears of an ex-religious fanatic who was like a recovering addict
Just trying to stay clean but my religious ROUTINE kept leaving me feeling FILTHY like dirty magazines
Just call me Jacob, cuz I walked with that limp
But don’t call me out of my name cuz even though I was mentality pimped
I was living in a bubble, kind of like, kind of like the dice in the game trouble
And if this is the game of life, I tried to play my cards right
But you got to play the hand you were dealt right?
So I came to a fork in the road and took the hard right towards freedom
I was on my way to the Emerald City
Trying to find the courage to have a heart and use my brain
So I followed that yellow brick road only to find that everything that glitters ain’t gold
I figured that nobody would believe that I had to LEAVE the church for a time to SAVE my soul
See I worshiped God, THE INSTITUTION
Cuz I didn’t have enough mental constitution
And this is about more than yielding to a building
Or PIMPING the Holy Spirit for just one more GOOD FEELING
NARROW is the way and so was MY MIND
Cuz I like to get high…as long as it was “HIGH and MIGHTY”
And I wanted to tell the truth as long as it meant that I was HOLIER than YOU
Thought I knew HIM cuz I wore his T-shirt like I was part of his crew
Even had the keychain that said “What would Jesus Do?”
But I DIDN’T know what Jesus knew
Jesus knew that freedom was as simple as taking in a breath
He knew that if I found HIM then I would find myself
Cuz if you STRIP religion NAKED all you’re left with is PRIDE and TRADITION
It was my way of creating my own highway to heaven
As if God wasn’t nearer to me than the sound of my voice
And I wanna know HIM, I want to know the sound of his voice
Cuz if you listen he speaks in the sway of trees
And I don’t want to miss a single word he has to say
This is a true story of ONE poet picked to stand behind a mike
To find out what happens when you stop being religious and start getting real
Monday, September 29, 2008
Saturday, September 27, 2008
The Difficult Message of Christianity
Peace beyond all understanding.
In a recent "discussion" with a fellow seminary student I had to convey a difficult concept in Christian Pacifism which I had not yet really formulated beyond the recesses of my mind. The more I thought about it later at night the more I couldn't help but toss and turn about this difficult task in the Christian message...which has led me here.
I cannot help but understand and read the message of Christ and see an overwhelming need to fight the traditional world conquering mentality that we are born with. Most fundamentalist Evangelicals will tell you that they could never vote for a candidate who is in favor of abortion. Admittedly I am equally opposed to the practice of abortion...I am pro-life. Yet, I am not pro-life in the sense that politicians use the phrase to divide and polarize society...I mean, I am really pro-life. I am pro-American life, pro-Christian life, pro-atheist life, pro-Iraqi life, pro-Muslim life, and yes...even pro-terrorist life. You see in all of this tangled web of hate we have jumped on the Old Testament vengeance train with so much vigor and intensity that we seem to have put all those pesky little annoying Jesus quotes on the back burner. You know the one's "bless those who persecute you," "turn the other cheek," "pray for your enemies," "if someone wants your coat, give him your cloak as well," "if someone forces you to walk a mile, go two," "do not resist the one who is evil." You know all of those things seem to get in the way of our desire for vengeance...which really doesn't even belong to us but is "Mine, says the Lord."
You see it seems to me that in our nice little Christian suburban minds we easily force out those things which leave us with cognitive dissonance about our beliefs. We water down and belittle Christianity to a system of beliefs which we don't really have to deal with. We make the Bible nothing more than a good advice book about our moral superiority as good evangelicals. We make Christianity...for lack of a better term...easy. Because I mean cummon, isn't it ridiculous to not exact revenge on someone who breaks into your house. I mean you have rights...as an American to have that person arrested. You aren't going to ask that person to take your car too are you? If someone kills your wife or child...you certainly have a right to demand that this person be given the death penalty for taking something precious of yours...don't you?
I mean to not have the thief arrested, or the murderer convicted...or the perpetrators of massive violence like the kind we saw on September 11th avenged would just be complete insanity wouldn't it?
It would.
It is insanity.
It is difficult.
It is impossible.
Well...kind of...
Isn't it, however, the life we are called to. Where in the world did we get this idea that Christianity was supposed to be easy. It is more than just a religion that we can fit into our system of beliefs...jammed, folded, and pushed like an overstuffed suitcase. It is hard. It is difficult...to forgive when you have nothing within you that wants to forgive. To sacrifice everything you have worked your whole life for...so that someone who doesn't deserve it can come and take it all away. It is beyond difficult...it is insane.
I mean...who lives their life in such a way that they sacrifice everything they have earned to a thief? Who lets someone kill the one they love and get away with it? Who allows themselves to be so taken advantage of that the rest of the world would look upon them and say..."My God...this is injustice if I've ever seen it before!"
Oh yeah...there was that one guy. Jesus, was it? Hmm...the center point of the faith. Yeah...I seem to remember reading something about him. You know...the guy...the turn the other cheek, don't resist your enemies, walk two miles guy. Yeah...him.
You see when we morph our belief system into one that fits our world we bastardize it. We water it down. We reduce it...until it's worthless. Until it's worse than worthless...until it's propaganda. The kind of which a culture hates. Because it's contradictory, not in it's inherit nature...just in the way we make it... you know...easy. When at it's core Christianity is not easy. It is...difficult.
Very Difficult.
In a recent "discussion" with a fellow seminary student I had to convey a difficult concept in Christian Pacifism which I had not yet really formulated beyond the recesses of my mind. The more I thought about it later at night the more I couldn't help but toss and turn about this difficult task in the Christian message...which has led me here.
I cannot help but understand and read the message of Christ and see an overwhelming need to fight the traditional world conquering mentality that we are born with. Most fundamentalist Evangelicals will tell you that they could never vote for a candidate who is in favor of abortion. Admittedly I am equally opposed to the practice of abortion...I am pro-life. Yet, I am not pro-life in the sense that politicians use the phrase to divide and polarize society...I mean, I am really pro-life. I am pro-American life, pro-Christian life, pro-atheist life, pro-Iraqi life, pro-Muslim life, and yes...even pro-terrorist life. You see in all of this tangled web of hate we have jumped on the Old Testament vengeance train with so much vigor and intensity that we seem to have put all those pesky little annoying Jesus quotes on the back burner. You know the one's "bless those who persecute you," "turn the other cheek," "pray for your enemies," "if someone wants your coat, give him your cloak as well," "if someone forces you to walk a mile, go two," "do not resist the one who is evil." You know all of those things seem to get in the way of our desire for vengeance...which really doesn't even belong to us but is "Mine, says the Lord."
You see it seems to me that in our nice little Christian suburban minds we easily force out those things which leave us with cognitive dissonance about our beliefs. We water down and belittle Christianity to a system of beliefs which we don't really have to deal with. We make the Bible nothing more than a good advice book about our moral superiority as good evangelicals. We make Christianity...for lack of a better term...easy. Because I mean cummon, isn't it ridiculous to not exact revenge on someone who breaks into your house. I mean you have rights...as an American to have that person arrested. You aren't going to ask that person to take your car too are you? If someone kills your wife or child...you certainly have a right to demand that this person be given the death penalty for taking something precious of yours...don't you?
I mean to not have the thief arrested, or the murderer convicted...or the perpetrators of massive violence like the kind we saw on September 11th avenged would just be complete insanity wouldn't it?
It would.
It is insanity.
It is difficult.
It is impossible.
Well...kind of...
Isn't it, however, the life we are called to. Where in the world did we get this idea that Christianity was supposed to be easy. It is more than just a religion that we can fit into our system of beliefs...jammed, folded, and pushed like an overstuffed suitcase. It is hard. It is difficult...to forgive when you have nothing within you that wants to forgive. To sacrifice everything you have worked your whole life for...so that someone who doesn't deserve it can come and take it all away. It is beyond difficult...it is insane.
I mean...who lives their life in such a way that they sacrifice everything they have earned to a thief? Who lets someone kill the one they love and get away with it? Who allows themselves to be so taken advantage of that the rest of the world would look upon them and say..."My God...this is injustice if I've ever seen it before!"
Oh yeah...there was that one guy. Jesus, was it? Hmm...the center point of the faith. Yeah...I seem to remember reading something about him. You know...the guy...the turn the other cheek, don't resist your enemies, walk two miles guy. Yeah...him.
You see when we morph our belief system into one that fits our world we bastardize it. We water it down. We reduce it...until it's worthless. Until it's worse than worthless...until it's propaganda. The kind of which a culture hates. Because it's contradictory, not in it's inherit nature...just in the way we make it... you know...easy. When at it's core Christianity is not easy. It is...difficult.
Very Difficult.
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