In fighting False Idols and What To Do About Them

“If, then, any one reviles us, irritates, stirs us up to violence, tries to make us quarrel; let us keep silence, let us not be ashamed to become dumb. For he who irritates us and does us an injury is committing sin, and wishes us to become like himself.” Ambrose, On the Duties of the Clergy

In the mass shooting at The Pulse nightclub we are witness to an amazing work of cultural deconstruction.  The victims were in large measure gay men, many where young 20 somethings enjoying a night out with friends and partners. The shooter, a young man himself, proclaimed on the 911 call his allegiance to Islam and to ISIS.  His acts were motivated out of a radical religious hatred of these men and the lifestyle they engaged in. 

Regardless of our convictions toward the behavior of these individuals, both victims and shooter, we need to acknowledge the horrific loss. The individuals were each uniquely made in the image of God. Something has been taken from this Earth that can never be replaced. There life was unjustly taken from them before they really had a chance to live it. Even the shooter who is guilty of 50 cold-blooded murder is also victim of a much larger cultural force that has intellectually enslaved a vast  portion of the world’s population. 

One not familiar with the current culture war might be perplexed how the media has chosen to report the story. The larger culture has laid at the church’ doorstep the responsibility for the awful tragedy that was this mass shooting. The media has championed as war heroes men who where brought together because of very private, personal and intimate behavior.  The government and media has silenced, as best as they can, the religious core which sparked this violence.

       What are we to make of this reaction? Our first response, I suggest was what Russel Moore of the Southern Baptist Convention suggested 48 hours after the shooting. We aught to weep with those who weep. And acknowledge the fearful loss to those who were closest to the victims.  

There is a titanic internal struggle happening in the larger culture. Which golden idol must we/do we value more?   On one hand, The Pulse night club represents the most direct threat to the Judeo-Christian foundations of our culture. The gay community represents for many the fullest expression of the sexual revolution. With the shooting, that expression is threatened, and so too our larger culture’s desire for sexual liberty.  On the other hand, is Christianity’s and historically speaking Western Civilization’s “greatest” foe.  Islam has been masterfully portrayed as the ultimate victim of European and American culture. A historic set of slights that date back to 1099 and the first crusade.   We are constantly prodded to treat with kids gloves an entire religion. What we have seen in the media is a scramble to weigh which group takes center stage in our culture’s theater of grievances. 

Even if you disagree with my analysis, one is still left wondering what to do long term? Once the immediate grief, anger and shock has worn off, how must the church respond?  Bishop Ambrose in his book On the Duties of the Clergy suggests one strategy. Remain silent. Remain silent as to avoid falling into sin by saying to much. Remain silent as Christ remained silent at his trial.  What is happening in our culture is a clash of cultural false idols. As their struggle for supremacy continues, they will undercut each other, chopping both of them off at the knees. Neither Islam of the Gay agenda can stand the brutal beating of reality in God’s created universe. Both will fall and be destroyed. 

If action is required let it be inspired by the action of the cross.  It is not without irony and paradox that the most beautiful image in Christianity is also one of the ugliest, the crucification of Christ.  Makato Fujimura, artist, Christian, and director of the Brehm Center states that beauty appeals, delights, invites and refreshes the individual who beholds it. Works of beauty “are worth of scrutiny, rewarding to contemplate, deserving of pursuit.”  In a world filled with broken idols, the soon to broken idols, the cross, and the acts of beauty inspired by it, will be the only things left standing in the rumble.

Note: this Post originally published in the Tractarian a publication of The Anglican Cathedral Church of Ephiphany. 

The Dinner-- A Short Story

Michael sat in a small booth against the wall of the restaurant. The grey flecks of hair sprouting up in the midst of the nightshade black of his head and gotee. The red-wine colored table cloth standing out against the dark oak paneling of the wall, black and white pictures of plump happy people in hand crafted frames above his head. His fingers drummed methodically against the table as his eyes straining to read the wall clock over the barkeeps head. 6:10, she’s late. But she is always late now.

There was a time in their friendship in which Susan would never have been late. She was the time keeper of their little diverse click at Hillsborough High School.  It had never occurred to him how stereotypically even comically diverse their group had been. Korean Kim who was now in her 3^rd year of residency.  The star African-American basket ball player, Conner who got a ride to Vanderbilt. George, who insisted he was the Cuban lady killer. Susan the studios Black girl from the hood, determined to be better then her older sisters. And then there was Michael, the skinny white nerd who loved all things robot and comic book related.  After graduation They all parted ways.  Michael and Kim to University of Florida. Susan to Jacksonville and Bethune Cookman. George spent two years at community college before transferring to Florida State and meeting his partner Benjamin. 

  Susan returned to Tampa with her husband Lebron  after graduating. Lebron was bent on conquering the business world. Susan had her perfectly decorated 2nd grade classroom, she was not about to let slip her demand for temporal precision.  Michael’s return to Tampa was a fate accompli. His degree in robotics and Naval engineering had landed him the job he wanted since middle school. Working on remotely Operated submersible for deep see exploration. 

  If only Lebron had not turned out to be a monster.  Their marriage had seemed to be the perfect paring of warmth and drive. That was until the drive sped out of control. No one really suspect that he was dangerous.  After three years of not climbing the corporate ladder fast enough Lebron had begun taking it out on Susan. 

Michael pulled out his phone, he had sworn he wouldn’t tonight. Maybe I need to call her. He looked to the door and the tin of the old fashion bell rang above the chatter of the room. Susan frantically walked in her eyes on a swivel. 

He got up and brushed his sweaty palms on his pants. “Everything ok?”

“Yes,” Susan nodded.“It was just the baby sitter coming to the house late. She heard 5:30 when I thought I told her 5. Nothing to be concerned about.”

Michael reflexively extended his arm to embrace Susan around her waist. You can touch her like that. He thought, regaining his volitional control and with his other hand prevented the move. He breathed a quite sigh of relief.

“So is he down?” Michael asked as they both took their seat in the booth. 

“Should be, no calls at least, it is a good sign.” The waiter had appeared and ask for Susan’s drink order.  “Diet soda, and a glass of water.”

Turning to Michael, “Do you know what you want?”

“Yes, but I will wait till you make your choice.” His hands would not stop sweeting, he rubbed them again.

“I haven’t been in Antonio’s for a long time, maybe not since graduating.” Susan’s head cocked upward, her eyes followed as if trying to recall the memories.

“How was your class today?”

“Not bad, they behaved themselves today, despite it being a Friday. You alright?”

“Me? Yes.” Michael’s eyes flashed downward to the fork lying on the scarlet cloth napkin.  “I mean I am fine. We have the Deep Submersible Submarine trial on Monday, concerned how that might go. Probably heading into the office tomorrow, run a diagnostic or two.”

“How many of those can you run?”

The door chime rang and Michael again jumped in his seat and looked to his right. 

“Why are you so jumpy?” Susan’s mouth turned up in the corners with a expressive smile. “I am the one supposed to be celebrating recovery. Though I am not really feeling it. His new company moved him back to Jacksonville.” The smile faded and she distracted herself by looking at the menu for the forth time. She had chosen her entree after the first run through the large single legal sized menu. She kept the menu infront of her she realized in oder to hide from Michael’s kind eyes. 

The waiter again appeared, and was standing behind Susan’s left shoulder, bending over to place both glasses on her right side. “Are you ready to order?”

Michael looked at Susan and nodded for her to go ahead. “I will have the creamy sundries pesto Chicken.”

“Soup or salad?”

“Salad”

“And for you sir?”

“The Tuscan Steak, medium well. Italian potatoes, and Minestrone soup.”

“Any thing else for you? I can take those.” The waiter pointed at the menus as she placed the serving tray under her arm.

“No.” Susan replied, reluctantly handing of the menu. 

“You are not dodging the question that easily, its not Mr. Glenn’s  history class.” The smile returning to Susan’s face. “Something is bugging you.”

“Ok, I have realized something about a relationship. And it is making things difficult for me. I have to figure some things out before I can do anything about it.”

“A Love interest perhaps? A young lady caught your fancy?” Michael blushed with uncomfortableness.  Way to close to home Susan. “Maybe it a young man?”

“Cut it out.” Michael and Susan both broke into laughter. “ You know that is the very last way I swing.”

“Hit a nerve, did I?” Susan’s face fully relaxing for the first time that night.  “Yes, but that is George said too back in the day.”

“God, George,” Michael’s voice broke with laughter. “You see him recently?”

“I will see him next week, he wants to take me out to get a new hairdo and get out there, start seeing people.”  Their laughter died awkwardly. Susan recoiled in the booth reflexively. 

“Do you need me to talk to him?” Oh, George please don’t ruin it for me. Yes, but you have to make your mind known to her..

“No.  I don’t think he is really serious.” Both of them straightened themselves up and looked at the table for a way to move forward. 

Bridge of Spies and the Value of Life

What is a human person worth? And in a related question, what is the shape of a human’s personhood? My wife and I sat down this weekend and watched Steven Spielberg’s latest film, Bridge of Spies. The story of a prisoner swap between the Soviet Union and the United States at the height of the cold war. The main character in the movie, James Donovan played by Tom Hanks, struggles to broker the complicated and tense negations between the two parties. Donovan is an insurance lawyer, turned defense lawyer, turned diplomat, turned high stakes negotiator.  Often times Hank’s character is unaware or unsure of both sides real goals and motives. The questions that plague Donovan and the murky political waters he has to navigate are intoned by the darkened settings and lighting in the film. Just as with Schindler’s List  the color palette or lack thereof highlights the difficulty and uncertainty of the film’s protagonist.

What struck me as I watched this film was the way in which the value of human life was front and center in the film. Is an aging spy worth one or two Americans? Is the American serviceman worth more or the same as the American graduate student?  Is the value of a spy in what they know or in something else entirely? Their service? Their uniqueness as a human being? Donovan throughout this film is set in opposition to his own government. The CIA agents handling him constantly press him to compromise his values. The CIA has made up its mind, the graduate student is not worth the trouble of saving, the pilot is.  Donovan disagrees and insists on both Americans. In the end, the film is less about the spies as it is about the man who stands between the opposing parties who value objectives and secrets above and beyond the individual.       

It struck me soon after watching this film, just how much Spielberg wrestles with this question of human value in his other films.  In his latter movies, such as Saving Private Ryan, Amistad, Schindler’s List, and now Bridge of Spies, Spielberg takes this question on in a   myriad of different ways. Can the life of one soldier and his potential value to his family out weigh the lives of his fellow soldiers? Oscar Schindler’s entire character ark starts from using individuals to make him wealthy toward coming to view nothing more valuable then an individual human life.  Bridge of Spies is likely to be Spielberg’s least preachy example concerning the value of human life.  In all three movies mentioned above,the theme is expressed directly.  For example, Oscar Schindler, laments “I could have gotten one more.” And Itzhak Stern (played by Ben Kingsley) holds the list of Jews Oscar is going to absconds with and says, “This list is life.”  

Bridge of Spies on the other hand  plays it oblique. The result is a film that engrosses the viewer, allowing the individual to soak in the film’s message.  Rather then being confronted by a message (such as the girl in the red dress in Schindler’s List) one is left enjoying the character of Donovan, feeling more acutely his struggles to value and promote human life.  In many ways it is one of Spielberg’s  more enjoyable and better films. 

Book Review--A Little Life

Thanks to the local library I have been listen to a novel on CD recently, A Little Life, and it is worth writing about on my blog. It is not a book, at first glance, I might like as much as I do. For those who don’t know, I am an Evangelical-Anglican and Creedal Christian. I am seeking to be ordained and minister full time in a church.  I stand behind a traditional view of marriage, and that homosexuality is a sin against the person engaged in the activity, as well as the community he is apart of.  However, despite this, or maybe even because of this, I believe there is much to learn, observe and understand from A Little Life.  I am not sure I can fully whole-heartedly endorse the book.  Not because of my religious convictions per se, but rather for the emotional toll this book makes of the reader.  It is, like Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, an emotionally punishing book that captures you with amazing writing. If you have the stomach and the mental toughness for the read, the book will provide you a beautifully sad and richly written study of the human condition. 

First, let’s get the basics out of the way. A Little Life is written by Hanya Yanagihara and published by Doubleday.  The book was nominated for numerous award as one 2015’s greatest novels.  The plot takes shape with the unfolding relationship of four friends, Malcolm, JB, Willem, and Jude.  Even so this book focuses on the life of Jude St. Francis. While the friendship of the four men begin at college in Boston, Jude is followed more or less from birth, through life at a monastery, life at a boy’s home, as a emancipated teen, and then connecting with three college friends that will become life long companions. 

      I may have described the plot, but it is certainly not how to describe the narrative flow. The novel actually begins with the four friends in college. Jude’s life is seen in flash backs and through much of the first half of the novel you see this mysteriously broken character with amazing talents that you, the reader, are left trying to place the pieces together.  Eventually you learn that Jude was abandoned as an infant, placed in a roman catholic monastery where he is repeatedly abused. Escaping with one of the monasteries’ brothers who he believe will save him, he learns instead the man simply wanted to use Jude for his own sexually selfish desires.   Throughout the book there are continuos accounts of Jude trusting, and opening up to people only to be hurt. 

  This book would be twice as dark as it already is if not for the friendships Jude has with JB, Malcolm and Willem.   It is through them that he has any form of human connection.  It is through their encouragement that he is able to have anything of a parental relationship with one of his professors. But again, what makes this novel so sad and at the same time beautiful in its own way, is how Jude can’t quite understand, comprehend or come to terms the love of these friends. He believes so certainly that he is bad, broken, diseased and that he can not truly or fully be loved.  Even as his closest friend, Willem, who [spoiler alert] turns out to be his gay partner when they are older, and loves him with near superhuman effort, Jude cannot fully let down the emotional walls that separate him from the rest of the world, or just this one individual.  Paradoxically Jude is devastated when the love, the relationship with Willem tragically ends. He feels that he cannot be loved, nor can he go without being loved.   In one sense this novel tells the story of how we isolate ourselves from each other.  In another sense A Little Life tells the story of how each human being, broken by life and relationships can never fully be restored, that there is no hope in our own efforts at restoration, or our efforts to heal someone we love.  As a man of faith I could help feel the anguish and sorrow for a fictional character that would never know divine perfect love.

I could not write enough describing how well this story is written, how each character is drawn with an amazing pallet of colors and textures. There are lines in the narrative that both disturb as well as paint a perfect picture of what is attempting to be expressed, lines like “Hyenas of past memories.”  How with every new and disturbing revelation and action you feel in your gut the horror of consequences.  This book presents the gay life style as just another normal path one might choose for oneself. Religion, faith is mocked and scorned, ultimately destructive to individual’s free will. God is nowhere to be found in this novel. Jude and the rest of humanity is left to themselves. Alone.  The only hope for life,  or reason to live is to be found in the stories you tell yourself. It is as heartbreaking as it is genuine and vivid. 

As a theologian with a bent to theological thinking on the arts, one of my core convictions is that great art is beautiful in part because it gets to the truth of God’s creation and nature. It does not matter if the artist believes in the same God I do, his or her work as it is beautiful, and truthful will in ways the artist may not even understand and recognize reveal the triune maker of the universe. The more beautiful the work the more true it will be.  In Christian theology we have the concept of natural revelation. The idea that in the world, God’s hand and God’s law are visible in the midst of God’s creation even in its broken state. As such there is also the related notion within Christian theology of common grace.  God is present in the creation he loves and shares his grace on all of humanity, this grace will not save a person, but it nonetheless is God’s unmerited favor on all people. Both of these concepts are on full display in this novel. One of my favorite lines comes toward the end of the book,  “All of friendship is a miracle.” As a Christian, as a human being, I can completely understand the truthfulness of that statement. So, if you have the emotional will power and the thick skin for a read like A Little Life  I would recommend you give it a try. For pastors for professional counselors it is an amazing portrait of the brokenness of the human heart. You will learn much of the need for care and patience in loving people who feel themselves unloveable.

Authentic Beauty

As a husband I am pretty confident that every man in America who has a girlfriend or a wife is on the hook every Valentine's day for a gift.  It is on the men in America to provide our better halves with a token on our love and affection.  Consider if you will how your other half might react to you if you chose to go to Hobby Lobby and while there purchase a bouquet of plastic roses.  Or if you take your significant other to the local Sonic Drive-in for Valentine’s dinner. Does anyone doubt that it would be taken as a less than an authentic expression of  a man’s devotion?  

    For our wives or girlfriends only the real, authentic rose would do. It is in the real stuff, the rose that feels, smells, and looks like a rose that will communicate to her our genuine authentic feelings toward her.  No matter how well meaning the bouquet of fake flowers is, no matter how sincere your feelings toward your spouse or girlfriend is, providing something fraudulent is going to insult her. 

  The same goes for the world of art and beauty---authenticity is a necessary component to faithful expression of beauty and feeling.  There is no more obvious place where this is on display then when it comes to Christian film making.  I feel very strongly that one of the reasons Christian films so often fail as a matter of story telling is that they are inauthentic, with inauthentic characters.  Madeline L’Engle the author of  A Wrinkle in Time stated “Non-fiction may write what it true but fiction is about truth.” Christian films put sentiment, and strict adherence to what maybe called a “good conduct code” ahead of presenting something first and foremost that is real and genuine. 

Allow me to give you two examples of what I mean by genuiness. One of my favorite novels is called Glittering Images by Susan Howatch, by the way it is another book I would recommend you place on your to-read list.  It is the story of a scholar-priest, Charles Asworth, set in the 1930’s, Dr. Charles is sent to spy on the bishop of the fictional city of StarBridge by the ArchBishop of Canterbury.  Dr. Asworth soon discovers a scandal, a sexual Ménage à trois between the bishop, his personal assistant, and the bishop’s wife.  But his discovery brings about in this scholar-priest his own psychological break as he confronts the sexual secrets of his own family.  The political shenanigans and jealousy of the Archbishop, the sexual failings of the bishop of Starbridge and the mental breakdown of the main character would all be non starting points in any novel on the shelves of Life Way Christian bookstore. However, Glittering Images is a powerful cautionary tale that secrets in our lives have a way of getting out no matter how desperate we are to hide them. 

The second example is probably more familiar to us, Steven Spielberg’s  Schindler’s List.  This movie justifiably received the Oscars it did, including best picture, because it took an authentic and unflinching look at the moral ambiguity and dehumanizing actions of the holocaust.  Can you imagine how that film would have been if it had stuck to the no nudity, no violence, no moral complexities that most of our Christian films take? The brokenness of the characters, both good and bad reveal something truthful about the gospel no Christian film would dare tackle. 

In both examples it is the darkness, depravity, and honesty that help communicate something truthful.  Genuine characters, situations and reactions to events are analogous to real roses on Valentines day. The more real these elements of your art the the more that they help communicate your respect and even love for the audience of your art as an artist who claims the name of Christ.

Makoto Fujimura Culture Care

As something of an arts pastor, but still not sure if that is the best label for the vocational calling on my life.  I have a passion for artist of all stripes to grow both in their creative ability as well as their walk with Christ. As a result, I am always on the hunt for good books and good examples of artist to share with other artists.   One of the individuals I have found in this quest is Makoto Fujimura. I have mentioned him before in this very blog. Mako was an elder at Redeemer Presbyterian in New York City, but he is currently head of the Brehm Center at Fuller Theological Seminary.  If you do not recognize Redeemer Presbyterian, it is the home church of Tim Keller.   Mako is blessed with a mediative mind that thinks deeply about faith and beauty.     The Brehm Center is a think tank of sorts for Christianity and Culture. Mako’s latest book is called Culture Care.   The book is good enough to simply share excerpts from and leave it at that. Because quite frankly, he says all that I would want to say in a far better way.

“Sociologist James Davison Hunter noted more than twenty years ago that participants in culture wars employ language that reduces the enemy to a caricature, portraying their ideas as not only false but pernicious, and alienating their humanity. Hunter identifies the culprit in Culture Wars (1991), arguing that a shared weakness “in both orthodox and progressive alliances” is “an implicit yet imperious disregard for the goal of a common life.  This disregard for the “goal of a common life” is the abject faith of our times;  but from this failure we can begin a new path toward Culture Care.  Culture is not a territory to be won or lost but a resource we are called to steward with care. Culture is a garden to be cultivated.” Page 22

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“There are thus significant overlaps for Culture Care not only with Creation care but with Soul Care, which is the spiritual development and psychological integration that can result when we diligently follow good guidance. The work of Soul Care, the work of both therapist and client, is extemporaneous. It cannot be linear but is rather interactive and creative process that responds on an ongoing basis to the shifting needs of the soul.  All effective care providers are in this sense artists of the soul.” Page 27 

“Culture care starts with the identification and articulation of brokenness. It creates safe space for troth-telling. But it does not stop there. It starts with listening and then invites people onward toward beauty, wholeness and healing.  As we become able to acknowledge the truth of our situation and can tell that story, we are encouraged to move into caring for artists and all other participants  in the culture, into creating contexts for deeper conversation, into fostering spiritual growth, and sometimes into problem solving.”   Page 28

CIVA Charotte, Creating the Real and Learning to Understanding

Bruce Herman Portrait of the Artist's Father

This past weekend, March 4 and 5, Tina and I traveled to Charlotte for the first ever CIVA Charlotte symposium, which was sponsored in part by Arts Charlotte and Church at Charlotte.  Over 100 people turned out to hear from visual artists and educators concerning the calling and vocation of the artist.  The keynote speak was Bruce Herman professor of art at Gordon College. 

Dianne Collard addresses CIVA Charlotte

  During Bruce Herman's Friday night talk he spoke about his current work  which now involves capturing individual’s portraits.  As he described his father’s portrait (seen in this post) he talked about finishing the work and feeling as if had captured the essence and reality of his father on canvas.   Bruce stated that as he continues to work with portraits one of his goals is to, “make a painting that feels like a human being.”

It instantly struck me that such a goal, making art that captures a human being, is not limited by the medium.  In one way or another great art universally captures the image, dare we say the icon, of God’s human creation. I am in the beginning process of writing a novel, maybe one day I will share some of it here on the blog.  As such I am attempting to capture through words my main character as a fully formed individual.  The more real I can make him the more impactful the story becomes.  I was moved to tears the first time I finished the Illiad, and had gruesome nightmare while read Cormac McCarthy’s The Road.  Obviously, writing with the goal of making a person real does not mean I write only in some hyper-realistic way. It does mean I am trying to capture my character in a manner that the character has substance of his or her own.  The same is true when writing non-fiction, in the art of biography and memoir the quest become to present the subject matter as whole and substantive.

  I imagine that you can see how this notion is not limited to writing and painting. Film of course depends on the combination of these art forms into a solid hybrid whole.  What would your experience of Schindler’s List be if not for the nameless girl in the red dress? Not knowing more than what is portrayed on the movie screen we fully appreciate her wholeness as a human being lost in the darkness of the holocaust. Indeed, it is a small step from this to consider how all art is an icon of reality.  A representation of a truth we cannot fully place our hands around but nevertheless sense and see (either with our eyes or our mind’s eye) as real, whole and substantive.  

I will end at this post with another observation Bruce Herman made this weekend. Bruce pointed out the difference between comprehension and understanding.  To comprehend, from latin,  means to wrap one arms around, or seize a subject or object.  To understand, is to stand underneath or in the midst of a subject. Even to submit to the thing trying to be understood. Just as much as creating artwork that feels like a human being and the idea of all art being an icon, this idea of understanding is just as probative and rich.  I have been in too many leadership situation, sometimes underneath someone’s leadership, and regrettably some of the very things I have lead, where compression of a person, team, or task has been the dominating philosophy rather than understanding said person, team or task.  It is amazing to experience the difference between the two. Indeed it is life giving.  The key difference between the two is humility. A blog post for another time I hope. 

Panel Discussion with Allison Luce, Bruce Herman and Sandra Bowden

Panel Discussion with Bruce Herman, Sandra Bowden, and Carmella Jarvi

2 Collects for Matthew 1

Heavenly Father, master of space and time, you gave Christ’s ancestor’s a place in the larger context of his story, that they may enrich the narrative of his life, and testify throughout history of your intricate work of salvation. Grant to us trust in your design and plan, that we may know the beauty of being a part of the greater story of your glory.  In Christ’s name, Amen.

Oh Heavenly Father, you give to all earthly men the strength and power to represent you to their sons and daughters. Grant to these men the wisdom and courage to lead gently by the hand their children, so that their little ones may embrace you without reservation or fear.  In the name of your son, Jesus Christ, Amen.