Unconventional Bible Study

So, I was at a conference this week that was mostly about helping people under 30 pay attention to a sense of being called into ministry. One of our presenters, Chris Scharen, who wrote a book about the theology of U2, had this really interesting presentation on Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Green Day. He compared it to a story about Jesus' disciples meeting him after the resurrection and not realizing it was him. So, I thought it might be interesting to see if there are other music videos out there that have spiritual content that could interplay in interesting ways with Scripture. So here's one Unconventional Bible Study.

Basic directions: as you watch the video, pay attention to moments or images that stand out to you as having spiritual significance or depth in meaning. Then you can see if I saw & heard the same or different things, and see if my readings resonate for you.

Snow Patrol - Chasing Cars


Read the lyrics to Chasing Cars here

Some random Amy reactions: I'm interested in the water imagery of this video. Is the singer going through a kind of baptism? The lyrics would make me think this song is about/to another person, but the singer is alone. When he says, "your perfect eyes," is he singing to God?

The image of the camera pulling up and away at the end, and the lyrics "if I just lay here," reminds me of this quote from Waiting for God by Simone Weil:

There are people who try to raise their souls like a man continually taking standing jumps in the hopes that, if he jumps higher every day, a time may come when he will no longer fall back but will go right up to the sky. Thus occupied, he cannot look at the sky. We cannot take a single step toward heaven. It is not in our power to travel in a vertical direction. If however we look heavenward for a long time, God comes and takes us up. He raises us easily.

Finally, there are a lot of detailed close-ups of the singer's hands and face. I see some parallels with Psalm 139 - a sense of wonder at the creation. This version is from The Message, a translation by Eugene Peterson (sections).

God, investigate my life;
get all the facts firsthand.
I'm an open book to you;
even from a distance, you know what I'm thinking.
You know when I leave and when I get back;
I'm never out of your sight...

Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;
you formed me in my mother's womb.
I thank you, High God - you're breathtaking!
Body and soul, I am marvelously made!
I worship in adoration - what a creation!
You know me inside and out,
You know every bone in my body;
You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,
How I was sculpted from nothing into something.

Oh man, and I didn't even get into what "the garden bursting into life" could be about.

So, what did you see? (And am I crazy? :) )

White Guilt

So, white guilt.

I think that for white people it's unusual and uncomfortable to be lumped together with other white people as a group, and to be pre-judged accordingly. White people are used to being seen as individuals and not having to represent their race, or to be pre-judged because of it.

So, for example, after it was discovered that, in fact, Middle-Easterners were not responsible for the Oklahoma City bombing, but that two white men were, there was no heightened screening of white men for terrorist tendencies. White men weren't stopped disproportionately in airports, or questioned more closely for renting trucks. In fact, even as I write this it sounds ridiculous.

On the other hand, in the wake of 9-11, there has been heightened suspicion and screenings of Muslims and people who look like they might be from the Middle East.

So, discussions about race have a double-discomfort: 1. Being lumped in with people you're not used to being lumped in with and 2. Being lumped in with them for doing bad things to another group of people. And voila: the dreaded WHITE GUILT.

Is white guilt a good thing? I think: yes and no. First the no part - white guilt doesn't really accomplish much. Mostly, white people want to avoid it, which makes sense - it's unpleasant - and avoiding leads to things like denying the reality of racism. Guilt by itself doesn't really change the situation.

So why do I say yes, too? Because I think white guilt is the beginning step to accepting responsibility. Now, do I as a white person go around trying to oppress people of color by saying insensitive things or by taking away jobs, or trying to give their children substandard educations? No, of course not. I'm not personally responsible.

But on the other hand, I personally benefit from the structures set up in society. Some examples: the way of speaking and writing I grew up with is the "correct" way of doing it. I don't have to learn a different way to be considered a professional at work. My family benefited from housing programs that weren't available to people of color. This allowed us to build wealth that made it possible for me to get a first-rate suburban-school education. And, if I need to call the police, I know they'll listen to me.

So here is the conundrum: I'm not actively supporting racist structures, and yet I still benefit from them.

The best way out of the guilt is to say "Yes, that's how it is, and I do have a responsibility," and to start working to change the system. Guilt may not be the best motivator, but if it is transformed into an acceptance of responsibility, then it will have served its purpose.

Martin Luther King - "Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution"

Hi folks -

Friday marks 40 years since the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. The Sunday before, he preached at the National Cathedral in DC. Here is the sermon text.

A few good quotes:

Somewhere we must come to see that human progress never rolls in on the wheels of inevitability. It comes through the tireless efforts and the persistent work of dedicated individuals who are willing to be co-workers with God. And without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the primitive forces of social stagnation. So we must help time and realize that the time is always ripe to do right.

It is no longer a choice, my friends, between violence and nonviolence. It is either nonviolence or nonexistence. And the alternative to disarmament, the alternative to a greater suspension of nuclear tests, the alternative to strengthening the United Nations and thereby disarming the whole world, may well be a civilization plunged into the abyss of annihilation, and our earthly habitat would be transformed into an inferno that even the mind of Dante could not imagine.

For more than two centuries our forebearers labored here without wages. They made cotton king, and they built the homes of their masters in the midst of the most humiliating and oppressive conditions. And yet out of a bottomless vitality they continued to grow and develop. If the inexpressible cruelties of slavery couldn’t stop us, the opposition that we now face will surely fail.