“And the moon is a sliver of silver, like a shaving that fell on the floor of a Carpenter’s shop; and every house must have it’s builder; and I awoke in the house of God.” – Rich Mullins This has to be one of the near perfect opening lines to a song I’ve ever heard. He was right about the moon, and about the fact that we all just woke up here one day, in the house of God, in... Read more
Regardless of the lens you adopt through which to think about culture, consensus seems to be that the way we’ve organized our society — even our most basic forms of relating and working together — are dysfunctional at best. My take on why this is happening is that most of us operate through conscious and unconscious purity codes. What is a Purity Code? A purity code stems from the generalized assumption that it is possible to identify and eliminate the... Read more
As we approach 20 years since 9/11, my strongest memory is still the emotional horror I felt that day, the gut wrenching sorrow of witnessing more than 3000 deaths in one morning. It was a brutal day. Collectively, there was really nothing we could do, so we just got together to cry and grieve. Today I keep thinking about this one number. The number is 656,000, the number of Americans who have died from Covid-19. I wonder why we don’t... Read more
I love a good conspiracy theory. In college I got really into that 90s conspiracy about the Illuminati, Trilateral Commission, Council on Foreign Relations, and the New World Order (not kidding… I devoured entire books). I never bought into the fake moon landings, or the end times stuff, but you’ll never convince me that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. Aliens, big brother, nefarious politicians, big tech colluding with the government, those half-baked theories have brought me hours of enjoyment. The... Read more
Critical Race Theory (CRT)—a theoretical approach to race which focuses on systemic forms of racism and their impact on minority communities—is viewed as a threat by many white Americans. The typical rationale offered by the throngs of newly converted CRT haters—it’s Marxist, it’s the liberal indoctrination of children, it’s revisionist history put forth by Americans who secretly hate America—is not their true objection. In fact, the one thing that all CRT-haters hold in common is this: they need the issue... Read more
Rich Mullins was (and is) my hero. I have often wondered what he would say about our world today. Rich wasn’t held captive to the unholy marriage between Evangelical Christians and the Republican Party, it was the anabaptist influence. I’m certain he would not look favorably on a man like Donald Trump. Lord knows what Rich would say, but I’m sure it would be hilarious. I find myself so grateful that Rich Mullins pulled at the thread that began... Read more
Trump doesn’t use his supporters, they use him for their own enjoyment. They cheer his brutality, cruelty, racism, and hatefulness at every rally. He owns the libs and they can’t stand the libs. In a very real way Trump’s worst flaws are what his followers enjoy most, which is why pointing out his flaws never seems to work. This is also why people like Joe Biden are so hard to elect. He’s basically decent. It’s boring. There’s no enjoyment in... Read more
@Tim_Suttle: You’re not imagining it. Our society is a mess. We’re stuck in a rut of malignant tribalism and gridlock, while facing no less than five serious crises at the same time, and we’re making exactly zero progress. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Humans didn’t get to the top of the food chain by being inept at solving problems. Why are We Stuck? Our political and social systems have been ground to a halt by ideology. Here’s... Read more
. I read a fascinating thread by Anand Giridharadas that puts our current moment in stark perspective. We’re dealing not with one major crisis right now, or even two or three. There are five. We’re dealing with five massive, overlapping, and interlocking crises at the same time, each touching the core of our common life in America and beyond. They are: Crisis 1: Global Pandemic “The pandemic and the already unhealthy host society the virus attacked.” We were cooking... Read more
. . A LITURGY: FOR THE CONFESSION OF RACIAL INJUSTICE Trinity Sunday, 2020 Redemption Church, Olathe KS Ldr: In fervent hope that the arc of history does, indeed, bend toward justice, we lift up our prayers for racial healing, asking that you would bind our hearts together as a church, O Lord, empower us to break the chains of poverty, ignorance, prejudice, and despair which degrade the sacred dignity of humankind; teach us to love each other and... Read more
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