Hey friends and other human beings! I've been busy (of course) and have been out of the habit of blogging these days. I want to begin trying something new that I'm calling "Five Things Friday" where I share five things that have been buzzing around in my head that week. It's a very clever title, I know, with a very ambiguous mission. These five things could include podcasts, books, music, articles, or just random thoughts I've been wrestling with.
My hope for this is two-fold. First, it gives me an outlet to share things I've been thinking about a lot or enjoying recently. I hope that this might build connections with lots of you who may be thinking, enjoying, and wrestling with some of the same things. Second, it gives me a light and enjoyable way to write out some thoughts, hopefully each week but we will see how this goes!
Without further ado, here are five things for this Friday:
1. The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill released a new episode this week. The podcast has been under scrutiny from progressive Christians from the beginning, but this week's episode drew even more criticism for interviewing Josh Harris, an Evangelical who became famous for his "I Kissed Dating Goodbye" book. Harris later left his church, divorced his wife, and announced that he was no longer a Christian.
The controversy revolves around the ability or inability of an Evangelical writer working for an Evangelical publication to be objective about Evangelicals. For most of the series, I thought it was actually important to do things this way. I thought it would make it more credible in the eyes (and ears) of Evangelicals, and give them a stronger reason for self reflection around the cult of personality and dysfunction prevalent especially in large churches, but also in denominations, para-chruch organizations, and all over Christianity.
Ultimately, though, I don't really get the point of this episode except that the host, Michael Kosper, really wants to somehow redeem Josh Harris. He pushes and pushes Josh to give him the answer that he wants. I think it is meant to highlight how popular/famous Christians can fall and go through a process of reflection/deconstruction. But I don't really get that from it. So for this week, I agree with the critics. The show reveals too much of its own bias towards redeeming the people they are covering, people who have done tremendous damage to the church and to its people for decades. And I just don't think that should be their job as journalists.
2. Madison Cawthorn's unforgivable dereliction of duty. Last week, Western North Carolina experienced terrible flooding with tremendous property damage and loss of life. My friend Callie Pruett pointed out that while this was going on, Madison Cawthorn, the Republican representative from NC-11, was busy tweeting national Republican talking points, rather than serving his constituents back home. From the article:
Lest we think he was simply off the grid, 26-year-old Cawthorn tweeted or retweeted Republican talking points nine times from his official House account while the raging storm took hold of his district, reaping destruction on towns and rural communities. From tweets about finishing “the wall” to swearing America will never be an “Islamic state,” Cawthorn flatly, and blatantly ignored the people he has sworn to represent. As towns like Canton flooded Tuesday evening, Cawthorn blissfully posted pictures on Instagram (screenshot linked) of smoking cigars and listening to conservative podcasts.
I started thinking about this when I first saw people like Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene flying off to Wyoming to rally Republican voters against Liz Cheney in the wake of her impeachment vote. This past week, they went to Iowa to rally support for "America First Republicans" by spreading anti-vaccine disinformation and touting the big lie that the election was stolen.
It makes me wonder what business these representatives have traveling across the country to prop up national talking points? And what do their constituents back home think as they see their representatives more concerned about what's going on in Washington than in their districts? Sadly, I think we have a potent combination of tribalism and local politics becoming nationalized. I think most folks who are paying attention care less about what their representatives do to actually improve their communities and more about what they do to help the team.
3. No Mercy by The Living Tombstone. IYKYK. I loved Overwatch. To this day I think it is the best game I have ever played. I miss the days of having long marathon gaming sessions with a group of my friends. Even though it's old, I just discovered this song and it's been stuck in my head ever since. If you've played the game, you know how true the message is and you've felt the rage.
4. What I'm Reading: Perelandra by C.S. Lewis. This is the second book in Lewis' "Space Trilogy" that I'm reading with a group of friends. The first book, Out of the Silent Planet, tells the story of the protagonist, Ransom, who ends up on an expedition to Malacandra, and learns that it is possible for life on other planets to live in peace, rather than discord.
In this sequel, Ransom is sent to the planet Perelandra, where he finds a world before life and civilization, and must stand off against evil forces who wish to corrupt the virgin planet.
I'm trying my best not to spoil anything for you! I'm surprised by how much I am enjoying these books. I compare them often to the Chronicles of Narnia, Lewis' most famous works, except they take place in space. But whereas Chronicles retells stories from the Bible, the Space Trilogy, I think, probes deeper into theology and philosophy, and the difficult questions that they must confront. Why does evil exist? Why, by our very nature, are we earth creatures prone to violence, discord, exploitation, and annihilation? What might the concept of "God" mean on other planets with sentient life?
I am fascinated by Lewis' pre-space exploration imaginings of space and space travel, but I'm even more intrigued by the dialogue and the concepts he introduces through this trilogy. I'll be doing a short book review when I finish!
5. What I'm Writing: I just finished a story about a woman named Cheryl Adamson who is being recognized by my denomination as a Racial Justice Trailblazer. She is an incredible woman, one of the first African-American students to graduate from her high school in South Carolina and she is now a pastor and executive director of a non-profit. It was a great conversation and I'll share that on social media when it's published.
Next, I want to begin work on a story about the Christian Left and a number of pastors who are running for office as Democratic candidates in the upcoming elections. I want to know if Joe Biden's embrace of his Catholic faith has inspired more Christians who are Democrats to run for office.
That's all for now. Happy Friday!
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