Thursday, October 18, 2007

Damned If You Do . . .

I have been reading the Old Testament a lot lately, both out of humble repentance from the Marcionism of my Evangelical upbringing and because I’m in a class on it right now, OT II, in which we are covering the fascinating, disturbing, and sorely neglected territory of wisdom literature and the prophets.

Theological ethicist Stanley Hauerwas, who like me fancies himself a comedian sometimes, writes something to the effect that having an original thought means forgetting where you read it. He’s right. I’m sure the thoughts that follow here are not original. I believe they originated most directly from the prophets themselves and from a talk entitled “Why Mercy Looks Easy, Why Justice is Hard” given by Martin Marty a few weeks ago at my school.

Wendell Berry, who also fancies himself a comedian and in my opinion succeeds at it more often than Hauerwas or I do, said at a conference last week, “This is what the intellectual life is all about: some stupid person says something and another stupid person corrects him.” According to two of my favorite thinkers, by presuming to be an intellectual and sharing my thoughts I run the risk of being both unoriginal and stupid. Fortunately I have no power to speak of and a very limited readership, so at least I am not unoriginal, stupid, and dangerous.

The first problem with being a prophet is that you are called to do things just because God said so and not because it is likely to help much of anything from a temporal standpoint.

The second problem is the human tendency to shoot the messenger; the better you are doing at your job the more likely you are to be killed in nasty ways at the height of your career.

The third problem is a secret—though if I told you I wouldn’t have to kill you since you wouldn’t understand anyway.

Just kidding. Seminary nerd humor. Sorry. Let’s move on.

The third problem with being a prophet is that if one is still buying cheap cotton from the South one doesn’t really have much business talking abolition.

Monday, October 15, 2007

Note to Self:

Next time you are feeling even remotely unloved* or neglected, especially if you are also procrastinating schoolwork at the time, it doesn’t hurt to go through several months of e-mail clutter, skimming the messages for personal notes. Delete most of the e-mails and you will get some satisfaction from freeing up so much space in your inbox. While you’re at it, make a new folder and hang on to some of those thoughtful, encouraging words that various someones bothered to send you. You are a silly person and sometimes you forget. Peek in that folder when you need reminders. Also try to remember not to be the reason that someone else feels unloved or neglected today.

*Actually I am not feeling unloved right now. Closer to the opposite. What with a visit from some dear Swedish friends, a wedding where I enjoyed seeing people from camp and college days, many marathon congratulations, and a couple of spontaneous moments of hospitality from neighbors, it has been a great week. Tonight I’m just procrastinating, as usual. But I certainly have those days when the phone is not ringing and the existential inbox feels much more than half empty. I want to get better at remembering (and trusting) what I have been given, to be grateful and joyful without so much help. In the meantime, I’m stuck being human and I’ve got some digital love tucked away for those moments when I’m finding it hard to believe that it matters to God and maybe a few other people that I’m here.

On second thought, maybe not-needing-help is the wrong goal. Maybe I need to learn that it’s OK to need help. That limitations are in a strange way a blessing, because emptiness and shortcomings are just space for God (often through other people) to enter my life. Over-independence is just as unhealthy as over-dependence. Maybe I need to be more hospitable to my own humanity and the finitude it entails.

Wow. Didn’t see that revelation coming when I sat down at my computer a little while ago. I had only the first paragraph in mind. Hurrah for fall break and the schedule space in which to let life be more important than school for a few days. I didn’t catch up on any reading tonight, and that’s OK. Now if I can just remember to follow my own advice . . .

Hurrah for blogs being harder to misplace than the pieces of scrap paper I usually rely on to supplement (/replace) the overtaxed and cluttered short- and long-term memory functions of my poor tired brain.

Monday, October 01, 2007

Cynicism and Hope

Upcoming Chicago-area conference. Open invitation. Check it out and spread the word!

Cynicism and Hope:
Reclaiming Discipleship in a Post-Democratic Society
11/2-3 (Friday evening and all day Saturday)

WE ARE: Frustrated activists. Academics. Ordinary people.
WE ARE ASKING: What would it look like if we were honest about our disillusionment? How can we live out God's call to prophetic witness in an apathetic and disempowered society? How can we nourish our hope for the kingdom of God?
JOIN US for workshops, worship, honest conversation, and hope-against-hope for a better world.