faith, family, and freedom?

holly & i went to a concert given by the local Christian radio station this weekend. in honor of the fourth of july, it was entitled the faith, family, and freedom celebration. at one point in the concert i thought to myself, wow, this is a pretty bold statement we are making here, being able to come together to celebrate these things. outside of the West, i don't think such a concert would be going down at all. which got me thinking (especially after my conversation with Ekta that same day about cultural nuances of faith), how much of what we are here to celebrate stems not from our Christian identity but from our cultural identity?

faith?--yes. Scripture repeatedly and without question calls believers to have faith. And we should celebrate the particulars of our Christian faith: the redeemed life we have been given in Christ, the promise of eternal salvation, the grace of God that sustains us, the presence of the Holy Spirit that guides us.

freedom?--yes, especially in the explicitly Christian sense. Christ has in fact freed us from sin and death (1 Corinthians 15: 55, 57), He has broken the shackles and paid the debt. This is a freedom that all believers around the world can celebrate together, even those who don't know the freedom we enjoy in America. Even those who worship Christ at the risk of mortal death. Even those who've never heard of a bill of rights. This is the freedom we should first celebrate, while remembering those who have fought with their lives for our American freedom.

family?--ehhhh. okay, admittedly, this is the one that gets me. To give you some background, I have a history of being extremely irked by the Charlotte radio station's (over)emphasis on family. Not that there is anything wrong with loving your family, and I think it is an awesome thing they are doing to provide music that families can listen to together without fear of anything explicit. But when you emphasize a family focus to the point of alienating listeners who don't fit the middle-class, nice house, 2.5 kids and a dog demographic, I think you need to reconsider your goals. I often feel like those people on the radio aren't talking to anyone like me, a young, single, childless college grad, which I can shrug off because they are all rather Deliliah-esqe and annoy me anyway. But what about listeners who are single, not by choice, who feel alone and societally insufficient? What about couples who are unable to have children and can't call in and brag about their kid named so-and-so on the morning radio show? Again, family-centeredness is a great value, but if we continue pretending that all Christians (or more importantly perhaps--all people we are trying to reach with the good news) are happy nuclear families, we are blinding ourselves to the diversity of the world and creating a bubble of familiarity and comfort that has a clear dividing line of insiders & outsiders. Got a minivan and kids? You're in, here's a bumper sticker. Single and without family in a new city? Sorry, our message isn't for you. I guess you'll have to find another Jesus to worship.

I realize I'm sounding a bit cynical. But check this out--

If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters--yes, even life itself--such a person cannot be my disciple (luke 14:26--TNIV)

This is the kind of verse that just makes you cringe (Luke's gospel seems to have a lot of them, though Matthew still boasts the monster mash shocker ;] 27:52-3)--the verses you want to skip over, the verses that make you read the Bible like a buffet. But, friends, this comes straight from the lips of our Lord Jesus. The Message reads, "Anyone who comes to me but refuses to let go of..." while the NLT says "If you want to be my disciple, you must hate everyone else by comparison..." (BibleGateway--gotta love it!) I think these multiple translations help soften the blow of this radical call--and it is radical, and it's harsh! But, in my understanding and wrestling with this verse, I believe Jesus is saying that we can't let our earthly relationships supersede our relationship with God and our focus on following Jesus (see also Isaiah 49:15). Bible dictionaries explain that the word translated as "hate" in this passage refers to only a lesser kind of love (another shoutout--Studylight.org) But Jesus sure does grab our attention, as I feel sure He grabbed the attention of those in the physical presence of His sermons.

I'm afraid we're growing comfortable in a culture that ignores the costs of servanthood & relaxes in the blessings we've been given. The Christian radio's playing songs that say "wear your red dress, use your good dishes, go to the ballgames, go to the ballet, turn up the music" and we're tapping our toes right along. I agree with the underlying message of this song--but it's not scriptural and I don't think it corresponds with Christ's main message. But when we begin to equate this and similar songs' mantras with Christianity, we find ourselves in a cultural-religious hodge-podge that throws in the nice parts of the Bible, bits of the American dream, promises of a comfortable lifestyle and an island paradise for eternity. I'm just not entirely sure that's what Jesus meant when he said, "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full" (john 10:10). I mean, really, not every Christian can afford to go the ballgame, let alone have at least 2 sets of dishes. C'mon, Jesus was eating with whores and thieves--hardly the types to have "good dishes." I bet Jesus would gladly eat off your floor if He were to drop by for dinner tonight and you hadn't yet started the dishwasher.

okay, whew. i think i was intending to compose a commentary on religion and culture, and instead this turned into a rant against some things that have recently gotten under my skin. perhaps more to come on the ideas of the Christian religious core and our cultural layers in a subsequent post. also, for the record, i think the Christian radio and Christian artists have a phenomenal ministry and are positively impacting many people for Christ. i am only calling them out in the same sense as when you have a pet peeve and that becomes all you can see about a person.

in other news, i'm expanding my NCAA basketball allegience to include not only the Kentucky Wildcats, but also now the Davidson Wildcats. Stephen Curry spoke at our church yesterday morning, and it was so refreshing to hear him talk openly & warmly about his faith and values amidst his new-found fame. It's good to realize, I think especially for all the youth in our congregation, that not all basketball stars are getting pulled for DUIs or sleeping around, etc. He was extremely humble & team-focused, gracious, and well-spoken, so I will enjoy watching him play even more so next year. And since we all know the Tar Heels are going to win the 2009 championship, I don't feel bad about rooting for a couple other teams along the way :D (wait, what was that about humility?)

i'm desperately putting off my closet purging and packing extravaganza, so i guess i'm out for now....

hemmed in behind, hemmed in before

dearest readers, i hope you are prepared to offer this blog a significant portion of your web browsing time in the coming week. i've let you off easy by not posting recently, but now that i am DONE WITH SCHOOL, i have a lot of time and a lot of thoughts. gird yourselves.

in case you missed that--i did it! i finished school! my time at UNC is over & done! i had a moment this morning as i lazily woke up & enjoyed a slow morning of hot tea, quiet time, and pajamas--a moment where i realized that i will never wake up & go to class again (at least for the foreseeable future). and i was a bit sad. but other than that, it's all excitement!

yesterday, clearly, was a momentous day. it was also a long day, full of ups and downs. after my test i went to the daily grind and hung out with God for awhile. "Come & see what the Lord has done!" psalm 46 declares. Indeed, i thought. Look what he has done with a mess like me, and look what he is doing. the fact that i even graduated with an actual major is impressive, never mind one that i genuinely enjoyed. i am hemmed in behind. and look where he is taking me! on an amazing adventure into his service with a great group of students, a great church community, and a great staff team. quite poignantly, i checked my voice mail as i left the daily grind, and scott (the youth minister at crossroads) had left a message--an encouraging one as he usually does--that wished me a spectacular day & repeated his oft-expressed sentiment that they can't wait until i join them in kentucky. what a joy to know that as i close one chapter, i have a fresh new page open & a new life story raring to go. i am hemmed in before.

i had lunch with the ever-delightful katie smith on the quad, our beautiful quad, in the speckled shady-sunlight. this is what i will miss. then i had to babysit cameron for the afternoon & while he was napping, i came face-to-face with a gripping realization. i like to watch golf. i turned on nbc to catch a rerun of ellen, and instead i sat enthralled watching the us open playoff between tiger woods & rocco mediate. let me slow that down for you--i. watched. golf. all on my own, because i wanted to. and i was sad when cameron's dad came home & i missed the sudden death round at the very end. my realization is this: in most instances, i am very glad to become a reflection of who my parents are, but in some ways i never expected to be like them, and this is one small example. dad, i like to watch golf. because you do. because even though it's slower than baseball (yawn), i like watching it because i've always watched it with you. hmmm, it's funny how we turn out in the end. never a carbon copy, but with distinct streaks of our parents, the good & the bad, shaping who we are.

after getting turned down for a credit card later that afternoon (and moping about it on the phone with mom--thanks), i spent most, in fact all, of my evening at my Hebrew Bible professor's house. he had the class over for pizza at 7 and we ended up staying til midnight! i can't even really tell you what we talked about much, though we did spend a lot of time just watching his adorable child perform for our attention. we did talk about solving all the worlds problems one teacher salary at a time, and the brilliance of the reli. professors at unc (apparently my wildly fascinating death & afterlife professor, z-man, took the GRE before he knew much english--and was accepted into yale...), and world travels. the photo album came out, because obviously as a biblical scholar, our professor had been to quite a few places in the Near East--including, among other things, the sweet buildings filmed for the third indiana jones (the cup one, amanda), where the holy grail was housed. i had to bite my tongue when he got to the israel pictures, not to say, i've been there, ooh i've been there! one thing i must comment on retrospectively. while i do agree with prof. reynold's opinion that the sea of galilee might not fully deserve the designation as a sea, i hardly think that, as he ( jokingly) said, it was small enough that Jesus could have cleared it on foot by getting a good running start from a nearby hilltop. maybe not a sea, definitely more than a "pond"--truly majestic, wouldn't you say?

in the midst of all this, at 11pm to be exact, i got a call from scott and stepped out to answer it. as he had told me on his message earlier that day, the youth were on a rafting trip & they called to say hey! it was delightful--scott said he wanted me to feel included since i am the only team member still MIA, and i really did. i chatted with one of the senior girls i met while visiting in february, and i could hear all the noise in the background. then tim (the other youth pastor) had all the kids shout "congrats on graduating whitney!!" and that was really cool. i do wish i could be there with them right now, but i appreciate the thoughtful ways in which scott is working to make me part of the community before i even arrive (these are the kinds of things that make me trust in the sheer blessing of this experience). and good grief, i only have a few short weeks left and i will be there! yes!!

well, that was yesterday, but if you can stand to read on, this weekend was quite eventful as well. my little brother, the baby of the family, graduated from high school. this is kind of silly, but i remember thinking to myself when i was younger, maybe about 10 or so (or whenever you start realizing that little kids have to grow up and won't stay small forever), that here i have this small, white-blond headed, ball of energy little brother, and one day, he's going to be grown up. that's going to be weird to witness, i thought to myself then. well, now it's happened. he's taller than me now (though not by too much ;) and a fellow south meck graduate (a proud moment indeed--ok, just kidding). it was really good to be there with the family and watch him graduate, especially after having missed jordan's high school graduation because i was in mexico. then at church on sunday, father's day, our worship minister brought his little girl up on stage to sing to her (this relates, i promise). during the offering, he sang the steven curtis chapman song, "cinderella", which is one of those dumb songs i love to hate because if you really listen to the words, cheesy as they are, it makes you all sad and nostalgic and leaves you wanting to cry and hold onto your mommy, blah blah blah. this one is a much better option that "butterfly kisses" though, if you ask me. (our other favorite is that song that says "let my love give you roots and help you find your wings." blubber-sniff). anyway, the chorus of the song, which is about a dad watching his little girl grow up, goes like this:

so i will dance with cinderella, i don't want to miss even one song. because all too soon the clock will strike midnight, and she'll be gone.

after this weekend, our family has had a big bell toll, counting down the hours til midnight when us kids will be gone. will graduated high school, and will leave home for college in the fall. mom will be left with an empty nest, because despite the insistence of her friends with live-in daughters one year older than me, i'm not coming back home after this summer. i think my clock is at about 11:58 right now. i'm truly on the brink of wrapping up childhood--the independence-testing period of college is done and i'm entering full-fledged adulthood. i still have one more week in chapel hill to see friends one last time, one week to pack things up at home, a weekend of wedding festivities, then 12 chimes and i'm gone.

You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when i sit and when i rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely. You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. (psalm 139: 1-5)

please expect more of these ridiculously elaborate metaphors. like i said at the beginning of this ridiculously long post, i am newly graduated with a college degree. so i have time on my hands and thoughts that need channeling. blame it on donald miller. i'm starting to read "searching for God knows what" and i'm sure his quirkiness will influence me. thanks for sticking around. hope the pictures helped :) much love.