What a Tangled Webb #2
Well, hello again. It has been over two weeks since I last blogged, and almost three months since I last blogged on Derek Webb with promises of more. At this rate, I should get the entire "Mockingbird" album blogged in just under three years. Hope you stick around for it. Hey, I hope I stick around for it.
The subject of today's blog, again, from the album "Mockingbird", is the song "Rich Young Ruler". We've been waiting three months, so let's get right to it. First verse...
poverty is so hard to see
when it’s only on your tv and twenty miles across town
where we’re all living so good
that we moved out of Jesus’ neighborhood
where he’s hungry and not feeling so good
from going through our trash
he says, more than just your cash and coin
i want your time, i want your voice
i want the things you just can’t give me
Wow, what can I say, he has us nailed. Or should I say he has me nailed. I will leave you to your own determinations. But I have a feeling I'm not alone, otherwise our nice upper middle class suburban churches would be empty. They are not. We have indeed moved "twenty miles across town", where poverty is out of sight, out of mind.
I have the interesting opportunity to drive back into that town every day for work, albeit on the bus. In the morning I drive to the Savage park and ride right across from the McDonald's, where I see the daily morning procession of Suburbans, Yukons and Escalades (and these hardly ever with factory rims and tires), in line for their delicious nutritious Egg McMuffin breakfast. No poverty there.
Then, back on the bus, once everyone has broken out their iPods and laptops, we get on the freeway, where we stay until we get downtown, with the inner ring neighborhoods conveniently shielded from our sight by large wooden barriers. Granted, they keep our freeway noise out of their neighborhoods, which is probably a good thing, but I think it also acts as a psychological barrier between "us" and "them".
Then once I am downtown, I observe another interesting phenomenon. I don't need to go "twenty miles across town", but rather, just one floor up. As I make my way around the Minneapolis skyway system, as I do every day on my lunch hour, it is mostly middle class white collar workers like myself trying to find themselves something good for lunch. You hear conversations about interest rates and 401k's and computers and cell phones and cars.
But when the weather is nice, like now, I like to go outside and make my way up and down Nicollet Mall, where the population is a bit more diverse. I look to my right, and I see a group of guys in suits eating their $20 Crab Salads at McCormick & Schmicks. Then I look directly to my left, same sidewalk, ten feet from the Crab Salads, where a rather scruffy looking old man sits with a cardboard sign saying, "Homeless. Please help. God bless". And he is not alone. There are one or two of these cardboard signs on every block, where thousands of not-so-homeless suburbanites walk by them every day. And I am one of them.
The most interesting of these encounters happened to me just last Friday. A guy who looks not too different from me hits me up in the skyway (very rare). Says he has misplaced his bus pass, and needs a few bucks to get home. He looked sincere to me, so I give him three bucks, enough to cover a bus ride, and start walking away. He calls after me and asks if I am going to church anywhere. I say yes, in Bloomington, and then he gives me a business card for "The River Church at MOA" and invites me to visit sometime. I have no idea what to make of that. Panhandle for money, then invite the panhandled to church. Interesting concept.
Well, I think I have described my life sufficiently to illustrate that Derek Webb has a legitimate point. So lets move on. Second verse...
so what must we do
here in the west we want to follow you
we speak the language and we keep all the rules
even a few we made up
come on and follow me
but sell your house, sell your suv
sell your stocks, sell your security
and give it to the poor
what is this, hey what’s the deal
i don’t sleep around and i don’t steal
i want the things you just can’t give me
"here in the West...we speak the language and keep all the rules, even a few we made up." I can't deny this truth either. A lot of what we do in the American Church is all about speaking the language and keeping the rules - even the onese we made up. Will that fly? Derek Webb envisions Jesus' answer...
"Come on and follow me, but sell your house, sell your SUV, sell your stocks, sell your security and give it to the poor." This is a good 21st century paraphrase of what Jesus told the rich young ruler (thus the name of the song, I presume). And again, Derek Webb envisions our all too common response, also similar to that of the rich young ruler...
"What is this, hey what's the deal, I don't sleep around and I don't steal". We don't break the commandments, not the big ones anyway, so isn't that good enough? Jesus responds to the rich young ruler, and to us...
"I want the things you just can't give me". What is it that you are holding on to? And why? Jamie Miller preached last Sunday on Jesus' most severe utterance on this subject, in Luke 14:33, "In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple." Do we take this statement literally? How do we water it down? We don't. We can't. He means what he says.
So have I given up everything? Not by a long shot. Right now, I am sitting here in the basement of my air-conditioned home, typing this blog on my fairly new iMac, while eating my ceremonial three scoops of ice cream with chocolate sauce (I wouldn't need the chocolate sauce, except that it makes the Nestle Quik stick better). So I am not exactly living the life of an ascetic.
And lastly, what we call the "bridge"...
because what you do to the least of these
my brother’s, you have done it to me
because i want the things you just can’t give me
Not much more to add here. Derek is just pounding another nail in the coffin. And as you can see, I am really in no position to preach here. I am just offering myself as evidence that Derek Webb is standing on solid ground with his assessment of the Rich American Church.
But it is not all bleak. There are many of Derek Webb's ilk who are recognizing the problem and doing something about it. Let's find them and join them. Better yet, let's be them.
The subject of today's blog, again, from the album "Mockingbird", is the song "Rich Young Ruler". We've been waiting three months, so let's get right to it. First verse...
poverty is so hard to see
when it’s only on your tv and twenty miles across town
where we’re all living so good
that we moved out of Jesus’ neighborhood
where he’s hungry and not feeling so good
from going through our trash
he says, more than just your cash and coin
i want your time, i want your voice
i want the things you just can’t give me
Wow, what can I say, he has us nailed. Or should I say he has me nailed. I will leave you to your own determinations. But I have a feeling I'm not alone, otherwise our nice upper middle class suburban churches would be empty. They are not. We have indeed moved "twenty miles across town", where poverty is out of sight, out of mind.
I have the interesting opportunity to drive back into that town every day for work, albeit on the bus. In the morning I drive to the Savage park and ride right across from the McDonald's, where I see the daily morning procession of Suburbans, Yukons and Escalades (and these hardly ever with factory rims and tires), in line for their delicious nutritious Egg McMuffin breakfast. No poverty there.
Then, back on the bus, once everyone has broken out their iPods and laptops, we get on the freeway, where we stay until we get downtown, with the inner ring neighborhoods conveniently shielded from our sight by large wooden barriers. Granted, they keep our freeway noise out of their neighborhoods, which is probably a good thing, but I think it also acts as a psychological barrier between "us" and "them".
Then once I am downtown, I observe another interesting phenomenon. I don't need to go "twenty miles across town", but rather, just one floor up. As I make my way around the Minneapolis skyway system, as I do every day on my lunch hour, it is mostly middle class white collar workers like myself trying to find themselves something good for lunch. You hear conversations about interest rates and 401k's and computers and cell phones and cars.
But when the weather is nice, like now, I like to go outside and make my way up and down Nicollet Mall, where the population is a bit more diverse. I look to my right, and I see a group of guys in suits eating their $20 Crab Salads at McCormick & Schmicks. Then I look directly to my left, same sidewalk, ten feet from the Crab Salads, where a rather scruffy looking old man sits with a cardboard sign saying, "Homeless. Please help. God bless". And he is not alone. There are one or two of these cardboard signs on every block, where thousands of not-so-homeless suburbanites walk by them every day. And I am one of them.
The most interesting of these encounters happened to me just last Friday. A guy who looks not too different from me hits me up in the skyway (very rare). Says he has misplaced his bus pass, and needs a few bucks to get home. He looked sincere to me, so I give him three bucks, enough to cover a bus ride, and start walking away. He calls after me and asks if I am going to church anywhere. I say yes, in Bloomington, and then he gives me a business card for "The River Church at MOA" and invites me to visit sometime. I have no idea what to make of that. Panhandle for money, then invite the panhandled to church. Interesting concept.
Well, I think I have described my life sufficiently to illustrate that Derek Webb has a legitimate point. So lets move on. Second verse...
so what must we do
here in the west we want to follow you
we speak the language and we keep all the rules
even a few we made up
come on and follow me
but sell your house, sell your suv
sell your stocks, sell your security
and give it to the poor
what is this, hey what’s the deal
i don’t sleep around and i don’t steal
i want the things you just can’t give me
"here in the West...we speak the language and keep all the rules, even a few we made up." I can't deny this truth either. A lot of what we do in the American Church is all about speaking the language and keeping the rules - even the onese we made up. Will that fly? Derek Webb envisions Jesus' answer...
"Come on and follow me, but sell your house, sell your SUV, sell your stocks, sell your security and give it to the poor." This is a good 21st century paraphrase of what Jesus told the rich young ruler (thus the name of the song, I presume). And again, Derek Webb envisions our all too common response, also similar to that of the rich young ruler...
"What is this, hey what's the deal, I don't sleep around and I don't steal". We don't break the commandments, not the big ones anyway, so isn't that good enough? Jesus responds to the rich young ruler, and to us...
"I want the things you just can't give me". What is it that you are holding on to? And why? Jamie Miller preached last Sunday on Jesus' most severe utterance on this subject, in Luke 14:33, "In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple." Do we take this statement literally? How do we water it down? We don't. We can't. He means what he says.
So have I given up everything? Not by a long shot. Right now, I am sitting here in the basement of my air-conditioned home, typing this blog on my fairly new iMac, while eating my ceremonial three scoops of ice cream with chocolate sauce (I wouldn't need the chocolate sauce, except that it makes the Nestle Quik stick better). So I am not exactly living the life of an ascetic.
And lastly, what we call the "bridge"...
because what you do to the least of these
my brother’s, you have done it to me
because i want the things you just can’t give me
Not much more to add here. Derek is just pounding another nail in the coffin. And as you can see, I am really in no position to preach here. I am just offering myself as evidence that Derek Webb is standing on solid ground with his assessment of the Rich American Church.
But it is not all bleak. There are many of Derek Webb's ilk who are recognizing the problem and doing something about it. Let's find them and join them. Better yet, let's be them.
posted by wilsonte | 8:47 PM
2 Comments:
Tom, Great post. This is a frustration for me. I would love to sit down and really think about/pray over the possibilities for how a suburban church can make a difference in the areas of poverty, social justice, etc. in MN and the world. I think it must come through partnerships. Partnerships with inner-city and worldwide organizations/local assemblies. But not one-sided partnerships where we give money to solve their problems, believing they have nothing to offer us. But partnerships where we both give...with the result hopefully being we all look and act a little more like Christ. I'll leave you with a poem a friend of mine just sent me this morning regarding a beggar he saw in Ireland. I guess God is telling me something today.
Black Soles/Simplicity
The man was alone in a city of millions
sitting on a street side step
lost in a trance of thoughts unknown
it is anything but possible to understand where the paths of these thoughts traveled
His tilted head revealed a shaved cut
simplicity
to keep the bugs away I wondered
simplicity
His clothes were faded
clothed in dirt
dirt from how many steps I wondered
how many dusty trails to avoid humanity
He had a sign--or perhaps he did not
I didn't look long enough to notice
would it have made a difference to read it?
was his story necessary?
would it validate anything?
the facts are simply what they are
simplicity
His feet were black
black soles sitting Indian Style
black sungalsses walked briskly past
black souls swam in the heavens
Black soles had a story to tell
a shoeless story, a painful story
a story I will never understand
a story only black soles can tell
simplicity
I am in agreement with all - Derek, you (Tom), Jamie, and most importantly Jesus! How can the Rich American Church possibly move beyond the massaging fingers on Sunday mornings that are all about making us happy little Christians, to a body who truly makes a difference in the areas of poverty, social justice, etc.??!! Jamie's right - it can't be a one-sided deal where we throw money at a problem and hope it goes away....it has to start with compassion and allow that to move us genuinely towards loving 'the least of these' (as we see it). I've been wracking my brain for the past two months trying to figure out how to flesh this out with the youth group. Our suburban world says 'we don't need help', but how do we impact people whom we have no direct contact with?! How can we flesh out Christ's words in a suburban context??
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