Tuesday, March 27, 2018
Unwitting Guest Blogger Episode VIII
Why do I love stories? Because they remind me that we're in one and no matter how dark or disappointing the current chapter, we've hardly begun to delve into the book, as this article so aptly points out, enjoy!
Tuesday, March 20, 2018
The Great Game of Life
Our culture loves games, many moderns prefer the brightly colored incessantly needy phone apps, but let us not forget the entire subculture of 'gamers,' from the old-school dice and books of the RPG crowd to the original Zelda and Mario games on the ancient forebears of today's astonishingly vivid and realistic gaming systems. Why do we love them so? The same reason we love stories, because they are stories we can lose ourselves in, to feel productive and significant, to make discoveries and find social interaction, real or fictional. As humans, we crave significance, meaning, and relationship, we demand a world that makes sense and one in which we can make a difference, have adventures, and dream. That is why the games so easily suck us in, providing a pleasant alternative to the grim realities of our lonely, tedious, and grief filled world.
But what does it all mean in the end? The game is nothing, no matter your score or triumphs, if the machine breaks, the memory is corrupted, or there is no power to run it, it all comes to naught. But so do many feel about life in general, so why not wile away the lonely hours in virtual fascination, if wile we must? If pleasure is the only solace and meaning in life, by all means, succor yourself as best you can! How dreadful, this worldview that all of life means nothing, is nothing, results in nothing, came from nothing and to nothing it will go. While the words spoken on Ash Wednesday are grim, 'from dust you are and to dust you will return,' at least dust is something, was something, can be used for something again (enriching soil, growing plants...), whereas Nothing is and ever will be Nothing.
But thankfully we need not believe the folly of the more enlightened materialists and resign ourselves to a brief span of years before pointless oblivion. Even the smallest child seems to know life means something, even those games and stories that fascinate us so seem to understand that life means something, else how could they delight us into wasting countless hours in pointless pursuit? Life is a game, a great big, sometimes terrible game, no matter how dull, how lonely, how insignificant it might seem at the moment. It has a point, it has rules, it is enthralling, and anyone can win! Certainly a brighter prospect than endlessly tapping brightly colored squares on our phones and then Nothing.
But what does it all mean in the end? The game is nothing, no matter your score or triumphs, if the machine breaks, the memory is corrupted, or there is no power to run it, it all comes to naught. But so do many feel about life in general, so why not wile away the lonely hours in virtual fascination, if wile we must? If pleasure is the only solace and meaning in life, by all means, succor yourself as best you can! How dreadful, this worldview that all of life means nothing, is nothing, results in nothing, came from nothing and to nothing it will go. While the words spoken on Ash Wednesday are grim, 'from dust you are and to dust you will return,' at least dust is something, was something, can be used for something again (enriching soil, growing plants...), whereas Nothing is and ever will be Nothing.
But thankfully we need not believe the folly of the more enlightened materialists and resign ourselves to a brief span of years before pointless oblivion. Even the smallest child seems to know life means something, even those games and stories that fascinate us so seem to understand that life means something, else how could they delight us into wasting countless hours in pointless pursuit? Life is a game, a great big, sometimes terrible game, no matter how dull, how lonely, how insignificant it might seem at the moment. It has a point, it has rules, it is enthralling, and anyone can win! Certainly a brighter prospect than endlessly tapping brightly colored squares on our phones and then Nothing.
Tuesday, March 13, 2018
The original Easter Fool's Day
People are excited that this year Easter and April Fool's Day coincide, but has it not always been so? For Paul tells us in I Corinthians 1:18-31:
"For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”
Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
"For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”
Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”"
Elsewhere we discover that His disciples are perplexed, confused, and in complete disbelief while the elders bribe the guards to hush up the conspiracy and Mary thinks He's the gardener! What a wonderfully confused mess! The impossible has happened and no one quite knows what to do with it, a perplexity that still troubles the world to this very day, for those same confused individuals eventually go on to be accused of 'turning the world upside down,' and so it is to this day. So what are you going to do with it? Happy April Fools!
Tuesday, March 6, 2018
Why do the people sing?
There's a catchy song in the musical version of 'Les Miserables' that asks if you can hear the people sing, lately I've been wondering why the people sing? In the musical, besides for the bawdy and uncouth 'Master of the House,' most of the singing reflects the title of the show: the miserable. The people sing because they are dying, thwarted in love, left to rot in chains, denied justice, are cold and hungry, are overlooked and lonely, or have watched their dreams wither and die. But despite the overwhelming darkness, evil, injustice, and misery, there is a theme of redemption, hope, and love undying that runs through the whole saga like a lifeline, giving meaning to their despair and comfort in their angst; their songs and prayers do not go unheard nor unanswered. While watching the cast interviews on the 'extras' of the movie version of the musical, no one was untouched by the story, and they couldn't say enough good things of how 'Occupy Wall Street' and 'Lee's Miserables' were just such touching examples of the barricade scene and its high but crushed hopes of oppressed humanity.
I found it vastly amusing, but also rather horrifying that they all missed the point entirely. Lee's Miserables? Disheartened Confederate soldiers of the American Civil War (they were the pro-slavery side, by the way!). Occupy Wall Street? A now forgotten uprising of dissatisfied hipsters, really? The barricade scene was a plot point, not the whole point of the story! The theme is redemption and hope not born of this world, not a celebration of the crushed but immortal dreams of humanity. The people sing because they hope, know, want, need, desire something beyond the mere human cruelty and indifference all around them, they are prayers set to music, not because they think someone will hear their song and have mercy but because they are expressing the deepest longings, yearnings, and needs of the human heart and the answer does not lie within the purview of our fellow men, if it did, we should have already established a utopia somewhere or somewhen upon this mortal earth, but that Kingdom has not yet and will never arise, at least without a change of management.
The other day I ran across a 'song list for PTSD' and curious, I followed the link and was given 32 secular songs that are supposed to help you make it through your darkest night. I was depressed just reading the list so I'm not sure how it is supposed to help you in the midst of a traumatic attack of your darkest nightmares made real, ugh! Why do the people sing? This was a list of 32 famous songs spanning decades of musical invention but there was nary a hint of hope or light amongst them. You can sing about being happy, but why are you happy? If the nihilistic nightmare of modern culture is real, why are you singing? If all comes from nothing and to nothing it will go, if you will die and everything you were and did means nothing, why are you singing? Children will sing when they are excited or happy, they enjoy many a mindless and nonsensical ditty, but those are not the songs I question: they are mere nonsense and fun and quite at home in a pointless universe. But why do Men sing, grown adults whose minds are troubled or whose hearts are moved by some grandiose feeling of joy or horror?
Our modern popular music seems nothing more than those childish ditties turned to darkness, infant joys turned to ash by an indifferent and pleasure seeking world; 'Master of the House' is our only anthem though sung in a million variations. Like our philosophy, there is nothing behind our music, it has no heart, it means nothing and to nothing it shall return. But we need not go tuneless through the twilit world, for there is real music, songs that mean something and connect us to a larger world, a world beyond our own, where there is One who hears, and like the benighted folk of the musical, when we have no more tears or words or hope, only a dismal song in the night, He has promised joy in the morning. Unless we miss the point entirely, like the cast of the movie, and mistake one short act for the entire show. Why do you sing? What is your inspiration?
I found it vastly amusing, but also rather horrifying that they all missed the point entirely. Lee's Miserables? Disheartened Confederate soldiers of the American Civil War (they were the pro-slavery side, by the way!). Occupy Wall Street? A now forgotten uprising of dissatisfied hipsters, really? The barricade scene was a plot point, not the whole point of the story! The theme is redemption and hope not born of this world, not a celebration of the crushed but immortal dreams of humanity. The people sing because they hope, know, want, need, desire something beyond the mere human cruelty and indifference all around them, they are prayers set to music, not because they think someone will hear their song and have mercy but because they are expressing the deepest longings, yearnings, and needs of the human heart and the answer does not lie within the purview of our fellow men, if it did, we should have already established a utopia somewhere or somewhen upon this mortal earth, but that Kingdom has not yet and will never arise, at least without a change of management.
The other day I ran across a 'song list for PTSD' and curious, I followed the link and was given 32 secular songs that are supposed to help you make it through your darkest night. I was depressed just reading the list so I'm not sure how it is supposed to help you in the midst of a traumatic attack of your darkest nightmares made real, ugh! Why do the people sing? This was a list of 32 famous songs spanning decades of musical invention but there was nary a hint of hope or light amongst them. You can sing about being happy, but why are you happy? If the nihilistic nightmare of modern culture is real, why are you singing? If all comes from nothing and to nothing it will go, if you will die and everything you were and did means nothing, why are you singing? Children will sing when they are excited or happy, they enjoy many a mindless and nonsensical ditty, but those are not the songs I question: they are mere nonsense and fun and quite at home in a pointless universe. But why do Men sing, grown adults whose minds are troubled or whose hearts are moved by some grandiose feeling of joy or horror?
Our modern popular music seems nothing more than those childish ditties turned to darkness, infant joys turned to ash by an indifferent and pleasure seeking world; 'Master of the House' is our only anthem though sung in a million variations. Like our philosophy, there is nothing behind our music, it has no heart, it means nothing and to nothing it shall return. But we need not go tuneless through the twilit world, for there is real music, songs that mean something and connect us to a larger world, a world beyond our own, where there is One who hears, and like the benighted folk of the musical, when we have no more tears or words or hope, only a dismal song in the night, He has promised joy in the morning. Unless we miss the point entirely, like the cast of the movie, and mistake one short act for the entire show. Why do you sing? What is your inspiration?
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