Musings with Matt

I have always liked Good Friday. I like all that the day is and means. I like the emotional rollercoaster ride that I am taken on; with its ups and down, highs and lowest of lows. From the large, boisterous crowd to the emptiness of the hill.  From the thunderous pounding of nails to the silence of a lifeless Jesus. And the quietness of a contemplative congregation sensing that something better on its way. 

Yes, I like Good Friday. Not because Jesus carried a cross up a hill; but because Jesus took your sins and my sins upon Himself giving us His righteousness. Not because Jesus was pierced by nails and a spear; but because He saved us from a pierced and broken world. Not because Jesus was crucified and died; but because I am given a new life in Him.

Yes, I like Good Friday. Because without Friday there could be no Sunday. Without the crucifixion there could be no resurrection. Without death there could be no life.

Yes, I like Good Friday. Because without the goodness of Friday, there could be no greatness of Sunday!

Israeli film maker Simcha Jacobovici claims to have found the nails used to crucify Jesus. He says the nails were found in a tomb believed by some to be Caiaphas' final resting place. Really?!?! Jacobovici has made a documentary and sold it to the History Channel. 

The other day I was listening to the music of Brett Dennen. I first heard him a couple of years ago on a late night show. I immediately went to YouTube to hear more. I was especially struck by his song “Ain’t No Reason.” In this song Dennen talks about there being no reason why things are the way they are or why we do what we do, but that love will set us free. I find the video for this song as compelling as the lyrics.  His song “Heaven,” where Dennen describes what he envisions heaven to be like, is also powerful and thought-provoking.

This is one of my favorite pieces of artwork. I always think of it this time of year. I am drawn to it for various reasons. It is a different and interesting perspective of the crucifixtion. And not only does it portray what Jesus did for us on the cross, but who He did it for and why He did it...LOVE.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life." John 3:16

I was a Mass Communication major in undergrad and so I have found copyright and trademark laws and information interesting for a while. I have never approached the issue from a theological standpoint however. That is until reading the chapter “Freeing Culture: Copyright and Teaching in Digital Media” in Mary Hess’ Engaging Technology in Theological Education. 

Hess lifts up reasons why it is important to “rip, mix, burn”  “…within a Christian theological framework.”  One reason she gives is that we believe God is a relational God and “…if that relationality is produced, circulated, negotiated, and contested within cultural contexts pervaded by popular culture, then it is constructive of ‘ourselves in relation’ to engage that culture” (121).

One statistic given in the book that I found striking and frustrating was that while digital capabilities are being added to religious institutions, the support of using them has decreased (125-126).  It is too bad that while we are becoming more and more technologically advanced it is harder and harder to use that technology.  

I ran across a YouTube video entitled “What if Starbucks Marketed Like a Church?”   It was produced by beyondrelevance.com “an innovative blog for a culturally strategic church.”  The video explores some of the things church visitors experience, but takes place in a coffee shop setting.  There are greeters who ignore the visitors, the visitors are asked to fill out informational cards and in the end the visitors leave feeling uncomfortable.  There are many parallels in the video with what occurs in the Church today.  How interesting the world would be if the ways of the Church were the ways of the world.  I’m not sure how many new places I’d want to visit.

When I went to look for my denomination’s policies for media education and internet safety I had a hard time finding much. One reason for this may be because the UCC’s website is fairly congested and not the easiest to navigate.  What I was able to find was a page containing Advocacy Recourses.  This page had information and resourses for everything from “Health Care Justice” to “Financial Crisis,” from “Multiracial/Multicultural Church” to “Children and Youth.”

One document I found off of the “Children and Youth” page was a policy statement put out by the National Association of State Boards of Education about cyberbullying.  The policy defines cyberbullying and talks about ways to stop it.

Enhancing Child Safety and Online Technologies explores what a Task Force examined concerning the safety of the Internet for minors. This involved studying the problems and possible solutions to those problems. One of the problems the Task Force examined was cyberbullying. The authors write, “It is difficult to pinpoint the exact prevalence of cyberbullying and online harassment, because the definitions themselves vary, but the research is clear that this risk is the most common risk minors face online…In order to help the most minors, addressing online harassment and its underlying causes should be the top priority” (19).

It is clear that cyberbullying is a major issue. What is not clear is what can be done to stop it. Policies, ideas and suggestions are great. But when it gets right down to it, it is hard to stop someone who is hiding behind a computer screen using words to inflict wounds that are unseen.

A few days ago, I, along with some others from seminary, went to see the film The Adjustment Bureau.  It is a sci-fi, psychological thriller starring Matt Damon and Emily Blunt. This film is based on Philip K. Dick’s short story “The Adjustment Team.” Going in I expected an exciting, thought-provoking film, but what I got was much more.  This is a film about free will and fate, about chance and choices. 

David Norris (Damon) is an aspiring politician. He thinks he has everything figured out. But when he encounters the Adjustment Bureau he realizes that this is not the case. He is told that he has gotten off of his life plan and the Bureau is there to get him back on. At one point Norris asks someone in the Bureau if those in the Bureau are angels and the person replies that they are more like case officers. These case officers work to ensure that people stay on plan and do not begin making their own choices for their lives. Norris asks one of the case officers about the existence of free will. The case officer responds that there is no such thing as free will, only the illusion of it.

Watching this film it was as though Martin Luther’s The Bondage of the Will was being played out right in front of me. In The Bondage of the Will Luther writes, “It is, then, fundamentally necessary and wholesome for Christians to know that God foreknows nothing contingently, but that He foresees, purposes, and does all things according to His own immutable, eternal and infallible will. This bombshell knocks ‘free-will’ flat, and utterly shatters it…”

Whether the Higher Power be God foreseeing all things according to God’s will or case officers adjusting lives so they are lived according to plan, it is intriguing to ponder the choices we make and how we are bound to our wills.

That night when I walked into the theater I had no idea what I was in for. But I sure didn’t expect to walk out and have a discussion involving Martin Luther. The Spirit sure does blow where it chooses; even to the AMC.

After spending some time on Facebook over the past few days I reflected back on Danah Boyd’s article “White Flight in Networked Publics? How Race and Class Shaped American Teen Engagement with MySpace and Facebook.”  I had never thought of these social networks in the way described in the article. 

I jumped on the Facebook train fairly late (2007) compared with some of my friends. By the time I joined, MySpace was seen as unpopular and uncool and Facebook was the social network you joined to be “in.” I had no idea that terms such as “white flight” and “digital ghetto” were being used to describe what was occurring. 

After reading the article it does make sense, however. Boyd writes, “The suburbs of Facebook signaled more mature living, complete with digital fences to keep strangers out. The narrative that these digital suburbs were safer than the city enhanced its desirability, particularly for those who had no interest in interacting with people who were different” (32-33).

What a small world the World Wide Web can be. 

We’re a week into Lent; a time of prayer, remembrance, solemnity. A week ago, on Ash Wednesday, I heard a sermon in which the preacher talked about how Lent is a time to get back to the basics of our faith and life. He used an illustration to emphasize his point.

Every night when the janitor would go into Albert Einstein’s office he would see two chalk boards. One had a long, complex equation on it. The other simply had 2+2=4. This was to remind Einstein that while he was working with difficult problems, he needed to remember to keep it simple as well.

Lent is a time to remember that 2+2=4. 2+2 is what is really important in our lives, Jesus, and all that He did for us.