The Christian Imagination

I first heard of 826 Valencia on a plane ride to Reno, listening to the above TED video by Dave Eggers. While not a Christian organization, it’s a really creative model to serve their community.

Dave is an author, and when he moved to San Francisco, he and some other writers rented some space and thought it would be great to utilize their skills and space to offer tutoring to kids in their community. The space in front was zoned for retail, so they would have to sell products if it was open to the public. Sooooooo, they opened a pirate supply store!

It took some time and further networking for it to establish itself, and there are those who have emulated this model in their community, making it their own. What I really like about it is how they managed to mix their way of making a living with community service, and doing so in the same space. Business and service is often an either/of proposition. Writers like Dave certainly have a lot to offer students in need of tutoring. And now, there are all sorts of volunteers involved.

Watch the video or visit the website to learn more about 826 Valencia.

Also check out the idea site he mentions,
Once Upon a School

Not long ago, quite recently in fact, some guys started a blog, for fun, called, Things White People Like. It quickly became popular, really popular. They now have a book deal. And it has spawned numerous imitators…people writing about their own subcultures.

I was doing a Google search for Christian culture, and found Stuff Christian Culture Likes. She just started, in August 2008, and has 44 posts so far. In her about, she says, “Christian culture is funny because it doesn’t have much (if anything) to do with Christ himself.”

Her commentary is amusing, and sometimes satirical. Good stuff.

In #32, Formulas, she says: “Formulas are at the core of Christian culture: distract yourself from the unsavory realities of faith and relationship and focus instead on projects and being “certain” instead of “struggling with God.” It really is a lot easier this way, but the price is that you can’t be a whole person.”

I just came across a post written in the beginning of August that has made it’s rounds called Why I Walked Out of Church by Julie Neidlinger. I suggest reading the post above before continuing. There is also a good interview with her at Internet Monk.

She says a lot, so it’s hard to summarize. Basically, she’s expressing her frustration with aspects of church (sub)culture. I think she puts words to what a lot of people wonder about a lot of church culture. She has some good insight, I think.

“What I’m saying is that I can’t stand the phoniness, or trendiness, or sameness — or whatever I’m trying to say here — that the church seems to catch onto at the tail end, not even aware of how lame it is.”

“Instead of helping them get on into adulthood, we’ve introduced single’s groups — in the name of helping the unmarried, of course — which are mainly youth groups for those in their 20’s. Which, instead of helping people not be single actually encourages them to never grow up and, instead, use the group as their relationship fix.”

“It nails it on the idea of how we segregate by age and, sadly, create a self-feeding monster that means teens look to each other for cues and kids look to each other for cues, and the adults “leading” them are pandering to them to get their attention. The end result? Idiocy. Never-growing up.”

“Churches now tend to focus on the family. This is good, if you have a family. But, for those of us who are not married or do not have kids or a family, it really sucks.”

I particularly like, in her InternetMonk interview, when she said that the message were told from Church culture about singleness and marriage is “completely schizophrenic.” So true. I’ve heard so many conflicting views of singleness, relationships, and marriage from Christians, that I really have no clue.

As for singles groups. What is the purpose of them? I’ve been told that they are not places to ‘get a mate,’ but are about family. That actually backs up Julie’s point about them being a reason to not get married. I’ve also been told, in that context, to not spend much time alone with the opposite sex unless it’s a serious relationship, but of course, it can be awfully hard to get a know a person if you can’t spend time with them. I liked spending time with working singles when I did, but after awhile, I got bored, especially as friends would continually move on as they got married or moved away, and while the relationships were nice, I just kindof wondered, “Is that it?” About the only reason I can see for going to a singles’ group now would be explicity to look for someone to date, and that would have to be at another church. I’d rather go social dancing…

Thanks to Ramblings of Passion for referencing the post.

I first heard the songwriting of Derek Webb when he was part of Caedmon’s Call. My roommate played their CD quite a bit and it quickly grew on me. Soon after, they came to Messiah College, and being on stage crew, I got to meet Derek and the rest, briefly. It wasn’t that long after Rich Mullins died, and when they finished with Hope to Carry On, stage full with Caedmon, Bebo, and Andrew Peterson. Well, wow.

I always liked Derek’s songwriting with Caedmon. His songs are very heartfelt, thoughtful, and honest. They don’t always have answers. They resonate with my Christian life.

He left Caedmon after Long Line of Leavers to go solo, with his first album being, She Must and Shall Go Free. I remember reading that something from Derek, that said, in essence, that Caedmon’s vision was more to encourage Christians, while Derek was desiring to speak truth to the Church, even if it wasn’t pleasant.

In 2005, he released Mockingbird, to download, for free. Keith Green stirred the pot quite a bit 20+ years ago by offering his albums for free, and that was when they had to be printed. More recently, Derek and others have launched Noisetrade, where musicians can offer their music for free to those who recommend 5 friends, or pay whatever they want.

While much of his earlier songwriting was more personal, albums like Mockingbird are more about society. It’s a different tone, but he says so many things that make me take notice…and applaud:

don’t teach me about politics and government
just tell me who to vote for
don’t teach me about truth and beauty
just label my music
don’t teach me how to live like a free man
just give me a new law
-From “A New Law”

my first allegiance is not to a flag, a country, or a man
my first allegiance is not to democracy or blood
it’s to a king & a kingdom
there are two great lies that i’ve heard:
“the day you eat of the fruit of that tree, you will not surely die”
and that Jesus Christ was a white, middle-class republican
and if you wanna be saved you have to learn to be like Him
-From “A King & A Kingdom”

how can i kill the ones i’m supposed to love
my enemies are men like me
i will protest the sword if it’s not wielded well
my enemies are men like me
peace by way of war is like purity by way of fornication
it’s like telling someone murder is wrong
and then showing them by way of execution
-From “My Enemies Are Men Like Me”

His latest album, The Ringing Bell, is available at Noisetrade…and everywhere else.