Best Memories of 2010

Right, now let's go back to my end-of-the-year best-of lists. Here are some of the events that made 2010 a pretty decent year:

-Seeing Marshall Crenshaw live. My mother used to play his self-titled debut record all the time when I was a boy, so as soon as I heard he was performing at my local coffee shop I knew I had to go. I got his autograph, too!

-Starting my Coffee Chats podcast. After doing a few episodes of my friend Tone's now-defunct Top 3 Cast, I decided to try my luck at podcasting with Coffee Chats. While it may not have had too wide of an audience, I got to interview some great people like Renee Johnson, Doug Pagitt, Brian McLaren, Julie Clawson, Jason Boyett, Pastor Nar, and Adele Saklar, among many many others.

-Seeing Brian McLaren speak in person. He actually made two appearances in town this past spring, but I could only go to one. I met him afterward. He must have recognized me from Coffee Chats (I had interviewed him a few weeks prior to this) because when I was next in line to meet him, he said, "And you are . . .?" Not in a snarky David Spade way, but more like a you-look-familiar-but-I-can't-put-my-finger-on-it way. When I told him who I was, his eyes lit up. He's a really nice guy.

-Joining the Something Beautiful team. We were mutual fans of each other's work for a few months, until one day Thomas emailed me and said, "Would you like to join our team?" I said, "You bet!" Even though the boys at SB told me I could still do Coffee Chats, I decided it would be easier for me to be a one-podcast guy, so I took an indefinite hiatus from Coffee Chats to focus on Something Beautiful. It's been a total blast so far!

-Rethinking my faith (in a good way). After exploring different ways of interpreting Scripture, I came to a point where I didn't know what I believed in anymore. So I decided to unlearn everything I've ever been taught about Jesus, and read the four gospels for myself. Turns out there was a lot of stuff I never noticed before!

-Deciding to go back to school. I always believed that by the time I was 27 I would be rubbing shoulders with all the important artists and intellectuals of my time. Well, things didn't turn out the way I planned, so I figured I better rethink my priorities. After a lot of thinking, I decided to get my Master's in Library Sciences. Might take me a while, though, since I don't even have a Bachelor's Degree. But I think it'll be worth it.

Does Systematic Theology Complicate Things?

For the past couple of days I've been doing my "Best of 2010" lists. But I want to take a break from that to ask you all something that's been on my mind lately:

Do you think systematic theology sometimes over-complicates things?

The reason why I ask is because while I'm not a trained theologian, I love to study theology. I love gaining new insights about Scripture. After a while, though, I get confused about what I should believe about sin, the cross, the resurrection, etc. Is substitutionary atonement the right way to interpret the cross, or is it Christus Victor? (After re-reading all four gospels, I now lean towards the latter.) Is sin something you do, or a state of being? And if you're as over-analytical as I am, you can really drive yourself crazy with all of these questions!

I think that's why I take a more narrative approach to the Bible. A good story can change your whole perception on life. You end up thinking about things you never thought about before. And if a regular story written by man with no divine inspiration can change your perception, how much more can the divinely inspired biblical narrative change us!

So yeah, that's what I've been thinking lately. Not sure if any of that made sense or not.

Best Records of 2010

5. Sigh No More by Mumford and Sons. I didn't want to like M&S, but even a hipster indie snob like me has to admit that they write some damn good songs!

4. I Will Be by Dum Dum Girls.. One of the most overlooked albums of 2010. If you took garage rock and add in a lot of reverb, you get the Dum Dum Girls.

3. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy by Kanye West. Yeezy may be an egotistical prick, but his latest album reminded everyone that he's still a musical genius. Plus, any rapper who samples Bon Iver is okay in my book!

2. Treats by Sleigh Bells. One of the most talked about bands of 2010. Trust me, they live up to the hype!

1. The Suburbs by Arcade Fire. What Bruce Springsteen did for blue collar working stiffs, Winn Butler and company do for angst-ridden suburbanites.

Best Books of 2010

Well folks, another year is coming to an end. This week I want to look back at the few things that made 2010 a tolerable year. Today I’ll look at my favorite books that came out in the last 12 months (in no particular order):

-Faithbook of Jesus by Renee Johnson. Twenty-somethings are often overlooked by the church, so Renee took it upon herself to create the first devotional aimed specifically at twenty-something Christians.

-Green Like God by Jonathan Merritt. Jonathan goes a great job of cutting through political agendas and presenting the biblical case for creation care.

-A New Kind of Christianity by Brian McLaren. While I’m still not sure about some of the ideas in the book (for example the Greco-Roman Narrative vs. the Three Dimensional Biblical Narrative), McLaren always makes me rethink my faith . . . in a good way.

-Evolving in Monkey Town by Rachel Held Evans. Probably my personal favorite. Rachel’s not afraid to admit she doesn’t know all the answers, and she’s fine with it.

-Picking Dandelions by Sarah Cunningham. Arguably the most underrated book of the year. It’s a funny and poignant memoir about Sarah’s spiritual growth.

-O Me of Little Faith by Jason Boyett. Another great memoir about doubt. Hilarious and moving both at the same time.

-Hear No Evil by Matthew Paul Turner. The Christian David Sedaris returns with a memoir about the role of music in his life. Who knew Calvinists could be such bohemians?

Monday Morning Awesomeness: 12/27/10

For everyone getting hit by the white stuff, here's Heatherlyn singing "Let It Snow."

A Christmas Carol - Jack Chick Style!

If you're like me, it's just not Christmas without A Christmas Carol. It's the ultimate story of repentance and redemption without being too preachy. That is, until Jack Chick gets ahold of it. Here is Chick's rendition of Charles Dickens' classic story.

Uh, wait, where does it say any of this in the original Dickens novella?

A few panels ago Scrooge said he didn't care about God. Why is he suddenly concerned about Judgement Day?

Was that supposed to be a joke?

Is it just me, or does Scrooge look like Tiny Tim (the singer)?

Wait, is Chick trying to reconcile Dickens' view of judgement with the Bible? In fundamentalist circles, ain't that considered . . . blasphemy?

That's it? No Ghost of Christmas Past? Or Present? Or Future? Just a simple prayer and every thing's okay? Dickens is tossing in his grave!

And I thought the Jim Carrey Christmas Carol was crappy!

Merry Christmas, anyway.

Between Mainline and Evangelical

2010 has been an interesting year for me spiritually. As I became more involved with the emerging conversation, I was introduced to a wide variety of new ideas. I thought some were a little “out there,” but others I really picked up on. As a result I currently find myself somewhere in between an evangelical and a mainline Christian.

For those who don’t know, mainline Christians tend to be a bit more liberal than evangelicals. They still believe in the cardinal doctrines, but they tend to on the left side of the social/political spectrum. And while mainline Christans believe God definitely speaks through the Bible, they don’t read it as literally as evangelicals do.

In a way I’ve always been somewhat of an in-the-closet mainline Christian. I mean, I always believed* in the divinity of Christ and the authority of the Bible, but I always had questions about how much of the Bible should be taken literally. For example, why aren’t dinosaurs mentioned in Genesis? Where did Cain’s wife come from? Does 1 Timothy 2:11-15 mean that it’s all Eve’s fault? And what’s with God commanding the Israelites to slaughter all those people? When I ask these questions around evangelicals, usually they respond with, “Well, uh, His ways aren’t our ways.** You just gotta have faith.” Mainline churches, on the other hand, seem to be more comfortable with questions. Not that they have any answers either, but at least you can ask questions.

Having said all that, though, I still consider myself somewhat of an evangelical. Lately I’ve been reading Marcus Borg’s Reading the Bible Again for the First Time. While it’s definitely better written than Putting Away Childish Things, there are some things about Borg’s theories that I’m just not sure about yet. Does the “not factual but still true” theory apply to the Virgin Birth, the miracles, and the Resurrection? It’s the last one that concerns me the most. Paul writes that without the Resurrection, our faith would be in vain. Yet I’ve heard Borg say in a few interviews that for him it doesn’t matter if the tomb really was empty or not, and that it’s what the story means to him that matters. I, on the other hand, side more with Borg’s colleague N.T. Wright; I believe that the empty tomb changes everything.***

So yeah, that’s where I am right now. In the new year I want to explore both mainline and evangelical churches, and see where God takes me.



*When I say, “I always believed . . .” I’m talking about my life as a Christian. There was a time, as most of you know, when I totally rejected the faith.

**Interesting enough, that particular passage in Isaiah 55 refers to God’s righteousness rather than our questions.

***Please don’t think that I’m saying Borg’s views on the Resurrection reflect what all mainline Christians think. Also, I don't want anyone to think that I'm suggesting there is no room at all in the evangelical church for questions. I'm just saying questions tend to be more embraced in mainline churches than evangelical.

Interview with a Pirate Christian

As you may know, last week on the Something Beautiful podcast I interviewed Pirate Christian Radio’s Chris Rosebrough. If you’re unfamiliar with Chris, he’s a rather infamous “discernment blogger.” Unlike many of the other discernment bloggers, though, Chris is willing to listen to people he disagrees with. In fact, he’s been to several emerging church conferences, and has made friends with people like Doug Pagitt, Nadia Bolz-Weber, and Tony Jones. I thought it would be nice to interview him so that our audience would get to know Chris as a person. And we had a great conversation. We really did. I don’t agree with Chris on several issues, but if I ever had to opportunity I would definitely have a beer with him.

Unfortunately, there’s been a bit of a backlash from the discernment bloggers. Not so much against me, though. Mostly it’s against Chris!

Apparently within the discernment bloggers, Chris is somewhat of a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Even though he is nowhere near a liberal theologically--on his show, he often criticizes his friends within the emerging church--Chris is the unfortunate victim of “guilt by association.” During our interview he told me that Pagitt is a good friend of his, even though they recently had a public debate about the existence of Hell. But the biggest sin he committed against the discernment bloggers is considering Dan Kimball a “brother in Christ.” Most of my friends within the emerging church always knew Kimball was the more conservative one theologically, but that hasn’t stopped the discernment bloggers from putting him on their naughty list. Chris tried to change minds by interviewing Kimball on Pirate Christian Radio, but that hasn’t helped. In fact, judging by this blog post by Purpose Drivel's Paula Coyle, neither has my interview with Chris.

There wasn't a lot of backlash against me . . . except from Ken Silva. If you read the comments on Something Beautiful's website, you'll see that it started when he said my theology does not make me a true LCMS Lutheran. While it's true that within the past year my theology has moved in a more mainline direction, I felt like Ken was making a broad statement based on one or two things I may have written on my blog. So I asked him to give me some examples of things I might have said. Ken didn't give me a straight answer, but from I gather it's basically because I consider myself emergent. It didn't have anything to do with any doctrinal statements I've made. It all comes down to a label.

(And for the record, as Brian McLaren would say, I believe in the Creeds. I am a Trinitarian who believes that Jesus literally rose from the dead, and I believe that God's Word is revealed through the Bible.)

I think we all need discernment, but for the most part the discernment bloggers, quite frankly, sound more like a bunch of schoolyard bullies than concerned Christians. Don't get me wrong, I welcome constructive criticism if I quote the Bible out of context (and who hasn't done that?). But within the discernment blogger camp it seems to be this fundamentalist mentality where if you don't agree with everything they say, you're going to Hell. Well, in the words of Tupac Shakur, "Only God can judge me."

Advent Week 4: Proactive Waiting

I don't know about you, but a common mistake I often make is confusing "waiting upon the Lord" with "not doing squat." Yes, there are things that are just way out of our hands, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't do anything. In fact, I think maybe sometimes God is waiting for us to move before He can move.

For example, let's say you're looking for a job. You're not going to find it just sitting around the house playing video games all day, right? You have to go out and apply for jobs, and then call back about a week later to see if they are scheduling interviews. Then God will eventually pick out the right job for you.

Oh how about peace? As I said a few weeks ago, we won't have perfect world peace until Christ returns. But in the meantime, since we are called to be Jesus' ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20), and He said that the peacemakers will be called children of God (Matthew 5:9), why not try to make the world a more peaceful place while we wait for new Jerusalem?

So let's be proactive while we wait upon the Lord.

Monday Morning Awesomeness: 12/20/10

Today's Monday Morning Awesomeness is brought to you by the lovely Mindy Smith.



Seriously, you need to get her Christmas album now!

"Putting Away Childish Things" by Marcus Borg

(DISCLAIMER I HAVE TO MAKE: HarperOne sent me a copy of this book for free to review for my blog. But they ain't payin' me!)

Many of you recognize Marcus Borg as a well established--and sometimes controversial--biblical scholar. Putting Away Childish Things is his first novel . . . and it shows! The story is underdeveloped, the characters aren't all that interesting, and the pacing is just way too slow to keep anyone interested.

The novel follows an established religion professor named Kate who teaches at a liberal arts college. Things are going great until one day she receives an offer to be a visiting professor at a seminary. There are just a few problems. First, the dean at this seminary is Kate's former lover (for a devout Episcopalian, Kate sure has been around the block a few times!). And second, the parents of her students is afraid that she's either too Christian or too liberal (in one scene, she shocks a Christian radio station during an interview by saying that the virgin birth might not have been factual).

The majority of the story is Kate wringing her hands and saying, "What shall I do?" while her friends (including the obligatory gay best friend who always knows what to say) keep telling her, "It's gonna be alright." Did I mention that this book is over 300 pages? That's right, 300 pages of navel gazing! After a while, I stopped caring whether or not Kate accepted the position.

And speaking of characters, Borg doesn't give us enough reason to care for these people. Why should I give a crap about a bunch of hoity-toity snobs who are always eating at high dollar restaurants (I've yet to meet a teacher who can afford high dollar restaurants every night!) and looking down on evangelicals. The only character I liked was Amy, one of Kate's students. She is having questions about her faith, and hopes that Kate's class can help her sort things out. The conversations between Kate and her students are the only interesting scenes in the novel, but they only pop up every 50 pages.

I haven't read any of Borg's other books yet, but I hope his nonfiction is better than his fiction!

Final score: 2 out of 5 stars.

Advent Week 3: The Upside Down Birth Narrative

A few months ago I wrote about how the Kingdom of God is an upside down kingdom the defies the world's logic. And the birth of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords is no different.

First, Jesus wasn't born in a fancy palace surrounded by servants waiting on Him on hand and foot. On the contrary, Jesus was born in a cave (as some scholars believe) among smelly farm animals. On His first night on earth, He didn't sleep in a nice, comfy crib; He slept in a feeding trough.

Second, consider the shepherds. As I learned from Margaret Feinberg's Scouting the Divine, shepherds were at the bottom of the barrel in society back then. Shepherding was usually reserved for children, elders, and women. So it's interesting to note that the angels didn't announce Jesus' birth to religious leaders or emperors anyone else important; the angels announced Jesus' birth to the marginalized.

Third, you would think that the Jewish priests and rabbis would come and visit the long-awaited Messiah, right? Nope! While the Bible doesn't say much about the Magi that visited Jesus shortly after His birth, scholars believe that they weren't Jewish, since the Torah forbids astrology. In fact, it's believed that they were Persians who followed the teachings of the prophet Zoroaster. In those days Zoroastrians and Jewish people frequently interacted with each other, it's possible that the Magi knew all the prophecies about the coming Messiah.

It's only fitting that the King of the Upside Down Kingdom would come to this world in a way that defies logic.

Something Beautiful Christmas and Charity:Water

Usually on Monday afternoons I post an Advent meditation. That won't be until tomorrow. Today I want to make a couple of announcements.

Announcement #1: The Something Beautiful Christmas Episode Needs Contributions

Every year the Something Beautiful podcast does a Christmas episode that features Christmas music, Scripture readings, and personal Christmas stories. AND WE NEED YOUR HELP!

You can help us out in three ways:

1. Leave a message on Something Beautiful's listener line at 972-535-8980.
2. Record an mp3 and email it to me at travis@somethingbeautifulpodcast.com.
3. Skype Jonathan Blundell at jdblundell and leave a message.

If you're a musician, send us your music. If you want to read something from the Bible, go right ahead. Or if you just want to wish our listeners a merry Christmas, that's great, too. Just send them in before next week.

Announcement #2: My Charity:Water Fundraiser.

As you may remember a few weeks ago, I announced I am collecting money this season for Charity:Water. Well, it's not too late to make a contribution. It can be any amount you want. Every little bit helps.

Just go to mycharitywater.org/travismamoneadvent to make a contribution.

Thank you.

Monday Morning Awesomeness: 12/13/10

Even though it's not technically a Christmas song, it's become a holiday favorite for many people, including myself.

Suspended Adolescence

I never was comfortable with the idea of masculinity. Don’t get me wrong, I’m definitely not becoming a woman anytime soon. I love my facial hair too much to lose it! But I never understood what it meant to ‘be a man’ or to ‘man up.’ Do I have to start hunting, or hang out at strip bars, or become a football fanatic? Every time I would ask some one what being a ‘real man’ means, I always got a different response.

I think part of my apprehension to masculinity came from my dad. He was in his own state of suspended adolescence for most of my childhood. Sure, I have my grandfather around to teach me all the things my father didn’t, but it wasn’t the same. The man I looked up to as my father was still acting like a little boy.

It also didn’t help that most of the boys in school called me ‘faggot.‘ I wasn’t into sports, I wasn’t chasing women, and I couldn’t fight to save me life. So, in the eyes of a teen-aged boy, that automatically meant I was gay (even though I’m not).

I think that’s why, whenever some one talks to me about being a man, I tend to react in two ways. The first is to get really defensive because my mind takes me back to the days of being bullied in school. The second is to think that I’ve totally failed at life because I’m not the man God wants me to be. And trust me, you don’t want to see me do either!

As I study Scripture, I see that being a man isn’t about either hunting or chauvinism or sports. It’s about putting the needs of others before yourself, and taking responsibility for your actions. And I’m the first to admit that I’m not very good at doing either one. In fact, during the past couple of weeks I’ve been really struggling with these issues. I don’t want to get into the details, but it got so bad that I wanted everything to end. Then, from out of the cacophony inside my head, I heard a still small voice saying that I should take some online courses. And then everything seemed okay again.

I still have a long way to go, but I think I can handle this whole ‘being a man’ thing after all.

Advent Week 2: The Waiting Is The Hardest Part

Can I be honest for a moment? I HATE WAITING!!!! If I want something, I want it now. It doesn't matter if it's something simple like a new CD or something big like a new job. In the words of Veruca Salt, I want it NOW!!!

Unfortunately, God doesn't work that way. Just take a look at the story of the Exodus. We're told that the Hebrews were enslaved by Egypt for about 400 years. Then when God called Moses to lead the Hebrews to freedom, he had to go to Pharaoh ten times before Pharaoh agreed (not without a few plagues first, of course). And then of course once the Hebrews were free, it took them 40 years to reach the Promised Land. No wonder so many of them wanted to go back to Egypt!

It's so easy to assume that God's not doing anything, so we sometimes do things our way instead of God's way. Abraham and Sarah got tired of waiting for a son of their own, so he slept with Hagar and got her pregnant. I don't know about you, but I personally don't enough hands to count all the times I tried to do things my way instead of God's way.

This Advent, I pray that God teaches me to be a more patient person.

Monday Morning Awesomeness: 12/6/10

Today's Monday Morning Awesomeness is brought to you by John and Yoko. Enjoy!