Art and Shalom

What attracted me to the Anabaptist church was a theology rooted in discipleship. It was the conviction that God is "more concerned with us living a Christian life, than in speculating about it." It was living as a radical follower of Jesus- in simplicity, in poverty, in solidarity- so that we might better bring justice and restoration to the world. The commitment to peace, the subversive quality of the church, the idea of bearing Christian witness rather than yelling about it, the Socialist leaning- all these reasons are why I morphed into a Mennonite.

And yet I find that in many ways my soul is dying in the Mennonite world. I've lost creativity and passion. I've lost both the joy and sorrow of being a part of this beautiful and difficult world. And more so, I'm finding that all the reasons I joined the Mennonite church are causing me this anxiety. Ironically enough for a church committed to living peacefully, I find that in the quest for justice we've missed glimpses of shalom.

I'm reminded of the story where Jesus gets all sorts of expensive perfume poured on his feet and makes the rather disturbing statement that "the poor will always be with you." It's the passage I often ignore. It always sounds like Jesus is talking like some rich, white evangelical who is justifying their million dollar home and brand new Hummer.

But what if instead of this passage being about Jesus ignoring the poor, it rather has to do with Jesus embracing glimpses of shalom. Maybe this passage speaks to us "simple" Christians who view all of life through the economic lens. Maybe this speaks to us radical Christians who embrace such extreme frugality that they've lost the capacity to enjoy. This is exactly why we have such trouble with this passage- we are such economically minded Christians who have lost the capacity to embrace the good.

Afterall, most sweet things in life are entirely opposed to economics. Love, art, novels, poems, music- none of these things make much economical sense with a world starving and at war. Yet, I become ever more convinced that if music was silenced, if poetry became obsolete, and if romance became impractical- the world would fall off its axis. The world cannot exist without these things, for they are glimpses of shalom, glimpses of hope, glimpses of the kingdom; and they bear witness to a greater reality than the current reality of hunger, sickness, poverty, and war. To deny the arts is to deny salvation.

Benny Hinn and Lord Lobster- A Battle of Good and Tasty

Tonight the skies of Pennsylvania were graced with the presence of the world famous Benny Hinn (http://www.bennyhinn.org). I hope you realized the sarcasm, since there are few Christians in the world that I find more embarrassing than good ol BH. His website boasts a banner that reads "Saving the Lost at Any Cost" and from his preaching he is doing just that. From his support of Israeli occupation to his support of G.W. it is clear that he will seek to save the lost, whatever the cost may be.

And so when I heard Benny Hinn was coming to town I immediately decided to go. I don't think I wanted to go just to critisize and feel self-righteous. I could have done that without going afterall. I really think I was curious what such an event might be like. More than being curious about Benny, I was curious to see the people that would show up for such an event. Would they be poor? Would they be white? Would they be rich evangelicals? There was only one way to find out.

So I began to prepare to go see Benny Hinn. When I went to get tickets on the website, I was forced to fill out some doctrinal belief statement. I guess "any cost" doesn't count for any heathens that plan on actually seeing Benny. And well, of course I was unable to fill out the doctrinal statement with any intergrity, so I got one of my friends to fill it out for me.

With that being done I was ready to go get my soul saved. I quickly jotted down a list of ailments in case I was lucky enough to be chosen at random for healing. My list consisted of everything from my soar back and busted knee, to my lost soul. I also packed a water bottle and first aid kit in case I got slain by the spirit. I heard people get slain, and well I don't know what that means, but it doesn't sound safe.

Unfortunately as I was getting ready to leave I realized that it was lobster night at the house where I live. And I was suddenly left with a difficult decision- get my soul saved at the Hershey Arena, or eat lobster?

The lobster was delicious.