I like what your doing, but question your judgment on some of the songs you have chosen to satirize. I am not a huge fan of it, but “Indescribable” actually reflects on the glory of God as revealed in creation, not unlike Psalm 148. That song does not seem to be doing what you indicated in your previous post (it is not saying that God is the crystal goblet… which is bad poetry) it is saying that God is glorious because he is the creator of glory.

Songs like “I want to know you” and “How He Loves” are the ones we should be going after. Like a good parent we should always try to find something to praise, which is to say we should leave the songs that are actually scriptural alone; even if they are not *great* songs.

I’m sure you’re aware of this, but you know this kind of thing has been around at least 100 years. Consider the old hymns “In The Garden” and “I Will Sing the Wondrous Story”, or “Since Jesus Came Into My Heart”. We as believers (or maybe more just as humans) are so prone to making God smaller and more contained so we can wrap our brains around Him, and it always leads to “shallow theological/relational/religious place(s).” The thought also hits me that these songs seem to come from a very effeminate sensibility.

It’s funny that no one ever writes songs based on the imprecatory psalms. I’m thinking I’d identify more with them on a lot of days. It could be very cathartic to sing out “But you O Lord will bring down the wicked into the pit of corruption; bloodthirsty and deceitful men..” (wait, this could be Kwame’s theme song!) or “Make them like tumbleweed, O my God, like chaff before the wind!” It seems like songs based out of these themes would have a more masculine bent. Maybe you guys should try it!!

Indescribable to me is just like a really old, flowery poem. “You are like…Your love reminds me of…” Stu and I aren’t fans of the song. It’s just a badly written poem, something I assume was birthed from an exercise to teach kids about similes.

Breathe was a finalist but I think I axed it because it was just too easy. And we already had a few of those. “Let My Words Be Few” being the best example in that category. There were a lot of songs we could’ve done, we may have to do a follow-up album. :-p

That said, I think Indescribable was a stretch too. But you could add one of my least favorites “Breathe” (‘and I am desperate for you. And I’m lost without you’).

I understand what you’re saying. The church is ultimately a family, and criticizing a family is not always helpful or kind, and can sometimes do more harm than good. But what you also left out of your analogy, is the fact that this is a relationship as well. If you are in a marriage and your wife is ignoring you, constantly tearing you down, not listening, and making life generally miserable for you, then it’s time to speak up. Things can be awkward for a while, and she probably won’t like that you’re calling her out, but without speaking up there is no healing or change.

Also, are you saying that Jesus is the abusive husband in this relationship with an anger management problem just waiting for his wife to say the wrong thing to get an excuse to hit her? I disagree entirely. Thank God (pun intended) he doesn’t smite people for asking questions!

“Instead I will thank him for his wonderful gift of sending his son Jesus to die on the cross and rise again. I know that this is a wonderful gift that I will constantly be asking questions like yours, “What does it mean?” God in His wonderful justice had to punish a wrong that was done against Him, and found the perfect solution of a God-man in Christ who came to willingly pay for this wrong.”

I appreciate the sentiment, but this is exactly what I am talking about. I need people to explain all this in plain English. I could have told you this exact paragraph, but only because it’s full of automatic, sleepless code words that are over-used to the point where they no longer have dusty, deep, down to earth meanings anymore. I have been in church since leaving the birth canal. I could tell you all this stuff in my sleep. I’m just wanting to talk about all this all over again and convey it in a manner that actually touches my meetings all day, movie watching, day-in-and-out software job, writer’s life.

The one thing in life we all fear is death. Someone puts a gun to your head as the ultimate bargaining chip, and WE ALWAYS LISTEN because we fear death! So, the fact that I owe and give allegiance to someone who has been there, done that and bought the t-shirt in the Hell gift shop, means a lot. Resurrection is unusual and weird. So it’s not just the happy “rose again and broke the hold of death” that I would usually use to describe this event, it’s like… What? That’s weird. Zombie Jesus? He’s not dead anymore? That never happens. Wait, WHAT!?

I went for blood work a couple of months back and they found that I am missing some kind of clotting factor in my blood, and that I need to go see a specialist because something isn’t right. That terrifies me. I got the results in August and I haven’t made the appointment because I am so genuinely afraid of finding out something could be wrong, that I just am paralyzed by the whole thing. If Easter truly is about resurrection and rebirth, it needs to effect my life HERE. Not just a new dress or ham dinners. It needs to effect my life in a way that says I can lay my fear to rest in its hollow grave and be reborn tomorrow in a trust that even if this life all goes to hell and I wind up with some weird disease that gives me a year to live, that it’s not the end of the world and that my life still means something in the end and that at least someone upstairs won’t forget about me.

That’s what Easter is. And that’s what it should be. But I never received that kind of message in church. And it’s not really anyone’s fault, and I don’t hate God, I’m just asking questions about traditional presentations of things like big Christian holidays because I think for some people they are hollow, and they have SUCH a potential to have real, profound, life changing meanings. They just need to find how to reach those people. Like me. I’m not perfect, and I don’t know what’s best, because I could be wrong. I just know one thing: I’m hungry. And I’m simply trying to communicate my feelings, because I know I’m not alone in this and there’s a whole segment of people that are just dying of hunger, that are left in the dark in hollow religions. I’m only asking questions, and telling the Bride “I’m really sorry, but I’m kind of miserable. I need to feel like you are hearing me, that I actually do matter in this life, and that I’m not just worshipping a flannelgraph Jesus that doesn’t care about anything but leaving tracts on park benches.”

That’s why I, and Deanna, feel okay questioning tradition, why is it there? What’s the point of it? While I think tradition is important, and has a great place in our lives (both spiritually and non-spiritually) it also has a tendency to make it really, really easy to just really, really fake it. It’s healthy to question traditions and common practices–it helps us grow stronger as a follower of Christ, a disciple, a Christian, or whatever label you want to slap on. It’s not the message, but the messenger and their delivery.

I agree, the Resurrection is an awesome thing, but my main issue with it is how it has always been viewed as a means to an end. The Resurrection gives me eternal life, access to the Kingdom, but what does that mean? I get to live after death? While I agree, I’m excited that this isn’t the pinnacle, but what hope does that give me? That everything I do here means jack? That makes the Resurrection seem empty and pointless, if all it does is tell me to forget now and live for the future. But I think you’re right: it makes me happy this isn’t the end, because it accentuates everything. It tells me that there is still work to be done here, people to love, needs to be met, and while Jesus is busy preparing his comeback, I’ll be busy doing what Jesus showed us. Showing people what it means to live in the Kingdom. And it will matter.