“If God would stop telling jokes, I might act serious.” – Tukaram (Muslim poet) “My Lord told me a joke And seeing him laugh had done more for me than any scripture I will ever read” – Meister Eckhart (Christian mystic) I think Jesus is one of the top comedians of all time. He makes you laugh hard. You are slapping your thighs, jaws unhinged with laughter until you realize the joke is on you. For Jesus’ comedy has a sharp edge to it: It exposes your contradictions, and comedy’s oxygen for laughter is the exposing of contradictions. You can choose to laugh at yourself, which is the beginning of transformation because people who take themselves seriously fear change. People who can laugh at themselves have taken the first step towards change. Comedy is also a great way to get past defensiveness. Laughing relaxes your body, and relaxed body is a relaxed mind. It is Trojan Horse of sort, except that what it wants to sneak past the impenetrable wall of defensiveness … [Read more...]
The truth of poetry
Nancy Miller Gomez worked first in news broadcasting and then for a reality show, both purporting to be truth-telling genres. But the need for advertising dollars made sure “truth” was employed as a commercial ploy. “Don’t let the facts get in the way of the story!” an executive producer once barked at her when she raised a flag about the misinformation they were readying to broadcast. They were not interested in truth, only selling the idea of truth. So, she quit. She enrolled in poetry class, wrote poems, and then went into Salina Valley State Prison, a level four maximum-security prison in California to teach murderers to write poetry — not to give back to society, but because “this is where I had come to try to redeem myself, one word, one person, one poem at a time,” she wrote in “Chapbook: Punishment.” When I was young, I thought poetry was about embellishment, a way make the ordinary ornate. When I was in college, I thought poetry was the highest form of literary … [Read more...]
Enough
After hearing Jezebel expound on her state policy of murdering protesters of her injustices, Elijah sat down under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors who have already died.” — 1 Kings 19:4 I have had enough! Enough of Bullets sprayed on Black bodies and Jewish bodies and any-body deemed a no-body Enough of Hatred spewed from pulpits and pundits Lies promulgated by preachers and presidents Enough of the Apotheosis of White America IT IS ENOUGH Enough of this world where you can get gunned down while shopping, this world where you can get gunned down while worshipping, this world where doors of synagogues and churches and mosques must be locked to keep out machines of death and their mad wielders I am no better than my ancestors So Let Me Be, with my lynched fathers, shot-dead grandmothers, chest-torn mothers covered with blood soaked prayer … [Read more...]
Meet many strangers
Books are like friends — both have an inordinate influence in your life. I have two middle schoolers and I know the weight of my words next to their friends’ words: a feather. I can’t get my son to cut his hair, but I know if a friend said, “Bro! You tryin’ to grow Samson locks!” he would get a crew cut the next morning. To some extent, the sports he will follow for life, the subject that can flower into a career and the songs that will inform his emotional life will depend greatly on the people he calls friends. I’ve been advised to pray unceasingly for good friends for my children. Books have such friend-like sway. So, we are rightfully choosy in our books. When we invite a book into our living room, the book tells us what is good and what is not. A character in a story can become our ideal self, a metaphor in a poem can shatter a worldview, an essay can plot our political affection. That’s why we ask for reading lists. We want our trusted human friends to introduce us to … [Read more...]
The time machine of music
The Pandora app turns your car into a time machine. The app lets you create your own radio station. You don’t have to waddle through the swamp of static and asinine talk show hosts to get to the music your mood demands. Pandora gives you Promethean control over the fire of music. You type a song or an artist’s name and your subconscious hankering births, through the company’s guarded top-secret algorithm, your own playlist-world! You then fine-tune this playlist with your Caesar-thumb: thumbs down sends the song to the lions, thumbs up blesses a song to propagate. Put that self-generated music playlist in the perfect sound room, your car – a moving aural capsule shutting out the noises of the world and leaving the clamors of the world in its rearview mirror – and now music is your all-encompassing environment, a microworld speeding past trees, highway exits, road signs, traffic lights, undone chores and even regrets. Add music’s power to conjure decades two bars … [Read more...]
A letter in response to John MacArthur’s statement against social justice
To my brother John MacArthur, You recently wrote a post warning the selling out of the gospel for social justice fad. Like Paul did in Galatians, you warn us about this “different gospel.” I tried to keep my mouth shut because I didn’t want to fan the fire your post ignited. But like the jackass whose tongue was loosened by an angel and saved Balaam, I (yes, I’m comparing myself to an ass) can’t keep my jaws clamped. Corrected, Balaam turned a curse into a blessing — so you aren’t beyond meta-noia/repentance. I’m going to take your same no-nonsense approach and warn you that you might be the false prophet, the one “bewitching” people to a “different gospel.” I’m not arguing here for any social justice commitment you call a threat to the gospel. I’m only pointing out the huge lumber in your eye. I know you can’t see it. I can’t see mine and you are eager to dislodge it from my eyes — and thank you for warning me against identification of any movement with God’s Kingdom and the … [Read more...]
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