Bum Rush the Show

Galatians 3:27-28

As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.

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What we got to say
Power to the people no delay
To make everybody see
In order to fight the powers that be

"Fight the Power" by Chuck D and Flavor Flav from Fear of a Black Planet by Public Enemy

Rock and roll does anger very well, and every beat of angry rock can easily be met with angry rap. It is said that freedom delayed is freedom denied, Chuck D says "Power to the people no delay."

It's amazing how many believe one people to be superior to another in the eyes of God and man. Somehow, people forget that in Paul's writings-when in Christ discinctions between people disappear.

If Paul had been asked to make a better list of those in whom there is no distinction, He would not have written a disclaimer worthy of a car ad on TV. Something like: “there is no distinction between people; including but not limited to Jew and Greek, Israelite and gentile, slave and free, men and women, black and white, rich and poor, homosexual and heterosexual, oppressor and oppressed, western and eastern, Catholic and Protestant, ninety days same as cash with approved credit, dealer retains all incentives.”

Given this, anger seems to be a logical response. When those who are powerful put themselves above others, they put themselves not beside God but in place of God. We are called to judge behavior, there are both right and wrong things to do. But as the children of God, we are all the judged not by another person, but by the High Priest of the Faith; the Prophet, Priest, and King--the Lord Jesus Christ.

Anger that burns city blocks is not productive. Anger that riles against injustice, that is the anger Jesus himself showed in the temple, that's something no moneychanger will ever forget.

Voulez Vous Couchez a la Moulin Rouge?

Judges Week!


Judges 5:28-30

Out of the window she peered,
the mother of Sisera gazed through the lattice:
‘Why is his chariot so long in coming?
Why tarry the hoofbeats of his chariots?’

Her wisest ladies make answer,
indeed, she answers the question herself:

‘Are they not finding and dividing the spoil?—
A girl or two for every man;
spoil of dyed stuffs for Sisera,
spoil of dyed stuffs embroidered,
two pieces of dyed work embroidered for my neck as spoil?’

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Itchi gitchi ya ya da da
Itchi gitchi ya ya here
Mocha-choca-lata ya ya
Creole Lady Marmalade

Voulez-vous coucher avec moi ce soir?
Voulez-vous coucher avec moi?

"Lady Marmalade" by Mya, Pink, Lil' Kim, and Christina Aguilera featuring Patti Labelle, recorded at the 2002 Grammy Awards from the movie "Moulin Rouge" written by Kenny Nolan and Robert Crewe.

Looking at yesterdays entry, some were wondering just what was going on. First read the book of Judges, cover to cover, all in one sitting. If you can read it and not come away asking yourself "what was going on?" then music selection may be the worst of the problems with Judges Week. It shouldn't be, but it is.

So, as for the song selection? Why a song (to put a dull point on the knife) about a sex worker? The last time I heard this song, the original Labelle version (this version is fine, but I do love 70's R&B), the phrase "Hey Sister, soul sister" started rolling on my tongue and with it the name Sisera and I got a smile out of the way it blended rhythmically and lyrically.

But, more, there is a power in the lyrics. There is a power in the delivery. There is a power to knowing the original was done in 1975 and this hadn't been seen before by a network audience. (This thirteen year old boy from the burbs sure hadn't seen anything like this before.) There's power there. And when Patti Labelle points to the blonde gentleman while singing... well, there was power in that moment that was sensual and sexual, but there was more. It harkens back to gender roles. It harkens to race. But in that moment there is no denying there is power and it does not belong to the traditionally powerful person in the equation, the white male.

Admitttedly, no matter the power exchange happening in that moment; no matter the financial exchange happening between patron and Call Girl; no matter the implicit and explicit exchanges made between the Courtier and a Courtesan, you will never find the "Sex Worker" table at Career Day.

Nope. Never.

But I do want to display an overtly sexual element because I wonder if there wasn't a covert sexual element in the original story. There is scandal in the General entering Jael's tent. Was there a sexual metaphor being used when Sisera asked for water and Jael offered a skin of milk? I don't know and again, not a biblical scholar, just a guy willing to ask a weird question or two.

But here is something in the realm of gender power relationships that must be considered... Sisera's mother awaited her son's triumphant return, a return that would come not on his war horse but on his shield. When the Catty Canaanite women who were in the court of the General's mother talked about dividing the spoils, they spoke of a girl or two for every man the same way as the dyed stuffs embroidered for her neck. They compared female slaves who would have been used in any number of ways, including sexual, the same way they talked about a nice scarf.

Maybe Jael did move like a woman wooing a man, like a harlot making her mark; all to kill Sisera, end this war, and do the will of God. The tease more than the act, but either way, my professor would have been right... if we're uncomfortable with these questions from the world of the Judges, surely Biblical Scholars would have a disagreeable thing or two to say.

Sisera thought he had the power. Then he had to run for his life right into the arms of Jael. It was then Jael who fulfilled Deborah's prophecy, the glory of the victory belongs to the women.

President's Day and Love Me Like a Rock

Happy President's Day!


Ephesians 6:12

For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, but against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

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If I was President
And the Congress call my name
I'd say "Who do
Who do you think you're fooling?"
I've got the Presidential Seal
I'm up on the Presidential Podium

"Loves Me Like a Rock" written and recorded by Paul Simon on "There Goes Rhymin' Simon"

Many a day I am a big fan of hyperbole and exaggeration. These are two of the building blocks of humor. That's the reason I like them, for humor, for comedy. I don't really like them in politics. Unfortunately, because of fear we are becoming a society built largely on hyperbole and exaggeration. A society that has become spectacle, a mere shadow of itself.

The Presidential debates during this election year have become a mere shadow of their intention. Lincoln and Douglas would take all of the candidates by the ear and show them what it meant to debate.

Lest you think I point at one side of the aisle, one side may be a three ring circus, but the other side of the aisle features its own sideshow not to be denied nor ignored.

These candidates struggle against each other, they struggle so they can struggle against what? Congress? World leaders? The invisible hand of the market and the economy? The Koch Brothers? They fight each other so they can fight someone else. Fear and fight. Fear and fight. Who needs a President and a Russian Premier? How about a global game of Risk fought out like the days of Goliath?

Is that our fight? Is that our future?

We have gotten so worried about separation of church and state that as we grind the theological moxie of our candidates we forget to ask them what they truly believe, not where they go to church. Where is our struggle? Where is their struggle? If their struggle is against the enemies of flesh and blood, but against the greater authority of darkness. This power is not an individual. This power is greater than any one person.

Truly I say to you, that power is in all of us. Each and every one of us. It is the power of sin.

Paul's letter to the Ephesians tells us how to fight that struggle, it is to put on the whole armor of God. It isn't to blame. It isn't to point fingers. and it isn't to ask "Who do, who do you think you're fooling?"

That is the rock that loves me.

That's Not Funny

Philippians 4:4-9

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.

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As I walk through
This wicked world
Searchin' for light in the darkness of insanity.

I ask myself
Is all hope lost?
Is there only pain and hatred, and misery?

And each time I feel like this inside,
There's one thing I wanna know:
What's so funny 'bout peace love

"(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding" by Nick Lowe performed by Elvis Costello

There is something terribly odd about the Gospel in our day and time. The Gospel was written for a band of God Fearers who were outside of Roman and Pagan society and not really a part of the Hebrew society, not anymore. They really didn't fit into any niche that existed at the time.

Now it's all different, or is it.

It wasn't written for people generally like me, an affluent (certainly by the world's standards if not by American standards), man of Northern European descent. In our world, this makes me one of the "insiders."

The Church as it began had no legal status and little protection. The Apostles, those who were first sent with the Word of the Good News were easy targets. Other followers of Jesus paid the ultimate price of their faith too.

The faith we know became generally accepted at the time of Constantine when he had a dream that his army would be victorious if they painted crosses on their shields. This was affirmed by his wife who was a baptized Christian. Of course, this wasn't enough for Constantine to live wet, he was never baptized. He still knew which side of fame's toast the butter went on, he might have believed-or he might not have, but he surely knew that there was power in the blood.

From there, the church began to exercise its own power and authority until it was so entwined with the government that the empire came to be known as the Holy Roman Empire. Separation between church and state? It never existed before the United States. Christian rule over the politics of the Empire started so long ago that to us it never seems out of place.

In less than 500 years, the church went from being an outlaw and outcast group to the rulers of the "modern, civilized world."

Funny thing about power, power corrupts, even the church.

That's a lot of history to say only one thing, in a world that values power and stuff, we need to take a page from Paul's letter to the Philippians. Rejoice! How often do you hear of peoples in world capitals (or in the power structures of the church) scream and rejoice!? As much as this oversimplifies power and faith, it does not seem a stretch at all when reading what comes from the power brokers of either the government or the church.

People concerned with getting and keeping power never let their gentleness be known to anyone. Nor do they seem to want to bring anything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. Supplication? Please.

It's time again to ask the musical question asked by Nick and Elvis and Paul and Micah and the prophets and the apostles: What's so funny about peace, love, and understanding?

It's not that we can quit asking the musical questions "Is all hope lost? Is there only pain and hatred, and misery?" Surely there is, but we need to ask, what is the cure of these ills. Where is the salvation that cures the world?

"Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you." We need to get back to the basics.