Why I shouldn’t write about Death

Posted by mattblazer on

Because it has been too close all year.

Because I don’t know that I have much to say.

What is more scary to me is that so many have so much less to say. I went to a funeral – three weeks ago – at a relatively liberal church in my community. They were unwilling to say anything… Or maybe they had nothing to say. Maybe they were so busy deconstructing the Bible they forgot to see if it had anything to say – I don’t know. I just know that at the funeral they had nothing to say. Luckily my friend’s sister had good things to say.

I suppose my main message, from what I can tell about Jesus and the story he is telling is, “This is not the way it is supposed to be…” Seems like Jesus did a lot less comforting with the idea of Heaven than we (evangelicals… showing my cards: I am an evangelical) often do. Seems like he was moved by death, and he needed to provide a more powerful – yeah, material – redemption.

2 other things (I could expand the above one for pages… But I won’t).

Why do we want knowledge? Is knowledge power, or is it just more knowledge? Or, is it a distraction to the grief process?

One of my friends died a few weeks ago and we do not know why. I think last year I would have wanted to know (she was in her 20’s). I do not care as much now. I wish I knew her better. I was greatly appreciative of the stories told at the funeral – and of the space provided by the men presiding over the service to grieve, to enjoy, to think and pray (not the liberal, local church – this was actually a collaborative effort). I do not think knowledge is always power.

I was going to write about Hell, and how I am glad that the picture of God in the Bible punishes sin… But, I’m not sure I can muster the energy to do it any justice (pun not intended). Somehow, in my heart, these areas are all very tied.

I voted

Posted by mattblazer on

For Obama.

I thought about my vote a lot. I asked my brother – he teaches at a school in Chicago and was very kind of tolerate my conservative question. He gave me two options for thinking about it correctly: computational and ontological. If you know what that means please let me know… in the end Donald Miller expresses why I voted for Obama well. I have a lot of hopes on top iof this, but here is what he has said…

By the way, right after this picture was taken, Caroline fell over her pumpkin… But, going to the patch (albeit expensive) was really fun… And, we have the pumpkin (a green one) on our porch. Thanks Ross Chaffin for copying this post so I could then steal it (also).

“Burnside: Can you lay out your biggest reasons for supporting Barack Obama?

Donald Miller: First off, I know this is an odd thing for somebody in my position to do, to support a candidate for President. But I do feel this candidate is unique. Barack is the only candidate willing to talk about his faith in Jesus. Other candidates are reluctant, but Obama is not. He is the only one who has consistently talked about the cross, about redemption, and about repentance. Many white evangelicals have a misconception about Barack…they believe that because he is a Democrat, he cannot be a Christian. But times have changed, culture has changed, and political parties change. So one of the reasons I support Barack is because he is my Christian brother, and other Christians are rejecting him.

But that has little to do with his candidacy. In short, there are a few issues I agree with Barack on.

Senator Obama is going to move us past the impasse in our cultural war, something I think of as a cultural Vietnam. On the issue of abortion, he is the only candidate who has a plan to reduce the number of abortions. John McCain’s only plan is the same old trick: say that you are pro life and offer no plan at all other than to criminalize abortion. I simply think that plan hasn’t worked, and we have to face that fact and look for other ways to make progress.

I realize this is controversial, that there are many who would rather vote for a pro-life candidate and keep the abortion rate the same, on principle. And like them I believe in the sanctity of life, I simply think we need to begin making progress, and Barack is offering progress. He is also standing up to his own party on the issue and moving the party forward to elevate the issue of the sanctity of life within the Democratic Party. I also see this as progress. I do wish we could end abortion completely, but the Republicans have not spelled out a realistic plan to do so, and until they do, I won’t vote for a candidate who simply throws us a pro-life line and no plan. It seems insincere.

But let me add this: I do wish Obama were pro-life. His plan to reduce the rate of abortion is a great step for the party, but I also wish he would defend the unborn to a greater degree.

However, at this point, in this election, with these two candidates, I think progress will be made with Barack. Not enough progress, but some progress, especially within the Democratic party, who may soften their stand on the sanctity of life.

A personal connection with me regarding Obama involves the initiative he is taking with responsible fatherhood. He has already drawn up legislation to change the welfare state to stop rewarding families whose fathers leave, and is working to change the economic structure so fathers who stay with their families are given tax relief. This has been an age-old problem that was written about in George Gilder’s book Sexual Suicide. (Gilder’s) book is a Conservative’s economic manifesto, but Barack sees a lot of value in Gilder’s ideas. But because Barack is a Democrat, Conservatives are unable to even consider his ideas.”

Proof that Mom should always accompany Dad to the park

Posted by mattblazer on

So, I’m about to leave for a Men’s Retreat, and don’t have time to write much. What will be interesting is to see if Rachel reads this/views this post while I am gone!

She is great about knowing that both of us add things to the girls’ lives that are indispensable and often cannot be manufactured by the other… But, sometimes doesn’t ‘feel good’ when she sees pictures like this one.

The 6th Sense

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So, when I saw the Sixth Sense I was late. It made it a far more intriguing movie. I remember later seeing a shirt that said, “I see stupid people… they are everywhere… they always want to talk to me.” I thought that the shirt was funny.

Today I heard the 60th story of a stupid person, responding stupidly to a friend of mine who is in crisis. We talked it over for awhile – attempting to become sad, rather than angry and offended.

Reminds me of when people ask me if they can do anything when it is clear I am hurting. I know they mean well, and it is a hair better than “how are you doing”, but I would like to have each of them sit with me and we would talk about how it is harder… but better, to simply say “I’m sorry this is going on”, or “I don’t have the words… I’m sorry” (cheesy – sure).

I can’t get my head around my own desire to fix, much less anyone else’s. But, I am more and more aware of when we are left with margin – some answers, but not all. Some hope, but not so much that we aren’t consistently in pain. Some ability to see beauty, but some obscurity even in that.

Right this second what saves me (honestly it has been saving me for a few weeks now), is a robust definition of the Gospel of Jesus. My old pastor used to say, “You’re a mess and you’re loved”, and he would sometimes spend a few moments really stressing the second. I would add, “and you have a role to play in the great story… You’re a mess, you’re loved, and you have a role to play in the story.” It really helps, it really applies everywhere, I really preach it to myself on a regular basis, it really helps me not be intimidated by my worldview source – the Bible… it doesn’t make the pain go away, but it takes the pain seriously and seems to offer robust answers to really awful and difficult questions.

Thoughts?

Discuss…