Category: Opinions

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A Particular Kind of Brokenness

“What use could God possibly have for a soul that has been completely emptied?” This question encompassed my reflections back in 2011, a darker season of my years-long struggle with depression. Even now, although I would not frame the question in such a hyperbolic sense, it continues to haunt me. On one level, I still perceive my depression as a particular kind of brokenness—a brokenness that has often given me pause to reflect upon who I am as an individual. More broadly, though, I consider what implications this raises for my participation in the body of Christ.

brokeBefore I am accused of painting a negative portrait of the subject at hand, I must first clarify that I am not suggesting that brokenness is tantamount to sin, as I have been fighting this notion for several years in my own life. To provide rather extreme examples, I have personally been told by others that I suffer from depression because I have too much sin in my life; that mental illness is a form of demon possession; that depression is merely a sign of a spiritual deadness. Rather, here I associate depression with brokenness in that it disrupts God’s design for human flourishing.

In light of these considerations, I instead want to assert that my personal questions are not completely foreign to the church’s uncertain response to mental illness. Furthermore, how is the church to regard members of the body who continue to suffer in this way, perhaps over a sustained period of time? While I do not intend to present a full indictment of the church on this account, I do wish to indicate a lack of consensus as to how to regard mental illness. In viewing some of the contemporary evangelical responses, I was somewhat astonished by the wide and varied perspectives represented in popular Christian forums. A 2009 issue of Christianity Today featured multiple articles on the contemporary “depressive epidemic.” These articles recognized the perplexing nature of depression within the church, ultimately finding root in meaningful suffering, communion in the body of Christ, and Christian eschatology. On a different end of the spectrum, Focus on the Family published an article, as a part of a series, with a rather telling title: “Depression: Reject the Guilt, Embrace the Cure.” While author Bruce Hannigan clarifies that depression is not in itself a sin, he describes the illness as a propensity that may lead to sin if one indulges in it, comparing depression to alcoholism.

In the midst of these assessments, some helpful and some harmful, I believe it is very much important to maintain the complexities of mental health (especially the often-neglected biochemical levels) as the church continues to struggle in better understanding these issues. Even considering the numerous differing responses among Christians, I remain hopeful that the church may increasingly recognize these complexities and thus better support and affirm those who are battling mental illness.

In returning to my initial question, I want to assert that, in the midst of brokenness, God is redeeming all things to himself. This remains a promise, not a trite solution. It is a promise that implies both a continuing process and an eschatological hope. It does not explain away our present trials; it does not silence our questions. Rather, I trust that it gives us cause to boldly pursue our calling to uphold one another in the body of Christ.

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Missiology 101

Hello, Phil. I hear you’ve got to know this new fellow who has moved into your town lately, and I’ve been wondering what you think about him. He’s an immigrant, a missionary from a Muslim country, here to try to convert Americans to Islam. He certainly seems surprising, in some ways. He knows nothing about Christianity, or about what Christians believe. When someone asked him, he had no idea which country was on the other side of the United States’ northern border. And it was complete news to him that America had begun as a collection of British colonies, which rebelled against British rule and achieved independence in the eighteenth century. He doesn’t speak English, and is certainly taking his sweet time about learning it. But then, as he says (through an interpreter), some people just aren’t good at languages.

In fact, self-deprecation seems to be his long suit. He keeps saying what a dummy he is, how naïve etc.. Though I notice that, when you give him information that will be useful to him, he almost makes a point of forgetting it again right away, as though he didn’t want to be contaminated by it — as if naïveté were a treasured part of his self-image.

And then there’s the strange matter of American names. You can’t have failed to notice. As he explains, there is a custom in his country that all foreign names containing a simple ‘i’ sound have to be pronounced with ‘oo’. It’s not that the ‘i’ sound is difficult for him (there are plenty such names in his own country, for goodness’ sake); it’s just that they have a rule among themselves to pronounce all foreign names this way. So he calls Philadelphia ‘Fooladelphia’, and addresses you as ‘Fool’ — and, in the nicest, humblest possible way, he rather expects you to answer to it. And if you tackle him on this, he does his favorite ‘hurt feelings’ look, and says it’s the custom of his country, a part of his identity. And how could you try to take that away from him?

So what I want to know is this:  What do you think of this fellow, Phil? (or ‘Fool’?) Please don’t tell me merely that you expect him to be rather unsuccessful in converting Americans to Islam. I think we can take that much for granted. No: I’m playing the shrink here, with the big “So how do you Feel?” How do you feel about him?

missionaryMy guess is that, at a minimum, you will view him as a pitiable but also unwelcome intrusion into your town. Maybe you go further, and hold him in some degree of contempt for his attitudes. It’s possible you even go so far as to view him with actual anger and hostility.

Since it’s hard to feel threatened by him (although his country is powerful, it’s nowhere near as powerful as the U.S., and people there are an awful lot poorer than they are here), I suspect that you go for the more moderate reactions toward him. If the relationships were reversed, though, and his was the more powerful and wealthier society that was influencing our daily lives in countless ways, I suspect that your reactions would move over toward the more virulent end of the spectrum.

Scratch all that. I just made it up. And anyway, you’re not Phil. So let me tell you instead about a young couple I really have met, who really were surprising, in exactly the ways our imaginary Muslim in Phil’s home town was surprising. And I have to say that it’s OK — not great, but still OK — not to have any idea who Cyril and Methodius were. Or whether Istanbul is at the eastern end of Turkey, or the western. Or which country Belgrade is in. Maybe you know none of those things. It’s not great to be ignorant about them, because they matter. But the world is a big place, and I’m sure you could easily find facts of equivalent importance about, say, western China, concerning which I would be equally ignorant.

And anyhow, we’re in America. Indeed, it would still be OK not to know those things if we were in the U.S. and planning to start a business (or some political move, or do some Christian missions work) in, say, Peru or India. But this couple? They were missionaries in Macedonia. By that I mean, they had already arrived there. Now, Macedonia is a predominantly Orthodox country (Cyril and Methodius are the crucial figures in Slavic Orthodox history), that was under the rule of the Ottoman Turks for more than five centuries until just about within living memory. And it spent most of the twentieth century as part of Yugoslavia — which was ruled from the Serbian capital of Belgrade. And our couple knew nothing about these fundamental features of the country’s culture, religion, history, or geography.

A missionary is a person who, to put it bluntly, goes somewhere to tell the locals what’s what. But our friends didn’t know what’s anything.

We’ll take as read the fact that they didn’t know any of the language until they arrived. Who would expect anything else? And, of course, they pronounce the capital city of Skopje as ‘Skoapje’. You can say that’s the American pronunciation — like calling the Italian city of Firenze ‘Florence’ — if you want. Except that it wouldn’t be true. Because, even if we accept the unlikely assumption that they’d even heard of the city before they arrived, or had heard American pronunciations of it, they pronounced it that way straight away anyway, and ditto for smaller places that would have been completely off their radar. No: everyone around them in Macedonia says one thing — so they say another. It’s the custom, right? And my friend Kosta gets addressed if he were a beer mat: Coaster.

Can we see that anything milder than furious outrage would be altogether too kind a reaction by the unfortunate hosts?

But our friends are not the exceptions: they’re typical. To be sure, I know counterexamples. There’s an American pastor who has lived in a small town of that country for nine years. He looks and dresses like a local, sends his kids to the local school, and speaks so well that many can’t even tell he’s a foreigner.

But he’s the exception. The clueless young couple are the rule. So how should they respond to the points I just made? I’d tell you how they will respond — but you already know. Smile; look bewildered; make self-effacing jokes about what dummies they are; do something groovy that’ll entertain the local kids; look hurt and keep what they fondly imagine to be a ‘holy’ silence. But, whatever they do, make no change.

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Idolization of the Extremes

Christians go back and forth on whether ours is a religion of moderation or extremes. On the one hand, we are meant to abstain from indulgences such as sexual promiscuity, consumerism and materialism, and overeating. Purity and health are both important to us, and as any good nutritionist or fitness trainer will tell you, moderation is key. We should not hoard wealth. We should turn the other cheek. On the other hand, Jesus could easily be painted as a revolutionary. He braided whips and flipped tables. He told off the Pharisees. He called us to live in a radical way; the same standards that require moderation could also be seen as extremist when compared to the sedentary lifestyles of many—give up everything you have and follow me? In a way, it’s flattering to think of Christianity as a religion of extremes. We are supposed to be “not of this world,” after all, right? We are special. We are different from others in a profound and fundamental way.

I recently came across two different articles that changed the way I think about these questions of moderation and extremism. The first was an article on BBC News that described the heroic acts of a teenage girl who saved a middle-aged man. The girl, Keshia Thomas, was eighteen when she was witness to a KKK demonstration in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She attended with a crowd of black protestors. A white man with an SS tattoo and a Confederate flag t-shirt was noticed in the crowd of observers. They, along with Thomas, began to chase him out. At some point he was knocked to the ground and the crowd began to kick and beat him. Thomas threw herself down on top of him and fought off the attackers, quite possibly saving his life, had the blows escalated.

The second article, found in The Washington Post, is a profile of Nadia Bolz-Weber, a progressive Lutheran minister who heads a small church, House for All Sinners and Saints, in Denver. Bolz-Weber grew up in a Christian home but felt marginalized by the church and was heavily involved in drug abuse, surrounding herself with “underside dwellers . . . cynics, alcoholics and queers” for several years before eventually getting clean and becoming a minister. She has become well-known for her foul mouth and tattooed physique, and her church prides itself on being accepting of people from all walks of life.

I did not react to these stories as positively as you might expect. Do not doubt my esteem for Kehsia Thomas and what she did. Her selflessness and bravery brought tears to my eyes (which doesn’t hap—okay, it does happen often), but I fear for what many may take away from her story. My first thought was that I would probably never have such an impressive opportunity for goodwill. I will probably never be seen as a hero, I will never be caught in a mob or a riot or a warzone and I will never throw my body over an innocent or a grenade. This can be a very damaging way of thinking. No one should sit around waiting for their “big moment” to come. Waiting for a notable opportunity can cause procrastination on smaller goals. When you don’t feel like you can do any good from where you are in the world right now, it will not seem worthwhile to practice small kindnesses and general friendliness in everyday life. It is a mindset that cripples many, and it is noticeable on Houghton campus, in the numbers of students who have a longing to help others in a big way and yet do not take part in community service projects in Alleghany County. No one is ever going to be in the perfect position to make a huge impact. That is rare and happens to few people—people who were spending their days engaged in doing good work for the world in small places for a very long time before being noticed. As Teri Gunderson, a woman who was impressed with Thomas’ actions, says, “The voice in my head says something like this, ‘If she could protect a man, I can show kindness to this person.’ And with that encouragement, I do act with more kindness.”

The Bolz-Weber profile portrayed her church as a haven for those who have had rocky relationships with the Church (sadly a frequent occurrence), and it is indeed a beautiful thing that Bolz-Weber is giving those people a chance to connect with God in a refreshing church setting. Says one congregant of the experience, “House has a lot of people burned by religion, and this still holds for me. It’s the only church I can stomach.” But the article took an odd turn when it began to describe what happened when Bolz-Weber’s congregation started to expand. “Normal people,” i.e. Christians without torrid pasts, began to attend. “It was awful,” wrote Bolz-Weber. She claimed that the normal Christians were “f—king up [her] weird,” and a church meeting was actually held to discuss whether or not the newcomers should be allowed to continue to attend. This struck me as outrageous, considering that House was formed as an antidote to the unwelcoming nature of other churches. Bolz-Weber’s attitude represents another kind of extreme: the belief that one is not “real” or authentic or cannot know true forgiveness without having first dragged oneself through the rigmarole of sin and depravity. Bolz-Weber prides herself on her honesty and appears apathetic on matters such as chastity and foul language, behaviors that come with explicit guidelines in the Bible. Yes, being open and inviting are strong tenets of the Christian faith (“Come as you are”), but along with that approach comes the condition, “now go and sin no more.” By the end of the article I was left with the feeling that Jesus—a man who spent the first thirty years of his life working as a carpenter and the last three years preaching by lakesides—might not have felt comfortable in the House for All Saints and Sinners. And yet who could understand the message of salvation better than He?

Christians like to embrace extremes. You’re not “good” until you’ve adopted two third-world children, published a novel, and thrown yourself over a man to protect him from a mob. You’re not “forgiven” until you’ve done hard drugs, have a tally of sexual partners in the double digits, and, if possible, have spent at least four years in prison. But God does not call us to make momentous, heroic sacrifices when we find a perfect opportunity. God calls us to make the slow and steady sacrifice of our entire, day-by-day, minute-by-minute life.

 

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In Yourself Right Now Is All the Place You’ve Got

Independence is a value we need to revive in our society. Individuals are primarily valued in the context of others, not as those who stand alone. Rather, society values the team, a conglomerate of individuals working together to embody the values of unity, cooperation, and interdependence. I’m not bashing these values or downplaying their worth, but I am arguing that our society, in venerating these so dearly, have neglected (almost entirely) the virtues of independence.

independenceThere is a disproportional amount of emphasis placed on teamwork and being able to lead a group, especially in the professional world, where common interview questions and required skills reflect these values. Participation in sports, student/other organizations, clubs, churches, etc. is essential for college applications, including those for graduate school. Although features such as GPA and various standardized tests speak to the success of the individual, they are quite often not enough for students who hope to attend Ivy League schools, receive scholarships, or participate in competitive academic programs.

Looking more generally outside the realms of education and profession, communities (perhaps even Houghton) intrinsically approve of those dubbed “social butterflies” and are prone to look down on the loner. Those who choose not to date, avoid parties and dances, and enjoy spending more time in solitude are no stranger to oddly judgmental looks and the label of “introvert,” which in and of itself bears the prejudice of an unfavorable connotation.

In a world that thrives on connection, interdependence has become our comfort zone; others provide us the parameters to define ourselves, and their understanding of us frequently becomes our own. Ralph Waldo Emerson reflects, “it is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion,” and I’d argue that this is why it’s comfortable for us to live in a world where we’re reliant on others who provide praise, encouragement, and assurance. If the qualities of independence and separation are not those we actively practice or seek out, it’s easy to remain in the mentality set forth and lauded by the majority. It gets us into the best schools, graduate programs, jobs, the best social circles, and the list could go on.

Independence thrives in separation, and I’m inclined to go as far as to argue that truly understanding yourself apart from others is invaluable, perhaps even “very healthy” in the words of Oscar Wilde. After all, we may tirelessly pour ourselves into other people and thrive on these social interactions and relationships, all in an attempt to find our place in the world amongst the masses. Yet when it comes down to it, as Flannery O’Connor candidly puts it, “in yourself right now is all the place you’ve got.” In other words, “[we] need to know how to be alone and not defined by another person,” as Wilde puts it. For if we neglect to start at square one and work at defining ourselves and then grow from there, how can we even begin to fit ourselves into the puzzle of society? Without form, without a solid definition of self, we’re doomed to slip like water through cracks in relationships, with our concept of self pooling according into the bounds of what others dictate.

In separation and solitude we’re forced to be alone with ourselves. Without the distraction of anyone else, we have the luxury to examine our character, our desires, our hopes, and then devise the means to act on them, whether we choose to devote ourselves to reading great literature, writing poetry, creating art, going to the gym, or simply thinking. Independence signals a loyalty that is first to ourselves, and this fidelity grounds us not only in our self but also our principles, and that, at least, society agrees is desirable. I think we are perhaps prone to underestimating the depth of our potential in and of ourselves, and because we’re not really encouraged to pursue unearthing it, we miss out on what we have to offer. Society seems to value the trademarks of strong individuals, yet it forgets or perhaps even ignores what it takes to arrive there.

That being said, I’ll admit that relationships are important. Emerson goes on to add that while “it is easy in solitude to live after our own [opinion],” it is the “great man who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.” It is not enough to merely recognize and then embrace the values of independence as an individual separated from society; rather, after we’ve grasped hold of them, we must continue to embody them as we re-enter our world interdependence and relationships. In his work, Walden, Thoreau explored the values of solitude and separating oneself from society, and while I’m not recommending everybody mimic his extensive solitary stint in the woods to develop an appreciation of the individual and independence, I do think we can (and should) mimic it to some degree. Solitude does not need to be constant; in fact if it is, it can have pretty negative consequences (think effects of solitary confinement), but I would argue that it is essential in any daily routine, not just those of introverts.

Nevertheless, it is imperative we see that although Thoreau clearly appreciated the values of independence and solitude, he also did not disdain human camaraderie; in fact he valued it quite highly. This “solitude” that Thoreau praises, and what I am recommending we rediscover, is not loneliness or extreme isolation, but rather introspection and an understanding of self, and an ability to maintain these boundaries of self that define us in the midst of the real world, where relationships and interactions with others dominate our lives. In the words of Thoreau, “Individuals, like nations, must have suitable broad and natural boundaries, even a considerable neutral ground, between them.”

As individuals it’s vital we recognize the importance of independence and separation, and our intrinsic value outside the bounds of our relationships. Furthermore, it’s perhaps more essential, even crucial, that society not only acknowledges these values, but considers them to be worthwhile. Whether or not this will eventually be reflected on the institutional level has yet to be seen, but perhaps our starting point must be a change in our definition of what constitutes a valuable member of society.

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Woes of the Privileged Dependent

As dependents we like to complain. Or rather, as the privileged we like to complain, because it really is a question of privilege. It is a privilege to be dependent on someone financially, and even if you are an independent financially, as a student you are currently depending on this institution for food, lodging, and education.

But we love to complain. Throughout my time at Houghton and even more so it seems since I graduated, all I hear from current students is how awful this place is. Sodexo is taking over everything. The rules are too constricting and frankly ridiculous. Res Life is on a constant witch hunt. The dorms are nasty. The education is minimalistic. Finally, my personal favorite, “Houghton shelters us and does not prepare us for the real world.” The list of complaints goes on, but you get my point.

Don’t get me wrong, I love to complain as well. But every once in a while you need to stop, sit back, and consider what you are complaining about. Because more often than not we sound pathetic, and the grounds for complaints are nothing more than juvenile trivialities.

Let me put things into perspective. According to Forbes, Houghton College is currently ranked in the top 4% of colleges nationwide. Our Investment Center just recently broke $300K. Our Media program has had students go to Antarctica, and produce documentaries for the Gates Foundation. 83% of applicants from Houghton have been accepted into medical school (the national average is 43% according to the Association of American Medical Colleges). We may be small, but the quality of academics is undeniable.

During my last weekend on campus I went up to the cafeteria to eat lunch. I had to struggle choosing between numerous delicious-looking options. No institutional food will ever compare to your mother’s cooking, but have you eaten at other colleges? We get quality food, tons of variety, and all you can eat. Last but not least, Sodexo accommodates dietary restrictions like few other institutions. I would also like to praise the new management of Java 101. Flex dollars can be used to purchase coffee, and it is now open all day Sunday!

Our student guide requires students to not drink, use illegal substances, or act promiscuously. Now go find another Faith-based institution that promotes those. In fact, go find an actively Christian institution that is more liberal on those issues at all.

When it comes to Res Life, I have sat in on disciplinary hearings while serving as an RA, and I was shocked. Not because of the strictness, but because of the understanding and caring on behalf of the staff. The case I was in had to do with drugs, which under the student guide is a one-strike offense. The evidence was compelling; the confession was there. The student should have been expelled. But instead, the staff asked how the student was, what was the reasons for this, how could we help. I was asked to be his mentor.

Dorms are dorms. Hundreds of people have used the room you are in. Of course it’s not a five-star hotel in Monaco. But next time you feel compelled to whine, go spend a night in a state school dorm that has been sullied by thousands of drunken, puking, fornicating residents, and then see how you feel.

Lastly, do you really need to drink, smoke, and have sex, or even be surrounded by such things, in order to prepare yourself for the “real world”?  Let me give you a glimpse of the real world: most people work 8-5 jobs with an hour lunch break, after which they go home and watch TV. On occasion they enjoy happy hour at the local bar. Far fewer may hook up for some quick sex. But mostly this is just a television fantasy. According to the CDC, while two out of three American adults drink, the average amount consumed is 4 drinks per week. 19% of Americans smoke and only half of Americans purport to have sex once a week. So you really aren’t falling behind the rest of the population with the amount of alcohol, tobacco and sex of which you are deprived.

Houghton is not perfect. There are things that could stand improvement, but by and large it is a truly quality institution. Remember that there are so many issues in the world, i.e. world hunger, child prostitution, homelessness, domestic violence, and gender inequality. And explain to me why your life is particularly miserable at Houghton.

 

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Worshipping Sentimentality

In the beginning of October, Lenny Luchetti spoke in chapel on the virtues of worshipping God with the head as well as the heart. He explained that when he first began attending college, he loved to lose himself in the feeling of worship through praise songs, a semi-charismatic and hands-in-the-air kind of guy. He would observe with slight disdain the behaviors of others who sat quietly through worship services without actively taking part. Eventually, as he grew in his faith while at school, his perceptions changed, and the point he made was that God deeply values the efforts of the mind and the act of praise through academics and critical thought. What he left to be inferred, however, was that both methods of connection to God are equally worthwhile, and that it is merely a matter of personality which form of worship one chooses to employ. I would argue that this is not true, and that worshiping God with the “heart” is not really worship at all.

worshipThe other day while I was driving, Jamie Grace’s “Beautiful Day” came on the radio. The “It’s been ‘like’ a whole day” in the first verse managed to slip by me unnoticed the first time around, but the chorus left me incredulous and indignant. After a few bouncy lines about how happy God makes her, Grace sings, “This feeling can’t be wrong/ I’m about to get my worship on/ Take me away,” implying, or rather, explicitly stating that worship is some kind of altered state of being one enters into with the expectation that they will come away feeling blissful and transcendent, reminiscent of a drug-induced high or the rush of sexual intercourse. In her Grammy-nominated song “Hold Me,” Grace reinforces this interpretation with the lyrics, “I’ve had a long day, I just wanna relax … I know I should be working but I’m thinking of you” in which Jesus is essentially equated with a happy hour cocktail, and put at odds with “work,” which I can only assume Grace is not, in this case, using as a means to honor Him.

I do not mean to personally insult the no-doubt well-meaning Jamie Grace. What I do mean, however, is to question the ease with which Christian society accepts this kind of bubblegum Christian pop praise music without any basis in scripture or intentional theology. Worship is intended to be a thoughtful meditation on the grace and the goodness of God, a practice that should no doubt invite feelings of gratitude, joy, and peace, but that should nonetheless find its roots in concentrated study and reflection. The concept of worship as it is found in the majority of contemporary praise and worship songs is that of “chasing the feeling,” craving the joy without the contemplation, the intimacy without the commitment, the sex without the relationship.

People do worship in different ways. I would not try to take away from those who connect most fully with God through music the right to do so freely and with joy. But there cannot be a divide between innervation and cerebration. Those who worship through song must be able to count on the lyrics to be studied and deliberate. Difficult and far-reaching questions that exist within the Christian faith can have devastating effects on those seeped in the superficial, sensationalist theology of pop praise music. They are not taught to ask, and they are unprepared to answer. In the words of Grace, “I’ve got not need to worry, I’ve got no room for doubt,” but what exactly grants her such infallible certainty is unclear, and in a faith as encompassing and exacting as the Christian faith, there can be no room for sentiment without qualification. Impassioned worship without a strong grasp on the basics of Christian theology is meaningless and empty, and Christians brought up in the tradition of vacant worship are not worshipping God, they are worshipping a semblance of the side effects of God’s entity. They are worshipping titillation.

I want to reassure you that I recognize the usefulness and, in fact, necessity of music in worship. The Bible would not contain so many references to praising God with song if it was not an important aspect of our faith. But let us never fail to recognize the dependence of meaningful emotional connection with God on intelligent and critical examination of our beliefs.

 

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Doubt Suspended in Confidence

Season seven, episode seven of the Fox series Bones features a nine-month pregnant Dr. Temperance Brennan wading through a crowded fight in the cafeteria of a men’s prison without a care in the world. Her anxious partner, Booth, begs her to have some sense and not over-exert herself, but she casually states that hurting a child is one of the biggest prison taboos, and carries on. And she is right; the prisoners catch sight of her immense belly and fall over themselves to get out of her way. Her path is miraculously cleared in the midst of tackling bodies, headlocks, and thrown punches. She is aware of something cognitively and she fearlessly applies it to her physical life without a second thought. She is confident in her own mind.

tenetsI hoard my favorite quotes in notebooks and look over them periodically like a miser counting gemstones. Several oft-read quotes are pulled from Nietzsche’s The Gay Science. At the risk of being thought delusional, I in all honesty find that Nietzsche, “God is dead” Nietzsche, provides me with as much affirmation in my faith as any Christian writer ever has, if not more. Particularly these lines: “When we hear the news that ‘the old god is dead,’ as if a new dawn shone on us; our heart overflows with gratitude, amazement, premonitions, expectation. At long last the horizon appears free to us again, even if it should not be bright; at long last our ships may venture out again, venture out to face any danger; all the daring of the lover of knowledge is permitted again; the sea, our sea, lies open again; perhaps there has never yet been such an ‘open sea.’” Let me explain. I enter the crowded fight between Nietzsche and God with the knowledge that God is not dead, not anymore. And the crowd parts before me. “The old god is dead,” yes, and the new God has risen, and a new dawn shines on us. We can venture out without fear of sin. We can grow in our knowledge, knowing that the open sea of God’s forgiveness lies before us. Few things I have read have given me more hope. Of course, I am blatantly projecting my own personal beliefs and convictions upon the undoubtedly unwilling Nietzsche. I am being rude, perhaps; I am blaspheming, even. I have a habit of gathering hope from typically barren places such as this. Is it a unique and valuable form of faith, or am I over-confident and foolish? In the wise words of our own Houghton alumnus Gordon Brown, “Bad self-esteem and inflated self-esteem are two sides of the same coin.”

In season eight, episode ten of Bones, Dr. Brennan enters a ballroom dancing competition while undercover with Booth. She has never danced before, but she observes the other dancers and says with the same assuredness as before that she can translate the same movements that they make to the corresponding parts of her own body. She then proceeds to do so… and is dreadful. She believes that she is mimicking their motions exactly, but she does not have the practice that they have, and in actuality has no idea what she herself looks like in action. This kind of misguided confidence is seen all too often in the efforts of various evangelizers. The desire to appear infallible and have all the answers repeatedly overwhelms the real need for earnest seeking and authenticity. There is a delicate balance here. My fiancé Andy Nelson writes, “We should question our faith. We should express our views with humility. But we should not adopt a state of constant uncertainty and doubt.” Too much, honesty is replaced by bravado; but just as much, assertiveness is degraded by a kind of shrugging denial of confidence. Neither approach is effective in excess.

There is a poem by Denise Levertov titled “Suspended” that reads, “The ‘everlasting arms’ my sister loved to remember/ Must have upheld my leaden weight/ From falling, even so,/ For though I claw at empty air and feel/ Nothing, no embrace,/ I have not plummeted.” Whether or not complete confidence in every aspect of faith is possible, certainly I can be confident in the fact that I am suspended, that I float on the level with the core tenets of my Christian faith. While some value doubt and others value confidence, each cannot exist without the other. Faith, more than anything else, is a satisfaction in the self. If I, like Dr. Brennan, have confidence in my own mind, then I can feel free to doubt and question, to test my boundaries, to move fearlessly. After all, I have not plummeted.

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I Dare You

Truth or dare? Truth. That was always my answer. I was afraid of the dare. Who knew what one of my friends’ little 14-year-old-minds could come up with? I knew what I could come up with and that scared me enough to keep me from ever answering with “dare.” The unknown is wild and exciting, but more than that it is quite frightening. Whenever one of my friends was feeling more courageous and answered “dare,” there followed a collective and sustained “OOHHH!” We all became excited, and even nervous, for this heroic, young risk-taker.

notFast-forward a few years and here we are today, still playing that game, still answering that question. And often we still answer with the all-too-safe “truth.” The irony is that we are, whether we know it or not, whether we like it or not, people of the dare. To live is to accept one dare or another. Existence requires it. But ever since we were young we were made to think there was a safe way out. I’m here to say: there’s not.

A dare is a call to a particular action. It is obvious (and also obviously suppressed) that our lives are made up of a collection of particular actions over a period of time; and that these actions form us. Our very beings are formed by the dares we take on. It is not my hope that this will make you think about taking on a dare sometime, in fact this wouldn’t even make sense for me to hope for. No, my hope is that you realize that you have no choice but to take on dares. So, affirm the dare. Be daring.

Now let us humbly converse with the other option: truth. In all my affirmation of the dare I do not intend to, in any way, eclipse or trivialize truth. I only mean to point out the misunderstanding of truth, this all-too-safe “truth”. In Twilight of the Idols Nietzsche reminds us that “only thoughts reached by walking have value.” He did not mean that we must literally be walking around to have valuable thoughts (though I do not think this is a bad practice … maybe classes should have walking routes as opposed to classrooms). I think he was trying to suggest that as existing individuals the truth and the dare are very much related.

What is this relationship? I’m not going to pretend to know the complexities of it, but I will humbly speculate this: the truth about who you are is not the truth about who you are unless it motivates the dares that you choose to take on; and the dares you choose to take on will form the truth about who you are. You may be thinking, “Hey, that’s super circular though.” Well, you’re right! That is why there is a need for the gift of Grace in order for existence to take place.

This gift of Grace also happens to be the ultimate example of this relationship between the truth and the dare: that The Truth took on the greatest dare of all; that is, The Truth became a person of the dare. All this time we’ve been thinking that answering “truth” was the safe option, but that is only because we have dressed truth up in many costumes and suffocated her, so she is neither recognizable, nor mobile, nor alive. Sounds strangely familiar? Do you recall the historical account of The Truth? The point is this: truth is dangerous!

In the same way that a financial manager acknowledges that there is a certain amount of systematic, non-diversifiable risk involved in any investment, we must acknowledge that there is unavoidable risk that comes along with existence. One basic risk in the relationship of truth and dare is the risk of hypocrisy. Often times I find myself afraid to act because I know I can’t live by the all-too-safe truths I hold. But this is hypocritical in the most fundamental sense. It is a way of living and acting (or not acting) that implies “I don’t exist,” when the truth is, I do.

We must not be afraid of these risks. We must acknowledge the uncertainty of life. By affirming this, we enable ourselves to live more truthfully, to make better decisions about the dares that we take on. So, truth or dare? Dare, you say? I dare you to become a person of the dare. I dare you to exist.

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Be Motivated! Young People and News Engagement

When I think about news engagement (that is, how often one watches or reads the daily news), I often think about my grandparents. Every morning of the week or the weekend whenever they would visit my family as a child, the TV monitor would tuned to a local or national news station (and often flipped between several if there were commercial breaks.) It was a ritual for my grandparents to turn on the news station and listen to the reports while they fixed their bacon, eggs, and coffee and got ready to begin the day.

youngI remember my grandparents because according to statistics, news engagement, such as reading a daily printed newspaper or watching a news program, appears to be diminishing with every passing generation. In other words, there has been an alarming occurrence of young people going “newsless” and news engagement habits – such as my grandparents habit of watching morning news programs every day – seem to be disappearing.

According to a 2012 Pew Research report, a full 29% of younger Americans under the age of 25 tend to be “newsless” on a typical day (including digital news) while older Americans are less likely to do so. In addition to this, young people that do pay attention and engage with the news are also less likely to spend much time with it. Pew reports that those younger than 30 spent an average of 45 minutes engaging with the news while older age groups spend a range of 62 to 83 minutes per day. However, according to another Pew poll, the major audience for “fake” news programs such as Jon Stewart’s “The Daily Show” or Stephen Colbert’s “The Colbert Report” are youth – some of whom even cite those programs as their main source of news.

I have known these frightful statistics to parallel conversations that I have had with my peers. Some that I have talked with have cited frustration with media in general, specifying concerns about propaganda or bias in major national news networks which causes them to shun media in general. (These are, I expect, people who would watch “The Daily Show” or “The Colbert Report.”) Others do not see the enterprise as very important or relevant to their daily lives and just don’t bother to take the time.

This is worrisome because a well-informed national population often means a strong civic culture. Being informed on current events means that people will be more likely to take action on important issues, whether it be on the local, national, or international level. A father may be encouraged to get involved with the PTO after reading about a decision that his child’s school board makes. A woman may write a letter of concern to members of Congress following an article covering a political issue important to her. A church group may decide to organize a relief effort following news of an international disaster. There are many examples of how paying attention to current events can galvanize people to action. When young people do not pay attention to the news, will they be able to take action and contribute to the democratic system that our country prides? Or participate in international affairs?

In other words: read, watch, and listen to the news, young people. Change your attitudes, change your habits. Establish a routine – such as looking at the headlines of a front page of a news website each day – and find a way to incorporate engaging with the news on a frequent basis. Who knows? You may find yourself motivated to make a stand for your beliefs or to do things that contribute to other people’s welfare along the way.

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Rethinking the Houghton Community

Community. You can get your token laugh-of-familiar-amusement out of the way now. I’m not writing about community because it’s a long established Houghton tradition; I’m writing about it because I’ve been thinking about it, and my conclusion is that there’s more to be said about community than we who are so familiar with the term might imagine. This has been on my mind because a few weeks ago, one of my seminars ended with an enthusiastic discussion about the nature of a Christian liberal arts college: is this kind of thing a community? My preference is to answer “yes,” though with a caveat: a Christian liberal arts college can, and should, be a community. Whether or not it actually is – that’s a different question. So, what do I have in mind, when I use the word community?

communityOur lives involve all sorts of projects, things we’re pursuing and working on. Lots of our projects are shared with other people. Sports teams share the project and pursuit of athleticism; musical ensembles share the project and pursuit of producing quality music. At minimum, this common pursuit, or common end, unifies individuals into a cohesive group. But, better than merely finding common ground in some pursuit or end is to care about the team or group for its own sake. This doesn’t happen easily, or immediately, but it certainly does happen. After playing together for a while, the team ceases to care only about winning, and the team members start to care about their shared pursuit of winning. Once the team members start to love the team for its own sake, the care spills over and is extended to individual members of the team. At this point, I think, community enters the picture. When a collection of people start to care about their shared project for its own sake, their care extends to the other members of the group, and the group becomes concerned for each one of its members, over and beyond that member’s ability to contribute to the group. For instance, the choir expresses community when it mourns a death in the family of one of its members (which is, strictly speaking, not relevant to singing well together). The mourning becomes relevant if the choir is a community that cares deeply about each of its individual members.

Now, I’m assuming Houghton’s primary project is education, or more specifically, Christian liberal arts education. That’s what we’re pursuing, and unless you take an entirely mercenary approach to your education, the shared pursuit of education is unifying: it makes us a group, a team. At least, then, Houghton is a shared project. But is it a community?

It’s worth pausing before answering that. I don’t think community is to be taken lightly, since community involves the accepting of other people’s well-being over your own. To be in community is to ally yourself with others in a fundamental way. Thus, community is not about warm-fuzzies, or team spirit. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with these things, and they’re helpful in establishing an especially well-functioning community. Yet, to equate community with emotional attachment to a group of people is to reduce community into something too ethereal. A community is a substantive thing, the kind of thing that can and hopefully will exist even when team spirit and warm-fuzzies have faded away.

This is, of course, a tall order. This demands something from us, something more than wearing purple or gold and faithfully attending SPOT. It’s also a rather complex goal: the good of Houghton as a community is linked to your individual good, if you’re part of the community, but neither is your good reduced to what’s good for the community, since the community is also adopting your good as relevant to its own. Given this complexity, it might be a little naïve or optimistic for me to argue that Houghton is a community. Nonetheless, I do think that Houghton can be a community. It may be difficult for such a large group of people to be a community, but it’s not impossible. For us to be a community, individual members would have to express concern for the good of other individuals, the institution would have to make the well-being of its individual members a priority, and individual members would have to care about the institution for its own sake. Hard to achieve, but not impossible. Moreover, I’ll take this “can be a community” a step farther: given Houghton’s Christian commitments, Houghton should be a community. So, don’t just claim community in virtue of your emotional attachment to the school. Make community happen, through your attitudes and behaviors towards the institution and the individual members of the institution.