The rock 'n' roll worship circus

Too much has already been said about that nationally televised Michael Jackson memorial--the worship frenzy poorly disguised as a funeral, relentlessly intruding upon my lunch at Tank Noodle--you know, the one that was all about everybody and everything but a man from Gary, Indiana named Michael Jackson. I have just a couple things to add.

I get why the celebrities and the reporters are all over this MJ thing: When the King of Pop is dead, there's always room for one more on the stage. But I think there are three main reasons that so many ordinary people who never met the man are completely wrapped up in it:

One, sheer voyeurism (exploitative fascination with others' pain). We humans are kinda sick that way. We just can't look away from the sordid details.

Two, selfish nostalgia. It's not Michael Jackson the man people miss so much as Michael Jackson the idea, the symbol of an era, the younger version of self who bought the record, the cassette that was worn out from being danced to and listened to in the '83 TransAm or parents' living rooms, or whatever. Nostalgia is fine, but it's not the same as mourning a human life that just entered its eternal destiny.

Three, the design of the human heart. We were literally made for worship. I can't think of any other reason people are so willing to get emotionally invested in the most trivial things, and attach themselves to the most distant parodies of heroism. It's a good opportunity to ask ourselves if we're worshiping somebody worth worshiping. Although ultra-cynical, I actually liked what my friend wrote today: Michael Jackson died. He's dead. He's not coming back. Jesus died. He's alive. He is coming back. Just a little perspective.

And in closing--I would never, ever want to be anywhere nearly as famous as Michael Jackson, regardless of whether for good reasons or bad. I would never wish it on anyone. You should do the same. If nothing else, he illustrated that that much attention, positive or negative, is deadly. I'm really sorry that what he loved basically killed him, even if not physically. Idols always seem to do that.

In 1776 . . .

I probably would have been a Loyalist. I'm just saying. I probably would have. Maybe Mel Gibson and Heath Ledger would have killed me. Or maybe I would have moved back to England.

But what's done is done and here we are 233 years later, and I'm not really a Patriot, a Democrat or a Republican, a Democratic-Republican, Bull-Moose, Green, Labour, Conservative, Whig, Tory, whatever. I guess that makes me a Loyalist.

Loyal to this country (I refuse to invoke the flag; I've always found nothing less inspiring than a piece of cloth), in a wouldn't-commit-treason way, in the way that any natural born citizen of anywhere ought to be affectionately loyal, for better or worse.

More importantly, loyal to Jesus, or want to be, always. Oh, Jesus. The true founder of freedom and liberty.

And that is my Independence Day speech. Happy Fourth!

Difficult decisions . . .

I would rather go on my honeymoon than see Regina Spektor at the Chicago Theatre. I would rather go on my honeymoon than see Regina Spektor at the Chicago Theatre. I would rather go on my honeymoon than see Regina Spektor at the Chicago Theatre. I would rather go on my honeymoon than see Regina Spektor at the Chicago Theatre.

Okay then. That's settled.

Seriously though, of course I really would far rather go on my honeymoon--in Spain, with Kevin, and did I mention that it's our honeymoon?--but it's been soooooooo loooooong since I've been to a show of any sort. Way over a year, which is a record for me (post-adolescence anyway). There's a tour I really want to see though (Hellogoodbye and fun) that will be in California at the same time we will in August, so there's hope.

I'm immensely enjoying Regina Spektor's new album Far, however, and I'll go see her some other day that isn't September 12. In the meantime I'll be singing her songs. Totally go pick up that record. She's so cool it hurts.

Victory! Ow.

Kevin and I had what I'd like to think of as a "bonding experience" yesterday. A memory, if you will. We moved all my furniture from my apartment into a truck, then from the truck to a storage unit. Oh yeah, and we got to the storage unit with only 40 minutes til closing and didn't finish until half an hour after closing.

And oh yeah, we did it all ourselves. Nobody was available to help us. I can't really blame anybody; and in any case, it felt good to have everything accomplished in the end (after several hours), knowing we did it together. Plus we had an awesome dinner afterward at Tank Noodle. Vietnamese food and taro shakes with boba, a couple episodes of The Office on DVD as a reward, and hanging out with my love. A good day, overall.

Kevin was seriously amazing. He didn't even want to kill me for making him work on his day off (or at least he didn't show it), and he unloaded the majority of the stuff at the storage place by himself while I filled out paperwork. And he was patient with me and my weak female arms. Ha. As for me, I'm guess I'm a little proud of myself for lifting a lot of heavy stuff and not even whining about it. (Although I'm whining today: I'm soooooorrrre.)

I did drop our huge heavy dresser on my foot at one point. This foot now has a large purple bruise on it. Can't wait til it's green and yellow. Oh yeah.

In the meantime, I have to finish getting the leftover stuff out of my apartment, and do two nights' worth of French homework before class at 6. Sigh. Love my life . . . :]

Do we really need another "media" sermon?

Apparently, for me, the answer is yes.

This week's Desiring God article by John Piper is typical John Piper. The glory of God is mentioned in basically every paragraph. There is a lofty call to live radically and counterculturally. Scripture is quoted. Blah, blah, blah. Typical.* I didn't even read it until today even though it showed up in my inbox yesterday. There were other, more interesting things to do and think about, and reading an article called "Why I Don’t Have a Television and Rarely Go to Movies" seemed like a typical old-fashioned pastor topic that could wait.

Plus, I think that television and movies can be legitimate art forms. I love the thought-provoking, disturbing screenwriting that can be found. I love thinking deeply about the redemptive value of storytelling and of other pop-culture phenomena. I also believe that we need recreation and rest. I'm no fundamentalist.

But this morning, I began looking at a friend's DVD collection. It's a good collection--not huge, but decent, a nice mix of quality films and the type of "classic" that's always on TBS and USA. There were lots of films I've seen and loved as well as films I haven't seen and want to. We began making plans to watch some of them. It struck me for just half a second--practically subconsciously--that it was weird for me to be so excited, since I don't consider myself a 'movie person.'

And then the person I was with said they'd probably watch a movie when they got home from work later, and the fleeting thought I'd just had rose to the surface. It didn't sit right with me that this person has been making so much time for movies and TV these days. I heard myself say, "Or maybe you could read?"

But I was just 'projecting,' otherwise known as being a hypocrite. I remembered that lately I've been regretting the fact that Kevin and I long ago said that we wouldn't have cable when we got married. I remembered that I've been watching lots of movies lately, and the Tonight Show a few times a week. I remembered that I recently mused how I used to be much more careful--discerning? legalistic? I'm not sure--about what I approved of as entertainment.

Not just movies and TV, either. I'm a little tired of the whole internet thing right now. Someone tried to convince me a few days ago that my habit of Facebook "friend-purging" could be a stumbling block to someone, that I should use Facebook as a tool to live out my Christian life in front of as many people as possible.

Maybe. I admit that I have no patience for social-networking politics, and that I am very selective with who I keep contact with. I'm pretty sure there is sinful selfishness there on my part. But I also think that just because something is a huge cultural phenomenon does not actually mean it is significant.

That's what's getting me, I think. What am I profiting by using all these things? It's not that electronic media are evil, or that everything on them is unabashed smut or something (although there's some of that that too). Still . . .

[Leave] sex aside . . . . It’s the unremitting triviality that makes television so deadly. What we desperately need is help to enlarge our capacities to be moved by the immeasurable glories of Christ. Television takes us almost constantly in the opposite direction, lowering, shrinking, and deadening our capacities for worshiping Christ.

When I think of the sheer time I (not to mention so many people my age) waste on entertainment, it makes me feel a little sick. Not so much with disgust as regret. We don't have time for all this, not in the degree we let ourselves use it. People are dying, the world is ending (tomorrow or in a thousand years, it doesn't matter), and on the less morbid side, the God of the universe reigns over the earth and loves his children, loves ME. Why am I not spending more time enjoying that fact, hearing what he has to say to me and speaking to him (which has to be ten times more fascinating than anything in theaters)?

TV consumes more and more time for those who get used to watching it. You start to feel like it belongs. You wonder how you could get along without it.

Are electronic media bad? Not always. Am I a bad media user? Sometimes; maybe even often. At the end of my life, am I going to wish I had spent more time blogging, watching Law & Order, analyzing the Coen brothers' movies? I'm pretty sure the answer is no. But sometimes I forget.

So yes, it looks like I do need another sermon about media. In our culture, I think we all do now and then.

*Thanks, John Piper, for being your typical self. I'm thankful for you.

Good things in life:

1. Kevin and I found an apartment! I still feel like singing the doxology. God is such a good Father, in the big and in the small thoughtful ways too. This apartment was the very first option I saw listed for September (there's hardly ANYTHING listed for September yet), and it honestly met all our best hopes for a place: location, amenities, price, everything. We viewed it yesterday morning, applied and got approved within hours and signed the lease that afternoon.

Not only is it wonderful to have this done before the logistical crunch that will be July, but I'm also wholly, completely happy with our choice. Getting approved and signing the lease was a hand-holding-and-hugs (maybe some kisses) big deal, because we realized that this is like, Our Very First Apartment together. Yeah! Our future life seems more real now.


My love being awesome, and me being task-oriented:



2. Katelyn came to visit! She arrived Thursday night and has to leave this afternoon. In between, we had a great time sleeping in, hanging out with Kevin, spending a night in Wisconsin, and riding the CTA:



3. Learning French. (Well, I'm learning to read French.) And knowledge, especially language-competency-related knowledge, and especially free knowledge that only requires a three-week class commitment, makes me happy. And what makes me even happier is that "it's true what they say": Once you know two Romance languages (or in my case, one Romance language and classical Latin), the rest really do come for free. C'est tres cinchy!


4. This West African-inspired stew. It involves peanut butter, pineapple, and leafy greens, and is one of the most memorable meals I have ever cooked and eaten. Sooooo deeeeeeeelishhhh.



5. Real summer weather. Yes, it's humid, and yes, it was 30 degrees cooler two weeks ago. I don't care. I waited six months for this. The sun is out (til 9 p.m., at that), and I am going to get a rocking tan without even trying. YES.