"If you see her say hello..."
A good friend left today to work in an orphanage in Cairo with MCC for a year. She'll be the sixth person I know who has been to Cairo. What a world.

The word on the street is that David Dark is planing on writing another book wth Everyday Apocalypse style reads of more popculture icons. I thought I should take this time to propose what I would like to hear David's thoughts on:
1. The Sopranos
2. Wes Anderson films
3. Johnny Cash
4. Harry Potter
5. the Roots

The Gospel According to America
Making use of my currently unemployed status (and lacking a vehicle to go to Hearts and Minds) I have been reading. I just finished re-reading "The Gospel According to America". David Dark's writing has a tendency to leave me breathless. And despite the fact that I don't consider this book on par with his Everyday Apocalypse it is certainly a worthwhile read.

Early on Dark describes his text as "an effort in moral orientation". I would prefer to call it an alternate narration, a subversive story telling of American identity. Dark is trying to pull us away from a triumphalistic description of American identity (we are not perfect people, democracy is not perfect in America, and we are not the bearers of God's salvation), Rather, Dark wants to insist that democracy demans of us a humility. For a democratic society to function its members must come with the assumption that the other, the outsider, the deviant very well might have the answer. "Like discipleship, the practice of democracy is a widening of our capacitites for moral awareness and an expansion of our sphere of respect".

One of the greatest strengths of Dark's book is the care he takes in distinguishing between the we that is our neighborly beloning as citizens and the we that is the Church universal (the we that takes primacy). This allows him to value democracy because it can increase moral awareness and to consider it a good thing but to not confuse it with the Church. Democracy is not the hope of the world but it can be a very good thing.

Dark does a wonderful job of drawing togethor disparate voices from American pop-art-- Melville and Michael Stipe, Philip Dick and Charlie Patton--in order to celebrate honesty and truthtelling. This is trademark Dark offering humble readings to find egyptian gold. Even if it wasn't the artists intention to provide an assertion of democratic dignity Dark finds it.

One humorous part is his description of an episode of the Simpsons where Mr. Burns attempts to control Springfield's media outlets accurate picture of him. In reponse Lisa produces an undergound newspaper The Red Dress Press. Pretty soon it catches on and everyone has their own.

"Echoing Martin Luther, Homer remarks, 'Insted of one big-shot controlling all the media, now there's a hundred freaks Xeroxing their worthless opinions.' So be it. This is the way the work gets done in the land of a thousand freaks. Let freedom ring. And blessed be the name of the Lord. Remembrance, after all, belongs to the people".

When I read it I couldn't help but scribble a note on the margin. I wrote "blogging?"

I Walk The Line
The trailer for the new Johnny Cash Biopic is online. It looks excelent. It comes out November 17. Anyone interested in going?
Encouraged by Byron's posting on The Gospel According to AMerica (www.heartsandmindsbooknotes.blogspot.com) I'm re-reading it and hopefully will be offereing my own comments soon

The Motorcycle Diaries
Over at www.gideonstrauss.com Dr. Strauss has posted his thoughts on the film The Motorcycle Diaries; this got me thinking about my reaction to the film when I saw it last fall. The film is essentially a conversion story. In it young Che Guevra turns his back on his priviliged upbringing to add the oppressed people of the world. The most beautiful moment in the film is when Che swims across the Amazon River leaving the party on the doctors side of the river and joining the leapors. He does this because he realizes that the wretched of the earth are the people we wants to be with. He breaks the accepted boundaries in order to play and laugh with the leapors. He touchs them when he isn't supposed to, in short he treats them as people. I considered this a bautiful image that was easily analagous to the demand the gospel puts upon of those born into privilige.

Watching the film I could not help but feel a great sadness when I thought of Che's future. he is of course known as the guerilla who along with Fidel and Raul Castro lead the Marxist revolution that overthrew Batista in 1959 in Cuba (I think that's the right date). The revolution was extremely violent. In my opinion Che turned his back on the radical power of love and the recognition of the imago dei in all people. Instead he bought into the old canard that revolutionary ends justified violent means. As if there is anything revolutionary about using a gun to get one's point across. Che turned his back on what was truly radical--uninhibted self sacrificial love--and istead continued the same human patterns that were dividing and oppressing the people he met on his trip in the first place.

A Place on the Corner
I am of the opinion that the majority of life's problem can be solved if I read enough Wendel Berry. I think that if nothing else Mr. Berry has his priorities straight. What I am interested in is how to integrate his ideas into proper urban life. Specifically how does one become native to a built place?

A New Kind of Christian
Earlier this week I read the Brian McLaren book A New Kind of Christian (henceforth ANKC). I was extremely impressed. It is written in the form of a novel and even though McLaren would not be considered a master stylist I found the format very helpful in humanizing and contextualizng conversations which are important but often esoteric. McLaren's primary concern is with helping the church navigate the modern/post-modern transition.
One of the things that struck me was one of the characters assertion that churches that never became enamored with modernity are the ones most likely to be most vibrant. This reminded me of Mark Jurgensmeyer's assertion that the late Pope John Paul II was "a thoroughly unmodern man". In his later years this unmodern man became beloved by young people both inside and outside the church. I think one of the reasons is that pre/anti modern institutions/communities (catholic, orthodox, mennonite) never had a chance to fail today's young the way the american dream or the evangelical culture has.
It seems to me that it is importan to pursue post-modern varieties of the church but what might be most important now is not A New Kind of Christian but a very old kind of Christian alien abroad in this wilderness.