The Contemporary Message Is So Predictable

I drove to the Appalachian Trail with three junior high girls in my car. I listened to the pop music of these young teens all day. The contemporary message is so predictable. Its extent is shocking. The longing is the same...for love, fullness in life, meaning, purpose. The secular answer is always the same...has been since the dawn of human history: Sexual titillation and expression; money and possessions; people used as a commodity to make one happy.  The depth of emptiness is amazing.

One song, the newest by Eminen and Rihanna, "Love the Way You Lie," is about a violent relationship between a guy and a girl, obviously not married but living together. That fact in itself would have been shocking only a few decades ago. Now the depth of depravity in the relationship doesn't even raise an eyebrow...the teens sing it out without even realizing what they are affirming. The melodic chorus Rihanna sings is:
           "Just gonna stand there and watch me burn
            Well, that's alright because I like the way it hurts
            Just gonna stand there and hear me cry
            We'll that's alright because I love the way you lie
             I love the way you lie"
Each verse grows successively more violent till the last verse where he promises to tie the girl to the bed and light the house on fire if she ever tries to leave again. The song ends with her singing the chorus melodically:
          "Just gonna stand there and watch me burn

            Well, that's alright because I like the way it hurts

            Just gonna stand there and hear me cry

            We'll that's alright because I love the way you lie

             I love the way you lie

             I love the way you lie"

Another song spoke of "bullet proofed" hearts that have been broken never again to be susceptable to love because true love is "impossible." Yet another sang the praises of finding completion of life in another person as in "I need someone to love." The worst deception is in a half truth. It is true that we need someone to love but that need can only be satisfied by loving God. 

2 things - How could we ever think that our lives could ever be completed by another imperfect human being with an ego of their own trying to satisfy their own needs and not ours? AND more importantly why would anyone want to be the person upon whom such a responsibility is placed? As if we could be a god who can give such completion to another person. Definitely looking in the wrong place. 

What is shocking is that this empty meaningless clatter is being honored. This contemporary message of an old old lie is glorified and too many have become deaf to its sound. Open our ears, O Lord, to the true Word that lasts and lasts and lasts....

Tales from the Trail

I returned from five days on the Appalachian Trail Saturday with 15 teenagers in tow. The common reaction usually indicates some kind of mental condition on my part for wanting to spend 9 days away (3 on the road, 5 on the trail and 1 at the base camp) with all these teenagers. At first I was surprised by the reaction. I came to understand that this kind of comment presumes that the teens are all so self indulged that there is nothing of substance and all fluff.  But the teens are great. Get them away from all the electronics and the superficiality of modern culture and together we become "real."

That's it. We are so engaged by the superficial that we hardly recognize what is really real and what is manufactured real. We think we "neeeeeed" all kinds of things when in fact all the things simply end up controlling our lives. We spend so much time with the things that we forget what it is really like to encounter what is really real.

You know, we stink! We actually have BO. No, that is not unnatural. That is natural. We can climb mountains, walk 45 miles, push through hurting feet and knees and accomplish so much more than we thought we could. We can actually entertain ourselves and each other without looking into a screen of some sort but rather look into each other's eyes. We can talk, laugh, play games, tease, joke and laugh some more. We can break bread together, share experiences, share our thoughts, questions and perspective. We can be real without any pretense formed by designer clothing, cologne or perfumes, or ranking. We can discover who we really are as God created us to be.

Rather than being formed by "the world," we can be formed by "The Word," a Word that goes on and on and on forever.

Open Happiness

I was watching TV the other day. I rarely watch commercials because I have TIVO and I usually click through the commercials. But for some reason I was watching live TV. WOW! That is a real oximoron. At any rate, I was watching TV and since I did not previously record the program I had to watch the commercials. Well, really, I walked to the kitchen but since a counter top is the only thing that separates the kitchen from the family room, I was still watching the commercial. There was something enthralling about it as commercial have to be today to capture our shortened attention span.

It was a commercial for one of the cola products, either Coke or Pepsi. I don't remember and it is really not important except to the advertisers and the company which I would neither want to promote. The point is that the by-line of the commercial was "Open Happiness." WHAT! Open Happiness! You have got to be kidding. Popping the tab on a cola product is going to bring you happiness? Really!

That is how superficial our society has become. I think I'm going to become depressed. NO! Because I know a Word that lasts and lasts and lasts...and will never lose its fizz.

Relevance and Meaning

What are the themes around which you structure your life? They are often hidden behind unreflected behavior but are observable to anyone who knows you. Have you ever wondered why an individual behaves in a way that is obviously offensive or destructive but does not change. It is very possible that the individual is not even aware of the dynamic because the theme is hidden behind unreflected behavior.

For example, on which side of the duality, self - other, do you fall. Do you tend to be primarily concerned with your own wants and needs or are you aware and concerned about the needs of another? Our culture certainly directs us to focus on ourselves and to great success. Long term relationships tend to fail because one or both of the "loved ones" are more in love with themselves than with the other person they are "in love" with. It is like two egos vying for supremacy each playing the part of a demigod in their relationship requiring that their needs be met even at the detriment of the other.

On which side of the duality, individual - community, do you fall? Do you really think that CDO's (Credit Default Swaps) would have been created by some ingenious financial guru who knowingly and purposefully put together failing mortgages, reaping billions of dollars in the process, causing the worst financial meltdown since the Great Depression, if he had cared a lick about the community? Reflect upon your own behavior. How much of your time and effort do you put into your community and how much into self? In what direction do your dollars flow?

Our culture says that what is relevant and meaningful in life is found within humanity. You are the focus. You should get everything you want. You deserve it. Self-expression, fulfilling your needs, securing your rights is what is important and relevant and and from which we derive meaning. From this perspective other people are important only in as much as they make you feel better, if they meet your needs. Even helping your neighbor is considered a function of your own well being. You do it if it makes you fell better. Otherwise, not so much.

Self, individual rights, self-expression, needs all centered in humanity are not the only themes around which we can structure our lives. Besides, these themes fail and ultimately lead to anarchy. This self-centeredness plays itself out on Wall Street, in violent oligarchies, and sadly in families all over this globe.

There is another way to live. We can structure our lives around a Word that lasts and lasts and lasts...