Don’t flay the sheep.

Comedian as Prophet (part 2): Insiders and Outsiders

Moving ahead with the exploration of Comedian as Prophet, prompted by my niggling sense that Comedy Central’s news programs may be taking the role of prophetic voice when it comes to American Politics…

First, a disclaimer. I know full well that there are some ideas I’m batting around here and connecting that may have been covered by other sources. Things I read in seminary, conversations with my brother or my husband about their Ph.D research, other things I’ve read since. I would love love love to be able to attribute and footnote and refer you to these sources.

But I can’t. Because I haven’t been living the academic life and keeping good notes. So apologies in advance if there’s something in here that should be attributed. Hey, if you want to give a source in the comments, go for it. But, as far as I can tell, most of the work of synthesis is my own.

On, then, to the prophet as insider or outsider.

At some point a few years ago I remember my brother (who is working on a Political Science Ph.D) talking about some work he was doing and how related to the idea of prophets as internal or external.

For example, Nathan is an internal prophet. He has access to King David’s court, the king’s ear, and, even though he says things the kings don’t want to hear sometimes, he maintains (overall) a place within the court. You get the idea that if Nathan showed up to deliver a message, David might invite him to spend the night.

Then there’s Elijah, who is at odds with the court. He is not a welcome visitor of King Ahab. If Ahab asked him to spend the night, you’d suspect that Ahab was plotting about how to kill Elijah in his bad.

You can say things a bit differently if you are an internal prophet or an external prophet. Nathan, while being honest, still maintains his connection to the court. Elijah…not so much pressure to sugar coat things. Each has a role.

Here’s a preaching analogy. There are things you can say when you’re an ongoing part of a community and things you can say when you’re not. This summer, at the Presbyterian Youth Triennium, we started the week with a sermon by Bruce Reyes-Chow and ended with a sermon by Tony Campolo.

Bruce: former moderator of the General Assembly of the PC(USA). Internal prophet, right? He can say things from the perspective of “we”. And that can be the basis for his challenge to the congregation. A great prophetic sermon. But shaped by the fact that he has to continue hanging out with the PC(USA) after the sermon.

Tony: Baptist. Not main-line. External prophet. There were things he could do that a PC(USA) preacher couldn’t. Compliment “us”. Point out some of our foibles. Call us out. Also a great prophetic sermon. But from a different angle. Because he’s not stuck to the PC(USA) in the same way as Bruce.

Now, translate that a bit to a modern context. We don’t have a court, but we do have places that have power. You could say it’s about who is in the inner circle of the upper levels of government and who isn’t. But it also goes beyond government. Let’s just work from the premise that the news media has power. Humor me…

I recognize that, looking at this at this point in time, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert DO have enormous power in the media.

But what about when the Daily Show began years ago? Yes, at that point, Stewart had a cable program, so he had power in the grand scheme of things. However, even without exact statistics, I’m sure that the ratings are much much better than they were back then!

Even now, though, Stewart and Colbert still stand outside, external to, the main “courts” of the media. And, even in a time when the president appears on the Daily Show, Stewart is still able to ask some pretty sharp questions. There are limits to what you can say to the president on TV, I suppose, but I often find that the questions asked on these programs are the kind I wish the mainstream media had the guts to ask.

So, at least in their critique of the media, and arguably in critique of the government, they stand as external prophets. And you can criticize from the interior, but an exterior critique has a different sort of force.

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The pregnant update

A few observations about being pregnant a second time.

1. I’m less worried. We did this before, we can do this again. No surprise, huh?
2. I do believe the female body in its twenties is perhaps a bit more attractive pregnant than the female body in its thirties. There seems to be a bit more spread this time.
3. Every pregnancy is different. I’m now past the point in Zora’s gestation when we found out that things were screwy with the placenta. This little guy  seems to have done a very good job of getting his placenta in the right place. Nice work!
4. Oh, yeah…I guess I haven’t mentioned it on the blog: it’s a boy!
5. Every pregnancy may be different, but I still have the horrific, toe-curling heartburn this time around. Like the kind where I can’t sleep and I obsess about what I’m going to eat all the time, and I wind up dehydrated because while cold water gives the heartburn immediate relief, the extra liquid seems to make the stomach acid more mobile.
6. I am happy to finally be at the point where I can cradle the belly a bit. Without people wondering why I’m holding my lower abdomen.

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Comedian as Prophet (part 1)

Several weeks ago, I proposed this as a blog post that I wanted to write: the Comedian as Prophet.

I’m a fairly devoted Jon Stewart/Stephen Colbert fan. Not that I watch every episode. But if there’s a big story going on, I want to hear their take on it. And, perhaps more telling, if I am feeling down and out and demoralized about the state of the news, I find that watching them helps me feel better.

It’s partly because they make me laugh. Which makes me worry less. A few years ago, I found this amazing interview with Colbert about his conversion back to Christianity, motivated by rediscovering by the Matthew “do not worry” passage. The core quote here? “You can’t laugh and be afraid at the same time.” I think Colbert clearly sees his work as a Christian vocation.

Side note: Anyone here a nice little segue into the Teresa of Avila prayer here?

Nada te turbe, nada te espante. Quien a Dios tiene en nada le falta.

Nada te turbe, nada te espante. Solo Dios basta.

Nothing can trouble, nothing can frighten.

Whoever has God is missing nothing…God alone is enough.

If you substitute the word “anxious” for the word “afraid”, I find that Colbert and Stewart fit right in with my understanding of systems theory (I’m a big fan of this stuff). They seem to be well aware that the whole system that is our country (and, arguably, the whole system that is the world) is anxious. Murray Bowen, the high head guru of systems, had an eighth concept in his theory, “Societal Emotional Process” in which he argued that systems theory applied not just to family systems to to society as well. He noticed an ongoing echo-chamber of anxiety in our society in the mid to late 20th century, and if you read him thoroughly on this, many of his predictions of how this would play out are frighteningly spot-on. (Bowen as a prophet might be another post…)

What’s really interesting, then, is when you throw in the fact that Bowen thought that humor played an important part in diffusing anxiety. Edwin Friedman, the rabbi who brought Bowen theory to religious leaders, especially emphasized this, saying that humor and paradox were invaluable tools for breaking through anxiety.

But, back to Colbert and Stewart:

I’m beginning to think they are the major prophetic voices in our society. I know that if you lean far to the right in the political spectrum, this statement probably bothers you. Sorry. But really, I don’t say this because they may well lean toward the left politically. I say it because I think they are finding ways in their work to interpret what is happening in our society honestly, thoughtfully, and in a way that gives us some idea of what God’s perspective on the whole mess might be.

The popular view of prophecy is that prophets predict the future. But the Biblical prophet often has the role as well of interpreting what is happening right now. The analogy I remember from seminary is that prophets are interpreting both the foothills (the right-now, which you can see before you even see the mountains) and the great mountain range  beyond (the future, which is often obscured by your view of the foothills). Both foothills and mountains are part of the geological range, but one is immediate and one is yet to come.

I don’t know that I’m willing to start attributing Colbert and Stewart the ability to prophecy about the mountains, but I do wonder if they are our best interpreters of foothills right now.

Coming in up on this topic (maybe in the following order):

• prophets as societal insiders or outsiders
• Jon Stewart and Jesus and my paltry knowledge of the rabbinic tradition
• should we be worried that comedians are our prophets
• anything else?

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Alarm

There is nothing like the tornado sirens to get you out of bed in the morning…and find a flashlight…and, in my case, get dressed. Because, when tragedy strikes, I’d prefer that they find my body in clothes rather than pajamas. I am not too vain, though. I didn’t comb my hair. Or put on deodorant.

Yes, I put on my clothes before I went to check on Zora, who was sleeping soundly (her bed being positioned underneath two huge windows).

On the other hand, we live in a garden level (i.e. basement) apartment, so there was really no long haul to get to safety. By the time I got to Zora’s room, she was awake and looking out the window, enamored with the storm. (This kid loves thunderstorms. It was stormy in downtown Chicago the day she was born. Once, she told me that she wasn’t scared during a nighttime thunderstorm because the moon told her it was OK.)

We went into the bathroom to get her dressed (I wanted us both to be presentable given the worst). And then the warning passed.

When Zora was a few weeks old, I was home alone with her during a tornado warning. I bundled her up and took refuge in the (scary old) basement, and sat there while water streams the size of quarters spurted through the fieldstone foundation, and a small lake formed at the base of the stairs, lapping at the edges of the washer and drier. To my post-partum way of thinking, wading through this puddle was clearly an invitation to electrocution.

So we had to get out by way of the old-school exterior cellar stairs. (This was an ancient house. Did I mention the fieldstone foundation?) Opening the door from the basement to the stairs wasn’t too bad. But those big wood doors flat to the earth at the top of the stairs? It turns out they are not easy to move when you (a) have a small baby in your arms and (b) have a bit of a surgical incision in your abdomen.

All in all, I’d say that 4 years later, Zora and I are much better at the whole storm warning routine. And we live in a nicer place.

But, look out, I’m guessing that adding baby number two may take us back a few steps. We’ll see. At least he’s not going to show up during tornado season. However, blizzards might be another matter…

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Starting November Early

That whole NoBlogMo write-a-post-a-day for a month thing? Or whatever it’s called?

Yep, I probably need to do that and get my act together a bit and start writing more.

So, since I can’t remember the whole actual name, I’m going to go with starting today.

I’ve noticed lately that I have the urge to post long-ish facebook status updates, so I think this is probably a good indicator that I am not writing enough on my blog.

And, maybe, hopefully, by writing a bit every day here, I might actually start writing more often on some bigger projects.

Here goes…

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Blog posts yet to come

The blog posts I want to write in the next few weeks:

1. Birthing and the Mommy-wars. Birth is one heated topic in the mama-sphere. I’m grateful for friends and family who span the spectrum of birthing practices are basically rational and supportive of each other anyway. But navigating this has been–interesting-difficult-bizarre–for someone whose first pregnancy was a little wacky.

2. The Comedian as Prophet. Did you hear that amazing NPR interview with Jon Stewart? I think there was a point in America when journalists held the position of prophet. I’m starting to wonder if comedians are taking over the prophetic voice.

3. Naming a Kid: Frightening level of responsibility. Also, rather tough when you named the first kid something interesting.

4. September 26 Sermon: Now overdue.

Which one would be the most interesting to you?

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Zora on G-Day

I’ve designated Friday “G-Day” since we have the ultrasound and are hoping for an immodest baby who will let the tech determine gender.

We’re finding out. For a variety of reasons, but one being I figure it’ll be easier to prep Zora at age 4 if we can tell her the gender a few months in advance, thus preventing any possibility that she can take it out on the baby when it’s OUTSIDE if the baby does not meet her gender desires.

At first, she wanted a brother. But that has switched. She now wants a sister, but, when asked, says, “But if it’s a brother, that will be OK, too.”

This afternoon I told her that we get to go to the doctor to find out on Friday. (We’re taking her along.) Here’s the conversation.

E: Do you think you want a girl or a boy?

Z: A girl.

E: But a boy would be OK, too?

Z: Yeah. I used to want a boy.

E: Why did you change your mind?

Z: My body…and my head…and my heart told me that I wanted a sister.

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The Cost of Worship

My alma mater has announced that they will begin charging for tickets to the annual Christmas Festival.

Now, I get full well that this is an expensive festival. The cost of crowd and traffic control, production, broadcasts, etc etc etc has got to astronomical. And I agree completely that foisting this cost off onto the backs of tuition paying students is probably not the way to go.

However, when I was a student there, and when I participated in the festival, the long-standing and fervently-held contention was that this is not a CONCERT it is WORSHIP.

I am all for Christian art. I am all for paying for Christian art. Last night, in fact, I went to hear a British collegiate choral ensemble, and I happily paid my admission fee. And most of the music was religious in nature, sung in a church, beautiful, soul-building stuff. But the literature was not shy about calling this a concert. It costs money to take a group like this on tour. And I am happy to pay to hear it.

And, as a pastor, I get that there are often operating costs associated with worship, too. I’ve seen the church budget. I get how it works.

But if the folks on the dear old hill are about to start charging admission, particularly significant admission,  then I think it is time to start using, unashamedly, the term concert when referring to the festival (notice, in the above weblink, that the term “concert” is used four times; worship is not used at all). Maybe the shift has already happened.

On a personal note, I will say this: last year, Erik and I decided to go back for the first time since college, for the festival. It was lovely. While sitting there, we dreamed a little about what it would be like in a few years to take Zora and maybe a few other children to the festival, to sit there and tell them that this was something we did as college students, and something some of their grandparents, great aunts, great grandparents all did, too. I realize how nostalgic and sappy this is, and I realize it’s not just about this idea of this as worship. But now, that idea is looking like an over-$100-commitment (not including travel). And we might make plans to do it anyway eventually. But I hate that we won’t get to tell them that it might just be one of the biggest and most incredible worship gatherings they ever participate in.

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Can you go home?

My presbytery met in Freeport, Il this week, which meant a long (and beautiful) drive through rural Illinois.

On my way back, I did a little Christian Reformed sight seeing. How could I not turn off of the county highway onto “Holland Church Rd” to follow the signs to the Christian Reformed Church?

It made me feel a little but like I was cheating, here I am a Presbyterian, but I’m still driving off to see little CRCs when I run across them.

Given, I didn’t by any means grow up in little country CRCs like this one, churches with histories going back to the late 1800s. But my grandparents and great-grandparents did. And, although none of my family was from Illinois (Michigan, Kansas, Dakotas, California, instead), there’s still something about wandering the church graveyard that’s filled with people whose ethnicity and theology you’ve inherited.

When I was becoming Presbyterian, an elder-statesman PC(USA) pastor told me one day that I should always be proud and cling to where I came from, because it would always be part of who I was.

So I don’t know that you can always go home, but it’s sure nice to visit people who share some of the story with you.

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Joy-fill

To be totally honest, the week after Labor Day makes me a little panicky. It’s not that I don’t love my job. It’s just that the full on force of a church program year is about to kick in and there is alot to do. Really all of it is wonderful stuff (I get to go camping for work! I get to hang out with awesome teenagers! I can sit around and chat with other moms and dads and it’s all part of my job!). The problem is that some days, weeks, months, it feels like there is just too much of this great stuff.

So I’m always excited this time of year but also a little sad about what I give up. Lazy Sunday afternoons with Erik and Zora. Jaunts into the city to see my parents. Not to mention shorter days and cooler weather.

I’m thinking I need a joy-fill, then, this morning, a list of things that are going to give me joy this year. Or maybe even today, right now, in the moment.

Here goes:

1. Baby. Yes, this one is obvious.

2. A church that is so vibrant and alive and busy this year that there’s not even time to worry about the decline of Christianity. We’re talking about a building, there are little sprouts and shoots of new ministry ideas popping up, what’s not to love?

3. I’m in a writing group of women pastors. I am hopelessly enamored of every one of these women and their writing!

4. Zora gets her new bike this weekend. There is nothing as exciting as a kid’s thrill over a new bike.

5. We’ve got a grant for a project on intergenerational worship planning. So I get to work with this awesome group of people doing one of the things I love the most. Their ideas are already astounding me.

6. It’s such a beautiful day. You know that look of the light when it hits green leaves and comes out golden? Yep, that’s about where we’re at this morning.

7. I will be able to get my car in the garage this winter.

8. Erik and I might well be the most organized we’ve ever been. Our office space is amazing. Last night, I actually thought about wandering in there just to snag some poetry for a quick read before bed, but then I decided to read a library book instead. But the thought of walking into that room was pleasant, and I even knew where on the shelves the poetry was!

9. We’ve got some vacation time this fall and we’re starting to hatch a plan for going to Rome for a few days.

10. And, just to make it an even 10, BABY!

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