thanks be to God for Rachelle, jen, Cheryl & all poets

It seems to me that we live in a world where most people - particularly people of faith - want to be entertainers or marketers or communicators.  You can read their books, catch their videos on YouTube, even see them when they tour the country.  Whether their objective is paying the bills or convertisng the masses, they are in the celebrity game.

So many of these people in the celebrity faith game - good people, working hard, committed to good-ness & God - are men.  I do not think it is a result of our genitals or our essence - but I do think that most men in this game have a peculiar relationship with naming their celebrity & owning how important it is to them that they wear the mic & sell the books & speak at the shows, or at least give the sermon or bless the bread. 

When pushed or challenged, it is far too easy for men like me to claim how far we have come, how much we are trying to use the celebrity machine for good works, how much better we are than "those guys".  The truth is that we are heavily invested in the currency of celebrity & the score-keeping that so often goes along with it.

When this celebrity machine collapses - and it almost always does, in a scandal of money or sex or addiction - the pain is huge, but the damage to our God thoughts are even bigger.  I know so many people who have been profoundly harmed by this machine, people who have more fear & confusion than all the sermon series or worship hymns could ever solve.

......and then there are the poets, the people described in this wonderful quote from Salman Rushdie that I heard this morning:

A poet's work is to name the unnameable, to point at frauds, to take sides, start arguments, shape the world, and stop it going to sleep.

It is telling to me that so many of these poets have been pushed to the edges of the faith world - or even shoved out the door.  It is even more telling for me how many of these poets are women, brave women who I want my daughters to know & breathe in.

It has been like this for much of the story of Christianity - even from our inception.  The first people who testified to the resurrection were women, which is even more compelling given that society in the first century placed little value on the testimony of women.  Almost 2000 years later, we still doubt the testimony of women.

So here is some fresh air from some of these poets who keep testifying:

• Rachelle at  Magpie Girl

Right now, when I think back on my life in the church, this feeling of shame and fear is a filmy substance stretched tight across my heart –an emotional thumbprint of angst and self-disappointment. My chest tightens and my throat constricts with anxiety. It is very visceral, very real, and it does not good to just close my eyes and hope it goes away.

When we move into previously unexplored territory we sail into places where the sea charts read, “Here there be monsters.” But the monsters we fear do not exist. A bit of illumination along the unknown edges can reveal that there are no vicious creatures lying in wait, but only new, wide open places to explore.

• jen lemen:

I’m in a deep state of soul shifting these days with more stories to tell but no words to express them quite just yet. I am not quite sure what Rwanda did to me, but I’m still doing my best to find my way around the inside of my heart. All the soul furniture has been moved around and I keep bumping into things I didn’t know were there.

• cheryl at [hold this space]:

teach us a new language

We are trying, God,
and we are angry that the world will not listen
when we try to speak of you,

yet deep down
we acknowledge that we no longer have the words
that speak of who you are
and all you have done.

While we know it is no sin to be speechless,
we must confess that we have stopped looking.

Teach us a new language, God -
one of wild imagination and courageous vision -
so we can begin to tell a new story
that will unfold your ageless plot of freedom
liberation
and grace
to a world longing to hear.
A story that will speak of hope with the turning of each page.
A story that you promise has no ending but love.

Comments

[dave perry]

Hi Bob,
I have just discovered your excellent blog through reading Tony Jones book The New Christians. This was the first post I read and it is breathtakingly good: thank you so much. Your thoughts on men in leadership and the neglected voice of women need to be heard right across the churches. And thanks too for introducing me to Jen Lemen and Cheryl. Just wonderful!

[Shelton Green]

I really like this bit of the poem from Rachelle...

When we move into previously unexplored territory we sail into places where the sea charts read, “Here there be monsters.” But the monsters we fear do not exist. A bit of illumination along the unknown edges can reveal that there are no vicious creatures lying in wait, but only new, wide open places to explore.

THAK YOU BOB! Thank you for sharing your struggle. I identify with you and am with you on this path.

[Rachelle Mee-Chapman]

Thank you Bob. When our brothers see us, it helps us all to become more whole as a community. I appreciate your support -- and I love the charge in Cheryl's poetry.

Tak!

[cheryl]

bob, you give me courage. thanks.

[Adam Moore]

Bob - I'm particularly struck by Cheryl's words. They remind me of Bonhoeffer who, while in prison, wrote:

"Our church...is incapable of taking the word of reconciliation and redemption to mankind and the world. Our earlier words are therefore bound to lose their force and cease, and our being Christians today will be limited to two things; prayer and righteous action among men. All Christian thinking, speaking, and organizing must be born anew out of this prayer and action...It is not for us to prophesy the day (although the day will come) when men will once more be called so to utter the word of God that the world will be changed and renewed by it. It will be a new language, perhaps quite non-religious, but liberating and redeeming – as was Jesus’ language; it will shock people and yet overcome them by its power; it will be the language of a new righteousness and truth, proclaiming God’s peace with men and the coming of his kingdom...Till then the Christian cause will be a silent and hidden affair, but there will be those who pray and do right and wait for God’s own time. May you be one of them..."

[Jen]

Love it. Absolutely, love it.