Resist and Create

I sat in a lecture by Monica A. Coleman, a post-modern womanist process author, here at LTS and it was great! She stated that while she's a constructionist (vs. a theological deconstructionist where many post-moderns go) she thought that Karl Barth had a good idea. Barth is known for his massive theological works, around 12 volumes, but when asked what was at the core, he replied "Jesus loves me, this I know." Monica stated that to get to this "core" ppl ask themselves what keeps them up at night and how do they go about solving this? this should help boil your thought process down to something. Monica's was "break the silence" as silence does not serve nor help ppl who are subject to oppression.

that made me try to figure my own core out.

i know i like inclusion, humanity, science, art, religions, and seeing how each one connects and feeds another. i get really angry with "slash and burn" style of thinking whether it be Christian or Atheist. "well it has nothing to do with XX*, so it's worthless" *this can be filled with Jesus, the facts, the Bible, science or whatever depending on who is speaking. that seems rather dualistic, taking only a "right and wrong" scenario and tossing out all the grey. so initially i thought my core was "Resist and Destroy" as i resist this type of thinking and see it everywhere i look in my context, both online and offline. i think this is what compelled me into ministry, seeing that things can be different, that the fundies don't have the last word on Christianity, that the atheists aren't right, that there is a middle ground and the two extremes must be destroyed. funny and ironic thing is, both fundies and atheists (of the slash-and-burn style) do have some good things going for them and destroying them would go against my inclusive nature and de-humanize them.

so instead, i think my core is "Resist and Create."

i could get all bent out of shape on how ppl view God, or how they have stupid theologies like The Rapture and how they often miss Jesus in their midst because that incarnation of Jesus at the time happens to be a non-Christian, forgetting that Jesus was Jewish in the first place! or that my more empirical brothers and sisters rule out anything that can't be verified through the scientific method and thus become "science literalists" stating that sciences PROVES so much... forgetting that science doesn't PROVE anything. as Einstein stated (paraphrased by me) science sets up helpful models and theories that help us make sense of things that are going on out there, all it takes is for one experiment, and those theories are out the window. as this is a short blogpost, i'll move on from there, knowing that both of these aren't sufficient and are characterizations. i know that, but this is my blog and i'm the creator here ;-)

i want to create a new way of creating my faith. i want to resist things like de-humanizing, colonialization, literalism, and create something new. i claim being a Christian because it's important to me. i recently talked with Sabio as to why and i want further that discussion as i am often met with the phrase "Well you don't SOUND Christian." both by atheists and believers alike.

it is my view that everything that happens is a product of the past, we are to deal with what's possible, and  we are what we do with those things. i'm a product of a white, Roman Catholic, single mom in south-east Ohio. my context, i'm blue collar, under-exposed to diversity, Christian for as long as my geneology goes, and  some what of a naturalist,scientist, and mechanic thanks to my mom's interests in nature and career as car mechanic. what i have done with those things is create something new and rather bold... i'm no longer Catholic, i will soon have two degrees, i've committed myself to diversity, studied other faiths, and kept the interests in science and such.

i must create! whether it be blog posts like this one, or this one from my Art Series at the end of my first semester, or my poems, or even my crappy cartoons over at Unidactyl. Check out that site please, i have a cartoon every 4 days from now until June! i like hanging around ppl who create and i'm even more honored to be around those who can create new directions for the traditions they find themselves in.

so there it is. pretty slick right? maybe? ok, no... but here are two good buddies of mine that are creating some pretty awesome stuff. my best friend growing up has a band called LifeLine and he's the lead singer! i can proudly say that i attempted to play in a band with that guy! now he's on tour with TANTRIC. here's a slick song of his:



here's another dude in a band... he is also the lead singer here and went to seminary before he landed a dream job as a sound mixer for a local recording studio. since then he has formed The Hititz and has been playing locally here and i love how poppy this stuff is. it's audio crack! Eve loves it too.



which one do you like?