I AM ANDREWTGATES

Let the light Tumbl through the cracks

[andrewtgates]

Book Review and Reflection | The Cross and the Lynching Tree

The Cross and the Lynching Tree

by

James H. Cone

My rating:

5 of 5 stars

After finishing Michelle Alexander's "The New Jim Crow" last month, I wanted to continue reading along the same lines. Cone's work deals in the same themes of systemic black oppression, but focuses specifically on the era of lynching (extending from the late 19th past the middle of the 20th centuries), and from the perspective of black liberation theology.

This is truly a remarkable work. Most of my margin notes throughout are simple declarations like "ugh," or "wow," or "Lord." Cone holds nothing back in his critique of the white church's (both conservative and liberal) lack of practical and theological response and reflection to the legal (ugh) lynching of more than 5,000 black people, and the failure of the white imagination to see the connection between the cross of Christ and the lynching tree. What was obvious and a daily reality for black people, and what even crept into popular music (see Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit"), was not substantially dealt with by even the most ideologically aligned white theologians of the day, such as Reinhold Niebuhr.

I can say that I studied this period of theology a lot in college and seminary. This time period was consumed with the fundamentalist/modernist controversy, a cultural clash that pitted Biblical authority against human reason in a battle royal, with each side seeking to preserve essential thrusts of Christian practice and theology. Not until reading Cone did I even consider that this great controversy allowed both sides of the argument to ignore the absolutely despicable practice of lynching that was going on all around these scholars at the time. I doubt this ignoring of such a grave injustice was in every way intentional, but it is undoubtedly a shameful scar on the white church which has deep implications for today.

As I look at the stories Cone tells, some which made want to avert my gaze from the page, I am overwhelmed with the conviction to repent. Such repentance has surely not been adequately made, and is needed now more than ever: that the white church has no right to question the #BlackLivesMatter movement when we have this scar of active and passive acceptance of lynching on our collective conscience. When public execution with no trial without any legal ramifications for the killers has a long, dark history in this country which looks a lot more like the hideous modern day acts of ISIS than we'd care to admit. To talk about the legacy of lynching today is not "living in the past," but addressing how that broken past continues to live in us! I cannot fault my black brothers and sisters for being utterly ravaged by the modern misuses of power and force that lead to more black deaths even today. In fact, I must join them in grief: How long, O Lord?

But this book is not ultimately about me. It's about the black experience, and the theological imagination of black theologians and poets and artists who lived out the intersections between the cross and the lynching tree. That Jesus Christ proclaims dignity and hope to all who die on the tree. That the good news is good news for the poor and for those who suffer. And that they lynching tree provides an inversion of meaning that challenges dominant theological categories, and adds an important image "from below" to the "community called atonement."

Far from covering all of Cone's insight, I've only touched the surface, but I think it appropriate to conclude with Cone's words:

"What are we to make of the striking similarities between the brutality in Rome and cruelty in America? What is most ironic is that the white lynchers of blacks in America were not regarded as criminals; like Jesus, blacks were the criminals and insurrectionists. The lynchers were the 'good citizens' who often did not even bother to hide their identities. They claimed to be acting as citizens and Christians as they crucified blacks in the same manner as the Romans lynched Jesus. It is even more ironic that black people embraced the Christian cross that whites used to murder them. That was truly a profound inversion of meaning." (pp. 158-159)

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[andrewtgates]

In Praise of the Little Old Church

Full disclosure: I pastor a little old church, so this might seem a bit self-serving, and I guess it is, but maybe hear …

My first crack at writing on Medium.

[andrewtgates]

The New Jim Crow

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness

by

Michelle Alexander

My rating:

5 of 5 stars

(here are some raw reflections upon reading a deeply convicting book)

I rode down to Durham, NC a couple weeks ago with my friend Adam for a Sabbath week of rest, play, prayer and good food while he attended the Summer Institute of the Center for Reconciliation Studies at Duke. On the third day, I began reading The New Jim Crow, braced for some pretty heavy conviction and insight into the injustices I've (mostly passively) participated in throughout my life.

Alexander's book delivered on all counts and then some. It's difficult to adequately summarize a book so dense and well-researched and mind-blowingly clear in its communication of such a far-reaching and insidious system of injustice. I will never be able to hear the phrase 'the War on Drugs' the same again.

Alexander briefly traces the history of slavery and Jim Crow laws before developing the similarities and differences between them and the racial caste system of the modern day New Jim Crow. It's staggering not only how unjust but how counterproductive mass incarceration and the War on Drugs are. Whereas slavery built an economy on free labor and Jim Crow maintained an underclass once slavery and racism fell out of public favor, the New Jim Crow, which is officially colorblind, actually pulls thousands and thousands of people OUT of productive contribution to the economy by felonizing drug possession and targeting poor black communities.

Add to that perceived racial progress rooted in exceptionalism (Obama is POTUS! How could systemic racism still exist?), and the system still locks poor black men in cages, often labeling them as felons and setting them up for a greater likelihood of a future of joblessness and more incarceration.

And again, everything is officially colorblind, and yes, white people also fall victim to the same system (and the fact that white people get caught up in the mass incarceration system feeds the idea that the system is colorblind!), but the numbers and targeted drug busts are heavily unbalanced towards poor black and other minority culture communities. For years, legal penalties for crack cocaine (a drug introduced into nearly exclusively to black communities) were 100 TIMES greater than penalties for powder cocaine (the preferred drug of rich white men). The narrative has been spun and the War on Drugs focuses on clearing the streets of "crackheads,” “thugs,” and “criminals” (all officially colorblind, but racially coded language) not of CEO's with powder under their noses.

A big point here: I'm absolutely not saying that all the lawyers and prosecutors and police officers who execute their jobs and do their jobs are racists or bigots. I know some great and faithful officers who love God and people and are frankly better people than me. But that's the thing: it doesn't rely on bigotry on the ground level. In fact, the system is so big that is sustains racism without requiring ANY individual to think racist thoughts. My white brothers and sisters are far to quick to become defensive when race is introduced into any conversation. And I understand the feeling of being blamed or called racist despite not harboring personal feelings of racism. But these issues and systems go far beyond any personal issues and feelings. This is about the mistreatment of human beings and their communities.

Anyway, I can't say it all here, but this book is an eyeopener and I highly recommend it to any reader who can read with eyes open. Try to drop the defenses and read it for what it is: a compelling, historical depiction and prophetic call to challenge this system and a plea to do better. I pray we can. I think we can. Lord, have mercy.

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[andrewtgates]

The Eucharist does not simply bind individuals to God in a vertical relationship or bind people to each other in another kind of purely social construct. We are bound to one another en Christo. And Christ, who is the head of the body, is to be found persistently on the margins in those who are the least in the Kingdom of the world. The margins include those who are other, foreign, strange, dangerous, subversive - even socially, morally, or religiously distasteful in our eyes. Yet the Eucharist insists that humans find solidarity where they least expect it and, indeed, least want to find it."

Philip Sheldrake, “Spaces for the Sacred: Place, Memory, and Identity”

[andrewtgates]

De-cluttering Prayer

I’ve written before about centering prayer, and over the past year, it’s become an integral and regular practice. I have tried centering prayer in total silence (dangerous before the morning coffee), with Gregorian chant playing softly in the background, and with other custom playlists (usually instrumental, with the occasional inclusion of the “Hopelandic” lyrics of Sigur Ros). I have tried to quiet my mind, to rid it of all but God. I have incorporated some form of repetition, whether in the form of a sacred word (such as “Christ,” “Spirit,” “Peace,” or “Love”) or a short phrase such as “my God loves me” or “Christ, have mercy.” 

The reality is that each day or week calls for its own practice, and for me, the most important thing is committing to the practice. There have been times where I’ve sat silently for 20 minutes and felt completely alone. There have been times where I sensed God’s presence as close as my very breath, and clung to the time as long as possible. There have been times where I have fallen fast asleep, a great reminder from my body that I really did need to sleep. But perhaps the most common experience is that of distraction. I’ve spent 30 minutes trying to do centering prayer with 25 minutes of it distracted with the business of the day. I try to refocus on prayer, as gently and non-judgmentally as possible, but at a certain point, it gets ridiculous.

So I’ve incorporated a new practice into my centering prayer which helps me de-clutter my mind as I pray, which involves two revolutionary pieces of technology: a pencil and paper. Your brain just exploded, I know. I’ll give you a moment to recover.

You see, after countless attempts to restore my focus to God in prayer, I’ve come to realize that often the best thing to do is jot down those things that need to be dealt with after I’m done praying. A to-do list, if you will.

And that’s it. Once the task is on the paper, it’s free from the bonds of my mind, and I can better focus on God. It’s a way of de-cluttering prayer that works particularly well for me. 

A couple other helpful tools for centering prayer that have worked well for me.

Set a timer. But try not to have an obnoxious timer sound that jolts you out of prayer mode too abruptly. For iPhone users, I recommend the “Slow Rise” tone. The name sounds like it was designed for this purpose, yeah?

Begin and end in a similar way. It provides continuity, no matter how different your prayer time might be in between. I nearly always begin with speaking the Jesus Creed, adopted from Scot McKnight’s book of the same name, and end with the Lord’s Prayer. 

Also, practicing centering prayer in conjunction with a daily office, devotional book or other Scripture reading has helped anchor my own practice within the larger community of the church.

If you put any of these or other centering prayer ideas into practice, I’d love to hear about it.

[andrewtgates]

Say that I am musical and attend a concert. From one point of view I am totally passive. Indeed, unless I am passive, unless I cease from activity in the usual sense, the music is wasted on me. But after the concert is over I find that I am quite tired, happily tired no doubt, but tired none the less. My tiredness shows that my passivity in the concert hall was also a deep form of activity. To receive and take in the music was spending of energy. So also in the prayer of contemplation, when the mind and the feelings are quietened and we become passively receptive in the presence of God, our passivity is a deep and costly form of activity. It is action of the highest human order which always consists of letting go and letting God take on. And when at prayer we are thus receptively passively active so that we let go and let God take on, then it inevitably colours and gives wings to all we are and do. That is why, at regular times, we should cease from action in the more superficial sense in order at prayer to find that receptive passivity which is action at its human highest because it is the point where our letting go is God taking on. And this in turn gives the depth of God's own love to what we do in the ordinary sense in the workaday world.

Tensions by H.A. Williams as quoted in A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and Other Servants by Job & Shawchuck

[andrewtgates]

The New Parish: How Neighborhood Churches Are Transforming Mission, Discipleship and Community by Paul Sparks My rating: 5 of 5 stars A really good read reclaiming the role of place for church ministry from three practitioners who have their own fascinating journeys toward emphasis on the parish. I find this book particularly helpful serving in a church which exists in the middle of a neighborhood. Historically, our roots are deep within the neighborhood, but we've been trying to re-engage where those connections have been severed. In The New Parish I find helpful metaphors for parish leadership (designer, conductor, player/coach), new verbs (presence-ing), and a wonderful emphasis on faithful presence at the intersection of community, formation, and mission (to name a few highlights). This book starts the right kind of conversation and I look forward to continuing to put some of its wisdom into practice. View all my reviews

[andrewtgates]

Teaching as a Subversive Activity by Neil Postman My rating: 5 of 5 stars I approach this book not as an educator in the education system, but as a pastor in a local church. From this perspective, I was able to engage the ideas present in a way that doesn't threaten my current structures in quite the same way it would from an educator's perspective. I gave this 5 stars not because I think it's perfect, or even completely practical, but because I read it 46 years after it's publication and am floored at how insightful and at times prescient Postman and Weingartner are. They lean on McLuhan's media research in the right places, and were unafraid to question the whole system. This book provides a good boost to my own "crap detector" as I seek the most effective ways to "make disciples" (Christian language which could be very close to what is proposed in this book) in the church context. View all my reviews

[andrewtgates]

"It is not as if we are short of things to say about God. But rather, we discover, a discovery nowhere more apparent than Jesus’s words on the cross, that anything we have to say about God does not do God justice. The darkness of God, a darkness nowhere more apparent than in the cross of Christ, is the excess of light. It is not that “God is too indeterminate to be known; God is unknowable because too comprehensively determinate, too actual. It is in that excess of actuality that the divine unknowability consists" Cross-Shattered Christ: Meditations on the Seven Last Words by Hauerwas, Stanley

[andrewtgates]

The fact that the new media are inseparable from the changes occurring in the environment requires that the school's virtually exclusive concern with print literacy be extended to include these new forms; in other words, the magnitude of the effect of new media, still in the process of being assessed, requires that any attempt to increase the relevance of education include substantive consideration of them.

excerpt from Neil Postman and Charles Weingartner's "Teaching as a Subversive Activity," in reference to Marshall McLuhan's work on new media, PUBLISHED IN THE YEAR NINETEEN SIXTY-NINE

[andrewtgates]

Reflection at the Start of the Lenten Journey

Lent does not dismiss suffering Does not set it aside and say 'there, there' Lent is no place for hiding from the real; Cowering behind platitudes No, it is the place where all suffering is held up, Whether inflicted by self, others, God, or other unseen forces Lent is God's declaration that 'I am here' 'I am there' 'I'm not going anywhere' And when we crumble under the weight of life May we encounter the Jesus who doesn't patronize; doesn't shame But who has truly 'been there.' Strength to finish the journey When our gaze is fixed on him Who journeyed before us and ever remains our sojourner; Only here do we keep this holy fast

[andrewtgates]

The movement from illusion to prayer is hard to make since it leads us from false certainties to true uncertainties, from an easy support system to a risky surrender, and from the many 'safe' gods to the God whose love has no limits.

Henri J. M. Nouwen, "Reaching Out"

[s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s]

[andrewtgates]

Yessssssss

[andrewtgates]

My Tweedy "Low Key/Loki" idea never caught on...I wonder why?

[andrewtgates]

No one who simply eats or drinks when he feels like eating or drinking or smokes whenever he feels the urge to light a cigarette, or gratifies his curiosity and sensuality whenever they are stimulated, can consider himself a free person. He has renounced his spiritual freedom and become the servant of bodily impulse. Therefore his mind and his will are not fully his own. They are under the power of his appetites, and through the medium of his appetites they are under the control of those who gratify his appetites.

Thomas Merton, "New Seeds of Contemplation," quoted in Gordon MacDonald, "A Resilient Life"

[dailyasterisk]

Artisans of hopefulness, mostly anonymous and unremembered, have long lived and loved and extended hospitality beyond the legal fictions of so-called sovereigns and nation-states. Prophets and poets have announced a wider economy of human meaning than power mongers can afford by questioning the...

[andrewtgates]

Classic David Dark

[andrewtgates]

Favorite Albums of 2014

I'm a little behind my usual list-publishing, but here it is, for your consideration: my favorite albums of 2014.

I'm including a music video with each, even though I rarely ever watch videos. I may not even like the videos. But I love the music. So listen to it. Or don't (your loss).

15. Thom Yorke "Tomorrow's Modern Boxes" - Really stripped down beats and melodies from one of the best. Not his best work ever (is that even possible?), but he keeps me coming back.

14. Frontier Ruckus "Sitcom Afterlife" - Last year's "Eternity of Dimming" absolutely blew me away (my favorite of the year!) with its sprawling, poetic perfection. This didn't hit me quite as hard, but a solid effort nonetheless from this great Detroit-suburbs band.

13. Lost in the Trees "Past Life" - Three albums in, these folks have become a dependable favorite. I wasn't sure about the transition from strings and bows to electronics, but it works better that I dreamed it would.

12. tUnE-yArDs "nikki-nack" - Merrill Garbus and company make crazy funky sounds with lyrics that teeter between the absurd and profound. Like on "w h o k i l l," there are two transcendent songs that are absolute JAMZZZ (on this record, those would be "sink-o" and "Water Fountain"), for which the rest of the album is a solid background.

11. alt-J "This Is All Yours" - alt-J has a sound all their own. The singer sometimes sounds like Adam Sandler, which is off-putting, but their consistency, their hooks, and their groove are undeniable.

10. Tweedy "Sukierae" - Jeff Tweedy is one of the greatest living songwriters. Wilco's catalog speaks for itself. This project with his son, in honor of his wife, is different from Wilco, yet unmistakeably, well, Tweedy. Enjoy this video with cameos from some of my favorite people in entertainment.

9. Jack White "Lazaretto" - Speaking of great living songwriters, Mr. White is right up there. He may annoy some with his persona, but his music speaks for itself. The dude writes and rocks and continues to evolve.

8. Spoon "They Want My Soul" - I admit I've been guilty of underestimating the genius of Britt Daniel & co. There have been unmistakeable moments like "The Underdog," but I've never considered myself a huge Spoon fan. This record may have changed that. Track after track of great songwriting and tight performances.

7. Flying Lotus "You're Dead!" - The first time I heard "Never Catch Me" on the radio (MSU's 89 the Impact), I had to look up the song and listen on repeat all day. Then I listened to the whole album and was captivated by its jazzy electronic fused beats. Endlessly interesting album, and check out this video! Same director as the Spoon video, by the way.

6. Robert Ellis "Lights from the Chemical Plant" - I've listened to Ellis's debut album "Photographs" over and over for the past few years and looked forward to the follow up. I was floored by the the musical progress he's made, and am drawn deeper into these stories and songs with each passing listen. He still sings like an old school country artist, but the music continually evolves: this is a special artist.

5. The War on Drugs "Lost in the Dream" - I wanted to ignore this record from the moment it started getting so much buzz this summer. But eventually, I listened to it. I wanted to dismiss it as aping Dire Straits or Dylan or Springsteen, but I found myself falling for it. These are great songs and this is a great album. Don't make the same mistake I did: just listen to it.

4. Over the Rhine "Blood Oranges in the Snow" - Reality Christmas. It's a genre that nobody does better than Over the Rhine. This and "Snow Angels" rank among the best Christmas albums ever recorded. The way the sacred seeps into these stories both wrenches and warms the heart. These are soul songs, pop songs, classic songs, clever songs, reality songs, Christmas songs. Thanks to Karin and Linford for doing it yet again.

3. St. Vincent "St. Vincent" - Annie Clark has created a masterwork. Her creative guitar work has reached its apex on these tunes. Her vocals soar, spike and hit right where they need to, and on her best collection of songs to date. Four perfect songs: "Rattlesnake" features St. Vincent at her most paranoid, "Digital Witness" in pop perfection, "Bring Me Your Loves" just owning a song, and "Every Tear Disappears" shows her at her most heartfelt and profound.

2. My Brightest Diamond "This Is My Hand" - Sadly, I didn't listen to this album until late November, and it got better with each listen. "Pressure" reveals its perfection at first listen, but on repeat listens, the whole record is near perfect. "Lover/Killer" is a great pop single and "I Am Not the Bad Guy" has that ominous feel I've loved about MBD since "Bring Me the Workhorse." The polyrhythms of "Resonance" put you off-kilter, but she sets your feet steady again with the effortlessly soaring chorus. Simply, Shara Worden is a great artist who has now put together a record more complete and consistent than ever before, and it is STUNNING. Please, enjoy.

1. the Soil & the Sun "Meridian" - I almost listened to this record too much this year. I'm not sure the total play count, but I know this record well. It covers more sonic ground than their previous efforts, as they offer more accessible pop-choruses ("How Long?" and "Push Push"), experiment with even more quiet than normal (the absolutely divine "World We Used to Know") and more loud than normal (the gut-punching conclusion to "Oikoterion"), and in the middle, give the strongest trifecta (3 consecutive songs) of any album I've heard in a good while, in tracks 5 through 7. I could go on and on, but I'll just post a video and let you dig in. Ladies and gentlemen, the Soil & the Sun with M E R I D I A N.

It was a great year for music. I also enjoyed the records from The Whistles and the Bells, Sharon Van Etten, Sturgill Simpson, Weezer, The Apache Relay, Propaganda, Phox, and the many brilliant EP's of The Liturgists. Here's to a wonderful, musical 2014 and the anticipation of a new Decemberists record in 2015!

Check out my whole list on Spotify, if you're into that sort of thing.