So I’m learning that I tend to go on streaks with Christianity …. I’ll like it for a little bit …. And then really not like it for a bit too. Or maybe I should re-phrase that …. Maybe it’s Christians that I have the issue with. Two things have been in my head over the past couple of weeks.
- The whole Steven Curtis Chapman situation. Okay, before you write me off as a terrible person, let me just say that the whole thing is a terrible tragedy. I hate this for him and his entire family. But I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the Christian community’s response to his daughter’s death. He has received an enormous amount of support and condolences and prayers from the church. It’s been amazing really … like we see him as a friend and a brother and wish to help him and his family out in any way. Beautiful. But a friend of mine’s blog got me thinking … one little girl is lost in a preventable tragedy and it seems as if the entire church mourns the loss …. this, in comparison to the thousands of children who are lost in preventable tragedies EVERY DAY and it goes seemingly unnoticed. AIDS, treatable diseases, lack of clean water, starvation. Each take away innocent lives every day across the developing world. Little kids. Some with mothers and fathers. Some completely alone. ALL just as precious as Chapman’s daughter. Each death, in its own way, senseless and preventable. How is it that some musician’s daughter gets quadruple the amount of attention as the countless orphans in
- Sara Groves and Redeeming Love. Yes, weird way to describe my thoughts, but those two have been in my head lately as well. I had a friend recently mention how much she loved the song “When the Saints” by Sara Groves. (And if you haven’t heard it yet … it honestly is fantastic.) She was describing how much she liked the end of the song. Again, if you haven’t heard it, the last bit makes mention of several “saints” … the slave awakening to the value of his soul, the young missionary and the angry spear, the sister in Calcutta by the dying man’s side, etc. But the last one mentions “the young woman huddled on the brothel floor and the man with a passion coming kicking down the door.” It’s a beautiful section of the song. Honestly gives me chills every time I hear it. Regardless, the friend was talking about how she loved this last bit about the woman in the brothel and how it “HAD to be talking about Redeeming Love.” Again, this takes knowing what the book is about, but Redeeming Love is a story loosely based on the book of Hosea, where a man fights for the heart of a young prostitute. It is a story (both Redeeming Love and Hosea) that describes in real-life terms the overwhelming power of God’s relentless grace. Anyway … I’m getting to my point. And that is this …… the girl's comment absolutely threw me for a loop. I was honestly irked by it. The lyric about the prostitute HAD TO be talking about the story from Redeeming Love!?!??! Really?!?!!? Granted, I understood what she meant, and the fact that the prostitute was being rescued is a beautiful thing …. But these things DON’T just happen in books! In fact, I’ve MET some of those girls in those brothels. It’s not just some fiction book. It’s a REALITY that I’ve seen with my own eyes. It’s not just some story about a girl from the old west in some “old western brothel” … It’s the reality and day to day life for thousands of girls. And not just in Southeast Asia or
So yeah …. Hmmmm … I think that’s all I have to say. Guess I needed to vent. :)
Love to you all.
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10 comments:
Beautiful post Michelle. Both of your points have one similarity, the same thing gets to me as well about the "American Christian Realm."
"We," including myself here, tend to only see things through the eyes of our small lives. We all mourned and cried and thought how terrible the lose of SCC daughter was, because it could happen to us. Because if we all admitted it, it scared us to death that such a harsh reality could happen to me or you or our best friend. We never hear a story about a child dyeing of hunger and think, "oh i hope that never happens to my child, or my family." We choose to not look past the glass in our television screens when we hear the stories about such things.
Anyways, we could talk about this for a while I am sure. And how do we fix such things? Do we all leave America and go to a third world country or try to fix things?? Do we write a check and send it to some organization that promises to give a child a meal everyday and an education?? I don't know. But obviously something must change.
Love you. And yes, I am giving this blog a try to see what I think. Might be retiring XANGA.
Good thoughts, yo. I thought pretty much all the same stuff about Chapman's daughter. Terrible tragedy and yet so many bigger issues to mourn over. I really like Shan's response. That is profound. I think that it is a reality that could touch us is a huge factor. I might even dare say that is part of the reason the American church has been an avid supporter of our recent wars. We lose 3,000 and it is rightly seen as a terrible tragedy. But what about the 100,000 - 500,000 Iraqis that have died now? Averaged, that's 100 9/11's. They say that only military intervention can help Darfur, but what would happen if an army of saints who were completely sold on the resurrection marched in there and loved that wound until it was healed? Love it with weapons not of this world. The early church fathers said that for every Christian that was Martyred ten more would be made and convert their whole lives to take their place.
But any way, that's just one way to look at it and most of those things aren't black and white.
Oh and I just saw The Girl Next Door. I randomly played it off of hulu.com (free, legal movies!). Not a movie I'd reco neccessarily (lot o' nudity and some crassness I think, I couldn't tell thankfully because I watched it during the day on a projector in a bright room), but the plot had some redemptive themes. Namely, there was a young boy that falls in love with a young girl and then finds out she was an ex-porn star. To watch him wrestle with treating her like an object like everybody else or treat her as (what I would call, but not the character necessarily) a mysterious and beautiful child of our Father... it was pretty great. Especially when she runs back to the industry and he chases her down and tells her he knows who she really is and that wasn't it. Kind o' rando but your post reminded me of it.
alright, sassy mcgee...I know i haven't posted on my blog in months...but give a girl some credit, I posted THREE new ones on my WR site!
These days I'm a little torn between the wordpress and the AIM blog. I thought more people would see the one on the WR site, but judging by comments...eh...I'm not feeling real motivated to write. I've got to get back into writing for the sake of expression instead of writing for comments :) ...ah what the WR has ingrained in us...
I don't know wht I'm doing these days...and how can you really write about nothing? it'd be like a seinfeld episode written in a blog format......ohhhhh...now there's an idea........ :)
great post. I have a question...when you say the comment irked you are you talking about your friends comment or they lyric in the song? Cause if you are talking about the comment from your friend, I agree with you 100%
yes sarah ... the GIRL'S comment. definitely.
oh yeah .... i included the link for the info behind the Sara Groves song ... good story.
love to all.
Thanks for the congrats! Great post. We grew up with Steven Curtis Chapman, and so we are connected with him. Last year I got to experience HIV/AIDS orphans for the first time. It just breaks your heart, and I hope that more people's hearts will break into action for these precious children of God. I hope that we will remember all of God's children in our prayers.
Yeah, I can't explain it but that movie really hit me. I think it would have been hard if the images were more easily seen - kind of would of been distracting from being on edge. It also kind of sucks that that powerful them of not objectifying a woman exists in a movie that objectifies women... but maybe there is something powerful in that. Shane does do a great job explaining Biblical alternatives to violence. I responded on my blog to your comment about another great book on it. If you haven't yet, and you can stomach war violence, To End All Wars is another powerful resource for a Biblical wrestling with the idea of war. Lauren Cunningham's (founder of YWAM) son made it and it has Keifer Southerland in it.
hi how did you make that thing at the top??
first of all, i loved tonight going to your blog and seeing your new pictures up top. very creative
second of all, i love your depth in your thinking, you care, really care for others and i will always admire your ever-longing search for understanding. thank you for always challenging me to do the same.
thirdly, there is a song by sara groves "awakening" that has pretty much been my theme song for the past year or so. no matter how far we run he's always right there. i forget too often of his grace and this song is a constant reminder. if you haven't heard it go now and download it.
i love you friend
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