There's a lot more good stuff in this series. Simple tunes and beautiful harmonies with heart-felt lyrics. You can find a lot more from this set here. It's all good. It's all music from an artists' collective known as Cageless Birds.
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While we're on the subject of music, I might as well share something from my favorite band in the world today, The Tedeschi Trucks Band.
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I'm mildly excited about my Red Sox reaching the post-season again. Not getting my hopes up, but it sure would be story-book for them to go all the way in Big Papi's final season. I also like the idea of Mookie Betts getting some national attention. He's my favorite young player in the game. Plus, there's the outfielders victory dance phenomenon:
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Politics. I guess I should say something. For a long time I was a pretty avid Republican, but I got out this year. I'm officially "unenrolled" (I think that's the term my state uses). I have somewhat of a "not my circus, not my monkeys" attitude now. I guess I'm still a conservative, but one that feels conservatism has lost touch with some of its first principles. Inherent in true conservatism, I think, is a certain philosophical eschewing of power itself, so conservative power-seeking sets up a tension. We learn again and again that power really does corrupt, but it does so by at first corrupting our philosophical underpinnings. We lose touch with first things. We become masters at playing politics instead of seekers of truth.
One of those political "first things" is liberty. I think the very concept of liberty is under assault in our time. It bothers me that no candidate for president can even begin to address this issue, because one of the sources of the problem is the expansion of executive power, and no one who is seeking that power is going to mount an argument against actually having it. Similarly, no one's going to mount an argument against "identity politics," when winning elections essentially amounts to putting together a coalition of grievance-groups by promising to use executive power on their behalf.
All that Trump has done is identify the grievance group that has been thus far left out . . . non-college educated whites, and his campaign is largely an appeal to that group by declaring from time to time that he shares all their prejudices and will fulfill all their desires (yes, he literally says that). This is not electoral behavior I want to see rewarded, because it will only breed more of the same.
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It's clear we need some more Tedeschi Trucks:
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I think Christians have to rethink their attachment to Republican politicians and to the political process as a whole. As Evangelicals we've bought into the definition of patriotism that says we must support every war, forever and always, even when we apparently live in an era of endless war (surely the past twelve years of our involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq do not represent some sort of Christ-like ideal for the nations). I don't know exactly what the next president should do in either of these situations, but as a Christian I need to back-off from some sort of ultra-patriotic knee-jerk "support the troops" patriotism that will not accept criticism of our military status quo. In other words, whatever real politik answer the nation may choose, it will be the world's way, a way that always involves decline, self-seeking, and eventually war. Always. That ought to be something we understand from the get-go.
As Christians we need to go our own way. I don't think Evangelical Christians have for the most part ever come to terms with Christ's call to be a people of peace. To atually represent and be ambassadors of a kingdom of peace. People like the Mennonites and Hutterites excepted, I suppose, but many Evangelicals refuse to admit that they might have something to learn from Anabaptists!
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Just now I'm listening to Clapton & Cale's Escondido (2006). It's a really good record.
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I'm looking forward to N. T. Wright's next book, The Day the Revolution Began. Scott McKnight has a good post on the subject. This quote from the book:
We have Platonized our eschatology (substituting “souls going to heaven” for the promised new creation) and have therefore moralized our anthropology (substituting a qualifying examination of moral performance for the biblical notion of the human vocation), with the result that we have paganized our soteriology, our understanding of “salvation" (substituting the idea of God killing Jesus to satisfy his wrath for the genuinely biblical notions we are about to explore). (147)I'm always willing to go exploring with Wright.
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Back to politics ('tis the season). This article from Trevin Wax reminds us that "politics is not ultimate." In this culture, especially in an election year, it's treated as a first and last, both a fundamental thing and a process that can lead us to the promised land. Our politicians encourage us to think that way, and we've all more or less bought into that bill of goods.
As Christians we should recognize this as heresy. But we've not allowed ourselves to be Biblically educated, so we fall for such promises. Even after reading every Joel Osteen book we could find we still don't seem to be having our bet life now. What's going on? Perhaps evil forces (aka liberal politicians) are holding us back. It's a small step from smiling Osteen-ism to growling Trump-ism. I have a hunch these two charlatans share much the same following.
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Chaplain Mike's Letters to Jesus #1.
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There is a nastiness, an indulging of dark-side tendencies, in this election. I blame Facebook and Twitter. We see something that confirms our biases and quickly hit the share button. Thus these bias-confirming memes go round and round in our community of true-believers, ramifying in our collective spirits. We become, as an online presence, merely those people who believe those things, who never question anything that would seem to support our views, even the most outrageous conspiracy theories and groundless accusations. Plenty of websites masquerading a news-sources post speculation and lies as "BREAKING NEWS," and thousands of otherwise apparently sane persons pass them on without question. Is it healthy that each side seems to truly hate the other?
And here's the thing. Many of these people are Christians. They're supposed to represent a better way. I've heard so much utter nonsense from Christian supporters of Mr. Trump, it boggles the mind. One person urged everyone to vote for Trump because God showed her Mr. Trump's "great heart." Anything you might hear from the media that doesn't correspond to this personal revelation from God must obviously be the product of evil liberal-bias, she said. But the rel bias is against thought.
Then there's the "God uses sinners" meme in support of Trump. I've seen it many times. But you know, that argument can be used for anyone at all, since we're all sinners. It's essentially a form of the argument Paul dealt with in Romans 6. You might think this very argument would cause them to disregard the moral shortcomings of Hillary Clinton as well, but the maxim is not applied with utter consistency.
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As the title of this post suggests, I'm taking a sick-day today. All stuffed-up and coughing this morning. Stinks. But it's given me time to make this post! And listen to a lot of music. Which reminds me, we should close with more Tedeschi Trucks:
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