|
KWSchlenz
|
read my profile
sign my guestbook
Name: Kyle
Country: United States
State: Indiana
Metro: Indianapolis
Gender: Male
Interests: *biking
*alternative music
*digital imaging
*dodgeball
*industrial rock
*interactive entertainment
*poetry
*reading
*roleplaying
*rollerskating
*tabletop gaming
*writing
Occupation: Student
Industry: Media
Message: message meEmail: email me
Website: visit my website
Member Since:
6/15/2004
|
|
| <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/qhdZekfXE8Q&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/qhdZekfXE8Q&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
| | |
| I don't know how many of you guys keep a blog. I do. It can be found at "http://www.xanga.com/kwschlenz" or on my respective Myspace or Facebook pages. If you have a blog, let me know so I can start reading it.
I am starting a new blog as a supplemental to my usual writings, inspired by Eric Stoller's "Stuff White People Like." I hesitate to recommend SWPL, as it may offend you (for good and not so good reasons), but I can't deny inspiration. If I've piqued your interest, it can be found at http://stuffkylelikes.blogspot.com/
Here is the first entry for your perusal:
On January 18, 2008, Eric Stoller began writing a blog called "Stuff White People Like." Everyday Stoller added an entry detailing things that he perceives white people like, including organic food, film festivals, Arrested Development, Japan, kitchen gadgets, gentrification, and having black (or gay) friends. Stoller asserts that the blog was made to be humorous, which it most certainly can be, but personally I found it to be very negative, because his witty remarks are often veiled accusations against not white people in general, but affluent (and yes, many times white) Americans who are simply trying to make a difference in their communities. He often claims that we pursue social justice out of guilt and a desire to fit in with our "group," rather than out of genuine charity. This is probably true many times, but it seems heavy-handed to lump all white people in one box. Seems like there was a word for this once... what was it again? I think you know where I'm going.
Stoller's blog has given rise to many imitators, including "Stuff Christians Like," "Stuff Nobody Likes," and my personal favorite, "White Stuff People Like."
SWPL and SCL are both entertaining and uncomfortable reads. I find "Stuff Christians Like" the most ironic, as it frequently accuses Christians of stealing trends and Christianizing them, but fails to recognize SWPL as its own inspiration. Pop culture Christianity can be so double-minded it gives me nosebleeds sometimes.
Since finding SWPL, I've been cogitating about how I, too, can get in on this trend. That's right, if you haven't figured it out yet, this blog is yet another SWPL imitator. I admit it. Get over it.
At first, I thought about creating a blog called "Stuff Jesus Likes." But that seemed dangerously presumptive of me, plus as far as I know, it's a pretty short list anyway. For fun, here's a few of the things I came up with: sinners, children, poor people, wine, walking, sleeping on the ground, mountain climbing, making people who think they are smart look like idiots, bending time and space, and being the only guy to single-handedly beat the shit out of death. Some things he didn't like include religious people, laws that don't make sense, dishonest business practices, and
sound legal counsel. Okay, come to think of it, that was fun. Maybe I will write that blog some day.
However, the thing that bothers me most about SWPL is that it lumps people--specifically white people--into a group. So the best way to turn this trend on its ear, I think, is to write a blog about stuff that I, as an individual, like. Now maybe you don't care. That's cool. But maybe you do. If you want to learn a little more about me, this is the place to do it. I encourage others to begin writing their own blogs about what they like. I promise I'll read them. Because I care about who you are, not about your group, ethnic or otherwise.
| | |
| Did you know that your church may be breaking the law every Sunday morning when they display the lyrics to the latest praise and worship song either in a leaflet or on a projector screen? Either that or they are paying out as much as $4,260 annually for the right to do so.
This is because 99% of new praise and worship music is released by professional artists who choose to release it behind the walls of U.S. copyright law rather than in the public domain. Not only that, but most new Christian music is written and released with the intent of capitalizing on the "praise and worship" fever that has been propping up the bloated CCM "genre," which in turn has been lining the pockets of secular recording executives for the past three decades.
As a college student who studied copyright law as it relates to media, I could fire off a fine lecture as to why U.S. copyright laws are unacceptably draconian and absolutely will not survive the new media revolution. However, the problems associated copyright law as they apply to music as a performance art are compounded even greater when applied to worship in the church.
The key issue is that--contrary to insistence of CCM marketing and even many churches--worship is not performance art. According to the Bible, music predicates the very existence of human beings and even the Earth itself. What is its true purpose? The book of Job tells us it is to worship and glorify God. This is reiterated explicitly and by example throughout Scripture. It is a precious gift that allows us to communicate intimately with our Creator. Western civilization has only recently co-opted it to create a multi-billion dollar industry that is now imploding under the weight of its own greed. Meanwhile, Christian musicians in the 21st century church have blindly invested their God-given talents and--I believe--mostly sincere efforts under the umbrella of this corrupt and collapsing corporate kingdom.
I am very sympathetic to church leaders who must deal with this mess, though I suspect that many of them merely ignore the law, as I have observed countless "church ministries" flagrantly violate copyright laws as a matter of course, even in domains outside of worship music. A friend of mine once related to me how a large Indianapolis church that employed him as a daycare worker would regularly show the children bootlegged movies. Moreover, I know very few Christian peers who show any moral backbone when it comes to illegally obtaining music and film over the Internet (in the spirit of full disclosure, I have been guilty of this and acknowledge that piracy is fueled as much by ignorant lawmakers and irresponsible media conglomerates as it is greedy consumers).
Thankfully, there are legitimate alternatives to either paying a money-hungry corporations to worship or ignoring the law, neither of which strike me as particularly honoring to God. The most popular solution is to use songs that have long been out of copyright. Unfortunately, unless you go to a fundamentalist church that already believes any music that doesn't come out of an 18th century hymnal is satanic, this is less than optimal. It is also worth mentioning that you are free to sing any song as part of a worship service, but you cannot legally display the lyrics. If you unfamiliar with the song... well, I guess it sucks to be you.
Finally, you can seek out music released into the public domain by musicians who are more interested in creating worship music that can freely be used according to its intended purpose than in making a quick buck. Unfortunately, the only modern album I know of released in such a way is "Take Me In" by an Australian artist named Murray Bunton. The good thing is that it is a stellar collection of songs, and the music and lyrics can be downloaded free of charge at www.youiseek.com. You can also freely copy all of the content for use in your church, home, car, or around the campfire when you get tired of Kumbaya.
"Take Me In" was released under the relatively new Creative Commons license, which allows intellectual property owners to cede all or some rights to public domain while not losing complete control of their work. Creative Commons has the potential to solve many the problems with traditional copyright law, which currently acts as a blunt "all or nothing" instrument. I had never heard of Murray Bunton, and I doubt that he commands the enormous income of guys like Chris Tomlin, but if Matthew 6 is to be believed, I'd say he's in pretty good standing in the Kingdom that actually matters.
For more information on this topic, feel free to peruse the following links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPRKCmYuCWA
http://www.brotherhoodmutual.com/resources/articles/navart45-copyrightlaw.htm
http://www.fni.com/worship/200309/msg00068.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Cluth/Copyright_law_for_church_worship_pastors
http://creativecommons.org/
http://youiseek.com/
| | |
| Lately I have been pondering my personal lifestyle and what changes I could make to better pursue simplicity and social justice in a practical way. Most recently I've been thinking specifically about the clothing that I choose to wear.
Clothes. Everybody's got 'em. Everybody needs 'em. Some say "clothes make the man." Conversely, the Bible tells us in Matthew 6 that we should not worry about what we eat or drink or the clothes we ought to wear, for our Father will provide for us. However, when we do buy clothing with the resources God has given us, should we not strive to make intelligent and just decisions?
A personal disclaimer: I am a guy, and I really like stylish clothes. Some people call that "metrosexual" or whatever. Bottom line, I loves me my H&M, Buckle, and Express. However, I am troubled by two things: 1) I don't know that spending lots of money on clothes is the best use of the resources God has given me and 2) I don't know who I am supporting when I purchase these clothes.
In an attempt to rectify issue #1, I think I could just buy clothes from Walmart and bite the bullet on being stylish. That doesn't help at all with #2. I'd rather spend the bucks on clothing that I know was not made in a sweatshop. Even if it costs more money, this seems justifiable as buying cheap clothes from Walmart would only be taking advantage of a corrupt system to keep more money in my pockets.
If perhaps you think I am overly concerned with a trivial issue, take a moment to consider this passage from Shane Claiborne's book The Irresistible Revolution:
"...I discovered a different kind of protest. Years ago, I attended a rally against sweatshops overseas. The organizers had not invited the typical rally speakers--lawyers, activists, academics. Instead, they brought the kids themselves from sweatshops to speak. I listened as a child from Indonesia stood to share and pointed to the giant scar on his face. "I got this scar when my master lashed me for not working hard enough. When it began to bleed, he did not want me to stop working or ruin the cloth in front of me, so he took a lighter and burned it shut. I got this making stuff for you." I was suddenly consumed by the overwhelming reality of the suffering of the body of Christ. Jesus now bore not just the marks from the nails and scars from the thorns but a gash down his face, for when we have done it to the "least of these," we had done it to Christ himself. How could I possibly follow Jesus and buy anything from that master? The statistics now had a face. Poverty had become personal. And that messes with you."
Yeah, that messes with me, too. Enough to radically re-think how I am spending my money.
In my search for other Christians who may have considered this issue, I cross-referenced terms like "Christian" and "clothing" on Google. You can probably guess what I found. Either companies selling knock-off t-shirts with religious slogans or articles about whether Christian women should wear jeans or not. At best, this was not what I was looking for, and worse, it was discouraging to think that these are the terms in which many (dare I say the majority) Christians think about this issue. (In the spirit of full disclosure, I often wore a "Ten Inch Spikes" NIN knock-off shirt and matching WWJD bracelet back in the day).
Last November, I went to see Rob Bell speak at the Murat here in Indianapolis. I was not the only one who observed the fact that it was mostly populated by skinny white dudes. I also couldn't help but notice many of them seemed to be sporting a similar "anti-style" of coif haircuts and thick glasses frames. Could it be that even in the postmodern "emerging church movement," we are still trying to make Jesus look "cool?". For all our out-of-the-box gusto, are we still nothing but a market demographic to a bunch of Christian publishing companies and megachurches?
So now I am asking you, my local family in Christ, "what do you think?". Can we have a fresh conversation about I Peter 3 through the lens of love for others rather than a ridiculous debate about skirt length? What is the spirit behind the Bible's call to modesty and how can apply it in a practical way to our own lives? I certainly do not want to steer towards legalism of a different sort, but I'm wondering if there are valid alternatives to being consumerist sheep when it comes to what we wear?
Here's a few places I have begun to start:
*www.mondonation.com is a website that sells tshirts not made in sweatshops with a pretty cool customizable "I believe..." logo. They also give you the option to donate a portion of the t-shirt price to one of many selectable charities, including The Salvation Army.
*while I was thinking about this, I realized that I live in Indiana, a state with a reasonably large Amish and Mennonite community. Although I have no desire to sign on to an Amish homestead, I think there is definitely something I could learn from their pursuit of a locally sustainable lifestyle. With this in mind, I am going to visit Shalom Mennonite Church on the east side of the city this Sunday morning. Perhaps I might get a solid lead to a such a resource near Indianapolis. If anyone else is curious and would like to join me, please let me know. I am fond of visiting other spiritual communities here in the city, and it's always best when you are not alone!
| | |
| If we are family...
Why do we hate one another?
Why do we curse eachother?
Why can't we sing together?
We cling to our misguided convictions,
All our self-righteous conditions.
Innocent blood is crying out from the dirt;
We're convinced our calling is a Jesus t-shirt.
If we are family...
Why is our brothers' blood on our hands?
Why do we starve our neighbors?
Why are we killing in foreign lands?
We are polarized by our allegiances,
We know who exactly who to vote for
Or perhaps why not to vote at all,
And if everybody else knew Jesus,
They'd make the very same call.
If we are family...
Why don't we share a meal together?
Why don't we worship our Father?
Why don't we celebrate one another?
This is a body that is breathing,
This is a structure without walls.
This is a feast for the homeless,
This is a party for the uncool.
If we are family...
I want to carry your burdens.
I want my home to be your shelter.
I want to confess together.
I pray that when I die,
My Father will know my name.
That prayer can only be answered
When I can remember yours. | | |
|
