junkmail for blankets

Jeremy,

I realize that I am posting a comment which is totally unrelated to your entry. Nonetheless, I will do so, and trust that you shall not be offended.

I went to the link that you provided and read through your entire article. I must say that I concur with what I understood you to be saying. And though I may not have presented it as succinctly as you did, my main point in this discussion between my friend and I was, I believe, the same one that you were making, viz., Smoking is not inherently a sin. In other words, smoking, unlike adultery, is not wrong for all people, for all places, for all times.

One further observation. After perusing the text of your article, it became clear to me that you and I have yet another common ground, as it were. I, too, am an aspiring author. (Though it seems you are much farther along than I.) Stylistically we are quite different. You have a refined way of writing. Mine, I fear, is yet quite un-refined.
I will check your blog more frequently now. Thanks for commenting!
Carl

carl, thanks for reading and responding so graciously. as for my writing being "refined," well, we could argue that, but the colors on my blog sure are pretty.

und du,
jeremy

Jeremy,
I was just directed to your site yesterday, and I greatly enjoy it so far! The line today about discounting or demonizing "secular" music for not being explicitly spiritual or Christian really hit me, because that's something that's always nagged at me. I get frustrated when people assume that because a band isn't explicitly Christian, their music is corrupt and can contain no truth. For one thing, like you say, a listener can't possibly know a musician's faith without being told, and NOT being told doesn't mean there is no faith. And personally, I believe even truly secular music can have spiritual value. Saying Christian artists are inherently better or that non-Christian artists are inherently corrupt is unfair to the music.

Anyway. Sorry to blather. Just wanted to say I like your writing and your perspective! I'll be back!

Thanks for the bit about presenting your faith so as to make you different from most christians you know. This is precisely the thing I struggle with. Hey, just because I'm a pastor's wife doesn't mean I'm a PASTOR"S WIFE. Just because I'm theologically conservative doesn't mean I'm politically or socially conservative! Christians can eat vegeatrian three times a week! Christians can smoke & drink! Christians can throw fun parties! Christians can listen to good music! All of this, of course, is true but like you said, it put the focus on said christian (nme, me, me) and not Christ. I feel strongly about "standing in the gap" but I shouldn't do it to prove I CAN stand in the gap, but to LOVE people with Christ's love. Thank you for this post.

And by, the way, I'm with you all the way with the Christian music stuff. When people who know me primarily from church or as Paul's wife learn that I'm a songwriter the first assumption is always "Oh, so you play Christian music!" And I shrug and bite my lip and look around and say, "No" and feel guilty...and then mad that I feel guilty...and the shame spiral ensues.

cassidy, thank you and feel free to drop by and blather whenever you feel like it. minnesota needs more blathering.

Having grown a bit tired of the mopey, put-upon mood of so many Christian indie artists (Pedro, who I've enjoyed, has been an egregious offender), I've been particularly impressed by the attitude of Sufjan Stevens, whose faith seems like a personal search, not a badge or a burden. He always seems genuinely confused when he's asked about integrating into the "secular" markets, or queried about getting a backlash against his faith:

(and, having prematurely posted, i continue:)

Quoth Sufjan: "Backlash? Like people buying my albums but then refusing to come to my shows? Or sending me hate mail and photos of myself with, like, mustaches and horns drawn on them? I haven't noticed any of that. Do you know something I don't know?"

mesh, i feel the same and am equally impressed with sufjan. i knew i shouldn't have sent those photos, though. . .

Oh, I didn't even know that stuff about Pedro the Lion... In other words, I didn't know a. that there are Christians in the band, and b. that they were "known" for having Christians in the band. I'm a victim of iTunes; I look for music with guitar bass and drums, I buy it. Then I find out later that the artists are all foot fetishists and stuff.

to be fair, Jon, David Bazan, the lead singer, has a pretty good worldview, akin to Niebuhr's Christ "in" rather than "above" or "against" culture. I don't think that Bazan's the one who's looking for praise or pity, but rather that some Christians are so excited to have "one of their own" infiltrating secular culture so successfully that they say and write the kinds of things that drive this writer nuts.

hey jeremy,

This is something I've thought about alot, and I will have to check out the DIW article. I appreciated what you had to say, especially the ending note. Focus on Him and who He is, not on me or them, or what we are or aren't, or do or don't do. *note to self*

g, thank you. i'm still thinking and noting to self, too . . .

Jeremy, again you have put words to my wordless thoughts by sticking a sliver in my brain. I find myself in places where people stumble over my faith because a) they can't believe I'm emceeing a "Rock for Peace" concert or b) they didn't think they'd run into a "church guy" at a rock concert. Some people trip over my faith and land at the foot of that Roman popsicle cross. Other people just stumble over my faith and curse me for not fitting a christian stereotype. But like you stated, it's not about me it's all about Christ.

Emily, keep writing your songs (and share them). For a believer in Christ, all things are sacred. While you feel guilty when confronted with the shallow "Christian music" comments, I get angry. Though I don't write music, I read and perform poetry in coffee shops, clubs and bookstores. It's funny when you think of it, but the parables of Jesus weren't overtly religious. In fact, many who heard them didn't understand. Yet, it is because Jesus knew what it's like to be misunderstood that I know that He understands and forgives me.