One of my all-time favorite albums is The End Is Not the End by House of Heroes. House of Heroes is a (Christian) alternative rock band. I put Christian in parentheses because, while the band used to be signed to a Christian record label (they're now independent), I don't think they really openly identified and toured as a Christian band. If I really sat down and thought about it, I don't think The End Is Not the End would be my #1 album of all time, but it would definitely be in the running. This album came out 10 years ago this week, so I thought this week I'd listen to the album again and write a few thoughts. You're welcome to give it a listen yourself on YouTube by clicking on this link. Otherwise, you can simply read my thoughts. And if alternative music isn't really your jam, feel free to come back to the blog some other week. Here we go!
I really appreciate the energy of this album. Some tracks are slower, but the album never drags. Pretty much all the songs are catchy, and they've all got that solid guitar and drum rock feel. "If," the first real track on the album, is probably my favorite song on the album. The lyrics are pretty interesting in places, and I just think it's a cool song. I think this album has some good variety. The songs definitely don't all sound the same, though they do fit together pretty well. "Dangerous" has a chorus that always gets stuck in my head. Many of the songs of the album feel like they could be telling a WWII story. A good example is "In the Valley of the Dying Sun," which describes a soldier being forced to kill to survive. "Code Name: Raven" is another one of my favorites. I love its rhythm. "By Your Side" is more of a ballad, and it contains the album title as part of its lyrics. "Journey into Space (Part One)" is the last of my favorite songs. The instrumental section before the last chorus is great, and I've always enjoyed when the guitars drop out, leaving just vocals and drums for a bit close to the end. "Baby's a Red" is a lovely tune about being in love with a Communist, so that's fun. Another song snippet that always gets stuck in my head is the end of "Faces," which describes a fighter pilot being shot down. Part of why I love this album so much is its consistent quality. There are obviously some songs that I like more than others, but there's not a single song that I dislike or even think is just okay. They're all good, and a few are downright great. Plus, we get a bonus track at the end in "The Young and Brutal." Fun stuff!
Listening to this album always makes me happy. That must be why I listen to it so often. I hope you enjoyed it as well!
Grace and peace,
BMH
Monday, September 24, 2018
Monday, September 17, 2018
#100 Xenophobia
We've hit 100 posts! If this blog were a monthly comic book, like the old The Adventures of Superman series that my blog's name references, hitting triple digits would be a big deal. For a (normally) weekly blog, that's not as impressive, but, I think it's still pretty cool. Thanks for reading, everbody!
Now let's get down to business. This week I'd like to talk about xenophobia. If you're unfamiliar with the word, it refers to the fear of strangers. Normally, xenophobia is used to describe fear and even hatred of foreigners, but it can be applied more broadly. I'd like to use it in a broader sense here. Let's think of xenophobia as the fear of people who are different.
I think xenophobia is deep in every human heart. We tend to be more comfortable with people that we think are similar to us. Often we default to language of "us" and "them" in our conversations and thought. Obviously the membership of those groups varies based on what we're talking about, but there are few things simpler or easier than dividing humanity into people like us and people not like us. I would guess most of the time our us-them divisions are unconscious, and I think many times we don't mean anything bad by them. But we tend to think better of ourselves than others, and so we tend to think better of us than them. I think constantly thinking of other people as different from us makes it easier for us to be suspicious of them. Who are we going to trust? Ourselves or people who are different? It's easy for us to distance ourselves from others and let that distance turn into fear and then hatred. Think about our conversations about political parties or immigration or gender and sexuality. How often do we speak poorly of "them"? How often do we worry about what "they" might be up to? Simply by being biased towards ourselves, we can quickly become biased against others. It doesn't take much for that to lead to fear and even hatred. There are few things that I think we should be more concerned about in our lives that unchecked xenophobia.
Thankfully, in the midst of our xenophobia, Jesus teaches us to love everyone, including those who are different. I'm not sure I can think of a lesson that is more difficult or more important for us than that. Jesus calls us to love every person we encounter as much as we love ourselves, no matter how different they might be and no matter how much they love us back. Jesus could have treated everybody—you and me included—as "them." He's perfect. No one else is. But instead Jesus reached out to bring all kinds of people into "us," making all kinds of people His sisters and brothers. He challenges you and me to think of no one else as unable to be part of "us." Sure, people are different. Those differences can't just be ignored; many times, in fact, they should even be celebrated. But Jesus teaches that everyone is created and loved by God, broken and hurt by sin and evil, and able to be redeemed and renewed in Him. That common human condition can help you and me see past "us" and "them." Others may be different, but others are not totally different than we are.
Xenophobia doesn't fit with Christainity. But sadly, xenophobia has been taught to us and ingrained in us all our lives. Our biases are real and deep. We can't totally get rid of them. But what we can do is become more aware of them. (Click this link if you'd like some tests that could help with that.) We can try to be on the lookout to avoid slipping into us-them language. And most of all, we can ask Jesus to help us love others because "perfect love drives out fear" (1 John 4:18). This kind of love understands that others may fear and hate us, but it doesn't worry about that. This kind of love trusts that God can and hopes that God will use us loving others to help overcome that fear and hatred. Jesus loves us, and He wants to teach us to love others, too.
Grace and peace,
BMH
Now let's get down to business. This week I'd like to talk about xenophobia. If you're unfamiliar with the word, it refers to the fear of strangers. Normally, xenophobia is used to describe fear and even hatred of foreigners, but it can be applied more broadly. I'd like to use it in a broader sense here. Let's think of xenophobia as the fear of people who are different.
I think xenophobia is deep in every human heart. We tend to be more comfortable with people that we think are similar to us. Often we default to language of "us" and "them" in our conversations and thought. Obviously the membership of those groups varies based on what we're talking about, but there are few things simpler or easier than dividing humanity into people like us and people not like us. I would guess most of the time our us-them divisions are unconscious, and I think many times we don't mean anything bad by them. But we tend to think better of ourselves than others, and so we tend to think better of us than them. I think constantly thinking of other people as different from us makes it easier for us to be suspicious of them. Who are we going to trust? Ourselves or people who are different? It's easy for us to distance ourselves from others and let that distance turn into fear and then hatred. Think about our conversations about political parties or immigration or gender and sexuality. How often do we speak poorly of "them"? How often do we worry about what "they" might be up to? Simply by being biased towards ourselves, we can quickly become biased against others. It doesn't take much for that to lead to fear and even hatred. There are few things that I think we should be more concerned about in our lives that unchecked xenophobia.
Thankfully, in the midst of our xenophobia, Jesus teaches us to love everyone, including those who are different. I'm not sure I can think of a lesson that is more difficult or more important for us than that. Jesus calls us to love every person we encounter as much as we love ourselves, no matter how different they might be and no matter how much they love us back. Jesus could have treated everybody—you and me included—as "them." He's perfect. No one else is. But instead Jesus reached out to bring all kinds of people into "us," making all kinds of people His sisters and brothers. He challenges you and me to think of no one else as unable to be part of "us." Sure, people are different. Those differences can't just be ignored; many times, in fact, they should even be celebrated. But Jesus teaches that everyone is created and loved by God, broken and hurt by sin and evil, and able to be redeemed and renewed in Him. That common human condition can help you and me see past "us" and "them." Others may be different, but others are not totally different than we are.
Xenophobia doesn't fit with Christainity. But sadly, xenophobia has been taught to us and ingrained in us all our lives. Our biases are real and deep. We can't totally get rid of them. But what we can do is become more aware of them. (Click this link if you'd like some tests that could help with that.) We can try to be on the lookout to avoid slipping into us-them language. And most of all, we can ask Jesus to help us love others because "perfect love drives out fear" (1 John 4:18). This kind of love understands that others may fear and hate us, but it doesn't worry about that. This kind of love trusts that God can and hopes that God will use us loving others to help overcome that fear and hatred. Jesus loves us, and He wants to teach us to love others, too.
Grace and peace,
BMH
Monday, September 10, 2018
#99 Tolerance
Tolerance might be the highest virtue in the eyes of American society. We tell others, "You do you." We think that nobody has the right to judge us. We figure that if someone's actions aren't actively harming another person, then that's nobody's business. And for the most part, that sounds pretty good. Intolerance, in comparison, sounds awful. That brings to mind images of intense judgmentalism, people screaming that others are wrong, accusatory fingers pointing, people getting kicked out. Clearly judgment taken to the extreme isn't good.
But here's the thing: no matter what we may think, tolerance taken to the extreme isn't good either. Tolerance seems like love. It seems like respect for others and concern for their happiness. Many times tolerance is right. We shouldn't think less of others who have different tastes in food or entertainment. We shouldn't discriminate against others who aren't like us, especially when they're not like us because of differences in things we can't control. But ultimately tolerance becomes indifference. "Do whatever you want. I don't care." And that's not love. In some ways, that's the opposite of love. Love cares deeply about another person.
As Christians we're called to love. We can't just be tolerant without exception. I get why that's appealing. Many times Christians come across as overly judgmental. That doesn't look good, and it isn't good, either. It's not loving to be harsh toward others, even when they do wrong. But it's also not loving to simply allow others to do wrong. When it comes to moral issues, tolerance seems better than judgmentalism, and maybe it even is better than judgmentalism, but is not the answer. As Christians we believe that sins hurt us, even when they don't hurt anyone else, and even when they don't seem to hurt us. Love is finding a way to gently tell others when they've gone wrong while also being very honest about the fact that we go wrong in just as many ways. We need to understand that our sense of right and wrong can often be skewed and not be too quick to pronounce behaviors wrong. We need to be careful about not harshly judging others for things we do ourselves. We need to be compassionate and consider why people do things that are wrong. We need to be forgiving. But we can't just tolerate everything. We need to witness to what's right, and we need to love. We should treat others the way we want to be treated. And I know that I don't want to be tolerated; I want to be loved, even when learning I'm wrong may hurt.
Grace and peace,
BMH
But here's the thing: no matter what we may think, tolerance taken to the extreme isn't good either. Tolerance seems like love. It seems like respect for others and concern for their happiness. Many times tolerance is right. We shouldn't think less of others who have different tastes in food or entertainment. We shouldn't discriminate against others who aren't like us, especially when they're not like us because of differences in things we can't control. But ultimately tolerance becomes indifference. "Do whatever you want. I don't care." And that's not love. In some ways, that's the opposite of love. Love cares deeply about another person.
As Christians we're called to love. We can't just be tolerant without exception. I get why that's appealing. Many times Christians come across as overly judgmental. That doesn't look good, and it isn't good, either. It's not loving to be harsh toward others, even when they do wrong. But it's also not loving to simply allow others to do wrong. When it comes to moral issues, tolerance seems better than judgmentalism, and maybe it even is better than judgmentalism, but is not the answer. As Christians we believe that sins hurt us, even when they don't hurt anyone else, and even when they don't seem to hurt us. Love is finding a way to gently tell others when they've gone wrong while also being very honest about the fact that we go wrong in just as many ways. We need to understand that our sense of right and wrong can often be skewed and not be too quick to pronounce behaviors wrong. We need to be careful about not harshly judging others for things we do ourselves. We need to be compassionate and consider why people do things that are wrong. We need to be forgiving. But we can't just tolerate everything. We need to witness to what's right, and we need to love. We should treat others the way we want to be treated. And I know that I don't want to be tolerated; I want to be loved, even when learning I'm wrong may hurt.
Grace and peace,
BMH
Monday, September 3, 2018
#98 Daaaa!
Yesterday afternoon I took a nap. Lanie was outside playing with Tess and my parents, so I took the opportunity to crash. When my family returned after a pretty long play session, I was still passed out. Tess poked her head through the bedroom door, saw that I was still sleeping, and left to change Lanie's diaper. Once Lanie was clean, Tess set her back on the floor and turned away to wash her hands. Lanie, having figured out where I was, made a break for our bedroom. Tess had pulled the door shut, but it hadn't latched, enabling Lanie to smack the door open. She burst into the room, yelling, "Daaaa! Daaaadaaaa Daaaadaaaa!" while pointing at me. This wake-up left me more than a little surprised, but Lanie was just beaming, so proud that she had found me. It definitely wasn't the gentlest wake-up call, but I think it was probably the cutest. Don't worry, everybody: Lanie is here to make sure I'm not too lazy.
Grace and peace,
BMH
Grace and peace,
BMH
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