Farewell, Harry Potter

Tonight I'm taking my oldest and her bff to the midnight showing of the final Harry Potter movie. She's got her costume all ready and even dyed her hair red so she could be a more authentic Ginny Weasley. And while I'm not dressing up for this event, I've got to admit, I'm absolutely looking forward to attending this movie.

There's also a level of sadness at the franchise coming to an end. Well, kind of an end. I mean, it came to an end four years ago when The Deathly Hallows was released. And it will come to an end again when the movie is released on DVD/Blu-Ray. And it will come to an end again-again when they release the super-extended-never-before-seen-packed-full-of-awesome-collector-set-edition in a couple of years. But you know. It's the last time I'll be sitting out in the middle of the night waiting to see a Harry Potter movie.

In preparation for this event, I've been thinking about some of the lessons I have learned from Harry and the gang at Hogwarts.

• We can't vanquish enemies alone. Harry tries, over and over, to beat Voldemort on his own. He can't. Being "The Chosen One" doesn't mean that he can accomplish his task without the help of his friends.
• Our little accomplishments can make an amazing story. In The Order of the Phoenix, there's a scene where people are talking about all of the incredible things that Harry has accomplished so far. Harry stops them and says that he just had help and luck and that it just sounds impressive all strung together. 
• We're better off not knowing the future. The epilogue sucks. We would have been better off not knowing about Albus Severus Potter.
• Families can heal. This is a major point of contention for me with the films - the total removal of the Percy Weasley story-line. Percy basically disowns his family for several years. You can see in later books that he wants to return, but pride keeps him from doing so until the final battle. And while the Weasley family loses a child in the final scene, another son returns. 
• Good and evil aren't as clearly delineated as we might think. This is probably my biggest take-away from the books/movies. I love that the heroes and villains almost all have moments of being something else. With very few exceptions (there's not much good I can find in Voldemort and Bellatrix), most characters go beyond simply being all good or all bad. We see Narcissa Malfoy lie to the person she is following to save her child. We see James Potter participate in the bullying of Severus Snape. Harry is quick to assign "good guy" and "bad guy" labels, but over and over, those are shown to be false, even within himself.

I love the story that J.K. Rowling weaved through her books and I love the way the cast of the films brought her story to life. The lessons may not be unique, but she told them in a unique way and there's no doubt that I'll shed a tear as I say farewell.

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Are you going to see the last movie? Are you a fan of the books? What lessons have you gleaned from the series?

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Why I Wrote a Letter to Mark Driscoll

photo © 2006 Dennis Jarvis | more info (via: Wylio)
There has been a bit of push-back to a Facebook status that Pastor Mark Driscoll posted last Friday, asking folks to tell a story "about the most effeminate anatomically male worship leader (they've) ever personally witnessed." While not stated explicitly, it was implicit in the note (and from Pastor Mark's overall demeanor) that these would probably not be primarily positive stories.

I've read a number of posts about this. On Monday, Rachel Held Evans invited her readers to consider writing a letter to the leadership at Mars Hill Church, asking them to address the issue of bullying. I had a moment of hesitation in writing a letter because I don't know Pastor Mark and I don't really know any effeminate worship leaders (some metro guys for certain, but no one that I would consider to be effeminate).

And then I read a post from Tyler L. Clark that compelled me to write a letter. In his piece, Tyler wrote, "When you put out a call on Facebook for people verbally attack “effeminate anatomically male” men, I find myself back in high school—shoved against a locker, with the bullies calling me a faggot."

Reading that, I knew I had to write.

You see, there's a really good chance that's going to be my son. He is a funny, creative, smart, good-looking kid. But he's not the most masculine boy you're going to meet. He's more likely to play Super Mario Brothers than to play football. He collects Pokemon cards, not baseball cards. He invented the game "hug 'o war" at our house. He says "I love you" to people he's just met.

This kid wears his emotions out there and as a result, he gets teased by his peers at school or at day camp. Most of the time we're able to talk about it and he's able to blow it off. And honestly, most of the teasing isn't too bad yet. He's still mostly a little boy, so things haven't turned really nasty. But I can see it, looming. He's getting older and expectations of "manliness" are going to start to become more and more persistent. And odds are good that some day, my son is going to tell me or his dad or some other trusted adult a story similar to the one that Tyler referenced above.

There's one place where he should be absolutely free to be who he is, and that's the Church. He should never have to fear that he's going to be verbally assaulted or mocked or torn down or gossiped about when he steps through the doors of the church. Instead, it should be a place where he can go to have wounds healed. A place where he can be encouraged. A place where he can have his talents nurtured and used.

Pastor Mark's call for stories about effeminate males was a call for stories about someone's son or brother or friend. The post dehumanized a group of people by reducing them to a single trait. Of course, if I look at Pastor Mark as just a bully, I risk doing the same. He becomes a caricature instead of a person.

So I wrote my letter. Because I don't want Pastor Mark to be reduced to the part of villain. And I don't want my son to be reduced to the part of anatomically correct male. They are both so much more than any single negative trait. When we choose stand up for one person, we are standing up for all of them.




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Hell (and Heaven) with the Atheists

photo © 2009 Danielle Walquist Lynch | more info (via: Wylio)

I've been meaning to attend a meeting of the local atheist group with Jason for a while now, but I've been unable to make it work due to conflicting schedules. When he told me that the group was going to be discussing heaven and hell this week and in light of some of the reading I've been doing recently, I thought it would be interesting to go and see what these folks had to say (the 99 degree temperature in the church where we met was cause for much mirth throughout the evening!).

The conversation was primarily about different religions' views regarding the hereafter. It was fascinating to see similarities and differences among various faith traditions regarding where one ends up when they die. I'd heard a number of them before, but some were new to me or explained in more detail. It was also interesting to see how geographic location factored into versions of heaven and hell (i.e., if the climate was hot and dry, hell was more likely to be even more hot, whereas if you lived in a cold climate, hell was seen as even more cold and barren).

There was a history professor from WVU at the meeting as well, and he was able to share a bit about how different religions used heaven and hell as a means to have more clear class delineations. Most are familiar with the caste system in Hinduism, but he also shared how something like election in the Christian faith was used as a means of separating the wealthy and the poor, particularly in the 16th century. Those who were wealthy were that way because they were among God's elect, and those who were poor were that way because they were not, therefore the elect had no reason to help those who were bound for hell anyway. These views of heaven and hell became a means for carrying out that very thing here on earth (and sometimes still does, though less directly, in the health and wealth circles).

Within the Christian tradition (which, for obvious reasons, interested me the most), we discussed the Roman Catholic idea of heaven, hell and purgatory. We also talked a bit about how the idea of hell has changed through Christian history from a place of punishment and torture to more of an idea of separation from God and what that might mean. There was also some discussion of when the idea of a punishing kind of hell originated within Christianity, since the Old Testament seems only to refer to Sheol which isn't really a hell at all.

Overall, the tone of the meeting was respectful of the various religions, even while rejecting them. Certainly people were respectful toward me personally. While I'm used to holding differing views from a number of my Christian friends, we still agree on things like the existence of God, so it's very different to be the only person of faith in the room. When we went to Panera after the meeting, I was disappointed that we had to leave pretty quickly because I would have loved to have more time to converse with the folks there. Talking about my own complicated views about eternity and bouncing thoughts off of a completely different set of folks was fascinating and I'm glad I had the opportunity to attend the meeting.

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Have you studied other afterlife traditions? Are there any that stand out to you? Are there any books or resources that you would recommend for further study on the issue of heaven and hell in Christian context?





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What Makes a Good Gig

Our gangsta look

We've entered the busy season for our band. Weddings, parties, decks - the next few months have us busy more weekends than not. It can be exhausting. We do our own sound, so we have to pick up the gear, drive to the venue, set up, play, tear down, drive back, unload gear, and then get home. A 12 hour day is not unusual for us and, depending on the location of the gig, it can definitely be longer. And even though we "the band" get paid pretty well for most performances, as individuals, let me just say that it's best not to think in terms of hourly wages when we get our paychecks.

When we're done setting up, I am usually absolutely spent. At that point, I've already pulled the heavy seats out of my minivan, lugged gear up into it and then lugged it back out to set up. The past two gigs we've played have been outdoors, so we've also had heat to deal with while setting up. And as I've mentioned, I'm not the best person when I'm hot.

What's amazing to me though, is that once we start playing, despite the fact that I'm tired from driving and lifting and setting up, I can become fully energized. And one of the biggest factors in keeping this energy up for a full show is the crowd.

We've played a fair bit and it always kind of amazes me how much the crowd participation plays into our performance. When things are slow, we may start with lots of energy, but as it continues, we start to droop a bit. The hours before (and the threat of hours ahead) tend to weigh us down quite a bit and we can all feel it. What may have started as somewhat effortless all of a sudden becomes much more work.

But when the crowd is into it? Those gigs are fantastic. We tend to interact with one another a lot more, we have better interaction with the dancers, everything just goes much more smoothly. Don't get me wrong, it's still exhausting to rock it out for 3 or 4 hours, but the more positive feedback we get, the easier it is to keep going. We're there to provide the entertainment and to do our job, but when we have a good crowd, it is much for fun for all of us. We feed off of each other.

I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong— that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith. (Romans 1:11-12, NIV)

I think this passage shows that the same holds true for our faith. We need to encourage one another in our faith as well. It's really easy to point out areas where we think someone is lacking. This person isn't as kind as they should be. This person has questionable theology. This person should be serving more. And I'm not saying that we should automatically let those things go.

But we also need to be in the business of building one another up. We need to regularly encourage one another. What I love about this particular verse is that it seems that when we offer encouragement, our own faith is built up. When we offer encouragement to one another, we all benefit.

Encouragement. It can make for a good gig.

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Stuff I've Been Reading

Thanks for stopping by again this Sunday for another compilation of the best as determined by me. I hope there's something here that you and if there's something that I missed, let me know in the comments!

• I absolutely adored this post by Michael Gungor about God being love. This was probably the best thing I read all week.
• JBen Emerson is blogging the Bible. He's in Exodus right now, and I loved his post about Miriam's song. 
• There were a number of responses to the Casey Anthony verdict, but Shawn Smucker's knee-jerk reaction was my favorite. 
• And in another "lots of people wrote about this and I'm picking one" event, I really liked Joy Bennett's response to Mark Driscoll's Facebook question about effeminate worship leaders.
• My close, personal friends Tony Alicea & Katie McNemar are engaged! Katie shares the story of Tony popping the question over on her blog. Awwwww!
• Jen Luitwieler wrote about trying to photograph her lake and failing. 
• And on the off chance that you have yet to pick up Barton Hollow by The Civil Wars yet, it's available for just $5 this month at Amazon. Do yourself a favor and go pick it up. (affiliate link)

What did you read/write/watch/listen to this week that moved you? Please, share links to your own stuff so we can check it out!

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Podcast with Something Beautiful

Last week I got to spend a bit of time chatting with Travis Mamone for the Something Beautiful podcast. We talked about my religious upbringing, my experiences with depression, the Not Alone book, and a bit about being in an interfaith marriage.

You can head over here to check out the podcast and you can go subscribe over at iTunes (I promise, they interview people far more interesting than me!).





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The Guest Post Extravaganza!

photo © 2007 jaqian | more info (via: Wylio)
Things are coming together for the August Guest Post Extravaganza here at the blog, but there's still plenty of room for more voices in the crowd!

For anyone who missed it, I'm wanting to take the month of August off from blogging, but I don't want my blog to go dark for a month. I also really love hosting other writers over here. Plus, guest posting can be a good way to increase your readership, so I'm hoping that it's a win for all of us (though I know that the main reason that you want to guest post for me is just out of love in your heart and for no selfish reasons at all, because you folks are all awesome like that).

I'm looking primarily for posts about unexpected friendships/relationships that you have. Or alternatively, you could write something about significance or self-worth. Or maybe some other third thing. If you're going outside of those two areas, bounce the idea off of me first so I can let you know if I think it will work. For more details on what I'd like in a guest post, you can check out my guidelines.

I would love for posts to be submitted by July 20. That gives me time to read, edit, format, schedule and all of that stuff so I really don't have to do much in August. Of course, if you can't quite make the July 20 deadline, I can probably cut you some slack (read: definitely can). Just let me know if you're still interested and get it in to me before August (less slack will be cut after August 1). My email is always open.

I'm really stoked about the stories I already have in. I'm super lucky to know a ton of talented writers and I can't wait to introduce you to one another.

Looking forward to seeing more submissions come in. Thanks so much for helping me out!





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