I’m on the road at the moment, in Michigan this afternoon, on the Gloria Christmas tour, a tour my label, Rocketown Records created and put on for the first time last year. Me, Ginny Owens, Michael Olson, Watermark, Taylor Sorensen, and a killer band and veteran crew are crisscrossing the country right now spreading Christmas cheer and what not.
One of the best parts of this tour, last year and this, however, happens not on stage but around lunch tables and in bus lounges. The conversation on this tour is historically weighty and entertaining. I’ve never been around so many people who wind up talking about such deep and sometimes uncomfortable and controversial matters - and always do so productively and with gentleness and large amounts of humor. It’s mostly me, Brian, Taylor and the band getting in on the conversation but others sometimes join the circle for a few minutes too. There’s no TV watching, no small talk. We know each other well and speak freely, confident that we can’t offend or disappoint, knowing we’re cared about and released then to be honest and stupid and knowing and confused openly. Here’s just some of what’s been discussed so far:
FREE MASONS: This is a topic from last year. Are they a cult? Where and when did they start and why? Is it true that they secretly run the country? George Rowe, not on the tour this year, last year actually brought a folder full of research he’d done on them over a two day tour break and “taught” us about this odd group. Seemed uninteresting to me at first but turned out to be geekly fascinating. And George is a great teacher.
REFORMED THEOLOGY: Every Christian tour has it’s reformed folks and reformed folks like to convert other Christians to their brand of theology. Interesting I think. Our resident reformed evangelist is Jeff Pardo, band leader/keyboardist, and he’s just fun to mess with. We don’t disagree with him but we enjoy getting him to talk in circles like a dog chasing his tail. But who wouldn’t get turned around with a bunch of mean spirited fast talking friends like us ganging up on them? The tail chasing begins when he says God is sovereign and therefore can do anything. Then we ask him if God can limit Himself in any way, say, limit his knowing or his controlling or his omnipresence, if He can contradict His own nature, disobey His own commands, make a rock so big He can’t lift it etc etc.. No, the answer comes back. Well, we turn the screw, if God CAN’T then we can’t say He CAN do everything can we? This is meaningless of course but we don’t tell Jeff this, we just enjoy the stream of smoke spewing from his ears as his brain sputters and spins. That’s a good time. (Seriously, Michael Olson and Brian AND Jeff have great insights on this brand of theology. And we’re slated to talk about it’s opposite, Open Theology, sometime soon.)
PACIFISM: We haven’t hit it this year but last year it was a good little discussion. I’m obviously a pacifist - obvious if you’ve read much on my blog and message board over the last two years. But few folks in CCM circles are I’ve found. There were some pretty hard core Republicans last year on this tour who were arguing heavily for war. But they couldn’t make a very strong biblical case for it. Practicality and self-preservation were their guiding principles. This year when politics/war came up those folks were more reserved, even saying that maybe we shouldn’t have gone to war at all, but we all agreed that now that we have gone to war it’s more costly to human lives to pull out now without cleaning up some of the mess. Of course we’re musicians and have no idea how that mess gets cleaned up and who who should do it.
CANONIZATION: We have a Greek Orthodox guy out here, Brian and I grew up Southern Baptists, Jeff is Presbyterian, and there are some undeclared folks in the circle as well. And, being Gen-Xers and younger, none of us give a rat’s what denomination we belong to as much as we do about what is lived out and emphasized in our respective churches. The one thing we all have in common is a concern or curiosity over canonization. We’ve talked at length about Constantine and how he jacked up the Christian faith by marrying it to the government and how under this new theocracy of his canonization took place. So we have questions about things like the Gospel of Thomas and the differences between the Orthodox Bible, Catholic Bible and the Bible most Protestants use. Brian and the Orthodox guy are the resident experts on this.
BOOMER CHURCH/CHURCH MARKETING: There’s one guy out here who’ll say anything, calls it like he sees it and he started this discussion by asking why Baby Boomers have to name sermons after TV shows or movies. He went off in fact about how false and fraudulent it all seems to him to market Jesus and church as if that’s going to make him show up. He said it all so well that I wished I could have recorded it all and sent it out in a mass e-mail to every megachurch in the US. Unanimously, none of us wanted our churches to “chase culture” as one person dubbed the tactic. It was obvious that if other folks our age think and feel this strongly and this way the Willow Creek Association is in big trouble. But, I’d argue, if marketing doesn’t matter to us, if we just want the truth and depth and challenge and community and service, then we’ll show up in spite of the slick marketing. And I do. So maybe the Association isn’t doomed after all.
THEOCRACY: The role of religion in culture and politics. Last night this came up because of the war discussion. I wondered out loud if Falwell-esque conservatives who’ve been very much for this war in Iraq in part because it would establish democracy and physical freedom (two things presumed to be inherently good and godly) regret their support of the war now that it is resulting in the establishment of an Islam based theocracy. In other words, to Christian conservatives in America, does the good of physical freedom and democracy outweigh the evil of establishing a government around a false God, Allah? Because that’s precisely what we’ve done. Good discussion, no conclusion.
MUSIC: Have you heard...? I think___________ is a better guitar player than ___________blah blah blah
CHRISTIAN MUSIC: ALl but one person on this tour does not listen to Christian music on a regular basis and all but that one don’t buy it either. We talked about why that is. Why be in something you don’t support? Do we think we’re better or different from that which we don’t like? Are we arrogant? What is it we don’t like exactly? Is it musical, lyrical or philosophical? Can it be changed? Should it be? How did it get this way? What was it’s purpose when it began? Do we want to stay in this industry? Is there an alternative? Good honest talk that made us all feel better but really solved nothing in the end. It did get us asking better questions though.
LEGALIZATION OF DRUGS AND PROSTITUTION: I wasn’t in on this one and can’t really believe there was so much support for every side of this debate. I can’t believe there’s a debate. But there was and it yielded lots of inside jokes and revelations about each other. You’d never guess in a million years who was for legalizing prostitution. Wow. Things CCM magazine should never know...like they’d even ask.
More topics as they come. Feel free to pick one of these and discuss amongst yourselves.
I watched the movie WALK THE LINE this weekend and once again found myself questioning the perpetual happiness shoveled by so many preachers, writers and much of the Christian Music industry in America these days. There are a handful of quotes within the film that felt like finger-pointing sermons jabbed into the gut of all us Christians who work as artists, preachers and story tellers of faith - me included. But the most unrelenting and hardest to dodge sermon comes not from the dialogue of the small scoped film (it covers such a small portion of Johnny Cash’s life) but from the life of the Man In Black himself. I hope those who go to the theaters for a first taste of Cash delve deeper into the full story of his life, go for seconds and thirds listening intently to his music and see the lessons he taught in word and deed.
Far from perfect, Johnny Cash cannot be revered for the same reasons as Mother Teresa or Billy Graham. He stumbled often and fell hard. But his honesty is worshipable, his lack of concern for covering his bruises and breaks, his propensity to roll up his sleeves and show us more than we’d like at times. And his relentless revealing of his faults seems to have bred empathy and mourning for the rest of mankind, the other broken and poor of body and spirit, all of us in his audience. This empathy for the wounded and sinful isn’t as clear in the film WALK THE LINE as it is in his vast song catalog. The earliest example I remember hearing is “THE MAN IN BLACK”. I remember watching this midnight clad man with the baritone pipes crooning about poverty and criminals on the television one Saturday night. I had no idea that one day this song, his dress code, would affect my own theology and lyricism twenty years later. Here is Johnny Cash’s own explanation for that dress code, and reason once again to question the upbeat and positive trends of today’s Christian music business and pursue empathy fueled by honesty instead:
“Man In Black” by Johnny Cash
Well, you wonder why I always dress in black,
Why you never see bright colors on my back,
And why does my appearance seem to have a somber tone.
Well, there’s a reason for the things that I have on.
I wear the black for the poor and the beaten down,
Livin’ in the hopeless, hungry side of town,
I wear it for the prisoner who has long paid for his crime,
But is there because he’s a victim of the times.
I wear the black for those who never read,
Or listened to the words that Jesus said,
About the road to happiness through love and charity,
Why, you’d think He’s talking straight to you and me.
Well, we’re doin’ mighty fine, I do suppose,
In our streak of lightnin’ cars and fancy clothes,
But just so we’re reminded of the ones who are held back,
Up front there ought ‘a be a Man In Black.
I wear it for the sick and lonely old,
For the reckless ones whose bad trip left them cold,
I wear the black in mournin’ for the lives that could have been,
Each week we lose a hundred fine young men.
And, I wear it for the thousands who have died,
Believen’ that the Lord was on their side,
I wear it for another hundred thousand who have died,
Believen’ that we all were on their side.
Well, there’s things that never will be right I know,
And things need changin’ everywhere you go,
But ‘til we start to make a move to make a few things right,
You’ll never see me wear a suit of white.
Ah, I’d love to wear a rainbow every day,
And tell the world that everything’s OK,
But I’ll try to carry off a little darkness on my back,
‘Till things are brighter, I’m the Man In Black
Since I’ve slept in a few hundred beds over the the last few years, eaten as many muffins on styrofoam plates and frozen through my share of lukewarm showers, I have more than a few opinions about the major chains of non-luxury hotels. I hope this list of hotel bests and worsts, based only upon my memory of personal travel experiences, helps SHLOGGERS who planning to hit the road over the upcoming holidays:
BEST SHOWER: Holiday Inn Express. They boast about their Kohler Smart Stay shower head and it’s truly something worth boasting about. Excellent spread and pressure. Better than home. Not a big deal? Yea, right. You travel all day for a while and see how great even the simple pleasure of getting clean and warm feels. No better thing on the road.
WORST SHOWER: Comfort Inn. Every shower is different and not always hot, sometimes dripping, sometimes peeling the flesh right off, sometimes hitting me in the eyes and the toenails and nowhere else.
BEST BED: Westin. The “Heavenly Bed” is just that. Thick down-filled duvet (that’s french for expensive comforter), feather pillows, clean sheets every time. Every time!
WORST BED: LaQuinta and Best Western. Don’t look at the mattress under those sheets. Every bed looks as if it were purchased from a murder scene. I’m not sure CSI can solve the mystery of how a bed gets this disgusting.
BEST SERVICE: Hampton Inn. I’ve never met an unhappy Hampton Inn front desk clerk.
WORST SERVICE: Most other places. Especially late at night. The people who work after 10PM at hotels are not happy about it and it shows. They get back at the world by talking on the phone to their friends instead of helping us and by “forgetting” to put our wake up calls into the computer. Oops.
MOST CONSISTENTLY GOOD STAY: Fairfield Inn. Most are laid out the same way, clean, reliable, easy to work with, allow early check ins, provide decent showers and beds and free cookies. Bonus.
MOST INCONSISTENT STAY: Radison and Marriot. Radison was once considered a luxury hotel. Now it’s hit or miss. I avoid them altogether. Marriot is usually a nice stay but I’ve been burned enough times by dirty pre-haired bathrooms, mildew smelling rooms and rude front desk folks to not get my hopes up when I walk in the lobby. The best of times and the worst of times. Who knows what time it will be until you’ve already paid.
My favorites are the no frills Hampton Inn and Fairfield Inn where you won’t be pampered but you won’t be disappointed either. But for a little extra money, especially if it’s not my own, dive into a Heavenly Bed at a Westin or gorge myself on a grand breakfast spread at Amerisuites. And if I just need to get happy and clean all at the same time, give me a Holiday Inn Express and at least an hour.
Happy travels.
I’m in Wisconcin and North Dakota for the weekend where, surprise, it’s a little cold. In the twenties to be exact. I’ll play tonight, Friday, in Janesville, 8PM, at Faith Community Church. Then tomorrow I’ll play two shows, 6:30 and 8:45PM, in Greenbay at Cup O Joy. And finally wrap things up in warm sunny Grand Forks, ND at Grace Baptist Church at 7PM.
I set few rules for Brian as a booking agent. I’ll go just about anywhere and play just about anything. But, and I’ve told him this many many times before, no shows North of Kentucky in the winter! Anybody want a job?
While you prepare your resumes I think I’ll go warm myself over a large steamy pile of cheese curds.
There will be no SHLOGGING this week. Instead of blogging I’ll be painting, fixing, packing, studying, teaching, interviewing, moving and then resting...hopefully. Check out the links to the right under the heading “Better Blogs” instead. Those guys always have good things to say so maybe they’ll have the fix you’re looking for.
For anyone in the Nashville area, you’re invited as always to IKON this Tuesday night at 8PM at The People’s Church in Franklin, TN. (615.794-2812 for directions) We’ll be going through part two of the series we’re calling “Evolution Revolution”. Last week we looked at what “salvation” really is and this week we begin looking at exactly what it did to us - how exactly we’re different than we once were. After Thanksgiving we’ll conclude by looking at why we were “saved” - what we’re here for. If Jesus died on the cross so that you could go to Heaven why’d He leave you here for seventy years or so waiting to get in? Maybe that’s not why He died. Find out. See you there.
Thanks for SHLOGGING. See you next week.
