To follow up on the previous post on Christian platforms and networks… I was just re-introduced to this song Hurt, by Johnny Cash. I haven’t really listened to this song since I was an angst filled teenager when it was originally by the Nine Inch Nails. I loved the song because I felt it described my reality in raw form.
Hearing it now, I realize while it’s still a glimpse into reality, it’s moreso a reality without hope.
If I ever had the guts to slit my wrists back then, this song would definitely be on replay.
It’s intriguing that Johnny Cash chose to cover this song not long before he died. After living a life that many others might envy, he lays it all on the line here and calls it an ‘empire of dirt’ (Supposedy he re-embraced his Christian faith later in life). The accompanying visuals in this are fantastic as well.
I wonder how many of us will look back at the end of our days wondering ‘what have we become’? Even if we’ve impacted a million lives, who are we when we’re completely alone at our final gasps? What’s the kingdom, without the King?
Lyrics below.
I hurt myself today to see if I still feel I focus on the pain the only thing that’s real the needle tears a hole the old familiar sting try to kill it all away but I remember everything what have I become? my sweetest friend everyone I know goes away in the end and you could have it all my empire of dirt
I will let you down I will make you hurt
I wear this crown of thorns upon my liar’s chair full of broken thoughts I cannot repair beneath the stains of time the feelings disappear you are someone else I am still right here
what have I become? my sweetest friend everyone I know goes away in the end and you could have it all my empire of dirt
I will let you down I will make you hurt
if I could start again a million miles away I would keep myself I would find a way
I’ve got a few ‘projects’ in the works that I can use some help with…
If you, or someone you know, can help with any of the following contact me.
- I’ve got two web startup ideas that I don’t see being done that would help advance the kingdom – I’m looking for interested individuals with web programming skills.
- I’m hoping to throw a party towards the end of summer… a little Solar Crash Bash… all proceeds going to a water-related cause. If anyone knows of good venues in Toronto or better yet has hook-ups for good deals please let me know.
- I’m also looking for artists of all kinds. I’ve got musicians to magicians lined up… but the more the merrier. Do you, or someone you know, have some latent talent you’d love to share with the world?
- General networking. right at this moment in my life, I’ve got some time for it. For those of you who know me, or follow along on the blog, is there someone you know that you think I should meet, in person or virtually? These days I’m really interested in new expressions of church, community development, the city of Toronto, simpler living and spirituality, the future of the church and planet earth… but really any good conversation will do for me these days. Pop me a message.
A couple weeks ago I wrote a guest blog at Aaron Havens site, it was in response to the question he asked:
Is there such thing as a “Christian lifestyle” ?
I have a hard time with the word ‘Christian’ these days, partially because the term has been so thoroughly abused by its adherents. I also believe, ‘Christian’, in it’s most authentic sense refers to people. Music, bookstores, and even lifestyles weren’t made to be “Christian”, that’s just our spin on them.
Sometimes we want there to be a Christian lifestyle so we have a bar by which to measure our own lifestyles. Other times we assume our lifestyle is the Christian lifestyle, and wonder why others aren’t conforming and becoming more like us. How unbelievably boring this would world be, if that were true!
On a deeper, more personal level, I use to search for a Christian lifestyle, because I was insecure of my own. I couldn’t believe that my characteristics, my personality, my preferences could actually in any way be honorable to God (leading me to box away my smashing pumpkins and radiohead cd’s for a couple years).
Then there are those of us who long to be relevant and missional doing all things possible to reach the culture for Christ (I often fall in this camp, 1 Cor 9:19-23). I wonder if we sometimes go overboard adapting to culture, leaving Christ behind. When we look out at the culture that surrounds, sometimes we try to follow every trend, or ‘target group’, and be more skater, geek, punk, jock, gangsta, monastic, emo, prep, hippy, goth, etc… Instead, I believe there is a Kingdom culture, or a cross-culture, by which we are to live out within all of that.
The genius of the kingdom is that it transcends any particular lifestyle. It’s simply a life that seeks to honor the King. This life is most stylish, and extraordinary, and distinct, when it is the life that God uniquely intended you to live and enjoy.
Of course there are plenty of beautiful characteristics and values that we are all to allow Christ to form in every one of us (love, joy, humility, etc.). But besides these typical traits, when I look at the life of Jesus I see ’style’… Jesus was provocative, Jesus was hilarious, Jesus was shy, Jesus was audacious, Jesus was poetic, Jesus enjoyed reclining, Jesus seemed to really dig fish, and he might even have a thing for tattoos.
Is every Christian suppose to imitate the exact same ‘lifestyle’? I’m not so sure. But I do know followers of Jesus should be full of life and have plenty of style.
What if we as church leaders weren’t so obsessed with building a quasi-kingdom of God through our local churches and instead did everything we could to connect our entire city to the Living God?
How many of us are actually a part of metropolitan churches where we drive past thirty other churches on a Sunday so that we might worship a God that ‘works’ for us?
What if we recovered a solid theology of place? What if we completely rethought where we live and the way we minister to people? What might the church in the city look like if we were willing to reconfigure our collective churches?
This particularly applies to suburban churches as we now realize how we’ve abdicated the city core and ponder how we’ll ever get back in.
Odds are, however, many of suburbanites still work in the urban core and many are moving back into gentrified neighborhoods. What if we were strategic about leveraging this?
What if a few churches went through our membership rolls and sent out those who were already involved in urban neighborhoods and formed new parish churches together?
