Writing Update: Rutherford and Country Music

On Everyday Liturgy I try to have a moderate, temperate voice. It’s how I feel most comfortable talking about matters of faith and spirituality. But there is another side of me. A side that rants (it did make a rare appearance on Everyday Liturgy when I briefly discussed a certain bridge).

I ranted a bit on the topic of country music over on The Curator‘s blog in “A Lament for Country Music.” It got a bit out of hand, and became a bit verbose:

“Country music was founded on lyrical proximity to the grit of the earth. Now it is just dressed up in poser cowboy boots and abhorently bad musical renditions of arrested development, binge drinking, adolescent love, pseudo-Christian ideals and bad Shakespearean puns.”

You can read the rest of the essay here. I would also like to invite you to help choose the Top 20 country artists making music today by nominating three country artists in the comments of “Help Us Curate: Good Country Music.”

I also wrote about the town of Rutherford, and my general lack of knowledge about it. It’s a place featured in Wendell Berry’s book William Carlos Williams of Rutherford, and I explore how Rutherford’s proximity to me doesn’t mean I really know anything about it. An excerpt:

“I don’t really know Rutherford that well. I have frequented the Western store in Rutherford upon occasion. I went and watched Fourth of July fireworks there seven or eight years ago. But I haven’t actually stepped foot on Rutherford soil in at least four years. I just glide right through it on the train, at least 30 times a year.”

You can read the rest of my essay “Thomas On Glynn On Berry On Williams On Place” on The Master’s Artist.

Memorize Scripture With Me!

Though I may not admit to it very often, I do have a few flaws.

One of them is memorization.

I am awful at it.

I have drifted toward more experiential styles of Bible reading like lectio divina or meditation because it doesn’t require the kid of memorization I am so bad at.

Thankfully, Kimberlee Conway Ireton is spearheading an effort to help people memorize Scripture, and I reluctantly/joyously signed up for it.

You can join us in memorizing I John this year by following the instructions on Kimberlee’s blog: “Reach“.

As an added bonus, I am giving away two copies of Kimberlee’s book The Circle of the Seasons to the two people who A) join us in this exercise and B) share in the comments how memorizing Scripture has helped you in the past or your worst memorization disaster. Simply leave a comment that you are going to participate along with a brief (2-3 sentences) recounting of how memorizing Scripture has led to triumph or ruin. I’ll pick my favorite two to receive the book and contact the winners to write a longer version of what they shared for publication on Everyday Liturgy.

I’m looking forward to memorizing along with many of you and reading your comments!

The Simplest Way to Raise an Animal Ethically

This is the fifth post on the subject of Animal Care, one of the five spheres of a Christian ethic of eating. This post is a bridge between thinking about eating meat to dealing with the thorny issue of sacrifice, which will take several posts to unpack. After a discussion of sacrifice we will move into a discussion of a “rule” to eat ethically.

In the ever burgeoning world of farm-to-table food, there is a growing desire for ethically treated meat. This, as discussed before, can mean different things to different people. The important thing about the ethical treatment of animals is not as much the meaning of “ethical treatment” but recognizing the choice we all have to eat ethically every day. When we cultivate an ethical conscious it begins to shape our food choices in profound ways.

The how-to of ethically treating animals is fundamentally simple. The simplest way to raise an animal ethically is to follow the golden rule: treat the animal the way you would want to be treated if you were in the same position. Now there is some divergence here, for this is the point where vegans (people who have decided to not eat any food that comes from an animal, including dairy) would say “you don’t want to be killed, do you? So why would you eat animals at all?” It’s a valid question, and one I will discuss in a later post (have to keep you reading, don’t I?”), but suffice it to say that my stance on the issue is that humans and farm animals have entered into a symbiotic relationship, like the one Michael Pollan illustrates happens with plants in The Botany of Desire. Domesticated animals, like domesticated plants, enter into a contract with us for mutual preservation: we keep the animals alive, provide a consistent food supply for them, let them reproduce and enjoy a happy life, and then at the end of their life we eat them.

The way to raise animals ethically then, is simply to use common sense for the most part. Chickens naturally want to be outside and peck. It would be ethical then to allow them to do this. Pigs want to wallow in mud and eat slop. It would be ethical then to allow them to do this. Cows want to walk around a pasture or barn. It would be ethical then to allow them to do this.

What becomes unethical is to treat an animal like it is a commodity. Most big farmers, the ones who shove pigs into crates, cram chickens into cages and jam cows into confined rows, are thinking about animals as part of an industrial production unit. This line of thinking sees animals as not part of a farm but as part of a factory, churning out animal products like computers by any means necessary, which does undue harm to the animals, our environment and ourselves. Large commercial farms lose sight of animals as sentient beings, which allows them to treat animals like parts in an assembly line instead of living, breathing things. It’s human nature to numb ourselves to the plight of a person or thing if it makes us money. Modern day slavery, sweat shops, suicides in technology manufacturing, and animal cruelty are all rooted in the same darkness.

To treat an animal ethically is to allow it to live a life that is both natural and humane. It is to choose a symbiotic relationship with the animals on the farm and to honor an animal for their intrinsic value as a fellow creature and, eventually, a source of food.

In the next post we will discuss why the ethical treatment of animals is so important for Christians.

Prayer for the Third Week of Epiphany

God Almighty, you sent your Son,
Jesus Christ, to conquer death and darkness
with life and light.

Through Christ’s death and resurrection
we receive overwhelming forgiveness,
and we gladly pass along this forgiveness to others
so that your kingdom will come, and your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.

Amen

Four Questions with Carey Wallace

Everyday Liturgy: I really enjoyed your novel The Blind Contessa’s New Machine, but there is this other piece of your writing I didn’t enjoy as much: your essay in Comment “On Discipline.” That article has been nagging me to set aside time to be creative and write (I’m writing this during one of my two hour blocks). It’s like a ghost that haunts me and whispers “be disciplined” every time I watch more than an hour of TV. How are ways you have found to keep the habit of discipline fresh and alive?

Carey Wallace: The best way to keep discipline fresh is simply not to break it. When we work consistently, our work creates its own momentum, so that even when we encounter hassles or resistance, we’re willing to fight through them because we can’t wait to finish the chapter, or song, or painting we’ve been working on. That creative urge won’t sweep us towards creation every single day: that’s why we need discipline, for the days when it doesn’t. But when we apply discipline consistently on the hard days, we’ll find that there are fewer and fewer of them as the power of our work, and our ability to access it, becomes stronger and stronger.

That said, a disciplined life is not a life of constant work. It’s a life of choices, carried out. We make choices about what to work on, and when. But we also make choices about when to stop work and rest. If we make choices about when to work and rest, rather than being prompted by anxiety, guilt, or exhaustion, both our rest and our work are sweeter, because we aren’t torn by whether we should be doing one when we’re in the midst of the other.

I love television, and rest is important. We just shouldn’t be watching television when we’ve committed to work. And we shouldn’t keep working when we really need to rest.

EL: The publishing world is changing at a rapid pace. How do you see your work as a writer changing in the next few years?

Carey: Jorge Luis Borges talks about the fact that all good writing, throughout time, has so much in common that you could easily believe it was all written by the same author. It’s stunning how “modern” Greek plays seem — even the jokes are still funny, thousands of years later. And it’s amazing how timeless some “modern” authors feel, from the moment their work comes into print. The machinery of publication may make it easier or harder for a season to get read or get paid, but I don’t think the real work of a writer ever changes. And I believe good work will always find a lasting place.

EL: You’ve been working on this new project Songs About Books, could you tell us a little about it?

Songs About Books is an EP of songs that I wrote and recorded about the books I love, in celebration of the paperback release of The Blind Contessa’s New Machine. It includes tracks about Wise Blood by Flannery O’Connor, The Arrival by Shaun Tan, Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card, Sweet Bird of Youth by Tennessee Williams, and So Long, See You Tomorrow by William Maxwell. It’s my way of saying “no artist works alone” and pointing back to some of the writers who have lit my own way. It’s not for sale, but I’ve been making it available for trade. If anyone would like a copy, they can just send me something they’ve made. So far, I’ve received fine art, a knit bunny, a handmade bag, homemade cookies, paper flowers, a ceramic tea cup, photographs, jewelry, and dozens of other amazing items. I’ll be posting them in a gallery on my site soon, but in the meantime you can find out more information about the project here on my website and email me for trade directions at theblindcontessa[at]gmail[dot]com.

CAREY WALLACE | songs about books from Zeke Anders on Vimeo.

EL: What are some words of encouragement you have for fellow artists as they pursue their work as an artist?

Carey:  Be the best listener in the world. Listen to the people who came before you. Listen to the people working beside you. Listen to crazies on the street and clerks in the stores. Listen to singers and clowns. Listen to the ocean. Listen to the news. Listen to yourself. Listen for the voice of God.

And also, don’t listen to anyone.

The Art of Curating Worship

A book that has me absolutely brimming with ideas is Mark Pierson’s The Art of Curating Worship: Reshaping the Role of Worship Leader. This book speaks directly to how worship can be a means of discipleship for a community and the needs of artists within their faith communities to grow and thrive.

It’s not often I feel like I read a book that confirms my dreams like this one does. When people have asked me how I envision a future role in full-time ministry I tell them I want to be a worship pastor. This is often met with puzzled looks.

I don’t play guitar.

I don’t sing melody.

How could I be a worship pastor?

To me, the point of being a worship pastor is to shepherd (pastor) people in worship, in a holistic sense. Just like preachers don’t accomplish their whole job in a half hour on a Sunday morning, why is it expected that a worship pastor’s sole focus is a four song music set on Sunday morning. Quite frankly, why do churches have full-time job roles for that? A worship pastor should lead and disciple people in worship.

To me, that means helping people in prayer, Scripture reading, music, serving others, discipling others, cooking, cleaning, painting, writing, etc. If we want to take seriously that all work should be worship, then the worship pastor should be uniting people’s vocation with their spiritual disciplines to bring glory to God in all we do.

This book speaks to that sentiment. Focused on doing stations based worship on Sunday mornings along with “guerilla worship” (doing worship events in the larger community, like art installations), this book shows that the role of the worship leader is to facilitate the  faith community’s participation in worship by utilizing individual talents to create art and bring glory to God. In its pages you will find dozens of examples, mostly in Australia and New Zealand, of how worship leaders are curating worship installations that allow God to speak to people through all of their senses. It is a view of worship as immersion—a setting aside of time to be immersed in the depth of the human condition and how God speaks to this depth.

I know I am not alone. I had a good friend lament to me a couple of months ago about how she set up an art event at her church and only one person showed up. This book is for people like us, who struggle with how to lead worship in a holistic way that connects with your diverse faith community and disciples people in their strengths and vocations.

The Art of Curating Worship: Reshaping the Role of Worship Leader
Mark Pierson
Sparkhouse Press
$15.92  (Amazon)

Prayer for the Second Week of Epiphany

God Almighty,

Bring us the gift of wisdom, that we may
know your good and pleasing and perfect will:
to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with you.

Shape us into a people worthy of your Name.

Amen.