Home and Control

So, a reflection paper for Beyond Homelessness, which you've probably heard me talk about in some form or another recently.  If you want to commit to this post then listen to these two songs, and then absorb the lyrics, and then listen to them again while reading.

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Everybody listen to me.

            That sounds just about right.  In fact, much of what Mark Farner says in “Closer to Home” resonates with my own experience of the desire for attention, interest, and ascription of importance from those around me[1].  I can get it right, if everyone would simply listen to what I have to say.  I begin with my personal reflections on this Grand Funk Railroad.

Everybody, listen to me,

and return me, my ship

I want control now.  This mutiny has wrested the control of my own vessel from me[2]; I demand its return.  As a sailor without a ship I am homeless.  My crew, those under my care in this marine home, have refused both my leadership and the importance of my presence.  I cannot live without this sphere of control.

I’m your captain, I’m your captain,

though I’m feeling mighty sick.

I am your captain, am I not?  What is a captain of a ship?  He is the one who is respected, or at least feared.  I should be feared, but I am feeling quite sick.  Someone, something else, is steering this ship; either that, or I have been left on land.  I am sick because I need to feel the rhythm of the ocean – the rhythm of my home.

I’ve been lost now, days uncounted,

and it’s months since I’ve seen home.

I have no direction now.  They took control of the ship; they lost my bearing.  The sea is not always a place where direction easily can be found.  What is clear is that I am not at home now.

Can you hear me? Can you hear me?

Or am I all alone?

There may not be a single soul here where I am now.  My crew cannot hear me or they would know I am their captain.  …Lord?

If you return me to my home port,

 I will kiss you Mother Earth.

I do not want my ship.  If you take me home I will kiss your ring as my King.  If I can know a taste of home on the land then I will give up the purpose of my life.  I will take a new bearing.

Take me back now, take me back now,

            to the port of my birth.

Take me back to the home I knew before I was a sailor.  That would be better than any of this.

Am I in my cabin dreaming, or are you really scheming,

            to take my ship away from me?

I know I am not alone now.  It is you who has taken the ship from me; you are setting the course.

You’d better think about it; I just can’t live without it.

            So please, don’t take my ship from me.

I take it back.  I cannot be here if I am not captain.  Do not take control.  It hurts too much.

I can feel the hand, of a stranger,

            and it’s tightening around my throat.

Heaven help me; heaven help me,

            take this stranger from my boat.

This is not my bearing.  I am going to die.  I am not lost; I know where I want to go.

I’m your captain; I’m your captain,

            though I’m feeling mighty sick.

Everybody, listen to me,

            and return me my ship.

I’m your captain, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah …

            …. I’m getting closer to my home[3] …

The song slowly fades ringing with the question of whether or not we actually are getting any closer to home.  The noises of waves and gulls have ceased, so we are no longer near the shore.  I am still the captain and I know where this is going; it could be back to Egypt, or it could be Tarshish[4].  Yet “Closer to Home” leaves us convinced that on this voyage the captain is still feeling mighty sick.  With the bow of his ship pointed towards the long horizon of the sea, he has settled for nauseating control over suffocating freedom.  Similarly, Cain so dreaded the lack of control he had over God’s acceptance of his sacrifice that he preferred living with the sickness of his brother’s death on his hands (Gen. 4:1-16).  Attempts to construct homes without ‘a relationship of grateful stewardship’ result in the ‘idolatrous self-protective arrogance’ of the human who simply declares: “I am your captain.[5]”

            Grand Funk Railroad’s captain’s sickness betrays the reality that the home of his ship is nothing more than half built.  It is a Babel into which the Lord gives confusion expecting response (Gen. 11:1-9).  As I resonate with the honesty of Grand Funk Railroad I can feel the shocking pain and understand the revelation expressed in TV On the Radio’s “Halfway Home.”  The narrator of this song is a disciple crying to the Lord as Jonah did after he realized the home he had made was only halfway[6].  It is clear that this disciple has known the Lord intimately.

            The song provides no introduction.  The fast hand-clapping beat simply arrives surprisingly, bringing with it Tunde Adebimpe’s slow and purposeful retelling of the story which so clearly changed the disciple’s life[7].  The surprise continues, as he immediately recalls the ‘gold and blue and grey’ of the Pharisees (Luke 22:66-71), Pilate and Herod (23:1-12), and of Jesus’ ‘gorgeous robe’ (23:11) as they laid him in the dead’s rest stop: a tomb (23:53).  The disciple had known of this day, he had seen the difficulty with which his master had struggled to speak to them of his coming dread[8].  The way he speaks of that which he saw and heard seems to indicate he knew the blood Jesus sweat as he cried out in agony for his father to take away his cup[9].  Yet the disciple also knows, vaguely, of the ‘silhouette’ he saw escape from the ‘top-side’ of Jesus’ earthly burial bed.  He knows of the Spirit promised by Jesus, released ‘from out [his] chest,’ colliding with the world and the wilderness[10].  He knows that it is the gentle hand of the spirit who will work to call both the world and the wilderness home.  She will work until that day when the mold-breaking Christ returns with eyes ablaze (Rev. 19:12).  The disciple’s recognition of who Jesus is forms the basis for conclusions he draws about his relationship to Christ.  His loss of control in accepting the path that Jesus lived is crucial to his experience of home.

            The song’s narrator has difficulty expressing his own experience of discipleship to Christ.  He has been ‘folded’ by the touch of Christ; everything in his life is re-oriented.  He knows the words that Jesus spoke are too much for him to live the way he was before: 

Whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave. Matthew 20:26-27

He must change his bearing, but yet at the same time he feels as though what he has learned is ‘not enough’ for him to undertake this radical change. 

This disciple knows he is part of the pain that Jesus bore.  He knows that Jesus came to serve, and “to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mat. 20:28).  This disciple is sure that Jesus succeeded.  He knows that Jesus has faced the worst of the judgments that the world can offer[11] and still ‘showed it up.’ 

The problem is that his knowledge of this subversive victory has made him insane; he knows that to participate he will suffer as he saw his master suffer:

If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.  For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Matthew 16:25

He thinks that he cannot then bear this; he would rather wrest back control of his ship.  He is the captain, yet his thinking changes.  He begins to realize what his master, the Lord Jesus, has done for him.  He has been culled into the clutch of the triune God; they are closer now and they have spoken enough to one another.  This does not mean he is naïve.  He understands the rules of his new house.   He knows the road his master walked, the choices he made to release control.  He chooses to be rolled under the same pain which crushed Jesus.  He chooses to be a disciple, and then proclaims:

Go on throw this stone

            into this halfway home.

            Here we can see why his release of control is so crucial for home.  In accepting his discipleship he cries out to heaven for God to crush his own Babelic halfway home.  He is an incurable homemaker, but he has chosen “a relationship of grateful stewardship” over the protective, self-arrogant, halfway constructed, traveling-to-Tarshish, sort of home he had before[12].

            The song closes as it began, the beat is quick and there is still the surprise of a single final crash.  There is life in this song of the kind declared in John 3:36.  It does not end with the false self-assurance of a sure direction.  The narrators of both songs are visited by the covenantal Word Jesus, who establishes a new vision of home that involves complete surrender and submission to the will of the father.  “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me” was what this Word said (John 6:38).  The disciple of Grand Funk Railroad’s “Closer to Home” rejects this covenantal word.  The disciple in TV On the Radio’s “Halfway Home” does not.  The former continues to sail closer to what he thought was home.  The latter is culled into the clutching home of the living and triune God.  I can respond humbly, prayerfully, and fearfully as he did:

See it take me so.

Bibliography

Bouma-Prediger, Steven and Walsh, Brian J. Beyond Homelessness: Christian Faith in a Culture of Displacement. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2008.

Grand Funk Railroad. “Closer to Home.” The Best of Grand Funk. EMI Capitol, 1995.

“Grand Funk Railroad – Closer to Home Lyrics,” LyricsWorld, http://www.lyricsdomain.com/7/grand_funk_railroad/closer_to_home.html (accessed Feb. 7, 2011).

“I’m Your Captain (Closer to Home),” Wikipedia. January 21, 2011, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I'm_Your_Captain_(Closer_to_Home) (accessed Feb. 8, 2011).

“Lyrics for Halfway Home as interpreted by wphantom,” Song Meanings. http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/3530822107858740848/ (accessed Feb. 7, 2011).

The New American Standard Bible. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2002.

tommusicfan19. “Grand Funk Railroad – I’m Your Captain/Closer to Home.” YouTube. March 28, 2008. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8MYsii4DZY&NR=1 (accessed Feb. 8, 2011).

TV On the Radio. “Halfway Home.” Dear Science. Touch and Go Records, 2008.

“TV On the Radio,” Wikipedia. Feb. 5, 2011, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TV_on_the_Radio (accessed Feb. 8, 2011).

valentinehead65. “TV On the Radio – Halfway Home.” YouTube. October 29, 2008. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4nBwwUufWE (accessed Feb. 8, 2011).

Appendix - Lyrics

“Closer to Home,” by Grand Funk Railroad[13]. Song can be listened to in full at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8MYsii4DZY&NR=1.

Everybody, listen to me,
            and return me, my ship.
I'm your captain; I'm your captain,
            though I'm feeling mighty sick.
I've been lost now, days uncounted,
            and it's months since I've seen home.
Can you hear me? Can you hear me?
            Or am I all alone?
If you return me to my home port,
            I will kiss you Mother Earth.
Take me back now; take me back now,
            to the port of my birth.
Am I in my cabin dreaming, or are you really scheming,
            To take my ship away from me?
You'd better think about it, I just can't live without it.
            So, please don't take my ship from me.
Yeah, yeah, yeah ...

I can feel the hand, of a stranger,
            and it's tightening, around my throat.
Heaven help me; Heaven help me,
            take this stranger from my boat.
I'm your captain; I'm your captain,
            though I'm feeling mighty sick.
Everybody, listen to me,
            and return me, my ship.

I'm your captain, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
I'm your captain, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
I'm your captain, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
I'm your captain, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I'm getting closer to my home ...
I'm getting closer to my home ...
I'm getting closer to my home ...
I'm getting closer to my home ...
Ohhhh ...
I'm getting closer to my home ...
Repeated to fade

“Halfway Home,” by TV On the Radio[14]. Song can be listened to in full at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4nBwwUufWE.

The lazy way they turned your head
            into a rest stop for the dead,
            and did it all in gold and blue and grey.

The efforts to allay your dread,
            in spite of all you knew and said,
            were hard to see and harder still to say.

A comfort plush all laced in lead
            was sent to quell your sentiment,      
            and keep your trembling sentinel hand at bay.

And when a sudden silhouette
            escaped the top-side of your bed,
            I knew you'd never ever be the same.

Is it not me?
Am I not folded by your touch?
The words you spoke,
            I know too much.
It's over now,
            and not enough.

Is it not me?
The damage you hold inside your blush?
The load you towed,
            You showed it up
It's over now,
            and I'm insane.

Wild spirits winds from out your chest.
Collides with world and wilderness.
It needs a gentle hand to call it home.

Now surfs the sun and scales the moon,
            and winds the waistband of her womb.
All eyes ablaze the day you break your mold.

Is it not me?
Am I not culled into your clutch?
The words you spoke,
            I know too much.
We're closer now,
            and said enough.

Is it not me?
Am I not rolled into your crush?
The road you choose,
            unloads control.
See it take me so.

Go on throw this stone
            into this halfway home.

---

[1] Mark Farner credited as writer, “I’m Your Captain (Closer to Home),” Wikipedia. January 21, 2011, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I'm_Your_Captain_(Closer_to_Home) (accessed Feb. 8, 2011).

[2] Mutiny in this song discussed Ibid., “Themes and Interpretations.”

[3] Lyrics personally modified from “Grand Funk Railroad – Closer to Home Lyrics,” LyricsWorld, http://www.lyricsdomain.com/7/grand_funk_railroad/closer_to_home.html (accessed Feb. 7, 2011).

[4] The Israelites grumbled about going back to the security of what they knew in Egypt (Exodus 16:1-3). The importance of this is noted in Steven Bouma-Prediger and Brian Walsh, Beyond Homelessness: Christian Faith in a Culture of Displacement, (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2008), 17. Jonah went to Tarshish to “flee … from the presence of the Lord” (Jonah 1:3).  He knew the hand that was choking him.

[5] Prediger and Walsh, Beyond Homelessness, 16.  For the biblical images, I am influenced by Ibid., 14-17.

[6] His prayer is found in Jonah 2.

[7] Confirmation of Tunde Adebimpe singing and discussion of surprise in their style, “TV On the Radio,” Wikipedia. Feb. 5, 2011, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TV_on_the_Radio  (accessed Feb. 8, 2011).

[8] The three passion predictions in Matthew (17:22-23, 20:18-19, 26:2) clearly result in death for the ‘Son of Man.’ Jesus’ preferred name for himself is the ‘Son of Man’ (Matt. 26:24), see also Terry Donaldson, “Lecture 11- Jesus,” New Testament I: From the Gospel to the Gospels, 17.

[9] Luke 22:44; Matt. 26:38-46; Mark 14:35.

[10] This is the Spirit of Truth which Jesus spoke of in John 13:16.

[11] This language influenced by a sermon of Kevin Makins, Eucharist Church, Feb. 7, 2011.

[12] This language again due to Bouma-Prediger and Walsh, Beyond Homelessness, 16.

[13] Lyrics personally modified from “Grand Funk Railroad – Closer to Home Lyrics,” LyricsWorld, http://www.lyricsdomain.com/7/grand_funk_railroad/closer_to_home.html (accessed Feb. 7, 2011).

[14] Lyrics personally modified from “Lyrics for Halfway Home as interpreted by wphantom,” Song Meanings. http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/3530822107858740848/ (accessed Feb. 7, 2011).

People are Awesome

This guy has an amazing collection of pictures.

http://timothyallen.blogs.bbcearth.com/

Ironic Quote of the Day

I go back and forth about this blog.  Looks like Francis has some words (hah) for me.

“the flesh desires and is most eager to have words, but [cares] little to carry them out.  It does not seek a religion and holiness in the interior spirit, but it wishes and desires to have a religion and holiness outwardly apparent to people” Francis of Assisi, 

quoted by Angelyn Dries, "Mission and Marginalization: The Franciscan Heritage." Missiology: An Internal Review, 1, XXVI, Jan. 1998.

Some Ecumenism For Today

Last term, as a small part of one of my papers for a good class, I had to reflect on some similarities and differences between a whole bunch of Protestant, Orthodox, and Catholic catechisms that we had read.  It was a lot of work, but I found the process exceedingly fruitful, and hopefully someone else might too.  A lot of the catechisms (modern and some older) are available online ... if you are into that kind of stuff.  Here is that part of the paper.

            The Christian world today is one of disunity.  The primary dimension of separation is along lines of tradition corresponding to the Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Protestant churches.  One of the ways each church defines itself is through its professed process of salvation: the Orthodox process involves the will, the Roman Catholic membership in the body, and the Protestant the mind.[1]  However, they agree on how Jesus Christ and the continuing work of the Holy Spirit enable this process of salvation.  The three groups also differentiate on understandings of the nature of the church and its relation to scripture, but they share in common the goal of unity with God.  Given some claims that salvation is sure only through group-particular beliefs, the differences do matter, but all three processes subsume a necessary belief in the saving work of Jesus Christ.

            The Eastern Orthodox catechism, Guiding All to the Heavenly Kingdom, by John Veniaminov begins by claiming that “all human beings desire … prosperity and happiness” which can only be found in God (80).  Assuming that people want to know God and the joys of heaven because they want to know the happiness found in that (Veniaminov, 81), it proceeds in claiming “Your salvation … depends on your own will” (Veniaminov, 90). This process of the will is following the suffering pathway of Jesus Christ the ultimate sufferer (Veniaminov, 88-89).  The moment of salvation is ambiguous but what is important is a whole hearted commitment to choosing to act in the way that leads to suffering, as Jesus did.  This suffering desired is primarily an internal tension which forms holiness (Veniaminov, 95).

            In contrast, the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that it is the Church that is the goal of all things and the salvation of all (760).  It claims that “the Church is Christ’s instrument,” a universal sacrament of salvation (CCC, 776).  In other words, to be Catholic is to understand salvation as the process of membership into the Church’s (and Christ’s) body.  The Roman Catholic Church is the sole church (870), and outside the Church there is no guarantee of salvation (CCC, 846).  The need for this salvation becomes evident because one is a religious being (CCC, 28) who can naturally come to know God and the need of him through reasoning about the world (CCC, 32, 36).  God being evident, faith becomes “free assent to the whole truth that God has revealed,” which is held by the Roman Catholic Church (CCC, 150).

            For the Protestant, the realization of the need for salvation begins with an argument. In the Heidelberg Catechism, one is shown to be sinful because of how one’s life does not live up to the law of God (HC, 3).  After this acknowledgement, the process of salvation involves response to a single, reasoned argument of human insufficiency (Luther, 345), and the sufficiency of God’s grace and actions through Jesus Christ (Luther, 345).  What is necessary is acceptance of this grace and intellectual belief in the words of forgiveness declared in baptism and the Eucharist (Luther, 348, 352).  In this manner, inclusion under God’s forgiving grace is dramatic (Luther, 347) and depends on a mental conclusion that one wants to accept the gift of salvation and repent (Luther, 22).

            What is shared by all of the above salvation processes is the belief that they are enabled by the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  The Eastern Orthodox believe that it is through following Jesus’ perfect life which paid for our sins that one finds the path of salvation (Veniaminov, 86-87, 84, 81).  The Catholic belief is that Jesus is the head of the church and it is through his work that the church has gained its salvific power (CCC, 763-766).  Protestants likewise believe that Jesus is the Redeemer and Saviour (Luther, 345; HC, 18).  All three understand the work of the Holy Spirit as that which continues the development of the Christian along the process of salvation (Veniaminov, 103; CCC, 734; HC, 53).

            Another way to define what it means to be Protestant, Orthodox, and Catholic is their understanding of the nature of the church and its relation to Scripture.  For the Orthodox believer, the ultimate goal of life is the ecstasy of heaven (Veniaminov, 81), and as such, the formation of an earthly church is to ensure that individuals can learn what it means to be true Orthodox Christians.  Through immersion in the church, the reality of Christ the Saviour emerges experientially.[2]  Study of the Scripture is necessary to ensure that it is the foundation of the Orthodox Church’s faith (Veniaminov, 91), but after such a realization, it is the corresponding action to “live with Him in the Church” that is important (Clement, xv).  For the Catholic Church, the Sacred Tradition and the Sacred Scripture have one common source in Christ, and each are “accepted and honored with equal sentiments of devotion and reverence” (CCC, 81, 82).  These two streams come together in the truth of Christ which is bound to the Church itself.[3]  The Pope and the bishops in communion with him are the sole authority for interpretation of Scripture (CCC, 100).  Contrastingly, a Protestant’s faith is founded on the primacy of Scripture alone.  Both Luther’s Small Catechism and the Heidelberg Catechism demonstrate a focus on the scriptural basis for every conclusion they make.  The Church is that body of believers chosen by God for everlasting life (HC, 54), which arises when a culture adopts the truth of the gospel message.  What all these traditions share is the belief that God has acted to reveal himself through both a body of believing people and his written, holy, word.

            In a world where ‘tribal’ membership is important for identity, often the essential components of a Christian faith tradition become that which differentiates it from other Christian traditions.  In a practical way, this must be acknowledged as important, since the tradition may claim its knowledge to be the only sure means of salvation (CCC, 846; Veniaminov, 81). Yet even these divisions, at their core, stem from common beliefs[4].  God has acted in Jesus Christ to unite humans together with him.  How that happens can be debated, but all three traditions agree that it involves belief: that Jesus’ path is the way to the kingdom of heaven (Orthodox), that Jesus has redeemed and continues to redeem the world through the church his body (Catholic), and that Jesus’ sacrifice is the ultimate atonement for sins (Protestant).  A Protestant may point to an Orthodox believer and claim they outwardly practice without any inner belief.  Likewise, a Catholic may tell a Protestant they do not grasp the full truth of God’s plan because it has always been held within the Church, and an Eastern Orthodox may claim all others haven’t experienced the mystery of God because of their lack of suffering.  Each tradition holds tightly to its own conclusion, in essence making those beliefs more ‘essential’ than the shared foundation.  In contrast, I would judge that which each tradition has shared for centuries to be ‘essential,’ exactly because of the agreement.

---

[1] I do not mean to ignore practical doctrinal differences, including the differing use of Icons, transubstantiation of the Eucharist, and pre-destination etc.  Yet, the effort to define the true differences among the churches, especially with respect to their teaching, needs to begin at a point preceding that of the end practices, and as such, my analysis is focused on base differences in understanding.

[2] As discussed by Dr. Radner in class on December 7, 2010.

[3] As discussed by Dr. Radner in class on December 7, 2010.

[4] One can begin to see this in the common use of the Apostles’ or Nicene Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, and the Ten Commandments for catechesis.

Works Cited

Catechism of the Catholic Church. 1997. St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church. http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc.htm (accessed December 11, 2010).

Clement, Olivier (ed.). 1989. Living God. Crestwood: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press.

The Heidelberg Catechism. 1563. Center for Reformed Theology and Apologetics. http://www.reformed.org/documents/index.html?mainframe=http://www.reformed.org/documents/heidelberg.html (accessed Nov. 13, 2010).

Luther, Martin. 1959. Small Catechism. In The Book of Concord. ed. and trans. Theodore Tappert. Phiiladelphia: Fortress Press, pp. 337-356.

Veniaminov, John. 1987. Indication of the Pathway Into the Kingdom of Heaven. In Alaskan Missionary Spirituality. ed. Michael Oleska. New York/Mahwah: Paulist Press, pp. 80-119.