Vista Magazine, Winter 2017 by North Park University

VISTA MAGAZINE

ISSUE 1 | WINTER 2017

In this issue: WHY WE PRAY FOR TRUMP (EVEN IF WE DON'T LIKE HIM) Scripture has some counsel for us, even in spite of poor leadership and a deteriorating democracy.

WONDER WOMAN & THE BATTLE OF MANY VOICES Diana Prince has more to offer than a mere subversion of the hero's journey.

EQUALLY DEPRAVED Does reformed theology have anything to contribute to racial equality? Or does Calvinism only belong to the white man?

+ our staff picks out their year's favorite films, stage plays, novels and more...

WINTER 2017

VISTA MAGAZINE EDITOR IN CHIEF // STEPHEN NIELSEN SENIOR EDITOR // RICARDO HUERTA RELIGION & FAITH EDITOR // SEANNA WONG LITERARY ARTS EDITOR // FRANK ROBERTS DIGITAL CONTENT DIRECTOR // ELI KHARAJIAN WEB CONTENT STRATEGIST // DAVID STARR BUSINESS MANAGER // NORA MCCORMACK CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER // HALEY HACK

Vista Magazine was created out of a desire to bring the North Park University community a new campus publication focused on politics, religion, and the literary arts. Our mission is to be a platform for North Park students to share their thoughts and ideas. Our staff is comprised of North Parkers from various walks of life. Our interests and opinions range, but we are all bound by the common goal to see Vista fulfill its mission.

VISTA MAGAZINE | WINTER 2017

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR Dear Reader, It is my pleasure to welcome you to the all new Vista Magazine! Vista Magazine is North Park’s second studentrun quarterly campus magazine. The origin behind our name is simple: "vista" means view or perspective. We are grounded in sharing the views and perspectives of North Park students. This means that as a publication we do not advocate for any political ideology and all opinions belong to their respective authors. Our mission is to bring the North Park University community thoughtful and engaging commentary on political and social issues, while also displaying the campus’s creative side through the literary arts. This magazine issue features content independent from our online articles. To read more from our writers and editors, or to submit your own work for publication, head over to our website – www.vistamag.org Happy reading, Stephen Nielsen, Editor-In-Chief

VISTA MAGAZINE | WINTER 2017

CONTENTS

VISTA MAGAZINE

03 How The Great Experiment Is Failing America, by and large is an on-going hypothesis set into motion by scientists long gone. If we who are left to take care of this experiment see flaws in reasoning, do we make changes or preserve it's integrity?

DAY 191 ON 06 THE SHIP

ELEPHANT

WHY WE PRAY FOR 07 TRUMP

12 Balloon Rant In general, balloons are a delight. They adorn our birthdays and romance the ones we adore. But perhaps, there's more to their seemingly innocuous existence than meets the eye.

13 Homosexuality and Me

09 WONDER WOMAN & THE BATTLE OF MANY VOICES

THE BAMBOO 11 FORT

A single reading of the account in the Garden of Eden seems to suggest our sexuality was meant to function in one way. The Reformation Project proposes a gospelcentered approach to LGBTQ+ inclusion. CONTRIBUTORS: Barrett Loehrer Melanie Lofgren Jake Whitfield Haley Hack Hannah M. Geil Ethan Mershon Berit Godo Connor Satterlee

HOW COVENANT MINNESOTANS TAKE ME TO THE SUNKEN PLACE

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EQUALLY DEPRAVED

VISTA MAGAZINE | WINTER 2017

HOW THE "GREAT EXPERIMENT" IS FAILING AND WHAT WE MUST DO TO FIX IT A COMMENTARY BY CONNOR SATERLEE

A few weeks ago, our university released a public statement supporting DACA and the Dreamer students it protects. On October 18, a DACA justice rally was held in the Brandel Library cul-de-sac to show support for DACA recipients. I livestreamed the rally on my Instagram account alongside making several posts to my Snapchat Story, causing a close pro-Trump friend of mine to message me shortly after the rally in response to one of the videos. He referred to a female student here who is a DACA recipient, and has been here almost her entire life. She asked us, “…My parents already left, my dad got deported … what now? Why should I leave?” My friend listened to this, and dismissed it, saying, “So what you’re saying is, if you do something illegally for ten years, then it’s okay.” The whole issue surrounding DACA is new, yes, but it is not unprecedented; our nation’s relationship with immigrants and racial minorities has been reduced to an American monologue that is political correct on the surface, but intolerant and contradicting in the subtext. In the 1960’s, racial minorities flooded into cities, causing white people to pack up shop and move out to the suburbs

– white flight – and now we see white people trying to forcibly extricate racial minorities (something I like to call “Caucasian erasion”). The act of repealing DACA shows how the stew that brews inside our nation’s cultural melting pot – something that was supposed to be diverse and inclusive – has been reduced to just two ingredients, us and them: the vinegar and oil of social cohesion. My friend’s response to the student speaker reminded me of a disappointing truth: humans have an inherent inability to view things from an another’s perspective and make objective judgements with all things considered. I’ll admit, this is hard to do, but this inability in humans is still a widespread error in the psychological machine we call our mind. Our nation was birthed from a group of men who wanted to create an effective and stable democracy. A feat of immense difficulty, George Washington labeled this creation “the Great Experiment” – an experiment that is failing. America was created with freedom of man and his opinion engrained into the constitution, but this goodnatured right been slowly tainted, tarnished, and abused from over 200 years of the constitutionallybacked toleration of morally-unjust opinion – and it’s this freedom that the DACA controversy exhibits. The current state of the union is riddled with contradictions and double-standards in every area of life like a widespread viral infection.

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Freedom was the defining feature of our nation, yet it ended up being our greatest obstacle to the utopian society we all dreamed of as kids. This duality of freedom in our country is not limited in its application, as well. I find it tragically ironic how the very thing that liberals tend to fight for (freedom) is the same thing that enables their opponents to exist in the first place. Overcoming the moral and social delusion our constitutional freedom permits is achieved by two things: recognition of America’s true social hierarchy, and correction of our human proneness to a self-serving bias.

I truly believe that, as Mahatma Gandhi said, it is okay to break an unjust law. What you must ask yourself is whether DACA’s repeal is unjust or not, and why you think that. I try to live my life in accordance with the golden rule, which is why I think forcibly removing my neighbor from everything they know and love is unjust, especially when it involves the fate of peoples’ lives, their happiness, and the fate of our economy. But, DACA is only one manifestation of there will always be an endless stream of controversies, so my challenge to you is to implement these behaviors for the future: view things from an objective perspective and allow your beliefs to be analyzed and re-determined for validity. Think with objectivity and act with rationality and logic. You and I cannot grow as people if we never review our moral codes, and our nation will fail this great experiment of American democracy if we do not its trajectory together.

Society demands that we interact with each other in a manner that propagates a sort of ordered chaos that distracts us; injustice is hidden under a veil of ignorance and misinformation, and distributed via an unofficial underground network of institutional and behavioral passageways. When living in a flawed social system this immense, it’s easy to think that the enemy is effectively invisible and distant, and therefore invincible. However, we cannot forget that society is not some anonymous, disembodied mass that governs over us. Society doesn’t co-exist with us, it is us. To pretend that it is anything else is an ignorance that limits the progression spawning out of our nation’s social adversity. But being aware of the dynamic intricacies of America’s social hierarchy isn’t the only prerequisite to nullifying the abuse of freedom in our society; it also requires a certain level or morally-empathetic self-awareness. Being unable to recognize that you are at fault and admit blame prevents us from being respected rather than being stubborn, and being in people’s good graces by sacrificing a position of misplaced moral superiority for emotional vulnerability. We too often ask ourselves “Why don’t they understand?”, when we should be asking ourselves “Why don’t I understand?” Not only is admitting blame beneficial on an individual level, but on a global scale as well. Changing the opinions in the minds and hearts of a mass population is currently near impossible, but if people became more adept at admitting blame and being more selfaware, our nation would be one of the most unified countries in history.

VISTA MAGAZINE | WINTER 2017

elephant

A POEM BY ETHAN MERSHON I’m afraid that by the time I lift my head up to the sky, my face will be so pale it will burn to a crisp in an instant. I’m afraid of my parent’s last words. I’m afraid of being the only one my sisters can talk about their problems to. Plywood advice only looks good from a distance, and certainly has no substance to withstand tears.

I fear eating peanuts at a party, and spending the whole night accidentally vomiting in a stranger's bathroom. Of course, every guest would assume I was drunk, And that wouldn’t bother me if I didn’t understand that once one person knows something, everyone knows it. And I don’t even know who I wouldn’t want to know that I spent the night puking, but I have to be sure there is someone.

I’m afraid of three heartbeats. The three heartbeats before my casually bruised thumbnail falls to the ground at the feet of my dead, red Buick. The three heartbeats before the shivers spread from my spine and flood my lungs with blue and orange.

I fear being sprayed by the skunk who lives in the tree stump by the river and being backed into an either-or either smelling like I bathed in marijuana wine for a month or bathing in blood-red tomatoes, staining the tile in the shared bathroom of my dorm I’m afraid that every wild place will be lost to addiction, and take up smoking factories. That in twenty years I will speak of hiking under the stars, of bumming around in yesterday’s clothes and writing shitty lines of blues poetry with my friends, and my kids will ask why I’m telling them bedtime stories. We’re just driving through Utah, and they’re not even tired.

Three heartbeats before I am not enough. Three heartbeats before I pretend I am anyway. Three heartbeats and I will become a self-conscious piano and slip away after one song. Three heartbeats before I am not enough for myself. Three heartbeats before I tell you I’m not enough, so you’ll think I just might be.

VISTA MAGAZINE | WINTER 2017

DAY 191 ON THE SHIP

BY HANNAH M. GEIL

I WOKE UP THIS MORNING TO SCREAMING AND SHOUTING. THIS WASN'T IRREGULAR, SEEING AS MOST PEOPLE ABOARD WERE EITHER DRUNK OR HALLUCINATING FROM LACK OF WATER AND PROPER NUTRIENTS. I WENT ABOVE DECK TO SEE WHAT WAS CAUSING THE MEN TO STIR. SURE ENOUGH THERE WAS TOVEN SCREAMING AND POINTING AT ONE OF THE ROPES THAT ATTACHED OUR MAINSAIL TO THE BOAT. HE WAS MORE WIRED THAN A KID WHO ATE A WHOLE BOX OF MONSTER-INFUSED GUSHERS. TOVEN THOUGHT THE ROPE WAS A SNAKE, AND THE CREW TRIED TO TALK HIM OUT OF IT. HIS MIND SNAPPED AND HE CUT THE ROPE, CAUSING OUR LARGEST SAIL TO FLAIL AROUND AND KNOCK TOVEN OUT COLD. WE THREW HIM BACK IN THE CAPTAIN'S QUARTERS (SOMEONE NEEDS TO WATCH OVER ALL THAT CHANGE) AND GOOGLED HOW TO MEND THE SAIL. NOW OUR FLAG IS NICER THAN ANYTHING BETSY ROSS HAD SEEN AND HELD TIGHTER THAN A MAN IN SKINNY JEANS. I WILL CHECK BACK IN WITH YOU TOMORROW, HOPING I SURVIVE THAT IS! KEEP A WEATHER EYE ON THE HORIZON, JOHNNY

VISTA MAGAZINE | WINTER 2017

WHY WE PRAY FOR TRUMP (EVEN IF WE DON'T LIKE HIM) "Hoping for Trump’s failure will do us no good, except feed our pride." I have written this brief article in response to the nonstop criticism of Trump, and in response to people hoping he will fail and some even hoping he will be killed. I want to be clear that I did not vote for Donald Trump and I would have written this article about Clinton, Sanders, or any other potential president. Regardless of our president, or the rest of our country’s leaders, we ought to be in prayer for them simply because God does things when we pray. Although the way in which God responds to and answers prayers is a subject which can baffle the wisest theologians, we know that He certainly hears our prayers (1 John 5:14, Psalm 5:3, 34:15, Daniel 9:18, Luke 11:5-10, 18:1-8). Here are just a few more specific reasons why we ought to pray for them: Scripture urges us to (1 Timothy 2:1-2). Petitions, prayers, intercession, and even thanksgiving ought to be given for our leaders according to the Scriptures on which we have taken our stand. This means we are to meet with God and pray for Donald Trump and the rest of the individuals who run this country. And yes, we are even to give thanks for Donald Trump. Now, this might sound absurd and even offensive to many, but imagine how the believers to whom Paul was writing felt at the time. Paul was asking these early Christians to pray and even give thanks for Nero. Nero, and the emperors like him from this time ostracized, slandered, blamed, and even killed Christians unjustly. If Paul expected believers during his time to pray for these men, we certainly ought to continue praying in the same way.

God wants all people to be saved (1 Timothy 2:3-4, 2 Peter 3:9). Whether Donald Trump is president or not, God desires that Trump will turn to him, repent, and trust Christ for his salvation. Likewise, regardless of someone’s political leanings, their sinfulness, or simply how much we dislike them, we ought to deeply and genuinely desire their salvation. If we cannot desire the salvation of even the most wicked of people, then we have forgotten what it means to be forgiven ourselves (Colossians 3:13, Ephesians 4:32). Hoping for Trump’s failure will do us no good, except feed our pride. In Jeremiah 29, the people of Jerusalem are being told what they ought to do while in exile under Babylon. Although they will be treated poorly and unjustly, in verse 7 Jeremiah encourages them to seek the peace and prosperity of the city in which they’ve been exiled. Jeremiah’s rationale is that if their exile city prospers, they too will prosper. We also ought to take the advice of Jeremiah and pray for the wellness of our country, including our leaders. Hoping for the failure of Donald Trump and other officials we dislike will ultimately result in our failure as well.

VISTA MAGAZINE | WINTER 2017

Finally, whether the leaders of our country are resisting God or doing His will, God is still going to use them for His glory and our good. Proverbs 21:1 says, “The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will (ESV).” In God’s sovereignty and infinite wisdom, He will use the actions of our leaders for the ultimate good. A prime example of this is the way God uses Pharaoh to glorify Himself and free His people, despite Pharaoh’s desire to do the exact opposite (Romans 9:17, Exodus 4-15). It is up to our individual leaders whether they want to join God in what He wants to do, or whether they will be used as instruments against their own selfish desires. Either way, God is in control. I am not advocating for anything Donald Trump does, nor am I asking you to be inactive against injustice or take commands of government blindly. My basic plea is for people to continue to pray for our country and its leaders, including Donald Trump. Pray as our earliest brothers and sisters prayed and even gave thanks. Pray for the salvation of our leaders, pray for the well-being of our country, and pray that God’s will be done in and through Donald Trump and the rest of our leaders.

by Barrett Loehrer

VISTA MAGAZINE | WINTER 2017

WONDER WOMAN & THE BATTLE OF MANY VOICES ARTICLE

BERIT

GODO

The list of feminist analyses of Wonder Woman (2017) seems to take up as many google pages as one is willing to scroll through. And I could write another here to tell you either how the movie is the most feminist piece of cinema ever created, or about how it disenfranchises women and treats Diana as a sex object. But all of these are arguments about what the movie is telling its viewers, and ignore that Diana not listening to what people tell her what she can do and be is perhaps the most integral part of the narrative. Our first introduction to Diana is as a child watching her battle despite Hippolyta, her motherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, insistence that she is too young to begin learning how to fight. Eventually Hippolyta has no choice but to allow Diana to train after she sees Diana run away and do what she feels she has to anyway. Hippolyta is forced to support Dianaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s choice because Diana gives her mother no other options. Images from Warner Brothers Pictures (c) 2017 All Rights Reserved

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Diana ignores many men throughout the movie as well, like when Steve doesn’t want her to cross No Man’s Land to save innocent people. To him, it is a suicide mission and a sign of a woman not understanding the bigger picture. But Diane tells Steve “what I do is not up to you” and crosses anyway; unscathed. Diana reaches the battle against Ares and finds what she’s meant to become by ignoring all of the people who tell her that she can’t or shouldn’t do what she believes is right. She would never have even left the island and be in a position to save the world if she ignored her inner-voice and listened to Hippolyta’s worrying voice instead.

It is a common theme within the current feminist movement to spend time analyzing the messages we are sending young girls. The Verizon ad “Isn’t It Time We Told Her She’s Pretty Brilliant Too?” is an excellent example, as it focuses on how when you only tell young girls they’re pretty, that’s all they believe. But there comes a point where women aren’t young girls any more and have the power to choice when they are told to sit still and look pretty. It’s important for us to look at and analyze the messages women receive from the world around them, but it’s also important that women and femmes understand that we have a choice whether or not to let what people are saying to and about us hold us back. We should pay attention to certain voices. But like Diana and Witherspoon, women have a choice of just how much to listen to. When it is understood that women are a force to be reckoned with and not beings to mold, people will respond in the way that Hippolyta did when Diana left the island, when she says to her daughter, “I know I cannot stop you.”

In a real world anecdote, Reese Witherspoon started her production company, Pacific Standard, against everything she was told she needed to succeed. Pacific Standard was founded in 2012 to create more roles for women onscreen and behind the scenes in Hollywood, and was funded for years out of Witherspoon’s pocket. Both of these factors are supposed to be fatal flaws in Hollywood, but today Pacific Standard has over 20 projects currently in the works that are led by women of different ages and ethnicities. They have produced movies like Gone Girl (2014) and Big Little Lies (2017) to great acclaim because Witherspoon didn’t listen to what people told her she could or could not do.

"... women have a choice of just how much to listen to."

VISTA MAGAZINE | WINTER 2017

The Bamboo Fort The two brothers, Ryan and Dillon, and my brother Victor and I rowed for the woods. We were four boys galvanized by our home sun. The east Texan brush in the early summer always bewitched us. But it was also forbidden. Mr. Applewhite, whose property ownership extended to much of the woodland hunted there and was known to threaten trespassers with death. As we beat the surface of the silver pond in the direction of the trees, I thought of him. I looked behind me and could still somewhat make out Mr. Applewhite’s shore. There was a snapping turtle on the moist earth where we had laid claim to his canoe. I turned forward and saw the haven we sailed for. The brush had grown thicker and was still dripping with the early morning dew. It was an opposing calm to the frenzied oil rigs that toiled night and day to sustain our town. But with the encroaching green came a lump in my throat and an itching wind on my shoulder blades. I had been the last to come around when Ryan had hatched his plan. Even though I was a year older, I wasn’t one to mount a moral high ground over him. He was the pastor’s son after all. Before we disappeared around the green bend, I turned again and saw a tall figure where the snapping turtle once was.

Victor and I walked in through the mosquito mesh screen door of our trailer home to the smell of brown rice and Cracklin’ marinating in tomato gravy. Our mom greeted us and asked us how our day had been. I reached my hand behind Victor’s back and pinched him, a familiar sign that meant that I was going to handle this. I told her that we had just wandered about and then there was nothing more to it. We sat for dinner. Barely a moment passed by before my dad entered the kitchen, and then I knew that he knew. “Who did you go there with? Never mind! That American pastor and his kids! No point in telling him rat bastard. Get your kids in line and make ‘em stop foolin’ with mine!” Six weeks later, the sun reached record highs and all the grape popsicles and strawberry lemonades were not enough to fight it. We sat in Ryan and Dillon’s living room tipping and dipping the controllers of their Nintendo 64. Ryan said “we should go back.” We all knew where he was implying. Victor and I immediately started protesting. “No, it’s bad idea, could get us killed!” we echoed our mother’s dissent. “Why not? I’m not gonna sit in here playing dumb racing games all day!” I couldn’t think up an alternative. “Well, what if we get caught? You know he’s a meanie.” “We won't take his canoe this time. We'll go to the highway and come in from behind it where all the bamboo are.” It did seem foolproof but I strengthened my resolve, “It’s always hunting season for him, he --” Before I could finish my words, Dillon had brought out four sleeping bags, flashlights and other camping gear. They had planned ahead for this? I looked at my brother in horror. “Your parents think you’re spending the night here, our mom thinks we’re going to yours, nobody’ll know a damn thing.” Ryan combed his fingers through sleek blond hair. “You’re not serious,” I fretted. “We’ll finish building the bamboo fort we started and stay in there the night.” he smiled wryly knowing he had captured my imagination.

“Not so loud, Ryan!” I cautioned as his freckled hands banged on a set of copper water pipes protruding out of the forest earth. Every time we made our way deeper into the thicket I would turn around to make sure that there was not a clearing behind us that put us in the line of sight of Mr. Applewhite’s windows. Saturated by the verdant colors and twigs that fought against my fingers with the cute audacity of a young cub, I eventually forgot our threat. Ryan headed up our queue and would use the bamboo shoot that propelled him like a mechanical leg to push aside brush to let us through. Each turn put me more at ease as the world we had created became more and more real. The hours passed so swiftly. And then at a snap, I noticed our incorruptible guide, the sun, had slipped into a muted red gown and I yelled, “we got to get home!” I looked into Ryan’s eyes first and then to my brother’s. I could see that they both disagreed but knew I was right and so we began making our way back. Once we had docked the canoe, I tried to suppress my fear. Perhaps, it was not him. Perhaps, it had been someone else who wandered to the shore. Or shadows playing tricks on my eyes. Mr. Applewhite would have come looking for us in the woods if he did see us.

A nonfiction short by Frank Roberts

VISTA MAGAZINE | WINTER 2017

Balloon Rant a poem by Haley Hack

Can you digest a balloon? Is it benign to ingest that celebratory sign?

Meanwhile, a leatherback turtle named Ted, roves from the Coral Triangle all the way to Cali’s coastlines where he intertwines yummy, plastic castoff That imbibes in his tummy. Like biting into a poison apple hero-less The status of this species will grow more defenseless

Sure, they are great for birthday smashes, wedding bashes, and even graduation thrashes. But, I would hate if a mate let them soar. Like an external cost swaying in the gust Till it gets weary and finds a place to lay. For birds may clasp it’s remains grasping them with their tongues.

A Helium filled devil, with latex skin traverses in the sky, and then, shrinks to the size of a pea looming all wildlife for doom. Like when Heather turned four and was told to let go, And make an unfulfillable wish in exchange for the life of a fish.

While a hen gets entangled in strings that strangle, and mangle Till she can no longer give eggs for the old farmer men.

VISTA MAGAZINE | WINTER 2017

HOMOSEXUALITY AND ME

BY MELANIE LOFGREN

No one has ever looked at a sunset or sunrise, and said, “Wow that is a great example of the fall.” I grew up believing homosexuality was a sin, and therefore the entire LGBTQ+ community was as well. My parents never believed this, and my high school advocated for LGBTQ+ rights and equality. So this leaves me to conclude that the only place that I could’ve been taught me this was at my church. I love my church. We played the most unusual games, and embarrassed ourselves on video while achieving chaotic and ridiculous tasks just to have the pride of being champions. We wrapped people in tape and stuck paper to them. We shot foam bullets, and hid in vents. Our highlight videos never disappointed. When it came time to get serious and to worship we were just as engaged. My small group made bracelets to remind ourselves to not judge. We put pebbles in our shoes to remember to pray. We edified each other often, and shared testimony almost always. My church helped me earn my Gold Award (the highest honor in Girl Scouts). I lead youth group twice, and no one was hesitant for me to do so, or to have me speak up and share. My youth pastor never judged and always let us speak and work things out ourselves, but would come in when appropriate and as needed. He knew exactly who to call on if a discussion was not going as planned or the awkward silence just became a silence and the discussion needed to continue. He knew what and whose buttons to push and when. Above all my youth pastor made a point to have a personal relationship with each and every one of us and to guide us in the process of letting our faith shape and form us to who we would become. Even though his job does call for it, acting on his faith was not part of the job description for him; that is just who he is. He was the only person I trusted completely. I told him everything and anything. I talked about my struggles with lust, drinking, drugs, and self-harm. It was through youth group, and through his preaching that I decided follow Jesus, and turned my life around. So when I tell people my youth pastor outed me, and is a reason why my employers needed to “discuss my position,” it is more than just a youth pastor that was kind and guided me to my faith that did so. It was a youth pastor that knew me deeper than my parents, my best friends, and even myself that did so. I hadn’t gotten the courage to come out to him yet when all this happened. I had believed I was sinning, and was going to hell, and could not break this news to him. . 13

I worked through this, and honestly I still am sometimes, and find myself continually forgiving, and pushing aside my own biases. Except I do not simply do this for the reconciliation and healing of our relationship. I do it nearly every waking moment, and especially in church settings. Every week at chapel and chapel team meetings I hear things said that target the LGBTQ+ community, or ignore us or those who have survived sexual violence. And every week I have to reframe those words, and ignore my own experiences and hurts simply to get at the central idea of what is being said or preached. It is exhausting. And this is why I’ve ceased attending church on Sundays. Halloween weekend, The Reformation Project came to Chicago (a bible-based, gospelcentered approach to LGBTQ inclusion), and for the first time in four years I felt 100% safe and welcomed at a church. I could actually worship, and hear the word God without having to sift through poor rhetoric, ignorance, and hurt. It was so easy to find fellow queer Christians there, and it was freeing, empowering, and I felt the Spirit, and felt connected to Christ. I wasn’t bitter or mad; I smiled authentically for the first time in a long time in a place of worship, and wanted to be there for as long as I possibly could.

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The church doesn’t know how to deal with us or handle us. The reality is though we do not need to be dealt with or handled. We are not cards or a piece of meat for you to control and cut and hand out for your enjoyment. Last time I checked I had skin, eyes, a skeleton, lips, a sex drive, fingers and toes, thoughts and feelings, pride and selfishness, and am a sinner akin to everyone else. Making me and my fellow queers human akin to everyone else. When I met with my youth pastor he told me he still loved me and always would, and that he’d always be my pastor. Thank you, but no thanks. I want a pastor who will love me. Period. Not in spite of the fact that I am attracted to more than one gender as he had implied. This is where my obsession with microaggression began. That summer, and the following years, I could not enter a Christian space without feeling and seeing eyes on me, and people wanting to know my opinion, and how I was doing. I was not a friend or a sister in Christ; I was project, people’s ministry. To this day, some of my best friends believe I am “engaging in a sinful life,” and those that do not are atheists or at least barely Christian. I have a support system, but I do not have one person who can support me for all of me. This is not me calling for you to drop or ignore your

convictions. No, I’d be a hypocrite and coward if I asked for that. This is me saying that good relationships, care, and love are possible despite theological and political differences. My best and strongest friendships

lie here. We offend each other, and admit it. We apologize for when are incorrect and when we wrong each other because doing otherwise is not the gospel, and we love and follow Jesus. God has allowed for evil to persist in this world, but there is not simply good and evil. Most of the people that have sexually assaulted or raped me are good and well intentioned people. I see God through them. Some people would claim that they’re evil, some that they’re good, and some that satan got a hold of them for a little while. Any of these may be true or all or something else entirely. In any case, for whatever reason, I was taken advantage of, and good and evil can exist in one place and at one time. Whenever I lose something I hop on a chair or lay down to look for it from a different angle or perspective. We all need to look at life and people from a different angle or perspective. Whenever I do I always find something, usually what I’m looking for, and fortunately not always what I’m looking for. At the Reformation Project, a speaker framed the creation text as the ends of spectrums. God created dusk and dawn, they created birds, water animals, and land animals, and God created human, male and female. Two ends of a spectrum or two points of a triangle. Dusk and dawn… two ends of a spectrum. No one has ever looked at a sunset or sunrise, and said, “Wow that is a great example of the fall.”

VISTA MAGAZINE | WINTER 2017

HOW (SOME) COVENANT MINNESOTANS BRING ME TO THE SUNKEN PLACE

BY SEANNA WONG I saw Get Out very recently. I know it came out a while ago but I was part of the group of people who thought it was actually a horror film and I can’t do scary movies so that was an immediate “no” to watch in any theater near me. Instead, I read the spoilers. After actually watching it in a brimming lecture hall space on a Friday night, it didn’t take me long to realize that the spoilers are to the movie what Sammy Sosa is to Whiteness — close, but no cigar! The collective conversation following the film was icing on the cake. There were so many elements floating around the room — the feeling of being socialized into silence when faced with oppression, fetishization of the Black body, the need to actively listen, what stereotypical roles Black men are assumed to play in U.S. society, lobotomy of self to appease other, the truth that it is not Black people vs. everybody else but much deeper than that, and on and on. It’s these conversations that make me realize social science lights up parts of my brain that other fields simply don’t.

The Get Out conversation abruptly ended as an older white woman in the lecture hall rose to defense and said in a shrill voice that she felt “lynched” and “attacked” if she commented on the film or detailed her reaction, and that the students of color in attendance were acting in a dismissive manner. Perhaps I’m biased but the conversation was not at all dismissive. It was transparent and tackled themes that make those commonly in positions of social power very uncomfortable as the otherwise oppressed voice opinions and feelings of burdensome hegemonic powers. She vehemently marched to the front of the lecture hall and stood face-to-face with the discussion facilitator, her face reddened and her breathing audibly stressed. Students sat in some bewildered amazement, silently wondering if Ashton Kutcher got permission to renew Punk’d with a focus on Race and ethnicity conflicts.

VISTA MAGAZINE | WINTER 2017 The woman’s blatant display of frenetic emotion is what I see as an individual coming to terms with privilege not simply applying to fiscal power or resources, but that one can be born into it and receive some, if not all, of its benefits. This realization can be difficult and complex especially for those who consider themselves poor Whites, who commonly decry no access to resources or privilege in any way, but that’s an article for another day. So what do (some) Minnesotans associated with the Evangelical Covenant have to do with Get Out or The Sunken Place or hegemony? After seeing the film I couldn’t stop thinking about feeling stripped from my own thoughts. Brought to a black hole where I have no voice or eyes of my own, where I’m told what to think or how to act, and I believe these characteristics are just part of The Sunken Place mentioned in the film. Overall, The Sunken Place makes you small. It minimizes your voice, influence, thoughts, and abilities. Separately (but on the same plane), I’ve been trying to figure out why (some) Minnesotans of the Covenant denomination generally rub me the wrong way. I wanted to write about it but didn’t want to use 600 words trying to describe something I didn’t fully understand or thought could be received as some kind of Midwestern discrimination. It’s not all Minnesotans that I don’t really click with but it’s most, and for the past couple weeks I’ve been trying to analyze why. A few days ago, I was having a conversation with friends and we started talking about people our age that made us feel young or lesser than either through diction use, actions, and or body language. It’s such an interesting dynamic — the way in which individuals who may share more similarities than differences with another, choose to highlight the differences and divisively make themselves seem larger and more important.

Then it clicked. It was as if I’d found a missing puzzle piece to an argument that most of my friends thought 45% truthful and 55% humorously based. I found my own answer to how Minnesotans brought me to The Sunken Place while describing the feeling of one person in particular. Whenever I’m around her I feel lesser than. It’s like she assumes I don’t know so she has to explain. And the comments she makes, these under-your-breath talk backs after I’ve made a point or said anything. The way she laughs off something I’ve said as if we have this established relationship. Each time I talk to her I feel muted or stupid because she’s just so surprised I’ve said something of intellect. It seems as if every time I interact with her I feel immediately undermined. I feel this way around a lot of people, but can now identify that I mostly feel this way around midwesterners I encounter at my Evangelical Covenant University. Usually Minnesotans with a strong sense of authority and entitlement that notably and inorganically mixes with religious doctrine and belief. Time and time again I’m surprised by the cutting, egotistical, and patronizing conversations I have with people who… happen to be from MN. Individuals from the state, of varied racial and ethnic groups, who haven’t interacted with a large number of Black people, only those from their mission trips in countries with low literacy rates whose people with smiling faces soon become their cover photos on Facebook and the topics of their graduate school applications. People who feel the need to triumph in a conversation, insist that their opinion is correct, and refute my own at all costs. Individuals with passive aggressive tendencies as noted in “Minnesota Nice”. I’m very aware that these characteristics are not specific only to Minnesotans, but the feeling rings predominantly true in my interactions with those from MN, and the mid-west really.

I don’t want to generalize an entire group of people, and for that reason I sat on this writing this for weeks, wondering how I’d feel if someone published an article saying that all Black people made them feel inadequate after a few years of encounters with a small sample size of Black people. But I’m writing it now because my experience is just that — my experience. The more I write on it the more I realize it’s less of Minnesotans, generally speaking, and more the predominant personality type emerging from the state that conflicts with my own. That being said, I’ve met artistic, kind, hilarious, ingenious, collaborative Minnesotans in Chicago, but those interactions are few and far between. I wonder if the Cov. connection has anything to do with it. I doubt it doesn’t. I wonder if the socialized image of a pale skinned Jesus (that to me looks like he serves venti lattes and can’t find a good barber), lack of diverse churches and communities, and what I hear (and assume) is little to no teaching on what treating others who don’t look like you means, contributes to how I interact with most Cov. Minnesotans and most Cov. Midwesterners. I think it boils down to an issue of being heard, which I find absent. I’m largely wondering if the frequency of these interactions combined with the feelings of being in The Sunken Place is a coincidence when it comes to the culture of The Covenant in the Midwest.

This article was adapted from an original post on Seanna's blog. Read more of her thoughts at Medium.com/@SeannaWrites

VISTA MAGAZINE | WINTER 2017

DAY 198 ON THE SHIP BY HANNAH M. GEIL

TODAY WE FOUND THAT THE SHIP HAS BEEN HOSTING A SMALL FAMILY OF RATS. THEY MUST HAVE BEEN LIVING IN THE SMALL CREVICES OF THE WOOD BOARDS.....OR THEY COULD BE LIVING IN JUSTIN'S STUFF. WHICH WOULDN'T SURPRISE ANY OF US. CHARLIE AND SANTOS WENT ON THE CHASE STUMBLING AROUND LIKE TWO CONFUSED RETIREES AT A SENIORS ONLY TANGO NIGHT. THEY MANAGED TO CONTAIN THEM IN AN OLD WHISKEY BARREL AND WE ALL GATHERED TO BRAINSTORM WHAT TO DO WITH THESE INTRUDERS. THE OBVIOUS ANSWER ANYONE WOULD HAVE THOUGHT OF WAS TO HOST A RAT RACE HERE ON DECK. WE GRABBED THE EXTRA ROPES, BARRELS AND OTHER RANDOM THINGS TO CREATE THE GREATEST RELAY EVERY PERFORMED ON A BOAT. WE ASKED THOSE WHO WANTED TO PARTICIPATE TO CHOOSE A RAT, AND AARON WAS CHOSEN TO BE THE ANNOUNCER OF THE EVENT, MOSTLY BECAUSE HE HAD A BRITISH ACCENT AND WE ALL KNOW THINGS SOUND COOLER WITH A BRITISH ACCENT. FIVE PEOPLE LINED UP ALONGSIDE THE TRAILS, AND AARON SIGNALED FOR THE RATS TO BE PLACED DOWN IN FRONT OF THE STARTING POINT. EACH ONE WAS HIDDEN IN A CUP. THE OTHER SPECTATORS TOOK BETS ON WHO THEY THOUGHT WOULD WIN... ALL WITHOUT SEEING WHAT EACH RAT LOOKED LIKE. SINCE THEY HAD TO GO SOLELY BY THE DECKHAND IN THE RACE, THE VOTES WERE BASED MORE ON THE PEOPLE. THE MAJORITY OF THE VOTES WENT TO RIGO WHO HAPPENED TO BE THE MOST TRUSTED PIRATE ON THE SHIP. THE TENSIONS ROSE AS THE FINAL BIDS WERE PLACED. EACH DECKHAND CROUCHED OVER THEIR HIDDEN CREATURES AND AHMED PLACED THE SMALL FRACTIONS OF BAIT AT THE END OF THE COURSE. LANDEN WAS ASKED TO SING A NATIONAL ANTHEM OF HIS CHOICE TO BEGIN THE CEREMONY AND WE STOOD IN SILENCE AS HE SANG THE WORDS TO THE BURKINA FASO NATIONAL ANTHEM. ONCE IT WAS CLEAR THAT HE WAS DONE, AARON PROCEEDED TO DRAW OUT THE RACE WITH A SPEECH. HE TOOK THIS MOMENT TO PUSH FOR CLEANLINESS, AND SOON HIS SING-SONGY VOICE WAS DROWNED OUT BY THE LOUD BOOS AND SHOUTS OF PROTEST. HE FINALLY QUIETED EVERYONE DOWN AND BRACED FOR THE START. WITH THE SOUND OF THE FLARE GUN, THEY WERE OFF. FOUR HEALTHY RATS STUMBLED OUT OF THE CUPS, AND TO MANY PEOPLE'S SURPRISE, RIGO WAS HIDING A ROCK WITH WHISKERS AND A TAIL GLUED ONTO IT! EVERYONE WAS IN A FRENZY AS TWO OF THE RATS MADE THEIR WAY TOWARDS THE FINISH LINE, WITH ONE GOING THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION AND THE OTHER..... WELL BEING A ROCK. THE RACE TOOK A TURN AS BOTH RATS TURNED IN DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS. TWENTY MINUTES WENT BY AND EVERYONE SLOWLY BECAME MORE AND MORE UNINTERESTED. THE RACE FINALLY ENDED THIRTY MINUTES LATER BECAUSE ONE RAT GOT SPOOKED BY GERALD’S YELLING AND DARTED IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION. EVERYONE DISPERSED, SOME CHEERED WITH THE EXCITEMENT OF THE WIN, BUT MOST WERE JUST THANKFUL IT WAS OVER. THE RATS SCURRIED AWAY SOMEWHERE AND RIGO WAS LEFT POUTING OVER HIS BELOVED PET. WE LEARNED THAT YOU CAN’T TEACH AN OLD RAT NEW TRICKS... AND THAT RIGO MIGHT NOT BE AS COMPETENT AS WE THINK HE IS. WELL I AM OFF TO HIDE MY RATIONS FROM OUR NEW FOUND AND RECENTLY LOST FRIENDS! KEEP A WEATHER EYE ON THE HORIZON, JOHNNY

VISTA MAGAZINE | WINTER 2017

Reformed Theology and Racial Equality

Equally Depraved By Jake Whitfield Calvinism has often been deemed the “white

Regardless of one’s belief of the validity of the five points,

man’s theology”. While reformed tradition is rare to find

each one of them are not only free of any support for

in historically black churches, the divide is not a result of

racism but support a racially diverse kingdom of God.

the theology itself. The relation of reformed theology and

The first point of Calvinism is the belief of total

white churches is not a matter of causation, but that of

depravity; sin has completely overtaken every man and

correlation. This divide is not limited to the racial

woman. Scriptural examples such as Mark 7:21-23,

makeup of churches, but the political spectrum of

Romans 6:20, 1 Corinthians 2:14, and Ephesians 2:15 point

churches as well. It is no secret that Calvinist churches

to the truth of man’s utter lostness. This concept serves as

are more likely to by conservative churches. Despite this,

the foundation for the entire Calvinist theology. It also

Calvinist theology is not limited to that realm. One need

serves as a powerful reminder of the support of racial

not forfeit their political ideals to take up Calvinist

equality in reformed theology. A unifying theme for

beliefs. That is not to say though that political beliefs

many Christians in the quest for racial equality is that all

should not be independent of theological beliefs, as

men were created equally in the image of God. While

Christians should base the latter on the former. Reformed

this truth is important, it is not completely helpful in

theology has not always been absent from the African

understanding the human condition. What is just as true

American church. Washington D.C. based pastor Thabiti

as the previous point is that all humans are equally

Anyabwile’s book The Faithful Preacher documents the

corrupt and depraved. The entire human race is unified

work of three African American pastors in the early

in their common corruption and depravity and just as no

days of the American church. All three of these pastors

one man is less sinful than another, no one race is less

were strong students and teachers of the reformed

sinful than another. Paul writes in Romans that “There

tradition.1 An association with the Presbyterian and

will be tribulation and distress for every human being

Reformed Christianity that coexisted with American

who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek”. What

racism and the Dutch reformed church with South

justification is there for one to feel superior in their race

African apartheid set the stage for the “white man’s

to another when each race is just as far from God as the

theology” title to be justified. The association of these

other?

churches with these cultural evils is nothing short of

The second point of Calvinism is the understanding of

despicable but there is no reason to assume a causation

unconditional election. Perhaps the most controversial of

between reformed theology and racism. That is not a

all the points, unconditional election’s fundamental

justification for the Calvinist’s lack of action in the fight

belief is that God has separated humanity into two

against racial inequality but a distinction between mans’

groups, the elected and the those who are not. Calvinists’

corruption and the theology they claim to follow. From

look towards verses such as Ephesians 1:4-8, Romans 9:11,

the standpoint of the Reformed faith, every aspect of the

and 15. This point is centered around God possessing

way God views and saves sinners is designed to

supreme and overarching authority over who does and

undermine racism and lead to a new reconciled and

does not enter his kingdom. The most important aspect of

redeemed humanity from every group in the world.

this idea is that election is not dependent on merit.

VISTA MAGAZINE | WINTER 2017

One’s election is not dependent on their race, ethnicity,

Finally, Calvinist doctrine includes the belief of

or any other distinction. It rests wholly on God’s grace

“Perseverance of the Saints” meaning that those who are

and love for humanity. As John Piper writes in his book

saved will remain in that state. In other words, one

Bloodlines, “When it comes to election, every race, every

cannot lose their salvation. This doctrine is based on

ethnic group, is on the absolutely level field of

passages such as 1 Corinthians 10:13 and Philippians 1:6.

unconditional mercy”.2 Fully understanding divine

Those of whom have been elected by God have the

election shatters racism and ethnocentrism.

responsibility to pursue racial harmony till we die or

Jesus died solely for the elect and his sacrifice is not

Jesus returns. The love and mercy and grace that

efficacious for all of humanity. The third characteristic

brought us all into the kingdom of God is the same love

encompasses this idea, defining it as “limited atonement”.

and mercy and grace that will sustain us to continue to

Jesus, through his death, bore only the sins of the elect.

strive for racial equality till the end of our days.

Matthew 26:28 states that Jesus died for “many”, not all.

The purpose of this piece is not to defend the

Acts 20:28 and Ephesians 5:25-27 reveals that Christ

fundamental beliefs of Calvinism, or to even provide a

purchased the Church, not all people. In this case, it is

full explanation of the depths of the doctrine. Rather, this

imperative that we look at who the church is. In

piece is a call for the reformed to defend our Brothers and

Revelation 5:9, it is written that “you ransomed people

Sister who face discrimination. A belief of the teachings

from every tribe and language and people and nation”.

of Calvin is never an excuse to shy away from fighting

Two things are important here. The first is obvious, and

racial inequality. To those who are not convinced of the

is centered around “every”. There is no restriction to the

teachings of John Calvin, know that those who do are

ethnic or racial background of those in God’s church. The

allies in the righteous struggle for racial equality. We

other point of importance is the word “from”. Jesus’

may not agree on theological matters, but our love of God

sacrifice did not ransom every person from every tribe,

and subsequently, man, should be the number one

language, people, and nation, but people from every

priority. We are one in Christ, no matter our race or

tribe, language, people, and nations.” These clarifications

ethnicity, with our ultimate identification as a child of

leave no room for racial inequality in the Church.

the Most High.

Irresistible Grace defines Calvin’s fourth point; the belief that those who are called into God’s salvation cannot resist. In Paul’s letter to the Romans, he writes in Chapter 9 that “it depends not on human will or exertion but on God who has mercy”. Additional passages such as John 6:37 and Acts 13:48 support the common theme of God’s irresistible grace being poured out on the elect. Every race is equally dependent of God’s irresectable grace. Our ethnic distinctiveness contributes nothing to our salvation or to the rise and spread of our faith. There is no reason for a white man to boast of the introduction of Christianity to Africa or South America. That was not the work of the white race but the work of God and his irresistible grace.

VISTA MAGAZINE | WINTER 2017

OUR LITERARY ARTS STAFF's

Fun Time (stage musical)

ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO 2017

Moses Sumney - Aromanticism (album)

Aladdin! (stage musical)

The Switch - Emily King (album)

Hope: A Tragedy - Shalom Auslander (book)

This novel is structured like a Greek tragedy, and has made me laugh harder than any other book I've read ever. - Berit

mother! (film)

You can read all the reviews in the world and you’ll still know absolutely nothing about this film. I’m still not sure what it was I saw but I know it’ll stick with me for half a lifetime. Frank.

2017 showered my ears with new music from some of my favorite artists - Lorde, St. Vincent, Kendrick Lamar, Open Mike Eagle & the National to name a few - but the one that stirs my soul and takes me to another plane every time I listen to it is Sumney’s debut. Try tracks Plastic, Don’t Bother Calling & Lonely World as appetizers. - Frank

This is a 90-min, innovative and intimate musical adapted from Alison Bechdel’s bestselling graphic memoir. Overall, it blew my mind with a whirlwind of emotions. I laughed, cried and sang along! - Haley

I might enjoy some courses more if I could listen to Emily King sing about the textbook the way she sings about growth and saying no to the things that don't serve you in this album. - Berit

I got goosebumps when I saw the ads for this. I love Disney, I mean, who doesn’t? I treasured watching the film growing up and I was blown away by every element of this musical; they really went over-the-top! - Haley

Milk and Honey - Rupi Kaur (book)

One on One Tour (music concert)

This poetry collection details in punchy, millennial speak Rupi’s experiences with trauma, romance and everything in-between. “i tremble at the thought of falling in love with a tiny part of someone and mistaking it for the whole.” It is as heartbreaking as it is heartwarming. - Frank

Seeing Paul McCartney perform is a must. I was lucky enough to experience three hours of rock-and-roll history at his tour. It felt like myself and everyone else at the concert were all sitting at a dinner table with McCartney, having a one-on-one. - Haley

Growing Concerns (spoken word)

Growing Concerns is a spoken word poetry group in Chicago. Their first album We Here: Thank You For Noticing combines spoken word, music, and singing that will make you look at the world a little differently. - Berit

My Scientology Movie (documentary)

It’s hard to compare some of the documentaries that stuck out to me this year, like, Carrie Fisher’s Brights Lights (god rest her spicy soul) and Ken Burns' important doc, Vietnam War. But I had to pick My Scientology Movie because I think about cults a lot. Am I in a cult? Are you in a cult? Nobody truly knows and that’s the scariest part. Frank

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