MANCHESTER ORCHESTRA | OK GO | JONAH HILL | CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE | CHRISTMAS GIFT GUIDE
GOD. LIFE. PROGRESSIVE CULTURE.
THE
CRAZY TWISTING MESSED-UP —BUT HOPEFUL—
PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER
JOURNEY OF
ISSUE 54 / NOV_DEC 2011 / $4.95
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M
ost people spend the first half of life establishing identity—rising, achieving
and performing. But then, inevitably, something happens that shocks us out of our comfort zones. We fall. In Falling Upward, Richard Rohr—
a Franciscan priest, speaker and best-selling author—says we can find grace and freedom in the challenges, mistakes and loss of control in life. Falling can actually be a stepping stone that moves us forward. Broader, deeper—upward.
GOD. LIFE. PROGRESSIVE CULTURE. RELEVANT magazine November/December 2011, Issue 54 Welcome to the danger zone. PUBLISHER & CEO | Cameron Strang > cameron@relevantmediagroup.com Editorial Director | Roxanne Wieman > roxanne@relevantmediagroup.com Managing Editor | Ryan Hamm > ryan@relevantmediagroup.com Copy Editor | Ashley Emert > ashley@relevantmediagroup.com Associate Editor | Alyce Gilligan > alyce@relevantmediagroup.com Editorial Assistant | Heather Meikle > heather@relevantmediagroup.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Jason Boyett, John Brandon, Michael Gungor, Adam and Chrissy Jeske, Dave Johnson, Timothy J. Keller, Carl Kozlowski, Edward Mariner, Jonathan Merritt, John Pattison, David Roark, Kevin Selders, Laura Studarus, Sarah Sumner, Rachel Wegner Senior Designer | Chaz Russo > chaz@relevantmediagroup.com Senior Web Designer | Tanya Elshahawi > tanya@relevantmediagroup.com Graphic Designer | Jonathan Griswold > jonathan@relevantmediagroup.com Production Designer | Christina Cooper > christina@relevantmediagroup.com Audio/Video Producer | Chad Michael Snavely > chad@relevantmediagroup.com Photographer | Julia Cox > julia@relevantmediagroup.com CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS: Ricky Chapman, Eric Charbonneau, Luanne Dietz, Tec Petaja, Chris Phelps, Ryan Russell, Jeremy Snell, Rachel Wegner, Nadirah Zakariya Chief Revenue Officer | Josh Babyar > josh@relevantmediagroup.com Account Director | Michael Romero > michael@relevantmediagroup.com Account Director | Philip Self > philip@relevantmediagroup.com Marketing Manager | Calvin Cearley > calvin@relevantmediagroup.com Circulation & Fulfillment Manager | Stephanie Fry > stephanie@relevantmediagroup.com Customer Service Coordinator | Sarah Heyl > sarah@relevantmediagroup.com Chief Operations Officer | Chris Miyata > chris@relevantmediagroup.com Web Developer | David Barratt > david@relevantmediagroup.com Web Production Coordinator | Lin Jackson > lin@relevantmediagroup.com Systems Administrator | Josh Strohm > joshs@relevantmediagroup.com Communications Manager & Exec. Assistant Theresa Dobritch > theresa@relevantmediagroup.com Project Manager | Austin Sailsbury > austin@relevantmediagroup.com Finance Manager | Maya Strang > mstrang@relevantmediagroup.com Fulfillment Coordinator | Tyler Legacy > tyler@relevantmediagroup.com
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SUBSCRIBER SERVICES www.RELEVANTmagazine.com/subservices Phone: (Toll-free) 866-402-4746 U.S. and Canada, 515-237-3657 International RELEVANT Issue #54 Nov./Dec. 2011 (ISSN: 1543-317X) is published 6 times a year in January, March, May, July, September and November for $14.95 per year by RELEVANT Media Group, Inc., 900 N. Orange Ave., Winter Park, FL 32789. Periodicals postage paid at Orlando, FL, and at additional mailing offices.
STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP, MANAGEMENT AND CIRCULATION RELEVANT magazine (Publication Number: 1543-317X) is published bi-monthly by RELEVANT Media Group. Filing date: 9-29-11. Number of issues published annually: 6. Annual subscription price: $14.95. The complete mailing address and General Business Offices of the Publisher are located at 900 N. Orange Ave., Orlando, FL 32789. The names and addresses of the Publisher, Editor and Editorial Director are: Publisher, Cameron Strang; Editor, Cameron Strang; Editorial Director, Roxanne Wieman; 900 N. Orange Ave., Orlando, FL 32789. The owners are: Cameron Strang, 900 N. Orange Ave., Orlando, FL 32789; Stephen Strang, 600 Rinehart Road, Lake Mary, FL 32746. There are no known bondholders, mortgagees and other security holders owning or holding 1 percent or more of total amount of bonds, mortgages or other securities. The tax status, the purpose, function and nonprofit status of this organization and the exempt status for federal income purposes have not changed during the preceding 12 months. Issue date for circulation data: July/August 2011. Extent and Nature of Circulation are as follows. Total number of copies (net press run): average number of copies each issue during preceding 12 months, 59,000; number of copies of single issue published nearest to filing date, 60,000. Mailed outside-county paid subscriptions stated on PS Form 3541: average number of copies each issue during preceding 12 months, 27,147; number of copies of single issue published nearest to filing date, 28,718. Mailed in-county paid subscriptions stated on PS Form 3541: average number of copies each issue during preceding 12 months, 0; number of copies of single issue published nearest to filing date, 0. Paid distribution outside the mails including sales through dealers and carriers, street vendors, counter sales, and other paid distribution outside USPS: average number of copies each issue during preceding 12 months, 9,054; number of copies of single issue published nearest to filing date, 8,133. Paid distribution by other classes of mail through the USPS: average number of copies each issue during preceding 12 months, 5,341; number of copies of single issue published nearest to filing date, 2,796. Total paid distribution: average number of copies each issue during preceding 12 months, 41,542; number of copies of single issue published nearest to filing date, 39,647. Free or nominal rate outside-county copies included on PS Form 3541: average number of copies each issue during preceding 12 months, 267; number of copies of single issue published nearest to filing date, 0. Free or nominal rate in-county copies included on PS Form 3541: average number of copies each issue during preceding 12 months, 0; number of copies of single issue published nearest to filing date, 0. Free or nominal rate copies mailed at other classes through the USPS: average number of copies each issue during preceding 12 months, 0; number of copies of single issue published nearest to filing date, 0. Free or nominal rate distribution outside the mail: average number of copies each issue during preceding 12 months, 14,498; number of copies of single issue published nearest to filing date, 17,340. Total free or nominal rate distribution: average number of copies each issue during preceding 12 months, 14,765; number of copies of single issue published nearest to filing date, 17,340. Total distribution: average number of copies each issue during preceding 12 months, 56,307; number of copies of single issue published nearest to filing date, 56,987. Copies not distributed: average number of copies each issue during preceding 12 months, 2,693; number of copies of single issue published nearest to filing date, 3,013. Total: average number of copies each issue during preceding 12 months, 59,000; number of copies of single issue published nearest to filing date, 60,000. Percent paid: average number of copies each issue during preceding 12 months, 73.77%; number of copies of single issue published nearest to filing date, 69.57%. Annual publication of this statement is required. Published November/December 2011. - Cameron Strang, RELEVANT magazine
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PICKING UP THE PIECES BY CAMERON STRANG
N
6 / RELEVANT_NOV/DEC 11
RELEVANTMAGAZINE.COM
ew Orleans is an odd city. It’s as if, at one point a long time ago, someone who made important decisions just stopped and said: You know what? City planning isn’t worth the hassle. A typical block goes like this: historical building, bar, empty lot, business, abandoned home, historical building, bar, empty lot. Repeat a thousand times, and you have New Orleans. Then again, there’s something about New Orleans. From the architecture, to the music, to the people, to the food—it’s literally like no other place in America. Its uniqueness—especially the renegade spirit and resiliency of its people—makes it a perfect home for MUTEMATH. When we flew to New Orleans to spend the day with the MUTEMATH
guys for this issue’s cover story, they after story of the guys tripping over had just returned from a disastrous themselves to make God happy, yet show in Tulsa. Literally disastrous. A not knowing how. As youth, they freak storm blew down the stage they wanted more than anything to earn were playing on at an outdoor festival. God’s love but felt they only disapThey had to scramble for their safety pointed Him. (A young Darren “got and lost gear—to many bands, it’d be saved” at least weekly.) The misguided a catastrophic event. But the guys told view of God their churches ingrained the story over lunch like it was just into them is something the guys are kind of par for the course. Tomorrow, still wrestling with today. they’ll leave for tour in Japan. Stuff Some people can transition to a happens. Stages blow over. You pick real relationship with God without up the pieces and move on. trauma. But then there’s the rest of You’ll read about it in the cover us, the silent majority who have to go story on page 52, but the guys have had through stuff, question everything or a lot of “stuff ” happen in recent years. push God away to test if He’s real. After years of infamous label strugWhat happens when the view you gles, the recording of their sophomore used to have of God comes crashing album, Armistice, was so creatively down? That’s what the guys are still difficult it nearly broke MUTEMATH figuring out: If a relationship with God up. Well, it kind of did. (One of their isn’t all the crazy church stuff, guilt three founding members abruptly left and condemnation they experienced, the band before they hit the studio to what is it? record their new album, Odd Soul.) Well, it’s messy. It’s hopeful. And it’s It’s the sort of thing many bands don’t worth fighting for. recover from. But with MUTEMATH, That’s why New Orleans is a perstuff happens. You pick up the pieces fect fit for MUTEMATH. Their jourand move on. ney looks a lot like those countless It’s all led to a really interesting new unplanned city blocks. Beauty next chapter in their lives and careers. After door to brokenness. getting their start in the Christian You need strength and resiliency music industry as part of the short- to make it in New Orleans. You don’t lived but acclaimed band Earthsuit, stick around because it’s easy. And the guys regrouped and carved out a that’s how the MUTEMATH guys new artistic path as MUTEMATH. seem to view their faith. There were The Christian subculture is an odd times they were ready to walk away, place by itself, but for lead singer Paul and really tried to, but couldn’t. They Meany and drummer Darren King, couldn’t give up on it. it was an especially tough fit. Both And like New Orleans, they’re startof the guys had an absolutely bizarre ing to experience a rebirth. Sure, there upbringing in the church. (Trust me, are a lot of past scars visible everyafter spending all day hearing their where you look, but the atmosphere uproariously hilarious horror stories, has changed. There’s optimism. volumes could be written about their So many people use hurt and disilexperiences.) As kids, the guys saw lusionment as an excuse to walk away God as little more than an unattain- from faith. But if the MUTEMATH able standard of holiness, something guys can go through what they did they always fell short of. and come out semiSo as we drove around normal, there’s hope town—visiting the small for all of us. church where Paul started Life isn’t going to playing worship music at be perfect. Neither is age 5, seeing the street in the the Church, and defiFrench Quarter where he nitely not Christians. CAMERON STRANG is the attempted earnest street witStuff happens to founder and CEO nessing in high school and all of us. But like of RELEVANT. failed miserably, to the corMUTEMATH, like Connect with him on Twitter ner where a young Darren New Orleans, we @cameronstrang unknowingly befriended need to pick up the or Facebook.com/ cameronstrang. a hooker—we heard story pieces and move on.
[FIRST WORD]
FIRST WORD
[LETTERS]
LETTERS You Write. We Respond. [C OMMEN T S , C ONCERN S , S M A R T REM A RK S] W RI T E U S AT F EEDB A C K@REL E VA N T M A G A Z INE .C OM OR FA C EB OOK .C OM / REL E VA N T
TWEET THIS SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2011
THE GENERATION OF CONTRAST
Be sure to connect with us at Twitter.com/ RELEVANTmag. Here is some of your scuttlebutt:
Love the September cover story! Really put words to the way our generation thinks and operates. Thanks so much for being a part of the discussion and helping us all to have a little more insight about ourselves.
BrandenHarvey: I can’t get over how amazing the @RELEVANTmag iPad app is. Cutting edge and gorgeous. I’ve never seen anything like it.
—KYLE MARKS / Sacramento, CA
The article about sex and single Christians [“(Almost) Everyone’s Doing It,” Sept/Oct 2011] was seriously mind-blowing for myself and a few of my other single Christian friends.
always spot-on, but the quotes are that a lot of farms aren’t prepared a great twist on editorial tradition. to meet, and the farms and com—BRIDGETTE DHOZIER/ Lander, WY panies that are should be commended as such.
I think the most likely cause for the increased percentages [in “(Almost) Everyone’s Doing It”] is the stat about marrying age now being 15 years older than biblical times. Abstaining from what looks so appealing into your late 20s is extremely difficult when you’re in the prime of that function physically.
Kudos (Snickers-flavored) to the design team for the infographics on page 28 [“Slices—Life & Politics,” Sept/Oct 2011].
—ANDREA ADELLA EIKEN / Minneapolis, MN
One man’s twist is another man’s —LIBBY CROWDER / editors being lazy because they Pittsburgh, PA don’t want to write so many I want to tell you how much I learn articles.
—KEVIN SHEEN / Wake Forest, NC
from [RELEVANT’s articles]. It is good to be able to somehow connect with a group of believers who still live life abundantly and not restrictedly, the way my growing up portrayed it. It helps me to bridge the gaps of life more by reading your information.
It’s true, our design team is —CHAD RAY / Nashville, TN pretty nougaty.
Just want to give you props for the Keep asking questions, Jon —STEVE TYDINGS / Baltimore, MD quality you continue to put out. I Foreman [“The Reinvention of think it is a very, very rare thing Switchfoot,” Sept/Oct 2011]. Not I’ve been loving the In Their to have a quality publication and a everything has an answer and it Words page from the last few quality podcast with such a great causes us to grow in faith. —PHIL SCHERR / Englewood, CO issues! RELEVANT’s writing is core ethos behind everything. —KEN HAYNES / Birmingham, AL
8 / RELEVANT_NOV/DEC 11
[Cameron Strang’s] First Word made me realize we live in a small world now—we can change it for the better.
—JULIE TRAN / Redondo Beach, CA
It’s a world of laughter, a world of tears. It’s a world of hopes, it’s a world of fear ...
JFPerreault: Not ashamed to admit that I fist-pumped when I saw the new @RELEVANTmag in the mailbox this afternoon. #simplepleasures jessemyersart: Flipped to page 96 of my @RELEVANTmag to read what a 10-yearold said of 9/11 a day after it happened. All I have to say: Wow. #twaspowerful TimGirlin: How is every Christian I know NOT reading @RELEVANTmag? #getintoit Besty: Loving the @RELEVANTmag iPad app all the way from Australia! It’s quite simply amazing—better than any other digital mag I’ve seen!
RELEVANTMAGAZINE.COM
Thank you for taking a deeper look at a phrase that’s coined more than it is practiced [“Is Fair Trade Fair?” Sept/Oct 2011]. Fair trade is indeed a movement, but it’s a misunderstood and misused one. Fair trade doesn’t just mean “fair,” it means a standard of ethics
Angel Fernandez: Enjoyed reading Jesse Carey’s fall guide in @RELEVANTmag. Even if we only have 2 seasons (wet and dry) here in Manila. The guy’s hilarious!
[SLICES]
SLICES
A BIMONTHLY LOOK AT LIFE, FAITH & CULTURE
[ THE NUMBERS ]
BIGGER THAN BLUE AND RED Americans’ political values are much more nuanced than a two-party system allows: “PERCENTAGE OF AMERICAN GENERAL PUBLIC”
THE OLD PARTY LINES
ARE SHIFTING
A NEW STUDY SUGGESTS AMERICANS DON'T FALL CLEANLY INTO CONSERVATIVE AND LIBERAL CATEGORIES ANYMORE
E
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STAUNCH CONSERVATIVES Highly engaged Tea Party supporters
11%
MAIN-STREET REPUBLICANS Conservative on most issues
9%
LIBERTARIANS Free market, small government seculars
11%
DISAFFECTEDS Downscale and cynical
13%
POST-MODERNS Moderate, but liberal on social issues
10%
NEW COALITION DEMOCRATS Upbeat, majorityminority
13%
HARD-PRESSED DEMOCRATS Religious, financially struggling
14%
SOLID LIBERALS Across-the-board liberal positions
10%
BYSTANDERS Young, politically disengaged
Source: Pew Research Center, 2011 Political Typology
RELEVANTMAGAZINE.COM
ven though it’s still a year away, the are made up by a large number of 18- to 29-yearAmerican presidential race is in full olds (51%). Eighteen- to 25-year-olds also comswing. But this year, observers have prise 32% of “Post-Moderns,” a group generally noticed Americans are less likely to fall supportive of government and environmental policies, but the least religious group. into blue-and-red dichotomies. Seventy-two percent of Staunch Conservatives A new study by the Pew Research Center categorizes Americans into nine political types, (the group most likely to identify with the Tea instead of the traditional and simplistic “conser- Party) are Protestant Christians ... but nearly the vative or liberal” labels. The new categories stretch same number (70%) of “Hard-Pressed Democrats” from the “Staunch Conservative” values of those (a group cynical about government and suspiin the extreme right to the “Solidly Liberal” val- cious of corporations) are Protestants. In addition ues held by those in the far left. The remainder of to the Post-Modern group, the Solid Liberals are the ideologies break down the oft-misunderstood least likely to have believers in their ranks (40% of “moderates” into more useful categories of voters. the group claims no religious affiliation). These nuanced categories reveal Americans These include right-leaning groups like MainStreet Republicans, Libertarians and Disaffecteds, are by no means unified within their political parties—there are vast differences of and left-leaning groups such as Postsocial, moral and economic values even Moderns, New Coalition Democrats between members of the same party, let and Hard-Pressed Democrats. alone in the growing independent votThe new categories prove each party ing bloc (up from 30% in 2005 to 37% has little homogeneity. Additionally, the in 2011). It remains to be seen whether breakdown along generational and reliREAD MORE: politicians will attempt to speak to gious lines is also quite telling in regards Check out more these variances within their parties or to party affiliation. “Bystanders,” a analysis, a quiz to continue courting the extremes. group of voters highly unlikely to vote, and summaries.
9%
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CULTURE
LIFE
THE OSCAR
HUNT IS ON Each year, studios release their best films (or, less kindly, “Oscar bait”) during the fall. Here are five that will likely be in the race for the little naked gold man come February:
THE IDES OF MARCH: George Clooney and Ryan Gosling in a political thriller begs for Oscar close-ups.
ROB BELL
GOES HOLLYWOOD
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO: One of the biggest book trilogies in the world directed by David “Social Network” Fincher? Oscar bait.
THE FORMER PASTOR TEAMS WITH LOST EXEC PRODUCER CARLTON CUSE ON A SPIRITUAL DRAMA FOR ABC Early reports suggest music will be a big hen controversial author Rob Bell recently announced he’d be part of the show, especially considering Bell’s stepping down as senior pas- own past as a musician (and, according to tor of Mars Hill Bible Church, his books, an abiding love for stadium-sized many wondered what, excatly, hip-hop). Given how TV has dealt with spirituality he would do next. in the past (remember Highway to Heaven?), Well, part of the answer is now clear. ABC (yes, the TV network) has finalized a it remains to be seen if this show will be any script deal—with a hefty sum attached—for good or not. Plus, considering the initial pura series created by Bell and Carlton Cuse. If chase was for a script deal, the show is likely at Cuse’s name sounds familiar, that’s because least a year away from hitting your TV screen. he was an executive producer for Lost— But it’s an interesting pairing, to say the least. While on Lost, Cuse was never one of the two guys (with Damon afraid to delve into complicated Lindelof) who made you scream at spiritual matters with sensitivity your TV and/or obsessively scour and feeling, and Bell is known for the Internet for six seasons. breaking down complicated theWhile details aren’t yet known ologies into deeply moving (albeit about the new show—which is tenWATCH: eyebrow-raising) narratives. If the tatively titled Stronger—it’s apparHopefully new show taps into those abilities, ently about a musician and teacher Stronger will have (named, you guessed it, Tom 100% less Celine it could be one of TV’s best bets. And hey—at least it’s not Love Stronger), who becomes a sort of Dion than this spiritual guide for people. spiritual TV show. Wins: The Movie, right?
W
WAR HORSE: If there’s one thing everyone loves, it’s a Steven Spielberg epic war movie. And if there’s another thing everyone loves, it’s horses. THE DESCENDANTS: Alexander Payne makes smart, funny movies for grown-ups. The Academy Awards loves nominating him for it. Also: George Clooney. THE IRON LADY: Meryl Streep + Margaret Thatcher biopic = acceptance speech writing time.
SHOCKER: MEN WATCH ESPN
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show men watch is American Idol, followed by Family Guy, The Simpsons and Bob’s Burgers. All of which should make FOX very happy. An analyst for ad-buying firm Starcom told The Hollywood Reporter men watch the Weather Channel and Mad Money to “arm themselves for battle,” while they watch Jersey Shore and Basketball Wives to feel “a little bit like an outlaw.” Apparently, “outlaw” is now a synonym for “much, much dumber.”
RELEVANTMAGAZINE.COM
Since the TV-watching audience is made up of about 60 percent women (according to The Hollywood Reporter), shows men watch can actually demand more for advertising than shows geared toward women. Which means Hollywood is quite interested in identifying those shows. So how do shows fall along gender lines? Well, there aren’t too many surprises—men watch the most ESPN, and they also watch a lot of WWE Raw (which they shouldn’t be proud of). The top
[SLICES]
FAITH
CREATION MUSEUM TO BUILD $155M NOAH'S ARK THEME PARK
GROWING A BETTER
(NO, WE'RE NOT JOKING)
FOOD PANTRY
SOME CHURCHES ARE ORGANICALLY HELPING THE POOR IN A WHOLE NEW WAY
G
ene Archibek was one of several Saddleback Church volunteers helping to prepare 175 acres of property for a new satellite campus and retreat center. But, as he was walking the land, he saw an abandoned tractor that took him back to his childhood on the farm. “I come from about four generations of farming. I ran away from it when I was a kid. I couldn’t stand it,” Archibek recently told The Christian Post. At that moment, he said God showed him a new plan for the property. Since that day, Archibek, with a federal grant donation of 800 bags of seeds, has transformed the property into a successful organic farm ministry that supports the church’s food pantry program, which serves about 3,000 people a month. The farm’s crop now includes fruits, vegetables and herbs. The
land is maintained by volunteers who show up every Saturday morning to weed, till, water and harvest the plants. Recently, the farm delivered 200 pounds of tomatoes and 80 pounds of zucchini and squash to the food pantry program. Such organic farming ministries are becoming more common as the awareness of healthy eating grows. One such farm, cultivated by volunteers at NorthRidge Church in Plymouth, Mich., delivered 12,000 pounds of produce last year and hopes to exceed that by 3,000 pounds this year. “One of the hardest things for the families is that they are not able to get fresh produce. Everything the pantries give out is canned or dried. They usually don’t have the ability to give out fresh produce,” Archibek said. “The ministry gives people the ability to eat fresh food.”
The first time Noah’s ark was built, everyone thought it was a crazy idea. Now, another Noah’s ark is being constructed—and it still seems a bit out there. The Creation Museum, in Petersburg, Ky., is expanding to include a $155 million theme park called the Ark Encounter. When the Creation Museum first opened in 2007, its goal was to build a monument of sorts to a literal creationist account of Genesis. With the Ark Encounter, they hope to illustrate the reality of Noah’s gigantic mission. “When you get to walk through the boat and see how big this thing really was, and how many cages were there and how much room there was for food and water. ... Our hope is people start seeing that this is plausible, that the account could be believed,” project manager Mike Zovath says. In addition to visiting an authentic modern-day ark replica, visitors will be able to stroll through an old-world village and visit other iconic landmarks of the Old Testament. Let’s just hope there aren’t plans to reconstruct the Tower of Babel anytime soon—we all know how that went last time around. > CREATIONMUSEUM.ORG
CHRISTIANS STILL DIVIDED ON THE DEATH PENALTY
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in a pro-life ethic that allows for the death penalty, and Richard Land, who defended a biblical precedent for capital punishment. Americans as a whole continue to support the death penalty for those convicted of murder. According to Pew Forum, 62 percent of Americans favor the death penalty—78 percent of Republicans and 50 percent of Democrats. Among Protestants, 65 percent are in favor of capital punishment.
RELEVANTMAGAZINE.COM
Capital punishment rose to the surface of the public consciousness again after presidential nominee Rick Perry fielded questions regarding the high rate of executions in Texas under his governorship and following the controversial and highly protested execution of convicted murderer Troy Davis in Georgia. Christian leaders on both sides of the debate spoke up—including N.T. Wright, who claimed an inconsistency
[SLICES]
HOW TO HOST A FRIENDSGIVING
LIFE
THIS YEAR, WHY NOT START A NEW TRADITION?
T
here’s a decent chance you don’t live near your parents— whether you’ve moved away from home because of school, work or just because you hate the weather. The distance, though, can be especially tricky around the holidays. For those with limited funds and/or vacation time, Thanksgiving travel often takes a backseat to going home for Christmas. That means a holiday traditionally celebrated with family could be a very lonely affair. So this year, why not discover the joy of a “Friendsgiving”—a Thanksgiving with friends. Here are a few tips to make it a holiday to remember:
1) GO POTLUCK
One of the drawbacks to not going home for Thanksgiving is having to pay for everything yourself. So share the load: You make the turkey and your guests bring everything else. Plus, it gives everyone a chance to bring something that matches their own traditions. You’ll end up with someone’s grandma’s stuffing, someone else’s mom’s casserole and your own aunt’s famous turkey rub recipe.
2) PLAY GAMES
You’re with friends—so act like it. Make cheese-tastic Thanksgiving games like “pin the tail on the turkey” or cut pilgrim hats out of construction paper to wear during dinner. Or just have a giant Settlers of Catan marathon. Either way, hang out with your friends and enjoy having an entire day (instead of just an evening) to do so.
SUREFIRE ALTERNATE WAYS TO
COOK A TURKEY At Thanksgiving, almost everyone roasts a turkey in the oven. And sure, it’s good, but let’s be honest—it’s a little boring. Here are three ways to make your bird stand out this year:
SMOKE IT: 3) CREATE MEANINGFUL MOMENTS
It is called Thanksgiving, after all. It might sound awkward and weird, but chances are everyone’s feeling a little sentimental about being away from their family. So talk about what you’re thankful for during appetizers or dessert. You’ll be surprised how much better you get to know your best friends. How do you uniquely celebrate Thanksgiving? Tell us at feedback@ RELEVANTmagazine.com, and we’ll talk about it on our podcast.
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DEEP-FRY IT:
It’s delicious, but don’t start a fire while you make this.
TRY THE TURBACONEPIC:
Follow the recipe from the guys at Epic Meal Time to create this quailin-a-cornish-hen-in-a-chicken-in-aduck-in-a-turkey-in-a-pig with tons of bacon. Yes, it will give you a heart attack.
WATCH: And add more bacon … and more bacon … and more bacon …
RELEVANTMAGAZINE.COM
HO HO HOLY NIGHT
‘Tis the season for great music, so of course we made a Spotify playlist of our favorite Christmas songs. Click and enjoy!
Once you’ve had smoked turkey, you will never want roasted again.
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[SLICES]
REJECT APATHY [ THE NUMBERS ]
CHRISTIANS & CLIMATE CHANGE
ARCTIC ICE AT NEAR-RECORD LOW
SCIENTISTS ALARMED AT PACE OF 2011 MELT
S
cientists at the National Snow sea surge could put some coastal towns in and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) danger, particularly in the event of a waterstudy the levels of Arctic ice and borne natural disaster like a typhoon. The melting ice does present opportusnow each year to measure the fluctuations of the ice cap. And nities for shipping and oil companies. But this year, they found the level of ice in the environmental groups are quick to point Arctic shrank to its second-lowest level out that drilling for oil in the Arctic is an ever, just under the record low levels of extremely risky endeavor—the environment is very fragile and any spill would freeze found in 2007. However, observers at the NSIDC said likely be much more catastrophic than a 2011’s figures may be more alarming spill elsewhere in the world. While the decreasing Arctic ice levels because weather patterns were normal—as opposed to the odd weather in 2007 that might not affect humans in the immediate future, experts are already beginning to may have sped melting. Part of the melting may have to do with see the stunning impact of the ecosystem the fact that the summer (June-August) changes on Arctic wildlife. Walruses have lost much of their hunting and was the seventh warmest summer resting area, leading to starvaon record (since records started tion and lesser survival rates for being kept in 1880). And though the cold winter. And polar bears the Arctic ice levels might not have seen much of their ecosyschange worldwide sea levels, some tem literally melt away over the scientists worry the loss of an ice WATCH: last few years. Activists are pushcap might lead to glaciers meltThe saddest video ing for both species to be added ing into the sea. If that happened, of a polar bear many researchers fear a global you will ever see. to endangered animal lists.
A new survey from the Public Religion Research Institute sheds some light on the current attitudes of Americans toward climate change. By political breakdown, 81% of Democrats and 70% of Independents believe the Earth is getting warmer, compared with 49% of Republicans and 41% of Tea Party adherents. Sixty percent of Democrats believe global warming is because of human activity, while only 18% of Republicans attribute warming to human involvement. Here’s the breakdown by religious affiliation: Strong majorities of every religious group say the average temperature on Earth has been getting warmer:
CATHOLICS AND THE UNAFFILIATED
70% WHITE MAINLINE PROTESTANTS
63% WHITE EVANGELICALS
57% White evangelicals are significantly less likely to believe the Earth is getting warmer and that changes are caused by human activity:
WHITE EVANGELICALS
31% WHITE MAINLINE PROTESTANTS
43% CATHOLICS
50% UNAFFILIATED
52%
MEXICAN COURTS UPHOLD RIGHTS OF UNBORN
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31 of Mexico’s states have enacted right-to-life amendments that severely restrict abortions and/or stipulate life begins at conception. However, abortions during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy are allowed in Mexico City, and many women’s rights activists fear women will travel from other states to the capital for legal abortions.
RELEVANTMAGAZINE.COM
Abortion is not a hot-button political issue only in the United States. Recently, Mexico’s Supreme Court upheld an amendment to Baja California’s state constitution that specifies life begins at conception. The Mexican Supreme Court has deemed abortion rights to be a state issue and not a federal one. At this time,
2012
FEBRUARY 15-17
FELLOWSHIP CHURCH DALLAS/ FT. WORTH, TX
HOSTED BY:
ED YOUNG
FELLOWSHIP CHURCH
CARL LENTZ
HILLSONG NEW YORK
STEVEN FURTICK ELEVATION CHURCH
STEVE KELLY WAVE CHURCH
LEE STROBEL
JUDAH SMITH
RENOWNED AUTHOR
THE CITY CHURCH
ALSO FEATURING:
KEVIN GERALD | AT BOSHOFF | STOVALL WEEMS | TERRY CRIST | LEO BIGGER BUDDY CREMEANS | PEDRO GARCIA | WILLIE GEORGE | DAVE MARTIN
C3CONFERENCE.COM
@C3 2012
[SLICES]
CULTURE
Q&A
BY CARL KOZLOWSKI
MARY J. BLIGE AN INFLUENTIAL VOICE and R&B pioneer for 20 years now, nine-time Grammy Award winner and multi-platinum artist Mary J. Blige’s most recent project put her uncharacteristically behind the scenes. As the primary songwriter for this summer’s hit The Help, Blige found much in her background and American history to inspire her work for this challenging film.
WHAT MADE YOU WANT TO BE A PART OF THE HELP? “I had an aunt who was a maid. She worked for a wealthy white family that loved her to death— like, really loved her—and she raised their children just like Aibileen [the central maid in the film] would. [To say] to the little girl, ‘You’re smart, you’re kind, you’re important.’ Aibileen’s a survivor. The only way she was gonna survive was through walking in love and forgiveness, and that’s the only way I [have] survived.”
MARY J. BLIGE ALSO SINGS
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“Yeah, you definitely have to. It’s important to see how far we’ve come, and it’s also important to see the courage we had to have. Someone had to have the courage to say, ‘I’m gonna talk to save us all.’ Someone has to stand up and break the curse or the cycle or whatever it is so we can all have what we’re supposed to have in life.”
SO YOU FELT A PARTICULAR CONNECTION TO AIBILEEN? “When I saw the film I cried so much. I got angry. I went through so many different emotions, but the thing that stood out to me the most is the courage this woman had. Just based on that alone is what made me say, ‘I’m in.’ But she was like, ‘I’m gonna stand.’ You gotta stand up and have the courage. That woman’s gonna go down in history books.”
WHAT ARE ISSUES TODAY YOU’D LIKE TO SEE PEOPLE STAND UP FOR THE WAY THE WOMEN IN THIS FILM DID?
THE RACISM DEPICTED IN THE MOVIE FEELS SO OUTRAGEOUS AND BLATANTLY WRONG NOW, BUT OF COURSE, RACISM STILL DOES EXIST ... “I mean, it’s not as bad as it was, [but there’s] a lot of it still, you know. It’s a lot of back doors, and you can’t get the cover of a magazine because your skin is too dark. Learn this as a part of your history, so in case you run into it, you know what not to do. Because in this film you learn instead of getting angry and getting emotional, [Aibileen] walked off and forgave them.”
WHAT’S THE 411? (Uptown, 1992) R&B, as produced by Diddy.
“Women and children are suffering greatly, and if people would get together, things could change. But no one wants to—no one has. People are scared because their jobs are like walking on tightropes. It’s hard right now, and people are compromising because they want a paycheck, and I understand that. [People have ] family to feed, but who’s gonna be the sacrificial lamb? Somebody’s gotta do it.”
NO MORE DRAMA (MCA, 2001) Blige sings of her newly clean life.
THE BREAKTHROUGH (Geffen, 2005) This album features Jay-Z and U2.
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YOU MAY HAVE HEARD:
IS IT APPROPRIATE TO DEPICT SUCH A PAINFUL AND INSULTING HISTORY AS “ENTERTAINMENT”?
WORSHIP BECOMES A CONCEPT WHY CONCEPT ALBUMS COULD SAVE WORSHIP MUSIC BY MICHAEL GUNGOR
arlier this fall, Gungor released their new album, Ghosts Upon the Earth. While technically a worship album, it’s not like any worship album you’ve ever heard. Here, frontman Michael Gungor gives some insight into the process of creating a concept album, and what “worship” music means to them.
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The primary building blocks for a musical artist’s career are the songs he or she is known for singing. As an artist, if you don’t eventually have at least one song really connect with a larger audience, it’s going to be very difficult to have a lasting career in music. The result is that most
records today become about swinging in the service up to that point. It’s all for the home run song. Albums have about the hits. I don’t think most Christians today largely become collections of eight to 15 of the best snippets of musical ideas give much thought to the overarchthe artist or label can come up with. ing stories that form not only what we These short musical ideas or songs may claim to believe but how we live in the or may not have any connection to the world. So, we wanted to try to be more rest of the work in the album. Most intentional about the larger context modern albums, then, have become of the individual songs. We wanted to more like a series of journal entries move away from the more typical pop Christian method of trying to create than a single narrative or story. The exception is the concept album. the best short, inspirational sound bites A concept album is an album where we could, and instead try to create an all of the music is connected by some experience that immersed the listener overarching theme. In the last cen- into a cohesive narrative of some kind. We began the album with a musitury of music-making, artists ranging from Woody Guthrie to the Beatles to cal interpretation of the creation of the Coldplay have written concept albums. universe. We moved through songs This can be a challenging and risky recognizing the beauty of life and the undertaking as a musician, because created order. Then in the fourth song, the songs you must pick for the album things take a turn at “The Fall.” We all aren’t simply the best songs you’ve experience the wonder of creation at written, but the best songs you’ve writ- times, with all of its exquisite tastes, ten that fit into the concept. This is sort sounds and colors. But we also all of like not simply wearing your best experience the pain of a creation tinged suit to the prom but your best red suit. with entropy, poverty and death. Who In a highly difficult time for the music among us who has experienced the industry, it’s no wonder most artists goodness of the Creator hasn’t also leave concept albums to the more ide- experienced a feeling of His absence? This carries us into songs expressing alistic or eccentric. I knew from the start I wanted Ghosts hope for redemption and resurrection, Upon the Earth to be a concept album, as well as healing from the jadedness but I wasn’t sure exactly what the con- our fallen nature leads us into. Humans cept would be. I’m not sure why I was are a ghostly comparison to the real so set to make a concept album. I guess humanity we could be. We are like a there was just something attractive bride who has turned from her love to me about trying to make an inten- and prostituted herself to the world. It tionally cohesive work rather than fre- is only in our reuniting with our first netically swinging for the fences with love that our eyes are opened again to random songs. Also, with the nature of the gift of life and the beauty of everyour music often being somewhat litur- thing around us that is filled with the gical or spiritual in nature, I liked the very glory of God. It is in this beholding that the beauty of the idea of moving the listener bride is restored to her, through a longer meditative and the ghosts upon the or worshipful experience earth are able to become than just in three- to fivemore alive. minute intervals. It’s a strange time It would be naive to think in both the music our liturgy has not been MICHAEL GUNGOR and his industry and Western affected by today’s culture wife, Lisa, started Christendom. Both are of pop music singles. Our Gungor. They also dying to their current church services can become lead worship at Bloom, a church forms in some pretty real disconnected from a consisthey helped plant ways. Regardless of what tent story. Planning the worin Denver. happens to the strucship service often becomes WATCH: tures of either, though, about finding the best four or there are things I am sure five worship singles that will will remain in the ashes. keep people engaged, and Honesty. Art. And certhen a sermon is given that is tainly love. separate from anything done
[STATEMENTS]
PULSE Examining Culture and Faith
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WHY CHRISTMAS MATTERS IF CHRISTMAS IS TRUE, THEN IT MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE BY TIMOTHY J. KELLER
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e sing it every year in our Christmas carols, especially in “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” when we cry out: “Veiled in flesh, the Godhead see; hail the incarnate Deity.” The Apostles’ Creed doesn’t use it, but it teaches the doctrine of it when we read, “conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary.” Incarnation. If you understand the word incarnation, you’ll understand what Christmas is about. Christmas is frankly doctrinal. The invisible has become visible, the incorporeal has become corporeal. In other words, God has become human. This is not only a specific doctrine, but it’s also unique. Doctrine always
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distinguishes you. One of the reasons us blessing. The Gospel is that Jesus we’re afraid to talk about doctrine is Christ came to earth, lived the life we because it distinguishes us from others. should have lived and died the death we Here’s why the doctrine of Christmas should have died, so when we believe is unique. On one hand, you’ve got reli- in Him we live a life of grateful joy for gions that say God is so immanent in Him. If these things didn’t happen, if all things that incarnation is normal. they’re just parables, what you are sayIf you’re a Buddhist or Hindu, God is ing is that if you try hard enough, God immanent in everything. On the other will accept you. If Jesus didn’t come, the story of hand, religions like Islam and Judaism say God is so transcendent over all Christmas is one more moral paradigm to crush you. If Jesus didn’t come, things that incarnation is impossible. But Christianity is unique. It doesn’t I wouldn’t want to be anywhere around say incarnation is normal, but it doesn’t these Christmas stories that say we say it’s impossible. It says God is so need to be sacrificing, we need to be immanent that it is possible, but He is humble, we need to be loving. All that so transcendent that the incarnation will do is crush you into the ground, of God in the person of Jesus Christ is because if it isn’t true that John saw a history-altering, life-transforming, Him, heard Him, felt Him, that Jesus really came to do these things, then paradigm-shattering event. Christmas is not just frankly doctri- Christmas is depressing. First John 1:3 says, “Our fellowship nal; it’s also boldly historical. The manger, the resurrection, the story of Jesus is with the Father and with his Son.” “Fellowship” means that if Jesus Christ is not just a story. It’s true. This goes completely against what has come, if Christmas is true, then the average person believes. The aver- we’ve got a basis for a personal relaage person says they’re parables. tionship with God. God is no longer a remote idea or just a force we cower They’re legends. They didn’t happen. The point of Christmas is that Jesus before, but we can know Him personChrist really lived, and He really died. ally. He’s become graspable. If Jesus Christ is actually God come It happened in history. He did these in the flesh, you’re going to know much things. He said these things. You may think: What’s the big deal? more about God. You’re seeing Him You’re being doctrinaire here. No. weep. You’re seeing Him upset. You’re People say: “I like the teachings of seeing Him cast down. You’re seeing Jesus. I like the meaning of these sto- Him exalted. If Jesus is who He says He ries—to love one another, serve one is, we have a 500-page autobiography another. I like that. But it doesn’t mat- from God, in a sense. And our underter if these things really happened. standing will be vastly more personal Doctrine doesn’t matter. What matters and specific than any philosophy or religion could give us. is you’re a good person.” Look at what God has done to get The great irony is, that is a doctrine: it’s called the doctrine of justification you to know Him personally. If the Son by works. What they’re saying is that it would come all this way to become a real doesn’t matter that Jesus actually lived person to you, don’t you think the Holy the life we should have lived and died Spirit will do anything in His power to the death we should have died; all that make Jesus a real person to you in your heart? Christmas is an invitation to matters is we follow His teaching. know Christ personally. That is a doctrine that Christmas is an invitasays: “I’m not so bad I need tion by God to say: Look someone to come and be what I’ve done to come good for me. I can be good. near to you. Now draw I’m not so cut off from God near to me. I don’t want and God is not so holy that to be a concept; I want to there has to be punishment TIMOTHY J. be a friend. for sin.” KELLER is the pastor The Gospel is not that of Redeemer Adapted from a 1999 Jesus Christ comes to earth, Presbyterian sermon. Used by tells us how to live, we live a Church in New permission. All rights York City. reserved. good life and then God owes
[STATEMENTS]
WORLDVIEW Gaining Perspective
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more organic elements, live instrumentation and fascination with spirituality. “I guess I’m just constrange compositional techniques. I think defi- tinually searching for my own spirituality in many nitely it was buried in there from when I was about ways,” he says. 9 years old, and it’s all coming out now.” “I think maybe the fact I went to a Catholic high As for the R&B notes? Well, it’s because Grossi is school, and before that I didn’t have any experience still finding his voice—and he wants to write about with religion. I always had kind of a curiosity for real emotions. “I think for me, some of it. I’m fascinated by the idea of there the stuff came out vocally more R&B being something else, just like everybecause I’ve started to explore my own one else is. I try to explore that realm.” vocal expression just like anything Grossi says he’s inspired by varielse,” he says. ous types of spiritual music. “I’m very “I think that’s kind of always been intrigued in the style of music that is WEBSITE: the basis for a lot of soul music—love associated with a lot of different reliactivechildmusic.com lost, or falling in love, or feeling heartgions as far as meditative music, monks FOR FANS OF: broken, or all these different sentiand stuff like that. I’m kind of tied into How to Dress Well, School of Seven Bells, ments. These are real emotions I’m that same spiritual realm. I feel most Antlers pouring out, not just some fabricated inspired by my own music when I’m in LISTEN: storyline.” that realm—like a confessional where Another thing you might notice I can get into a loop of sounds and I about Active Child is the use of can get lost in it a little bit. I guess it’s church imagery throughout his music. my own sort of Sunday church experiThat’s because Grossi has an admitted ence.” —RYAN HAMM
RICKY CHAPMAN
RELEVANTMAGAZINE.COM
Trying to describe Active Child to a new listener presents quite a challenge. The Pat Grossi project combines the emotional drama of R&B with the reverent synths of Washed Out and the soaring eeriness of a fully classical choral ensemble. An unexpected mix, to be sure, made even more interesting when you find out Grossi also used to be a choirboy. “I think initially I was much more into this exploration of electronics and synths,” Grossi says, “and I’m still there, but I think I’m slowly moving into a kind of classical influence with
F OR F REE NE W MU S IC E V ER Y W EEK , C HEC K OU T T HE DR OP AT REL E VA N T M A G A ZINE .C OM
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THE DROP Emerging Artists You Need to Know
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industry veterans Cockrell, Tyler Burkum (guitar), seeking out what its sound will become, all while Jeremy Lutito (drums) and Mike Simons (bass) Cockrell explores lyrical themes of relationships decided to take a chance on one another. “[There and redemption. “Every song is a worship song,” he have been] a lot of small cliffs we’ve jumped off and says. “A conversation with the Creator.” Despite the experimentation, each of LEAGUES’ some bigger ones. … That’s kind of how LEAGUES came into being,” Cockrell says. From the first time songs are high-spirited and singalong-able.“We all want to make music that’s bigger than the four got together in the same room, ourselves, that picks you up from wherCockrell says it “felt like something tryever you’re at and gives you lift—even ing to become—a sound trying to get if it’s just for a moment,” Cockrell says. fleshed out—and we started writing “The only way that happens for a lissongs immediately. I’ve never experitener is if it happens for us.” enced anything like the music these WEBSITE: And while playing with a full band guys put out onstage. … It continually leaguesmusic.com has expanded Cockrell’s sonic options, captures my imagination.” Cockrell FOR FANS OF: the singer is clear this new venture believes the songs born during the Mat Kearney, Fiction “is not people playing Thad Cockrell LEAGUES sessions are the “best [that] Family, Needtobreathe songs.” For the members of LEAGUES, have been given to me.” LISTEN: this new leg of their musical journey is In many ways, LEAGUES’ music about what can be accomplished when is a prism—refracting different verfour artists aspire to a sound bigger sions of Cockrell’s voice, the players’ than merely the sum of their individual instrumentation and musical atmoparts. —AUSTIN SAILSBURY spheres. You can almost hear the band
TEC PETAJA
RELEVANTMAGAZINE.COM
For the last decade, LEAGUES frontman Thad Cockrell musically flew solo. Except for brief stints of collaboration, Cockrell crafted his thoughtful, alt-country singer/songwriter sound by himself. But in 2010, weary of writing—as he calls them— “songs about me,” and ready to hang up music altogether, Cockrell’s creative journey took an unexpected turn into new territory—full band rock ’n’ roll. Through a series of seemingly happenstance meetings that later led to secret jam sessions, LEAGUES was formed when
[THE DROP]
THE DROP Emerging Artists You Need to Know
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Anything is bound to become customary when sounds incredibly dramatic—it feels kind of like you’ve been doing it for 15 years, which is how long an extension of who I am,” she laughs. “I’ll lose Jaffe (who’s only 25) has been making music. Born myself in it sometimes.” A sense of freedom is apparent on Jaffe’s new into a family of musicians and music lovers, some of her earliest memories revolve around singing in album, The Way Sound Leaves a Room, which the church choir with her mother. After brief and was released in September as a CD/DVD combo. unsuccessful stints with other instruments, Jaffe’s The track list varies from ethereal, provoking new material to covers of Drake’s “Shut It mother bought her a guitar, and she Down” and “Louder Than Ever” by discovered liberation in writing lyrics. Cold War Kids—an eclectic mix, to “[Writing] just kind of clicked, say the least. The entire album reflects because it was this joyous feeling I Jaffe’s desire to convey transparent got—a relief, kind of,” Jaffe recalls. “It vulnerability. was just a nice thing to have in my life, WEBSITE: “My gut feeling is I never want to try and I remember really loving it.” SarahJaffe.com to push it; I don’t want to try and forceAs an adult she draws on many FOR FANS OF: write a song or anything like that. I just of her original songs for inspiration. William Fitzsimmons, want it to be natural. It’s a bit more difThere was a time when Jaffe was perKathleen Edwards, Brandi Carlile ficult lately, but I’m trying not to freak forming in places she wasn’t even old out about it,” she says. “For as long as I enough to enter, and while that may LISTEN: can remember I just really had a desire have changed in the last decade and to [be a musician] and play an instrua half, the sense of freedom she feels ment. Music was always the main from music has done anything but. thing I wanted to do. There was never “When I’m performing I’ll forget anything else.” —HEATHER MEIKLE where I am. It feels like—and this
CHRIS PHELPS
RELEVANTMAGAZINE.COM
Every artist talks about the creative process as a journey, and often as a struggle. For singersongwriter Sarah Jaffe, those are anything but empty words. “There will just be spurts of periods of time—longer sometimes—where I have trouble writing and finding inspiration,” Jaffe says. “When I was in high school there was such a newness [about writing music]. There was something that was just not very familiar. I think now it can be sometimes too familiar to sit down with a guitar and try to write.”
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On the Front Lines
LUANNE DIETZ
GIFT CARD GIVER
How one organization is working to meet the needs of people and nonprofits around the country—68 cents at a time.
“C
ard me!” It’s not the typical welcome you’d expect to hear at a house party. But at a Gift Card Giver house party, it’s the greeting everyone gets when they walk through the door. Gift Card Giver started when four friends had the idea to collect used and unused gift cards from their friends at a party and redistribute them to people in need. At their first event they walked away with $50, and in the five years since, that number has ballooned to more than $130,000 in
34 / RELEVANT_NOV/DEC 11
TAKE ACTION
Visit Gift Card Giver’s website to find out where to send your gift cards or for more information on hosting a house party.
Twitter: @giftcardgiver Web: GiftCardGiver.com
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Watch A video of one of Gift Card Giver’s projects.
gift cards given to people in need. The concept is simple: Many people have half-used gift cards with small, leftover amounts they’ll probably never spend—a staggering $8 billion goes unused on gift cards in America each year. Gift Card Giver collects those cards and repurposes them. Starbucks gift cards can purchase coffee and pastries for a homeless shelter; 100 Target gift cards under $1 can afford a single mother groceries for a week; even Victoria’s Secret cards can
be a benefit, giving disadvantaged children the opportunity to buy their mothers lotion or perfume for Mother’s Day. “When we first started, it was in a down economy,” says Gift Card Giver founder Jeff Shinabarger. “A lot of nonprofits were asking, ‘How do you fundraise when no one is giving right now?’ It’s not that people don’t want to give in down times, it’s just that they need creative ways to give. We have this premise that out of our excess, we can address the issues of need and suffering.” Gift Card Giver asks people to use as much of a new gift card as they want (or send a full card), write how much is left on the card with a permanent marker and place the card in an envelope to be sent to Atlanta for distribution. Once the card arrives it’s sorted, combined and given toward a project, person or organization that can best use the card for a significant and specific need. Shinabarger says that even when a use for a group of cards isn’t immediately obvious, a purpose always presents itself. “We got all these phone cards in the mail one time. There was an organization in Kansas City that had just rescued 40 children from a sex trafficking situation. I remember I got a call saying: ‘Hey, do you have any phone cards? We want to reunite these kids with their parents all over the world.’ We were able to respond the next day. They got the phone cards and they started making calls to their parents. That was one of the most humbling stories to ever be a part of.” December and January are a busy time for the organization as people sort through their holiday presents. Many people find themselves either with cards they will never use or with used cards that hold a seemingly insignificant balance. “We have these gift card parties where everyone gets ‘carded at the door.’ People do the parties and on average get $10 a head. So if you get 20 people there, you’re going to raise about $200,” Shinabarger says. “You could tell someone that’s 16 years old or 65 years old—they all have [gift cards]. The idea clicks with people so fast, and they just want to contribute. When it really comes down to it, we have the opportunity to help some people who are really in great need at the most important time in their lives. That’s a pretty priceless thing to be a part of.”
[SPOTLIGHT]
REJECT APATHY
[SPOTLIGHT]
REJECT IN THEIRAPATHY WORDS lorem Innovators ipsum Making d a Difference
LINNEA GABRIELLA SPRANSY An award-winning painter and leader of the artist community at the Boiler Room in Kansas City, Mo., Linnea Gabriella Spransy has her M.F.A. from Yale and has had exhibitions from Brooklyn to China. Here, she talks about her inspirations, why she finds structure and chaos equally fascinating and how she (re)marries science to theology. THE ODD COUPLE
“I’m working with a native interest I have in science and theology as outlets of truth in our culture. I attempt to marry the two, though I don’t think they ever should have been divorced. The subject of my work is exploring the nature of free will. I do a certain amount of predestination in my paintings. I devise systems that are similar to fractal systems and lay out an entire schedule for the painting—a kind of choreography.”
ORDER FROM CHAOS
“I use chaos as well, where I orchestrate these windows of destruction and then rebuild from what remains. I’m in a place as an artist where I force myself to experience surprise in the midst of certainty. The end result always surprises me, even after 10 years of working in this way. That’s essentially, I think, why a God who’s all-knowing is never bored.”
THE INGENUITY OF GOD
RACHEL WEGNER
Watch A time-lapse behindthe-scenes video.
LINNEA’S WORK
“The way life behaves and the way plants grow are incredibly interesting to me. The ways human beings behave and possibility of healing is also inspiring to me. I am continually staggered by the ingenuity of God in the world around us.”
WHY CREATING IS LIKE FAITH
“Being an artist is, in and of itself, an incredible parable for having faith. You’re in this
WHY I LIVE IN COMMUNITY
“I’ve chosen to live in community and live simply. That makes a lot of space for me in the practical spheres of my life. Christian faith is incredibly helpful in making space for an artist’s lifestyle, because it really emphasizes simplicity and turning away from the clamor of the world.”
A HEALTHY INVASION
“Artists have certain predictable character flaws that come with their gift. Because we tend to be introverts, one of them can be extreme inwardness and selfishness. Part of it is a gift and part of it is just a sin. Community can be a healthy invasion of other people’s lives into our little kingdoms.”
YOU CAN’T HIDE
“Community puts us in a place where we can’t hide our worst and our best, and so there’s incredible opportunity for discipleship. In community that is caring and healthy, an artist brings not only beauty and inspiration but also powerful observational skills and spiritual awareness. We can become a source of joy, blessing and the voice of God in other people’s lives.”
Linnea Spransy’s paintings can be viewed in galleries around the world, but you can also see all her work at LinneaGabriella.com. “Everything, Everywhere, All the Time” —2009, acrylic on canvas
“Frenetic Sequence” —2011, acrylic on canvas
RELEVANTMAGAZINE.COM
“Planck’s Mechanical Gut/G.U.T.” (detail) —2011, acrylic on canvas
36 / RELEVANT_NOV/DEC 11
position where you have to step into the unknown without hesitancy, with all of your resources and with every intention of seeing it through, and you know it may be disastrous.”
BY DAVID ROARK
J
SPE INC. / ERIC CHARBONNEAU
38 / RELEVANT_NOV/DEC 11
ONAH HILL HAS LONG been a staple in popular comedies. From Superbad and Knocked Up to Funny People, Hill has gained acclaim in these funny-yetraunchy films. But recently, he’s expanded his repertoire to include dramatic roles in Cyrus and Moneyball, the latter of which is garnering him award buzz for the first time in his career. We sat down with Hill to discuss Moneyball, why he’s choosing more grown-up roles and how he avoids becoming cynical.
Q A
You’ve done two dramatic roles in the last year. Is there more intentionality to how you’re shaping your career now?
Yeah, I’m intentionally doing movies that are diversifying who I am. I think it’s easy to put someone in a box. My first big intro into the world was Superbad, and it really made a big splash when it came out. From then on, I’ve been regarded as that character, and that’s who I am [to people]. That’s not who I am. It wasn’t even who I was when I made that movie. It was more ripping on people I knew when I was 16 or 17 years old. But I’ve grown up in front of everybody, and I’m just hoping people are going to allow me to. I have matured, and I want to make dramas and comedies. So yeah, I’m making an intentional effort to do both.
Q A
Do you have any specific film goals or directors you’d like to work with in the future?
It’s the usual suspects—the ones you would obviously pick: Martin Scorsese, Paul Thomas Anderson, Spike Jonze, David O. Russell, Quentin Tarantino. Their films are just original. When I got involved with Judd Apatow and all those guys, I was really young and lucky. But I felt like what we did with those movies was really punk-rock and different. Comedies weren’t like the ones we were making. [Ours] were more emotional and grounded in humanity. I felt at that time what we were doing was really different and interesting. But now that we’ve made a lot of them and everyone’s copied them so much, they’re no longer different. It’s now become like the norm. So for me, it’s like: “Alright, done that. Cool.” I’ve always loved comedy and still want to make comedies, but I’m just trying to do something different.
Q A
You and Brad Pitt developed a camaraderie in making Moneyball. What was that like? It was amazing. It’s a once-in-alifetime opportunity for an actor to star alongside Brad Pitt and
Philip Seymour Hoffman in a movie written by Aaron Sorkin and Steve Zaillian and directed by Bennett Miller. The whole thing has and did feel like a dream. And then on top of that, you have [a] big brother-, little brother-type relationship with Brad Pitt. It’s intimidating because I didn’t know him. I only knew him as one of the most iconic stars in the world. We didn’t know each other, and we had to get to know each other for the film. We just ended up really liking each other. I really admire him. I really think there’s not an ounce of pretense or anything other than genuine intelligence in him. He’s just a true gentleman. He’s funny. He’s fun to be around. I tend to be an easygoing guy to be around, and I like to have fun, so we just ended up getting to know each other. And he [gave] me a lot of advice that [has] been really helpful. I am incredibly humbled by this whole experience.
Q A
How were you able to translate a seemingly boring story into something compelling?
Moneyball on paper is about baseball statistics, and unless you’re a sports writer or someone in the sports world, that sounds like a really boring film. The truth is, it’s not. It’s moving and intense and funny and sad and honest. The filmmakers used baseball as a beautiful aesthetic backdrop to tell a really moving story about underdogs and value, specifically being undervalued. There’s a real punk-rock attitude about two guys saying the world is round when everyone is saying the world is flat. To me, that’s a brave thing to attempt to do.
Q A
This is a drama, but your character still gets plenty of laughs. Did you feel like the comic foil?
My character gets lots of laughs, but Brad’s character gets laughs [too]. I think in no way is my character the comic foil. He gets laughs based on pure character and fish-out-ofwater elements of the movie. He is someone who has always blended into the wall and now has the light being shined on him. It’s far more moving than comedic to me, that he is now power-driven for the first time in his life. He, at 24 years old, is made the assistant GM of the Oakland A’s. That, to me, is beautiful and inspiring. The laughs
my character gets are so different than laughs I’ve ever gotten in a movie.
Q A
This movie breaks the sports movie formula and ends in an unconventional manner. Was that an intentional effort?
That’s all Bennett Miller. [He] is an unconventional filmmaker in the greatest possible way. Combined with what actually happened is amazing. After the 20th [straight win], Billy [Beane] was offered to be the highest paid GM in professional sports ... but he made decisions [because of] money that he’d never make again. That, to me, is the real story. It’s not about how many he won. It’s about what happened to the people who took this courageous leap.
Q A
Moneyball has not only connected with adults but also with kids. Why do you think that is?
To me, it’s a movie I would have loved to have seen with my dad. It’s a moving movie. In my generation especially, everyone is really, really cynical and jaded. Like, nothing is cool. Everyone just tweets: “This sucks.” “That sucks.” “Everything sucks.” Kids aren’t jaded. They’re excited by things. They take joy out of little things. To me, that’s infectious to be around, and it makes me happy.
Q A
Are you a bigger baseball fan now after playing a part of this story?
I fell back in love with it. When you’re shooting in the Oakland Coliseum, you feel like a little kid—like when you played in Little League. That’s why people have such a fond love of baseball—it’s nostalgic. It’s nostalgic from when you were carefree and hanging out with your friends and just having a good time. Those feelings rushed back to me, and every time I watch the movie, they rush back. As Brad says in the movie: How could you not be romantic about baseball?
Watch The trailer for Moneyball, starring Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill, written by Aaron Sorkin and directed by Bennett Miller.
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CAN YOU BE BOTH RADICAL AND RESPONSIBLE?
BY ADAM AND CHRISSY JESKE
ou swore you’d always swing a battle-ax at the status quo. You would work tirelessly for justice as a radically faithful peacemaker inspiring revolutionary change. You would volunteer every vacation day, bike to work in snowstorms and heat waves to prevent greenhouse emissions, and stay awake until 2 a.m. dreaming up worldchanging plans with your friends. You would regularly 40 / RELEVANT_NOV/DEC 11
sleep on the streets with the homeless or sit in mud huts with those living in abject poverty. You would never spend more than $100 on a couch or $10 on a shirt, never work a lame job just to get a paycheck, never treat church as just a place to show up and feel good. You would never spend your life keeping up with the Joneses. So what do you do when one day you wake up and discover you have become the Joneses?
NICARAGUA TO ... HOMEOWNERS?
We feel your pain. We live in that tension. As undergrads a decade ago, we were on the leading edge of the justiceminded evangelical wave. We were misfits and proud of it. We fasted at a ministry-hosted banquet in protest of what we deemed a misuse of funds. We were voted “Most Likely to Give Away Their Last Dollar.” We started a group called The Revolution (and this was pre-Claiborne). We led a book club on Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger. We sponsored children overseas. We offended a friend by questioning how much he spent on hair gel. We graduated and put our scant money where our mouth was. We moved to Nicaragua, in search of what Jesus meant in Luke when He said, “Blessed are the poor.” We lived in poverty with no power, no safe drinking water, no transport, no cell phones, no health insurance and no hospitals within five hours. After a year back in the United States as live-in caregivers for an elderly man, we moved to China for two years. We had two children. We refused to buy fancy strollers and changing tables, and instead carried the kids with us on our next move, to South Africa. It might sound like we were living the radical justice-lovers’ dream. Already, though, the realities of new life stages had crept in. We struggled with the attention our blond infant received surrounded by the 3 million Chinese residents in the city where we lived. We ruled out jobs in parts of Africa with landmines, coup threats, constant temperatures in the triple digits or where English wasn’t spoken. In South Africa, we lived in constant tension: richer than neighbors without electricity or cars but poor enough to qualify for welfare when we came back to the U.S. There were constant robberies in our neighborhood, but we had a guard outside our apartment gate. Were we wise parents looking for effective ministry ... or has-beens going soft? And now, for the first time in our lives, we own a house. We moved back to the U.S. in late 2009, took 9-to-5 jobs, put our kids in school, and acquired two cars, a motorcycle, four bicycles and a half-dozen monthly bills.
We sold the wet-dog-scented pleather recliner we got for free. We bought big plastic shelves and big plastic tubs to store our big plastic stuff. With every step up comes pressure to move up faster. We look around at peers coming home from cruise vacations to new Pottery Barn furniture in their five-bedroom homes, but they’re nice people, and who are we to judge their lives? We may still have a kitchen table with six different chairs, unframed wall hangings and a 1995 Ford Escort with more than 200,000 miles and rust-rimmed wheel wells, but these things don’t make us holier people. Like most of our peers, we struggle to find time to volunteer, and we hardly have any friends of different ethnic or economic backgrounds. We send some money to nice organizations and then go buy ourselves an iPhone.
hours a week, 10 gallons of water, deadly herbicides and a gallon of gas every week just maintaining their lawn?” What you didn't say is what you were really thinking: “I’m better than them.” Maybe these views stemmed from good principles, but if you’re anything like us, you’re probably also stained with your own ignorance and self-righteousness. Jesus said a whole lot about money, generosity and pouring out your life for the Kingdom of God. He challenged and even offended a lot of people. But He also said, “Do not judge.” Not only is judging unbecoming of our own hearts, it won’t inspire anybody else to change. It’s hard to play a positive role in the repositioning of someone’s perspective. Those shifts don’t happen more than a few times a lifetime for most people. It usually starts when a good friend takes time to listen while a person processes the particular questions arising in his or her own life. So if somebody’s choices irk you, start by hearing why they’ve made those choices. You may have doctors, engineers and business leaders in your friend group, but they won’t be your friends for long if you
LET OTHER PEOPLE MAKE THEIR OWN CHOICES, BUT LOOK CLOSELY AT YOUR OWN, TOO. Like it or not, life carries you along into new phases. You will face new realities, new opportunities, new responsibilities. Some radical stances are only tenable while a student, single or before kids, but that doesn’t mean new radical stances don’t come along. They just look different. For every new stage, you face new tough choices. You have to constantly re-wrestle and revise your values and commitments because fervor and conviction can so easily fade away in the face of a culture that does not support them.
NUDGING, NOT JUDGING
Maybe you’ve said: “I can’t believe he bought that. What a waste.” Or: “Vacation? Selfish. Retirement? Unbiblical.” Or, “How can they spend three
decide across the board they should quit their jobs, give everything away and volunteer somewhere. Chances are they already wrestle with how to spend the money they earn. Wrestle with them, in community, but don’t tell them what to do. If you want to talk about justice, meet them where they are and connect to what they relate to. Tell them what you believe, but not with a preachy tone that says they have to do the same. And listen to what they believe—you never know, you might have something to learn from them. Let other people make their own choices, but look closely at your own, too. When you make purchases, ask: “Why do I want this? Is it necessary? Is it beneficial? Is it how God would want me to spend His money?” Learn to examine your motives—are you doing something because it’s what everyone else does? Are you doing that thing to make other people respect and like you? Would the world be a better place if others followed your example? Are you being RELEVANTMAGAZINE.COM / 41
WATCH
Our short film on living simply and radically—but in a grown-up way
DON’T BE A LONE-RANGER RADICAL
extreme for the sake of being extreme, eliminating chances for ministry with neighbors because you’re a freak show?
ENJOY WHAT YOU HAVE
One of the first things we learned from people who really were poor (not the people born in middle class who were “trying out” poverty) is that it’s OK to enjoy what you’ve got. Sometimes we felt guilty when our Nicaraguan friends learned we grew up using washing machines instead of rocks to clean our clothes. Then we realized they didn’t want us to feel guilty; they wanted us to go home and appreciate our washing machine. Sometimes we were appalled at how very poor people spent money “irresponsibly” on frivolities like Coke and chips. Then we watched the smiling faces of the kids sharing their potato chips with buddies, heard the prayers of adults thanking God for another day and joined the parties where people feasted on their only iced drinks and meat in a month while dancing into the night. So we learned it’s alright to buy a Coke once in a while. Impoverished people don’t need us to be miserable. Most would want us to celebrate what we have. We need to develop a theology of pleasure and joy. God is a God of banquets and fine wine and the fattened calf. Jesus was called a glutton and a drunkard. There are Old Testament instructions for celebrating. It’s OK to admit we can’t get by without a basic level of comfort. We get sick and tired of the squeaky brakes, the drafty house, the slow laptop. We need to take care of ourselves in order to take care of others.
CRUSH THAT IDOL
On the other hand, taking care of ourselves doesn’t mean we need every comfort. The 42 / RELEVANT_NOV/DEC 11
$150 jeans, $300 headphones and $40,000 car should not be the norm in the name of “caring for ourselves.” We’re surrounded by enticing idols. What will you serve? Comfort and lounging on the couch with good beer and a gaming system? A beautiful, safe home with perfectly scented candles? The next step up in your career? Being recognized in your field? Getting a book published? Cute, talented children? None of these are wrong in themselves, but the question is whether they’re an end in themselves for you. Do you expect them to meet your deepest needs for happiness and security and meaning? Are they more expendable than the mission God’s got you here for? Our chief and end goal is to “glorify God and enjoy Him forever” (from The Westminster Shorter Catechism). You’ll need to do that through success and failure, getting what you want and losing it (often). “Worried” and “busy” are the key characteristics of our society. And a strange source of pride for many. If you’re not worried, not stressed, not busy, not complaining, you’re an anomaly ... and probably lazy. But being worried and too busy are not admirable qualities. Pursue peace in our stressed society by trusting God and seeking first His Kingdom and His righteousness.
In any transition, whether it’s leaving college or returning from a life-changing trip or taking your first “real” job, you’ll face pressure on your changing worldview. Holding on to convictions through transitions is hard, and frankly people only seem to make it when they cling tightly to others with the same commitments. There’s nothing sissy about admitting you need people. For most people in the U.S., community just isn’t going to come easy. We tend to live, work and worship far from one another. And so many people are content to drive home and eat and surf the net and watch Netflix alone. But we believe life happens better when we interact with people, closely. If you believe that, too, then you’ll have to go get it. There are intentional steps you can take. Live near work and worship near home. Organize neighborhood events. Lead smaller, higher intensity gatherings through church. Ask around and find out who else is interested in living more deeply together. And once you have some people gathered in this grand experiment of living differently together, remember the keys to keeping your commitments. Read widely on relevant topics. Press into the Scriptures. Talk with older believers you really respect. Learn from the global Church. Know God doesn’t want you to be anxious, so pray and release it and live life for Him. Go for radical generosity. Live your life and not others’. Seek to be appropriately countercultural. Dig out that WWJD? bracelet. (Just kidding ... but really.)
NORMAL RADICAL OR RADICAL NORMAL
Your new life phase might include moving back home, taking a full-time job, settling for something part-time and less-than-thrilling, breaking up, getting hitched, having kids, buying some new stuff, choosing a house in the burbs and/or living in the same place for 30 years. These could all suck you into an unexamined and dull, meaningless existence. But they don’t have to. The challenge is to live in the tension. It’s easy to slip into conformity, but it’s also easy to universally trash everything that lightly hints at conformity. And neither glorify God. The goal is not to be just another radical for the sake of being radical; it’s to figure out the tough choices you need to make even when life feels normal. It takes the courage and faith of a real radical to live in the tension, to commit to live justly but not carry unnecessary guilt, to root out naiveté and to nurture a solid faith for the long haul. ADAM AND CHRISSY JESKE have lived around the world and in Wisconsin. Chrissy is the author of Into the Mud (Moody).
MAN CHE S TER ORCH EST RA
M
FRONTMAN ANDY HULL TALKS SIMPLE MATH, COMPLICATED STORIES AND UNCOMFORTABLE HONESTY 44 / RELEVANT_NOV/DEC 11
BY LAURA STUDARUS
any artists claim to be hyper-authentic and honest. It’s why Bright Eyes has a career, why rap has gotten in touch with its feelings and why emo happened in the first place. But few match the sheer (and sometimes uncomfortable) honesty of Manchester Orchestra frontman Andy Hull. Perhaps that’s because authenticity in his music isn’t just a gimmick—it’s a necessity. “You have to write what you write,” Hull explains. “For me, it was never an issue of whether or not to write
Since Manchester Orchestra’s 2006 debut, I’m Like a Virgin Losing a Child, Hull has concerned himself with a Flannery O’Connor-meets-My Morning Jacket style of rock, twisting together hyper-confessional lyrical streams with good-ol’ fashioned Southern grit, and towering, cathartic guitars. With the recent release of the band’s newest album, Simple Math, Hull’s tendency to almost overshare is more visible than ever. He found himself exploring themes of struggle and redemption plucked from the pages of his life. “I think I’ve always been writing autobiographically,” he admits. “I just didn’t have very many experiences. So with the experiences I have, and the more experiences that come, I feel more able to talk about it from my point of view and having a foot to stand on. I’ve always wanted to write, and always have been writing, if not an entire song, then sections that are autobiographical.” Much of that autobiography has to do with Hull’s marriage. Married at 20, Hull and his wife experienced all the usual trials and tribulations of a young married couple, of finding themselves and each other—but they were amplified by Manchester Orchestra’s rising profile and increased touring. While Hull—now 24—politely declines to discuss specifics, much of that painful time of growth is documented in song. “I wish I loved you like I used to,” he cathartically yells in the blues stomper “Pale Black Eye,” his voice breaking. So what does Hull’s wife, Amy—who is called out by name in the song—think of the painful, embarrassingly personal lyrics? As it turns out, she encouraged Hull to get real. “I was writing about such intense stuff that, with my wife, I was like, ‘Amy, are you cool with really talking about this stuff?’ ” Hull recounts. “She was totally cool with it. We’re both proud we could really get through what most people aren’t able to get through at 20 and 21 years old, in our first year of marriage. [It’s] this awesome story my wife and I now have. She felt it was appropriate to share. I was stoked she allowed me to do that. She is a really, really cool girl.”
FINDING FAITH AND MORAL ABSOLUTES
RYAN RUSSELL
it—it’s an issue of whether or not to release it. There are definitely songs I haven’t released because they’d be really hurtful. I write as a form of therapy. You don’t want everybody reading everything in your journal. “I’m one who likes to talk about how I’m feeling all the time. Music is just another way for me to keep talking,” he laughs. “I’m definitely not introverted.”
But it’s not only relationships that get the full treatment of searing honesty from Hull. His faith goes under the microscope, too. “I have a relationship with God the same way I have a relationship with my family,” he says. “Writing about [belief] is the most intimate communication I can explain. I was raised in church and raised by a father and a grandfather who were both ministers. So it definitely affects even the knowledge of some stuff. I think a lot of the storytelling elements of it definitely inspired and shaped the way I write. Which is kinda cool.” Hull finds his beliefs easily separated from the idea of the Church (“Organized religion is kind of a weird thing depending on where you’re looking,” he laughs.) but finds his faith irrevocably intertwined with his musical output. Hull sees the band’s mission as storytelling—including, but not limited to, stories about faith—and not conversion. “For us, I don’t feel like I’m preaching,
necessarily. But I think performance is my way of talking about it. I guess some people’s way of talking about [it] would be church or something,” he says. While Hull’s candor regarding his personal struggles makes Simple Math a compelling listen, it’s the fearless illumination of his convictions that make it such an encouraging ride.
“MORAL ABSOLUTES ARE SOMETHING THAT IN THIS CULTURE ARE BECOMING LESS AND LESS DEFINED. I HAPPEN TO STILL BELIEVE IN THEM.” -ANDY HULL “Moral absolutes are something that in this culture are becoming less and less defined,” Hull says. “I happen to still believe in them. It’s not uncomfortable because it’s not like in the liner notes I explain everything I believe or whatever. But I do think people are going to decipher and interpret lyrics their own way. So if someone understands I’m talking about that, then that’s cool.” Perhaps nowhere is that idea of definitive right and wrong more evident than on Simple Math’s title track—a slowbuilding, string-filled meditation on a hypothetical affair, events capable of tearing a family apart, and the ideas of good and bad that define our lives. RELEVANTMAGAZINE.COM / 45
“It’s the concept of temptation,” Hull explains, acknowledging the power thoughts contain—even when not acted on. “Something that’s in all of us. It’s something every man has thought but doesn’t want to admit. Most of them don’t want to put it down on paper, much less put a melody to it. ... That if I decide to screw around on my wife, then that’s a truth I [gave up], of being faithful to her. So if I give up that one truth, then why not give up every other truth? If you’re going to do that, then what’s the reason for any of it? It’s sort of the questioning that if all this stuff I thought was right ends up being wrong, does that mean fidelity goes out the window with that?” The answer, as one might guess, is a resounding “no.” And despite leaving many of his songs open for interpretation, Hull is not afraid to highlight the consequences of his characters—and his own—dark deeds. “The lessons are the reasons that it matters, you know?” he says. “I’m definitely not afraid of it. Obviously, or I’d stop writing so intimately about it.”
COMMUNITY MUSIC
Manchester Orchestra somehow appeals to both literary hipsters and sweaty crowd-surfers alike. And this year the band has found themselves increasingly thrust into the limelight—nominated for two VMAs, and hitting the road with the likes of Blink 182 and My Chemical Romance in support of Simple Math. For Hull, the recognition of his work has been a long time coming. Originally conceived as a solo project while Hull was still in high school, Manchester Orchestra has since expanded to include Jonathan Corley (bass), Chris Freeman (keys), Robert McDowell (lead guitar) and Tim Very (percussion). It was a musical haven for the teen—who opted to finish his education via home school rather than suffer through the often tedious “typical” teenage experience. “[Music] was always something that made me feel different,” Hull says of his early instrumental experimentation. However burgeoning his musical talents may have been, finding inspiration was tricky. Coming from a staunchly evangelical household, many of the bands Hull would later come to reference—including Modest Mouse, Built to Spill, The Flaming Lips and Wilco— were strictly off limits. Hull likens it to a “forbidden fruit” scenario. “I wasn’t allowed to listen to everything I wanted to listen to,” he says with a hint of lingering teenage frustration. And if his parents had granted him free musical reign? “I don’t think I would have been amazed at [music’s] magic and mystery,” he says, laughing. Although sparked by an intensely personal journey, Hull has found collaborating with his band mates to flesh out the album’s material one of the easier parts of the process. “It’s actually been the easiest record 46 / RELEVANT_NOV/DEC 11
THE OTHER BAND The members of Manchester Orchestra have toured with Kevin Devine a lot. So they teamed up to make a band, Bad Books, which released a debut album in 2010: Bad Books Bad Books (Favorite Gentleman, 2010)
Watch Manchester Orchestra perform “Simple Math.”
we’ve ever written together,” he says. “We all have so much fun recording in the studio. I’m not a crazy taskmaster or anything. I like for there to be room to breathe. But I also have a vision. The cool thing about my band is these are my best friends I’ve known since I was 14. They trust my vision. It’s less, ‘Let me get my part in here’ and more, ‘How can we make this the best thing all of us can collectively do?’ ” But how did they feel about working on an album that much of the media has been eager to label as the conceptual vision of one man? Hull is quick to emphasize the band’s familylike bonds preempt any awkwardness. “It’s weird getting questions about it all the time,
but that’s what you do when you put out a record,” he admits. “Being as close friends as we are, they went through all this stuff with me. They went through just as many difficult things as I talk about. I talk about them on the record. The same with my family. It really was a conceptual record for all of us. I just happen to be the perspective it’s coming from.” The collaborative nature in the studio didn’t prevent some last-minute emotional shifts during the recording process. “You have to get into this place for recording an album to be able to show as much emotion that was there when you wrote it,” Hull says. “Lyrics I had written a year and a half before were changing because I had changed. They were more resolved, and they were more peaceful.” In other words? Hull had found a happy ending—but had to pretend all those feelings were still there to maintain an emotional consistency while recording. “People don’t really realize that making a record takes forever,” Hull says. “It’s like building a house—you have to stay really tenacious the entire time.” Ultimately, Hull hopes his is a narrative that won’t be understood strictly by understanding its creative expression. Instead, he hopes Simple Math—and, by extension, his entire musical output—will be viewed for its universal themes, and emphasizes his story has the power to transcend medium. “At the end of the day it’s storytelling,” Hull says. “[It could be] any medium with storytelling, whether that’s art, or a paper with something written on it, or drawing or a movie or a short story. Hopefully we’re trying to destroy any genre around us. We hope we don’t sound like anything, and we’re going to try and continue to do that.”
WHERE IS GOD
IN TRAGEDY?
48 / RELEVANT_NOV/DEC 11
LOOKING FOR MEANING AND HOPE IN A BROKEN WORLD BY SARAH SUMNER
I'LL
never forget the day when, as a teenager at summer camp, I saw nestled in a big cardboard box the quivering remains of a black-haired baby goat—a cuddly little kid—that had been bloodied almost to death by a raccoon. It was a goat, not even a person, yet my eyes involuntarily began to shed unstoppable tears as soon as I heard its bleating and saw its face so marred. Why would God allow a precious little kid, entirely innocent, to be violently attacked and disfigured? Far worse was the day my cousin Tracey, beautiful and envied, was brutally murdered three decades ago, stabbed 23 times on her 21st birthday. Her medical student husband, at the top of his class, had come home one afternoon to find his wife lacerated and limp, lying on their blood-soaked bed. Her mother was so bereaved that for the next 10 years she couldn’t generate a laugh despite her honest faith in God. The murderer has not been found to this day. How could God have let this happen? And then there’s public evil, such as the events of Sept. 11 in which people burned alive or jumped desperately to their deaths from a New York high-rise or were pulverized by the weight of the tumbling building that indiscriminately smashed their bodies down to nothing. Does God even exist? That’s the question many ask when they encounter
hideous evil. Though some Christians have such faith they hardly even have questions, I am not of that ilk. I’m the type of person who earlier in my journey had to ask and wrestle and ponder and writhe and read and doubt. After struggling head-on with my existential clamoring, I finally emerged as a post-atheistic Christian who no longer ever wondered if I was praying to the ceiling at night. Indeed, I emerged still as a sinner but a sinner who was a theist through and through. God helped me so much to come to working terms with my visceral complaints and hard questions that I almost couldn’t help but believe in God. Everywhere I turned theologically, there God was again. I mention my past “Christian atheism,” if I may call it that, because I believe atheism— denying God’s existence—is what causes us to wonder whether God is to be trusted in spite of all the suffering in the world. How can there be a God when there are millions of people starving around the globe? How can we believe there is truly a real God when evil things happen to unsuspecting children every day? Because of all this ugliness, it is very easy to fall into the trap of silently wondering if God is a mere concept or a mechanistic force at best. Encountering God, however, did not exempt me from experiencing deep pain. When I was 22 years old, my parents were divorced. Even to this day, their divorce is the hardest thing I’ve ever been called to cope with because of all the ramifications of their split. David Gushee’s book Making Marriage Right says it’s normal, according to hard research, even for adult children to rank their parents’ divorce as the number-one pain-point in their lives. RELEVANTMAGAZINE.COM / 49
While in the throes of grieving the death of my parents’ marriage, I didn’t ask the normal question, “God, why did You allow this thing to happen?” Thanks to my prior wrestling, it didn’t even occur to me to indict the living God. On what basis could I have blamed Him? God was not divorcing anybody; my parents were the ones doing that. I definitely had a problem when my parents were divorced. But the problem was not God; it was my pain. I was terribly ill-equipped to deal with my own suffering. If you think about it, the question, Why does God allow people to suffer? is really not a question at all. It’s a protest. It’s an angry declaration that says, “People shouldn’t have to hurt like this!” or, many times, “I shouldn’t have to hurt like this!” Pain is what people protest. It is pain that people find so problematic. Though we might think we’re blaming God because God has power to stop things, the thing we want Him to stop is the insult of our pain. My protest was quite basic. I didn’t want to be from a family of divorce. I wanted a different identity, a different persona for myself. I wanted a whole different reality.
MAKING SENSE OF THE SUFFERING OF OTHERS
Often, our question of suffering is self-focused, not theological: Why did God let this happen to me? But it’s also often true that people are thinking about the plight and pain of others. Sometimes we are asking on behalf of other people why God doesn’t stop the madness arbitrarily causing them such pain and turmoil. Why does God put up with serial murderers? Why does He let women be raped? Why does He allow earthquakes to kill hundreds of thousands? Who is this God, if He exists, to permit such wrenching pain? “Abhor what is evil,” the Bible says (Romans 12:9, ESV). But even doing that, even abhorring evil, is painful. That is the catch-22. It hurts to be sinned against, and it hurts to care about others who are sinned against. Likewise, it hurts to be the recipient of evil, and it hurts to care about others who have been the recipients of evil. Why does God command us to enter into the pain of abhorring what is evil? Why doesn’t God just stop it? I believe one answer is because God insists we become like Him. God abhors evil, and God cares about others. The Bible says God is “grieved” by sin and evil. Thus, I believe the marvel of the mystery of the problem of evil is that it tacitly and subtly points us to God’s plan to conform us into the likeness of His Son. Jesus was a Man of sorrows. Like Job and Jeremiah, He experienced unspeakable pain. But Jesus’ pain was worse. Job and Jeremiah, heroic as they were, both caved to the temptation to cry 50 / RELEVANT_NOV/DEC 11
out against God, scolding God for allowing them to be born. Job cried, “Let the day perish on which I was to be born. … Why did I not die at birth?” (Job 3:3, 11, NASB). Similarly, Jeremiah yelped, “Cursed be the day when I was born; Let the day not be blessed when my mother bore me!” (Jeremiah 20:14) In extreme stark contrast, when Jesus cried out,“Why?” He said nothing about cursing the day Gabriel told Mary she would bear the Christ child. Jesus cried out in faith instead of protest. Hanging on a cross, absorbing the sin of the world, suffering unimaginably, Jesus prayed Psalm 22. Though He uttered the first line when on the cross, just saying that first line is the Hebrew way of referring to the Psalm. Jesus was thus thinking: My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? Far from my deliverance are the words of my groaning. O my God, I cry by day, but Thou dost not answer; and by night, but I have no rest. Yet Thou art holy, O Thou Who art enthroned upon the praises of Israel. In Thee our fathers trusted; they trusted, and
Hypocritically, however, we do complain sorely at the top of our lungs about the sins and evil of others who are hurting us. Thus, we question God’s character right when we are thinking of ourselves. I hope I don’t sound impertinent. I’m as guilty as everyone else when it comes to being demanding and self-serving. But I know something true about God. God has masterminded a way to deliver us from sin and evil. Here’s how the apostle Paul puts it: For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:6-8).
PAIN IS THE SOIL WHERE THE DEEPEST KIND OF FAITH IN GOD GROWS. Thou didst deliver them. To Thee they cried out, and were delivered. In Thee they trusted, and were not disappointed. Jesus trusted God, even in His most galling, grueling, groaning, gagging pain. Pain is the soil where the deepest kind of faith in God grows. Pain is the context for maturing our love for God, so we can love God foremost. As offensive as that seems from the vantage point of fear, it squares with the logic of faith.
THE PROBLEM OF SIN
But still, our complaints spew up. Still, we feel so angry about the people who are suffering unjustly. Why doesn’t God just make things better? Strikingly, no one seems to complain that God has set before us many opportunities to idolize ourselves. I have never heard anyone saying how irksome it is to be given the freedom to indulge the self in pleasure and self-exaltation—to overeat, to boast, to gossip, to get drunk. Nobody shouts at God for allowing them to sin in their favorite ways.
Sin is such a widespread, stubborn problem, the only way to solve it is for God miraculously to have taken on human flesh and transformed Himself doubly miraculously into sin. In 2 Corinthians 5:17, Paul explains, “He Who knew no sin became sin.” God defeated sin by allowing sin to happen in the first place. Likewise, God defeated evil by letting evil have its heyday and then swallowing evil up. It is humbling to be truthful about the mystery of evil since nobody understands it, except God. I believe evil is ultimately unintelligible because evil is anti-reason and anti-truth. According to the Scriptures, it isn’t ours to penetrate into the darkness of the shadows of the mystery of evil or anything else God on high has chosen not to reveal to us.
Deuteronomy 29:29 says it plainly: The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us …
THE GIFTS OF GOD THROUGH SUFFERING
Though for now there are earthquakes and ravages and crimes and disease and premature deaths and mental illness, God can still be trusted. God is. And God is faithful. He has given us many gifts as we entrust ourselves to Him in our pain and in our empathy for others. Perhaps the three most visible gifts are the gift of people, the gift of joy and the gift of God Himself. By the gift of people, I mean those who work for social justice or extend a helping hand or bring physical relief or offer a ministry of presence as Mother Teresa did for the dying. It’s probably true for all of us that in our darkest times, we feel more bonded with those with whom we share God’s love. Perhaps by God’s design, a suffering heart, if soft, can more easily be enlarged and filled with love. By the gift of joy, I am referring to the great surprise of levity that comes on the other side of pain. I have repeatedly experienced this surprise. It’s a big part of why I’m not an atheist. Every single time I have waited on God in prayer, pouring out my heart to Him, He comforts me and lifts me in my spirit. I believe God is eager to share the strangeness of His joy with everyone. But we have to enter the pain. There is no other route to true joy. By “God’s gift of Himself,” I mean the comfort of the Holy Spirit and the peace of God that surpasses understanding, and the promise and assurance of seeing Christ face to face when He comes back. By far the hardest gift to accept, at least in my view, is that of taking solidarity with Jesus Christ Himself in His sufferings. Bearing up under sorrows is the only way to receive the special wisdom and power that comes to those who suffer unjustly. Few are those who dare to commune with God that way. I have found I’m not good at it myself. But God is patient and forbearing; every time someone sins against us, we are blessed with another chance to surrender our way forward into becoming the recipients of a grace that does not come unless we yield to God when we’ve been wronged. After nine long years of consciously agonizing and wrestling with whether God even is, I found out He is. I found out firsthand that God Who speaks and hears exists. I found again and again that God is personal. I discovered the living God because He revealed Himself to me by seeping through the walls of my atheistic prayers and answering my prayers with His Presence. God came near. He comforted me, not with cut-anddried pat answers, but with satisfying insights that fulfilled me. God’s kindness trumps His willingness to allow anyone to suffer; for as John MacDuff put it in 1859, “It is only for a little while, that you will have to traverse this howling desert.” SARAH SUMNER, PH.D. is the author of Leadership Above the Line (Tyndale, 2006).
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the confessions of
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after a disappointing sophomore album and losing a key band member, the new orleans band finally t e l l s t h e sto ry they’ve never b e e n r e a d y to share BY KEVIN SELDERS JEREMY SNELL
The first thing you notice upon entering The Columns Hotel in New Orleans—even before your feet make its historical wooden floor creak—is the buzz of conversation in the air. The main floor of the dimly lit getaway, built in 1883 by a wealthy tobacco salesman, is alive with people sitting at tables, murmuring and laughing quietly. The clinking of cutlery and glassware mixes with the soft evening sun filtering through the windows—in short, it’s a place created to host a long talk. In a quieter, nearly empty room by the hotel’s entrance, the four members of MUTEMATH prepare to eat a late dinner and have a conversation of their own—one they’ve put off for too long. It’s been a long day for the band. They’ve done photo shoots, given impromptu performances and have taken RELEVANT all over the Big Easy to visit the important sites: historical buildings, a cramped basement full of musical equipment and a childhood church, complete with cartoon murals of Samson in the Sunday School room. Now the band—including new guitarist Todd Gummerman—sits behind two tables with their backs to a large window, finally ready to talk about their RELEVANTMAGAZINE.COM / 53
past. Specifically their unique (and occasionally bizarre) Christian past. Plenty of ink has been spilled trying to figure out the link between MUTEMATH and their Christian background. Most of it is spent analyzing the band’s ties to the shortlived experimental Christian band Earthsuit, which singer Paul Meany, drummer Darren King and bassist Roy MitchellCárdenas each contributed to. While MUTEMATH’s two previous albums presented clues to the band’s spiritual back roads, it’s a subject they’ve admittedly shied away from, worrying such conversations might pigeonhole their music and alienate some listeners. But it’s a new day for the band, and moving forward means embracing the past. “On this record, it was certainly at the forefront of our mind that we wanted to go further into that,” says Meany, who is the band’s only true New Orleans native. And so they have. The past is a subject largely explored on their dynamic third album, Odd Soul. Co-written by Meany and King, the album is filled with the peculiar Christian upbringing of the band’s two original members and captures sonically the raw charismatic musical environment each member thrived in as a young musician. “I love that the title of this record is Odd Soul, because what it implies is that there’s something inextricably weird about me,” King says. “That at the core of who I am—from childhood to now—I’m always going to be weird. And I certainly blame my charismatic Christian upbringing for all of those things, but also for the good, too. The album’s an attempt to acknowledge the good and accept the whole of all of what that culture is.”
AWKWARD LIKE KING DAVID
Both Meany and King grew up 54 / RELEVANT_NOV/DEC 11
in the fundamentalist Word of Faith movement (King in small-town Missouri and Meany in New Orleans). Word of Faith emphasizes a theology of the spoken word, where words have spiritual power. With enough faith, one can receive what they can verbalize, a practice more colloquially known as “faith confession” or, more derogatorily, “name it and claim it.” It’s this shared spiritual road that led Meany and King to cross paths. In the late 1990s, traveling evangelists Dony McGuire and Reba Rambo-McGuire made tour stops at each of the young musicians’
churches. The McGuires recruited both Meany and King to travel the country playing revivals with the pastors—even landing appearances on Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN). Those common experiences have always created a bond between Meany and King, but this is the first time they’ve sat down and put those times to music. It’s also the first time King has contributed lyrics to a MUTEMATH album. But his youth was filled with attempts to out-do King David, so why not offer a few psalms? “I didn’t realize this at the time, but my modus operandi [as a kid] became, ‘If you can do it in church but not everywhere else in life, you’re fake,’ ” King recalls. “If you can raise your hands in church but not in English class, you’re a phony and you don’t really mean it. Of course, you can do it when everyone else is doing it and you’re safe, but is that really a sacrifice of praise? David danced until he was naked!” Meany bursts out laughing. “He danced his clothes off, you little wimp!” King continues with the fervor of a Jesus Camp clip. “And he kept dancing once he was naked and that’s how he made it into the Bible, and if you’re going to make it into the Bible, you better step it up, buddy!’ ” As King continues to share tales of his childhood faith—and he has many of them—the other three listen and smile. They know what’s coming. With increasing enthusiasm, King recalls the troublesome time of puberty. He was a sheltered kid—nobody warned him he was going to feel these things.
“I also was raised in this True Love Waits world, but I took it one step further,” he confesses. “I took it to a monkish level. I call it ‘True Love Hibernates,’ where the acknowledgement of girls’ attractiveness is certainly not allowed. So I didn’t have a girlfriend throughout high school and—” Meany quietly interrupts: “Will you please tell the story … the knees?” Of course he will. And, like all good adolescent stories, it starts with a girl. She was his tutor and one day their knees touched. The contact was a high point in King’s young life—it was the closest he’d ever been to a woman. The whole band is laughing. “One day, I decided it was enough,” King continues. “I couldn’t go on sinning with all that horrible knee-on-knee action. I pulled her aside and said: ‘We can’t go on like this. We’ve got to stop this. This is sin. This is wrong.’ She was gracious, which, when I look back on it, makes it even worse that she was understanding, and she thought, ‘You poor little weirdo.’ ”
FAITH SUPERHEROES
King doesn’t stop there. He did,
“there are still a lot of loose ends t h at n e e d t o b e t i e d , b u t o n t h i s record i came to one conclusion— i do think faith is better than doubt.” -paul meany “So my way of handling all these intense urges was to go stand naked in the bay window of my house as cars drove by,” King says. “Or I’d ride with my pants dropped through the neighborhood for a brief second and see if I could make it back to the house. I was just trying to figure it all out on my own. Imagine what Cain and Abel had to deal with, right? I’m there again with no advice, and no warning, knowing once you step outside of the church, it’s all bad.
in fact, raise his hands in worship during class to prove to God he could have a heart of praise outside of church. And why meet once a year in prayer at the school flagpole when you can do it every day? “I would hold the pole like Excalibur, and I would put my head down and pray for my
country, pray for my school, and pray I would be a world changer, and [Teen Mania founder] Ron Luce would be impressed and Ron Luce would tell Jesus I’m doing good,” King says. The whole band is almost in tears. Meany is gasping for air. “Then there was this pressure to witness,” King says. “Every single person is going to spend an eternity rotting in sulfur next to each other unless you do something about it now! You can’t play Nintendo with that kind of pressure, right?” As the band continues laughing, King calms down. His voice softens. “It drove me crazy because I wanted to be a good kid, I did,” he says. “I also wanted people to like me, so there’s that part of it when you’re a teen, too. You’re trying to be cool because you’re so … Christian. It just got to be too much. It wears you down.” Today, King admits some of his upbringing is still with him. “That’s why the album is called Odd Soul,” he says. “I’m sadly, at 29, kind of wrestling with the same stuff. It’s just a little bit more behind closed doors that I take it
WATCH
MUTEMATH perform “In No Time” live in Paul Meany’s garage.
up with God. I don’t feel the need to raise my hands [in public].” The rest of the band has quieted too—the mood is shifting. “Sometimes I get sad about the innocence and ambition of that kid,” King says. “If I were God, I’d think that’s pretty adorable and endearing that a kid’s trying that hard. I would also want to send some kind of angel to tell him, ‘Chill out.’ ” Meany also remembers this pressure. He describes the unrealistic standards of his childhood church—a place where the goal was to be a super-human Christian or “faith-slinging X-Man.” “Everything’s by faith,” he remembers. “If you go to a doctor for a sickness, you’re weak.” RELEVANTMAGAZINE.COM / 55
Meany says he was always trying to force himself to see signs and hear voices and to figure out which were from God, the devil or just himself. It was a process that confused wishful thinking with real beliefs. It was the result of a young imagination trying to make sense of the paranoid, “don’t screw up
family. Everybody was kind of homeschooled and sort of quarantined off from the rest of the world, but it was a very family-oriented atmosphere.”
GOING TO CHURCH TO MAKE MUSIC
Meany eventually began attending Victory Fellowship Church with his cousin, where he joined the worship band and thrived as a musician. “Most church music is written off as sterile and bland, but church music at its best is full of spontaneity and adrenaline,” he says.
“ i f i w e r e g o d , i ’ d t h i n k t h at ’ s pretty adorable and endearing t h at a k i d ’ s t r y i n g t h at h a r d . i w o u l d a l s o wa n t to s e n d s o m e k i n d of angel to tell him, ‘chill out.’" -darren king because Jesus is coming back any minute” world where he grew up. “When it gets unbalanced, it becomes just a matter of time before you crack or do something really pathetic,” he says. Meany even began to self-harm in order to stop himself from doing things he believed were sins. Nobody told him to do this, he says—it was borne out of teenage angst and shame, and a driving (albeit skewed) sense of what holiness meant. Eventually, his family reached a breaking point with the church. One Sunday, he and his family waited on the steps outside while his father confronted the pastor inside. The young Meany heard words he’d never heard before. “My dad was essentially just cussing out the pastor and saying it was impossible to live by these codes and these rules,” Meany says. “It was crazy. We left the church after that.” While the church’s legalistic pressure was its downside, Meany says it had its good aspects, too. “It was a very tight-knit community,” he says. “It was like a 56 / RELEVANT_NOV/DEC 11
“Many of my fondest memories of playing music were in that environment. I definitely tried to channel a lot of those feelings and moments into Odd Soul.” Mitchell-Cárdenas, the band’s most relaxed personality, listens to his band mates’ childhood stories with pure fascination. His are drastically different. There was no homeschooling or abstinence pledge cards in his more traditional Catholic upbringing, led by his Mexican-born mother. “My dad wasn’t really religious or anything, but the thing my dad did for me, looking back on my spiritual journey, is he was a musician, and he gave me the gift of music,” Mitchell-Cárdenas says. Wearing ’70s-style sunglasses, the long-haired, bearded bassist recalls playing Beatles, Rolling Stones and Kinks tunes with his father. His mother also encouraged him to play music. “I was in a lot of bands and played shows, and that really is kind of my religion,” he says. “It’s the one constant in my life.” After high school, Mitchell-Cárdenas moved to New Orleans to attend Loyola University New Orleans, a Jesuit institution. A scholarship and the chance to live rent-free with his great-aunt led him to the university— not his Catholic roots. The young musician also admits he made the move to escape a dangerous lifestyle. “I went through some stuff with drugs that I wanted to get away from, so I started seeking after God more, which eventually led me to meeting Paul,” he recalls. Mitchell-Cárdenas began attending Victory Fellowship, which resembled nothing of his loose Catholic upbringing. “I hadn’t been exposed to that charismatic type of thing, and I loved it,” he says, smiling. “It was wild and gave me an excuse to be in church but keep playing music. The reason I went back was not for sermons.
I wasn’t always searching out theological debates—it was so I could go play music and be around musicians who didn’t want to just get high. That was a really positive thing.” Sitting between Mitchell-Cárdenas and King, the more plainly dressed Gummerman is hearing most of these stories for the first time. He joined the band only two months prior to this night. He’s still getting to know these guys. The thin guitarist, a friend of a friend through King, seems to fit right in with the band, both in his sense of humor and his background. Growing up in the Assembly of God denomination, Gummerman remembers similar quirky stories but also the good parts that, he says, shaped him into who he is today. “I feel like my church tried really well and my parents did a good job, but I was still motivated by the ‘do nots,’ ” Gummerman says. “I was motivated by fear, and the rules on everything gave me the wrong mindset. Now, the motivation of God’s love has really changed how I approach everything.”
GUITARIST LEAVES, GUITAR ALBUM FOLLOWS
If you’re ever asked the trivia question, “Which member of MUTEMATH played guitar on Odd Soul?” the correct answer is their bassist. “That’s a big part of the story, of course, is that our guitar player quit right as we were about to start working on this,” King says. “It was devastating.” Greg Hill, the band’s original guitarist whom King has known since his early teens, left after years of built up tensions finally boiled over. The tortuous writing and recording process for their second album, Armistice, proved to be a trying time for MUTEMATH. Too many outside opinions early on in the process led the
band to second-guess themselves and created a dysfunctional democracy. It was, they admit, an experiment in how not to make an album. “I think Armistice took such a toll on our band that when it began to set in that we were going to have to find a way to do it all again … something had to give,” Meany says of Hill’s decision to leave. While previous albums reflected DJ Shadow, the Police and Björk, Odd Soul is more influenced by sounds from before the band members were born. And the result is, ironically, their most guitar-heavy album. Odd Soul’s songs were written to maximize the band’s musicianship and capture the live energy of their shows. For six months, nobody, except Meany’s wife and Gummerman, was allowed to hear the music. This included producers, record label execs and even their manager. “We wanted to stay isolated and trust ourselves, that we knew what good music would be,” Meany says. “We knew what works for us, and we knew what our band does best. ‘Let’s make music and take it all
the way down that avenue and trust that that would work.’ Fortunately, when we finally presented that to everyone, they were excited about it.” The band presented the final album to Rob Cavallo, a famed producer and the current chairman of Warner Bros. Records. They also later shared with him some of the lyrical themes they were attempting to go after and some of their childhood stories. “Rob thought these stories were hilarious,” King says. “He thought it was interesting [we] could grow up so weird and then appear normal as adults.” Cavallo thought they could go further—not just with their music, but also with their theme of peculiar faith. The band returned to the studio and recorded additional songs, including “Odd Soul,” “Walking Paranoia” and
“Cavalries”—some of the album’s more spiritually revealing songs. “This is something everybody told us to treat like an awkward throbbing growth we need to cover up,” King says. “He thought this strange growth was actually what made us interesting and encouraged us to try and expose it. This album is that in a lot of ways, lyrically especially. I think we’re better off for it. It was counterintuitive because we were embarrassed about it for so long, but he encouraged us to do the exact opposite. He thought, and he’s right, the more specific something becomes and the more true to you the story is, the more likely it is people find something worthwhile from it.” The result is a journey to places MUTEMATH previously feared to go. They never wanted to be pegged as a “Christian” band. They always hoped to have a fan base that crossed both sacred and secular boundaries. But they made the decision to no longer worry about people’s labels and reactions. They believed the biggest detriment to their career would be not making this album.
STILL WRESTLING
Today, the members of MUTEMATH have faith, but they’re also still working through issues from their past. A hotel bellman recently recognized King on the road and began witnessing to him, asking if he had a personal relationship with Christ. King explained to the man that he’s on a complicated journey, but he’s working on it. He and Jesus go way back and, sure, they have some talking to do, but Jesus is patient. “I enjoyed it, but he got fed up with me,” King says. “He wanted to know I was OK. I told him I’ve accepted
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“[Odd Soul] has been, for me, a journey of coming full circle—maybe with a fresh attitude about it all, but realizing it wasn’t all for nothing. It wasn’t a big hoodwink. There is some good to this odd soul disposition we have.” While the band members are working to sort out their own faith issues, they admit the Church is still a huge question mark for them. “The place I’m most fed up with and stumped is Church,” King says. “I’m worn out with it. I’m worn out with the music, for the most part. The pop-rock radio songs on Sunday morning—I don’t want that to be my escape. [laughs] That’s a gaping hole I feel in my heart now … in my life. I used to draw a lot of strength from church, and now I feel like I’m either too cool for it or I have some kind of justifiable frustration with it.” As they travel from city to city on tour, King admits they don’t carve out time for prayer or Bible study. They do, however, consider what they do night after night as worship. Music is, after all, their calling. “This band is my church,” Meany says. “The music we make is our prayers. It is our expression. It is our inspiration we want to share with people, and I draw strength from it. Obviously, traveling, that kind of becomes a convenient necessity anyway, but we make the most of what we have.”
OUT IN THE OPEN Jesus Christ into my life at least 1,000 times—four or five times a week for my entire adolescence. Don’t worry about that part. I’m good. It’s all the other messy stuff I’ve kind of moved on from dealing with.” The trajectory of Meany’s faith today can be traced back to a street witnessing mission on Bourbon Street. After being rejected by countless passersby, the teenage Meany met a man who actually wanted to hear about Christ. The two sat down to talk and somewhere between the fall of man and Levitical law, Meany says they were both lost. “The thing I realized was I didn’t have a clue,” he says. “I didn’t know what I believed. All this stuff that had been fed to me my whole life, I didn’t know how to process it. I was just regurgitating stuff I’d heard and it made no sense to me.” From then on, Meany tried to figure things out for himself. He joined the McGuires on the road. He took a Bible class and read opposing arguments to Christianity. “It set in motion a long spiritual journey of trying to make heads or tails of, ‘What is this whole thing?’ ” Meany recalls. “There are still a lot of loose ends that need to be tied, but on this record I came to one conclusion—I do think faith is better than doubt.” 58 / RELEVANT_NOV/DEC 11
On Armistice, Meany admits he was leaning more toward doubt. King, going so far as to use the phrase “atheistic tendencies,” points out the song “No Response” includes the lyrics: And maybe when we reach the end / We’ll ask imaginary friends, “Why no response?” “I spent a lot of time in selfdoubt and questioned everything,” Meany says. “Where it left me was in a place that was depressing and dire. I began to realize on this record that maybe I threw the baby out with the bath water in questioning everything: ‘Maybe it’s all just a hoax. Maybe it’s all just a fairy tale.’ But actually, no, maybe there’s a lot of good in all of this. And certainly it was a wake-up call in having a child. That was certainly some new perspective.
The conversation is winding down—it’s been hours since sunlight stopped shining through the window behind the band. The most powerful light is now coming from the candles in front of them. Live music in the next room has overtaken the hum of conversation. The atmosphere has changed. The evening is coming to an end, and so is the conversation. The band sounds thankful to have finally bared their (odd) souls. “There’s always that knot in your stomach when you throw yourself out there,” Meany says, looking relieved. “It’s like you have nothing to hide behind. People are either going to love it or hate it.” “I feel knotless right now,” King says. “You feel knotless? I was going to say—on the same side it’s very liberating,” Meany adds. “This is the first time for a record we’ve done this fully, and I’m glad we did. We look at it as, ‘If this were the last record we ever made, let’s be sure we said everything we were supposed to say.’ ”
WATCH
Go behind the scenes of RELEVANT’s day in New Orleans with MUTEMATH.
CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE WHEN—IF E VER—SHOULD CHRISTIANS BRE AK THE L AW? BY JONATHAN MERRITT
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ON
APRIL 16, 19 63, Martin Luther King Jr. sat quietly in a Birmingham City Jail cell. He had been arrested during a nonviolent protest against the racial segregation of downtown retailers. While confined, King penned “Letter from Birmingham City Jail,” which was smuggled out of the prison in a tube of toothpaste. “Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue,” King wrote. “It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored.” The now-famous letter by the civil rights paragon expressed what has become an often cited rationale for civil disobedience. King stated that one has a moral obligation to break unjust laws when efforts to change those laws are unsuccessful. The oppressor never offers freedom voluntarily, he argued, but rather the oppressed must demand it. Fast-forward 48 years. On June 6, 2011, Steve Willis sat in an Orlando city jail cell. He and two other volunteers with Food Not Bombs (FNB) had been arrested for violating an ordinance prohibiting group feedings of the homeless in downtown Orlando’s Lake Eola Park. FNB is an anti-war, anti-poverty activism movement that protests injustice and feeds the hungry in more than 1,000 cities nationwide. They had been caring for the poor in Eola’s skyline-shaded expanses since 2005, so the City of Orlando’s ordinance restricting group feedings struck them in the heart. At first, FNB attempted to skirt the law. They tried feeding from the sidewalk on the edge of the park rather than within the park, and even ladled soup from the back of a van. Each endeavor was eventually prohibited, so they decided to brazenly oppose the law
both in the park and in the courts. Twenty-seven FNB activists have since been arrested, and the matter has risen to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. “The media wanted to spin it and say we are media whores. But that isn’t it,” Willis says. “Poverty is a real issue and has many faces—from young children to old men. We want to make relationships with the people behind those faces by sharing food in public spaces. “I believe people in individual communities should regulate themselves,” Willis continues. “Nationwide regulations don’t work. The only thing that works is intentional communities in direct democracies. The Good News provides a message that another world is possible.” Willis describes himself as a “Gospel anarchist.” And, while his passion for his convictions is undeniable, his contrarian tone and use of the label “anarchist” might make some people squirm. Yet, one can’t help noticing the parallels to Martin Luther King and the Birmingham City Jail incident. Both sought to dramatize injustice, and both seemed guided by their faith in Christ. At the same time, stark differences exist between the two activists. Civil rights leaders confronted ubiquitous injustices from which there was no escape. But Willis and other FNB activists might have just conducted their feedings in another park. Or perhaps, because the law defines group feedings by collectives of more than 25 persons, they could feed smaller crowds in multiple locations. Civil rights activists lacked the luxury of alternatives. As King wrote in his letter, “We had no alternative except to prepare for direct action, whereby we would present our very bodies as a means of laying our case before the conscience of the local and the national community.” Furthermore, King’s and Willis’ respective moral catalysts seem different. Like other civil rights leaders, King sought to reform a good but imperfect government. In fact, it was his belief in the goodness of America’s government that birthed his hope that change was possible. Activists like Willis, on the other hand, act out of a belief that the government is terminally flawed. Rather than reform, he desires complete overhaul. RELEVANTMAGAZINE.COM / 61
Despite their differences, both King and Willis raise questions about Christians and governmental authorities. Namely, is it right for Christians to disobey the law, and if so, when is it OK?
DIVINE DISOBEDIENCE
The Old Testament is filled with heroes of faith who engaged in civil disobedience. During the Israelite exile to Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused to obey the king’s order that they pray to Baal. Our minds are branded with the image of the masses praying while three men courageously stand (Daniel 3). And
who can forget the prophet Daniel throwing open his windows to pray in direct defiance of the Babylonian king’s edict (Daniel 6)? One of the greatest and most overlooked examples of civil disobedience is the story of Esther, an unassuming queen who risks death to save her people. According to the law, if anyone—even the queen herself—approached the king without being summoned, they must be put to death. Esther
disobeyed the law to approach her husband, King Ahasuerus, with a request to protect her people. Her bold actions saved thousands of lives. The New Testament, however, seems to muddy the waters. Certain passages teach God ordains governments and their laws for our good while other passages state God’s law transcends human law. Paul wrote many of his epistles from prison. Yet Romans 13:1 says, “Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established” (NIV). Anyone who rebels against these authorities, Paul warns, rebels against God and brings judgment on themselves. Peter and the other apostles refused to obey the Sanhedrin’s prohibition against Gospel preaching,
CHRISTIANS C ANNOT SIT IDLY BY WHILE E VIL GOVERNMENTS ENFOR CE UNJUST L AW S, BUT THE Y AL SO C AN’T USE CI VIL DISOBEDIENCE A S AN E XCUSE TO THUMB THEIR NOSE AT “ THE MAN.” saying, “We must obey God rather than human beings” (Acts 5:29). But Peter also urges Christians to submit to every human authority (1 Peter 2:13). Jesus subverted the authorities on more than one occasion and was crucified on political grounds for His disobedience. But He did not seek to overthrow the Roman authorities like the Jewish Zealots, and even encourages paying taxes to a government that crucifies the innocent. “The biblical witness exists in a tension,” says Russell Moore, author of Tempted and Tried. “There’s a tension between obedience to and honor of the governing authorities and the limits of that authority over the conscience.” Moore says this biblical tension is not limited to government. “The Bible calls, for instance, on children to be obedient to parents, but there are clear limits in Scripture on such obedience. A child who follows his parents into sin is not commended,” he says. “The Bible calls on churches to follow the leadership of prophets and pastors, but not when such leaders call the people away to other gods.” When the Church was still teething, some Roman Christians refused to serve in the military, and others were fed to lions for evangelizing. During the Reformation, budding Protestants were often punished by the authorities for their subversive sermons. In the 20th century, Christians in Germany disobeyed the Nazi regime by hiding Jews under floorboards and hay bales, Christians in China formed illegal house 62 / RELEVANT_NOV/DEC 11
churches and Rwandan clerics helped Tutsi refugees escape the Hutu death squads. And there has been a long history of civil disobedience and pacifist nonviolence among some streams of Christianity, particularly among Anabaptist believers. New Testament Christians must live in the tension between obeying a sovereign God and the governments God ordains. History tells of many Christ-followers who rose out of this tension with a clear conviction that the government must be peaceably opposed. “There are deep paradoxes in thinking about this issue that require our best thought,” says David Gushee, Distinguished Professor of Christian Ethics at Mercer University. “Disordering chaos is destabilizing and dangerous, but God’s law trumps human law. Ideally, there is not a conflict between God’s law and human law, but sometimes there is. When there is a conflict, Christians have always understood that sometimes you disobey human law to obey God’s law.”
THE NAGGING “WHEN”
Even if Christians can broadly agree a situation may arise where disobeying our God-ordained authorities might be necessary and justified, there is still the nagging practical question of when—when is it OK, even right, to disobey? At least two different types of situations, according to Gushee, may require Christian disobedience. When government forbids what God commands. Such a situation is faced in countries where Christianity is outlawed and the Church has been forced underground. If a government forbids a command of God, such as preaching the Gospel, Christians must disobey the law, even unto death. When government commands what God forbids. In Exodus 1, Pharaoh ordered the Egyptian midwives to strangle newborn Hebrew children. The Bible says the midwives feared God and did not obey the king’s command (1:17). A modern example may include countries with population restrictions that force women to abort children. Under such circumstances, Christians are not required to obey. According to Gushee, there is also a sub-category worth acknowledging: When government permits what God forbids. America permits abortion, for example, and some Christians have been arrested for blocking access to clinics or illegally picketing facilities that offer these services. “This type of situation rarely requires Christian disobedience,” Gushee says. “Human governments in a pluralistic, liberal democracy allow all kinds of things that God forbids. If you opposed this category, you’d be disobedient all the time.” But even when limiting the discussion to the first two categories, Gushee says Christians should still restrict disobedience only to extreme cases. “Once you fall into this tradition of thought, you still have to ask questions like, ‘How serious is this law’s offense of God’s will?’ and, ‘Is there any law-abiding way to go about changing the law?’ and, ‘Have we creatively applied other forms of pressure?’ ”
Author and activist Jonathan WilsonHartgrove agrees with Gushee on this point, and he chooses to engage in civil disobedience only after all legal means of change have been exhausted. On five occasions, he’s been arrested for blocking the entrance to the prison where North Carolina carries out executions on death row inmates. But in each case, the protest followed his petition for a moratorium to the state legislature and an appeal to the governor for pardon. He went to Baghdad against the U.S. State Department’s orders to stand with Iraqi protesters—but only after participating in a march to the White House asking then-President George W. Bush not to wage war in Iraq. The charges were eventually dismissed in North Carolina, and he was deported from Iraq. Christians cannot sit idly by while evil governments enforce unjust laws, but they also can’t use civil disobedience as an excuse to thumb their nose at “the man” and express a deeper rebellious impulse. Activism is fashionable among young Christians today, but even a passionate activist like WilsonHartgrove has learned not to haphazardly disobey the law. Confronting the powers of this world requires prayerful discernment of the situation and engaging first through legal means. Because of their honest appeal to the city and efforts to exhaust legal means, WilsonHartgrove sees FNB’s campaign as a good example of justified disobedience. “They’re not ‘making a scene’ or ‘stirring up trouble.’ They're feeding people. When it’s illegal to feed the hungry, Christians have a long tradition of feeding the hungry anyway,” he says. “To go to jail for something like this is to make it a public issue— something that can’t be hidden or pushed to the side.”
PROUD CRIMINALS
History shows civil disobedience can be a great tool for social change. In the Nazi years, Hitler’s regime was so tyrannical some people think no one ever dissented. But some Germans did. When the people discovered the Nazis were euthanizing the sick and elderly, for example, Germans protested. As a result, the Nazis changed their policy. One can only wonder how history might read differently today if the entire Christian population in Germany had
A TIME FOR EVERYTHING Disobeying authorities is a big deal. These thoughtful resources will help you consider when and if civil disobedience is appropriate: Letter from Birmingham City Jail Martin Luther King Jr.
Becoming the Answer to Our Prayers Shane Claiborne and Jonathan Wilson Hartgrove
protested the Nazi regime. In the case of the Orlando Food Not Bombs protest, civil disobedience also made a difference. In August, Mayor Buddy Dyer backed down. He dropped all charges against those who had been arrested and asked the city attorney’s office to nullify any pending trespass charges. The Orange County Democratic Executive Committee subsequently requested that City Council decriminalize food sharing in parks. One has to wonder how the success of FNB to change the government’s policy has impacted those who, like Willis, believe the system is irreparably broken. King wrote after his trial: “Ordinarily, a person leaving a courtroom with a conviction behind him would wear a somber face. But I left with a smile. I knew that I was a convicted criminal, but I was proud of my crime.” There are many more smiles in Lake Eola Park today as open hands and hungry bellies are once again receiving food. If Martin Luther King Jr. were still alive, one has to think he’d be proud.
JONATHAN MERRITT (@jonathanmerritt) is a religion writer whose work has appeared in outlets such as USA Today, The Washington Post and CNN.com. His next book is titled, A Faith of Our Own: Following Jesus Beyond the Culture Wars.
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NADIRAH ZAKARIYA
THERE’S MORE TO THESE QUIRKY ROCKERS THAN JUST VIRAL VIDEOS BY EDWARD MARINER
W
hile OK Go has been making music for more than a decade, they’re now known just as much for their innovative videos as their music. Chances are, if you own a computer, you’ve seen an OK Go video— there’s the treadmill video, the Rube Goldberg video, that one with all the crazy-talented dogs and many more. Here, the band reveals their “formula” for approaching art and where the inspiration for their quirky videos comes from. They also talk charity work, parades seen from space—and, oh yeah, they have a few theories on how to fix the music industry, too.
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Every time you guys put out a new video it becomes a huge Internet event. Why did you start to approach your videos that way? TIM NORDWIND, Bass: I think one thing that sometimes is overlooked about our videos is that we make them ourselves; it’s part of what we do as this band. It was never a clear decision to focus on videos, because for us it doesn’t necessarily feel like we turn all of our attention to videos. We make music, we make videos, we do all sorts of weird, crazy art projects, and it’s fun doing it. DAN KONOPKA, Drums: We’ve never really acknowledged the constraints of, “What is a rock band?” or, “What does a rock band do?” So many bands will just tour, make a record, tour on that record, do a one-day video shoot for their single. These music videos are just another part of the artwork we do. We love making those just as much as we love making music. All the stuff, regardless of whether it’s videos or music or charity—we dive into each one equally.
NORDWIND: It’s a pretty interesting time, I think, for music, and also the music industry. The traditional music industry we all grew up with, I think, is crumbling. Something else is emerging—but what it is, no one has the answer for. One thing that’s pretty clear to us is that a lot of the traditional rules about what it means to be a traditional band, or what it means to have a record out, those definitions are changing. So it’s kind of a fun time to be in a band, because you don’t have to just do the traditional things we grew up with anymore; it’s all getting redefined.
It sounds like you’re almost redefining OK Go as an art collective, rather than a band. NORDWIND: Like I said, it’s hard to put a name on it—even calling it an art collective. ... I guess what’s fun is we don’t have to
put a name on it right now. We can just kind of enjoy the freedom and flexibility to make the things we want to make. KONOPKA: Yeah, and we still play live shows. I mean, we still have guitars and drums and big PAs. I still think of us as a rock band, it’s just that we also pour our hearts into other work we do equally.
Besides videos, what “other work” do you do? NORDWIND: One of the big things we did that I loved a lot was this year we threw a parade in Los Angeles. It was really, really fun. We got probably 100 or 150 people to show up with all sorts of different instruments. We put all of this glow-in-the-dark stuff around the instruments, so when the sun went down we were like a bunch of lasers going through L.A. And, yeah, it was kind of an amazing time. We made a songbook of about 50 really easy songs and gave them out to everybody and just paraded through the streets of L.A. It was actually really great. KONOPKA: Yeah, we took the time to make a route that, from a satellite, would spell out OK Go through Los Angeles. It was about 12 miles, so it was a long one ... but it really looked cool from space. NORDWIND: We had so many Twitter messages from Mars saying how awesome it was.
You mentioned some charity stuff you guys have done. What causes do you support? KONOPKA: A few years ago we put out an album of covers we performed with a jazz brass band from New Orleans, a group called Bonerama. NORDWIND: It was right after Hurricane Katrina in New
Orleans. And you know, New Orleans is just a city that’s so rich in musical history, and the hurricane had really wiped out a big portion of their musical community. So we wanted to do something to raise money to bring people back to New Orleans. The first bit of money went to paying the mortgage for sort of the grandfather of soul in New Orleans, this guy Al “Carnival Time” Johnson. He had to go live with family in Houston [after Katrina]. So we were able to pay his mortgage for him so he could come back, and the rest of the funds went to this organization called Sweet Home New Orleans, and that money is there to help people who want to come back but can’t afford it.
has told us about and it’s independent of the music. Generally speaking, we get an idea and we sit with the record and maybe find examples of Rube Goldberg machines online, and actually play the record while watching Rube Goldberg machines and go, “‘Skyscrapers’ makes this feel too slow, and ‘White Knuckles’ makes it feel too fast, but ‘This Too Shall Pass’ gives it this epic, stoic feeling.”
What attracted you to the new sound that’s on your most recent record, Of the Blue Colour of the Sky?
NORDWIND: It’s hard to say, because I feel like our sound when we lived in Chicago was almost reactionary because of what was going on at the time. We were so much poppier than our friends’ bands. We were making Cars-inspired pop music. For a small window of time, we were almost the avant-garde weirdos.
NORDWIND: You know, we toured for two-and-ahalf years on our second record, and when we came home we were pretty spent, pretty burned out. When we came back to writing again, the things that used to turn us on weren’t turning us on anymore. We kind of went back to basics and started just making beats and simple primitive things that made us feel something. I think we were looking to just feel excited again. If a beat and a bass line equalled something, we were like, “OK, let’s follow that, and let’s not make rules about where this song needs to end up.” I think [on] our first two records, the music is very goal-oriented. We know what we want the music to sound like, and we know how to get from point “A” to point “B” to point “C.” We didn’t want to know any of that [for Of the Blue Colour]— we just wanted to experiment with the music and see where it took us. KONOPKA: Yeah, [producer] Dave Fridmann just had a great work ethic—he was excited by the weirder things. If you were going to play a stock drum groove or a stock bass line, he’d be like, “Yeah, try something totally different,” and even if you weren’t stoked about it, he’d be like: “Wow, that was really something. That was really alive.” So that spirit kind of led us through the whole session. Getting out from behind the drum set and playing other instruments was just part of the vibe, so that sound is the result of us trying to stretch a little bit. NORDWIND: It’s kind of an extreme for us, because some of the grooviest songs we’ve ever written exist on this record. At the end of the day, it was a lot more fun for us to explore like that.
When you were putting together the last record, did you write songs with video projects in mind? NORDWIND: [Laughs] No. ... When we’re in the studio, it’s all about music. I can’t think of a time we’ve ever thought, Oh, we’ve got the visual to go with this. When we think about ideas that get us excited for videos, it’s usually just something we’ve seen or ideas someone
How has your sound changed since you moved from Chicago to Los Angeles?
KONOPKA: I always wanted to have a vibraphone onstage, but it just wasn’t happening. NORDWIND: I love living in L.A. I’m sure the sunshine has affected some of the songs in some way, shape or form. I think what informs us even more is whatever kind of music we’re into. It’s hard to say what the cities have done for us.
You guys have had your share of conflict with your former label. Where do you see the music industry going as they sometimes lose control over their own bands? NORDWIND: Man, that’s the $10 billiontrillion question. I mean, I just feel lucky we have our own label now. It allows us to be flexible with the time, because things are changing year to year, and it allows us to make the things we want to make, big and small, and distribute them as we see fit. It makes me feel like we can really navigate through all the crazy water that is this music industry. It makes us nimble. Where the bigger companies are going, I don’t know, because they have to have a one-size-fitsall system. I don’t know where we’re going either, but I’m more nervous for them.
Watch Pretty much all the OK Go videos you'd expect.
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UNWRAPPING the
H e r e a r e t h e s t o r i e s b e h i n d a l l o f t h i s s e a s o n ’s celebrations—not just the ones you know BY JASON BOYETT he end of another year is upon us, which means it’s time to party. While the rest of the year only has a few holidays to choose from, fall and winter present a plethora of festive party options. But if you’ve spent your life thinking November and December were only about Thanksgiving and Christmas, you’ve been wasting a lot of celebration opportunities. The next few weeks are rich with observances, festivals, holidays and holy days. So strap on your party hats and let’s survey the various festivities.
T
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ALL SAINTS’ DAY / ALL SOULS’ DAY
ADVENT
NOVEMBER 1 - 2, 2011
NOVEMBER 27 - DECEMBER 24, 2011
“Halloween” is an abbreviated form of “All Hallows’ Eve,” which refers to the actual name of this festival, known in ye olden tymes as All Hallows or Hallowmas. The tradition dates back to the third century, when the Church used it to honor martyrs and saints. Despite this history, the reputation of these days got trashed in recent generations due to its connection to spooky, pagan Halloween. Thanks for that, Satanists and/or John Carpenter. But many churches around the world still observe these days as a way to remember faithful believers who have died, as well as those serving today.
Advent kicks off the church year on the Sunday nearest Nov. 30. “Advent” means “arrival,” and this season—one of the two tentpoles of the liturgical year, along with Easter—commemorates the entrance of Christ into our world via the Incarnation (the first coming), while anticipating His second coming to redeem and restore Creation. In liturgical churches, Advent is a very big deal, with each of the four Sundays during the season (Nov. 27, Dec. 4, Dec. 11, Dec. 18) focusing on a special emphasis related to the Christmas story. But even if they’re not liturgical, it’s common for churches to display an Advent wreath, a custom that probably began with Lutherans in the 19th century. These typically have five candles— four surrounding the wreath and one in the center. In most cases, three of the outer candles are purple, symbolizing royalty and penitence. These are lit on the first, second and fourth Sundays of Advent. The other candle is pink and lit on the third Sunday. The white candle in the center is known as the Christ candle, to be lit on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. Outside of church services, lots of families observe Advent at home using Advent candles, wreaths or children’s calendars (the kind that count down to Christmas with little doors you open each day, revealing a verse, piece of chocolate or splatter of blood from the inevitable paper cut).
FUN FACT: In some predominantly Catholic countries,
All Saints’ Day is a national holiday and a big deal. For instance, in Mexico, it coincides with Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), which probably ties back to the unpronounceable Aztec death deity Mictecacihuatl and involves a lot of skull imagery. If you’ve been waiting for the perfect opportunity to mash up your love of Jesus and skeletons, this is your day.
CHRIST THE KING SUNDAY NOVEMBER 20, 2011 This is the last Sunday of the liturgical church year— the ancient “calendar” the Church has used to educate congregants about the life of Christ and the essentials of the faith. Centuries ago, most non-clergy were illiterate, so the readings and observances of the calendar provided an organized, large-scale form of discipleship for most Christians. In today’s liturgical churches, this Sunday serves as the culmination of the teachings about Jesus over the preceding year. Churches use this day to reflect on Christ’s life and celebrate His coming Kingdom.
FUN FACT: Though the purple and pink colors of Advent candles are traditional, they’re not used in all churches. Some reserve purple for the Lenten season, substituting blue for Advent. Other Advent wreaths may draw from more secular Christmas colors and use red candles, though churches taking this approach are clearly disappointments to Baby Jesus.
FEAST DAY OF ST. NICHOLAS DECEMBER 6, 2011 Yes, that St. Nicholas, the Bishop of Myra, who is said to have died on Dec. 6, 343, and was known for giving secret gifts to the poor. In one legend, he drops these gifts down a chimney, which informs the modern Santa myth. Another legend has him resurrecting three little boys who were slaughtered by a butcher, which, thank God, has not made an appearance in the modern Santa myth. Though St. Nick’s feast day plays a much larger role in European culture than in North America, it’s worth remembering that concern for the poor around Christmas may have started with the real-life Santa Claus.
FUN FACT: Relatively speaking, this feast is a new one, having been instituted by Pope Pius XI in 1925. Then in 1969, Pope Paul VI renamed it D. N. Iesu Christi universorum Regis, which is Latin for “Our Lord Jesus Christ King of the Universe,” just in case you were under the mistaken impression that the Lord’s sovereignty was confined to our planet.
FUN FACT: Americans hang stockings by the chimney so Santa will deposit
gifts in them on Christmas Eve. But in many European traditions, children leave “Nicholas boots” or shoes outside their bedroom doors on the evening of Dec. 5, hoping St. Nick will fill them with treats and gifts. Because nothing says “holiday fun” like eating Skittles out of a shoe. RELEVANTMAGAZINE.COM / 67
CHRISTMAS EVE
WATCH NIGHT
DECEMBER 24, 2011
DECEMBER 31, 2011
Once Advent ends, the Christmas season actually begins. In the Western liturgical tradition, this season lasts through Jan. 5—for 12 days. Perhaps you’ve heard a song about it. Many churches celebrate with a candlelight service, at which time they light the white Christ candle on the Advent wreath and sing carols about Jesus while trying to keep their children from jumping over the pews in excitement about all the presents they’re about to get.
You know it as New Year’s Eve, but in many Christian churches it’s called Watch Night. A Lutheran and Methodist tradition that started with John Wesley in the 18th century, Watch Night is a celebratory prayer service devoted to giving thanks for the previous year and recommitment for the coming year. Plus, Ryan Seacrest isn’t involved. This tradition has particular significance within African-American communities. In the past, slave owners would settle debts at the end of the year, and raised the money to do so by selling off slaves. For families of slaves, New Year’s Eve was potentially the last night they’d be together.
FUN FACT: For liturgical purposes, the Christmas sea-
son begins at sunset on Dec. 24. Which means opening gifts on Christmas Eve is totally allowed, especially if the kids are driving you crazy.
CHRISTMAS DAY DECEMBER 25, 2011 It’s not every year Christmas Day falls on a Sunday, but this year it does. Enjoy it as you worship, but be aware most scholars believe Jesus probably wasn’t born on Dec. 25—and maybe not even during winter. However, this date has been observed by Christians as far back as the fourth century as an alternative to pagan winter solstice festivals. Though the Incarnation has always been central to Christianity, the celebration of Christ’s birth wasn’t always such a significant part of the year. It’s only become a major celebration over the last couple of centuries … which probably has less to do with the Nativity story and more to do with the cultural proliferation of the Santa Claus tradition. For this we can blame the political cartoonist Thomas Nast, the poet Clement Clark Moore and the author L. Frank Baum. And maybe Tim Allen. Google them. Except Tim Allen—in his case, just rent The Santa Clause. But promise to stay away from the sequels, especially if you have ever had a warm spot in your heart for Martin Short.
FUN FACT: Credit for the first Nativity scene (other than the real one) probably goes to St. Francis of Assisi, who in 1223 wanted to direct Christmas attention back to Jesus rather than crass modern practices like giftgiving. Good thing he reversed that trend. 68 / RELEVANT_NOV/DEC 11
FUN FACT: On a more positive note, President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation took effect on Jan. 1, 1863. Across the United States, slaves stayed up the night of Dec. 31, 1860, counting down the hours to their freedom.
EPIPHANY J A N U A RY 6 , 2 0 1 2 The Christmas season officially concludes with this day, which occurs after the 12th day of Christmas. In the liturgical calendar, Epiphany recalls the visit of the foreign Magi to the Christ child and focuses on the idea that their worship of Jesus opened up a wider understanding of His purpose as Savior of the world. Epiphany is therefore a time to note the mission of the Church and the worldwide fellowship of Christians. If you know fellow believers across the globe, give them a shout-out today.
FUN FACT: Some countries in Central and South America wait until Epiphany to open gifts. In other traditions, kids leave out their shoes for the three Wise Men to fill them with candy and trinkets. Yes: the Magi. If there’s one thing that adds holiday magic for kids, it’s knowing one of three 2,000-year-old Persian astronomers is going to sneak into your house to put junk in your shoes. It’s easy to fall into a shallow understanding of this time of the year. Thanksgiving is about turkey and football. Christmas is about gifts. New Year’s Eve is about parties. The history of these holidays and holy days, of course, extends much deeper than that. Knowing these traditions does more than add to our celebrations—it can inform our faith, too. This year, keep an eye on your calendar so you can give the turkey time to thaw and stay ahead on your Christmas shopping. But also keep an eye on the ancient Church calendar. It may remind you of believers in the third century, or slaves in the 19th century or the importance of joy during a hectic season. It may also remind you to set your boots out, just to see what happens. JASON BOYETT is the author of several books, including O Me of Little Faith and the Pocket Guide series. Find him online at JasonBoyett.com and @jasonboyett.
THE
2011 1 ach year the holidays require you to find creative, thoughtful gifts for the significant people in your life—without breaking the bank or having a mental breakdown. But before you make a panicked gift card run or swear off gifts altogether, we have a few ideas for your pursuit of presents this year. Tired of buying Mom picture frames? Need a quirky gift for a co-worker you have nothing in common with? Hoping to impress your new significant other? Look no further. Here are our favorite creative, recycled, fair trade and unexpected products. And for a whole lot more ideas, check out RELEVANTGiftGuide.com.
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1. MAIL SACK IPAD CASE: $55 uncommongoods.com
Snail mail and email collide in this recycled accessory. Take care of your tablet with a sturdy canvas mail sack case and ultrasuede lining.
2. LIKE AND DISLIKE STAMPS: $16 fredflare.com
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Because the social media monster hasn’t invaded daily life enough already, express your approval at the office or in the classroom with these Facebook-inspired stamps.
3. POSTCARDEN: $12.50 uncommongoods.com
It’s a gift, a card, a garden and a meal. Water the base of this vegetable ink-based card and you’ll soon have a blossoming diorama of watercress.
4. HIMALAYAN TEA BASKET: $14 serrv.org
Take a break from your coffee break with a natural tea selection. This set of ginger, mint, cinnamon and lemon flavors was hand-picked by farmers in Nepal. 70 / RELEVANT_NOV/DEC 11
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5. RECORD LABEL ORNAMENTS: $18 ecoartware.com
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Have yourself a merry indie Christmas and trim the tree with this set of three one-of-a-kind ornaments. Cut from vintage 45 rpm records and made with zero waste.
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6. MOTHERBOARD MONEY CLIP: $6.95 thehungersite.com
Hold on to your money and your tech cred with this geek chic money clip, handmade in India. Your purchase will fund 25 cups of food for people in need.
7. DIY GUITAR PICK PUNCH: $24.99
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thinkgeek.com
Convert credit cards and other plastic materials into custom guitar picks within seconds. The forgetful musician in your life will thank you.
8. SCRATCH-OFF WORLD MAP: $34 urbanoutfitters.com
This unique map is the perfect incentive for the friend who loves travel. Scratch off the gold surface of visited locations, and you can quite literally color your world.
9. RECYCLED BILLBOARD COOLER BAG: $45 tradeasone.com
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Nothing redeems obnoxious advertising like an insulated picnic bag made from reclaimed billboards. Made of plastics bought from trash-picking communities in Jakarta, Indonesia.
10. RELEVANT SUBSCRIPTION: $14.95 relevantmagazine.com
Not only does a subscription guarantee a year of awesome content, but it includes four original albums hand-picked by the RELEVANT crew and two issues of Reject Apathy.
11. SIZZLING BACON CANDLES: $15.99 thinkgeek.com
There are few things that smell better than bacon in a skillet. This candle is the next best thing. Just resist the urge to take a bite out of it.
12. MINI DONUT MAKER: $17 antonline.com
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Browse More gifts for you to amaze, amuse and astound your loved ones.
Even the culinary-challenged can handle making these delicious tiny treats. (However, we’re pretty sure eating six mini doughnuts is no different than eating a few regular ones.)
RELEVANTMAGAZINE.COM / 71
2011 nears its end, it’s time to look ahead to a year holding a lot of possibility. Not just elections, sporting events and even more disappointing superhero movies but also the predicted end of the world, thanks to those pesky Mayans. Looking ahead is serious business, though, and as always, we’ve taken it upon ourselves to provide you with a scintillating glance of the year to come. Our crack research team tells us it’s 100 percent certain these events will happen. So grab your popcorn and lemonade (see #2), and get ready for RELEVANT’s absolutely, positively guaranteed-to-happen predictions for 2012.
THE LONDON OLYMPICS DEBUTS NEW EVENTS
AND 10 MORE PREDICTIONS FOR 2012
BY RYAN HAMM
72 / RELEVANT_NOV/DEC 11
On July 22, London will host the “Games of the XXX Olympiad” (we’re pretty sure those are Roman numerals, or else this Olympics is going to be way more NSFW than normal). After rejecting some proposed new events this past summer—including “Looting” and “Feigned Moral Outrage in Order to Cast Aside Attention from a Crazy Phone Hacking Scandal”—the British Olympic committee has approved two new events for this summer’s games. After noticing the popularity of planking, owling and horsemaning, the committee decided to put their own spin on things with the new sport of Perching, in which competitors stand still on one foot and attempt to outlast one another. Points are deducted for wobbling or hopping. Not a particularly engaging sport, until you see you see the course—let’s just say there are a lot of spinning discs. The second—and perhaps more potentially popular—event is based on the worldwide TV phenomenon Wipeout. But since it’s the Olympics, the “fundangerous” obstacles of Wipeout will be replaced with real dangers, like crocodiles and swinging battle-axes.
iPHONE 6 RELEASES, STILL DOESN’T MAKE YOU HAPPIER THAN YOUR WILDEST DREAMS
ECONOMIC HARDSHIPS SOLVED BY WORLD’S LARGEST LEMONADE STAND
The iPhone 5 is old news. But never fear! Apple is hard at work on the iPhone 6, which they will release to great fanfare in 2012. Touting new features like “flash” and “real multitasking” along with the cutting-edge “antenna that works,” the phone will take the world by storm. But many will remain disappointed when they realize the phone hasn’t fixed that lonely feeling gnawing at them from the inside.
Thanks to a letter to President Obama from 8-yearold Arkansas resident Lindsey Thomas containing a remarkably clever idea, Obama will announce a brand new plan to prop up the flagging economy. “Everyone knows the world is getting warmer,” Obama will say (this is a paraphrase). “And what tastes better than lemonade on a hot day? So let’s make some lemonade out of our lemons and turn Guantanamo Bay into the world’s largest lemonade stand, offering parched world citizens the sweet, tart taste of lemonade (naturally, made with our own highly subsidized corn syrup).” The primary difference between Thomas’ plan and the plan Congress will eventually approve is the price of the goods: Thomas will suggest 10 cents a cup, while Congress will ratify a plan that charges $1.3 billion per cup.
WORSHIP BANDS RUN OUT OF WATER METAPHORS After years of describing God’s love as a “downpour,” His grace like a “river,” His peace like a “summer rain” and His joy like a “fountain,” in 2012, worship leaders will run out of water metaphors to describe the attributes of God. Seeking other inspiration, they will try every other element from Captain Planet and the Planeteers, leading to some dreadful worship songs with titles like “God’s Heart Is Heart” and “Your Grace Is Earth to Me.”
NASA SCRAPS SHUTTLE PROGRAM, MOVES ON TO OPERATION CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG After the final launch of the space shuttle in 2011, NASA is turning its eyes to the future. And they’re realizing the future is not just in space but, in fact, is in space, land and sea. Therefore, they will commence “Operation Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,” an effort to create the mythical car from the film of the same name. Obviously, Dick Van Dyke will be brought on as an official consultant, which gives the added bonus of NASA having an expert chimney sweep/comedy sketch writer/surgeon with a nose for solving crime. The film version of this idea (to be released in 2015) will make Apollo 13 seem like child’s play.
SAVED BY THE BELL EPISODE PAVES WAY FOR 2012 ELECTION Everyone knows Saved by the Bell was the pinnacle of human art. But in 2012, people will realize the episode “The Election” perfectly predicts the U.S. presidential election. In the episode, lovable rapscallion Zack Morris runs for student body president after discovering the winner gets a trip to Washington, D.C. He runs against Jessie, who just wants to help the students, and must decide if he really wants to win after the trip is canceled. The episode exposes the tension within American politics, proving the winner of every election is just the one who has the most friends. It also foretells the real winner in the whole competition: dark horse competitor Mr. Belding, who will be your 2012 commander-in-chief. RELEVANTMAGAZINE.COM / 73
CUSACK WAS WRONG, CAGE IS RIGHT Thanks to the cinematic masterpiece that is John Cusack’s 2012, the world became familiar with a Mayan prophecy suggesting the end of the world will take place in the titular year. However, in 2012, everyone will realize they’ve been watching the wrong movie for clues to the end of the world. In fact, the real clues lie in the Nicolas Cage opus Knowing, in which solar flares destroy the world and “the chosen” (children and rabbits, naturally) are chosen to relocate to another world to rebuild humanity.
ROB BELL AND FRANCIS CHAN SETTLE HELL DEBATE VIA ROCK-PAPER-SCISSORS In 2011, the biggest theological debate in the Christian community was, without a doubt, over hell and the afterlife. Two of the primary names in the debate were Rob Bell (author of Love Wins) and Francis Chan (author of Erasing Hell). In 2012, the two will agree to a winner-takes-all, best-ofseven rock-paper-scissors duel. The event will be shown live on pay-perview, complete with refereeing by Michael “Let’s Get Ready to Rumble” Buffer. The result will be accepted by pretty much everyone, “ushering” the way for the next big spiritual issue: pews vs. chairs.
NEXT BIG LITERARY PHENOMENON: MUMMIES.
RETURN OF THE ABA If you’re an NBA fan, you know the league’s susceptibility to lock-outs. To answer fans’ desire to see a basketball league that, you know, actually plays games, the reformed American Basketball Association (the ABA) will rise again like a phoenix. Once known for stars like Dr. J and Moses Malone, the league was restarted as a minor league team in 2000 with more than 60 teams. Since the NBA’s best players are already under contract, get ready to root for up-andcoming stars like Brad “All Bottom” Clark and Edward “Hollywood” Horton (note: these are real players). As a bonus, the teams hold open tryouts, which will lead to 2013’s The Replacements 2: Electric Boogaloo, giving Keanu Reeves his first Academy Award. 74 / RELEVANT_NOV/DEC 11
Young adult literature has already gotten its fill of wizards, zombies, vampires and dystopian futures. In 2012, the new rage will be mummies. A series of books written by renowned children’s author Richard Scarry will star a teen protagonist (Biff Hooper) who falls for a beautiful girl named Meresamun, who turns out to be 2,800 years old. Because it’s a teen romance in the guise of a monster story, Biff will be puzzled about why his new love always has a blanket made out of strips of cloth with her, until he realizes she’s part of a shadowy underworld made up of mummies. He will join their fight against the evil horde of Batpeople. Naturally, love will conquer all. The books will sell 18 million copies, and lead to a series of films with weirdly good soundtracks.
DEBT CEILING 2: DEBT HARDER If you thought the summer of 2011’s hot-button political issue was contentious, you haven’t seen anything yet. We wish we were joking.
There’s a Bethel Seminary student who started a church in an urban coffee shop. Wackily caffeinated idea? Not to the people who cram in for one of the three services every Sunday. Something’s happening. God is at work in unusual ways and places. And if He’s calling you, get ready to go at Bethel Seminary. Go online and see why.
seminary.bethel.edu
SAINT PAul • SAN DIeGo • NeW eNGlAND • WASHINGToN DC • 800-255-8706 x-6288
Get ready to go!
RECOMMENDS
FEIST
METALS UNIVERSAL
LISTEN The title track off Feist’s new album.
> Leslie Feist makes goosebump music for smart people. She avoids pithy sentiments and melds her pop sensibility into a smooth blues backbone, as though Jack White wandered into the studio and interrupted Norah Jones mid-sentence. On “Get It Wrong, Get It Right,” there’s a shimmering effect that makes you think Feist is walking in a forest made of glass and white linens. The spacious production lets the acoustic guitar breathe deep; the drums sound like they are filled with pillows and feathers. Overall, the album is about unlocking secrets you’ve kept safe for too long. For Christians, that can mean confronting old demons and seeking new redemption. In some ways, Feist has inherited some grit from Lucinda Williams. She just lets it all wrap around her own guitar virtuoso and her angelic voice. This means we’re featuring a song from this project on RELEVANT.fm. We’re cool like that.
THE HAWK IN PARIS HIS + HERS (INDEPENDENT)
JOHN MARK MCMILLAN ECONOMY (INTEGRITY MEDIA)
> What if Friendly Fires hired Dan Haseltine to sing vocals? Well, you’d get something like The Hawk in Paris, a brilliant fluff-rock outfit with no aspirations to be anything but that. Matt Bronleewe, an original Jars of Clay member, lends a hand, although the real highlight is the lush, synth-laden production and throwback ‘80srock attitude—think Depeche Mode without the eyeliner. Songs are about first kisses and school dance awkwardness with just a hint of spiritual undertone: This world is not enough, God has a bigger plan and our attractions provide a clue about how we’re made.
> Thank you, John Mark McMillan, for opening with a slow-burn crooner—it’s reminiscent of your megahit “How He Loves” without being overly referential. Per usual, McMillan’s beefier songs are heavy on thumping bass notes and big guitar riffs, but the inspiring wordplay is the real clincher: We’re bleeding on the edge of darkness, but daylight is coming; God is in charge of our entropy (which he deftly links to the word “economy”) and can cancel any debt. With a cracking voice and soaring, fuzzed-out amplification, McMillan stands out as a true worship pioneer.
JUSTICE AUDIO, VIDEO, DISCO (WARNER) > Is there a place for baroque-pop
techno music? Yes, especially when it is this luscious and this unusual. Justice has a way of making the word “Ohio” (repeated several times) sound like it has eight syllables, a sentient meaning apart from being the name of a state, and can fill in as an ad hoc chorus. Songs like “Brianvision” pulse through your synapses without trying to destroy them. On the very next song, called “Parade,” there’s an unusual mix of emo rock, Jethro Tull and the chug of a Honda Civic’s muffler.
M83 HURRY UP, WE’RE DREAMING (MUTE RECORDS)
MY BRIGHTEST DIAMOND ALL THINGS WILL UNWIND (ASTHMATIC KITTY)
ODDISEE ROCK CREEK PARK (MELLO MUSIC GROUP)
> Sometimes it’s best to admit our
> There was a time when music
> M83’s album starts out with
quirkiness and move on. For My Brightest Diamond, the weirdness is turned up to 11 on All Things Will Unwind, including random cello parts, what sounds like screeching kitchen appliances and Shara Worden’s chamber-rock voice lifting out of a murky fog. If you want surprises, try the song about a cheese-eating rat in a kitchen. Her voice slips up an octave like she just saw the critter. There’s even a song about atomic charges and eternality. Tom Waits has a corner on dirty dirges, but no one plays a pump organ like Worden.
was not just a collection of bits and bytes. Real people got together to play piano, drums, guitar and bass to create an authentic sound. Oddisee captures that sense of a live performance: amazing musicians who enjoy playing together. Even the song titles could pass for something out of the late ‘60s: “Scenic Route to You,” “Uptown Cabaret.” Originally an instrumental artist and producer, Amir Mohamed seems to have re-tooled his music into something more soulful, even though there’s still a hip-hop and techno backdrop.
a child-like innocence. On the brilliant “Raconte-Moi Une Histoire,” a child’s spoken-word segment breaks the mold: What if you woke up and your “mommy suddenly became your daddy” and the “world looked like a giant cupcake”? There’s a forlorn quality to Anthony Gonzalez’ music—acoustic guitars flit between dreamy synth parts, and his voice yelps out emotional lyrics. Will everything be OK? Maybe. Well into the second disc, you sense the furious drums and goofy finger snaps are in on the joke.
RECOMMENDS
WHO IS MY ENEMY? LEE C. CAMP
(BRAZOS PRESS) > The starting point for Lee C. Camp’s stunning new book is that we should take Jesus at His word when He said, “Love your enemies.” This requires a commitment to selfexamination as well as the practice of empathy—”empathy that may not agree, approve, or necessarily even tolerate, but nonetheless seeks to understand.” Camp, a professor of theology and ethics at Lipscomb University, suggests we take the question that was on everyone’s lips after the Sept. 11 attacks (“How could they do this to us?”) as an authentic agenda for understanding: “What in their experience, in their presuppositions, in their vision, could contribute to the deeds or words or actions we find so unjust and horrid?” Camp also sketches out the politics of Muhammad and the politics of Jesus, and then provocatively suggests mainstream Christian politics looks more like Muhammad’s story than Jesus’. Who Is My Enemy? is not a comfortable read by any means, but it expands the spirit, and is one of the truly essential books of 2011.
HABIBI CRAIG THOMPSON (PANTHEON) > The title of Craig Thompson’s latest graphic novel is an Arabic term meaning “my beloved.” The “beloved” character is Zam, an orphaned boy rescued from death by Dodola, a runaway slave girl. Dodola raises Zam on a boat in the desert. Wrenched apart by violence, Dodola and Zam search for each other over years and across a harrowing Middle Eastern landscape. Habibi, which is in part about the spiritual power of language, will solidify Thompson’s reputation as one of today’s most exciting storytellers.
SHOWDOWN: JFK AND THE INTEGRATION OF THE WASHINGTON REDSKINS THOMAS G. SMITH (BEACON PRESS) > Fifty years ago, the Washington Redskins were still refusing to hire black players. In Showdown, sports historian Thomas G. Smith tells the story of the standoff between the Kennedy administration and the last NFL team to integrate. Merging historical scholarship with a gripping sports tale, Smith examines how the integration of the Redskins was an important moment in the struggle to level the playing field for black Americans in all walks of life.
THE ART OF FIELDING CHAD HARBACH (LITTLE, BROWN & COMPANY) > The Art of Fielding, the debut novel from Chad Harbach, centers around Henry Skrimshander, a college shortstop with big-league talent. Fielding a baseball is a mystical experience for Henry. But after making a single critical error, Henry’s life and the lives of four friends are forever changed. With The Art of Fielding, baseball fans have a book to help see them through the long, lonely months before spring training. For fans of literary fiction, it marks the arrival of a dazzling new voice. Fans of both, you’re in luck.
THE COST OF COMMUNITY JAMIE ARPIN-RICCI (INTERVARSITY PRESS)
THE MAGICIAN KING LEV GROSSMAN (PENGUIN GROUP (USA))
> In The Cost of Community, Jamie Arpin-Ricci explores the Sermon on the Mount through the lens of the life of St. Francis, as well as his own experiences as the founder of the Little Flowers intentional community in Winnipeg’s West End. Challenged by Francis’ life, Arpin-Ricci and his friends develop a “burning conviction” that Jesus wants Christians to actually do what He taught. “What emerges from such radical obedience is the very kingdom of God breaking into the broken reality of our lives, our neighborhoods and our world.”
> Not long ago, Quentin Coldwater
was a bored kid living in Brooklyn; now he is one of four rulers of the magical realm of Fillory, a Narnialike land he grew up believing only existed in books. But life as a figurehead is not enough for Quentin, whose quest for the heroic life eventually threatens all he holds dear. The Magician King follows the wildly popular The Magicians as the middle book of a planned trilogy. If all this sounds a little too Y.A. for you, be warned: a faithful movie adaptation would likely get an “R” rating.
THE MARRIAGE PLOT JEFFREY EUGENIDES (FARRAR, STRAUS AND GIROUX) > Jeffrey Eugenides’ long-awaited third novel centers on Madeleine Hanna, an English major writing her senior thesis on the “marriage plot” motif in the novels of Austen and Eliot. Madeleine finds herself torn between two men: the mysterious scientist she eventually marries, and a would-be mystic who goes on a pilgrimage, works with Mother Teresa and is convinced he and Madeleine are meant for each other. The Marriage Plot is a love story that feels at once classical and contemporary.
RECOMMENDS
THE TREE OF LIFE
(FOX SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES, PG-13) > More than a cinematic nuance, Terrence Malick’s grand The Tree of Life juxtaposes the Gospel narrative. Through three stories that cover creation, fall and redemption, the film beautifully and imaginatively insists humankind can only find hope and life in a restored relationship with God. The primary of these stories centers on a Texas boy named Jack, played convincingly by Hunter McCracken and as an adult by Sean Penn. The oldest of three boys and son of a graceful mother (Jessica Chastain) and strict father (Brad Pitt), Jack finds himself entrapped by his fallen nature. He wants to be good, but he can’t. There’s something terribly wrong with him. As he walks this path, feeling the weight of sin and desperately seeking a savior, a story of salvation emerges. Through love, forgiveness and humility, Jack and his family arrive at a place without pain and suffering, a place where love and grace triumph, where creation has returned to its original state—where we find the Tree of Life.
CERTIFIED COPY (MK2 DIFFUSION, UR) > In this romantic drama by acclaimed filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami, a French antique store owner (Juliette Binoche) goes off with an English historian. When mistaken as a married couple, the two play along. But as time goes on, their relationship becomes perplexing. Are they strangers, or were they previously married? In the end, it doesn’t matter. In a celebration of love and marriage, Kiarostami makes a statement about art. He argues that whether original or copied, a creation can still reflect reality and be pertinent.
CONAN O’BRIEN CAN’T STOP (PARIAH, R) > Though Conan O’Brien’s controversial NBC fracas has finally left center stage, filmmaker Rodman Flender brings it back into the light in his new documentary. More than a marketing gimmick for O’Brien and his new show on TBS, this film truly studies the tall and ginger funny man—who he is and what motivates him. We get to see how much of a jerk he can be and how much of a comedic genius he really is. Most of all, though, we get to see that, despite a $40 million send-off from NBC, O’Brien has never been in it for the money.
SUPER 8 (PARAMOUNT PICTURES, PG-13)
> Just when his work couldn’t get
> A sort of mish-mash between
any more cynical, Woody Allen makes this bright and charming romantic comedy. Starring Owen Wilson as an unfocused writer on the verge of marriage and his first novel, the film takes us to Paris. There, he finds himself caught under a spell in which, each night at midnight, he’s transported to the 1920s, a time when literary giants like F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway roamed the streets. It’s an English major’s reverie and a sign that Allen still knows how to make a good, funny and hopeful movie.
The Goonies and E.T., J.J. Abrams’ sci-fi blockbuster takes us to 1979 Ohio, where a troubled teen and his friends find their lives turned upside down when they witness a catastrophic train wreck and an alien being takes over their small town. If not stamped with Abrams’ name as writer and director, the film could easily be mistaken as an early work of Steven Spielberg. Like so many Amblin classics, it captivates us with both a warm sensibility and a magical comingof-age story about friendship, forgiveness and, essentially, faith.
TERRI (ATO PICTURES, R) > Not your typical high-school misfit movie, director Azazel Jacobs’ indie dramedy is odd, inventive and moving. Newcomer Jacob Wysocki is Terri, an awkwardly warm and overweight teen who wears pajamas to class because, well, they’re comfortable. When the tormented Terri gets sent to his principal (the always pleasing John C. Reilly), the pair slowly form a bond that changes both of their lives. Jacobs captures their story beautifully and with a real sense of place. Sometimes dark yet optimistic, it looks small and quiet but speaks honestly and loudly.
TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON (PARAMOUNT PICTURES, PG-13) > Michael Bay doesn’t know the first thing about subtlety, and he’s never worked with a quality script. But through his Transformers series, he continually proves to be a visceral genius. Dark of the Moon, probably the visually best of the franchise, brings a Decepticon invasion to Chicago, leading to the kind of big, loud and satisfying finale that Bay is known for. On top of all the action and explosions, which flaunt his filmmaking spectacle and actually make use of 3D, there’s also an interesting spin on American history.
This Christmas join us on the Highway
www.highway101.net
MIDNIGHT IN PARIS (SONY PICTURES CLASSICS, PG-13)
DOUBLE DISC 1DVD +1CD
Get your copy today at:
CONTENTS ISSUE 54 NOV_DEC 2011 / RELEVANTMAGAZINE.COM
6
First Word
8
Letters
10
Slices
22
PULSE: Worship Becomes a Concept
24
WORLDVIEW: Why Christmas Matters
26
The Drop Active Child, LEAGUES, Sarah Jaffe
34
REJECT APATHY: Gift Card Giver
36
IN THEIR WORDS: Linnea Gabriella Spransy
38 40
The Evolution of Jonah Hill When Revolutionaries Grow Up Can you be both radical and responsible?
44
Manchester Orchestra Frontman Andy Hull is nothing if not honest
48
Where Is God in Tragedy? Looking for meaning and hope in a broken world
60
Civil Disobedience When—if ever—should Christians break the law?
64
OK Go
66
Unwrapping the Holidays
70
The 2011 RELEVANT Gift Guide
72
John Cusack Will Be Wrong
52
And 10 Other Predictions for 2012
78
Recommends
Not sure what those boxes are?
They’re QR codes. Here’s what to do with them.
1. Download the app
QR codes are two-dimensional barcodes that can be read by smartphone cameras. Search “QR code” to find a free QR app for your phone.
MU TE 2. Scan the code
Hold your phone over a box. The app will use your camera to read the code.
3. Enjoy
The code will direct your phone to a site with a video, some music, a photo or other goody.
M ATH
In the garment of justice, your love is an irreplaceable thread.
FEBRUARY 24+25, 2012 www.thEjUsticEconFEREncE.com
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