Kingdom Civics Figuring out how to be a good citizen in the Kingdom of God

I discovered Momastery at the beginning of this year, when her post, “Don’t Carpe Diem,” went viral.  Overnight, the blog’s readership exploded, and the author, Glennon Melton, has subsequently been swamped with book deals, reality television pitches, advertising offers, and the sixth biggest blog readership in the country.  I can see why.  Even though Glennon’s religious beliefs are extremely unique, she is also hilarious, insightful, spiritual, and almost painfully authentic.  I like reading her posts for all of those reasons, even though our beliefs do not always overlap.  Glennon named the blog “Momastery” because, in her words,  “Motherhood is like a monastery … it’s a sacred place, apart from the world, where a seeker can figure out what matters and catch glimpses of God.”  She even has a name for the participants in her Momastery community:  Monkees.  I wouldn’t call myself a monkee, in that I have never commented on her blog, much less participated in her Monkee projects (you can read more about those in that last link).  However, thus far, I have enjoyed reading each new post that she had added.  When her blog went viral, she started running a “Best of Momastery” series, so even though I’ve only been reading for a couple months, I feel like I have a good grasp of the highlights.

One of the reasons I like this blog the most is because Glennon gives the reader an amazing window into the thought processes of an addict and a mentally-ill person.  Until about eight years ago (it corresponds with the birth of her son), she struggled with eating disorders, alcoholism, and drug addiction–even though she came from a great, supportive family.  Those people are often the most mysterious to me, and in her posts that talk about her past, I gain a lot of insight into her mindset during that times.  There are many such posts, and I highlighted one below (#2).

Here are my Top 3:

1.  Telling Secrets

“But then the Tess thing happened. And I thought, maybe I could do THAT. Maybe my public service could just be to tell people the truth about my insides. Because it seemed to make people feel better, for whatever reason. It struck me that for this particular “ministry,” my criminal record was a PLUS. It gave me street cred. And I considered that maybe the gifts God gave me were storytelling and shamelessness. Because you guys, I’m shameless. I’m almost ashamed at how little shame I have. Almost, but not really, at all. So I decided that’s what God wanted me to do. He wanted me to walk around telling people the truth. No mask, no hiding, no pretending. That was going to be my thing. I was going to make people feel better about their insides by showing them mine. By being my real self. But I was keeping my trendy jeans. I decided they were part of my real self.”

2.  Fifteen

“There are some who can sit through a movie that makes them uncomfortable. And there are some who can’t. Or won’t. Those people actually have to get up and leave the room.
We addicts, we mentally ill are the Leavers.
We just can’t stand the movie that is showing for some reason. And we are unable to fake it or tolerate it. We have to get up and walk out.
We don’t leave to hurt you. We leave because we believe that it is right to leave. And just as you wonder how we could possibly leave, we wonder how on Earth you can stay.
But please don’t blame yourself. Often, we were just watching the movie together. You didn’t make the movie. The movie is the whole world.”

3.  Lowering the Bar

“Plus, I feel like such a responsible grown up at the kids’ dentist. What kind of mom remembers to bring all three of her kids to the dentist? An amazing one, that’s what kind.And so I walk around that office feeling very fancy and efficient. I always wear a cardigan to the kids’ dental appointments. I only own one cardigan, because I’m not really the cardigan type. But on dentist day I sure am. Nothing says responsible and OBVIOUSLY I’VE NEVER SPENT TIME IN JAIL DON’T BE RIDICULOUS  like a cardigan does.”

That last one is an example of one of her funny ones.  The excerpt is not: really the funny part, but it sets the tone well.

So…what have you guys been reading this week?

Wow–my second week of “Top 3 on Tuesday,” and already I’m hitting a snag.  I’ve known since I first conceived this idea (which is to say, I’ve known for about a week), that I was going to feature “Internet Monk” as my second blog.  I just think it’s a really good resource for Christians: it is updated very regularly, and it is full of posts on current events in Christendom, deep spiritual thoughts, and even many informative historical analyses.  (Plus, it’s got one of those round-up things I was talking about, and those are always fun.)  Apparently, the blog was started by a man named Michael Spencer in November of 2000.  It became really popular:  in fact, “It was recently voted the number 6 blog at ChurchRelevance.com and is rated the #11 blog in the Christian blogosphere,” according to its information page.  Sadly, Spencer died of cancer in 2010; before he died, however, he passed his blog to Michael Mercer, who goes by “Chaplain Mike” on the blog.  Chaplain Mike has kept up with the blog ever since.

Here’s where I ran into my snag, though:  like I said, it seems that Internet Monk is always being updated.  And so, it’s really hard to pick out three posts to serve as highlights, or even to pick out my three “favorite” posts.  So I thought about it, and what I’m going to do instead is to highlight the three posts that really got me interested in the blog.  I initially thought I’d try to put each blog’s best foot forward, but at least two of these three posts are somewhat controversial.  Oh,well.  I figure that they’ll at least let you know if this blog is for you, or if you should run, screaming, in the opposite direction:

1.  iMonk Classic:  Talk Hard II–Defending Dissent

This was the one that really sucked me in.  It’s by the original author, Michael Spencer.  He is a little more “in your face” here than I usually prefer, but despite the occasional burst of vitriol, the overall content of his message was soothing to my soul:

There are thousands of people who don’t buy the kind of flat, literalistic inerrancy that is being sold among conservative evangelicals today, and, sorry to disappoint the gallery, but we don’t have to. Being a Baptist doesn’t force me to buy the search for the ark, young earth creationism, Hamm/Hovind, complementarianism, homeschooling, conspiracy theories, Dobson’s view of politics, bad Christian art, arrogant leaders, bad scholarship or the SBC’s view of itself as compared to other denominations.

Yes, I am critical of some of my brethren. I’ve never lived a day in Protestantism that there wasn’t a critical conversation going on. If the memo has gone out that we’ve stop asking questions and contending for answers, I didn’t get it.

And then he talks about Roger Williams, concluding that, “I may be wrong, but this web site is exercising something Baptist Christians used to care deeply about: DISSENT.”  (Emphasis his.)

Yes, he may be wrong.  I know for sure that I disagree with some of his opinions, even here, but I do believe passionately in critical thinking, which often expresses itself in dissent.  It was a good reminder that disagreeing with the (seeming) majority doesn’t automatically make one a heretic.  Sometimes I need to that reminder.

2.  Open Mic:  Evangelical Voters in SC

I have been ridiculously bad at keeping up with politics this year.  To be honest, I just don’t follow them at all.  So when I heard from Greg that Newt Gingrich won in SC, I was completely shocked.  I just didn’t get how that could happen.  I had just discovered this blog, and lo and behold, they had a discussion in the comments section that I actually found to be helpful.  Yes, most of the response seemed to come from “liberal” readers, but what I liked the most was the conservative response.  See, I honestly could not understand how Gingrich won SC, and hearing the conservative rationales, I felt that I understood it better.  Here is a sample conservative response from “Miguel” in the comments:

 I do believe moral character to be important, I just can’t become a single issue voter over that. We don’t need an incompetent saint in office. And I’m not waiting until somebody “pure” enough comes along in order to vote for him. I will take the lesser of two evils any day of the week, and I will sleep at night guilt free knowing I used what little influence I had for as much good as it could do.

It was actually helpful to me to listen to the conversation.

3.  Stories of Circus Acts Past

This article is a great example of the way the blog highlights the church’s past.  I had never heard about any of this crazy guy, St. Simeon Salus, who lived in the sixth century:

For much of his adult life, Simeon practiced the ascetic life of a hermit in the desert. Then he decided to return to his hometown of Emesa, prompted by the Spirit. His foolish behavior began immediately when he entered the village dragging a dead dog around, attracting attention and contempt. It is said that he then entered the church, extinguished the lights, and began throwing nuts at the women in the congregation. Upon exiting the church, Simeon turned over the tables of food merchants in the streets.

I mean, c’mon.  Don’t you want to know more about that guy?

Okay, hopefully that’s enough information to allow you to determine whether or not this is a blog for you.  I will leave you with this question:  had you heard of Internet Monk before this?  I’m just curious to see if any of my readers were holding out on me:).

Another name for this post could be, “In Which I Kill Two Birds With One Stone.”

See, I have been struggling with two conundrums.  One is that I absolutely love these weekly round-ups that several of my favorite bloggers do, where they give links to all the interesting articles they have read that week.  I always enjoy those posts and have discovered several new blogs that way.  Furthermore, I am forever reading wonderful posts and articles that I eagerly desire to share with you, dear reader.  My desire to share my fabulous finds usually leads me to ponder doing my own weekly round-up, where I give you links to all the fascinating words I have read in the past week.  Here’s the problem with that, though:  I only read about fifteen blogs.  Now, don’t get me wrong:  they are all brilliant.  But any weekly round-up I do will feature those same fifteen blogs, and, after about the second week, I would assume that would get pretty lame.

Here is my second conundrum.  I love my fifteen (or so) wonderful blogs, and I have often considered putting links to them on a sidebar on this blog.  Whenever I start thinking about it, though, I chicken out, mainly because some of the blogs I love are a little…crazy.  And controversial.  Let’s just say that I definitely don’t agree with everything in them.  And to me, putting a blog on a sidebar denotes full acceptance of everything written on that blog.  (On one level, I do know that the sidebar doesn’t actually mean that, but on another level…I still think it kind of does.)  So thus far, I have no list of brilliant blogs on my sidebar.

Both of these issues vex me.  Or at least, they vexed me until I had a “eureka” moment while driving the other day.  Here it is:  I could do a weekly round-up, but use it to highlight various posts from one of my favorite blogs!  After all, I have at least fifteen, so that will last me for awhile.  And this way, I will have a chance to explain the gist of each blog, as well as all the reasons I love it.  That alone will keep me from feeling so guilty about all the internet greatness I’ve been hoarding.  And then at the end, I will share my three favorite posts from that blog:  thus, the “Top 3 on Tuesday.”  Don’t correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure that this plan is brilliant and fool-proof!

Okay, so let’s get started, shall we?

The first blog I want to share with you is Experimental Theology, written by Richard Beck.

Hands down, what I love the most about Dr. Beck is that he is not a teacher of theology; instead, he is a psychology professor for Abilene Christian University.  I absolutely love psychology, so much so that I minored in it just for kicks.  And so I love how Dr. Beck regularly brings psychological analysis to bear on his discussions of theology.  For example, in a recent post, he delves into the psychological factors at work in how we determine “professional,” or “church appropriate” dress.  In another post, he gives the best analysis of Mark Driscoll’s accusation of the “feminization of the church” that I have read.  In yet another, he turns his personal predilection for pink into a meditation on the Christian’s “need to become immune to shame.”  And while many people have used the example of Jesus to humble me and make me want to be a better person, I’m not sure that anyone has ever had that same effect on me while using Lady Gaga.  Now that, my friends, is impressive.  And here’s another thing:  all of the posts I’ve just mentioned had me completely riveted, but none of them made it into my “top 3.”  That’s how good this blog is.  It’s a good thing I just really started reading it a few weeks ago, or I would never be able to pin down my three favorites.  As it is, I keep changing them, because I keep finding more and more good ones on Beck’s sidebar.

So here they are, my first

Top 3 on Tuesday

1.  Scooby-Doo, Where are You!:  On Disenchantment and the Demonic

Here, Dr. Beck analyzes my favorite childhood cartoon and clearly shows how a typical episode arc traces Western society’s journey from enchantment to disenchantment with demonic forces…and then shrewdly suggests that we might not be as free from them as we might think.  It rocked my world.

2.  god

In this post, Beck uses his fancy psychological understanding to argue, rather controversially, that nothing we say about God is entirely true.  He uses phrases like cataphatic and apophatic theology (don’t worry–I don’t have a clue what they mean, either) to put into (smart) words something that I have been feeling for quite some time.  And after reading his argument, I can’t say that I disagree.

3.  Seeing Her

This one was simple and poignant.  Beck employs one of the most horrific stories in all of Scripture to reflect on the idea that Christianity conditions us to naturally see situations from the victim’s perspective.  I have found myself mentally revisiting that simple point several times since reading it.

So that’s what I’ve gotten from Richard Beck’s “Experimental Theology.”  I am still fairly desperate to read his book Unclean, but I am currently in a shame spiral because of the books I still haven’t finished.  Thus, I think I’m going to have to put off Unclean until the summer.  So sad.  Thankfully, I have Beck’s blog to tide me over until then…and now, you do, too!

So have you read any good articles this week?  If so, leave a link, and I’d love to check them out!