Jared Lee’s Blog

Shock you?  I really didn’t mean to.  I was listening to LastFM today and this song caught me in the middle of work.

Usually I barely hear it.  I heard this!

Here are the lyrics to a song by Jay Brannan called Go*dam**d (and I put the asterick’s there if you are wondering…

I’m marching to Zion
A camera in my hand
I hear people cryin’
Dyin’ for this blood-stained land
The streets of old Jerusalem
Are lined with souvenirs and those buying them
It sounds cold, but I cannot see
How this theme park has shaped history

Cause virgins don’t have babies
And water isn’t wine
And there’s a holy spirit maybe
But she would never rent a room with walls built by mankind
Mary and Mohammed
Are screaming through the clouds
For you to lay your goddamned arms down
Rip your bigot roots up from the earth and salt the goddamned ground

Stand in line patiently
To supercharge your rosary
Or stuff your prayers inside this wall
We once had god trapped in this great hall
But we’ve been cast out from this place
They say a prophet floated from here to outer space
Am I crazy? maybe it’s me
But this all sounds like mythology

Cause virgins don’t have babies
And water isn’t wine
And there’s a holy spirit maybe
But she would never rent a room with walls built by mankind
Mary and Mohammed
Are screaming through the clouds
For you to lay your goddamned arms down
Rip your bigot roots up from the earth and salt the goddamned ground

Zeus was afraid of his girlfriend
So he swallowed her in bed
Then he bore forth Athena
When they cracked open his head
Her brother tried to rape her
Athena got away
And when his seed hit the ground
The grass gave birth that day
Now we all freely admit
This story’s clearly bullshit
No one would lay down their life
Or start a war for it
So throw your stones and pray
You’ll be rewarded someday
I hope it all goes your way
But something tells me
No one’s coming to save you
No one’s coming to save you
No one’s coming to save you
Save yourselves
From turning earth into hell

No one’s coming to save you
No one’s coming to save you
No one’s coming to save you
No one’s coming to save you

Mary and Mohammed
Are screaming through the clouds
For you to lay your goddamned arms down
Rip your bigot roots up from the earth and salt the goddamned ground

WOW.  These are certainly powerful lyrics.  Let’s evaluate this.

First of all – wow, what a great singer!  I really don’t know for sure what captured me faster the words in the background or the vocals.  I think I like Jay’s talent – and that needs to be said right away.

Second, this is a song about one of the most powerful things humanity must deal with, not only war which is powerful all by itself, but religious war.

Despite Brannan’s encouragement to stop the madness, I am convinced that religious war is something fallen humanity will never overcome.  Partly because our respective religions define us and shape us at our core, and also because whatever defines us is precious to us – precious to the point of dying over.  Some people are willing to die for their country, more for their families, but even more are willing to die for their religion.  For many people, religion is the most important part of life.

This battle that rages on over what Jay Brannan calls a “blood stained … theme park” has raged for thousands of years in one form or another.  The motivation of this war is led far more by human passions than divine interests.  This war is motivated by fear that if the warriors give up, they are admitting the weakness of their god(s).

Let me put this clearly.  A god who needs humans to fight his battles is already weak.  But many do don’t they?  It seems that most people think they’re god needs them to defend them, to feed them, to serve them.  A real God is one who serves and cares for his people – not the other way around.

Brannan says that people need to save themselves from turning earth into hell.  After all these years of human history, I am compelled to argue that this is a moot point.  People have clearly turned earth into hell over and over again without any sign of stopping.

But the story of the Bible reveals a God who promises to turn earth into heaven.  The God revealed in the Bible is not one who depends on us to fight his battles, but a God and King who leads the battle himself.  And Jay, this King, the one in the Bible, he makes us truly human.  Without that King, we will never understand true humanity.

Jay is right about a couple of things.  This war is terrible, and people should lay down their arms.  But he is wrong that no one is coming to save us.  He already has.  His name was Jesus.  And he is coming back to finish what he started.

I was listening to NPR today and they were talking about our current global economic situation.  One of the big questions was “what should we call it?”

The Great Depression has a name, does this deserve a name?  If it does deserve a name what should that name be?

One of the guests spoke up and said that no name would really mean anything for at least a couple of generations.  What we call it is not nearly as meaningful or as accurate as what our grandchildren call it.  The example of World War I was given.  The Wilson administration actually tried to give it the name “the war to end all wars.”  It was only a few years before that became a joke.

So what will our grandchildren call this period that we are living through right now? I was giving that some thought and the one thing that occurred to me was (perhaps as hopeful as Wilson’s name for WWI) The Great Reorganization.

Yes, we are clearly in an economic downturn.  As I write this, the news tells me that 70,000 American’s lost their jobs today.  That can’t be good.  It is certainly not good for those families, and its not good for our economy.   But all hard times are actually periods of growth.

A great religious leader once said that we should consider it to be a good thing when we face trials because this develops our perseverance and makes us better.  (yes that is a paraphrase, but you get the point).   Another saying goes, “necessity is the mother of invention.”    What I am trying to say is that some of the most outstanding accomplishments of mankind come at times of adversity.

Not only are we faced with a bad economy, but we have developed a lifestyle that destroys natural resources and pollutes our air.  Scientists tell us that we cannot continue at this pace for much longer without encountering devastating consequences.

We have a trial, but we also have a tremendous opportunity.  I really think that our grandchildren (if our civilization makes it that far) will look back on this period, not as a “depression” but as a reorganization.  Faced with our challenges we have an incredible opportunity to reorganize our economic, political, and cultural civilization.  This is an incredibly exciting time to be alive!

The real question for us is, where will the Church be in this historical moment? Will we rise to the challenge and lead in reorganizing this civilization?  Or will we let others lead the way while we follow in hopes of finding solice and comfort?