Friday Pick of the Week

Happy Friday, friends. I love weddings. I also love new places. That's why I am so excited for this weekend, when we get to head to Chicago to celebrate the Bahratkins nuptials. It will be my first visit to the Windy City, save for an delayed layover en route to Seattle, coincidentally only a few short hours before I proposed to my wife. So with a trip to Chicago on the itinerary and love in the air, what would be more appropriate for a Friday Pick than a love song by Chicago?

Friday Pick of the Week

This past Saturday night, several friends and I navigated the dark streets of Lipscomb, Alabama in search of Gip's Place. The trek was well worth it. If you've never heard of Gip's, take five minutes and watch this:



As you can tell, it was one of the coolest experiences I've ever had in Birmingham. Without further ado, Earl Williams has got his mojo working.

Friday Pick of the Week

Happy Friday, friends. You know what they say about Friday Pick of the Week? You can never have enough Kiwis. It has been a year since Brooke Frasier graced us with her lovely vocals, and so the time has come to head back to New Zealand. When this track from The Naked and Famous's debut album Passive Me, Aggressive You comes on the shuffle, we dance. So get to dancing.

On Being Right

In addition to, or perhaps at the root of, Dan Kinnaman's reasons young Christians are leaving the church, I would like to add rightness. We are a religion obsessed with the answers, and those answers have driven divisions, from congregational splits to denominational schisms to bloody wars. Last week, Cathleen Falsani at Sojourners published a great piece on the prevalence and divisiveness of smugness in the Church. I argue that young people, who tend to be more open to "living in the question," find the certitude of the Church particularly difficult to handle. From issues of science to sexuality to politics, Christians have no qualms claiming to be on God's side, as though they have transcended the difficulties posed in scripture and culture to arrive as the Lord's mouthpiece. Increasingly influenced by a globalizing world, in which varied worldviews and perspectives collide to recreate one another, young Christians are acutely aware that anyone declaring to have everything figured out is unquestionably full of it. Call it post-modernism or call it a cop-out, but Millennial Christians are increasingly cautious about the unquestionable Word of God, particularly when interpreted and disseminated by a remarkably homogenous group of individuals. Or at least that's what I think... Thoughts?

Friday Pick of the Week

Happy Friday, friends. If you like the Polyphonic Spree, I think you'll quickly realize my affection for today's choice. If you don't like the Polyphonic Spree, you need to lighten up.
As I've mentioned, lately I've been listening to a good bit of folk and bluegrass, with an appreciation for trends that harken back to artists like Bob Dylan and Hank Williams. Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros pull the sound off well, particularly on their second album Here, which debuted this week. While I was hoping to include a song from that album, I couldn't resist choosing this rendition of "Home." I'm not sure they are even aware of the audience, which makes it even more beautiful.  Enjoy.

Friday Pick of the Week

As you may know, Fleet Foxes has been one of my favorite bands since music guru Parker Ingle passed along to me their first album a few years ago. I was saddened to learn this spring of the departure of the band's drummer J. Tillman.  Fortunately, the move led me to check out his solo stuff, which he was putting out well before his time with Fleet Foxes.  Here's one of my favorites, the title track from his 2009 album Year in the Kingdom.

You Lost Me

Young Americans are checking out of the church like never before. In effort to explore this a bit, I picked up David Kinnaman's You Lost Me, in which he investigates the reasons so many in the Millennial generation are struggling with the faith in which they were raised.
Kinnaman, the head of the evangelical Christian research firm the Barna Group, approaches the book as both a social scientist and a Christian.  I appreciate his openness in stating his beliefs and perspectives, something scientists often shy from in effort to appear objective (supposed objectivity is driving force in scientific bias, but this is a discussion we can have another day).  Kinnaman is unashamedly evangelical, and while his research addresses some Catholic and mainline protestant trends, white evangelicals are at the heart of his discussion.  While some of the language he uses has undoubtedly contributed to the departure of burned out Christians, on the whole he works hard to foster thoughtful discussion.
Kinnaman generalizes wandering Millenial Christians into three categories: nomads, who have departed from local churches but who continue to identify with the faith; prodigals, who have departed from Church altogether; and exiles, who remain consistent church-goers but with strong frustrations about American Christianity.  He employs examples of folks who have walked through periods such as these, from Stephen Colbert to Katy Perry.  Collecting a wealth of surveys from folks under 30 who were raised in the church, Kinnaman dispels some myths as to why young Christians are checking out, instead offering six major reasons the Millennial generation is dissatisfied with the faith.

1. The Church is overprotective: Young Christians live in a world consumed with safety, and find the Church has fallen in line by prioritizing protection over the call of the gospel.
2. The Church is shallow: Young Christians are frustrated with the tension between the gospel's call to death and the clean, comfortable lives of their congregations.
3. The Church is antiscience: In a world rapidly changing due to science-driven technological innovation, young Christians struggle with world views offered by their denominations that seem incompatible with science.
4. The Church is missing the mark on sexuality: Raised in the wake of the feminist and gay rights movements, young Christians wrestle with harsh views of the Church pertaining to gender equality and homosexuality.
5. The Church is exclusive: Young Christians, exposed to a wealth of different beliefs and cultures in a rapidly globalizing world, struggle with the Church's teachings on the exclusiveness of salvation.
6. The Church is hostile to doubt: In the period of life where self searching and experimentation thrive, young Christians find the Church has little room for doubt.

While the list is not comprehensive, I think it lays an excellent foundation for discussion.  I imagine for most Millennials raised in the Church, some if not all the points echo to some degree.  Kinnaman approaches his solutions section with a Millennial value: collaboration.  He incorporates fifty varied voices to speak towards how the Church can re-engage the generation, with a range of insightful suggestions and perspectives.
In the first emphatically evangelical book I have read in years, some of Kinnaman's assumptions and wording recollected memories of my early disillusion with the Church. Overall, it is informative, and I recommend it to someone curious about the issue, particularly those spending time with white evangelical Millennials. Otherwise, you can get the gist here.

What about you? Do any of Kinnaman's assessments resonate with struggles in faith for you?