happy Father's day

to appa from esther h. lee on Vimeo.

Read here one guy's interview with Sufjan stevens

but if you don't feel like reading the entire thing, pretty much what dominates this article is when the guy starts asking Sufjan about the tenets of Christian faith. The interviewer tries to be balanced, but overall, in his view, the negatives of the Church outweigh the positives. And what's most interesting is that Sufjan agrees:

The church is an institution and it’s incredibly corrupt obviously, but that’s because it’s full of dysfunctional people and people who are hurt and battered and abused. It’s very normal in any institution to have that kind of level of dysfunction. That’s unfortunate. I find it very difficult, I find church culture very difficult you know; I think a lot of churches now are just fundamentally flawed. But that’s true for any institution you know, that’s true for education, universities and it’s definitely true for corporations because of greed, and I think part of faith is having to be reconciled with a flawed community. But the principles, I don’t think the principles have changed. They can get skewed and they can get abused and dogma can reign supreme, but I think the fundamentals, it’s really just about love. Loving God and loving your neighbour and giving up everything for God. The principles of that, the basis of that is very pure and life changing.

I can see myself growing just as or even more disillusioned by church culture. Don't be mistaken. I deeply love the community I got to be a part of during college--learned so much. But to me, christians generally hold a dogmatic adherence to strict interpretations of scripture and underestimate how dismissive they've become to alternate points of view. Now that I'm older, I can see how those tendencies leave this world a mess.

If you read the whole interview, you may have noticed both the interviewer and Sufjan respond to each other very candidly, revealing enough to understand where each is coming from. Say what you will about their theology, but conversations like this probably aren't happening enough.

retired pedro the lion

I could hear the church bells ringing

They pealed aloud your praise

The member's faces were smiling

With their hands outstretched to shake

It's true they did not move me

My heart was hard and tired

Their perfect fire annoyed me

I could not find you anywhere

Could someone please tell me the story

Of sinners ransomed from the fall

I still have never seen you, and somedays

I don't love you at all

The devoted were wearing bracelets

To remind them of why they came

Some concrete motivation

When the abstract could not do the same

But if all that's left is duty

I'm falling on my sword

At least then I would not serve

An unseen, distant Lord

Could someone please tell me the story

Of sinners ransomed from the fall

I still have never seen you, and somedays

I don't love you at all

If this is only a test

I hope that I'm passing

Because I'm losing steam

And I still want to trust you

Peace, be still

Peace, be still

Peace, be still

Peace, be still

Sometimes i ask myself what the heck am i doing here during the two hour bus ride home from work :/ then i see my baby cousin's face and it all makes it worthwhile :)