The Piss Christ

We have grown used to beauty without horror.
-Andrew Hudgins

I bet that caught your attention.

Yep, it does say that word up there. Yep, I have a reason. No, college is not making me lose my faith.

I've felt like I needed to blog for a very long time. If you'll notice, I have not blogged for half a year. I've been at a loss as to what to blog about. Sure, I could go ahead and tell another funny story about my life, but I don't really want to. Today as I was walking back from the art building, I was pondering several things that I have been tossing around in my head. My thoughts have somewhat come to a culmination today because of a man, a poet named Andrew Hudgins, who is the keynote speaker for this weekend's writing conference that my school, John Brown University, is hosting. Mr. Hudgins is a bit of a controversial writer in Christian circles, probably because he makes people feel uncomfortable. I had the pleasure of having lunch with him, several other authors (including Leif Enger, author of Peace Like a River), and some of my classmates. During our conversation, I was able to observe Mr. Hudgins' deep wisdom and devotion to Christ.

Let me cue you in on my recent thought process. First, here is a quote:

"God calls Christians to be in the world, but not of it. But, I observe modern Christians doing the exact opposite. They're of the world, but not in it."

That was said by Terry Mattingly, president of The Washington Journalism Center, when he spoke in chapel last semester. That quote got to me. It's so true, us Christians have our own versions of everything: music, films, books, etc. Then, we have really conservative Christians who do an excellent job of not being of the world; but, they aren't in the world either. They live in their own little Christian boxes, surrounded by their Christian friends, claiming that they're living for God but ignoring the world around them. I don't doubt their commitment to Christ, but it seems they miss the point. So, in fact, the vast majority of Christians do not follow Jesus' command to be in the world but not of it. Myself included.

Secondly, I've been tossing around the idea of the "ideal Christian." You know what I'm talking about, the Christian stereotype of having to look and act a certain way. The un-spoken, but much implied rules of no piercings, no tattoos, no swearing, no weird hair cuts or hair colors, and on it goes. The ideal Christian family that glosses over the other family member who is gay, or is pregnant out of wedlock, or has had an abortion. The people in our lives who have done the unmentionable non-christian things. The ones who, when asked about, we say, "Oh, that's Bob's uncle, but we don't talk about him" and then shoot the universal 'he's a bad person' look that all Christians understand. I have problems with this. I have major problems with the ideal Christian stereotype. I've lived with it most of my life. Not from my parents, but from the people around me. Who did Jesus look like? Who did Jesus hang out with? I have another question, where does Jesus, or the other inspired writers of the Bible, tell us what we have to look like? What do they say about who we are allowed to talk about, or hang out with, or listen to? Yes, I'm aware of the verses that give guidelines for life, such as Colossians 3:8:

"But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips."

But, I'm talking about the gray areas here, the areas that Christians have been disagreeing about for years. What makes language filthy? Is piss a filthy word? What about fuck? Obviously there are contexts where those words are filthy; but, all language, every single word, can be filthy. Very filthy.

I'm not being rebellious. I'll lay that down right now. Ok? I'm not going out clubbing, and drinking, and partying. I'm not partaking of all the pleasures that are out there. I don't have questionable friends. These thoughts that I am presenting are what I've been thinking about. They really don't even pertain to me in a direct way. I am living at a Christian college in a fairly controlled Christian bubble. But, thankfully, at John Brown University, they don't dictate how we're allowed to think. They challenge us, and let us think for ourselves. That's what I'm doing.

Finally, this is what I saw today:


This is a piece of artwork by an artist named Andres Serrano. It has won awards. When you look at it, it's rather beautiful, isn't it? This piece of art is named Piss Christ. The artist spent weeks collecting his urine, cow urine, and cow blood. Then, he poured the liquids together and submerged a crucifix in them. Sacrilegious? Probably.

Now, read this poem. It is by the gentleman that I mentioned earlier, Andrew Hudgins. He wrote it after observing Mr. Serrano's artwork.

Piss Christ

If we did not know it was cow's blood and urine,
if we did not know that Serrano had for weeks
hoarded his urine in a plastic vat,
if we did not know the cross was gimcrack plastic,
we would assume it was too beautiful.
We would assume it was the resurrection,
glory, Christ transformed to light by light
because the blood and urine burn like a halo,
and light, as always, light makes it beautiful.

We are born between the urine and the feces,
Augustine says, and so was Christ, if there was a Christ,
skidding into this world as we do
on a tide of blood and urine. Blood, feces, urine—
what the fallen world is made of, and what we make.
He peed, ejaculated, shat, wept, bled—
bled under Pontius Pilate, and I assume
the mutilated god, the criminal,
humiliated god, voided himself
on the cross and the blood and urine smeared his legs
and he ascended bodily unto heaven,
and on the third day he rose into glory, which
is what we see here, the Piss Christ in glowing blood:
the whole irreducible point of the faith,
God thrown in human waste, submerged and shining.

We have grown used to beauty without horror.

We have grown used to useless beauty.

Makes you think, doesn't it? Read those last two lines again. "We have grown used to beauty without horror. We have grown used to useless beauty." This poem was met with the same outrage as the piece artwork. But, seriously, when we dig down past our romanticized, perfect, spotless Christianity, this poem is true. Jesus got dirty.

We need to get dirty.

We need to live in the world.

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The Fourth of July

Statistics show that we lose more fools on this day than on all other days of the year put together. This proves, by the numbers left in stock, that one Fourth of July per year is now inadequate, the country has grown so.
-Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)

It has been exactly one year. One year ago on this day my family packed up our two vans with everything that we owned and drove to Colorado to begin our new lives as missionaries. Needless to say, we missed the fireworks. 

This year it is different. This year we are not missing the fireworks. This year we are going to wait until dark and then we will open up our computers and log onto a magical site called youtube. You see, some random people with nothing better to do with their lives actually recorded and then posted fireworks displays! Typically I would think that is utterly pathetic, but today it doesn't seem so worthless. 

We shall all gather around our computers, wait for a couple hours for a 6 minute video to load and then put on headphones. We will turn up the volume all the way because, hey, it's the Fourth of July!  We will all take turns holding the cell phone and attempt to hit the vibrate button at the exact right time to sync the booms with the shock waves. We'll bring in all the fans to reproduce the horrible effects of too-close fireworks on hairstyles. We'll say "oooooooh" and "ahhhhhhhh" at the exact right moments and stare up at the screen with an awestruck, dazed look on our faces. Maybe we'll collect a bit of drool on the edge of our mouths, we'll quickly glance around to make sure everyone is engrossed in the fireworks and then indiscreetly wipe it off before people notice. We have been collecting spiders in a jar for the past couple of weeks, and somewhere in the middle of the show we'll let them all out so they can climb up our pants and make us do silly dances while trying to keep our composure around our family. Ahhhh, the Fourth of July. 

I hope you all have a delightful day, if you happen to think of us sitting on the floor staring up at our computer screens while you watch fireworks tonight, maybe you could pray for us. 

-Matthias

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Shaky

I believe that every human has a finite number of heart-beats. I don't intend to waste any of mine running around doing exercises.
-Buzz Aldrin

You know, the metric system has definite advantages. I've been pondering this ever since I stepped on the scale. Let me tell you, your self confidence shoots WAY up when you discover that you've magically lost 110 pounds. It can make your day go better than any day you have ever experienced. This excess boost of confidence helps you get through jet lag and finally when your brain decides to function again you realize....kilograms. In all honesty though, 90 sounds so much better than 200 in any weight related conversation.

I have officially lost 30 pounds. Don't let this shock you or make you think "Matt is wasting away into nothing." I can assure you that I am not. I gained 30 pounds while I was in Montana and now they are gone! I can see my toes again!

This dramatic transformation has not come easily.

In addition to doing major portion control I have been...cardiosizing. It's a new word I have coined. "Cardio workout" seems too friendly in my opinion, "cardiosizing" effectively adds the negative connotation of the word "exercising" without totally freaking people out. Here are step by step instructions on how to do your own cardiosizing!

1) Spend 3-5 hours on youtube searching for the perfect cardio workout. Eat some ice cream if you get hungry.
2) Wait till night and then turn off all the lights so there is no possible way to make a fool of yourself even if window peepers run rampant in your community.
3) Sit on your bed and give yourself a long pep-talk about the benefits of cardiosize.
4) Stand up.
5) Turn on the perfect cardio workout video that you found in Step 1.
6) Follow the instructions. If there's an exercise that looks too hard, skip it.
7) Halfway through the program (about 5 minutes) your legs will collapse from under you. Lie on the floor panting.
8) Drag yourself up onto your bed using only your arms.
9) Lie on your bed panting for about a half hour.
10) Decide you need some water.
11) Attempt to get out of bed.
12) Realize that your legs still don't work.
13) Give up, lie back down on your bed, pant for about another half-hour and then slowly drift into a fitful sleep.

There you go! If you do this nightly you will loose 30 pounds in no time!

Good luck!
-Matthias

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