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We need more mystics and satirists in the church . . . as long as we understand the difference between satirizing the subject and slamming the sinner. Becky Garrison calls us to be reconcilers, here to heal the world, in her interview on ThinkFwd with host Spencer Burke.gerdektube Becky is a religious satirist and author of the book, Jesus Died for This?: A Satirist’s Search for the Risen Christ.
Becky and Spencer cover the gamut of topics, starting off with a discussion about the recent push toward “anti-branding,” where people are shying away from associating with a particular movement, but gravitating to ideas they are interested in. Church movements like “emergent” or “missional.” Becky quotes Shane Claiborne saying, “When you brand a movement, you kill a movement” and Becky sees this happening in circles relating to the church.
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We are coming out of the age of “experts.” The digital age has a horizontal nature. Take for example, the Internet. Everyone has access to information that used to only be available to and from experts. But now, we can all become experts without relying on a particular expert. And so what does this do? It opens new realms of questions. Church “experts” used to push their brand of Christianity, and could tell us they were the experts and we had to rely on them, conform to their expert branding. Today, Becky sees pushback on this, where change and learning are occurring through anti-branding.
People of all different faiths and those without faith seem to be on a quest for something outside of themselves. While all may not agree on faith in God, Becky sees people across all walks of life compelled by the reconciling, resurrection power of Jesus. Rather than focus on our differences, let’s find issues that we can agree on, and work together on healing the world. Becky asks, “What does it mean for us to be reconcilers? If we can redeem what Jesus redeems . . . even to the point of reaching the lowest of the low . . dekorasyon then we can help make people whole, right the wrongs in our world.”
Two types of people Becky thinks the church is greatly lacking: mystics who give us hope, and satirists who keep us grounded and from going astray. Becky acknowledges she doesn’t always get things right. In her satire, she can sometimes go too far—from satirizing the subject to slamming the sinner. But her ultimate desire is to find common, to ground redeem, to reconcile, and in so doing . . . to heal our world.
Personal Reflections
What does it mean for me to be a reconciler?
Where do I place myself on the scale from mystic to satirist?
Small Group Questions
How can our community help to heal our world?
As a community how can we be more sensitive to the line between satire and simply “slamming” others (faiths, politics, lifestyle, race, etc.)
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August 17th, 2010 at 7:46 pm
Thanks Spencer – great to hang with you.
One minor correction – there’s one edit where one “might” conclude that I am opposed evolution – not at all. My concern is once we begin to worship any discipline, then we’ve created an idol that is incapable of change as new discoveries are made.
August 22nd, 2010 at 1:25 pm
“…to heal our world..”
This is not the Gospel.
August 24th, 2010 at 2:35 am
@Ken – apparently it’s not *your* gospel anyway. Congratulations on being a major point-misser though.
October 25th, 2010 at 1:51 pm
Let’s see what God’s Holy Word, The Bible, has to say about “the world”. (NIV)
“You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.” (James 4:4)
“Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” (1 John 2:15)
“They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them.” (1 John 4:5)
“For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world THROUGH HIM.” (John 3:17) (emphasis mine)
“He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him.” (John 1:10)
“Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules..” (Colossians 2:20)
“For everything in the world–the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does–comes not from the Father but from the world.” (1 John 2:16)
December 17th, 2010 at 9:28 am
[...] a range of creative types including Nicholas Fielder, Ed Cyzewski, Joan Ball, Caleb Seeling, and Spencer Burke, as well as exploring via workshops how we can all communicate theological change without becoming [...]
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