Oxford?

Well, now that I'm in in Oxford, I might as well reanimate this blog.

If the motivation to do so ever comes...

One Step Ahead

So I was really frustrated when this article wasn't allowed to be published in The Record, our school's newspaper. Tell me if you can see why:

A lord one day sent out a messenger to a far land to carry a message to a foreign king that a war had risen near their lands and that he required their aid to repel the invaders. The messenger very clearly understood the message and the situation at hand, but arriving at the courts of the allied king, he found that he was entirely unfamiliar with the native language of the foreign king and hence unable to effectively relay the message. The help never came and much more destruction was inflicted upon their homeland than would have been otherwise.

Certainly this seems an absurd oversight for this king, but considering the dynamics of communication, especially in our high-speed and highly diverse age it is not at all laughable. A similar dilemma confronts us as Christians today. The Gospel and many of the foundational truths we value have been so repeated, ad nauseum, that they no longer carry for us or for others the same impact as they were once supposed to hold. To tell another, for example that “God is love” has been so overdone that it simply no longer carries the weight it used to. We must face the fact that in our dynamic world, the simple is outmoded and ineffective. Although this does not mean that every nuance contributes to our message, nearly anything with which we can effectively intrigue our diverse audiences may be preferable.

Take, for example the Evangelical catch-phrase, “The Bible is God’s love letter to us.” Although, in its own way, it is profound and inspiring to portray God’s divine revelation as a form of romantically inclined stationery, with today’s understanding of romance complicated by teen pregnancy, the detrimental divorce rates, not to mention the issues of homosexuality and same-sex marriage, we need a more dynamic evangelical rhetorical scheme to keep the image of God’s love ahead of the times so that our presentation of the Gospels is always fresh and readily accessible to whomever we may encounter.

Look at the classic song “Jesus loves me, this I know…” In its own time it was effective in sharing God’s pure and simple message of love. However, because of the ambiguities that the modern era has brought to Christianity, and because our audiences are increasingly diverse, what we effectively have instead of “Jesus loves me,” if adjusted to fit the ears of our world, begins to sound more like, “The physical Incarnation of the Indivisible, Triune Deity, whom we happen to call Jesus, has a certain incomprehensible disposition, which displays itself in certain actions such as creation, physical and eternal blessing, and especially the Crucifixion and Resurrection, towards you and me alike, and no less to Caucasians, African-Americans, Asians, South Americans, Middle-Easterners, Eastern Europeans, the French, etc.”

What could be more profound and beautiful than that? This is by no means exhaustive or complete, but by defining what we understand God to be to our modern world, we set absolute boundaries that may be clear to the modern mind. Upon hearing such an aphorism spoken each time, it will be clear who God is to us as Christians. Moreover, in instances such as this, we could use such a lyric for our Sunday Schools instead of the traditional version of the song. This could serve to instill sound doctrine early on in our children’s lives to help them attain to a more child-like faith.

Thus we find that by forsaking the cumbersome weights of traditional maxims, we can breathe a fresh Gospel to the world each new day and show the world just how impressed God is by the many creative ways with which we can shine his light unto the world.

Movie Review; Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Director: Tim Burton

Actors: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall...

Verdict: A charming children's story with enough wit and depth of thematic material to appeal to adult audiences as well.

MPAA rating: R

reasons for R rating:
-Johnny Depp's and Helena Bonham Carter's makeup jobs are rather morbid
-Alan Rickman proposes to marry Jayne Wisener, despite the fact that he is at least 30 years her senior
-Johnny Depp's brooding tendency promotes antisocial behavior
-bad family values: promotes vengeance instead of forgiveness

Premise:
Based on a hit Broadway performance, Benjamin Barker returns to his hometown of London after spending years away at sea following the corrupt Judge Turpin's subduing of his would-be wife, and takes up the name of Sweeney Todd and occupies a barber shop above Ms. Lovett's Meat Pie Shop. Here he waits for his chance to strike vengeance upon the judge, all while slitting a few throats in the process.

Thoughts:
None can combine the charm of a witty, fanciful, musically driven fantasy with the morose like Tim Burton. One must always admire how such a director has the power to transform such a morose subject as cannibalism into such sing-songy expression. Although there are hints of a "darker side" residing beneath the surface, Depp's graceful enactment of his tragic character certainly provide quality inspiration for audiences of all ages, teaching the power of song and innovation (e.g. Ms. Lovett using next-door neighbors instead of cats and dogs for her meat pies) to overcome oppression and adversity.

I was slightly more disappointed my Jayne Wisener, on the other hand, both morally and pertaining to performance. I was especially disturbed by her acceptance of being locked up in her room, and accepting Alan Rickman abusing and taking advantage of her. Definitely negative points on playing the helpless-damsel-victim-in-distress-who-allows-her-ward-to-propose-marriage-without-putting-up -a fight. Wisener has proven her ability to perfect this character type, but where is the lesson, so needed in our contemporary era, of escape and throwing off the yoke-of-oppression-of-that-old-guy-that-wants-to-marry-you. That is certainly an underplayed archetypal plot motif that I think we need to see more. Although playing off a slightly different plot motif, I think Summer Glau exemplifies this perfectly:
I think this type of escape motif would have added much to this particular portion of the film, although this doesn't serve as a detriment to the rest of the film's subtle beauties.



On the more negative side, I found the cutting of throats a bit distracting. What I found most disturbing was the lack of physiological accuracy accompanying such an event. Whereas in the film, Sweeney Todd would slide his razor forcefully into the throat of the victim and a fountain of blood would spurt out, if one's throat were really cut, it would rush out, but certainly not in some gruesome explosion, and it would do so in rhythmic spurts each the heart compressed to expel the blood from within throughout the body. I was simply not convinced, nor do I think that the families gathering around the TV for this movie would want to waste precious together time upset by poor representations of human physiology.

Truth, Determinism, and Vikings

(Please read previously posted Gross Deception before this post)

To my fellow friends and Wheaton students,

Following the tragedy of my removal to Sweden, and the consequent scandal of deception and many upset alpacas, yet a third disturbance of fate and irony is before us. It is my simultaneous joy and incalculable distress to inform you that the Vikings have sacked Stockholm. Believe me you not? See for yourselves:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAP0zvsnsrQ

This is the only footage gathered in the early stages of the overwhelming assault before it had reached urban Stockholm. What remains of modern Swedish media recounts the tension in preceding months during which Viking rights violations had reached a historical high. The ensuing unrest and loss of a felt sense of identity among the Viking peoples has caused some to speak out on behalf of the Medieval-based peoples, but all too late before their hordes began ravaging the countryside, “pillaging, plundering, robbing, burning, raping, and being generally loud and unpleasant on top of it all,” reports Sven, a local farmer.

Following the actual sack of Stockholm, in a sudden general epiphany, the Vikings realized that the “Swedish” and “Viking” nationalities could very well be indistinguishable, if not interchangeable, and a case is now underway in the Swedish Supreme Court to more clearly define the term “Viking” before any further conquest of the nation is enacted.

In wake of the confusion and tumult, my family has decided it better to remain back in the United States.

However, if we look to metaphysics, we find that under the tenets of strict determinism, that I really could do no other but remain behind in the U.S., and that despite appearances, only one outcome, that I was to stay behind and remain at Wheaton, was ever truly possible. I was never moving to Stockholm in reality. So were you deceived by cruel fate. However, if we regard a particular Postmodern conception of truth, which ultimately operates according to the individual’s perception, we also realize that, by many of your sincerely held beliefs, I was actually going to move Sweden. Thus we find that it is at once true and untrue that I was ever truly going to move to Sweden, and at such a crossroads of truth, one must throw down all beliefs held heretofore in a storm of pathos and confusion before returning to one’s room to sulk.

In short, I hope that you are disappointed that I will indeed continue my humble, if not detestable, existence on Traber 7 at Wheaton College. If none of this high-sounding rhetoric is at all clear to you, or you don’t understand why you’re reading yet a third ridiculous and unnecessary letter, just be content to wallow in your jealousy towards me for yet another year.

That is all,
Jason Ahlenius

PS—This is all to say that I have been rather bored, as you can see by my letters, and after this ill-conceived rhetorical maneuver I hope that I may return to Wheaton and find I still have friends. Too late have I recognized the tragedy of my ill-fated sense of humour and my intense love for Jonathan Swift. At its conception I honestly did not think anyone would actually believe I was moving to Stockholm. Apparently I’m more shortsighted than I thought. I am sorry for any unrest that this may have caused, and I hope against all hope that this devious trilogy of heartfelt emails may remain in your hearts as a memory of “that [great] kid.”

Correspondence dated to July 11, 2007.

(Read preceding Move to Stockholm before this entry)

Dear fellow Wheaton students and friends,

As some of you have assuredly remarked, there has been a gross deception that I am less than fully, though more than not-at-all partially irresponsible for. I am sorry if this has upset any of you, for I am aware that many of you have developed very deep and meaningful relationships with alpacas.

It seems that information got out concerning my parents’ profession regarding “sheep, llamas, and alpacas.” Please, rest assured that alpacas are a species bred entirely in South America and consequently are not fit to be bred in the suburbs. If you still believe that my email was wholly true, take a look for yourselves:

http://www.roadkill.me.uk/_borders/Roadkill.jpg

http://stolco.trustpass.alibaba.com/product/11835903/Stole_Flower_Fantasy.html

http://www.thelope.com/images/9-13-003alpaca.jpg

As you can see, alpacas are clearly not meant for suburban life. They would hardly last a week before being turned into shawls, roadkill, or the semblance of a standard poodle. Much less would they survive the freezing slopes of Swedish Fjallen. Take a look for yourself of an alpaca after a few hours in Sweden:



Also, according to Wikipedia, which we know for a wholly reliable and undishonest source, alpacas have a very bad habit of spitting: “They warn the intruder away by making sharp, noisy inhalations, putting back their ears, twisting their heads and necks backwards toward the perceived threat, screaming, threatening to spit, and eventually may spit and kick” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpaca). In general, the Swedish people do not look favorably upon spitting, as don’t many Western peoples. Although he refers to the particularly despicable creatures known as Yahoos, they are much the same problem that Jonathan Swift describes in "Gulliver’s Travels", for it is important to “instruct the [alpacas] of [one’s] own family as far as [one] shall find them docible.”

History also tells us about the first ill-fated meetings between alpacas and the Vikings. Because history, we know, is always written by “the winners,” much Viking art from around 1000-1080 portrays the alpacas in docile acquiescence to the Vikings’ subjection, as both beasts of burden and in advertisement campaigns glorifying the Viking way of life to the yet wary eyes of Central and Western Europe. Needless to say, the advertisement campaigns were a complete failure. However, the gross animal rights infringements performed by these Norse invaders were subject to much frowning in Europe and a general boycott of alpaca products from Viking merchants. Alpacas were soon thereafter found in Viking art to be demons of ill fate and disease. As it appears, alpacas have not had the most favorable relations with Scandinavian culture.

This is all to say that (1) alpacas would not survive a week in Sweden and (2) my parents are not, in all truth, alpaca herders. My father works for Motorola and my mother is a nurse at Hinsdale Hospital.

I am sorry for any confusion or upset this may have brought about in my previous letter. Far be it from me to deceive anyone. I give you my sincerest apologies, and hope that this does not affect my veracity in your eyes in the future.

God bless, and thank your for your forebearance with me,

Jason Ahlenius

Correspondence dated to July 3, 2007

Move to Stockholm

Fellow Wheaton students and friends,

I know that much of what I have to say here I have told in part to some of you, but I feel it necessary to tell in full so that you all know what’s been going on. It is with much regret that I will not be returning to Wheaton this next year.

Many circumstances have come up in our family and with those nearest us, and especially in my parents’ workplace. After many changes of plans, deliberations, and discussion with family members, our family is preparing to move overseas to Sweden where a few of our Scandinavian family members live. This is mostly because of a significant work opportunity opening up for both of my parents, which they would not have in the States.

I am very sorry that I did not inform many of you sooner. Many of the pressures of this move had been building up for quite some time, though none of it was certain until relatively recently. We will be moving in late September, so I may still get to see some of you around on campus before we head out.

Although Wheaton would technically still be a possibility for continuing my education, with the constraining circumstance, we found it more fitting that I transfer to Stockholm University, for which I am excited, but all at once dismayed to have to leave Wheaton. There I will definitely continue studies in literature, though of course from a more than slightly different perspective.

Also, as many of you know, a good part of our family is very much into herding. This has played a substantial role in our decision to move. Although the pastures around here are quite lovely, the sheep, llamas, and alpacas have been growing rather restless in the suburban life. We have managed to get a quite outstanding tract of land where they will be freer to roam the slopes of the Fjällen (The Fells, or Swedish Mountains). In the summer, however, pretty much like every Swede who lives in Sweden, we’ll be taking up lumberjacking in the dense Scandinavian forests. This is of course, on the side of my studies. If you ever need any fresh lumber or alpaca meat, we’ll have plenty to bring back with us on occasional visits back home.

Your prayers will be very much appreciated to support our family and me as we pick up our lives and transplant them in a truly very different place. Sweden is one of the least-churched nations in the world. Pray especially for protection from Vikings. Although they were much more potent and notorious in the early Middle Ages, they are still known to pillage the outlying islands and countryside from time to time. Protection for our herds, which are much accustomed to life in the suburbs, is vital, especially in the first few months.

Pray also for protection against many temptations. I hear from a close friend that though there may be many gorgeous young Swedish women, they often do not age well, and consequently I would do best to avoid being quick to find true love, and perhaps waiting to marry someone of a different ethnicity when I find the opportunity. (If any of you are gorgeous young Swedish women, forgive my brashness) Other concerns are the lower drinking age of 18, and the pressing influence of Socialism.

Thank you for reading through this rather long-winded, but still heartfelt letter. It was very hard to write, especially after getting to know so many of you so well. Again, I’m sorry to have to send out a message of such solemnity in the midst of your, I’m sure, wonderful summers. I will do my best to see as many of you as I can before I head out.

God Bless, and thank you for your friendship,

Jason Ahlenius

Correspondence dated to July 1, 2007.

Thy Kingdom come...

Reports from Nairobi tell that over 300 Kenyans have been killed and 70,000 more displaced in the violence related to the protests against President Kibaki, who is alleged to have rigged the votes in favor of his reelection. Arson attacks and violent measures of the police continue throughout the nation. Earlier this week, a church was discovered with at least thirty victims trapped inside as the structure was set afire.

Jesus says to pray for His Kingdom, that it would come and that His will would be done. How immense and impossible of a prayer is that? How will my one, single, short-breathed prayer affect the fortunes and the very souls of each person to whom Christ reaches out? It's ridiculous. Do we honestly expect God's Kingdom to charge forward through the rubble of our human waste? Ridiculous...

Still, Jesus says to pray for His Kingdom, that it would come and that His will would be done. When he said this, the state of Israel was in a state of perpetual victimization, from their exile in Babylon six centuries past until the present day where they were trampled underfoot by the Roman Empire. The Jews hoped and prayed for a Messiah that would relieve them from this state, that would give Israel victory over Rome and establish their political state forever. Within 40 years, Jerusalem was utterly destroyed and vacated, the Jews scattered among the nations. Still, Jesus says to pray for His Kingdom, that it would come and that His will would be done.

If we are going to pray for His Kingdom, we must keep in mind that we are praying for the genocides in Africa, for the mess we've only exacerbated in the Middle East, for every single starving man, woman and child littering the city streets. If you are not willing to pray for this, not willing to believe that God will advance his Kingdom through out wastelands, then simply don't pray for the Kingdom, or acknowledge that you can't understand the breadth and power of His Kingdom and ask Him for faith, knowing that he will grant it, even if without understanding.

What does the Gospel's power mean? I wish I knew. I understand some of what that means for the Midwest Suburban United States. I have no idea what that means for the church in Europe or China, much less many of those I pass every day.

If we are to be part of the Kingdom's advancement, we have the responsibility to pray for its advancement. The immensity of this prayer reminds us of God's power to do the impossible. Only God knows what this means, but rest assured that He will demand something of us when we pray. Be ready and pray for the Kingdom.