the friesen blog

confession.

My part II of the counter culture and church entry will have to wait until next year.  I have so much I want to write on the subject that I am actually feeling unsure how to go about writing on it.  I feel like I could write enough about it to fill up my allotted space on this blog service.  Now it may not be that valuable of information or that interesting, but I have much I would like to say about living counter culturally as a follower of Christ.  And I would like to hear other people’s journey regarding living counter culturally.  So we’ll go done that road soon.

a dream.

I have had a few dreams (night time dreams) in my life that I will carry for the rest of my life.  One was when I was a teenager with a face full of acne and I dreamt I looked in the mirror and saw what my face looked like without acne.  It seems like a small thing, but that dream felt like God’s gift to me as a teenager struggling with body image. 

When I lived in Seattle and was involved in quest I had a dream about God’s intrinsic value of me and not my “success” as a person.  I don’t even remember much about the dream other than it was encouragement in a time of not knowing how to judge success.

Last night I had a dream that I was at the scene of a car accident up in a mountain highway of BC.  The ambulance was already there and paramedics were tending to some people who were badly hurt.  I noticed someone off to the side so I got out of my car and went to help this person who was hurt but did not appear to be as badly hurt as the others.  Anyways, this woman was very unpleasant to look at plus she had blood all over her face and matted in her hair.  In the dream I just held her and a bandage to her head and told her she would be okay.  When I woke up I heard what I thought was the voice of Jesus saying, ‘you were holding me.’

The dream and the moments when I awoke were an amazing experience.  I am not sure what to do with that dream.  I don’t share it hoping that someone will have an interpretation for me.  I tend to hold dreams as a mysterious tension – I place value on them and believe that God uses them to speak to us but I also don’t want to base all my ministry / theology / life on them.  So I will let it permeate my heart this Christmas season.  I thought I would also share it with you.

and newfoundland.

euphoric -eu·pho·ri·a

adj : exaggerated feeling of well-being or elation

i just had a chat with a buddy of mine, Peter, from my seattle days.  He was formely the front man for a band called Kilmer.  I am not sure if you can still purchase Kilmer's cd "Reason Can Deceive, Faith May Be Misplaced, but Love..."  but it is an amazing cd.  Anyways, Peter sent me some songs from a solo project that he recently finished recording.  The songs are friggin' amazing.  As a result of listening to the music i am currently feeling euphoric! 

(So I am not avoiding my part II of counter culture, church, and a new critique.  It’s coming!)

I have been thinking about the freedom that comes with being in relationship.  People joke about marriage being the death of freedom but I think it is quite the opposite.  I love my wife and I love the person I am becoming because of her.  I found a quote that I wrote out by hand exactly one year and two days before I asked Leanne to marry me.  The quote has a different impact for me now then it did before I met Leanne.  Its from one of my favourite authors, Douglas Coupland.

“I think it takes an amazing amount of energy just to convince oneself that the Forever Person isn’t just around the next corner.  In the end I believe we never convince ourselves.  I know that I found it increasingly hard to maintain the pose of emotional self-sufficiency lying on my bed and sitting at my desk, watching the seagulls cart wheeling over the bridges, cradling myself in my own arms, breathing warm chocolate-and-vodka breath on a rose I’d found on a street corner, trying to force it to bloom.”

Douglas Coupland Cityof God

Stay tuned for Part II of my thoughts on counterculture and church.

Last night my wife and I went out for dinner with some friends who live in Toronto.  We went to an Italian restaurant in Little Italy where the food and drink was fabulous.  We talked about their upcoming wedding and such.  Mike is film producer and Jen works in PR.  We had a lot of fun.

In talking with Mike I was reminded of the value of the Canadian independent film scene.  There are some great films being produced in Canada.  Let me encourage everyone to check out a Canadian film next time you go to the video store.  You can check out the stuff that Mike is working on at www.wishbonefilm.com.  Another Canadian independent film maker who is worth checking out is Bevan Klassen, from Winnepeg.  You can find out about his stuff at http://40belowfilms.com/.  I have been watching some of Bevan's shorts for years and I think he is a great story teller. 

Usually the first or second magazine that I look at when I am in front of a magazine stand is adbusters.  adbusters has given expression to many of my counter cultural thoughts over the years, it has given me new ideas and always challenges me.  I am pretty sure that there must be some connection between adbusters and my 14 plain white t-shirts.  I am very grateful to the people of adbusters for creating a quality magazine that challenges people to examine the ways power is abused and money is used. 

Recently, I have been intrigued by the latest critique of the counter culture as presented by Andrew Potter and Joseph Heath, co-authors of "The Rebel Sell: Why Culture Can't be Jammed".  (If you would like to read an online article by Potter and Heath check out 'This Magazine')  If I understand their thesis, they believe that the counter culture is actually an incubator for consumerism.  They start with the premise that consumerism is not about conformity.  For example, most people don't buy the new sweater so they can look like the movie star they saw advertising the sweater.  Rather the sweater is bought because it will make the person feel different, or better dressed, then their co-workers and friends.  Their argument is that people are just looking to stand out in whatever crowd they happen to run in, or they are looking for a high position in the 'status hierarchy.'  In other words, it doesn't matter that you look better than Brad Pitt or Britney Spears because you bought something, it matters that you look the best in your office building or school.  That, they say, has nothing to do with advertisers selling you their ideology and it is not something one can opt out of.  That is a problem with the human condition.  Therefore, the ideology behind some of the counter cultural anti-consumerism is based on false premise.

This probably isn't the clearest, and certainly not a complete presentation of Potter and Heath's ideas.  I welcome anybody who has done more study into what they are saying to add, correct or qualify anything that I said. 

For me some of the ideas of the counter culture movement have had a huge impact on my understanding of living as the church, but that discussion will have to wait until part II. 

A little draw back on working in a space that also houses a daycare centre is that I become susceptible to viruses.  I've had the stomach flu for the last couple of days and am not feeling much better today. 

I haven't abandoned this site.  I'll post more soon.  - I hope!!!