Topical Tuesday 05 - Kanye West and Repentance

At the MTV Video Music Awards this past weekend, Taylor Swift won the award for best female video. The most shocking part of the evening, other than MTV programming anything to do with music videos, was Kanye West’s interruption of Swift’s acceptance speech. Kanye took to the stage and said this:

"Taylor, I'm really happy for you. I'll let you finish, but Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time! One of the best videos of all time!"

It is considered unacceptable behavior to interrupt someone else’s acceptance speech, especially if you’re not even nominated in the same category; Kanye’s gender precluded his nomination for the award. It is also unacceptable to pull someone underneath the bus with you, which, from the look on her face, is how Beyonce felt. After the awards and the following night on the Jay Leno show, Kanye apologized and said that he was sorry for taking away from Taylor Swift’s moment. But how sorry was he?

Kanye has a pattern of taking away from the moments of others. In 2004, he stormed out of the American Music Awards when he lost the best new artist award to Gretchen Wilson. In my opinion, Kanye probably should have won the award; he is tremendously talented. Yet taking away from someone else’s moment because you’re a sore lose is immature and childish. Another time, in 2006 at the MTV Europe Music Awards, Kanye lost an award to Justice and Simian; during their acceptance speech, Kanye interrupted them and told the crowd that he should have won. How sorry can Kanye really be if he continues to act the same way? How sorry can he be if he doesn’t do anything to change?

Truly being sorry for something should lead to repentance. Repentance is a turning away from something and moving in a different direction. Repentance requires more than feeling sorry and momentarily guilty; those feelings need to be coupled with lasting change. Unless our apologies are coupled with actions that show we’ve changed, we’re not really that sorry. Sometimes we keep doing something to hurt a friend, over and over again. We may apologize each time but if we continue to do the same thing, then we’re not really sorry. We can also fall into the same pattern in our lives with God. We can sin over and over again and continually confess that sin to God. But unless we trust in grace to cleanse us and lead us to repentance, we’re really not that sorry and our confession is a little hollow.

Unfortunately, a lot of apologies can simply be lip service. We can say that we’re sorry without ever really changing, without ever truly repenting. We need to not only speak an apology but prove that apology true by changing the way we live, by repenting from and old way and turning to a new one. Obviously, I don’t know Kanye’s heart; I can only perceive his actions. But from his actions, he speaks an apology but he doesn’t live out that apology. When we’re sorry, when we apologize, we need to repent and live out that apology. We need to live out that apology whether it’s to a friend, a family member or our holy God.

How can you live out an apology to someone in your life?

Freeform Friday 04 - Football and Friends

Last night the 2009 NFL season kicked off. Finally. I was really excited for the game and for the season to begin. I think I am especially excited this year because the Chicago Cubs’ season unraveled about three weeks ago and I’ve been looking for something to fill the sports void in my life. I don’t really care about either team that played last night, the Pittsburgh Steelers or the Tennessee Titans, but the teams didn’t matter; it was football. I had people over to my house to grill and watch the game, which is what I like most about football. Football is a reason to gather and spend time with friends.

I have been a guy for the entirety of my life, unless my parents are keeping major secrets about my infancy from me. In my experience as a guy, I have bonded with my closest guy friends by doing things together.

Vegas trips.

Going to baseball games.

Watching football on TV.

I cannot tell you how many hours my friends and I have sat watching football together. I can tell you that it’s easily more time than I’ve spent watching The View, Grey’s Anatomy, Dancing with the Stars and any Matthew McConaughey movie combined. But watching football with my friends isn’t just about watching sports, eating food and embracing our XY chromosomes; it’s about building relationships and finding life-long friends.

Those friendships weren’t built over a single game or even a single season; years have been invested into those relationships. For my closest friends and me, sports provided a strong relational foundation upon which we were able to build. Obviously there is more to our friendships than just hanging out and watching sports but sports have provided the environment for those relationships to grow and mature. So many of my friendships began by watching sports but I know that’s not the case for everyone. Finding the right people for authentic relationships is important but it’s also important to find the way that you best connect with those people.

Cup of coffee.

Book club.

Mountain biking.

Ministry.

Scrapbooking.

It doesn’t matter what you do as long as you create an environment where authentic relationships can grow and mature.

Hank Williams, Jr. once sang, “Are you ready for some football?” After my almost feral response to the NFL kickoff last night, my answer is a resounding “Yes.” I wasn’t just excited just because I like football or because I’m stoked to talk trash in my fantasy league or because Jay Cutler is going to lead the Bears to the Super Bowl; I was excited because I know what football has meant to my friendships over the years. And now every Sunday, every Monday and some Thursdays and Saturdays, I’ll have an excuse to hang out with my friends and continue building those relationships. Not that we need an excuse but, if we did, football is as good as any.

What do you do with friends in order to build those relationships?