Welcome And Listener Questions

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Welcome to Theology in Pieces, where we hope to rebuild your theology that the church, the world, or somebody has shattered to pieces. And uh today I am your host, Soloing Slim. Malcolm is continuing on his sabbatical. He's been in Chicago. Now he's in Destin, Florida, on a beach. That's right. Malcolm Foley has sand between his toes. The world thought that day would never come, but here we are. Today we are going to discuss how last week I criticized patriotism. And then I watched the World Cup. That's not the one I wanted.

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All of the above.

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You know, I'm feeling like a hypocrite. We're gonna talk a little bit more about that. But uh hey dear listener, welcome to the Alga Pieces. We uh we hope you enjoy this podcast. Um, there are many, many podcasts you could be listening to, and you probably are. Um, but we we're we're grateful you're spending some time with us. Uh, if you uh haven't yet, would you do us a favor? Uh send us uh a rating, a review. Um if you have questions on some of the stuff we talk about, please um double tap, hit the send us a question button or email hello at theologybeastes.com. We'd love to be able to have a more interactive podcast talking back and forth with our dear listeners, answering the questions you uh are curious about. Um one question I threw out there last week that I I meant to, or I a discussion I had last week, but I meant to throw out as a question was where are you at if someone were to ask you, what is the one thing you agree with our president on? Now, maybe you're coming from a background where you agree with him on a lot. Um, so either way, write in, let me know. Uh, be curious as to why you you you you hold those views. But it it'd be curious to see where you guys are at. Uh, where is it that you agree with uh President Trump on? Uh hello at theologypeases.com. Um, please send those in. But that's not the primary discussion here today. Um, but last week I did, I we did release the episode on the dangers of patriotism, um, not the dangers of loving your country, um, nor the dangers of being

Patriotism And World Cup Whiplash

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grateful for where you live, uh, but the dangers of turning a nation into something ultimate. And then the World Cup started. And I found myself doing exactly what millions of people around the world do every four years. And I was standing up and I was yelling in Jubilee, uh, feeling such a surge of pride when the American team scored, when Polisic was running all over the field. It was fun. It made me laugh, um, enjoy, but also laugh at myself because of what I just talked about. Um, and so if patriotism can become dangerous, what do we do with those very real feelings that arise when our nation is represented on the world stage? Um, and maybe that's connected to a bigger question we'll we'll keep returning to throughout this episode is what is exactly the human heart looking for? What is it that we definitely are deeply desperate for? So we'll sit in those for a minute. But now, for everyone's favorite time, we're gonna do a little so segment of a little lump biscuit reference there. Uh one of my favorite recurring uh reminders is that social media was a mistake. Um every time I open up social media, we as I've said this this year, I've taken it off my phone. It has been uh freeing, it's been liberating. I encourage you to join me. Um and I still feel connected. I have it available on the computer, um, but I have to forcibly kind of remind myself to go there, to to check something, to look up something, to post something, versus it just being at my fingertips at all times. Um,

Social Media Break And Terrible Tweets

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but um every time I do, it it usually reminds me of like this really isn't as great as we think it is. Um and what a mistake social media is. Um and there's times when I come across terrible tweets that are uh just reminding me of the depravity of humanity. Um these ones I would say are terribly hilarious, which tweets. Um, so that's how I got it into the terrible tweet section. Um, and they were mocking Trump's willingness to negotiate and make concessions in hopes of ending the conflict with Iran. Um, so this terrible tweet um comes from Sunday Girl, uh Sunday Divine. It says Donald Trump is amazing. My truck used to hold $60 of gas, and now it holds $120 of gas. I don't know how he does it, but the man is a genius. Um and then the next one here is from Rushy Crypto. You know, I don't know if I'm gonna be promoting a lot of Russian crypto, but uh here we are. Greenland is now asking Trump to invade, hoping to secure a deal similar to the one Iran got. Uh it is it is it makes you laugh because we have literally threatened Greenland, and I think now that we are moving past Iran um in this com in this this war, I think. I think Trump is going to set his sights on Cuba and Greenland. Um, and the the the joke here that Greenland would love that because then we get a deal similar to the one Iran got, because Iran is getting billions of dollars off of this um and has set up themselves to be able to profit off of now controlling the Strait of Hormuz. All of these things that every political analyst would be able to tell you is it's a loss for the United States, it's a loss for the world. Um, it's a win for Iran. Um, and what struck me though was the disconnect at maybe the way you laughed at this treat and and the way I laughed at it, that and yet at the same time wanting the war to end. Like what a weird place it is to be. To where I I see this and I'm going, hilarious. That's right. You know, we Iran is getting so much out of this deal. Greenland would beg to have that deal. Um, and then the the tweet about how the fact that our trucks uh are holding $60 versus $120 of gas, like hilarious. Let's make fun of this terrible decision to start a war and how much it has backfired. And yet, are we disappointed at the possibility of de-escalation? Like, isn't this what we would want? I want more lives to be saved. If you're a Christian and um many Christians would claim a pro-life status, if you're one of those types of Christians, and I find myself in that camp would say pro-life from womb to tomb, we gotta be excited about the possibility of saving lives and not bombing more um school children and not killing more Iranians and not killing more American soldiers. And so am I really mad that the possibility that this peace agreement won't work? Is it that I I really want Trump to fail so much but at what cost? And I get it. I get it. Trump is the epitome of self-aggrandizement. He will take any opportunity to praise himself. He will take anything good and holy and say, that's because of me. He will use it to build him up and maybe put his name on some wall celebrating his greatness. And so when something goes well, it I get it why there's a there's a temptation to hope the opposite. Just so he has egg on his face. I mean, we just had the the um the celebration of the 250, uh, 250 years of America on Flag Day, which Trump decided to do because it's his birthday. So he took this 250 celebration and made it about himself. When I think many Americans probably would have had a little more patriotism in celebrating America, many more musicians would have come out to celebrate at this concert. But when he made it about himself, you don't want to celebrate. It's like watching a child at a birthday party. If the if the child is just thankful you showed up, you're like, oh man, I'm so happy for you. Love you. Happy birthday. But if the child is saying, like, where's my present? Celebrate me, you're like, you get nothing. I hope you get your face pushed in the cake and you're sad afterwards. Um something along those lines. But are we really hoping that the opposite happens in this situation? Let me let me take you back to I don't know if you remember this. Back in April, Donald Trump posted this ridiculous tweet. Ridiculous tweet where he says, uh, on April 7th, he says, Tuesday will be power plant day and bridge day, all wrapped up in one in Iran. There will be nothing like it. He says, open the straight. You crazy, or you'll be living in just watch, then says, Praise be to Allah, President Donald J. Trump. Wild. And he follows it up and says, A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don't want that to happen, but I it probably will. However, now that we have complete and total regime change, we don't where different, smarter, and less radicalized minds prevail, maybe something revolutionary can happen. Who knows? We will find out tonight. One of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the world. 47 years of extortion, corruption, and death will finally end. God bless the great people of Iran. Wow. Wow. He promised a whole civilization will die tonight. And if you're a big Trump

Peace Deals And The Urge To Spite

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backer, you would say that's just that's the art of the deal. Trump was just saying this. But the if you're the president of the United States of America and you have the power, literally the nuclear power to follow through on that, that a whole civilization will end tonight, that is the scariest thing to threaten. And so I I remember on that day that happened, and I've pretty much resolved to not post on Facebook because it's just a a it's always always fighting that happens there. You're not changing minds, but I remember posting on that day this uh this post and said, There comes a time when you don't just pray for someone, you pray against their ambitions. First Timothy 2 does encourage us to pray for all those in authority, but we do so that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. If Trump follows through with this, we will have anything but peaceful and quiet lives. He is threatening genocide to an entire civilization. The godlessness is evident, and we pray like the psalmist in Psalm 140 to not grant the wicked their evil desires. There are moments when love of neighbor demands that we stand on prayerful resistance to them. And we are living in such a moment, when threats are made that endanger innocent lives, when words are spoken that imagine the destruction of civilians in places like Iran, we cannot simply bow our heads in passive reflection. We must pray actively, boldly, and truthfully. And so I wrote this prayer, God of justice and mercy, you are not the author of violence, nor do you delight in the suffering of the innocent. You formed every life with care, from the streets of our own cities to the families of Iran, and declared them good. We lift before you the words and threats spoken by Donald Trump and any leader who would consider the destruction of human life as a means to an end. Lord, we ask not that you are that you bless such intentions, but that you break them. Frustrate every plan that leads to violence, disrupt every desire that seeks domination through death, turn hearts away from war and toward peace. Guard the innocent, protect the vulnerable, silence the rhetoric that makes destruction seem acceptable. Where there is pride, so humility, where there is anger, so restraint, where there is a thirst for power and plant a deeper hunger for justice. Teach us too to be people who refuse to baptize violence in your name. Give us courage to speak, to resist, and to embody the peace you have called us to. Give our senators courage to lead and to speak. Blessed are the peacemakers. We long to be accounted among them. Amen. And if if we're gonna pray prayers like that, and I had many people retweeting that, sharing that, if we all really do believe that, then we should celebrate the end of a potential war. Even if Trump takes it as a moment to praise himself, it's hard. It's difficult because Trump will suck all the credit to himself. He will brag that he ended the war, even though he started it. He will add it to his list of wars he ended that he didn't end. And we have to know God answered these prayers and give God credit. And so while I want humiliation for Trump, because it's just it's hard to see someone that prideful continue to advance, are we considering the pain and deaths that could happen if those things um didn't happen? And so I think it's worth paying attention to because sometimes we discover that what we really wanted wasn't at wasn't peace at all. So I think there's many people who are wanting peace now, that are against war now, that really are really just saying that because they're against Trump. We wanted our team to win. And politics has just become this place where we act out our deepest desires for belonging, of identity and victory. The scary thing isn't that we care. The scary thing is how easily we begin to need our side to conquer for our team to win. It's just a team game. I recently read uh Ezra Klein, who has a podcast that's fantastic. I check encourage you to check it out. Um, but he also wrote this book called Why We're Polarized. And basically it says Americans are not primarily polarized because they disagree on these individual policy issues, but because political identities have become fused with many other identities race, religion, geography, education, culture, lifestyle. Like it's it's not that we disagree on these policies, it's that I've attached the policies to my identity. And so if you disagree with that, then you disagree with me. And so Ezra Klein contends that as Democrats and Republicans have sorted themselves into these increasingly distinct social cultural camps, politics has become this battle between competing identities rather than just competing ideas. Which is why maybe 20 years ago, you have politicians who would disagree and then later they'd be like laughing and talking with each other. Whereas now they cannot believe that the other side is good, that they're worth getting a drink with afterwards, that they're that they're actually good human beings. They are the enemy because the mega identity causes us to view our opponents not simply as wrong, but as evil, as a threat to our life. And making any compromise will make that more difficult. And so Ezra Klein argues that polarization is not merely a failure of citizens or of these leaders, but it's a failure of this two-party system that is built this way. That you are either for me or you are against me. And our most important question is are you on my side? Do you wear my jersey? That spoke volumes as I was reading that book. It is really a game of jerseys. Man, I love college football. I love it. I love it way too much. It became an idol. I've had to have it I've

Politics As Jerseys And Mega Identity

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had to pull back. I love my Texas AM Aggies. A few years ago, the Aggie baseball team made it all the way to the World Series. It was beautiful. And we were we were uh one out away from winning it all, and we lost to to the University of Tennessee. The next day, the head coach who made the team get all the way to the World Series within one out of winning it and being a national champion takes a job at our rival school, University of Texas. And I don't know if I've ever felt more betrayed. But if you think of your mortal enemy, you think like think of that. For for Aggies, it's the University of Texas. It's or they say Texas University because uh the the long history of Texas University seeing themselves as the bigger brother and trying to stop Texas AM from being a coming to school, whatever, you don't need to know that whole history. But the fact that the coach would leave, and now now with this new transfer era and NIL tried to recruit the whole team to go along with him. I was like, I'm done. I can't. I this this sucks. If all it is is just wearing a jersey and that is our politics. People don't really believe the policies they argue for. It's the jersey that we're rooting for. It's it's so deep, it's so dis discouraging. It's all about jerseys. So in light of jerseys, I thought let's talk about the World Cup. So after warning about patriotism last week, I was finding myself in the middle last Friday watching the World Cup. And man, I was excited. I was like, hey boys, let's let's treat this like the Super Bowl, let's get snacks, let's, let's, let's make everything built up to this so that we see this as the the way the rest of the world sees the World Cup as the most important sporting event. And man, when we scored first, so exciting. Man, Polisic, the the I don't know if he's a wing or a striker, but he looks incredibly fast if you're watching any of this. I I I've he's been hyped before. He maybe go down as the greatest um soccer player in American uh in American history. I mean, he is just he had another gear, and he was going around defenders, he was doing some you know meg passes, he was so good. And then we have this um this new guy who's only 24 years old following Balogun. He scores two goals. It just like it was like a game of beauty. There was so much to love about the game, but I was so excited. And I'm like, I've not watched Polisic since the last World Cup, and this new guy I've never seen, but man, I was rooting for them. And there's something about seeing people from your nation compete on the highest level. There's something about these these their stories that you when they score, it's like you score. There's like this shared victory, and man, I felt like kind of a hypocrite, uh, talking about the the dangers of patriotism, and then going, Man, I feel such pride in our country.

Affection Versus Elevation In Patriotism

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It was wild. It was wild. And yet, I as I said in our last podcast, if you haven't listened, go back. The problem isn't affection, the problem is elevation. The problem comes when Love of country becomes ultimate. It's really just the story of idolatry. Idolatry is taking a good thing and making it an ultimate thing. And when country becomes sacred, when criticism becomes heresy, when national identity becomes more important than our identity in Christ, then we have made an idol. And so there's a difference between appreciating your country and worshiping your country. And the World Cup reminded me that those two are not the same thing. There is a healthy hell a healthy love of good gifts, but there's also an unhealthy way of being grateful for the gifts that you have. Idolatry turns those good gifts into gods. And this summer, as we celebrate America's 250th anniversary, oh man, there's gonna be so much of taking a good thing and making it into a godlike thing, celebrating America as God. It's gonna be rough. It's gonna be rough if you haven't already experienced it already. But the the sport aspect of this, it it led me to think about sports more broadly. It made me think about the value of sports and the the beauty of sports. And then the Knicks came along. We're not talking about the the MMA fight on the lawn, ridiculous. The most important sporting event, even though the seeing the the men win on Friday was amazing. It was the Knicks winning a championship on Saturday night. And y'all, I was in an odd spot. If you don't like sports, I'm gonna try to make this applicable. But I do love sports. But I was in an odd spot. I'm not from New York. I'm not a I don't watch a lot of NBA basketball. I just watch a little bit in the playoffs. But throughout the playoffs, I wasn't even paying attention to New York because they struggled with Atlanta early on. They were they were looking bad. They struggled with Atlanta, and nobody struggles with Atlanta. And so you early on you're going, okay, let's let these two fight it out, and whoever wins is not going to get make it pass the the next round. And they just they just kept winning. And then on the other side, you had in the Western Conference Finals, you had Oklahoma City Thunder, who is a very likable team. Um I rooted for them last year, but then they were taking on the Spurs. And how quickly I rooted for Oklahoma City last year, but this year I was like, man, I kind of rooting for the Spurs. And I don't know if it was just because they're a Texas team, or it's because they're so young and they're kind of fun. And Victor Wembayana, this um 7'6 uh Frenchman who's just crazy good. Um it was it was it was kind of fun to root for him until he played New York. Um, but when the Spurs took on New York, I was watching and I'm like, I think I'm rooting for the Spurs. And I just kept kind of hoping New York would win. And I was excited when they won game one. But I was like, yeah, it's not gonna happen. Because the the Knicks are the Knicks. They they they they won't win. They they don't have enough. And then they won game two, and you're like, oh, something special is happening here. Like they have gone on a uh what was it, a crazy win streak. They they went on uh I gotta look this up. I gotta look this up. They went on a uh this uh I think it was an 11-game win streak um when they when they took on uh when they went to game three. They were a 13-game win streak when they when they when they played uh the Spurs in game three back in New York, and they just they have not lost, and that's just so rare in the NBA finals. And then the game three happens. It's the home game in New York City, and so New York is just so excited. But Trump decides he wants to come to the game, and he's from New York, so he kind of has this tie there, and he is sitting with the owner. But because he's there, there's like crazy extra security, and people have to, you know, go in a lot hours earlier, and they're not allowed to have their outside watch parties, and so it's just there's like a whole stale air that you're like, man, something's not right. And they lose game three. Um the Knicks do. And you're going, did Trump just curse this team? It it felt like it, because then in game four, the Knicks were down 29 points, and I I looked at the ticker and go, this game is not even worth watching. I'll check back in game five. And then there's like I I check back, and there's like four minutes left in the game, and it's a game. And you're going, What? It was the greatest comeback in NBA's history, and the Knicks win game four, and then they go back to San Antonio, and uh Malcolm's dad actually went to the game, and he's sitting behind Spike Lee, you know, all that kind of very cool stuff. And then they win game five and they win the championship. I mean, it was wild. And New York City, it's kind of fun to watch, even if you're not from New York, just to see like people are hugging strangers. The entire city was just celebrating, like the way they don't celebrate anything else, because New York City is just very diverse. There's a lot of people that don't know each other, don't disagree or that disagree with each other on a lot of things, but they came around the New York Knicks, and I think sports reveals

Knicks Run And A City United

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something true about us. And Paul Putts um wrote this article recently called All the Human Heart Wants is Its Chance, and in response to the Knicks review uh winning the championship here. Paul Putz is uh he's at uh Baylor, he's also at our church, he's a you know uh got a great uh book on uh um basketball and Christianity. Um he's we've had him on the podcast before. Um and so it's just kind of uh you know his specialty and you know the crossover between sports and theology and things like that. Uh but he's at he's at Truitt Seminary, um, Nebraska guy. I mean, you you root for Nebraska, that that tells you a lot about a person. Um they they they struggle a lot. Um, but uh his book is the spirit of the game that we we we had him on to discuss. Uh but in this article, in this article, um, I think he just he just touched on something that was just so like relatable. He sets the scene, he says, you're not supposed to win the game when you're down 29 in the second half. You're not supposed to win a championship when your best player is barely six feet tall. Jalen Brunson is this short point guard who just like you you don't win with those guys. And when he got hired or signed, everyone's like, you're doing what, Knicks? You're paying this guy what? And just everyone doubted it. And then you don't win when you're the three seed in the East, or when you're down two to one to Atlanta Hawks in the first round. And you're definitely not supposed to win when you're the New York Knicks and you carry the weight of a fan base that has 50 years of disappointment. I thought that was such a good thing like, yep. And he says, but the beauty and magic of sports is that it invites us to believe that we have a chance. So you're saying there's a chance, that the outcome is not predetermined, that in any given game, in any given series, any given season, the human beings who compete might rise to the occasion, they might accomplish what previously seemed impossible or at least highly unlikely. And y'all, I wholeheartedly agree. Like, this is what makes this Knicks team so likable. You don't expect it from them. There's not these superstars. Now, these guys all played most of them, like four of the starting five played college ball together. They they played at Villanova, and I actually got to be able to see them um win the one of their final four games in Dallas. And it was like, who is this team? They're just they're dominant and they don't, they don't, they're not superimposing. But they were just so unselfish, and that's the thing that makes you love them. I mean, the short point guard and Jalen Brunson, I mean, he could have gotten like $300 million to max out his deal. He takes like $100 million less than what he should be paid, so that his team could get paid and they could hire like more, you know, to have a better team. Like it's just like ultimate team sport. And so it's like this everyday team. Stephen A. Smith called them America's team, which, you know, I'm a Houston uh Texans fan, and I have like this like knee-jerk response when people talk about America's team, referring to Dallas Cowboys, and I'm like, nah. But I can under I can understand why people are talking about this with the the Knicks. And this is just the beauty of sports that that not everything is fixed. It's not always those with the most money win. That you know, you always think of like LA or whomever uh pays the most usually wins. It you know, Alabama used to always win because they would always pay the most. But what this is this championship was revealing is that like anyone could win. Like, hope is possible, even for Knicks fans. And the scenes of joy that poured out from the Knicks fans after the championship were just this testament of the possibilities. You know, it was like as uh Paul talks about it was almost our The New York Times article talks about this, it was almost like this religious experience. And why is that? And I think it it's because it taps into something deeper, and it I think goes into one of my favorite verses in First Corinthians 13, where it says, Love bears all things, that love believes all things. And here is the the the kicker that love hopes all things. That love hopes all things, and like there's so many times when I think we just believe that the story is over. And it's that belief that the story isn't written yet that gives us hope, that it's the possibility of possibilities. And so it was exciting to celebrate that. Like no one expected that. The Knicks fans, I don't know if expected that. It's kind of like watching the the Cubs or the Red Sox win. You're like, there's just like after such a drought, they're like, oh, is this possible? And I think many of us have just kind of closed the world off of what's possible. And we actually talked about this a little bit in our my my sermon this past Sunday. And one of the things we said early on when we did this podcast we wanted to do was to do kind of a cutting floor, a cutting room floor. There's so much that we want to put in a sermon, but we have to cut out for time's sake, or you know, it may not be fully on point. Um, but one of the things we talked about was um why we laugh. The title of the sermon was uh what laughter reveals. And um, why we laugh. And one of the reasons we laugh is when we is because we get surprised. And so, you know, uh kind of the the three elements of a good joke, you have the premise, um kind of sets the scene, you have the setup that creates the tension, and then it's the punchline that is what shocks you, it's what surprises you. And that's why we laugh. And I you wanna you know what was shocking uh for me? Um after the sermon, I shared this story um about how I was doing redoing a scene where Dwight Schroot from the office was doing a uh therapeutic technique for Michael Scott, his boss, um, on the office, where he was uh doing the bit where he's he, you know, he's in he's in the office and he's calming Michael by almost like a massage, but he puts a he goes, you know, put the egg on your head, the yolk runs out, and the yolk runs out, and the yolk runs out.

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Put the knife in the back and the blood flows out, and the blood flows out, and the blood flows out.

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And I shared uh with

Sports As Hope And Shared Glory

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church uh this past Sunday how we my wife and I were in foster care training in North Carolina, and it was this moment where the the instructor was going over by an hour. It was oddly boring, and we were just we were like dying to get out of there, and so I was just like scratching her back, just bored, like, oh my gosh, this has gotta end. And I just started doing that, and I started whispering it to her, put the egg on your head, and so I kind of went through all that, right? And she just starts losing it and laughing, anyways. I tell the story to the church, and you know, you can go back and watch if you want. Um, but then after the service, there's a friend of Rain Wilson who is Dwight Schroot, was in the service and videoed me doing it and sending and sent and sent it to Rain Wilson or to Dwight Schroute. And had I known that I would be performing the the the clip for the actual actor, I probably would have put a little more thought into it, a little more uh heart into it and whatnot. Uh, but it was pretty wild. That was pretty shocking that he got that. Um, but the going back to the the cutting room floor um is the the of that sermon. Like the whole sermon was the there's different types of laughter, right? There and there's different types of what uh laughter that we all have. Um there are um you know laugh laughs of joy, there's there's there's there's laughter of disbelief, there's there's laughter of mockery, there's laughter of nervousness. Um and then there's a laughter that hides pain. And we talked about that with Sarah. But I think one of the saddest examples of this that I did not include in the sermon, and this is one I wanted to bring up, but it it's just affected me so deeply was watching this documentary on Chris Farley. Chris Farley was my comedic hero growing up. He was the funniest dude in the world. I mean, if you did not grow up in the 90s, if you don't know what what or who Chris Farley is, you are missing out. Let me just give you a little taste here.

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Hello, help everybody. That you're not going to a mountain.

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I'll put the link in the notes. Go look up Matt Foley, Fan Down by the River, SNL, um, anything, Chris Farley. I mean, he just he was so funny. Like, by almost any measure, he was one of the funniest people who've ever lived. Like his other comedians revered him. They they looked up to him, they he made other comedians laugh. And they just said, like, I don't know. I can't, it's hard to write scripts for him because he's just like he himself, who he is, his his human, his being, is just he exudes laughter and he brought such a joy to the people around him in his laughter. And so he made millions and millions of people laugh. But near the end of his life, it was reported that he described a lot of his work this way, and he just said it was just fatty falls down. And I it broke me to hear him describe his own life that way. Because it just revealed the the utter pain the way he saw himself was just bad and just as a joke. And it was devastating. This documentary was on Amazon Prime. But imagine making millions of people laugh and still feeling like you're the joke.

What Laughter Reveals About Us

SPEAKER_01 39:40

That all of your work is just something to laugh at. And so what Farley discovered is something I think many successful people eventually discover is that the applause doesn't satisfy. Recognition doesn't satisfy even making other people happy and laugh. It doesn't make you happy and you laugh. Because he started to hate himself. And it was clear it was at the pinnacle of his life. He takes his own life. I think it does a great job of remembering how how sweet and beautiful and good he was, but also revealing how much he did not like himself. And I don't know if it's just because he was my hero growing up, but this this documentary it moved me. You know, like I don't I don't know if I tied my future to his, but that self-deprecating nature that he had is something that I've adopted, and it's made me investigate what does that self-deprecating laughter reveal? Why, like, why do I make fun of myself so much? I think many times it's nice to not take yourself seriously. I really encourage it. But there's times when you go, after watching that, I'm like, I don't want to laugh at him making fun of himself. And I think it just revealed that there's just so many forms of laughter, and there's so much emptiness, even in laughter. Have you ever been with friends where you've laughed so hard with them, but then later you kind of just like you felt bad about yourself? You know, this is a Christian podcast. We we try to encourage you to think um rightly uh about uh Jesus, you know, just to um respond to our you know theology being shattered in pieces. Uh, but let's say you've maybe drank too much. You ever drunk so much, and then the next day you felt bad? It's almost like that. Where if you've you've laughed so hard with friends, but the next day you're like, man, I feel I don't feel good. Like we shouldn't have laughed at those jokes. We shouldn't have laughed at that person. And I remember in college, I was with some of my Christian friends. So this is me as a post-Christian, you know, as one who's following the Lord on my path towards um, you know, in college. So I'm on my way towards going to seminary to become a pastor. And this was around the time when some of these movies were coming out, like old school, um, which I watched, and yes, it's hilarious, but it's wildly inappropriate, and it also has a lot of empty laughter. And then there was a time when I think after watching that, that I was like, man, I'm just not feeling this anymore. And a lot of my friends were saying, like, no, let's go watch wedding crashers. And it felt like both of these movies, and if you if you love these movies, this is not a judgment on you. There's many, many other movies that I could be critiqued about watching. But there was something about wedding crashers after old school that just reminded me of the emptiness of this laughter. And I was just like, I don't want this anymore. And I actually made a choice to not go see the movie with the friends. And I made the choice to actually start distancing myself.

Chris Farley And The Limits Of Applause

SPEAKER_01 43:20

And it was hard. That was hard because these are your friends, and they all find it hilarious, and you're like, yeah, it is funny, but like I'm I'm s I'm finding it also pretty gross, and I want more than that. And trying to have those convictions without having a holier than thou mindset is it's really difficult. Um but it made me think about that when I was preaching the sermon where Sarah laughs on account of when God promised her a son and she's like laughing, just like, yeah, right. Because she is just so, so convinced after years, decades, that's never gonna happen. But then she doesn't know that she has the God of the universe because he says, Is anything too hard for God? And that God also loves her deeply, incredibly. And God is so for Sarah that he's going to come through on these promises. And when she has this child, she names the child Isaac, which means he laughs. Because she's laughing like God redeemed her laughter. And so she laughs, not bec out of entertainment, but out of true joy. And it's the laughter that comes when God does what seemed impossible. It's this joy in in rooted that's rooted in redemption. Not distraction, not self-hatred, not escape, but a deep belly laugh. Uh, because God is awesome. And so when I look back all uh over all of these topics, um, and we talked about quite a lot, um, I do see a common thread with politics, patriotism, sports, and comedy. In every case, we we see people looking for the same things, belonging and joy and meaning and glory, but a a story bigger than themselves. And some found it and some didn't find it. But the the human heart is always reaching for that, always attaching itself to something, searching for this home. And so those desires aren't wrong. Those that love for something bigger, it's just when we misplace it. And in many ways, these gifts that God gives us, they're signposts to something greater. That you know, this this patriotism, it's it's a love for the the country, it's a love for s for the the your the those people. But it it can't be ultimate. Those are signposts to something that point us beyond that. That that that deep belly laugh that if all we do is just keep making fun of someone or something, and then we've we've laughed them into oblivion to where they hate themselves, versus a deep belly laugh at of joy in what who God is. Because eventually all those things are gonna disappoint us. Nations will disappoint us, political movements will disappoint us, sports teams will disappoint us, comedians will disappoint us, even our own accomplishments accomplishments will disappoint us, but the deepest desires of the human heart are never meant to end there. They're meant to point us to God. And so I hope today as you enjoy some maybe World Cup, um, as you watch a funny movie, um, as you see what's happening in the pol political world, you think about these things in context that they're pointers, not gods themselves. And I think many times I've tempted to make all of those things into gods themselves, where I give everything, I sacrifice everything, I want to focus everything on those things versus put them in contact with the God of the world. So well, I I hope you're enjoying this. Uh we you know, obviously we would love to have this as more of a conversation with with uh our Malc our brother Malcolm Foley. Um but I hope you're enjoying this this um excursion, this this the this other way of doing the podcast um solo right now uh as we we we go through this. Um so if you have been enjoying this, please let me know. You know, because I don't have Malcolm here to say, hey, that was terrible. Um if you hate it and you do think it's terrible, send Malcolm the email at Malcolm at mosaicwaco.org. But if you loved it, you know, hello to hello at theologypieces.com. And if you loved it, also um leave a rating review, share it with some friends. Um that'd be that'd be really nice. We'd like that. We'd like that. That's that helps us in the old podcast world. Um looking at our our podcast um data, seems like 90% of you are listening to this on Apple. Uh, that's great. I'm more of a Spotify guy, but we we like Apple too. Uh so share with some other people. We'd love to we'd love to continue the work and for other people to find some of this uh to be helpful and uh further the conversation. All right, y'all. We will see you next week. Bye.