This post is rated "V"

Kelly and I recently watched V for Vendetta, a film based on the graphic novel by Alan Moore and David Loyd published in the 1980s. I was talking with somebody about this movie the other day and they said that they totally hated the movie. I can see and respect how one might dislike this movie...but the same aspects of the movie that caused them to dislike it are exactly why I would recommend it!
The "hero" of the film is a terrorist, and the film wrestles with this and is ambiguous as to whether or not the terrorist is actually "good" or not. Most people like movies that have very clear delineations between the "bad guys," and the "good guys." V for Vendetta does not.
There is a point in the film where V (Hugo Weaving) has just revealed to Evey (Natalie Portman) that he killed a very corrupt political figure. She is upset at him for doing so, but he quips something to the effect, "You didn't seem to mind when I killed a man who was attacking you!"

I won't ruin the story for you, because I think you should see it! But there's another point where V says to Evey, attempting to justify his actions, "What they did to me was monstrous!" and she responds, "And they created a monster!" I believe terrorism is not justifiable, and we are always responsible for our own actions, however, terrorists are usually created by their circumstances. One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter! In the musical "Wicked" there's this line in a song,
"A man's called a traitor
or liberator.
A rich man's a thief
or philanthropist.
Is one a crusader,
or ruthless invader.
It's all in which label,
is able to persist.

There are precious few at ease,
with moral ambiguities,
So we act as though they don't exist!"

What is our response when a corrupt, violent, Authoritarian Government (like in V for Vendetta) is in place? Do we sit back and accept the lies that they tell us, or do we respond? What is our response when innocents are maliciously trampled upon and abused? Do we sit back knowing that we haven't been harmed, or do we respond? What about when we know that someone is going to turn us over to our death? Do we just let it happen, or do we respond? As a follower of Christ, I must stand up for truth, and the poor and disenfranchised, and I must respond, AND I must respond in love, which, by definition, "does no harm." I do not condone the actions of the "hero" of the film, but neither do I support the government which he opposes. SO, we must ask ourselves, how in the world do we respond?!

There are two other movies that I think approach this topic well. The Boondock Saints, and Munich. V for Vendetta is violent, but it's more like Matrix violence but with a little more blood. Both of the other movies are violent as well, however Munich is by far the most violent film I've ever seen. I cannot actually recommend anyone seeing it, because I seriously suffered traumatically from the images in that film. However, V for Vendetta is brilliant, Orwelian, and timely, and I think it's a great place to begin such a conversation.

As far as responding to injustices in our world, our quote of this month says something about that, "Non-violence is the answer of our time's crucial political and moral questions. The need for man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to violence and oppression." --Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. For more on that, though not written by Dr. King, check out a fantastic book that deserves, but won't herein, get it's own post, Choosing Against War: A Christian View, which is definitely a book that has been formational to my understanding of God's love and how we as Christians should be reflecting and extending that to a hurting world.

Unconditional Love

I have heard so many times before that our relationships are often reflections of our relationship with God. Now that I'm a parent it has become even more apparent :) to me. This little person comes into your life, is totally dependent, gets messy, gets you messy, gets your plans messy and yet you completely love them. Simply because of who they are. It gives me a small glimpse of how God loves us.

New tricks, etc.

Ana was weighed today, and while, yes, she had her diaper on at the time, she weighed in at 12lbs. 14oz.!!! She's not even quite two months old yet. We were told she's in something like the 95th percentile for weight. So, she's eating well! :) She's also, I think they said, in the 75th percentile for length. So she's growing well...and I'm feeling it in my back! Note to self: start exercising...

Recently, her newest tricks include:
~drooling
~lifting her head while on her tummy
~laying on her back or tummy and just chillin', taking in life, usually staring at one thing for several minutes at a time...as documented by the below pictures. :)

~oh yeah, and she's smiling more often!

MLK Day

This morning Jeff and I had the opportunity to attend a breakfast to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. We got to sing "Lift every voice and sing" with the rest of community present at the breakfast. I've heard this song before, but never actually read the words. The song is about hope and trust in a God who has led through hard and bitter places.
I think Martin Luther King must have been a man of hope to be able to see a vision of what the kingdom and this earth should look like, on the way things God intended them to be. A hope that was not only for himself, but for all people to be reconciled to God and each other. I have been reading a book entitled, "Engaging God's World: A Christian Vision of Faith, Learning, and Living" by Cornelius Plantinga Jr. He discusses the hope we should have as Christians. He states, "It's natural and healthy to hope for ourselves, but it's provincial and unhealthy to hope only for ourselves. . .If we hope as the prophets and apostles did, then we shall hope not only for ourselves but also for people we must struggle to understand. We shall hope for people we may never have met, such as Indonesians of Chinese descent, mercilessly persecuted by their own military, or Korean Christians haunted by memories of Japanese cruelty and struggling to quiet their anger over it. We shall trust God to bring forgiveness and peace for generations we can only imagine. . .To summarize this way of thinking, we might say that biblical hope-the real thing-must have faith on one side of it and love on the other." He goes on to discuss this in more detail, I suggest reading it, it's quite good.
I see Martin Luther King, Jr. as a man who had this kind of hope and love for his neighbor. I'm glad that we have a day to remember and to hopefully catch his/the biblical vision for each other.

My name is...

So I found this on one of my friend's blog, Amanda Marble, you can click on the link ot the right if you'd like to.
Apparently, based on the popularity of the names Jeffrey and Bergeson there are 8 other individuals in the U.S. with my same name! Apparently there are also 5 other Kelly Bergesons.
However, to our amazement, our daughter has a singularly unique name for U.S. citizens according to this website! No other Anastasia Bergesons!!!
How many folks share your name? Check it out! Click here.

Divided by Faith

So I finally finished reading Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America. I started it in June during CCO NST, and for various reasons including busy-ness, or other readings, (or laziness) I didn't finish it until a week and a half ago. Now a good chunk of the book is publishings on findings of the authors' 2,000 phone interviews and 200 face-to-face interviews with American Evangelicals, so that fact alone makes it a little hard to read at times. That having been said, I think every single White American who claims to be Evangelical should read this book! Yeah, seriously...Emerson's and Smith's findings are extraordinary and convicting.

By and large they've found that -- although there is but one Jesus Christ -- because of our places in life, Americans are literally divided by faith. The stronger one's faith is, instead of seeing things the same way, it turns out that the further on one side of the spectrum or the other their view of the race problem in America based on the color of their skin. It's fascinating and amazingly sad, especially since as The Church we're supposed to be united. At any rate, they've done extensive work documenting how/why we aren't united particularly along the lines of race, which are arbitrary physical characteristics, according to most definitions.

Kelly read an article while working on her Master's in Social Work entitled White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Backpack. I believe it was in there that I heard the metaphor of walking along a moving sidewalk -- you know, the ones that they use in airports -- and you're heading towards a bad place (i.e. reinforcing racialization). You can stand still because it doesn't seem to be affecting you, but still in fact move towards it; you can actually walk towards it, speeding up the process; or you can take on the arduous task of actually walking against that sidewalk. I want to be walking against the grain, but because this is something that does not confront me daily like it would if my skin was a different tone, it's hard to notice that I'm moving in the wrong direction.

This book convicts me, and the sad fact that it took me so long to read it, despite it being rife with statistics, is another indication that I'm not working hard enough at walking against the sidewalk--in the right direction.

Ana!

Well, we just thought we'd share some pictures of our newest addition!

Day One

Hello all!
This is our brand new blog. We just set it up today, and we have a long way to go to get it fully up and running. So please give us a little bit of time.
We'll add all sorts of stuff to our blog including pictures of Ana, thoughts about books we're reading, movies we're watching, music we're listening to, and things that are going on in the world and our ministry at Kenyon College through the CCO.

Hopefully you'll find our blog amusing/interesting/helpful/informative/strange.

Peace,
J&K