VALUES/MEANING BREADTH1
Values/Meaning Breadth: Interview with Carolyn Arends
Kelly Tallent
LAS45012– Global Issues in Liberal Arts
Professor Todd Holbert
Ottawa University
February 15, 2015
Introduction
Carolyn Arends is a recording artist who was born, raised and resides in Surrey,BC. Her discography includes eleven recordings. She has authored three books and is a columnist for Christianity Today Magazine. She received a Master’s Degree in Theological Studies in 2013. In addition to concert tours, and speaking engagementsshe is a college instructor. She has also won 2 Dove Awards, was a West Coast Music Awards’ Songwriter of the year and has had 3 Juno Nominations. “One of the most affecting communicators in any genre,” says Billboard Magazine("About Carolyn Arends").
I was introduced to her music in 2000 while she was opening for the late, Rich Mullins. She also toured with Steven Curtis Chapman. Both of those headliners were big names during that time. She made a decision in her young career to disconnect from the mainstream Christian music industry finding it lacking the sincerity she strived to represent through her work as a songwriter and musician. I was motivated to interview her because the rare times I have been around her in the last fifteen years, I knew she had a broader view of Christianity than I had known and she has traveled around the world enough to put her own beliefs to the test and compare them with others.
InterviewQuestions and Answers
What is the meaning of life?
“What a huge question. ... I think the meaning of life is love. As a Christian, I believe (a) that a personal, loving God is the Author of life and that (b) that God has always been relational - not a singular God, but a Trinitarian community of Father, Son and Spirit. I think the reason anything exists at all is because the Father, Son and Spirit had so much mutual affection, joy, love, beauty, fellowship and enjoyment between them they wanted to create other beings with which they could share all that love. So love - love for God, other humans, self and nature - is not only what makes life meaningful, it's what makes life possible ... and thus it is the meaning of life.”
What is your definition of God?
“God is the transcendent being who thought up the universe and it holds it together. (Acts17:28). I am persuaded that the claims of Jesus Christ are true - that God did in fact step into human history and overcame death and evil by absorbing it into himself on the cross. So, for me, God is the transcendent but also immanent being who makes the universe possible and who's character is best understood by learning about the nature of Jesus.”
What does prayer mean to you?
“Conversation with God - sometimes articulate and sometimes wordless. Sometimes it's just a sense of accompanying Presence, and sometimes it is a hollering into the (seeming) void!”
Love is…..
“HARD!I like this from Frederick Buechner:”
The love for equals is a human thing--of friend for friend, brother for brother. It is to love what is loving and lovely. The world smiles. The love for the less fortunate is a beautiful thing--the love for those who suffer, for those who are poor, the sick, the failures, the unlovely. This is compassion, and it touches the heart of the world. The love for the more fortunate is a rare thing--to love those who succeed where we fail, to rejoice without envy with those who rejoice, the love of the poor for the rich, of the black man for the white man. The world is always bewildered by its saints. And then there is the love for the enemy--love for the one who does not love you but mocks, threatens, and inflicts pain. The tortured's love for the torturer. This is God's love. It conquers the world.―Frederick Buechner,The Magnificent Defeat
What are you sure of?
“I've heard a few mature believers say that as they get older, they are sure of fewer things, but the things they are sure of they are ever more deeply sure of. I can relate to that. I am sure that the world itself poses a question (how is that there is anything at all?) for which the only possible answers are transcendent. I am sure that humanity is hungry for something beyond it's own resources. I am sure that beauty shouts of something more. And I'm sure that the Jesus Way - the way of love - is the only way to be fully human.”
Who is one of your favorite spiritual teachers?
“I've already mentioned Frederick Buechner, a preacher and writer whose basic premise - that God "speaks into and out of the thick of our days" - has helped me wake up and listen to my life.”
What happens when we die?
“I am quite convinced that life goes on after we die. I don't have a lot of specifics beyond that, except that if we've said "yes" to Jesus I believe we will be with him, and it will be pretty great.”
Spirituality versus religion?
“Both! Spirituality is waking up to transcendence. Religion is giving that awareness ritual, structure and community. Both are highly susceptible to distortion and damage, but that doesn't change the fact that they are both essential.”
The world needs?
“Love.”
Have you experienced any areas outside your country or province where you had aversion to your spiritual belief?
“Years ago I was invited to participate in an artist's symposium (a group of visual artists, musicians, filmmakers, etc.) connecting creative people from LA and Vancouver. Our Canadian party traveled to LA. A painting had been commissioned featuring two artists - one Jewish and the other First Nations - and they decided on the Christian cross as the symbol of oppression. I had a habit of wearing a cross around my neck and I could tell it was met with deep suspicion. It was a tense and awkward few days - until it was time for the musicians (me among them) to share their music in a famous little LA club called The Largo. I sang my songs - many of them about, or inspired by, Jesus - and it was amazing to watch the walls come down around me with the group. That was the first time I experienced the power of art, story and authenticity in trying to discover together the ultimate meaning of things. Creedal ideas matter (as a lifelong theology student I think they REALLY matter), but relationship - love - matters more”(C. Arends, personal communication, February 15, 2015).
Conclusion
I chose to keep all of Carolyn’s answers complete, since I personally feel they are all quotable. One of the reasons I thought to interview her is that we believed differently on some fundamental levels in the past. What I have learned is that the gap of those differences has narrowed. I consider that she was ahead of me in some life experiences; she was exposed to other beliefs, she had some broader views than I and she was more inclusive with her faith. My view of the world and my faith were limited to a much smaller parameter. This is where I give credit to my Liberal Arts education and learning to become a critical thinker.
I, too, believe that God is “relational” and that it is the premise of our existence. I also believe, as she explains, the Trinitarian community of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I appreciate her expansion of it. I found the answers to all of the questions were simple and profound additions to what I continue to grow in. As it pertains to the Values/Meaning breadth and the big picture, she says, “I am sure that humanity is hungry for something beyond it's own resources.” This statement resonates with me as I continue to learn more about life around the globe, it seems to be fitting for all mankind. The experience she expounds on at the end is also reinforcement of what I am learning; as we make ourselves open to participate with others who are different from us, we gain understanding. When we gain understanding, we are able to be more accepting and the “walls come down.”
References
About carolynarends. (n.d.). Retrieved February 16, 2015, from
Arends, C. (2015, February 15, 2015). Email interview
Buechner, F. (n.d.). The Magnificent Defeat Quotes. Retrieved February 16, 2015, from