#jon foreman

Artist Jon Foreman's Sculpt the Word project.

Convexum Fluxus, 2024

- life’s hard, man. sad and encouraging songs that capture the feeling of being stagnant and dissatisfied (and generally unhappy with life)

4k friends - parrotfish

all these things i have done - the killers

always like this - bombay bicycle love

another day - ttrruuces

arrow - half•alive

better in the morning - birdtalker

breathe - dom fera

buy american - joywave

collapse - parrotfish

comes and goes - hyukoh

coming home song - sammy rae & the friends

cyn city - joywave

the distance - iron eyes cody

fake happy - paramore

good life - sammy rae & the friends

hard times - paramore

i don’t want to be here anymore - the airborne toxic event

i wanna get better - bleachers

intheinbetween - mom rock

jesus, i have my doubts - jon foreman

just a clown - primer

lawn chair - parrotfish

nobody - half•alive

not dead yet - lord huron

not the end of the world (even as we know it) - faded paper figures

nothing to say - dom fera

nothing works - declan mckenna

numb - the airborne toxic event

over and over - hot chip

poor isaac - the toxic airborne event

rabbit in a headlight - autoheart

rose-colored boy - paramore

rotten ol’ me - shakey graves

slumber - sløtface

south - hippo campus

a stone only rolls downhill - ok go

take me with you - ok go

take my head - turnface

tear up this town - keane

telephone pole - colony house

this economy - parrotfish

this life - vampire weekend

this must be the place (naive melody) - talking heads

till one of us stops lying - mom rock

tomorrow - miner

vowels (and the importance of being me) - hunny

western fog - kongos

wires crossed - dom fera

wisdom - the guggenheim grotto

yippie ki yay - hippo campus

You say you want Christians to "welcome" you, and not ask you to change. Thats so misleading. Do you want them to keep being Christians? Because Christians, by definition, are followers of Jesus Christ of Nazareth...who specifically demands that anyone who comes to Him "denies themselves" and let their old selves die. So what the heck do you mean, Selmer? What the heck do you mean, "Christians say they'll welcome me but it's only if I change?" We're all changing. We all identified one way, with our wrongdoings, with our feelings, and then we came to Christ and that part of us died. It's not about our welcome. It's about Him, Him being Lord, and He said "die to yourself." If that's not what you're actively looking for, if you're not looking to change because you realize you need it, then you don't actually want Christianity. You don't actually want anything to do with the real actual person/God Jesus the Christ of Nazareth. You just want to be in the "social club" you've morphed Christianity into.

Welcoming is not about "can you come hang out with us." It's also not about "can you come hang out with us and feel included and also feel approved for every single choice you make." What? Thats just an echo chamber. Nobody who really loves you in your life will accept every single thing about you and approve every choice you make. How much greater is a love that recognizes when and where you're wrong, is not afraid to call you out on it, and is willing to sacrifice your opinion of them and the comfortable space of your relationship if it means the truth might set you free? Because that love cares more about you, the person made in the image of God, than they do your opinions, or the feelings that lie to you and hurt you.

That's actual love. Thats how Christ loves you. But don't you dare say "Christians don't love and welcome me for who I am: they pretend to, but they really just want me to change." There's nothing pretend about it. It's all very up-front. Christ said "come and die, and when your old self is dead, I'll give you new life." We all did it. He is doing it to all of us. We didn't deserve it. If you don't like it, you don't actually want Christianity.