Is it love you’re after?[1]Not a rhetorical question; despite our claims to be a Christian people, it is not clear we are seeking love at all. As the Victorian poet Alfred Tennyson once wrote, “Christian love among the … Continue reading
A sign of the flood[2]“Evil seems about to engulf us like a great wave, and we feel that truly we are living in conditions similar to those in the days of Noah before the Flood.” -President Kimball or one more disaster?[3]Which would be more distressing: to realize these are the endtimes, or to realize that these are just another round of disasters–that these aren’t even the endtimes at all?
Don’t do to me what you did to America[4]In the context of Kimball’s talk, then, what exactly did we do to America? We polluted it, exploited it, made it idolatrous, materialistic, and militaristic–and Sufjan is desperately … Continue reading
Don’t do to me what you did to America[5]Full disclosure: 2020’s The Ascension is not Sufjan Stevens’ best album (it’s not even the best album named Ascension); it’s not as eclectic as Illinois, nor as good of … Continue reading
I have loved you, I have grieved
I am ashamed to admit I no longer believe[6]Here’s a line where one almost wishes Sufjan Stevens was LDS. He was already Indie-Rock’s most famous practicing Christian (see, for example “The Transfiguration,” or … Continue reading
I have loved you, I received
I have traded my life for a picture of the scenery
Don’t do to me what you did to America
Don’t do to me what you did to America
I give it all up in laughter
The sign of the cross awaiting disaster[7]Remembering that the cross is not a symbol of prosperity, but of torture and suffering; see also his track “No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross” from Carrie and Lowell.
Dove flew to me like a vision of paranoia[8]The dove of course is a symbol of the Holy Spirit and divine approval, from Noah’s flood clear down to Christ’s baptism; paranoia, of course, is what all the prophets have been accused … Continue reading
Dove flew to me like a vision of paranoia
I have loved you (I have loved you)
Like a dream (like a dream)
I have kissed your lips like a Judas in heat[9]We don’t just betray Him who said to “sell all your belongings and give to the poor”, but betray Him passionately, with a kiss, as though it were an act of love and devotion to … Continue reading
I have worshipped (I have worshipped)
I believed (I believed)
I have broke your bread[10]The Sacrament of Bread for a splendor of machinery
Don’t look at me like I’m acting hysterical[11]“Hysteria,” recall, is a feminine word–based upon the Greek word for uterus–and rooted in the sexist belief that women are inherently unstable mentally due to their … Continue reading
Don’t look at me like I’m acting hysterical
I have worshipped (I have worshipped)
I have cried (I have cried)
I have put my hands in the wounds on your side[12]Here Sufjan places himself in the role of doubting Thomas, who cannot believe unless he can touch the marks in His hands and the wound in His side; this line pairs well with his earlier confession of … Continue reading
I have tasted of your blood[13]The Sacrament of Wine
I have choked on the waters
I abated the flood[14]The baptismal covenants that we renew during the partaking of the Sacrament–“to mourn with those that mourn, to comfort those that stand in need of comfort” (Mosiah 18:9), that is, … Continue reading
I am broken (I am broken)[15]But then, only those with “a broken heart and a contrite spirit” (Psalms 51:17; Mormon 2:14) can repent and be saved.
I am beat (I am beat)
But I will find my way like a Judas in heat[16]Remembering, of course, that Judas in his final passions killed himself.
I am fortune (I am fortune)[17]According to Kimball, fortune is also one of our false gods.
I am free (I am free)[18]“Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” -Galatians 5:1; in the context of President Kimball’s … Continue reading
I’m like a fever of light in the land of opportunity
Don’t do to me what you did to America
(Don’t do to me what you do to yourself)[19]Here then is the crux of the matter: the whole reason you have sought to pollute, militarize, and degrade America is because you first sought to pollute, militarize, and degrade yourself. Like … Continue reading
Don’t do to me what you did to America
(Don’t do to me what you do to yourself)
Don’t do to me what you did to America
(Don’t do to me what you do to yourself)
Don’t do to me what you did to America
(Don’t do to me what you do to yourself)
Don’t do to me what you did to America
Don’t do to me what you did to America
Don’t do to me what you did to America
Don’t do to me what you did to America
Don’t do to me what you did to America
Don’t do to me what you did to America
Don’t do to me what you did to America
Don’t do to me what you did to America[20]Not to be confused with “America” by Neil Diamond, “America” by Simon and Garfunkel, “America” from West Side Story, “Amerika” by Rammstein, … Continue reading
References
| ↑1 | Not a rhetorical question; despite our claims to be a Christian people, it is not clear we are seeking love at all. As the Victorian poet Alfred Tennyson once wrote, “Christian love among the Churches look’d the twin of heathen hate.” (Locksley Hall – Sixty Years After)
We as Latter-day Saints specifically have also been called out on our lack of love before. On the occasion of the United States’ bicentennial in 1976, Spencer W. Kimball delivered his seminal address “The False Gods We Worship”, wherein he splashed cold water on the proceedings by condemning the three biggest forms of wickedness he saw afflicting both America and the Church: 1) our pollution of the planet (“I have the feeling that the good earth can hardly bear our presence upon it”); 2) our materialism (“But I am afraid that many of us have been surfeited with…wealth and have begun to worship them as false gods”); and 3) our militarism (“We are a warlike people, easily distracted from our assignment of preparing for the coming of the Lord. When enemies rise up, we commit vast resources to the fabrication of gods of stone and steel—ships, planes, missiles, fortifications—and depend on them for protection and deliverance. When threatened, we become antienemy instead of pro-kingdom of God; we train a man in the art of war and call him a patriot, thus, in the manner of Satan’s counterfeit of true patriotism, perverting the Savior’s teaching: ‘Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you’ (Matt. 5:44)”. Heaven and history alike can testify how much worse our wickedness in these 3 areas have become in the 40+ intervening years—or even just within the last 6 or 7. As Christ Himself warns of the Last Days, “And because iniquity [literally, inequality: ‘it is not given that one man should possess that which is above another, wherefore the world lieth in sin’ -D&C 49:20] shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved” (Matt. 24:12-13). We definitely live in an era when the love of many have waxed cold—and we don’t even try to love our enemies. Hence, in the spirit of President Kimball, we too wish to splash cold water on these 4th of July celebrations, by means of the lead-single from Sufjan Stevens’ 2020 album, The Ascension. |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | “Evil seems about to engulf us like a great wave, and we feel that truly we are living in conditions similar to those in the days of Noah before the Flood.” -President Kimball |
| ↑3 | Which would be more distressing: to realize these are the endtimes, or to realize that these are just another round of disasters–that these aren’t even the endtimes at all? |
| ↑4 | In the context of Kimball’s talk, then, what exactly did we do to America? We polluted it, exploited it, made it idolatrous, materialistic, and militaristic–and Sufjan is desperately trying not to become these things himself, just as President Kimball begged us not to over 40 years ago.
Of course, the Book of Mormon itself–which we claim was written for our day–is about an American civilization that raised up the true church, but was seduced by wealth, pride, racism [note how often the prophets have to tell the Nephites that the Lamanites are more righteous than they], war-lust, and class-distinctions, lost all its charity, and then was destroyed from off the face of the earth, so it’s not like we can say we weren’t warned. |
| ↑5 | Full disclosure: 2020’s The Ascension is not Sufjan Stevens’ best album (it’s not even the best album named Ascension); it’s not as eclectic as Illinois, nor as good of electronica as The Age of Adz, nor as good at Christian allusions as Seven Swans, nor as personal as Carrie and Lowell, nor as passionate as his Christmas boxsets. It is a largely featureless 80-minute slog of mid-tempo electropop that, 2 years later, still has yet to reveal any new hidden layers upon repeat listens. However, its concluding track “America” so thoroughly captures the mood of 2020–and of every year since it so far–that it single-handedly justifies The Ascension‘s entire existence. |
| ↑6 | Here’s a line where one almost wishes Sufjan Stevens was LDS. He was already Indie-Rock’s most famous practicing Christian (see, for example “The Transfiguration,” or “Casimir Pulaski Day“)–as well as Indie-Rock’s most famous America-lover (having written entire albums about Illinois, Michigan, and Oregon via Carrie and Lowell)–so for him to confess loss of belief in either is going to be astonishing. Indeed, one can only conclude that he has obviously lost faith in both.
Such would be par for the course, as many U.S. churches already conflate Americanism with Christianity; however, only the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints goes so far as to actually canonize the U.S. constitution as divinely inspired (“And for this purpose have I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose, and redeemed the land by the shedding of blood.” -D&C 101:80). In an LDS context then, to lose belief in either America or the Church really is de facto to lose belief in both. |
| ↑7 | Remembering that the cross is not a symbol of prosperity, but of torture and suffering; see also his track “No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross” from Carrie and Lowell. |
| ↑8 | The dove of course is a symbol of the Holy Spirit and divine approval, from Noah’s flood clear down to Christ’s baptism; paranoia, of course, is what all the prophets have been accused of, from (again) Noah, to Lehi and Jeremiah, to Joseph Smith seeing “DESTRUCTION writ with capital letters” on everything we see. |
| ↑9 | We don’t just betray Him who said to “sell all your belongings and give to the poor”, but betray Him passionately, with a kiss, as though it were an act of love and devotion to trample upon the marginalized and dispossessed. |
| ↑10 | The Sacrament of Bread |
| ↑11 | “Hysteria,” recall, is a feminine word–based upon the Greek word for uterus–and rooted in the sexist belief that women are inherently unstable mentally due to their physiology. Given how often “hysteria” has been used to justify the control and disenfranchisement of women across the millennia, this word-choice feels especially relevant in the Year of Our Lord 2022. |
| ↑12 | Here Sufjan places himself in the role of doubting Thomas, who cannot believe unless he can touch the marks in His hands and the wound in His side; this line pairs well with his earlier confession of non-belief. |
| ↑13 | The Sacrament of Wine |
| ↑14 | The baptismal covenants that we renew during the partaking of the Sacrament–“to mourn with those that mourn, to comfort those that stand in need of comfort” (Mosiah 18:9), that is, to establish Zion–is the only thing that will save us from the judgments of God flooding down upon us. |
| ↑15 | But then, only those with “a broken heart and a contrite spirit” (Psalms 51:17; Mormon 2:14) can repent and be saved. |
| ↑16 | Remembering, of course, that Judas in his final passions killed himself. |
| ↑17 | According to Kimball, fortune is also one of our false gods. |
| ↑18 | “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” -Galatians 5:1; in the context of President Kimball’s talk then, the implication is that if we return (“like a dog to its vomit”) to polluting and exploiting the earth, pursuing wealth and militarism, and hating our enemies and each other and ourselves, then we are no longer free at all, but entangled yet again in bondage. |
| ↑19 | Here then is the crux of the matter: the whole reason you have sought to pollute, militarize, and degrade America is because you first sought to pollute, militarize, and degrade yourself. Like Satan, you desire all men to be as miserable as yourself (2 Nephi 2:27). President Kimball was right. |
| ↑20 | Not to be confused with “America” by Neil Diamond, “America” by Simon and Garfunkel, “America” from West Side Story, “Amerika” by Rammstein, “Bleed American” by Jimmy Eat World, “American Pie” by Don McLean, “Wild America” by Iggy Pop, “I’m Afraid of Americans” by David Bowie, “We’re An American Band” by Grand Funk Railroad, “American Girl” by Tom Petty, “American Woman” by the Guess Who, “American Hearts” by Piebald, “American Dream” and “North American Scum” by LCD Soundsystem, “American Idiot” by Green Day, “Americans Abroad” by Against Me!, “Breakfast in America” by Supertramp, “Surfwax America” by Weezer, “Ashes of American Flags” by Wilco, the band America, the Presidents of the United States of America, the All-American Rejects, and the national anthem by Jimi Hendrix. |