this is the second post in an ongoing blog series in which i go, track-by-track, through derek webb’s new album, stockholm syndrome. here’s a list of past posts:

1. black eye

after positing his theological presupposition for the entire album (that the church has become a willing and endeared participant in its captivity), webb begins to lay out a defense of his claim. on cobra con, webb sings,

You wanna rock with the cops on the front line
You wanna kick it with the people in the back
You strike a match and you throw back a cocktail
There’s got to be a better way

cause it is harder to stay
it is harder to wait
to outlove, to outsuffer them

it is harder to stay
it is harder to wait
to outlove, to outsuffer them

i wanna dream up a world I wanna live in
i wanna spray it on a building downtown
i wanna protest for patients and a paycheck
cause there’s got to be a better way

cause it is harder to stay
it is harder to wait
to outlove, to outsuffer them

it is harder to stay
it is harder to wait
to outlove, to outsuffer them

don’t wanna wait
no drugs nor sleep
i wanna hold your hand grenade

god bless these bombs
baptize this rope
lie with us in the bed we’ve made

cause it is harder to stay
it is harder to wait
to outlove, to outsuffer them

it is harder to stay
it is harder to wait
to outlove, to outsuffer them

you can listen here: cobra con

on cobra con, webb picks up on the theme of nationalism. as i’ve blogged about before, when the bible gets wrapped in the american flag, very dangerous theologies arise.

webb is no stranger to vocal pronouncements concerning the marriage of faith and politics. in the week prior to the 2008 presidential, he wrote a piece for patrol magazine that set off quite a debate. the piece was titled how then shall we vote? and it asserted that if your conscience is conflicted over your vote, then you certainly have the liberty to not vote. whereas i would argue that christians should engage in the voting process in order to represent particular worldviews, i definitely agree with the fundamental assertion that we shouldn’t feel compelled to let nationalism override our conflicted conscience (if we happen to have that).