Just Scream!

Feeling frustrated? Overwhelmed? Exhausted? Here's one way to get those 2020/2021 emotions out: Call 1-561-567-8431, scream for as loud and long as you like, and then hang up. As the website boasts, don't worry. No one is actually listening when you call, although your voice will be recorded and added to what has become an international montage of collective frustration. To listen to screams from around the world, including your own, go to the website justscream.baby.

Chris Gollmar is an elementary school teacher, artist, and coder in Florida who tapped into the heart of our current cultural swing when he coded his participatory scream project this past fall. As tensions grew in the United States in September and October, Gollmar said it didn't take long to decide on a theme and a name for his project: "Just Scream!" Since that time, Just Scream has been featured in articles around the world and received more than 70,000 recordings.

"Never in my life would I have expected so many people to actually pick up the phone, dial a number, and record themselves for the world to hear," Gollmar said. "But we're all screaming on the inside right now, so I guess I should have figured."

A similar quarantine project this past summer allowed participants to record a scream aimed at the rocky crags of Iceland (look here). While the Iceland project is no longer saving new entries, Gollmar's Just Scream hotline continues through this Thursday, January 21. Be sure to call today if you want your voice in the mix!

While for most of us these kinds of stories bring a momentary smile and then are forgotten, I hope you will take a moment to ponder the inherent humanness of what is happening here: Life has spun out of control, and so we are aggravated and seeking outlets. Our anger and consternation are real, and the sources of our frustration are many: the pandemic, quarantine, vaccines, political tensions, social strife, employment concerns, finances, etc. And yet in projects like Gollmar's, we are able to pull together in humor and in unity. The why of our frustration no longer matters when we are all frustrated together -- deeply human and ultimately unified. While Gollmar's project started as a United States initiative, it quickly spread worldwide, and that global connection is worth noting.

After we record our own screams, what voice can we bring to the conversation as Christians? How do we remind the world that God is in control, and His Spirit is steadfast, kind, and omnipresent? As Augustine reminded us this past Sunday, "God is an infinite circle whose center is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere."

Remember Paul's word in Philippians 4:6-7:

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Take note of your neighbors, Friends. How is God calling you to be a peacemaker in a moment when much of the world longs to pick up a telephone and scream?

May the peace of God guard your heart and mind in Jesus Christ this week.

Jennie