24
Jan 31, 2005 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: Outstanding | NOISE: Grace watching something on TV }
If you haven’t watched 24 do not click on the following link, because this is a spoiler post.
My bad for posting the spoiler earlier. Hopefully moving it to an extended entry will save a few of you pain. Read the rest of this entry »
Customer Service
Jan 31, 2005 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: Neat | ITUNES: “You Walked In The Room” - 77s }
I went to Splash to have my eyebrow piercing looked at because I have had an ongoing infection up in there. I walk in and the guy who pierced me (6 months ago) says “Hey! How are ya?”
OK, nice customer service, he remembers my face. Then he takes it up a notch:
“How are the kids? You have a bunch of them, right?”
“They are great.”
“You’re a pastor, right?”
“You have an amazing memory.”
“When you stop the drugs you get super brain power.”
So true.
Gay Worship
Jan 31, 2005 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: Thoughtful | ITUNES: “Come on Eileen” - Dexy’s Midnight Runners }
My iTunes was spitting out a weird mix of music this morning. It put these two songs back to back (I will include a few lines of each):
“Your Love is Extravagent” by Darrell Evans
Your love is extravagant
Your friendship mmmm intimate
I find I’m moving to the rythyms of your grace
Your fragrance is intoxicating in our secret place
“Madly” Steve Fee
I’m madly in love with You and I’m madly in love with You
As I was listening, I realized how gay these songs are. I remember someone (Mark Driscoll, maybe) once saying how a lot of worship music makes him think Christians have a thinly veiled homosexual relationship with Jesus.
Ironically, later on in the day I stumbled on this open letter to worship letters by Brian McLaren. He has some good stuff to say. Here are a few bits:
Too many of our lyrics are embarrassingly personalistic, about Jesus and me. Personal intimacy with God is such a wonderful step above a cold, abstract, wooden recitation of dogma. But it isn’t the whole story. In fact – this might shock you – it isn’t, in the emerging new postmodern world, necessarily the main point of the story. A popular worship song I’ve heard in many venues in the last few years (and which we sing at Cedar Ridge, where I pastor) says that worship is “all about You, Jesus,” but apart from that line, it really feels like worship, and Christianity in general, has become “all about me, me, me.” If you doubt what I’m saying, listen next time you’re singing in worship. It’s about how Jesus forgives me, embraces me, makes me feel his presence, strengthens me, forgives me, holds me close, touches me, revives me, etc., etc. Now this is all fine. But if an extraterrestrial outsider from Mars were to observe us, I think he would say either a) that these people are all mildly dysfunctional and need a lot of hug therapy (which is ironic, because they are among the most affluent in the world, having been blessed in every way more than any group in history), or b) that they don’t give a rip about the rest of the world, that their religion/spirituality makes them as selfish as any nonChristian, but just in spiritual things rather than material ones…
I should also mention songs of lament. The Bible is full of songs that wail, the blues but even bluer, songs that feel the agonizing distance between what we hope for and what we have, what we could be and what we are, what we believe and what we see and feel. The honesty is disturbing, and the songs of lament don’t always end with a happy HallmarkCard-Precious-Moments cliché to try to fix the pain. Sometimes I think we’re too happy: the only way to become happier is to become sadder, by feeling the pain of the chronically ill, the desperately poor, the mentally ill, the lonely, the aged and forgotten, the oppressed minority, the widow and orphan. This pain should find its way into song, and these songs should find their way into our churches. The bitter will make the sweet all the sweeter; without the bitter, the sweet can become cloying, and too many of our churches feel, I think, like Candyland. Is it too much to ask that we be more honest? Since doubt is part of our lives, since pain and waiting and as-yet unresolved disappointment are part of our lives, can’t these things be reflected in the songs of our communities? Doesn’t endless singing about celebration lose its vitality (and even its credibility) if we don’t also sing about the struggle?
Evangelism
Jan 31, 2005 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: On a roll | ITUNES: “Shifting Sand” - Caedmon’s Call }
Here’s a good thought from Jeremy’s blog:
Sometimes I think Satan tricks me into being legalistic in my thinking, and I can feel guilty about how I evangelise. Sometimes it feels as if evagelism can’t be artistic, creative and beautiful. I guess this is satan’s greatest deception. He seeks to wither the beauty of Christ by turning everything about him into a heap of dry and boring information that can only be given to someone else in a very routinized, old fashioned, and out of date manner. When we start to buy into these subtle deceptions, Christ is turned into someone who is lifeless, boring, and not real. It is only when we can experience the life and vibrant energy of Christ that people can see the true emotion that comes from a relationship with him. And this emotion, this passion, is what makes the bible more than words on a page, it is what makes the bible a life changing, powerful book. And this is what we should be bringing to the world.
I Can’t Resist
Jan 31, 2005 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: Laughing | ITUNES: “Careless Whispers” - Wham }
OK, so going along with the other cat post, I just found this on another blog:
Barry Manilow
Jan 31, 2005 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: Discoesque | ITUNES: “Copacabana” - Barry Manilow }
Alright, I have been outed. At Michael and Kali’s wedding reception, I let the cat out of the bag inadvertently.
Maybe it was the air of trust I had for my dear friends at the table. Maybe it was the ambience created by “T” from Tunes by T. Maybe it was watching Eric Craft moonwalk. Maybe it was the wine. I don’t know why I did it, but I outed myself.
I sang along to “Copacabana” by Barry Manilow. And I knew every word. There…it’s out there. I am a Barry Manilow fan.
When I was in college, I told my mom I liked Barry Manilow. She cried. She said, “couldn’t you just like country music?” And my mom hates country music.
“No, mom, no I can’t.”
Embedded Music
Jan 31, 2005 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: Flavorful | ITUNES: “Tell Her Tonight” - Franz Ferdinand }
So we all have pet peaves. Here’s one of mine: music embedded in blogs.
I use bloglines to read my blogs. Very cool. But every once in awhile, I want to post a comment, so as I am reading blogs, I am popping up pages behind the one I am reading to comment on when I am done.
Every once in awhile, I will pop up a page that has embedded music. I usually don’t catch it for a few seconds. The song will start playing and making a mockery of what I am listening to in iTunes. Then, I have to go through each page and find the culprit. Arg.
Can you tell this just happened?
Cat
Jan 30, 2005 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: Laughing | TIVO: Dane Cook on Comedy Central }
No offense to you cat lovers, but I found this mildly entertaining.
Vocation
Jan 30, 2005 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: Great | ITUNES: “Vocation” - Steve Sommerlot }
Steve gave a great message this weekend at Riv. In fact, I think it is one of his best. He does a great job talking about “evangelism” and what it is and what it is not in the world we live in today.
I am going to post it on Riv’s site soon, but for now, you can download it here. It’s really worth giving a listen to.
USAmerica
Jan 30, 2005 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: Great } NOISE: Steve Teaching }
Steve is teaching right now at Riv and he just quoted Mark Driscoll:
“Isn’t it odd that we are apparently becoming a nation of attractive people who sit at home alone at night with our pets, watching television shows about relationships and taking medication for the depression brought on by our loneliness?”
Rocky Canyon
Jan 29, 2005 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: Laughing | ITUNES: “Epic” - Faith No More }
I was upstairs practicing my wedding stuff for today. I asked the kids to stay downstairs so I could focus. A few minutes into practicing, the door crept open ever so slightly and a red rope flew into the room. Ethan then came into the room crawling across the floor. He was dressed like this:
He ignored me and crawled through the room as if on a mission. I said, “what are you doing?”
“I’m Rocky Canyon and I am climbing a mountain.”
So I let him crawl through the room and back out the door. I then shut the door behind him and finished my practice.
Who Am I?
Jan 28, 2005 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: Full | NOISE: Jesse making sword battling noises }
I was reading some papers by Gerry Breshears from Western Seminary and I came across a cool little paper called “Who Am I?” Simple and biblical. I like it. Here it is:
WHO AM I?
What the Bible says is true of every child of God
Eph. 1:1 - I am a saint.
Eph. 1:3-4 - I am chosen in Christ to be holy and blameless.
1 Thess. 1:4 - I am a chosen son/daughter, and dearly loved by God.
1 John 5:18 - I am born of God.
John 1:12 - I am a child of God.
Rom. 8:14,15 - I am a son/daughter of God.
Eph. 3:12 - I may approach God with freedom and confidence.
Heb. 4:16 - I may approach the throne of grace with confidence to receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Gal. 4:6-7 - I am an heir of God.
Rom. 8:16-17 - I am a joint heir with Christ, sharing His righteousness with Him.
Rom. 5:1 - I have been justified, fully forgiven and made completely righteous in Christ.
Col. 2:13-14 - I have been made alive with Christ who has forgiven all my sins. The debt against me has been canceled.
Rom. 8:1 - I am forever free from condemnation.
1 Cor. 6:15-17 - I am joined to the Lord.
2 Cor. 5:18 - I am reconciled to God.
1 Cor. 6:20 - I am not my own. I have been bought with a price. I belong to God.
John 15:1,5 - I am a part of the true vine, sharing in its life.
Heb. 3:14 - I am a partaker of Christ, sharing His life.
1 Cor. 12:13 - I am a member of Christ’s body.
1 Pet. 2:9,10 - I am a member of God’s own people, a royal priesthood, a people for God’s own possession.
1 Cor. 3:16 - I am a temple of the Spirit. His life dwells in me.
1 Cor. 2:12 - I have received the Spirit of God into my life so I can understand what God has freely given me.
Col. 1:13-14 - I have been rescued from the dominion of darkness, transferred to the kingdom of His beloved Son.
Acts 26:18 - I have been taken from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God.
2 Pet. 1:4 - I have been given His exceedingly great and precious promises so I may participate in His holy nature and escape the corruption in the world.
Phil. 3:20 - I am a citizen of heaven.
Eph. 2:19 - I am a fellow citizen of God’s household with the rest of God’s family.
1 Thess. 5:5 - I am a son/daughter of light. I am of the day.
Eph. 5:8 - I am light in the Lord.
Eph. 2:10 - I am God’s workmanship, born anew to do His work.
2 Cor. 5:19 - I am a minister of reconciliation.
Matt. 5:13 - I am the salt of the earth.
Matt. 5:14 - I am the light of the world.
2 Cor. 2:14 - I spread the sweet aroma of the fragrance of Christ.
Rom. 8:29 - I am going to be fully conformed to the likeness of Christ. God has already decided that.
Rom. 8:39-4 - I am secure in Christ. Nothing will be able to separate me from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus my Lord.
Weddings
Jan 28, 2005 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: 8.6 | ITUNES: “If Nothing Else” - Over the Rhine }
I have a wedding to perform this weekend. Normally, no biggie. I do a lot of them. But this is different. A lot of people I am really close to are getting married. I usually grab an old wedding message, tweak it, and whala. But everyone who has been getting married lately is interconnected. So I find myself writing a whole lot of new messages. Which is cool, but time-consuming.
Anyhoo, I am reading through old notes and I came across something I had forgotten about. It’s from the the novel “Anna Karenina” by Leo Tolstoy. In this book, he uses a dual story line to look at the institution of marriage. He compares and contrasts two couples. I won’t spoil the story and tell you much more, but I do want to give you an excerpt.
Levin had thought there could never be any relations between himself and Kitty other than those based on tenderness, self-respect, and love: But the first month of their marriage showed otherwise.
Their first quarrel arose because Levin had ridden over to inspect a new farm. He returned half and hour late because he had attempted a short cut and got lost. He rode home thinking only of her, of her love, of his own happiness, and the nearer he came to the house the warmer grew his tenderness for her. He rushed into the room with a feeling that was even stronger than the one with which he had gone to propose to her, yet was all of a sudden met with a grim expression he had never seen on her face before. He tried to kiss her, but she pushed him away.
“What’s the matter?”
“You’re having a nice time . . .” she began, trying to appear calm and venomous.
But the moment she opened her mouth, she burst into a flood of reproaches, senseless jealousy, and everything else that had been tormenting her during the half hour she had spent sitting motionless at the window. It was then that he clearly understood for the first time what he had failed to understand when he led her out of the church after the wedding. He understood that she was not only close to him, but that he could not now tell where she ended and he began. He realized it from the agonizing feeling of division into two parts which he experienced at the moment. He felt hurt, but he immediately realized that he could not be offended with her because she was himself. For a moment he felt like a man who, receiving a sudden blow from behind, turns round angrily with the desire to return the blow only to find that he had accidentally struck himself and that there was no one to be angry with and he had to endure and do his best to assuage the pain. . . .
It took him a long time to recover his senses. His first impulse was quite naturally to justify himself and explain that she was in the wrong; but to show her that she was in the wrong meant to exasperate her still more and to widen the breach which was the cause of all this trouble. One impulse quite naturally drew him to shift the blame from himself and lay it upon her; another much more powerful feeling drew him to smooth over the breach and prevent it from widening. To remain under so unjust an accusation was painful, but to hurt her by justifying himself would be still worse. Like a man half awake and suffering from pain, he wanted to tear off the aching part and cast it away, but on coming to his senses he realized that the aching part was himself. All he had to do was to try to help the aching part to bear it, and this he did.
Adbusters
Jan 28, 2005 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: Thoughtful | ITUNES: ‘Whole Lot Different” - Charlie Peacock }
I am surfing around, minding my own business, thinking about the fact that I need to get working when I run across this blog entry that contains this picture:
This really struck me. Especially in light of a conversation Steve and I had about all the gadgets and toys we have in our culture. Also, Steve and I just got back from a few days in Minneapolis, talking with some other pastors from around the country. One of the guys said, “If my church ever builds a 40 million dollar facility, shoot me. We can build a cheaper one for 10 million and give 30 million away to do missions around the world, impacting hundreds of thousands of people.”
I then surfed to Adbusters and while I don’t agree with all the anti-capitalist propaganda, I think there is something to be said about our consumer-driven culture and how it has warped our perspective.
Here are another few images that struck me from their site:
This settles it
Jan 28, 2005 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: Non-Nerdy | ITUNES: “Radio Cure” - Wilco }
Thanks to Will for pointing me toward this Nerd Test. And for the record:
Top Ten
Jan 26, 2005 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: Good | NOISE: Steve brushing his teeth }
Thanks to Jason for this link to Top Ten Signs You’re Not The Most Popular Guy In Your High School by Napoleon Dynamite
Transparency
Jan 26, 2005 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: Hungry | NOISE: Steve Typing }
I posted a few days ago some thoughts on living in the fishbowl of ministry. Last night, I found a new illustration. I was watching CNN or something and this radio DJ was on and she was talking about how sometimes you can forget that thousands of people are hearing everything you say when you are on the air. You get talking about personal details and then you realize that everyone now knows something about you that maybe you shouldn’t have mentioned.
It’s a balance issue.
For instance, when I am using a personal illustration about my wife, I ask her permission first. I used to do this all the time, but have gotten bad about it. She recently reminded me (when I called her “creepy” at Ignite) that I need to do that again.
We also pulled our personal family pictures off the site and kept the ministry ones up last year. We just decided that there are some personal areas of our life where we want to keep a semblence of privacy. Not that we don’t want transparency, but it is a fine line.
XML
Jan 25, 2005 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: Swell | TV: Fox News }
Dave has been whining about my XML feed not working well so I fixed it. If you use Bloglines or some other blogreader, you may need to reset my feed and it should work now. You can click on the XML or Bloglines links on the right.
Do you love me now, Dave?
Arthur Ganson
Jan 25, 2005 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: Intrigued | TV: tpt2 }
I am watching this cool special on this artist Arthur Ganson who considers himself as both an artist and an engineer. His stuff is really cool. It’s all about movement.
