Eeyore Goes to Tehran

Sermon given at Trinity Reformed UCC in Mountville on June 28, 2008

The Jonah story is exaggerated and silly, and it uses humor to prove its point. The audience, original and modern, is presented with a series of reversals that play with our expectations of what a prophet is and what one should do.

Jonah is the only prophet to run away from God. He is also the only prophet who says so little and yet causes the most frantic reform in the Bible. The entire city, royalty to common folk and even animals, all repent and wear sackcloth, a symbol of Middle-Eastern mourning. Consequently, Jonah is angry and wants to die. The story is fascinating at the literary level and that is part of the reason the story is so popular in both Jewish and Christian circles.

I hope to give some understanding of this story in our modern context, following Nancy’s sermon series, “Is this your idea of a good time, God?!” To attempt to wear Nancy’s shoes and follow in her footsteps, I’m gonna need a lot of prayer. So please, pray with me now.

Most Loving and Most Gracious God, you are indeed with us both in the speaking and in the hearing of these words, may this speaking and may this hearing, be light and benefit to all.

I was raised on Winnie the Pooh. My aunt LOVED these stories and my sister and I were fed a healthy diet of the Hundred Acre Woods every time we stayed over. I loved Tigger, he was always so positive and energetic. Eeyore was his opposite. Eeyore is a clinically depressed donkey in great need of therapy. This is our modern Jonah. You see Jonah is introduced and his name, Jonah of Amittai, in Hebrew roughly translates to “Dove of My Truth” giving a hint of what is to be expected of Jonah in the story; namely to fly to Nineveh, the capital city of the Assyrians, and give God’s truth. However, DOVE has another connotation in the Hebrew mindset. Doves “cry” or “complain.” So let us being our reimagining of the story of Jonah.
God comes to Eeyore and says “Go to the capital city of Iran, Tehran, and let them know that I’m not liking what they’re doing. You see I’m a subscriber to the Human Right’s Watch and I know what’s going on in there. You need to go and let them know that they better stop or I might lose my cool and smash ‘em.”

Hearing this Eeyore immediately books a flight to Alaska. Eeyore is fast asleep in first class and his plane is somewhere over British Columbia when a storm rocks the plane. We’re not talking a little turbulence, we’re talking passengers from coach bouncing their way into first class, and nothing makes airlines angrier than coach class people trying to sneak into first class. Everyone is shouting and yelling and praying to God in his or her own way. But during all this shouting, yelling and praying, Eeyore is sound asleep. God lets it be known to the pilot that Eeyore is the cause of all this distress, so the pilot comes and questions Eeyore.

“Who are you and why are you on my plane?” asks the captain.
“I’m Eeyore, a Christian.” Says Eeyore. “I think I’m causing this turbulence because I’m supposed to be going to Iran, not Alaska. You guys better give me a parachute and toss me out an exit door.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” says the Captain. “We’ll get around this.”

The captain tries every trick he knows, he tries going around and above the storm, to no avail. The funny thing is, is that when he radios other planes, his plane is the only one experiencing problems.

“Oh bother,” Says Eeyore. “I told you to throw me out.” And that’s what the captain does. As soon as Eeyore is given a parachute and leaps from the door, the storm dissipates and the passengers have a silky smooth ride the rest of the way and vow to double their tithes when they get home.

Meanwhile Eeyore is in free fall. He’s thinking to himself, “why does this sort of thing always happen to me.” He’s just about to pull the cord on the parachute when he’s swallowed by a giant pelican. This makes Eeyore even more depressed. On the third day in the muck and guts of the pelican, Eeyore gets it. He erupts in a song of thanksgiving to God for giving him a second chance. This of course, gives the pelican indigestion, and Eeyore is vomited out on the city limits of Tehran. Eeyore got another chance. He then goes to Tehran, and he declares their peril and warns of the impending doom. He travels all over the city, three days with his sandwich board and haggard look (hair still kinda matted from Pelican stomach juice). Think of a caricature of a Times Square prophet.

And an amazing thing happened. The Iranians listened. They paid attention. A preacher’s dream fulfilled. They repented. In fact this is arguably the most successful prophetic mission recorded in the scriptures.

They closed the massage parlors, the back room bars, and shut down the drug cartels. They stopped the child abuse and ended the domestic violence, they provided shelters for the homeless and built affordable housing, they implemented health care for their elderly poor, a program you could actually understand. They put an end to arms production, they made peace with their neighbors and stopped torturing prisoners in clandestine locations, they stopped the terror squads that were taking people hostage, and in every respect cleaned up their act. The Supreme Leader, the Ayatollah, himself repented and ordered everyone to join him, to put on sackcloth and sit in ashes and pray for mercy. They repented, and turned their lives around.
And as if that weren’t enough, so did God. God repented. God saw the sincerity of the Iranians, the turn-about that they had made, and it moved God. Moved God so much that God repented of the idea of destroying them.

Now this is the point at which a lesser story might end with those familiar words, and all lived happily ever after. But instead this story has one more chapter where we discover more about Eeyore than we ever wanted to know. We find out why it was that he headed for Alaska the first time when God had sent him to Tehran. And why was that?

Because Eeyore didn’t like Tehran, couldn’t stand the Iranians, didn’t want anything to do with them at all, least of all to give them warning of God’s displeasure, or any opportunity to avoid the well deserved judgment that was coming upon them. After all, they weren’t even Christians, and what was the point of being a Christian if God does not love you more than God loves your enemies? And they didn’t repent of being Muslim, they’re still Muslim! What’s the point?! If God is just, then God could not forgive the Iranians, Eeyore reasoned. Eeyore thought he should defend God’s honor and keep God from showing mercy on a nation that Eeyore was sure God hated. After all, if Eeyore hated Iran, God must too.
After the Iranians repent, Eeyore speaks in anger at God, “I know that you are gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. Was this your idea of a good time God?” Eeyore had hopped a plane for Alaska because God was asking Eeyore to do something that turned his stomach, to show mercy to not only non-Christians, but to America’s enemies, the ranking nation in the Axis of Evil.
Most of us are more like Eeyore than we might be ready to admit. We have our systems worked out as to who is favored by God and who is not. We know the good guys from the bad guys. Just like Eeyore.

God answered Eeyore. God answers us when we get caught in this type of “Eeyore” thinking. God firmly asks Eeyore, “Who are you? Who are you to think that I have no concern for the Iranians. In that great city of Tehran there are 7 million people who did not know their right hand from their left, and you think that I would forget them? Do you think I’m just the God of America, and not the creator and sustainer of all peoples?”

The redemptive message of Jonah is a powerful one. It leads to coexistence and harmony, yet it shows the painful process of opening one’s self to God. In this story we recognize that we’re all children of God. We must fully identify others and ourselves as children of God. We are all connected in the divine web. AMEN.

PWNED by God (?)

SVS brought up the idea of "Does God hate?" i commented on this thread:

great question! my short answer is “no.” if you say “yes” then there’s too much argue’n over who gets to say what God hates and why. plus if you believe in an all powerful creator, if HE hates something, wouldn’t HE remove it? free will be buggered as HE is too powerful for that crap.

if answer is yes, then who gets to determine this… scripture? prayer? divine intervention? social darwinism? white hetero males?

this always brings into play the question of GOD'S WILL. Does everything happen in this world because of God's will, or due to free will? I don't see this as an either/or senario, rather a "both/and" dealie.

Process Theology states that the universe is characterized by process and change carried out by the agents of free will. Self-determination characterizes everything in the universe, not just human beings. God cannot totally control any series of events or any individual, but God influences the creaturely exercise of this universal free will by offering possibilities. To say it another way, God has a will in everything, but not everything that occurs is God's will.

So where am i heading with this, or what caused me to write this? well, our condo did. we tried to sell it for a year, didn't sell. that's understandable, cause we bought at the peak and are trying to sell in a valley. so we tried to rent... we had a perfect couple but due to a death in the family couldn't make the first lease signing. we put it off for a month, holding it specifically for them, only to get a voicemail message (on our home number none-the-less after we already drove 2.5 hours to g-town) saying that the couple broke up and will not be signing the lease today or ever.

seriously... WTF?! is this the will of God, to go around PWN'n peeps? infuriating them to an annoying level?! is this your idea of a good time God?

so i'm trying to see what the WILL of GOD is in all of this... then i realize something... this is like if i went up to you, dear reader, and socked you in the noodle. you'd be all like, "dude, why did you just punch my lights out" (after you woke up in a different zip code, cause i got mad ninja skills) and i'd say "you figure it out." if this is how God chooses to relay messages to our earthly selves, then i'm having no part and dropping out of seminary immediately. God is MUCH smarter than that and when God communicates, God communicates it so you get the message! you may choose to ignore it or not understand it fully, but it's swimming in your brain. i must now come to terms that sometimes shit happens. sometimes the world IS random. sometimes chaos wins over order. or following Oprah's THE SECRET, i've attracted this because i expected it.. which is a load of crap.

here are somethings i've learned besides that Due to Our Condo NOT Selling or Renting:
+ no one died or is suffering or will starve because of this
+ no one is oppressing or being oppressed
+ some people are homeless, we're blessed with an over-abundance
+ God is not in the real estate market.. God's son was a carpenter who (possibly) BUILT houses, not sold them.
+ life is annoying at times but blessed most all the time
+ patience is a virtue, but it's hell learning it

keep our housing woes in your prayers, but not too far up, there are other more deserving prayers that need attention before ours (natural disaster victims, people dealing with cancer treatments and recovering in ICU for a start) but just remember it towards the end.

thanks!

Liar

y'all know that i can't stop posting! with so much going on, i gots to keep y'all up on the happenings (crappy movie i hear) here in L-caster.

I give my first sermon at Trinity UCC here this sunday, a little nervous about it.. it's on Jonah and the title is "Eeyore goes to Tehran." It will be sucessful if 1. my voice doesn't crack like a 13 year old, 2. i keep the "umms" and "uhhhs" under 200 and 3. they don't stone me for heresy at the end. keep your fingers crossed ;-)

Katie, Brian, and Daniel, friends from college who lived in the DC area with us, came out this past weekend. great to catch up with them! I need to check out Poi Dog Pondering, they're fav. band. Also that weekend i glimpsed heaven. Heaven is sitting on the porch on a clear night, having a few suds and talking about camping tents and their merits, whether or not the Mars Rover wrote "We have ICE!!!!! Yes, ICE, *WATER ICE* on Mars! w00t!!! Best day ever!!" when it detected ice, and how racism is a biological holdover from our tribal past.

I gave a speech as an Ally at the Lancaster PRIDE interfaith service.. it went something like this:
Being raised Catholic you’re told that sex is only for procreation. Any sex that does not result in a child is immoral. So when BIRTH CONTROL is a hot topic in a society, the topic of same-sex partnerships are LIGHTYEARS beyond our comprehension. I was told that it was unnatural and immoral, end of story, that's all i need to know, period.

I never considered the plight of the LGBT community until my best friend in college came out. That was a transformative experience for the both of us. Neither she nor I knew how I would respond, but when the rubber hit the road, I knew that I
loved her unconditionally.

So here I stand, a straight protestant man doing his best to help where needed, to stand up and speak out when someone thinks they can tear down my friends. you can do a lot more damage from the inside of a majority, than from the outside ;-) I also recognize the need to stand aside. You can't give someone freedom, they must earn it for themselves and claim ownership.

I stand on the side of love."

and I think that's about it... oh, the Bonsai tree hasn't grown at all... with that thing would hurry up.. (wait.. why am i doing this again?) so i will post up the sermon later and let you know how awful it went! RAWK OUT GIRL SCOUT!

Created Reality

I love the TED talks. Amazing stuff over there. Run over there and check it out.. i've watched a TON of things but i would like to know what strikes your fancy. let me know!

here's my big rant for today based on two TED talks. How do we create?



Why am i this person? why am i not someone else? I would prefer to be a Japanese heiress, why am i a white American from Ohio?

what Amy Tan talks about around 11 minutes is that we "notice disturbing hints from the universe that were always there." this is what i was talking about in the last post about Serendipity and synchronicity. we strive to gain our focus on the question "Why am i here?"

I have not read A Purpose Driven Life.. so i can't comment on that.. but i do believe that we all have internal blueprints and we have to follow and we get in trouble if we stray too far from these blueprints. Joseph Campbell's simple "follow your bliss" helps but we must be mindful of our bliss and our pursuit and what effect that takes on others. the question then of "why am i here" becomes a problem of big sorts, esp. if the universe is telling us in such obvious fashion. how can we miss such obvious cues?

the Christian answer is because we're fallen. The science answer is that our brians are miswired. Either one points to the fact that humans are limited and flawed.



i'm not in the Sinner Theological World... so i don't really buy the "inherently and permanently no good" of the original sin doctrine. i think that once we gain our focus, we can overcome a lot of flaws inherently built. God is helping in this process the whole time, helping us to wake up and become who we are and who we're meant to be.

In the book, Nudge: Improving Decisions about Helath, Wealth, and Happiness Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein points out how weird our brains actually are. Humans are very illogical: we eat more from larger plates, care twice as much about losing money as about gaining it, fret over rare events like plane crashes instead of common ones like car crashes. We need what Thaler and Sunstein call a "libertarian paternalism" that lure us to make the right choice. our brains are really weird.

but what about trauma? what about those events that happen to us that are SO traumatic that we will never get over them? things like rape, abuse, oppression, dehumanization... what about those things? these are results of what is attached to our memory. what is memory then? a collection of protein chains.

Neuroscience has discovered how we remember events in our brains through protein chains. An NYU neuroscientist Joe LeDoux, who studies fear memories in rats, tells us how with a one shock, one tone, and one drug injection, you can bust up this piece of matter, and prevent a rat from every making a memory. LeDoux’s research goes sci-fi, when he and his colleague Karim Nader start trying to erase memories. And Nader applies this research to humans suffering from PTSD. We heard about this when we were at Rolex in Lexington KY on the radio. Listen to it here! IT'S AWESOME! check it out, as this is the basis this post revolves around.

Particularly traumatic memories appear to be captured by two separate parts of the brain: the hippocampus, the normal seat of memory, and the amygdala, one of the brain's emotional centers. People incapable of forming long-term memories thanks to hippocampal damage can nonetheless form subconscious memories of traumatic events if their amygdala is intact. Someone suffering from the Memento condition would likely have a feeling of general unease encountering a person or a situation that had caused them harm in the past, though they wouldn't be able to put their finger on what was making them uncomfortable. In Eternal Sunshine of Spotless Mind, something like this happens. There are several instances in the movie where Clementine appears to have a trace emotional memory of an event that has been wiped from her waking mind.

Theoretically, if you could block protein synthesis in a human brain while triggering a memory, you could make a targeted erasure.

So not only does this show how we don't really remember who we are accurately, we don't preceive reality accurately, and we're generally in quite a state. once we realize this, maybe we won't be so hyper about disagrements. maybe the word HERETIC won't be a warcry anymore, but mean "to choose" like the greek implies.

this is post-modern thought. no memory is verifiably true. there is no objective reality only reality viewed from our context, with our prejudices and world view. or maybe there IS objective reality, but our brains can't handle it, misinterpret it, and ultimately misread it. so if there is objective reality, all we get from it are glimpses, small epiphanies. When we remember and view reality, it is an act of creation. Every thing we do is an act of creation. where then is God?

well Biblically this fulfills that we are active in God's creation that we are created in God's image (Genesis 1:27; Psalm 139:13-16). The apophatic tradition focuses on a spontaneous or cultivated individual experience of the divine reality beyond the realm of ordinary perception, an experience often unmediated by the structures of traditional organized religion or learned thought and behavior. so that place where words fail you.. that is God. can you describe what it was like the first time you saw the ocean? first time you fell in love? that indescribable part is where God lives.

The Divine is ineffable, an abstract experience that can only be recognized - that is, human beings cannot describe the essence of God, and therefore all descriptions if attempted will be ultimately false and conceptualization should be avoided (like using pronouns).

This is a super long post... with a lot of stuff in here for y'all to watch, listen to, and consider. so i'm gonna go on vaction here as i have to write my first sermon for my field education placement. so i'll let you catch up, please comment on what you think after you've listened and watched all this, and then we'll chat! i'll post next on July 1st.

Father's Day Prayer

Written by Nancy Dahlburg, delivered by yours truly Sunday June 15th, 2008.

God, today of all days, we thank you for giving us fathers. Thank you for being a God who set an example of what a loving parent should be so that we might know some of the ways in which parents should love their children. You love us even when we disappoint you....you love us when we don’t do our best....you have shown us how to care, how to commit, how to show affirmation and unconditional love. Thank you for being a God who shows us the love of a committed and compassionate parent and thank you for loving us even when our earthly parent’s have failed to live up to your example.

Today, O God, we thank you for all the people in our lives who have shown us the love of a trustworthy parent:....for those men who fathered us, or adopted us, or fostered us or mentored us. Thank you God for the men in our lives who taught us how to put a worm on a hook, who told us scary stories around a camp fire, who carried us to bed when we fell asleep in the car, and who only knew how to make peanut butter sandwiches when mom was sick. Thank you for dads who taught us how to swim – in lakes and pools – but also in board rooms and offices. Thank you for those fathers of ours who had patience, persistence, and praise. For those who took the time to know us – for the ones who held us in the embrace of a family love – even when we wanted to turn away. Thank you for fathers – the ones that tried – the ones that didn’t – the ones that need your forgiveness and ours – the ones that left us early, but never seem to go away.

Thank you God for fathers who worried when we took the car keys and thank you for fathers who didn’t worry when we applied for college. Thank you for the fathers of our youth that we have befriended in adulthood, and thank you for the fathers who finally learned to be a father with their children’s children. Today, O God, above all days, we thank you for dad, and grand-dad, great grandpa, our uncles, step dads, pappies, boom-pa’s, pop, father, and the guy we called “the old man”.

And today we also thank you for the women in our lives who took our father’s role when our father couldn’t or our father wouldn’t. We ask for the healing of our memories where those relationships that might have been failed to meet our expectations, and we ask for forgiveness for the ways in which fathers have burdened others with their responsibilities or neglected their role but wanted the credit.

Thank you for all our father’s....for the ones we love, for the ones we’ve lost, for the ones we have never had and the ones who have yet to earn the title. We thank you for those who were, those who are, and those who are yet to be. We pray in faith, believing in the name of Jesus our Christ, and praying the prayer that begins with words particularly meaningful today: Our father..... Amen.

The Objective Walk

i walk my dog at night
and ponder what is right
what facts are facts
and what is objectively true.

i think of my old self
and the old science that said,
"The atom is the smallest matter
and can't be divided."

i remind myself that the
US was to fighr russia
and the world was to end
the date was 8.8.88.

I knew God was God
and He was in heaven
all things from His will
and i was loved.

i think of my self now
and the science that says,
"Atoms aren't the smallest
(we have quarks and quasars)
and we can dissect them too."

The world has yet to end
(though some say 2012)
I see this as each generation
unable to think of a world
without them in it.

I know God is God
and I am loved
and what is objectively true
and constant is change.

I know one day this
dog that i walk will be gone,
my unborn will be born
and may birth some more.

one day i won't be here.

these changes are true without
me having any say
and won't change despite
my objections.

but beyond that is vanity and words
and words are mist posing
as rocks on the distant
and future horizon.

so love abundantly and do no evil,
be a child of God
and remind others,
that they are too.

BONSAI!

I'd like to think that patience and me go together about as well as an NRA sticker on a Prius. Which is to say we get along about as well as a peanut butter and plutonium sandwich and your digestive tract.

That's what i'd like to think.

Truth is i'm patient with some things and not others. I realized this when playing with my nieces and nephews two weekends ago. I just LOVE spending time with them and I don't worry about the time or how many times they ask questions. I love it! I do lose my patience when they keep jumping on me or hitting me with stuff, but they usually stop after asking them to stop.

I love following my youngest niece around and watching what she pays attention to. You can learn a lot about the world from a two-year-old's persepective. you notice the small things.

most of you know about our condo. we tried to sell it and couldn't. the bottom has fallen out of the market. we are trying to rent it, yet that was delayed. it's enough to make me think the condo is cursed. but that's superstitious. i need patiences here... or do i? somethings are good to be impatient with.

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel states, "to be religious is to be impatient with injustices, a breathless impatience with injustice, a hysteria about injustices." The commentator Dresner states that "We ourselves witness continually acts of injustice... but we rarely get indignant or overly excited. To the prophets a minor, commonplace sort of injustice assumes almost cosmic proportions." (unless it's against women adds Kate, but that's another post.)

I do need to be more patient with people and esp. with my wife. Take time to communicate properly and fully. take time to listen to what they're saying.

So as a symbol of this, I've decided to grow a bonsai tree. So stay tuned for pix and more descriptions of the process. Right now the seeds are germinating in the refrigerator for 7 days. i can't say it's better than watching the NBA finals, but it's different.

The Role of Art in Worship

Here is my final essay from Lee's class.. it's a little long and more of a rant than a paper.. but i hope you will enjoy!

Luther once hailed that the ear was the divine receptacle. He stated, “The ear, not the eye, is the organ God has chosen for the reception of revelation.” We must remember that Luther loved words and spent his life making a vast library of hymns, commentaries and translating the Bible. But what Luther failed to realize is that art is already in the worship. Fashion, architecture, even the printed word and the book that binds it are works of art. It is to what extent that the pastor allows and utilizes art that is the debate here. With this in mind I would reject Luther’s bold statement in favor of all five (or possibly six or more) senses.

Visual, written and verbal communication have always existed side by side (Witvliet vii). When used correctly, all three work in harmony to deliver a powerful message. Taking a look at the Bible, many of the most popular stories powerfully use all three methods. As Luther pointed out, “God… sets before us no word or commandment without including with it something material and outward, and proffering it to us. To Abraham he gave the word including with it his son Isaac. To Saul he gave the word including with it the slaying of the Amalekites. To Noah he gave the word including with it the rainbow. And so on” (Stone 10). Luther also communicated something to the Catholic Church when he nailed a copy of the 95 Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenburg. That was a dramatic act ment to attract public attention showing that even Luther used the arts. If Luther mailed his 95 Theses we may have never heard of him! It was his performance art that touched off the Protestant Reformation.

Art is everywhere and in everything. People have figured out how to make art out of every conceivable substance known to man. Art cannot be stopped and will continue to move and evolve. Protestants seem hesitant to use art. There seems to be a question of what is appropriate? Or how do we harness the visual arts and use them to communicate effectively?

All these questions must be considered before choosing art to be used in worship. If the art selector makes a poor choice, the congregation may be turned off. Maybe this is the true reason why people are hesitant to use art. Choosing just the right art piece is hard work and has no definite and concrete outcome. This ambiguity is what Luther had a problem with. One can control his or her words to get a measured message and outcome. But the combined impact of hearing and seeing is much higher than just hearing.

Based on the paper “Learning and Teaching Styles” written by Richard M. Felder and Linda K. Silverman in the Journal of Engineering Education, a study carried out by the Socony-Vacuum Oil Company found “that students retain 10 percent of what they read, 26 percent of what they hear, 30 percent of what they see, 50 percent of what they see and hear, 70 percent of what they say, and 90 percent of what they say as they do something” (para. 7). So the impact is much higher when the purpose of both auditory and visual media match up. For this reason alone, art is needed in the worship.

In my perfect imaginary world in which I reside, there is no such thing as secular. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer stated, “The church, like Christ, has to become world. It is a denial of the real humanity of Jesus and also heretical to take the concrete church as only a phantom or an illusion. It is entirely world” (Floyd 12). Secular is a constructed idea we must break down and stop using. I do not understand the idea of Christian music, movies, etc. I can find a Christian message in the movies Pulp Fiction or Fight Club. I do not see the difference between musicians like the Newsboys who praise God and Marilyn Manson who questions God. Do not we need both? One can be just as appropriate as the other, depending on what you are trying to communicate. The "secular" movie and music makers do not hide their struggles with faith. They do not try to separate their faith and their life. It seems as though many Christians just visit their faith on Sunday and leave it in the hands of their pastor, and then they get on the road and act like a jerk for the rest of the week. I don't understand this separation. People of faith are never separated from it, albiet they sometimes let their emotions get the better of them.

With an open stance, I would expect art to pour into worship. If people took down the separation of church and secular, art would be much more welcome in worship. Bono, frontman for the band U2, said, “The music that really turns me on is either running toward God or away from God. Both recognize the pivot, that God is at the center of the jaunt” (http://www.artquotes.net/). Van Gogh to Van Morrison, it is all fair game, all aesthetics and all styles. I agree with Jensen when she talks about the transcendent ideal of beauty (8). True beauty most often does lead to truth (Jensen 10).

However, this vast spectrum may leave many overwhelmed. Just as Jensen points out, the world thinks that the “real artists” are as intimidating as they are impressive (11). What most people need to get over are their feelings of “this isn’t good enough” or “this is too simple.” Everyone has their own style, and by learning the elements and principles of design, people can start to piece together what they want to communicate. Learning these steps are very important in the early stages but once learned these elements can be broken or bent to create a certain effect.

A simple first step when trying to use art and/or music is to figure out what one is trying to communicate. We must take things situation by situation. One would not choose the same art for an Easter service as you would a Christmas service. Both are triumphant celebrations but of two difference natures. Christmas is the celebration of what is to happen, and Easter is the celebration of what has happened—two very different things. Communication is key in this example. This is the main problem of using art in worship—too many people are unclear of how to use art. Some would find art distracting, like Luther argues. I think the improper use of art would be distracting. People can be distracted by anything if the sermon is bad enough, however. I was fascinated many times growing up by the design of my shoelaces whenever my Catholic priest forgot he was talking to grade schoolers. With this in mind, I do not think that Luther’s argument against art holds any water. In today’s world, people seem to want definite answers but art is counter to that. Artworks that are spiritual are not concerned with answers (Stone 11).

Art and music are the first programs to get cut generally when schools face budget decisions. But the arts have an intrinsic value that ties in with other subjects children learn. Here is a brief list of the benefits of art education from the National Art Education Association:

The arts teach children to make good judgments about qualitative relationships.
· The arts teach children that problems can have more than one solution.
· The arts celebrate multiple perspectives.
· The arts teach children complex forms of problem solving.
· The arts make vivid the fact that neither words in their literal form nor numbers exhaust what we can know.
· The arts teach students that small differences can have large effects.
· The arts teach students to think through and within a material.
· The arts help children learn to say what cannot be said (Eisner).

Art therapy is utilized for patients across the board with varying ailments, from mental health to physical rehabilitation. Studies have shown direct correlations between higher math scores and music education. In short, art is the great humanizing force of the world—a universal language that communicates without words, revealing basic truths about human beings throughout the ages. Art has benefit to all, both the artist and art viewer.

I believe in the Andy Warhol school of thought of “Art is anything you can get away with” (Stone 33). The same goes for “Christian Art.” The key to “Christian Art” is the purpose. When one puts an adjective in front of art, one is immediately ascribing a purpose to that art. For example, Modern Art ascribes to modernist lines of thought, and Impressionist Art focuses on use of color in a scene over use of literal depiction of a scene. The same follows with the term “Christian”—we are ascribing a purpose and function to the art.

Art is needed in Christianity now more than ever. Art is already used in worship, but needs to be brought to the forefront. Art’s intrinsic value benefits both the artist and the viewer. Once the purpose of the art and the idea that needs communicated are found, the presentation will be more powerful and etched into the minds of the audience. Art invites the audience to be engaged. An engaged congregation is more likely to return than an ignored audience.

Works Cited
Bono, http://www.artquotes.net/. February 8, 2008.

Eisner, E. (2002). The Arts and the Creation of Mind. pp. 70-92. http://www.naea-reston.org/tenlessons.html. February 8, 2008.

Floyd, Wayne W. The Wisdom and Witness of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Fortress Press, 2004.

Jensen, Robin M. The Substance of Things Seen, Art, Faith, and the Christian Community. Eerdman’s Publishing Company, Grand Rapids Michigan, 2004.

Madden, Christopher. “Discussion Paper: The ‘economic’ benefits of art.” 1998. http://www.creativenz.govt.nz/files/resources/madden.rtf. February 8, 2008.

Stone, Karen. Image and Spirit, Finding Meaning in Visual Art. Augsburg Books, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 2003.

Wagner, Imal. The Storyteller: From Epic Tale to Business Advice. 50 Lessons, Inc. http://springboard.cwerty.com/press.asp?r=27. February 8, 2008.

Witvliet, John D. Series Preface to The Substance of Things Seen by Robin Jensen. Eerdman’s Publishing Company, Grand Rapids Michigan, 2004.

Invoking the Ghost Of Violence

I was introduced to Keith Olbermann from my BSG Seminary Collegue this past winter. I've followed his "special comments" often online as it reminds me of my journalism hero Edward R. Murrow (Good Night and Good Luck one of my fav. movies!). This I like Olbermann and Murrow as they expose politicians for what they say BETWEEN the lines. This is one of the reasons i'm voting Obama. Clinton's tactics are old. Her campaign based on the assumption that she had it all in the bag because of her priviledged last name.

Times change. Our policies haven't. We need to vote accordingly.

Invoking violence is the last straw. Hillary Clinton has lots of baggage; many Americans despise her. The Republicans can’t wait to run against her. Many of the voters that have been inspired by Barack Obama will feel disenfranchised once again. Most voters will once again see things as a choice between the lesser of two evils. Many will not vote. Plus the one candidate who CAN solve this problem is Zaphoid Beeblebrox, and he's not on the ticket!

Obama has brought independents and Republicans, young and old, rich and poor, educated and not, black and white together to work for change. People who have never voted before are voting this time. He can and will beat John McCain (who is running for Bush's third term, same means + war = same ends of recession and dead americans in foreign lands) in November. Hillary will not.

To me it is a clear choice. Barack Obama is the Man we need as our next President. This is the last post i'll do on this issue of choosing between Obama and Hillary. I'm onto to the next level, i just wish Hillary was.

All We Have is Now

Reflection on "Bowl of Oranges" by Bright Eyes or
"I am a Strange Loop and You Can TOO!"

While Scientists were mapping my insides,
i wandered into a lonely storm,
here's what i found:
there's no prayer i could say,
no advice i could take,
no pill that offered salvation,
no fountain to seek,
no cup i could drink.

i know of nothing that ever grew younger,
the universe goes on forever,
like two mirrors facing each other,
it's reality upon illusion over and over,
until you can't tell the difference,
they both blend together.

all we have is now,
all we have is you and me,
let is sit together here,
in awe of the strange loop we create,
and read the story in our fault lines,
and in our soil,
that is furtile with our own personal histories.

On Atheists and Agnostics-- A Christian Perspective

a midrash on Not Playing God

God did not make others as I would have made them. God did not give them to me so that i could dominate and control them, but so that i might find the creator by means of them.

how many people are on this planet? a few billion. good. each one is a different way to God. you can learn something different from each. take away the notion of "only those who actively come in the name are the only ones worth paying attention to" because that's just short-sighted. God isn't the most obvious, in fact God is very subtle. there are better ways than a sunrise to let people know that you're there, but that's the method i see God reminds us everyday that God's there... discard notions of secular.. there's no such thing. God is everywhere. The trick is to be atuned to seeing God and finding God in unexpected places.

We do not have control of one another. so what are people of faith supposed to do with Atheists and Agnostics? LEARN FROM THEM!

when we are in dialog, truth dialog, both sides benefit. Atheists and Agnostics have a prophetic message to give to believes... a grand reminder that "WE DON"T KNOW!" and we don't. we have hunches. we have a book that in it's current form has been handed down since 300 c.e. Jesus said many things, but how do we keep his words in focus? by talking with one another.. esp. those who we don't agree with.

Jesus said "when two or three are gathered..." he didn't specify WHO these two or three are.. he didnt' say "when two or three Christian, white, middle-class american males are gathered..." all dialog is sacred. we as Christian frequently screw this part up as we are too busy condemning the other party to hell. cut it out and talk. recognize God in your midst. this is something we as BELIEVERS must do. the NonBeliever still has his or her options open and we must respect that.

-peace and coexistence-

Fellow Blogger: Naked Pastor and Going Boxless

What would you get if you combined a pastor and an artist? You'd get David Hayward of the blog THE NAKED PASTOR. I love how he describes himself in his ABOUT ME section:
I confuse people because sometimes I seem conservative, sometimes liberal; sometimes serious, sometimes foolish; sometimes evangelical, sometimes heretical; sometimes open-minded, sometimes stubborn; sometimes creative, sometimes destructive. I don’t know. This blog is meant to be an expression of myself. I guess it’s up to you to figure me out, because I’ve given up a long time ago. What am I passionate about?: How to allow people to be entirely free and to gather in complete liberty without any coercion, manipulation or control; how to provide a safe place for the completely wild, untamable and radical to gather voluntarily and freely; to nurture a radically free place for the radically free to live and thrive.

I really enjoy his cartoons. My favorite is Bible Man who comes from another world, another age, inerrant King James Version in a 100% genuine bonded-leather shell. He means business. Do not cross him. Do not transform him.


There is a lot to be said about not adhereing to one particular theology or philosophy. The ability to change and adjust and adapt is what i find most intriguing about the human animal. People do this all the time in their actions, but lay claim to one absolute answer. What do we call people whose actions don't match their words? People who actually note that they change their mind are more truthful to their actions. That's what i admire about David and his blog.

That is my thought process. Try to be open to transformation, from scripture, from God, from those around me. For example this is what has to happen whenever your lifestyle runs up against the grain of Scripture–one of of the two has to move. Something has to change, and it will either be our behavior, or it will be our belief. More often that not, it is my belief that is forced to adapt to my behavior. I constantly go on and on about something until it is pointed out to me that my words don't match my behavior... thanks to Kate, Rialb, Steve, Sally whoever! That's partially why i have this blog to make sure my words match my actions. For me it's all about going BOXLESS.

going boxless is much harder way of doing it... some ppl NEED the boxes.. like in the matrix. we SHOULD pull everyone out, but some will violently fight to stay in the dream world. i think that once exposed to critical thinking most ppl will find it impossible to turn off their minds. some can, but most won't or won't be able to and will deliberately mess with the results... in other words: humans are freaking weird. :-) they're complicated and controlling capable of great good and evil... what a bunch of funny primates we are!

but ultimately we fit in NO box completely as there are always exceptions. some respond to this by cutting off those limbs that stick outside the box.. or lying.. or making concessions.. or doing what you and i have done and realizing that there is no box. the box is constructed by us for us to keep us safe from the CHAOS of the natural world. those of us to see order in the natural world are less in need of boxes.

see things for what they are but realize that you can only see these things from your perspective and cultural context (affectly making the first statement moot) but it is in this paradox we must live. sometimes i like boxes.. i wear new balance shoes, listen to punk and alternative music, and read progressive stuff.. i like ppl who also do this and can't stand "christian" music and authors like Joel Osteen and believe those who read and listen to this crap are not entitled to their own opinion. that's just me though.. others have different boxes.

That's what being a naked person is all about... that's what being a Naked Pastor is all about.. going boxless and responding to the context with the right frame to help each other out.

Religionless Christianity

Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Letters and Papers:
"The time when people could be told everything by means of words, whether theological or pious, is over, and so is the time of inwardness and conscience-and that means the time of religion in general... Even those who honestly describe themselves as religious do not in the least act up to it, and so they presumably mean something quite different by religious. How can Christ become the Lord of the religionless as well? Are there religionless Christians? If religion is only a garment of Christianity-and even this garment has looked very different at different times-then what is a religionless christianity?"

this is what i'm after. like john lennon says in Imagine, "imagine there's no heaven, and no religion too." then we're forced to deal with one another right where we're at. religion is only the framework, not the means. we've confused this.

i'm after a type of christianity that doesn't worry about labels. christians originally never worried about labels.. there was a stigma on the sick in the ancient days, the christians went in and helped. there was a stigma on the poor and homeless and starving, like the gods have cursed them.. the christians fed them and took them in... we must return to this!!! we must be the type of christians that help the jewish, atheist, homosexual, black, homeless, sick, martian, dinosaur neighbors... that is our calling.

there will come a point where "being a christian" drops and one actually becomes one (i know i'm not there yet, but i want to be!). at this point one sees the world as though everyone is a Christian and helps without consideration of how they will benefit from this help, how closer they'll get to heaven because of their action. Grace allows us to act without hesitation.

Need to Kill Some Time?

Have y'all seen LOLCatz? If not why not? And now they are revising the Bible. Yes, that's right - now you can read the bible in a whole different way - translated to kitty pidgin. It's BRILLIANT! It's the LOLCAT Bible Translation

I just started with Genesis and it cracked me right up:

1. In teh beginnin Ceiling Cat was invisible, and he maded the skiez and da earths, but he did not eated it.

2. The earths wus witout shapez and wus dark and scary and stuffs, and he rode invisible bike over teh waterz.

3. And Ceiling Cat sayz, i can has light, and teh light wuz.

This wonderful creation isn't complete yet, so anyone who might wanna help translating the bible to kitty pidgin, is more than welcome.

They even have a section for Awgooments For Ceiling Cat and Awgooments Not for Ceiling Cat.. here are two for and two against:

Pascal's Wagar
Pascal wus clever kitteh hu wus laik: "I am not knoin if teh Ceiling Cat is reel." Oh noes! But Pascal was thinkin an thinkin, an he wus laik "If I is beleefin in teh Ceiling Cat, and he is reel, I will be gettin cheezburger. But if I has no beleefin in teh Ceiling Cat, and he is reel, I will be getting pwned. If there no Ceiling Cat, no matter anywai. I think I is beleefin in teh Ceiling Cat."

Morals
All teh kittehs are knowing wut is gud and wut is no gud. Cheezburgers be good, and pwnin ur eminies is no gud. How ar we knowing these tings if Ceiling Cat has not tuwd us?! Ceiling Cat tells all teh kittehs wut is gud and wut is no good, so we knows wut to do. In a pewfec wold doowin gud wud be ruwaded bai hapines butt dis aint alwaiys rite cos dis wun tiem ia wus leik "hai hows yu" an he wus leik "GTFO". Dis means dat der mus be moar leif to reewad us wit teh cheezburgerz we deeservs, an dat mus be Ceiling Cat. kaythnxbai.




Awgooment from No Has Cheezburger
If Ceiling Cat wuz reel, He iz gud kitteh nd haz teh powerz to pwn evrywun. But if Ceiling Cat wuz gud kitteh, then He wants all teh kittehs to haz cheezburger. Nd if Ceiling Cat has powerz to pwn evrywun, He haz powerz tu gives all teh kittehs cheezburger. But sum kittehs no has cheezburger. :'( So Ceiling Cat iz not reel.

(Sum n00bs say this iz becoz Ceiling Cat gived us Free Will, and teh reel reason some kittehs no has cheezburger is becoz other kittehs yuze Free Willz tu steel cheezburger and eaten it--not Ceiling Cat's fault! But this splaination not plausibling: everycat knowz that cheezburger iz better than Free Will. kthxbye)

Awgooments frum Eevul in teh Urfs
He, liek, nevr duz anyfing. An der iz lots ov bad fings in wurldz. Liek, I wuz in teh best warm spot on teh rug, but den it moovd, an Iz cood not be in it anymoar. WAI, CEILING CAT, WAI??? WAI YU SO CROOL??? So, him not exist. An teh Ceiling Cat sed tu kill teh Jews, but wez not ded yet! LOLZ! Yu looz!


"I iz in ur bible, messin wit ur faiths"

Guest Post from the WIFE!

it's been post-a-rama here the past few days.. but what do you expect? i'm done with school and have a lot to talk about! now that i have the chance, it's catch up time.

Kate wrote a wonderful description of the Bible Study we attended last night and I felt like share'n it. so here's the first guest post from Kate:

We went to bible study tonight at Trinity Reformed UCC (where Luke is going to intern). It was great—all about Sodom and Gomorrah and how the original translation of sodomy is to not be hospitable toward someone. That’s what Sodom’s sin was—--not being welcoming to the strangers in their midst.
more cat pictures

And also Pastor Nancy said that when Lot and his wife were fleeing the town, and she looked back and turned into a pillar of salt, that’s an old saying for saying you had a stroke (like we say she “kicked the bucket”).

AND that reading the Bible is like reading a newspaper. Bible is full of poetry, history, narratives, stories, myth. Newspaper has Dear Abby, front page news, poetry people submit, recipes, etc. If you are reading a poem in the paper that says “her lips were like rubies” you know it’s not LITERAL. You don’t say “this poem isn’t literally accurate, I’m throwing out the rest of the newspaper!” Same with the Bible.

And finally, Nancy said she was preparing for Advent with some ministers a few years ago, and they were reading the nativity story. When they read about their being no room for them (Jesus’ family), a black minister said, “No, you’re not reading that right. I’ve always read it and interpreted it as “there was no room for THEM.” Which never crossed the minds of the white people, b/c they’ve never been denied a room in a hotel. But the Bible doesn’t say the rooms were all full. So just shows that it all depends on your interpretation and where you are coming from.

Spirituality for the Myspace Generation

feel free to fill this out too dear reader!

1-what religion are you?
Christian, United Church of Christ

2-what religion(s), besides yours, do you feel the closest to?
any that aren't exclusive

3-what convinces you about your religion?
fluid, flexible and questioning

4-is your religion truer than other religion?
no, as mine respects and reflects

5-do you feel like the world would be better if everyone converted to your religion?
it'd be nice, but then the world wouldn't be nuanced

6-do you think that there should be a separation of Church and State?
yes, for the state's sake. this doesn't mean that the church can't serve as a prophetic role. the church gets a vote, like everyone else, not a veto

7-are you willing to marry someone from another religion?
yup!

8-are you against Homosexual marriages?
hell no!

9-are you against complete freedom of speech? Like the Danish Cartoons
i loooove freedom of speech. it's a hard balance, but i'm all for it.

10-do you believe that killing someone for blasphemy is a reasonable
punishment?
killing anyone for anything is infantile

11-Would you be more confortable in a country where your religion is the main religion?
wouldn't we all be.

12-Do you have any spiritual heroes from different religions? If yes, name them
dalia lama,thich nat han, rabbi jack paskoff, rabbi abraham joshua heschel, rabbi hillel, pema chodron, rumi, hafiz, albert einstien,

13-for those who believe in Paradise and Hell, Do you believe that those who don't believe in your religion can go to Paradise?
i'm a universalist which means everyone gets a chance at paradise.

14-Do you think that everyone can perfectly coexist with your religion?
my religion is coexistence

15-Are you a convert or were you brought up into your religion?
convert, raised Roman Catholic

16-Do you believe that laws should be based on religious values?
no

17-how old are you?
26

18-where do you live?
lancaster pa

Constant Small Epiphanies

I believe in synchronicity, that weird phenominon where a certain theme keeps popping up. The term was coined by Carl Jung (and defined by wiki) as "Synchronicity is the experience of two or more events which occur in a meaningful manner, but which are causally un-related."

This happens when you talk about someone with two separate friends and later that person calls you. Or you keep hearing, reading about, and watching some random event all day only to have someone mention it later.

You know what i'm saying?

For example: On friday in conversations with my wife, my ma, my sister, and a collegue here at the seminary, the theme of "common courtesy" came up--all in different conversations in different contexts. Later that night, i held the door for someone who mentioned that door holding should be a courtesy that more common.

Seriously. I notice these things all the time! Have i lost you? does this happen to you or am i crazy?

I can only guess that this is one way that God speaks to us... I always say that there's no such thing as coincidence. Sally coined the term "God-incidence" and i like that. Where did i learn this?

My cousin, Puppet Nuts, has a sense of humor that latches on an obscure phrase or theme and runs with it. He fits it into bizarre yet appropriate situations.

My Gma picked up on this as well. She'd notice these themes and relate things back to a friend's story, past experience, scripture passage, or celebrity (my Gma's touchstones).

My Ma really drove this point home when she made a Jungian out of me. I used to have really vivid and sometimes horrifying dreams and sometimes still do. Not night terros as I'd remember them the next day. My mom said to pay attention to these dreams and watch for them when you're awake. Deja Vu plays a big part in this as well... but i'd find that the Dream Themes would make an appearence throughout the day.

Am i alone here? Is it possible that this is a medium for God? Our native american brothers and sisters made a big deal out of dreams... so did the Persians and other Near East peoples who influenced the Jews... but today we Christians have lost this.. or have largely ignored it... or just don't talk about it in polite company. Do y'all even pay attention to this stuff?

If you do, I'd love to hear about it. IF not, try it for a week and let me know what small epiphanies you find.

Self-Reflection

a year of seminary has ended. this usually invites a time of self-reflection and confessions. at this time of schooling there is a human impluse to confess to one another long held secrets or opinions. it is an interesting phenomenon.


i had many great experiences here. i've been told by one collegue that they wish to see the world as i see it, just for one day. that was very nice! i was also told by another collegue that if i was in charge of the earth, they would wake up and have no idea what was going on with a purple sun rise and a velociraptor riding a bike down their street. so there's both affirmation and humility sprinkled in here and it is precisely this mix that is sacred.

this leads to the question of how do i see the world? what frames am i using when i view it? we all use frames as the world is too much to view all at once, too paradoxical. which ones are mine? which ones are useful and which should i discard?

These questions are a step in the process of figuring out the verbage I’m going to use when describing Christian Education. For me right now:

Christian Education is getting to zero.
We do this by examining what we carry,
Why we carry it,
Who gave it to us,
And is it worth keeping?
Zero then is understood as not the absense, but the possibility.

I like this, but I’m unsure of the practicality of this statement. I like that it takes words at the symbolic level. Words are symbols of something, not the actual thing. The word Duck is not a duck. We loose sight of this in our religious communities as we become wrapped up in the one interepretation of the word, not the symbol of it. Words are important but more important I would contend are the possible themes those words are to evoke.

We are standing in the center of something rare and vast. The problem isn’t that we don’t know, it’s that we don’t care to explore the possibilities of our lives.

one way to graphically demonstrate this is with two videos. the first is one of my favorite bands of all time Royksopp... you may have heard them on the Geico Caveman at the Airport ad, but their style really appeals to me. the genre of music is known as "chill" or "deep couch" for it's laid back approach. this video represents how i walk down the street... how and what i think... there's a feeling that this music produces.. a hopeful-melancholy. this may sound like a paradox, but what is life but a paradox?! enjoy the video:



this other one is super-catchy audio crack! i loooove Japanese power-pop like P5. this is if P5 and Slipknot had a baby, both happy and agressive. another paradox! thanks to Weaver for the find!



i think they're saying "sweet and sour, we've got your MEGA-Lover" which is totally cool! whatever they're singing i can't stop listening to it! eeeek!

amazing underwater world

watch the octopus at the end! those things are amazing! too bad that science has nothing to do with God cause all of this is random and makes no sense ;-)

Letter to a Future Seminarian

It's the end of my second semester. Wow has this new venture flown by! Who knows where the time has gone. We had to write a letter to a future seminarian and i think that's what sums up what i've learned here this second semester... here's what i learned the first in case you missed it.
Dear Discerning,

Let’s talk about grapes for a second. My wine loving friend here at LTS once told me a story about how good wine is made. There are a few spots where good grapes can be grown because the climate in America is too perfect.

“Too perfect?!” I asked, “Perfect grapes make bad wine?”

“Yes,” He responded, “For great wine to be made the grapes have to suffer. Suffering adds nuance and builds character.”

This is what seminary will do to your spiritual character. It adds nuance, character and depth. And you will suffer and wrestle with new concepts, methods of reading the Bible, and LOTS of papers to write. However, the community here will help you through it; faculty, staff and students alike.

Jesus said, “I am the vine…” (John 15:1) so that makes us grapes! So come to LTS! Fall is the perfect season for wine, I’ll see you then.


A fellow grape on the vine of Christ,


Toothface

Rolex 2008

We went down to good ol' Kentucky this past weekend to watch the Rolex Three Day Eventing. We went before in 2005 and I loved the weekend. I wrote about it twice, once here and another here... This year I went with Kate, my mom and sister. It was a change from last time as Puppet Nuts wasn't with us, although he was missed.

I really love Rolex. Lexington is a beautiful city, the land is breath taking, and the food is top notch. My sister lived down there as she went to UK. It's great driving in a city with someone who knows the in's and out's. we ate at Gumbo Ya-Ya and Warring Station... Cajun and awesome panini's delish!

Time with family is great. It is tense and hard sometimes as your dealing with ppl who've known you all of your life and have certain expectations of you to follow. When you break out of these expectations it can be traumatic and there will be some who will try to put those expectations back on to you... force you back into that box. My family has dealt with this and is still dealing with it on many levels i won't get into... but aren't all families having to deal with this? what junk does your family attach to you, dear reader? i'm sure you have plenty of examples.

i write this to say that not only am i the victim of this but also the perveyor as well. i wear both hats equally. what this weekend has shown is the dangers of this... of not really listening to one another, of just hearing what you expect to hear, not what is actually said. my family works to actively listen to one another, but it's a hard row to tow. it takes a lot of work.

what boxes are we being stuck with because of our gender, sexual identity, race, and ethnicity? we all get hit with this. as soon as i said KENTUCKY i bet some images popped into your head. even some that would say "of course he can go to Kentucky, he's a white, straight, middle-class male, he'd have no problem." that is boxing. so what boxes do you work to overcome? what challenges are you facing due to expectation?

i ask, and i really want to know, because i think what boxes we face have an affect on how we view God. i've been discussing with a fellow blogg'n seminarian about the pronouns we use for God. is it fair to God, that when i pray to God i picture a white male with a beard and call God "He"? How spiritually mature is this practice? I'm well aware that all the pronouns in the bible are "He" for God, but how fair is that? Are we boxing God? Are we putting labels on God that shouldn't be there in the first place?

I would say the answer is yes, we are. not only do we do it to ourselves and the ones we love... but we do it to our Creator as well. True love is seeing the other for what they are and responding to them out of compassion and empathy. expectations can be good as it's great to have goals... but they can be equally restraining. so just consider this... ask yourself what boxes are you using, and see if some of those would be better placed in your attic.

looking forward to your responses.

Waterboard your Friends for Fun and Profit!

this past two weeks have been busy-busy! first my buddy Brian and I plant a garden.. of course we did it all manly and junk with beers, cigars, and punk rawk music! then someone steals my flower pot... so i contemplate on the meaning of life and find meaning it impermeance... then i go to a Washington Capitals game with my buddy Jim and watch them lose to the Flyers... ugh.

so then i return and take Sonny out for a walk and LOW AND BEHOLD!!!! THE FLOWER POT HAS RETURNED! Well this prompts me to spiral into a existential crisis. what does this mean? i prayed and found meaning in the loss and now it's back! does this mean i start preaching a Joel Osteen "pray and get rich" style prosperity gospel? now my suspicions are up and i figure it's an inside job... so i decide to politely question 5 of my closest friends using a technique that the president says isn't torture. You can really have fun with waterboarding!

the problem with this is that all 5 friends confessed to taking the flower pot. it's a small pot, so that doesn't make any sense... and those friends have ceased returning my phone calls...umm... wonder why.

maybe i have a quantum flower pot that blinks in and out of existence. sweet! the moral of all this silliness is that never live close to a friend whose wife likes to "borrow" things when she's a little tipsy. ;-)

i've completed my new testament paper on John 14 (the way, truth and life passage) and found some cool conclusions. I'm finishing my Jewish Scriptures paper on Jonah and will report back on that.. should be fun! Yesterday, Kate, Jim and his theive'n wife (;-)) and I went and saw Barack Obama make a stop at the Lancaster train station on his whistle stop tour. I really hope he gets the nomination. I like his policies and his positive and inspiring speeches. we need change from the same ol' same ol' and i believe he's the candidate to do it.

The LTS Silent Auction is going on this week as well! If you're in the area, please head to the second floor of Mayer Commons and check it out! Thanks to Brian for helping me set it up! RAWK!



This weekend Kate and I are gonna see my family at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington to see the Rolex 3 Day Eventing. I LOVE eventing. Same horse has to compete in Dressage (control and precision), Cross Country (endurance and courage) and High Jump (athleticism). It's really quite something to watch. I'm really excited for it.

What are you all up to? What other lessons can i get from the flower pot? how about these flower pots? hope all is well with you dear reader! Blessings!

Wright or Wrong?

In 1961, a young African-American man, after hearing President John F. Kennedy's challenge to, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country," gave up his student deferment, left college in Virginia and voluntarily joined the Marines.

In 1963, this man, having completed his two years of service in the Marines, volunteered again to become a Navy corpsman. (They provide medical assistance to the Marines as well as to Navy personnel.)

The man did so well in corpsman school that he was the valedictorian and became a cardiopulmonary technician. Not surprisingly, he was assigned to the Navy's premier medical facility, Bethesda Naval Hospital, as a member of the commander in chief's medical team, and helped care for President Lyndon B. Johnson after his 1966 surgery. For his service on the team, which he left in 1967, the White House awarded him three letters of commendation. What is even more remarkable is that this man entered the Marines and Navy not many years after the two branches began to become integrated.

While this young man was serving six years on active duty, Vice President Dick Cheney, who was born the same year as the Marine/ sailor, received five deferments, four for being an undergraduate and graduate student and one for being a prospective father.

Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, both five years younger than the African-American youth, used their student deferments to stay in college until 1968. Both then avoided going on active duty through family connections.

Who is the real patriot? The young man who interrupted his studies to serve his country for six years or our three political leaders who beat the system? Are the patriots the people who actually sacrifice something or those who merely talk about their love of the country?

After leaving the service of his country, the young African-American finished his final year of college, entered the seminary, was ordained as a minister, and eventually became pastor of a large church in one of America's biggest cities.

This man is Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the retiring pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ.

thanks to Cathi for the find!

What Is Emerging?

The New Religious Landscape:



this is from the blog over there in the bar called Emergent Village, a great source. Tony is a great source and expert on all the different types of "emerging." I really enjoyed this. Tony asks his own stunning (rhetorical) question: “What do we do with the robots when they show up at the church doors?!

I consider myself a emergent. Get the context and then dialog with others about. Gather around the tribal fire and tell stories and try to figure out one another's lives. Great video! Check it out!

Life Lessons in a Flower Pot

thanks to all the pollsters who want to hear more personal experience... great suggestion! i'll have to start covering that more in my blog posts. now i shall begin my third post for this week, sorry if i'm overwhelming y'all out there...

i operate on the assumptions that there is no such thing as secular and there is no such thing as coincidence. i'm really into synchronisity. being attuned to the ever transmitting divine help you see the world as illuminated.

here's personal experience that highlights this: Last night someone stole a clay flower pot that i had decorated. i painted it and dremelled out a design in the clay and WOW was it awesome. i spent a lot of time on it and now it's gone. well such is life as well. you spend a lot of time in life only to have it be gone all too soon. i miss that pot. i storm off and pray and then start to feel strangely humbled that someone else saw the beauty in it! i'm sad that the person couldn't ask me to make them one but will be happy to offer that if i ever find out who took it.


a traditional route would be to declare that person a sinner and a thief and actively hunt them down for retributive violence.. directly ignoring the life and teachings of Jesus. this is mimetic theory in action, the retributive violence that only perpetuates and reciprocates, never solving anything.

now as i walk around i am looking for this pot. i'm noticing a lot of cool stuff too! the trees in bloom, the layout of garden'n, and other ppl's pots (OPP?). I'm out noticing God's good work, how people beautify their environment, and i'm considering the lilies. i also recognize that i had a pot to plant it in the first place (Just read Jessica's post about those who don't even have that!)

hope this rant is of some light and some coherence on how i see the world. i hope this helps you, dear reader, to recognize that the water in which we swim is divine.

;-) keep rawk'n out!

I Serve no Priestly Role

Kate's family has been going to the Flying ~E~ ranch since the late-70s.
This year was my 5th venture forth and it was just as awesome as the others.

but it was different. why?

we usually go the week after easter, but because of seminary, i had to go the week before.. so our family and friends weren't there as in past years. PLUS it was the first time at the ranch as a future pastor.

i didn't think it would have been as big of a deal as it was. people came up to me and would ask me about what i believed about this or that. what they really wanted to do is talk about what they believed, so i wouldn't answer and pose the question back on them. this worked great as they already had the answer! now most of these answers were the exact OPPOSITE of what i believed.

but i wasn't going to tell them that.

i listened nicely. added where i could, questioned where i should, and then let it ride. i learned that when it comes to meeting people, it's best to listen and be mush.

there's a King of the Hill Episode where Hank (the Dad) sends Bobby (the son) to Cotton’s (the crazy grandpa who was WWII) old military academy, where Cotton tries to break the boy’s spirit.

HANK: I told you it wasn't easy. You didn't believe me, did you?
COTTON: I guess he was just born a pile of mush.
HANK: Well, I guess you could say that, but maybe mush isn't so bad. You can keep stomping on it, but it's all give. It just stays mush. You can't build it up, but you can't break it down either. In a funny way, mush has the edge.






mush gets all the chicks.






Mush also doesn't have stress nor does it judge others for holding particular views. Mush bids its time, listens, and if people want to actively investigate their theology, tell ask you. Kate and I made some great friends who did just that. they bid their time and asked as well and didn't get hyper or offended.

imagine a world that didn't get hyper, didn't draw boundary lines, that listened to each other's wisdom and views on the world. imagine, it's easy if you try.

Mimetic Theory in Action

Hey y'all, remember that scary Mimetic Theory i talked about in this post and this other post?

Well since I will now point out daily applications of what i post about, i figured i'd start here. The best instance of Mimetic Theory can be found the best show on TV today... BATTLESTAR GALACTICA!

Remember when Lee gives an empassioned speech in defense of Baltar? That's Mimetic Theory!

Lee points out a string of incidents, some involving himself, where people were forgiven for serious crimes, and defends those decisions, arguing that humanity is not a real civilization anymore. Adama thinks that executing Baltar for actions that he couldn't really prevent is not justice, and that Baltar is just the Fleet's scapegoat for everyone's misdeeds and failures on New Caprica. The speech plays a major role in Baltar's subsequent acquittal.

I couldn't find a video of Lee's speech, but you can listen to it here!



GO WATCH BATTLESTAR! IT'S THE BEST, MOST RELEVANT SHOW ON TV!!!!

The Wife Says...

i need to write shorter posts. sorry for the long one's y'all... i have a poll up on the site here to the left of your screen, let me know what you want to know more of! or if you have a suggestion, email or post a comment here on the blog.

i look forward to your suggestions, dear readers. i'm thankful for the dialogue we've generated and hope you all are as enriched as i am.

thank you from the deepest chambers of my heart.

The New Testament Class

Dudes.. seriously.. you gotta get a book called The New Testament; A Historical Introduction to Early Christianity by Bart D. Ehrman. Bart also wrote "Misquoting Jesus" which i also highly recommend. why do i loooove this book/class so much? well it really helps bring into focus the historical world of Jesus. Here are some thoughts from the book:

Many christians today think that there was once ONE christianity in the first century and that the splits (i.e. the many denominations) of christianity are a modern invention. NOT so. There were at least 4 types, if not more. we had the Jewish-Christian Adoptionist that thought Jesus was not himself divine but his message was. Calling Jesus God was a blasphemous lie. They liked the gospel of Matthew and thought Paul was a heretic.

The Marcionite Christians on the other hand LOVED Paul and thought that Jesus was Divine and NOT human. Marcionites believed that the Jewish god was evil and Jesus came to save us from this god. Marcion (the leader) actually went further and put together a "canon" or standard books. Their bible was a shortened version of Luke and ten truncated letters of Paul with NO Hebrew Scriptures.

There were the Gnostics who believed that there was a special knowledge that is necessary for salvation. Salvation meant escaping from this material world. Jesus was fully human but yet was entered into by another entity known as the CHRIST at his baptism. therefore jesus was two beings. Gnostics were also polytheists believing that there were at least 32 different gods and some even believed there were 365 gods and each one controlled one day. They had their own writings, namely the Gospel of Thomas, Gospel of Mary, Gospel of Truth, and the GOSPEL OF JOHN. Yes, that's right, John is a Gnostic gospel.

Proto-Orthodox christians claimed that it's views had always been the majority position and that it's rivials (meaning all you've just read about) were heretics. They later became the dominant form. They accomplished this by taking everyone else's major gospels, namely matthew, mark, luke and john and claiming that these held the real authority. these christians argued that jesus was both divine and human and was one being instead of two. by accepting all scriptures as authorities they were able to claim that both perspectives were right and showed their emphasis was correct and that argue'n that Jesus was ONLY human or ONLY divine was a perversion of the truth.

so that's how the New Testament emerged, namely out of conflicts from these groups. and we've been debate'n the acceptance of what books should be in the bible ever since. there were some popular ones like the shepherd of hermas that didn't make it. Revelation was the MOST disputed book, but somehow made it in. It was not until the year 367 C.E. (almost two and a half centuries after the last n.t. book was written) that the 27 book N.T. canon was accepted.

another thing to think about is the gap between writing. Mark was prolly the first Gospel written about Jesus... it was written 30 to 40 years after the death of Jesus. This would be like having the first written record of the Eisenhower presidencey appear today. There is also NO written reference to Jesus or his followers in pagan literature toay from the first century of the common era.

crazy facts for a crazy world. now we don't have to say "i wanna go back to that one time christianity" when we never had it. even the early church set up was split between 5 major ancient cities. gotta love history, it's so crazy interesting!

Who did I see this past Monday?

you betcha!

Pearls before Swine

Importance of Context

Postcolonialism is one of those university words... it deals with cultural identity in colonised societies: the dilemmas of developing a national identity after colonial rule; the ways in which writers articulate and celebrate that identity (often reclaiming it from and maintaining strong connections with the coloniser); the ways in which the knowledge of the colonised (subordinated) people has been generated and used to serve the coloniser's interests; and the ways in which the coloniser's literature has justified colonialism via images of the colonised as a perpetually inferior people, society and culture.

I am a postcolonialist. The short of this translates to: i'm trying to renounce my white priviledge. "Hi i'm luke! what's your favorite color?! i see your skin is different than mine, do you identify primarily through this medium or do you prefer i deal with you on an individual level?" There are no inferior people, just people in different contexts. The point is to dialog about those context and see the similarities! imagine what we could learn! imagine the different ways of viewing the world that we could learn and in turn use these to help solve problems in our own contexts! awesome huh?

the opposite of this view is colonialist. no one will identify as this, but i see a TON of this popping up recently. a colonialists believes that their country is the greatest and all other countries must measure up to their standard. for example, US colonialism would hold that white, male, middle to upper-class capitalist that is religiously nondenominational Prostestant is the standard to be measured by.

the biggest instance in current events is the whole blow up on the Barack Obama's pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright's 2001 comments where he stated "God damn America!" people are jumping up and down about this.. people are asking me what my thoughts are.. here they are:

someone claimed that Obama is “as a man and member of the Elite social-economic class Senator Obama has no sense of what working class men or women suffer, survive, and live through daily”

he’s not. please read his background. he's actually quite poor compared to every other politician out there...

as for the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.. please listen to his whole speech in context and read what Black Liberation Theology means. it mainly means that it is Afro-centric but not Afro-supremists. Why don't we have White Liberation Theology? Because we don't need it in this country! The majority of theology in America is white. What would we be liberated from? Keep that in mind while you view the whole speech! enjoy!



Do you see the postcolonialist message in here?

This whole mess is started because a man, Obama, was raised by a white mother and self-identifed as a black man and went to a progressive black church. this is what it is. what we’re dealing with is race issues on both sides and white priviledge is being confronted. white people don't like having to remember the fact that they were generally shitty to people of color despite the fact they had "All Men are Created EQUAL" in the bill of rights since the late 1700s and still haven't lived up to it yet (although there have been some improvements).

now that you have the context... what do you think?

Wook at dat Face

hey y'all! we're off in AZ for vacation, i'll see ya on the 24th. i leave you with this moral: Don't Be Evil.

Rawk!

Not Playing God

from Dietrich Bonhoeffer Life Together:
"God did not make others as I would have made them. God did not give them to me so that i could dominate and control them, but so that i might find the creator by means of them... God does not want me to mold others into the image that seems good to me, that is, into my own image. Instead, in their freedom from me, God made other people in God's own image. I can never know in advance how God's image should appear in others and two others. That image always takes on a completely new and unique form."

Bonhoeffer points something out here vitally important to us, esp. to ministers. this is something i should have tattooed over my heart and on my forehead. others aren't a roadblock to God, they're the super highway. I've seen recently too many "christians" say things like "I just hope you find the true Christ." or "i hope you're striken to your knees and find christ as we've found him" or "there is only one way"...

how many people are on this planet? a few billion. good. each one is a different way to God. you can learn something different from each. take away the notion of "only those who actively come in the name are the only ones worth paying attention to" because that's just short-sighted. God isn't the most obvious, infact God is very subtle. there are better ways than a sunrise to let people know that you're there, but that's the method i see God reminds us everyday that God's there... discard notions of secular.. there's no such thing. God is everywhere. The trick is to be atuned to seeing God and finding God in unexpected places.

We do not have control of one another.. as a pastor i don't WANT control over others. i want to enter into dialog and see how that reflects back on us both... let's look at the strange feedback loop we've created.

BUT it's ALWAYS been done that way

Start with a cage containing five monkeys. Inside the cage, hang a banana on a string and place a set of stairs under it. Before long, a monkey will go to the stairs and start to climb towards the banana. As soon as he touches the stairs, all of the other monkeys are sprayed with cold water. After a while, another monkey makes an attempt with the same result, and all the other monkeys are sprayed with cold water. Pretty soon the monkeys will try to prevent it.

Now, put away the cold water. Remove one monkey from the cage and replace it with a new one. The new monkey sees the banana and wants to climb the stairs. To his surprise and horror, all the other monkeys attack him. After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the stairs he will be attacked.

Next, remove another of the original five monkeys and replace it with a new one. The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked. The previous newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm! Likewise, replace a third original monkey with a new one, then a fourth, then the fifth.

Every time the newest monkey takes to the stairs, he is attacked. Most of the monkeys that are beating him have no idea why they were not permitted to climb the stairs or why they are participating in the beating of the newest monkey. After replacing all the original monkeys, none of the remaining monkeys have ever been sprayed with cold water. Nevertheless, no monkey ever again approaches the stairs to try for the banana.

Why not? Because as far as they know, that’s the way it’s always been done.

Do you believe that story? Would you tell it to someone else as true? I asked my source if the experiment had been ever done, and she did not know. So far as she knew, it was just a story that makes a lot of sense. If repeated enough times, soon "everybody" will believe it, and it will become part of the culture. Is that the way popular acceptance of the litany came about?

If you had lived in Caesar's time (d. 44 BCE), would you have believed in Roman gods because "everybody" did? (Actually, not everybody did).

If you had lived in France in 1572 (Bartholomew Massacre), would you have believed that everyone had to adhere to the same religion, or the nation would fall apart?

If you had lived in Italy in Galileo's time (1564-1642), would you have believed the sun moves around the earth?

If you had lived in Salem, MA, in 1692, would you have believed in witchcraft?

So, what's different about 2001 to present?

this was to present a myth in modern language.. we here in the modern world tend to equate fact with truth.. this study never has happened but it relays a truth about the world. so the follow up question is can something be true but not factual? for more on this, just check out the tag-link: Truth NOT Fact.