The New Crib (probably)

So I think I've found a house to rent for the next couple of years. Not buying yet. The owners are really nice folks and are putting a ton of work into the place. So here it is for your viewing pleasure. It's not quite done yet, but this will give you an idea. 3 bedroom 1 bath, giant backyard,cozy little place.

Unrelated Thought.

Keane's "Somewhere Only We Know" is still a great song.

When In Rome

So this article was on Yahoo today.

Basically, The Pope is endorsing Latin masses again. Apparently in up until the 1960's it was the norm. From the article-

"Before the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), Catholic mass was an elaborate ritual led in Latin by a priest with his back to the congregation. Vatican II reduced the formality and had the priest face the faithful to pray in their local language.
Traditionalists rejected the new style's sing-along hymns and guitar music. Many missed the Latin rite's sense of mystery and awe and the centuries-old Gregorian chant that went with it."

Now, to me this seems like a no-brainer. A service in Latin? Yikes. No body can understand it! If that's what "mystery and awe" means then to each his own, but I'd at least like to hear about God in English so I can then ponder the mystery and be in awe- because I don't understand God... NOT WHAT LANGUAGE THE SERVICE IS IN.

Obviously my protestant bias and gross lack of Church history is showing here. But this got me thinking...

Does protestant Christianity do the same thing? Think about it- don't we have a language all our own? Fellowship...Narthex...Sacristy...Transubstantiation...Epistle...Abrahamic Covenant...Sanctification...I could go on.

I think a lot of times theres a "lingo" that unless you've just been around a long time you won't understand because no one stops to explain things. So although our services are given in English, consider the following being mentioned in the service:

"Today's scripture lesson is from Paul's second Epistle to the church in Corinth." Now, what all does this phrase assume?
1. That you know what an epistle is
2. That you know who Paul is
3. That you understand the inherent connection between Paul and the epistles
4. Basically that you have enough Biblical and Ecclesial knowledge to translate into: 2nd Corinthians

I would guess that many folks sitting in the congregation wouldn't be able to articulate those 4 things, and why should they unless they've been taught or given the proper tools to discover it for themselves? If you haven't taken bible classes in church or in college or you haven't been raised in Sunday school where do you get to know all the fancy phrases?

My pastor calls it "church-eese" or "christian-eese" and we need to be mindful that we articulate such specialized language. The church can't be so presumptuous to just assume people either know this stuff or will have the where-with-all to go figure it out themselves.

If we don't give consideration to issues like this, we might as well give the services in Latin.

4th of July

The 4th was always one of my favorite holidays. I remember going to the gas station as a child, and getting a bottle of JOLT cola to shoot bottle rockets out of. Here in St. Louis county you can't shoot off fireworks, but at the county line on I-44 into Jefferson county it's like the Las Vegas Strip of Fireworks stands, hillarious.

So, for all who care to read, here's some 4th of July favorites:

Music-
Jimi Hendrix, Star Spangled Banner
Ray Charles, America the Beautiful
Bruce Springsteen, Born in the USA

Movies-
The Sandlot
Independance Day

Fireworks-
Smoke Bombs
The Lil' Green Tanks (my personal favorite, see above)

Food-
Brats
Homemade Ice Cream

Not-So-Favorite Things About 4th of July:

Barking Dogs
Burning your hand
The cheap wicks fireplace stands give you

So here's to a happy 4th of July to everyone, especially folks overseas who can't be with their families.

John Mayer Concert

I didn't really do this justice on the blog yet. Almost two weeks ago some friends and I saw John Mayer at Verizon Amphitheater/UMB Bank Pavilion/Riverport. It was nuts. Brett Dennen and Ben Folds opened up, who were also very good.

It's time to revisit my John Mayer theory.

I don't know how much longer he can hold up. I think Continuum is one of the best albums ever. The dude can sing, play, and write all EXTREMELY well. He could be a great solo artist just on his guitar playing alone. He's dated Jennifer Love Hewitt and the magazine covers have tagged him with Jessica Simpson.

I believe there's no way a relationship between John Mayer and any celebrity will ever last. Why? It's too much. No single man can be THAT awesome. What do you think fuels a lot of his songs? Problems with love. You can't come out with a blues album if you're dating Jessica Simpson. No one will believe you could ever be blue. The only thing that allows him to keep his street cred is the fact that he's unhappy in the love dept. So he's doomed to either keep being awesome musically or give up his material in exchange for love.

That being said, a highlight of the show was impersonating John Mayer's guitar face. You can see Jimmy Fallon's impersonation here about halfway through.

So here are me and my friends best impersonations:

The Secret

Secrets don't make friends.
Secret is a woman's deodorant.
James Taylor says "The secret of life is enjoying the passing of time".
"Gnosis" is secret knowledge.
"The Secret" makes a funny book.

From the introduction: "As you travel through its pages and you learn The Secret, you will come to know how you can have, be, or do anything you want. You will come to know who you really are. You will come to know the true magnificence that awaits you."

Well, I guess I'll just read this book, imagine myself kickin back on an island somewhere and hang out until it happens! Why didn't anyone tell me about this before!?!?!?

Oh man, this ought to be good. Lately I've been enjoying finding out "what else is out there". Right now I'm got the God Delusion and The Secret going, and earlier this year read "The End of Faith".

I'll let you guys know how "The Secret" suits me. It's going to be fun.

In ______ We Trust

Check out this news story about a Gallup Poll whose findings included that only 46% of people surveyed "had either a 'great deal' or 'quite a lot' of confidence in the church"

So, what are we to make of this?

Is it like when a health scare hits a fast food restaurant and no body wants to eat there? Recently the Ted Haggard scandal could have been a case for folks to distrust the church- how could a prominent preacher have a double life?

Do people not trust the church because of money? Are the televangelist fiascoes of the 80's still lingering in people's minds?

It would be interesting to me to see how the survey was framed and what questions were asked and by what criteria people were selected. But to me this is could be telling about what the church is facing.

Unless you live in Springfield MO (with like, 12 huge churches on every block) the church isn't the center of the community. No longer can we just assume that people have had a basic Judaeo-Christian worldview or have "been raised" or "been around" church. Ministering to people who have been raised in church is like, step 3. We have to start at step 1- ministering to people who are a little suspicious of "religion" or "church". This is accomplished by individuals in congregations building relationships with folks outside of the church. Not like people who "don't go to church" are our labrats or something, but loving folks is what are job is, regardless of whether they go to church! Step 2 is gaining trust through honest care for the person, getting to know their struggles, their needs, their perceptions of the church. That's the challenge of 21st century ministry, which probably isn't a new challenge at all, showing people that the church is the body of Christ charged with doing his work and building the Kingdom of God. So really...not much has changed...just go do God's work and the "trust statistics" should hopefully climb!

But that leads me to another thought. I would like to see what percentage of folks surveyed identified themselves as "Christian" or more vaguely as "religious". What if the 46% are the ones who are Christian and the rest aren't? Then does the burden of "trustyness" fall on the church? Or is it simply people don't want to have to change their lives as a result of the Gospel? Maybe you don't want to trust what you fear will make you confront your thoughts about life and the ways you live it?

The danger in this can be a quite a nice self-fulfilling prophecy. I was in a discussion with a friend once and they remarked: "Well the only true bible preaching churches are going to be small, because the gospel isn't popular". Hmmm. Isn't that a cozy justification for a stagnant community. (Insert comment about how 'it's not about the numbers here') I'm just saying this is tricky stuff. How can the church be inclusive of folks who are distrustful but still faithful to our mission and the Gospel of Christ which transforms hearts and changes lives?

Say It Ain't So

If Rosie O'Donnell replaces Bob on the Price Is Right, I will lead an angry mob all the way to L.A. to start another riot. This simply cannot be allowed to happen.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070619/ap_en_ot/people_rosie_o_donnell

Fantastic 4/The Dawkins Delusion

Saw Fantastic 4 on Sunday. It was a lot better than the first, which is great news considering the first F4 was right up there on the movie scale with Judge Dredd. The action was continuous and the movie didn't take itself too seriously. So, definitely worth seeing, but wouldn't be upset if I never saw it again.

Also, yesterday I bought The Dawkins Delusion. It was a short read, only 100 pages. Um, I guess it was "good". I was hoping for some entertaining stabs at Dawkins and really granular explanations of why his writings were crap. But, the author (Alister McGrath- one of the coolest names ever) was very courteous and relied on very masterful ways of dissecting Dawkins "God Delusion". So now it's on to "The God Delusion" which is thicker, and looks a lot cooler. I hope they'll be some good discussion out of that.

Sermon Pt 7

(sorry it's so long, but here's the conclusion)

7. The Conclusion/So What?
You see my friends; Jesus went to where he was needed most. He came to call those who needed his help, not those who were happy to stand in line at the movies and ridicule middle schoolers who don’t know any better. You see those girls are EXACTLY the ones that need to be shown you don’t have to show off your body to be accepted. Those girls need to hear they have worth beyond what they wear, and that they are not defined by how much attention boys pay them. What’s more, those girls need to be not only TOLD but SHOWN they need to EXPERIENCE the love of Christ, simply for being them. Those girls need to hear and be exposed to those things within the context of love, not judgment, out of mercy, not under stiff religion. The Pharisees mistake was they depended on their legalism to save them. Outwardly, they were righteous. Inwardly, they were sick, but did not know it. As followers of Christ, I pray that we can keep from falling victim to the same thing.

The people hardest for us to love are often the ones who need it the most. It’s easy for me to love well behaved, appropriately dressed, mature youth here at this church, as almost all of them are. THAT’S EASY. But what about the rude and obnoxious youth? What about the ones who dress like they’re going out to the club? WHAT ABOUT THE PEOPLE OUTSIDE OF THIS CHURCH? What compassion do I have in me if I don’t show it to them? Do I really love Jesus and love his people, if I’m only loving towards “the nice ones”, only compassionate to the ones who “go to church”, and judge everyone else? Jesus spoke about this too, earlier in Matthew’s gospel in chapter 5 verses 46 & 47 he says: “For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles (the people of the land) do the same?” In my own words, LOVING THOSE WHO ARE EASY TO LOVE IS NO BIG DEAL.

Sometimes the most “religious” people can be some of the biggest jerks. In keeping our rules, they can quickly become chains if not they don’t start with compassion. The call of Christ to the sinner means for those who follow him it will be hard. But we can forget that we too, are sinners. We too, are sick. Too often we can be quick to diagnose others. Because in our minds we have a list don’t we? A list of behaviors that “Christian people” or “good people” just don’t do. A catalog of sins we don’t do that allows us to shame others if they do. Once again, isn’t the sin of pride a sin just the same?

Christ went to where he was needed, and this was shocking to the religious authorities at the time. Jesus enjoyed the company of “tax-collectors and sinners” (verse 10). Stop and think about this. What would you think if you saw McIntyre’s Honda Civic outside of a bar? How would you react if saw your youth pastor hanging out in the Steak N’ Shake parking lot at 1 in the morning? You would probably think, oh snap, or at least that would be cool if you could add that to your vocabulary. If you saw those things I’ll bet you would be shocked. The Gospel is shocking my friends. The love of Christ is not what we expect more often than not, because it’s hard, and it’s counterintuitive to us. Much like the Pharisees we can quickly evolve into “holy huddles”, insulated “churchy people” who sneer and point fingers at people who don’t do some things we do and DO do some things we don’t do. By that I mean, we can scoff and be dismissive of people “don’t go to church” or “don’t read the bible” or “don’t know Jesus”, or people that “do drugs” or “do have sex” or “do have tattoos” or “do go to bars” or do or don’t do whatever other lists we want to make. But now we’re already read handed, because we’ve separated us from them, we are we and they are they. We are healthy, they are sick. We are righteous, they are sinners. Let us go once again to verses 12 & 13: Jesus said “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick…For I have come to call not the righteous but the sinners.”

My friends the love of Christ calls us to love those who aren’t easy or convenient to love, because that’s how God loves us. When we lose sight of that, we might as well break out the Pharisee costumes so we can dress the part too, and at least people can see us comin. The love of Christ goes to those who need it the most, often hardest for the religious folks to love. The church is the only organization on the planet that exists EXCLUSIVELY for those that aren’t a part of it. Let me say that again: The church is the only organization on the planet that exists EXCLUSIVELY for those that aren’t a part of it. Let’s not forget that. Let’s not forget that we are a hospital for sinners, of which I am the first one. Let’s not forget that Jesus came not for the righteous but for the sinner. That Jesus is like a doctor, who has come to heal the sick, not tend to “they that be whole”.

I had to choose a title for this sermon, and sermon titles often have an element to cheesiness to them, so I fittingly chose a cheesy Ronald Palmer song from the 80’s. Doctor Doctor, Gimme the News:

The bad news is, we’re all sick. The good news is, Jesus came to heal the sick. The good news is, we can know the remedy. Jesus Christ, the good physician will heal us and help us to heal others if we only admit we’re sick and let him do his work. It’s hard, long, painful road to recovery. The diagnosis is not up to us, I’ve tried to spend a lot of time showing how that is a bad, bad, bad thing. Someone can only know they’re sick when they experience the love of another who shares their illness. The call of Christ demands that we go and help heal the sick as we ourselves are being healed through him who ate with tax-collectors and sinners, he who looked upon people not with judgment but with compassion. My friends, the people hardest to love need it the most. The people hardest for us to love is whom Jesus calls us to love. The people hardest to love are people just like you and me, in fact, they ARE you and me. Let us not be puffed up in our churchy clothes, our churchy music, our churchy programs, our churchy words- none of these bad things in and of themselves- but let us seek out the sick as love them as Jesus did, not shake our heads at the sinners as the Pharisees did. Amen.

Sermon Pts 5 & 6

5. The Proud
You see the Pharisees were all mixed up. The were so focused on their own Orthodoxy they failed to see that was their very stumbling block. Their assent to righteousness ultimately led them into the sin of pride. Their priorities were backwards:
-More concerned with preservation of their holiness than with the helping of another’s sin
-Were interested in condemning rather than forgiving, with criticism than with encouragement.
-Focused on outward orthodoxy rather than in practical help.
Can you see why Jesus quoted Hosea 6: 6? The Pharisees in their self proclaimed holiness had made access to God exclusive. They thrived on a “who’s in, who’s out” mentality. The problem is, they were making the rules and not God. Hosea 6: 6 reads- “For I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” Closely paraphrased we could say: “It’s compassion I want, not religion”. The Pharisees were too proud to admit they were sick, and so arrogant in thinking they were to diagnose everyone else, not God.

6. More Bad News
My friends, I’ve tried to spend some time expounding on the history and context of this one conversation in Jesus’ life. I’ve tried to show you that we are all sick, and Jesus has come to call everyone, but only those who can come to know they need him will listen. I have ripped on the Pharisees for a while now. Jesus railed against the Pharisees for their self-righteousness. In verse 13 when Jesus says “I have come to call not the righteous but the sinner” another translation reads: “I’m here to invite outsiders, not coddle insiders.” Let me read that again, imagine Jesus saying to the most “religious” people on that planet: “I’m here to invite outsiders, not coddle insiders.” (The Message) My friends how often do we create an insider and outsider scenario for those we encounter in the world? How often to do we pass judgment upon people we’d rather condemn than love? As the church, as “religious” people, can we not be guilty of the same sins of the Pharisees? Let me show you what I mean.

Friday, June 3rd I went to go see Spider Man 3 on opening night. Not only was it opening night of what was the biggest opening weekend in history, but I had obtained tickets to the showing at the Galaxy Theatre in the Valley on THE MEGA SCREEN, which I’m pretty sure you can see from space. For someone like me, Spider Man 3, on the mega screen, opening night, is a big deal; especially when you consider that I ordered about 20 tickets ahead of time and there were a group of us from church who all went together. Now, some of you parents might know this, but Friday nights at the Galaxy Theatre feels like a Middle Schoolers Convention. I mean kids are being dropped off, picked up, talking on their cell phones, talking to their friends, talking on their cell phones to their friends friends, it’s like an industrious colony of bees, really quite a spectacle to see. So there I am in line with all my church buddies, when I spot one group of middle schoolers in particular. Now keep in mind I’m only 23 years old, so I’m still shocked and disgusted when I have thoughts or speak words that sound like something my Dad would say. But I had one of those parental moments, a wave of “old-fashioned-ness” came over me, and I thought: “Goodness, I can’t believe what those girls are wearing!” I mean here was a group of 14 year old girls dressed like they might have stage names. I sat there; shocked at how their parents let them leave the house looking like a floozy, and how much of their bodies they were revealing to everyone at the movies. It was ridiculous, I even made some head shaking comments to my buddies with me.

Do you see what happened? There I was with my “church friends” looking down and shaming these girls in my mind. Since I was so righteous and thought that anyone who dressed like has got to be a heathen, I put those girls in a different category than myself. There tiny skirts were on my mental “no-no” list and so I condemned them. Where is the compassion in that? Isn’t my pride and loveless-ness worse than their short skirted-ness? If you think about it, the latter is a lot more easy to fix. Changing your clothes is a lot harder than transforming your heart. I was as guilty as the Pharisees.

Sermon Pts 2, 3, & 4

Things went ok on Sunday! Woo Hoo! Here's a longer chunk....

2. People of the Law vs. People of the Land
Enter the Pharisees. The Pharisees were a sect of elite teachers. They differed from the other Jewish priests chiefly in their strict observance of religious ceremonies and practices, adherence to oral laws and traditions, and belief in an afterlife and the coming of a Messiah. (dictionary.com) The Pharisees adhered to a strict and exclusive code of conduct. Generally speaking, in Jesus time people were divided into two sections. The first were “The Orthodox”, the religious people. Orthodox is Greek, meaning “right, or correct practice” so the orthodox folks rigidly kept the law in every detail. The Pharisees were part of this division of society. We can thus call the first division People of the Law. The second were classed as the people of the land; they saw the law as petty regulations used by the religious elite to exploit those who are “beneath” them. The orthodox were forbidden to associate with the people of the land in any meaningful way: would not go on a journey with them, do any business with them, give anything to them, or receive anything from them, much less entertain them as guests or be guests in their houses. (Barclay) Again, the people of the law not only obeyed their scriptures, but also followed traditions and teachings of ancient rabbis. One of these teachings was “Keep far from an evil neighbor and do not associate with the wicked”. (Interpreters Bible) So can’t you just hear the uppity tone of the Pharisees, seeing the ilk of people who Jesus had surrounded himself with, scoffing and challenging him in front of his followers saying in verse 11: “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” The King James version of the Bible reads: “Why eateth your master with publicans and sinners?” The New Living Translation reads: “Why does your teacher eat with such scum?” By spending his time with “tax-collectors and sinners” Jesus was committing a very bold act in the eyes of the holy Jewish priests, he was doing something the pious Pharisees would never do.

3. Jesus Response
Now in verses 12 & 13 we see Jesus responding, fully aware of the political offenses he was making. When we think deeply about Jesus response to the Pharisees, it is an “oh snap” situation. Now, for those of you who don’t speak the vernacular of the young people, “oh snap” is a slang expression used to convey shock or surprise, particularly after a stinging rebuttal in confrontational circumstances. In verse 12 Jesus says “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.” The King James Version reads: “They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.” I like the sound of that. Jesus continues to make quick work of the Pharisees by telling them to “Go and learn what this means, I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” Jesus quoted from Hosea 6: 6 (which I hope sounds familiar, as it was used as our Old Testament lesson). Jesus is telling the supposed experts that they are not experts. The Pharisees challenged him, trying to embarrass him in front of his followers, and he responds by telling them to go back to school! I’m sure the Pharisees were shocked and surprised indeed. Oh snap. The end of verse 13 contains the crucial element to Jesus message: “For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.”

Now, let’s read that last part again: “For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.” What? Are we to infer that Jesus meant there are some that don’t need him? Is he saying there are some of us that he’s not worried about, because we’re already good enough? Certainly not. “He was not saying that there were some people who were so good that they had no need of anything which he could give; nor was he saying that he was not interested in people who were good…Jesus was saying ‘I did not come to invite people who are so self-satisfied that they are convinced they don’t need anyone’s help; I came to invite people who are very conscious of their sin and desperately aware of their need for a savior” He was saying ‘It is only those who know how much they need me who can accept my invitation.” (Barclay) How do I dare put words in Jesus mouth you may ask? Just think about what he said a few words earlier; he compared himself to a doctor: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.”

4. We’re All Sick.
Think about it. Who here likes to go to the Doctor? If you’ve seen Farris Buehler’s day off, or if you’ve had children, or if you’ve ever thought about faking sick yourself, no one would choose going to the doctor’s office when they’re home sick, that’s worse than going to school! Recently I had some foot problems (probably due to my excessive flip flop wearing). A lot of the staff here at church would see me limping around, and ask if I had seen a doctor. I would answer in the excuse voice, “nah, just hopin it wears off” or try to come up with some lame reason “might just be the weather” or whatever. I made excuses to not want to go see the doctor. Why? Well, 1. it’s expensive and 2. it’s a pain to make an appointment and miss work or get up early or whatever. But really, deep down, the reason I didn’t want to go see a doctor is I was afraid something was wrong. My Dad is diabetic. So I’m genetically pre-disposed to diabetes plus being overweight doesn’t help anything. One of the symptoms of diabetes is foot problems. I didn’t want to go to the doctor because I was scarred I’d have to face some hard consequences and even harder changes. I don’t want to admit that I have problems. So I put off going to the doctor and pretend that everything is fine. That realization made Jesus words so real to me: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.” IN ORDER TO SEE A DOCTOR YOU MUST FIRST ADMIT THAT SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH YOU. If not a full admission, at least you have to be open to the possibility of there being something wrong with you. You see in the Pharisee’s world, they’re self-righteous. They are teachers and keepers of the law, so their pride insulates them from the reality of their sin. The Pharisees don’t want to admit that they are sick. They might even be so delusional to think that they’re no way THEY COULD EVER BE SICK. The truth is, we’re all sick. So when Jesus talks about not healing the healthy and not calling the righteous, it’s tongue in cheek. To accept the call of Jesus you have know that you need him. You have to know that you are sinful; you have to know that you’re sick and he is the remedy. Jesus calls everyone, but the “righteous” (or really, self-righteous) do not heed his call.

Sermon Pt. 1

Here it is....comments encouraged.

Matthew 9: 10-13. “Doctor, Doctor, Give me the News”

In three verses there sure is a lot to talk about. These words of Jesus are powerful, but once you begin to grasp the historical and political contexts, the message of Christ is all the more scandalous. I’m going to explore the historical context first, then, I’ll bring us right up to today. I hope you don’t get too bored, but I plan to show you how people really haven’t changed in 2,000 years, how we’re still fighting the same fights, and that Jesus words are still as true today as they were when they left is lips. So here we go.

1. Setting the Scene/The What
Matthew’s gospel informs us that Jesus was sitting and eating dinner with other guests. Some translations use the word “reclining”. (interpreters bible, New American Standard Bible) That word reclining gives us a bit of a different picture- Jesus wasn’t having a power lunch, he and his disciples were guests- he was hanging out. And with whom? Tax-collectors and sinners. Today, the IRS isn’t a very popular institution and taxes really don’t make much sense to me, but at least they’re under the guise of honesty. In Jesus’ context, tax-collectors were some of the most hated people on the planet. Here in the Roman system, called “tax-farming”, rights to tax over a certain area were leased out to individuals who could afford it for a flat fee. Local aristocrats who obtained the rights would then try to collect more than the fee in order to profit by the arrangement, with an obvious potential for abuse. (New Oxford Annotated Bible) The actual TAX-COLLECTORS were sort of like underlings who were faced with lots of pressure to bring in as much money as possible and were thus despised by the populace. These are the people Jesus kept company with, verse 10: “And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting (reclining) with him and his disciples”

Thoughts

1. My buddy Jeremy got married this past weekend. I'm starting to catch myself thinking about reception decorations, help! Seriously, it was a lovely weekend and i'm happy for the Ventresca's.

2. Saw Pirates 3. Basically, see my Spider Man review below and substitute pirates for super heros. Too much too much too much, ugh. They just added plot elements and expected everyone to know what they were (like the pieces of 9, what is that?) I couldn't keep up with all the backstabbing. Whats the deal with trilogy's man? The matrix- 1st one, one of the best movies of my generation. The other two? Bad news. Same goes with Pirates. Spider Man 2 suffered the same fate, I hope Shrek doesn't.

3. I'm currently reading "The Cost of Discipleship" by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, whew, it's tough. Makes me feel like a weenie Christian.

4. Thats all for now, more thoughts later this week hopefully.

5. Oh ya, i'm preaching on Sunday. I'll post my sermon in sections, comments welcome. I'm also hoping to post some questions after Sunday for my congregation to check out. Aren't I trendy!?!?!?!?!?

Updates.

-last weekend confirmed 27 seventh graders into our church. yes!
-last weekend, moved out of apartment as our lease was up.
-this weekend, attending former roomates wedding in Camdenton, MO.
-tomorrow, summer intern starts.
-tonight, picking up best friend from the airport, as he's been teaching in France for a year.
-preaching at our church, June 3.

i'm pooped. not much room for blogging right now, sorry.

New Project

2 things.

One, head over to www.espngod.blogspot.com to see something new, join me!

Howie, i've got a reply waiting in the the "edit post" section, and I just want to do a good job with it. Hold tight!

Later.

Spider Man 3 Review

(warning: quasi-spoilers ahead)

I'm proud to say I was part of the biggest box office opening weekend in history, and at $11 for a ticket, I certainly did my part. I was pretty excited about Spidey 3, and the entourage of friends from church and other various acquaintences totaling about 20. We went to the 10:10pm showing on "The Mega Screen" that our Galaxy theatre has. I'm pretty sure you could see this thing from space, so that was awesome. The line was literally to the parking lot, it was insane. I'd like to reccomend www.fandango.com for ticket purchasing, very convienient.

Ok, onto the movie. All in all, I was entertained and glad I saw it. That being said, I do have some thoughts.

Part of what made Spider Man 1 and 2 so great is that even though comic book movies are ridiculous, they treated them seriously. Dr. Octopus was one of the best villains ever, because they gave him dignity by showing more than him scaleing buildings and robbing banks (although that was really cool).

But Spider Man 3 doesn't do that. It has developed similar strategies as the latter Batman Movies, or as I like to call it: X-Men syndrome. IT'S ALL TOO MUCH. Rather than having 3 villains with 3 plots that didn't really get the proper time spent on them, why not have one AWESOME main villain, like Doc-Oc with Harry Osbourne as an ongoing sub-plot? I just thought that Sandman, Venom, and Hobgoblin were all too cool to have just thrown them together, and not really do any of them justice. Also, this movie is a little too self-effacing, and the cheese factor was just too high. There's one montage that spoofs "stayin alive" and Peter Parkers looks exactly like the dude from Brighteyes.

Ultimately, there was no way I wasn't going to like this movie. However, it's definately my least favorite of the Spider Man's so far, and I hope they do at least one more to redeem this cheesy effort. With record setting weekends, you know they will.

The latest Beard Salute

In what is I believe our 3rd or 4th installment, i'd like to salute Baron Davis' beard. The Golden State Warriors point guard has worn a goatee for a while, but really is lettin the beard rock this year, and it's working. The Warriors are in the 2nd round of the playoff's, and pulled off one of the biggest upsets in NBA history beating the 1 seed Dallas Mavericks as a number 8 seed.

Good job Baron, and keep the beard lookin fresh.

Quote

In my post below, I hope I didn't come off as one of those "got it all figured out guys". I'm reading "Orthodoxy" by G.K. Chesterton and I think he has a great example of Christian SUPERnatural thought, vs. the naturalist explaination of the order of things:

"All the towering materialism which dominates the modern mind rests ultimately upon one assumption: a false assumption. It is supposed that if a thing goes on repeating itself it is probably dead; a piece of clockwork...Now, to put the matter in a popular phrase, it might be true that the sun rises regularly because he never gets tired of rising. His routine might be due, not to a lifelessness, but to a rush of life. The thing I mean can be seen, for instance in children, when they find some game or joke that they specially enjoy. A child kicks his legs rhythmically through excess, not absence, of life. Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, "Do it again"' and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhpas God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, "Do it again" to the sun; and every evening, "Do it again" to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy seperately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we."

Hillarious Commercial

The Problem

Hello blog people. I know entries have been a little spotty, but this should be a little thicker than posts of late. Last night John Drage from The Rock spoke at our High School youth worship, and he really put the capstone on lots of things that have been floating around my head, mostly from books i've been reading, which in the following paragraphs I will blatently plunder and pass off as my own thoughts.

In America, we've got phrases like "culture war" in our vocabluary. You can use that phrase for all sorts of trends/cultures/beliefs in our country, but I will present the "war" between Christianity and Naturalism (which we will define shortly). Just look at the litigation in recent years over curriculum in schools and separation of church and state, the whole "In God We Trust" on our currency, the battles over "one nation under God" in the pledge of allegiance, the recent "Lost Tomb of Jesus" stuff in print and on Discovery channel, TIME/People magazine going to the well for another "God vs. Science" coverstory every 3 months...I could go on. There's clearly a division among worldviews in our country. I will attempt to outline 2 in my meager way, and then reveal that we have the same problem on both sides of the spectrum.

I will define a Christian as one who believes in an eternal, personal God who is the author of creation, who revealed himself through the inspired holy scriptures (i'll leave what scriptures are included as scriptures and how they are interpreted up to the reader for simplicities sake) and ultimately in his begotten son Jesus Christ, and continues to reveal himself through the holy spirit. The Christian believes that the universe IS ordered and that there IS a moral/ethical absolutre and his name is Jesus Christ. I've tried to make this definition pretty generic, as most Christians couldn't agree what exactly a Christian is, which is kind of funny and sad at the same time. Anyways, moving on.

I will define a naturalist as one who does not believe in the existance of an eternal, personal God. The universe is a mysterious result of time + chance, yet this mystery can be "unlocked" or observed through impirical, observable evidence and rational reasoning. Mankind arrived through natural selection and therefore through his rational thought, progress, and advancement can make his own parameters about his past, present, and future with no absolutes other than whatever is existential.

Obviously, you can sense my bias towards the former, but here a goes.

The problem is this: Niether the Christian NOR the Naturalist REALLY believes what they say they believe. (or at least, not to the extent that they think they do. Read that last part again and see if it makes more sense the second time.)

The Christian is too lawless and the Natuaralist is not lawless enough.

As Dallas Willard points out, you can have a Christian family and a secular family living on the same street and you wouldn't know the difference. I'm not just pointing the finger here, i'm right up there with everyone else. If we REALLY think that Jesus REALLY existed and the story is not just a story with a nice moral code but a call to REALLY live wholly/holy and participate in the Kingdom of God then we are not doing a really good job, at all, across the board historically, and currently in every arena of American life- economically in our giving and stewardship, socially in our compassion, corporately in our churches, and MOST IMPORTANTLY personally in our relationships. We are too lawless- we are not living by Jesus command to love God and love neighbor, period. (is it neccessary to put an actually period after the emphatic word period that ends a sentance? Interesting digression...)

On the other end of the spectrum, the naturalist has not adequately dealt with his claims either. For if there is no God, no order from whence we were created, and as the naturalist doctrine claims- we are just a different configuration of natural elements, then there is no order or reason by which they can substantiate their very championing of reason and rationalization. Chaos does not move towards order. In less confusing terms, if we have no higher reason to think about any one but ourselves, then there is no absolute good and evil other than whatever we rationalize for ourselves. Therefore, whatever is immediately good for me and only me according to my "natural" instinct is how I should behave. Naturalists cannot claim that man has no higher purpose but then appeal to a higher purpose of reason in defense of man living for "the common good". The naturalist is not living as lawlessly as he contends the nature of the universe is.

The common thread is what Francis A. Schaeffer refers to as "Personal peace and affluence". We've all got it made. As Americans, and particularly where I live in West St. Louis County, we're comfy. Do I REALLY depend on God for "daily bread"? NO! Literally i've got bread thats probably to old to eat in my crisper drawer, and figurativley i've got all these plans and then try to include God somewhere in there. Other scholars (and this is what prompted my mention of John as he did a great job of outlining this for us on Sunday night) point to a historical period referred to as panem et circenses, or bread and circuses. Basically, as long as our needs are met and we're entertaining ourselves, we don't realize the rut we've gotten ourselves into, neither the Christian or the Naturalist.

So all of this "culture war" between religious/Christian and secular society is really just silly because both of us are in bed with our own comfort. As Christians, we will verify our claims to truth by the difference we make in our communities and the world (or rather, the difference God makes through us because of the difference God makes in us). So who cares if you're arguing about creationism vs. big bang vs. evolution vs. intelligent design if you don't LIVE LIKE YOU WERE INTELLIGENTLY DESIGNED (fearfully and wonderfully made!). Who cares what your kids are learning at school if you don't model it at home. For the Christian- we have a higher calling and we better act like it. For the naturalist- why do you really care if we all just die anyway?

But the problem is the same for both, we don't really behave like we believe. Jesus addressed this in his life on Earth, and perhaps we can have a nice discussion around this subject because i'm tired of typing and pretty much out of things to say right now. Peace.

Cards Game

Got some sweet tickets to the Cards game last Saturday. 17 rows behind home! It was freezing and we payed way too much for hot chocolate, but it was still a blast. They're above .500 now! In other news, i've finished Rob Bell's Sex God. Despite the provocative title, it's a really good book.

23

Is it just me, or does Don Imus look like Magneto's grandpa?

In other news, i'm 23 years old today. Kind of a lack luster birthday. One of the only real implications is whether i'm in my early twenties or my mid twenties now. I contend that i'm in my late-early twenties. Car insurance will drop at 25, so I guess i'm looking forward to that!

Phonezoo

Enjoy.


Create free ringtones at Phonezoo

Easter Eve

It's about the 3rd post in a row i've started off with a "gosh I haven't posted anything in a while" mindset.

If you'd like to check out some devo's and something with a little more depth, check out www.lwyouth.org

If you'd like to hear some random thoughts i've had, read on.

People I think are creepy/annoying:
-The guy from the UPS "whiteboard" commercials
-The Dyson vaccum guy
-Joakim Noah (Florida Gators basketball star)

Stuff that i've recently found (or continue to find) awesome:
-www.phonezoo.com
-men's wearhouse
-Reeses Peanut Butter Eggs
-power tools (i've recieved a drill for my upcoming birthday)
-dual meat dishes (chili dogs, chicken cord-on-blue, etc. I think i've went over this a while ago.)
-no easter sunrise service
-lo-carb energy drinks

Other thoughts:
-blades of glory was hillarious
-remember when raising the roof was cool?
-Easter should be the same weekend as passover
-turning 23 isn't that cool, can't wait until 25 when the car insurance drops
-the more I learn about taxes, the more I learn i'm getting screwed. although, here's something I do...i know that the US gives foriegn aid to Africa and other places. I just imagine that all the money out of my check goes there! it makes paying 30% of your check almost fun!
-the Cardinals need to raise the payroll, geez. 1-4. awesome.

Well, I guess thats all for now. I hope everyone has a blessed Easter.

Back in the Motherland

We made it home from Mexico, to check out photos/videos go to lwyouth.org

I'm pretty tired.

Finished Dan Kimball's "They Like Jesus, But Not the Church". About 1/3 through Sam Harris' "The End of Faith". Whew.

Also was able to keep up with ESPN's Pardon the Interruption through podcasts. Sound good cause they free!

More, later?

Mexico

What up guys.

I'm in Mexico, with my computer and wireless internet! Cool!

Check out the youth web page for blog entries from south of the border, and some pics. As I write this they are taking a long time to load.

Again, sorry for the lack of posting, i've been busy boy. Who isn't?

Peace.

New stuff

Hey gang.

Check out:

http://www.lwyouth.org

Thats what i've been doin the past couple days.

Leavin for Mexico on Saturday. I hope to have kids post things from there, maybe throw some pics up. More later.

Air Guitar

A month or so ago, the Blue Note in Columbia MO held an air guitar contest. I'm friends with the dude featured in the story, pretty hillarious. Check out the story here.

Customer Service

As a young male, it really bothers me when I walk into a store and am ignored by the employees who have obviously sized me up and deemed that I won't be a "big spender" and am therefore unworthy of courtesy. The worst examples of this are probably music stores. Where the dudes working treat you like an idiot and try to sell you some Fender Squire if they even talk to you at all. Arg!

Other exhibits include the odd glances and glassy stares of the cologne-perfume-behind-the-counter-ladies at Famous Barr/Macy's/Dillards/etc. As an "unkept" looking indvidual I often get passed over, or perhaps they're just intimidated by my man-size beard. I recall being at one of these stores as a child with my Father, trying to purchase some perfume for my Mom for her birthday or something. After no sales associates were of assistance my Dad literally got out his gold card, waved it above his head, and loudly proclaimed "I'VE GOT MONEY!!!"

Classic Brent Mustoe. I love it. Clearly a disdain for poor business practice is in my genes.

So, there's some background. Today I get on the phone with a guy from "Mac Headquarters" to ask them about whats wrong with my powerbook. After answering my query about how late they were open (which I asked in a very friendly tone by the way) I said: "So I have a couple more questions for you, can I just tell you whats going on with my Apple?" or something like that. He responds with some non-intelligable noise and then retorts in a demeaning tone "Uh....I guess". So I say: "I'm sorry, am I bothering you? I just want to buy some memory". Sensing my agitation, he makes up for it with: "Ya, I said I guess." Whatever.

The point is I hate when I.T. or computer dudes get all high and mighty as if you're an idiot. As a customer, I don't think I should get the impression that i'm inconviencing this guy when all i'm trying to do is drive half an hour to his store and buy a really expensive piece of plastic and copper. I can't stand indignant techies who are so mortified by the pleabians who can't do anything computer related for themselves.

The point? We can't do this as the church. "We" can't be like snobby Apple guy and get all high and mighty using our big fancy words and then scoffing when those who are new to the fold (or have made up the fold for quite some time for that matter) don't possess the same knowledge and passion for "our" terminology, history, and particular, granular theology. This certainly needs to be tempored with education, discipleship, and a call to conviction as sinners but let's not pretend that we're above that mentally or practically.

People in the church aren't customers and we shouldn't discriminate like the people at retail stores according to socioeconomic status...or even worse judging people's hearts and sinfull tendancies by outward things.

I hope my church models the value of every individual simply because they're created in God's image, not because we want another tither in our midst or a number to my attendance chart at youth group. Nothing repels a person more than being treated like they don't matter or maybe worse like they only matter because of their possible benfits.

Thats how people get treated in the economic realm, not the ecclesial one. (killer last line huh!?!?!?!)

Back in the saddle

Hello all my blog people.

Well, this officially ends my longest blog drought to date. Much like my friend Adam, I don't think i'll come up with some big apology. I haven't really had the muse upon me to blog, there's been a period of trial and sickness both in our congregation and my family, plus, I just got my laptop fixed today (more RAM, system re-install...UH, YOU'RE WELCOME!).

Also, I came to to the realization that not much of what I say matters. The blog is a great way to function, communicate, vent, ponder, share, etc. All of those good things. But at the same time...if I don't post for a month the world somehow soldiers on. That being said, i'm back!

I just finished "Listening to the Beliefs of Emerging Churches" and it was a good read. I also have been emersed in C.S. Lewis and got back my Sam Harris book from whom I leant it, so I've got some pretty good material lined up I think.

So, hopefully more will be coming. Thanks for checking back.

Brand-X

Here is an article from Yahoo.com about how to represent yourself, literally to treat yourself like a brand of toilet paper or light bulb. This is ridiculous.

Devotion

Here's a devotion I gave at our Church Council meeting. Just to let you know I don't just blab online and then never do anything beyond a computer!

Church Council Devotion, 1.22.2007

“Growing”

When I was in 6th grade, my voice started to crack and although it was not as impressive or respect commanding as it is now, I had facial hair. I was going through what biologists and middle school teachers call “puberty”. This puberty is well documented: hormonal balances changing, brain patterns altering, fuzzy feelings occurring, new odors emerging, all sorts of fun stuff. Some of us were early bloomers, some were late bloomers, which in retrospect didn’t really leave room for just bloomers. That’s another topic altogether.

I survived puberty and went to college. Then after college you’re thrust into “the real world” as biologists and middle school teachers call it. What I’ve found is that most young adults in America suddenly enter a second puberty no body ever told them would happen to them. All through school you’re told to go to college and everything will work out fine: you’ll end up 32 years old, married with a beautiful spouse, with 2 kids, a dog, and a great career. The problem is no body has an outline for how this is going to pan out. There’s no “7 effective habits” to figure out what you’re supposed to do to get through this spiritual and professional puberty. When you’re 13, it’s weird to have hair under your arms all of a sudden but it’s a lot easier to deal with being 23 and trying to answer the looming question what am I going to do with my life?

I was able to identify the call of God upon my life, so please don’t read too much into the paragraph above. You may be wondering…what is this dude talking about, and why have I already heard about his hairy nature so much? Well, I’ll tell you.

Our church is going through puberty. I don’t care what Willow Creek or Saddle Back or Windsor Crossing, or North Point Community, or The Rock (where I went to church during college), or Church of the Resurrection is doing, it’s not the same as here. We have different people in a different context with a unique playground in which God wants us to play. Let’s read books and go to trainings and figure out what has worked elsewhere, by all means! But what WE have to do is figure out how God is calling us to live, to be always discerning how God is leading us to function as a living body of Christ. Churches that are “successful” are not all following some mysterious paradigm we haven’t purchased the rights to, it’s not some model we’re just missing out on, they’re being faithful to how God is calling them to work, in their particular context.

What’s hard about puberty, about growing up, is that it always seems foreign and the other side of it seems unimaginable. Then, years later through a process of experience and learning you see that the changes you went through were good, hopefully. Those folks at Salem-New Ballwin sure were adventurous to plant a church further west. You can go down and see the names on a plaque of the people who built the new sanctuary, I’m sure glad they did. I’ll bet both those groups of people had tough calls to make. But we all have benefited greatly from their efforts in God’s name.

Throughout the New Testament Jesus speaks to us about trees, plants, seeds, fruit-- things that grow. With the possible exception of Chia Pets things that grow take nurture, care, and a lot of thought and even more time. Consider the following scriptures:

Matthew 7: 18, 20…”A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

Matthew 13: 1-9…The parable of the sower.
13: 23…”The One who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what sown.

Matthew 13: 32...The parable of the mustard seed. “Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows It is the largest of garden plants…”

John 15: 1-5…The vine and the branches. “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful.”

There’s plenty more, but I’m not trying to impress you with my ability to search biblegateway.com or go through the gospels or concordances. I’m trying to show you that in God’s Kingdom the seeds are planted, watered, grown, and even pruned. So this church council can prune our part of the vine which is embodied in our church. It ain’t always pretty. How many of you have splintered limbs out by the street corner?

Growing is a continual process. Pruning takes planning and care. When a seed is planted, it’s hard to imagine that it will one day be a massive living creature. When your kids went through puberty, I’ll bet it was hard to imagine them being a full fledged contributing member of society. At this point, with our congregation, it might be hard for us to conceive of all the great things God wants to do in us and through is if we remain faithful.

But just like puberty, it’s awkward, not very much fun, and sometimes you start to smell and you don’t know why. There’s no step by step manual for precisely how EUMC transforms into Living Word just like there wasn’t a pamphlet for how to be 13.

Puberty is the name we’ve given the biological changes in adolescence, and I hope this body can lead us through our church’s puberty, through our church’s flowering--with a proper respect and honor for what has been, a commitment to what is, and a healthy enthusiasm for what could be.

Stuff It

Here is a good article I saw on Relevantmagazine.com today.

How much of everything we do is motivated by the accumulation of stuff? Or as Francic A. Shaeffer would put it: "Personal peace and affluence". Education, Career, the way we raise our kids...how much is taken over by the fact we want ourselves and our children to be "successful" which of course means, rich. Take a look, some of the stats are pretty shocking.

Quick Update and Story

Hello all my blog people, it's been too long! Things are nuts-o around here, in a good way. I've seen a couple movies and finished a couple books which I hope to "review"/share my thoughts on here. More on Sam Harris' stuff eventually as well.

So I was at the bank last week, depositing a check as our internet was down due to the power outages, so no direct deposit from the ol' Church. All this is to say that I normally don't go into the Bank, so I was a bit sheepish.

It wasn't to busy and I stepped right up to the teller, although I was greeted by the ...er...greeter and he asked "Hey, how's the youth group goin?" which I thought was cool. Anyways the teller and I get to talking and I presumed she noticed the check, or somehow we got to talking about the fact that I work at a church and she asked if I was Catholic. I replied no, and that I worked at the Methodist church down the street. To which she said: "So what to Methodists believe in?"

Me: *gasp* uh...you know...God...Jesus...really not too different from Catholics, some stuff sure, but basically the same stuff.

Her: (awkwardly) Oh, ok.

Me: (trying to muster a decent response) Well, the Methodists really emphasize grace alot.

Her: *blink**blink* ...like, grace before you eat?

Me: (feeling stupid/arrogant because I almost laughed) No, no, no, like...we're all really screwed up people but Jesus died for us and there's not much we can do to make up for that, but we try really hard anyway.

We somehow transitioned into scandals involving clergy and how destructive they are. Our conversation length was aided by the fact that the transaction I was trying to do was taking abnormally long.

But all this goes to show how insulated I am as a Christian, and a church staff person. Here you think that you can be all subvertive about the love of Christ and show people that in how you live, how you don't ever wanna be "in somebody's face" about relgiion/faith, whatever. Then next thing you know someone asks you a simple, honest question and you stand there dumbfounded! Ugh!

It also shows how "Christianeese" is not the vernacular of our time. What I meant by the deep, mysterious, theological contruct was taken for a much more practical ritual and they were both correct, but I assumed so much in my casual use of terminology. Whew. It was quite a trip.

Now I Understand

I had heard so many graduation speeches or sermons or blogs talk about C.S. Lewis I would get all snooty and thought he was played out. Now I know why so many people are just enamored with his writings. Some of us are going through "The Screwtape Letters" and i've been listening to "Mere Christianity" on audiobook. It's just nuts. Here's one good selection:

"One of our great allies at present is the Church itself...when he goes inside, he sees the local grocer with rather an oily expression on his face bustling up to offer him one shiny little book containing lituragy neither of them can understand...When he gets to his pew and round him he sees just that selection of his neighbours whom he has hitherto avoided...Provided that any of those neighbors sing out of tune, or have botts that squeak, or double chines, or odd clothes, the patient will quite easily believe that their religion must therefore be somehow ridiculous." (pgs 5-6) Written as a letter from one demon giving advice to another in securing a human soul for hell.

It's easy to have some high ideal of what church is like. But it's filled with people with a bunch of problems, just like me and you. Sometimes as a church staff member you can read so many books about leading or evangelising or discipling that you get so puffed up and concerned about the forest that you dont' take care of the trees. I hope that is as profound as it felt to type, or at least makes sense. More from Mr. Lewis soon i'm sure.

Comfortably Number

I found this guys blog over at Spitbox. This is a great expounding on the problem and importance of numbers.

3 posts in one day...amazing!

This was sent from my boy Justin, pretty nuts. Makes you want to quit playing guitar.

Are you serious?

Check this out

One More Sports Rant

Three things here.

1. The Gatorade-dump on the coach is played out. Seriously guys, can we be done with this? Unless i'm mistaken the whole thing started with the Giants winning the Super Bowl in the late 80's with Bill Parcells. After the 06-07 Bowl season, I even saw multiple dump attempts in the same game. Also, you run a high embarrassment risk if you dump on the coach when the game looks like it's in the bag...then the team comes back with a last minute win a la Boise State over OU. If you wanna make your coach proud, try not getting arrested. But if you're gonna try and be cute for the cameras, let's try and be a little more creative, if not more funny in our pranks on the coach:

-Why not have that third string quarterback sneak up behind coach on all fours, then have the offensive line coach give him the ol' shove? COMEDIC GOLD!
-Pass out those headsets the staff wears to everybody on the team, who then does their best coach impression.
-Howabout introducing the victory wedgie?

I'm just throwin those out there. You don't like em', throw em' right back. I'll try to stop using 'em' now.

2. Joakim Noah, give the screaming a rest man. If you're that intense about every play it just loses it's effectiveness. Last night you missed a dunk, got your own rebound (which was impressive), but then dished to your teamate who then scored. Rather than being modest on account of missing a jam, you still gave us your primal rage routine. Save it for the tourney.

3. The advertisements in sports are getting ridiculous. You can't even watch Sportscenter inbetween the massive amount of commercials without getting some in-program product promotion. Ugh! The Budweiser HotSeat, the Coors Light Silver Spotlight, the Burger King King of the night, it's like a live action Nascar hood. Does anyone watching ESPN need to be informed what brands of beer are available? I'm not even going to address all the erectile dysfunction commercials, which are bordering on obscene (I don't want to hear the word erection on TV, especially while watching a game with the fam).
But at least Sportscenter is consistant. Here in St. Louis the Blues now play in the Scott Trade Center, formerly known as the Saavis Center, ever more formerly known as the Kiel Center. Geez. Nobody around here knows what to call it. So this got me thinking, what if instead of capital campaigns in our congregation we just sold exclusive name rights to our buildings? Imagine: The Doritos Pulpit, the Kentucky Fried Chicken Early Childhood Center (KFC ECC), the Papa Johns Youth Night, the possibilities are endless!

Dallas and Darwin

Ok, a late night rant is good. I haven't dabbled in sports too much since the Cards World Series victory (!) so here it goes.

Tony Romo. Dudes, this is a product of the hype. Let's recap shall we? Romo has like, 4 good games, one 5 touchdown game. He can move better than Bledsoe, and was rumoured (British spelling!) to have dated Jessica Simpson. Then, the Cowboys lose 4 of their last 5 games, lose their division, back into the playoffs and you botch the game winning field goal snap. Nice work for a bench player who got a quick ticket to the pro bowl. Ugh. I'm so tired of hearing about Romo, T.O., and all other things about the Dallas Cowboys ending in the letter "O". You had a nice run for about a month Romo, but i'm glad we're done with you for the year.

Notre Dame. I'm sorry, they're not that good. Who did they play this year? Nobody! A mildly tough away game against Georgia Tech to open the season where they managed to chalk up two scores. A win against UCLA, which is only significant because the Bruins beat USC the last game of the season, but then is negated by the fact that USC stuck it to the Fightin' Irish. Notre Dame is another product of the hype. They're simply not that good. Maybe take care of business against Michigan, USC, or LSU and then you can merit all the chatter on sports talk shows, until then i'm tired of them too. What would have been perfect is if Tony Romo had played at Notre Dame.

Ironically, we talked at youth group tonight about some of the similarities between Sports and the Church; a pretty good discussion!

Speaking of which, i'm still percolating on "Letter to A Christian Nation". Here's one thing I don't understand: How can you claim that man is product of biological hapenstance then subsequently claim that he should behave anything but instinctly like any other animal on the planet as a result of the same process? In other words, if man is a simple animal and you believe in Darwin's natural selection, then nothing in our lives should be anything except self preservation and the perseverence of the species. Darwin can explain why butterfly's have spots on their backs but not why you love your wife.

C.S. Lewis makes his case for this with his explaination of the moral law, or man's nature. More on that and better articulation about my thoughts on "Letter to a Christian Nation" soon.

I just bought, read, and am reflecting on Sam Harris' Letter to A Christian Nation. In essence, Harris lays out his case that religion is threatening modern society as it does not alleviate human suffering but actually contributes to it. This book was written largely in response to negative feedback from Christians that Harris recieved over his NY Times bestseller "The End of Faith" which I also bought today but it's a lot longer. Harris favors the progress of science and rationality over the absurdity and irresponsibility of religion (not JUST Christianity, but mostly).

Harris has several good points, some of which I might even agree with. But overall this is a very polarizing strategy- remember, he's trying to sell books! He says some very inflamatory things, but it kept the pages turning. I'm gonna have a hayday with this one. More later.

Question

Watching the NFL on Sunday at the end of the Chiefs game the announcer says:

"The NFL is the best thing going in America on Sundays."

...is it?

Better, Faster, Stronger

Thanks to Steven for the link.

Chevy has announced a new and improved Malibu design.

This is it's 3rd makeover in 5 or so years and to be honest I'm not sure how I feel about it, not that it matters really.

In Pursuit of Kleenex

Just got back from Will Smith's "In Pursuit of Happyness", it was a tear-jerker. Smith plays Christopher Gardner, a San Francisco medical supply salesman who's barely making ends meet for his wife and son. The "bone density" machines he sells are like suped-up Xray machines, and no one seems to need them as much as he needs to sell them. Late rent, no taxi fare, no child care, etc etc Gardner gets an in with an investment firm and puts it all on the line to land an actual paying job.

The plot is based on a true story, and the real dude makes a low-key cameo at the end. Smith son plays the little boy and if he was any cuter I might have actually exploded. There are so many moments (which are almost all exclusively close ups of Smith holding little Smith) where the movie makes you realize how easy you have it, and how hard the world is.

So, IKOTM reccomends this movie but bring some tissues. Guys, bring some tweezers to pull some nose hairs if you want to impress your date. I am a huge Will Smith fan, and this just continues to show how good he really is at everything. Movies, add this to the list. TV, Fresh Prince one of the best shows ever. Music, maybe his weakest suit, but I still rock Big Willie Style on the iPod...bouncin in the club when the heat is on...Great movie!

New Years

I think the "coolest" new years i've ever had was in 6th grade...we stayed up till midnight and banged pots n' pans outside. I think it was cool because my friend Craig's sister had some friends over, and we snuck watching part of "Interview With A Vampire".

Since then I guess it's been a little "lackluster". We'll see what happens in the next couple days. I also don't really understand what Auld Lang Syne is about, even after reading the lyrics and description.

Does anyone have any new years traditions, or at least cool stories? I really hope at least a couple people answer, no body likes an unresponsive blog question.

There was a cool post about resolutions/lists over at Spitbox (check out the link to the right).

More soon I guess, it's nice to be home with fionce and family.

Leave a new years tradition/cool story/reaction! Do it!

Merry Christmas!

Hey everyone. Gettin ready to sit down to some Christmas dinner. It's good to be with family. Here's the present highlights of the day:

electric blanket
ESPN Scene It
"How Then Shall We Live"

So now it's two days of eating and wii'ing before my betrothed one arrives and we have Christmas Round 2! It's good to be me.

Here's something to ponder: Whats the meaning of a gift these days? Do you gift card or not? Some say the gift card doesn't reflect any time or effort and is thus a copout. I say you're just lettin them pick out what they want. Discuss...

Christmas continued...

(If you want to avoid irrelevant musing, skip this paragraph, thanks) Sorry for that last post, I was frightened. I've been away for like, 2.5 weeks now and IKOTM has suffered. So i'm really gonna make an effort to get my blog posts in December up around 15-20. I'm like Def Lepperd coming out with a new album- it's been a while but they'll have lots of material!

This month has just not seemed "Christmasy". There are few who love Christmas music more than me, and I haven't really fired up my iPod that much. We had snow, went sledding, had staff Christmas parties at church, adopt-a-family with youth group, put up the tree with my family, put up Sarah's tree with her family, oh ya, and I GOT FREAKING ENGAGED AT A CHRISTMAS ORCHESTRA CONCERT! But still, no Christmas tingly feeling inside. No wide eyed wonder or dreams about sugar plumb faries. (If anyone could send me a link to some sugar plumb faries that'd be cool, I don't really know what they are.)

So whats the problem? We're 4 days out from Christmas, I should be feeling festive! I've participated in all the "stuff" but it hasn't spurred my yule tide feelings. Is my heart stone like, nay, Scrooge like? Am I shallow enough to not be excited because there are no big ticket presents i've asked for this year? I don't think so, at least I hope not.

The problem is growing up.

The transition from childhood/student life into adulthood is pretty hard. I've found that holidays are a big indicator of this. Anyone remember their first Halloween just sitting at home watching slasher movies on TBS rather than being out scoring pounds of candy? It was devastating. Another milestone was the first Christmas you woke up at 7am, then wanted to go back to sleep more than rush downstairs to open presents. What started in 10th grade has come to full fruition at 22.

Adulthood makes Christmas harder. Now instead of just signing all my parents cards for other people and getting "credit" for their gifts that I didn't help pay for, i've got to get people my own, cause I have a job now! Now, instead of having nothing to do for 3 weeks while home from College, you work the whole time! Now, instead of drooling over the thoughts of action figures and nintendo games Christmas morning, I open up new towels or luggage.....AND I LIKE IT! Function has trumped action, practicality rules. I'll still cling to my stocking candy and the fact that I can mooch off the free food at my parent's house.

I'm thinking Christmas will be a lot more fun when you're married...but then the most fun of all is when you have your own kids, especially once their brains are developed enough to start to understand whats going on.

But I think the reason Christmas is harder as an adult is you think about more than just yourself. You get past feeling good about putting 75cents your parents gave you in the parking lot to put in the red kettle when you were young to thinking about how much people still need help in July too. You think about the fact that you bought a Nintendo Wii and yet you helped a family who didn't have heat. Then you feel bad because you don't feel as bad as you think you should. Re-read that last sentance, see if it makes better sense the second time.

You think about how you don't want your parents to get older, how you hope your Grandma can see her Grandkids well into their lives. You think about the fact that we have no real basis other than tradition to base Jesus brithday on December 25. You think about how lucky you are to have such great people in your life all together at once for Christmas, and you think about how you should keep in touch better the rest of the year.

You think about what you thought Christmas was about when you were young. Then you think about how much more you know now, but really how much less you know. Like how you could discuss the different theories about the magi but really not begin to explain how God made himself into a human, born to a virgin. You think about the fact that baby Jesus had first words, and poopy diapers, just like you did. Then you giggle when you think about Will Farrell's prayer in Taladaga nights, haha, sorry. You think that the story you grew up with isn't just a story, but history. You think about how unbelievably scared Mary and Joseph had to have been. You think about how you can take God's gift to people, not just for a month in December but your whole life until the day you die. You think about what your good friend Steve said, that Christians should be "experts at Christmas". I like that.

Maybe i'm feeling Christmasy after all.

The roof the roof the roof is on fya'

Right now i'm typing on my laptop in a hallway in my apartment. There's many large men working on the roof, and they've taken off our skylight. Thus exposing my sleepy self directly to their unhindered glances. I live upstairs in the loft, and so these guys could literally watch me change or read or pray or whatever it is i'm doing in my room at the time. Ok, my roomate is up and i've moved into his room. Yikes, that was close. I did overhere some Van Halen "Jump" a second ago from the stereo blasting from the roof directly into our living room as there are no fixtures to dampen the sound, that and the fact that our roof won't leak anymore are the only plusses so far.

I guess this could be a good segway into a deep reflection about the passage of scripture where the dudes lower their friend through the roof to have Jesus heal him, but I won't. I'll just say I can understand if the owner of the house was mad about it. They didn't have boom boxes back then though, so I dunno.

It Is Finished.

Hello all my blog people.

Sorry I haven't posted pretty much all of advent. I think you'll forgive me though.

I'm engaged.

Tuesday, December 19. Powell Symphony hall at the Bach Society Christmas Candlelight Concert following a lovely meal on The Hill (area of town, not an actual geographical feature, although it's that too...)

I'd never seen Sarah so happy, or felt so happy myself. So, more on other topics soon. But for right now that's whats goin on!

Check out the ice.

Christmas Prayer

Oh God, we have come into your presence together tonight, wanting to connect with you. The season of advent is often busy and we pause tonight to thank you for the ultimate blessing when you came down and became one of us. It is hard for us to grasp that you, the God who created all that is in this world, the one to whom all good things point to, are the same God that has given us so much to be thankful for this year, the same God who has brought us joy, and brought us through despair and hurt.

Your word tells us about the coming of your son; most of us have heard the stories, God we’ve heard the facts but we’ll never fully understand the mystery. Just as the magi followed the star we’re following your spirit because without your real presence here among us, this is all just decoration. We set up models of a manger scene, even some that light up but we confess that we really have know idea what it took for your very word to become flesh, not as a mighty warrior or a benevolent king, but as a humble servant, born miraculously to a virgin in a trailer park.

God again we have come to thank you for all that you’ve done, all that you’re doing, and all that you’re going to do. God if it pleases you may you do your work through us, your people. We thank you that we have spare change to put in the red ringing buckets. We thank you for the wealth we have to wrap up signs of our love and care for another in shiny pretty paper. We thank you for your grace that fills in our misunderstandings and carries us through this advent season and into the coming year.

God as we move into this time of preparation, may you be with us in very real ways. May we see that ornaments, Christmas carols, holiday movies, home décor, real and artificial trees are all so much fun but they’re not the point. As we proclaim the Christmas season, give us the wisdom and strength to continue to proclaim the coming of your Kingdom here and to come as your very Son did. Come into our hearts, prepare us to once again receive the gift of Jesus. Amen.

Casino Royale/Snow Storm

We have a winner! The new Bond movie is worth all of the $7.50 it cost to view. I would see it again today.

The new dude Daniel Craig...I was a little skeptical about. I'll come out and say it, i've been a Pierce Brosnan fan since Mrs. Doubtfire. But he's the new Bond for sure. Craig has some gnarley looks, yet cleans up well. I'll let other female viewers go into more phsyical observations, but he had the "i'm so smooth I could kill you and not even wrinkle my tux" effect down nicely.

I'm not much of a critic, so I won't go into detail. Let it suffice to say that I own multiple Steven Seagall movies, so i'm fairly easy to please. I'm a sucker for some explosions, fighting, chases, and a couple one-liners. "Casino" had all of that...plus..*gasp* an actual plot, character development, suspense, and witty dialogue! It re-casts the series a la "Batman Begins", another recent favorite. I'm more familiar with Bond spoofs Austin Powers than I am the actual series itself, but Casino had a good mix of obligatory omages (sp?) to the series while also taking it in a newer, more you-know-what-kicking direction without being cheesy. Not to compare too many times, but the last couple Batman movies were parodying themselves, and the Bond series was headed that way too (invisible cars? c'mon.) All the gadgets and product placement were still there, but the movie was still taking itself serious enough.

The other part of yesterday was that we got a ridiculous shot of winter weather. Me and me buddies were 3 of probably 45 people in the mall total, and on the way out we helped push some kids out of a snow drift. They had tried to take their Camry "off roading" in the snow-piled parking lot and had gotten stuck upon entry.

So not only did we see a great movie, but we saved someone a call home to Mommy. Just like Bond would've done.

Progress

A couple posts ago I was talking about how humans really haven't made much progress, my new blog friend Howie had some good things to say, so I'd like to revist that. But for now let me offer this evidence for my case against strictly human efforts:

Today I heard an ad. on the radio for "Plastic Night" at a bar, women can win a free breast augmentation.

*slaps forhead in disgust*

Yuletide Carols

This post could either be late, or timely depending on your answer to the question:

When do you start listening to Christmas music? (for a more overtly theological question, head over to Adam's blog)

This question is really representative of a much larger issue...Thanksgiving being devoured by the Christmas monster. I suspect there is a strong correlation between your views on Christmas music and the sanctity of Thanksgiving. Personally, I think Thanksgiving is awesome. But lets face it, it's pretty much Christmas pre-game. Thus, I stand in support of pre-Thanksgiving Christmas music. Further thusly lumping Thanksgiving into "the holidays". So to bring us full circle, I think you should be able to listen to Christmas music any time after Halloween. There it is.

Recently i've heard a new term out there called "Christmas Creep". This is what we're talking about at Youth on Sunday, so i'm sure i'll recycle some of my material and post it to the blog! So some interesting segways here. But, back to the issue at hand.

The Ultimate Christmas Song Playlist. Or what I like to title it...A Very Mustoe Christmas. Here's the criteria:

1. A mix of classics, newer songs, and newer remakes of classics. This can be tough, and you definately want to avoid a lot of 80's renditions of carols of old.

2. Some unconvetional songs. A nice mix of songs will include some selections with wintery themes that will surprise the listener as they're familiar with the song, but never in a festive context.

3. No repeats. You can only take so much _______________________ (fill in song here). One is enough.

4. No Manheim steamroller. Sorry. Might be cool to see them live, but not on my list baby.

5. Put some tounge in cheek selections in there. "Feliz Navidad" is actually a pretty annoying song...so why not embrace it the way you still love that abrasive relative?

Without further adu (adieu?) here's my best of the best playlist- A Very Mustoe Christmas. The order can be debated, depending on what mood you're going for.

O Christmas Tree- Aretha Franklin
Christmas- Blues Traveler
*Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays- N*Sync.
(Say what you want. I don't care, it's a great song.)
Santa Clause Is Comin to Town- Bruce Springsteen
Let It Snow- Frank Sinatra
This Christmas- Chicago
Long December- Counting Crows
The 12 Days of Christmas- John Denver and the Muppets
O Come All Ye Faithful- Luther Vandross
All I Want for Christmas is You- Mariah Carey
Holly Jolly Christmas- Martin Sexton
Next Year- Jamie Cullum
*The Christmas Song- Nat King Cole
*This Time of the Year- Ray Charles
Winter Wonderland- Tony Bennet
*Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas- Chris Martin or James Taylor. It's a tossup.
*God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen/We Three Kings- Sarah McLachlin and Barenaked Ladies
Rudolph- Jack Johnson
St. Patricks Day- John Mayer
Carol of the Bells- The choir from the Home Alone soundtrack
*=top choices

So, let the debate begin: How early do you listen to Christmas music, and what's on your playlist?

Thanksgiving

Here's some lyrics from a cool song "Thank You"

Thank you Lord, thank you Lord
I know i've fallen short, I know i've fallen short
Thank you Lord, thank you Lord
I know i've fallen short so thank you, thank you, thank you

I don't say it enough, I don't say it enough
Though I have known your love, thought I have known your love
So thank you, thank you, thank you.

On some related side notes: I'm back in the KC with my family and Sarah, it's a blast, and all the food's free! Goin to the Chiefs game tonight, which will be awesome. Also, played a little Nintendo Wii with my cuz, also sweet.

Probably the highlight so far has been the downloading of Aaron Neville's Christmas Album. Seriously, go get it. Thus begins Christmas Music season. Many posts to come on this subject.

Peace and thanks!

Dirty Dishes

One thing that sucks about following Christ is, we have to want to wash the dishes.

Allow me to qualify that statement.

I never saw the movie "The Break Up" but one scene really stuck with me. Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston's characters are argueing as couples do, and you can really tell the nature of the arguement from Vince's one line: "YOU WANT ME TO WANT TO WASH THE DISHES!?!? WHY WOULD I WANT TO WASH THE DISHES!?!?!?" (paraphrased, I never actually saw the movie sorry.)

A lot of times i'll do things because "it's the right thing to do". Giving money to the Salvation Army ringer, being nice to people I really don't like, using my turn signal...etc.

But "doing" is a lot different than "being". I can do all sorts of nice things, but the reasons behind those things are just as (if more?) important than the things themselves. I believe this is what Jesus talks about in Matthew 23: 25-26 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside will also be clean."

Crap.

So I can't just do the right thing but stay the same inside?

Nope.

In Matthew 19 Jesus breaks it down again for us. Not murdering is not enough. You can't harbor anger inside either. Not sleeping with another woman isn't enough- the way you view women can also be adultery inside. You can follow all the commandments but still love your stuff too much.

It goes further than getting the job done, you have to want to wash the dishes.

More later.

PS3

Well, we did it. I sent out an emergency facebook message and 6 youth, a family of 4, and my musical friend Mike came last night. We gathered at the church at 9 to prepare the items, then headed out to Best Buy for the delivery of love to the PS3 folks waiting in line. We hooked it up with hot chocolate, pizza, cosmic brownies, and blow pops. The latter two didn't go over as well as the first two.

Upon arrival, we saw that most everyone (about 30 people) were gathered around a fire in a grill, good idea! So we roll up in a mini van like, right next to the crowd and got some strange looks. I shouted "Wassup! We got somethin for ya" then busted out the table o' pizza love. The next crew came a couple minutes later with the hot chocolate. We were very well recieved!

The stories were crazy. Some people had been living in a tent since Tuesday. One dude was selling his spot in line once it came out this morning. Pretty much everyone was planning on selling theirs on eBay for a riciculous amount of money. The cool part was people were astounded that we would just do this. They kept saying "Where are you guys from?" and "Why are you here?" We told them we all went to the same church and that it was cool to just show some love, that we respected their dedication.

It was a good time and we got to meet some new people and bring a little warmth to the cold Best Buy parking lot.