Here and Now

I was at a "meeting of the minds" the other day as a few of us geared up for leading a three day youth retreat over New Years' weekend. We were talking about getting our workshops together and how we need to be focused in what we're doing and what we say. One of the guys said, "Sometimes I just talk until I have something to say." That's kind of profound, I think. Not deep like "Blessed are the meek" but, still, it's important. I think that it defines our culture. There's an awful lot of "talk" - TV, internet, blogs, YouTube, MySpace, movies, books, magazines, IM, cell phones - and all the hundreds of sub-genres in those spaces... And it's a lot of talk - but only occasionally is there anything to say... Lori and I like a few shows on TV now and several are dealing with faith issues. I like Battlestar Galactica - the humans talk a lot about "the gods" but the cylons (the bad machines) worship the "one

“Daddy,” she said as she looked up at me, “I want to be just like you.” I smiled as I hugged her but I thought to myself, “No, I want you to be so much better.” You see, I know where I’ve failed, where I’m weak, the mistakes that I’ve made. I want so much more for my daughters. You see, they only see the good things (well, mostly the good things…) but I can see it all. That's how my article starts this month for the church newletter - and I go on to make some really deep, theological points...or, probably not... What prompted this opening paragraph was that my girls have both said to me, on very different occasions, that they want to be just like me. I can't imagine why - what do they see in me that I can't see? Where is the good in me? I mean, it must be there, but... Well, it prompted me to write a song about the whole thing. Here's a draft of the lyrics: Be Just Like You Daddy she said looking up at me, I wanna be just like you I want to do all the things you do, I w

It's hell being a kid today. Okay, maybe it always has been, but... A couple months ago a woman beat her boyfriend up with her infant child, swinging the kid like a baseball bat. The kid survived, but with severe brain damage... The other day in Lousiana, parents slept on a mattress while a pit bull puppy chewed off four of their one month old daughter's toes... In Philadelphia a guy punched his 17-month old daughter in the face twice because she may have broken his video game...killling her... The woman whose boyfriend drowned her three kids because they were getting in the way of their relationship was convicted of child endangerment...talk about understatement... Maybe it's always been hell being a kid, but it seems like I'm hearing more and more about it now and it sickens me. I just want to yell at God on days like today. Where were you? What were you doing that morning when some too young to be a father but too stupid not to be kid punches out his daughter over a

We celebrated communion last night at our Modern Worship Service... It was a pretty normal experience for me - leading the prayers, breaking the bread, naming each person as they came forward to receive the body and blood of Christ. My family came toward the middle - all three of people I love most in the world. It wasn't Elie's first communion - I think maybe the second or third time she's received. We've always encouraged our kids to participate as fully as they are able to in worship (yeah, I probably get some flak about that - but this is one case where I'm glad that people would rather talk ABOUT me than TO me...heh). Often, because they're 3 and 6 (yep, Rachel's birthday was last Friday), I'm not sure they really pay much attention to what is going on. But last night was something different for Elie. Three years old and taking on the world. She took her piece of bread, dipped it in the juice (JuicyJuice, of course) and took a small bite. Sh

The other day the garbage truck came to pick up my garbage - which is no unusual event (what IS unusual is that I remembered to put the garbage out that morning). I happened to pull up just after they left my house. When they pulled away, there was a small bag of garbage left on the street. I parked and got out of my car and picked up the bag and put it in our big garbage can that was still at the side of the street. I heard the garbage truck backing up down the street - apparently, they had seen the bag and were going to come back to get it. The guy on the back saw me pick it up, I waved them on - and he smiled and waved back and the truck went the other way down the street. Not a big event, I realize. But I got to thinking. How much garbage trails after me in my life? How many people have had to come in and clean up after me? (Heh - not just my office, which is a disgrace, but REAL messes - life messes - spiritual messes...). How many times have I not even looked in the rea

Michael wrote on his blog the other day that he was at college building nets. I guess he means safety nets. You know, get the training, the networking going so that you can have some kind of security in the future. Get the education so that you can make sure you get a good job and have security in your future. I talk to a lot of people - a lot of Christian people - who have more faith in their pensions and bank accounts than they have in God. They get the reports, the juggle "should I put in more, should I move this to a better fund..." whatever... They want to make sure that they can provide for themselves in the future... Now, I have nothing against pensions - I have one, thank you very much... But I don't know how much is in it - I don't know if it will "be enough" to provide for us when we are old(er...heh). But I know one thing - we're going to be in the hands of the One who has more than enough to provide our every need... If life is a highw

I love Christmas – for, perhaps, all the wrong reasons... I love the joy, the love, the sounds, the smells (mmmm...except fruitcake...yuk), the whole package. But I was thinking this morning about how strange all of our traditions and celebrations really are when you think about it. Christmas is our celebration of the birth of Jesus – our Savior. So, I get the gift giving, and I understand the worship services and I guess the families-getting-together stuff all makes sense... But in Jesus’ birth, God was doing something absolutely revolutionary – something absolutely unique in the history of all time. God Himself coming to be a part of His creation, coming to reveal Himself to that creation in a completely new way, coming to die as an atoning sacrifice for that creation. This is something really powerful. It makes the bows and the gift certificates seem so...trivial, doesn’t it? Before you write me off as anti-Christmas, let me reiterate I love virtually everything about our mode

I just helped repair Ladonna's bicycle. I love Ladonna - most people don't. But I do. Let me explain: Ladonna is a bit of misfit here at First - which is a rich, white, uppity, formal, self-conscious congregation (okay, that might be a little harsh - but only a little). Ladonna is...well, none of those things. I'm not sure what makes Ladonna different - but she is. She has some of the innocence of a 7 year old, she's almost certainly way smarter than I am, she reads voraciously (some really good stuff, too), but her thought processes are sometimes a mystery to me. She loves to give. She rides her bicycle all over town - with shopping bags on the handlbars and the seat (to keep them dry) and a big basket in the back to carry...well, I don't know what, but she's got a lot of stuff in there. Most people tolerate Ladonna - a few people hold her in open contempt - but I don't think she knows or cares. That's part of what I love about her. Sometimes I

I lost my glasses Sunday night. [I posted some UN-graceful things here that I need to retract anc repent...and I will...] Anyway, now that I got that off my chest. I can't find my glasses. I can still see pretty well without them - gives me a headache, but I can read, drive, whatever just fine without them. My eyes just have to work harder, that's all. Really, it's my right eye. I think my left eye is just about normal. With my right eye alone, things are kind of fuzzy - but not unreadable. Just a little out of focus. I think there's a lot of that in the church. I don't think that most people have a greatly distorted view of Jesus, I think that they just can't see Him all that clearly. It's just a little off. I know that's true for me. Sometimes I'm sooooo sure that I have a handle on this whole being a Christian thing - but then I realize that if I squint just a little more, though it might give me a headache, I can see that I was a little bit wron

Failing. I just talked to a mom who's son is a senior in High School and he's failing some classes. He's capable - good grades in the past - but he has lost something - the drive? The will? Hope? Dunno. I don't really know the kid all that well - he doesn't go to this church's youth group - but this mom is really worried because he seems to be failing in his relationship with God, too. So, I'm in chapel at the Christian School again where I lead worship. Where I had failed. I couldn't remember how "In the Secret" started - messed up the melody (fortunately, enough people know that song that they picked it up) then right toward the end I broke a string - the A string - which means that fretting chords becomes weird - and the whole guitar goes out of tune slightly...argh. And the whole "mood" of worship was...discomfort. But I push on. And go to practice with the High School praise team before their chapel service and we can't reall

I happened on this website - The Church You Know ( http://www.thechurchyouknow.com/index.html ) a take off on the NBC commercials The More You Know. I really agree with what these guys are saying (for the most part) and what they're doing. They claim to really love the church - but want to point out some of the stupid, unbelievable, or just plain hypocritical things we do in a somewhat clever way. I might use the worship one in church sometime (if I can get a good copy of it - dunno if they sell them). Reforming the church can only come from within. These guys are doing what Luther did at Wittenburg. It's a call to reform. I get so tired of people who bail on a church because it doesn't meet their expectations - but they're not willing to put the effort and energy into making transformation happen. I look at the task that Jesus (who, by the way is GOD) faced in transforming the Jewish religion. Acts 1:15 says that shortly after Jesus' ascension the number of b

I wish I had done it...but I didn't. Michael made a comment on his blog about boring, bland Jesus - check out this video by RealLivePreacher - his "Communion Wafer Taste Test". http://www.reallivepreacher.com/node/819 Real Live Preacher “If this is a symbol for who we are, it’s really a tragic one because it sort of like looks fancy and nice but there’s no nourishment there at all. Pause. Empty and hollow. I pray that’s not what we’re about. Communion was supposed to have been something better than that.” Wish I had said that...

I have 169 U2 songs on my computer. I set the media player to randomly play the songs - I started with the live version of 40 from the "Under a Blood Red Sky" album - the very next song shuffled? 40 from the "War" album... What are the odds? Well, about 1 in 168, I guess. But it struck me as funny. Friday night Lori and I watched a show called Numbers - it was about randomness. The thing that makes "random" play not truly random in my media player is that it will never repeat the same song. While there might not be a discernable "pattern" (there shouldn't be, though our minds often - maybe even always - seek patterns in randomness) it isn't truly a random selector - the pool of possible songs goes down with each song played. I now have a 1 in 165 chance of pulling the third version of 40 I have as the next song... But I can be assured, that the first two versions played will never play again in this "randomized" shuffl

No, really, is this what really happens? So it IS a series of tubes...

I love reading Brian McLaren. I don't think he's the greatest author that ever lived, or that his ideas are all that earth shattering. But he knows how to put words together. And I'll pay 21 bucks for 15 chapters of someone who knows how to turn a phrase (it's helpful if the phrase is somehow relevant, too, of course...). In The Secret Message of Jesus page 34 he writes: Is it possible that the message of Jesus was less like an advertising slogan -- obvious and loud -- and more like a poem whose meaning only comes subtly and quietly to those who read slowly, think long and deeply, and refuse to give up? McLaren's primary message in the book is that the Kingdom of God (or Kingdom of Heaven) isn't just someday, pie in the sky, when we get to heaven, but it's right here, right now. Not all that earth-shattering. I "discovered" that in seminary. But what a great image. Jesus' true message like a poem... We have way too much bumpersticker the

At the risk of embarassing myself, here's Sunday morning's sermon: October 15, 2006 Hebrews 4:12-16 “Sin Boldly” – M. Luther Do you remember the news January 2nd? There was an explosion at the Sago mine in West Virginia. January , 1:29 AM CNN news online ran this headline: Family members say 12 miners found alive DO you remember that? And then just hours later the miscommunication was corrected: 12 dead and ONE still alive. Joy turned to sorrow, people were angry and hurting and feeling lost. The pastor at the Sago Baptist church tried to encourage people to turn to God in their sorrow. One man yelled, swearing, “What do you mean? What can God do for us now?” And a woman cried out in her grief, “Where is God when we need Him? Is He really there?” We may slip from our assurance that God is present with us – especially in our Job-like moments when we are hyper-aware of the struggle and the pain and the fallen world around us. But the Bible gives us a quiet assurance that God is h

Did you know that Timothy means "Honor God"? Yeah, I thought you did. Did you know that Paul cites Timothy as a co-sender in six letters? Yep. Can you name them? Me either... (I looked it up, though - there they are, all six...) Yeah, yeah, okay. It's all good. Timothy is a good letter to wretsle with right now for me. I can't explain why exactly, though undoubtedly I'll delve into the maybes, but a lot of what I'm reading Biblically is about sin. Now, before you tell me that you can't swing a dead cat in the Bible without hitting a sin passage (wait, um...that metaphor really doesn't work, does it? Well, youknowhatimean....), let me say that while the Bible DOES talk a lot about sin, I'd suggest that it talks a lot more about redemption and restoration and discipline (in the learning sense, not in the woodshed sense). But I'd been reading an awful lot about how sin is bad. Okay, I know that. Even the most liberal of theologians is going to say

Okay - this isn't even remotely theological...except... I have a new weekly addiction. I HAVE to check out www.postsecret.blogspot.com I can't help myself. And invariably, I'm depressed, bumfuzzeled and entertained all in the space of about 5 minutes. Don't go there. I'm not kidding. If you're anything like me you'll check it out every Monday or Tuesday... But if you do go there... See, here's the premise. People send in these anonymous "secrets." This is a blog of peoples' confessions - all anonymous. People write the most horrifying and most innane things. If even one in ten is true (and I bet it's higher than that) then there is some terrifying stuff going on in peoples' lives. So, why can we confess to the world anonymously, but not to the people we supposedly love personally? And how about to God? I yelled at Rachel the other day. She was whining, yes, but I was having a psychotic moment (well, not clinically, or a

From my online class. I was responding to someone's comment about not having communion every week because it becomes rote and not meaningful...and a question about how to make communion "more rich" for the congregation... RE: More Richly vs. More Frequently I'm not sure I've ever understood the argument that more frequent equals rote/boring/etc. If that is the case, why even have worship every week? I mean, doesn't it just become rote? Why have music every week or a sermon? Ah, those elements vary week to week, so they're "new" every week... Yes, but... That may only be an argument against using the exact same liturgy every time you celebrate communion. What if we sang the same hymns every week, heard the same scripture every week, heard the same music, prayers, sermon, children's message, etc. week after week after week? Would we get bored? Probably. But let's not throw it all away (as "modern" "contemporary&quo

I have to write my thoughts on communion for my online class and I thought I'd run them up this flagpole and see if anybody has any opinions... (If it matters, I'm going to try to make a video using this as the "script" for a voiceover - but I might not have time so I might just have to submit this as a paper...) Holy Communion – a Benchmark William R. Beatty October 2, 2006 Sunday afternoon – World Communion Sunday, no less – my three-year-old daughter picked up a little board book about Easter. She flipped through the pages, came to a page with a cross on it and held it up for me to see. She said, with awe in her almost whispering voice, “Jesus died on the cross for us.” Elie doesn’t really know what that means, but she knows that it is important. She knows, too, that it is holy. When we talk about Jesus and the cross we speak with reverence – this is never the subject of a joke or spoken of casually. Jesus’ sacrifice, that which we remember in Holy

Proverbs 10:2 Ill gotten treasures are of no value; but righteousness delivers from death. My first thought was...um...huh? What an odd pair to put together. Ill gotten treasures and righteousness? Heh - and, of course, as soon as I read "Ill gotten treasures" I remembered a quote from the TV show M*A*S*H (Michael, Google it...heh) where Hawkeye Pierce says something about "Ill Booten Gottey" (instead of "Ill Gotten Booty" which is a saying about...oh, nevermind). But then I started to think about our Bible study this morning. We're...how can I put this tactfully...um...PLODDING our way through Leviticus and we just read about the Year of Jubilee (chapter 25) and there's a couple of passages in that chapter that talk about not loaning money with intrest (and that's probably a whole 'nother topic). But we jumped to Jeremiah 7 & 9 because one of the guys this morning had some insight from God about this whole thing. And there (the v

I had a woman in a church that I served who used to like to say, "Be careful what you pray for. I prayed for patience and God gave me Allen (her youngest son)." Now, I understand what she meant by that, but I think her perspective is way off. I don't think God was listening to her prayer and thinking to Himself, "Hmmmmm, she wants patience, does she? Well, I'll give her something to be patient about!!! Muhuhuhahahahahahaha ." Sigh, is God really like the Monkey's Paw? Or the evil Genie? Two and a half weeks ago, I woke up in the middle of the night. That's not all THAT unusual, but I woke up with a sudden and urgent need to pray - but with no direction to pray. That IS unusual. So, I started praying for the church and the people here - the youth and some of the events that were coming up. Then I started praying for my family. You know, those general, nice, inoffensive prayers that we too often pray. But then I started praying about being

"A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish son brings grief to his mother." My first thought on reading this is how I want to hear my Father say, "Well done good and faithful servant." But that's too simplistic. Here's a pop-psych reading of this: men draw their identity from what they do, women from who they know (heh, yeah, life is just that simple, of course). So, a wise son will bring joy to his father because the father will say "I have done well in raising this boy." The foolish son brings grief to his mother because she will say, "Our relationship failed, therefore I am a failure..." The truth? Well, as I see it (and that's where the potential heresy comes in, doesn't it?) is that a wise child will be a joy to both parents and both parents will grieve over the foolish choices of their children. It's poetry, people. I think about the foolish choices that I made as a kid - whipping apples at cars (an artform

...put up a "clever" "pithy" or "neato" church sign again. Check out this website. I mean, I went there on a lark and then I read the critiques, and he's right about most of them... We put such STUPID things on church signs. Do we really think that our culture is that impressed by "CH_ _ CH What's Missing? U R "? Come on... I found this website today: http://www.crummychurchsigns.com/

Hating Blogger today.... lost the whole post. don't want to retype and try to rethink the whole thing... That's okay, it was probably heresy anyway...

Here's the beginning of a new series for my own benefit. Join in if you like. A Proverb a day (will it keep the doctor away?). I'll be trying to go sequentially through the book of Proverbs - though I can't really promise that I'll hit one a day...if I really keep up with this I might create yet another blog for it...heh...probably not, though... My child, if sinners entice you, do not consent. (Proverbs 1:10) Chapter one of Proverbs has a couple of long sections that can, rightfully, be called proverbs. The first is 10-19 and it's all about staying away from sin. It makes perfect sense, as I've pulled it out of context, doesn't it? I mean, don't associate with sinners. After all, they're, um, sinners...and I'm, um, not? Actually, the whole thing is about not giving in to temptation. Verse 15: my child, do not walk in their way, keep your foot from their paths; Don't DO what sinners do. But how do you even hear their voices if you are

Found a couple of really good sites that I will be checking back on again and again: http://www.churchmarketingsucks.com/ You really have to check out this site: they're all about helping the church not suck - at least in how it communicates itself... http://www.lifechurch.tv/ This seems to be the coolest church in the world...well, maybe not in the WORLD, but they've really got something going on. I'm a media junkie, and they really know how to do media...but more than that, they really seem to be able to CONNECT people - THAT'S the biggest issue, I think...

"Bearded Youth Pastor" (heh, good one Aaron) posted a great quote on his blog http://aaron-behindthemask.blogspot.com/ "a rebel attempts to change the past; a revolutionary attempts to change the future." I don't know where Aaron got it, but I love it. It's so true of Jesus and His ministry. His life and death and resurrection absolutely changed the future of the whole world. And, let me suggest that a revolutionary can also REDEEM the past. I'm not just thinking of Jesus here (though, His redemption of the past is eternal and perfect), but of people like MLK who, in many ways, sought not only to change the future of race relations in our nation, but to heal the past wounds of our country's racism. Ghandi, Mother Teresa, Tutu & Mandela (BTW, not too many people remember that FREDRIK WILLEM DE KLERK was the co-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize with Mandela in '93 - but he became as much a revolutionary as Mandela since he was from the racist ma

Michael Airgood pulled out a John Wesley Quote on our Talk About... blog and now I'm getting all "Methodist-y" here... From The Story of Methodistm Throughout the World, from the Beginning to the Present Time; Tracing the Rise and Progress of that Wonderful Religious Movement, which Like the Gulf Stream, Has Given Warmth to Wide Waters and Verdure to Many Lands; and Giving an Account of Its Various Influences and Institutions of To-day. (heh, no kidding) by A.B. Hyde, D.D., Professor of Greek in the University of Denver; Member of American Philological Association; of American Society of Biblical Exegesis; of Summer School of Philosophy, etc.; lately Professor of Biblical Literature, Allegheny College, Pa. (heh, no kidding). Published 1889... [Methodism] introduced to the world no new ecclesiastical institute, but a newness of life; not a new formula of doctrines, but a fresh and full experience, under doctrines accepted from the beginning, the simple foundation doctrine

Here's a post from our newsletter that I wrote in mid August (heh, probably a day or three AFTER the deadline...man, I gotta get more organized). The God Who Sings Rachel and Elie dance. Mommy and Daddy don’t. Now, those two sentences might need a little unpacking, so bear with me. When my girls are excited, happy or just plain bored, they dance. They dance to celebrate something good that has just happened, like a new toy, a favorite dessert, a visit from a friend. They hear music that I don’t hear and they dance in quick little happy steps or broad, sweeping graceful steps. Sometimes I try to hear the songs they hear, I try to dance the steps they dance...but I’m not too successful at it. A year or more ago, Rachel and I were playing with Dominoes (she’s pretty good at the game, by the way, so watch out if she challenges you to a match...). I left the room to do something and Rachel came dancing quick, excited steps into the room.

Ugh...Elie got the stomach flu last night...pretty sure I've got it right now... Nobody needs the details... If I didn't have to wait around here for someone to drop something off...I'd be at home right now...

Ugh...Elie got the stomach flu last night...pretty sure I've got it right now... Nobody needs the details... If I didn't have to wait around here for someone to drop something off...I'd be at home right now...

Well, today is Elie's first day of preschool. I don't think Lori cried like she did on Rachel's first day of kindergarten (last week)...but it's a momentous occasion nonetheless. And it was Rachel's first SICK day of the year... at 11:20 we heard her yelling for us. She was throwing up... got her settled down in clean sheets and a new nightgown...and she threw up again... So I took her downstairs...where she threw up three more times (these times only hitting the garbage can, thankfully...). The last bout was at 1:00 AM...so, since I got up at 5:45 this morning with Lori - I'm really tired... But I made Lori stay in bed last night because she has such a long day - bookended with a 45 minute drive... and I function marginally better exhausted than she does... So - the good and the bad. Rachel still wasn't feeling very well when I left this morning... I hope that rest works this out of her. She didn't have a fever (weird)... So - it got me think