conjectural navel gazing; jesus in lint form

an aside

Salon published this essay...a quotation:

For science to become a true object of worship, it must elbow aside the reassuring and seductively simple belief that "God loves you." This deeply personal faith statement would have to be replaced with one that says something like: "The cosmos worked really long and hard to create you and you should be really appreciative."

Faith matters...whether it's faith in YHWH or some "original cause."

sermon musings: weird science

Garry: That's not a bad idea.
Wyatt: What?
Garry: Making a girl. Actually making a girl. Like Frankenstein... except cuter.
Wyatt: [stands up] You're serious?
[Gary grabs Wyatt by the collar and pulls him towards him]
Garry: Look me in the eye. Do I look serious?
Wyatt: Gary Wallace, that's-that's gross! That's sick! I am not digging up dead girls!
[Gary puts his hand over Wyatt's mouth and sits him down on the bed]
Garry: No, I'm not talking about digging up dead girls, Wyatt. I'm talking about your system, idiot, your computer!

This week should prove to be a particular challenge. But I just could not pass it up. Yes! Weird Science! Is there something of the Gospel in this film? I have no idea. Oingo Boingo, Anthony Michael Hall, Kelly LeBrock, Robert Downey, Jr. and Bill Paxton...what a combination! Somehow I just know that this is going it work. It has to! It's just too insane, stupid and perfect not to.

Do you all have any thoughts? I'm always willing to hear ideas about these films. Should I preach about the objectification of women? That would be something that would connect.

There are many options.

monday videoblog: sixteen candles

This might need a minute to upload from YouTube. Be warned. Also, it's lengthy. You'll need 10 minutes or so. And, yes, I actually got to it on Tuesday. Your point?

sermon: sixteen candles

Once again I am preaching without a manuscript. So, I cannot give you a full post. But let me try to sum up what I see in the movie. You could re-title the movie The Land of the Lost and be fine. Then again, there was that show about dinosaurs. Alas...

Samantha has been forgotten. It's her sixteenth birthday and because of her sister's wedding and the ensuing chaos, her family has completely forgotten her sixteenth birthday. She's an outcast at school, the focus of the inspired but oddly communicated lust of The Geek, and in love with a boy who she thinks does not love her back, Jake. She's lost, abandoned and outcast. Ain't High School grand?

Jake, too, is lost and forgotten. He's been forgotten by his parents (they leave him alone...perhaps substituting their love and affection with a very sleek red Porsche), taken for granted by his girlfriend, and abused by all of his so-called friends at school. Popularity is no escape from being forgotten. Who knew? Popularity is no guarantee of love.

The Geek, well he may not be forgotten but he is lost. No, he's forgotten...shoved underneath a glass coffee table. He's forgotten himself as well.

The movie is about people who are lost or forgotten or both...and how they are asked to change in response to love. Hughes' gospel lesson comes to us in the end as Jake and Samantha finally discover one another, parents apologize, and the Geek grows up (maybe a little). Love is what rescues them. Love is what keeps us from being forgotten or lost. And love is what asks them to change...they are take to a new place.

10“Take care that you do not despise one of these little ones; for, I tell you, in heaven their angels continually see the face of my Father in heaven. 12What do you think? If a shepherd has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? 13And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. 14So it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost.

Matthew's gospel also speaks of this kind of love. It is hidden in the midst of the 18th chapter. There's talk of fire and forgiveness and reconciliation. And in the midst of the passage is the promise that God does not abandon us to life. God does not neglect us. And if there is judgment it falls upon those who do...including ourselves. Matthew, we should note, is kind enough to point out how one seeks forgiveness and reconciliation immediately following this pronouncement. He does not, well, leave us for lost.

The Gospel According to John Hughes this morning is this: God does not give us up for lost. Being found will cost us something, of course, but change is like that.

So, there you have it...that's the sermon in a nutshell. Now, I have this line about distraction that I might try to weave in there. But I dunno. These characters each have a God-shaped hole that they have been filling with crap. They are distracted by all the other things available to them...just like those of us (just me?) who watched the movie Wednesday night were distracted by all the chaos and funny debauchery (Oh, Long Duk Dong is lost and forgotten as well.). How can you preach on a film that seems to be about debauchery and teen lust-filled angst? The trick is (wait for it) to not get lost in the distractions.

Have a great Sunday. We have an ice cream social this afternoon. I hope you'll join us!

competition for sunbeams

The cats are competing for sunbeams. Yes, that's right. There are howls and sharp claws all to get in that one sunny spot. Of course, if you look eight feet away, there's another sunny spot, but it's simply not enough. They want the one. So they spar and howl and fight.

There's a lesson in here somewhere.

a new heart...with ice cream

I will take you from the nations,
and gather you from all the countries.
I will sprinkle clean water upon you,
and you shall be clean from all your impurities.
A new heart I will give you,
and put a new spirit within you,
And I will remove from your body the heart of stone
and give you a heart of flesh.
You shall be my people,
and I will be your God.

I awoke this morning with a thousand thoughts in my mind. Some were peaceful. Some were not. I have found myself sleeping in more lately, but this morning five o'clock rolled around and that was it. I needed to get up. I feel very suddenly that I have a million things to do today. I'm not sure I really do, but the feeling is there.

This is the last day of the Shakespeare class. There is a sermon to finish. I am sure there are social engagements that I have completely forgotten (Would you please remind me what they are?). The ice cream social is Sunday at 2:00pm.

Oh, right. The ice cream social is Sunday at 2:00pm! You all should come on out and join us. The band will be playing. The birds will be chirping. There will be ice cream. Invite your friends. Bring the kids! It should be a good time.

The quotation this morning is from the 36th chapter of Ezekiel. Is this his way of getting his mind around what Exile can bring? He's the Biblical spin doctor (He did see the wheel, after all.), you know. I love this canticle. It is the essence of faithfulness received. It helps me to remember that faith in God is not a philosophical system to which we adhere. It is a gift freely given from God that transforms us.

So, maybe that's why I awoke so early, maybe that's what is happening yet again. Maybe this morning I am feeling God at work on my heart.

Create in me a clean heart.
And restore a right spirit within me.

sermon musings: sixteen candles

Try to think, act and live as though you were always in God's presence. Keeping close to a Power greater than yourself is the solution to most of the world's problems. Try to practice the presence of God in the things you think and do.
- Twenty-Four Hours a Day

When I chose the four John Hughes films, I did not have an immediate idea of how I might preach from Sixteen Candles. It's a pretty vapid tale on many levels. And it still causes trouble in some minority circles (Long Duk Dong is infamous). It's Molly Ringwald's first Hughes film, however, and may be essential in the Hughes compendium. So, last night we gathered and watched the film.

It's more crude than I remember...and funnier for it. The sanitized for TV version really does not communicate the chaos of the film. Anthony Michael Hall's portrayal of The Geek (or Farmer Ted) is unbelievable. He's impossible and yet so familiar. Again Hughes lets the absurdity of High School guide him. Caricatures and yet not.

Last week I spoke about Pretty in Pink and the Rich Young Man. It worked pretty well. Hughes focuses on tenderness. Jesus speaks of perfection. I found a bridge in blessedness. This week I think Hughes is speaking of being forgotten...lost in the world. All of the characters have been forgotten somehow. They are all lost. Hughes' tale ends with people being found...found by one another and found by love.

Yes, it's racist, crude, disappointing and even morally troubling in places...but the point is not to get distracted by those things...they are simply symptoms of being lost. We are waiting for God to find us...and God is looking. God is trying to help us find our way, to keep us from getting lost. Even moral-ism is a distraction from God.

But that might be more than one sermon.

It's going to be an interesting Sunday.

saddleback, compassion and leadership

This came through the Associated Baptist Press. It's in an interesting little bit about faith and politics. Saddleback church is large enough to draw both front runners at the same event.

Obama, McCain's first joint
appearance set for Saddleback
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
By Rachel Mehlhaff

LAKE FOREST, Calif. (ABP) -- Barack Obama and John McCain will make their first joint 2008 campaign appearance to an audience of Christian activists at a Southern Baptist church.

The two have agreed to participate in a "compassion forum" at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif. on August 16. Saddleback Pastor Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life, extended the invitation.

"I just got to thinking, you know what? These guys have never been together on the same stage, it would be a neat way to cap the primary season before they both go to the conventions and things go dark for a couple of weeks," he told the New York Times. "I've known both the guys for a long time, they're both friends of mine, and I knew them before they ran for office, so I just called them up."

Warren will moderate the forum, which will focus on moral-values issues -- such as poverty, the environment and global AIDS relief -- in which many centrist and younger evangelicals have taken an increasing interest.

It will be in a non-debate format and Warren will interview the candidates separately for about an hour each. Warren will pose the questions. There will be no panel or questions from members of the audience. Obama will go first, as determined by a coin toss.

"The primaries proved that Americans care deeply about the faith, values, character and leadership convictions of candidates as much as they do about the issues," Warren said in a press release. "While I know both men as friends and they recognize I will be frank, but fair, they also know I will be raising questions in these four areas beyond what political reporters typically ask."

The four areas include: poverty, HIV/AIDS, climate and human rights.

This forum will be the presumptive nominees' only joint campaign event prior to each party's national convention, according to the press release.

The event is part of a series Saddleback calls the "Saddleback Civil Forum on Leadership and Compassion." According to a press release, the series "was established to promote civil discourse and the common good of all." A past event, held during Passover, featured Holocaust survivors sharing their stories. Another forum, set for September, features former British prime minister Tony Blair, who recently converted from Anglicanism to Catholicism.

The church has invited the moderate-to-progressive group Faith in Public Life to co-sponsor the event. In April, the group hosted a similar Compassion Forum for presidential candidates at Messiah College in Pennsylvania.

Some Religious Right groups have reacted skeptically to the announcement. Tony Perkins, president of the Washington-based Family Research Council said he hopes Warren will also ask the candidates about issues -- such as abortion and gay rights -- that have been of paramount importance to conservative Christian voters in the past.

In a July 21 e-mail update sent to FRC supporters, Perkins said, "While the Left would have us believe that this is the faith community's new agenda, a candid discussion of traditional values issues such as life, marriage, and religious freedom is what American voters need and deserve. Surely Rev. Warren won't ignore the most crucial initiative in his state (and perhaps the entire nation) as California determines the fate of marriage this November."

Perkins was referring to California, which earlier this year became the second state in the union to legalize same-sex marriage. Gay-rights opponents have gotten a proposed constitutional amendment on the state's general-election ballot that would illegalize gay marriage again.

It's interesting to me as I keep finding myself in the midst of faith and politics conversations at church. I am wondering if there can be a difference for a pastor when they say that they vote toward one party over another...or when they say that the people in the pews should. Does a preacher have that much say in their own community? Perhaps. I imagine it varies from community to community.

Can a pastor show obvious preferences and still promote civil conversation and room for disagreement? Or is that question that assumes more power than a pastor has to begin with? I wonder how Warren will handle it.

sermon musings

Sixteen Candles...Yep. That's the movie for this Sunday's service. This one is proving a little more difficult than the others to come up with a theme or focus.

I'll let you know how it goes.

golf score

Though it rained in the morning, my friend and I were able to get in a round of golf at a local course. It was great fun, but infuriating. Thus is golf.

I'm not a good player. I shoot over 100. Yesterday I shot 124. It could have been worse. The thing that was infuriating is this. My friend keeps track of the putts (He shoots in the 70's and 80's.). He likes to know how well he's doing on the greens. I guess this is helpful information. So, at the end of the day he told me how many of my strokes were puts. 40. 20 on the front nine. 20 on the back nine. The other 80+ strokes is my inability to keep my head down when I swing...or my inability to let my hands roll over...or some other foolishness.

Sigh.

I putt pretty well. That's something.

I guess.

monday videoblog: amy dale and golf

YouTube sometimes takes a moment to get these things running. If there is no video, please be patient. It'll be here some time today. C'mon back and check it out.

pope, hellboy, dmx

In so many of our societies, side by side with material prosperity, a spiritual desert is spreading: an interior emptiness, an unnamed fear, a quiet sense of despair.
- Pope Benedict, cnn.com

There's a little religion in the news this morning. The Pope is trying to get at the core of what it seems many of us are talking about throughout the world. That he also spoke about the clergy sex abuse scandals in the same sermon is somewhat hopeful as well. "Evil acts" he called them. Good. We Baptists need to be speaking out as well. Our own house has troubles.

Anyway, back to the "spiritual desert"...Last night I saw Hellboy II> It is a fun film...nothing astounding, just goofy Hellboyishness. The film spoke of humanity as being created with a hole in its heart which brings about greed and evil because we try to fill it with whatever we can. I'd need to go back to the film, but I think that the Pope spoke to the same issues that the film mentioned. Who knew? The Pope is a Hellboy fan! Heh.

In other news, my other spiritual mentor, DMX, is in legal trouble. What is the world coming to?

I'm off to church. I am not preaching this morning, but I do get to play the mandolin in church. It's a great thing.

See you all soon.

benedictus domine

Blessèd be the Lord, the God of Israel,
for he has come to his people and set them free.
He has raised up for us a mighty Saviour,
born of the house of his servant, David.
Through his holy prophets, he promised of old*
that he would save us from our enemies,
from the hands of all that hate us;
He promised to show mercy to our forebears,
and to remember his holy covenant.
This was the oath he swore to our father, Abraham,
to set us free from the hands of our enemies,
Free to worship him without fear,
holy and righteous in his sight,
all the days of our life.
You, my child,
shall be called the prophet of the Most High,
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,
To give his people knowledge of salvation
by the forgiveness of all their sins.
In the tender compassion of our God
the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
To shine on those who dwell in darkness
and the shadow of death,
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Sometimes I forget. Sometimes I simply forget about Jesus. In the middle of stress and tribulation I forget that "the dawn from on high shall break upon us." I forget that it already has. God is here. Immanuel. It is a surprisingly easy thing to forget. And me a pastor! You would think that I would have some contractual agreement through a union or something to never forget...or if I forget I lose my membership card or pay some penalty. I wonder if the Teamsters have ever tried to organize church leadership.

Today, according to some, is the feast of Gregory of Nyssa and Macrina two fourth century leaders of the church famed for their faith and their seeming inability to forget that God is present even in (perhaps especially in) hardship. It's so easy for me to forget God.

Sometimes I simply forget. In the midst of trials and tribulations I forget providence or presence or gift. I stop looking for grace. I am in darkness, blinded somehow. I forget salvation and see only sin...that spiritual darkness that squelches hope.

God save me from myself. Give me strength to uphold those around me, to be like you, a light. Be my light, LORD. Shine in the darkness. Set me free.

quick batman recap

See the movie.
It's great.
I am too old for midnight showings (It's official.).
That is all.

the dark night

Yo. I am thrilled. I'm off to see Batman tonight. I'm very excited.

thursday sans sermon mumblings

Life goes by pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.
- Ferris Bueller

I am not preaching on Sunday. I'll be in worship, but we have a guest preacher. Cate Wallace is going to grace our pulpit for a morning. It's the prelude to a class that she will be teaching in the winter currently entitled "Christianity for the Critical Thinker." I'm optimistic. I enjoy Cate a great deal...as I do most people who are smarter than I am. (Note: This is a great many people. Thus, there are many people I enjoy. This works out well, I think.)

Yesterday was the third outing for the golfers' ministry. I was barely in the office at all. It was a hot day for golfing, so I was exhausted when it was all said and done. I shot my usual round. I'm not good at the sport yet. The driver still gives me fits, but the 5 wood off the tee is a steady 200 yard club. So, I lived on it most of the day. Lovely. I added one more thing to our spiritual exploration of golf, suffering and evil...a pith helmet. Yes, since this is about proudly proclaiming that one is in the wilderness, one can do so with a pith helmet. If you are in the wilderness, wear the pith helmet! It's goofy, but people seemed to enjoy the opportunity.

So, some of you may have tried to stop by here yesterday but to no avail. It seems that the host servers were down. So, I was unable to check my anglobaptist e-mail account or this site. Sorry if that was confusing in any way. Feel free to e-mail me again if you need to.

I'm off to the office today. I have a full morning of piano tuners and other such appointments. There's a bulletin that needs my attention and another appointment this afternoon. It's a busy day even though I am not preparing a sermon. But if all goes well, I'll have tomorrow off. Huzzah! I'm flexing my time since I went in to the office on Monday which is my usual day off. And a friend is coming to town over the weekend to stay with us. I am very excited to see her.

Y'all have a good day. I'll do my damnedest to do so.

things are gonna change

This is from the Associated Baptist Press. Like many mainline Protestant denominations, the ABC-USA is struggling to keep its financial head above water, wrangling with theological differences, and simply trying to remain true to itself. If I understand the history rightly, we have enjoyed the benefits of a national level office for about 70 years. Before then, regions, associations, and mission societies were the structures through which the denomination worked. It seems that there may be a move to go back to a less structured method...certainly a less top-heavy method. Note: We have never been particularly top heavy.

ABC-USA proposes changes
to focus on mission, churches
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
By Vicki Brown

VALLEY FORGE, Pa. (ABP) -- Leaders of the American Baptist Churches USA are proposing changes to the denomination's governing structure that aim to encourage greater missional empowerment and broader involvement of affiliated churches.

The ABC General Board considered the proposal during its June session, although details are still being worked out, according to ABC General Secretary Roy Medley. The proposal must be approved at the denomination's biennial meeting in 2009 before the changes are adopted.

The proposal reduces the size of the General Board from its current 109 members to 31. It also allows the entity's national and international mission boards to choose their members from outside the General Board.

Under its current structure, the General Board is composed of regional representatives, with each of the 33 ABC regions determining its own method for electing those delegates. Each mission board's trustees are drawn from the General Board's membership.

The new proposal would create a General Board of 18 regional representatives, the general secretary, the treasurer and the four denominational officers -- president, vice president, budget-review officer and past president.

The remaining seats would remain open for individuals possessing specific passions and skills the board needs.

"The mission boards will have a process to choose from among American Baptist churches the people with the skills they need and still retain geographic diversity," Medley explained.

The proposal calls for the General Board to be renamed the Board of General Ministries. Representatives from the regions would be chosen on a rotating basis. "Not every region would be represented but each would be guaranteed of representation within a cycle," he said. "No region would succeed itself as long as a region remained unrepresented."

"The Board of General Ministries would have the same purpose and goals as the General Board -- the overview and over-care of the denomination as a whole," Medley said.

The biennial meeting would become the ABC Mission Summit, with less focus on "public statements," he said, and more emphasis on education related to missional response. "We want to find ways ... to hear from our people" and the challenges their ministries face locally, nationally and internationally, he said.

If the proposal is adopted, a "Mission Table" meeting would be established to concentrate on those issues. "The Mission Table would meet after the Biennial and be a missional think-tank for the denomination," Medley said.

The Mission Table would include representatives from ABC's mission boards, seminaries, other affiliated agencies, local churches and ABC-USA staff. Members would consider how to assist local churches, how to coordinate and how to network around common concerns and issues, he added.

Mission Table members would end their session with recommendations and networking opportunities.

"We're still thinking this through," Medley said.

In addition, the proposal calls for gathering a central database of ABC individuals to collect names of potential leaders and board members. "We have not had a centralized system of holding on to names of people with leadership skills," he noted.

The General Board will accept proposals for amendments to the plan for 60 days and will be able to suggest modifications. The denomination's General Executive Committee will consider possible changes to the bylaws at its September meeting.

Most of our in house political power resides at the regional level. There has also been a desire to highlight the missional functions of our associations and step away from what is already a very light focus upon doctrine etc. In general, we don't want to become the SBC. Their structure allows for a great deal of power at the top. Some have even called it a theological oligarchy.

It'll be interesting to see how this plays out. I'm looking forward to our next regional meeting.

seabury commencement

Here is a great picture of Laurel. She and I processed together. She's incredible. Les is in the background giving someone a high five. The service is held at St. Luke's, Evanston...a lovely place.

Seabury keeps a Flickr page. Take a gander at some of the other pictures.

various and sundry

While Paul was making this defence, Festus exclaimed, 'You are out of your mind, Paul! Too much learning is driving you insane!'
- Acts 26:24

I have been working on a couple of possibilities to teach lately. Yes, teach. These are both related to my work as a pastor, so it all feels really good. I am going to be working with a local college's American Sign Language department to teach a class in "interpreting in Christian worship settings." A little liturgy goes a long way, you know. The idea is that ASL interpretation in worship can be more than simply providing a calm corner for the hearing impaired or a woman in a small pop-up box on the projection screen. It should be fun.

The other teaching opportunity is still in the works. I may get to teach a workshop about "ecumenical baptismal ecclesiology." It should be interesting. It's also supremely intimidating.

In other news, the BBC offered up this little article about the New Yorker. Perhaps not surprisingly, I have no problem with the cover. I think it's entirely appropriate given the magazine's history and the current absurd notions that occasionally pop up about Obama and his wife. I have peers who fear Obama because they think he's a closeted Muslim. I don't know that it is as big an issue as the magazine thinks it is...thus worthy of a cover...but that's not my call. Freedom of the press, people. Let 'er go.

Here are two sermons for you on the sower and the seed.

Todd is a sower/sewer?

I've said this before -- Christianity can get dirty. It's not a matter of what type of seed you thought you were, it's a matter now of whether or not you are willing to dig in the dirt and help this place become fertile soil. And it's a matter of letting the sower know when you are on a dry path of misunderstanding, or in rocky, shallow soil, or being choked down by the weeds. Because only by knowing that can I improve my aim. And by knowing that, we can all work together to make this place fertile.

Jorge offered this one to Reconciler. He has a problem with sin...and some thoughts on how we understand it...and our place in salvation.

I urge this because, in some sense, Christianity is not an “either/or”, but a “both/and.” We can often get an overinflated sense of our own righteousness or efficaciousness if we do not try to balance ourselves out. Whether we are Marys or a Marthas, we need to go toward the other end, to where we are not inclined to go, to follow Jesus. Training ourselves, like plants in a garden, toward the Light.

monday videoblog: heading to work on my day off

ventura!?

Would someone from Minnesota please explain this to me?

the gospel according to john hughes: pretty in pink

At the time I came along, Hollywood's idea of teen movies meant there had to be a lot of nudity, usually involving boys in pursuit of sex, and pretty gross overall. Either that or a horror movie. And the last thing Hollywood wanted in their teen movies was teenagers!
- John Hughes, film maker

For the sermon series, I decided that each sermon will simply be named for the movie that they feature. This Sunday's sermon is called "Pretty in Pink." I'm so imaginative. The alternate title might be "Try a Little Tenderness." I think that is the crux of this story and the focus of John Hughes' gospel this week.

I'm delivering this sermon without the aid of a manuscript. I've been doing this most Sundays lately. It's fun. This week we'll read the Gospel of Matthew and his story of the rich young man. It's about wealth and poverty. It's also about systems of honor and shame. In essence, by asking the rich young man to give up his wealth and give it to the poor, Jesus is asking him to give up his honor and pass it on to someone else. He has to shame himself in the eyes of the world. Jesus, of course, is not asking for shame, but shame in the eyes of the world. What Jesus is asking for is something else. Jesus is asking the rich young man to seek another path: perfection.

I think that one can find a parallel to perfection in Jesus' notion of blessedness. Blessedness helps flesh this out a bit. John Hughes suggests that it's "tenderness" that marks this kind of perfection. This is the central idea in my sermon at least.

Hughes employs caracatures in his films...the geek, dork, richie, spaz etc. They have truth within them, but are less nuanced than real people. Hey, it's a movie. That's a totally fine approach. In Pretty in Pink we encounter people who wrestle with the labels they have been given and have taken on for themselves. They wrestle with their own sense of honor and shame around wealth and poverty...about being alternative or "richies." It matters where you live. It matters which door you walk out of at school. It is absurd on the surface, but if we are honest, these expectations, these barometers of honor and shame are real. John Hughes, through Duckie's genius karaoke rendition of "Tenderness" by Otis Redding, offers another path to the movie goer and shows how each character attempts to take this path in the end. They are each to try a little tenderness.

It's been fun to distill Hughes' message from this film. I may be asking more of the film than Hughes intended, but that's part of the the joy of this endeavor. It's a reinterpretation of a sort.

Next week we have a guest preacher coming in. So, John Hughes waits a week. This is actually a good thing. I am struggling with laryngitis right now. It's horrible. I croak and wheeze. God may be trying to tell me something. Heh. We'll see how it goes. We'll pick up with John Hughes again in two weeks with Sixteen Candles.

paine's deism

One of the books I have put on the reading list is Craig Nelson's Thomas Paine: Enlightenment, Revolution and the Birth of Modern Nations. I finished it while we were away in New York. It's a stunning read. I love a good biography, and this was one of the best. Nelson does a great job of using Paine's life as a lens to see and understand his time. The Revolutions in the United States and France are both masses of strangeness and discord. Paine's life was a microcosm of the socio-political upheaval of the eighteenth century. I thought I would share a quotation or two from Paine's own writings on Religion. They are worth sharing because, at least by Nelson's understanding, they reflect the deist views of many of the Founders of the United States...not all, but at least the "spirit of the age."

I believe in one God, and no more; and I hope for happiness beyond this life.

I believe [in] the equality of man, and I believe that religious duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy and endeavoring to make our fellow-creatures happy.

But, lest it should be supposed that I believe many other things in addition to these, I shall, in the progress of this work, declare the things I do not believe, and my reasons for not believing them.

I do not believe in the creed confessed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church.

All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian, or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit...

Every national church or religion has established itself by pretending some special mission from God, communicated to certain individuals. The Jews have their Moses; the Christians their Jesus Christ; and the Turks their Mohamet; as if the way to God was not open to every man alike.

Each of these churches shows certain books, which they call revelation, or the Word of God. The Jews say that their Word of God was given by God to Moses face to face; the Christians say, that their word of God came by divine inspiration; and the Turks say, that their Word of God (the Koran) was brought by an angel from heaven. Each of those churches accuses the other of unbelief; and, for my own part, I disbelieve them all.

p. 262, Nelson

This is from Age of Reason (appeared in France and England in 1794). Paine wrote this work to stave off the attempt by many moderns of his era from inventing atheist governments. Paine was walking a tightrope. He was a naturalist, assuming God was given evidence all around. Yet he would have nothing to do with institutionalized religion. He was watching France's revolution careen into atheism and thus, by his estimate, immorality (the scandal of the guillotine and its rampant use would become a global concern jeopardizing the budding French republic's standing with even its allies like the U.S...and pave the road for Napoleon's regime). Such atheism was not, per his thinking, democratic. But neither was there a place for any Religion. Paine's faith was expressed in these words:

The word of God is the creation we behold: And it is in this word, which no human invention can counterfeit or alter, that God speaketh universally to man...It cannot be forged; it cannot be counterfeited; it cannot be altered; it cannot be suppressed. It does not depend upon the will of man whether it shall be published or not; it is publishes itself from one end of the earth to the other. It preaches to all nations and to all worlds; and this word of God reveals to man all that is necessary for man to know of God.

Do we want to contemplate his power? We see it in the immensity of creation. Do we want to contemplate his wisdom? We see it in the unchangeable order by which the incomprehensible While is governed. Do we want to contemplate his munificence? We see it in the abundance which which he fills the earth. Do we want to contemplate his mercy? We see it in his not withholding that abundance from the unthankful. In fine, do we want to know what God is? Search not the book called the scripture, which any human hand might make, but the scripture called the Creation.

The only idea man can affix to the name of God is that of a first cause, the cause of all things. And, incomprehensibly difficult as it is for a man to conceive what a first cause is, he arrives at the belief of it, from the tenfold greater difficulty of disbelieving it. It is difficult beyond description to conceive that space can have no end; but it is more difficult to conceive an end. It is difficult beyond the power of man to conceive an eternal duration of what we call time; but it is more impossible to conceive a time when there shall be no time.

p. 267, Nelson

This is really interesting stuff and sheds a little light for me what the Founders were thinking about. Deism is something I was only familiar with in passing. Reading this book has proven to be very interesting...and perhaps a little enlightening. Give it a shot.

early in the morning

The music that really turns me on is either running toward God or away from God. Both recognize the pivot, that God is at the center of the jaunt.
- Bono, lead singer of U2, charitable malcontent

Yesterday, Jorge posted about a meeting with his spiritual director and it occurred to me that I have not posted about the mandoguru in quite some time. We'll, the reason is that I have not had a lesson since Holy Week. I suspended the lessons because I knew I would not have time. Now I am having trouble fitting them back in. Ain't that just the way? I have had to ask myself why I have not endeavored to do this...am I running toward God or away from God? Music, for me, is always about God...well, at least I try to allow it to be so. Sometimes it's not. Sometimes it's too much about me. Sometimes it is not about anything at all.

One of the things that I know about music, God, and myself is that when the three combine in a balanced way, I am a happy camper. When the three or out of balance, then I am out of balance. This is not a cause/effect relationship. It is more of geographical thing. It just is.

I need to play the mandolin a little bit. Anyone want to get together soon? Bring your stringed instrument and/or your voice up to the parsonage and we'll play all night long.

sermon musings

I'm working on the first sermon in a series of four: The Gospel According to John Hughes. This week is Pretty in Pink.

tinkers' faith

We don't want tradition. We want to live in the present and the only history that is worth a tinker's dam is the history we make today.
- Henry Ford

The quotation to the right is something I dug up online. NPR is running a series inspired by the Model T..."the peoples' car." They are looking at the history of inexpensive automobiles and the economic realities that surround their success past and present. The quotation interests me because of the attitude Ford seems to espouse...even if only for a moment and even if it rejects only a specific and rather unhealthy tradition. I don't know what tradition he's rejecting here. Do you? Agrarian? Who knows.

It caught my eye because once again I am reading a book on generational hoohaa. After the Baby Boomers: How Twenty-Somethings Are Shaping the Future of American Religion by Robert Wuthnow. I have only just started it, but it is interesting enough. I won't burden you all with Wuthnow's ponderings very often. But todays passage was interesting to me. He's trying to find an easy (?!) metaphor to understand the 30 year generation of people from born between 1965 and 1995. Since there is no singe earth shattering event to define them (Depression, World War etc), he needs a metaphor. He's also trying to walk the tightrope between rigidity and relativism. So, he offers this:

The single word that best describes young adults' approach to religion and spirituality - indeed life - is tinkering. A tinkerer puts together a life from whatever skills, ideas, and resources that are ready at hand. In a culture like ours, where higher education and professional training are valued, tinkering may have negative connotations. But it should not. Tinkerers are the most resourceful people in any era. If specialized skills are required, they have them. When they need help from experts, they seek it. But they do not rely on only one way of doing things. Their approach to life is practical. They get things done, and usually this happens by improvising, by piecing together an idea from here, a skill from there, and a contact from somewhere else.

Ford's quotation, assuming he's not simply talking about assembly lines and child labor, expresses an attitude that is often laid upon young adults of every generation. Wuthnow wants to undo this perception. And he suggests that the posture of relativism is also not the reality for young adults either. Tinkering, cobbling together from a variety of spiritual traditions, the attempt to be orthodox and heterodox all at once, all to meet the practical need of a healthy spiritual life is what is at work. Kabalah, Buddhism, yoga, and free church protestantism can all find their way into an individual's spiritual tool box.

"Individual" is the key word here. Wuthnow does not take the approach that this generation is tremendously different in attitude than others. He says that the issue is that this generation lives cut off from structured community (church, village, career) longer than any previous generation. If one assumes that people will deepen involvement in church etc when they get married and have kids, and Wuthnow does, than it's important to realize that 70 years ago that was at the age of 18. 50 years ago that was 22. Thirty years ago, that was 26. Now the average age is much older. Only 46 percent of women and 31 percent of men have kids by age 30 (year 2000 statistics), compared with 77 percent of women and 65 percent of men of the same age in 1960.

People will spend the majority of their lived lives before having kids etc outside of a spiritual community. They will make spiritual choices as individuals, tinkering, cobbling things together. Then they will, statistically, find their way into a church...a collection of spiritual notions and a strong sense of the individual existing without community...

...more later. I've just started reading this book.

radio city, here we come

We had a great time in New York city. We were fortunate. The weather was never that hot. We had a friend to stay with and other friends to visit. I would recommend that everyone who can go there. It's a great town. Avoid Time Square unless you MEAN TO GO THERE. Oy. It's a train wreck. Otherwise, it's a great town.

This is a picture of us on our last full day in town. We had just enjoyed a meal with good friends and were walking to St. Bart's church. We just happened to stumble upon Radio City Music Hall. We're told that the Rockettes are really quite something to behold. I like this photo because it so clearly summarizes our relationship.

I love my wife. She's fun to travel with.

we're back

Trish and I arrived back in the Chicagoland area today. I'll be posting pictures soon enough. New York was wonderful.