Vols - 41
Tigers -7
"Thank you, sir, may I have another."*
*"Animal House" reference - but not the ones I really feel like using right now.
Saturday, September 30, 2006
Friday, September 29, 2006
"Oh Billy, Billy Billy......."*
*Caddyshack reference
Oh yes, I was there.
And "magic" doesn't capture it. Maybe "transcendent" does.
We beat the NFL's MVP.
"So we have that going for us, which is nice..."*
And for a moment, albeit a brief one - there was numbed silence from the legion in Orange, where once there was obnoxious stupidity.
Once upon a time, as a young teen, before I ever moved to Memphis, I was a fan of UT.
Well, I don't know, maybe more an acquaintance than a fan, but I did own some orange attire.
Back when we lived at Malesus, a church member would take a couple of the guys in the youth group to Knoxville to watch a game. I was among them a couple of times.
But as the Apostle Paul so eloquently states, "when I was a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child...when I became a man, I gave up childish ways."
The story of my conversion to Tiger Blue is found here.
C'mon - Tigers - nobody thinks you can do it again.
But I do - just "Be the ball."*
Hope springs eternal. Bring it, boys!
"Just a Cinderella boy, Augusta Georgia, I think he has a nine iron..."*
Oh yes, I was there.
And "magic" doesn't capture it. Maybe "transcendent" does.
We beat the NFL's MVP.
"So we have that going for us, which is nice..."*
And for a moment, albeit a brief one - there was numbed silence from the legion in Orange, where once there was obnoxious stupidity.
Once upon a time, as a young teen, before I ever moved to Memphis, I was a fan of UT.
Well, I don't know, maybe more an acquaintance than a fan, but I did own some orange attire.
Back when we lived at Malesus, a church member would take a couple of the guys in the youth group to Knoxville to watch a game. I was among them a couple of times.
But as the Apostle Paul so eloquently states, "when I was a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child...when I became a man, I gave up childish ways."
The story of my conversion to Tiger Blue is found here.
C'mon - Tigers - nobody thinks you can do it again.
But I do - just "Be the ball."*
Hope springs eternal. Bring it, boys!
"Just a Cinderella boy, Augusta Georgia, I think he has a nine iron..."*
Monday, September 25, 2006
The Moral Issue of Our Time
Per usual, the comfortable, wealthy church is late to the party when it comes to profound moral issues.
This one is not about politics - it's about humanity, and the basic nature of any and all world religions to tend to the least of these.
What will it take? How many more will be killed?
This one is not about politics - it's about humanity, and the basic nature of any and all world religions to tend to the least of these.
What will it take? How many more will be killed?
Blame Bill, Everybody Else Does (REVISED 10/3 with KO Commentary)
I have found the answer, my friends. Thanks to Fox "News," I have that for which I sought all my life - the ultimate excuse.
That ubiquitous entity responsible for all things that are wrong -
That's right, folks - It's Bill Clinton's fault.
That SOB, I knew it.
Here's KO's take -
That ubiquitous entity responsible for all things that are wrong -
- in my life,
- my relationships
- my church
- local, state and federal governments
- the world
- for the rover crashing on Mars a few years ago (apparently, there was a math problem)
- for "Mission:Impossible III" underperforming at the box office (cause heaven knows it wasn't that freak show of a lead actor that had anything to do with it)
- for Memphis losing to UCLA in the Great Eight last spring
- for 9/11
- for Jay Leno getting David Letterman's job
- for gas prices being so high (but strangely falling like a rock just weeks before election day...hmmm)
- For "Law and Order" moving to Friday night instead of staying on Wednesday where it belongs
- for Katie Couric going to CBS (which is really just fine by me)
- for the war in Iraq
- for Kathie Lee Gifford, nuf said.
- for World War II
- for why people watch such idiotic shows as "American Idol" and "Survior"
- for the Civil War
- for why I'm overweight and hypertensive
- for why people don't take their clothes to dry cleaners anymore (o.k., this one may be true)
- for Watergate
That's right, folks - It's Bill Clinton's fault.
That SOB, I knew it.
Here's KO's take -
Monday, September 18, 2006
The Hard Thing
Psalm 42.1-6
There's probably too many of those days.
Sequestered in an office, albeit a cool one (since I've moved down the hall, at last) where it's quiet, more of a study than an office, really - there I am, doing work, to be sure, but not always work that in the end matters worth a darn.
Then there are other days when I'm hardly in my office, because the role of ministry has me intersecting the real life issues of those I'm called to shepherd.
Today has been one of those days.
There is a couple in my congregation who is doing what I can only call "the hard thing" today. The reality that the addition to their family - that addition for which prayers have been offered, and thanksgivings shared, is not going to reach its potential lies before them.
Sadness.
Heartbreak.
Anger.
All those emotions are at play.
And I'm just talking about mine.
They are showing remarkable courage today, and in the moments of extremity in the lives of others, suddenly the pettiness of those pestering things in my own life are rightly judged.
I have personal experience with life's potential not realized. That, together with previous pastoral encounters over the years, informs me of what cannot be avoided. And so, when it was clear what was going to happen and how, I shared the only words I knew to offer,
June of 2007 will conclude the 20th year since a bishop appointed me to a church to serve as pastor(for pension purposes, I have to wait until 2009 to count 20, but that's another post), and during that time, sprinkled across the years, there are hard things to be remembered. To that number I've added one today, and through them all, each horrific in their own way, I've discovered one enduring truth about the faith.
The measure of faith in God's presence is not the illusion that we are somehow immune or exempt from "the hard thing." The measure is the realization, once we've endured, of how, without God's presence operative in our lives and in that situation, that we wouldn't have endured at all.
As a deer longs for flowing streams,There are days in ministry when too much time is spent doing "church work."
so my soul longs for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God.
When shall I come and behold
the face of God?
My tears have been my food
day and night,
while people say to me continually,
‘Where is your God?’
These things I remember,
as I pour out my soul:
how I went with the throng,
and led them in procession to the house of God,
with glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving,
a multitude keeping festival.
Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my help and my God.
There's probably too many of those days.
Sequestered in an office, albeit a cool one (since I've moved down the hall, at last) where it's quiet, more of a study than an office, really - there I am, doing work, to be sure, but not always work that in the end matters worth a darn.
Then there are other days when I'm hardly in my office, because the role of ministry has me intersecting the real life issues of those I'm called to shepherd.
Today has been one of those days.
There is a couple in my congregation who is doing what I can only call "the hard thing" today. The reality that the addition to their family - that addition for which prayers have been offered, and thanksgivings shared, is not going to reach its potential lies before them.
Sadness.
Heartbreak.
Anger.
All those emotions are at play.
And I'm just talking about mine.
They are showing remarkable courage today, and in the moments of extremity in the lives of others, suddenly the pettiness of those pestering things in my own life are rightly judged.
I have personal experience with life's potential not realized. That, together with previous pastoral encounters over the years, informs me of what cannot be avoided. And so, when it was clear what was going to happen and how, I shared the only words I knew to offer,
I wished there was some way to tell you that today was going to be easier than it's going to be, but I can't. It is by its very nature intolerable and unbelievable and yet unavoidable. Today will be one of the hardest days you'll ever experience, and although I can't tell you the whys of how things are as they are, there is one thing I cling to and offer you through this, God is crying with you today. Of that, I have no doubt.The role of the church and of those of us authorized to lead it is too often occupied, if not held captive by the "busy-ness" of the work. And as often as I complain about that, I am aware that it may be that there are days we need to immerse ourselves in such affairs. Maybe such days serve as buffers between the "hard things" that are unavoidable.
June of 2007 will conclude the 20th year since a bishop appointed me to a church to serve as pastor(for pension purposes, I have to wait until 2009 to count 20, but that's another post), and during that time, sprinkled across the years, there are hard things to be remembered. To that number I've added one today, and through them all, each horrific in their own way, I've discovered one enduring truth about the faith.
The measure of faith in God's presence is not the illusion that we are somehow immune or exempt from "the hard thing." The measure is the realization, once we've endured, of how, without God's presence operative in our lives and in that situation, that we wouldn't have endured at all.
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
"God Is Biased" Pentecost 14
The following is my sermon from Sunday last. It is based upon the lectionary readings from Proverbs, James and Mark.
There was some signficant response from this sermon, so I bring to this forum for any who may find value in it.
It is tied to my post from Monday "Of Hearts and Treasures."
There are some audio problems that are related to my wireless mic, and are not issues in the recording or playback.
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There was some signficant response from this sermon, so I bring to this forum for any who may find value in it.
It is tied to my post from Monday "Of Hearts and Treasures."
There are some audio problems that are related to my wireless mic, and are not issues in the recording or playback.
Powered by Castpost
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
KO's Special Comment on 9/11 - "This Hole in the Ground"
KO again.
Not to be missed.
You don't have to like him - I find his courage remarkable, and his skill to communicate something to admire and worthy of emulation.
My previous posts on KO reveal my appreciation for his skill. But on this day, it is his keen, clear insight that is so poignant.
As a linguist, I think he's masterful. I'm left wondering whether to shout "Amen, brother," or "O my God, I can't believe he said that," or, to hearken back to my Western Kentucky roots, "Holy Shit!"
Not to be missed.
You don't have to like him - I find his courage remarkable, and his skill to communicate something to admire and worthy of emulation.
My previous posts on KO reveal my appreciation for his skill. But on this day, it is his keen, clear insight that is so poignant.
As a linguist, I think he's masterful. I'm left wondering whether to shout "Amen, brother," or "O my God, I can't believe he said that," or, to hearken back to my Western Kentucky roots, "Holy Shit!"
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