A little Christmas Card for you...
My kid's debut... Kinda Alfalfa like, don't ya think?
In the words of Tiny Tim..."God bless us, everyone."
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Saturday, December 20, 2008
What to Do on This Last Week of Advent - Reach
I'm blessed to have the gifts of so many as a part of the congregation I serve. Our worship this Advent has centered around reaching for the Light that is coming into the world. And as we reach toward the Light, the Word, the Promised One, what is left for others to see is the star they need to follow.
Special thanks to Collins for his vision and insight. Below are words of interpretation he offered to set the stage for this image.
REACH
A painting of a star, a guiding light, hangs in the sanctuary. Two thousand years ago a star hung in God's sanctuary‐ a sanctuary of desert and sky, humanity and heaven, where anything was possible and even expected. The star was a beacon for those searching, those reaching. Those moving toward its radiance had expectation of wonderful things, amazing things‐ hope, joy, peace on earth.
Like those so long ago, we are reaching. With our hands and our hearts;
with our spirit and our flesh‐ we are reaching. Through our service. Through our faith. Through commitment‐ we are reaching. To the needy, the struggling, the imprisoned‐we are reaching. To the hungry, wounded and proud‐ we are reaching.
We, the body of Christ, are reaching for and with the light of Christ. In the name of Love, reach‐be a light in this world. Collins Dillard, Dec 2008
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
I'd a Given the Invocation If He Had Asked
What's the "purpose" driving this decision?
President-elect Obama has asked mega-Church pastor, purpose driven author Rick Warren to offer the invocation at the inauguration.
Who'd you expect? Rev'd Dr. Jeremiah Wright?
Well.......yes.
And why not...my stance of Dr. Wright has been previously stated...no need to rehash.
The larger question for me is this---now that Billy Graham is no longer able to serve as "pastor to the President," does this mean that "Pastor Rick" is?
I don't know what the right answer is to that ...or, is it another attempt to walk the center? Of course, that assumes one thinks "Pastor Rick" a moderate, which he is not.
One commentator noted that he's "Jerry Falwell in a Hawaiian shirt."
Nice.
What's my problem?
Why pick a mega-church guy? That's so easy.
I don't know Rick, he may be a fine guy. He may not be. His theology does not inspire me, and more than a little bit of it offends me.
But this isn't about Rick Warren. He's no mystery.
This is about the "why" of a choice that is singularly the President-elect's to make.
The President-elect is want to say "we can disagree without being disagreeable." To be sure, that is true. Maybe that's way we he's going to try govern.
But really?...another middle-aged, overweight white guy...aren't there enough of us already?
Pick someone who labors long in the vineyard of the Lord and serves scores of God's children with passion and vision...not tens of thousands. Pick someone who knows their congregants by name. Pick someone who serves the least, last and lost everyday in person...pick somebody serving in the urban centers.
Pick a pastor who practices radical gospel hospitality.
Pick a clergywoman. What would be more validating that change has come than to seek the word of a clergywoman as the President is being sworn in?
Pick anyone who serves in these contexts and I'd stand and applaud...as it is it sends a signal as it relates to matters such as these--there ain't much change going on 'round here!
President-elect Obama has asked mega-Church pastor, purpose driven author Rick Warren to offer the invocation at the inauguration.
Who'd you expect? Rev'd Dr. Jeremiah Wright?
Well.......yes.
And why not...my stance of Dr. Wright has been previously stated...no need to rehash.
The larger question for me is this---now that Billy Graham is no longer able to serve as "pastor to the President," does this mean that "Pastor Rick" is?
I don't know what the right answer is to that ...or, is it another attempt to walk the center? Of course, that assumes one thinks "Pastor Rick" a moderate, which he is not.
One commentator noted that he's "Jerry Falwell in a Hawaiian shirt."
Nice.
What's my problem?
Why pick a mega-church guy? That's so easy.
I don't know Rick, he may be a fine guy. He may not be. His theology does not inspire me, and more than a little bit of it offends me.
But this isn't about Rick Warren. He's no mystery.
This is about the "why" of a choice that is singularly the President-elect's to make.
The President-elect is want to say "we can disagree without being disagreeable." To be sure, that is true. Maybe that's way we he's going to try govern.
But really?...another middle-aged, overweight white guy...aren't there enough of us already?
Pick someone who labors long in the vineyard of the Lord and serves scores of God's children with passion and vision...not tens of thousands. Pick someone who knows their congregants by name. Pick someone who serves the least, last and lost everyday in person...pick somebody serving in the urban centers.
Pick a pastor who practices radical gospel hospitality.
Pick a clergywoman. What would be more validating that change has come than to seek the word of a clergywoman as the President is being sworn in?
Pick anyone who serves in these contexts and I'd stand and applaud...as it is it sends a signal as it relates to matters such as these--there ain't much change going on 'round here!
Bob Barker, Please C'mon Down!
Want to know the extraordinary thing about this clip?
That what occurred was displaced by the emotional unavailability of the host to recognize how extraordinary the moment was.
Somebody doesn't like his job.
That what occurred was displaced by the emotional unavailability of the host to recognize how extraordinary the moment was.
Somebody doesn't like his job.
Too Much Right Now
Yes, I know it's been awhile.
Too much.
Too many "oughts" are running my life right now. And any sense of "ought" related to sitting down and writing something is about the one "ought" I can say no to without feeling the weight of consequences that accompany noncompliance with any of the other "oughts" in my life demand it.
The perfect storm of oughts can be heavy on the soul -
...seasonal church pressures compounded by the financial realities of our time
..final papers to get graded for my seminary class by Thursday
...the thought that I have to compose something new and fresh around the Fourth Sunday of Advent, to say nothing of Christmas Eve
...I'm supposed to sing Christmas Eve, but I don't know what I want to do - something classic, something contemporary - ahhhhh! (any suggestions are welcome)
...I've been out 5 nights in a row -
...shopping still to do
And yet, life goes on, and I'm hanging in.
Any preacher will tell you that their sabbath is not on Sunday. The same is true for this season. The push and pull between vocational expectations (too often trapped in nostalgia more than good theology) and personal expectations (and to no one's surprise - too often trapped by nostalgia, too) make it difficult to experience something of the season for one's own soul as they are leading others through it.
Which is why, after I offer the benediction on Christmas Eve, I'm done until the new year. Beyond the brief family jaunt up into West Tennessee, I'm home...doing nothing and anything. I'm even taking advantage of the wonderful pastoral team I work with and giving the pulpit to one of my associates.
You know, when I was an associate, I swore I'd never do that if put in a position of power.
Oh be careful what you say you will or will not do.
So I'm guessing, after some rest and recreation, some posts will pop up before the end of the year.
I mean, posts other than this one which I'm too busy to write right now!
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Thoughts Upon Thanksgiving
I've come to think that Thanksgiving is most deeply appreciated not in the extravagance of plenty, nor the satiation of every possible hunger that ends up in gluttony. Thanksgiving seems hollow if you expect everything you've got...or, you feel entitled to it.
There is the beginning of a different sense of Thanksgiving this year...perhaps a more pristine one. History can be a great teacher, if we pay attention and learn its lessons...Thanksgiving takes on a deeper meaning when you recognize what you've come through...or even what you're going through.
That first Thanksgiving, with Pilgrims and Native Americans...and Squanto (I remember reading a book about Squanto when I was a boy)...has a romantic feel to it this far removed...the stuff of childhood reenactments with their tall cardboard hats and feathered head dress...it's just so doggone cute.
But such observances do not strike us at our core to prompt the very thing it seeks. Thanksgiving only trapped in historical, if not mythological, remembrances do not necessarily make being thankfful incarnate in the present.
The recent election has prompted renewed interest in the presidency of Abraham Lincoln. Every indicator is that President-elect Obama is taking cues from Lincoln's approach to governance...a steady course in the time extreme uncertainty.
I tell you, Doris Kearns Goodwin ought to give him a piece of her book, "Team of Rivals," because he's the best salesman for it she's got.
I was taken by the following proclamation. Placed into its historical context, it's an extraordinary thing.
The signs of the times indicate that we are in peril the likes of which we've not known in 100 years...that could well be.
I wonder if it will elicit deeper Thanksgiving for the things that, in the end, matter most.
So, my wish for you is not so much that you have a Happy Thanksgiving...but that you have a Thanksgiving in which thanksgiving is practiced.
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION
The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added which are of so extraordinary a nature that they can not fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God.
In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign states to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere, except in the theater of military conflict, while that theater has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.
Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense have not arrested the plow, the shuttle, or the ship; the ax has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battlefield, and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.
No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.
It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans. mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity, and union.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington, this 3d day of October, A. D. 1863, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
By the President:
WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.
There is the beginning of a different sense of Thanksgiving this year...perhaps a more pristine one. History can be a great teacher, if we pay attention and learn its lessons...Thanksgiving takes on a deeper meaning when you recognize what you've come through...or even what you're going through.
That first Thanksgiving, with Pilgrims and Native Americans...and Squanto (I remember reading a book about Squanto when I was a boy)...has a romantic feel to it this far removed...the stuff of childhood reenactments with their tall cardboard hats and feathered head dress...it's just so doggone cute.
But such observances do not strike us at our core to prompt the very thing it seeks. Thanksgiving only trapped in historical, if not mythological, remembrances do not necessarily make being thankfful incarnate in the present.
The recent election has prompted renewed interest in the presidency of Abraham Lincoln. Every indicator is that President-elect Obama is taking cues from Lincoln's approach to governance...a steady course in the time extreme uncertainty.
I tell you, Doris Kearns Goodwin ought to give him a piece of her book, "Team of Rivals," because he's the best salesman for it she's got.
I was taken by the following proclamation. Placed into its historical context, it's an extraordinary thing.
The signs of the times indicate that we are in peril the likes of which we've not known in 100 years...that could well be.
I wonder if it will elicit deeper Thanksgiving for the things that, in the end, matter most.
So, my wish for you is not so much that you have a Happy Thanksgiving...but that you have a Thanksgiving in which thanksgiving is practiced.
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION
The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added which are of so extraordinary a nature that they can not fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God.
In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign states to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere, except in the theater of military conflict, while that theater has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.
Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense have not arrested the plow, the shuttle, or the ship; the ax has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battlefield, and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.
No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.
It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans. mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity, and union.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington, this 3d day of October, A. D. 1863, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
By the President:
WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.
Now We're Talking --From the World of Star Trek
My curiosity of how my most beloved pop culture mythology would be treated in the coming "reboot" or "re-imagining" by JJ Abrams has now officially moved into excitement.
It didn't happen until the last few seconds of this movie trailer...
It didn't happen until the last few seconds of this movie trailer...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)