Disaster Area

This and That

With packing and a music practice tomorrow night I figure I might not get much of a chance to blog tomorrow, then it's off to San Diego and emergent first thing Wednesday morning, so here a few random tidbits swirling around today...

Watching Airline on A&E it turns out that Yolanda, one of the Southwest supervisors at LAX, has two kids called Dallas and Kennedy. Man, who was paying attention when they picked those names? We can only presume her third child will be called Oswald...

What are we emerging to? Karen Ward passes on some observations from John D. Barbour, Professor of Religion at St Olaf's College, apparently a watcher of things emergent, and adds some cogent observations. Interestingly, I just got my copy of Mission Shaped Church from the UK today (anyone else in the US got or read a copy?) and I'm finding it fascinating. Of course, the UK context is different, but the concepts apply broadly. It also addresses the different approaches required for church planting and revitalization of existing church communities, which I find helpful, as the emerging church needs to encompass both.

Bill Arnold pulls another awesome post out of thin air... The joy is in the singing and playing, not the ending...

Skipping ahead to tomorrow's readings for Will's imagine bible blog, I read the first seven chapters of Leviticus. Lots of blood there - bull's blood, goat's blood, sheep's blood, dove's blood, pigeon's blood. And lots of it everywhere - this side of the altar, that side of the altar, on the door mantel (oh wait, that was Exodus)... Those Israelites liked their blood - just not in their food. Which made me realize for the first time in my life just how crazy it was for Jesus to offer his blood at the last supper...

Influential Evangelicals

In case you haven't seen this already, here is Time magazine's 25 Most Influential Evangelicals. Some interesting names in there, and a sometimes depressing look at who's pulling which strings. Then there's an occasional bright spot, such as this one.

Church Board Bingo

As I've mentioned before, I'm on my church's board, or Vestry as we like to call them in the Episcopal church. I'm starting my second year of a three year term. Right now we're in the middle of our annual retreat (a few hours tonight and most of tomorrow), although we haven't retreated very far. As of tonight it's finally official - at the invitiation of our Rector, I am the senior warden (chair) for the coming year. This is my third time in the last 10 years, with my third different rector. It's an incredible privilege, and a considerable responsibility.

Tonight, our Rector had us consider the following story as a meditation. It's a bit hokey, but in small groups we got a lot more out of it than you might think. I'll post some of our thoughts tomorrow, but in the meantime, see what insights you can come up with...

Are You a Carrot, an Egg, or a Coffee Bean?
by Mary Sullivan

A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her.  She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up.  She was tired of fighting and struggling.  It seemed as if as soon as one problem was solved a new one arose.  Her mother took her to the kitchen.

The mother filled three pots with water. In the first, she placed carrots in the second she placed eggs and in the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil without saying a word.  About twenty minutes later, she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl.

Turning to her daughter, she said, "Tell me what you see."

"Carrots, eggs, and coffee," she replied.

She brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did, and noted that they felt soft. She then asked her to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg inside. Finally, she asked her to sip the coffee.  The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma.

The daughter then asked, "So, what's the point, mother?"

Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity - boiling water - but each reacted differently.

The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak.

The egg had been fragile.  Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid center. But, after sitting through the boiling water, its insides had become hardened.

The ground coffee beans were unique, however.  After they were in the boiling water...they had changed the water.

"Which are you?" she asked her daughter.  "When adversity knocks on your
door, how do you respond?  Are you a carrot , an egg, or a coffee bean?"

Think of this: Which am I?

Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity, do I wilt
and become soft and lose my strength?

Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship, or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff?  Does my outer shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and a hardened heart?

Or am I like the coffee bean?  The bean actually changes the hot water - the very circumstances that bring the pain.  When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor of the bean.  If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you instead of letting it change you.

How do you handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?

Pomo Rumble Revisited

Andrew Zirschky recorded a late night debate on postmodernism in November of 2003 at the Youth Specialties Convention in St. Louis. Participants were Brian McLaren, Tony Jones, Dan Kimball, Chap Clark and Duffy Robbins. You can get the wav file here if you feel like it.

It's a very interesting discussion and it gave me a different perspective on several of the participants. The entire thing is worth listening to, but I’ll just give you a brief idea of the discussion.

Brian McLaren is thoughtful and articulate. He kicks off the proceedings with a historical look at the interplay of religion, science and government through time. Prior to the modern era, religion ruled the roost. Science and government were, if not controlled, then heavily influenced by the religious leaders of the day. The dawn of the modern era (16^th century) saw a shift to science leading the way. Neither of these situations were ideal, and postmodernism is looking for a way to balance them. Interesting idea.

Tony Jones agrees with Brian, and adds a few comments, but his big moment comes right after the initial definitions, where he gives an impassioned and articulate five minute discourse on the demise of the modern era.

Chap Clark doesn’t say much the whole night, and in his intro describes the modern era by child psychologist David Erskind’s definition – it started after WW2 with black and white TV, and ended in 1970 when postmodernism took over. To which I say, “Huh?”

Duffy Robbins is obviously the designated postmodernism hit man of the conservative evangelical youth ministry world. He first defines postmodernism as equivalent to paganism (?) which says, “there’s no such thing as truth” (??). Then along comes paganism’s first cousin, pluralism, which says “there’s no such thing as false” (???). “If there’s no such thing as truth, and there’s no such thing as false, then there can be no such thing as certainty” (????). This is perhaps the least well constructed strawman argument I’ve ever heard. The house of cards he constructs is breathtaking in its flimsiness.

There’s more from Duffy later (his other two canned postmodernism=evil stories). Now if he was some average Joe off the street that would be one thing, but he's a college professor, so I think the standards of intellectual honesty should be a little higher in my opinion.

Dan Kimball is the last to kick in in the first round, and I found him a joy to listen to. He is kind, sincere and articulate. I have some other talks of his on CD from youth conventions and I have his Emerging Church and Emerging Worship books. Dan doesn’t get into the theological depth of McLaren and Jones, but is more the theological everyman who can relate well his journey through youth ministry and how he has arrived at the position he is in.

This is a very interesting discussion. If you haven’t had a chance, go get it and give it a listen. With emerging on the cusp of, well, emerging, it’s probably going to come in handy.

Emergent Convention

Wow, this time next week I'll be in San Diego reflecting on a hectic first day getting to know a bunch of new people at the emergent convention. Should be a dynamic time, seeing how Youth Specialties has announced they will no longer run the convention. Although this is widely perceived as a good thing (and I agree), as I've never been to one before it feels a bit like arriving late to a party just as everyone else is leaving. It will certainly force the pace on how emergent organizes from here on. I think whatever gets decided it will all work out OK as long as there's free wi-fi.

Reader Poll

Hey everybody, it's audience participation time!

By default typepad sets up comments to put the most recent on top, working down through the older ones. This is counter to how most blogs are set up where you scroll down through all the comments chronologically to get to the newest one. I meant to change the setup to the latter convention but so far I haven't, because I keep forgetting, slacker that I am.

It appears that whichever scheme is used you have to scroll to the bottom to add a comment anyway, so is there any advantage whatsoever to starting with the newest?

Which do you prefer?

Musical Influences Top 10: #8 (a) Yes & (b) ELP

Yes, it's been a month, but here's the next installment! My musical "education" in the early seventies was advanced greatly by two fantastic keyboard players - Rick Wakeman and Keith Emerson. Oh my God, how great were these two guys?

(And please note this double billing is one of my cheats to get round the top 10 limitation. Ha - I make the rules round here, so get used to it.)

I first picked up on Emerson Lake and Palmer in the early seventies when their first album was released. I saw them at Newcastle City Hall live during the Tarkus tour, with the giant tank/armadillo and everything. Tarkus is still an amazing album, with the seven piece Tarkus suite probably the best stuff they ever did. Much like Wishbone Ash's Throw Down the Sword, Battlefield speaks to the futility of war.

Clear the battlefield and let me see
All the profit from our victory.
You talk of freedom, starving children fall.
Are you deaf when you hear the season’s call?

Were you there to watch the earth be scorched?
Did you stand beside the spectral torch?
Know the leaves of sorrow turned their face,
Scattered on the ashes of disgrace.

Every blade is sharp; the arrows fly
We’re the victims of your army’s lie,
Where the blades of grass and arrows reign
Then there'll be no sorrow,
Be no pain.

My teenage years seem to have been permeated with this theme, even though there was no threat of a military draft in the UK or anything like it (unlike the US, where Vietnam still loomed large). I guess it was all that cold war potential nuclear destruction vibe. Ah, the seventies...

It was at couple of years later that a friend at British Aerospace (where I worked before college) introduced me to Yes. One concert in Manchester at Salford University and the triple album Yessongs and I was hooked. To this day I can crank up Starship Trooper (live version from Yessongs, of course) and feel 18 again. It's on my iPod and consequently available 24/7, pretty much.

While ELP split up and never really hooked up properly again, Yes have been through a myriad lineup changes, eventually ending up back at classic Yes. I caught them on tour last year and, apart from the fact they didn't play Starship Trooper, were just as good as ever. Rick Wakeman even became a Christian sometime in there. Not only that, when the organ at my wife's family's home parish (where we were married) was restored a few years ago, the church organist actually got Wakeman to come and play for the inaugural service. Had there been time I would have paid the money to fly back home for that. Wakeman's other work is generally pretty good - from Six Wives of Henry VIII, Journey to the Center of the Earth (should have had better vocalists, though), Myths and Legends of King Arthur through 1984 and on.

Both bands were heavy on instrumentals and light on lyrics. Vocals, i.e. Jon Anderson, are featured prominently in Yes, but they're more sound poems, or just another instrument, than anything else... Witness the chorus to Roundabout:

In and around the lake
Mountains come out of the sky and they stand there
One mile over we’ll be there and we’ll see you
Ten true summers we’ll be there and laughing too
Twenty four before my love you’ll see I’ll be there with you

Um, yeah, and trust me, the rest doesn't make any more sense. But in many ways Anderson's voice was as critical a part of Yes's sound as Wakeman's keyboards and Steve Howe's guitar. He did some great stuff later collabaorating with another keyboard virtuoso - Vangelis.

Stay tuned for the next exciting installment! (before March, I promise.)

Random Searching and Deja Vu

One cool feature of Typepad is that you can see where people link from to find your site. I was thrilled to find that I'm third on the list when Australians search MSN for "german" "forklift" "safety". After all, one of my main goals in life is to make sure that German loving Australians follow all the forklift safety rules. because (warning! repeat link!) who knows what might happen if they don't.

Pray For Jake, Jean and family

Jake is the brother of Adam's friend Jean. Read the entire story and pray for and with them.

2 Corinthians 1:3-5

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows."

Tired of Being Called an Atheist

Interesting story about a biology textbook author and the wacky folk in Cobb County, Georgia.