Editing Little House

For the past 6 months or so, we've been reading Kinsey the Little House series as her bedtime story, one chapter a night, and it's been one of the most fun things we've done. We're on These Happy Golden Years right now and about 100 pages into it. Kinsey loves how the relationship between Laura and Almanzo has been developing, and has even had a little crush on Cap Garland since we first met him in The Long Winter. Sheryl and I have also become interested in Laura's story and how much the truth is reflected in the books and are planning on reading John Miller's Becoming Laura Ingalls Wilder.

There have been two times though where we have decided to edit Laura a little. In one instance in Little House on the Prairie, Ma and a neighbor lady are having a conversation and one of them says that "the only good Indian is a dead Indian," and Laura relates how Ma hated Indians. Sheryl and I discussed that a little bit and while we read the first, and edited the second to say that Ma disliked Indians, we also said that "Indians" wasn't the best way to describe the people who lived on the land before us.

The other time, we completely excised a section of a chapter of Little Town on the Prairie. There is a chapter describing a "literary," which was basically parties that De Smet had every week to get people together. They had spelling bees, living wax statues, singings, and things like that. But one of the literaries they had was a black-faced minstrel show where the men of the town including Pa Ingalls participated. I thought a lot about this and Sheryl and I talked and we decided to not read that section at all. I understand that Kinsey would probably not have and issue with it and Sheryl and I might have been exercising a little too much caution with it, but the truth is that we simply decided that we didn't want to expose her to that. She has such an innocent exposure to race and race relations right now that we want to preserve that for as long as possible.

Scott Owings

Two months after BST left Otter Creek, another minister has announced his departure. Scott Owings, the Congregational Care minister, is leaving to be a hospice chaplain at the end of March. As Judy Thomas has already ably pointed out, Scott has been someone who has helped guide and nudge Otter Creek in directions that we might not have headed in. He started the Wednesday night Vespers service several years ago, which opened us up to a more liturgical and higher church setting. He has focused on the classic spiritual disciplines and encouraged their incorporation into the wider congregational life. As the coordinator for life groups, he's been sensitive to the needs of people and the make-up of the groups.

I'm honestly not trying to turn this into a hagiography, but Scott's influence in my life has been profound and while I know for sure that he is going to be an excellent chaplain and the kind of man that I would want with my family in a time of grief or need, it will leave a hole. I'm thankful to God for Scott and his family and while I'm grateful that they will be staying at Otter Creek, I will miss him in his place on the staff.

Who/What Is God?

A question post today:

How do you define God?

What characteristics of God are the most appealing/comforting to you?

What characteristics of God are the most off-putting or disturbing to you?

YouTube Thursday: Kinsey Announcing Baby

I was digging through some old pictures last night and ran across this video that I shot back in November of 2005. We were at the group reunion for our mission trip to England in October of that year. We knew, obviously, that we were pregnant when we went, but we only told the two leaders before we went, just in case something went wrong and we had to go to the hospital or something.

At any rate, when we got back, we had this reunion and we decided to let Kinsey tell all our friends that she was going to be a big sister. It was taken with our little digital camera, so the quality isn't great, but it is a nice moment.

Liberal Jesus: Taking a Break From Church

One of my blogfriends, Greg Kendall-Ball, shared this post the other day and it really resonated with me on several levels and I was curious about other people's reactions to it. It's from a blog called Liberal Jesus.

People in my faith tradition love the Bible.

You may think that you too love the Bible, but you're wrong. We really, really love the Bible. We attend Bible class and Bible camp. Our kids learn about the Bible and compare their knowledge in "Bible Bowl". To protect our Bibles, we carry them in special zippered bags. We give one another guilt about reading the Bible. We claim that "we speak where the scripture speaks, and are silent where the scripture is silent." (By "the scripture", we of course mean "the Bible".) We even sing songs about ... you guessed it ... the Bible.

There are some good, historical reasons for this attitude, and very few people know or care about those reasons. Because in our tradition, history isn't very interesting, and neither is Biblical interpretation, really. There is no such thing as "interpreting" the Bible. It simply says what it means, and means what it says ... and what it means and says are what we've always said that it says and means.

It wasn't a bad way to grow up. I sailed along happily, riding this wave of certainty, singing about how I loved the Bible and how I wished someone would give me a Bible and how much I loved Bible camp, until one year at said Bible camp, something happened that roughened the seas a bit.

Every year, at the end of the week, the boys and the girls of each age group would engage in a Bible trivia competition. That year we had been studying 1 and 2 Timothy -- you know, the authoritarian epistles -- and we boys were, like every year, pretty much resigned to losing. The girls always beat us. But somehow, this year, perhaps buoyed up by the writer's exhortation that women should learn "in quietness and full submisssion", we eked out a win.

The girls were downcast. We were jubilant. And in the middle of our celebration, someone (I'm pretty sure it wasn't me) purloined the words of 2 timothy 3 for a victory chant:

"Weak-willed women. Weak-willed women! Weak-willed women!"

We all chanted together, rejoicing in our superior Bible knowledge.

"Weak-willed women!"

Then I noticed that one of the girls was crying, quietly.

If you've ever been a junior-high boy, you will probably know what happens when you see the tears of a junior-high girl who is kind, intelligent and more than a little bit cute.

You're utterly befuddled.

You walk back to your cabin, deeply confused. And as you process the situation, you start to notice that something is wrong. You're not quite sure what yet, but something, you know, is terribly wrong.

After a few years, you figure it out: something must be wrong with the Bible. Friends and acquaintances are abandoning their faith because they can't follow a God who would order genocide, or denigrate women, or abhor gays. And they can't simply ignore a few Bible verses and go on with their faith, because if they learned anything growing up in church, they learned this: either all of the Bible is true, or none of it's true.

But soon after, you realize that maybe nothing is wrong the Bible; maybe something is broken about how you're interpreting it. And if something is broken about how you're interpreting it, maybe something is also wrong about how you're applying those interpretations. Over time, and with quite a bit of help, you begin feeling your way out of the darkness of Christian fundamentalism and the trap of biblical literalism. You can see the contradictions in the text now, but they don't scare you. They simply point to he beautiful frailty of the real people behind the Bible, a frailty that you see all around you every day. As you change the way you interpret the Bible, you change your theology. You begin ignoring those parts of the Bible that endorse prejudice, or misogyny, or genocide. You allow other voices, like science and your own experience, to inform your understanding of God.

Then you wake up one morning and realize that you don't fit in at church. Not only don't you fit in, but you're not really welcome, and you don't particularly like being there.

And that's where I found myself a few weeks ago.

I realized that while my church is admirable in its attempts to pursue social justice and racial integration, its justifications for doing so, and its core theology, were essentially fundamentalist. My church is great in that it has no creeds, no membership, no checklist telling us who's in and who's out, but underlying all of its programs, all its deliberations about church leadership, all its expressions of worship and interactions with the surrounding community was this fundamental, axiomatic belief that the Bible is the infallible word of God. And that made church exhuasting.

Instead of singing, I spent my time trying to translate the song lyrics into metaphors I could affirm.

Instead of praying, I spent my time pondering the moral bankruptcy of a God who would grant any of our prayer requests, while every day, thousands of people starved to death. I tried not to be appalled at people who would follow such a God.

Instead of speaking the standard Jesus-speak, or providing perspectives that would contradict the established church culture, I tried to keep my mouth shut. I mostly failed at that, though, which mostly made me feel like a curmudgeonly bastard.

I became desperately grouchy, because I was always having to define my faith in terms of what I didn't believe, and I didn't have any spiritual mentors who could show me the way to a positive, progressive faith. (Thank God for the Internet, right? People like Paul and Crystal kept me afloat ... I want to kiss them.)

Finally, I realized that being at church wasn't doing me any good. It wasn't making me a more virtuous person, and it wasn't even making me feel good. Going to church was like poking myself in the eye with a sharp stick, and it would probably be better for everyone involved if I just STOPPED POKING MYSELF IN THE EYE WITH A STICK.

So I did. And now I feel better.

In the future, I may return to a church. My roots are there, my family is there, and I'd like to try to help people who are looking for an alternative to fundamentalism. But for now, I have to figure out the next few lines of my story.

I'd like to find a faith community that exhibits the virtues that I hope to learn. I'd like to find mentors who can express their progressive faith in positive terms. I'd like to see if I can learn some wisdom from other faith traditions, because there are books other than the Bible. I've even read a few of them, and while in lots of places they're as scary as the Bible in the hands of an angry fundamentalist, there always seems to be something to learn about love, or people, or God.

And one last thing: for those of you who might be worried about my apostasy, have no fear. God is out here too.

The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.

Thoughts?

In the Basement

Last Tuesday night, Sheryl and I grabbed the kids and headed down to the basement. Sheryl had gotten home from the Y around 8:50 and we just kept watching the radar. As "the hook" got closer and closer to our area, we started blowing out candles and getting pillows and quilts downstairs. As we kept watching and watching, at about 9:15, Sheryl and I looked at each other and basically agreed that, yeah, we had to get the kids and go downstairs.

We never covered up, but we listened to both the TV and outside. We had the torrential rain, some brief hail, then it got really quiet. And we got scared. Thankfully, the storm passed over us, even though it went on to do terrible damage to accompany the damage it had already done. However, the kids slept through it and won't have a memory of it.

What I will remember is that as I was holding Kinsey in my arms and looking furtively over at the pile of pillows, wondering if we were going to have to make a mad dash over there, I looked at Sheryl holding Connor and down at Kinsey's sleep-mussed head that they are everything to me. I realized right then that everything we have could be obliterated, that everything could be gone, but if anything happened to any of them, I would be destroyed. Who I am is so totally wrapped up in them that I can't even think about what life would be like without them.

And so, I'm grateful to God for them. I'm thankful that He's given me ways to express and share love that I could never have imagined 15 years ago. We can never truly imagine our capacity for love until we get the opportunity to give it.

How I Got a Ticket in my Driveway

I ran out late Friday night to our local Walgreens (the Shop on Every Corner) for a few things. On my way home there are two stop signs. And admittedly, I don't usually stop all the way at them, particularly if there is no other traffic. And Friday night, I didn't.

The second stop sign is about 100 yards from my house and it's a right turn into our neighborhood. I slowed at the turn and turned into our neighborhood and as I'm turning into our driveway, I see blue lights behind me. Thinking he might be going up our street, I complete the turn into our driveway to get out of his way and he pulls in behind me.

So that's how I ended up getting a ticket in my driveway.

Sigh.

The Bible Tells Me So: Answering a Question

I wanted to take one more post and answer a thought that Thomas+ proposed in last week's post.

Let me start out by saying that I am very grateful to God for bringing Thomas into my life. Starting from Church of the Redeemer meeting at the old Otter Creek building to our association in the Nashville Cohort, he has been someone who provides some good perspective on several of the questions that I've been asking.

The thought that Thomas had was this:

Ultimately, I think Phil's problems have little to do with literal vs. figurative. It sounds much more like he is concerned about the character of God. He sounds like he would prefer a "kinder, gentler" god than the one he sometimes sees in the Bible. I understand that, having felt the same way many times.

But I think he is hiding behind figurative vs. literal. I could be wrong, certainly, but I think this is more about the God of the Bible than the Bible itself.

Thomas is not wrong on this. It's not the only question, but it certainly is a part of it. As I stated in the Old Testament part of this series. It does bother me that the God who is defined as love in the New Testament would call for the genocide of the Canaanites.

However, I don't that it's as easy to separate the Bible from the God of the Bible. If our entire definition(s) of God come from the Bible, then something that I have to deal with is one on hand, the truth of the Bible, and on another, the literal or figurative historicity of the Bible. Where I'm trying to get is maybe to not focus on the literal/figurative section. And maybe this is simply a step that I'm having to go through to a different understanding of it.

You see, my faith has always been lived through the lens of the Bible. And part of that problem is that if I'm honest with myself, I do have a lot of questions about the authors and the literalness of it. And if I begin to doubt the reliability of Scripture, then the natural next step is to doubt the faith that I have gained because of the Bible and the interpretations of it.

So what I'm trying not to is throw the baby out with the bathwater. If my view of Scripture is not the traditional (kind of) literal view of Scripture that I've had most of my life, then how does my faith change? Do I lose my faith? Perhaps some will, but I don't think I will. My faith is too important to me to let a changing view of Scripture and the God revealed within that Scripture subvert it.

I feel like I'm rambling a lot here, but there are some deep-seated questions that I'm wrestling with while trying to be honest with myself (and all of you). I don't know if that clears anything up or not or just muddies the waters more.

Picture: Reflected Lightning

Chris Wage, a former student of mine, took this picture on Tuesday night when all the storms came through. It is exceptionally beautiful, much like his other photography. He has some serious talent.


Digg it.

What Happened Yesterday: Super Tuesday

(For my March 4 thoughts, they're here.)

Two years ago, I admitted that I love politics. I love the races and I watch both sides with equal interest. And while I've also admitted that I think politics is a very imperfect way to try and achieve the goals of the Kingdom of God, that doesn't dampen my interest in it.

I didn't get to watch much of the returns last night for Super Tuesday. Sheryl and I spent about a half hour or so in our basement with the kids as a tornado went fairly near our house and then continuing to watch the local channels as more came kind of near us, but some basic reactions to Super Tuesday.

First off, can someone explain why there's not a federal law calling for, if not one national primary, maybe four different ones in January, February, March, and April? It makes no sense that Iowa and New Hampshire to determine who the candidates will be.

Republicans

Sorry all you Huck-ers, Mitt-ites, and conspiracy theorists... I mean, Ron Paulines. McCain's got this one sewn up. He's got a ton of delegates and he might not have won a majority of votes in all the states, but he's really drawing from a lot of places. It's been very interesting for me to listen to conservative talk radio and how much people seem to HATE McCain. I guess I can understand why. But it seems that all the reasons that conservatives dislike him is why I do. It seems that his greatest offense is that he's worked with Democrats to pass legislation in Congress. I guess conservatives think that's compromising.

I know Justin will agree with me, but the media is really short changing a candidate in the Republican primary, but it's not Justin's candidate. Ron Paul deserves the little attention he's getting as evidenced by how he did last night. The candidate that had been pushed to the side was Huckabee. And he showed last night that he's still a force to be reckoned with. He's not going to be the nominee, but he showed that he has clout by winning in the South. People may disagree with him and might think that a vote for Huckabee is a vote for McCain, but it wasn't last night. Last night, a vote for Huckabee was another nudge toward making him the Vice President.

Democrats

For the first time in my life yesterday, I voted for a Democrat for president, Obama. There are things I will disagree with him on, but I honestly feel like he would do a good job as the president and could bring some unity to the political landscape.

Now, outside of that, I want to mention something. I was watching CNN before the storms came and there seemed to be some amazement about the idea that white people in the South were voting for Obama. Here's my theory: Because of the civil rights era and the predominance of African-Americans in the South, we have been forced to deal with our prejudices in a more open environment. We have had to come to terms in a way that perhaps other parts of the country might have not had to. Now, I haven't lived in other parts of the country. I've lived in Nashville my entire life so I may not have a proper perspective on it. But my sense is that, especially among people my age and younger, we don't judge someone on their skin color. Now we might judge on clothing or appearance or perceived economic status, but we don't judge on skin color, which is why Obama does as well as he does with younger voters and even younger white voters.

One thing is for certain on the Democratic side: this ain't over. It's still a horse race. One number I saw this morning said that there were over 14 million votes cast in the Democratic primaries and out of those, only 40,000 are separating Clinton from Obama. Whatever the case, it's going to be a ton of fun to keep watching on both sides.

Tagged again: 10 Things I'm Learning from Being a Parent

Another tag. This time by Adam. And it fits into my Tuesday's as family day, so here goes...

10 Things I'm Learning from Being a Parent
And for the record, it's Kinsey, 6 and Connor, 1

1. I'm learning that there is nothing better than a scream of "Daddy!" or "Hi Dada!" when I come home from work.

2. I expect too much sometimes of a 6 year old and a 1 year old, but they keep meeting and exceeding those expectations (most of the time).

3. Reading the Little House on the Prairie series every night has been one of the neatest things to do.

4. I'm not great at playing dolls, but I rock at Hot Wheels.

5. There are physical things that you will do for your child that would never occur to you to do to anyone else and require multiple hand washings afterwards.

6. Calvin and Hobbes is sometimes the most incredible representation of a six-year-old's life.

7. Wrestling against Daddy 3 on 1 is fun.

8. Picking out an outfit for a boy is much easier than for a girl.

9. I couldn't do this alone.

10. If God is anything like me, He gets really frustrated sometimes, but nothing, ever, ever, ever, will stop Him from loving His children.

Tagging: Amy G., Scott, Malia and/or David, Amy W., and Elizabeth.

Superior Bowl

Wow, wow, wow. What an amazing game. I will admit that I was rooting for the Patriots because I wanted to see history made. However, even with that, I was extremely entertained by the entire game and the play that Eli Manning made was just insane. It was very reminiscent of the play Steve McNair made in Super Bowl XXXIV (sigh) just before the final play.

We had a bunch of people at our house for the game: most of our small group and a few extra people too, which made it a ton of fun. Kids were running around and playing, we were yelling at the plays, and there was even clapping for commercials. My personal favorite was the Macy's balloon one where Charlie Brown finally succeeded in gaining something. But I still enjoyed the Night at the Roxbury's "Baby Don't Hurt Me" Pepsi commercial, the Dorito's Mouse commercial, and the Tide talking stain was pretty entertaining as well.

However, my favorite moment of the night was a simple one. Connor decided that he wanted to come downstairs with me at one point and when I tried to put him down on the ground, he wanted to stay with me, so I got to sit in a big comfy chair with my son in my arms watching the Super Bowl. He would cheer and clap when we did and even decided to dance during the halftime show, which (sorry, Tiffany) didn't match up to Prince last year or U2 from 2002.

Great time and a great game.

Tag Response

So I got tagged by Scott Freeman and I don't always do these, but it interested me so here goes.

Pick up the nearest book of at least 123 pages

Find page 123

Find the first 5 sentences

Post the next 3 sentences

Tag 5 people

The nearest book was The Making of Star Wars: The Definitive Story Behind the Original Film, which is awesome btw. There's only pictures on page 123, so here's page 122.

"When George saw the locations, the roads were much narrower than he would have wished," Barry adds. So we had to find the smallest vehicle there was and make it half as small again. There's a little thing called a 'Bomb Bug,' which is a trike; it has three wheels."

Extra nerd points if you can guess what vehicle they're talking about building.

My tags: Justin, Judy, Adam, Thomas+ and Malia and/or David.

The Bible Tells Me So: Implications

In the last few weeks, on Friday, I've been thinking about the idea of taking Scripture seriously if not always literally. I've talked about my thoughts on the Old Testament and also why I tend to take the New Testament more literally. So for the final thoughts on this, I wanted to think about the implications of this mindset.

In my mind, there are basically three ways of interpreting Scripture, each with flaws.

• Entirely literally, which can lead to such things as believing that God (or Satan) planted the dinosaur fossils to challenge our faith and make it difficult to believe in God and the Bible.
• Entirely figuratively, which in my mind loses much of the value of Scripture, particularly when it comes to Jesus and His Resurrection, something I view as central to Christian faith.
• And then the way that I've been thinking, a combination of literal and figurative, which as I discussed in the first installment of this whole thing, can lead to cherry picking which Scripture we decide are literal and which are figurative, although .

In thinking about the third way, I freely admit that there are flaws and subjectivity within that perspective, but in a way I think it's harder than the other two. If you decide to take the Bible completely literally or figuratively, all of your decisions are made. There's very little discernment in that part. You then have to decide how you're going to enact those beliefs.

With the third way, there's discernment and study that have to go into determining what is intended to be taken literally and figuratively. In a way, this mindset would seem to free up the Bible to be what it seems like it was meant to be, not completely a rule book or law book to be followed completely (which almost no one does). To me, it is a way to acknowledge Scripture both as God breathed and human influenced, because I don't think the two are mutually exclusive.

YouTube Thursday: Carry Organ My Wayward Daughter

Japanese girl rocks out to Carry On My Wayward Son on an ORGAN!



H/T: Scott

Teaching Strategies: The Pan Dance and a Bloody Leg

Once again, through the magic of Facebook, I've been reconnecting with some former students who have been reminding me about some of my more innovative strategies in teaching them. Innovative meaning that I didn't know what the crap I was doing, because it was my first year.

For instance, the Pan dance.

I love Greek mythology. I have since elementary school. I loved reading the stories from Robert Graves' Greek Gods and Heroes. And one of the units I taught to the 9th graders that first year was on Greek mythology. But I didn't want to lecture them. I didn't want it to bore them to tears. So I made it storytime, much like the ancient Greeks would have had. I told them the stories of the gods and their interaction with the humans. Nothing on the board, just pulling out a chair and telling them. The kids loved the stories about Zeus doing whatever he could to get with a human woman, because they were 9th graders and they're hormones on legs. But one god they could never get their heads around was Pan. Even when I described him as a half goat half man who danced around with Pan pipes, there was still difficulty. So in a flash of genius and/or lack of pride, I jumped up out of my chair and putting my fingers to my head like horns, proceeded to leap about my classroom, making what can only be described as noises like a dying goat in an imitation of pan pipes. I think the kids understood, even if they could never get the image of Mr. Wilson's Pan Dance out of their heads.

One more first year teacher first day story. As a first year teacher, you have NO idea how long it will take to say something and generally when I'm nervous I talk really fast. So my first day of teaching, I have what's called a creative writing rotation for 7th graders and then 8th graders. In an attempt to round out their education as much as possible the kids went to certain classes for 4 or 6 weeks and then moved to another one; hence rotation. In my school day I had 7th grade first, then 8th grade. Well, for the 7th grade, I gave my opening schpeil and we had about 5 minutes left in the period, so I could let them talk quietly, which 7th graders are so scared out of their minds that first day that they're almost petrified. 8th graders are not. They've been at MLK for a year and they know the ropes and they can get at young teachers. Add to that that the rotation period was longer and there were more of them than the 7th graders and it was a recipe for disaster. I finished my opening schpeil with them and there were 15 MINUTES left in the period. Oh crap what now... Well, since this was a creative writing class, I could have them write, but what? What could I do?

So in another flash of desperation I went to a standup cabinet that the previous teacher had left, looking for anything that would inspire me. And in it were a worn down leather basketball, a rusty steak knife, and what must have been an old mannequin leg with fake blood and a sock on it (I later learned it had been used in a drunk driving set up the previous year). And so, I brought them out and said over the rising cacophony, "OK, get out a piece of paper. For the rest of the time today, you are to write a story and this rusty steak knife, beat up basketball, and bloody leg must appear in it somewhere." As you might imagine, some of the stories that came out of that session were very... um, interesting, and creative. Sometimes the leg stayed a mannequin's leg, sometimes it was real. Sometimes it had a life of its own. And with that, another legend was born. I must have heard about that basketball, steak knife, and leg until I quit teaching, and I think Sheryl and I gave that leg as a Dirty Santa gift at some point.

Verbal Perception

Last night, we had our good friend Jenn over for dinner. She's a part of our small group and our kids have just grown to love her very much. Kinsey just gravitated to her when she came over and the two of them played balloon volleyball for a while which was fun to watch. At one point in the dinner Jenn was listening to Connor do his babbling that he does and she mentioned that she can't wait until she can understand his babbling.

I was thinking about that as I was putting him to bed and it's so interesting how kids' verbal skills develop. Right now, Connor knows quite a few words: Mama and Dada for certain. He says "Anks" for Thanks. He can pretty clearly say "Here you go" when he's giving you something and is picking up things very quickly. Now, when I say he says stuff clearly, that means Sheryl and I can understand what he's saying, but others might need translation. This is honestly one of my favorite times for a child because you can almost watch the brain developing. He's picking up concepts and words and developing his communication skills almost everyday. And he's just such a sweet fun little boy. Just a joy.

The Empty Gas Can

On Saturday, I was at the Kroger near my house. I had just finished getting gas there and was getting ready to do a little shopping. As I opened my door, a man carrying a gas can approached me and asked to have a little money for a gallon of gas. Having worked downtown, it was not an unusual circumstance to have someone ask me for money and sometimes I give, sometimes I don't. On this day, I decided to go a little extra. I said, "Sure thing. Let's go fill up." So we took his gas can and I filled up a couple of gallons. He took it, thanked me, and walked off.

I went up to the front of the store and the manager and assistant manager were there watching the man. Apparently they had received several complaints about him and were watching to see what he did. I told them that I'd filled up his tank and basically that if he was legit, then now he had some gas to get where he's going and if he wasn't, then now he's not carrying an empty gas can to try and scam people with. And I went in to do my shopping.

It wasn't until last night on the way home from the prison that I realized what I'd done. Back when I read Shane Claiborne's The Irresistible Revolution, I noted that he included a quote from Dorothy Day about how the rich use charity as a buffer between them and the poor. About how the rich give away their money to prevent from having to get to know the poor.

And that's not to say that it's not a good thing to help people in need, but when I filled the guy's can up, I didn't ask his name. I didn't ask why he needed the gas, where he was trying to get to. I filled up his can as a service to him, to me and my self-satisfaction, and to my parking lot neighbors so that they wouldn't have to be bothered. And as much as I would like to convince myself, I'm not sure I did it out of love for him.

The Bible Tells Me So: The New Testament

Last week, I looked at some of the problems I have with the Old Testament and asking what, for me, are some hard questions about Scripture. I definitely appreciate the dialogue that resulted and the gentleness and kindness with which it was handled.

This week, I want to think about the New Testament. As a member of a Church of Christ, most of my adult life has been focused around the NT. Heck, sometimes we're called "New Testament Christians," which seems a little redundant in some ways, but ok. I mentioned last week that I'm more inclined to take the NT more literally than the Old. Why is that? I will freely admit that one reason is that I probably just like it more. It fits more within my sensitivities. The way that Jesus is written about and talked about works more strongly for me.

People will naturally bring up inconsistencies between the Gospels, but my friend Adam Ellis had some interesting thoughts about that. If you asked me and Sheryl to tell the stories about the births of our children, we are going to tell those stories about the same subject from very different perspectives. We'll remember different details and aspects and perhaps emphasize different things, but we're telling the same stories. Now, that might offend Biblical literalists because it allows human frailty of memory into the discussion, but I believe that that is how God works, through human frailty.

What about Paul, the great writer and evangelist? I tend to view Paul through the lens of the culture he was writing from the culture he was writing to. Some of his writings might seem homophobic and misogynistic and condoning of slavery. And the truth is that his culture was all of those things, but Paul was trying to help create a reality where differences were put aside for the cause of Christ. But that also means that perhaps some of his commands were limited to the churches to whom he was speaking and not necessarily to us.

I'm not sure if that helps explain my thoughts on the New Testament very well, but it is why I take it more literally than the Old. Next week, I want to think about what the implications for this way of thinking about Scripture are, because there are some serious ones, obviously.

YouTube Thursday: Christians Are Jerks?

Some numbers about what people think of Christians.



HT: Scott Freeman

Justice Served

Over the last couple of weeks, I've been reading John Grisham's nonfiction work, The Innocent Man. It's a legal thriller in the style of his other works, but since it's nonfiction, it has a lot more immediacy. It's a fascinating read about two men wrongly convicted in a brutal killing in 1982 who are eventually released. Grisham paints the District Attorney in the case as the 'bad guy," but the DA has started his own web site refuting much of Grisham's contentions about him. I haven't read through that site yet, but I plan to.

The reason I bring it up is because I was struck by the plight of ANOTHER innocent man apparently railroaded by police in Colorado. Tim Masters was convicted on the flimsiest of circumstantial evidence and no physical evidence. The thing that struck me about these two cases is that I wonder how much of the convictions of the men were based on a sense of closure for the communities. When something brutal or horrific happens, as a society we want some sense of closure, and law enforcement wants that closure as well.

What seems like happens in these cases is that the pursuit of closure gets into way of the pursuit of real justice. And what seems scary is that while it's not common, it also doesn't seem as rare as it should be.

The Ordinariness of Life

After the hustle and bustle and craziness of the holidays, things have settled down for the Wilson family. I'm back at work, Kinsey's back in school, and Sheryl is doing her outstanding job of taking care of the house and Connor and keeping things in general order.

It's very soothing on one level right now. At this point, we are sliding into a basic rhythm of life. It's always interesting with a 20-month-old who is starting to express himself vocally and trying to figure out his limits, but already having gone through this once with Kinsey, I'm finding myself more patient with Connor and the things he's going through. He's still not eating very well, but if we put something in front of him that he doesn't like, he either throws it to the dog or just plays with it, so the struggle continues.

Busy times are coming up. I'll be doing a little more freelance stuff here soon, church work is still busy and with the spring it'll be even moreso (interesting development on that later, not related to the worship ministry), so right now, I'm enjoying coming home, playing with my kids, and spending time with my wife.

Thoreau once wrote in Walden that "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation." I don't know if he would describe my life as that, but what I call it is contentment. I'm happy with who we are as a family and this is a time of life that I will probably look back on with great fondness. And I'm grateful for it.

Dreaming

"I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.'

"I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

"I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

"I have a dream today.

"I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

"I have a dream today.

"I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

"This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day."

Amen

The Bible Tells Me So: The Old Testament

Last week, I wrote about trying to find a spiritually mature way to take the Bible seriously without taking it completely literally.

So, let's think about what this could possibly mean for the Old Testament. Wait, before we do that, a few disclaimers. I am not a Biblical scholar. I took Bible classes everyday in college at Lipscomb University for 4 years, but things like this weren't really discussed. I'm a neophyte who's thinking off the top of my head and I could be way off base here.

Ok. Let's start at the beginning. I talked last year about how when someone asks you how old the earth is, they're really asking what you think of the Bible. But let's just take for a second that the Biblical account of creation is mythical and the current scientific understandings about the beginning of life and the universe is closer to correct. What does that mean for a Christian? Well for some, it means that the rest of the Bible isn't trustworthy. If that one part is wrong or incorrect, it means that the whole thing collapses. For someone else, what it could mean is that the author of Genesis was reflecting the understandings of his (or her) time and assuming God's action in that. Did they believe it? Probably, but that doesn't preclude it from being scientifically incorrect. Now, should we put our complete "faith" in scientific understanding? No, but one thing that science does is allow the possibility of saying, "I don't know." Scientists don't know what caused the presumed "Big Bang;" they don't know what sparked proteins to come together to start the cycle of life. And to me, that leaves open the possibility of God's action in that.

That one is one that a lot of people have thought about. But another piece of the OT that I've thought a lot about are God's commands to Joshua in the same named book to completely annihilate the Canaanites. He tells them to utterly destroy them: men, women, and children (Joshua 8). I really have two issues with this: 1) it seems to go against the God is Love declarative in 1 John; 2) it makes God seem like a racist and "bad." Why would he direct the destruction of children? So, what if what we're reading is the writing of someone who is inserting God and an understanding of His word into their actions. Basically giving His sanction to the actions that they're doing. Telling history from their perspective. Someone once said, "You can be sure that you've created God in your own image when He hates the same people that you do." Was that going on here with the Israelites?

Now what that opens me up to is someone saying, "But Phil, aren't you just trying to explain away the parts that you don't understand or don't agree with to fit into your understanding?" Well, maybe, but the alternative is taking a view of a God inconsistent from the New Testament God, and that's a dangerous road to consider, in my mind.

Yes, I realize I'm opening a can of worms, playing with fire, insert cliche here. But if I'm being honest with my thoughts and my faith, this is what I have to do and questions I have to ask and try to come to some resolution on.

Next Friday, the New Testament and why I tend to take it quite a bit more literally than the Old.

YouTube Thursday: Sesame Street Theme Song

Man, I loved both of the opening and closing theme songs to Sesame Street.

Opening Theme from the mid 70s, I think.


Long Closing Theme. I loved the harmonica on this one.


Here's another one, with the funky 70's music starting about 2:05.


Good times

Do Churches Value Married People Over Singles?

Some of you know that for the last 3 years or so, Sheryl and I have had a lot of dealings with the singles at Otter Creek. It started with our England mission trip back in 2005, but thankfully, hasn't been limited to that. Since that time, our relationship with the singles has grown to such an extent that we're now in a small group with several and count them among our closest friends. As a result, Sheryl and I have begun to see things through their eyes and think about how they perceive things.

One of the ways that that has really hit me is how churches focus on marriages and families. Now... let me say from the outset that I obviously think this is a positive thing. The marriage bond is one that is strongly attacked and when it is broken, it's one of the most devastating things that can happen, not just to a couple but also to their friends and community. So I understand and appreciate how much churches focus on that.

However, sometimes I wonder if it becomes very easy to focus on that and marginalize the groups outside of that. For instance, one Sunday morning, two of my very good friends led a "ministry moment" on the Men's Ministry at Otter Creek (You can read more about it at OC Brotherhood). The guys had four points that they brought out about the goals of the ministry. Things like forming a community, encouraging involvement, things like that. One of the points was also to help and encourage men in their relationships with their wives and children, which again are noble and right things to have as goals. But what that immediately made me think was, "How would a single guy feel about that?" I talked to a friend that day about the point and he said that what that did was make him feel like it wasn't something for him. If one of the goals was about that as a focus and he didn't have a wife or kids, where would he fit in?

My thought as I read that would be that it would have been very easy to add a statement that said something like, "and encourage our single men, both in their relationship with God, and in pursuing honorable relationships with women" and even as I write that I think, "What about the guys that DON'T want to be in relationships, whether now or in the future?" It's a slippery slope, but one that at least should be considered.

What I don't want to happen is that a church, in this case Otter Creek, to become so focused on marriage and families and the like that the single people, our friends, feel marginalized or somehow separate from the church at large. I want singles to feel as much a part of the congregation and its life as marrieds. And part of that has to come from how we do ministry. We have to show that singles are not valued less than marrieds, and I really think that has to be shown explicitly and implicitly, in how we speak and in how we form our relationships and friendships.

I know from experience that it can only benefit both groups.

Student & Athlete

Kinsey got her second report card yesterday and is doing very well at school. She's reading on a 2nd grade level which is great and doing equally well in Math. We're very proud of her.

---------------

Connor got a basketball goal for Christmas. He's played with one like it at church before and has taken to it like he's been doing it forever. The following video is for when the scouts come, they can see that he's been doing it for a while.



Our joke is that it'll be funny if he's a great shot, but can't dribble at all.

Popular

How to get many comments on a blogpost:

• Talk about instrumental music in a church of Christ setting
• Talk about not taking the Bible completely literally
• Refer to universal healthcare

So, this week's topics will be

• homeschooling vs. public vs. private
• Why Women should be elders in the church
• Why Mitt Romney will build a Mormon temple in place of the Washington Monument

Just kidding, everyone. Just kidding.

Universal Healthcare

My friend Scott Freeman has a daughter Cassie. She has a mild case of arthritis. She can't get healthcare. Because of her arthritis, she cannot get healthcare coverage. Because it will cost more to care for her than the insurance companies can make by covering her, they won't cover her.

Cassie is one of 47 million people in America without healthcare; 16% of the population of the United States. And this isn't a victimless or faceless situation. Cassie is the face of this.

The Bible Tells Me So

I was planning today to write a piece about reading the Bible and if there is a mature way to come to be able to take the Bible seriously, but not completely literally. And then I realized that I'd already basically done that last June.

I don't know why I'm having so much trouble with Scripture these days. If you search for Bible on my blog, you can see how much I've been struggling with it. Just in the last couple of years, I've been digging and thinking and pondering about the nature of Scripture and our relationship to it. I'm getting to the point where I believe that the Bible is part of God's work in our world, but not the only part. I'm getting to the point where I believe that the Bible is from God, but not inerrant. I've been at the point for awhile where I believe that God inspired the Bible, but that didn't preclude people's tendency to inject personal issues, foibles, and perspectives.

I guess what I'm wrestling with the most is what is the place of Scripture in the life of a Christian who believes that God inspired it, but doesn't believe that it is inerrant, infallible, or whatever other theological words we come up with. And the big question even in that is, how do we decide which parts to follow? Do we cherry pick the parts we like and ignore the parts we don't (not that most Christians don't already do that)?

I'm trying to come to a position of respect and honoring of the Scriptures, but not deifying them, not creating them as a new god to be worshipped, as I and others have probably unintentionally done. And I hope and pray that that leads me to a greater respect for them, the people that wrote them, and the God I believe inspired them.

Caption This Picture!

Be funny!

Christian Maturity

Our preacher at Otter Creek is going to be beginning a new series on maturity here in the next couple of weeks, with the main thesis being that one of the primary jobs of the church is to bring her members to maturity.

So here are the questions of the day: What does a mature Christian look like? What are some of the characteristics of a mature Christian? And if you are consider yourself a Christian or follower of Jesus, how do you go about pursuing maturity?

Feeding the Ducks

Last week, Sheryl and I took the kids down to Centennial Park for a Wilson family tradition: feeding the ducks. It's something that I did when I was a little boy, so it was cool to be able to do it with my kids. Here are the pics.

Me and my boy.

Good throw by Kinsey.

Good action shot by Sheryl.

My dear family.

I had to climb over the wall to get this shot with the Parthenon behind them, but it was worth it.

Commentary on Comments

Up to this point, I haven't responded to the comments that are going on from Friday's post for a couple of reasons. 1) I've been involved in many of those conversations over the years, in particular a message board confrontation with the editor of Firm Foundation, back in the mid 90s. 2) I recognize Chris' type from many experiences of listening to conservative Church of Christ lectureships and occasionally reading from such publications as Seek the Old Paths, and the truth is that she is very convinced of her position and doesn't see any valid reason to give it up. And I can appreciate that.

Now, I might disagree with her interpretations of Scripture. I might even think that she is ripping Scripture completely out of context to make it support a position that she already thinks is the right one. If that's what I think (and I do), that's my opinion. I might even agree with Thomas+ and DB about their interpretations of Scripture.

Where I get weary is the continued focus and focus on the minutiae of this issue. Look, if someone wants to worship acapella completely, that's fine. I don't have an issue with that. I appreciate and love that part of my tradition and history. But just as convinced as Chris is that this is a spiritual "salvation" issue, I'm convinced that it's not. And I don't think that I would convince Chris otherwise and that she's not going to convince me otherwise. So I'm perfectly happy to allow her to think that I and people who agree with me are going to Hell, and I'll hope very much to see her with Christ in the afterlife.

And one other point: I think that if a nonChristian peeked in on this conversation, he or she would be VERY confused about why so much time has been spent on it.

Which actually gets to the underlying issue, that I'll start discussing later this week, which is the idea of Biblical authority and how we wrestle with that and respond to it. But that's for later.

Future Faith

I was sitting in a creative planning meeting at church on Wednesday, discussing some things that we're thinking about in the wake of BST's departure. One of the questions, of course, was people who would lead in his stead, and a particular name came up and it's someone who typically leads instrumental worship. The natural joke that we made was that sure he could lead, but he'd have to leave the instrument at home. We all had a nice laugh and continued the discussion.

While the meeting continued, the lady I was sitting next to leaned over to me and said that she'd had the exact same conversation with her early teenage daughter, and when the lady had said the same thing about the instrument, her daughter looked at her as though she were speaking German. In our children's worship and youth group, we use a lot of song tracks and instrumental worship. Even outside of the Sunday morning service, we do a lot of instrumental stuff.

And when my friend told me about this, I just started thinking about all the "blood" that has been spilled over this issue and how it seems that however churches end up dealing with this, whether sticking with acapella out of a sense of tradition or even out of hewing to the literal interpretation of the Scripture, for most people even within the church, it's going to become a non-issue theologically. In fact, I would think that 15-20 years from now, it's going to be a non-issue, period. Not that we won't find others to "spill blood" about. The next one most likely being women's public roles in worship. Not that there hasn't already been a lot of wrangling over that one too.

Sigh.

YouTube Thursday: Scrub Sadness

I've talked before about my love for Scrubs. I make no secret that some of the episodes of the show are among the best, funniest, and most poignant I've ever seen.

The one today is among the saddest.

To set this up, Dr. Cox has given organ transplants to three different patients. What he didn't know was that the organ donor had rabies. And that brings this.



John C. McGinley is an amazing actor and the work he does in these scenes is staggering.

Rock Band

Seriously. This game is so much fun, even without the drums.

Perhaps I should explain. Back in August, I got a nice bonus from work and used part of it to get an Xbox 360 and also Guitar Hero 2 on which I had so much fun and got to (kind of) live out that teenage guy dream of playing lead guitar on some songs I loved like "Carry On My Wayward Son" and "Sweet Child O' Mine." For Christmas, Sheryl got me Guitar Hero 3 with the new wireless guitar controller and with gift cards I got the game only version of Rock Band and a USB mic. Now, I might have lost most of you by this point, but the real version of Rock Band comes with a mic and guitar controller and drumset. So I've got the game and the guitars and mic, but no drums. And I start playing.

And gang, this game is so much fun. When playing by yourself, it's basically Guitar Hero, or even Karaoke Hero with the mic. But with others? Best party game ever. For a bunch of people just in front of the TV, jamming on guitars or screaming their lungs out to Faith No More's Epic... there are no words, but there might be video somewhere.

My personal favorites are Boston's Foreplay/Long Time and Bon Jovi's Wanted Dead or Alive, although when I sang the latter, Kinsey said I sounded like a girl. Even Sheryl's gotten into playing bass with me, while I shred on lead guitar. And that's the sign of a great, great game.

Brandon Scott Thomas

Last Sunday, my good friend BST announced that he was resigning as the worship leader Otter Creek effective immediately. I've had a little bit longer than that to process this news but I can honestly say that it doesn't feel any better now than it did when I first found out.

I remember very clearly 12 years ago when Brandon came to OC. Buddy Arnold had just resigned after 37 years of leading worship there and in comes this 26 year old guy to take his place. I was both leery and excited. Leery because Buddy had been a surrogate grandfather to me and it was difficult to imagine anyone else leading worship. Excited because I knew from his tryouts that Brandon would continue in Buddy's footsteps by leading us on into new frontiers of worship. And he did. From the first praise team being on the first two rows of the congregation to instrumental worship on Saturday nights occasionally to the monthly Celebration worship services every third Sunday night. And that doesn't even include the ground breaking work at Zoe.

You know the interesting thing to me about Zoe has always been how much of an oasis it is for so many around the country. At Otter Creek, I think we take for granted the freedoms we have in worship whereas so many others look forward to the Zoe weekends as that time when they can break out of their shells. Anyway...

For the first 7 years of Brandon's work at OC, he and I were acquaintances. We would say hi to each other and had done some work with each other, but when I came on board 5 years ago as the tech director, our relationship started to grow. By necessity, a worship leader and tech director should work pretty closely, on lyrics and presentation and sound checks and running sound. Over the years, I've been able to distinguish little motions that BST makes to know what he's asking for, whether to turn himself up in the monitor or turn a specific person down. I know how he likes things run from a sound perspective and I know that the lyric changes on MediaShout need to be about a half-line to a line early because there's no guarantee that he'll remember what the next screen is, especially if it's another verse or new song. Professionally he and I have clicked.

And personally we have too. It's very easy if you just watch him in worship to think that he's a performer. And in some ways, he is. Because that's a part of who he is, but even moreso he's a worship leader. And to write him off as a performer is to degrade him and the work he's done for the last dozen years. I've learned his heart, both from his blog and conversations we've had. I know his heart for worship and leading other people into worship. And that's something that can't be faked.

Brandon's not perfect. He can be picky, he can get into a snit at times, and sometimes he doesn't answer email :-). Seriously, though, he has his quirks and can seem aloof at times, as I'm sure I can, when I'm in the middle of trying to get things done. He's not God's gift to worship ministry, but he is a tool that God has used to bring Otter Creek to what is is today. I trust that God will continue to have us in His Hands as we look to the next person to step into Buddy Arnold's and Brandon Scott Thomas' shoes. But it's weird having gone through this 12 years ago and I now have the same feelings that I did back then. It's going to be very weird to see someone besides BST on that stage. I hope God continues to bless Brandon and Sheryl and the kids (and mom, too) and I know that our relationships won't be ending with him not being OC's worship leader any longer.

I thank God for bringing him to Otter Creek and I thank Brandon for being such a good friend and co-worker over these last five years. Blessings, bro.

The Word Is Alive

If you're going to be at Otter Creek tomorrow, here is the preservice video you'll see. If you won't, I guess you can watch it too.

Merry Winter Solstice

Well, I was going to this great post about the Winter Solstice and how the Celts view it at new birth and new beginnings, and how early Christianity adapted some of these ideas and applied them to Jesus' birth, even to the point of celebrating that birth then... But I didn't have time to research it and didn't want to sound too much like an idiot (or at least more than normal).

But since all that didn't work out, I just want to wish everyone a very happy Christmas. I'll only be blogging once next week, and you'll understand that when you see it next Friday, so I wish you and all of yours a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful start to 2008. Thanks for reading and taking the time out of your day read a little bit about my crazy life and thoughts.

Pax Vobiscum.

YouTube Thursday: 12 Days Straight No Chaser

One of the distinctives of the Churches of Christ is acapella music (without instruments). On one hand, it's easy to dismiss this dedication to a hermeneutic of fear as passe. But congregational acapella worship can be one of the most beautiful things you can hear.

And then there's the times when acapella music can simply kick butt, like in today's YouTube clip from 1998 where Straight No Chaser, the Indiana University Men's Chorus, sings the 12 Days of Christmas. Kind of.



If that embedded video isn't working, you can view it here...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Fe11OlMiz8

Update 12/2008: Straight No Chaser released a Christmas CD in 2008. Check it out!

Otter Creek Christmas Concert

Here are some of the pics from the Otter Creek Christmas Concert Sunday night.


Brandon addressing the troops beforehand.


The whole shebang.



Sheryl Thomas and George Rowe duet-ing.


Michael Lusk doing a great guitar solo.


The Rest of the Band.


Jeff Berry and Amanda Vickers duet-ing.


Never thought you'd see interpretive dance at a Church of Christ? Wrong.


My brother Reco just killing it during his solo. Man, I miss hearing him at church regularly.


Closing it out.

If you want to view the rest of the pictures I took, you can view them at http://picasaweb.google.com/philwilson27/ChristmasConcert2007

Winter Dance Recital

Kinsey's Winter Dance Recital was Sunday, amidst the craziness of the rest of the weekend. But here are some pictures.

Getting ready

Starting off.

Looking for some direction from the teacher.

Starting the pinwheel (which they did amazing at)

The close.

Must make the proper exit.

With Uncle Gary and Aunt Donna.

With some of her flowers.

Two beautiful ladies.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Wow. Long, long weekend. Friday wasn't too bad. Ran around a little that night.

Saturday. Y at 8. To church at 10 to start setting up for the "He Is the King" Christmas show for the rehearsal at 1. At church until 4:45. Managed to get out and get Sheryl her Christmas gift, which because I'm awful at keeping secrets, I went ahead and gave her. It's a Nikon D40 and we've needed to get a new camera for a little while and something happened on Sunday that we wanted one for.

Saturday night. Sheryl and her mom went out and did some Christmas shopping. And Connor had come down with a fever. Sheryl's mom, being a saint, offered to take Connor home to spend Sunday with her.

Sunday. Church at 8:15. Home for a couple hours. Then out to Kinsey's winter dance recital at 3, which is why we wanted the new camera (for blur-less pictures). Sheryl's mom watching Connor meant she missed the recital, which was a major sacrifice for her and Dad. I rushed from the recital and managed to get to church at 4 (slightly late for the 3pm rehearsal). At church until the show at 6 and then breaking down all the stuff we'd set up on Saturday. Left at 8:45. Home to collapse before getting up for work...

Faith

An adaptation of Mark 9:24 which is where I am these days.

"Lord, I want to believe. Help me in my unbelief."

Addendum: If you're wondering what this is about, a good reflection would be Mike Cope's blog and the following comments in the post titled, Philemon. Both the post and the comments sum up very nicely the issues that I've been having.

YouTube Thursday: Prince Caspian

The first trailer for the next book in the Narnia series: Prince Caspian is out. And I'm officially excited.



So here's a fun question: What's your favorite Narnia book? And why?

What Time is the Dentist's Favorite?

2:30

Ok, a bad joke to lead into the real news. Kinsey lost her first tooth yesterday. Yay! and Aw, man... at the same time.

For those interested, check back for pictures late, late, late tonight. Like after church late.

Pics added:

Christmas Pictures 2007

Pictures from Breakfast with Santa or Family Christmas Breakfast or whatever it was called this year.

Gray

Here's why I'm torn on nonviolence.

Most of you have probably seen the stories about the two shootings in Colorado churches yesterday. The shootings were stopped by a security guard shooting the gunman, most likely preventing the further loss of life.

So the question is: Does act of preventative violence justify the death of a man who most likely would have killed many people at that church? And if the death of one man that prevented the deaths of dozens is ok, is the death of thousands to prevent the deaths of millions morally acceptable?

Or should Christians simply accept that the world is a violent place and attempt to non-violently react in the best way possible? And what about Christians in America who are protected on a daily basis by the violent acts of police men and women?

This is why I'm torn.

Help a Brother Out

Over the last couple of years, I've gotten to know Scott Freeman online. I'm not sure when we met or if it was through my blog or his, but be that as it may, he and I have had many conversations over IM about a variety of topics from politics to theology to Justin Mundie. I've walked with him through frustrations with his former congregation where he ministered to being let go from there to his new one. And even though we've never met in person, I feel close to him.

The reason I bring Scott up is because of his blog post yesterday, called The Whole Truth. It tells the story of his brother, who was wrongly accused and convicted and put in jail 11 years ago, and his continued attempts to be freed of this unjust imprisonment. It tangentially relates to the presidential election because Mike Huckabee was the governor of Arkansas while Scott's family was seeking his freedom. Scott tells the whole story at his blog.

After reading it, I was extremely touched and wondered if there was something that possibly we as the blog community (and especially the Christians in the blog community) could do. Here's what I would ask:

1. Read Scott's post. Whatever your feelings on Huckabee as a candidate whether positive or negative, I would still ask you to read it.

2. In an effort to garner more publicity, I've posted his blog post on Digg.com at http://www.digg.com/2008_us_elections/Huckabee_Left_Innocent_Man_Jailed. If you're a member at Digg and are so inclined it would be great if you could Digg it up and have your friends do it as well. If you know other ways of publicizing it, that would be great as well.

3. If you were as touched and outraged at this story as I was, consider posting on your blog about it. Perhaps if some measure of public pressure could be put on the current governor of Arkansas, it might help Scott's brother.

4. Pray. I'd ask you to pray right now that Scott's brother Steve would continue to have strength and perseverance in this time. And that other Christians would give him the support and strength in these times.

I guess the reason this story touched me is that I know Scott and I can only imagine how tough it must have been to write that post. I hope that maybe some measure of relief for Steve can happen and perhaps we can all be apart of that.

Thanks.

YouTube Thursday: Nickel Creek at the Ryman

So... last Thursday was Nickel Creek's final show of the Farewell (For Now) tour at the Ryman. And while I'll admit that I haven't been to a real concert in longer than I can remember, this one is still the best concert I have ever seen. It was fun, and raucous (yes, guy in the back, we know you think Sarah is hot; we got the message after the 4th time you yelled it), and joyous and just plain fun. I got to hear the Lighthouse's Tale and got to watch Chris Thile look like he was having seizures while doing amazing things on mandolins.

And someone recorded parts of it. Rex Hammock, another prolific Nashville blogger, was also at the show and recorded two songs and put the clips on the web.



And he did one of the final songs of the encore, Why Should the Fire Die?



And while I was looking at this, I found someone who put the whole concert on YouTube, mpupik. Including the cover of the Jackson 5's I Want You Back.



AND Bela Fleck playing with them on The Lighthouse's Tale.



Just amazing stuff and the next time Sheryl and I get a chance to see them, you can bet we will.