“In the quite-likely event of an emergency, remain calm”
Bailouts, breached levees, and pregnant chads, oh my!
I’m not much of a retrospective guy, but David Von Drehle’s “2000: A Nation Divided” in TIME a few weeks back has kept me in the mood for some time now. And reading Dave Eggers’ fantastic book Zeitoun this week only drove the nail home.
Here’s what I’m thinking: if my young adulthood really has been formed by the 2000 election debacle, 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, the housing crisis, Lehman Brothers’ and AIG collapse, climate change unchecked, senseless war in Iraq, endless war in Afghanistan, SARS, a devastating tsunami, killer earthquakes, and the collapse of the publishing industry then, well, I’ve had a pretty screwed up post-high school experience. By all rights, I should despise institutions, be suspect of all money-driven media, and keep a gun and cash under my pillow each night. But, well, I don’t; I’m not. Am I too-cool-a-cucumber? A crazy cat? If not, what’s up?
First, surely the 24/7 news cycle desensitizes since there must always be a big story. I wrote about this a little in “Consuming Media Justly,” but I still don’t really have an answer. They say “familiarity breeds contempt” but maybe in problematic news “familiarity breeds nonchalance.”
Second, all institutions are suspect, so life goes on. The last decade was not a good one for civil liberties in the US, and yet I’m not outraged. Even companies whose products I love, like Apple, fail to impress me beyond the beauty of their current product line. As much as I wish things were different, I expect their computers and iThingies to be made in China under questionable circumstances. I know Apple will one day be history, as well as Facebook and CNN, and that’s ok. Trust and respect have become a transient commodity. Just as Facebook becomes popular we ask, “When will it go bust? What will be next?”
Third, the prevalence of injustice is nearly overwhelming. This isn’t totally a modern phenomenon, but these days we do seem inundated with the world’s problems. Each day, we know, thousands die of hunger and preventable diseases. Thousands more are tortured and imprisoned unjustly. In my own country, LGBTQ folks are still treated as second-class citizens and to call our immigration system “broken” could be the biggest understatement of the year.
Now, yes, certainly, many fantastically good things also mark the last decade or so, but they’re overshadowed by the troubling times. I don’t think that’s some media conspiracy, I just think we’ve had a bad run. But, even so, I’m somehow hopeful. I get annoyed at Facebook friends who only link to pessimistic and damning articles. Maybe it’s my Christian sensibilities, my trust in ultimate love beyond our weary world that helps me remain calm. Maybe it’s my American faith that hard work and steady minds will carry the day, that the American experiment is far from over, which keeps me optimistic. As Martin Luther King Jr. put it, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” Bend, oh 2011, bend.
image by Cancia Leirissa
Twenty Eleven NOT Two Thousand…
I posted on this a few years ago, but the whole world has not yet come to understand the brilliance of my position. So, I post again and will keep re-posting until the world transforms. I am a patience man. I will succeed.
In a nutshell: do not say “two thousand eleven” for the upcoming year, but “twenty eleven.” If you say it correctly, maybe the long-winded ridiculous “two thousand eleven” people who hear you and correct their unfortunate ways. Then I can move my pet grievances to another oh-so crucial topic of personal pet peeve pettiness (yes, I have a list).
There is hope, however, as I first posted this two years ago when concise “twenty ten” speakers were rare. Now about half time I hear the date spoken it’s said correctly. My plot is succeeding. They may win some small battles, but I will win the war!
Here’s a few reasons to say “twenty eleven” rather than “two thousand eleven.”
- Do you say “nineteen hundred ____ ____” for the year you were born? No you say, “nineteen _______” 19! Stay consistent.
- It takes longer to say “two thousand” than “twenty.” I appreciate economy; particularly economy of words.
- My way of saying it will eventually catch on (and has, I’m told in reasonable English speaking countries other than the US), so you might as well be on the right side of the curve.
- All the cool kids say “twenty ten” (I don’t actually know this to be true, as I don’t know any cool kids. But I figure it probably is, or enjoy living in my fairytale world in which it is so.)
- And, finally, if you’re being consistent and say “two thousand eleven” you should really write 2,011 with a comma to be consistent. You don’t want to do that, so just say it the right way.
Join the movement! Keep it simple: twenty eleven, 20-11, 2011!
image by Billy Alexander
Sermon: To You is Born this Day
First Presbyterian Church of Hallock, Minn.
Christmas Eve 2010
To You is Born this Day
Luke 2:1-14 & Isaiah 9:2-7
The angel said to the shepherds, “Do not be afraid; for see — I am bringing you good news of a great joy for all the people; to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.”
The angel of the Lord in Luke 2 was surely good at many things, I trust he did very well in Angel School to be given the responsibility of speaking to the shepherds after Jesus’ birth. But this angel, bless his heart, was clearly not an English major. If he were an English major (or an English teacher, or just a good English student) he would have known that the good news he brought to the shepherds was imprecise and confusing. … Continue Reading
Three good books
Lit by Mary Karr — I hadn’t read any of Karr’s previous memoirs, but after reading Lit her two previous books have jumped to the top of my list (on Springpad and Amazon). Karr is a splendid writer, but it’s her life story that amazes most. The challenges she’s endured are astounded for sheltered me — abuse, alcoholism, wacko parents, destructive relationships (and that’s before college). The jacket calls it “learning to write by learning to live;” an apt description. I totally recommend Karr’s unvarnished (and at times quite funny) third memoir to anyone who’s up for a heart-wrenching story well told.
Freedom by Jonathan Franzen — Yeah, ok, I was a skeptic on this one. I mean, it was just getting so much press a few months ago. Franzen was on every talk show on earth, even before he made up with Oprah. And I’m always uneasy about a book being read by more than three people on the same airplane. But, thanks to my kind Pittsburgh friend Susan Rothenberg (thanks Susan!), I was sent a copy of Freedom so I could free my skeptical conscience from the Freedom media frenzy. And, yes, it’s a damn good book.
Character development: A. Gripping story: B+. Believable characters: A-. Epic cynicism: B+. Holds your attention for 500+ pages: A. Amazingly skilled look at contemporary America’s beautiful and contradictory freedom: A+. You should read it, even if it’s just to be like everyone else.
Feed by M.T. Anderson — My friend Kristin recommended this Young Adult novel and I ate it up for it’s dystopian look at cyberculture (plus, it’s a stellar YA story). Set some time in the future, the book imagines a “feed” that is implanted into wealthy people’s brains that connects them constantly to an Internet-like stream of constant contact and commerce. The feed is both exhilarating in its helpfulness and paralyzing in its ubiquity. I wasn’t drawn in the by the characters, really, but the treatment of technology, choice, freedom, free market, environmental disaster, and teen relationships is pretty amazing. This book is a must read for Internet and social media advocates as it pushes back vehemently on an overly utopian view of technology. If the “feed” is the direction in which the Internet is headed, we should be very scared.
Three good books. Now what should I (and readers of this blog) read next? Comment away…
Does the manger matter?
The Bible gets four shots to tell Jesus’ birth — well, four gospel writers plus Paul and the other epistle writers, so at least four. But the manger only appears in Luke. For many current-day Christians, the Christmas story would be incomplete without the manger scene: little baby Jesus wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger. But does this, the crowning scene of many a church Christmas Pageant, really matter?
Well, yes and no. Does the manger matter to Matthew, Mark, or John? No, not one bit. Does the manger matter to Paul? Nope. In fact, Paul doesn’t even seem to know about the whole virgin birth story, let alone the manger — at least he never mentions it. And even for Luke, is the manger an irreplaceable aspect of the birth story that, without the manger, Jesus’ birth would lose all its meaning? I think not. But it matters; the manger matters to Luke at least.
Luke is the gospel in which stories of the poor and the outcast and women get a special airing. Luke seems to be all about those on the margins, and Luke tells the story of Jesus with that hue. So yeah, the manger matters, for it puts the scandal of Jesus, the craziness of the gospel, in a tidy (or smelly?) message.
Was little baby Jesus actually laid in a manger — I don’t know, it seems like a very strange and dirty place to put a newborn if you ask me. I’m not a parent, but I’d say Mary and Joseph would have to be crazy-tired or plain silly to put a newborn in a feeding trough. But the story of Jesus being laid in a manger speaks to the truth of the gospel. Here’s how:
For one, the manger as metaphor reminds us of Jesus as the bread of life. Jesus is both food for our spiritual journey, and food that physically nourishes us in the bread and wine of communion. Little baby Jesus in the food trough can point to big guy Jesus feeding the 5,000 and dining after the resurrection with the disciples at Emmaus.
Second, the manger scene sets up the story of Jesus as one of scandal. The son of God lies helpless in a food trough for dirty animals — scandal! What sort of God would figure that as a good idea? Only a crazy-wild-scandalous one that upends all our expectations of justice, love, and grace. Scandalous manger.
Finally, the manger scene, for me at least, sets Jesus as his own person — a poor one, yes, but his own man aside from his parents’ influence. I’m not saying Jesus’ is uninfluenced by his parents or culture, no way. But I’m picturing the birth scene as a comic strip with a final panel of an up-close baby Jesus in the manger. Mary and Joseph holding Jesus aren’t the point; Jesus himself, set apart, poor, lowly, weak, vulnerable, even smelly — Jesus is the focal point of the story, so he hangs out by himself in the manger.
But that’s just me. What do you think? Could you do Christmas without little baby Jesus in a food trough? Sure, leaving it out would ruin the pageant, but does the manger really matter to you?
image by Scott Wilcoxson
Monday Mind Dump
- North Point Community Church in Atlanta’s iBand is pretty, well, disturbingly fantastic.Check out Carol of the Bells and Feliz Navidad. Crazy music, all done on iPads and iPhones. (no word yet on iPeace or iJustice)
- So the Metrodome in Minneapolis collapsed yesterday under the weight of 17 inches of snow. The Vikings’ Sunday game was postponed and moved to Detroit, but I say Fargo would have been even better. The Fargodome sits 25,000 and it surely could
have been at capacity. Also would have been a smart move by the owners to emphasize the importance of the franchise to the entire region. - I’m increasingly disgusted at the inability of the Senate to pass a law banning the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell law in the military. While McCain’s ever-changing position is maddening, what’s even more annoying is that Sen. Lieberman promises the votes are their to repeal it if it gets sufficient floor time.
- While I’m on politics, I would so love to see the DREAM Act passed.
- You know you go to Starbucks a lot when you get a Starbucks handwritten Christmas card from an employee with coupons for free drinks.
- One more use for my HTC Droid Incredible phone: recording the Confirmation students introducing a scripture lesson before reading it, then playing the recording during worship in place of reading the scripture lesson.
- I’m pretty certain that, in heaven, everyone will be wearing SmartWool socks.
image by Alfred Borchard
Sermon: Mary’s Song and Ours
First Presbyterian Church of Hallock, Minn.
Dec 12, 2010
Magnificat
Luke 1:46-55
Sometimes I wonder if I perhaps use too many illustrations from hymns in my sermons. Sometimes, I think to myself, “Oh, there’s this great song that makes that point clear, but can I use it since I used another last week, and the week before?” Well, maybe I do use too many hymns in my sermons, but today I get a free pass. Today’s sermon is all about a song, but it’s not of my choosing. It’s Mary’s song, the “Magnificat.”
I grew up singing in children’s choirs, and every Advent we’d sing a different setting of the Magnificat at a choral evensong service. It was one my favorite services of the year — almost all of it was sung, and there’s just something about evening services in winter that brings a holy feel to worship. … Continue Reading
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