so yeah...I'll make it up to you...but...

So yeah, I know I said I was going to post stuff from Soularize this year but I got extraordinarily busy with this semester. I'm not exactly sure why, but even with the normal 4 class load I found my self way busy for the past 2-3 months. I've heard it had something to do with taking two upper level theology classes.

I know I haven't posted in a while but I'll make it up to you. For those few of you out there the reward for checking an erratic poster out like myself is that when I do post, you get the read the thoughts of a genius.

At least according to these guys...

Cash Advance Loans

But the catch is you never know when they are going to come along...bawww....haha...ha....ha...

Soularize 07

So I have a ton of things to talk about with this (we just got back into town). But unfortunately this is a busy week at school (it's amazingly busy when you come back after purposefully unplugging for a week -- pages and pages of email to sort through).

But to give you bit of a taste...What do you get when you put Bishop Tom Wright, Father Richard Rohr, and me on a boat? About 50 reef sharks who want a visit!

I had a wonderful time at Soularize '07 and I plan on writing more about my talks with Rita Brock about her new book "Saving Paradise," about how she and NT Wright might actually start building off one another's theologies, visiting the local art scene in the Bahamas (www.popopstudios.com) check out John Cox, and even finally meeting folks like BJ Woodworth.

Anyways. Gotta run. More to come I promise!

The Sweetest Thing!

This is the best hockey play I've seen in my 12+ years of watching hockey. This is what makes this game the best sport on earth as far as I'm concerned. And the beauty of it all is this is what the blackhawks have to look forward to for the next decade plus of hockey!

Sentences can contain a lot

One of the classes that I'm taking this fall is on Lectio Divina it's been a really interesting class and very good for me (I do better with spiritual disciplines when I have someone/some group holding me accountable). But I came across a line in "Praying the Bible" by Mariano Magrassi that I was like wow, that for me summarizes the whole lectio process in a very nice, yet not simplistic way. So I thought I would share it.

"Reading enables us to learn what we do not know, meditation enables us to retain what we have learned, and prayer enables us to live what we have retained."

This reminds me very much of the beginning of 1 Thessalonian's where it says "We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ."

Every Rule? You said every Rule right?

Biblical Living

It's a really interesting article about a man who lived the Bible as best as he could for an entire year. I'm so interested, I'll be buying his book. Check it out it was a great read!

Personality Tests, love'm or hate'm?

So after being in one of those re-fresher meetings about the leadership at church it reminded me I'm a 7. That's right a 7. Now what is a 7 you ask. Well good question. Here is what a 7 can hope to be and a what a 7 can try to avoid being.

Level 1 (At Their Best): Assimilate experiences in depth, making them deeply grateful and appreciative for what they have. Become awed by the simple wonders of life: joyous and ecstatic. Intimations of spiritual reality, of the boundless goodness of life.

vs.

Level 9: Finally, their energy and health is completely spent: become claustrophobic and panic-stricken. Often give up on themselves and life: deep depression and despair, self-destructive overdoses, impulsive suicide. Generally corresponds to the Manic-Depressive and Histrionic personality disorders.

Which do you say I am? I guess that would depend largely on the context in which you know me. Are you familiar with my grumpy moments in which I can't articulate a single issue except for the fact that I'm pissed off? or are you more familiar with me when I am ecstatic about a new or fresh idea and the wondrous opportunities that lay before us on our journey to discover?

Well I guess that's why I'm writing this post. To explore me...yes, that odd endeavor that feels very selfish yet the very one that can lead to great peace and fulfillment.

Maybe I'm more like a Level 5: Unable to discriminate what they really need, become hyperactive, unable to say "no" to themselves, throwing self into constant activity. Uninhibited, doing and saying whatever comes to mind: storytelling, flamboyant exaggerations, witty wise-cracking, performing. Fear being bored: in perpetual motion, but do too many things—many ideas but little follow through.

I think that's where I stand right now. I'm taking 14 credit hours (including two doctoral level seminar systematic theology classes -- hey it sounded fun) and a part time internship. I'm feeling a bit hyperactive at the moment. You would think after a semester at 12 credits, a twice-as-much-as-I-am-now internship, and co-managing an on-campus coffee shop would have made this semester a cake walk. I guess either the summer made me weak or I have a much better view of myself now.

Either way, I'm looking forward to going to Soularize. I haven't been before but my wife and I couldn't honestly turn down a conference in the Bahama's that happened to fall directly onto my fall-break week and her needing to be in Florida the week after the event.

What the heck is a Meme?*

I've been tagged by a meme? So I guess this is one of those online things to get the conversation going, so here it goes...

Current reading list:
Organic Community: Creating a Place Where People Naturally Connect by Joseph Myers
The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason by Sam Harris
This Beautiful Mess: Practicing the Presence of the Kingdom of God by Rick McKinley
Eat This Book: A Conversation in the Art of Spiritual Reading by Eugene Peterson
Church Dogmatics, Volume VI, part 1 & 2 by Karl Barth

Total number of books in my library:
I have no idea. I have 2 tall bookcases overflowing with books plus two shorter bookcases and a stack of boxes in my closet. That's all not counting the 3-4 larger boxes that I left in Indiana with my parents.

Last book read:
The Changing Shape of Church History by Justo, L. González

Last book bought:
2020 Vision for the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) by Richard Hamm

An aside:
Halo 3, only hours at this point!

Five meaningful books I've read in the last 6 months:
The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations by Ori Brafman and Rod Beckstrom
Atonement and the Incarnation by Vernon White
An Emergent Manifesto of Hope edited by Tony Jones and Doug Pagitt
Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense by N.t. Wright
Obey: Supply & Demand : The Art of Shepard Fairey by Shepard Fairey

Five books you should read:
The Bible by follower of God (ok, ok, I get it)
Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality by Donald Miller
Messy Spirituality by Mike Yaconelli
The Search to Belong: Rethinking Intimacy, Community, and Small Groups by Joseph R. Myers
Contemplative Youth Ministry: Practicing the Presence of Jesus (Youth Specialties) by Mark Yaconelli
A New Kind of Christian: A Tale of Two Friends on a Spiritual Journey by Brian D. McLaren



*Official warning, some of these book may be required readings for classes...but mostly I tried to keep those on the DL...oh yeah, and I really need to get out of seminary so I can read books that are read by real people ;-)

Theology thoughts...

Following Bruce's lead I'll take part in Heather's game.

This week's topic, The Commitments of Theology.

Finish these sentences. (And explain why you say what you do, if you like giving explanations!)

• Theology exists to ________________.
• If someone reads my theological writing and only remembers one thing afterwards, I want it to be ___________________.
• No matter what topic we're dealing with, theologians must take into account ___________, because we ignore it at our peril.

Here are mine . . .

• Theology exists to help us navigate the world between the finite and the infinite.
• If someone reads my theological writing and only remembers one thing afterwards, I want it to be there are more people in the world that this matters for than them, basically it's not about me it's about God.
• No matter what topic we're dealing with, theologians must take into account our lived experiences and their ability to shape our world, because we ignore it at our peril.

What do you do with 5 minutes on the Internet?

Read blogs of course. So you must read this because I couldn't help but laughing about it...It's from Jason Boyett and his new book "The Pocket Guide to the Bible" and at least this quote is seriously worth you time.

Nine Miscellaneous Things You Must Not Do, According to the Law of Moses (from p. 175 of Pocket Guide to the Bible)

1. Boil a young goat in its mother’s milk (Exodus 23:19).
2. Eat a bat (Leviticus 11:19).
3. Audibly mock the deaf, or attempt to trip the blind (Leviticus 19:14).
4. Wear a garment that mixes linen and wool (Leviticus 19:19).
5. Disfigure the edges of your beard (Leviticus 19:27).
6. Cut down the trees of a city while you are besieging it (Deuteronomy 20:19).
7. Hide and refuse to help upon seeing your brother’s donkey or ox fall down in the road (Deuteronomy 22:4).
8. Charge interest on a loan, unless it’s a loan to a foreigner (Deuteronomy 23:19-20).
9. Pity a woman who gets her hand cut off because she grabbed the genitals of a man who was attacking her husband (Deuteronomy 25:11).

So for all you wives out there, If you husband is getting attacked you can grab the balls of the guy who's attacking you, but when you loose your hand for it, we can't be sad about it. The joy's our world was/is filled with.

Reconnection Week!

Isn't it great when you can go through a week in your life when you just seem to reconnect with a lot of people from way-back-when? I've loved it. First, Jon Swain a friend of mine who I met through his now wife Emily who knows Julia from sunday school days at Federated. Emily and Jon were also awesome help when we were doing youth ministry together at Federated. I've always really apperciated their help but when you don't connect with someone for a while it makes the heart grow fonder.

Second, I've been trading emails with JC Trombley who is one of those people that I will always have a special place for in my heart. He, Brian, and I used to do literally everything together. Who I am today has so much to do with my relationship with JC over the years. Any sense of self-confidence that I've ever had in my life comes from knowing that no matter what happens or what I do, JC and Brian will always be there for me. Always. JC and I have had a lot harder time staying in touch (no real reason just busyness) so now I've tried to make the extra effort after getting to see JC, Sara, and Luke when I was home for Hannah's wedding it's been cool to regularly trade emails this week.

Third, happened today when I got an IM from Josh McDowell. Who I worked with at Krannert and is a good friend of JC's. He's been working at 3rd Floor Video for Purdue and he does really good work. Josh has always been the guy as far as I'm concerned with the eye for design. Josh's work always impresses me, from the subtle fades and ghosting to bold use of color. Josh and I got a chance to really catch up. It was really nice to catch up and see what he's up to these days. I still can't believe I saw him and his now wife on the letterman show. :)

3 people from the past all in the same week. God is good!

The Joy's of 17 in Worship

So this past week at MBCC we had only 17 adults in worship (SF AIDS walk week) and while we could have probably all just drag ourselves over to AIDS walk (which raised a record $4.5 mil btw). I got a pleasant surprise which is when there are only 17 of you in worship you get a chance to talk to pretty much everyone of them (and much more at length than an average Sunday).

So I wanted to post something about this because my conversation with Ray, Hannah, Phil, Jee, and Joe about how prophecy came to be and what my own teaching perspective is around the least well known books of the bible (we're currently doing a series on that at MBCC). They encouraged me to write without pulling any punches about how we came to get a lot of the stuff that we have in the OT (and really the NT for that matter too). So I'm writing on the evolutionary themes of prophecy in the OT based out of Amos (a lot of my ideas come straight out of Bob Coote's brilliant book "Amos among the Prophets").

Anyways. That is what most of my thinking has been based around this week and it's really interesting to see how God drops all sorts of supporting evidence and stories in my lap when I get to teach. A friend of mine (Don who I still can't believe just turned 40) and I were out to lunch when we got to talking about this idea. He mentioned to me that Einstein wrote on similar subject around the problem of what space is made out of. He said that Einstein used to have to argue over what the density of space was and if it was made out of ether or a vacuum (I have to warn you I don't know much about science).

Basically the story goes that he got so tired of arguing over which it was made out of he just choose one. He then set about using it (I believe he choose vacuum) to do his other research. When he started to present findings he was met with questions about how he had made an assumption. So he showed how he did the math to include either ether or a vacuum, and he discovered that it ultimately didn't matter, which is really wonderful. He discovered that it didn't matter. He did all his calculations over and over again (using both) and discovered that mathematically speaking it was such an insignificant difference that it didn't really matter (yet remember that many at that time were fixated on it). I think this is what I'm going to close my teaching with on Sunday. That we have all of this textual evidence and can see the process of prophecy (I think that might be better than evolving?) and we are left to decipher what we think is right. That we can spend our days arguing over it or we can raise these sorts of questions and observations and see how they can lead us further down the path.

So many people in religious circles are so focused on which is right that they miss that maybe we can see that their is a step in faith beyond this deconstruction that can take us to new territory of changing the world. All of that to basically say that I think that while all this stuff around the development of scripture over the course of human history is interesting and needs to be taught in church, it is also important not to lose sight of where all of it is pointing. Just look at the book of Amos. Amos A (the oldest part) is about condemnation and inevitable catastrophe, which then progresses into Amos B (the first redaction) becomes more f a warning to do justice or else while Amos C (the last redaction -- although it's probably not a simple 3 times) is about a reversal and justice as hope. But after all this deconstruction of the book of Amos, I'm struck with the simplicity of Einstein which is that it doesn't really matter what was intended, that if Amos was indeed written by one guy one day speaking out a specific moment in time that ultimately it's not as important as being able to move past the details and just start doing calculations.

So all that to say. I loved it that my entire sermon shifted gears based on a short conversation I had with the handful of people who came to worship with us on Sunday. Here's hoping God can use my teaching to speak to the lives of people just as 17 in worship spoke to me.

Simpson-mania

The real Nick and Julia Larson.

For your own creative fun go make yourself...

Minutes to Midnight

I don't normally think to do this but I have to say that I've been impressed with Linkin Park's new Album "Minutes to Midnight." It's rhythmic drumming and poignant lyrics have really caught my attention and I can't seem to drive anywhere without flipping over to listen to this verbal anthem. So I thought I would post the lyrics and I invite you to go pick up the CD or run over to itunes to get it (a word of warning there is a bit of cussing).

Turn my mic up louder, I got to say something
Lightweights steppin' aside when we come in
Feel it in your chest, the syllables get pumping
People on the street then panic and start running
Words on loose leaf sheet, complete coming
I jump in my mind, I summon the rhyme I'm dumping
Healing the blind, I promise to let the sun in
Sick of the dark ways we march to the drumming
Jump when they tell us that they wanna see jumping
F*** that, I wanna see some fists pumping
List something, take back what's yours
Say something that you know they might attack you for
'Cause I'm sick of being treated like I had before
Like it's stupid standing for what I'm standing for
Like this war's really just a different brand of war
Like it doesn't cater to rich and abandon poor
Like they understand you, in the back of their jet
When you can't put gas in your tank, these f*****s
Are laughing their way to the bank, and cashing their check
Asking you to have the passion and have some respect
For a leader so nervous in an obvious way
Stuttering and mumbling for nightly news to replay
And the rest of the world watching at the end of the day
In the living room, laughing like, "What did he say?"

Amen

In my living room watching it, I am not laughing
'Cause when it gets tense, I know what might happen
The world is cold, the bold men take action
Have to react to get blown into fractions
At 10 years old, it's something to see
Another kid my age drugged under a Jeep
Taken and bound and found later under a tree
I wonder if he had thought 'the next one could be me'
Do you see the soldiers that are out today?
They brush the dust from bulletproof vests away
It's ironic, at times like this you'd pray
But a bomb blew the mosque up yesterday
There's bombs on the buses, bikes, roads
Inside your market, your shops, and your clothes
My dad, he's got a lot of fear, I know
But enough pride inside not to let that show
My brother had a book he would hold with pride
A little red cover with a broken spine on the back
He hand-wrote a quote inside,
"When the rich wage war, it's the poor who die"
Meanwhile, the leader just talks away
Stuttering and mumbling for nightly news to replay
The rest of the world watching at the end of the day
Both scared and angry, like "What did he say?"

Amen

With hands held high into a sky so blue
As the ocean opens up to swallow you.

The only place I found it at length online is on utube (here's one with subtitles). I love the second verse especially, taking on the perspective of a 10 year old who's trying to live out life in the middle of all of this chaos, searching for answers. This song is also just a taste of the album as a whole. It's still got a bit of that classic LP vibe but this is really a step out for them. It's about complex issues and is dealing with a lot of anger and frustration in the world.

Think...but also enjoy.

Is there a day in life that will make sense?

Something about life just makes you stop and think "will there ever be a day in life that just makes sense?" Today is not that day, from discovering how things might go when we're back in IN for this visit to not being able to get back to sleep at 4am. This day has been all over the map. How do you talk to someone who thinks differently than you do (I mean process info not disagree with) and explain to them what's inside your head? Can words convey more than someone is willing to hear? Why is that when people encounter something that they found extremely helpful that they want to improve on it, while the thing they didn't like gets left by the wayside untouched?

Maybe this post won't make sense either, but in this dark hour I'll try just about anything to smooth out the waves my brain. For something actually interesting check out this image I came across this evening. For more check here.

Visual Disobedience

Those of you who live SF may have actually seen Shepard Fairey's work (see 6th and Folsom on the left --it's not there anymore). If you seen a giant image of a man's face (actually Andre the giant to be exact) then you've seen the work of this visual artist. Currently there is a half of the giant's face on Lombard st. I recently acquired his book "Obey: Supply and Demand" and I have to say that it's fantastic!

It chronicles Fairey's work since 1989-90 when he began the "giant" campaign based off a sticker of Andre the Giant (yes the professional wrestler) that claims Andre the Giant has a posse. It has formed and melded into many forms over the years but one thing remains the same. Fairey's brilliant eye for creating striking images that grab your attention.

Fairey invokes a true sense of visual disobedience posting his art not in galleries but in public spaces. He talks about his work in terms of Heidegger's "phenomenology" saying people become numb to their environment, and they need certain experiences to snap them out of their trance. Heidegger said "a hammer isn't a hammer b/c it looks like a hammer; it's a hammer because it hammers things." Fairey's obey campaign isn't propaganda because it has a message but because it's everywhere. It's about function not face value. You form a theory to validate experience not find the experience that validates your theory.

Fairey expresses that his sticker/poster campaign that has been raging all these years didn't start with a message, it started with a medium. The medium is the message. If you encounter a large stoic face on the side of a building and it has the word "Obey" printed beneath it, you are left to wonder obey what? In it's own way it's telling you not to obey, after all this medium is illegal street art.

But if your in love with form, function, and the pursuit of great art (or just have a love for stickers like me). I defiantly recommend that you check out Shepard's book or website.

summer freedom?

I'm not particularly good at posting regularly (see my grand total of posts). But because I've actually managed to do only one major thing this summer (well two if you count preforming my sister's wedding ceremony) coming on full time at Mission Bay Community Church, that leaves me normal amounts of free time. Because of this new found 'focus' I'm going to try to start blogging regularly as a spiritual discipline.

I'm looking forward to this dedicated reflection time to gather my thoughts and see if I can spot God at work in more places than I might normally notice. So I plan on posting some book reviews (some from this semester of classes, some for fun), movie reviews (can't wait for transformers), church musings, and what ever else might be going on in my life.

So that's the plan.

Funny, aye?

So two posts in the same day, crazy I know.

Anways, 'cause it's stanely cup playoffs (and to continue my hockey theme in honor) and the playoffs are being drowned out by baseball, NBA playoffs, and all other such sports in the US. I thought I would put up my new favorite clip. This is why hockey is the best sport of all time!

Does the shirt make the man?

This is the question that you must ask yourself?

Does the shirt make the man or does the man make the shirt? Anyways, this has been a really busy few weeks and I have a lot of posts in beginning stages and not many in finished form so I thought I would just put something up to let you all know that things will come along. This summer the plan is to post 2 posts a week.

That's the goal anyways...

Blackhawks to draft #1

Maybe I should pledge my loyalty to something else (like winning the lottery). Yesterday the NHL announced that my beloved Chicago Blackhawks will draft #1 overall in this summers draft. A complete first for the team. We've drafted as high as #3 overall before (including last year). So to say the least I'm excited.

Pledge my loyalty

As the regular season for the NHL winds down, I thought I would post something in retrospect. For those of you who don't know I'm a loyal Chicago Blackhawks fan and have been ever since my grandfather introduced me to the game of hockey when I was so young, I don't know how old I was. But the state of the Blackhawks has left something to be desired. We will miss the playoffs again this year and that makes basically a decade out of the postseason (minus the 1st round exit in 01-02 season).

So never the less I'm a bit depressed as we've gone 31-40-9 for 71 points (that includes winning these meaning-less last 4 games) and haven't even managed to score 200 goals as a team. It's been a pretty depressing season even though things started out looking up. We acquired Martin Havlat who is a legit 1st line forward we've lacked since the departure of my beloved Tony Amonte. We got Handzus from Philly even though we had to give up Calder. Handzus is the type of player that every team needs, he's a huge, skilled, center who can play against the opponents best line and still manage to score from time to time. But then Handzus went down with a season ending injury (stupid knees) and Havlat got hurt (high ankle sprain) and to make matters worse was Habby followed suit. Anyways a long season, a coaching change, and other things later I feel rather depressed.

Handzus is an unrestricted free agent and we've got gaping holes to fill in our top 6 forwards (we probably truly need 2 more). Our young defense has started to grow together more and that's a plus. I love what I've seen from Seabrook (my new favorite hawk) as he's been physical and played pretty well at both ends of the ice. Plus he's a born leader always sticking up for teammates. Anyways next year with Duncan Keith, Barker, and Seabrook back their we should be ok, even though Aucoin has at best been described as a bust (not the player he used to be on the island). Anyways...

Next year seems bright, Toews seems like a real keeper, Skille's made progress, Bolland's gotten better after getting off to a slow start with Norfolk. Bertram seems to be a gamer (he scored 2 goals tonight for BC in the frozen four). So their does seem to be hope at the end of the tunnel.

Anyways the Chicago Daily Herald is doing a decent series about the state of Hawk Hockey so if your interested check it out...Part one and two are already up...three is still to come...

btw; if you want great hawks hockey commentary and such check out "The 300 Level"

Where do I belong?

Lately I'm having to start making choices post seminary that will effect largely the circles and arena's in which my ministry will take place and I'm having a heck of a time deciding where I fit in the landscape of Churchianity.

Ok, for those of you who don't know it. I'm kind of a misfit when it comes to Churchianity. I range across the differing range of denominational experience, theological, and praxis issues. I don't know of a denomination that really fits what it is that I want to do in the way that I want to do it (emergent friendly, congregational polity, open theological interpretations, and money for developing new churches). You see I come out a youth ministry background (at a interesting multi-denominational church) that we tried to base it in the contemplative realm (for what I was striving towards check out Mark Yaconelli and The Youth Ministry & Spirituality Project). That along with a bunch of other things lead Julia and I to move to San Francisco for me to attend San Francisco Theological Seminary (SFTS). So even though I'm not Presbyterian, I thought if this school can support this awesome project then I'm interested in learning from these people. It fit fine with my current denominational alignment (Disciples of Christ)...plus I always figured I could figure out the denom thing later (later being now). Once at SFTS I hooked up with some cool fellow postmodern folk, one being Derrick who brought me to a really cool community in MBCC and through a series of interesting twists and turns I'm doing my SFTS necessary internship here currently. Through my exposure with MBCC (which is a PCUSA), I've pretty much figured that the area of growth for me in my leadership of the church is in New Church Development (the presby term) or church planting in the arena of emerging church movement.

So that brings me back to the topic of this post, Where do I belong? Should I continue down the path for ordination in the DOC where I might have to give up time with MBCC to go to a disciples congregation? Should I switch and pursue ordination in the PCUSA (where I'm not sure theologically I fit as well)? The PCUSA does a decent amount of church planting based off of the emerging church philosophy of doing church and probably would be easiest to raise funds to plant a pomo church? Should I stay with DOC but try to integrate some of the things learned at MBCC and through presbymergent ideas to work in their church planting area and goal of a 1000 churches by 2020?

Arg. Where do I belong? Isn't it ironic that this question of identity which is staring me in the face now is so similar to Jesus' question in the gospel accounts (who do you say I am?)?