Map or Guidebook?

Missional theologian Alan Roxburgh wrote this a couple of years ago.

We’re like Abram — called to leave cherished places and move out into spaces where we’ve never been. But this is God’s journey and the Spirit is with us. In the Bible is an imagination to guide us. It’s not a road map or secret guide from the past to be unlocked. In his book Can These Bones Live? the Baptist theologian Barry Harvey put it this way:

…the Bible provides nothing like a map that charts the precise path for us to follow into the future. What it does give us is the travel itinerary of God’s people, that is, the story of their pilgrimage as strangers and foreigners through this world toward the kingdom of God… An itinerary, by contrast, consists of a series of performative descriptions designed to organize our movements through space: ‘to get to the shrine you go past the old fort and then turn right at the fork in the path’.

He is so right. Since his reflections here come from thinking about the power of the unexpected (i.e. The Black Swan concept) it is only natural that he goes this direction. Which is in direct conflict with those who see the Bible as a step-by-step blueprint (or AAA Trip-Tik) on what's going to happen. Many over the years have been surprised or saddened by the things they expect to happen but don't.

In some way or another the goal is the Kingdom of God. What that looks like and what we do about it is a mystery each day. It is not a mystery to be solved with point by point ideas, but by living in God's presence.

An All-Time Favorite

I am a sucker for a good, funny commercial. Weird commercials and/or great puns are part of the requirement. Right now Geico has one running that has been added to my list of all-time favorites. It is a classic:

Baseball Lives

Jim Kaat pitching for Phillies, 1978

It is greater than the players, the owners, steroids or whatever.

Cal Ripken, Jr. at Co. Stadium in Milwaukee, 1995

It has outlasted many ups and downs.

But the game is the game. If it survived Ty Cobb's meanness and racism, the "Black Sox scandal," sign-stealing by the Giants against the Dodgers, and a gazillion imperfect people, it will survive Barry Bonds and steroids. It survived the greed of the strike and grew by leaps and bounds.

At the end of the second episode last night I heard the late Harry Kalas announce the Phillies World Series win two years ago, and saw the future of the game as Joe Mauer headed toward first.

The players of today are as committed to the game as any in the past. Different? Sure. But they are here to play.

Target Field, Minneapolis, 2010

Sunday I will be at Target Field watching them for the 5th time this season- and then again in a week for the post-season. Maybe more this year; maybe not. But it is still The Game.

Baseball. There will be those who disagree but as someone said in the first episode on Tuesday, it is the greatest game ever invented.

Banned Book Week 2010

Yes, friends, it is that time of year again when we remember how precious freedom of speech and press (and publishing) really is- and how precarious it can be.

And what have we to be banned in the past year? Here is the list of most banned/challenged books of 2009 (Link):

ttyl; ttfn; l8r, g8r (series), by Lauren Myracle
Reasons: nudity, sexually explicit, offensive language, drugs, and unsuited to age group

And Tango Makes Three, by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson
Reasons: homosexuality

The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
Reasons: drugs, homosexuality, nudity, offensive language, sexually explicit, suicide, and unsuited to age group

To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
Reasons: racism, offensive language, unsuited to age group

Twilight (series), by Stephanie Meyer
Reasons: sexually explicit, religious viewpoint, unsuited to age group

Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
Reasons: sexaully explicit, religious viewpoint, unsuited to age group

My Sister's Keeper, by Jodi Picoult
Reasons: sexism, homosexuality, sexually explicit, offensive language, unsuited to age group, drugs, suicide, violence

The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things, by Carolyn Mackler
Reasons: sexually explicit, offensive language, unsuited to age group

The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
Reasons: sexually explicit, offensive language, unsuited to age group

The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier
Reasons: nudity, sexually explicit, offensive language, unsuited to age group

And let us not forget some that have been banned in the past, (as seen on Yahoo!) such as:

• Merriam Webster Collegiate Dictionary
• American Heritage Dictionary (1969)
• Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin. The Texas Board of Education banned the book, in January 2010, because it thought the book was written by the same Bill Martin who penned the non-children's book Ethical Marxism: The Categorical Imperative of Liberation

And, taking the cake of irony:

• Fahrenheit 451 - The classic book about book burning. It was still on the Top 100 at #69 for the 2000-2009 decade.

As Good As Expected

Or, at least it was to me. The top of the Tenth Inning, Ken Burns new two-part documentary on baseball, set us up with the amazing story from 1994 through the end of the 90s. There we had a strike, the beginning of steroids along with a now-tainted home run race and the return of the Yankees.

Who wouldn't take the pill if you knew it would get you all that money and fame?
How about the Iron Man, Cal Ripkin, Jr. Would he?

Baseball.

It doesn't get any better than that.



Part two, tonight on PBS.

Facts Always Get in the Way

From (The Customer Is Not) Always Right, another fine example of thinking skills unencumbered by reality:

(A Theme Park | Orlando, FL, US, I overhear a group of teenagers talking while looking at the penguin exhibit.)

Teenager 1: “What exactly is a penguin?”

Teenager 2: “Are you that stupid? A penguin is a fish!”

Teenager 2: “No. A penguin is an amphibian. You know, like frogs.”

Teenager 1: “You know guys I think penguins are mammals, because they got fur. ”

Me: *addressing everybody at exhibit* “The penguin is a unique bird that can ‘fly’ in the water.”

Teenager 2: *after looking at his friends in awe* “I still think it’s a fish.”

A 50-Year Memory: The Kid Retires

1960 - Ted Williams plays his last major league baseball game after 19 seasons, 2,292 games and 7,706 at bats. Williams was

a two-time American League Most Valuable Player (MVP) winner, led the league in batting six times, and won the Triple Crown twice. He had a career batting average of .344, with 521 home runs, and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1966. He is the last player in Major League Baseball to bat over .400 in a single season (.406 in 1941). --Wikipedia

Some Ted Williams quotes:

"No one could throw a fastball past me. God could come down from Heaven and he couldn't throw it past me."

"Baseball is the only field of endeavor where a man can succeed three times out of ten and be considered a good performer."

"Baseball's future? Bigger and bigger, better and better! No question about it, it's the greatest game there is!"

"I hope somebody hits .400 soon. Then people can start pestering that guy with questions about the last guy to hit .400."

"If there was ever a man born to be a hitter it was me."

"Hitting is fifty percent above the shoulders."
--Wikipedia

And don't miss....

Tonight: The Game Continues

PBS and Ken Burns return to the diamond tonight and tomorrow for The Tenth Inning. Picking up where he left off in 1993, Burns brings us through the past difficult years of our national sport. I have been waiting patiently until now for this. The first series was a true honor to the game. I expect nothing less from this.

How Does He Do That?

Going on a trip? Not want to carry a lot? Here's a video that may help.

HT to The Awesomer

Of course it helps that he isn't packing dress-up clothes.

On the other hand,  for all of us OCD, anal-retentive-types, here's a Packing Pad that will make sure you don't forget anything.....

You can buy it at Organize.com

Also HT to the Awesomer.

Another Gorgeous Fall Day

Yesterday was another superb, gorgeous, fantastic Fall day. So, I went biking along the Root River Trail again. This time I started at Isinours Forest to do the one section of the trail I have never done. It's uphill from there all the way to the western Trailhead at Fountain. It is great to know I could do it while keeping a decent pace. Quite a change over the season.

And speaking of seasons-- I saw my first woolly bear caterpillar on that first segment. For those who don't know, woolly bears are supposed to prognosticate the kind of winter it will be. Well, it looks like it will be a split winter around here. Heavier at the beginning and end, milder in the middle. I saw quite a few other woolly bears on the ride and they all were similar.

Of course we have just had a lot of rain over the past week. Record breaking rains with a lot of flooding in some places. The Root River was running heavy. Here's the dam in Lanesboro. Well, actually the splash area at the other side. Quite a lot of water.

Here at the golf course you can see the results of the flooding as trees and brush are stuck under the bridge. You can't see it from here but the river also cut into the bank, making the river bed wider.

There were other neat things, though. Like the mushrooms growing out of the sides of trees. I liked this one since I could get under it without any problem. It is actually about 8' up the side of the tree.

The day was cool to start. It was in the low 50s when I got on the trail at about 11:00. The sun was warm, though. I ended up sweating. Not unexpected. It was probably around 57 or so when I finished around 1:30, 22 miles, lots of pictures, and a dish of ice cream in Lanesboro later.



On the way home I couldn't resist stopping by the Fountain Lutheran Church for this great example of what Minnesota in September can be like at its absolute very best.

I am sure more days are coming!

Switching Teams

The new Meadowlands Stadium in New Jersey is home to the Giants and the Jets. So, when one team plays Sunday and the other on Monday night, the switch has to be quick. Someone at the Meadowlands was thinking ahead when they thought about making one of them-there time-laspe videos of the switch. Thanks to Wired.com, here it is.



New Meadowlands Stadium Change Over Time-Lapse from Ken Friberg and Daniel Life on Vimeo.

Breaking the News

Mike Todd had this quote on Waving or Drowning the other week:

God does not love America.

He loves the people of America. The people of Iraq, Iran, North Korea, South Korea, China, all of Europe and South America. Every unknown tribe of every unknown nation. God loves them all. “For God so loved the WORLD, that he gave his only begotten son, so that whosoever believes in him will not perish but will have everlasting life.”

It’s not about us.

We are not God’s BFF, folks.

God does not love America.

--Link to Karen Spears Zacharias's post

I know that position isn't a popular one among many. We think we are God's gift to the world. We are the only begotten loved one today, or at least just barely behind Israel.

But we are not, as that post clearly opines.

Neither are we the worst or least popular or most sinful as others try to imply.

We just are a nation among the nations. We are sinners and saints living in a very large place. With great diversity and possibility. Just like everyone else.

But above all, we are members of the human race. God's creation. The world God loves. Not because we are better or more faithful. But simply because we are.

I think we used to call that

grace.

A 50-Year Memory: Debates

September 26 – The 2 leading U.S. presidential candidates, Richard M. Nixon and John F. Kennedy, participate in the first televised presidential debate.

As a 7th grade political geek at the tender age of 12, I remember lying on the floor by my bedroom door to listen to this from the TV down the hall in the living room. I didn't hear everything, but it was an intriguing time. My parents wouldn't let me stay up, so I had to sneak the listen.

Sadly, I Think I Agree

LiveScience.com does it again. They manage to get one of those attention-getting headlines.....

People Prefer Colonoscopies Over Computer Upkeep

Yep. It got my attention, especially since I am one of those people who has had more than my share due to a family history of colon cancer. I also have difficulty in the prep for them and that makes them happen more often that I would like. (I will stop there. Too much information is potentially on the horizon.)

Anyway, the headline got me. Here are the lead paragraphs:

More Americans would rather do unpleasant chores such as getting a colonoscopy or changing a baby's diaper than perform tasks that keep their computers safe from crashes, according to a new study.

Security and utility company PC Tools, along with Harris Interactive, conducted a survey that found people would prefer to do an array of dreaded tasks than clean their computer’s registry in order to prevent crashes and improve speed.

Chores that topped the list include laundry (54 percent); balancing a checkbook (47 percent); changing a baby’s diaper (43 percent); going to the dentist (34 percent); waiting in line at the DMW (20 percent); being stuck in traffic (19 percent); or getting a colonoscopy (12 percent).

Basically we don't want to do those mundane tech tasks that will protect us. We don't want to waste time with things that aren't productive. We don't want to sit around and wait for the seemingly interminable backups and copying and whirring of hard drives.

I must admit that I fall into that category to a great extent. This is even after having a hard disk die on me and a CD-ROM of my only set of pictures from our trip to Spain lock up. I paid to get these rescued. So now I back up once in a while. On an external hard drive.

But colonoscopies?  Given the choice I would rather do the backups. Although I guess the possibilities of cancer or other issues may raise the bar and push backups down the list. Maybe we care more about our health than computers?

Nah. You're probably right. Computers tech tasks are nerdy. Geeky. God forbid.

A 30-Year Memory: Another Music Death

September 25 – John Bonham of Led Zeppelin dies of alcohol poisoning.

Wisdom Quotes

Over at Connexions Kim posted 20 pearls of wisdom from the late William Sloane Coffin. Coffin was a clergy activist and strong peace and justice advocate, former chaplain at Yale and Sr. minister at Riverside Church. These pearls are truly quick, to-the-point, and pointed.

True, we have to hate evil; else we’re sentimental. But if we hate evil more than we love the good, we become damn good haters, and of those the world already has too many.

The argument that gays threaten to destroy heterosexual marriage is an assertion only, not an argument. If anything destroys marriage, it’s married people, not gays.

All nations make decisions based on self-interest and then defend them in the name of morality.

Christians forget that it was the Devil who tempted Jesus with unbounded wealth and power. And it is the Devil in every American that makes us feel good about being so powerful.

The trouble with violence is that it changes not too much, but too little. Nonviolence is more radical because it is more truthful. Violence always ends up calling on lies to defend it, just as lies call on violence to defend them.

A Big Surprise

The other day I received a message on Facebook from the Minneapolis Duathlon people. I won a prize in one of the six photography categories for the picture to the right here.

It was in the category for "Race Village."

I was surprised and glad. My wife, however, knows how important it is to keep me humble.

"Wow. You finally got something for all those pictures you take."

Well, I'm glad.

Acting Like An American

The poster at left was posted on Salon.com yesterday.

Andrew Leonard in the accompanying post said:

...tolerance is also an American value. And what is more craven than the fear that the American way of life will be undermined by the exercise of such a value -- by our welcoming of difference, our openness to that which threatens us?

What a great way to express it. If we have to lose our values in order to save them... no, wait. That isn't possible, is it?

Pay Attention

In searching for God, many people tend to look for the miraculous and supernatural. Instead, we should be attending to the ordinary,
-- Philip Yancy

HT to Mark Wilson

From my experience, most miracles are most profoundly seen in living every day in the grace of God, whether you know it or not.

10:09 PM, CDT: Autumnal Equinox

Lord, it is time. The summer was very big. Lay thy shadow on the sundials, and on the meadows let the winds go loose. Command the last fruits that they shall be full; give them another two more southerly days, press them on to fulfillment and drive the last sweetness into the heavenly wine.
-Rainer Maria Rilke

The breezes taste

Of apple peel.

The air is full

Of smells to feel-

Ripe fruit, old footballs,

Burning brush,

New books, erasers,

Chalk, and such.

The bee, his hive,

Well-honeyed hum,

And Mother cuts

Chrysanthemums.

Like plates washed clean

With suds, the days

Are polished with

A morning haze.

- John Updike, September

Smoke hangs like haze over harvested fields,

The gold of stubble, the brown of turned earth

And you walk under the red light of fall

The scent of fallen apples, the dust of threshed grain

The sharp, gentle chill of fall.

Here as we move into the shadows of autumn

The night that brings the morning of spring

Come to us, Lord of Harvest

Teach us to be thankful for the gifts you bring us ...

- Autumn Equinox Ritual

Time To Add A Flag

And the Magic Number Is

ZERO.

The Inaugural Season at 

Target Field 

WILL CONTINUE

into the Postseason

A 40-Year Memory: A Death in Music

September 18 – Jimi Hendrix dies of drug related complications.

Sorry I missed this a couple days ago. This was truly one of those days the music died for a lot of my generation.

The Last Full Day

of summer, 2010.

 

Ah, and so it now goes.

Tomorrow evening Fall begins.

But this year, temperatures notwithstanding, I have a hunch that the Game of Summer and the Boys of Summer from Minneapolis will be continuing to play.

Greed Makes You Lose

Last Saturday I looked at the Powerball, which was over $100 million.

"Nah," I said to myself, "that's not enough money. I'll wait until Wednesday."

That's what greed does. Somebody else won.

Two Looks At Aging

Well, actually the two books I've read recently are not actually about aging. One is about surfing; the other is about baseball. Yet a closer look at both books indicates there is a common thread of how do we deal with getting older.

First, the book about surfing. Kook has the author, Peter Heller, telling us about a midlife decision he makes to become something more than a beginner surfer. He and his significant other decide to make a trip along the Mexican coast that would be a way to do that. Heller is an excellent author, one who takes travel and turns it into interesting ways of describing the world. It is clear that he truly connects with the ocean; it is a deeply felt spiritual connection, although he doesn't use that word. He is concerned about the ways that climate change and human interaction are causing harm to the seas and their ecosystem.

Through all this we learn about surfing, probably far more than I really have ever thought about learning. We do, also, see a man struggling with midlife, but attempting to do it in a positive, healthy, forward-looking way. The book succeeds on many levels, giving us insight not just into the ecosystem, but the subculture of surfers and how they interact with each other. And, by extension, how we interact with those we love and who become our significant others.

The second book, The Game From Where I Stand, has Doug Glanville, former major league baseball player, taking us through his pro career. For a baseball fan, the book gives color and insight to much of what we already see on the field by taking us back into the dugout, clubhouse, hotels, and other places where major league baseball players live on a day-to-day basis. Glanville is a rarity among major league baseball players in that he is a graduate of an Ivy League college, Penn, with an engineering degree. He has a literate yet down-home style to his writing that engages us. He does not shy away from his opinions, and the chapter on the integrity of baseball takes us into the steroid era and what he feels it has done to baseball. That chapter alone is worth the read.

But in the end it is also about his leaving baseball, as all pros must do, when they're still relatively young. The poignancy of his closing chapter on the end of his career shows that no matter what career we choose, a day comes when we are no longer engaged in it as we once were. In that chapter he also talks about the family aspect of baseball teams. As an old Phillis Phan myself, his description of his Phillie Phanaticism rang true.

Overall, both books are also about love. Heller, in Kook, is more obvious as part of his journey includes his discovery of love in a relationship as well as with the sea. Glanville may not have the same depth of love toward his career that Heller has toward his surfing and the ocean, but he does baseball and major league baseball players a great service with his care and support for the game and his love for his family.

Good Questions

From the Salvation Army in the UK comes this video on the impact of climate change. It begins as perhaps all such presentations should begin- with the ultimate questioner- a child.

Church Quotes

In going through my old saved posts from my RSS readings, I found these two quotes about church. Since that seems to be a theme this week, here they are:

It is not scientific doubt, not atheism, not pantheism, not agnosticism, that in our day and in this land is likely to quench the light of the gospel. It is a proud, sensuous, selfish, luxurious, church-going, hollow-hearted prosperity.

- Frederic D. Huntington Forum magazine, 1890

"In an oppressive society if a group stands up to take care of the lambs, it automatically stands up against the wolves."

~Vishal Mangalwadi

These seem pretty straight-forward to me....

Yet....

Yet We Still Do Studies

The United Methodist Church recently concluded a study of more than 32,000 Methodist congregations across North America, seeking the "key factors impacting vital congregations." The study surveyed everybody from bishops to district superintendents to people in the pews.

Working with New York-based Towers Watson consultants, researchers constructed a "vitality index" to measure each church and concluded "that all kinds of UMC churches are vital -- small, large, across geographies, and church setting."

The report identified four key areas that fuel vitality: small groups and programs; worship services that mix traditional and contemporary styles with an emphasis on relevant sermons; pastors who work hard on mentorship and cultivation of the laity; and an emphasis on effective lay leadership.

These four factors "are consistent regardless of church size, predominant ethnicity, and jurisdiction," the study concluded.
--Pew Forum

Every time I hear the results of these studies, I am un-surprised that they almost always point out the obvious answers. They also are things that in my experience the church leaders, etc. have been saying and urging for years and years and years.

Therefore, I wonder if we are not looking at the wrong churches. Maybe we should look at the myriad churches who are not growing and may in fact be dying to see what they are doing to keep themselves small. The problem would be in naming such churches because they will almost invariably believe they are doing what they should be doing for themselves. The problem with those churches is often they blame others, the culture, etc. for the lack of growth.

Studies of growing churches will not help. Studies of dying churches will point out problems. Only in finding ways to motivate and energize the dying churches will we truly come to an understanding of why things are the way they are in so many churches.

Just for Fun

A Booze and Temperance Joke. I've heard it before, but it is still fun....

A minister was completing a Temperance sermon. With great emphasis he said, "If I had all the beer in the world, I'd take it and pour it into the river." With even greater emphasis he said, "And if I had all the wine in the world, I'd take it and pour it into the river." And then finally, shaking his fist in the air, he said, "And if I had all the whiskey in the world, I'd take it and pour it into the river." Sermon complete, he sat down. The song leader stood very cautiously and announced with a smile, nearly laughing, "For our closing song, let us sing Hymn 365, "Shall We Gather at the River."

A Step One Prayer

We admitted we were powerless and our lives are unmanageable. So why, then, do we keep trying to gain and use power?

Let us pray:

May all of your expectations be frustrated,
May all of your plans be thwarted,
May all of your desires be withered into nothingness,
That you may experience the powerlessness and poverty of a child
And can sing and dance in the love of God,
Who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

The Benediction by Brennan Manning via The Margins

 I have a hunch that in life- as in recovery- it is finally when we experience and celebrate (YES! Celebrate) powerlessness that we can see life as it is meant to be. Through the eyes of God's love.

These Say It Well

From Sean at Boing Boing

They describe my experience since my 60th birthday in 2008. Life never ceases to amaze me as I keep on bikin'.

Link

Jesus Christ—The Chief Elder

On September 11, 1741, a synodical conference convened in Count Zinzendorf’s apartments on Red Lion Street in London. Ten persons attended it, all selected by lot and all prominent in the activities of the church. Since Leonhard Dober, the Chief Elder, remained firm in his determination to resign his office, those present found themselves in no little perplexity.

Various brethren were nominated as chief elder, but the lot negated each. It was on September 16 when, to quote Zinzendorf’s words, the idea came to them “to accept the Saviour in this office.” Immediately all those gathered reached the decision not to appoint anyone but Jesus Christ as the Chief Elder of our church.

Deeply moved, the conference now submitted the following question to the Lord by lot: “Whether this signified that the Savior would himself undertake the office.” The answer of the lot was affirmative. Since that day no member of our church has filled this office because Jesus Christ Himself is acknowledged as our Chief Elder.

Excerpt from History of the Moravian Church, J. Hamilton and K. Hamilton

--Link to The Moravian Church in Canada

Great Insight

From management guru Seth Godin:

Why jazz is more interesting than bowling

Bowling is all about one number: the final score. And great bowlers come whisker-close to hitting the perfect score regularly. Not enough dimensions for me to be fascinated by, and few people pay money to attend bowling matches.

Jazz is practiced over a thousand or perhaps a million dimensions. It's non-linear and non-predictable, and most of all, it's never perfect.

And yet...

when we get to work, most of us choose to bowl.
--Seth Godin

Which, I believe, is why I love what I do. It is more like jazz than bowling. It is people needing to work together and improvise from our knowledge and experience. It is never dull, sometimes out of tune, but is always a work in progress. It was why I loved parish ministry (until it became too administrative); it is why I get up and go to work today.

Thirty-Six Years

September 15, 1974.

Seminary was done.

Clinical Pastoral Education was done.

I had already been serving as student pastor at the church and now it was time for ordination.

Dr. Thor Harberg (l), District President and
Bishop Edwin Kortz (c) presided.

Yes, I agree that The Ordinand (r) (me) looks in a state of shock.

Here then are some thoughts on ordination as put together by the Moravian Interprovincial Faith and Order Commission:

• The purpose of ordained ministry is to prepare, support, and assist all baptized Christians in their ministry.
• The ministry of the ordained is an expression of the ministry of the whole people of God and a response to the call and gifts of Christ who is Chief Elder of the Church and its ministry.
• Something does change [in ordination]: the identity, if not the essence, of the one who has received the laying-on of hands. He or she has been called, appointed and publicly recognized as a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This identity is not revoked even when the person ordained ceases to exercise the functions of ordained ministry or changes the context for her or his ministry.
• Historically, ordination has been considered a lifelong, indelible covenant. The Moravian Church has accepted this understanding and should continue to do so.
• Finally, one more proposition, for meditation and consideration: “Reverend” is an adjective, not a noun.

From On Ordination, Moravian Interprovincial Faith and Order Commission.
--Link

I agree with the statements above and I continue to wrestle with the meaning of ordination for myself now that I am "retired" from the active ministry and have been in secular ministry since January 2004. It is a lifelong, indelible contract. I still stop and meditate on this each year. Perhaps I see my ministry as outside the one of helping "baptized Christians." Identity is real, even if only internal to my being. Or perhaps it has something to do with how I live my life, even in secular settings.

No matter what the specifics, I give thanks today for my ongoing opportunities for living out my call. I give thanks for the grace of God given to me to share and witness to.

Thanks be to God in Jesus Christ, my Lord!

By Any Name

The Corn Refiners Association knows it's been getting bad press for its signature product: High Fructose Corn Syrup. They've noticed that many are saying it's unhealthy and a major cause of the obesity epidemic. They want to fix that.

But not by changing the product.

Just its name.

So they have applied to have it known simply as corn sugar.

That will make a big difference- in perception but not its impact.

But, hey, why not. After all two words are worth a thousand plus dollars.

When To Disobey

HT to Darryl

Making 300 In A Summer

Yesterday was another magnificent summer day- and a great day to go biking. In general this summer has been awesome with lots of good biking. In fact yesterday I hit 300 miles for the summer on the trails and around town on my good old Trek 7000. I also am at 678 total miles on the bike in these three summers



I decided yesterday was a day to challenge myself- to take a step forward in my biking. I headed to the trailhead at Preston Minnesota and headed south to the town of Harmony.





I have avoided this particular section of trail because everywhere I read it says hills. This section is not built on an old rail bed and it comes up out of the valley to the bluffs.

There is a two-mile hill starting just about halfway between Preston and Harmony. Steep grades southbound really slow you down. My average on the 12 miles going south was 9.8 mph. My average on the 12miles going north was 13.8 mph. I hit a high of over 28 mph going downhill AND pedaling. I was actually able to maintain a decent speed even on the flats. It was like climbing a mountain and then having this great ride back down. I also noticed that now, when traveling at 10 mph on a flat or easy grade, I feel like I am crawling. That was a good speed back in May.



Early signs of fall and late signs of summer were everywhere.



Fields were golden.



Corn stalks were brown.




The sun, the sky, the temperature- everything fell together on a truly wonderful day.





I headed a little farther north past Preston on my way back in order to make this my longest single-day ride since the first day of my 60 for 60 over two years ago.

At the end I was talking to a biking couple who were just finishing about 20 miles. They commented on how wonderful this Root River-Harmony trail system is. "It's a Cadillac," they told me, having ridden many of the ones around the state.

I would wholeheartedly agree. The nice thing is that there may be several more trips on this trail yet this fall.

Anyone Like This You Know?

Daniel Okrent in his book about Prohibition, Last Call, describes the prohibitionist crusader James Cannon, Jr.:

One friend said about [Cannon], "Like most humorless men, he had to make life into a crusade to make sense of it."
p. 89

I would agree about some people I have known over the years. (Probably including myself at times.) Somehow or another everything becomes intense, life or death, a crusade. Sadly I've discovered people like that are not allowed fun to be around. It's almost as if they can't enjoy life on life's terms.

A Brief Observation

Working across the street from a major hospital, one of the more common sights is a helicopter arriving with what is probably a patient in extremely serious condition. I have noticed that whenever one of the choppers lands, people stop. Visitors, patients, nurses, workers, doctors -- we all stand and stare at the helicopter landing on the roof.

Is this a moment of mortality and awareness that there but for the grace of God? ...

 (This is a medical chopper from La Crosse I came across at an accident in Wisconsin a few weeks ago.)

I Don't Even Know What To Say

So I will let this picture taken in June 2006 say it for me.

A Distant Birthday

Today would be my mother's 97th birthday.

She died many years ago at the young age of 48.That is another whole lifetime.

It is always an unusual feeling to remember her birthday. Now that I am well past her age, it is even more so.

But one of the more unusual things has been seeing her face in my daughter.

I may be the only one who does, but that's okay. Life has its own little ways of keeping us going and keeping memories alive.

Important Natural World Information-

or- Why Be Serious Today?

After watching this, I have realized I need to open a new web-based treatment center.

The Wood Spider @ Yahoo! Video

Maybe There's Hope Anyway

Over the past couple weeks I have blogged my fears as the result of the Packers being an overwhelming pre-season pick for the Super Bowl. You know- the curses and jinx that comes from such pre-season favoritism....

Well, also in the last week, Wired.com posted a story about the annual running of a season-long simulation by Electronic Arts (EA Sports) Madden NFL video game.

First the tag:

EA has done this kind of simulation every January since 2004. Since then, EA has picked the Super Bowl winner six out of seven times, so maybe the algorithm is on to something.

Now the winner will be:

The Green Bay Packers

Read More: Wired.com

With the season starting tonight with those Vikings and What's His Name at quarterback, I thought this would be a good way to keep tonight's game in perspective.

We've Done This For Years

Seth Godin, guru-extraordinaire, posted this the other day:

I had to smile. That has been the rule around our house for years- in fact as long as I can remember. It didn't matter whether it was a piece of cake or a piece of steak- the one who cuts doesn't choose the first piece.

The ultimate in fairness.

Don't Forget the Glass of Water

Like the Santeros say, put a glass of water next to your bed every night, and pray to St. Judas Martyr, just in case your soul gets thirsty, you don't want it to head off looking for a drink and never come back.
-- Martin Solares, Black Minutes, p. 198.

Duathlon Rembered

It's been over a week now since my Duathlon. Later that evening I set out my favorite coffee shop and had some notes to make. I remembered the fun I had talking to other newbies before the race; moments of wonder as I crossed the Mississippi River; the self-satisfaction at age 62 of crossing the finish line. The word I use to describe it was peaceful -- and inner peace.

I was actually surprised, though, when the next morning at work several people said to me that there was something they could see that was different that morning. I kind of laughed it off but they said, "No, really. You seem like you have serenity."

Looking back, I still have those same feelings. It actually amazes me that I did it and, even more amazing, I enjoyed it.

So, here's what I wrote about the Duathlon on the evening after:

Waiting, watching, walking
13 waves ahead of me-
people smiling, talking,
listening to their iPods.
Getting psyched.

Running-

where cars should be crossing-

as police direct and

volunteers cheer.

Downhill in the shade, then,

back across the river in the sun.

Transition to the bike and

a feeling of ease while

catching my breath and coasting

down

to

the

River

under overhanging trees

before a climb while

other bikers pass me-  but I'm in no rush.

Reaching the turnaround and getting a

second breath.

Sailing, then,

downhill

at

speed

actually passing other bikers myself,

until

The Uphill Mile,

struggling in

lowest gear with

deep breaths and

gasping.

Finally flat and easy. Sprinting

by the Guthrie Theater

to dismount, 

legs barely holding.

Walking to rack the bike

drinking water

feeling worn.

A mile and a half to go.

Up to the Run-Out-Aisle and

once more across the river,

once more downhill,

but now with less shade

running

slowly;

walking

quickly once more to cross the stone arch bridge

hearing the announcer at the

finish line

half a mile away;

a quarter-mile;

then across the finish.

Time is up.

The race is over and

snacks are waiting

Cheese, water, corn chips
replenish the body
but the soul knows
it has been challenged
and made it!

The world's largest.

And I was there.

Link to my pictures on Flickr.

Which Way To Look

In a brief section early in the book, Kook, by Peter Heller, he ponders whether his new found interest in surfing in his late-40s was a form of mid-life crisis. As he thinks about it he mentions the difference between a mid-life crisis that looks backward wishing and hoping for things lost or never experienced or looking forward to new experiences. He decided that

Looking Forward = brave
Looking Backward = pathetic.

To look forward needs to be about growth and growing older with grace.

I thought that is a good ending to what I wrote above back at the end of my first Duathlon.

A September Song

Try to remember the kind of September
When life was slow and oh so mellow
Try to remember the kind of September
When grass was green and grain so yellow
Try to remember the kind of September
When you were a young and a callow fellow
Try to remember and if you remember
Then follow--follow, oh-oh.
- Try to Remember, Lyrics by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt

(It will be nice to remember.)

And The Winners Are....

They have announced the 2010 Hugo Award winners at Aussie Con 4:

BEST NOVEL
[Tie for first place]
The City and The City by China Miéville
The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi

The Hugo Awards are THE AWARD in Science Fiction. A tie for first place is quite unusual. But having read both of the winners, I would have to agree. I would be hard-pressed to say which one was better. They are both awesome and transcend the genre. I will try to blog on them sometime soon.


Link to Wired.com
Link to AussieCon4 where all the winners and nominees are listed.

I Was Actually Listening Today

I was surprised again in church this morning. I say again because it happens regularly when I'm open to it and listening. I've written posted before about how every time I hear a sermon or discussion of "discipleship" and "following Jesus," I usually connect it to the work of the church. Many times that's because the sermon seems to do that. But after having served in the church as a pastor for 30 years, it seems to always be what we talk about. Discipleship, service, following Jesus- isn't it about church?

As a result I've probably struggled more than I should have, or needed to, with the idea of call to "secular ministry". I've always defined that as doing the work of Jesus in ways absolutely not connected in any way shape or form to the work of the church. I've even said that five years ago or so I finally heard God's call to me to do "ministry" outside the church. As a result I have had absolutely no disagreement about doing "ministry" as a CD counselor in non-church agencies and organizations.

I've also come to new understandings for myself of what church is, why it is, and, overall, what ministry means. I'm still not ready to put that down here in pixel format, but it's kind of been rumbling around.

It must be sinking in. I think I'm actually accepting it.

At one point in her sermon this morning, Pastor-Wife said something like:

sometimes you have to give up your dreams to follow Jesus.

Surprisingly I didn't take that as a call back into the church, giving up my dreams as a CD counselor and so on to go back and do some of the things I've often dreamed of doing in the church, such as church planting.

No, this time I realized that the church-based dreams are the ones that are now past. I am not called into church-based ministry any more than any other member of the church is. I am called to "secular ministry". I wish I could come up with a better term for that. Ministry, in any form or place, is by its very nature

• sacred, 
• holy, 
• set apart.

I think -- no, I'm sure -- that the work of God in Jesus Christ is just as real and just as important even when done outside the walls of the church or the institutional and denominational borders we put up around it. Maybe even more critical at times since the church isn't there.

That's why I was surprised this morning. It truly was the first time I'd heard that in my applying the words of a sermon. I've always said I'm slow when it comes to hearing God's word and calls. I tend to follow before I am actually sure I've heard it. (Or the opposite- not at all.) Today I am grateful that my call to my non-church-based ministry felt reaffirmed.

Considering that my 36th ordination anniversary is coming up in 10 days, I will now have something new to ponder on, pray about, and seek to follow more fully in the coming year.

A Fine Day At The Ballpark

It doesn't get much better than this:

Cool temps, little wind, a team still on a roll. Yes, that is baseball at its finest.

(Scoreboard is 3 times the sq. ft. of my apartment!)

Add to that Jim Thome in the 3rd inning tied Mark McGwire as 9th on the all-time home run list with his homer #  --------------------->:


Then, going ahead an inning later...

It is good to know that McGwire will never be better than # 10.





Plus my daughter and I began strategizing for post-season tickets


AND deciding which section to ask for in 2011.

Yes, we won!

For A Saturday Morning

A Twitter posting from Mental Floss that made me laugh:

In 2009, Iowa's Department of Elder Affairs changed its name to the Department on Aging, or DOA.

This Makes ME Smile

This is just plain fun.

The official music video for "You Always Make Me Smile" by Kyle Andrews, filmed in Provo, UT in July 2010. 4,000 people! 120,000 balloons (all biodegradable, filled with non-potable irrigation water)! World record for the largest water balloon fight (pending final approval from Guinness)!

Reminds me of some fun times directing camp! A great way to start the last holiday vacation weekend of the summer. (I just wish it were warm enough here to do it.)




And of course, the Behind the Scenes video;

The Final Straw

From NFL.com today, the following devastating news:

• All 7- yes, a unanimous vote- pick the Green Bay Packers to be the NFC champion this year.
• Four of the 7 pick the Green Bay Packers to win the Super Bowl this year.

That settles it, I am sad to say. The Packers are cursed, jinxed, and just out of luck.

Show us it ain't so, Aaron.

Oh, yes. Brett? Brett who?

Another Civil War?

I was in a conversation with several twenty-somethings the other day.One of them said they were listening to some TV pundit who said that considering how divided our nation is today, we were probably on the way to a Civil War. She looked at me and several other people in our group and said, "You think that'll happen?"

My immediate response, without much thought, was:

I'm old enough to remember the 60s. They were just as divided and divisive as today. Maybe even more so. I think we'll make it.

That of course was not meant to be a smart-aleck answer although it sounds like it. As I ponder the world of the United States in 2010, I can see how some might think we're at that level of discontent. I know there were those in the 60s who saw that as a time of civil war or revolution or insanity. But we survived.

I think.

In reality it is hard to know what will happen in any given nation or any given year or for that matter, any given day. Are these times worse than the 60s? Is this era of division really all that much different than many other times in our history? One of the problems is that we all have short memories and history is only written looking backward. All of the events that lead up to something like a Civil War only point in that direction after the war has started. No one would've predicted the 60s in 1959.

But we as a nation have survived before and I think we will survive again. The never-settled and always-in-motion pendulum of public opinion is part of what keeps our nation moving. No single ideology, no single party, no single point of view has been able to survive as THE WAY. Yes, this is a difficult time. The divisiveness, the anger, the rage, are real even if at times manufactured, manipulated, and micro-managed.

In the end I agree with Pres. Obama when he said on NBC last week that in the end he trusts the American people.

I Guess It Was Inevitable [sigh]

Yes, it is Beverly Hills Day:

 9-02-10. 

Sad, but pop culturally correct.

Teens and Fake Christians

There was an interesting article on CNN a few days ago. It was talking about youth and church, and probably more importantly, faith and the faith of young people. Kenda Creasy Dean is a minister, a professor at Princeton Theological Seminary and the author of Almost Christian, a new book that argues that many parents and pastors are unwittingly passing on this self-serving strain of Christianity.

Dean says more American teenagers are embracing what she calls "moralistic therapeutic deism." Translation: It's a watered-down faith that portrays God as a "divine therapist" whose chief goal is to boost people's self-esteem.

She says this "impostor'' faith is one reason teenagers abandon churches.

"If this is the God they're seeing in church, they are right to leave us in the dust," Dean says. "Churches don't give them enough to be passionate about."

And that's just for starters. But, she says, there are reasons to have hope. In her interviews for the book she did find committed Christian teens:

No matter their background, Dean says committed Christian teens share four traits: They have a personal story about God they can share, a deep connection to a faith community, a sense of purpose and a sense of hope about their future.

From my work with teenagers over many years, I would agree with her assessment of teens with what she calls a "commitment". For many in my tradition that faith community was the summer camp and sometimes a group that did the mission trips. At times it was Sunday school or a particular group of young people that grew up together. In the end work with youth that focused on fun and games was usually not successful in the long run.

She goes on to name, what I think underlies many of the problems with youth ministry in churches.

Some adults don't expect much from youth pastors. They simply want them to keep their children off drugs and away from premarital sex.


Others practice a "gospel of niceness," where faith is simply doing good and not ruffling feathers. The Christian call to take risks, witness and sacrifice for others is muted, she says.


"If teenagers lack an articulate faith, it may be because the faith we show them is too spineless to merit much in the way of conversation," wrote Dean, a professor of youth and church culture at Princeton Theological Seminary.

Elizabeth Corrie directs a program called YTI -- the Youth Theological Initiative at Emory University in Georgia. She goes on to name another problem often found in churches:

She says pastors often preach a safe message that can bring in the largest number of congregants. The result: more people and yawning in the pews.


"If your church can't survive without a certain number of members pledging, you might not want to preach a message that might make people mad," Corrie says. "We can all agree that we should all be good and that God rewards those who are nice."

What can a parent do then?

Get "radical," Dean says.

She says parents who perform one act of radical faith in front of their children convey more than a multitude of sermons and mission trips.

A parent's radical act of faith could involve something as simple as spending a summer in Bolivia working on an agricultural renewal project or turning down a more lucrative job offer to stay at a struggling church, Dean says.

But it's not enough to be radical -- parents must explain "this is how Christians live," she says.

To which all I can say is "Amen."

http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/08/27/almost.christian/

I Think We're In Trouble Now

Here is the front of the latest Sports Illustrated:

It is good to know that somebody thinks Packers are the top team. I would agree with that...

But...

I am now scared of the Sports Illustrated jinx.

I guess all I can say to that is...

Brett Who?