Normally, I have a pic of my kids on my desktop but for several reasons I am feeling a bit more reflective right now, hence my current desktop…

Check back again in about a week and it will likely be a pic of a pile of kids wrestling or being uber-cute (or both).

What a wonderful night.  I know that the post on Barack Obama’s campaign website is thanking those who have voted for him, but I also have to say Thank You to President-Elect Obama.  Thank you for inspring me to volunteer, to give, to participate in this movement.  Thank you for lifting up the voices of those who have routinely been ignored or belittled in the world.  Thank you for setting up the course of a new direction in American politics.

After watching two wonderful speeches tonight from Sen McCain and President-Elect Obama, I am hopeful that we all can listen to the words from both sides of this campaign and unite and move forward together.  Both men spoke to a nation that is very divided and said that it was time for a new unity.

From Senator McCain

I urge all Americans who supported me to join me in not just congratulating him, but offering our next president our good will and earnest effort to find ways to come together to find the necessary compromises to bridge our differences and help restore our prosperity, defend our security in a dangerous world, and leave our children and grandchildren a stronger, better country than we inherited.

From President-Elect Obama

Let us resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long.  Let us remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House – a party founded on the values of self-reliance, individual liberty, and national unity.  Those are values we all share, and while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress.  As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, “We are not enemies, but friends…though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection.”  And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn – I may not have won your vote, but I hear your voices, I need your help, and I will be your President too.

And then these words…

And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of our world – our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand.  To those who would tear this world down – we will defeat you.  To those who seek peace and security – we support you.  And to all those who have wondered if America’s beacon still burns as bright – tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from our the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity, and unyielding hope.

Not from the might of our arms of the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals.  Yes we can.

Now when Job’s three friends heard of all these troubles that had come upon him, each of them set out from his home—Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They met together to go and console and comfort him. When they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him, and they raised their voices and wept aloud; they tore their robes and threw dust in the air upon their heads. They sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.

There’s a big part of me that wishes Job would have wrapped up at this point because the more the friends talk after these seven days and seven nights (most of the rest of the book is the conversation between the four of them), the more they end up blaming Job for what has happened. I have found in difficult circumstances in my life and also as I have been the one coming to one who is hurting that simply being silent and mourning and grieving with another is often the best thing to do. Words often get in the way.

I find myself in that place today as I grieve the news about one of my dear friends. I graduated with Jeff from seminary in 1999 and he has been a member of a group of pastors I gather with once a year primarily for prayer, nurture, and support. In August of 2007, his 2 year old son Ben was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer called neuroblastoma. Over the last year and a half, we have journeyed with Jeff, Carin, Ben, and their son Ryan (born about a year ago) as they have fought this cancer in seemingly every way possible. Our group gathered in Seattle last year and spent time at their house and had time to pray for and with Jeff and his family. We were blessed as Ben proudly showed off his collection of Lighting McQueen toys that he has received throughout the course of his treatment. We laughed as we watched the Cars outtakes with Ben on the Cars DVD. After Carin took Ben up for a nap, we had time with Jeff and we cried with him as he shared about this experience.

It was heartbreaking to receive the news last night that, after Ben’s most recent course of treatment, his scans showed that the cancer has metastasized into his brain and into his liver. Jeff and Carin have been sharing their experience on their blog. I read the news last night and simply broke down because there is no rhyme or reason to this thing that has come into their lives and shattered their hopes and dreams. I spent time in prayer next to my youngest child’s bed last night not saying anything because there are no words.

There are obviously words for a miracle of healing to take place. There are obviously prayers about God’s presence and peace with them all. There are obviously prayers for so many things here. But all I could do last night was sit next to my little three year old boy and simply sit in silence and try to understand. One of my fellow covenant group members posted about Ben back in August of 07 and put in the words from a Rich Mullins song about prayer, called Hard to Get. They don’t explain this nor do they make it feel any better, but they do express some of the laments going up.

HARD TO GET

You who live in heaven
Hear the prayers of those of us who live on earth
Who are afraid of being left by those we love
And who get hardened by the hurt

Do you remember when You lived down here where we all scrape
To find the faith to ask for daily bread
Did You forget about us after You had flown away
Well I memorized every word You said
Still I’m so scared, I’m holding my breath
While You’re up there just playing hard to get

You who live in radiance
Hear the prayers of those of us who live in skin
We have a love that’s not as patient as Yours was
Still we do love now and then

Did You ever know loneliness
Did You ever know need
Do You remember just how long a night can get?
When You were barely holding on
And Your friends fall asleep
And don’t see the blood that’s running in Your sweat
Will those who mourn be left uncomforted
While You’re up there just playing hard to get?

And I know you bore our sorrows
And I know you feel our pain
And I know it would not hurt any less
Even if it could be explained

And I know that I am only lashing out
At the One who loves me most
And after I figured this, somehow
All I really need to know

Is if You who live in eternity
Hear the prayers of those of us who live in time
We can’t see what’s ahead
And we can not get free of what we’ve left behind
I’m reeling from these voices that keep screaming in my ears
All the words of shame and doubt, blame and regret

I can’t see how You’re leading me unless You’ve led me here
Where I’m lost enough to let myself be led
And so You’ve been here all along I guess
It’s just Your ways and You are just plain hard to get

And while they are many miles away, I sit with Jeff, Carin, Ben, and Ryan in silence as Job’s friends did. I grieve with them and then sit on the ground in silence for there are no words.

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True.

Revisiting “A Vision of Students Today”

Its not a perfect analogy, but I think there is validity to replacing “educational system” (or its variations) in Wesch’s work with “the church.”  I think that many congregations and denominations are struggling with many of the same things as the educational system in trying to impart information, learnings, experiences, and so forth with emerging generations that are clearly engaging the world in very different ways than previous generations.

I personally find myself having my feet in two different generational patterns.  As one born in what is considered the early days of “Gen-X”, I vividly remember the first time my Dad brought home our first computers (IBM PC XT and a Commodore VIC-20)and becoming immediately entranced.  I spent countless hours playing the old text based adventure games (Colossal Cave and the many Infocom classics), early graphical games, learning to program in BASIC, LOGO, and FORTRAN, and doing anything else I could possibly find. My first year of college (1991) was the time when the Internet started entering the mainstream. I jumped on the internet with my first UNIX PINE based email address, using MOSAIC to browse the early web, and so forth. My tech experience has grown along with the growth and changes in technology and education.

Moving into the realm of the church, I have also grown to realize that I have had to create a great deal of my own ways of engaging Scripture. I find that I have to find visual cues in Scripture (either mentally or doing google image searches) to connect with the words of Scripture. I have created new ways of expressing the Gospel in my worship context in order to not only engage people differently with the life changing message of Christ, but also to try to connect the Gospel for people in new ways. This concept also became the central focus of my doctoral thesis as I recognized how seminaries are missing how to engage students in new ways not only of teaching them, but also in how to help them engage their future congregations.

I think the church would be well served by listening to the voices of people like Michael Wesch and others who are saying that its time for something new if we are going to reach future generations - whether in the academic setting or in places of worship.

In 1987, the Denver Broncos lined up in Super Bowl against the Washington Redskins.  The Broncos were the team that was coming in favored.  They had been to the Super Bowl the previous season (losing to the New York Giants), so they knew what to expect in the game.  The Redskins, however, were somewhat of a wildcard, staring a QB who had played in only 5 regular season games in Doug Williams and virtually unknown rookie running back in Timmy Smith.

The game started off as expected with the Broncos scoring on one of their first plays on a long pass from Elway (that season’s MVP) to Ricky Nattiel.  The Broncos later added a FG to go up 10-0 at the end of the first quarter.  All seemed to be going the Broncos’ way.  (I clearly remember telling my Dad after the 1st quarter that I thought this was going to be the one).  Next thing I know, the Redskins score a TD on the first play of the 2nd quarter on an 80 yard TD from Williams to Ricky Sanders.  Things rolled from there and next thing I remember, it was halftime with the Redskins up 35-10.  The game eventually finished at 42-10.

So, how does this fit with the debate last night?  I thought Sen. McCain had a marvelous first quarter.  While I didn’t agree with his points on the whole, he came out strong, direct, challenging, and clear.  He controlled the tone, the focus, and the energy of the debate right out of the gate.  His comment to Sen. Obama about “I’m not George Bush…” was a terrific line, potentially the equivalent of that Elway to Nattiel TD pass.  But something happened when Bob Schieffer asked about the negativity of the campaign.  For me, that was the equivalent of when the 2nd quarter began in SB22.

In responding first, Sen. McCain hit all his points - Ayers, ACORN, questions about Sen. Obama’s honesty with those questions, and so forth.  But Sen. Obama’s response to those questions seemed to take the wind out of McCain’s sails.  He took on each point even when the question wasn’t really focused on the candidates taking that direction.  While some may not agree with his answers, the reality is that he didn’t back down from responding to the direct challenges that Sen. McCain’s campaign had been laying out during the previous few weeks.  The rest of the debate, Sen. McCain seemed unsettled while Sen. Obama seemed to hit his stride.  Sen. McCain was continually shifting in his seat, huffing at many of Sen. Obama’s answers, and generally gave the sense that he was not comfortable at all.  Meanwhile, Sen. Obama was calm and consistent in tone and posture.  It was like Doug Williams dropping back and seemingly being able to not miss a pass while Timmy Smith was running through suddenly wide open running lanes.

Final score - Obama 42-10.  Or 53-22 (CBS poll).  Or 58-31 (CNN).

One is a question about what is “our” collective self-esteem?  I understand that part of the American ethos is the power of the “everyman” (or everyperson) that anyone can make it in America, can make a difference, and that literally anyone can become the president of the United States or any other “high” place in the country.  I’ll take out the fact that reality often betrays this concept because it can and does happen, but it is not as frequent as many like to think it is.  That being said, do we have a low self-esteem about ourselves as a group of people that we think that we are not intellectual or intelligent and therefore we have a problem with a potential president who is somehow “above” us?

The second issue for me is why is is somehow a bad thing to have a president who is “above” the everyperson.  I remember the discsusions that went along with this during the democratic primaries with the clips of Obama rolling a gutterball (therefore he can’t bowl ergo he is not a normal person), Hillary drinking shots in a bar, and whether Obama gaffed when he talked about eating arugula.  The discussion has come around again in this commentary on CNN.com.  I have also read comments by Sarah Palin and others talking about how great it is to have an “everywoman” (in her case) as the VP candidate (and therefore just one heartbeat away from the presidency) - how refreshing, etc.  While I am an unabashed Obama backer, I would say the same thing if Obama had selected a VP with as questionable a resume (both in job experience as well as educational background) as Sarah Palin’s…I don’t want a candidate (presidential or VP) who doesn’t think higher than I do or who can’t see the intricacies of situations better than me, etc.

The job of being president is possibly the most difficult job in the world and it requires someone who can see the whole out of the many pieces while also focusing on many of those different specific pieces at the same time.  I want a president who thinks of things on a far different level than I do and is simply smarter than me.

Tim Robbins noted some of this in a recent Daily Show appearance (about the 5:49 mark)

UPDATE  - I do want to make one point of clarification after re-reading my post.  I am not saying that any of the current Pres or VP candidates are not intelligent.  They are all very intelligent people.  My issue and concern is when intellectualism is somehow turned into a bad thing and essentially belittled as a non-desireable trait in our country’s leaders.

I should really be in bed right now, but there were rental agreements to finish up, a car transportation agreement to send in, and a few blog posts to finish up.

Yes, I am whining.

So, when did Star Wars die for me?  I don’t think it has ever truly died for me, but it definitely is on life support.  While I did enjoy parts of the prequel trilogy (the lightsaber battle at the end of Phantom Menace, the beginning of the Clone Wars in Ep II, and the last hour of Sith), the negative just overwhelmed the positive (Jar Jar, poop jokes, whiny Anakin, bad acting, even worse material for actors to work with, Sam Jackson seeming like he was sleepwalking through most of his work, the Jedi Council looking more like a Session meeting than what I had dreamed the Council to be, the death of Darth Maul, the goofiness of the plotline, and so on).  It also just adds to the reality of what it seems George Lucas is doing in basically just trying to squeeze every dollar out of the Star Wars orange as possible (The last Indy Jones movie continues this process by Lucas).

So, is Star Wars dead to me?  No.  I will watch a few eps of the new Clone Wars show on Cartoon Networkto see if its worth my time and, when they are old enough, I am most definitely going to introduce my kids to the movies, but in the order that I saw them in and not in Lucas’ order.  I want them to have the surprise of finding out about Vader and I want the more wonderous world of the orignal films to bring them in before moving to the prequel trilogy (if they go there at all).

Sigh.

Bad Grammar, Bad Theology, or both?
The first came as I passed an Assembly of God School’s sign. It said, “Help us shape them in His image.” I know the message they are trying to say is that they want people to partner with them in forming children in a faith-based education and I can honestly appreciate that as I truly believe that we need to find ways of helping people of all ages integrate their faith with every area of life. That being said, the language used is interesting and a bit disturbing.

First, on the grammatical front. Who is “His”? Who is this fellow? For someone not familiar with the Christian church at all (and that population is growing rapidly), is His referring to the principal of the school, the Pope, President Bush, George Clooney? Who? For those who are connected to the Christian faith, is His referring to Jesus? Is it referring to God the Father (1st person of the Trinity)? Paul?

Second, what is interesting (and again a bit disturbing) is that the language used connects back to the creation account in Genesis where humans are created in the image of God. In that account, God is referred to in the plural and women and men are created in the image of God. Genesis 1:26 says that God said, “Let us make humankind in our image…” and then 1:27 moves into talking of how in the image of God, male and female were both created. This sign is an illustration of how, as the church, we get locked into ways of thinking that a) people outside the church understand what the heck we’re talking about in worship, so we can throw around indiscriminate words without realizing the implications of the words we are using, and b) that there is a depth to the awesomeness of God that we honestly have not considered a great deal in the history of the Christian church. I recently watched the latest Rob Bell Nooma video, called “She” which focuses on this very topic. Check out a preview here.

Elite and Christian - do these words go together?
A few minutes later, I was stopped at a stoplight and a bus pulled up next to me. The ad on the side of the bus was for a place called “Elite Christian Coaching.” Because of where I was stopped, I couldn’t see much more of the ad, so I don’t know exactly what was being sold, but those three terms seemed to be really at odds with one another. I know there is a new fad out there in “personal coaching” where you hire someone to be your motivator, one who shows you what you are doing right and wrong, etc etc. I have seen this for individuals, for couples, for families, for parents, etc.

But this connection of terms really threw me. Elite Christian Coaching. Does this mean that what the person is providing is somehow better than what the community of faith is supposed to provide? Is this a new way of referring to a spiritual director? Or a mentor? Is it just another marketing thing that the church is unfortunately buying into in lieu of developing vital, deep, and real relationships within faith communities? The other part in this that troubled me was the use of the word, “Elite.” To me, that word has no place within a Christian discussion. We only need to think that there is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female, etc in the community of faith when thinking about this word. What about 1 Corinthians 1:27 - “But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;”  Are we called to be the elite?  Or the lowest of the low, the servants of all?

Admittedly, I know nothing more about this organization than what I read on the billboard, but…it already has me feeling a bit “off.” Maybe I need to give a call next time I see the sign and see what they are up to.

Or maybe my cereal was a bit “off”…