Thursday, September 25, 2008

Dad's braggin's

Once I told Elie that I'd give her a quart of Rita's Water Ice (if you don't know what that is come visit PA and I'll treat) if she made a goal with her head.  Anticipating a strong redirection to the upper 90, I was not sure what to do last weekend when Elie came to claim her quart.  You see, she and the keeper both went down in front of the goal.  Rather than running the risk of being too slow by getting up to kick the ball in, Elie, on all four, used her head to push it over the line.  It looked like the old party game when the person would roll a peanut with their nose. Not a great athletic feat, but creative.  Go Elie!

Today, the second surprise.  Looking back 12 years ago, Moriah was in a church Christmas program that took some Nutcracker songs and set Jesus lyrics to them.  The performance was an embarrasment.  She stood in the very front row and didn't sing a note.  I promised her I wouldn't tell what she did instead, but it had something to do with a finger and a feature in the center of her face.

Today, however, she learned that she as made the chorus at her school that will be singing in the Pennsylvania Ballet's preformance of the Nutcracker.  What an honor. She promises she'll sing this time.  Go Moriah!

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Does choice equal relevance?

Does more choice bring more relevance?  It might seem so since what is relevant to me might not be so to you.  Still Tim Manners, the author of Relevance: Making Stuff That Matters doesn't seem to think that's always the case.  He points out that Stew Leonard’s, a grocer in Connecticut and New York, has found a niche by eleminating choice.  
One of the many things that makes Stew Leonard’s so innovative is that it only carries something like 800 items, compared to tens of thousands at the typical supermarket. They took the time to figure out which products were most relevant to their shoppers and got rid of everything else. As a result, their profits per square foot completely eclipse those of traditional supermarkets.  "Elements of Relevance" in the Sept/Oct edition of the online magizine The Hub
I can understand that. Last week I was in the local Acme and found myself stairing at walls and walls of product.  So many choices that, even though I could have used a few items, I was so overwhelmed that I shot in, grabbed the two things I needed and left.  Even picking out the two items was difficult because of the choices.  Good thing the tag "sale items" because I bought those.

It seems to me that church try to be relevant to more and more people by offering more and more choices?  So here's my question, is that making us more relevant or just busier? Does it improve community or just flood us with community choices?  If it is making things too busy, how do we go about limitting or cutting the overstock?

Monday, September 15, 2008

A Message to my daughters (and the rest of the children)

I was listening to U2 on my way to the church this morning.  The song The Original of the was on my stereo.  What a beautiful song.  

Bono's lyrics are almost always artistic and complex, but I think I hear in this song a message to young people.  It is a message that I fully embrace and would like to pass along to my daughters.  Here are the lyrics found at http://www.u2.com/music/lyrics_pop.php?mode=view&scope=snid&snid=184&album_id=68&type=lp:
Baby slow down
The end is not as fun as the start
Please stay a child somewhere in your heart

I’ll give you everything you want
Except the thing that you want
You are the first one of your kind

And you feel like no-one before
You steal right under my door
And I kneel ‘cos I want you some more
I want the lot of what you got 
And I want nothing that you’re not

Everywhere you go you shout it
You don’t have to be shy about it

Some things you shouldn’t get too good at
Like smiling, crying and celebrity
Some people got way too much confidence baby

I’ll give you everything you want
Except the thing that you want
You are the first one of your kind

And you feel like no-one before
You steal right under my door
I kneel ‘cos I want you some more
I want the lot of what you got 
And I want nothing that you’re not

Everywhere you go you shout it
You don’t have to be shy about it, no
And you’ll never be alone
Come on now show your soul
You’ve been keeping your love under control

Everywhere you go you shout it
You don’t have to be shy about it

Everywhere you go you shout it
Oh my my

And you feel like no-one before
You steal right under my door
I kneel ‘cos I want you some more
I want you some more, I want you some more…
The origin of the species goes back to Adam and Eve in the Genesis account.  In that passage, God offered the whole of the Garden to His children, except the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.  The result when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit was shame, particularly shame of nakedness.  

To be naked is to be vulnerable so Adam and Eve clothed themselves.  

Youth is a difficult time of moving from one vulnerability to the next.  To hide insecurities, many youth weave a clothing of another sort.  That is they create a disingenuous or false personality.  Bono is warning his children of this trap.

Everywhere you go you shout it
You don’t have to be shy about it, no
And you’ll never be alone
Come on now show your soul
You’ve been keeping your love under control

Rather than hiding who you are because you don't think it is good enough, be confident in who God made you to be.  Don't be shy about that.  God will not leave you alone to deal with it.

When you know and trust who you are; When you are confident in the personality God gave you; When you allow your soul to be alive and free; then you can demonstrate real love.  I think God wants us to be free in that way.  

Teen years are the most difficult.  Don't use them to learn to be false.  Use them to learn to be the best you that God intended you to be.  Each of you is an original of the species.

The video for this song is wacky, but cool...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xa8mFeWbLX8.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Why contentment isn't a goal.

I was reading a post on Roger von Oech's Creative Think blog.  In the post he asks "Why happiness is the absence of striving for happiness?" I'm trying to answer that question and here is the best thing I can come up with...

If your goal is contentment, you will always be shy of that goal.  To not be content is to be discontent.

Prehaps a better goal for acheiving personal happiness is to realize that it's not about you.  Then spend time working to acheive the well being of others.

Friday, September 05, 2008

Why evangelicals should be more careful with politics

He has showed you, O man, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.

Micah 6:8

Obviously, when McCain picked Sarah Palin for his VP running mate, his choice help opened the door to an exciting general election. I think it is the most exciting of my life (not counting the post-vote excitement of 2000).

Many Christian Republican have had a renewed excitement with the addition of a young, conservative, eloquent Palin. And with good reason.

However, I' don't share the majority opinion about the strength of her speech. While watching on Wednesday evening, I became disquieted be her tactics and the responses she solicited.

Did she demonstrate that she could be a strong candidate? Of course. Was her speech energizing to the base? Absolutely. Was is giving in a manner that is worthy of a Christian speaker? That's the part that troubles me. Or more so, I'm bothered that so many Christian I have spoken to haven't been bothered by the same things that I troubled me.

What bothered me about her discourse? I just don't think the image of the pit-bull Christian is one that our God would be please with. One person I talked to about this issue agreed with me to a point, but then said, "this is politics. It is necessary to cut the other people down to make you point."

What does the Bible say about that kind of politics? I think Micah 6:8 gives us good guidance here as it says that God's will is that we act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with him.

Often I hear justice lifted up as reason we have to defeat liberalism. Maybe there is truth in that. But I wonder if we should re-read Micah to discover the kind of justice that we are to have.

More importantly, this passage tell the believer how they should live in all circumstances. We are to live justly, love mercy and walk humbly.

Pit-bulls (at least as they are stereotyped) don't walk humbly. They attack violently and indiscriminately. They kind of sharp, sarcastic humor that Palin used to attack her opponent was not merciful, but divisive and destructive to the human soal.

Palin's comment claiming that Obama "is worried that someone won't read [a terrorist] their rights" was a ridiculous example of misplaced justice. If we are a just nation, particularly through the Christian leaders of this country, we will place the civil right of all people above convenience of our prosecution. We can't assume that everyone suspected of being an Al Qaeda terrorist is guilty of any crime. Just leaders wouldn't laugh at the fact that their opponents are for upholding justice through civil rights, even the rights of non-citizens.

I was uncomfortable with Palin's speech. She has great potential, and I'm hopeful that going forward she will put her responsibility to follow the will of our God ahead of her desire to get the Republican ticket elected. It isn't that she has to be the pit bull to win. Rather she should demonstrate and the voters recognize that our God is capable of bringing the right people into power. Christian voters should be looking for someone who in their campaign and in their lives are acting justly, loving mercy and walking humbly.

By the way, this is not an endorsement of Obama. Rather a call to Christian politicians and voters to act according to the will of God, not just toward particular ideology.