Saturday, May 26, 2007

Power of Visions


I admit, in my free time lately I have become a bit of a YouTube junky. When I first heard about YouTube, I thought, "that's nice, a way to share videos with people" and I didn't pay much attention. Then I had a professor in a class suggest that we should view YouTube videos as part of our "self-care" she commented how there is a lot of funny stuff out there and it would be good for us to take a break from our studies by laughing at some of the stuff that's out there.


I didn't really get into YouTube until a TA in one of my classes showed as a hilarious video about the way people misperceive Jesus from vintage21.com and I had to go looking for it. That was the beginning of the end. From that moment I discovered how easy it is to spend minutes, ok hours, on YouTube.


I rediscovered fun music videos from the past, like Michael W. Smith's Secret Ambition video. I had heard people talk about how powerful this video is, but had never myself seen it. Now that I've seen it I think that it was probably more powerful when it was originally produced in the 80's. I can't, myself, get past the idea that Michael W. Smith is walking in Jesus footsteps as if to say the song is as much about MWS as it is about Jesus (I know this is not the case having followed MWS and witnessing his ministry in a variety of settings) but it got me thinking about the power of visions. When I viewed the Secret Ambition video I also discovered a video that someone had created to the soundtrack of Rocketown another favorite of mine from the MWS discography (Secret Ambition is likely my favorite MWS song of all time).


As I watched the Rocketown video I realized that there is a power in the visuals that we match to music. I didn't feel like this person captured what I would have wanted to capture, but it was still powerful nonetheless. It reminded me of a "video" that I put together for Chris Rice's "Face of Christ" it was really less of a video as a PowerPoint presentation of still photos, but it was a powerful way to work with the words that Chris Rice recorded.


That thought led me into the idea of how songwriters have an incredible gift to paint pictures with their words. They are able to set a scene and tell a story usually in less than 4 minutes. What a gift! I wonder how many songwriters ever thought their words and music would back up videos on a technology called YouTube? As I thought of this, I came across an incredible use of video images in a video created, I assume, by a church for a worship setting to the song Tell Me Again I admit being partial to Geoff Moore's songwriting, but this is probably one of the more moving videos I have found on YouTube.


Some other stuff that I found and will likely watch again includes:


Michael W. Smith's performance of the u2 song 40 ... I have to admit I'm not really a u2 fan, I'm slowly coming around to being able to listen to them on the radio (there's just something about the effects they use to record or something) and I am definitely a MWS fan, so this will probably seem biased, but I think MWS does a much better job of 40 than u2 does.


Third Day's new song, Cry to Jesus ... my favorite concert experience was Third Day and MWS on the Come Together Worship tour but this new song from Third Day really hits me. There's something about Mac Powell's vocal quality and lyrics that really reach to my core. Again, add to that the visual images of this video and it really makes a person stop and think. Another Third Day addition to the video ranks is God of Wonders o.k. so maybe it's not totally a Third Day thing, but what great images!


A couple of funny videos from Geoff Moore caught my attention. Evolution, Redefined has always bothered me a little because of the message of the song (c'mon, it's possible for evolution and creationism to co-exist) but I've always loved the hilarious teacher in the song, what a great voice. Then there's Home Run a rather cheesy premise in some ways followed by a cheesy video, but it makes me laugh, and it's Geoff Moore so I find myself watching it over and again.


There's a lot of other funny stuff out there. I hope from time to time to link various videos to this blog. You'll find a lot of them linked directly below the main post. Not always are the videos I find deep and meaningful, but I generally think that everything that I link to my page will have some significance, if you have a hard time seeing it, let me know and I'll reveal my thinking.


Oh, and if you haven't already become a YouTube addict, I suggest taking a week or two of vacation and dedicating some serious time to the wonder that is YouTube.



Friday, May 25, 2007

Be Like Jesus?

I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on towards the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.
-Philippians 3:10-14

If you've been reading my blog very long, you have found that I get a lot of my inspiration from my daily devotions, well, today is no different. I came across this passage from Philippians and I remembered that it is a passage that I used to use in the signature of my emails, however I used to only use the Philippians 3:13-14 "Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on towards the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus."

Even now I think those few verses contain a good message, I hope that for all of us, the goal is to press on toward the heavenly call of of God in Christ Jesus, but this morning I was convicted of what I was omitting when I quoted only those verses, maybe you noticed a phrase that made you say, "I'm not sure I quite want to do that" as you were reading the passage, let me highlight it for you.

In verses 10 & 11 Paul writes, "I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead." (emphasis mine).

What, become like Christ in his DEATH? No thanks, that's not quite what I signed up for. What good am I to anyone if I am dead? I could have hung my head and turned the other way. But, I remembered something that I learned in Sunday School years ago, something amazing about Jesus' death ... it wasn't final. In three days Christ rose again.

Then I remembered a little something about baptism. Luther writes in the Small Catechism, "What then is the significance of such a baptism with water? It signifies that the old person in us with all sins and evil desires is to be drowned and die through daily sorrow for sin and through repentance, and on the other hand that daily a new person is to come forth and rise up to live before God in righteousness and purity forever."

Suddenly Paul's desire is a little easier to swallow. In fact it easily becomes my desire as well. I don't want to live in my sin, I want my sinful self to die, so that I am not hindered in pressing on towards the goal.

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Entitlement


When did the word entitlement begin to take on such a bad connotation? It used to be that we could use the word entitlement to be a good thing ... if one pays the ticket fee at the box office, they are entitled to view a movie. It used to even say on some tickets "this ticket entitles the bearer to ..." but somehow in the last few years the word entitlement has begun to carry with it a considerable amount of baggage and negativity.
I discovered the other day when I was driving through downtown Oakland several examples of entitlement and why we use that word in a negative connotation.

Story 1. I am waiting at a traffic light (it was red in my direction). As a good driver, I was watching the cross traffic, noticing the light in the other direction turning yellow, then red. Making sure any on-coming cars were stopped (or slowing considerably) before considering to "go" when the light in my direction turned green. Just as the light turned green in my direction, three women ran across the road in front of me (did I mention this is a 4 lane road, so they ran in front of others as well). If this weren't enough, when they safely (because the cars all did as I did and stayed stopped, dumbfounded that anyone would be so stupid to cross a 4-lane road against the light) reached the other side, the woman in front of the group turned and gave all of the waiting cars the finger! No, no one honked at this group of law-breakers, still this woman seemed to send a clear signal, "I am entitled to cross the road when I want, where I want, and there's not a @#$%! thing you can do about it"

Story 2. Further along in the same trip, I was approaching another traffic light, I noticed it to be red for some time as I approached it and I could see that the light in the other direction was turning yellow ... so I slowed, but figured by the time I got to the light, it would be green. As the light turned green in my direction, a bicyclist traveling on the cross-street continued to ride at full-speed through the intersection. I can imagine the though in his head being, "it takes me a lot more effort to get going again from a stop than it does for that driver to use his brakes, so I'm just going to keep going, after all, my use of a bicycle entitles me to interpret the laws in a way most convenient to me."

Story 3. Yet further along the same trip, I was traveling down a one-way road when, to my surprise, coming straight at me was a bicyclist. Does he not know that he needs to follow the same traffic laws as cars? Possibly. More likely by the meandering way he was riding he was thinking, "this is the shortest route to where I need to go, I'm small enough to ride past the on-coming cars, so I'm going to do it, and they'll get out of my way."

Yes, I admit, there are times when I find myself in a similar situation of thinking that I can get away with things or that because I would otherwise be inconvenienced that I can do something I shouldn't, so it go me thinking is this sense of "entitlement" as a negative concept something that comes with Generation X or Generation Y ... and my answer is "NO" ... it's clearly something that is pervasive to our American culture. The culture that says, "I need to be first, so I'll do whatever it takes to get there."

This attitude of entitlement is not new. As I led a Bible Study last night, we talked about the parable of the laborers in the vineyard (Matthew 20:1-16) and how the laborers who had been there all day felt entitled to greater wages than those that worked for only an hour. We talked also about the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32) and how the younger son felt entitled to his inheritance before his father died, and the older son felt entitled to begrudge his younger brother because he squandered the inheritance. Still, Jesus teaches us a better way, and if we are called to be Christians in this day and age and in this culture, then we too must follow this better way. At the end of the parable of laborers in the vineyard, Jesus teaches simply, "the last shall be first and the first shall be last."

Clearly, we may feel entitled to be first, to do for us, but by doing so we end up last. If on the other hand we put others before us, serve them with a cheerful heart, and love our neighbor as ourselves, well, we may end up last in this world, but does that really matter?

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Motives ...

Well, a few weeks ago I read this line in a devotion: "Are you more concerned about following Jesus’ example, or telling everyone what example Jesus was trying to convey?" and I have been pondering the line ever since.

As a pastor in training, I have to admit that I sometimes fall into the latter camp of that question. I find myself thinking about how I can express the "true meaning" of the Gospel message and ways that can be done in worship, Bible Study, and the like. But when I read this sentence, I am convicted that the best way to convey Jesus' message is by following Jesus' example.

You can imagine that as a student I am often being evaluated on various things. One of the "classes" that I had this past semester is called "Teaching Parish" a chance to put the "rubber to the road" as it were and try things out in a congregational setting. For teaching parish I had to evaluate myself and then be evaluated by the Pastor and a committee of lay people. It was interesting to me to see the strengths that came up from those two evaluations, talking about my passion for leading by example. Hmmm ... I guess sometimes these things are in your blood and you don't necessarily always think about it.

I think back to living in Madison, Wisconsin and being told by people I worked with, "you're always so positive, why is that" and I didn't have an answer at the time ... but now I see that it is something that was infused in me, living the message of Christ.

Now, I don't say all of this to somehow make myself seem like I've somehow arrived. I assure you there are days when people would look at me and say "that's no example of Christ" or there are little things I do here and there that even make my own mind question my motives. But overall, I have subconsciously lived with the idea of following Jesus' example. My goal now is to make that subconscious conscious so that it can become fully subconscious again.

Friday, May 18, 2007

Witness to Change

I have been witness to a lot of changes this year. Some of them are obvious changes, others of them are only there if you look at them. With the school year ending and many of us spending extra time together focusing on how good this year was, how far we have come since first meeting one another, it seems timely that the devotion I read this morning included the following quote: "It is so easy for us to keep people stuck in the place where we first encountered them. We remember where they were physically, emotionally, and spiritually in their journey. Hopefully we have continued to grow and change along the way, but we tend to forget that others will do the same." This devotion is based on Luke 4:14-22 where Jesus reads from Isaiah in the synagogue and after stating that the scripture has been fulfilled, the people say, "isn't this Joseph's son?"

We are quick to be like the people in the synagogue and reference people back to our original image of them. We like putting people in boxes so that we don't have to consider who they may be now (or who they have become).

I am no more reminded of this whenever I visit my 2-year old nephew. Since I don't live in the same city that he does it is often months between visits and each time he grows so much. His personality is developing. The games that I play to entertain him change. Now that I have another nephew and two nieces to add to the fold, I will see even more the ever-changing process that we go through.

Being a very visual person I started thinking of change with the idea of optical illusions as well. As you view the two pictures that I've posted here, you will begin to notice the illusion that comes from perspective. Often when I look at pictures like this I don't see the illusion at first, but once I see it, then I can't seem to go back to what I originally saw. I sometimes think that is more of a detriment. I like being able to measure the difference and see things as they once were, but knowing fully what they are now.

Be the change you wish to see in the World. -Gandhi

Change is the essence of life. Be willing to surrender what you are for what you could become. - Anonymous

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Hockey

I love the sport of hockey!

For anyone that knows me well, that should not be a statement of surprise. I played hockey for 9 years and some days I wish I would have played longer. The reality of course is that I wasn't that great of a player, but I probably would have been good enough to play on my high school team had I kept playing. I miss the sport, I admit that.

I vicariously live through the various teams that I cheer for and on occasion I even live vicariously through EA Sports hockey on my computer. Yes, I even created a player with my name and of course "top skills" for the game so that I could dominate the ice! Hey, why not live the dream?

I've been watching the Stanley Cup Finals this last week and I love it. I love the competitive nature of the sport, I love the physicality of it, I love the finesse of the sport. It's the best of all worlds. It is, in my opinion, the best sport in the world!

I have to admit that everyone I talk to says you have to have a particular team to cheer for, and I guess when it comes to the NHL my team is the Nashville Predators, but now that they are out of the playoffs, I find myself cheering for other teams. In some cases I cheer for the "best of the two" teams playing and sometimes I cheer for teams that others are cheering for (hey, I was all for the Rangers winning since that's my Father-In-Law's team, and subsequently my wife's team if she ever has to pick a team). Some people will say that if you cheer for a particular team that you have to cheer against certain other teams.

As a Predators fan I am supposed to be completely against the Detroit Red Wings, but I have to admit that I've been cheering for them to beat the Ducks. Maybe it's because the Ducks beat the Predators, but I think I've had a think for the Red Wings ever since the North Stars left Minnesota (thank Norm Green).

I admit, in some ways I am a fair-weather fan. I guess it's because I grew-up cheering for the North Stars, but when they got "sold" to Dallas, I had no team and found myself only ever cheering for the University of Minnesota Gophers. After all, the Gophers were on the television of my parent's home every Friday and Saturday night, and I could probably tell you any player that played there from the mid 80's through the early 90's.

When I went to college at Bemidji State University it was a no-brainer for the Beavers to become my team. After all, they were winning National Championships at the Division II level, and I had the privilege to be the play-by-play announcers for all of their games in the 1996-97 season! It was the coolest when I lived in Nashville that I could drive down to Huntsville, Alabama every year to watch "my" Beavers play ... and often watch them win against the Huntsville Chargers.

I often wonder if the Beavers played the Gophers who I would end up cheering for. I guess I would probably just hope for a good game and be happy no matter what the outcome. But if I had to cheer for one, it would be the Beavers, that's where I got my B.S. degree after all.

Back to the NHL ... I keep thinking about this year's Stanley Cup finals. I have been cheering for the Red Wings, I know I shouldn't, but something deep within me says I want them to win. I've grown up watching guys like Hasek and Chelios play and I would like to see them win one more Cup before they retire. I also have been cheering for the Ottawa Senators. Back in 1992 when they came into the NHL I bought their jersey figuring no one else would have one (that was back before "everyone" had their team's jersey). Part of me feels compelled to cheer for them.

For now, I can cheer for both of "my" teams. We'll see how this round turns out. Maybe I'll have a clear team to cheer for, but it looks like my "teams" might go up against each other. I guess then I can just be happy with the outcome and totally enjoy the Finals!

Full planes, Full Stomachs, Full Diapers


I don't know who designs airplanes, but I can't imagine that they really think too much about the people who have to ride in them for multiple hours.

I guess part of the issue might be that they plan for planes to not be 100% full, but on the two flights I was on this past weekend, they were as full as can be.

If you've been in the coach section of an airplane recently you may have noticed the fact that they only give you about 17-inches of space from shoulder to shoulder. I don't know about you, but my shoulders are a little wider than 17-inches. So, if my shoulders are wider than 17 inches, the guy next to me has shoulders wider than 17-inches, and the person next to him has shoulders wider than 17 inches who loses? The person sitting in the middle seat, that's who! Making things worse is the fact that the person in the seat in front of me decided to recline his seat back, basically putting that seat in my lap. I've never really been claustrophobic, but I was starting to feel it on that flight!

But all of that flying was worth it! Arriving in Minnesota to see our new Nieces and Nephew was awesome. I got to hang-out with my 2-year-old nephew as well, he's a bundle of fun with more energy than I can imagine. The newborns are pretty cool, they sleep a lot and of course eat a lot and that means that they also fill their share of diapers.

Somehow I was able to get out of having to change any diapers all weekend, I guess maybe I was just in the right place at the right time.

Oh, I did some feeding of the babies, it was pretty easy because they were hungry and so putting the bottle near their mouth was all it took. On one or two occasions the bottle was not nearly enough to satisfy them, so we had to jump into a quick back-up plan to get another bottle ready fast while I tried to keep baby happy.


Of course the reason for our trip was for the Baptism of our new nieces and nephew. It was quite fun to be a part of that experience. When our 2-year-old nephew was baptized, that was
on Father's Day, so it was particular neat that on Mother's Day the newborns would be baptized.

The church that my brother's family attends does their baptism as a separate service only once a month, apparently due to the number of baptisms that the church does each month (often something like 15). At first I was kinda set-off by this because as a Lutheran, one of the most important parts of Baptism is being a community event where the community welcomes the child to the family of Christ and makes promises to the child. But, seeing how 15 baptisms a month could be quite a disruption to the flow of worship, it makes a lot of sense ... and when you have that many baptisms going on at once, it really makes for quite a nice service anyway.

So, due to having triplets, instead of the parents holding the baby for the baptism, each of the godparents got to hold one of the kids during the baptism ... so I got to hold my new nephew, Linus, while the pastor poured water and said prayers. That's the kind of thing that will stay with me for my whole life.

Of course, just as all good things, this weekend had to come to an end and on Monday I found

myself crammed on an airplane yet again (as a note, I can't remember the last time I was this far back on an airplane, usually I sit somewhere near the wing or in front, but this time we ended up in the second to last row of the plane). Before getting on the plane I found myself hungry, so I wandered to the food court area of the airport (actually I started for McDonald's hoping they were still serving breakfast, but no luck) hoping to find a Sbarro, but alas the Sbarro that was in the food court was no longer. It apparently was taken over by Famiglia Pizza which just didn't look as good. How sad. When I get a pizza craving it is usually for a certain kind of pizza, and in this case it was for Sbarro. I settled for California Pizza Kitchen which was alright, but not quite what I had in mind.

I'm hoping to get caught up on my blogging. I have a few great thoughts that I want to share, but I just haven't had a chance. So, that's my commitment for the next week, while I finish up my last papers of the semester and go to my last class on Thursday I hope to update y'all with the latest thoughts from my head.

And now, I must do the laundry.

Monday, May 7, 2007

Out of touch again ... and it won't be getting better

Thank you for taking the time to read my ramblings. It's hard to believe that anyone would stop their life, even momentarily to read the few thoughts that spill from my head. I guess it could be that it's because I'm bad at personally keeping up with people lately.

Yes, I've been out of touch with the world for the last week. I discovered today that my NY Rangers are now out of the playoffs (now I don't have any team to particularly cheer for) so I'll be watching for good games for the rest of the playoffs. Of course, I won't get to enjoy as much of them as I would like as I find myself on the brink of finals and needing to finish up a few papers and projects before the end of the term (which is coming scarily fast). But I will be taking tonight off to rest and watch the Sharks game on Versus (my new fav tv channel)

In the last week, I again spent a chunk of time with a good group of teens at the Kids Take The Stage production of Guys and Dolls. It was a good week marked with some fun times, long hours, and a paycheck at the end!

In other news, I discovered that you do have to be a little careful about promoting yourself. Here's the story: as I send out emails, I include my blog address in the signature. You wouldn't think this to be a big deal, but the other night I sent an email to my Greek professor announcing that I wouldn't be in class. Well, being the kind of guy who is intrigued by blogs (apparently) he checked mine out ... normally this would not concern me, but I realized that the post that he would have read first (assuming he read the default post) had an off-hand comment about my secret desire that when I wake up some mornings I hope for Greek to be canceled. UGH!

Well, to clear the air, it's not the professor, it's the subject matter. I'm just not the kind of guy that does well understanding foreign languages. And frankly, I have learned quite a bit about Greek and how to use many tools that are available in order to best translate the language into English. So, mission accomplished Professor Pence!

A final note from Berkeley, It's FREAKIN' HOT here! No, not by "Australia-desert-130-in-the-shade" standards nor by Phoenix standards, but by "Berkeley is usually a place that cools off nicely at night for a good restful sleep" standards. Yesterday the mercury touched around 80 and inside this little apartment it must have been over 90 with the windows open and a fan blowing. Today, mercury is cruising up again and the interior is toasty one more time. Oddly it is coolest in the kitchen ... until I try to make dinner ... anyone for take-out?