Fun

Have you followed the antics of the elected officials in Detroit lately? After successfully hosting a Super Bowl, they have managed to regress to schoolyard antics in just two weeks. And the public is outraged, as evidenced by their comments.

It seems that Detroit has a $300 million budget shortfall. So, the Detroit Zoological Society agreed to take the operations of the Detroit Zoo off of the city's budget. The state of Michigan offered a $4 million grant to help with the process.

Here is where it gets really weird. According to news reports, the mayor's office took months to get the plan to the City Council. The plan arrived to the Council late Friday and they debated the issue well into Saturday before voting 7-2 to not turn over control. The grant offer expired Sunday morning and the Mayor's office immediately announced that they would begin closing the zoo.

Public outrage ensued.

Then race entered the picture. Quoting from the Detroit News:
Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson stoked the fire by saying the council itself should be placed in a zoo. Councilwoman Barbara-Rose Collins said white people don't own black people anymore. Patterson said he'd rather own a 1948 Buick than Collins.

You can't make this stuff up.

Let me get this straight. You (Detroit) can't afford the zoo. Group offers to run zoo, take over operating costs. You reject offer because it didn't meet your timetable. Then you invoke slavery?

The Detroit City Council needs a new motto. I propose "City Council - putting the fun back in dysfunctional."

This is so embarrassing.

Enough

Enough of Fred Phelps and his crazy, homophobic congregation. Enough of this self-described minister adding to the grief of the family of slain soldiers. You can read about them here.

Mr. Phelps has a congregation that believes it is their job to run around to the funerals of soldiers who gave their life for the country and tell the grieving family that their son/daughter died because God is judging the U.S. because of the "don't ask- don't tell" policy on homosexuals in the military.

How is this helpful? How does it help more people get into the kingdom of God? How does it portray the love of Christ to the world?

Mr. Phelps and his band of haters do more to damage the cause of Christ than I can imagine. But I have no idea how to stop them.

Friction

fric·tion n.

1. The rubbing of one object or surface against another.
2. Conflict, as between persons having dissimilar ideas or interests; clash.
3. Physics. A force that resists the relative motion or tendency to such motion of two bodies in contact.

Friction is one of those morally neutral things that drive us crazy. Friction is good, as in iron sharpening iron. It's bad when it's ball bearings screeching to a halt. We like it when it helps our tires grip the road surface, we don't when it creates static electricity and shocks us when we open the door.

Friction is everywhere. It is why the jet stream is faster than surface winds. It is why the center of a river channel generally flows faster than the area near the edges. Friction is what slows our snow sleds on the hills, unless we pull a Chevy Chase in Christmas Vacation and use some super lubricant to reduce friction.

Friction also exists in our lives in less abstract ways. Friction occurs when you have competing ideas and visions. The two sides may not agree on a particular approach to a subject, but one will carry the day. How that process is handled is extraordinarly important.

If there is no lubricant between the two sides, things can heat up quickly. Just forget to add oil to your engine once to get an idea of what can happen. Heat builds up to a failure point. In relationships the failure point can be words spoken in anger, rash decisions, or a decision to go negative and backbite and gossip about the other person.

Properly managed friction can produce a relationship where the two sides pull together and work for the common good and purpose. In a machine, liberal application of a lubricant such as oil usually does the trick. With people, oil is much less effective.

The lubricants of choice would be love, grace and humilty. Putting those together can make a number of things go much more smoothly. Remembering that the other person is a child of God is always helpful. If the question comes down to purely personal choice, e.g there is no clear right and wrong, then humility needs to be applied. And grace covers a number of bumps along the way.

I say this knowing that I have not always done this. But God continues to work on me to mold me into something useful to him. A pastor once called me "hard-headed and tender-hearted." I took it as a compliment, but realized that the hard-headed needs to be tempered with humility. And God is really good at humbling people.

I know.

@&%#%%&!

Wow. It used to be that cartoons made you laugh most of the time. Aside from the Doonesbury types who seem profoundly cynical AND negative, as opposed to just one of the two, most cartoons and comics are designed to make the reader chuckle. And most cartoonists used the characters at the top to express cursing and frustration. Given that knowledge, it appears that the Danish press missed the memo that their Muslim readers don't have much of a sense of humor. At least when Mohammed is the target of the humor.

I'm sure you have seen the stories about the rioting, killing and street protests across Europe and the Middle East since the cartoons were reprinted. Several things strike me here. First, the cartoons were in poor taste. Not that taste has been at its zenith lately, but they were unnecessary. Second, this kind of "art" has been done to Christians and Jews for some time. A crucifix in a jar of urine passed for art in New York last decade. Jews are frequently depicted in a very negative manner in the US, European and Arab press. Third, what is it about insulting their prophet that makes Muslims want to riot? I still do not understand their religion.

There was no reason for these cartoons to be reprinted. But Muslims need to realize that in the this era, nothing is sacred. Especially a religion. Welcome to the Post-Modern world.

Death and Politics

It used to be that the only two things you could count on were death and taxes. But I think political enmity can be added to the mix. To wit, read this story about the sinking of an Egyptian Ferry. It seems that the Egyptian Government would rather let it's people drown than accept help from the Israeli or American governments. Both countries offered air assets to help with the search and rescue operations, and were rebuffed.

It's sad when hatred and political posturing cost innocent lives. Especially when it is so unnecessary.

Pray for these people. They need it.

As you wish

In the movie The Princess Bride, the character Westley responds to Buttercup, who is his employer with "As you wish" whenever she asks him to do something. That thought has struck me recently as an attitude that I have lost toward my Lord and Savior.

In the Lord's Prayer, we say "Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven" without really thinking about what that means. We are in effect saying, "As you wish" to God. In the Princess Bride, Westley does this out of deference to his employer because that is what servants do. Are we not servants of God? If so, we need to be far more deferential to the Lord.

If he asks us to move and take a new job - As you wish
If he asks us to change our ministry within the church - As you wish
If he says no to our requests for healing - As you wish

As you wish

As you wish

As you wish.

That is my theme this year. To say "As you wish" to whatever the Lord has in store for me. I know He loves me and does things for His Glory. Let me be an instrument of His Glory this year.

Peace,

Roy

Creation Care

I've been pondering what my role as a believer is in caring for God's creation. I know we were given dominion over the earth, but what does that mean? Does that mean we can exploit the earth to the point that it harms other humans and species? I don't think so.

The Brian McLaren quote from my previous post about judging our actions through the lens of how they better the world sticks with me. All tree-hugging jokes aside, this is something that I am really chewing on.

I'm listening to a Cherokee christian talk about how native Americans view creation care. It's thought provoking to say the least.

What are your thoughts on this topic? I'd love to hear them.

How to be helpful

"The road to hell is paved with good intentions." That phrase has stuck with me since I saw it on the cover of Forbes magazine many years ago. And there is much truth there.

I have been reading "The Church on the Other Side" by Brian McLaren and have found it to be a challenging read. Challenging in the sense that it dissects some thoughts that I held dear and makes me think about them.

On page 42 he offers 4 guidelines for evaluating programs in the church. They are not revolutionary, but they are extremely helpful.

1. Does this help uncommitted people (including uncommitted people disguised as nominal Christians) become followers of Jesus?

2. Does this help followers of Jesus become better followers of Jesus?

3. Does this enhance the development of authentic Christian Community?

4. Does this empower, equip, deploy the church for a missional identity for the good of the world?

The last two may cause some gastric reflux for many Christians. Too many of us are caught up in the "Jesus and Me" thing, where the only important thing is individual salvation. And the last one, working for the good of the world, will require some serious rumination to digest.

Think about these things, and let me know what your criteria are if they are different. I'd like to hear them.

For a good laugh

go to Larknews and chuckle. You will see why.

Adults say the dumbest things

Art Linkletter used to entertain America with his "kids say the darndest things" show. Little kids would say things that were funny because, well to be honest, they came from kids. But that doesn't work well with adults.

Here is this week's example of how not to make a public statement.

Ray Nagin, mayor of New Orleans, uttered one of the dumbest comments I have heard in years. Imagine if he were white and calling a city a "vanilla city" because that is the way God wants it to be. This is the same man who refused to use school buses to evacuate his residents as Hurricane Katrina innundated his city.

Someone should tell Mr. Nagin to think before he steps in front of a microphone. But then, he could be a senator.

It only took 6 days

God created the world in 6 days. Pat Robertson took six days into the new year to utter another profoundly ignorant remark. This time God is smiting Ariel Sharon for "dividing God's land" by seeking peace with the Palestinians. Pat never ceases to amaze me with the inanities that come out of his mouth. But judging a man in critical condition for seeking peace and trying to restor a homeland to the Palestinians seems a bit un-Christian to me.

Will someone take his microphone away? Please?

Launching the Pat Patrol

Back in the 1990's sports fans around the country engaged in the "Wayne Watch" - a vigil to see when Detroit Lion's coach Wayne Fontes would be fired. It became an ESPN staple as the flamboyant Fontes rode the roller coaster that is Lions football.

I'm starting the Pat Patrol. Our purpose is to catalog the seemingly endless series of inane remarks that flow from the mouth of Pat Robertson. The secular media loves Pat, because he is a great source of inflammatory remarks and material for late-night comedians.

His latest pronouncement is a doozy. He is telling the people of Dover, PA not to call on God if a calamity comes their way, because they rejected school board members who favored the introduction of intelligent design. What God is he talking about?

Even in the Old Testament Prophets where Israel was getting pummeled for their idolatry and neglect of God's laws, God made it clear that he wanted them back. Sure there were consequences, but there was always some hope of redemption after repentance. Pat didn't seem to leave much room for repentance and redemption in his comments.

Intelligent design is a watered-down Deistic theory that nature is too intricate to be left to chance. The Designer is as vague as the Higher Power in AA meetings. It's a start, but it is only a small step. Why on earth would a Christian call down fire and brimstone for a half-measure at best? If we are going to toast some people, let's at least make it a real hill to die on. Not a molehill as this one is.

I reiterate my call to take away Pat's microphone before he speaks again.

Dig a well

I love this modern parable about well diggers and fence builders. It harkens me back to my days in the South Dakota Department of Agriculture when we were helping protect rangeland by promoting cross fencing and water system improvements. It rapidly became evident that 1) Cows aren't stupid; and 2) if you want the cows to move away from the streambanks, you have to provide alternative water sources.

The cows, in pure self-preservation instinct, stay close to the water supply that they know. They will destroy all of the grass around that area if water in another location is not provided. And even after the water is available, the cattle have to be led to it. And putting up cross-fences with gates is a good way of getting them to go to the new pastures.

There is a ministry lesson there. First, we need lots of water sources to steer people toward. And not all of them have to be inside the church walls. Second, we have to lead and prod when necessary. Cows get comfortable with the known, and tend to stick with what they know works. Churches are like that too. Sometimes it takes a leader to move them to new pastures and new sources of sustenance. The trick is finding a leader willing to lead and matching him/her with a congregation willing to move.

The churches who don't move end up with weeds along the banks and little good food and muddy water. And they wonder why they don't thrive.

Peace,

Roy

Stuffing the Dog

What a mental image that is. Not that we are thinking of it in light of the previous posts about our dog's health issues. Rather, it is about our tendency to hang onto that which has passed. Instead of burying the dead, we tend to try to hang on to it, like Frank in the Hotel New Hampshire. He stuffed the family dog in an attack position as a Christmas gift. The law of unintended consequences causes a grandparent to open a closet, the stuffed canine to fall, and the grandparent to die of a heart attack. Lesson here - bury the dead or bad things happen.

Check out this article on this subject. Too often in the church we hang on to programs and services that have had their day and need to be buried. I'm not going to go into the holy wars over service types and times. But numbers and interest do not lie. If the people have walked away, bury it, hold a service and move on. Put your energy among the living and energetic. Jesus didn't spend his time converting Pharisees and Saducees. He went where there was potential and interest. He didn't go to the field of dry bones, he went to the living. And we should do no less.

A long goodbye

We received some good news this week. Hannibal, our beloved 12-year old Lab/Golden Retriever mix, is not as near death as we thought he might be. The vet told us he had about 6 months to go in April, and he is noticeably thinner, but she said he looks pretty good, all things considered. But even in the midst of the good news, I managed to find a negative. I began to think that he might die in the winter, which will greatly complicate our plans for his final resting place. I can't dig a hole in frozen ground very easily.

God forgive me. Here I am worrying about how this will inconvenience me as a rush to say goodbye to someone who has selflessly given himself to me for so long. He has been the best dog we could have hoped for since his days as a little furball chewing machine through our children growing up and beating on him and now in his golden years the stiff movements and confusion that seems to be setting in.

I know he is a dog, not a person. But we can learn a lot about grieving, love, suffering and friendship from our pets. Sometimes I have to carry him up stairs or pick him up when his hips give out. I have to entice him to eat by changing up foods, adding special treats and other things because he is losing weight so rapidly. But I owe him that.

He has been our ever-present companion for years. He protected my wife when she was pregnant, guarded the kids, played with the neighbors and kept the squirrels off of the pumpkins on our porch. He was always ready to play, tolerated us dogsitting for friends, and traveled from South Dakota to Michigan several times.

It's hard to watch him go slowly. But his quality of life is still pretty decent. And I keep reminding myself it is not about me. It's about me serving another. It's about compassion and love, not scheduling.

Pray for me. This is a life lesson I need to learn. It won't be the last time I lose a friend and loved one.

My new favorite word

I love words. I love new ones, big ones, ones that mean interesting things, and ones that just sound cool as they roll off your tongue. I heard one several times this week that I had not heard in a long time, and I love it.

Bloviate (ing) - to speak or write verbosely and windily.

I'm watching the spectacle of bloviating Senators lecturing John Roberts, nominee for Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court, under the guise of questioning the nominee. Some, such as Swimming Ted (hic!) Kennedy and Plagarizing Joe Biden, had to be repeatedly reprimanded by the Judiciary Committee chair to allow Roberts to answer the question they had just posed.

These blowhards in the Senate are so used to hearing their own voice that they cannot even ask a question and allow time for an answer before they begin talking again. Howard Kurtz nailed this embarrasing practice in his column "Supreme Blather."

It seems that the Senate in particular has become increasingly detached from society and reality. I fear for our democracy. It's as if it is all about them, and the actual process of governing is a secondary business for them.

God help us.

Foot in mouth disease

Day 2 of the Pat Robertson digesting his foot saga is upon us.

Now, the leader of the Christian Coalition (that name makes me wince because of his propensity to step in a pile) says he was misquoted yesterday about advocating the assassination of Hugo Chavez, the democratically elected president of Venezuela.

Robertson claims he meant kidnap or something other than kill Mr. Chavez. Hmmm. Here is the quote and I'll let you decide:

"You know, I don't know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we are trying to assassinate him, we should go ahead and do it," Robertson said Monday. "It's a whole lot easier than starting a war, and I don't think any oil shipments will stop."

Gee, I can't imagine why anyone would think Robertson had it in for Chavez after that statement. Clearly The Associated Press made the whole story up out of whole cloth.

Someone take his microphone away before he brings more embarrassment on himself and further damages the cause of Christ.

Stop him before he talks again

Will someone please take Pat Robertson's microphone away? What on earth was going through his head when he advocated the U.S. Government assassinating the leader of Venezuela? Click here for the story if you missed it.

How is it a good idea for a Christian minister to advocate the cold-blooded murder of another individual? It's one thing to kill someone in combat, e.g. Saddam Hussein's sons Uday and Qusay. There at least they chose to fight and die as a result of their actions. But to advocate murder is beyond the pale.

We need to denounce this kind of idiocy in the strongest possible terms. It is not Biblical and it does nothing to advance the Kingdom of God.

Pat, please retire. Now!

Fools rush in (Second in a series)

1 Corinthians 1:17-31 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void. 18 For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written, "I WILL DESTROY THE WISDOM OF THE WISE, AND THE CLEVERNESS OF THE CLEVER I WILL SET ASIDE." 20 Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. 22 For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, 24 but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 26 For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; 27 but God as chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, 28 and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, 29 so that no man may boast before God. 30 But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, 31 so that, just as it is written, "LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD."


Foolishness. That word brings up a great deal of mental imagery, and almost none of it is positive.

Down the Rabbit Hole

First in a series.

I love The Matrix. I love sci-fi to start with, but I really enjoy The Matrix for many reasons, including its grounbreaking special effects. I love the way it can enable one who thinks on such things to view it as sort of a modern allegory to Christ

Some of the similarities are obvious, and I won't recount them here. For more on that go here. But several things struck me as I watched it recently with some friends.

First, The Matrix is a modern day Alice in Wonderland, where up is down and down is up. In the Matrix reality isn't real. What you think you know to be true isn't true. The Red Pill/Blue Pill scene where Thomas Anderson takes the pill that allows him to step out of the false world he lived in really speaks to me. It was as if the scales were lifted from his eyes and his ears were opened for the first time to the truth.

This is oddly similar to a series of discussions that occured nearly 2000 years ago between an itinerant Jewish teacher and the religious leaders of the day. This Galilean rabble-rouser turned the conventional wisdom of the day on its head with his pronouncement that "many who are first will be last, and the last, first."

This pronouncement did not sit well with the religious leaders who were convinced that their public piety, service to the letter (but not the spirit) of the law, and maintenance of community order during the Roman occupation would entitle them to special privileges in the afterlife. The Pharisees were greatly disturbed by this teaching because they viewed themselves as better than the average Jewish citizen and had no problem displaying their superiority.

Along comes Jesus to tell them that the Kingdom of God is not attained through their actions but rather through simple faith. In Matthew 5, Jesus declares war on the Pharasaical system of the day with a series of teachings.

• Matthew 5:3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
• Matthew 5:10 "Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
• Matthew 5:20 "For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven."

The last one is a direct shot at the Pharisees. Telling them that despite their piety and rules, their righteousness is nothing in God's sight gave hope to the masses and drew a line in the sand. From that point forward the Pharisees were gunning for him. Just like the machines in The Matrix. Neither side could risk the truth getting out to the masses because it would upset the order of things and revolutionize the world.

And their ox would be gored.

Are your eyes open? Can you see the things of God happening in the world? Or do you see the world as you think it is. Dark, futile, pointless, warring, hateful? Or do you see souls waiting to be freed from bondage? Only Christ can open your eyes to see what is present but unseen. Seek Him through his word and get ready to find out how deep the rabbit hole goes.