Thoughts and Musings on Faith, Music, Family, Life

What would've Jesus Twittered (or Facebooked)?

The idea came after reading this blog post from friend and fellow Presbyterian Bruce Reyes-Chow.  It was about a workshop he led on "the convergence between church, religion and social media."  The title of his workshop was crafty: What Would Jesus Twitter?  Designed to get you thinking, of course.

Which it did - but in a totally weird way.  See, I've been grading college research papers for five days straight now; around 70 of them.  I need a diversion, and I need it now.  And that's how I can justify expending a few brain cells to ponder the totally off-the-wall and utterly pointless musing: What would've Jesus Twittered (or Facebooked), if he had the means?

I know what some of you are thinking, and I hope you're laughing with me instead of at me.  If you've been reading this blog for any period of time you know of my affinity for all things Facebook and Twitter.  In case you're part of the uninitiated, Twitter is something akin to texting a bunch of people at once.  Think of it as Facebook with just the status update.  In Twitter you have 140 characters (spaces included) to address the all-encompassing question: What are you doing?  Those who are "following" you receive your "tweet" as an update (incidentally, you can follow me here).

So humor me as I have some fun with what Jesus may or may not have Twittered, in loose chronological order, during his lifetime.  Some of these may be plain stupid.  I hope a couple are not.  And let me invite you to join in and add your own "Jesus tweet" in the comments section below - in 140 characters or less, of course.  ;)

******************

Ditched the 'rents in Jerusalem today. They'll figure it out eventually. Burger joint's closed, but I think the temple has food.

Out here with cuz John. Not too keen on baptizing me. I'll try to convince him.  Dove from heaven will help.

Desert is no picnic - literally. Haven't eaten in days. Even the rocks look tasty, but someone else already beat me to that idea.

I'm telling ya, it doesn't matter how old you are. Moms can't stop bragging on their kids. So now this wedding party is really rockin'

Hey Peter, we know you're a fisherman. When someone asks you to follow him, no need for the salty language. Little ears around.

Went back to old temple, read scripture, place went nuts. Some old guy told me I should've taken Preaching 101. umm, I'll look into it

Note to self: if you ever do this again, instruct disciples to always let crippled guy on mat in front door.  Dude's roof is trashed

On a mountain. Okay, a hill. Lots of people. When I tell them that peacemakers are blessed, will they really get what I'm saying?

Pharisees were at it with me again. I know it's not their fault; they're doing what they think is right. Will need to dine with them soon.

@Nicodemus great talk last night. I could tell whole "born anew" thing went over your head. Let's talk again, but not so late. 

Folks, you heard it here first: James and John's father Zebedee can grill a mean fish!

"Whoever is without sin, cast the first stone." Yeah, I came up with that on the spot. Well, we did. Will have to write that down.

Andrew snores like a three-humped camel with asthma.  No offense to three-humped camels. Sleep evaded us all last night.

Yes, I have sisters and brothers.  What's so weird about that?

Told a parable today. Everyone left talking about younger brother. Don't they know it's the older brother I want them to focus on?

I'm amazed how people fit me in their preconceived notions, rather than really listen to what I have to say. Gonna be harder than I thought

There was this guy today, and he was up in a tree.  Nuff said.

Someone touched my cloak & I knew it. It was huge crowd, people pressing in. I asked disciples who it was. They looked at me like, really??

@richyoungman dude, where'd ya go? I wasn't done yet. Let's go get a latte or something. My treat.

Honestly, is there ANYTHING one can do on the Sabbath without getting into trouble? Would some just tell me that?

Ah, Peter - your "speaking-before-thinking" thing has finally paid off. You get who I am - great! Now don't tell anyone.

Second note to self: don't assume disciples will bring food for everyone. Does Al's Fish Shack deliver for 5000?

Bad storm + disciples on boat + me walking on water = some freaked-out disciples. They'll calm down. Someday.

Cruel irony: I'm talking with some kids & they get me. They really get me. Disciples, though, are telling them to stay away. Story of my life.

Told another parable today. God forbid if folks ever think a Good Samaritan is just a person who does something nice, lol

I'm on a colt and they have palm branches. Roman governor is entering on other side of city. Do these people know where all this is heading?

Lost my cool in temple today. I know they gotta sell their stuff, but they're cheating folks out of their money. So frustrating...

Zealots still think I'm one of them. Sheesh. What part of "Love your enemies" do you NOT understand??

Passover meal tonight is hardly joyful. There's a heavy weight in the air. Wait till I pull out bread and wine - that'll knock 'em for a loop

Yes, Peter, I do intend to wash your feet.  Smelly as they are. Get used to it, and quick.

.....and Judas is gone. Down to 11.

Third (& probably last) note to self: make sure disciples get rest the night before. Very lonely in garden w/them asleep. Stomach is in knots

Wishing I had stuck with the carpentry gig right about now....

They're here and they've got big swords with them. My friends have all run away.  I've been kissed. It begins.

Verdict is in. My time's up. I can hear the chains in the other room.

Looking down on them all. Every emotion possible on their faces. Agony on mine. They have no clue. They will soon. In a few days.

It makes sense that Mary was the first one, really.  She didn't recognize me at first.  Guess I can't blame her.

Met two guys on road to Emmaus. They were talking with me about me. They had no clue. Priceless.

Classic look on Thomas' face when I show him the scars. I get that look a lot these days, actually.

Peter liked the fish, but I think he liked my words even more. Now it begins anew for him. For all of us.

**********************

POSTSCRIPT: Had a couple of people send me this link, which is essentially Exodus in Facebook form. Too funny.  See, it's catching on!

The perils of speaking for God

He told us we were displeasing to God.

As the lady across the restaurant booth said this to me, I could immediately see the pain flash across her face.  Just minutes before, we had been talking excitedly about her wedding in a month, a wedding I would have the privilege of officiating.  She had been laughing and smiling as we ironed out the details around the worship service and the wedding party and the scriptures to be read.  There was joy in her face then, but now it was gone.

She held the hand of her fiance next to her and together they told me the story - how they had been attending a church near where they lived for a couple of years now, how they loved the warmth of the faith community, how they got so much out of their pastor's sermons and respected him a great deal.  They'd been at this church roughly the same time that they made the adult decision to move in together and live under the same roof, along with his two sons.

But when they shared with their pastor that they wanted to solidify their relationship in marriage, as she said they had always intended to do, he declined to officiate.  He told us that he didn't believe people should live together and couldn't marry us, she said.  And he told us we were displeasing to God. 

I could tell both of them were tremendously hurt by this - not just in what they were telling me, but how they looked as they were telling it.  It was as if they'd been kicked in the stomach; they winced as if from physical pain.  This was a conversation they had with their pastor months ago; and yet the wounds were still very fresh.  They were devastated - and not just because their pastor had pushed them away but (according to their pastor) God had done the same thing too.

This post is not about the issue of unmarried people living together or whether ministers should perform weddings for them.  I have no clue who their pastor is or why he wouldn't marry these fine folks, but I imagine he's a decent man and acted out of his convictions and what he believed to be right.  I can't fault him for that.

But I do take issue with what he said that seemed to hurt this middle-aged couple the most: that not only does their pastor think less of them, but so does God.  We ministers (and all people of faith, really) find ourselves in the tricky business of speaking on God's behalf.  But there's a difference, I think, between speaking on God's behalf and speaking for God.  I think we tread on dangerous ground with the latter.  We've got to remember that it's entirely possible we do not always know what God thinks.  In fact, I'm pretty sure that's the norm rather than the exception.

At the very least we minister-types need to make sure that we choose our words wisely when we talk about God.  For better or for worse, what we say on matters of faith tends to bear significant weight in the eyes of many.  We can do marvelous things with how we describe God to people - building them up, restoring and renewing faith, helping to bring forth from them the imago dei.  But we also have the potential to inflict irreparable harm too.  I'm not suggesting that we refrain from speaking what we believe to be the truth.  I'm just saying we need to tread those waters carefully instead of carelessly throwing our weight around.  I'm suggesting that we be pastoral.

In particular I think we should never suggest that God's love - no matter what we do - comes with limits or conditions.  This is so hard for us; and perhaps the reason is because we're coming at it out of our own experience.  Humanity has done a pretty good job throughout history of putting restrictions on our love.  The thing is, we don't need to project our limited, condition-laden love on God.  We should let God be God.  Easier said than done.

I told this couple that their pastor was certainly entitled to his opinion about not marrying couples who were living together and I respected that.  But I also assured them that they were not displeasing to God.  If anything, it seemed to me that God would be greatly pleased that they were choosing to further their commitment to each other by embracing God's gift of marriage.  And for that reason, their wedding day would be a celebration on all fronts - theirs, mine, all those in attendance, God's.

And that was when her smile came back - and it was good to see it again.  God's love and grace on full display.

My eldest's A to Z

On a short break from my Louisville conference last week, the rental car (a minivan - poetic justice, I guess) found its way to a cool little strip area with some eclectic restaurants and shops, one of which was a book store.  This would be the place where I would secure the proverbial "family gifts" that any parent traveling on business must have in their possession upon returning home.  I had called home to check in a few hours before, and as my wife handed the phone to our eldest his first words were not "Hey Daddy!" or "I miss you Daddy" but "Do you have our surprises yet?"  Nothing like a subtle hint.

So I found what I needed in this neat independent bookstore - even something for myself.  I got a copy of The Watchmen graphic novel - always heard about it; never read it, want to see the movie.  The Mrs. got this book, and our younger this one.  For our eldest, though, I struggled a bit.  The guy already has tons of books and any that I got him would just get lost in the shuffle by the end of the week.  I did think about some Captain Underpants book, as this has been all the rage at our house recently.  But I wasn't sure which ones he already had.  Plus, the bookstore didn't have any.

I wound up settling on a nice spiral notebook with 250 colored pages, primarily because the eldest has become a vociferous writer at the tender age of six. You should've seen the look on his face when I pulled it out of the suitcase - priceless!  He wasted no time in going to work.  Already he has filled most of it with stories (that bear a striking resemblance to Captain Underpants, I might add), song lyrics, various Dr. Seuss things, and some drawings. 

 One of the notebook's recent additions is what he calls his A to Z.  I think there's a Dr. Seuss book out there along these lines, but I'm not sure.  In it he lists various things in alphabetical order, one per page, with accompanying pictures.  There are even some rhymes in there.  Now I fully realize I'm playing the worn-out "proud parent bragging on their kid" part, so I promise you I won't do this too much.  But I thought some of these were pretty clever.  Here goes:

*****************

MY A TO Z BOOK

A is for alligator

B is for ball

C is for chicken (the picture here is not of an actual chicken, but chicken nuggets.  Organic and free range, I'm sure.  And easier to draw.)

D is for doll (notice the rhyme with "ball?"  Not the last...)

E is for Elephant (spelled "elaght")

F is for fall (more rhyming)

G is for go (picture of a "GO" sign here - square and green.  Never seen one before, but why not?)

H is for hall (rhyming again...)

I is for insect (the picture here is labeled "life cycle" and shows a caterpillar turning into a butterfly.  "Life Cycle?"  Where'd that come from?)

J is for jump

K is for kite

L is for lump (he was searching for a rhyme for "jump" - not too shabby)

M is for moon

N is for nine

O is for "oh no" (no doubt he's heard this out of Mom & Dad's mouth before...)

P is for pine (new rhyme!)

Q is for quiz (where'd this come from??)

R is for rat-a-tat-tatt (the drummer shining forth)

S is for see

T is for t-t-tat-t-t-tat (he tells me this is the sound a hi-hat on a drumset makes.  The boy knows his musical instruments)

U is for up

V is for vacuum cleaner (which, by the way, really needs to be run in our house.  Maybe that's why he brought it up.)

W is for wet

X is for Zorx (apparently this is in a Captain Underpants book.  Figures.  And who can blame him for not thinking of a word that begins with X.  Other than Xylophone, can you?)

Y is for yo-yo

AND....

Z IS FOR ZOO

*****************

Not too bad for a six-year old, eh?  We're proud.  Looks like the travel gift choice was a rousing success.  Now on to that vacuuming.....

I heart NPR on St. Patty's Day

A few days ago on St. Patrick's Day I was packing my bags and making my way through Louisville traffic to the airport to catch a flight home.  If I had known where to tune in to the Lousiville NPR station (or how to operate the search function on the rental car radio, for that matter), I might've heard this interview with producer Steve Lillywhite regarding his work with U2's latest album No Line On The Horizon (which, incidentally, I reviewed here).  It's a cool interview that gives some pretty interesting insights into how the album came together.  For instance:

• "Magnificent" was originally titled "French Disco."  Whew, that was close.
• The album was essentially the product of a "six-piece band," with other producers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois donning instruments and contributing a lot to the overall sound.
• Going back a few years to The Joshua tree, there were two version of "With Or Without You;" and it went down to the wire as far as which one would make the album.  I just can't imagine that song being any different, you know?
  
• "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight" originated as a simple lyric in a verse.  Someone said they really liked that particular phrase and they wound up crafting the whole song around it.
•  Bono reads lyrics off his laptop in the studio, changing the lyrics as he goes along.

Speaking of lyrics, one of the things that struck me was Steve's description of how the lyrics are developed.  Bono writes them, of course, and then shares them with the other guys.  But if one of them doesn't like it, it's back to the drawing board.  Wow - I've never heard of a band that has full veto power over the lyrics.  Lillywhite says "it's the most dysfunctional family you'll ever know, but it's a family."  How cool - no egos to get in the way.  Guess that's why part of what's allowed them to make great music for 33 years.

Pretty cool - what I would've given to have been able to sit in on just one of those sessions.

I enjoyed the interview so much that I listened to the next one on NPR: a report on why we shouldn't shampoo our hair as much.  Hmm.  Gotta give them props for covering the spectrum there....

A full day in Louisville

I've never been to Louisville before.  In fact, I think the only time I've been to Kentucky at all was years ago on a youth group mission trip to Harlan in the Appalachian mountains.  But last night around 10pm my flight touched down in the Louisville airport for a two-day "Festival of Theology" conference at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary.  Another thing that I haven't done in while is attend a conference like this.  Sometimes the busy-ness of pastoral responsibilities - family obligations and music stuff aside - can make it difficult to break away.

But I had to come to this conference, as both Marcus Borg and Brian McLaren were here.  If you know these guys, you know that just having one of them would be amazing enough.  The fact that they are here together in one place, along with Diana Butler-Bass (who I'm not as familiar with yet) is really something. 

I'm not going to write a bunch of stuff here (you may be relieved at that!)  Mainly because I'm tired and need to go to bed, as well as the fact that after three one-hour lectures from each of these folks - lectures that I could've easily listened to for multiple hours - I need time to process.  So I thought I'd just share a few pictures and maybe make more specific comments later.

But just briefly - all three of these people were very genuine and honest about what they saw as the multi-faceted challenges currently facing the church.  In addition, all three saw the current transitional period we are in as a tremendous opportunity for the church to become something new and wonderful.  The overall decline that mainline denominations in particular are encountering right now may, in fact, be a blessing in disguise.  How we respond will determine how well the church is able to fulfill its mission in the future - and perhaps its very existence.  Of course, all of this much easier said than done.

Anyway, here are a few shots and some thoughts:

Borg talking in the afternoon lecture.  This guy's focus is to try to cut through almost 2000 years of history to get to who Jesus was as a first-century Palestinian Jew and what his mission and purpose was for his day.  No small task.  His book simply titled Jesus had a huge influence on me when I read it a few years ago. (by the way, sorry for the fuzzy picture - took these with the Blackberry on zoom)

Here's Brian McLaren at the evening lecture.  His lecture on the changing dynamics of the church was great too: I knew it was going to be good from the moment his title flashed up on the PowerPoint:

We're In Deep Shift: How we got here and What To do about it

Brian has tons of great books.  I'd recommend this one - recently gave it to a friend who's on a spiritual journey of sort and he got into it big-time.

This was a conversation the three had together after McLaren's lecture.  The woman in Diana Butler-Bass, whose picture I didn't get during her morning lecture (zoom on the Blackberry wasn't working right).  I haven't read anything of hers yet but did buy a copy of a book of hers that just came off the press - looks to be good stuff.

I so appreciate getting away to events like this.  It's good to get out of the routine, for one thing.  But when I hear people who have a passion for keeping faith real and getting beyond the partisanship/bickering/divisiveness that has undercut so much of what the church is supposed to do, it reinvigorates me and keeps me focused on what I need to be doing.

Incidentally, I must confess to "twittering" during the event with some quick snippets of what the lecturers were saying and my thoughts. Yeah, I know.  Here's an archive:

Diana Butler Bass - recent study on religion in America shows that country is "post-partisan;" i.e., beyond labels

DBB's lecture: awesome. Break now. Just shook hands & got books signed by Borg and McLaren. Would've gotten picture if it wasn't so Jr. High

Borg: we need re-education about who Jesus was and what his mission was. Move from "conventional" to "intentional" Christianity. Hear hear.

McLaren's lecture title: "We're In Deep Shift - How we got here and what to do about it." I like it already & he hasn't even started

Now on to joint conversation - Borg, Butler Bass & McLaren dialoguing. Amazing to see these three together like this

Tomorrow are small group meetings with each of these folks, one-on-one.  Being that the event is sold out, I'm not sure how "small" the group are actually going to be.  But it should be some interesting conversation and food for thought before I hop on the plane back home.

That's enough.  Time for bed.

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery....

...then Twitter ought to be feeling pretty good about itself right now.

Along with the other 9.5 million Facebook users, Facebook updated my home page yesterday with their new layout.  On Friday the 13th, nonetheless (how's that for ominous timing!)  The vast majority of the Facebook world is in an uproar, the same way they were when Facebook changed its format the last time.  We all got used to it, and I imagine we'll get used to this one too.  But that doesn't mean we have to like it right now.

The thing is, I don't mind change as long as it's change with a purpose.  As long as it's smart change.  But everything that I've seen thus far in this new Facebook is neither smart nor with a purpose.  They are simply trying to be something that someone else already is.

Let me explain: after trying to maneuver my way through the new layout, it occurred to me that this looked an awful lot like my Twitter home page.  Hmm.  Did a quick Google search and found out it's true.  In fact, apparently back in November Facebook made an offer to buy Twitter outright.  When that didn't materialize, Facebook apparently decided to design things using Twitter as their model.  In fact, the similarity is pretty deliberate.  Here, for instance, is a snapshot of my Twitter homepage:

 

And here is the new Facebook home page design:

Check it out: you take out the Facebook ads to the right and they're practically identical.  Just as Twitter's "What are you doing" is directly above the text field - justified left - so is Facebook's new "What's on your mind."  Profile pics are to the left of the update for both - even down to the same square shape (well, FB did curve their corners.  Ooohhh....)  It's as if Facebook did their absolute best to copy Twitter and didn't care if anyone noticed.

Why take on Twitter straight up?  If you're Facebook and you see Twitter as your main competition, do something different, don't just imitate it.  Twitter has grown by 1000 percent in this past year alone  - 1000 percent!  You try to fight that battle and you'll lose every time.  Which is precisely why it wouldn't surprise me if some Facebookers end up dropping their accounts, reasoning that there's no purpose in having two things that do basically the same thing.

True, Facebook is different from Twitter, which revolves around simple updates (what Facebookers would call their status).  The new home page contains not only statuses but wall posts, links, videos, pics, etc.  But I, for one, don't need my Facebook to look and act like Twitter.  Besides, it's confusing to know what I'm looking at on the home page.  Is it a status or wall post?  A link or comment?  Since it all looks the same now it's hard to tell.

So I don't care much for the new format at the moment.  Not many Facebookers do - an anti-new facebook group already has well over 1.5 million members (and it's still growing).  Even so, I know that if Facebook sticks to its guns we'll all probably get used to it eventually.  And one day down the road, when they change it once again, we'll lament about how much we miss the "old" facebook.  Human nature.

I just wish the folks at Facebook would come to a consensus on their overall purpose and stick to it, rather than just do what the other guy is doing.  True innovative businesses don't limit themselves like this - they think ahead of the game to see what's coming around the corner and respond before it gets here.  I could be wrong, but it just seems that Facebook is losing some of its mojo and throwing darts around to see if anything sticks.  And dragging 9.5 million along with them while they do this.  We'll see what happens.

The sermon I keep preaching and why

Up until about four years ago I lived with a sort of unspoken fear as one who preaches for a living.  I guess it's the same kind of fear a songwriter encounters well into their career, or a writer after they publish a few books.  I had a fear that I was starting to repeat myself in my sermons and that this was a bad thing.  At worst I wondered whether the proverbial well was running dry and people would eventually catch on and tune me out.  I have a sneaky suspicion this fear is shared by others who step into the pulpit on Sunday mornings.

That fear was abated about four years ago in one of my doctoral classes.  I can't remember what the class was, but at some point my professor Craig Barnes shared a story about being at his father's bedside not long before his death.  His father was a pastor as well; and in one of those sacred moments where father passes on timeless wisdom to son, Craig's father said, "Son, every preacher basically has three sermons in them, and that's it."  I remember a sense of relief rushing over me when I heard this - that it's okay when we as preachers find ourselves returning to the same overarching "themes" from time to time.  In, fact, it's almost something we should embrace.  If one believes, as I do, that sermons are essentially three-way conversations between pastor, parishioner and God, then it makes sense that the One who enacts the conversation (that'd be God) keeps leading the other two back to the same place.

With that in mind, there's no question what the recurring theme in my sermons is:

Exile.

It comes from the Old Testament, some 500 years before Christ.  The nation Israel was defeated by the powerful Babylonians, carted off to live in "a strange and foreign land" that was not their beloved Jerusalem.  To understand the significance of exile is to understand the depth of their loss.  For the Israelites Jerusalem was more than just a place on the map.  It was the embodiment of their faith and belief in God; their very soul.  The two were intertwined so tightly that to be separated from Jerusalem felt like being separated from God.  This kind of thing is hard for us to understand in our day and time, when places of worship are practically at every corner (well, at least in the southeast).  But for them it was spiritually devastating.

I find the theme of exile so pertinent in our day and time.  Call it postmodernism at its most pronounced.  There is a sense that more people are feeling "adrift" these days, like a boat lost at sea.    In the past our culture was, generally speaking, full of people who had a sense of some anchor in their lives - be it religion, family, employment, something.  Now look.  A recent study shows that America as a whole is becoming "less religious (it's a little more complicated than that, but that's it in a nutshell).  We all know how hard it is to keep a family together these days.  And with the economy in shambles and millions upon millions losing their jobs, the days when one's career or 401K served as the bedrock of financial security are long gone.

Exile.  We don't like it.  We've lost our bearings in unfamiliar territory.  And perhaps the worst part of it is that we don't know when it will end.  We have no clue when we'll go "home," if we can ever really go home. We encounter feelings of sadness, melancholy, even anger and rage.

Bono once described the psalms as the "blues of the Bible" - and perhaps no psalm captures the hopeless sensation of exile more acutely than the opening verses of Psalm 137:

By the rivers of Babylon -
there we sat down and there we wept, when we remembered Zion.
On the willows there we hung up our harps.
For there our captors asked us for songs, and our tormentors asked for mirth,
saying, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!"
How could we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land?
(Psalm 137: 1-4, NRSV)

This image of people so distraught, so overtaken by hopelessness, that they can't even sing songs and resort to hanging their instruments in tree branches is one that has always stuck with me.  As a songwriter it's hard for me to imagine being so utterly despondent that you get no pleasure in pulling out the six-string and plucking a few tunes.  The "song" just isn't there, and you don't know when it will come back around.  That's what exile can do to you, if you let it.

So I find myself returning to this theme of exile in my sermons, whether the scripture verses are about them specifically or not.  Perhaps there's a personal reason for this (we preachers preach out of our own experiences, you know) and I find myself in tune with these feelings of not quite being "at home" - a work in progress, if you will.  And maybe I also find myself drawn to the theme of exile because of the many people's lives that I'm immersed in - family, neighbors, church members, friends, musical kindred spirits, students, community members, fellow church workers and servants, etc.  People who sense at some level that they are not quite where they want to be, or need to be; and that they must spend some time in the wilderness figuring out who they are and whose they are before heading back home.  And even when they do return home, it's never quite the same way they remembered it.  It's home, but it's a different home.  It's more about a feeling of familiarity than turning back the hands of time. 

I imagine exile will always find a way into my sermons - and I'm cool with that.  And thankfully I think my congregation is too (they've never told me otherwise).  For me the notion of being on a journey is so much more important than just reaching the destination.  When it comes to matters of faith, I believe it's okay to hold things near and dear without feeling like one has fully "arrived."  I'm reminded of this every time I hear (and perform) one of my favorite U2 songs.  The verses speak of someone who has seen and done it all, who has been to the mountaintop, who believes in "kingdom come," who's been set free.  And yet each time the verse concludes with the emphatic and somewhat disconcerting line: I still haven't found what I'm looking for.

A friend of mine once lamented that Bono & the gang had renounced their faith in this song - because, as they put it, "a believer is someone who has found what they're looking for."  Really?  We may have "found" God (although I prefer to think of it as God finding us), but it's only the beginning of the journey, not the end of it.  As people of faith our search is supposed to ultimately lead us to the kingdom, and we certainly aren't there yet.  We live in a world where a child dies from hunger every three seconds, where a minority possesses a majority of the world's resources, where war exists and where we are slowly killing our earth.  As people of faith especially, we have not found what it is we're looking for.  We are a people still searching, still finding our way and trying our best to follow the one who has gone before us.

We are a people in exile.  So until something dramatically changes in our world, I imagine that this theme will keep finding its way into my sermons, one way or another.  And I'm cool with that.  Because it's where I am.  It's where we all are.

Out of the mouths of babes...

This past weekend I hung out with a group of senior highs from my church - the "Beacons," we call them - at a Salem Presbytery retreat led by my good friend Bryan McFarland.  Bryan is the Hunger Action Advocate for our presbytery, a kindred musical spirit, and someone who has a passion for helping the hungry around the world and how our beliefs can help guide us in doing this.  As part of his Saturday morning keynote, Bryan played the audio from one of NPR's editions of "This I Believe."  If you've never heard this program before, it's a collection of short monologues from people across the religious, political and cultural perspective of what they hold near and dear.  Good stuff.

The edition that Bryan played involved a six-year old boy from Texas named Tarek McLain, and thirty things he believes in.  Apparently this was a list of 100 before he whiddled it down a bit.  I've got the thirty things listed below - but seriously, you do yourself a disservice if you just read them.  My suggestion would be to go to this link and click on the audio, reading and listening to it at the same time, to get the full effect. 

Now - let's just go ahead and deal with the cynical reaction, shall we?  As you'll hear in the interview, Tarek says that his mom "helped him" come up with ideas but never gave him the words outright.  I can't blame you if, after hearing this, you're inclined to say to yourself, "Riiiiiight."  It's easy to think that this stuff just smacks of some parent-fed lingo that allows a kid to achieve new levels of notoriety.

Then again, it amazes me how kids surprise us with wisdom that supposedly "exceeds their years."  In fact, one of Tarek's "I believe" statements reminded me of something my eldest said to my wife and me about a year ago, totally out of the blue. I can't remember the exact wording (why do I not write these things down??) but in essence it was something along the lines of, God is in all the good things, and God is in the bad things too.  He just said it one day while we were sitting in the kitchen.  Perhaps he had thought it up on the spur of the moment, or maybe he'd been pondering about it for some time, rolling it around inside his five-year old brain; trying to make sense of the complexities that life can dish out. 

Whoa.  I mean, philosophers and theologians have wrestled for centuries with issues of theodicy.  There are 150 psalms in the Old Testament giving voice to God's presence in all aspects of life.  We adults constantly need reminders of this, which I guess partly explains why things like the "Footprints in the Sand" poem are so popular (and why I once wrote a song about it).  So yeah, I was pretty floored when our son dropped this in our laps.  But it was more than me just being proud of him, you see.  "Proud" is watching your kid hit a home run in t-ball game.  I wasn't just proud.  I was impressed.

So I wouldn't be too quick to rationalize that any of these thirty things are "too mature" for a six-year old.  In fact, sometimes I wonder if the younger generation are more in tune with the rhythms of the world than us grown-ups.  We're the ones who have learned how to play the system; they have the luxury (at least for right now) of not having to do that.  Perhaps we can learn a thing or two from them, before they too lose touch.

And besides - even if the worse-case scenario is true and it's mom spoon-feeding her flesh and blood these lines, the fact remains: these are still amazing statements of faith.  They'd be just as meaningful if they came out of the mouth of a well-seasoned sage.  Although not nearly as powerful.

So call me hokey, but I choose to believe these words are his - mainly because I've witnessed this sort of thing happen myself.  And I like I said, don't just read them.  You must hear the audio too, and become part of Tarek's cadence and rhythm and pure voice.  And if it brings a tear or two to your eye, as it did mine yesterday, hold on to that feeling and let it change the way you choose to live today.  And maybe even the ones after it as well.  Here's the link again.  Five minutes is all you'll need.

THIS I BELIEVE - BY TAREK MCLAIN

I believe life is good.

I believe God is in everything.

I believe we're all equal.

I believe we can help people.

I believe everyone is weird in their own way.

I believe hate is a cause for love.

I believe that when I meditate I feel peaceful.

I believe we should be generous.

I believe brothers and sisters should be kind to each other.

I believe kids should respect their parents.

I believe I should not whine.

I believe people should wake up early.

I believe people should go outside more.

I believe in nature.

I believe people should use less trees.

I believe we should help the Arctic and rainforest animals.

I believe people shouldn't throw litter on the ground.

I believe people should not smoke.

I believe God is in good and bad.

I believe in magic.

I believe people should not give up.

I believe love is everywhere.

I believe that God helps us to have a good time.

I believe we live best in a community.

I believe we can protect people in danger.

I believe we should help the poor.

I believe it's OK to die but not to kill.

I believe war should not have started.

I believe war should stop.

I believe we can make peace.

(http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99478226, visited on 3.8.2009)

P.S.  I had a great time at the retreat, by the way.  The youth from our church are amazing and a lot of fun to be with.  Thanks guys!

If grinding your own coffee makes you a coffee snob...

I resisted the urge for a while.  I kind of saw it as a time issue.  And maybe just plain laziness, too.  Why did I need to bother grinding my own coffee, I reasoned, when someone else had already done it for me?  Even bagged it, all nice and convenient-like.

I resisted because in our fast-food society, where one can simply go buy a cup of coffee and leave all the work to someone else, the last thing I needed was to add yet another step in my coffee-making process.  Grinding beans to put in the filter to put in the coffee maker to pour water in to brew coffee to pour in my cup.  And then you have to clean everything too, for crying out loud.  All for a cup of jo.  Is it really worth it?

And then a few weeks ago I broke down and bought some whole bean coffee at a restaurant in town after playing a gig there, and then used some tip money to pick up a grinder on the way home.  The next morning, while fixing waffles for the family, I took the plunge.  It was kind of a guessing game figuring out how many beans to use - I'm still refining that strategy.  And I wasn't sure if I had ground them up enough.  But immediately the kitchen was engulfed with this wonderful rich coffee aroma.  You know that smell you get when you open the ground coffee bag for the very first time?  That was this, except it filled the whole room.  Very nice.  Even my wife, who's not a huge coffee fan, thought so.

Once I ground it up enough - I think - I dumped them into the filter and turned the coffee maker on.  Like Pavlov's dog my mouth started watering at the drip drip and the sound of steam escaping the confines of the water reservoir.  Five minutes later I was lifting a cup of not just freshly-brewed but freshly-ground coffee to my lips.  Hmm.  Not bad.  Not bad at all.  And the thing is, it really does taste different.  I wouldn't call myself a coffee connoisseur by any stretch of the imagination, but I can certainly taste a difference from my normal cup.  It tastes more.....well, more fresh.  I know, real descriptive, isn't it? 

It's great, but here's what I'm now faced with: will I be able to go back?  Will I ever be truly satisfied with just dumping the grounds straight from the bag into the filter - or, heaven forbid, partaking of a cup of coffee I didn't prepare myself?  See, I know myself well enough to know that my expectations have been raised and it'll be hard to settle for anything less.  It's kind of like eating barbecue anywhere outside the city limits of Lexington NC, the self-proclaimed BBQ capital of the world.  It just never quite measures up, you know?  It's also why I have such a hard time listening to commercial radio these days, especially the ones that persist in regurgitating the same top-40 garbage that, with very few exceptions, reflects more marketing hype and studio magic than true musicianship.  Ugh.

I'm almost done with this first cup of coffee and I'm not sure if what I'm hooked to is the refreshing taste that comes from being freshly ground, or the caffeine.  Probably both.  So I do what any reasonably sane person would do.  I go buy another grinder to keep at the office, along with another one-pound bag of whole beans.  This, of course, to go with the Black & Decker spacemaker coffee maker I previously installed - yes, installed - in the shelving unit of my study at the church (see below).  So, you know, I can brew coffee without having to leave the comforts of my office while writing a sermon or making a few phone calls.  I'm just a few feet away from java heaven.

That's all reasonable, isn't it?  You know, I think I'll go have another cup.  Certified Fair Trade and Organic, of course.  In my reusable coffee mug.  Let me find the grinder.  And the beans.  And the filter.  And the water reservoir.  Sigh.  Call me a coffee snob if you must. Then come over sometime and let me brew you some.  I think you'll see what I'm talking about.  I think.

POSTSCRIPT: As part of our church's continuing efforts to "go green," an initiative we began back in February 2008, we are looking into the issues surrounding the kind of coffee we drink as a community of faith - issues like who grew the beans and whether they're getting a fair cut of the profits, and whether rainforests were leveled just so we could enjoy a casual cup of jo.  So we're looking at all eco-friendly and justice-oriented options - everything from Wal-Mart's certified fair-trade brand to Equal Exchange to even a local distributor in our community.  Obviously these options will cost more than what we're paying now, and we know this.  Still, we'd like to find something that doesn't break the bank, especially in these hard economic times.  I'd be interested in hearing if anyone out there has any helpful tips or suggestions - if so, leave a comment below.  Thanks.

Oh, happy day - 3.3.2009