Thursday, October 30, 2008

Lectionary Leaning

"Screw the lectionary."

These exact words came out of my college sophomore mouth not long before I preached for the very first time, and exactly .12 seconds after a friend had suggested we consult the lectionary before striking out our own theme for College Worship Sunday. The lectionary was lazy and did not allow for the preacher to adequately convey the message God laid on his or her heart.

The older / wiser me is now moving in a different direction. In a world where students, and people in general, are increasingly biblically and story of God illiterate, I find myself drawn near to the wisdom and foundational nature of the lectionary. I am considering drastically reducing the number of "thematic" sermons I do (if not eliminating them altogether) and moving to lectionary for the majority of the jr. high Sunday night curriculum.

A couple of thoughts:
- the lectionary walks the congregation through the entire Bible in 3 years, how many people, students or otherwise, can say they have done that? The three year window, incidentally, fits perfectly with the three years of junior high.
- moving to the lectionary is a humbling experience for me - the planner and creator of many a high quality thematic series. I am sure, however, that scripture will speak more powerfully than my latest Bob-Barker themed creation.
- preaching the lectionary keeps me (or anybody else) from finding a couple "home" passages and always heading back to them. I always seem to find my way back to Romans 12 and Galatians 2:19 20 ;).

Let me know what you think.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Yes

Let's not be cliche. If ministry is real, it is a demanding. I recently read that doctors performing the autopsy on 38-year-old Martin Luther King, Jr. discovered the heart of a 70-year-old man. Often in ministry, (or maybe because of all the Filet O' Fishes I have eaten) my heart feels much older than my age (and especially how old I look). To quote my rabbi, I feel the millstone.

But today...today was pretzel day - and the sugary goodness of a shared "aha!" (or Aja) moment proves the power of scripture and the Triune God it points to.

After a brief outline of epistles and Paul, I had my ten students read the first ten verses of Galatians, and asked them to break it down for me. What was the problem that Paul was trying to address? Here are their answers:

- People making the gospel something it is not
- People not listening to / ignoring the Holy Spirit

No "Adventurer's Bible" outline, no clever words from their youth minister, no slick DVD graphics, no fill-in-the-blank-seek-and-find, just students encountering the living Word. Here's the beautiful part:

Jr. High Student: "When was this written?! These are problems now!"

Smile. Let it sink in.

We went on to talk about how, despite mastering the bells and whistles of the 21stcentury, human beings are still human beings - and as such - the timeless words of scripture are as poignant and powerful as when they were first penned.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

New School is Old School

It has been hard to get excited about the upcoming NBA season - economy in the ditch, pending student loan payments, cheering for millionaires while selecting from the dollar menu. Nonetheless, the NBA season is nearly upon us, and my beloved Utah Jazz are picked by at least one (exactly one) analyst to play in the NBA Finals. In preparation for their title run, the Jazz have ditched the 80s color bleed and reintroduced a recolored music note / basketball / "J" logo I fell in love with those years ago.

Check it out.

In.














Out.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

For the Lexicon

Idiodyssey - [id-ee-od-uh-see] noun.

- a journey or experience with moronic or unscrupulous persons
- ex. Johnny thought the field trip would be fun, but it turned into another idiodyssey.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Rights and Responsibilities

Does anyone have difficulty asserting ones rights? This election cycle, both local and nationwide, seems to have people from all edges of the political spectrum screaming about their rights, both real and perceived. The right to kill lung cells while enjoying ribs at BW3s, the right to abort an unborn child, the right to charge exorbitant rates for inadequate housing, and the right to pay as little taxes as possible.

I want to flip the switch. Rather than thinking about life in terms of "rights", let's think about it in terms of responsibilities. What is my responsibility to my fellow human being? My Creator and Redeemer? The next generation? My wife? My child? The students and families that I minister to? The earth?

I can fill up this tiny space with the rhythm of responsibility that hums and beats throughout my life - but I would prefer to recast the whole political system in terms of responsibilities. What responsibility do the local and national candidates have? And more importantly, how do they see themselves fulfilling this responsibility?

what do you think?

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

My favorite was Michelangelo...




The reporter that did this interview did a follow-up interview with the turtle-zombie and he seemed like a bright, well-spoken young man. This zombified confession, however, was not his finest hour.

...and I approve this message


The NBA preseason started this evening, yet my eyes and ears were glued to the presidential debate. Layups (at least preseason) seemed lame in the face of the current economic malaise. The current crisis, combined my current role as baby-daddy instead of three-point bomber, has me feeling quite political. So, grant me this blog in order to outline my preliminary platform.


Limit the length of legislation

The United States Constitution contains 4400 words. No legislation will exceed this
amount of words. If it only takes this amount to create a country, it should take less than that to propose legislation for the country. Verbose legislation leads to missed earmarks that create HAY-UGE burdens for taxpayers - limiting the length of legislation will eliminate the hiding places for ridiculous earmarks. Also, all congressional leaders are required to read all bills proposed.

Withhold pay from Congressional leaders who are not present during congressional business
Congress generally works for less than half of the year (roughly 150 or so days). Despite only working for this brief amount of time, congressmen and congresswomen find time to miss congressional votes (to campaign for another job, for example) while yet collecting a paycheck. I know of no other job where a person, for no good reason, can miss so much time and still expect to collect a paycheck. In fact, throughout history those in congress have worked OTHER jobs besides the House and Senate.

Each year, congressional leaders must present to taxpayers (their employers) a list of failed and passed bills that they proposed or amended
Think of it as a resume. Each year, at my place of employment, I set goals and, at the end of the year, review how I did on those goals. I imagine it is like this at most businesses - why does this accountability not exist at the highest levels of government? I want to see the resume of politicians every year, especially during an election year.

Stop the privatization of profits and the socialization of debt
The most recent update of the economic entropy included the high level executives at AIG held a $440,000 party immediately following the bailout. If the United States (and the taxpayers therein) is going to purchase stock in these failing economic giants, it should be valuable voting shares such that any other investor gets when they buy stock in a company.

A basic four-corner platform I think we can all get with. Vote Brown / Brown on your write-in ballot in 2008. (At this point, I cannot tell you whether Dana will be the VP or the outright pres. Maybe a shadow VP with all the knowledge and know-how?)