I have been listening to the soundtrack of Wicked of late. And with my discussion on the nature of Good and Evil with my students fresh in my head...this is a lot of fun.
What is evil? Where does evil come from? How does one become wicked?
More importantly...how does one get tickets to New York to go see Wicked on Broadway?
**In the days since I started this post, I have discovered that Wicked is coming to L.A. this winter. So, maybe the cost of going to Broadway won't be as much as earlier anticipated...**
Monday, September 25, 2006
Sunday, September 17, 2006
The power of The Way, The Truth, The Life
I love our church.
All debate about high church versus low church aside, God is worshipped there and I believe the hearts of the men and women there are open to be challenged to the life of faith. That's a good place to be...and I love it.
Today we talked in our Bible Study about the recent comments by the Pope about Islam. Now, while the question of whether or not the Pope was out of line, or should apologize is not something I want to discuss (I think what he said was perfectly within the realm of acceptable statements from the leader of a division of the Christian faith...mainly, that where Islam differs from Christianity is not good, and that Islam is not Christian...which one might think goes without saying, but...whatever...).
What I DO want to discuss is something else. The leader of our group this Sunday brought a recording from a recent interview with an Iranian pastor in Canada, formerly a leader in Hezbollah. I think that his conversion story and opinion of the God he now serves is something all Christians should hear...I only wish I had a link to the audio or a transcript. If I can track one down, I'll share it. But here are my thoughts on what was said.
His testimony was amazing. While in prison, he led fellow muslims in worship. One day he said that he knew the presence of God had come to him, even literally tapped him on the shoulder...and that rather than destroying him, this presence told him the truth of the gospel, a book the young man had never previously read. He spoke through the tears in his voice as he remembered what it was like to know that God was near, to actually hear this presence tell him that what he sought was not Allah, but The Way, The Truth, The Life--an idea unthinkable in Islam, but central to Christianity.
Then the interviewer asked this pastor's opinions on what was happening in Israel between the Israelis and Hezbollah recently. The pastor summed up the long question asked of him by asking if the interviewer wanted to know what he thought it would take to end terrorism in the world. He answered...the love of Christ.
The love of Christ will end terrorism.
This is so contrary to our thinking, I could not help but be challenged:
Peace through strength!
But that's the role of the state. We're the church, and an opposing idea in the world today is currently ready and willing to kill to spread their beliefs and challenge ours. Do we fight back?
No. We don't...or, we shouldn't. I am not, of course, a pacifist. If God had not had other plans, I would currently be serving our nation in the military. But since its become clear that that is not the road for me to walk...I have had to wonder how I can effect a change in this world, how I can try to bring about peace. And this pastor, who sought God truly and found The Way, The Truth, The Life...this pastor sees clearly the answer I have been seeking.
The love of Christ can change the world. Not end sin, not banish poverty, not eliminate death...this world must end--paradise is for the next life, not this one. But I wonder if we really remember that? If we lived as if that were true, and lived as if we believed that for this life, showing as many people as possible the love of Christ were the greatest joy and priority...would this world continue as it is today?
I think we must believe it could not. So why aren't we living such a life?
All debate about high church versus low church aside, God is worshipped there and I believe the hearts of the men and women there are open to be challenged to the life of faith. That's a good place to be...and I love it.
Today we talked in our Bible Study about the recent comments by the Pope about Islam. Now, while the question of whether or not the Pope was out of line, or should apologize is not something I want to discuss (I think what he said was perfectly within the realm of acceptable statements from the leader of a division of the Christian faith...mainly, that where Islam differs from Christianity is not good, and that Islam is not Christian...which one might think goes without saying, but...whatever...).
What I DO want to discuss is something else. The leader of our group this Sunday brought a recording from a recent interview with an Iranian pastor in Canada, formerly a leader in Hezbollah. I think that his conversion story and opinion of the God he now serves is something all Christians should hear...I only wish I had a link to the audio or a transcript. If I can track one down, I'll share it. But here are my thoughts on what was said.
His testimony was amazing. While in prison, he led fellow muslims in worship. One day he said that he knew the presence of God had come to him, even literally tapped him on the shoulder...and that rather than destroying him, this presence told him the truth of the gospel, a book the young man had never previously read. He spoke through the tears in his voice as he remembered what it was like to know that God was near, to actually hear this presence tell him that what he sought was not Allah, but The Way, The Truth, The Life--an idea unthinkable in Islam, but central to Christianity.
Then the interviewer asked this pastor's opinions on what was happening in Israel between the Israelis and Hezbollah recently. The pastor summed up the long question asked of him by asking if the interviewer wanted to know what he thought it would take to end terrorism in the world. He answered...the love of Christ.
The love of Christ will end terrorism.
This is so contrary to our thinking, I could not help but be challenged:
Peace through strength!
But that's the role of the state. We're the church, and an opposing idea in the world today is currently ready and willing to kill to spread their beliefs and challenge ours. Do we fight back?
No. We don't...or, we shouldn't. I am not, of course, a pacifist. If God had not had other plans, I would currently be serving our nation in the military. But since its become clear that that is not the road for me to walk...I have had to wonder how I can effect a change in this world, how I can try to bring about peace. And this pastor, who sought God truly and found The Way, The Truth, The Life...this pastor sees clearly the answer I have been seeking.
The love of Christ can change the world. Not end sin, not banish poverty, not eliminate death...this world must end--paradise is for the next life, not this one. But I wonder if we really remember that? If we lived as if that were true, and lived as if we believed that for this life, showing as many people as possible the love of Christ were the greatest joy and priority...would this world continue as it is today?
I think we must believe it could not. So why aren't we living such a life?
Saturday, September 16, 2006
A Little Yeast
I have been involved in putting on an amateur production of Oscar Wilde's "An Ideal Husband" over these past few months. There are many themes being talked about throughout the play but, naturally, the political question that is raised in the play interests me immensely.
I wonder...is it possible to have a leader of men who has not compromised? If a leader has compromised, can he still be a good leader? Must a leader have the ambition to become the leader? Does that ambition translate into grasping for power that is not properly due to you? Power is a tricky thing...It exists, and a select few wield it. If you are a good man, but cannot get power without compromise, should you still try to get power? What about all the good you could do once you were in power--would that be negated by the initial sin it took to put you into a place that has power? Does political right and wrong boil down to the lesser of two evils? Does a political life involve sacrificing to maintain the ability to lead? If so, does that necessitate making certain sacrifices of one's personal beliefs in order to lead the nation at large? Does one indiscretion ruin a man for all practical purposes?
If so...why have a government at all? If not...what does that say about what we believe about right and wrong?
Its the craziest thing in the world to be immersed in Oscar Wilde's thoughts, and find yourself in Plato's Republic.
I wonder...is it possible to have a leader of men who has not compromised? If a leader has compromised, can he still be a good leader? Must a leader have the ambition to become the leader? Does that ambition translate into grasping for power that is not properly due to you? Power is a tricky thing...It exists, and a select few wield it. If you are a good man, but cannot get power without compromise, should you still try to get power? What about all the good you could do once you were in power--would that be negated by the initial sin it took to put you into a place that has power? Does political right and wrong boil down to the lesser of two evils? Does a political life involve sacrificing to maintain the ability to lead? If so, does that necessitate making certain sacrifices of one's personal beliefs in order to lead the nation at large? Does one indiscretion ruin a man for all practical purposes?
If so...why have a government at all? If not...what does that say about what we believe about right and wrong?
Its the craziest thing in the world to be immersed in Oscar Wilde's thoughts, and find yourself in Plato's Republic.
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Fidelity
(Shake it up)
I never loved nobody fully
Always one foot on the ground
And by protecting my heart truly
I got lost in the sounds
I hear in my mind
All these voices
I hear in my mind all these words
I hear in my mind all this music
And it breaks my heart
And it breaks my heart
And it breaks my heart
It breaks my heart
And suppose I never met you
Suppose we never fell in love
Suppose I never ever let you kiss me so sweet and so soft
Suppose I never ever saw you
Suppose we never ever called
Suppose I kept on singing love songs just to break my own fall
Just to break my fall
Just to break my fall
Break my fall
Break my fall
All my friends say that of course its gonna get better
Gonna get better
Better better better better
Better better better
I never love nobody fully
Always one foot on the ground
And by protecting by heart truly
I got lost
In the sounds
I hear in my mind
All these voices
I hear in my mind all these words
I hear in my mind
All this music
And it breaks my heart
It breaks my heart
Breaks my
Heart
Breaks my heart
Monday, September 11, 2006
My Country 'tis of Thee...
Sing, oh Muse...
I have spent most of this day trying to find the words. I have spent today trying to discover the best way to voice the thoughts that have been nearly bursting from my skull.
I am still not sure how to proceed.
I could follow the examples of others...and tell you where and what I was doing when our world changed. I could join still others in evaluating where we are now and what has changed for better or worse. I could give a defense of the path we have taken, I could argue for the path that still waits to be tread. I won't bother with those that would belittle it, or scorn its significance
But that doesn't seem fitting. Speaking of my memories seems so...small when one considers the epic events of 5 years ago. Talking policy seems too heartless, and even I get tired of fighting that fight.
So...what to do? How do I honor those innocent dead? How do I challenge us to stand with honor in the place of those that gave their lives for the victims? How do I urge us to grieve for those that have lost so much and are asked to give still more? How can I call us to demand that there be a reckoning for such violence? Can my voice even be heard crying for a real, meaningful peace?
No...in the end, I think I am just a hobbit, lost in the tumult of Middle Earth's great saga. So what can I say, let alone do, to pay homage to those heroes of this all-to-hero-less age?
In the end...I am at a loss in the face of trying to encompass it all...and all I can do is reflect on the life that I spent this day, five years after the disaster. Perhaps I could have done nothing better with my day than what I did do with it. I went to my job, and talked about how best to lead a discussion on Genesis, and why logic is important, and how wisdom is the knowledge of God and the source of life itself. I sat in on two and a half hours of discussion on Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, and I drove my wife to a bible study. I honked my horn in support of the small groups of men, women and children I passed on my way to and fro, holding flags on street corners. I listened to radio tributes and songs dedicated to those that were lost...and teared up at traffic lights. I bought a bible. I behaved as (practically) only an American can, and as practically everyone should be able to behave. Can I do more?
My heart wants to rend and a song wells up in me; I feel I will shatter with the force of it, but I am no Emrys, no Wizard, no Elf, and I don't know the words...
Sweet land of Liberty, of Thee I sing!
There must be something said...to those that had their lives cut short by madmen 5 years ago, to those that gave their lives trying to save those that were doomed, to those that have given their lives since that fateful day trying to bring those murderers to justice and prevent them from being able to wreak death and destruction on innocent civilians...and of course, to all those that continue to stand for liberty and justice, and who walk the line for us every day and night...to those children of this nation of Free Men, I pay tribute. It may not amount to much...but I do pay you tribute, and I will continue to live the life of a civilian of a free land. I will sing of the land where ideas are discussed; where God is worshipped and men may live in peace with other men that they may never agree with. This country has its faults, God knows, but it is a blessed nation, one that has shed light on much of the world.
Even still, Come, Lord Jesus, Come. This world is growing darker with the hour, and we yearn to follow You to the Kingdom of Summer, to dwell in the light of Your face forever.
I have spent most of this day trying to find the words. I have spent today trying to discover the best way to voice the thoughts that have been nearly bursting from my skull.
I am still not sure how to proceed.
I could follow the examples of others...and tell you where and what I was doing when our world changed. I could join still others in evaluating where we are now and what has changed for better or worse. I could give a defense of the path we have taken, I could argue for the path that still waits to be tread. I won't bother with those that would belittle it, or scorn its significance
But that doesn't seem fitting. Speaking of my memories seems so...small when one considers the epic events of 5 years ago. Talking policy seems too heartless, and even I get tired of fighting that fight.
So...what to do? How do I honor those innocent dead? How do I challenge us to stand with honor in the place of those that gave their lives for the victims? How do I urge us to grieve for those that have lost so much and are asked to give still more? How can I call us to demand that there be a reckoning for such violence? Can my voice even be heard crying for a real, meaningful peace?
No...in the end, I think I am just a hobbit, lost in the tumult of Middle Earth's great saga. So what can I say, let alone do, to pay homage to those heroes of this all-to-hero-less age?
In the end...I am at a loss in the face of trying to encompass it all...and all I can do is reflect on the life that I spent this day, five years after the disaster. Perhaps I could have done nothing better with my day than what I did do with it. I went to my job, and talked about how best to lead a discussion on Genesis, and why logic is important, and how wisdom is the knowledge of God and the source of life itself. I sat in on two and a half hours of discussion on Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, and I drove my wife to a bible study. I honked my horn in support of the small groups of men, women and children I passed on my way to and fro, holding flags on street corners. I listened to radio tributes and songs dedicated to those that were lost...and teared up at traffic lights. I bought a bible. I behaved as (practically) only an American can, and as practically everyone should be able to behave. Can I do more?
My heart wants to rend and a song wells up in me; I feel I will shatter with the force of it, but I am no Emrys, no Wizard, no Elf, and I don't know the words...
Sweet land of Liberty, of Thee I sing!
There must be something said...to those that had their lives cut short by madmen 5 years ago, to those that gave their lives trying to save those that were doomed, to those that have given their lives since that fateful day trying to bring those murderers to justice and prevent them from being able to wreak death and destruction on innocent civilians...and of course, to all those that continue to stand for liberty and justice, and who walk the line for us every day and night...to those children of this nation of Free Men, I pay tribute. It may not amount to much...but I do pay you tribute, and I will continue to live the life of a civilian of a free land. I will sing of the land where ideas are discussed; where God is worshipped and men may live in peace with other men that they may never agree with. This country has its faults, God knows, but it is a blessed nation, one that has shed light on much of the world.
Even still, Come, Lord Jesus, Come. This world is growing darker with the hour, and we yearn to follow You to the Kingdom of Summer, to dwell in the light of Your face forever.
Friday, September 01, 2006
Pictures from our week with Kari Kipp
There we are, on our way to a semi-hike to a water-trickle. It was a lot of fun, despite the less than spectacular ending
The German and myself.
All the men on this trip, together...and wading in the water-trickle.
The German and me enjoying the water-trickle.
Clearly a religious experience...
Aiden...being cool.
Aiden, flirting with an engaged woman.
More flirting...with mud. Clearly having a positive effect...
Throwing rocks with Kari
Aiden with Paul.
And us.More pictures from our week with Kari Kipp
The Orange County Fair = animals and hay
Animals, hay and Theresa
A group shot...with animals and hay...
I like being surrounded by attractive people...
See above caption...
Aiden versus Baby Goat!If only that fence weren't there, it might have been a good match
Picture Time
You might think us cruel...except that he wanted to put the clips in his hair...
"I want to be a cowboy, ba-by"
There must have been a time in history when the definition of "hat" was up for debate. My son is clearly wanting to reopen that long dead discussion...and apparently he wants to do so via cell-phone.
We had a picnic...ants came...it was very exciting. 
Awwww--we so cute. 
"I come in peace!"
This is why moms are heroes. They go right into the line of fire...for a picture.
Yes?
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