moving journals...
Oct. 29th, 2007 | 04:19 pm
Due to complications with a new internet connection (or more accurately, lack thereof) I am going to discontinue my activity on this LJ account and am moving my attention over to a new account here: http://seastack.wordpress.com/
Link | Leave a comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend
unplugging
Sep. 24th, 2007 | 08:20 pm
For those who may have ever wondered why I didn't ever allow technology on trips (mp3 players, cell phones, etc.) and why I planned entire weekends whose sole purpose was to disengage from all sorts of electronic technology, here is some good insight as to why: Confessions of Luddite Wannabe
And for those who never wondered...it's something you should read and think about as well.
And for those who never wondered...it's something you should read and think about as well.
Link | Leave a comment {1} | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend
a change in season and required music
Sep. 23rd, 2007 | 08:47 pm
Fall is here. The air feels different, the sun is getting lower in the sky, Orion is beginning his ascent above the horizon.
I love this season.
I have been thinking lately about the music that I feel is perfect to listen to and understand this time of year, that provide the quintessential soundtrack and sound to the turning of leaves and drives down long roads and walks along cold rivers. They are, in no particular order and consisting of complete albums, not individual songs:
Howie Day - Stop All The World Now
Wilco - Sky Blue Sky
Jars of Clay - Much Afraid (sounds especially fantastic in Bellingham, not sure why)
That's it, the list is short and substantial. Get ahold of them, press play, and live.
I love this season.
I have been thinking lately about the music that I feel is perfect to listen to and understand this time of year, that provide the quintessential soundtrack and sound to the turning of leaves and drives down long roads and walks along cold rivers. They are, in no particular order and consisting of complete albums, not individual songs:
Howie Day - Stop All The World Now
Wilco - Sky Blue Sky
Jars of Clay - Much Afraid (sounds especially fantastic in Bellingham, not sure why)
That's it, the list is short and substantial. Get ahold of them, press play, and live.
Link | Leave a comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend
Harry Potter reactions (2)
Sep. 21st, 2007 | 10:07 pm
I just finished the first book. I liked the storyline that Rowling is presenting...but the actual caliber of the writing isn't something I am all that impressed with (although I've been told it improves as the series progresses). Specifically, I was a bit let down by the climax when Harry has been captured and Quirrell is volunteering his entire plot and conveniently filling in all the gaps for the reader. Classic Scooby-Doo...but I have to remind myself that Rowling wrote this for kids.
As for some of the other aspects, I noticed she put something out there in regards to her ideas of death (at least in the Potter universe) when Dumbledore says to Harry: "After all, to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure." For Rowling, death doesn't seem to be the end; there is more beyond it.
I loved the whole cameo of the centaurs. I was fascinated by their culture and philosophy, at least the sliver of it that was presented. I would love it if that was expounded upon in later books, but I have a feeling it probably won't be. I was very much struck by their astrology and 'reading' of the stars...the understanding that what seems to have been spoken is then set in unchanging stone. Yet one of them seems to speak that some change is possible, that sometimes they have indeed read the stars wrong and things have turned out differently. It almost seemed to echo to me the role of the prophets in the Biblical Old Testament, in the sense that they issued both warnings and promises, sort of a "This is what is going to happen if you continue on your current course...unless you make a decision toward something else, then something completely different is possible."
But I think one of the biggest, and I suppose most obvious, things that caught my attention was in the same conversation between Harry and Dumbledore. In talking about why Quirrell was burned every time he tried to touch Harry, Dumbledore says:
"Your mother died to save you. If there is one thing Voldemort cannot understand, it is love. He didn't realize that love as powerful as your mother's for you leaves its own mark. Not a scar, no visible sign...to have been loved so deeply, even though the person who loved us is gone, will give us some protection forever. It is in your very skin. Quirrell, full of hatred, greed, and ambition, sharing his soul with Voldemort, could not touch you for this reason. It was agony to touch a person marked by something so good."
There are numerous Christological similarities and comparisons here, and I don't think I need to even go into them. They're obvious. Blatant.
I've said it before and I'll say it again--I don't think most everyday critics of these books have even cracked the spine on them to actually see what they're about.
Now on to the second one...
As for some of the other aspects, I noticed she put something out there in regards to her ideas of death (at least in the Potter universe) when Dumbledore says to Harry: "After all, to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure." For Rowling, death doesn't seem to be the end; there is more beyond it.
I loved the whole cameo of the centaurs. I was fascinated by their culture and philosophy, at least the sliver of it that was presented. I would love it if that was expounded upon in later books, but I have a feeling it probably won't be. I was very much struck by their astrology and 'reading' of the stars...the understanding that what seems to have been spoken is then set in unchanging stone. Yet one of them seems to speak that some change is possible, that sometimes they have indeed read the stars wrong and things have turned out differently. It almost seemed to echo to me the role of the prophets in the Biblical Old Testament, in the sense that they issued both warnings and promises, sort of a "This is what is going to happen if you continue on your current course...unless you make a decision toward something else, then something completely different is possible."
But I think one of the biggest, and I suppose most obvious, things that caught my attention was in the same conversation between Harry and Dumbledore. In talking about why Quirrell was burned every time he tried to touch Harry, Dumbledore says:
"Your mother died to save you. If there is one thing Voldemort cannot understand, it is love. He didn't realize that love as powerful as your mother's for you leaves its own mark. Not a scar, no visible sign...to have been loved so deeply, even though the person who loved us is gone, will give us some protection forever. It is in your very skin. Quirrell, full of hatred, greed, and ambition, sharing his soul with Voldemort, could not touch you for this reason. It was agony to touch a person marked by something so good."
There are numerous Christological similarities and comparisons here, and I don't think I need to even go into them. They're obvious. Blatant.
I've said it before and I'll say it again--I don't think most everyday critics of these books have even cracked the spine on them to actually see what they're about.
Now on to the second one...
Link | Leave a comment {1} | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend
cloverfield
Sep. 5th, 2007 | 02:09 pm
is the title for a new film coming out by J.J. Abrams (creator of LOST and Alias and Felicity). CHECK OUT the trailer. And the entire advertising campaign for it so far as been viral, with various false websites that provide images and puzzles to be solved (similar to the LOST Experience game last summer). In casting the movie, no scripts or scene pages were sent out: agents were simply asked if their client wanted to be in the movie or not. The entire thing has been extremely secretive.
I am so absolutely stoked for this thing.
I am so absolutely stoked for this thing.
Link | Leave a comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend
blessing or a curse?
Sep. 2nd, 2007 | 03:36 pm
"Contemporary culture is plagued by the passion to possess. The unreasoned boast abounds that the good life is found in accumulation, that 'more is better.' Indeed, we often accept this notion without question, with the result that the lust for affluence in contemporary society has become psychotic: it has completely lost touch with reality."
- Richard J. Foster, Freedom of Simplicity
In the sermon I heard this morning, the statement was made that God has blessed us in this country, and that we are blessed to have many things. Ironically, this statement was made while in the midst of talking about greed, which made me wonder: is the fact that we have so much a proof that God is blessing us...or is it a proof that we, in our greed, have surrounded ourselves with so much stuff? If being blessed largely entails being the conduit through which others are blessed, then how blessed can someone consider themselves if they, and all they've been 'blessed' with, are frequently the last link in the chain? And none of this is to say that things are completely binary (e.g. we're either completely greedy and not blessed...or that being provided for isn't at all part of God's design. Although, I think our understanding of 'provision' could use a LOT of work...)
Sometimes I wonder how dangerously entwined our identities as Christian and Consumer have become...
- Richard J. Foster, Freedom of Simplicity
In the sermon I heard this morning, the statement was made that God has blessed us in this country, and that we are blessed to have many things. Ironically, this statement was made while in the midst of talking about greed, which made me wonder: is the fact that we have so much a proof that God is blessing us...or is it a proof that we, in our greed, have surrounded ourselves with so much stuff? If being blessed largely entails being the conduit through which others are blessed, then how blessed can someone consider themselves if they, and all they've been 'blessed' with, are frequently the last link in the chain? And none of this is to say that things are completely binary (e.g. we're either completely greedy and not blessed...or that being provided for isn't at all part of God's design. Although, I think our understanding of 'provision' could use a LOT of work...)
Sometimes I wonder how dangerously entwined our identities as Christian and Consumer have become...
Link | Leave a comment {3} | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend
more thoughts on being incarnational
Sep. 2nd, 2007 | 09:20 am
There's a maxim that goes: "The medium is the message." Jesus doesn't just give a message; he is the message. So as people who are involved deeply in the proclamation of good news, the "selves" we bring to others is radically important.
So what are we bringing to the table?
borrowed from http://sustainablefaith.com/index.html
So what are we bringing to the table?
borrowed from http://sustainablefaith.com/index.html
Link | Leave a comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend
sometimes it's just the simple things.
Sep. 1st, 2007 | 09:30 pm
Fresh peaches and ice cream. One of the best things about the dwindling days of summer.
That, and the nights getting colder.
That, and the nights getting colder.
Link | Leave a comment {1} | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend
catching everyone up
Aug. 31st, 2007 | 07:31 am
plain, noun - an area of land not significantly higher than adjacent areas and with relatively minor differences in elevation, commonly less than 500 ft. (150 m), within the area.
____________________
Well, it's hard to say who knows the news and who doesn't, especially with everything that has been going on over the last couple months...so I figured I should probably post an entry to make sure everyone is "in the know."
To make a somewhat long explanation and story short: I have accepted an invitation to take on the role of pastor of youth ministries at Plain Community Church. So, we'll be moving up and becoming members of the community of Plain, which I am actually quite excited about. All of this has happened extremely quickly (just a matter of a few weeks), but it's a confirmation in direction of the path I'm walking and how I'm walking it with God.
So, I may not see some of you as frequently as before...and I may see some of you more frequently than before.
____________________
Well, it's hard to say who knows the news and who doesn't, especially with everything that has been going on over the last couple months...so I figured I should probably post an entry to make sure everyone is "in the know."
To make a somewhat long explanation and story short: I have accepted an invitation to take on the role of pastor of youth ministries at Plain Community Church. So, we'll be moving up and becoming members of the community of Plain, which I am actually quite excited about. All of this has happened extremely quickly (just a matter of a few weeks), but it's a confirmation in direction of the path I'm walking and how I'm walking it with God.
So, I may not see some of you as frequently as before...and I may see some of you more frequently than before.
Link | Leave a comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend
...and moved into the neighborhood.
Aug. 30th, 2007 | 10:26 pm
Incarnational. It's the idea that God didn't just teach us timeless spiritual truths (or leave them for us in some ancient book)...but that he instead came and took on human skin and flesh and lived among us in a particular time and place and culture. One of the strengths of the Christian gospel is its ability to be translated inot new and different cultures. Missiologists call this 'contextualization.' There is a danger in stripping the gospel of its context, of the time and place and culture within which it is expressed, especially within which it was expressed through Jesus, the incarnation of the Word and Desire of God.
Since the Christian gospel is incarnational, and if Jesus and his message were incarnated in the first-century Jewish culture of Palestine, then we can say that culture itself can be a vehicle for communicating the gospel, and that it's possible to re-contextualize the gospel to new cultures. What would the story of David look like if it were to happen today? Who represents the Philistines, and who the Israelites? Would it be an unknown young man from a persecuted tribe in west Africa, standing up to the general from one of the most brutal of clans? Would Samson be a jet-setting billionaire, 'slaying' corporations and businesses left and right...ultimately meeting his demise when a woman manages to steal every penny he had, leaving him destitute and homeless, only to be killed by the very people he tried so hard to seperate himself from? When we make it about objective principles and timeless truths, things like the parable of the good Samaritan become stories about helping people in need. We we understand contextualization, we realize these stories were actually about bigotry, racism, and our desire to justify the hate and fear within ourselves.
Throughout the Church's history, Christians have tried to keep the constants in front of them, declaring and reminding themselves and others of what God has done. I recently came across a contextualized version of one of those creeds from the Maasai people of east Africa. As one person commented on its words--it recognizes a need to not only 'Christianize Africa'...but also to 'Africanize Christianity':
________________________________________
We believe in the one High God, who out of love created the beautiful world and everything good in it. He created man and wanted man to be happy in the world. God loves the world and every nation and tribe on the earth. We have known this High God in the darkness, and now we know him in the light. God promised in the book of his word, the Bible, that he would save the world and all nations and tribes.
We believe that God made good his promise by sending his son, Jesus Christ, a man in the flesh, a Jew by tribe, born poor in a little village, who left his home and was always on safari doing good, curing people by the power of God, teaching about God and man, showing that the meaning of religion is love. He was rejected by his people, tortured and nailed hands and feet to a cross, and died. He was buried in the grave, but the hyenas did not touch him, and on the third day, he rose from that grave. He ascended to the skies. He is the Lord.
We believe that all our sins are forgiven through him. All who have faith in him must be sorry for their sins, be baptized in the Holy Spirit of God, live the rules of love, and share the bread together in love, to announce the good news to others until Jesus comes again. We are waiting for him. He is alive. He lives. This we believe. Amen.
Link | Leave a comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend
sometimes being a geek is awkward
Aug. 26th, 2007 | 03:11 pm
The great thing about Blackbird Island: within a relatively short stretch of river, you can find numerous submerged weed beds where you can collect aquatic plants for fish tanks.
The not-so-great thing about Blackbird Island: it's a major destination for both locals and tourists, who tend to gather and stare from above you on the bridge, usually when you're armpit deep in the water and grabbing handfuls of plants out of the muck.
The worst part is when they actually ask what you're doing.
The not-so-great thing about Blackbird Island: it's a major destination for both locals and tourists, who tend to gather and stare from above you on the bridge, usually when you're armpit deep in the water and grabbing handfuls of plants out of the muck.
The worst part is when they actually ask what you're doing.
Link | Leave a comment {3} | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend
a moment
Aug. 25th, 2007 | 08:40 am
listening to:: "Run" - Snow Patrol
"But from that moment on, Hermione Granger become their friend. There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them."
- J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
- J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Link | Leave a comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend
Did you notice?
Aug. 22nd, 2007 | 02:59 pm
The air changed yesterday. Autumn has begun.
Link | Leave a comment {1} | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend
some thoughts
Aug. 22nd, 2007 | 08:12 am
I consider myself to be fairly contemplative in my approach to Christianity, marked largely by many of the monastics and their orders throughout the centuries. I have found that my actual working out of my faith tends to be more fluid than the approaches of most of the Christians I have largely found myself surrounded by. For instance, I've never been able to sit still and just pray for long periods of time (I doubt I've ever even spent a full 20 minutes in solid prayer). Usually it's assumed that the longer you pray, the better a pray-er you are. People who lock themselves in a room and pray for hours are considered pretty spiritual...and I'm sure they are. But I can't do that. Never have.
Over the last few months I've been delving more into exactly what marks the contemplative tradition of Christianity, how others have pursued it, etc...and I am finding out a lot more about myself and how I naturally interact with God and am aware of him. I've talked with some of you about prayer, and what I used to tall "active prayer," which is what I call the thought process and awareness of God that occurs while I am doing something. The activity seems to actually help spur on my prayer. I recently came upon this:
"One of the most stunning lessons Laubach learned was how payer and work blend into one. On 11 March 1937, while working on a literacy plan for the Urdu Dihate Indian dialect, he wrote, 'Of all today's miracles, the greatest is this: To know that I find Thee best when I work listening, not when I am still or meditative or even on my knees in prayer, but when I work listening and co-operating.' This, you see, is a marvelous contemporary expression of the ancient Benedictine rule ora at labora, 'work and pray.'" - Richard J. Foster, Streams of Living Water: Celebrating the Great Traditions of the Christian Faith
And another bit that runs right in line with how I think and function:
"Benedictine spirituality requires all of us to go through life taking back one inch of the planet at a time until the Garden of Eden grows green again. The fact is that where those who follow the Rule of Benedict live, the world will become an ordered, cared-for place. Resources, people, products and time become precious." - John Chittister, Wisdom Distilled from the Daily
Over the last few months I've been delving more into exactly what marks the contemplative tradition of Christianity, how others have pursued it, etc...and I am finding out a lot more about myself and how I naturally interact with God and am aware of him. I've talked with some of you about prayer, and what I used to tall "active prayer," which is what I call the thought process and awareness of God that occurs while I am doing something. The activity seems to actually help spur on my prayer. I recently came upon this:
"One of the most stunning lessons Laubach learned was how payer and work blend into one. On 11 March 1937, while working on a literacy plan for the Urdu Dihate Indian dialect, he wrote, 'Of all today's miracles, the greatest is this: To know that I find Thee best when I work listening, not when I am still or meditative or even on my knees in prayer, but when I work listening and co-operating.' This, you see, is a marvelous contemporary expression of the ancient Benedictine rule ora at labora, 'work and pray.'" - Richard J. Foster, Streams of Living Water: Celebrating the Great Traditions of the Christian Faith
And another bit that runs right in line with how I think and function:
"Benedictine spirituality requires all of us to go through life taking back one inch of the planet at a time until the Garden of Eden grows green again. The fact is that where those who follow the Rule of Benedict live, the world will become an ordered, cared-for place. Resources, people, products and time become precious." - John Chittister, Wisdom Distilled from the Daily
Link | Leave a comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend
Harry Potter reactions (1)
Aug. 20th, 2007 | 09:04 pm
Well, I'm only in Ch. 6 right now, where Harry is meeting Ron while on the train to Hogwarts. But already there are a few things that have caught my attention.
- It seems to me that Rowlings correlation with Voldemort and his story is remarkably similar to the Biblical story behind the fall of Lucifer: someone who started out great, rose in greatness above all his peers...and then fell into greed and power and darkness. It seems to me a very clear distinction is already being made between good and eveil, and already within the first couple chapters. (seriously, do critics of the series even read the books?)
- I'm really interested in how Rowling portrays the Dursleys, commenting frequently at how they are a type of people who dislike anything that is impractical or illogical or in any way fanciful. They want everything to be completely and absolutely explainable. It actually reminds me of something C.S. Lewis wrote (a person Rowling admittedly admires) after being repeatedly asked why he, an Oxford scholar, would stoop to such a level as to write such fanciful things for children. His open response:
"I thought I saw how stories of this kind could steal past a certain inhibition which had paralyzed much of my own religion since childhood. Why did one find it so hard to feel as one was told one ought to feel about God or about the sufferings of Christ? I thought the chief reason was that one was told one ought to. An obligation to feel can freeze feeelings. And reverence itself did harm. The whole subject was associated with lowered voices; almost as if it were something medical. But suppose by casting all these things into an imaginary world, stripping them of their stained-glass and Sunday school associations, one could make them for the first time appear in their real potency? Could one not thus steal past those watchful dragons? I thought one could."
- It seems to me that Rowlings correlation with Voldemort and his story is remarkably similar to the Biblical story behind the fall of Lucifer: someone who started out great, rose in greatness above all his peers...and then fell into greed and power and darkness. It seems to me a very clear distinction is already being made between good and eveil, and already within the first couple chapters. (seriously, do critics of the series even read the books?)
- I'm really interested in how Rowling portrays the Dursleys, commenting frequently at how they are a type of people who dislike anything that is impractical or illogical or in any way fanciful. They want everything to be completely and absolutely explainable. It actually reminds me of something C.S. Lewis wrote (a person Rowling admittedly admires) after being repeatedly asked why he, an Oxford scholar, would stoop to such a level as to write such fanciful things for children. His open response:
"I thought I saw how stories of this kind could steal past a certain inhibition which had paralyzed much of my own religion since childhood. Why did one find it so hard to feel as one was told one ought to feel about God or about the sufferings of Christ? I thought the chief reason was that one was told one ought to. An obligation to feel can freeze feeelings. And reverence itself did harm. The whole subject was associated with lowered voices; almost as if it were something medical. But suppose by casting all these things into an imaginary world, stripping them of their stained-glass and Sunday school associations, one could make them for the first time appear in their real potency? Could one not thus steal past those watchful dragons? I thought one could."
Link | Leave a comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend
for myself
Aug. 17th, 2007 | 08:37 am
Last night I finally started reading the first book in the Harry Potter series (now that it has officially come to an end. However, I do sense an inevitable prequal series on the horizon...).
Now, I've seen the movies and have really enjoyed them, and even in light of the story I've been able to glean from them alone, I am surprised at some of the Biblical themes that seem to be intertwined in them...which makes it even more difficult for me to understand how many people (*cough*someChristians*cough*) can so easily dismiss the books as evil incarnate simply because they talk about wizards and witches. And I'm really surprised at how willing they are to leave other authors out of the conversation (what about Tolkien's LOTR trilogy and the fact that one of the main characters [specifically, one that could be described as a Christ figure in the story, especially in light of him dying while battling the Balrog and then being resurrected, after which other characters describe him as being the same Gandalf, and yet supremely different somehow] is a wizard?!). Or what about the film series Star Wars, where characters (both good and bad) harness the power of some mysterious 'force' present within the universe to manipulate objects, accomplish feats, harm other people, etc.? And yet I know parents who hardly hesitate at letting their first-grade children watch and enter into this 'universe'? What's the difference between someone harnessing that mysterious force and wielding a plasma gun vs. harnessing that mysterious force and pointing a stick in someone's face? And really, if we want to be realistic, what are children more likely to become accustomed to and become involved in: violence and weapons or learning Latin and waving a baton around in the air? I believe that we need to be MUCH more discerning in how we interact wtih the world and culture around us.
So I have determined to see for myself exactly what this story has to say and will post my thoughts and findings as I read through it. Here we go...
Now, I've seen the movies and have really enjoyed them, and even in light of the story I've been able to glean from them alone, I am surprised at some of the Biblical themes that seem to be intertwined in them...which makes it even more difficult for me to understand how many people (*cough*someChristians*cough*) can so easily dismiss the books as evil incarnate simply because they talk about wizards and witches. And I'm really surprised at how willing they are to leave other authors out of the conversation (what about Tolkien's LOTR trilogy and the fact that one of the main characters [specifically, one that could be described as a Christ figure in the story, especially in light of him dying while battling the Balrog and then being resurrected, after which other characters describe him as being the same Gandalf, and yet supremely different somehow] is a wizard?!). Or what about the film series Star Wars, where characters (both good and bad) harness the power of some mysterious 'force' present within the universe to manipulate objects, accomplish feats, harm other people, etc.? And yet I know parents who hardly hesitate at letting their first-grade children watch and enter into this 'universe'? What's the difference between someone harnessing that mysterious force and wielding a plasma gun vs. harnessing that mysterious force and pointing a stick in someone's face? And really, if we want to be realistic, what are children more likely to become accustomed to and become involved in: violence and weapons or learning Latin and waving a baton around in the air? I believe that we need to be MUCH more discerning in how we interact wtih the world and culture around us.
So I have determined to see for myself exactly what this story has to say and will post my thoughts and findings as I read through it. Here we go...
Link | Leave a comment {3} | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend
prediction
Aug. 14th, 2007 | 10:12 pm
I'm predicting that Pushing Daisies, which debuts this fall on ABC, is going to be a superb show. Superb.
Link | Leave a comment {1} | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend
what do we do about it?
Aug. 14th, 2007 | 09:53 pm
"...more people are enslaved today than before the American Civil War...."
(National Geographic Magazine)
Link | Leave a comment {1} | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend
growth
Aug. 2nd, 2007 | 03:34 pm
"I want to keep my soul fertile for the changes, so things keep getting born in me, so things keep dying when it is time for things to die. I want to keep walking away from the person I was a moment ago, because a mind was made to figure things out, not to read the same page recurrently."
- Donald Miller, Through Painted Deserts
- Donald Miller, Through Painted Deserts
Link | Leave a comment {1} | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend
how it happens
Jul. 27th, 2007 | 08:52 am
"A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only that ever has."
- Margaret Mead