Going To Morrow

My friend Dan’s greeting on Twitter this morning brought this song to mind - it’s a witty, punny little two minutes that’s completely worth your time.

The Muppet Show doing “Going To Morrow”.

Now Playing: Brian Eno <em>Ambient 1: Music for Airports</em>

Time to start something new around here - from time to time I’ll highlight a record that I’ve been playing. I’ll start with a rather obscure one this afternoon: Brian Eno’s Ambient 1: Music for Airports.

Brian Eno is pretty much the king of ambient music, and Ambient 1 is one of his earlier works, dating back to 1978. This isn’t something that you’re going to want to sit down and just focus on for the entire 45 minute playtime, but it makes a beautiful backdrop to an hour, almost fading out here and there but never quite leaving the edges of your consciousness. Even if you’re not typically a listener of ambient music, it’s worth a try.

No promises about the video content on this one, but the music is worth a listen.

Offering right sacrifices

In 2010 I’m undertaking the Bible reading plan put out by The Journey, and this morning’s reading hit an interesting combination of passages - Genesis 4, Psalm 4, and Matthew 4. The theme that links them all: offering right sacrifices to God.

Genesis 4 gives us the familiar story of Cain and Abel. Abel gives the right sort of sacrifice. Cain doesn’t. Jealousy and murder ensues. Such a tragic story.

Psalm 4:4 - 8 follows up that sobering story with these verses:

4 In your anger do not sin; when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent.

5 Offer right sacrifices and trust in the LORD.

6 Many are asking, “Who can show us any good?” Let the light of your face shine upon us, O LORD.

7 You have filled my heart with greater joy than when their grain and new wine abound.

8 I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.

David gets in several zingers here that speak directly to me in my daily situation:

  • If you’re angry with what you see happening, don’t sin, but rather shut your mouth and search your heart.
  • Offer right sacrifices and trust the Lord.
  • The light of God’s face on us will bring joy greater than any material possession.
  • I can sleep in peace knowing that God alone is my security.

So what are these “right sacrifices” that God wants from me? A couple of texts quickly come to mind:

1 Samuel 15 - King Saul attempts half-hearted, doing-what-seems-right sacrifices, and is corrected by Samuel: God desires obedience rather than those sacrifices.

Romans 12 - reaffirms the command in 1 Samuel by telling us that we should present our bodies as living sacrifices.

So there it is, loud and clear: the right sacrifice that God desires is our obedience. If I’m wearing myself out doing lots of ‘good things’ thinking that God will be happy with me, while at the same time I’m ignoring areas in my life where I’m choosing to not be obedient to God, I’m doing it wrong. God has already justified me apart from any right living on my part. My obedience to him is an offering to show my love to Him for what He has already done. And, as the Psalmist says, I will find greater joy and peace in that life of obedience than in any striving for material things.

The final passage in today’s reading (Matthew 4) fits in nicely with this lesson as well. Jesus goes to the desert and is tempted by Satan with some ‘good’ things. Jesus, though, sets the example for us by choosing obedience. I would do well to follow.

Tales from THE SNOWPOCALYPSE, Day 2

Morning timeline:

  • 0530: alarm goes off
  • 0532: check of the cancellations page via my iPod touch shows work status as “2 hour delay”
  • 0615: grudgingly head out to snowblow the driveway
  • 0725: make it back in from clearing the driveway
  • 0730: cancellations page says “snow policy in effect” (i.e. you don’t have to come in, but you can) Conflicted as to whether or not I should try to go in.
  • 0750: finished with a shower, decided not to go in.
  • 0800: work officially closes, sends people home
  • 0830: second pot of coffee on, Christmas music playing. AWESOME.

At least I didn’t try to go in. First time work has sent people home for snow in the 10 years I’ve been there.

I think we’ve gotten about 8 inches here so far, heavier and wetter than I had anticipated. Now it’s time for the temps to drop and the wind to start blowing really hard. Guess I’ve gotta hand it to meteorologist Joe Winters, he was right this time. I feel like I should seek him out and do my meekest “I’m sorry, Dick Butkus” impression.

Happy snow day, everybody!

It's the SNOWPOCALYPSE!

Cower in your homes, everyone - IT’S THE SNOWPOCALYPSE!

Vicious white stuff will attack from the sky. Invisible freezing pneumatic forces will sweep across the land, infiltrating your homes through drafty windows and driving the white stuff into tall barriers that will prevent any and all vehicular conveyance!

Keep your children indoors, stockpile supplies, stay tuned to this channel for further updates! There is no escaping THE SNOWPOCALYPSE. Only the well-prepared will survive.

Bullet points for a Monday #3

There is a more substantive post or two in here, I promise. But for now - bullet points.

  • Sewer pipe was replaced, all the pipes are now flowing smoothly. Thankful for drains that drain and that it all got done before the snow started.
  • We got our Christmas tree yesterday and amazingly enough Katie hasn’t tried to pull it down yet.
  • In the “for the first time in over eight months” file: all three girls slept through the night last night. AWESOME.
  • I was invited to fill the pulpit at our old church plant for the Sunday after Christmas. (The new pastor will be on vacation.) I’m honored to be asked. Text will be 1 Peter 1.
  • Oh yeah, did I say snow? We got just a bit overnight, but the forecasters are calling for the SNOWPOCALYPSE on Tuesday night and Wednesday - or at least 6 - 12 inches of the white stuff, along with 40 - 50 mph winds.
  • Matt Chandler is the real deal. Continuing to pray for his recovery from brain surgery. This pre-surgery video is awesome.
  • Every time I think I’ve gotten to some conclusion on whether we’re at the church we should be at long-term, something else comes up that pushes me back the other way. Kinda feels like we’re still in a holding pattern. Still praying.
  • And to finish with the truly trivial, we watched Nebraska do again on Saturday night what they seem to do best - snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory. Nobody deserved to win that Nebraska-Texas game. Texas came away the winner anyway. *sigh*

Orangeburg

So, those sewer troubles we had last week? They came back. After snaking out the drains on Friday night, by Monday night they were clogged again. Not good. This time I was going to get a better answer, so I called in the professionals. By Wednesday morning we were again cleaned out, but had our answer: we have Orangeburg sewer pipe on our main line, and it was mostly collapsed.

“Orangeburg” pipe is a sewer pipe that was used abundantly in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Manufactured primarily in Orangeburg, New York, it is comprised of wood fibers glued together with a water-resistant adhesive, and then infused with tar. While it was relatively inexpensive, it turns out that it doesn’t hold up so well structurally after 30 - 40 years; any shifting in the ground or intrusive tree roots can cause structural collapse. And so it was with our drain line. The guy who came and did a video inspection of our line said he could barely get the 1.5" camera lens through the pipe. Ouch.

We did some quick research on sewer contractors and found a good one who could come fairly quick. In preparation for the job, they graced our front yard with some equipment on Friday.

On Tuesday they will come replace our collapsed glued fiber pipe with some good old-fashioned cast iron, and we should then be set to flush away freely for as long as we live in the house. I suppose it’s a good general lesson, too, about engineering using new-fangled technology: sometimes the problems with your solution won’t be evident for a while… it’s wise to try to consider the long-term.

Not exactly to plan

Way I planned to spend Friday evening: reading a book and watching TV.

Way I actually spent Friday evening: feverish trip to Home Depot (20 minutes before close!) to rent the 100’ sewer snake.

But it’s not yet 10 pm, and the sewer is once again running freely, and at half the cost of calling a professional.

Still doing the post-mortem on the remains, but my first guess is that a small stuffed toy got sent to its’ watery grave by a resident toddler.

What Would Jesus Want Us To Think about Healthcare Reform? a Quick Response

What would Jesus want us to think about health care reform?

That’s the question that Justin Taylor proffers at his blog, courtesy of Brad Green, theology professor at Union University.  Professor Green’s response to the “what would Jesus do” question has four main points:

  • Conservatives don’t think that big new legislation will fix the problems with the system
  • Conservatives are opposed to the expansion of federal powers as an infringement on liberty
  • The Constitution doesn’t explicitly enumerate power in this area to the Federal government, so Health Care reform would be unconstitutional
  • Christians have a “strong view of human sin and thus are often not inclined to want to grant large amounts of power to any governmental body”

While I will concur with the final point, in the first three points Professor Green misses the boat in two critical ways.

First, he fails to acknowledge the reality that, regardless of how strictly he’d like to interpret the Tenth Amendment, the United States Supreme Court has a long history of allowing the Federal government expanded powers via the Interstate Commerce clause of the Constitution.  Just because he, personally, disagrees with that interpretation doesn’t mean that health care reform legislation will be unconstitutional.

Second, and far more greviously, Professor Green, by virtue of his first two points, has somehow assumed that Jesus’ political views were American Evangelical Conservative.  How else can he leap from “What Would Jesus Do?” to “Conservatives are opposed to this”?  If he wants to make the argument that Jesus would’ve held those views, he can try to make that argument, but he is foolhardy to think it can just be assumed.

If the evangelical political Right in America wants to oppose increased federal involvement in the health care system, there are reasonable arguments that can be made.  Shoddy reasoning, though, as demonstrated in this article, only makes them look silly.

Joining up... or not

That little announcement made its quarterly reappearance in the church bulletin last Sunday: “Times are available for those wishing to become members to meet with the elders.  Call the church office to schedule.”  It sits there on the page in eight point font and taunts me.  Church membership.  Am I really ready to join?

Ten years ago when we moved to Iowa we decided on a church relatively quickly, and once there, proceed with similar pace through the membership process.  After eight years there we left to help plant another church.  There was no official “membership” in the early stages of that church plant, but we were on the core team and I was an elder, so we were quite obviously committed. 

When it was clear the Lord was leading us away from the church plant, we finally settled on our current church home, where we’ve been attending for a year now.  Not just attending - involved, too.  I’m playing on the worship team once a month, Becky is volunteering in the nursery.  We attended the “welcome to the family” class several months ago.  It was a helpful introduction to the church’s history, doctrine, and philosophy of ministry.  At the time, we weren’t ready yet to join.  And now, as the announcement comes around again every three months, I wonder again, is it time?

My hesitancy isn’t a fear of responsibility or accountability - in fact, I’d much prefer being under the authority of a local church body to being some sort of Lone Ranger.  Three months in, I wasn’t ready to join mostly because joining felt like dating someone on the rebound - it was just too soon.  We’d been with our previous church family for nearly ten years, I wasn’t just gonna dive back in.   But now it’s been a year.  I don’t have any big doctrinal issues that would keep me from joining.  I guess it’s just mostly cold feet.  What if this ends up not being the place for us long-term?  On the other hand, how long do we stay in this holding pattern before we should just give up and admit that our current church has become our de facto home church and we should just go ahead and join?

Much to ponder.  Your thoughts are always appreciated.