Hey Guys,
I am going to be leaving this blog and heading to a new one, Apostolic Obsession. You can click on the link under Check out My Peeps.
Also, I am going to be out of pocket for about 3 weeks. I don't know when I will post. Check back.
Thanks for all the love and see you at the new place.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
It's Funny How Things Work Out
Nacho Libre is the movie of our life. If you haven't seen it, go now, so we can talk of holy things.
Saturday, we were reminiscing about how the boys called Jessie "Sister Encarnacion."
About a month ago, we had a discussion. What are we going to call her? Not just Jessie. Or other names they have for her. Joe has called her "Mommy" quite a bit. John has been hesitant. For the longest time we thought it was about divided loyalties. But he kind of broke down and said that if he called her "mom" he was afraid something bad would happen to her, too.
He got that out, and now he and Joe both call her "mom," and keep "Mommy" for Melissa.
So back to Saturday. They started singing Jack Black's Encarnacion song, but changed it to "encarnaci-mom."
I had to fight back some tears through hilarious laughter when John said, "Orphans, smile and be happy..."
Saturday, we were reminiscing about how the boys called Jessie "Sister Encarnacion."
About a month ago, we had a discussion. What are we going to call her? Not just Jessie. Or other names they have for her. Joe has called her "Mommy" quite a bit. John has been hesitant. For the longest time we thought it was about divided loyalties. But he kind of broke down and said that if he called her "mom" he was afraid something bad would happen to her, too.
He got that out, and now he and Joe both call her "mom," and keep "Mommy" for Melissa.
So back to Saturday. They started singing Jack Black's Encarnacion song, but changed it to "encarnaci-mom."
I had to fight back some tears through hilarious laughter when John said, "Orphans, smile and be happy..."
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Slowing Down
Michael and Becca Hughes came over to the Friday night dinner. They are moving into the neighborhood, just down the street, so we are very happy to have them with us. But they also came over because Michael and I are doing some music tomorrow in worship: “He Reached Down,” an Iris Dement song; “Moses Put Your Shoes On,” a kind of fast bluegrass number; and Kris Kristofferson’s “Why Me, Lord?” I am playing mandolin on the first and last, which is an instrument I am really getting to love. Luckily, Michael can carry a lot of the load, so I just show up and play a few chords—cause that’s all I know…
Around the dinner table, Michael, Rebecca, Melissa, Jessie and I got into a discussion that started out on how if you love the medieval period (and Michael and Becca did some architecture studies in Italy), this “postmodern” thing is no surprise. They may be nothing more postmodern, Michael said, than a baptistery he saw in… and I can’t remember the city! I agree; the cathedral of Notre Dame—postmodern. James Joyce knew that the Pearl-poem was more “modern” than his novel, Ulysses.
We got into crop biodiversity. And the slow food movement. And why the slow food movement has not necessarily invaded other aspects of our lives—such as relationships, or work. Michael opined that it’s because of a perfect storm that happened in urban planning and house development: cars, air conditioning, and t.v. Cars have us going all over, abandoning the “places” of our lives for significant stretches. AC means no more big porches. And t.v. means you look at the box, and you don’t have to talk to anyone.
Can technology aid the slowing down? So far it doesn’t look good. My Blackberry does if I make it—that is, I get more done during the day and turn it off at night. Otherwise, I ended up doing stuff I did not finish at home. Michael and I were on youtube looking up Bob Dylan and Bill Monroe. So there’s a chance to use it for a purpose besides something that is just done alone.
It will take some real thinking about how to slow down.
Around the dinner table, Michael, Rebecca, Melissa, Jessie and I got into a discussion that started out on how if you love the medieval period (and Michael and Becca did some architecture studies in Italy), this “postmodern” thing is no surprise. They may be nothing more postmodern, Michael said, than a baptistery he saw in… and I can’t remember the city! I agree; the cathedral of Notre Dame—postmodern. James Joyce knew that the Pearl-poem was more “modern” than his novel, Ulysses.
We got into crop biodiversity. And the slow food movement. And why the slow food movement has not necessarily invaded other aspects of our lives—such as relationships, or work. Michael opined that it’s because of a perfect storm that happened in urban planning and house development: cars, air conditioning, and t.v. Cars have us going all over, abandoning the “places” of our lives for significant stretches. AC means no more big porches. And t.v. means you look at the box, and you don’t have to talk to anyone.
Can technology aid the slowing down? So far it doesn’t look good. My Blackberry does if I make it—that is, I get more done during the day and turn it off at night. Otherwise, I ended up doing stuff I did not finish at home. Michael and I were on youtube looking up Bob Dylan and Bill Monroe. So there’s a chance to use it for a purpose besides something that is just done alone.
It will take some real thinking about how to slow down.
Largest Black Methodist Church in Kentucky
A few weeks ago, Dwight Ashley came to the Rock. He has a music ministry that is really something. He just has a powerful voice and testimony and praise. He sings across all styles it seems, but he has a decidedly black flavor. It’s soul music in every sense of the word!
That Sunday morning, Michael Hughes said he had thought about going to a black church, but came to the Rock… you just never know what it’s going to be!
We are within striking distance of being the largest black United Methodist Church in Kentucky. But we’re not black. Not white. Not Hispanic.
Tomorrow, Anthony Everett is coming to preach. He is the director for African American church development for the Kentucky United Methodists.
Can we dream that we will worship, not according to the color of our skin, but the confession of our souls?
That Sunday morning, Michael Hughes said he had thought about going to a black church, but came to the Rock… you just never know what it’s going to be!
We are within striking distance of being the largest black United Methodist Church in Kentucky. But we’re not black. Not white. Not Hispanic.
Tomorrow, Anthony Everett is coming to preach. He is the director for African American church development for the Kentucky United Methodists.
Can we dream that we will worship, not according to the color of our skin, but the confession of our souls?
Friday, June 26, 2009
They peed in my baptismal
It is a Lebowski moment. Andres points out that someone peed in our watering trough that we use for baptisms.
Whose hide do I take this out of?
Who is the Jackie Treehorn behind this. The nihilists, I can find them easily enough...
Whose hide do I take this out of?
Who is the Jackie Treehorn behind this. The nihilists, I can find them easily enough...
I'm an Uncle
My brother Nate and my sister-In-law Heather, have had their baby girl, Emersen.
Click on the link to their blog under "my peeps" to see that sweet little baby
Click on the link to their blog under "my peeps" to see that sweet little baby
Science Fiction Church
I grew up around Air Force personnel, on Air Force bases, and I spent a lot of time in the library. Air Force libraries have pretty decent science fiction sections, because so may of the airmen are in such high tech jobs, that science fiction is not far off from their day to day. Radar technicians, jet fuel labs, weapons/payload masters, jet engine mechanics, you name it. Occasionally I would meet them in the library and they would point me to the classics. I spent a lot of time reading Philip K. Dick, Robert Heinlein, Frank Herbert, Poul Anderson. In a lot of ways science fiction did not seem far off to me, either. Part of sci-fi is a kind of mind-numbing and exciting diversity of cultures. On some days I woke up, went to my neighbor Urban’s house, had good German bread with hot chocolate made from fresh sheep’s milk, then I’d go to the base where it was little America, but still a little tweaked. We moved a lot, made friends with all kinds of people.
Some days I would wonder, “will it be like Stranger in A Strange Land? What will it be like to interact with completely different people and mindsets?” And then I came to The Rock. It’s hard to tell what drives things. Have we accreted the groups we have—White and Hispanic to begin with, then African, then seeing class as culture in the white population, then African American, now possibly an outreach to refugees from Nepal—have we become this and it looks like Ensign Flandry’s world, or the court of Shaddam IV? Or is it something in our imagination, something embedded-- a kind of speculative anthropology—pulsating, in the Gospel?
Some days I would wonder, “will it be like Stranger in A Strange Land? What will it be like to interact with completely different people and mindsets?” And then I came to The Rock. It’s hard to tell what drives things. Have we accreted the groups we have—White and Hispanic to begin with, then African, then seeing class as culture in the white population, then African American, now possibly an outreach to refugees from Nepal—have we become this and it looks like Ensign Flandry’s world, or the court of Shaddam IV? Or is it something in our imagination, something embedded-- a kind of speculative anthropology—pulsating, in the Gospel?
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