Is this all there is?

Still not bitter... yet.

I'm not bitter... but wait.

We take this moment for a message from our sponsor.

Signs of the times.

The End Game.

The Old Man is dying... but not yet dead.

Paschal Sunday

Surprise!

Holy Saturday.

Good Friday.

The Damnations of Jeremiah

Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? •
Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow,

Which was brought upon me, •
which the Lord inflicted
on the day of his fierce anger.

For these things I weep;
my eyes flow with tears; •
for a comforter is far from me,
one to revive my courage.

Remember my affliction and my bitterness, •
the wormwood and the gall!

But this I call to mind, •
and therefore I have hope:

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, •
his mercies never come to an end;

They are new every morning; •
great is your faithfulness.

‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul, •
‘therefore I will hope in him.’

The Lord is good to those who wait for him, •
to the soul that seeks him.

It is good that we should wait quietly •
for the salvation of the Lord.

For the Lord will not reject for ever; •
though he causes grief, he will have compassion,

According to the abundance of his steadfast love; •
for he does not willingly afflict or grieve anyone.

Lamentations 1.12, 16a,b; 3.19, 21-26, 31-33

The above is a Song of Lamentations from the English Book of Common Worship, and is extracted from the Old Testament book "The Lamentations of Jeremiah".

A different Jeremiah has been in the news lately, a fiery black preacher in Chicago. Videos have been floating about the internet of Jeremiah Wright calling out God's judgment to damn America, not to bless us. In response to the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, he described those attacks as God's judgment upon America for being imperialistic (something Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson did as well, but for our being libertine). The very different sins of America that both Jeremiah Wright and Pat Robertson listed are indeed sins that I have considered as I look at my country. We should indeed fear God's judgment.

Following 9-11, everyone started putting up signs, banners, and bumper stickers that read, "God Bless America", even though we are materially the most "blessed" nation the world has ever seen. My wife suggested that we shouldn't be saying, "God Bless America" at that time, but "Bless God America" instead. I agreed with her, and produced thousands of bumper stickers to that effect.

And that is where Jeremiah Wright (and perhaps his disciple, Barack Obama) are mistaken. The true prophet's call should not be "God damn America", calling on God's wrath, but "Bless God, America", calling our nation to repentance in seeking God's mercy, as the Biblical prophet Jeremiah did so long ago for Israel's sake.

Bless God, America.

Mandate Day.

Today is Maundy Thursday in the western Christian Calendar.

Prior to Lent beginning this year, I was asked by a children's Sunday School Teacher if I knew what Maundy Thursday meant. She didn't know, but wanted to tell the kids what it meant. I had forgotten.

Here's the Wikipedia definition:

The word Maundy is derived through Middle English, and Old French mandé, from the Latin mandatum, the first word of the phrase "Mandatum novum do vobis ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos" ("A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you"), the statement by Jesus in the Gospel of John (13:34) by which Jesus explained to the Apostles the significance of his action of washing their feet. The phrase is used as the antiphon sung during the "Mandatum" ceremony of the washing of the feet, which may be held during Mass or at another time as a separate event, during which a priest or bishop (representing Christ) ceremonially washes the feet of others, typically 12 persons chosen as a cross-section of the community.

A new commandment has been given to us, a new mandate... to love one another as Christ Jesus loved us. Why oh why could I not remember what the word maundy means?

Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

Stiff-necked Germans.

Cellphone video from Palm Sunday 2008.

Not long after we first joined our church, we were asked to take part in a committee called "Natural Church Development" (NCD). The NCD process was to develop a picture of where the church is in several areas, and identify the strengths and the weaknesses. One of our great strengths was our "Lively Worship" at our 9:30 AM Sunday service.

Part of the survey was also to identify what one was "looked for" in a church. My response was that I looked for "a palpable sense of the Holy Spirit's presence". The crude cellphone video above indicates why we chose (and choose) Bethel Lutheran Church (warts and all).

[UPDATE] The NCD survey found two places that were weak at my church. The weak spots are often what hold a congregation back form being a Great Commission congregation. Our two weaknesses were/are 1) Passionate Spirituality, and 2) Need-based Evangelism. There was a lot of confusion among the committee members what these meant. Some though Passionate Spirituality meant "Jumpin' Jesus" worship, but that's not it. Some others thought that "Need-based Evangelism" referred to doing good works (food pantry, Habitat, etc.), but they were also mistaken.

Passionate Spirituality refers to an immediate and powerful sense of God's presence in our lives, usually realized through personal prayer. Need-based evangelism refers to be convinced that people need to be told the Good News of Jesus Christ for their salvation. In response to those two needs, I have just one word: Alpha.

I can see for miles and miles.

“The power of clear vision is called cynicism by those who have not got it.”
-- George Bernard Shaw

Let us make God in our image.

Our relation to God is unrighteous. Secretly we are ourselves the masters in this relationship. We are not concerned with God, but with our own requirements, to which God must adjust Himself. Our arrogance demands that, in addition to everything else, some super-world should also be known and accessible to us. Our conduct calls for some deeper sanction, some approbation and remuneration from another world.

Our well-regulated, pleasurable life longs for some hours of devotion, some prolongation into infinity. And so, when we set God upon the throne of the world, we mean by God ourselves. In "believing" on Him, we justify, enjoy, and adore ourselves.
   
-- Karl Barth, The Epistle to the Romans

Hello. My name is Michael, and I am a crack-pot.

Since God has so generously let us in on what he is doing, we're not about to throw up our hands and walk off the job just because we run into occasional hard times. We refuse to wear masks and play games. We don't maneuver and manipulate behind the scenes. And we don't twist God's Word to suit ourselves. Rather, we keep everything we do and say out in the open, the whole truth on display, so that those who want to can see and judge for themselves in the presence of God.

If our Message is obscure to anyone, it's not because we're holding back in any way. No, it's because these other people are looking or going the wrong way and refuse to give it serious attention. All they have eyes for is the fashionable god of darkness. They think he can give them what they want, and that they won't have to bother believing a Truth they can't see. They're stone-blind to the dayspring brightness of the Message that shines with Christ, who gives us the best picture of God we'll ever get.

Remember, our Message is not about ourselves; we're proclaiming Jesus Christ, the Master. All we are is messengers, errand runners from Jesus for you. It started when God said, "Light up the darkness!" and our lives filled up with light as we saw and understood God in the face of Christ, all bright and beautiful.

If you only look at us, you might well miss the brightness. We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. That's to prevent anyone from confusing God's incomparable power with us. As it is, there's not much chance of that. You know for yourselves that we're not much to look at. We've been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we're not demoralized; we're not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do; we've been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn't left our side; we've been thrown down, but we haven't broken. What they did to Jesus, they do to us—trial and torture, mockery and murder; what Jesus did among them, he does in us—he lives! Our lives are at constant risk for Jesus' sake, which makes Jesus' life all the more evident in us. While we're going through the worst, you're getting in on the best!

2 Corinthians 4:1-12, The Message

Creep, creep creep. Death comes creeping in.

My church rewarded Sunday School teachers with various gifts last week. Each teacher/facilitator got a little gift box with candy, a $10 gift card (Lowe's for the men, Starbucks for the ladies), and this bookmark.

Works Righteousness, the idea that we can get rewards from God for our good behavior, creeps into every human endeavor. It's the premise behind Islam and Mormonism, and it denies the Cross.

I'm not sure if I should continue leading a Sunday School class after receiving this award, this human stain. I'm not sure if I can. The very thought of this sickens me unto death.

The Theocracy of Lowered Expectations: Process vs. Product along the Way.

I attended two events of interest to me over the weekend. First, I attended a Healing Prayer workshop at an LCMS church in far southwest Arlington (next to Pantego). Being as this was a true "hands-on" training session, it really underscored the LCMS church I recently visited where the congregational leaders voted to not touch each other for fear of spreading germs.

I also attended the opening of a old friend's art exhibition relating to a cover she did for the 2005 Neiman Marcus Christmas catalog (this is a really big deal). Pauline is a friend of mine from university days, with whom I exhibited in art galleries in the 1980s. Very talented lady, but one whom I had pretty much lost contact with until recently. Her exhibition focused on the process involved in coming up with the final design for the Christmas Book, not so much the end product. Hence the show's name: "Process".

As God often does with me, He stitched these two events together as a narrative.

First the art. When I was an artist (if that may be said of me), my interest was drawing, but not in the way that people tend to think. Drawing is often seen as a preliminary step to the production of art through the use of studies. A drawing might be seen as preparing the way for the "art" which was to follow, and was of lesser importance. Subservient, perhaps, to the finished product. But for me, the drawing was itself the completion of the thought, almost a snapshot of the brain's activity. In a drawing, especially in the chaotic forms of a sketchpad with multiple compositions intertwined by the desire to save paper, I could see the artist's mind and soul at work. It was as if they had dug deep into their experience and held up large gobs of their life for my inspection.

Preliminary sketches, studies, roughs, thumbnails, and paper napkins all spoke to me in a way that a finished painting or sculpture (or a "finished" drawing) never could. Here was the living process of thinking, chewing, fighting, and loving that would give up its life for a finished product. In the pursuit of the final product, the real would be exchanged for an idol.

The Healing Prayer Workshop dealt with the aspects of living the Christian life "in the Spirit" as was described in the new Testament Book of Acts and the Pauline Epistles. There was no "church" as we think of one today... a place you dress up to go to on Sunday morning. In the first century, one didn't go to church, one was the church. As part of the Spirit of God Filled Life, miracles not only happened, they were expected (if not predicted). The whole point of being a follower of The Way was to have your spirit super-infused with God's spirit, like a sponge soaking up water to the point of leakage. One moved in a community of water-sloshing sponges, constantly being refilled. The idea was to make everything wet.

But as the church (the ecclesia) "matured", it became "Church". The Church became an entity apart from the sloshing-sponges. It became a place of memories and tales of the Sloshing Spirit, but a place where such outbursts might damage the man-made structure. The process of being filled with the Spirit of God gave way to the product of Church. Because God's sponge-filling could be (and usually was) messy, the Church needed to codify it, and make it part of ritual that the Church could control. So, as they focused on the final product of "Christianity", the process of becoming a "Christ-ian" was almost completely lost.

To quote myself...

Preliminary sketches, studies, roughs, thumbnails, and paper napkins all spoke to me in a way that a finished painting or sculpture (or a "finished" drawing) never could. Here was the living process of thinking, chewing, fighting, and loving that would give up its life for a finished product. The real would be exchanged for an idol.

Here we now have the real exchanged for the unreal. The Spirit in Flesh exchanged for a lifeless idol.

"The Church welcomes you. Now sit down." No thanks. I must be on the Way now.

Party Ruckus.

"I'm not a member of any organized political party, I'm a Democrat!"
-- Will Rogers

The caucus was a mess, the worst side of politics. No obvious shenanigans, but I didn’t stay for the whole thing (4:30 AM comes pretty early here). Almost 200 people, pretty evenly split between Obambots and Clintonians. There were only 12 at the last precinct caucus (which exposes the story that Reps were voting for Hill as false… may prove just the opposite). It WAS fun to see the GOP precinct meeting moved to a small room to make more room available for the Dems. Voting was easily 4:1 Dem to Rep at my precinct

I saw the Deaniacs there, and they are all Obamamaniacs now. Perhaps there’s a connection. I’m eager for Hill to get the nomination and show the Quack from Vermont the door. The good doctor represents a myopic view of America.

The “Texas Two-Step” is clearly meant to negate/mitigate the general primary results. It’s a bad system only a pol could come up with.

The GOP-controlled suburbs and the more Dem urban cities all had a roughly 60/40 Obama/Hillary split (urban was really closer to 65/35)… which I interpret as GOP crossovers voting Obama in the burbs, and high AA turnout in the core.

Oddity.

James Brolin as Llewellyn Moss in the Coen brother's movie version of Cormac McCarthy's "No Country For Old Men".




Publicity photo of Cormac McCarthy from 1972.

Land of the Brave, Home of the Free.

1 in 100 U.S. Adults Behind Bars, New Study Says

By ADAM LIPTAK 2:57 PM ET

With 1.6 million people in prison, the incarceration rate is now the highest in American history, a new report says.

• Graphic
• Text of the Report

Ashes, dust, Texas wind, and Pneuma

"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust."

Meaning: We come from dust; we return to dust.

Origin: From the English Burial Service. Adapted from the Biblical text, Genesis 3:19 (King James Version):

"In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return."

While I don't recommend it, a glimpse at how an embalmed corpse decays inside of an airtight box might change your mind about having your loved ones cremated (or their having you cremated).

My father specified that he be cremated, and his ashes spread over the graves of my mother and sister. It was a very windy spring day on the Texas plains, so we had to dump his ashes in a small pile. One of my young nieces walked over to the pile of ashes as the adults said prayers, and started poking the small mound with a stick. Her mother told her to stop, as those were the remains of my dad. She looked at her mother, then looked back at the ashes, and said, "That's not Grampa Harry."

Truer words were never spoken. Had she seen an embalmed cadaver, she might not have made the important disassociation.

Under our noses... can you smell it?

Christian Quotation of the Day

February 25, 2008

Meditation:
   ... for it is light that makes everything visible. This is
why it is said: "Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and
Christ will shine on you."
   -- Ephesians 5:14 (NIV)

_______________________________________________________________

Quotation:
   We have the means to evangelize our country; but they are
slumbering in the pews of our churches.
   ... John R. W. Stott (b.1921)

_______________________________________________________________

Quiet time reflection:
   Lord, awaken Your people to the need for Christ
everywhere.

_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

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_______________________________________________________________

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Ask an ambassador.

Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson:

With the emergence of Sen. John McCain as the presumptive Republican nominee, the choice for the Democrats in the 2008 presidential election now shifts to who is best positioned to beat him, in what promises to be a more hard-fought campaign -- and perhaps a nastier one -- than Democrats anticipated.

Sen. Barack Obama's promise of transformation and an end of partisan politics has its seductive appeal. The Bush-Cheney era, after all, has been punctuated by smear campaigns, character assassinations and ideological fervor.

Nobody dislikes such poisonous partisanship, especially in foreign policy, more than I do. I am one of very few Foreign Service officers who have served as ambassador in the administrations of both George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, yet I have spent the past four years fighting a concerted character assassination campaign orchestrated by the George W. Bush White House.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is one of the few who fully understood the stakes in that battle. Time and again, she reached out to my wife -- outed CIA officer Valerie Plame Wilson -- and me to remind us that as painful as the attacks were, we simply could not allow ourselves to be driven from the public square by bullying. To do so would validate the radical right's thesis that the way to win debates is to demonize opponents, taking full advantage of the natural desire to avoid confrontation, even if it means yielding on substantive issues. Hillary knew this from experience, having spent the better part of the past 20 years fighting the Republican attack machine. She is a fighter.

But will Mr. Obama fight? His brief time on the national scene gives little comfort. Consider a February 2006 exchange of letters with Mr. McCain on the subject of ethics reform. The wrathful Mr. McCain accused Mr. Obama of being "disingenuous," to which Mr. Obama meekly replied, "The fact that you have now questioned my sincerity and my desire to put aside politics for the public interest is regrettable but does not in any way diminish my deep respect for you." Then one of McCain's aides said of Obama, "Obama wouldn't know the difference between an RPG and a bong."

Mr. McCain was insultingly dismissive but successful in intimidating his inexperienced colleague. Thus, in his one face-to-face encounter with Mr. McCain, Mr. Obama failed to stand his ground.

What gives us confidence Mr. Obama will be stronger the next time he faces Mr. McCain, a seasoned political fighter with extensive national security credentials? Even more important, what special disadvantages does Mr. Obama carry into this contest on questions of national security?

How will Mr. Obama answer Mr. McCain about his careless remark about unilaterally bombing Pakistan -- perhaps blowing up an already difficult relationship with a nuclear state threatened by Islamic extremists? How will Mr. Obama respond to charges made by the Kenyan government that his campaigning activities in Kenya in support of his distant cousin running for president there made him "a stooge" and constituted interference in the politics of an important and besieged ally in the war on terror?

How will he answer charges that his desire for unstructured personal summits without preconditions with a host of America's adversaries, from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Kim Jong Il, would be little more than premature capitulation?

Senator Obama claims superior judgment on the war in Iraq based on one speech given as a state legislator representing the most liberal district in Illinois at an anti-war rally in Chicago, and in so doing impugns the integrity of those who were part of the debate on the national scene. In mischaracterizing the debate on the Authorization for the Use of Military Force as a declaration of war, he implicitly blames Democrats for George Bush's war of choice. Obama's negative attack line does not conform to the facts. Nothing could be farther from the truth. I should know. I was among the most prominent anti-war voices at the time -- and never heard about or from then Illinois State Senator Obama.

George Bush made it clear publicly when lobbying for the bill that he wanted it not to go to war but to give him the leverage he needed to go to the United Nations and secure intrusive inspections of Saddam's suspected Weapons of Mass Destruction sites. Who could argue with that goal? Colin Powell made the same case individually to Senators in the run up to the vote, including to Senator Clinton. It is not credible that Senator Obama would not have succumbed to Secretary Powell's arguments had he been in Washington at the time. Why not? Obama himself suggested so in 2004. "I'm not privy to Senate intelligence reports,' Obama said. 'What would I have done? I don't know." He also told the Chicago Tribune in 2004: "There's not much of a difference between my position and George Bush's position at this stage." According to press reports, Powell is now an informal adviser to Mr. Obama.

In his tendentious attack, Obama never mentions that Hans Blix, the chief United Nations weapons inspectors, declared that without the congressional Authorization for the Use of Military Force the inspectors would never have been allowed into Iraq. Hillary's approach -- and that of the majority of Democrats in the Senate -- was to let the inspectors complete their work while building an international coalition. Hillary's was the road untaken. The betrayal of the American people, and of the Congress, came when President Bush refused to allow the inspections to succeed, and that betrayal is his and his party's, not the Democrats.

Contrary to the myth of his campaign, 2008 is not the year for transcendental transformation. The task for the next administration will be to repair the damage done by eight years of radical rule. And the choice for Americans is clear: four more years of corrupt Republican rule, senseless wars, evisceration of the Constitution, emptying of the national treasury -- or rebuilding our government and our national reputation, piece by piece. Obama's overtures to Republicans, or "Obamacans" as the Senator calls them, is a substitute for true national unity based on a substantive program. His marginal appeals have marginally helped him in caucuses in Republican states that Democrats won't win in the general election. But his vapid rhetoric will not withstand the winds of November. His efforts will be correctly seen by the Republican leadership as a sign of weakness to be exploited. While disaffected Democrats may long for comity in our politics after years of being harangued and belittled by the right wing echo chamber, the Rovians currently promoting Obama are looking to destroy him should he become the nominee. Obama's claim to float uniquely above the fray and avoid polarization will be short-lived. He is no less mortal than any other Democrat -- Michael Dukakis, Al Gore, John Kerry -- all untouched at the beginning of their campaigns and all mauled by the end. We should never forget recent history.

In order to effect practical change against a determined adversary, we do not need a would-be philosopher-king but a seasoned gladiator who understands the fight Democrats will face in the fall campaign and in governing.

Theodore Roosevelt once commented, "It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly."

If he were around today, TR might be speaking of the woman in the arena. Hillary Clinton has been in that arena for a generation. She is one of the few to have defeated the attack machine that is today's Republican Party and to have emerged stronger. She is deeply knowledgeable about governing; she made herself into a power in the Senate; she is respected by our military; and she never flinches. She has never been intimidated, not by any Republican -- not even John McCain.

Barack Obama claims to represent the future, but it should be increasingly evident that he is not the man for this moment, especially with Mr. McCain's arrival. We've seen a preview of that contest already. It was a TKO.

Former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV was in the Foreign Service for 23 years, and served in Iraq in the years leading up to the Persian Gulf war. He is the author of "The Politics of Truth." His e-mail is jcwivwdc@yahoo.com.

Your own personal Jesus.

Perhaps you’ve heard the old (1989) Depeche Mode song, “Personal Jesus,” or the version of the same song Johnny Cash recorded on his last album.

Reach out and touch faith
Your own personal Jesus
Someone to hear your prayers
Someone who cares

Maybe you think somebody else might have a “personal Jesus”, but not you. Jesus lived a long time ago in a land far away. He left us many great teachings and actions, but he isn’t someone we can actually know today. How could that be possible? You would have to have been born 2000 years ago. How can you do that? The Alpha Course is a way to meet Jesus in a truly personal way.

Reach out and touch faith
Feeling unknown and you're all alone
Flesh and bone by the telephone
Lift up the receiver, I'll make you a believer
I will deliver, you know I'm a forgiver

On the first Easter 2000 years ago, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb where Jesus was laid and found it empty. Perhaps that’s how going to church strikes you today. You’ve been told that is where Jesus can be found, but it still seems empty to you.

But Mary heard a voice behind. She turned and saw Jesus, alive, calling to her. On the Alpha Course, over a ten week period, you too can stand where Mary stood and see Jesus… not dead in a cold tomb, but alive and reaching out to you personally. This year, why not take Easter personally.

Your own personal Jesus
Reach out and touch faith

I'll drink to that.

Nobama.

I was "Clean for Gene" in 1968. We got Nixon, and more war.

I was a McGovern supporter in 1972. We got more Nixon, and still more war.

I believe if Barack Obama is nominated for U.S. President, we will have John McCain, and more wars.

Here's why I believe this.

Not Ballantine's day.

- Jasper Johns

It's a good day to take an arrow for a loved one.

- Jim Dine

God in the box.

Pictured above is the Great Coxwell Barn, a large 14th century tithe barn in England. It is not a church, and never has been one. Its architectural similarity to a Gothic church lies in the construction technology available to build a large, open space.

Today, if you build a church that looks like a warehouse, you might get criticzed by traditionalists. I guess it’s all a matter of which worship model you subscribe to:

Gothic Cathedral Model
God: Worship Leader
Clergy & Choir: Worship Performers
Congregation: Worship Audience

Big Box Model
God: Worship Audience
Clergy & Choir: Worship Leaders
Congregation: Worship Performers

It’s fascinating to notice that the only major difference between a Gothic Tithe Barn and a Gothic Church in England is that the church has a steeple and movable chairs. “Plain Big Box” worship has a long history in Christendom.

Osmosis vs. Immersion

Osmosis is the diffusion of water through a cell wall or membrane or any semi-permeable barrier from a solution of low solute concentration to a solution with high solute concentration, up a solute concentration gradient. It is a physical process in which a solvent moves, without input of energy, across a semi permeable membrane (permeable to the solvent, but not the solute) separating two solutions of different concentrations.

Immerse (third-person singular simple present immerses, present participle immersing, simple past immersed, past participle immersed)

1. (transitive) To put under the surface of a liquid; to dunk.

   Archimedes determined the volume of objects by immersing them in water.

2. (transitive) To involve deeply

   The sculptor immersed himself in anatomic studies.

I do not believe in conversion by osmosis. I believe in conversion by metanoia and immersion... in total baptism from above.

Natural Christianity.

What does the purest form of being a follower of Jesus the Christ look like? Sound like? Feel like? Taste like?

I have some ideas and some examples, but mostly, I have man-made traditions to overcome. I hope this rambling site has been an attempt to address the search for natural Christianity at times (hopefully, more often than not). Too often, I fear, it has been a search for the natural man.

If you click the title above, you'll be linked to a program I feel promotes natural Christianity.

if you click here, you'll find a blog titled Natural Christianity. This is not a recommendation, but an observation.

The Nostrils of God.

Psalm 141

O LORD, I call to you; come quickly to me.
Hear my voice when I call to you.

May my prayer be set before you like incense;
may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.

The current understanding of how our olfactory senses work has changed from what was believed just a few years ago. Then, it was believed that we "smelled" things by way of chemical communication: a particle of matter would enter our nose and become lodged in the "sensing" area. The particle (of strawberry, say) would emit a chemical signature (or, odor) and the smell receptors would then send the bran a message that strawberries were nearby.

Today, we understand the phenomenon a little differently. The item's molecules enter the nasal passages, where they are caught by a receptor that has a very similar shape to the molecule's. Once lodged in placed, the olfactory sensor begins to vibrate, measuring the resonance of the trapped molecule. The readings are "decoded", and information is sent to the brain ("We're rolling in strawberries!"). The key here is that the nose doesn't wait for the molecule to announced it's composition, but instead it performs an examination.

Holy Scripture talks about God's nostrils. When we pray, God breathes us in. We enter into his "nostrils" where there are receptors shaped like we are. We lodge into a cubby-hole that's about right for us, and God then runs his examination on us. We are analyzed, scanned, and categorized.

The point of this "up the nose of God" entry is this: God made us, each one of, intentionally and deliberately. Not only did he form us as unique creatures, he formed receptacles in his nostrils for us. Unique, individual, and personal.

"For God so loves us, that he gave his only Son..."

Forty Days X 100.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner.

Appalachian Snake Handlers

Nairobi Trio

Law and Gospel.

Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.

John 6:15

For years, I couldn't figure out this passage from the Gospel according to John. Didn't Jesus want to be King? Was the crowd going to grab him and and force him to be King against his will? What was he afraid of?

What I didn't really understand was that the crowds "didn't get it". They'd missed the point of Jesus' gospel message. For a long time, I didn't "get it" either.

But it slowly dawned on me – if you can call the breaking of the sun (Son?) over the horizon, shining light into the darkness, "slow". Jesus had said it to Pilate plain enough: "My Kingdom is not of this world." Forcing the Kingdom was not only implausible... it was against God's will.

Herein lies the problem with thinking we can become a "Christian nation" by passing legislation. It's simply a return to the Law, which we are hopeless to follow (but good at both faking it, and pointing out other's failure to obey). Jesus himself would not allow his name or his power to be used for political purposes.

The change in people must come from the inside by way of God's life-giving Holy Spirit (to be born a new man/woman), not from the outside by the imposition of the Law. The exterior change is only a whitewashed tomb.

When we try to impose God's will (The Law) by human initiative, Jesus withdraws from us. Stage left, or stage right, he leaves us to our own devices.

Looking down, looking up.

Tree of Life.

A note to Father.

Heavenly Father,
even your name is holy.

Bring your Kingdom now,
and realize your will on Earth just as in Heaven.

You provide for our needs,
day by day.

You forgive us,
as we forgive.

You do not put us on trial,
but you free us from our accuser.

What he said.

Postum-Notes 2

A follow-up to the posting below about how Kraft Foods might save the Postum Brand of instant hot coffee-replacement beverage.

I suggested they employ a strategy of repackaging Postum with new content (real coffee), and then slowly bring old Postum back in. I ignored the obvious methodology, the one that passes the Occam's Razor test, and has been seen time and time again on you grocer's shelves.

Kraft wouldn't swift/change the product, even temporarily. The brand managers BELIEVE in Postum. It's their livelihood. No, rather than change the bland product for something stimulating and exciting, they'd change the packaging to be stimulating and exciting, while keeping the boring product that one would consume only out of habit or tradition.

Let's not lose sight of the fact that Postum itself is a fraud, a substitute for the real thing (morning coffee) without any of the benefits. No anti-oxidants, no caffeine, no flavor.

So too the mainline churches, who long ago replaced the real Body of Christ with a clubby fellowship of "people like us" who all hold in common a lowered expectation of the Christian life. Their great fears are enthusiasm and emotionalism, because they are against "club rules". They will promote pietism as a means of avoiding piety, and even spirituality to avoid the impact of the Spirit of God.

As these clubs continue to shrink, as their market-share declines, many have turned to a more stimulating package without reverting to authentic Spirit-based Christianity. Why?

Because following Christ Jesus is not what they offer, but a branded identity instead... denominationalism. It's loyalty to a comfortable "brand", and not to the unsettling Lord.

Postmortum.

I read that Kraft is discontinuing C.W. Post's caffeine-free instant coffee substitute, Postum. Many Mormons are in a quandary, as they seem to be the last consumers of this toasted cereal beverage, drinking it in accordance with their cult's ban on caffeine (Postum is 100% caffeine free, unlike decaf coffees).

But in the middle of the night, an idea arrived via night-mail (which is how I get most of my ideas).

Suppose you were Kraft Foods, and you saw the declining market share for Postum and recognized that changes were needed. So, you came out with NEW IMPROVED Postum (NIP), which was really 100% Columbian coffee. Except for Mormons, the folks who tried the samples of NIP loved it. They felt refreshed, stimulated, and excited by their new Postum experience, whereas their same old Postum experience (SOP) was of a tasteless, ineffective, uninspiring beverage that they were told was "good for them", although they could discern no changes in the lives of the SOP drinkers.

The consumers clamored for more of this NIP, but Kraft saw that switching to NIP was going to require more changes in the production and distribution channels than the entrenched hierarchy was willing to accept. So their plan was to entice new consumers with NIP, and then once they were used to the branding, switch them slowly back to SOP.

They were puzzled when those who came to the New Improved Postum abandoned the brand when Kraft began blending in SOP with NIP. Eventually, all the NIP drinkers went down the aisle to the new Starbucks brand... even many of the decaf drinkers (but not the Mormons).

"What in the hell is this all about?" you might ask.

This is how most mainstream churches deal with attempts at renewal within their bodies. Bait and switch. When the renewal fails (after the switch begins), they blame it on the fickle consumers, who have since moved on to a more refreshing, stimulating, and exciting non-denominational coffee shop down the road.

Go out and buy this recording.

THE TRUE FALSE IDENTITY
T Bone Burnett

C. S. Lewis once said, "We don’t need more Christian writers. We need more great writers who are Christian.” It's true for singer/songwriters, too. Case in point.

Why I can't bow to the supply-side altar.

"The best minds are not in government. If any were, business would hire them away."
-- Ronald Reagan

This is a good example of the single-minded Mammon worship that "Market-Based-Economy-As-A-Philosophy-Of-Life" breeds.

The idea that EVERY human value has a solely monetary value flies in the face of the Judeo-Christian values we supposedly hold as a Nation (I say "supposedly" for a reason). But then again, it does explain why the current Administration prefers entrusting National Security and Foreign Policy activities to corporate entities like Blackwater and Halliburton instead of the U.S. Army, the State Department, and the Corps of Engineers. For one thing, Mammon-based decision making is much simpler than Ethics-based policy decisions (and certainly simpler than Scripturally-based policy decisions). It is simply a matter of profit.

The concept of "Public Service" is totally lost on these people. Public service and self-sacrifice is something for "chumps" to do.

I left the world of private enterprise (Advertising) for a job as a public servant (Municipal Planning) partly as a result of my Christian conversion. One of the signs that I had to change (and I have to stress that this is a personal, not universal, decision) was when I had a client whose corporate name was M.I.P. I couldn't see any connection between his business (medical services consulting) and his corporate name. I asked, and he replied, "M.I.P. stands for Make It Pay."

Mammon worship, the arbitrator of all values.

"What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?"
-- Matthew 16:26

Taking the Mass out of Christmas.

For the first time in over 25 years, I didn't attend church this Christmas... neither on Christmas Eve nor on Christmas Day. We stayed away from "church". Did we let the predominant American culture "win" this year? No.

Actually, it was resistance against the predominant American culture that kept us away, that kept us from "Christening" the events of the Winter Holidays by going to church. We honored the birth of the Christ (which didn't happen during the winter months), but not in the way that is "supposed" to be the "Christian way".

Neo-puritans?

No Nie-jerk reaction

Institutions can never conserve without betraying the movements from which they proceed. The institution is static, whereas its parent movement has been dynamic; it confines men within its limits, while the movement had liberated them from the bondage of institutions; it looks to the past, [although] the movement had pointed forward. Though in content the
institution resembles the dynamic epoch whence it proceeded, in spirit it is like the [state] before the revolution. So the Christian church, after the early period, often seemed more closely related in attitude to the Jewish synagogue and the Roman state than to the age of Christ and his apostles; its creed was often more like a system of philosophy than like the living gospel.

... H. Richard Niebuhr (1894-1962), The Kingdom of God in
     America [1959]

My proposed epitaph.

"We can not have all things to please us,
no matter how we try.
Until we've all gone to Jesus,
we can only wonder why."

-- Gillian Welch

This is an important point to remember.

"The Kingdom of Heaven is not for the well-meaning:
it is for the desperate."

--James Denney, D.D. (1856-1917), Scottish theologian and preacher.

Are you truly desperate (sinfully so), or are you comfortably desperate (theologically so)?  It makes a very big difference.

Single Malt Whiskey

"TEN" does indeed indicate that this is a 10 year old bottling. Nose shows damp earth, rot, ripe persimmon, cheap apple juice, peat smoke, seaweed, kelp beginning to rot on a beach. Less integrated than older Ardbegs. Palate shows strong earthy notes along with phenols, tar, old books, lavender, and peat. The finish shows tar, pine pitch, vintage port sediment. An excellent and highly recommended bottling.

http://www.mcgees.org/malts/ardbegten.html

What's not to like? It's on my shopping list.

Gentleman, choose your weapon.

Following up on the previous post, perhaps a change in implements is the intended course of action.

Perhaps I should consider less of this "driving the plough" approach...


...and more of this "gardening can" method. Soaking prayer as opposed to grinding labor.

The Dust Bowl

Yesterday, while in prayer with others, this is the image that was given to me about my evangelism efforts based at my home church. Dry fields, rocks, and just a few sprigs that soon wither for lack of water, while I relentlessly push a plow over the same empty furrows time and time again. Sisyphus meets the Dust Bowl.

Whereas the Romans plowed salt into the fields of Carthage so that the Carthaginians could never again feed themselves, this field seems to have had spiritual pride plowed into the soil. Spiritual pride is a desiccant that draws all the moisture and nutrients out of the soil, and causes the refreshing rain to simply run-off instead of soaking in.

The field is not without harvest, but the harvest comes from the far edges of the field, from the edges that are closer to other fields.

This was a disturbing image placed into my heart. Was it placed by the enemy as a discouragement? Or was it placed as a sign to shake the dust of this field off my feet? I'll be unpacking this visual metaphor for a while, and prayerfully seek guidance.

Meanwhile, its Sunday morning, and I have a harness to put on.

Matthew 11:29-30