Home for the Holidays?

The popular holiday tune has travelers chuckling to one another "from Atlantic to Pacific, gee the traffic is terrific!" How like the original Christmas story, everyone is on the move.

 

Joseph and Mary are headed south for the census. The wise men caravan west out of Baghdad. The shepherds, already away from home at night, start off on a side trip to verify what angels had reported. Herod would be travelling, but his GPS is on the fritz and he is awaiting directions. (recalculating...)

 

After the child is born, they are off again, not home to Galilee, but to Egypt. What a travelogue! How many visas and border crossings would there have been if Messiah had come instead in 2011? Imagine how stressed TSA would be if every April 15 we all had to go home to pay our taxes.

 

There is so much movement going on in the Christmas story that we gloss right over the most amazing journey that happens. The Prince of Heaven comes to a dark little corner of our planet. (Well, it's not ours really, we just live here. But you get my meaning.) Divinity gets off the throne and visits humanity. Majesty takes on our poverty. That's an amazing journey.

 

So holiday traffic is nothing new. Drive safely. Have a blessed season. Watch out for angels crossing against the lights. And who knows, if we play our cards right, maybe we'll get to see what Messiah looks like coming in 2011.

 

Maranatha! Merry Christmas!

Missional Christmas Carols - part 5

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day is based on Longfellow's wrenching poem written in the depths of the War Between the States. One of the verses that didn't make it into the carol holds this powerful image: "It was as if an earthquake rent the heathstones of a continent."

 

A unified whole, the carol nevertheless drops two verses that limit the scope to that war, and rearranges the remaining five. Here is the carol in its entirety.

 

 I heard the bells on Christmas Day
    Their old, familiar carols play,
        And wild and sweet the words repeat
    Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

    And thought how, as the day had come,
    The belfries of all Christendom
        Had rolled along the unbroken song
    Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

    And in despair I bowed my head;
    "There is no peace on earth," I said;
        "For hate is strong, and mocks the song
    Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"

    Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
    "God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
        The Wrong shall fail, the Right prevail,
    With peace on earth, good-will to men."

    Till ringing, singing on its way,
    The world revolved from night to day,
        A voice, a chime, a chant sublime
    Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

This carol is unusual in that it dwells entirely in the modern era, if you can call 1863 modern. It is included here among missional carols not for any instruction to care for the poor, or break chains of oppression, but for the ringing pronouncement that Wrong shall fail and Right prevail. While Longfellow rightly attributes this to the Living Insomniant God, our own participation with Him is certainly implied. Longfellow's poem ended with that potent verse. Seven years after the war Calkin wrote the tune and moved an intermediate verse down to the end, as by then the world had indeed finally revolved from night to day. At least temporarily.

Missional Christmas Carols - part 4

The missional turn in a carol happens when we leave Bethlehem and the shepherds (and the wee donkey too) and deal with the "so what?" for living today. Joy to the World gets at it down in verse 3: "No more let sins and sorrows grow, Nor thorns infest the ground. He comes to make his blessings flow, Far as the curse is found." Here is wonderful balance between grace and action. He has seen our situation, the curse we have covered ourselves with as a blanket. And as deep and wide as those compounded sins go, he is pouring out blessings, his blessing, that will overwhelm and saturate all our sin. Our response? No more let sins grow. Inattention and careless living is complicity with the thorn bushes, as my garden shows clearly enough. The weeds have their own agenda. Laissez faire may work for the economy, but not for life. But when sins and their attendant sorrows are rooted out, then blessing is unencumbered and can roll where he will send it. Laissez faire, Let it be so.

Missional Christmas Carols - part 3

I remember every Christmas Eve program growing up we kids would sing "O Little Town of Bethlehem" and get a bag of hard candies at the end of the program.   We never, however, sang the third verse: "No ear may hear His coming, but in this world of sin, where meek souls will receive him still, the dear Christ enters in."   I was twenty one before I really got ahold of this truth.

Missional Christmas Carols - part 2

Good King Wenceslas makes no mention of Bethlehem, the Christ Child, nor even God or Christmas, although the feast of Stephen referenced falls on December 26th. It recounts the story of Bohemian Saint Vaclav who around 930AD went barefoot into the snow to give alms. He died at 28.   The last line of the fifth verse gives the missional punch:   "Therefore Christian men be sure, wealth or rank possessing, Ye who now will bless the poor shall yourselves find blessing."   Originally published in a collection of Easter music, this beloved English carol was written in 1853 by John Mason Neale. The tune is much older, being collected as a springtime carol from the late middle ages. Aside from the cheerful tune, the carol also marked the church tradition of giving alms on St. Stephen's Day. Stephen was one of the seven appointed by the Apostles to care for the poor and widows as told in Acts.

Missional Christmas Carols - part 1

Millennial Christ-followers desiring a faith with street credibility will find common cause with many hymn writers of 160 years ago. O Holy Night was originally a French carol of 1847 and brought into the American song book by a Unitarian minister in 1855.

The third verse, tracking closely with the French original reads,

"Truly He taught us to love one another;
His law is love and His gospel is peace.
Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother;
And in His name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
Let all within us praise His holy name..."

Here the French carol feeds the emergence of the American abolitionist movement, itself an outgrowth of the Second Great Awakening. A powerful rediscovery of God leads inescapably to pracical matters of justice, not just in the life of the church, but in the economic sector as well.

Abraham Kuyper, Dutch theologian a few years later would declare, "No single piece of our mental world is to be hermetically sealed off from the rest, and there is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: 'Mine!'"

Take a Lesson from Chile

The world press is agog with the triumphant rescue of miners from the San Jose mine in Chile, as well they should be. The international cooperation of effort to save the miners is a landmark. Now that all are brought out alive the Chilean officials have turned to looking for causes and blame. What if the same approach had been applied to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf? First all hands on deck to fix the problem, then afterward play the blame game. How might it have turned out differently with Chilean leadership styles rather than American blame cycles?

Let's Start Small

Politicians will often try to get their name on some building project, Reagan Airport, Kennedy Space Center, etc. I'd like to propose Barack Obama Ct. here in Merced.

 

There are lots of unnamed streets in our unfinished developments full of half built houses that no one can afford to buy.

 

Besides, I think a cul du sac is a perfect picture. Once you go down it you find it doesn't lead anywhere and your only choice is to turn around and go back the way you came. 

 

 

The Problem with Book Burning

Florida pastor Terry Jones is set to burn a book that confirms Jesus as Messiah (Quran surah 3:45). A book that proclaims resurrection for followers of Jesus, s3:55. A book endorsing the entire message of the Old Testament and affirming the continuity of Jesus' preaching with those OT prophets s4:163; s5:46; s5:68. Surah 60:8 actually forbids violence against those not actively opposing Islam.

Of course there are real differences between biblical doctrine and the message of the Quran. Jesus of the Bible is uncreated and coeternal with the Father (John 1:1). The biblical Jesus really died on the cross (John 19:33,34) and has already been raised to life. Jesus in the Bible received worship as God (John 20:28) and proclaimed his equality with God (John 10:30). The Jesus of Quran is "son of Mary" and never "son of God," so I get why pastor wants to burn it. It is probably not for hateful things regarding infidels, but for what it says about Jesus. The most important question in the world is the one Jesus asked Peter, "Who do you say that I am?" (Matthew 16:15,16) What do you think about Jesus? Was he a man only, or God only, half and half, or is he fully God and fully man? The answer, your answer, is very telling.

My point is that there are lines of truth buried in the Quran that would lead a serious student into contact with eternal truth about Jesus. The Quran endorses the message of the Law, the Prophets, and the Gospel. What is wanted is not burning but real reading of Quran and then the books Quran endorses. I am not liberal in many senses, but in this I am. I believe one who freely (liberally) reads and engages the texts will find the truth welling up within. Inshla

Nose vs. Face

I understand the dire threat that cyber attack is to American security. So Senator Lieberman's Internet Kill Switch bill is making its way through channels, having passed from committee last week. Whether or not the bill is actually a kill switch, or a prohibition on using a kill switch unless absolutely necessary, commentators quote the Communications Act of 1934 as already giving POTUS to power to shut down "wire communications" at will.

 

The problem with this line of reasoning of course is that the Internet is a lot more than "wire communications." No one is performing bank functions over AM radio. No one is providing medical care and records over the TV network. But these and more go on every minute over the Internet.

 

Closing the Internet to fend off cyber attack is analgous to blowing up a building to prevent its being bombed, or closing a department store to stave off shoplifting, or cutting off the nose to spite the face. If the mere threat of cyber attack will shut down the Internet, then cyber terrorism just got a whole lot easier. Who needs to hire thirteen-year-old wunderkinder in Pakistan when a few well placed emails will acomplish the same ends.

 

And can you imagine what the outcry would have been if the Bush Administration had proposed this, rather than the current one? Wait a minute. Didn't they? 

Good idea!

Mr. Obama grows increasingly frustrated with the spill in the Gulf. According to news he has told aides to "Plug the damn hole." This is pure genius, and BP taking his lead on this with their "top kill" maneuver, a fancy name for a big mud pie in the tube. And I am moved to wonder if it might be the very watchword of the Obama presidency--

 

For instance, when unemployment is at a recent high and many seasonal jobs are going to Mexican workers who arrived on this side of the border by alternate means, "Plug the damn hole" in the border security. Right?

 

And, when the national debt has topped all previous records and spending continues to hemorrhage out of the US Treasury, "Plug the damn hole" in the national coffers.

 

Ok, and, since every time our President stands up in front of the cameras and opens his mouth, Wall Street tanks and China buys more of the American dream, so the next time you see him walk into a room with a speech in his hand, wad it up, and "Plug the ..."

Paradise for Crooks

It is now easier than ever to make a decent living as a crook thanks to the Internet, social networking websites with loose data policies, and information aggregating sites like spokeo.com.

I looked up my profile at spokeo and, in spite of my own paranoid stance on posted personal information, I found my city and street, my phone number, my marital status. Spokeo pulls information from many public sources including property records and buying patterns.

Here's where it gets wierd. I sometimes buy baby powder to douse my stinky sneakers. Spokeo gave me children. I buy chlorinators to manage my swamp cooler. Spokeo got me a swimming pool. All this is only in the electronic record, there are no kids or pool. Maybe if I order a replacement tri-star hood ornament, Spokeo will get me that Mercedes...Or, if I subscribe to Shooting magazine, Spokeo might give me a Glock!

In fact, if I were to tweak out my facebook profile just a bit, I might meet some fascinating people: street corner entrepreneurs, bank executives, Federal agents, foreign agents!

And here is the point. If I am dumb enough to list my street address and post that I am going to Hawaii for two weeks, I deserve to come back to an empty house. DUH!!

But the other side of it is scariest, and we have no control of it. Crooks and worse can build up whole false identities with the aid of the Internet. We know about predators already masquerading as teenagers. But info-bots like spokeo and others actively and aggressively build these identities for them. A couple more iterations and we will not be able to tell who is legit unless we gave birth to them.

Oh, and if you buy baby wipes, maybe not even then.

Just Dance!

There's been such an uproar about the Russian ice dancing pair that tried so unsuccessfully to highlight an Australian aboriginal dance in their Olympic routine. We didn't see their performance, but let me ask a question here. Whose bright idea was it to have the ice dancers skate their impressions of ethnic folk dances, dances that people have kept alive through centuries of tradition? Did they not think that the addition of ice and skates and compulsory elements like 'twizzles' would pretty much mangle the dances they tried to feature? I think about the Canadian couple dancing that Paso Doble knock-off. It was striking, but not much to do with a Paso Doble, or a bullfight. That red skirt could have been a lot more dramatic with a sharp assymetrical hemline to symbolize the matador's cape. Or the American couple in the Indian garb, and him with those wild blonde locks. I'm just saying... I am not myself ethnically offended by any performance I saw. Nobody was crazy enough to ice dance a polka. But I was mildly put off by the French interpretation of a hoedown. It wasn't so much the chaps or the Daisy Dukes or the bow-legged swagger, but that they were, well, the French!

Tempest in a tea cup?

The America's Cup race Monday was called for lack of wind. Wednesday's race had a good stiff wind, but a sea state with waves above 1 meter, and was postponed again. Tomorrow's race forecasts even larger waves and will likely postpone yet again.

 

I wonder if it is time to say something obvious. Alinghi 5 and USA are undoubtedly the fastest sailboats ever afloat. The two giant multihulls reach at multiples of wind speed. But a Catalina 42 sailed by a club champion in any local yacht club could have completed two races by now and walked away with the title, while the big boats sit in their berths.

 

The America's Cup is an ocean race, and these two contenders may be a match for each other, but not for the sea. A ninety foot boat that cannot contend with 40 inch seas is poorly designed. Perhaps Larry Ellison can build a bath tub big enough for the contest to procede, but clearly neither boat is up to the Cup.

 

 

Less is More, Really!

A revolutionary marketing technique arrived this morning in an iPhone app. Fluent News will bring you, at no charge, headline feeds from dozens of news bureaus: CNN, ABC, FOX, ESPN, BBC, NPR, FOX Sports, the list is very comprehensive.

 

A for-cost upgrade to the product is available to filter out the feeds you DON'T choose to wade through.

 

Selah.

 

Yes, it now costs more, much more, to receive less product. And it is worth it.

 

Marshall McLuhan in the 1964 Understanding Media, chapter 2: Media Hot and Cold,  was a prophet!

 

Of course we all use filters very day. "Search" engines like Yahoo! and Google provide a service where only half the function is actually to search. The other, and more vital function, is to filter. McLuhan used the unfortunate Freudian word censor, but regardless, the idea is to put the most likely matches on top of the search. It is the quality of the filtering algorithms that make or break a search engine.

 

The distinction here is that content used to be the product. You bought a newspaper for what was printed in it. With Fluent News the content is free, the product for sale is the filtering mechanism we need to bring sense to the flood of news, hence the name.