Vigilantes of Love
extreme north of the compass
december skies looked gray and joyless
the world awaits in barren splendor
for someone to stir the embers
Granted, it's January, but the sentiment holds true. It's been overcast lately, both meteorologically and metaphorically speaking. Hope the sun comes out soon!
Monday, January 31, 2005
The NHL'sDeath Defying season continues. Man, I really like hockey. I play roller hockey once a week, I catch junior hockey games when I can. But I love watching the NHL. Iginla, Forsberg, Modano. And on, and on. Can't we all just get along? End this labor dispute and play!
Sunday, January 30, 2005
Brian McClaren and
Mark Noll are, thankfully, two of the "25 most influential evangelicals in America" according to Time.
No Falwell on the list. Darn.
Why is it when Larry King needs a talking head he turns to someone like Falwell? Why not McClaren or Noll? Then again, I don't want them to be talking heads eitehr. But it would be a nice change of pace, once in a while.
Mark Noll are, thankfully, two of the "25 most influential evangelicals in America" according to Time.
No Falwell on the list. Darn.
Why is it when Larry King needs a talking head he turns to someone like Falwell? Why not McClaren or Noll? Then again, I don't want them to be talking heads eitehr. But it would be a nice change of pace, once in a while.
Monday, January 24, 2005
So I get to talk to middle schoolers about prayer this week. Yippee! As scary as it sounds, it's not so bad.
Here's the rough draft of what I'm thinking of. I borrowed some of it pretty liberally from re:Jesus
Plus I was really struck by something Tony Jones wrote in The Sacred Way. It's similar to my own experiences
I was raised in a nice, Midwestern, church-going family. I went away to college and got involved in a conservative evangelical college group then went straight to seminary after graduation. In other words, by the time I was 25, my views of God, prayer, the Bible, etc. were pretty screwed up. I had more head-knowledge about faith, religion, whatever you want to call it, than a person should, but I really didn’t seem to be able to put it into practice. I’d say there was one word that summed up my religious life: obligation. I had been taught that the way to connect with God on a daily basis is to have a 30-minute “quiet time.” That is, you should sit down with your Bible open, read it a little, and then lay a bunch of stuff on God, making sure to mention how excellent he1 is before running through the list of all the things you need. I found this style of personal devotion to be a pretty shallow well, and it wasn’t long before I was doing it only every other day, then once a week, and then, well, never. Taking the place of my 30-minute quiet time, however, were hours and hours of that great religious tradition: guilt.
That hits me. Been there, done that. If my personal spiritual life is dry, well there must be a reason. Am I in sin? If I'd only pray and read the Bible more it would all be solved. Maybe I'm not paying attention in church. And while those aren't necessarily bad things to consider, they're not the end-all solutions. We're trying to get to know an almighty, all powerful God. There's no easy formula.
Here's what re:Jesus said... and I liked...
How are you today? Think about one of these questions.
Is today going as I hoped?
In the busyness am I thinking beyond myself?
Am I considering those I am with today?
Do I find it difficult to accept the help and peace Jesus offers?
What do you think I should do, Jesus?
Pray these, or your own words.
Free me to live life to the full. Through the ups and the downs help me to carry on in a way which pleases you Jesus. May I be a source of goodness to those people I meet. I ask you to help my activites today. Amen.
The scripture I'm going to use with the kids is John 15:1-8, you know, about the vine and the branches -- remaining in Jesus. Pruning. Growing. Bearing fruit.
I'm trying to "think outside the box" with my activities for the kids.
That could include:
- A responsive reading, or group prayer (maybe Lord's prayer)
- prayer stations, where they could silently say a prayer
- prayer wall - to write them on a paper on a wall
-prayer labyrinth would be cool, follow a maze with different prayer activities. Like there'd be a map, and they could pick a country and prayer for it. Then follow the path and there'd be a silent prayer station, then a place to write a prayer down, then maybe some of your crazy cool photos to meditate on. Stuff like that.
I think these would be cool ideas... but would middle schoolers dig it?? We'll see. My thoughts aren't super focused yet. Still brainstorming :)
Here's the rough draft of what I'm thinking of. I borrowed some of it pretty liberally from re:Jesus
Plus I was really struck by something Tony Jones wrote in The Sacred Way. It's similar to my own experiences
I was raised in a nice, Midwestern, church-going family. I went away to college and got involved in a conservative evangelical college group then went straight to seminary after graduation. In other words, by the time I was 25, my views of God, prayer, the Bible, etc. were pretty screwed up. I had more head-knowledge about faith, religion, whatever you want to call it, than a person should, but I really didn’t seem to be able to put it into practice. I’d say there was one word that summed up my religious life: obligation. I had been taught that the way to connect with God on a daily basis is to have a 30-minute “quiet time.” That is, you should sit down with your Bible open, read it a little, and then lay a bunch of stuff on God, making sure to mention how excellent he1 is before running through the list of all the things you need. I found this style of personal devotion to be a pretty shallow well, and it wasn’t long before I was doing it only every other day, then once a week, and then, well, never. Taking the place of my 30-minute quiet time, however, were hours and hours of that great religious tradition: guilt.
That hits me. Been there, done that. If my personal spiritual life is dry, well there must be a reason. Am I in sin? If I'd only pray and read the Bible more it would all be solved. Maybe I'm not paying attention in church. And while those aren't necessarily bad things to consider, they're not the end-all solutions. We're trying to get to know an almighty, all powerful God. There's no easy formula.
Here's what re:Jesus said... and I liked...
How are you today? Think about one of these questions.
Is today going as I hoped?
In the busyness am I thinking beyond myself?
Am I considering those I am with today?
Do I find it difficult to accept the help and peace Jesus offers?
What do you think I should do, Jesus?
Pray these, or your own words.
Free me to live life to the full. Through the ups and the downs help me to carry on in a way which pleases you Jesus. May I be a source of goodness to those people I meet. I ask you to help my activites today. Amen.
The scripture I'm going to use with the kids is John 15:1-8, you know, about the vine and the branches -- remaining in Jesus. Pruning. Growing. Bearing fruit.
I'm trying to "think outside the box" with my activities for the kids.
That could include:
- A responsive reading, or group prayer (maybe Lord's prayer)
- prayer stations, where they could silently say a prayer
- prayer wall - to write them on a paper on a wall
-prayer labyrinth would be cool, follow a maze with different prayer activities. Like there'd be a map, and they could pick a country and prayer for it. Then follow the path and there'd be a silent prayer station, then a place to write a prayer down, then maybe some of your crazy cool photos to meditate on. Stuff like that.
I think these would be cool ideas... but would middle schoolers dig it?? We'll see. My thoughts aren't super focused yet. Still brainstorming :)
Tuesday, January 18, 2005
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
So I got to interview the author of the Amelia Bedelia books today. You can add that to the list of stuff I never thought I'd do, including:
- Meet Dan Quayle
- See Mikhail Gorbechev speak
- Report on live TV from the back of a tow truck
- Lay down a piano track for a CD that some people (well, a few) actually paid money for
Of course here's the list of stuff I thought would happen by now:
- See the Vikings win a Super Bowl
- Meet a President
- Leave the country for more than a day
I'll have to keep working on those. The one I probably want is the one I have no control over. Knowing that Randy Moss does... that scares me. Go Vikes!
- Meet Dan Quayle
- See Mikhail Gorbechev speak
- Report on live TV from the back of a tow truck
- Lay down a piano track for a CD that some people (well, a few) actually paid money for
Of course here's the list of stuff I thought would happen by now:
- See the Vikings win a Super Bowl
- Meet a President
- Leave the country for more than a day
I'll have to keep working on those. The one I probably want is the one I have no control over. Knowing that Randy Moss does... that scares me. Go Vikes!
Monday, January 10, 2005
If you haven't seen Meet the Fockers, there's probably no reason to rush out and see it. It's funny. Not Meet the Parents funny, but it garners a laugh or two. I like the humor of the original. Ben Stiller meets his girlfriend's uptight CIA agent dad. Funny concept. This seems to go for cheap laughs. It was all so predictable. Funny, but things aren't so funny when you see them coming. That's what I liked about the first film. It caught me off guard. Not this one. Predictable. Formulaic. Funny, but not original.
They're good actors, but they play charicatures, not characters. It's silly. Silly can be good. But they play over the top, and there's no subtly. It's that kind of silly.
They're good actors, but they play charicatures, not characters. It's silly. Silly can be good. But they play over the top, and there's no subtly. It's that kind of silly.
If you haven't seen Meet the Fockers, there's probably no reason to rush out and see it. It's funny. Not Meet the Parents funny, but it garners a laugh or two. I like the humor of the original. Ben Stiller meets his girlfriend's uptight CIA agent dad. Funny concept. This seems to go for cheap laughs. It was all so predictable. Funny, but things aren't so funny when you see them coming. That's what I liked about the first film. It caught me off guard. Not this one. Predictable. Formulaic. Funny, but not original.
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