Everything Must Change

I've finished a read-through of Brian McLaren's book which is well reviewed any number of other googleable places.

I mentioned to manasclerk that I thought there was some similarity between Emergent ideas and Agile programming concepts. He summarized this as, "We don't need no stinking hierarchy." He also put forth his opinion that McLaren was probably stratum IV and this was why his work is more appealing to young people than older folks.

The Fidelity of Betrayal

Perhaps the simplest expression of the main idea I took away from this book is that any objectification of God is an idol. When you believe you can contemplate God then you reduce him to an object. Any object is a graven image. Too limited. While your description may reflect a past experience of God it may be a barrier to an experience to come.

Peter Rollins tells us that we cannot experience life. Instead, "life" is the thing that allows us to have experiences. Thus the new life in Christ is not a propositional framework that sets a religious codified set of boundaries, but a transformation that gives new perspective on our experiences.

He argues that Christianity must constantly tear itself down because the Christian should ever be an advocate of the neglected and oppressed. If you fight authority, as Mellencamp tells us, authority always wins. Either you don't overcome the existing regime, or you do and find that you have created a new authority and new outsiders.

I learned a long time ago that no thing lasts forever. My self-centered response has been to withhold personal investment. The temporary nature of things was linked in my mind (if I needed any justification for cowardice) to the fact of the fallen state of man. Perhaps, though, it is not evil that brings all good things to an end, but God, who is the only Good. God who clears away the distracting idols. How then am I to act? As fully as I can understand until my understanding is next renewed?

It starts to sound like transcendentalism that left Walden pond and went to work in a homeless shelter.

Petal Edges

Earlier this month (June 4) I took a little time to walk to the back of the church property and walk the labyrinth. In the center of the pattern is a circular area that is meant to have a flower design with some rounded petals touching the center circle. At the time, there were only short lines of rock noting where the edges of the petals were to be. So rather than feeling I should take time in each of the petals I was more naturally drawn to see where the lines were pointing.

The first line I went to was directly across from the path entrance to the inner circle. I looked up and saw into the neighboring property and found I was looking a personal watercraft. I laughed and jokingly raised my hands saying, "All hail the gods of the oceans."

Curious to continue my personal pagan patterning pilgrimage it felt natural to move to the left. There I saw... not so much. Well, what I found I was looking at was some knee-high cactus next to some trees, which while taller than the cactus were not exactly towering oaks. The line seemed to be pointing exactly at the fuzzy place where they came together. This put me in mind of the Chinese phrase "middle kingdom" which refers (according to the Rush song) to this space we inhabit between heaven and earth. Though I'm sure at the time I called it incorrectly "middle earth." The "extremes" of not-so-short and not-so-tall made were reminiscent of the value of the least and the greatest of humanity. So, well, um, "Gods of this life, I give you good greeting. Keep me mindful of my place." That seemed Chinese enough. The pause to ponder the meaning of the view along this line took some of the silliness from my musings.

I moved to the next line and found I was looking at a rake. The labyrinth, like the rest of this world requires maintenance. This was more straightforward: "Thank you God, for the gift of work."

The next line looked back at the prayer path that leads to the labyrinth. "Be with me, God, on the journey."

Out in front of the fifth line I saw the big pile of junk that had been scraped aside to make way for the labyrinth. "Thank you, God, for the things that formed who I am, but are no longer necessary. Thank you for changing old for new in me and all things."

At the last line, I found myself looking at an object I had looked past at prior points: the fence. It became the prominent feature when nothing else presented. A boundary. "Thank you, God, for the edges of things. Thank you for a time limit in this place. Thank you for Jesus who overcame death."

And so I came back to the jetski, or whatever you call it, and instead of thinking "ocean", I thought "recreation". "Thanks for playtime," I began, but then changed the pronunciation to a long "e" or "re-creation" and saw the whole come together:

From the deep breath of God (a stretch from "ocean" but think Genesis 1 and give me some slack) we are born into this world with certain resources with which we labor, journey and grow, fail and change, and die. But then there is new life awaiting the ones that choose to keep moving.

Of course there is more to be read into each line and different stories to tell, but that's my initial take.

Understanding Art

Folks at church are creating objects to serve as stations of the cross for the prayer path that leads to the back of the property. Paul, one of our particularly artistic people brought a couple of pieces already and they hang in the hallway of the main building.

I chose to work on "The Condemnation by the Sanhedrim" (Matt 26:59-66; Mark 14:55-64; Luke 22:66-71). The church leaders try to find some reasonably credible charge against Jesus. He makes no reply to any of the charges brought. When questioned directly about his identity he declares Himself the Son of God and impugns the justice and authority of the court. They don't for a moment consider his claim true but seize on it as heresy worthy of death.

I imagined my piece depicting Jesus as a white shaft out front of a wall where all the accusations had been hurled and had not stuck. Further I wanted to show that the accusations had missed the point and have the shaft continue up far past the wall to something larger and greater. Well outside my budget and ability I imagined a bathtub ten feet in the air whose drainpipe extended down in front of the small wall and further down into the ground.

It was as I considered this separation and unity of Jesus divinity and his participation in passionate humanity that I got my own understanding of what Paul had brought. His pieces are instruments painted all white with shafts interrupted and held together by dioramas. One is a guitar and one is a shovel. In each case the "working" part of the instrument -- the soundbox and the spade -- is above the separation. I do not presume to know what the artist intended, but this is a way of looking at it that makes sense to me.

Dynamo win Texas Cup

Wednesday, March 5
Houston Dynamo 4 - 3 Toronto FC
DC United 2 - 1 Chivas USA

Friday, March 7
DC United 1 - 0 Toronto FC
Houston Dynamo 1 - 0 Chivas USA

Sunday, March 9
DC United 1 - 1 Houston Dynamo
Toronto FC 3 - 2 Chivas USA

Dynamo won not on Points (3 for a win,1 for a draw) nor on goal difference, but on the second tie-breaker: goals scored.

There was an actual trophy awarded. I'm pretty sure that this "Tournament" didn't deserve it. But it's nice to have a little something to hold up and let the large number of traveling fans cheer for.

Who is the emergent candidate?

My wife brought home Tony Jones' "The New Christians" and plopped it down in front of me tonight. I've read the first forty pages or so.

It just got me thinking about how a lot of the political conversation in this presidential primary season has been about how right and left have missed the point. The success of the non-conservative Republican, the non-establishment Democrat, and even the net-savvy congressman who is as Republican as I am Baptist strike me as postmodern.

But my main reaction is that I'm not bright enough for this conversation. I'm only forty pages in, so I'm reserving judgement. This is just a record of my reaction at this point.

As long as the intellectual rigor is reserved for the leaders, then perhaps this has promise. As soon as it is required of the masses, then I have to say that "American Gladiators" and "Knight Rider" have returned to prime time.

JJCII: Happy 38th

It is good to remember friends.

All things considered, I don't want to hear it

I didn't have my little media player with me this morning so I listened to NPR on the way to and from work today. I will occasionally go for short stints where I become aware of current events before turtling back to my books and music.

On the way to work I learned that the one of my few long-term decent stocks was probably tanking because the company had got hit by the financial flu that seems to be going around.

On the way home I was literally screaming at the radio as pollsters were whining about the difficulties of reaching people with cell phones and no land lines. I'll tell you right now that any campaign that calls me (or text messages me!) on my cell phone better be damned ready to reimburse me for the charges. If I wanted you to have my opinion I would seek you out.

I'm making sure that I get some stuff loaded on my player tonight. The world just makes me unhappy.

2007 North American SuperLiga - Matchday 3(b)

It's halftime of the final match of the group stage of the inagural SuperLiga tournament. Houston beat DC Utd to win the group in the first game. However the day started like this:
DCU 4
HOU 4
MOR 2
AME 0

Club America is already out. They have every reason to rest their best players as the Mexican league begins this weekend. Why not give Morelia a walk-through? Yet at medio tiempo the score is one - nil to Club America. Now I wonder if they are doing Monarcas a favor by eliminating this competition from their calendar.

The million dollar prize is significant to MLS clubs, but paltry to the big Mexican sides.

Houston 1 - 1 Morelia

I know that this story is a few days old, but I really think that the goof-up that led to the equalizer from Monarcas was due to the inexperience of those guys in the center of defense.

Cochrane is pretty young. Ianni will be a good defender, but he's a new introduction to a back four who are solid mostly because they know each other so well. Then you have Wells in the net instead of an authority like Onstead who would have screamed at somebody if needed. It's no wonder that Waibel felt that he needed to get involved in the central coverage. Still, it was he who stood over the ball and had every chance to clear it. Morelia had not looked dangerous on set pieces.

I'm not sure why Pat was out. Robinson came out because Morelia was putting a beat-down on him and the ref seemed to be encouraging bloodshed.

Morelia looked the more skilled squad for most of the game, but they didn't deserve the goal that the Dynamo handed them.

Almost Heaven

Lexie and I are spending this week in West Virginia while my folks spend the week with my kids (and several hundred others) in vacation bible school.

We got the opportunity to come here when manasclerk told me that I should feel free to stay in his parents cabin in Spring Creek any time that I wanted to. My folks offered to keep the kids for the week, so I took him up on the offer.

It is beautiful up here. My dad could be pretty happy here with all the hiking and bike trails and rivers to boat.

One of the best surprises was an eatery in Fayetteville, WV. Pies and Pints has absolutely delicious food. When you visit the New River gorge bridge you really must plan to eat at this place.

Handyman

I acted the role of a proper husband today replacing the light fixture on the ceiling in Maddie's room and installing our new dishwasher.

Inverse Relationship of Empire to World Sport

A year and a half ago I wrote about soccer's impediments to success in the US. I now have boiled down my thoughts a bit.

As long as the US continues to believe that it is the sole economic and military superpower it will not be important to prove anything on the international sports stage. The draw and importance of the Olympics is much less than it was during the time of the Cold War and our need to prove ourselves against the Russians.

Believing we are the only ones worth competing against we continue to focus on national sports. Assuming that we are the best in the world because the rest of the world is too unsophisticated for our sports, we name "World Champions" the winners of the NFL, NBA, and MLB playoff tournaments.

The good news for fans of the beautiful game is that the empire is crumbling. India and China are making great strides toward being our economic superiors. Wars in the middle east are streching and depleting our military might and will. My boss says he believes that we are not far from civil war. The American century is over.

As the future for my children becomes dimmer the future of world sport becomes more assured. Given the choice I'd rather have the dominance of the United States continue unabated. History shows us that is not possible.

Forty Years in the Wilderness

The last time Venezuela won a match in Copa America, my parents weren't yet married. On January 28, 1967, they beat Bolivia 3-0. That was the only match that they got points from in that tournament.

A few minutes ago the drought ended with the 2-0 win over Peru. Add the point from the (2-2) draw with Bolivia from earlier in the week and they have a good chance of making the knockout round.

The second goal in the game came just after a mildly harsh yellow card against the hosts which saw a man sent off. So to score and then hold with ten men for the last quarter hour or so was wonderful for the fans.

It seemed appropriate that the rain was sheeting down on the game for truly the drought was over.