Going Bovine

Some books aren't for everyone.  These are the books that certain people often like best.  Going Bovine by Libba Bray has the potential to be that book.

Ok that’s all I got, enjoy!

Fine, I’ll tell you a little more.

Libba Bray works very hard in this novel to relate to her audience and write from the perspective of a teenage boy.  In my humble opinion, she does a pretty good job.  I find this even more impressive after watching this interview of her and realizing that she is someone that her main character, Cameron, would probably laugh at politely in order to find a quick escape before revealing just how creeped out he is becoming.

The basic premise is that Cameron, a sixteen year old male epitomizing the phrase “youth is wasted on the young”somehow catches mad cow disease.  This allows the author to use his subsequent insanity as a vessel to create a modern day retelling of Don Quixote.

Cameron has a series of wacky encounters with extreme examples of modern American ideals and pop culture.  As one would expect he also takes a personal journey and grows up a little.  One of the things I appreciated about the book is that he doesn’t grow up too much.  By the end he is still a teenager.  His perspective on life has been widened, he has made some decisions that are less selfish than where his character was at the beginning of the book, but he is FAR from being a true adult or having figured out life.

One of the most noticeable ways in which Bray tries to relate with her audience is through her language.  I feel like an old curmudgeon for pointing it out but you should know that if colorful language is something that turns you off to a book, you may want to steer clear.  For me it brought up a sort of twisted nostalgia as I realized that my friends and I really did swear this much when we’d be talking in the hallways back in high school.

At the end of the day, I liked this book.  I like the pop culture references, I like the humor and I like the heart that manages to sneak through every so now and then.  The book won the 2010 Printz Award so obviously it has struck a cord with someone besides me.

The Lost Years of Merlin

In reviewing this book I feel I should be bluntly honest going in.  I like King Arthur stuff.  Not only do I like King Arthur stuff but I like the whole approach of taking King Arthur and placing him into a post-Roman dark age Britain rather than the more traditional Medieval setting.  I know that in recent years this has been done a LOT (Stephen Lawhead is one of the best), sometimes badly, but I like it anyway.  I remember watching the Clive Owen movie, wanting to shout at the screen (armor piercing!?), but at the same time loving the fact that I was watching King Arthur on a big screen!  

In a quick side note, so far the STARZ series Camelot looks to be one of the better interpretations I have seen, If you have Netflix you can watch it!

The Lost Years of Merlin by T.A. Barron markets the dark age Arthurian universe to young adults by keying in on the adolescence of Braver Sir Robin.  Remember him?

Ok fine so the book is actually about Merlin.  We first meet him as a six year old boy, washing up on the coast of Wales with no idea of his past or his identity.  He lives out the next few years with a woman found alongside him that claims to be his mother and calls him Emrys.  Around the age of twelve Emrys, growing increasingly curious about his origins, becomes involved in events that lead to a search for the truth of his mysterious past.

Like other recent Arthurian authors, Barron ties his story to Celtic tales from ancient Britain.  He does not throw in quite as many old names for people and places as some authors such as Lawhead, but includes enough that I believe it would pique the interest of any your reader to delve into these legends more deeply.  

At its heart this novel reads like an old fashioned coming of age story in a fanciful world.  In a time where so many writers in every medium go for “gritty realism” the charming nature of this story was quite refreshing.

As I stated in the beginning, I am a fan of King Arthur stuff so I admit that while I liked this book, it may not be for everyone.  I would recommend this for fans of fantasy and similar genres.  I also would not hesitate to use this book as an introduction to fantasy for readers that have not yet given it a try.

One last note, apparently there is a movie adaptation in the early stages of development.  I’ll be very interested to see how that progresses!

Ship Breaker

Here’s a fun question:  When you first started driving, what was the cost of gas?  When I turned 16 in 1998 it was less than a dollar.  I almost think I remember it hitting $0.89 at one point.  Now the notion of watching the “Gallons pumped” meter outpace the “$” meter is as foreign as having to actually remember your friends’ phone numbers in order to call them.  It makes one ask the question, what if the oil actually ran out?

Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi takes us to a future world where that has actually happened.  Tankers, cruise ships, and all other form of oil dependant sea vessels now sit on beaches as fossils of what people refer to as the “accelerated age.”  Our main character is Nailer, a 13ish (he’s not completely sure about his age) boy living along the gulf coast where people survive by stripping the old ships of anything useful.  Nailer’s main talent is that he is small, so he is tasked with crawling into the smallest areas of the ships to remove copper wiring and other precious metals.

The book is marketed to young adults as most of the main characters are in their teens.  Readers should note that it does contain some very mature elements.  Nailer’s world is dangerous and violent.  His father is an abusive drunk, and many of the other people he meets aren’t much nicer.  Nailer is forced to confront a number of serious decisions, some with rather gruesome outcomes.  

I should be clear at this point, I am in no way dismissing the book due to its mature elements.  When I was a seventh grader at a small Lutheran school I had a teacher tell me that I couldn't use the novel Creature for my book report because it was inappropriate.  You may ask, how did I come about a horror novel in a nice Christian school?  I got it from the Scholastic book order the teacher gave me, duh.  Of course I read the book anyway.  It was an OK thriller with a few curse words and some people dying and I remember wondering why the teacher thought this was way to much for me to handle.

All that is to say that when we try to overly sensor what our students read, especially as they enter adolescence, we insult their intelligence and do them a disservice.  Ship Breaker addresses some very real issues of sustainability, poverty, drug use and economics that are worth discussing.  

I appreciated that the author did not try to get preachy or heavy handed about the exact circumstances preceding the end of the “Accelerated Age”.  We are dropped directly into Nailer’s present world and the challenges now facing him.  In this way the book does what science fiction should, it creates a fictional world with enough ties to our own that we are led to examine ourselves while still enjoying a good story.

Although the book does touch on a lot of different issues, at its heart it is and adventure novel with a great pace solid characters.  I would recommend it to any teen interested in action or science fiction stories.

Life as We Knew It

Does anyone else remember 90s disaster movies?  In my memory Independence Day was the one that really kicked it all off.  It used the basic formula of establishing several different perspectives, one of them being a person in high authority (The President), another being a lower level soldier or operative on the front line of what is happening (Will Smith), the next a scientific mind that has the insight everyone else is missing (Jeff Goldblum), and finally find an average Joe and give them something heroic to do (Randy Quaid’s family).  I remember seing this repeated over and again throughout the 90s in movies like Armageddon, Deep Impact, Godzilla, Volcano... any others I’m missing?

Anyway, the 90s ended and movies decided to change the formula.  Movies like War of the Worlds and Cloverfield took on the big disasters through the eyes of a single family or group of friends teaching us that a shaky camera is always necessary to pull this off.  Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer does just that in book form.  (I borrowed this book from my local library, which I assume is the reason that the necessary shaky cam was not included.  I found that reading whilst sitting in the back of a pickup traversing a field at 37.8 miles per hour produced the desired effect)

The basic setup of the book is that a freak incident causes the moon’s orbit to change just slightly, and as the book’s tag line goes “the weather finally broke, for good”.  Tidal waves wreak the coast, volcanoes erupt, temperatures plummet, and we see it all through the diary of a teenage girl in Pennsylvania.

First off (yes I’m 4 paragraphs in a using the phrase first off) as far as disasters go, I love the choice Pfeffer makes.  If militant aliens show up or a giant rock his the earth, the dangers are a little more obvious.  Having the rock hit the moon really is equally disastrous, but it takes a little more time for all the dangers to become evident.  As a teacher I love when a novel provides the opportunity to touch on different disciplines, and this provides a great opportunity to investigate the science of the moon and the relationship it shares with our planet and its climate.  This science of this is discussed somewhat it the book but not in any detail, providing plenty of room to elaborate with students.

Ultimately however the book is not about the disaster but the teenage girl named Miranda.  I’m sure that is this world there is a brilliant yet misunderstood scientist running around somewhere, but we never meet him, nor do we get to peek at the government master plan being planned in a secret bunker with lots of unnecessary computers screens.  Instead we follow Miranda, watching her concerns move from those of the average CW television character to basic survival.  

I found the pace of the book to be very rapid at first, but it began to slow significantly as the story progressed.  I think this may have been at least a little intentional, as Pfeffer works hard to paint an honest picture of a post-disaster world.  This is not an action packed story where roving gangs don football pads and terrorize the populace.  It is an increasingly isolated family battling nature and learning to depend on and support one another.

I also give Pfeffer credit for exploring a number of serious issues in a manner that is not too heavy handed.  We clearly see Miranda’s view yet she never claims to have mastered the issues with which she wrestles.  I could see a number of great classroom discussions developing from different scenes of the book.  Miranda has two close friends that we meet early on, and each chooses a different thing in which to place their hope as the world degenerates.  I found myself examining the choices I would make in a similar situation (and sometimes wondered why it should take a disaster to consider such things).

I recommend this story for anyone in middle school or older.  Although it contains what could be considered some elements of science fiction, it really is a very grounded story of human relationships that should appeal to a wide audience.

Game of Thrones

What can I say, I am a sucker for anything on TV where people have swords.  Growing up in the 90s I watched Braveheart more times than I can remember.   I watched all the Hercules and Xena stuff from Sam Raimi.  I watched the classic Erroll Flynn take on Robin Hood and even watched that Prince Valiant movie where everyone apparently thought they were in a Western… with swords, which made it ok.  As you can imagine, when I heard about HBO producing Game of Thrones, I got excited.

Well, I don’t have HBO, and with the amount of time it usually takes them to release a series on DVD it will probably be a while before I get a chance to watch their take on Game of Thrones.  For a geek who is a sucker for anything on TV where people have swords, this wait is incredibly annoying.  However the upside is that having taken the release of this series as an excuse to finally read the books, I can rest assured that I have plenty of time to finish them. 

Now that I have finished Game of Thrones, I find the fact that the HBO show took this book as its title to be a little funny.  Here comes the closest thing to a spoiler I’ll give you – the whole book is a setup to the rest of the series.  Yes, the idea that the first novel in a series would setup the rest of the books seems shocking but it is a crazy enough idea that it just might work!  I find it funny that this first book seems to carry the most recognizable title of any book in the series (or the series itself) when the majority of the action will clearly occur in the other novels.

I found myself really liking this book.  I thought Martin created some great characters and established a complex network of relationships that has the potential to pay off when all the players fully interact (which will probably entail a lot of sex and stabbing). 

My recommendation is that you give this book a read knowing that you are jumping into a full series.  Everything I have heard tells me that the payoff is coming, and will be well worth it.  

The Running Man

Believe it or not, this is actually the first Stephen King novel I have ever read.  However, since he wrote it under the name Richard Bachman, it may not actually count.

My first exposure to The Running Man was the 1987 Ahhnald movie, which featured all the intelligent dialogue and gripping drama one can expect from a 1980s Schwarzenegger film.



Understand, I am not complaining, I love me some cheesy action from the 1980s.  Back then people could not only hit targets at an astonishing 10% accuracy rate, but they could also do it while completely ignoring those weird pieces sticking out of the top of the gun (I've been told these pieces are called "sights" but they are no help when properly holding the weapon at your stomach).

1980s awesomeness aside, the original 1982 story has very little in common with the movie.  It is set in a futuristic world where people volunteer for reality TV shows where they are subjected to highly orchestrated forms of torture and derision in the hope of making a few bucks.  Thankfully our society has proceeded down a much more noble path than the one Mr. Bachman envisioned, and such television programs have never been produced.



In this world the top show is called "The Running Man."  As you can probably guess, there is a man, he is running, and if he gets caught he dies.  However where the movie turns contestants loose into some sort of giant American Gladiators set with roided up hunters driving big dune buggies and wielding chainsaws, in the novel contestants are let loose into the general public and required to check in with daily videos (yes, he predicted the reality TV confession booth).



The story moves forward relentlessly, making only one brief pause for some background where Bachman is obviously working to give us the bare minimum we need so that he can get back to the story.  I won't say that any of the twists really caught me off guard, but they were enough to keep me interested.  The final scene features a prolonged injury that would make for an interesting effect if anyone ever tried to do a faithful screen adaptation.  However I think anyone ever making a faithful adaption of the finale is pretty much impossible in our world, at least for a few more years (I'll let you figure out what that means).

Overall what I found myself enjoying about this book is that it is well written science fiction that makes several observations of the future which are coming dangerously close to being true.  No, we have not yet made a TV show where we intentionally set out to kill someone, but if someone did can we honestly say that there wouldn't be millions tuning in?

The Way of Kings

By Brandon Sanderson

Reading this book reminded me of The Screwtape Letters.  At one point Wormwood’s affectionate uncle Screwtape offered the young demon a particular temptation that has always stuck with me.

“You should always try to make the patient abandon the people or food or books he really likes in favor of the ‘best’ people, the ‘right’ food, the ‘important’ books.”

I don’t know if anyone will ever consider The Way of Kings to be an extremely important book.  It is a 1,000 page beginning to what appears to be at least a 10 book series of fantasy novels.  This usually means that a certain group of people who are fans of the genre will eat them up, while everyone else barely knows of their existence.  The prose is pretty straight forward (more on that later) and while there are elements of politics, racism and religion at play, the book doesn’t seem to be trying hard to make a point in any of these areas.

It’s just a lot of fun to read, and I find that very refreshing. 

Don’t be fooled, this is not just a quaint little story.  Sanderson is creating a new world of his own here, and it looks to be big.  What is revealed in this first book evidences a long history, diverse cultures, and a unique environment which itself looks like it will be playing a major role in the plot as the series develops.  Sanderson gives us enough detail so that we have a feel for this world, but one can easily see that he is holding a lot back, and I don’t fault him for that.

This brings me to his prose.  Usually when I see a book this big, I expect a lot of it to get bogged down in overly long descriptions of characters and places or internal monologues within the mind of a character that more than anything serve as filler.  However Sanderson doesn’t let his writing get in the way of his story.  The plot moves forward quickly, jumping between multiple story lines in a way that effectively held my interest.  He does provide plenty of descriptive details, but these are stretched out throughout the story rather than just dropped in a big lump whenever we meet something new.  I found myself changing the internal images I had created of different characters and settings multiple times throughout the story. 

I wouldn't say the story all that original.  Sanderson does use a number of clichés often found in fantasy or adventure novels, but has given them enough of a twist that I found them interesting.  Like I said earlier, reading this book was just a lot of fun.

I know what you may be thinking, “Yes that’s all well and good but I’ve read this supposed review of yours and I still have no idea what the book is about!”  So sorry, let me get to that.

There is a world full of stuff and people are fighting and stuff and there is a guy who got in trouble over some stuff and now has to carry stuff and this girl who wants to learn stuff so she can steal stuff and an older guy that is in charge of a bunch of stuff and they are all connected in a great big story.  Also it is a fantasy book so there is magic stuff.  To learn more read it yourself and enjoy!

1 Year of Taylor

It's hard to believe my little girl is 1 year old!

Who is Jesus?

Who is Jesus? on Prezi

Hungry as a Baby

I love a good sandwich.

There is just something about inserting a delicious piece of meat (yes, meat is required for any REAL sandwich) between two otherwise tasteless loaves of bread that suddenly makes the bread worthwhile. As I read Luke 18, I couldn't help but notice that there is a big fat sandwich right there in the text.

The Pharisee and the Tax Collector

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: "Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 
The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.  I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.'  But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner!'  I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted."

Let the Children Come to Me

Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them. And when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them.  But Jesus called them to him, saying, "Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.  Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it."

The Rich Ruler

And a ruler asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"  And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.  You know the commandments: 'Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.'"  And he said, "All these I have kept from my youth."  When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me."  But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.  Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, "How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!  For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God."  Those who heard it said, "Then who can be saved?"  But he said, "What is impossible with men is possible with God."   Luke 18:9-28 ESV

Did you see it? The story of Jesus blessing little children is one of the more well known passages in the Bible. However I think we often look at this story without considering the immediate context in which it is placed. Just prior to the children we have a parable about a proud Pharisee, immediately following the children we have an encounter with a proud young ruler. Is this just a coincidence? Maybe it is, but probably not.

I also do not think it is a coincidence that the two proud ones mentioned would have been the cream of the crop in ancient Jewish society. Today so many of us have grown up with the image of Pharisees as the villains of the Bible that when they are mentioned we get the image of scowling bad guys twisting their mustaches as they plot against Jesus. However these were some of the most respected men of their community. The many additions they made to the Mosaic Law were to help the law become doable and accessible to the people. As other nations descended upon Judea, the Pharisees preserved their identity as God's chosen people. In many ways these were the good guys.

Likewise the rich young man would have held a place of respect in the community. At that time as well as today, Judaism focused primarily on blessing and curses in this life, and placed little emphasis on an afterlife. Those that became rich in this life without falling into obvious instances of corruption such as tax collecting were obviously blessed by God. The way this young man approached Jesus and the shock from the crowd when he is humbled strongly suggests that he was one everyone believed to be a righteous man blessed by God.

Between these two men are the children. In the midst of many accomplished and learned adults, Jesus tells us to receive the Kingdom of God like these children.

Now having a child of my own I am starting to see what it means to receive things like a little child. My daughter knows nothing of the nutritional content of her food. She doesn't know the process that we go through to make it for her. She doesn't see all the work we do every day to provide her with clothes and shelter. Despite her lack of understanding, she gladly accepts the things we give her. She does not eat to become stronger or more able than her peers, she eats simply because she is hungry. She does not put on a fake smile to impress others, but smiles because she sees my wife and I smile at her, and knows she is loved.

Please understand, I am in no way suggesting that we should cease all learning and not study the Bible in detail. God has given us much to learn as we grow. However as we learn we must be careful not to become so proud that we make the ways of God subservient to our ability to understand.

I will never understand exactly how God is able to bring a heart from death to life when His word is proclaimed. I don't know exactly how the gifts won on the cross are delivered in Baptism or the Lord's Supper. However I do know that on the cross Jesus died for my sins, and the sins of the whole world. He died for the very sins of pride and arrogance that occur when we try to squeeze God into our limited understanding. I know that for some reason, far beyond my understanding, He eagerly delivers these gifts to us.

There is a great deal of Pharisee and rich young ruler in all of us. We have all committed the same sins. Jesus is harsh with these men, just as He is often harsh with us, in order to break our trust in our own knowledge and to break our pride in our own accomplishments. He makes into little children that hunger for the bread of life that He gives. He makes us into people that trust and gladly accept his gifts, and know the warmth of His smile upon us.

May God take us all from Pharisees and rich men to trusting children in this time of Lent.

Believing in the Three Persons, Saying They are One

March is upon us!

The month of March seems to be when everyone turns Irish. Here in Champaign Urbana it comes early with University students celebrating unofficial St. Patrick's Day one week from now. For me March is a time to remember just how much of a Geek that I am. While everyone else turns Irish by throwing on a green shirt and drinking darker beer, I'm pulling out my documentary on the real St. Patrick and re-reading his Confession.

The truth is that Patrick has become one of my favorite historical characters. Many people do not realize that he was the first missionary to venture beyond the borders of the Roman Empire without a Roman army preceding him. He most likely never chased any snakes from the island, but did introduce the Gospel in a way that would change the people of Ireland and the rest of Christianity forever.

One thing I find myself doing repeatedly at this time is reading the hymn that has come to be known as St. Patrick's Breastplate. I will admit that there is some doubt as to whether or not Patrick himself actually wrote the hymn, but by comparing it to his Confession I think that if Patrick did not write it, he would have surely loved it.

Something that struck me as I read the hymn this week is how overtly Trinitarian it is.

           I arise today
           in a mighty strength,
           calling upon the Trinity
           believing in the Three Persons
           saying they are One
           thanking my Creator.

So often I fall into the habit of thinking that I only deal with one part of the Trinity at a time. When I pray I am speaking to the Father. When a Pastor reminds me of how I am forgiven I hear the words of the Son. When I am comforted in difficult times I feel the warmth of the Holy Spirit. This isn't inherently wrong. Scripture makes it apparent that the members of the Trinity take on specific roles. However the more I learn of God, the more apparent it becomes that I am never really interacting with just one member.

In my reading of Luke this week I saw a beautiful picture of the Trinity.

In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him." Luke 10:21-22

There is so much that could be unpacked here but I simply want to revel in the joy and beauty of this moment. Father and Son are worshipping together, celebrating the children that will be made a part of their family, and the whole celebration is enveloped in the joy of the Holy Spirit.

We do not worship some solitary being, but an entity whose very existence is defined by a loving relationship. The same God that awed Patrick still saves us, sustains us, and makes us into His children.

I encourage anyone who reads this to take time to read old hymns and prayers. Feel free to start with the Lorica of St. Patrick, also known as his Breastplate and the Deer's Cry.

New Wineskins – Part 2

First off, yes, I know that this post is over a week late. I have no excuses!

Anyway, last time I was taking a look at the often quoted passage from Luke dealing with "new wine". Check the previous post to read the passage in its entirety. I will however, repeat my question.

If we make this passage about comparing new and old practices in the church, are we in fact missing the point completely?

My answer to this question would be yes, here's why.

I think it is important to note that Jesus does not actually call for any change in practice here. He does not say, "fasting is something attached to the old ways, I'm doing away with it." In fact He acknowledges that fasting will continue.

"The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in     those days."

So if the practice of fasting will continue, why the talk about new wine? What is so new? First let's look at fasting in the Old Testament. It is interesting to note that many of the fasts performed by the Pharisees that confronted Jesus were not prescribed in the books of Moses, but had rather been added on top of God's law. One of the few times when the Bible does call for a fast is in association with the Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur.

And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, "Now on the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. It shall be for you a time of holy convocation, and you shall afflict yourselves and present a food offering to the LORD. And you shall not do any work on that very day, for it is a Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the LORD your God. For whoever is not afflicted on that very day shall be cut off from his people. And whoever does any work on that very day, that person I will destroy from among his people. You shall not do any work. It is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwelling places. It shall be to you a Sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall afflict yourselves. On the ninth day of the month beginning at evening, from evening to evening shall you keep your Sabbath." Leviticus 23:26-32

A key component of "afflicting" oneself was fasting. This passage makes it very clear that fasting was required to properly prepare oneself for the Day of Atonement. It goes so far as to say that anyone who does not fast is cut off from God's people! Therefore we can see that in the minds of the Pharisees fasting was born of the law; it was something a person must do to receive God's Atonement.

The fasting Jesus suggests is much different. He puts fasting into the context of a wedding celebration. If this were like the fasting associated with Yom Kippur, then it would occur before the wedding celebration as a cleansing action to prepare for the feast. However Jesus has the feast happening first followed by a time of fasting.

This fasting seems to be less about preparing oneself and more about longing for another. The fast does not earn the love of the Bridegroom but flows from a love and longing for a gracious Bridegroom that has brought a great feast to His bride. This fasting is borne of Grace.

The more I read this passage the more I see it has nothing to do with guitars versus pianos, or ecstatic hand waving versus quiet reverence. Rather it compares the way of the law with the way of the Gospel. The question this passage asks us is, "why do we do what we do?"

I think this is a very relevant question this time of year. We have entered the season of Lent, a season often marked by fasting. If you choose to fast in some way, whether it be an elimination of food or perhaps some form of entertainment or anything else, why are you doing it? Are you fasting in the hope that God will provide you something, such as physical possessions or a spiritual experience, or are you fasting out of gratitude for what Christ has already given you?

God provides us our daily bread, but we do not live on bread alone. We live in the freedom of the forgiveness won for us on the cross. We feast in the righteousness that has been imputed to us by Christ. When we fast, let it be borne out of a longing for our great God and Savior, who has so richly blessed us. May we, the bride of Christ, remember the feast of victory provided by the Lamb of God, and anticipate his return.

Compared to the rat race in which we so often find ourselves, this is truly new wine.

New Wineskins - Part 1

So if you have read many of the other posts on this blog you’ve probably developed a sense of my style.  I start with a story, it leads to a passage of scripture, and I then try to faithfully exposit that scripture. 

This week is going to be a little bit different.  In my reading this week I came across Luke 5:33-39.

And they said to him, "The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink." And Jesus said to them,  "Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?  The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days." He also told them a parable: "No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, 'The old is good.'"

I have been wrestling with this passage a bit this week.  In a number of settings I have heard this passage used to justify any change that a leader may want to bring to the Church.  The procession would usually go something like this:

1.      Leader gets a new idea.

2.      Leader decides this idea is a “move of the spirit” based on some sort of subjective confirmation like a warm fuzzy feeling during prayer.

3.      Leader presents this change as a “new wineskin” to hold the “move of the spirit” that has been delivered to him.

For someone my age watching this progression is honestly getting a little amusing.  I grew up in a traditional congregation, and was first introduced to contemporary worship when I was eighteen.  I encountered a new level of excitement and emotion that I had never before experienced.  As far as I was concerned this was the new wineskin for the new wine of God’s spirit, and the old skins of hymns, liturgy, and men in robes needed to be trashed like an old garment.

Flash forward a few years and I re-discovered traditional Christian worship.   I found a depth and richness that seven line choruses simply couldn’t match.  I saw the contemporary songs that I sang in college quickly fall out of style and become “so three years ago.”  I realized that I will have about as much interest in passing these along to my children as I do the M.C. Hammer album I listened to as a kid (yes, I admit it!).  As far as I was concerned this re-discovery was a new move of the spirit, so the new skins of old traditions must be used to hold this move while the old skins of new music were trashed like an old garment.

Are you starting to see why I find this amusing?

The question I have to ask is, if we make this passage about comparing new and old practices in the church, are we in fact missing the point completely?

I’m going to stop with that question.  My next post will give my explanation of what I think this passage is actually getting at, but before you read it, take some time to consider how you have read this passage in the past, and what you have heard others take away from it.  If you have any thoughts to share I am happy to hear them!

I am Willing, Be Clean

Luke 5:12-16

To clean up, you need to get dirty.

I'll never forget my first day on the job as a janitor. I was a college student needing a little extra money and found a part time job helping to clean the residence halls. It was a warm sunny day and I was honestly in a good mood. I met the full time guy that was in charge of the building where I would be working, and he handed me a snow shovel.

Did I mention it was warm outside?

It turns out that we needed to empty the garbage rooms. Normally this would be a relatively easy task. Each room contains large bins that are wheeled out and tipped into the compactor. One can usually dispose of all the trash while minimizing any actual contact with the waste. However we had just finished a three day weekend and the bins had overflowed to such a degree that we had to literally dig a way out with them. We then refilled each bin twice with what was left on the floor.

By the time the day was done, I stunk of the refuse of college freshman. Not my best day.

We've all had our share of dirty jobs, and I'm sure if I asked around there are plenty of people that can come up with much better stories than me. My point is that to clean a mess of any significance, we often have to become immersed in the mess ourselves and in the end, we get dirty.

In my reading this week, Jesus came across a dirty person. Luke 5:12 tells us that this man was a leper, which meant he was dirty on multiple levels. He was dirty physically; leprosy is a disease that makes itself obvious, covering the body with sores and legions. Every time this man looked at his skin he would have been reminded of what was wrong with him.

He was dirty culturally. A disease that manifests on the skin cannot easily be hidden and he would have been shunned by his former friends and neighbors. Beyond that he was legally obligated to remove himself from society. If he were to encounter anyone he was to cover his face and shout "Unclean!" so people would know to stay away.

Finally he was dirty spiritually. Such a disease made him unclean according the laws of Moses. He was prohibited from participating in any religious activity. He could not go near the temple to worship. He could not present sacrifices. He was effectively cut off from God.

When we consider the context, the actions of this leper are downright shocking. He approached a Rabbi that was gaining respect in the community when he was obligated to avoid Him. Furthermore he had the audacity to actually ask this man for something!

"Lord, if you will, you can make me clean."

The proper response would have been for Jesus to turn his back on this man and abandon him before He himself became infected.

However that is not what Jesus does.

Jesus stretches out His hand and actually touches this physically, culturally, and spiritually dead man. He then speaks the words that this man will never forget.

"I will, be clean."

When Jesus touches this man an amazing thing happens. Not only does Jesus not become impure, but the man becomes clean. His skin is brand new. He is free to love his friends and family without the risk of defiling them. He can return to the temple, and present himself before the Lord.

Like this man, we are unclean. Our disease may not be as visible to the world as leprosy, but when we present ourselves to a holy God our impurity becomes evident. Our sin often damages us physically, destroys us culturally, and completely cuts us off from God. We have no more right to approach God than this man covered with rotting flesh.

However in Jesus God has stretched His hand out to us. Jesus entered our world, our mess, a situation far more out of control than that trash room in the dorm. Despite being immersed in this mess Jesus remained pure. Not only did He remain pure but by taking the consequence of our sin upon Himself He made us clean.

Now He invites us to receive the forgiveness that we never deserved, but He won for us anyway. We no longer need to fear our physical death. We are free to love as Jesus loved, not out of obligation, but out of thankfulness. We are free to approach our loving heavenly Father as the dear children He has always intended us to be.

God is willing, be clean.

Spit in the Face

"I fought for them, and they spat in my face."

The other day I saw a TV show that mentioned some of the Vietnam protest movements of the 1960s. I was reminded of how I grew up with a very different perspective of these movements than many people my age. Many portrayals paint them as idealistic crusaders trying to bring about a better world. I look at the events as an adult and I believe many of them were, however that has never been my first reaction when I see such stories.

I am the son of a Vietnam veteran who came home and became a police officer. At an early age I learned about the reception my father received upon his return. So as a boy growing up whenever I learned about the protestors, they weren't heroes to me.

They were the people who called my dad a baby killer and spat in his face.

Before I go forward know that I am not out to make a political statement, so stick with me…

I have often tried to understand just what my dad has felt all these years. Political opinions aside, he went to a foreign country with an attitude of genuine service and responsibility, underwent unimaginable hardships (we recently caught a shot of him on a History Channel documentary carrying a dead comrade) and returned home to be hated by the very people he had served.

As I read from the Gospel of Luke this week I was reminded of my father's story. After His baptism, Jesus proceeded into the desert where he engaged in an intense spiritual battle with Satan himself. In many ways the original temptation of the first humans is repeated, except this time the Son of God is standing in the place of humanity, resisting the temptation completely and fighting the powers of this world on our behalf. From here he proceeds to Galilee, where His reputation grew. Then He went to Nazareth, His home town, full of the people He has come to save. They reject Him, mock Him, and get ready to throw Him off a cliff.

I have to make a disclaimer here. I am in no way equating my father with Christ, or putting him anywhere close. If I were to do so both of us would have to visit the Emergency Room to have his boot surgically removed from my hindquarters.

The comparison I make is that as I read this, I felt the same disgust for the people of Nazareth as I felt for the people that called my dad a baby killer. Jesus was serving them, fighting for them, and preparing to die for them, and they were completely blind to what was happening.

He was their one hope, and they wanted to kill Him. What was wrong with these people?

However as I read honestly I have to ask the question, are we so different?

If we look closely at the text, we notice that the people were not immediately angry at Jesus. In fact, in Luke 4:22 it records that "all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from His mouth." So what made them so angry? It was what Jesus said next.

And he said to them, "Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, 'Physician, heal yourself.' What we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well." And he said, "Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown." But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.
And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian."

At this point they are suddenly ready to kill Him. Why?

There are a few things here that we can easily miss if we don't read carefully. First from Jesus' initial comment about Capernaum, we can see that miracles seem to have been happening in other towns, but not in Nazareth. This is verified by Mark's account of the visit to Nazareth. What makes the whole thing a little ironic is that they are rejecting Jesus' essential message from Luke 4:18-19 and then asking for more miracles as if Jesus is a traveling magician.

The second thing we see in Jesus' words is that He mentions two events from the Old Testament, Elijah helping Zerephath, and Elisha healing Naaman. The reason this is so significant is that both Zerepath and Naaman were Gentiles (non-Jews). In the minds of these people at Nazareth, the Messiah was coming for the Jewish people and the Jewish people only. No Messiah of theirs would ever be interested in helping some filthy foreigners.

So often we consider the Gospel, that Jesus defeated death and the Devil by substituting His life for our life, and then say "Ok that's great, now when will He get me that promotion at work?" We may not always be so vocal about our hate for other people but do a great job of ignoring the ones that bother us and refusing to serve them. Are we any different than the people of Nazareth?

Every time we turn our backs on people we don't like, every time we become flippant about Jesus' sacrifice on the cross and demand that God do miracles on our own terms, we show ourselves to be just like the people of Nazareth.

We spit in the face of Jesus.

As I look honestly at my life, I realize that I am a man of Nazareth. I thank God that Jesus is a much better man than me. Jesus loves me and you so much that He gave up His life to forgive the very sins that I am talking about. He stood as our substitute in life, facing and defeating the temptations that destroy us. He hung on the cross as our substitute in death, accepting the punishment that should have condemned us.

We spit in His face, and He saves us anyway.

Reading

Growing up, I never knew how much it meant.

Bedtime approached, my brother and I brushed our teeth, crawled into bed, and listened to mom as she read a story. At the time it was part of the routine. I knew it was a part that I liked, I knew that when it didn't happen something just wasn't right, but beyond that I can't say that I thought much about it.

Later on I began to realize that something more was happening. I went off to college and became very involved with Christian groups on campus. As I began interacting with Christians from a number of different backgrounds, I was very surprised to discover that many of them, despite the fact that they had been far more involved in church youth groups and other religious activities than I was prior to college, knew very little of the Biblical stories. They knew a lot more one-verse quotes than I did, but the stories were oddly missing.

These Biblical stories occupied the majority of the content my mother read to us. She didn't have any devotion plan that she followed, she didn't spend a lot of time interpreting the text or drawing lessons from it. She just read the stories.

I began to realize that my mother had given me a great gift. She had given me Christianity, not as a moral system, not as a plan for life improvement, but as a story. A story of a God that loves His people. A God that did not exist off in the mists of myth but made Himself known in very real ways at very real points in history. As my understanding of God's Word and the faith that it delivers continues to grow, I realize more and more that I could not have been given any greater foundation than the one that was placed under me by my mother, as she read me stories.

If the gift ended there it would be a fantastic one, but it gets better.

As we planned my mother's funeral, we went through a long list of facts. I was still numb, so the whole process stirred about as much emotion as filling out a credit card application. Where she was born, where she went to school, who she worked for, what organizations she had joined. This is the sort of stuff they collect for the obituary. According to the next day's paper, this would be my mother's life in a nutshell. It felt woefully inadequate. When we came to the end of the standard questions, the woman from the funeral home asked, "Is there anything else?"

We all blanked.

What do you say about a woman who more than anything was defined by being a mother, a wife, a sister, and a daughter. A woman whose greatest acts were nothing that most people would consider newsworthy. Acts like changing diapers, doing laundry, visiting the nursing home and...

"She always read a..."

Suddenly I couldn't finish. Looking back it was the first time after her death I actually cried. The full impact of the gift my mother had given me became evident. It was more than an intellectual foundation for my world view, and so much more than a comfortable bedtime routine. She had given me what was most precious to her. She had given the story rooted in the past but so powerful that it is now a reality in my present.

This is the story of humanity, of our creation for greatness shattered by our rebellion. The story of a God revealing Himself through His chosen people only to be rejected by them again and again. It is the story that always alludes to a coming hero, one who could write our wrongs once and for all. It is the story of Jesus, God in the flesh, the sum and substance of all the stories that led to the climax of history as this hero laid down His life to pay for all the sin and hate and hurt that we bring upon ourselves and our world. It is the story of Him rising again, defeating death and proclaiming that His story be taken to the entire world.

This is the story that I know read to my daughter, and the gift that my mother gave me moves on.

Thanks again Mom.

Playing Catch

Many boys grow up playing catch with their dad. I have a great dad, he even coached my little league team, but in his heart he's always been a football/track guy. I grew up playing catch with my mom.

Mom grew up in softball country. When my grandpa was a young man the church softball team was the ultimate social occasion. These were not slow pitch church leagues where a few middle age, out of shape guys get together for a relaxing game. This was highly competitive, fast pitch softball. Games would attract hundreds of spectators. I know what you're thinking, these were small rural communities, of course it drew crowds, there was nothing better to do than watch those silly softball games!

That may be true, but what is sillier, gathering with friends and family to watch a bunch of farmers play softball, or spending $200 for one day at a professional ball park?

Growing up on a farm, in that community, with three brothers, it's no surprise that my mom got pretty good at softball. As an adult she played catcher in a women's fast-pitch league. I don't know a lot about this league, but since my mom's death I've started to catch wind of a few crazy stories that may be connected to this team!

So, a young man couldn't have had a better partner for playing catch than my mom. It became one of the greatest forms of connection between us. My little brother ended up not getting into baseball as much as me, making catch even more of a unique thing that mom and I shared.

As I grew older I started pitching, and my mom was more than willing to be my catcher. I don't know if it looked silly for a thirteen year old to hurl everything he had at a middle age woman, but for me that was just the way it was. When I entered high school I started growing and throwing a little harder. I even decided to try to start throwing a curve ball.

By the way, my curve ball sucked.

One day I put one into the dirt and directly off my mother's ankle. As she hobbled back to the house my dad met us and insisted I stop pitching to her. I didn't, but we did keep it to regular old catch when he was looking.

Those games of catch have given me a lot to remember about my mom. I remember that she was a farmgirl and a tomboy, and it would take someone like that to put up with a crazy hillbilly State Police Captain as a husband. I remember that she didn't mind a few bumps and bruises, and that sort of thing is going to come with the territory when I'm a parent. Most importantly, I remember that her greatest joy came from doing things with the people she loved. I remember that her life was so much bigger than herself.

So often I get caught up in the tasks. My job is ruled by a to-do list - fix this computer, create that lesson, update those websites. Sometimes I start to view my entire life as a big to-do list. Playing catch with my mom reminded me that it is not so much about the to-dos as the people for whom they are being done.

Thanks Mom.

Mom

Sometimes it's hard to believe that people like this have ever existed. Someone so loving, so selfless, so beautiful, doesn't belong in the real world. Someone like this belongs in a storybook or Hollywood celluloid. But this woman did exist, she lived in the real world. She was my mother.

Love One Another

Well at long last I am posting something here again. If you were reading before you may have noticed I started something with Titus but never finished it. I do have some of those notes and will still try to get some posts made out of that as soon as I can.

Anyway, it has been a while but I preached a sermon last Sunday. Comparing this one to sermons I have delivered in the past I can see that I have changed a lot in my content, which I think is a good thing. I will explain more of what I mean at another time.

For now have a listen! If you have a Bible handy turn it to John 15 as you follow along.

Love One Another

Introductions

Sometimes I get real tired of introductions.

I'm nearly to the home stretch of my graduate school career.  I remember attending my first class and thinking about how long a road was ahead of me.  Now as I look back I can't remember where the time went.  One reason things have moved so quickly is the fact that I didn't follow a traditional class schedule.  I have been working with a cohort of ten other students.  Our class has stayed together, taking one class at a time while every three to five weeks a new professor shows up for the next course.  Naturally, each new professor wants us to introduce ourselves. 

If I have to explain what kind of ice cream I would be if I were ice cream I'm going to start hating ice cream. 

I get tired of introductions, and I get tired of listening to people I already know introduce themselve.  Maybe this is why I have a habit of skipping the introduction sections when I read the Bible.

"Paul, a servant of God and.." blah blah blah.  I know, Paul is an apostle, he's an important guy, I've heard this before.  Can't I just skip to the actual content of the letter?

As I sat down to outline Paul's letter to Titus, I started to do just that.  I left a blank spot for the chunk on Paul's greeting and went about filling in the outline for everything else.  When I looked back I saw that blank spot and it was a little annoying so I decided I better put something in there.

I'm glad I did.

In his introduction, Paul not only identifies himself, but he explains what he is doing.  As I read the introduction, I came up with this diagram

Do you see something circular about Paul's introduction?  Everything Paul is and does is based on what was given to him.  What's really cool is that this introduction actually acts as a sort of outline for the rest of the letter.  Paul will go on to explain the character that is necessary for a leader in the church, how this character is used to build up the church, and finally how this character is actually a gift that was first given to them.

As tired as I am of introductions, I cannot deny their importance.  The next time you start to read a book of the Bible, consider the introduction.  Consider why this book was written, and who the particular writer was. 

Even in the most unlikely places, God's word always speaks volumes.