The final countdown...

That song always gets stuck in my head in times like these.  Sorry for the long hiatus, but we're anticipating the birth of our daughter Julianna Lee any day now, so we've been making lots of preparations, and haven't had time to blog really.  We went to the OB today, and after doing some measurements (which aren't that accurate, but oh well) said that JuLee was about 8 pounds already--he predicted 1o pounds if we got to due date (Nov. 7).  So he let us know that if we wanted to induce, it would go lickity split.  Lara's "readings" are favorable for a quick delivery, but perhaps we're just being overly optimisic.  She had about a 18 hour labor with almost 4 hours of pushing with WG--but every pregnancy is different, right!  

So now we decide if we want to "schedule" her birth or not.  There are definate pros (like getting her out before she is gigantic), but then there's an odd feeling to tampering with nature and the "due course" of things too.  (Of course, we don't feel weird getting an epidural).  So--look forward to photos sometime soon!  Maybe not next week, but maybe so.  

A place that makes sense

I wanted to pass along this great article by Bill McKibben I found in the Christian Century.  It's about a community close to Stockholm that is virtually waste free.  I like the idea of putting my bananna peels in a pneumatic tube that whooshes them away into some community compost pile.  That sounds like a lot of fun.  It reminds me of the laundry shoot that my friend Brandon and I used to send our He-men down at his house.   That's why I wanted to live in a two story house--so I could have a luandry shoot.  So far, the dream remains a dream.  

My new name

According to the "Sarah Palin baby name generator," I'd be Chalk Revelations Palin.  Hahaha.  I love that it's "Revelations" instead of "Revelation."  That's funny.  Wesley Garrett would be Wesson Scalper.  Yikes.  I'm leaving it to Lara to have fun with her name and Julianna Lee (who's on the way in Nov.)  Not too late to change her's to a Palinesqe Jinx Lounger or something like that.  

Missing Los Angeles theaters

When the weather is a perfect 70 degrees, I miss Los Angeles, where the weather is like that most of the time.   One thing I loved about living in Los Angeles was going to the movies in theaters that had real character and history and lore and beauty.   One of my favorites was the Majestic, just south of Wilshire on Westwood Blvd.  There's a beautiful backlit mural of the Hollywood Hills and Westwood that glows during the showing of the movie.  I think I saw Finding Nemo and the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind there.  I tried and tried to find a photo of that for you, but as far as I can tell, they are just "coming soon."  

Another great theater is the Fox Westwood Village. 

This is where most of the premiers are when you see Hollywood stars walking in on the red carpet.  It is beautiful inside and out (as evidenced by the photos.)  Mission revival architecture, and a big star of david on the ceiling in the theater. 

 I think we saw the Lord of t

he Rings movies there, waiting in line with fans dressed like all the characters.  

This one was

 convenient too, cause it was a block away from the UCLA medical center (where Lara worked).   

The El Capitan theater, on Hollywood Blvd, just opposite the famous Chinese Theater, isn't spectacular from the outside, but inside is something else.  

Disney owns this theater and they use it to premier all their features.  It's weird to see Sleeping Beauty 

and Cars right next to 

the 

scuzzy Hollywood shops hawking sex toys.  We saw the premier of Pirates of the Caribbean here.   Oh, they also have a house organist who plays before the film rolls.    

Oh, and if this is your kind of thing, there's a website called "Cinema Treasures" that I've enjoyed visiting.  They have the story of historic theaters, with photos, for theaters around the country.  They even have a profile on our local "Orpheum" in Okmulgee, OK!

It's just a motto

One of Andrew Thompson's articles about the UMC slogan "Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors," has always stuck with me. I understand where Andrew is coming from, but his perspective is a little more rigid than mine (an influence of the cantankerously brilliant Hauerwas on Andrew, I would guess) Not that you can't have your own opinion, Andrew--just making a connection, that's all.
Well, I ran across an article today in the Oklahoma Contact that gave me the confidence that appealing to our motto in matters of debate and doctrinal discussion is not ill founded. Whether it came from an Ad-agency or the Holy Spirit--others think of our church in this way, obviously. The article tells of a fatality accident on I40 involving a young Jewish girl on her way home from college in California. When her distrought father searched for help--he googled the local Methodist church nearest his daughter's accident because

"Aren't you the open doors and open hearts church? You people do things like this to help others, don’t you?’"

Brack assured Neuman the church members would do whatever they could.

It may not be hard-boiled dead german white guy theology, it may come off as mamsy-pamsy anything goes religion to critics--but it worked in conveying the heart of the church to this man. That's the power of the Gospel.

Near Death Experiences

I'm listening to a pretty good interview on Studio Tulsa with Sam Barnia, a guy who is a contributor to National Geographic program on the subject airing soon. He's a director of the "mind/body" symposium of researchers, doctors, etc. I suppose anyone who'd living is somewhat interested in what it is like to die--since it's a ride we're all in line for. The descriptions of out of body experiences and traveling toward a light or through a tunnel are intriguing. I read a book called "The Brief History of the Dead," that had a lot of great imagry about the body transforming into the spirit body. I'm also looking forward to reading Spook I really enjoyed her earlier book, Stiff: The Curious lives of human cadavers. Interested in a quircky, good read--well there you go.

Getting caught up on films

During the late summer, I've always seemed to find my way to the library or video store to check out some movies that have slipped by without me seeing. (After my senior year of high school, this practice got me several dates with the foxy video store girl. I distinctly remember trying to look for movies that would impress an older, more sophisticated woman. I guess it worked!) Now that I'm married with silver hairs (Lara loves to point them out.) , my interest in getting dates with the video store girl has waned, and I settle for turning the Tulsa public library website into a free version of Netflix. Here are some that I've seen.

There Will be Blood--Danial Day Lewis is his usual brilliant self. The movie is sparse (first 15 minutes go by without a word) but with a great story filled with sawdust and oil.

Thank You for Smoking-- Aaron Eckhart (sp) is a tobacco lobbyist and a mentor to his son. I love his self perception as one who defends the right for people to make their own minds up about things. Very funny movie.

No Country for Old Men--The new face of the grim reaper! I got into this one and can see why it won the Oscars that it did. I felt edgy and pursued the whole time I was watching, and because I broke it up over lunch and later in the evening, I felt edgy and pursued all day.

The Children of Men--Okay, it was my second time on this one, but had to skim through it again, specifically for two shots--the long long long shot (like 7 or 8 minutes of action without a cut!) of Clive Owen and Julianne Moore getting attacked on that country road, and for the scene with the seige on the projects and "Key" carrying out the first baby born on Earth in 27 years--it's quite a good metaphor for the Nativity, I'd say.

Darjeeling Limited--I'm a big fan of Wes Anderson, and this is the only film of his not in my collection. First one I also did not see in the theater. Well--having kids'll do that to you. This seemed a lot like Bottle Rocket to me, with Owen Wilson playing a similar character: Idealistic schemer set on bringing about a reunion and living life to its fullest. Wes really dresses up the set and background (which he's been doing since the Royal Tannenbaums, I'd say). But set in the visually rich and colorful world of India, his palette has grown larger. That's where he seems to pour his increasing budgets for his films. It's like a kid who keeps getting a bigger crayon box until he finally has the huge-assed one with the crayon sharpener.

If my reviews are lacking something you want--sorry, go to IMDB

on the high seas

I never liked these, but Wes said he wanted to go on it, and mom is preggers, so that leaves me. You can call me Ishmael. Oh, and uh...yeah, that's me. And Wesley loved it--we rode it no less than 10 times.

Best summary on the value of doubt I've heard

In a recent interview in the Christian Century, author Ron Hansen crystalized what I've always thought in an unspoken cloud of ideas. The question is about his new book based on Gerard Manley Hopkins (a poet I've always loved). Now I've requested the book from the library--it's called Exiles. Anyway, the question and answer are as follows:
When people think of Hopkins they often think first of his faith. But he also wrestled with doubt.

I have a priest friend who points out that the opposite of faith is not doubt but certainty. I think God intended that--it is a way of making us creative instead of smug in our belief. God plants in us the seed to love and worship God, and the seed is enough to make us want to seek God out, but not enough to fully get there. That reaching, that striving, is what God is really interested in--that creative activity that all of us should pursue.

Amen Bro. Hansen--I'm gonna comment on Jeremy's "one minute sermon" post that this would be my entirely borrowed one minute sermon.

Eucharistic Theology in Film

I finally watched a movie that had been suggested to me by one of my mentors years ago. It is the Oscar winning Danish film from 1988, Babette's Feast. (that link is IMDB--wikipedia gives away a plot point that I wish I had been surprised with, although knowing it while watching the film was somewhat enjoyable too). There are many beautiful aspects of the film, but what appealed to me was viewing the film as an analogy of the Eucharist--something that important plot point that I found out about before the film hammers home). I won't give you all the details, because maybe you haven't seen it and would like to watch it without spoilers. But, you should check it (Tulsa Library had it) out and comment below. One thing it portrays is the Protestant struggle with Pietistic dualism. Nothing illustrates better the broad indictment of life contained in the words of Ecclesiastes, "Vanity, Vanity, All is vanity," than when they come in this film. Also, I don't know that I've seen a more poignant symbol of the Eucharist than what is in this film. I'll give you a few days to watch before I go to the comments and analyze more deeply. (so if you don't want to have any more info about the movie than this before watching, don't click on the comments if there are any there.) Don't be like me and wait years to watch this one!

The Theology of Potty Training

I was reading this parenting book that Lara had read and found helpful, and it sparked some theological thinking. The passage read as follows:

“If guilt is an ice cube, shame is an iceberg: it’s in the same basic category, but it’s bigger, goes deeper, and can do a lot of damage. Guilt goes along with remorse, and tends to be associated with a particular act of misbehavior. Shame, on the other hand, tends to pervade the entirety of the person in question. Shame goes along with disgrace and humiliation. Whereas a person feeling guilty can rouse himself to make amends, a person feeling shame has a much more difficult task.

Shame has to do with a feeling of being wrong, stupid, bad, inept. Shame is the hot potato of mental states: No one wants to be left holding it for long. No sooner do we find ourselves with it than we set about to find some way to hand it off to someone else. There is no wrong without right, stupid without smart, bad without good, or inept without competent. IF you are to get rid of shame—itf you are to feel right or smart or good or competent—then someone else has to be assigned these other, less desireable qualities. As such, shame tends to travel from person ot person. It gets handed off.

(Dana Chidekel, Parents in Charge: Setting Healthy, Loving Boundaries for your Child. New York: Citadel, 2002, 206.)

That got me thinking about Christ taking our shame at the cross, the most shameful way of dying that was available to the God-man. After dying in humiliation, even uttering an unanswered plea to Elijah, he is buried with the shame of the world, and he leaves it there. We can turn over our shame to God, because God has willingly taken it. 1^st Peter 2: 6 says “For in Scripture it says: "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame." We can put a halt to the endless “passing” of our shame to others by giving it up to God. God fully takes that shame in the form of a cross, and rises from shame and death to show us our potential as “re-born” beings. Chidekel states that “Babies do not feel shame.” And then makes a good case for tying shame, which kicks in during the toddler years, to a legacy of toilet training.” As for the soteriological aspect of the freedom from shame, We can be re-born into the world, free of shame…like an infant. We can be saved from shame by yielding this one most private and personal emotion to God

Chidekel states about shame,

“Shame seems to be hard-wired into humans. While someone can certainly set out intentionally to make you feel ashamed, shame will arise in the absence of another’s conscious intent to inspire it within you.”

The author says that shame is seemingly “hard-wired” into us. Perhaps the concept of shame and the concept of the “original sin” are the same. The story tells us that after eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Adam and Eve cover themselves “in shame.” God’s action in the cross is said to be the “equal and opposite reaction” of the shame that is inherent in the human condition. God is offering us a freedom from our shame by taking that shame from us. The only way to stop the cycle of shame, to stop perpetuating it onto those whom we love, is to yield the shame to God and understand that we’re not created to bear it. It is alien to our core as Good Creation.

Poem from the Christian Century: As I sleep

This caught my eye and then my soul.

Turning as I sleep, I take
Across my eyes the silent words
Sung by our old sun's golden birds--
They hope I will awake.

Learning, I have longed to shake
An apple from the sacred tree
That sings sleep into unity--
Before my true day-break:

Yearning, at the end, to make
My entrance in a gown of light
Woven of day, woven of night--
Hearing, at last, "Awake!"

Treehouse Rock

I've been on a treehouse kick recently, I suppose, since I blogged about the treehouse chapel idea yesterday. Couldn't get enough of browsing thru treehouse images, and came across the world's largest treehouse in Alnwick Garden, in Northumberland. Looks like a good vacation destination for the future.  The Alnwick Garden in England has the world's largest treehouse.

6000 feet would be big enough for a whole college religious life center! The frame of mind that treehouses inspire would just seem to lend itself to a place of worship, dontcha think?

The church I'd build

I came across a note I had made to myself some years ago when I used to carry around a day planner. It said, "Chapel Idea--small chapel built in a tree. A treehouse chapel. Icons Painted on Walls."

What a good reminder. I haven't built a treehouse chapel yet, but I had a dream not too long ago that I do someday. What better place to worship than a treehouse? The loftiness, the views, the unique feel of the closeness of the structure to the tree (with the best treehouses incorporating the tree in the interior of the house, in my opinion.) to me engenders a natural feeling of the soul's closeness and being infused by the Divine.

Doubtful this would ever fly in Oklahoma though--maybe the Pacific Northwest would be a good home for a treehouse chapel. I think in the dream it was in Florida.


Since then, I bought a book called Remarkable Trees of the World, and found that it has actually been done in France. The Chapel Oak in Normandy, built in 1696 (the Oak was a sacred relic for centuries before that) . I like elements of all the other treehousese pictured too, and the chapel would likely be a combination of all of them. Haven't decided if I'd use stained glass, only clear glass, or a combination.)


















Perhaps the idea comes from my early experiences at Fay Jones masterpiece chapel in Eureka Springs, AR--Thorncrown? It's tree-housy, and incorporates the landscape around it, no?

Revenge of the Little Cups

Some time ago,
I gave you a little taste of why I regretfully preserve the custom in this church of using little plastic shot glasses of juice during communion. This past Sunday they came back to bite me again. If you're keeping score here are the list of pros and cons for little cups:

Pros:


Cons:

1. Destroy the symbolism of the sacrament messing with the image and words related to "one cup."
2. Aren't found in scripture.
3. Look silly when I hold up a little cup or a tray of cups while saying, "and after supper he took the cup."

Okay, so many in my church would add "are sanitary" to the list of pros (which in their mind would outweigh the 3 strikes against) but still--this is my blog, so the little cups have a running tally of -3. And today we make it -4.

4: You have to either over-estimate how many are coming to take communion, or scramble to get another tray in the midst of the worship service.

From now on, we will over-estimate.
This past Sunday, with about 10 left to serve at the chancel, and with a family of visitors just kneeling there for 5 minutes, my ushers had to do the "little cup scramble." My communion server turned to me with wide open eyes after I had gotten to the end of the chancel distributing bread, and I saw my trusty usher at the back getting ready to head to the kitchen. "Get the big cup," I mouthed to him while gesturing in a chalice type motion. He misunderstood what I was asking for and brought me the "little cup filler" thing with the bulb that Wesley likes to play with. We hadn't given him a tray to bring in the little cups, so this is what he had to do. Un-beknownst to him, I had put bleach in the little cup filler before the service to try and clean the mold that had accumulated in the bottom of it. However, in the heat of the moment, I'd forgotten this little tidbit of information. The juice had a strange look to it, like purple kool-aid instead of juice. "What--are we out of juice?" I thought as I began to fill up some little cups on the table. My next thought was--"hmm....what is that smell? Bleach!" I'm glad the Spirit opened my nose to smell or else we might of been like another kool-aid swilling church. So, I turned around again and simply said to the usher, "we're going to need the chalice." Chalice to the rescue! I gave the 10 or so who hadn't yet partaken another piece of bread, and they dipped them in the chalice. Communion accomplished. I explained to the congregation what had happened (because some of the folks who had been the last to receive the little cups were visitors who had been kneeling there for like 7 minutes while we got the whole thing straitened out, and I didn't want them to think communion regularly included such theatrics.) Even so, this isn't a change I'll be making soon--most of the people are just a little too skittish about it, and I want to encourage a welcoming stance toward communion. On every other Sunday we offer communion in the chapel after church by intinction, so....

Any freudians out there?

Dream about preaching

Church was full to the gills.  My liturgist was off the bulletin, had prepared something different, but very Spirit led.  Randy Johnson, a musician from Bartlesville, was also in attendance and played a bassoon and a flute during the call to worship, which I had written using the lyrics of a contemporary song, but that the liturgist took to mean she was supposed to sing.  I could tell the church had been working behind the scenes unbeknownst to me. 

During announcements, I started by asking congregation what they would announce.  Many evacuees were there to worship, they started sharing great things.  Testimonies.  Katherine stopped me when she remembered she had an announcement.  The evacuees had opened these doors in the side of the church to let in the fresh air.  K went weaving in and outside the doors as she gave her announcement.  I remember her saying, “and there are going to be canoes, and wilderness, and pine trees” it was kind of a spontaneous thing. 

When I finally decided I needed to give my sermon, (first of all I couldn’t find a bulletin, and secondly I couldn’t find my sermon.  I could find a bunch of old sermons, but not today’s sermon..

The whole time I was fumbling around, kids were just running around like crazy.  They were going up to the microphone and announcing car washes and all sorts of things.  Some of the kids in my present church mixed in with some of my youth from Bartlesville.

Another interesting thing, the pulpit kept changing size, and I kept taking apart the microphone trying to get it to work.  I remember walking up to give the sermon, and I couldn’t find it, but even if I could, you couldn’t even see me behind the pulpit.  There were also flowers right in front of the pulpit to where when it was the right size, even the flowers were obstructing my view and the cong’s view of me.  I kept embarrassingly trying to move the flowers.  Worried that the cong. would think they “had” to be watching me, and thinking they would think I was full of myself for moving the flowers so they could see my face as I gave the sermon.  But I was actually just concerned for the people who hear better when they can see what they are listening to.   

Roma fingerprinting and Holocaust death toll: Common Knowledge?

I heard an interview on BBC radio today that brought up the new Italian plan to fingerprint Roma, or Gypsy, children in that country in an effort to punish the parents who may be using their children to panhandle, steal, etc. The interviewer compared the plan to what the Nazis (and participating countries) did to the Roma, Jews, etc. in the 30s and 40s. (Gotta love British interviewing) It got me thinking about the holocaust and its death toll.
It seems to me that most people, when asked how many people were killed during the Holocaust would say "6 million," or "6 million Jews." Which is only about half of the death toll of the holocaust , as most historians estimate. Poles, Communists, Roma, mentally and physically disabled people, and other "undesireables" account for up to 5 million more people. The Roma are probably the hardest to estimate, since there are no hard and fast population statistics on them.
Jewish people were of course most drastically affected by the Holocaust, and have culturally woven that experience into Jewish identity through Yom Hashoa and the other ways. But I don't know that the Poles or the Roma have similarly taken the genocide of their populations into cultural memory.

Have you had similar experiences of the general public being ignorant of the true death toll of the Holocaust?

Reaching out with the Old

Sometimes it's nice to hear you're not just an oddball, I read in Christian Century's June 17 issue the following...."

By a ratio of almost 2 to 1, unchurched Americans prefer churches that look more like medieval cathedrals to the modern, utilitarian church facilities that currently are being constructed.

This preference for the Gothic, found among both unchurched Catholics and unchurched Protestants, is even more pronounced among people between the ages of 25 and 34. "I don't like modern churches, they seem cold," said one survey respondent. "I like the smell of candles burning, stained glass windows and an intimacy that's transcendent." (survey by Lifeway Research.)

....From the article linked above...“Quite honestly, this research surprised us,” said Ed Stetzer, director of LifeWay Research and LifeWay Christian Resource’s missiologist in residence.

“We expected they’d choose the more contemporary options, but they were clearly more drawn to the aesthetics of the Gothic building than the run-of-the-mill, modern church building.”

Well, I'm not surprised, Ed. I've always had a feeling about this---now I know that feeling is part of the collective unconscious and not just my own uncommon preference. Ha! I'm right. (I try to get in one of these "Ha! I'm right"s at least once a day. Usually my wife is the lucky recipient of said "H!IR's" but today, you all get to share in the glorious experience. ON the topic of really helpful worship findings, make plans to attend the Worship in a Postmodern Accent Workshop
So, how would the Oklahoma Conference like to sink money into building materials that would be required to build a church that 25-34 year olds would prefer to worship in--or should the New church starts initiative be in the market for a good, "pre-owned" gothic church? You want to see photos of my dream appointment in New York City? It was built by the Methodists--but they wanted to attract an ecumenical congregation in a Byzantine neighborhood. Yes, I fall in line with the preferences of the unchurched, and struggle with the implications for how we might allocate resources to start new congregations.

Camp Communion Three Day theme

Next week I'm helping to dean Muskogee District Camp. I've been given leadership of the morning communion service before breakfast, which isn't mandatory. Because of the time and the probable spiritual disposition (maturity level) of those youth willing to wake up early to start the day with communion, I'm going to go ahead and go "a little deeper" than I would with your average cross section of camp kids. I'll let them know that I hope they can make it to all three services, because they're going to be somewhat connected. The final communion service on Thurs will be structured much like a Quaker meeting (even though the Quakers don't celebrate the sacrament) and will focus on helping the youth speak about what communion means to them (in the interest of the camp theme being "know it, live it, SHARE it." and "being ready to give a reason for the hope that is within us." (main camp scripture from 1 Peter 3) Thurs service will also be the chance for the youth (and whoever else) to serve each other communion (further "sharing it.") Working backwards, Wednesday will be focused on silence and contemplation with a walking meditation. Tuesday will be focus on creation and inspiration as I share what communion has meant to me and my experience with communion at camp and when I introduce the idea of the three day focus: CReation, Observation/Silence, Speaking. Well what do you know, an acronym for the three day theme is CROSS. How handy.

RIP Back to the Future Set and Bihops Schnase's book

Lamentations! Sounds like the Universal studios burned. As an honorary resident of Hill Valley, I mourn today.

Also--I started a sermon series and book study of the "Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations," which OK Conf. has used as a foundation of its strategic plan for all local churches. The study tonight had about 8 discuss Radical Hospitality. It was a great conversation, and the folks had some good insights into our church. I'm looking forward to the rest of the conversation.