General

“I Love This Town!!!”

New York, New YorkWe are in NYC this week with a group of teens. Today we went to the Empire State Building. It was so windy and a little cold up there. It was the first time I had been up there at night. The veiws were breathtaking. The only problem was that there was some big ape hanging out up there with a cute blonde in his hands. Weird, huh?.

In a few short hours we’ll roll out of bed and head to the Today Show and a full day of fun in the city. Tomorrow will be topped off by going to a Broadway musical.

Peace.

News, Popular Culture, Technology

GTA-ble Tennis

The makers of Grand Theft Auto must be taking a new study that says that violent video games cause teens to be more apt to the dangers of underage drinking, drug use, and sexual promescuity pretty seriously.

Their next game is for the XBOX 360 and is titled Table Tennis. No, seriously. It’s a pretty awesome looking table tennis game. No. Seriously.

Religion

As Seen at the Baby Gap…

Have you found yourself saying, “I have an infant. How can he/she join us in celebrating the Passover this year.”

Well, worry no more!

After Justin posted about the Plush 10 Plauges Set I couldn’t help but post about the Soft Seder Set. Enjoy?

7 piece velour seder set in vinyl carrying case. Fun and educational. Seder plate, horseradish, chicken leg, egg, lettuce, whole apple (for choroset), potato (for karpas). Fun and educational. Don’t forget the My 3 Matzahs for a full seder experience!

Leadership, Ministry, Popular Culture, Technology

Spacejunk Comin’ in for the Splash

Have you ever wondered what the iPod would be like if Microsoft created it? Well wonder no more.

All joking aside, this video made me think about how we package Christianity for the world. We have been given the greatest Message in the cosmos. It needs no dressing up; no additives. Yet we attach all of our theological mumbo-jumbo (read: our own agendas) all over it so that it crowds out the original simplicity and beauty and takes away from the powerful impact that the Message originally had. We had good intentions(?). We wanted people to be informed and to completely understand but what we create sometimes only takes away. What we create sometimes looks like everything else out there. The uniqueness of the Message is lost. Let’s get over ourselves and get into what God is all about. I’m tired of “Lookin’ for baby Jesus under the trash.”

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News, Popular Culture

Malcolm Gladwell: Super Genius

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Malcolm and Micheal
Malcolm Gladwell has weighed in on what the book “Game of Shadows” means not only to Bonds but to record setters in general. The article is actually a two-parter. Gladwell defends his position in the second article entitled Forensic Analysis Redux. Gladwell writes:

What if–in sports like baseball and track and field and swimming–we had a record-review board. We assembled a panel of experts who reviewed the circumstances under which the record was set, physiological evidence from the athlete himself or herself, and statistical evidence about the plausibility of the performance. Beamon would pass. FloJo would not. Bonds would not–and nor, I would wager, would McGwire or Sosa. The point is that we have to do something, otherwise records will cease to mean anything at all.

Incidentally, in “Baseball by the Numbers,” by the Baseball Prospectus team, there is a very nice essay by Nate Silver doing exactly this: using forensic tools to try and gauge the extent of steriod cheating in major league baseball. It’s worth a read. Silver concludes, interestingly, that the overall amount of cheating seems to be quite small, and confined largely (at this point) to mediocre players trying to get a little edge, not superstars trying to become mega-superstars. I find that very reassuring, not just because it says that Bonds is an anomaly, but because it reminds us of just how useful statistical analysis can be.

Don’t be fooled: Gladwell is an extremly intelligent and articulate sports fan. He knows of what he speaks. What do you think about his solution to these “records” or “Game of Shadows?” I want to know.

Ministry

You Give Love a Bad Name

LIBERTY, Missouri (AP) — A youth minister was charged with assault for allegedly knocking down a 16-year-old boy and kicking him in the groin after taking a head shot from the teen in a dodgeball game.

David M. Boudreaux, 27, was charged Wednesday with one count of third-degree assault. According to court documents, the incident happened in February at Crescent Lake Christian Academy.

Authorities said the teen missed Boudreaux with one throw but then knocked the youth minister’s glasses off with the next.

The boy apologized, authorities said, but Boudreaux pushed him backward, and when the teen got up again Boudreaux kicked him in the groin and left.

The teen suffered whiplash and post-concussion syndrome and had blood in his urine after being kicked, according to court records.

Boudreaux later apologized, prosecutors said.

Jeanne D. Hewitt, administrator of Crescent Lake Christian Academy, said Boudreaux had been placed on administrative leave.

You know, last week I was in a dodgeball tourny with my students. I almost got hit in the groin by a wild pitch from one of the Seniors. You know what I did? I laughed and enjoyed the game. Because … It’s dodgeball!

Grow up Boudreaux. Good luck teaching kids about turning the other cheek now.

News

Not Buisness As Usual

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The Sentinel High School teacher suspended for giving a student a hickey officially resigned. Missoula County Public Schools confirms Dan Kucera submitted his resignation several weeks ago.

Dan Kucera has not taught at Sentinel since January, after being charged with misdemeanor assault by Missoula police. Speaking for the first time about the situation, Kucera said today by phone he resigned for personal and professional reasons, but only after being abandoned by the district and teachers union. Kucera taught business at Sentinel high school.

Wednesday Kucera acknowledged making a stupid mistake, but believes the situation snowballed into something bigger. Kucera also said he expected to return to the classroom this year, but only after students made a public display supporting him, did administrators ask him to resign. He also believes the union wanted Kucera to leave, not wanting to be associated with a criminal. Kucera does not plan to return to the classroom. He is expected to be in court next week. The district and union could not be reached to address Kucera’s claims.

The situation snowballed into something bigger? Is this guy delusional? It can’t get much bigger than giving a student in your high school buisness class a bite mark on their neck. Unless you are Vlad the Impaler, you have nothing to gain from that type of inappropriate behavior. I can’t even wrap my mind around how blase everyone in this story seems to appraoch this situation. the students even rallied to this “teacher’s” plight. What in the world!?!?!?!

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Firm on the Rock, U2

Please Turn in Your Hymnals to “Mysterious Ways”

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With the tour on hold and no sign of the boys in the studio just yet, U2 news has slim to none. However, I came across a great church meets culture article discussing how some churches are using the music of U2 to attact young twentysomethings.

Earlier attempts by churches to connect to youth culture have usually involved ministers in open-toed sandals strumming acoustic guitars and singing Kumbaya to the general embarrassment of all. Yet, in parishes from California to Maine, worshippers are flocking to hear U2 classics such as Beautiful Day, Pride and Peace on Earth rolled into a service of prayer.

While U2 songs are not yet listed in the Episcopal Church’s authorised hymnal, Ms Blair believes it is only a matter of time. She said: “I seriously think the day will come.”

While I have taught my teens the song 40, I think that it will be a long time coming before any church breaks into The Sweetest Thing during services. Maybe Gloria? Grace?

Regardless of how you feel about the article, churches can do a better job of engaging our culture. We know what it looks like when it is done poorly. When its done right though more than just popular music can be redeemed.

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Books, Theology

It’s No Secret At All

“I think that Jesus would have been political.”

Eight small words uttered by a college freshman struggeling to articulate his new reality. What my friend was trying to say was that he is now begining to understand, after growing up in a Christian home and attending a Christian school for all his life, that Jesus Christ would have cause a huge problem for politics, cultural and national identity, social structures, and the status quo. As he spoke, all I could do was smile because I knew that I was witnessing this young man owning his faith. Up until this point in his life he had lived the faith of others- parents, ministers, teachers. Like Jacob, he is wrestling. I began this wrestling match around the same time and have continued through this day. I hope I never stop. I pray thet neither does he.

If Jesus Christ really did come to this world as a messenger of hope and forgiveness and true life found through Him then his words and actions should redefine the way we live our lives.

Christ gave us a new paradigm. Why do we insist on still using the world’s busted one?

Over the weekend I began reading the much anticipated new book by Brian McLaren, The Secret Message of Jesus: Uncovering the Truth that Could Change Everything. McLaren addresses this wrestling match head on. Much of what he writes is simply a rehashing of points I’ve read before in Wright and Yoder but with McLaren the information is accessible to all. No advance degree is needed for reading this former English professor’s thoughts on first century Judaism and the impact of our Savior.

Here are a few exerpts to whet your appetite:

What if many have carried on a religion that faithfully celebrates Jesus in ritual and art, teaches about Jesus is sermons and books, sings about Jesus in songs and hymns, and theorizes about Jesus is seminaries and classrooms… but somewhere along the way missed rich and radical traesures hidden in the essential message of Jesus?

What if his secret message had practical implications for such issues as how you live your daily life, how you earn and spend money, how you treat people of other races and religions, and how the nations of the world conduct their foreign policy? What is his message directly or indirectly addressed issues like advertising, environmentalism, terrorism, econmics, sexuality, marriage, parenting, the quest for happiness and peace, and racial reconciliation?

If the Christian religion “misunderestimates” the message of Jesus and his message- if it doesn’t know or believe the truth about Jesus and his message- the whole world will suffer from Christian ignorance, confusion, or delusion. But if it discovers, understands, believes, and lives Jesus’ message- if it becomes increasingly faithful to the reality of what Jesus taught in word and example- then everyone could benefit: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, agnostics, atheists, everyone.

I don’t want to spoil the ending, but I’ll let you in on this: the further I go on this search, the more inspired, moved, challenged, shocked, and motivated I become about the secret message of Jesus.

I’ve become convinced that if the good news of Jesus were carried in a newspaper today, it wouldn’t be hidden in the religion section (although it would no doubt cause a ruckus there). It would be a major story in every section…

… this much is clear: the carpenter’s son from Galilee challenges every existing political movement (Essene, Pharisee, Zealot, Herodian) to a radical rethinking and dares everyone to imagine and consider his revolutionary alternative.

There you go. Just a few snippets so that you can see where McLaren is going. He isn’t speaking of some gnostic secret message of Jesus that will lead to transcendence. No, he is simply asking us to re-evaluate the message of Jesus Christ- take off the layers of theological gunk that 2000 years of war, power struggles, and history have added to this radical message stripping it of the power that it once had- and see it with new eyes and a renewed heart. Let this powerful message effect you whole life and impact those around you.

The Goal Is Soul