Blog

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X Marks the Spot

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I let a week slide by without anything for the blog.  The blog is always hungry.  The blog always wants to be fed.  The blog will have to go on a diet next week.  I’ll be at Camp Idlewild.  If you’re looking for something to read, stop by the camp blog for pics and updates.  Our awesome webmaster has trained my phone to send updates to it, so I’m going to be making mini entries throughout the week. For now I have a huge challenge for you.  Read and dwell on this quote from Barbara Brown Taylor.  I started her book Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith last year at camp.  This year I’ll be reading her new one: An Altar in the World.  She was just recently a speaker at my Alma Mater’s Christian Scholars’ Conference. She’s talking about the treasure of meaning and significance in life.  And how we’re always looking for some big spiritual “A-ha” or awakening.  And how we’re always looking somewhere else for an encounter with God:
People seem to look all over the place for this treasure.  The last place most people look is right under their feet, in the everyday activities, accidents, and encounters of their lives.  What possible spiritual significance could a trip to the grocery store have?  How could something as common as a toothache be a door to greater life?...No one longs for what he or she already has, and yet the accumulated insight of those wise about the spiritual life suggests that the reason so many of us cannot see the red X that marks the spot is because we are standing on it.
Ohhh.  I want to write something like that.  Not that there aren’t mountain top experiences to be had.  I just hope we’re not looking to them to give our lives meaning.  Most importantly, I hope we’re not so obsessed with the future that we miss God’s presence in the…um, presence. How often do you think to yourself: I’ll be happy when ______.  Or I’ll be content when ______.  Or Life will be good when ______.  I seemed to recall Jesus saying that the Kingdom is here now. I hope instead of staring at the map and looking over the horizon, you’ll start digging right now.

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John Lehnen

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Thought I’d pass along a link to the article about John Lehnen winning the Military Father of the Year.  If you missed the article and you want to read it, click here.  I’ve also embedded the White House video that features an interview with him.  Jennifer was telling me about it this morning.  Apparently he got to ride in a motorcade.  She also has an awesome story about an unattended cell phone in the White House. Thanks to all you military fathers.  Thanks to all you fathers.  I know it can be hard to do what you do and then come home and be there for your families, but keep it up.  It’s the right thing to do.

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VBS and a Funky Fresh Clip

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I don't have much insight for you this morning. Can't wait to see everyone at VBS.  Preparations are going full blast.  Don't forget to register your kid if you haven't already.  See you Sunday and then Monday morning. I saw this video a while back, but it's making the rounds again.  Any volunteers to do our own rendition at church sometime?  It would probably require us designating a Deacon of Dope Dance.

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Kris, Adam, and American Idol

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A month or so ago, when Kris Allen, "shocked" (I use quotes here, b/c a number of people, including my wife, predicted that he would win), the world by winning American Idol, someone suggested that I do a blog entry about the cultural implications of the Kris Allen/Adam Lambert showdown. For those of you who don't know, Kris is as "aw, shucks" wholesome as they come.  Raised in Conway, Arkansas, Allen is not afraid to be vocal about his faith.  Adam, on the other hand is "fab-yoo-lous."  And you know what I mean when I say that. I thought about it, but then got distracted.  Then yesterday Mike Cope linked to a wonderful (but looong) essay on Allen and Lambert's rivalry and, more, their relationship.  When you have time, give it a read.  I was telling someone last night that good writing always makes me a little jealous, because I find myself thinking, "Why didn't I write that?"  I was really jealous of this piece. If you want to skip some of it, you might pick up with the paragraph that begins, "Countless commentators wanted the Idol competition to be about more than just singing." Let me know what you think.

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More Good News

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Two of the books I was reading in preparation for Sunday's message are Brennan Manning's The Ragamuffin Gospel and Henri Nouwen's Life of the Beloved.  Even though I read a lot from both of them, the only thing I ended up using from either one was that quote from Julian of Norwich.  But both books are amazing and well worth the read.  Both are liberating in their bold declaration of God's love for us.  Here are a couple of quotes for you to sit with. From Brennan Manning:
The Word we study has to be the Word we pray.  My personal experience of the relentless tenderness of God came not from exegetes, theologians, and spiritual writers, but from sitting still in the presence of the living Word and beseeching Him to help me understand with my head and heart His written Word.
And from Henri Nouwen:
Aren't you, like me, hoping that some person, thing, or event will come along to give you that final feeling of inner well-being you desire?  Don't you often hope: "May this book, idea, course, trip, job, country, or relationship fulfill my deepest desire?  But as long as you are waiting for that mysterious moment you will go on running helter-skelter, always anxious and restless, always lustful and angry, never fully satisfied... Well, you and I don't have to kill ourselves.  We are the Beloved.  We are intimately loved long before our parents, teachers, spouses, children and friends loved or wounded us.  That's the truth of our lives.  That's the truth I want you to claim for yourself.  That's the truth spoken by the voice that says, "You are my beloved."
I hope you are still coming to grips with the truth that nothing can separate you from the love of God.

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Up

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up About ¾ of the way through Pixar's Up, Russell, the main child character, says something that sums up the whole movie very nicely.  I wish I could remember it verbatim, but I can't.  And I can't find it on the web, either.  So here's my best attempt.  He says:
The wilderness is a lot different than I expected.  It's a lot wilder than the books made it sound.
Up reminds us that it's not just the wilderness that ends up being different and wilder than we expected; it's all of life.  The two main characters can testify to this.  Carl has recently become a widower.  The first ten minutes of the film chronicle his relationship with his wife, Ellie.  It makes for a beautiful movie within a movie.  Russell is a boy growing up with an absent father.  (Are his parents divorced?  I can't remember.)  Both people are coming to grips with all of the ways that life has tossed them around and dashed their expectations. Be warned, if you're prone to crying at the movies, bring some tissues for this one.  There are Bambi's mother/"Baby Mine" from Dumbo kinds of sad moments.  I asked my 3 year old if he liked the movie and he said, "Yeah.  It made me sad." But please don't let me scare you away.  The other message of Up is that grace also comes in wild and unexpected ways.  One of the great joys of watching it is getting to see how these two people who are suffering their own losses find new life together.  (I can't imagine that I'm ruining the movie by telling you that it has a great, great ending.  It is, after all, Disney.)  With them, we learn that good things happen if we can let go of the plans we have made and embrace the unforeseen.  One scene illustrates this really well, but I don't want to ruin the surprise. As a Christian I can't watch it without remembering how Paul says "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him (1 Corinthians 2:9)."  Or how he reminds us that God is capable of making something good come out of even the worst events of our lives (Romans 8:28). Deep thoughts aside, the movie is a lot of fun.  Be prepared to laugh hard every time Dug the talking dog or any of his counterparts shows up.  And, once again, the artistry is stunning.  I could watch the balloons in all their translucent wonder all day long. Or I suppose I could blow up a real balloon and watch it.  Isn't it funny how good animation can remind us that there is beauty in the mundane?

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A Brief Follow-up and a Briefer Taunt

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First for the follow up: More than one person has said that Sunday's message got them to thinking.  It also got them talking with each other.  That's about the best thing I could hope for in a sermon.  The egotistical side of me also hopes that you think I'm brilliant, but I'm learning to let that go. What I hope for is a message that stays with you and makes you want to talk about it with others.  I'd love for you to talk about it with me if you want.  I've said this before: My big problem with the idea of preaching is that it's such a one-way enterprise.  It's necessary and important and there are people who are really good at that kind of communication.  But I still prefer teaching, because dialogue is possible. My other problem with preaching is that it pushes me to be simple rather than complex.  There's something to be said for simplicity and clarity.  But it's harder for me.  I prefer being able to talk to both sides of the issue. All that to say, I realize that the way God is working in our world can't be reduced to one analogy (card game, GPS, or anything else).  God works in a bunch of different ways.  I further realize that "why" isn't always a bad question to ask.  I just think it's important to ask the "what" question alongside it. Now for the taunt: You probably won't hear much from me between now and the end of the month.  Most of you know that we're leaving tomorrow on a Caribbean cruise.  I'll be much too busy snorkeling, swimming, eating, drinking, playing, sightseeing, reading, shuffleboarding, etc.  All of that leisure is not to be taken lightly and will thus demand my utmost attention. I will miss being with you this Sunday, but not enough to cancel the cruise.  See you on the 31st.

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God Work

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I'm reading a book by Randy Harris called God Work.  Now a professor at ACU, he was at Lipscomb when I was there.  In fact, Rachel and I met in one of his classes.  The book reads like a "Greatest Hits."  Some of the things in the book I remember him saying in class.  The rest I can hear him saying.  I would imagine anyone who's had him can hear that Harris style coming through. We might be reading this book together on Wednesday nights some time soon.  But don't wait for that.  Go ahead and order it. I will probably be sharing quotes from this book on and off.  Let me start with this one:
Hans Georg-Gadamer somewhere said "Conversation is not me trying to convince you to my point of view or you trying to convince me to yours.  It's both of us trying to be convinced by a third thing, which is, the truth."  I'm not tying to win you over, and you're not trying to win me over.  We're both trying to be won over by the truth which can happen when we take a humble position before God and the truth and which tends to make our conversations go so much better.
What do you think?  Leave a comment.  I've got something to say about it, but I want to hear from you first.  Have a good weekend.  Looking forward to seeing everyone on Sunday.  We'll be talking about Romans 8:28.

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Do Re Mi

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This one's for those of you who have ever watched a musical and wondered what it would look like if people were to spontaneously burst into song and dance, "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" style, in real life.  There are some theological musings below the video, but don't feel like it's necessary to read them.  Maybe you just need to watch and enjoy.  Am I the only one who finds it impossible to watch this video without grinning, even after viewing several times? In fact, I would be ashamed to admit it if it weren't for so many other people saying the same thing in the comment section on youtube, but I even get a little teary eyed. So this whole thing got me to thinking about Genesis, more specifically the creation account in Genesis 1-3.  We're told that, "in the beginning" the earth is "formless and empty".  The picture we're supposed to get is of absolute chaos.  The world is not a safe place for anyone. And then God speaks into the chaos and the result is order.  God separates things (water from land, darkness from light, etc.) in order to create a safe place for his creation to exist.  And he does all of this so that He can exist in relationship to his creation. As I've said before, the point of the creation story is that creation is good.  It is not an accident.  God takes meaninglessness and provides meaning.  He takes lifelessness and creates life.  Before creation we would be as safe in this world as we would be on the surface of Mars.  After creation, we have a home. The same thing happens in this train station in Belgium.  One way to look at it is to say that, in the beginning, the station is formless.  People going from here to there, lost in their own little lives, unaware of the others who are around them.  From above, the station seems chaotic. And then, seemingly from out of nowhere, there is a voice.  And suddenly two people respond to the voice.   And they're no longer moving on their own.  Which is to say that they are moving with each other and they are moving under the direction of something that is bigger than they are. And from there, more people are drawn into this act of creation.  The chaos disappears; the dance envelopes everyone.  People cannot remain isolated.  Some try to join the dance; others do a dance of their own.  But no one in the train station remains isolated.  Order comes from chaos. Finally, a connection can be made between chaos and the effects of sin.  We tend to think about sin in terms of guilt.  We stand condemned to die because we have run afoul of the judge.  Grace comes along and pronounces us innocent. That's true, but it's only part of the picture.  The other part is that sin creates chaos.  It wrecks our lives, it wrecks the lives of those around us.  It isolates us from one another.  But grace has the opposite effect.  It brings order.  It brings us from isolation into community.  Think about it.  When you experience God's grace do you not feel like things are suddenly clearer, less chaotic?  With God's grace life is a safer place to be.  Not only because it brings us forgiveness, also because it transforms us.  I think this isn't far from the meaning for the Hebrew word Shalom. Psalm 40 1 I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry. 2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.

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Word to our Mothers

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There will be no Mother's Day sermon on Sunday.  Even though, Sunday is Mother's Day.  (Cough, ahem, cough!  Don't forget the moms in your life!  Especially you husbands and sons out there.)  We'll be serving up a big thank you to all the moms, but I won't be preaching a Mother's Day sermon.  And that's because, well, I'm a dude. So what do I know about being a mom?  I can speak a little bit about what it means to be a dad.  And I can talk generically about being "a parent."  But I have no clue what it means to be a good mom.  It's the same reason I don't preach on how to be a good fighter pilot.  The only thing I know about flying a fighter jet is that, if a MiG's on your tail, you can hit the brakes and he'll fly right by.  And, if you're too close for missiles, you'll have to switch to guns. (Thank you, Maverick.)  Along the same lines, I know that being a mother is like taking your bottom lip and pulling it over your head.  (Thank you, Mr. Cosby.  Nice sweater.) Soooo.  Like I said, no Mother's Day sermon.  Just a big thank you to all you moms out there.  Our kids would be in peril without you.  Technically, our kids wouldn't be anything without you. I thought about asking a mom to preach the sermon on Sunday, but something tells me that might create a few problems.  So, how 'bout you moms out there let us hear from you now?  The floor is yours.  Leave a comment.  Tell us what you've learned about being a good mom.  What did your mom teach you?  Wanna give a shout out to one of our moms at church?  Someone you think is doing a great job?  Don't be shy!  Let's hear it!  Gentlemen, you can leave a comment, too, as long you're lavishing praise and not preachifyin'. Let me just take this chance to thank the mother of my children.  I love you, baby.  I know it's a cliché to have a dad who always says, "Go ask your mother."  But in our case it's just the right thing.  You're so much smarter.  All that, and you'll be able to handle our kids' medical emergencies while I'm curled up in a fetal position in the corner.  What a woman!

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Peanuts and Cracker Jacks...

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...gimme Some! James and Judy P. are putting together a Tides Game for Tuesday, 6/23.  It's "Roll Back the Clock Night"--$.25 hot dogs, popcorn & cokes.  Interested?  You can sign up on the sheet outside the office or leave a comment below with your last name and how many will be coming.  Or you can send me an email.  The cost is $8.50 per ticket. This is a popular night and will probably fill up fast, so we need your $ by 5/20.

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Susan Boyle

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In Sunday's message I referenced the Susan Boyle video (now viewed nearly 40 million times on YouTube).  Some of you said that you still have not seen it.  You can watch it by clicking here.  I can't embed it.  You can also click here to read an interesting commentary by a Catholic priest named James Martin on the world's fascination with her.  There's also this take on it from our local paper. The two views aren't mutually exclusive.  It's probably a little bit of both.  It got me to wondering why I enjoyed seeing Mrs. Boyle do so well.  Part of it is the relief I feel at seeing disaster averted.  My son occasionally hides his eyes when he sees a character on TV about to get in trouble or be embarrassed.  That's how we feel when someone like Susan Boyle comes on stage.  It's like there's a voice that says, "Stop her before she makes a fool of herself!" Imagine our surprise, our relief, our elation, when she's not pathetic but glorious.  It's the surprise that gets our attention. I agree with Fr. Martin.  Perhaps we are drawn to this performance because it is a reminder of God's power to do the same.  To see the glorious in the mundane.  It's the great reversal that Jesus delights in pointing out, where the least of society (lepers, "sinners," tax collectors, Samaritans) end up being the heroes. Do we not have the same hope for ourselves?  What do you think?

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Keep Celebrating

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I hope that Easter has stayed with you this week.  I wish that I was one of those who could say that they celebrate Easter every week.  But I can't.  Perhaps I will grow closer to that ideal.  But for now, I am blessed to have reminders.  Church signs that declare: "He is risen."  Crosses draped in white or covered in flowers.  It is good to celebrate.  I'm reminded of NT Wright's suggestion that, for the week of Easter, morning prayers should be preceded by champagne. Here's a celebration poem by John Updike called "Seven Stanzas at Easter," from his collection, Telephone Poles and Other Poems.  Updike takes on our tendency to make a parable or myth out of Jesus' resurrection.  His point is that the strength of the Easter story is that Jesus was raised bodily from the dead-hence the warning, "Let us not mock God with metaphor." He is at his most powerful in reminding us that our deaths are not a metaphor (stanza 5).  They are all too real.  And they require a real resurrection.  Like the one that God performed for Jesus and will perform for us. So if your Easter hope has faded some.  I hope it will be renewed today.  Happy Easter everyone.

Seven Stanzas at Easter

Make no mistake: if He rose at all it was as His body; if the cells' dissolution did not reverse, the molecules reknit, the amino acids rekindle, the Church will fall.

It was not as the flowers, each soft Spring recurrent; it was not as His Spirit in the mouths and fuddled eyes of the eleven apostles; it was as His Flesh: ours.

The same hinged thumbs and toes, the same valved heart that - pierced - died, withered, paused, and then regathered out of enduring Might new strength to enclose.

Let us not mock God with metaphor, analogy, sidestepping transcendence; making of the event a parable, a sign painted in the faded credulity of earlier ages: let us walk through the door.

The stone is rolled back, not papier-mache, not a stone in a story, but the vast rock of materiality that in the slow grinding of time will eclipse for each of us the wide light of day.

And if we will have an angel at the tomb, make it a real angel, weighty with Max Planck's quanta, vivid with hair, opaque in the dawn light, robed in real linen spun on a definite loom.

Let us not seek to make it less monstrous, for our own convenience, our own sense of beauty, lest, awakened in one unthinkable hour, we are embarrassed by the miracle, and crushed by remonstrance.

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Ritual

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Growing up in the CofC, most people would tell you that we don’t have a lot of ritual in our services. I think that’s kind of true. More likely, we should say that we don’t call it ritual. But really, from the way we prayed, to the way that we sang, to the way that the preacher talked. There was plenty of ritual. The fancy word for what I’m talking about is liturgy. It’s the way that “church” was (is) done. And we have our own liturgy at NCOC, we just might not say it that way.

And yet two rituals have stood out in the life of our church in this last week. The first was the “installation” of Mike Dossett as an elder. What a strange turn of phrase it is to say that we are “installing” someone. It’s like we were expecting a crew from Best Buy to show up and permanently fasten Mike to the wall like a set of speakers. Do we say that because we don’t want to say that he was “ordained”?

Anyhow. I heard more than one person comment (all in a positive way) on the reading that was used. The language was formal and kind of high-falutin’. It was a lot like a wedding ceremony. But it fit the occasion didn’t it? This is an important moment in the life of the church and (to borrow more nuptial language) “not to be entered into lightly.”

The other was last night’s Passover ceremony. [Thanks, BTW, to everyone who took care of business so we could participate in the ceremony. I hope that, if we do it again next year, we can make sure that those who were teaching our kids last night will be able to participate.] While last night could have been much more formal (I omitted the responsive readings) it was still a very ritualized event with all of the eating together and prayer and remembering.

Not something we typically “low church” informal CofC’ers do. But I think that both rituals were appropriate. Both provided a chance to experience something as a group.

I’d like to hear your thoughts on either of these events. Can anyone guess where the script for Mike’s ordination (There! I said it!) came from? Did you like it? Was it strange? How do you respond to formal ritual in a worship service? What about the Passover service last night? What was it like to take part in such a choreographed event?

I’d like to hear from those of you who grew up in the CoC and those of you who didn’t. Or maybe I should say those who grew up in High Church and Low Church traditions. My guess is that you’ll bring different perspectives.

Where else (if anywhere) might rituals like that be beneficial to the church?

On another note, for those of you who are into the whole “religious calendar” thing, let me remind you that tomorrow is Good Friday. I hope you’ll be aware of that throughout your day. We will celebrate on Sunday, but our celebration does not come cheaply.

Perhaps I could spend some time with this reflection on Good Friday from last year.

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Dirty Jobs: Classical Edition

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"...and he was transfigured before them. 3And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them." (Mark 9:2-3, KJV) File this under “random gross Bible trivia.” A while back, during one of our dinners at LIFEgroup, someone made the mistake of wondering out loud how ancient people cleaned their clothes. Then I made the mistake of telling them…at the dinner table. While I don’t know how the ancient Israelites cleaned their clothes, I do know how the Romans went about it. There’s a particularly interesting description of the process in a book I got for Christmas called Working IX to V: Orgy Planners, Funeral Clowns, and Other Prized Professions of the Ancient World by Vicki León. One of the “prized professions” that León describes is that of fuller—the classical equivalent to our dry cleaners. Fullers cleaned garments by soaking them in a giant vat of cleaning solution and then transferring them to another container to stomp them clean. They would then ring out the clothes—a job that might take two people, depending on the size of the garment. Perhaps you’re wondering why this should make for less than germane dinner conversation. I haven’t told you about the cleaning solution. The Romans hadn’t yet adopted the use of soap. Ironically, the German “barbarians” of the day were using it, but not the Romans. Instead, the Romans used a mixture of potash and urine. Yes, urine. Since it is rich in ammonia, it actually has cleaning properties. According to León, the fuller would place chamber pots at various street corners. (Although I guess it’s not really a “chamber” pot if it’s not in a chamber--more of an extremely portable potty.) Throughout the day, various citizens would provide the vital ingredient, and the fuller would then retrieve the pots. The stomping process was called the saltus fullonicus, or “fuller’s dance.” It’s believed that managers even kept their fullers moving with live music. Yup. Just another reason to be glad that we live in 21st Century America. I trust you’ll breath a sigh of relief the next time you load up a dishwasher and add a cap full of something that’s not urine. I wonder if Mike Rowe would take this job.

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A Little Perspective

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Back in January, I traveled to Dallas with Rachel (as moral support) so she could take her final exam for the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology. This was a grueling 3 hr. oral exam in which Rachel had to demonstrate that she was a physician deserving of certification. On the night before she had to take the exam, Rachel just wanted to go out to dinner and a movie in order to keep her mind off the test. I wanted to find a “feel-good” movie that would serve as a nice distraction. We went to see Slumdog Millionaire. Let’s just say it wasn’t exactly the light-hearted Bollywood romp I thought it would be. But it was an amazing film, entirely worthy of its “Best Picture” Oscar. (Not as worthy as Dark Knight, but I’ll spare you that rant.) As we were leaving the theater and deciding what trendy Dallas restaurant we were going to eat at for dinner, Rachel talked about how well Slumdog provided some perspective. As nervous as she was about the exam, even if she failed it, we would be fine. Our family would be fine. It would be a big nuisance to have to fork out the cash and spend the time taking the exam again, but that’s all that would happen. It kind of pales in comparison to growing up in the slums of Mumbai. With that in mind, I hope you’ll click here and read this “Letter to an Affluent Church,” featured in the latest issue of Relevant Magazine. It also puts things into perspective. H/t to Brandi for reminding me about it. As skittish as we might be, we are not the ones who stand to suffer the most in this global economic meltdown. I hope we can all dwell on this and then redouble our efforts to support At My Gate, our local church’s chance to alleviate some suffering. BTW, Rach passed her exam. She is now a Fellow of the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology. I dare say I’m the only male preacher in the Churches of Christ who’s married to a “fellow.” (Rimshot! “Thanks folks, I’ll be here all week. Try the veal and don’t forget to tip your server.”)

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Kings, part 2

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Aland left a comment following my last entry about the NBC show Kings. He makes a good case for why it’s NOT worth watching. Take a moment and read it. Aland’s frustration makes sense. Kings co-opts the biblical account and twists it to its own ends. It turns the story into a reflection of 21st Century moral values and abandons those that are inconvenient or uncool. If I’m not misreading, I think Aland is lamenting a very real truth: Film and TV don’t understand evangelical Christianity. (There are possible exceptions to this--Walden Media and the “Tyler Perry Empire” among them.) I’ll be watching with interest to see what they do with the “Jack” character. It’s possible that they’re not going to bother making him anything like the biblical Jonathan. But I wouldn’t be surprised to see what looks like a rivalry turn into a friendship between David and Jack. Characters develop. Here’s why I’m going to keep watching Kings: It’s entertaining. It would be disingenuous of me not to acknowledge that it’s just fun. It’s beautifully filmed. It’s dramatic. And there are some great cast members (Ian McShane as King Silas and Susanna Thompson as Queen Rose). I continue to love the scenes with the prophet, Reverend Samuel. After watching episode 2, I’m actually thinking it’s more like Shakespeare than anything else--complete with two palace guards for clowns and a very King Lear-like scene where Silas stands on the palace roof while the rain pours down. It’s (somewhat) biblical. While it will pick and choose, Kings does reflect some of the Bible’s ethics. The most prominent is the issue of power and what it does to us humans. The story of Silas/Saul is of a man who is corrupted by power. He takes what he wants by any means necessary. And once he has ascended to power, he will do anything to maintain his position. He refuses to acknowledge his dependence on God. He acts as though everything he has, he has gotten on his own. And, therefore, he is not to be bothered with what is right or wrong. I’m assuming the same thing will happen with David Shepherd on the TV show. At least that’s what happens to the biblical David. He is just as good at abusing power as Saul is. The Bathsheba incident is the most prominent example. In addition, his family becomes a train wreck. Even his final words are of vengeance rather than of devotion to God. In the TV show there's this quote from David Shepherd's mother that I love. She's explaining to the King's daughter why she hopes that David doesn't stay in Shiloh. She says that she knows that David has a destiny. Then she says:
“People with destinies, things don't go well for them. They die old and unhappy, or young and unfinished."
There is good evidence that the David of the Bible dies old and unhappy. I have to say, I’m no longer sure that David is supposed to be a role model for us--at least not in any carte blanche way. I love how his relationship with God endures his flaws. I love his honesty in confession. I love his ability to maintain his respect for a corrupt king. But let’s be honest, the guy can be a real stinker. I actually love him less as a hero and more as a reminder of myself. Maybe we make too much of this “man after God’s own heart” idea. Unless I’m missing some other example, this statement is made about David early on in his life and only as a comparison to the corruption of Saul. I wonder if the same thing can be said about him at the end of his life. It seems like, if you do, you have to qualify it significantly. Which is what ends up happening. After all, he may be a “man after God’s own heart,” but he’s not fit to build the temple, a house for that same God. Whenever David is mentioned in the Christian scriptures, he is mentioned off-handedly as the author of a Psalm, or to make Jesus’ identity legitimate to the Jewish people, or (most importantly) as a foil for Jesus. The most common statement about him goes something like: “David was fine and everything, but he’s just rotting away in a tomb right now. Now let us show you how a real man/real King does it.” And then they point to Jesus. It’s worth repeating. The true hero of scripture is God. All the rest have feet of clay. But that’s why I like Kings. Hopefully (at least until NBC drops it), we’ll get to see our own humanity reflected back to us, for better and for worse. And, hopefully, they’ll continue to do it in a quality way. What do you think? Leave a comment.

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Kings

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He asked, "Son of man, can these bones live?" I said, "O Sovereign LORD, you alone know." Ezekiel 37:3 Can this Blog live? We’ll see. It’s worth taking another crack at it. And what could possibly cause me to break my silence? What else but television! Yay, television! Anybody else catch the season premiere of Kings last Sunday? If the over all numbers are any indication, it’s not likely. I’m sure NBC was pretty disappointed. Which, in this age of network impatience, means the show probably won’t be around for long. If you’re going to, you’d better catch it while you can. You can watch it at the NBC website or on Hulu. For those of you who have read your Bible, it’s more than worth it. Kings is a modern day take on the stories found in 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel. It’s the story of David and Goliath, King Saul, Jonathan, Michal, and the prophet Samuel. Besides, anything with Ian McShane (King Silas) is worth consideration. The story is set in Shiloh, a booming metropolis and the capital of King Silas’ domain. Young David Shepherd (get it, “shepherd”?) is discovered on a remote farm by the Reverend Samuel, who anoints him by giving him a watch that’s engraved with the royal seal. Cut to a battlefield where David singlehandedly destroys a tank (called a Goliath) and rescues the King’s son, Jack, from behind enemy lines. David returns to Shiloh as a national hero and is given a reputable position in the King’s court. There are numerous parallels to the Biblical account. Too many to name here. My favorite scenes involve the Rev. Samuel, especially the scene in which he comes to King Silas to inform him that the Lord’s favor no longer rests with him and that another king will be taking his place. There are also places where the show differs from the Biblical narrative. (One such example involves the King's son, Jack.) Some critics are calling it a soap opera. Others are calling it Shakespearean. Both descriptions are accurate. For my part, I’d just call it Biblical. It’s not for the kids. But, technically, neither are the stories of the Old Testament--at least not the uncensored versions. The characters are appropriately sketchy, as were the people of Ancient Israel. Remember, the only real hero in scripture is God. The rest are prone to weaknesses of all kinds: violence, lust, fear, jealousy, deceit. It’s all there in the Bible, and it makes for pretty good drama. I doubt it will be around for long, which is a shame, because I’d really like to see the drama unfold. Most intriguing [and tragic] would be getting to watch David, the young, charismatic farm boy, become the deeply flawed king. Equally amazing would be the opportunity to see his redemption. There’s enough source material to keep this thing going for a long time. There just doesn’t seem to be enough viewers. Oh well, I guess I could just read my Bible.

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Lars and the Real Girl

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It’s always nice to stumble upon a movie and really like it. You know what I mean? You hadn’t planned on watching a movie, there’s not one that you’re just dying to see, so you go to the video store or you pull up the On Demand channel and just see what’s there. But even after you look at the options you can’t find anything that you were really wanting to see. Rachel and I had that experience a while back with Lars and the Real Girl. This movie didn’t completely come out of nowhere for me. I remember that it was well received by critics and that it received an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay and that Ryan Gosling was nominated for a Golden Globe in the category of Best Actor. In addition, it had been recommended by friends whose opinions I respect. And still I wasn’t rushing out to see it. I think because I had misunderstood what it was about. I knew that it was about an awkward introvert (Lars/Ryan Gosling) who is so socially anxious and yet so lonely that he resorts to ordering a life-sized doll on the internet. I thought this was going to be some mad-cap comedy, a farce. I was wrong. What happens is extremely funny, but it’s also very moving and humane. I don’t want to say much more about it other than the fact that Rachel and I both came away thinking it was one of the best movies we’d seen in a long time (particularly because it was such a surprise). I’ll give you time to see it and then I’ll say more. The genius of the film is the way that “the real girl” actually becomes real and in the way that this small town reacts both to her and to Lars. I dare not say more, because it’s best seen for yourself. I’ll just say that there are lessons to be learned from this movie about kindness and compassion. They may be lessons that are coming soon to a Sunday morning near you.

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