HOMILETICS

I Acted Stupidly

And God looked down and said, “You acted stupidly.”

I said, “I did? Wherein did I act stupidly?”

God said, “Well, where do I begin? For one, you shelled out 25 bucks for a ticket, diet Coke and popcorn to watch Transformers … when you could’ve been watching G-Force. Stupid."

I said, “Yeah, well …”

“And then you criticized your wife’s driving habits.”

I said, “Well, hells yes, now that WAS stupid, I gotch yer back on that one God.”

God said, “And don’t be saying ‘Hells yes.’ You sound like a stupid teenager.”

I said, “Should you be calling people ‘stupid’?”

God said, “And what word more readily comes to mind? I look at this world and the people who dwell therein, and I see mostly stupid people. Not all, but mostly.”

I said, “But many of us aren’t stupid. We’re … ill-intentioned.”

God said, “Whaaaaat?”

I said, “We mean well, but we just sort of forget what we’re really supposed to be doing on our way to our next life. You get caught up in the moment…”

God said, “Well, maybe I used a poor choice of words. I could’ve have calibrated my statement a bit differently.”

I said, “God, if you’re going to apologize, you can’t be using a word like ‘calibrate’! No one knows what the hell you’re saying.”

God said, “Exactly. And there you go again.”

Pause.

I said, “What are we going to do?”

God said, “Come, let us reason together and have a couple brewskis. Everything’s going to be all right. … Now, what do you think of those idio—ill-intentioned folks at Harvard? And the stupi—ill-intentioned cops, and whathisname, B.O.?  What in the world … ???”

I said, “I don’t know God, I don’t know.”

The Seventh Sense

My academic career began at a time when one found a book by searching in a card catalog by subject, title or author. I learned how to do this in elementary school, and this was the way research had been done for years and years and years.

Now of course everything is different, as you know. The Internet and the World Wide Web has transformed the way students do research and the way we access information.

But apparently, getting information is still too burdensome for many. That’s why nerdbrains at MIT are trying to make information-gathering even more effortless.

From ReadWriteWeb and Wired, comes the latest word on this. “Pattie Maes from the MIT Media Lab's Fluid Interfaces Group showcased a wearable computing system that allows users to display and interact with the Web on any surface — including the human body. The video shows the system's main developer, Pranav Mistry, taking photographs with his hand, summoning up Amazon review data onto the cover of a physical book, displaying information about a person he's just met on their tee-shirt, and calling someone by in-putting a phone number onto the palm of his hand.”

Apple better sell lots of iPhones now, cause in 10 years wearable systems just might be the way get information and talk to people. Wearable systems will do more than what mobile phones do now.
As Maes put it, “A mobile phone still requires a user to change their behavior.” Can everyone say, “Aaahhh!” But it’s true: Even to use the WWW, you have to use so many manual steps such as visiting websites and searching for information. (wearable phone above)

The WIRED article reminds us that much of the information that "helps us understand and respond to the world" doesn't come from the five senses humans are usually born with. It comes from computers and, increasingly, the Web and so the Internet is sort of a Sixth Sense.

The Seventh Sense, then, is what I myself used to call the Sixth Sense, i.e. FAITH. If we’re talking about senses in terms of those faculties that allow us to gain experience and information, i.e., through touch, smell, hearing, sight, and taste, --and now the Internet—then FAITH is also a sense that allows us to gain experience and access information that is not otherwise available via the other senses.

Making Lemonade

When life gives you lemons …

I just read an interesting article in USA Today (7/16/09, 9A) by Amy Wilkinson, a public policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center.

She makes the point that tough economic times are often seen by entrepreneurs and risk-takers as periods of enormous opportunity.

She points to a recent study by the Kauffman Foundation which reveals that more than half of the 2009 Fortune 500 companies were started during a recession or a bear market.

“Consider,” she says, “a few startups from the past century: Burger King, MTV, CNN, FedEx, Intel and Microsoft. Each opened during a period of economic downturn. Today these companies employ thousands of people worldwide.”

The tech bubble bursts in the early 2000s. Who would have thought that Google, hitherto unknown, could burst through this malaise?

Prosperity depends on innovative thinking, she writes. And when times get tough, the tough start thinking and taking creative risks. Perhaps in a couple of years, we will see the results of some of the creative seeds that are right now being planted in our current rocky economic soil.

Why are you cast down, O my soul,
   and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
   my help and my God.
—Psalm 42:11

I Remember When ...

How many of you are aware that we just sent our space shuttle Endeavor with seven people on board into the heavens on a construction mission?

And did you know that they are joining six people already at the space station which means that a record number of astronauts (13) will be together, giving each other high fives and lifting a pint at 5 p.m. when the knock off from a day's work?

Just hours ago, the space shuttle docked with space station pulling into the orbital port after doing a backflip for inspection.

Endeavour commander Mark Polansky, pilot Doug Hurley and mission specialists Chris Cassidy, Julie Payette, Tom Marshburn, Tim Kopra and Dave Wolf made for a crowded station when they joined ISS crewmembers Gennady Padalka, Roman Romanenko, Michael Barratt, Robert Thirsk, Frank De Winne and Koichi Wakata.

All five space station member organizations — NASA, the Russian Federal Space Agency, the Canadian Space Agency, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency and the European Space Agency — will be represented.

I think this is pretty cool.

But then I've always been fascinating by our adventures in space. I remember the shock and consternation when the Russians put Sputnik into space. This was a serious blow to the U.S. at a time when the cold war was at freezing levels. They also put the first man into a rocket. I was in middle school performing on the piano at a school convocation when word came that John Glenn had successfully orbited the earth three times.

I remember the earnestness with which JFK announced that there was no reason we couldn't put a man on the moon by the end of the decade.

A man on the moon?!!???? The idea had hitherto been utterly the stuff of fantasy and imagination. There was no way. How could this is possible? A human being up there in the sky--on the moon? Not possible. It was unthinkable.

And then, on July 20, 1969, forty years ago, I was in the Grand Teton National Park camping and hiking, and I walked into the lodge at Jackson Lake, and heard the news. Americans Neil Armstrong, and Buzz Aldrin were on the moon playing golf. Michael Collins was in command of a spaceship orbiting the moon above them.

Kids today cannot imagine how AMAZING this was, not just to Americans, but to people around the world. The world was in awe.

Today I am still in awe.

“The heavens are telling the glory of God;
   and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.
Day to day pours forth speech,
   and night to night declares knowledge.”

I Want To be a Kronkiter

Wow. Walter Cronkite dead at age 92.

I thought he was immortal.

I grew up listening to Cronkite. He was the face of the news.

I don’t need to go into a litany of details that describe the immense role he played in broadcast journalism in the 60s and 70s. He was an oak in a forest of shrubbery. As the sole person behind the desk at CBS, he became what journalists described as the “anchorman.” His very name became synonymous with his role. In Sweden or Holland, I forget, to sit behind a desk and deliver the news was to be a Kronkiter.

This Kronkiter, was according to more than one poll, the “most trusted man in America.” 

I want to Kronkiter. A trusted man. A man people trust.

I guess it would help if I could just be a Christian. A Christenker, or something.

Confirmation

I’ve just returned from an afternoon walk, about a seven mile jaunt through some old growth forest on the Oregon coast near Cape Perpetua. So I’m pooped. I don’t know if I can think straight.

But I’ve been thinking about confirmation. In Washington, Sotomayor wants to be confirmed, and in Virginia, Michael Vick also wants to be confirmed. Both want to be elevated to a position of prominence. One is reaching for an honor she’s never had, the other wants redemption, wants to be restored to his former life of glitz, glamour and glory.

It’s a silly comparison. The Supreme Court justice wannabe and the football player who fell from grace are not two people who you’d mention in the same paragraph. But I just did, and as Sotomayor would be quick to point out, I’m just a white guy, not a wise latina. 

Anyway, the point is that Sotomayor wants the political community to which she is now for a short time beholden to confirm her and affirm her; to say that her qualifications are appropriate for a lifetime appointment to the highest court of the land. She wants them to acknowledge her skill, her judicial temperament, her fidelity to the Constitution and so on. She wants 100 senators to “confirm” her credentials, confirm her skill set, confirm her as one uniquely qualified to serve.

Vick on the other hand is looking for redemption. He’s a free man now. We know the story. The American public generally has an enormous willingness to forgive, especially those who express sorrow and repentance and who change their ways. Vick would love to play football again.

NFL Commissioner GOoDell is not yet embracing Vick, who may not be able to count on GOD-ell’s grace and mercy, but will have to instead work for his salvation with fear and trembling.

Sotomayor, in spite of the blatant use of racial statistics and quotas in the New Haven firefighter case, a ruling that the Supreme Court itself overturned, is likely to get a near unanimous confirmation vote before the Senate recess.

Best wishes to both.

Expect Delays—Await Opportunities

Bad day.
Well, not bad. Just a day when I seemed to be running around with mindless, but urgent, errands—the kind of things you have to do which you know that in The Grand Scheme of Things do not matter, and the fact that I was doing them will not be remembered ten years from now. Not even ten hours from now.

So I’m in an irritable mood as I leave the Oregon coast and head inland through the coast range on Highway 20 the other day. As I round a bend in the road, there’s this HUGE blinking electric sign flashing a warning: EXPECT DELAYS. Below were the words in fine print, “Construction ahead.”

I laughed out loud.

Whenever construction of any kind is going on, you can EXPECT DELAYS. If the ROAD is under construction, you can expect delays.

If the HOUSE is under construction, you can expect delays.

If my LIFE, my spiritual formation, my emotional intelligence, is under construction, I can expect delays!

So I drove on. What else could I do?

Sure enough. Someone flagged my life to a halt. There’s always someone waving a flag in my face trying to tell me what to do.

I stopped. So what do you do when you’re stopped? I turned off the engine. No need to use my fuel uselessly.

Then I moped. Fumed. Thought bad things about the Oregon Department of Transportation who have been working on the stretch of road for five years. Fidgeted. Fussed. Wished I was somewhere else.

Then I noticed how quiet it was (I was stopped some ways away from the construction itself). Then I noticed the old growth forest. The moss growing on ancient limbs like protective padding. I saw a hawk circling, and heard ravens cawing.

I calmed down, listened, meditated, prayed—and soon, almost regrettably, I got flagged to get a move on. Just the way it is: You slow down and stop to smell the ferns, and there’s someone now telling you to get your tush outta there.

EXPECT DELAYS. If my life is under construction in any way, shape or form, there’s gonna be delays.

The other part of this is that the DELAYS are only in anticipation of OPPORTUNITIES! The road will be finished, a wider, smoother road. The bridge will be completed, a bridge to another possibility.

The Blessest Man Alive

I apologize for not posting for a while … I am on vacation and you know how it goes … you’re hunting for a café that has wireless Internet, or the local public library you’re passing through, or the motel you’re staying in at night. It’s hit and miss.

While I’ve been on the road, so much has been happening in the news not the least of which is the death of Michael Jackson and the subsequent media frenzy and the show-biz chariots of fire send off he got to wherever MJ’s going.

Many people are buzzing about all the buzz, the idol worship. Why do people “worship” a controversial figure like this. Where does this come from?

My sense, however, is that the number of people involved in the sheer “worship” of this pop-icon is a relatively small percentage. Most people I think about simply talking about this over-hyped media death and expressing amazement about it.

I know the idol worshippers are out there. But as a percentage of the population, do you think the numbers are huge? Stepson Spenser is 21, and he hip, he’s cool (words he would not use), and he has no interest in MJ.

I think it’s hopeful that most those talking about MJ and not talking about him because they’re in awe of the guy, but they’re amazed at the media frenzy that surrounds the death of a celebrity—while, as one father of a soldier who died in Afghanistan the same day MJ died, others who die whose death might be worthy of mention, get barely a blip.

Anyway, also I was intrigued by the ceremony last Sunday in Yankee Stadium recalling the 70th anniversary of Lou Gehrig’s “Luckiest Man” speech. After diagnosed with ALS, he retired, and acknowledged the adulation of his fans by making a few brief remarks, beginning as follows: “Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about the bad break I got. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.”

I wondered at the time, what circumstances would have to occur in my life, for me to make a similar statement. Do we consider ourselves the “luckiest”—or in Christian or theological parlance—“blessest” people alive? Why? Why not?

September-October Issue of HOMILETICS online!

Even as John Calvin's 500th birthday is celebrated, Homiletics announces the publication of the September-October issue online.

Here's the Table of Contents:

September 6 , 2009: Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23
My Paparazzo Profile
You can hire someone to take photos of you all day long. It’s a vanity thing. So what would your portfolio look like?

September 13, 2009: James 3:1-12
Good Gossip
There’s no such thing a good gossip. Right? Not according to one sociologist.

September 13, 2009: Mark 8:27-37 
Oaths and Offices
The swearing-in last January of President Obama had a few minor problems. Peter’s confession of the Christ is likewise flawed.

September 20, 2009: Mark 9:30-37
One with the Son
The 1980, the Oscar-winning movie, Fame, is being released September 25, but this time, nearly 30 years later, it’s a new version with a new cast. 

September 27, 2009: Psalm 124
Safe Surrender
When law enforcement officials developed a program by which fugitive non-violent offenders could turn themselves in, they asked local churches if they’d be willing to offer a place of safe surrender.

September 27, 2009: James 5:13-20
Any Among You Sick?
Homiletics offers a service of healing.

October 4, 2009: Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12
The Christ Who Names Us
We’re not making this up. It’s the udder truth: Cow give more milk when their handlers call them by name and treat them nice.

October 11, 2009: Psalm 22:1-15
The Bulls of Bashan 
The psalmist feels surrounded by bulls. For many these days, it’s a familiar feeling.

October 11, 2009: Hebrews 4:12-16
The Sword of the Lord

In case you haven’t noticed, middle school boys, high school boys, college boys, and many males in the 24-45 demographic, love swords, and many of them are sword collectors.

October 11, 2009: Mark 10:17-31
The Hoarder  
When a man in the UK died recently, authorities found his house so full of trash that the only way to get around was through an elaborate series of tunnels that ran through the filth.

October 18, 2009: Job 38:1-7(34-41)
Job, the Submission Wrestler
Submission wrestling is actually a specific genre of the sport. It might involved kicking, screaming, grappling and hooking, but when all is sweated and done, someone submits.

October 18, 2009: Mark 10:35-45 
Three Cups of Humble Tea 
Greg Mortenson’s best-selling book is the basis of this discussion of what constitutes greatness.

October 25, 2009: Mark 10:46-52
The Problem of Presbyopia
Near-sightedness is not a new problem. But now there’s a new solution. It’s the application of light. What a concept!

Bern-EE, Bern-EE, Bern-EE, or The Redemption of Bernie Madoff

If you were in Denver in the late 80s, you knew who Bernie Kosar was.

Bernie had the misfortune of being an excellent quarterback, an ascending star in the football pantheon at the same time as an even brighter star eclipsed all others: John Elway.

When Elway engineered his “drive,” Kosar was the opposing quarterback—the signal-caller for the Cleveland Browns.

Bernie and Schottenheimer would come to town and invariably be ahead in the fourth quarter, before Elway, hitherto unable to do much offensively, would snatch another victory from the jaws of defeat.

Before the outcome was even final, fans would take up the chant. “Bern-EE, Bern-EE, Bern-EE!” And the screaming would follow Bernie when he sloughed off the field and slink beneath the South stands in old Mile High Stadium.

This memory came back to me as I watched television and read print and online versions of the recent sentencing of Bernard Lawrence Madoff, 71, “Bernie,” to federal prison for 150 years. No parole in federal prison. He’ll die there. From the penthouse to the outhouse said one wag.

And, although perhaps it’s a bit gruesome — like cheering at a public execution — a lot of people are jeering, “Bern-EE, Bern-EE, Bern-EE.” Understandably, public opinion not only thinks he got what he deserves, but that when this life is over, if there is any further accounting, Bern-EE’s got some ‘splaining to do to his Maker.

But—while Madoff may spend the rest of his life in prison—these years could be the best years of his life. Perhaps there’s a way for him to use his considerable influence and skills to make some reparations. There’s always a path to redemption.

I am reminded of the New Testament Bernie Madoff: A short little guy, Zacchaeus.

When this felon had his “Come-to-Jesus” meeting, he had a change of heart, returned the principal he had stolen from his clients, and paid them back—on top of that—fourfold.

The public at the time didn’t think too much of Jesus socializing with “Bernie” Zacchaeus. But in the end, Zacchaeus made good. He was a changed man.

The same can happen with Madoff. It will take years for an unforgiving public to believe that the change is real and not self-serving, but these years in prison could be the redemption of Bernie Madoff.