Timothy Merrill

We are Smarter than Me

Just a few random thoughts to get of my desk on this beautiful Saturday morning:

First, ran across this book which I have not read except for the back cover: WE ARE SMARTER THAN ME. It continues the discussion of Wikinomics and The Wisdom of Crowds. I am waiting for some big name Christian writer on the speaking circuit to write a book: WikiChurch, but hasn't happened yet, although Homiletics did a piece called "Wiki-Christianity" in 2006 (November 12). Lots of stuff going on in business and education with wikis--it's really phenomenal.

Anyway, for pastors who work in covenant with a community, and who often--let's face it--think that ME IS SMARTER THAN WE, I thought this might be a good read, but I can't guarantee it. I think it's focus is to take what The Wisdom of the Crowds has done, and to show how the business community can actually make crowd-wisdom affect the profit margin.

Second item: I just learned that my friend, Tim Cargal, who has a Ph.D. in New Testament from Vanderbilt and writes NT exegesis for Homiletics, and who is also pastor of Northwood Presbyterian Church in Silver Spring, Maryland, has written another book, and it sounds very interesting: Hearing a Film, Seeing a Sermon: Preaching and Popular Movies (Westminster John Knox Press, 2007). Haven't read this book either, but I would love to, and will.

Third item: Remember the post I wrote a while back about Barack Obama's comment that a person's relationship with his pastor can be a tricky thing? Or something like that? Well, it's gotten even trickier. It's too bad. And it's too bad for the United Church of Christ which is not populated by pastors who think like Jeremiah Wright. And, while we're at it, I don't know what Geraldine was thinking when she spouted off about Obama. She's a politician. She knows the power of her words. She knows the media isn't going to provide context for her comments. What was she thinking? I am not a Clinton or Obama or McCain supporter yet. But it would be nice if Clinton and Obama could please have a discussion without having to deal with all the fools and buffoons in their entourage.

Speaking of entourages--and the problems CLinton and Obama are having with theirs, Homiletics did a piece called "Entourage Energy" coming up in June, 2008. The idea came up after reading a piece in Mental_Floss by Harry, Lou and Todd Tobias. “7 entourages that changed the world.” Mental_Floss (September-October 2007, 35-39). Fascinating piece. Homiletics looks at some of the problems Jesus had with his own entourage (The Mental_Floss article includes "Jesus & Co." as one of the seven entourages that changed the world.)

Fourth item: Eliot Spitzer scandal. Unbelievable. Ted Haggard. Or consider the case of David Vitter, a father of four and a Senator from Louisiana, who gets himself involved with a sleazy escort service. Or Michael Vick, a talented quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons, arrested for running a dog-fighting operation in rural Virginia. Or Lisa Nowak, the married NASA astronaut who makes a marathon drive from Houston to Orlando to confront her romantic rival. Or Bill Clinton — Rhodes scholar, six-time governor of Arkansas, and President of the United States — who has an affair with an intern in the Oval Office. These are all highly intelligent, rational, people. What's going on? Homiletics did a piece about this. It's coming up April 20. Called "Hot Faith, Cool Faith," and it looks into the psychology of this. These people get themselves worked up into a hot emotional state and do things that in their cool emotional state--the state we're in when we're reading about this and wondering how people so smart can be so stupid--they would never do.

Final item: Louis de Cazenave, France's oldest man, a First World War veteran who refused a medal and spoke powerfully about the horrors of war, has died at 110, leaving--in France--just one veteran alive from the conflict. de Cazenave died at his home in the Auvergne region in central France on Sunday, the government said. His death was a reminder of the 1.4 million French who had lost their lives in the 1914-18 war. According to REUTERS, Cazenave survived both the Battle of the Somme in 1916 and the Second Battle of the Aisne a year later, two of the bloodiest episodes of the "war to end all wars".

I found this sad, for some reason. I guess because almost 100 years after the "war to end all wars," there's more warring than ever. Perhaps someday, someday, the world will observe the passing of a man who is the last survivor of something called "war." A poppy for you, Louis. Repos dans la paix.

Guess that's it.

Wishing you a meaningful Palm Sunday. I assume you're going to pick up the palm branches from the florist today--don't forget--for the children's procession tomorrow.

Trying to be helpful.

Give Me a Lunch Detention--Please!

I know this kid, John--real name--and he's in 7th grade and he loves photography. He's got a Canon digital camera and a lens on this puppy that's longer than the trunk on an elephant.

I have a couple of photography projects he's working on for me, so I called the school today to find him, and discovered that this sweet and talented kid was in lunch detention and wouldn't get out for another 45 minutes.

Man.

I want someone to give me a lunch detention.

"Hey, Merrill, you sit down right now and stay there, eat your lunch and shut up!"

Someone, please tell me to have lunch, to sit still and be quiet.

Or, send me to bed early.

Or, send me to my room. "And stay there!"

Or, take a Sunday afternoon nap.

No one tells me that stuff anymore.

Back in the day, I heard all of this plenty, believe me.

I tell you, I could use some of this tough love.

Except, don't send me to bed without dessert.

Ever Been Undefeated?

Only six more days to shop for pretzels, fire-hot doritos, Tabasco sauce and a few cases of beer.

Super Bowl Sunday, and my guess is that you're gonna find a lot of men in church this coming Sunday because it's the most righteous thing they'll do in a month. They also know they can catch the preacher at 11 a.m. and the program at 4 p.m. Life is good.

This Super Bowl I think is more interesting than most. You have the BradyBunch playing for a place in football history--an undefeated season and they're going to be manning every position with as much depth as possible to make it happen.

Okay, I only wrote that last sentence so I could play with a pun. And if you can't find it, you don't follow football. But I digress.

Here's a great preaching opportunity. Unless I miss my guess, it's been a long time since the people walking into church Sunday have felt undefeated.

Who goes through life undefeated? This streak is unreal. It's not natural. It's needs to be stopped. And maybe Eli (good Bible name) Manning can do it. No one has gone undefeated since John Wayne and Rock Hudson appeared in The Undefeated in 1969--a story about two Civil War soldiers, one ex-Union, the other ex-Confederate.

Correction. The Miami Dolphins had an undefeated season (17 in those days). NE already, in this current schedule has won 18 in a row. But the season isn't over until Sunday night.

Anyway, I think people need help with the feeling of defeat.

Should we preach that we can be undefeated? Certainly God doesn't expect us to live a "defeated" life! Doesn't want us to live beaten down and overcome all the time. Didn't Paul say we are "more than conquerors?" What does that mean? It means, "Look at the New England PAtriots. They are machines out there. More than conquerors. They run up the score, they videotape the opposition, the head coach is rude and irrascible, they kill their opponents."

But Paul also talked about his trials. About being knocked down, but not knocked out. On the mat, but not carried out on the mat. In a mess but not of the mess.

So I think this Sunday we can talk about what it means to be undefeated. What does that look like when we get to the office, to the school, to the shop, to the store? What does that mean when we get ourselves in a hot emotional state and HAVE to have a cigarette when we're trying to quit, or a drink when we're trying to stop, to yell when we're angry, or to pout when we're hurt, or to harbor bitterness when we've been wronged, or to lie when we're trapped, or to preen with pride when we're praised? Let's talk about how to live undefeated.

Side note for sports fan. Tiger Woods openly admits it: The Grand Slam of Golf is possible. He's started his year with a galloping win at Torrey Pines. But he plays one shot at a time. He manages the course. He controls his emotions, he chooses his clubs carefully.

Oh, and it helps that someone's there to carry his bags.

Who's my caddy, Rick Reilly? That's right. God is my caddy, man.

But I got to make the shots.

The Threshold Choir

We think of these as lullabies for [people] on the way out.”

That’s how Kate Munger, the founder of an organization called the Threshold Choir, describes the songs its members sing at the bedsides of the dying.

The Threshold Choir, which now has some 35 chapters in a dozen states, began in 2000, but had its roots in an experience of Kate’s 10 years earlier when helping to care for a friend who was in a coma and dying of AIDS. She spent the morning in his home doing housework, and in the afternoon, she began to sing to him, and continued doing so for two hours. She says, “The contrast between the morning and the afternoon [was] profound. I felt like I had really given generously of my essence to my dear friend while I sang to him. I also found that I felt deeply comforted myself, which I know in turn was comforting to him ... At the end of the afternoon, I felt like I had stumbled into something extraordinary.”

Each of the chapters of the Threshold Choir now has between 60 and 80 members, but they go by invitation in groups of two or three to sing at the bedsides of seriously ill people, many of whom are in the final stages of life. They sing a cappella in homes, hospitals and hospices, selecting their music from a 300-piece repertoire of songs and hymns — numbers ranging from “Ave Maria” to “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” to “Calling All Angels.” They do not charge for their services, but will accept donations to cover their expenses.

Some of the people for whom choir members have sung are hooked up to monitors, and frequently, as the singing begins, observers note that the patient’s heartbeat steadies and the breathing becomes less labored. Occasionally, the patient later recovers, and some of them credit the singing as playing a role in their healing.

While Threshold Choir members have sung to people of various ages, most of their requests come from elderly people who are spending their last days at home. When the singing starts, the face of the dying person often softens, and there is a sense of relaxation taking place. Munger says that it’s often a comforting moment, as when a mother softly croons a lullaby at the end of the day. Only here, she says, it is “at the end of a lovely, long life.”

Well, of course. What could be more appropriate than lullabies for the dying? Actually, we’re surprised that no one has thought of this sooner. The music of the Threshold Choir is, in effect, a kind of soundtrack for dying.

But that leads us to a question: What is the soundtrack for living?

The above is the introduction for our material on Psalm 40 for this coming Sunday, January 18, 2008. For more, see www.HomileticsOnline.com.

Extra-Canoncial Witness: George Frederick Handel

Heard Handel's Messiah Saturday night.

Wow!

Hearing the Messiah during Advent is the one thing I can't miss. This work--have you studied at all how this amazing work came into being?--could not have been created without the creative intervention of God and the brooding of the Holy Spirit upon this man. This is an inspired, extra-canonical witness!

Of course, the lyrics are all Scripture. The music is all Handel. The result is all glory! So it was a collaboration of sorts, like Oscar and Hammerstein, for example. Isaiah and Handel.

Do you know that you could do a whole worship service and preach and teach on the meaning of Advent ust by using the Messiah? The choir could sing snippets, or a soloist could sing an aria. Yeah, I know that there are some tough parts in the Messiah, but any choir and any soloist can sing something from the Messiah. Just ask my family. This is the time of the year when I am walking around the house singing "Comfort Ye," or "Thy Rebuke Has Broken His Heart."

I wish you a meaningful observance of Advent. I hope you can separate your observance of Advent from the cultural goings-on. May this be the most wonderful time of the year as you recall your identity as a CHRISTIAN in this post-Christian age, and take time to pause and reflect on the meaning of God becoming mortal, taking the form of a child in a Bethlehem manger.

The Peace Candle

The Four Sundays of Advent: So what are the names of those candles? Promise, light, love, and hope, say some. Hope, Peace, Love, Joy, say others.

Doesn't seem to be an orthodox order or assigned meaning among us Protestants for these four candles. But I would think one of them HAS TO BE peace--wherever in the order it appears.

Tomorrow is the first Sunday of Advent. You should take some time in the service to explain that this Sunday is the beginning of the year. Of course, January is the beginning of the year if you follow the Gregorian calendar (or is it Julian?). The Chinese new year is in February sometime. The school year started last August, but the church year starts tomorrow. And the first Sunday is the First Sunday of Advent. We begin the year awaiting the coming of the Messiah, the Prince of Peace.

So take some time to explain all of this again. And then talk about the peace talks at Annapolis. Ask people to pray for the "peace of Jerusalem."

You don't need to "teach" people about the issues over there. Like you really know and understand what they are. What a joke! I think it's interesting that we can solve the problems of the world, and talk about peace and reconciliation and how it should work, but ask us to reconcile with our estranged spouse, or children, or parents, or neighbor, or colleague--well, that's another story. LOL. And we think we understand how the interested parties in the Middle East can achieve peace and reconciliation!

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Pray that these talks will be a step toward a lasting peace. No need to blast the Israelis for building the wall, no need to talk about Palestinians sending children into restaurants with bombs strapped around their waist. Stay away from all that stuff--at least in the worship service. Pray, pray and pray some more.

Pray for peace in our own hearts.

And then light candles.

And why does there have to be just ONE candle? Why not have tons of candles every Sunday of these Advent Sundays, and tomorrow they're all candles of HOPE, or PEACE, or LOVE, whatever.

Light the candles.

And did I say pray?

Santo Subito

"When Pope John Paul II died two years ago, over a million people filed past his plain cedar coffin to pay their respects. About four million flooded into Rome to attend his funeral or to watch the service on giant video screens placed across the city. Around the world, hundreds of millions of people — maybe even billions of people — watched the funeral on television.

"In Rome, a cry began to spread through the crowd, “Santo subito … santo subito.” The phrase also appeared on hand-painted signs held up by worshipers at the funeral.

"Santo subito.

"Translation: 'Sainthood immediately.'

"The fans of John Paul II want the Vatican to cut through its normal red tape and pronounce the pope a saint right away. No delays! Chop-chop! Stat! In a New York minute!

"He’s clearly a saint, they say. So let’s make it official.

"According to Time magazine (April 3, 2007), the new pope, Benedict XVI, has moved as quickly as possible to get his predecessor into the ranks of the holy ones. He started by waiving the normal five-year waiting period to begin the process, an exemption that had previously been granted to Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Although there are still a number of steps to take, it looks like John Paul II is on the fast track to sainthood — the fastest in history.

"The current record is held by Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer, the founder of Opus Dei. He was canonized in 2002, just 27 years after he died. But Vatican-watchers predict that John Paul II will blow this record away. Some are anticipating that the pope will be made a saint by the year 2010."

The above is how the November 4 piece in Homiletics opens for All Saints' Sunday. The material goes on to develop an emphasis on learning how to be saints on earth, rather than worrying about who are saints in heaven. Homiletics suggests a number of "SaintSigns" that characterize saints on earth.

I love the "Santo subito" idea. It's another way of saying "instant gratification." Lord, make me a saint NOW! Make me holy now! Help me to be righteous, kind and good NOW. Why? Because I don't want to learn the lessons of holiness, I don't want to study in the school of experience, humility and relationships. I don't want to be brought low before being raised high. Make me a saint NOW!"

Hilarious! Isn't that how we feel so often? We'd love to avoid the life lessons and go straight to maturity, wisdom and holiness.

The journey is the destination. The journey's what it's all about.

SANTO LENTITUDO BABY!

Putting the Protest Back in Protestant

We got an e-mail here at Homiletics from a Lutheran subscriber last fall saying, "Why don't you ever have something on Reformation Sunday. And there's nothing from Romans 3:19-28 in Homiletics. How can you NOT have anything?"

Our reply was full of mea culpas, but Homiletics uses the RCL and the pericope he inquired about does not appear in the RCL as I recall. So a treatment of this text so dear to him and our Lutheran colleagues on Reformation Sunday is not likely to happen.

Unless.

Hey, I am the editor. I can do anything I want.

So this week, check out our piece "Putting the Protest Back in Protestant" based on the Romans 3:19-28 text. It's heavier stuff than we normally publish in Homiletics, but you can get through it in one cup of coffee, and with a pencil at the ready, you'll have some great ideas for Sunday's sermon.

I hope our Lutheran friend sits up and takes notice. Because we can't just be bopping all over the lectionary map--Catholic, Lutheran, Episcopal, RCL--at the behest of our subscribers, can we?

Well, maybe. But we're going to stick with the RCL. I can do no else. Here I stand!

Warrior for Peace

From the Department of Hmmmmmmm:

On Wednesday of this week, President Bush bestowed our nation's highest honor on the Dalai Lama, the Congressional Gold Medal, and he called the exiled Tibetan religious leader a "warrior for peace."

Hmmmm. How does that work for you? War. Warrior. Peace. A warrior for peace.

Isn't there another way to say that the Lama is a peace-loving guy?

Just wondering.

The Art of Pulpiteering

Back in the day, some preachers were known as good “pulpiteers.” I guess what was meant by that is that they knew how to keep the attention of the audience. Spell-binders, they were. Pulpit-pounders.

That kind of language isn’t used too much any more, at least not in the circles I frequent. So that’s why I was mildly surprised to hear Richard Ward, who teaches Homiletics at Iliff School of Theology, speak so strongly about “preaching as performance.”

I asked him about it in a conversation last summer. He said that if he had used the word “delivery” no one would make a fuss. Preachers talk about their “delivery” all the time. Ward believes that “performance” is a nuanced word (he provided some exegesis of the word itself) and is more descriptive of aspects of the preaching event itself.

He argues that “the nature of a sermon is transformed through the act of speaking and enacting and embodying it. It becomes something inscribed on paper — perhaps — or maybe a thought that is fully formed in the mind then becomes changed in the act of speaking it in the context of worship.”

So preaching, in that sense becomes an “embodied witness” which is why it’s easier to listen to a sermon than it is to read a sermon. There’s something fundamentally different about the oral proclamation of the Word.

Ward went on to note how the body is used differently in worship traditions. Think of the Pentecostal tradition vis-à-vis the Episcopal church, for example.

So if the sermon is going to be delivered orally, the body is involved whether we like it or not, which implies an element of “performance.” The question then is not if, but how is the body going to be involved. Ward says that “according to what the preacher hopes for or aims for in the sermon and in the preaching moment, the preacher can then consider what she or he wants to do differently with that insight, with the idea that your body can be involved differently, [or how] your body can be more expressive of what you’re accomplishing, of what you want to do … Perhaps the word would be ‘aware.’ Your body becomes aware of what you’re doing, rather than simply wondering whether you’ve raised your hands in a certain way or established eye contact. It’s a matter of what you want to do in the preaching moment that will make the body alert to what’s happening in the sermon.”

The full text of my conversation with Ward in online and in print in the November-December 2007 issue of Homiletics.