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Several years ago, Alison’s family proposed a Christmas CD exchange.  You remember CD’s.  They are those silver discs (shaped like DVD’s) that music was put on before the advent of the iPod and other portable media devices.  The Christmas CD idea was fairly simple.  Put together some music you like, make enough copies for the people in the family (typically just those possessing the Y chromosome participate), distribute, and enjoy.

As you can imagine, what had a humble enough beginning has taken on a life of its own.

Over the years, unspoken rules began to be codified.

Here’s an example…
No limits on how many songs from a particular artist.
It is frowned upon to use too many songs from one artist or band.
Your CD submission will be roundly mocked and subject to public scorn if there is more than one song per artist.

Here’s another…
Just use what you like regardless of when it was released.
Just use music that you came to appreciate in the previous year.
All songs must have been released during the calendar year or it becomes subject to immediate disqualification.

While on the subject of disqualification… every year, we make the disclaimer that it isn’t a competition.  And yet, given that the participants are all male… well, you understand.  Apparently, the goal has become to produce the coolest (and we all have an innate sense of what constitutes “cool”) music of the previous year. The more obscure the better. In fact, if it is possible that you are the only other person in the whole world who has heard of this artist, your score goes way up.

(Wait! This isn’t a competition!)

Add to all this a host of other issues:  There must be at least one rap song to give the disc any street cred.  The permissibility of cover songs is something of a gray area.  Careful consideration must be given to track arrangement.  And so on.

Also, the exchange has grown.  It started as an intramural affair with a mere four or so discs at first that needed to be produced.  Now, I easily make about twenty per year, which requires the use of the disc duplicator at my place of employment.  Special cases are purchased instead of paper sleeves.  An annotated track listing displaying depth and wit accompanies the CD.  I’m sure you get the idea.  I would like to be able to point the finger at someone else in the family that over-stepped their boundaries, but I fear that I bear a sizable portion of the blame for the monstrosity that this thing has become.

I think 2008 will officially be the year that broke the camel’s back.  Not only was all the above true, but the end result on my part was not one but three different CD’s. Technically, 2 and 1/2, because one CD was a joint venture with my comrade-in-arms.

I’m of the opinion that the whole idea needs to be re-thought.  Drastic measures need to be taken to return to a more innocent and pure expression of our appreciation of music.  No more multi-volume compilations.  No more combing the internet for that undiscovered band.  No more mass production of hundreds of CD’s that are eventually going to go the way of the landfill.  No more sizing up each others’ compilations by the familiarity or lack of familiarity with the music.

Who wants to join the revolution?

Yeah, me neither.

and i feel fine…

I am sorry to do this, but I am pretty much re-posting from yesterday.  The series on Jesus’ eschatology wrapped up today, and it is just that good.  One of the closing lines from part 5 made the whole series worth reading.

Before Jesus’ message is brought into our world, and he needs to be, Jesus has to be understood in his world.

I can’t tell you how strongly I feel about that statement.  The bottom line is that unless we are willing to do the hard work of understanding Jesus in his historical context, then all we end up doing is depicting Jesus according to the categories of our own cultural leanings – social-activist Jesus, fundy Jesus, academic Jesus, pietistic Jesus – whatever.  We can must do better than that.

So here are those links…  AGAIN!

The Future of Christian Eschatology:      1, 2, 3, 4, 5

It may be a bit dense, but it’s worth it.

Mia Riddle – Hurricane:

One of the things I most appreciate about blog reading is the various conversations that I get to listen in on.  Actually, there isn’t much of a conversation really.  Conversations tend to go both ways, while blogging by nature is a bit more one sided.  Unless of course one counts the commenting.  I should probably spend more time reading the comments, but sometimes I get put off by them.  I’ve seen comments that were longer than the original post, and if I hadn’t come dangerously close to being that guy, then my preference would be that those commenters be automatically banned.

I think what I am trying to say is that the blogs I read tend to contribute to the much larger conversations concerning various issues that either pertain directly or are tangentially related to theology.  Actually, all of life is connected more or less to one’s theology (another post for another time).  Two conversations taking place lately within my little brand of Christianity called ‘evangelicalism’ have centered on homosexuality and the nature of Scripture.  I’m sharing a bit of what I’ve been listening in on the past couple days.

For reasons that I don’t completely understand, homosexuality seems to be the defining issue for the church today.  Here’s one man’s very personal take on what’s at stake.  And here are some well thought out comments concerning that article and the issues it raises.

With respect to how one handles Scripture, there is so much that could be shared.  However, for the past couple days, I’ve been enjoying an outstanding treatment of apocalyptic material in the New Testament.

The Future of Christian Eschatology:      1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Speaking of “the end,” there has been a article written recently predicting the end of evangelicalism as we know it.  Here’s a measured response.

cue reading music…

This evening, I’ll be spending some time working on my taxes which will mean that this post will have to be brief.  I’m so very fortunate to have a CPA in the family who graciously handles all the forms, the figuring, and even the filing.  So for me, the whole process is relatively pain free.

That being said, I’m always a bit bewildered by the overwhelmingly complex nature of our tax code.  I don’t pretend to know anything about how it all works or even that it works.  I’ve heard of flat-rate proposals and they sound moderately appealing.  However, my plea for greater simplicity reminds me of a post I read recently.  I guess it is necessarily complex.

A couple months ago, I gave a message on God as our Everlasting Father. I don’t think that I walk around trying to please a parent who could never be pleased with my best, and I think I shared something to that effect in the message.  I like to think that I have a relatively secure sense of my worth as a human being.  In fact, one of Alison’s long standing observations concerning me is that I don’t long for or seemingly need the approval of others to feel ok about myself.

Naturally, there are drawbacks to this sort of approach to life.  Because I don’t perceive approval of others as a need of my own, I’m often perplexed by others (pretty much the rest of humanity) who do.  Leading to a general sense of superiority that has resulted in the often mocked self-designation – the most well-adjusted person I know.  There are numerous other drawbacks, but we are starting to drift from the point of the post.  Leave it to say, I tend to see myself as having been minimally scarred by my family’s dysfunction.

And yet, I still can’t explain why it is that movies depicting relational dynamics between men (young or old) and their fathers (or father figures) have the effect they do on me.  In the service a couple months ago, a clip from In Good Company was used to underscore my point.  It could have just as easily been Lars and the Real Girl.  Or even the movie I saw for the first time tonight – August Rush. There isn’t even that much interaction between “August” and his father, but the little there was was enough.

There is a scene towards the end of the movie where unbeknownst to either of them, father and son meet for the very first time.  And when they do, it is to have an impromptu jam session playing guitars together in a park.  And what you notice in both of their faces is the sheer delight to share in each other’s love for and talent in music.  So much from the movie was powerful and moving, and yet what I’ll likely remember five years from now is that scene.

Which I think is bringing me closer to understanding (maybe) what it is I missed out on from my own father.  In the end, I don’t think what I’m looking for – or for that matter what anyone else is looking for – is approval in the sense of “you’ll do, you’re ok, you’re adequate.”  Rather it is that thing that August and his father experienced in the park…  delight.  And specifically delight in each other.  I have good memories of time with my father, but some of the best were when we would ski together.  It was something we both enjoyed immensely and were relatively good at.  Perhaps we even delighted in each other’s skill and appreciation for the sport’s athleticism and grace.

And all that I’ve written so far is one long introduction to Wright’s thoughts for today that prompted this convoluted post:

Many young people in the modern Western world find it, or at least believe it to be, very difficult to please their parents.  Whatever we do just doesn’t seem to reach the high standard expected.  Many continue through their whole adult life, even after their parents have died, still trying somehow to please them or at least appease them.  Such people find the idea of pleasing God almost laughable.  It seems quite impossible that God, being all-knowing and all-wise, could actually be pleased with them…  Clearly Paul does not look at the matter like that at all.  For Paul, God is pleased when he sees his image being reproduced in his human creatures by the Spirit.  The slightest steps they take towards him, the slightest movements of faith and hope, and particularly of love, give God enormous delight…  God delights in us, and, like a parent, he is thrilled when, we, his children, taken even the first small steps towards the full Christian adulthood he has in store for us.

To this, I would want to add Piper’s small, but all-important, caveat – what God delights in about us is that we delight in him.  So really, it is a doubly incredible truth…  that God delights in us, but also that we can delight in Him.

Now, if we could only get Wright and Piper to delight in each other.

In attempt to address yesterday’s blog shortcomings, here’s a glimpse into the day.

Actually, not that bad. In fact, quite the opposite.

Due to unforseen lack of Internet access, there will be no posts for a couple days. I’m in no mood to tap out a proper post on my phone. Expect a few on Saturday.

press play…

When I saw what the scripture reading was for this morning, I did an internal yawn.  I realize that having that sort of attitude about the sacred text is probably sin upon sin, but it was an exceedingly familiar passage.  The kind that gets whipped out for countless devotionals.

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.  We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.

I love Wright’s paraphrase… We are battered old flowerpots filled with the glory of God, so that it is quite clear that the power and the glory belong to God, not to us. In addition, Wright did a fine job articulating the truth that one of the things God wants to do is demonstrate his power through our frailty and brokenness.  We often see people and measure them by whatever standards we hold dear to evaluate who is worthwhile, or significant, or successful.

This is exactly the trap into which the church in Corinth had fallen.  They wanted impressive leaders who lead triumphantly and laughed in the face of hardship and danger.  But Paul was imprisoned and seemed to be on the losing end of struggle and hardship.  Paul was a stumbling block for the Corinthians.

Ok… fine truths and all.  But honestly, it was stuff I had heard before.

Then I went about my day, which includes meetings, planning, and various other conversations centered on leading the church.  In one of those meetings, some of what we were asked to consider was how to remove the obstacles that keep people from seeing church as an attractive option for their lives.  To identify the stumbling blocks people have as it relates to church involvement and deal with them.

And then I remembered Paul… his very existence a stumbling block.  People in Corinth weren’t into unimpressive (by their standards) church leaders.  I could see some trendy leader type telling the Corinthians, “people aren’t digging Paul.  In the final analysis, he comes up lacking.  He’s sort of a downer for folks.   We need to do the hard thing.  We need to transition him out as our apostle.”

I know… ridiculous.  But if one applies the “let’s remove stumbling blocks” line of thinking too broadly, we might begin to move away from the very things that God considers to be precious.   Today, in a very round about way, I was reminded that “God’s power and glory showing up in our weakness” is exactly what the cross and resurrection are all about.

Sorry Paul.  I meant no disrespect.

I was looking for a section to quote from Reflecting the Glory today, but every paragraph had potential for lifting.  So as seems to be my pattern as of late, I’m going to share two great things today.  One will be the entire reading.  It’s about three pages.  But the means by which I am sharing it is nearly as amazing as the shared thing itself.

Google Books is evolving into an incredibly useful tool for those who regularly interact with the content of books.  Trying to remember a quote from a book, but don’t have the exact wording or know where it is?  Google Books is your new best friend.  It provides the ability to search electronically for words or phrases in a number of books.  Not every book ever printed is there, but there are lots.

So for example…  today’s entry (if this works right) can be read in its entirety right HERE, and it is very, very good.

Just in case you don’t think you are getting your money’s worth, I’m throwing in a couple extras for good measure.

I still remember the cheesy video that Jackson and McCartney put together for this song.  I like this gal’s twist on it…

Didn’t get your fill of Wright?  Here are some timely comments that I think express the sentiments of many… and certainly my own.

This blogging experiment is turning into the discipline I knew that it would eventually become.  I had just hoped that it would have taken a little longer.  I’ve started two posts today.  Both are tucked away in the draft folder for some future inspiration that will more than likely not materialize.  Does this classify as whining?

And so instead, you’ll be treated to another favorite musician as of late.

Rosi Golan – Hazy (with William Fitzsimmons)

I saw her perform with Greg Laswell in Nashville a couple weeks ago, and both were great.