The Ultimate Blog Makeover

Today is my day off and since two different people cancelled on me for both breakfast and lunch (welcome to youth ministry), I decided to spend my morning constructing the ultimate blog makeover! So I have changed my template, added lots of pictures, and even fixed, changed, deleted and added some links! I gotta say, this is the most fun I've had on my blog in months and I'm starting to re-remember why I like blogging.

As a sidenote, let me just say this is probably one of my nerdiest blog posts yet.

As a second sidenote, I'd like to put in a plug to say that Colin and I are taking some initiative and restarting our Christian Books that Don't Suck blog. The hope is that this will take off and be a place where people can go who like good books but don't know how to find them.

Peace,
Matt

Hans Kung on the Institutional Church

"The crucial challenge to repudiate the ideology of our church office lies in Jesus' complete disinterest in the erection of an institutional Church and the creation of such offices. Jesus promises the Kingdom of God in his message, not the Church. He is interested in God's will and man's welfare. The Church is a post-Easter community of faith, and as such only something provisory, a help, a center - where it works - for brotherliness and forgiveness that apply to the whole world. The holders of church offices are to be servants in this service in a community that appeals to Jesus."
-From Hans Kung's Theology for the Third Millennium, p. 96.

A Prayer from Catherine of Siena

You, O Eternal Trinity, are a deep sea into which, the more I enter, the more I find, and the more I find, the more I seek.
O abyss,
O eternal Godhead,
O sea profound,
what more could you give me than yourself?
Amen.

Some Randoms

1. The governator, who seems to get far more press time than any other politician, just announced a plan for extending health care coverage for nearly every Californian. Although it is far from perfect, I'm glad to see more people getting on board and realizing there is no humane reason for denying another human being health care.
2. You can now watch The Office online. I don't have cable, so you have no idea how happy this makes me.
3. I wonder what the difference is between this archbishop's collaboration with a communist government and most American pastors' collaboration with the exploitive, militaristic, consumeristic society we live in. I guess ours is more subtle in the way it takes away lives and souls.
4. The New York Times just ran an article pointing out that George W.'s tax cuts are helping the rich more than anybody else. Doesn't everybody already know this?
5. I don't really like football, but I happened to see the end of the Seahawks game the other day. Surprisingly, I got really excited. Go Hawks, I guess.

Peace,

Matt

Currently Reading: Walter Brueggemann's The Prophetic Imagination. You should already know that he is brilliant and everything he touches turns to gold. You gotta love anybody who's willing to question all of the kings and their dynasties in Samuel and Kings...

Losing Tillie Olsen

A few days ago the brilliant poet, author, and activist Tillie Olsen died. I had never heard of Olsen until my junior year of college, when we had to read a few of her works for an English class. Although not even graduating from high school has the potential to make an academic career difficult, Olsen did wonderfully in life. The hardships she faced made her writing real; she did not write about people she did not understand. She was part of the lower class. She worked, fought for workers rights, and specifically for the right to organize and be in a union. NPR did a nice little segment for her that you can listen to here, and you can read her Wikipedia bio here. I'd also recommend finding some of her writings and checking them out if you never have before.

Peace,
Matt

Books: I just read Thomas Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. As somebody who understands next to nothing when it comes to science, there were many parts that were difficult for me to understand. At the same time, it was a fascinating text, as his insights into paradigm shifts were very thoughtful and thought-provoking. Right now I'm reading Chronicles Volume 1 by Bob Dylan. I had heard mixed reviews, but honestly think it is an absolutely amazing book for anybody who is interested in Dylan, folk music, or the 60's. What he chooses to focus on, and not even mention, is actually kinda fun, and overall there are some things he says that really makes you feel like he is a true artist, and furthermore that there is a true vocational status to artists, like a calling from God. Lastly, I just read this month's issue of Harp magazine. I had never heard of it before, but my little brother bought me a subscription for Christmas. It was great; I'm finally catching up to the music scene a little bit! Also, there is a great article on Tom Waits, whose new albums are really, really good.

Recent Books

I have no excuses, nor any witty statements to make about it; I just really like books and want to share about the books I read/began while I was away during the holidays.

1. I read John Perkins' Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, which was enlightening and annoying at the same time. It was enlightening to listen to somebody who was actually doing this dirty work and saying "Yes, this really is the way things work." It was frustrating because it was always apparent that he wasn't telling the whole story; he was holding back, and I'm guessing it was for self-preservation. The way he explains how an economic hit man works in the book goes like this: The U.S. learned a valuable lesson in contrasting the overthrow of the Shah in Iran with the failure to win in Vietnam. We need to use more subtle techniques in order to get our way in other countries. So the government began working closely with big businesses. So a bunch of ECM's show up in a poor country and tell them that if they take out huge loans, they can advance their country with power grids, dams, oil reserves, etc, and become rich and modernized. So companies like Haliburton then come in and get richer off the deal. Meanwhile, the country can't pay off its debt, but the ruler doesn't care because he has been bribed and is now a billionaire. At this point the country makes some big deals with the U.S. because it can't pay off its loans; we get to oil prospect, elimination of trade tarrifs, etc. If the leader of the country doesn't cooperate, we (the CIA) either stage a coup, execute the leader, or as a last resort, invade the country militarily. So it was a good book, and one that I would recommend to any American wishing to actually know why the world really hates us.
2. On Bullshit by Harry G. Frankfurt. Yes, yes, it is a funny title. But it also a good discussion starter (as I discovered when I carried it around my church building), since we do live in a society where bullshit is widely accepted and fills the air whereever you go.
3. I also read George Orwell's Keep the Aspidistra Flying. This was a painful mirror for me, telling the story of a man who is obsessed with not being controlled by money, yet that is exactly what his problem is the entire time. How could you not love Orwell?
4. Right now I'm a couple of pages short of finishing Barak Obama's book, The Audacity of Hope. Although I still claim to not be loyal to any political party, a friend bought this for me and the title sounded promising; I like the idea of a politician running on hope rather than fear and hate. There are times where I resonate with what he is saying, but overall he still seems like a politician to me. Sad but true.
5. Yesterday I finished James K. A. Smith's Who's Afraid of Postmodernism? It is a fabulous book! First of all, anybody who writes about Foucault makes me happy. But beyond that, he did a great job of showing how Lyotard, Foucault and Derrida are not the little antichrists that many in the church paints them as. Instead, he shows us what these men have to offer the church, without buying into every last word they say. In other words, it was great, great, great, and I highly recommend it, especially to anybody who is part of a "postmodern church," but has no idea what that means (which is anybody who would call their chuch postmodern).
6. I also read VanderKam and Flint's book The Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls. It was a great introduction, which is exactly what I needed.

Well, that's all I can think of for now. But I'm back, and will hopefully be back on a more regular blogging schedule for a while.

Peace,

Matt

The Randoms

Here's some random stuff I thought I'd link today. Not much in the way of Christmas/Advent info, but oh well. I guess, in the spirit of Christmas, I'll at least try to make them sound like they fit the season:

*My mom has become a seasoned blogger, for which I'm quite proud of her (especially because hers looks a lot cooler than mine). Recently she blogged about materialism and what matters most. If you don't see the connection between that and this season, I don't even know what to say...

*Unfortunately, my mom isn't the only person to pick up blogging. I guess they'll let anybody get on and start spouting a deadly mixture of arrogance and ignorance, because Tom Delay has started blogging. Just like Christmas in America, Delay is a great example of Christian tradition with Christ sucked out of it.

*Pat Robertson is the antichrist. Or at least an antichrist, depending on your method of reading scripture.

*The Barna group just realeased their 12 Most Significant Religious Findings of 2006.

*NPR's This I Believe series is always a great listen. A couple days ago, though, I heard the best one yet. Listen to Richard Rohr and be happy there's somebody like this getting at least a couple of minutes of air time.

*A better Transformers trailer! That's all I wanted for Christmas!

*Miroslav Volf recently wrote a great article for the Christian Century on forgiveness. A must read.

I feel like I could add links forever, but I'll stop now. I don't know if I'll be blogging much in the next 10 days, so if I don't see you, have a great Christmas and thanks for stopping by.

Matt

Some Christmas Thoughts from Isaiah 42

This weekend I am sharing very briefly on Isaiah 42 at a church service. They are making me write out exactly what I am saying, so I thought it'd be fun to publish it here beforehand to see what you thought of it:

The following is from the 42nd chapter of the book of Isaiah:
“Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen one in whom I delight.
I will put my Spirit on him,
and he will bring justice to the nations.
He will not shout or cry out,
or raise his voice in the streets…
I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness;
I will take hold of your hand.
I will keep you and will make you
to be a covenant for the people
and a light for the Gentiles.”

We live in a world of noise.
And holidays can be the worst.
At large Christmas parties, you can typically find me hiding in the corner.
It’s just too loud. There’s too much action going on.
And the only way to be heard is to be loudest.
It’s similar to the way our world works.

To be heard in our world you need to be loud or powerful.
And although they didn’t have the noise of cell phones, cars, pagers, e-mail, YouTube, landlines, iPods, airplanes, car stereos, home stereos, television and instant messenger, the people of the ancient world were still busy.
There was still the noise of neighbors, workers, travelers, and animals.
There was still a lot to do and little time to do it in.
And just like us, the only way to be heard over the noise was to be loud, or to have power.

But in this season, as Isaiah reminds us, we worship a God who does not use noise, nor power, at least not in the way we understand power. And yet he changes the world.

He is referred to as a servant who does not cry out or raise his voice… This is Jesus.
In a backwoods town, in a forgotten Roman territory, a powerless baby is born to poor, common peasants.
Surely the God of the universe would incarnate himself as the next Caesar!
Surely he would show up with heavenly music cranked so everybody notices!

But he doesn’t.
The birth of Jesus is quiet and everyday. It is momentous for a few people, but unnoticed by most.
And this is how Jesus’ ministry works as well. It is subtle, disguised as the commonplace, and easily missed by those looking for something loud and powerful.


After all, what did people see in Jesus as an adult? A man who preached in the countryside to peasants. A poor, homeless man. A man who was neither a zealot nor loyal to Rome. A man who performed outrageous miracles and then said, “Don’t tell anybody about this.” A man who died at the hands of the powerful.

In the meantime, Rome continues to take over the world; Caesar conquers and kills, progressively dominating the world, all the while claiming to be God.

In Isaiah’s time, it was Babylon.

It seems there is always another loud, powerful person or group of people in the world. They make all the noise. They have all the strength.

But on Christmas we remember a quiet, powerless infant and recognize that he really is “a light for the Gentiles.”

After all, Rome is no more. Babylon is long forgotten.

But the Jesus movement is spreading like wild fire.

It’s spreading through South America and Africa so fast that most scholars believe these areas will soon be the new centers of Christianity!

In New Zealand and Australia, people are rediscovering what it looks like to live for and worship God!

Meanwhile the bamboo curtain continues to rise from China, revealing a church that is not afraid of the powerful rulers who can take their lives, but never their hope, and we see a church that thrives under persecution!

In the Middle East, in a world torn apart, Christians continue to meet and pray and love their neighbors, despite the fact that most have no voice or power!

In North America and Europe, people are asking tough questions and reremembering this man named Jesus and the life he has called us to! The church is going through a rebirth right here in our own country!
The Gospel of Jesus Christ has reached and continues to move forward even right here in Whatcom County changing lives, families, institutions and power structures.

Not bad for something that begins with a quiet, powerless infant in a forgotten town, in the middle of nowhere, with nobody parents.
Of course, it actually begins with a prophet, speaking hope to an exiled people.
And of course we really know that it begins with God, whose creative love found yet another way to express itself; in the form of a child.

Peace,
Matt