Doing good... in spite of the consequences

I just found out that my washer and dryer are in another state - three hours away. Betsy and I loaned them to a single mom almost a year ago. Her life deteriorated dramatically recently, and some family members came to fetch her. They also fetched my washer and dryer.

Upon contacting the sister of the aforementioned party, I was told that it was impossible for my property to be returned - but I could come get it. When I explained that I thought that they were responsible to bring them back to me things got a bit ugly. I got the original recipient of the property on the phone and told her that I'd give her a day or so to figure something out.

Less than five minutes later, she called back and explained to me that it was her understanding that we had given the washer and dryer to them as a gift, rather than a loan. I thought that I had been clear - maybe I was, and she is just trying to manipulate the dialog in her favor.

Anyway... we knew there was a risk of losing our property, but that isn't exactly a consolation. Additionally, I've cost my family another $600. You see, it was terribly windy a couple Fridays ago when I took my oldest daughter to the grocery store. The wind grabbed her car door and left a nice little dent and scratch on the car next to us. I left a note explaining what happened. The guy called later that evening was pleasantly surprised that I took responsibility. Well, the estimate came to $586...

My wife is glad I'm a man of conscience. I bet she also wonders if good character shouldn't pay a bit better.

Shameless Promotion

I got the monthly automatically generated newsletter from my friend Scott Riggan this morning. Nothing usually great about most of these sort of messages, but I'm always encouraged when I read about what Scott's up to - or rather, what God is up to with Scott.

Back in a previous life, Scott was part of a group called the nobodys with my friend Ben. They were a very successful independent band in the late 90s. [I recorded and played some gigs with them for a while - from glamorous stuff like the Nashville Heart Association Christmas party(!) to humdrum GMA week showcases and Christian music festivals.] Ahh... I digress: the nobodys got a record deal and kept going for a while, but God directs our lives more than we like to admit sometimes and Scott and Ben laid the band to rest.

As is often the case in God's kingdom, the passing of one thing leads to bigger and better things arising from the ashes. Ben is the Worship and Arts guy at Common Ground Church near Seattle - a church that he helped plant. It was my friendship with Ben and our weekly accountability meetings that prepared me to answer God's call in a way I had never previously considered.

And then there's Scott. He moved to Emmett, Idaho (pop. 5,987 - salute!) and continued his career as a solo artist. He's had some good success on the radio, but the really great and grand success is what God is doing through him in international missions. He's worked with The Jesus Film Project in Africa, and done two tours in China at the behest of the government - singing explicitly Christian songs (with the possible exception of "Sweet Home Alabama").

So - props to Scott and praise to God. Go to Scott's website and buy some stuff or just send him some money. Most importantly, pray for him. Pray for all those who are out in the wilds of the Kingdom, expanding its frontiers. Pray that God will raise up more willing adventurers like Scott and do even wackier things through them.

Just in case anyone's still interested...

I'm still here. Between the Christmas onslaught, New Year's resolutions (one of which was NOT to update my blog on a regular basis), a new semester of college, and a couple weeks of sickness rampaging through my family, blogging has lost most of the appeal it had at one time.

I am, however, reading John Caparoon's blog regularly. I'm especially interested in his thoughts on "how we do church" and particularly communion. I'm more and more longing to see the centrality of the Word (not neccessarily preaching) and the Table restored in Christian worship. The historical perspective of the Restoration movement would certainly give prominence to the Word and Table in our congrgational worship, but I'm afraid that we may have substituted preaching for the reading of the Word and that our rugged individualist tendencies may have robbed our communion time of any horizontal dimensions (i.e. it's all "me 'n' Jesus).

SO - if there's anyone out there who's still reading this - what say ye?

Emulsifying Faith and Politics

Some churchgoers expect the entire focus of our worship service to be patriotic about three times each year (Memorial Day, July 4th, and Veterans Day). More dangerously, there is often an expectation that we should support the Republican platform or “our President” unconditionally. Conversely, some think that we should stay out of politics altogether, not considering that our socio-political context has changed dramatically since Bible times. We need to show that both of these views are, at the very least, oversimplifications.

If Paul can enlist his citizenship and its accompanying privileges for God's purpose, then so should we. Paul didn't get to vote, but we do - and should. (Maybe I'm wrong - my Mennonite friend, Ken, doesn't vote. He does, however, pray for the government daily. He also will--of course--never read this blog...) Slavery, fair wages, civil rights, and health and sanitation issues have all been transformed by the church operating in democratic societies during the last 180 years. This is redemptive work. It is not the primary work of the church, but it is the inevitable outcome of our lives as we are transformed into whole ("saved") people.

VOX FOR EVERYONE!

(Warning: GUITARIST SPECIFIC CONTENT)

I was in St. Louis last week for a seminar and had some downtime, so I went to the Ed Debevic's of guitars stores - Guitar Center. (GC is slightly better than Myspace as far as annoyance factor.)

After about 10 minutes I finally got one of the "too-cool-to-be-bothered-with-the-only-customer-in-the-store" employees to fetch me a cable so I could check out some amps. A Lonestar Special, AC15CC, Crate V16 and V32, and a Line 6 Vetta were all in close proximity, and I had an hour to kill.

I started with the LSS. I really dug it. My main complaint is that you can't turn off the reverb via footswitch and it was really obtrusive. Then I compared another known quantity - the V32. Umm... I'm almost scared to report that it sounded better than the Mesa. The clean was "voxier" and the overdrive was more "marshallish." The Mesa costs (and weighs) 3X more. I REALLY wanted to like the Mesa, but...

...then I plugged into the AC15. It was the $600 one with the Whafdale speaker, but it reeked with that nearly inimitable* VOX beefy jangle. I was initially quite disappointed that they didn't have an AC30CC, but the more I played with the AC15, the less I cared. Really nice reverb (I'm not a Fender reverb guy) and tremolo. But it's the TONE that I'm infatuated with. My usual tonal needs are for something that's full-yet-bright and clean-with-some-hair-on-it. This is the VOX speciality. I was able to do my Edge impersonation and venture into indie/alt-country with ease. Ahhh...

So I concur with my friend John's assessment of several months ago. VOX is the magic. And - surprise of all surprises - Crate trumps Mesa. (Never made it to the V16 or the Vetta, but I'm a Line 6 user anyway.)

Bottom line: I want a VOX. I want John to have a VOX. I want you to have a VOX. VOX FOR EVERYONE.

(But I'm too poor to afford a VOX.)

*Bad Cat, Matchless, Dr. Z, Mojave, Top Hat, and a couple others make amps with similarly magical sounds - for two to five thousand dollars (gulp).

Ulterior Motives would be a great name for a band

I spent a good portion of the day yesterday playing some killer rock songs with John, Boyd and Don (or Woody if you've read John's blog). We're playing a set at the city park next Saturday for my church's Summer's End party.

Now this is NOT a party for our church. Let's get that out of our heads right now. This is a party for our town, and specifically for the part of our town that seems a bit more frayed around the edges. We've got free mini-golf, free food, free kids games, bikes and cars to gawk at, dunking booth, etc.

We also have rock'n'roll. NOT Christian rock. We're playing great songs mostly written by Christians. So the world view is Christian theistic, without the off-putting trappings of much Contemporary Christian music.

Maybe there was a time - or perhaps there have been instances - when Christian Rock/Contemporary Christian music was an effective outreach tool. I spent a lot of time and energy pursuing that end, but it always wound up as a party for the church. Not really the original goal.

(There is a place for new music for Christians - for worship, for teaching, inspiring, etc. - but that's a whole different discussion. My main focus in life is ministering to the church through music, so I'm certainly not "dissing" that. Matter of fact, we're ending the whole Summer's End shindig with the best worship songs we know.)

Anyway - I'm prepared to take some heat for my wacky little plan to play music that speaks the vernacular of the community at large. Perhaps there are weaker brothers for whom this is a stumbling point - I don't know of any. I'm more afraid of the "don't handle, don't touch, don't taste" crowd.

You see, I have an ulterior motive: cultivate dialog and relationships with the community at large so we can show and tell the Gospel. If Switchfoot, or even the Foo Fighters, can help build a bridge, then so be it.

Ashtrays and the Lord's Supper

My wife commented on the staggering number of ashtrays in my mom's small apartment. There are at least seven the living room alone. No, my mom doesn't smoke. (Actually, she used to. When I was born her doctor "prescribed" a cigarette each morning with her coffee. She faithfully smoked one cigarette a day until I was 18, then she stopped - cold turkey!)

So why all the ashtrays? Maybe - like the fake marble one that adorns the top of a wrought-iron magazine rack - it's because they've always been part of her home decor. Maybe it's because my dad smoked constantly for 65 years. (He, too, quit cold-turkey - just before his 80th birthday. He died 3 months later. Too little, too late.) Dad never used any of these ashtrays, though. He prefered a metal ashtray that was sewn into a corduroy beanbag (literally - it was filled with soybeans). It would sit comfortably on his chest as he reclined on the couch reading Prairie Farmer and watching Wheel of Fortune. That ashtray - if she still has it - isn't on display.

No - I think it's because of memories: The glazed terra cotta one from our trip to Arizona when I was 4; the white one that was part of Grandma's hobnail collection; the big maple leaf that Uncle Russ brought back from Vermont; the one with the decoupage horse that Aunt Wanda made in ceramics class. To discard any of these would be tantamount to erasing a memory.

Most of us keep some sort of tangible means of reminiscence. Maybe it's something as obvious as a photograph. Perhaps it's more subtle - like the grey t-shirt that's still got a stain from where my newborn daughter's "baby ook" marred it perfectly.

Our church building is filled with them. There's an inscription in the front of nearly every hymnal and pew Bible. The organ has a huge plaque. The new tables in the fellowship hall each have a small gold plaque. The painting above the sink in our breakroom was given "in loving memory" 35 years ago.

Practically speaking, this is often a hindrance. When a pulpit or a table or a musical instrument has outlived its utility, it's difficult to discard it - tantamount to erasing the memory of a mother, a grandfather, a favorite Sunday School teacher, etc.

But, still practically speaking, Jesus left us with a tangible means of remembrance. One that - after 2000 years - is inadvisable to discard. When he celebrated his last Passover with his closest friends, he admonished them to "do this in remembrance of me." One of the things that the early Christians were "continually devoting themselves to" was the "breaking of bread." I hope this hasn't become an empty ritual for us - just part of our church "decor."

I hope we remember who he was: the Word of God - present at the creation of the world - clothed in human flesh; the Son of God, who humbled himself and died on a Roman cross; the Son of Man, who was raised from the dead to become the Firstborn of many brothers and sisters.

Through a miraculous mystery, "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (1 Cor. 5:21 NIV). This righteousness (diakosune in Greek) is a virtue that sums up all the other virtues; a synonym of perfection; justice. It is the way in which God justifies persons so that they move toward living only for him. This righteousness is not only imparted to those who follow Jesus, it is manifested in their lives.

As we remember, may we understand. As we understand, may we worship him. As we worship him, may we be transformed into his righteousness.

Head Lice and the Fall

I'm not talking about Autumn here: I'm wondering about chiggers, mosquitoes, ticks, tapeworms (yee-aah!) and other blood-sucking and/or parasitic critters. Are they functioning according to God's original specifications, or did they become what we now loathe as a result of the subjection of creation to sin and decay?