Day 2: Sound Effects

February 15, 2012 — 1 Comment

Table of contents for Journal Project

  1. Day 1: Prophet Z
  2. Day 2: Sound Effects
  3. Day 3: My Brother Getting Married
  4. Day 4: Face to Face
  5. Day 5: The Circus
  6. Day 6: Holiness is Fierce
  7. Day 7: A Woman

I teach Rhetoric 2 to sophomores at Logos School here in Moscow, Idaho, and every year around this time, I assign the (now famous) Journal Project. The Journal Project consists of 30 days of journal entries on the same topic. The students are given one day off each week, so we complete the Journal Project over the course of five weeks (writing six days each week). Only this year my students asked me to do the Journal Project with them. So here we go… My topic is my family.

Day 2

My oldest descendant I am told looks a great deal like me. Though I’m fairly sure that he is already bigger than I was at his age, he’s doing the blonde hair/blue eye thing quite proficiently. I’ve also noticed several other qualities we share in common as father and son: The ability to turn everything into an imaginary World War 3 through finely tuned explosive sounds and the deeply held conviction that there is a sleeping Ninja in everyone of us just waiting to be awakened. We also share the trait of cheerful, completely baseless confidence. After his first piano lesson, he announced that he could now play the piano, and his teacher was — in his words, “OK.”

I can remember believing that I was about ready to turn pro on my second-hand Schwinn when I was 7 after a particularly sweet spin around my house in California. And a year or two later, I was pretty sure there were pro scouts in the bushes just waiting to pounce on me and my banana board. Though in retrospect, I’m pretty sure that most of my confidence came through well-timed sound effects.

Come to think of it, my internal sound track and sound maker were probably my greatest assets. If I had used sound effects more on my spelling tests, I probably wouldn’t have driven my mother so crazy. I will need to share this bit of wisdom with my son sometime soon. I will also explain to his teachers that this is an inherited family defect. We can only concentrate when there are explosion noises sputtering out of our mouths along with the beat-box echoes of Ninja punches and kicks. It’s true that the downside to this is spraying the homework with spittle, but, Mrs. Kimmell, some people are just born this way. But you can be sure that I will instruct my son in no uncertain terms to wipe his paper dry before turning it in. We may be slightly disabled, but we are still civilized.

 

Previous in series Next in series
In Family, Journal Project, Writing
permalink

Day 1: Prophet Z

February 15, 2012 — 1 Comment

Table of contents for Journal Project

  1. Day 1: Prophet Z
  2. Day 2: Sound Effects
  3. Day 3: My Brother Getting Married
  4. Day 4: Face to Face
  5. Day 5: The Circus
  6. Day 6: Holiness is Fierce
  7. Day 7: A Woman

I teach Rhetoric 2 to sophomores at Logos School here in Moscow, Idaho, and every year around this time, I assign the (now famous) Journal Project. The Journal Project consists of 30 days of journal entries on the same topic. The students are given one day off each week, so we complete the Journal Project over the course of five weeks (writing six days each week). Only this year my students asked me to do the Journal Project with them. So here we go… My topic is my family.

Day 1

On second thought, I don’t recommend naming your son after a prophet. At first it may seem like a good idea, going for the Bible name and all, and no doubt the grandmothers will all approve. I once thought that too. And when the child is first born, you chalk it up to coincidence: you know, all the little oddities you notice. But after a while you settle down to bracing yourself for the worst.

Prophets were no ordinary race of men. Take a complete lunatic and mix in two parts fire, three parts brimstone, and add a beard and staff to taste, and you’re pretty much talking about a guy you’d expect to find with a homemade cardboard sign at a major intersection in a big city. Naming your son after one of these fire-breathing witch doctors is just not safe. It’s like sticking paper clips in electrical sockets or playing with matches at a gas station or ice skating on your roof. You just shouldn’t do it. But no one wants to admit that they’ve done this to their child, so you try to ignore it.  Continue Reading…

Next in series
In Family, Journal Project, Writing
permalink

Enacting My Life for Yours

February 13, 2012 — Leave a comment

Pastor Jordan reminded us at the conference over the last couple of days that this meal is not only communion with Jesus, but it is also a volunteering to die for the sake of Christ and for one another. The bread particularly points to the fact that we are united in Christ, one body, one loaf. And the wine is the covenant in the blood of Jesus for the remission of sins, but also as our way of life, our new way of being human, the way of the cross, the way of sacrifice. This means that you cannot take up this bread and this wine, and then imagine that you will now be blessed with an easy, comfortable life. When you eat this bread, you are being knit into the body of Jesus throughout the world, and that body, that family is a safe place to be, but it is a body on a mission to put all sin and suffering and injustice under the feet of Jesus. And when you drink this wine, you are testifying of the death of Christ till He comes. You are saying this is the way we conquer, this is the way we carry out our mission. Through suffering, through sacrifice, through giving up yourself for your wife, for your husband, for your children, for your neighbors, for strangers you don’t even know. This is one reason why we greet one another in the Passing of the Peace. We are enacting all of this. We are hugging and kissing and blessing one another because we are family in Christ, and at the same time because we are family, we are offering to lay our lives down for one another. It is fun to greet one another; it’s joyful and glad, but do not forget what you are promising.

In Eucharistic Meditations
permalink

Faith vs. Positive Thinking

February 13, 2012 — 1 Comment

Far too many Christians mistake the notion of positive thinking with true faith in the God of Scripture. The pastor calls the people to believe the promises of God, to trust in the Lord, to overcome sin, and so on, and many Christians think that the pastor is suggesting that they try a little harder, they look deep down inside and find something positive, and just keep on thinking optimistically. This is why plenty of people leave the church and others want nothing to do with the church, because the church is full of optimistic little engines who think they can. But the Christian faith is not a mental gimmick or an emotional magic trick. The Christian faith is the only real and true way of being human. It is real and true communion with the Triune God, the creator of the heavens and the earth, and with His world and the new humanity in the church. We are not pretending that everything is fixed all around us; we are not pretending that we have no problems, no issues, no sins. And after a while, all the pretenders are disappointed to find out that there are just as many sinners inside the church as outside the church. No, the Kingdom of God is the beginning of a new world. The Church is the family of God where brokenness begins to heal, where the lonely begin to find friendship, where orphans begin to be adopted, where widows begin to find cared, where we tell the truth about the poison of sin, and cry out to God for His merciful deliverance and care. That is why we are here. We are here because we need grace. We have just prayed that God would have mercy upon us and upon the whole world, and that is why we are here. We need mercy and grace. And faith is the gift of being able to approach the throne of grace with confidence that there will be grace.

In Exhortations, Grace
permalink

Bradbury on the Joy of Writing

February 8, 2012 — Leave a comment

How long has it been since you wrote a story where your real love or your real hatred somehow got onto the paper? When was the last time you dared release a cherished prejudice so it slammed the page like a lighting bolt? What are the best things and the worst things in your life, and when are you going to get around to whispering or shouting them?

…

Find a character, like yourself, who will want something or not want something, with all his heart. Give him running orders. Shoot him off. Then follow as fast as you can go. The character, in his great love, or hate, will rush you through to the end of the story. The zest and gusto of his need, and there is zest in hate as well as in love, will fire the landscape and raise the temperature of your typewriter thirty degrees.

-Ray Bradbury, Zen in the Art of Writing, 4-5, 6-7.

In Literature, Misc, Stories, Writing
permalink

The New Eve

February 8, 2012 — Leave a comment

We frequently struggle with holding corporate and individual realities and demands in balance. Salvation is described in both individual and corporate terms going back to the nation of Israel and culminating in the New Covenant in descriptions of the Church as the bride of Christ and the New Jerusalem, the city of God coming down out of heaven.

How do these realities fit together? In one sense, the individual seems to take priority: in the end, everyone will stand before the judgment seat of Christ and receive justice for the deeds done in the body. Since we die alone, it stands to reason that we stand before God by ones.

And yet, so often, the exhortations, the indictments, the accusations come in the form of the second person plural: the King James “ye” and the southern “ya’all”.

In Ezekiel’s prophecy, Israel is a valley full of dead men’s bones, and she must be resurrected and reborn. Nicodemus is told the same thing, and Jesus assumes he knows what this means and explains that He has come to save the whole world, holding the two realities still closely together.  Evangelicals tend to emphasize the individual side of this and at best give lip service to the corporate side.  Continue Reading…

In Evangelism, Grace, Pastoral Theology, Preaching, Theology - Ecclesiology
permalink

An Invitation to Believe

February 6, 2012 — 1 Comment

“He will dwell on high; his place of defense will be the fortress of rocks; bread will be given him, his water will be sure. Your eyes will see the King in His beauty…” (Is. 33:16-17)

Whatever your situation today, whatever your background, whatever your story is, if you are here then you are invited to believe in Jesus Christ. If you have walked with God for many years, then you are called to remember and believe the good news. Jesus is your fortress of rocks, your refuge and your strength. Some of you may be unsure, racked with guilt, regrets, uncertainty, and I summons you to believe in the only rock, the only safe place, the only defense, the only King, the only Savior, Jesus Christ. And some of you may have never trusted, never believed, perhaps you are still looking for a fortress, a safe place: you have tried to protect yourself, fend for yourself, but you need a real defense from the calamities of sin and death and heartache. Jesus is the King of the universe. His justice is true justice, and therefore His beauty is true beauty. He rescues all those who trust in Him. He lifts them up out of the miry clay. He forgives sins, He washes whiter than snow. He is able to do this because He is almighty God, and He has accomplished this through His own death and resurrection. His death and resurrection are the great fortress of life, and here we are safe from every assault. Here the water of your baptism is guaranteed, here the bread of life is freely given. So come, if you have not been baptized, you are invited, if you have then you are invited to believe in your King, place your faith in Jesus the Savior, and eat, drink, and rejoice.

 

In Bible - Isaiah, Eucharistic Meditations
permalink

Grace is a Fire Extinguisher

February 6, 2012 — 1 Comment

“You shall conceive chaff, you shall bring forth stubble; your breath, as fire, shall devour you.” (Is. 33:1)

Isaiah says that when the judgment of God comes, sometimes it comes in the form of self-destruction. In Romans, Paul says the same thing when he writes that God sometimes gives people over to their unclean passions. In Proverbs, Solomon likewise says that the man who is seduced by the mouth of an immoral woman is already abhorred by God. Frequently, it is thought that you ought not to sin because then God’s judgment may fall, but oftentimes we do not realize that the sin itself is the judgment of God. Isaiah also particularly focuses on the mouth of sinners, breathing a self-devouring fire. Perverse words, critical, biting words, angry words are not harmless, are not without effect. Proverbs says that life and death are in the power of the tongue, and that we eat what we say. Words have the power to crush, to ruin, to destroy both those within range and always at the very least the speaker.

And so the question is what are you pregnant with? Are you carrying life inside you? Are you feeding and nurturing new life within your soul? Or are you conceiving chaff? Are you in labor with stubble, are you kindling a great fire? Some of you are silently full of fire, full of anger, bitterness, fear. Others of you may be like a broken power line, seething and spitting fire at your wife or husband or children. Some of you may be nurturing other little sins, thinking that you are safe, thinking that they are not so big, not so destructive. But this is like being a little bit pregnant. Sin never stays small, sin never stays secret. It always comes to birth; it always comes to light.

But you need to know that there is no sin big or small that is outside the reach of God’s grace. God’s grace is a fire extinguisher able to put out every fire.

 

In Bible - Isaiah, Bible - Proverbs, Bible - Romans, Exhortations
permalink

How Pride is the Father of Depression

January 24, 2012 — 4 Comments

Pride is a promiscuous sin and begets bastard iniquities all over the landscape of any given life. But one sin fathered by pride and frequently unnoticed is depression. In a fallen world there may be numerous  factors contributing to depression, darkness, deep sadness: Death, sickness, chemical imbalances, sin, guilt, broken relationships, failures, regrets, etc. I grant all of that, and this is not meant as a one-size-fits-all diagnosis for you or someone you know.

But pride is idolatry of self. Pride pretends to be sitting in a palace, on a throne. Pride imagines importance, glory, and authority. Pride is brash, pride is haughty, pride is self-assured, self-serving, self-loving, self-vindicating. Pride is self-worship.

As it turns out, fallen, sinful people are losers. Left in their sin, people are naked, exposed, ashamed, scrambling for leaves. And thus the need for lots of pretending and wild self-aggrandizing imagination. Pride is a liar and a deceiver, and tells a tall tale to cover the shame. Pride re-tells the Fall, guilt, sin, and death renaming these curses as virtues, personality traits, gifts, callings, differences. In the history of the world, the race of Adam which is at war with God and His grace is a Naked Empire. The city of man, as Augustine called it, is more than just an emperor with no clothes, it’s an entire empire full of naked, guilty people.

People are small, people are mortal, people are weak, people really are naked under all their clothes. But pride hates shame; pride hates humility. Pride is opposed to everything weak, everything small.

But pride is destined to make you sad. Pride is destined to make you despair. This is because apart from Christ people are losers. Apart from Christ, you are naked, ashamed, guilty, alone. Pride lies and tells a different story, but self-worship, self-love, self-assurance has to look in the mirror. You have to worship your image, and as many people worship the image, they become more and more empty, more and more hopeless because look at you: you are a lousy god. Continue Reading…

In Bible - 1 Peter, Bible - James, Grace, Pastoral Theology, Wisdom
permalink

Wave Offering Warfare

January 23, 2012 — Leave a comment

“And in every place where the grounded staff shall pass, which the LORD shall lay upon him, it shall be with tambourines and harps: and in battles of shaking will he fight with it.” (Is. 30:32)

The phrase “in battles of shaking will he fight with it” is interesting. The word for shaking is sometimes translated brandishing, and in the rest of the Old Testament it usually means “lifting” or “waving.” When Aaron and his sons were originally ordained to the priesthood, a loaf of bread was put into their hands and they were to lift them up as a wave offering before the Lord (Ex. 29:23-27). The same word is used to refer to the offering of gold and bronze that was used to construct the tabernacle. As the priests began their ministry in the tabernacle, God explained that the portions of meat that the priests lifted up as wave offerings before the Lord were the portions for the priests to eat. It’s striking that when the Levites are appointed to serve in the tabernacle in Numbers, the people of Israel lay hands on the Levites assembled, and God says that this is a wave offering of the children of Israel (Num. 8:11-21). When the people lay hands on the Levites, God says that is how they are lifted up, to serve before Him. Pastor Leithart has already pointed out how music and singing is part of our warfare; here Isaiah also says God’s war will be fought through the wave offering, through the ministry of priests offering sacrifices and eating their portions. Israel of old thought they would find safety and security in what looked strong. In that day it was Egypt. In our day maybe it’s the military, maybe it’s keeping up with fashion, maybe it’s certain food fads or diets or health trends. People think that money will keep them safe, or certain lifestyles will set them free. But God’s power is found singing and eating together. When we lift up this bread and this cup, this is our wave offering, and this means that we are all priests to God. And when the pastor lifts his hands to bless the people of God, he is placing the Name of God on them, and he does that by lifting them up before the Lord as a wave offering.  Here you are given your priestly portion to eat and drink, and then you are sent out as a priestly portion to be food for the world. And you do this as you go out singing and eating together in the joy of the Lord. This is wave offering warfare.

 

In Bible - Isaiah, Eucharistic Meditations
permalink