It has been awhile since I have posted on the blog, primarily because we have been busy getting ready to move into the new house. If you don’t know, we are renting our house to some friends who find themselves without a place to live and moving into the parsonage, which the church owns. It will save the church a lot of money, and it will help out our friends.
We have also been extremely busy working on unifying our merged congregation. Since January 10, we have been one church – worshiping as Grace Baptist Church but working on a new identity. Among other things, we’ve been gathering ideas for a new name and refining our vision statement. I cannot help but give props to our elders who go above and beyond when we ask them to do things.
One of the biggest challenges we are facing is one of over-complication. People who have been in church for a long time tend to develop a church subculture; and even people who have not been in church for that long will be drawn into the subculture – sometimes against their will. This subculture is driven by a sort of crowd inertia. In psychology, this is called herd behavior or crowd psychology. In essence the behavior of the group does not necessarily equal the opinion of the group, perhaps not even a majority of the group. Instead, the group is moved by powerful individuals or the presence of expectations.
Although this behavior is present in all kinds of groups, from social clubs to corporate offices, it is perhaps best evidenced in the churches. Think about how miserable most people in church are. Almost everyone doesn’t like something; and yet there is rarely creative thinking or discussion about the things we don’t like. In fact, when someone brings up issues that everyone has been discussing in private, they are considered bold and daring.
The power of this crowd inertia is so strong that it often silences the diverse voices that God has placed in the church to keep it alive and on focus. Without these dissenting voices being raised, the inertia drags everyone in its wake.
This is where vision becomes so important. Vision is ‘an image of the future in the mind of God’ and when we get in tune with it, we can see where we are headed. It gives us a reason to buck the crowd inertia. Without vision, we go with the crowd and follow the inertia. We don’t do it because we want to. We do it because it is the force available to us.
So, vision breaks inertia. It gives us somewhere OTHER than the natural, easy place.
The question before us is HOW do we let vision break the inertia? We have a lot of things that scream out church inertia. Vision will change those things if we are willing to let God’s vision of the future be our present occupation.
Filed under: Media, Movies and TV, Personal, Things We Shouldn't Discuss | Tags: beatles, Rain, tribute bands
If you haven’t noticed, I am a huge Beatles fan. I don’t collect memorabilia or walk around mourning John’s murder, but I love their music. The Beatles are, were, and will forever be the greatest rock band on earth.
I have very strong opinions about people messing with the Beatles, so I approach cover bands with serious trepidation. That being said, there are several Beatles tributes who have won some notoriety, among them 1964 and Beatlejuice. These bands do justice to the Beatles music by trying to replicate the music of the band as nearly as possible.
Recently we found out about a band called Rain who not only replicate the music but, as nearly as possible, try to replicate the experience of seeing a Beatles show. This I had to see!
Last night, Nichole and I went to a show with Greg and Lori Jones. Greg is one of our elders at Grace and a fellow Beatles aficionado. (Let’s set aside for a moment the fact that I love having elders in our church who like the stuff I like.)
All I can say is WOW.
Rain is, for all intents and purposes, the Beatles. Their work is absolutely extraordinary.
You have to understand that I listen intensely to Beatles music. I replay songs to hear subtleties in George’s guitar work. My wife and I listen to their harmonies and note movements in and around the melody. We crank up the bass and tell everyone to be quiet so we can pick out tempo changes in Ringo’s drumming.
And Rain does it all. They have the Beatles idiosyncrasies; they uncannily have their voices; and they produce the kind of chemistry that audiences love.
I think one of my favorite things about the show was their performance of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” The original recording of the song has an interesting history, and George never really liked it. Although it features the uncredited guitar work of Eric Clapton and is unquestionably one of the best songs on The Beatles, George Harrison thought it would be better as a more acoustic, orchestral setting that would feed into an electric guitar finale. You can hear George’s original idea on the Cirque de Soleil show soundtrack Love, with an orchestral arrangement by George Martin.
Rather than replicating the recording from The Beatles, Rain performs the song as an acoustic guitar piece and then “George” gets up and switches to a Les Paul Custom and lets loose on the solos and the acoustic song turns into a rock anthem. I loved it; loved it; LOVED IT! It was amazing. I seriously almost started crying because it was a tribute to George Harrison, who I hold in the highest regard as a musician. It was fitting and beautiful.
If you have a chance to enjoy this show, you have to do it. Lay down the money and see it.
Filed under: Personal
Today, we took Iggy Pop back to Pug Rescue. He was a wonderful little guy but not for us. Nichole’s allergies flared up; and he had this nasty tendency to urinate on expensive (in our minds) furniture. It just wasn’t a good match for us.
In other news, it looks like we are going to be relocating. Our friends Tom and Becky lost their apartment, due to negligence on the part of their landlord, so they and their five kids are looking for a place. Since our church owns a parsonage that is sitting empty (which we can’t rent out because we’re a church), it looks like Nichole, Ariel and I are going to move into the parsonage and then rent our place to Tom and Becky. It will save the church a lot of money, and it will help us get the house paid off a little faster.
So, it looks like we’ll be moving in February – something we swore we would never do again – but in the end, it will work out because everyone will win in the end.
Filed under: Church, Other Bloggers, Personal, Prayers | Tags: earthquake, haiti, haiti orphan, haitian adoption, haitian orphans, larry warren
PLEASE HELP! Larry and Liz Warren are very close friends of mine who have been working on adopting a little boy in Haiti named Sterly. When the earthquakes hit, Larry and Liz received clearance to GO to Haiti to check on Sterly. Now, they are encountering difficulties in bringing him home.
You can help Larry, Liz and Sterly by copying the following text into an email to their Congressman’s Chief-of-Staff:
Dear Mr. Scandling:
I am writing to express my concern for Congressman Wolf’s constituents, Elizabeth and Lawrence Warren II, and their one year old adopted son Sterly St. Croix, a Haitian national.
The Warren’s I171-H case number is PTP2009824016.
I have heard that many adoptions that were not as far along as the Warren’s are being pushed through in light of the instability in the region caused by the recent earthquakes. The Warrens are actually at the Hotel Mont Joli in Cap Haitien, Haiti right now on a mission trip, but cannot get clearance to bring their son home.
Sir, please let me know what Congressman Wolf is doing to allow these young parents to bring their son home in all haste.
(email to daniel.scandling@mail.house.gov, cc: judy.mccary@mail.house.gov)
Thank you so much for your assistance and prayers.
The following is a repost of a post from my old, now defunct, blog – Adventures in Missing the Point.
Introduction
The necktie originally served a purpose, although today its only purpose is to bring its wearer to near asphyxiation. As with all things that are useless, we can thank the French.
When Romans Were Men and the French Were Decent Fighters
The Roman legionaires wore what was known as a focale - a simple kerchief wrapped about the neck for wiping your face and protecting your neck in the cold.
Centuries later, in 1661, Louis XIV noticed Croatian mercenaries wearing similar handkerchiefs around their necks, and seeing the instant fashion value he rushed home and appointed one of his courtiers as “tie maker for the king.” This person’s sole responsibility was to help the king arrange and knot his elaborate neckties. And people wonder why the French don’t win wars anymore.
The Modern Torture Apparatus
For centuries since, men have been tortured by having to wear useless slips of fabric around their necks at the office, in school and in church. Since the French did it, it must be cool. In many ways, the French of the 17th and 18th century were like the “Gangsta rappers” of today. Everyone tried to look like them but just winds up being laughed at. I mean, would you take George Washington seriously if he was standing in front of you in tights?
During the following two centuries, the tie was worn in various styles. Men desparately tried to get rid of them, but instead, their wives made them wear frilly ties with lace fringe. There is just nothing more masculine then lace, am I right?
It was the 1800’s when the Victorian fashion of the starched collar became popular. Now, not only did men get to enjoy the sublime comfort of a knotted piece of material around the neck; they also got to wear a collar with the consistency of sandpaper that encircled their neck, chafing off skin and eliminating any capacity for the lateral movement of the head.
In 1925 the American tie maker Jesse Langdorsf patented a long tie, less crumpled and more stable, sewn from three pieces of fabric and cut to a taper. The modern tie was born, and immediately people began tying it incorrectly.
Knots Landing
Speaking of tying the knot incorrectly, allow me some literary indulgences. Oscar Wilde in his “The Importance of Being Earnest” said:
“A well-tied tie is the first serious step in life.”
As evidenced by his boring and often pointless plays, Mr. Wilde really needed a life. Thinking like this is the reason that no one knows who he is anymore.
At last count, there are four accepted methods of tying a necktie.
1. The Windsor Knot – aka the RIGHT way.
2. The Half-Windsor Knot – aka the SLOPPY way.
3. The Four-in-Hand Knot – aka the SKINNY TIE method.
4. The Pratt Knot – aka the USELESS BRITISH system
Once again, a literary allusion, this time from Molire’s immortal The Wife School.
“A sacred knot will unite us until tomorrow.”
I’m pretty sure that has NOTHING to do with tying ties, but it makes me sound splendiferously scholarly. However, let me comment that if you don’t use a Windsor knot, or at least a Pratt knot, your knot is not sacred at all. Stick with polo shirts because you look ridiculous. Hey, I hate the things, but if I have to wear them then I’m gonna look good in them.
Concluding Thoughts
In 1820, an anonymous Frenchman said:
“With the tie I take perfect care: it is the true ritual of elegance. I labor persistently for hours so that it appears tied haphazardly.”
Hence the reason he remained anonymous – as all Frenchmen should.
In short, the necktie is a particularly useless thing. Even its original purpose (which was probably something cool like staunching blood flow from neck wounds) is gone. Now, its only purpose is to clash with our shirt or our shoes, and with the modern pastel combos, even that purpose is fading.
The tie is a dying accessory and rather than declaring it an endangered species, I think we should give it a pleasant funeral, share some wacky anecdotes and memories then dump it in a shallow grave and start the party.
In a recent message, I shared some thoughts from Ephesians 1:15-23 about praying for vision. While this was specific to our merged congregation, the message Paul has for us is applicable in all areas of our lives.
People confuse vision with a plan. While vision might involve a plan, it is not a plan. Specifically, we define vision this way:
Seeing the image of your future that is in the mind of God.
Vision is not about what we think we should do or how we should do it. It is about the future that God has planned for us. From the passage above, I extracted four areas we should praying for as we seek vision:
- Thank God for future blessings. (vv 15-16)
- Pray for wisdom and knowledge that will help us know God better (v 17)
- Search for your heart’s eyes to be enlightened (vv 18-23)
- Know that vision comes from knowing the full glory of the resurrected Christ (vv 19-23)
As we unite together in praying for God’s vision for us, we should not pray “SHOW US” but rather “let us connect with you.” When we are connected with God’s mind, we will see what he sees. And that is vision.
It’s official. The sermon feed is up on iTunes. If you want to subscribe, go to the iTunes store and search for Grace Baptist Merrimack. I suppose you could use other searches, like my name or something, but that was the one that worked for me.
This fine, distinguished gentleman is IGGY POP. He is also known as Igz, The Igguana, Igg, The Iggcelence of Iggecution (a wrestling joke), and many other things. He is not to be confused with the other Iggy Pop, former leader singer of The Stooges and the grandfather of punk. (To clarify any confusion, we may have his name changed to Iggy Pup.)
He has been hanging with us for a grand total of 12 hours and has managed to keep me from sleeping, go out to the bathroom at least a dozen times, mark every curb in our neighborhood, jump on my father who stopped by for a quick visit, and endear himself to our daughter.
Iggy comes to us via Pug Rescue of New England. He is 4.5 years old and built – well – he’s built like me. Big trunk, short legs, and a thick neck. He also, incidentally, runs like I do – slowly and swaying. He is also VERY BIG for his breed.
He is quite a character, and when he first came to us, we thought he was a bit rambunctious but now that he’s slept in the house (on Ariel’s bed naturally), he has calmed down a bit.
I committed the egregious mistake of having to go the bathroom at 4:30 this morning, which prompted him to remember that he needed to go to the bathroom also. Since I’m an early rise anyway, I took him out and then gave him his breakfast. Since then, he has been crashed at my feet sleeping. Lucky him.
We’re not completely settled on keeping him yet. Having a dog in the house is a big, stinky responsibility. We’re still working on it. You can pray for us. Those of you who know me know that sleep is one of those things I really, really value.
Filed under: Church, Heritage & Grace Merger, Things We Shouldn't Discuss
You have to ask yourself – what happens in people’s minds that closes their thinking to outreach? How do churches become introverted and self-focused?
I don’t have the answer, but I do want to offer a thought on the subject. Perhaps it is because people view their church building as a home plate instead of a home base.
A home plate is where you are headed. From the moment a hitter takes off after he hits, he is headed BACK to home plate. The objective of the game is to get back to home.
By contrast, a home base is where you go from to do something. You only return to home base so you can get fueled up and head back out.
When we think of church as HOME PLATE, we might venture out into the world occasionally, but we consider it hostile and only venture out so we can get back to HOME PLATE.
In contrast, when we view church as a HOME BASE, we spend most of our time out in the world on a mission and we only return to HOME BASE so we can get ready to go out.
Here’s What I Know
A book like this is so hard to review, at least for me. It is clear that John Townsend wrote this book to address a specific set of questions. But they are questions I am not asking.I am reminded of the famous phrase from Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: “the question of life, the universe and everything”.
That is what Dr. Townsend is trying to answer, the question of the everything of God. I have no doubt that there are people asking the questions he addresses, but they have no real relevance to me as a reader.
To be honest, I’ve read plenty of treatments of these questions. They are of course core apologetic questions. Does Dr. Townsend answer them in a fresh perspective? I would have to say no. In fact to be truly honest, I found it difficult to keep reading it because there was so little originality in the approach to ideas.
There is nothing terribly original about this work. It certainly did not have anything that caught my attention or engaged my thinking as a reader.
The Blah Blah Blah…
The FTC says I have to tell you that I received a complimentary copy of this book in return for my review. If you didn’t know that, now you do.
