Peter Carino's Blog

Great Video

2009-10-10T13:48:00.000-07:00

I love this video and the respect he commands.

Batter Blaster

2009-08-05T16:50:00.001-07:00

How is it that I've only just heard about this today? I'm going to stop and pick some up on the way home tonight! Thanks to Seth Godin I came across it today.

Vacationing

2009-08-01T20:19:00.000-07:00

I've been Virginia for the past week. My family makes an annual pilgrimage to the east coast to visit family. We are history family, always interested and investigating the history of the areas that we visit. This year we made it to Gettysburg. Wow, what a place and what a visitor center! They have truly done it up right. It is just over 146 years since the great battle took place. It seemed rather poetic that it rained most of the day we were there, a rain that is both gloomy and cleansing. It reminded me of my youth living in the mid-west. When the rains would come they would bring a melancholy, but they would also bring nourishment to the ground. The same seemed true at Gettysburg. We visited the 20th Maine monument on little round top. It was a meaningful place for me having seen the most recent Gettysburg movie. Orders were given to hold the line there at all costs. With great tenacity and ingenuity the line was held. Gettysburg became the turning point in the Civil War, even though it cost more than 6000 American lives, plus wounded.

It is important to me to visit these sacred places of our collective history and to pay honor to those who served and died there. In the place where Abraham Lincoln gave his Address there is a great monument. Surrounding the monument are the grave markers of many of those who died at Gettysburg. They are laid out in a half-round facing the place of the speech. I could almost hear Lincoln consoling a nation and the dead giving their attention.

Throughout the bible we are told to remember, both what God has done and what those who came before have done. Remembrance is an important thing - for we remember the good AND the bad of the past. It is not just the history of our nation that we need to remember, but also the our personal histories as well. All aspects of our history need to be addressed if we are truly to be healed. After all we do serve the God of the wound. Jesus is the God who took the pain of the world and transformed it instead of transmitting it. Jesus, naked and battered on the cross, is the one who said "Father forgive them for they know not what they do." The God of all creation does not throw the anger, fear, and hatred of the world back at the world, but instead transforms it by His love. Even more than that, he calls us to follow in his way. As we learn by following in His way we become able to transform the pain and brokeness of our own lives into love and compassion for all of God's creation.

Penn Jillette

2008-12-19T18:10:00.000-08:00

My favorite magician / illusionists / pain in the butt recalls a recent interaction with someone who was telling him about Jesus. (HT: Bob Hyatt)

A Couple of Weeks With Britekite

2008-11-20T14:19:00.000-08:00

OK, it's been a couple of weeks playing with Brightkite. I thinks its a pretty cool and app and from what I can tell it seems to have a strong devo group working on it. If social-networking is in it infancy, then location-based social-network is still in the zygotic stage. Loopt seems to have made big inroads with the iPhone crowd, that they are a selling point in the Apple's new commericials shows which basket they are putting their eggs. Back to Brightkite: a cool app and lots of potential. I like the idea of being able to see not only who is near me at any given time, but also what is happening around me, events and other stuff. The challenge that I see with BK, like all such apps, is the user base. The user base with all such apps will always have resistence from "Digital Immigrants" but will grow exponentially with "digital natives". Right now, BK simply doesn't have a great user base here is Los Angeles. Perahps it will grow, and I'll continue to work with it for a while, but right now I'm not getting too much out of it. In fact, the only comments I've gotten so far is from by Facebook community asking "Dude why are you always telling us where you are?!?!?" For the mean time, I'll take updates off from Twitter and FB.
Note to BK develpment team: keep it up and get the G1 port completed!

BrightKite

2008-11-12T12:15:00.000-08:00

I've been playing with the website for a week or so now. I'll write a full review next week. They've ported it the iPhone with plans to port to Android (G1) soon. It has a lot of potential, but like all social networking sites it all depends on the # of users to be useful.

Brightkite for the iPhone from Brightkite on Vimeo.

Google's New Phone

2008-10-22T17:26:00.000-07:00

T-Mobile G1 Android Walkthrough from Gizmodo on Vimeo.I'm thinking about making the switch.

The 'Stache is Where it at!

2008-10-16T13:08:00.000-07:00

Enjoy the next two minutes.

Wicked Mustaches from kevin ely on Vimeo.

(ht: Tony Steward)

Spam, Bac'n, and email Oh My!

2008-09-27T10:51:00.000-07:00

We've all started to get it. Now it has a name. Every day I get a facebook or myspace friend request. Linkedin does it too. These are the notification that you get that you want to read, but not any time soon. They are call Bac'n. When they came once in while, it was not problem, just like a piece of real bacon. Once in a while is not bad, but 4-5 slices a day will soon clog your arteries. The same is true for Bac'n on line. Looks like its time to start another email filter. Here's a related story.

Billy Graham at TED

2008-07-26T19:44:00.000-07:00

I watched this today. It was Billy Graham speaking at TED in 1998. All I can say is that I love Billy Graham. Now I must say that I am not found, nor have I ever been, of the giant-event-driven concept of evangelism. It's never been my thing, even though my kids participated in the last Billy Graham Crusade at the Rose Bowl a few years ago.

What I loved about this video was the way in which this elder statesman can enter into a realm that he has very little contact with and talk to a potentially hostile crowd just like he was talking with them over tea sitting on his porch in North Carolina. Simply amazing the way he is able to adapt and speak the gospel in so many places.

Wedneday afternoon diversion

2008-07-16T13:10:00.000-07:00

Here is a fun time-waster!
This one is my favorite. Look at the dot in the center and move your head forward and back.`

I'm In Geek Heaven!

2008-07-15T13:08:00.000-07:00

My friend Shawna just sent this to me. There is going to be a nationwide one-day re-release of the 1983 classic movie War Games. I can't begin to tell you how excited this makes me. I was in high school when this came, it was the beginning of the personal computer revolution and Apple still had the lead. I must have seen this movie a dozen times when it first came out. I used to have much of the dialog memorized (I've forgotten most of it by now). I love this moved. I knew a lot of guys who where like the two main geeks in the movie and all of my geek friends lusted after and Imsai computer. But I digress. War Games came out during the height of the Cold War and scared the carp out of a lot of us: it might be that our own wost enemy was us (thanks Pogo). But that is not what I loved about the movie. Sure it is a bit cheesey, but the "geek-kid beats the government system by calling the jaded old-guy to action" was a powerful message to my adolescent mind...and still is today. So, if you have a chance go and see this movie (and try not to laugh too hard at me for loving it!).

Let's play Global Thermonuclear War.
Wouldn't you like a nice game of chess?

Another Church Attacked!

2008-07-11T15:28:00.001-07:00

Another church in Sri Lanka has been attacked by a mob led by Buddhist monks. Pray for the safety and strength of the churches in Sri Lanka. This is not the first time. There has been an on going and systematic persecution of church in Sri Lanka for many years. More pictures are available here.
This post is not done to inflame anger against anyone, but rather is a call to prayer and a fuller living of the Gospel where ever we find ourselves.

New Member on the Blogroll

2008-07-11T09:46:00.000-07:00

I've added a new member to my Blogroll. His name is Pete Wilson (no not the former Governor of California!).I've been reading his blog on an off for a while. I first came across it because he posts regularly at Ragamuffinsoul for Creative Chaos. Make sure to check out his blog! It's very stimulating, plus Pete is now the unofficial pastor to Poison!

Creative Chaos 15

2008-06-19T13:25:00.000-07:00

Here's my entry for this week of Creative Chaos. It is a flyer I put together for our Motown Worship night. We are taking a bunch of old Motown songs, redoing them ever so slightly, and inviting our community in to hear and have a great time.

Time for a Good Laugh

2008-06-06T09:00:00.000-07:00

OK, this is worth it for a good laugh.

Thanks Los!

Common Craft on Social Media

2008-06-05T12:55:00.000-07:00

Social Media in Plain English from leelefever on Vimeo. This new video from Common Craft is a must see. Many of you have been asking about Twitter and other social networking tools. This video is worth watching to get the idea. (HT: BA).

Creative Chaos 14

2008-06-05T10:46:00.001-07:00

Here is my entry for this week's Creative Chaos over at Ragamuffinsoul.com
The first Sunday of each June we call Celebration Sunday. It is a time of reflecting back on and celebrating what God has done in the life of our church: physical and relational healing, salvation, marriages, births, and more. It is also the anniversary of our senior pastor and his wife coming to the church, 24 years this year! A collage artist in our congregation, Kari Bower, creates a collage for this event each year. This year I shot a time lapse video of Kari making the collage.

Creative Chaos

2008-05-29T10:00:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy month around here, so I haven't had much time to participate in Creative Chaos at Ragamuffinsoul for a while. But, here is the video we showed for Mothers Day. We posted these online so that our dads could have them printed out and framed for the moms.

The Internet and the Computers

2008-05-08T02:24:00.001-07:00

The other day I was working on my computer and my internet connection went down. Periodically I have to reset my DSL modem. I don't know if my provider has a time restriction or something, but this happens, only this time it took a while to reconnect. What I found was that my computer was pretty useless. Sure, I could still defrag my hard drive or play solitare, but without my connection to the internet there wasn't a lot I could do with my computer. This is due, in part, to the fact that I blog, I Twitter, I'm on Facebook, and more, not to mention email, online videos, etc. etc. etc. Being disconnected from the internet was an unsettling experience.

In John chapter 15 Jesus gives part of this farewell address to his disciples. Jesus is the master story teller. He consistently framed the truths of God in a fashion that his listeners would understand. He consistently contextualized the message of God for his hearers. That is what he did with the parables. That is what he did with his scripture quotations. That is what he did when he spoke personally to various people. When we spoke to the first disciples he told them he would make them fishers of men, but he did not say that to everyone. He did not tell Zacheous the tax collector that he was going to make him a collector of men. Instead, Jesus' message to him was that he needed to stay with Zacheous and eat at his house.

Hence, my thinking about computers, the internet, and John 15. In this chapter Jesus tells his disciples (his closest friends) that if they(the branches) are not connected to him (the vine) they cannot bear fruit(do anything eternal). In our context it would be safe to say that if we(computers) are connected to Jesus(the internet) then we cannot doing anything beyond the walls of the room we are in. Jesus goes on to say that if we abide in him, stay connected, then we he will abide in us. Furthermore if we are connected to him we are connected to each other. I've really come to love Twitter and other social networking sites. Through Twitter, blogging, and more I have made friends, learned, and grown in ways that I never could have if I was not connected to the internet. Being connected to the internet has allowed me to be connected to others and to learn from them, build friendships with them, be challenged and encouraged by them. The same is true as I have been connected to Jesus. In being connected with Jesus I am also connected with others who are connected to him and that has made all the difference in my life.
I don't want to push this metaphor too far or it will break down. My point here is that being a follower a Jesus, a Christian, member of a church, or whatever descriptor you would like to use, opens us up to a reality greater than we could ever imagine. Being connected to Jesus means, well, being connected to Jesus. But it means more than that. It also means being connected to each other.

Peanut Butter Evangelist

2008-04-29T19:27:00.000-07:00

My friend Adam Hartel is a missionary in Norway. Apparently he has been spreading (pun intended) the good news of PB&J sandwiches along with the gospel!

Been Living Under a Rock?

2008-04-25T10:16:00.000-07:00

Just in case you have been, there is a great little service called tinyurl.com. It's great if you want to IM or send someone a link that is way too long to type or might get cut up by your email program. Just go to tinyurl.com and paste in the long url and you'll get a tiny one back in return. I've even added a converter on my page here.

Creative Chaos

2008-04-14T15:47:00.000-07:00

My friend (via blogging) Carlos Whittaker runs a weekly post called Creative Chaos. I thought I'd jump in.
"Where do you find your greatest creative outlet takes place?" was the question this week. For me I find that I need to get away from the hustle of LA life every now and then. One of the places where I go to re-create is at a Benedictine Monastery Called St. Andrew's Abby in Valyermo, CA. I find that getting away and spending a couple of days living the monastic life re-orients me and allows creativity to flow more freely. I find that my writing and my thinking are much more fluid and intense when I've been out in the desert with the brothers.

Lent Check In

2008-03-17T15:26:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted for a while on Lent, but that is not because it has been uneventful. I haven't participated in Lent for quite some time, but felt that this year I needed to. Giving up sugar has not been an easy task, but there is more to it. I have a morning routine which includes getting the kids ready for school, making lunches, and making a pot of coffee, usually Peet's Major D. Having sugarless coffee each morning has been a daily reminder to pray and to open myself to God's presence. I've been praying a lot more during Lent and I've had some seriously challenging time spiritually and relationally. It's not surprising. When we enter into what God calls us to, there is often a struggle, think about Abraham. These are the times that require something different from us. Not more determination, but a greater giving of ourselves to God's working in our lives. Following after Jesus is not an easy thing (yes I know all about Matthew 11:30). It's not supposed to be. But in the end there becomes the possibility for transformation, becoming less entangled in sin. That is where my struggles have been. I've become so much more aware of my sin and how far away I am from what God has created me to be. And that is the point of Lent: to allow God to reveal to us the severity of sin so that we can allow him to transform us and deliver us from the death that is sin to the eternal life that is found in embracing the presence of God with us daily.

Husbands: Want more sex? Do more chores!

2008-03-06T11:21:00.000-08:00

The following is from an AP story. You can read the whole thing here.

NEW YORK - American men still don't pull their weight when it comes to housework and child care, but collectively they're not the slackers they used to be. The average dad has gradually been getting better about picking himself up off the sofa and pitching in, according to a new report in which a psychologist suggests the payoff for doing more chores could be more sex.

Free Coffee!

2008-03-06T10:20:00.001-08:00

This coming Monday, 3/10, get to Peet's Coffee and get a free 1/2 pound. If you're a decaf person, Peet's is now offering decaf Major Dickason, their signature blend.

Doug Pagitt and Preaching

2008-02-21T08:58:00.001-08:00

I just commented at my friend Tim's blog on his review of Preaching Reimagined.

ER, Life, and Atonement

2008-02-20T08:42:00.001-08:00

I just jumped into a discussion over at Knightopia. It's about a recent episode of ER where one of the patients struggles with the meaning of forgiveness, works, and grace. It looks like it might turn out to be an interesting one. You can see NBC's 2 minute replay here. I hope the full episode will be online sometime.

Star Wars Pretender

2008-02-19T14:49:00.000-08:00

My friend Anthony is in this video over at You Tube. He's the guy in the Darth Vader suit.

NEw Rob Bell Video

2008-02-19T10:28:00.000-08:00

Rob Bell has a new Nooma video (HT:Emergent Village). It's rather well done. I've not seen too many of the Nooma videos, but I sure do like this one. It us currently available on Facebook for the next couple of days.
As a former hospital chaplain, I can say that he has hit this one on the head. I've had these conversations with many families. It is all too easy to get into platitudes, but to enter into the suffering and pain of the world as Jesus did is our calling.

Maybe it's lust, maybe it's more

2008-02-15T08:14:00.000-08:00

Maybe I'm just jones'n for a new piece of tech, but the more I read about the iPhone the more I really want one. I've been a Treo guy for years. I love the crude nature of the Palm OS, but the truth is that it's no longer working for me. As with everyone else, the longer I've had a mobile phone the more I seem to need it to do. As my life has become more mobile, I need a phone that can do more. The trouble: the price. I've never spent much for a phone. Even my current Treo 680 only cost me $75 after rebates (still waiting for that rebate card Costco!). Plus, I always been a PC guy. Sure I ruled on the early

Apple II and II+, but that was Jr. High School. (Heck I even played with a LISA for a while.) I've alway been a bit of a Mac hater because I think that Stephen Jobs is a arrogant SOB, but he does have the chops to back up what he says. He has earned my respect over the years, so the idea of buy in the Apple lifestyle doesn't make me cringe like it used to. I have to see. I don't have $400 burning a whole in pocket at the moment, but maybe soon...

Clutter Butt

2008-02-15T07:58:00.000-08:00

The short answer: Yes! Organization is a discipline that I am sorely lacking in. I go through times of letting everything find its own place on the desk to the opposite extreme of wanting my desk to be completely cleaned off. Lent is one of those times for me. It is a time of cleaning of things out of my life that are only clutter, that add nothing positive to my life. May this season of Lent be more than a furry of cleaning followed by a time of entropy!

Yosemite Bound!

2008-02-15T07:50:00.000-08:00

Well, it happened again. Today is the opening day for making reservations at Yosemite National Park for the summer months. And, as usual I was unable to secure a camping site! AND as usual my wife got right in. I don't know how it works, but she did it! Now, we only have to have 4 more months of hearing the kids daily ask "Are we going to Yosemite this week?" Oh, the joy.

Venus and Mars and St. Valentine

2008-02-14T11:18:00.000-08:00

Just heard part of an interview of John Gray, author of the famous Women are from Venus, Men are from Mars book. He has a new one out in which he talks about the differences and complementarity nature of the sexes. One of his main points is that oxitosin, the hormone that signals a woman to give birth and starts her contractions, is a stress reducer in regular circumstances. This hormone is also produced in women through romance. It seems that romance and a romantic partner create in a woman the hormone that reduces stress. Similarly, in a man when he does physical activity, including having sex his body produces testosterone which reduces stress in men. So, all you husbands out there, wine and dine your wife tonight and you reduce the stress for both of you.

Made To Stick

2008-02-13T11:29:00.001-08:00

Just picked my copy. Very stimulating. I will be posting on it soon.
So many books, so little time.

Lent: Day 6

2008-02-11T12:03:00.000-08:00

I spent the afternoon with my oldest son yesterday. My wife and two young children are out of town. So, after church we had the day of the boys. We finished painting his bedroom, UCLA blue and gold, went to the batting cages, and then saw a movie. It was great pouring time into him. Now that he is 10 he is becoming more of young man all the time. I had lots that I wanted to do, but this day was for him. He loved it and so did I. It brought back a lot of good memories of my dad and I hope built some for him.

During Lent we are reminded that our lives are not simply about ourselves. While few of us would state it that crassly, the truth is that many of us live that way. We see our own desires at paramount and those of others, including our families, as being less important. I am often guilty of this. When the bible says that we are trust in the Lord and He will give us the desires of our heart, the subtext is that when we follow after Jesus our desires begin to change. As we give of ourselves to others our desire for personal satisfaction changes. It is not that we don't desire satisfaction any longer, but rather that how that personal satisfaction is accomplished changes. When we begin to take pleasure in the joy of others we become transformed and become more like God.

Jesus said two things that are often not connected: He said that he only did what he heard God telling him to do and he said that no greater love has a man than he lay down his life for his friends. The connecting point here is that Jesus calls us to live like him: to listen to and obey God AND to give of ourselves to a broken and hurting world that disparately needs the good news of Jesus.

Lent: Day 3

2008-02-08T08:02:00.000-08:00

The force of habit is a strong thing. This morning my family was going through our normal routine: get up, get the kids up and dressed for school (socks and shoes too?), make sure everyone eats something (but I'm not hungry), get the lunches made (daddy, I don't like that kind of sandwich), get everyone out the door on time for school. Everything is going normally and I make a pot of coffee (Peet's Major D). Sit down at the computer to check some email. Wow this coffee tastes really good! Then it hits me: out of shear habit I put sugar in my coffee. Oops! A short internal wrestling match later I decide to pour out that sweet nectar of the gods and get another cup sans the sugar. Not as sweet, but this is Peet's so it's still pretty tasty.

It is a gift God gives us in traditions like Lent. They help us to get off autopilot and to become more aware of the moment. They call us to wake up. Jesus kept calling followers to leave behind (repent) their normalized lives that made sense for a life that did not, but that was true living. There are many things in our lives that are not bad or evil or anything negative in and of themselves. Rather, they are clutter and distraction. They demand time of us and lull us into a false sense of peace and security. During this season of Lent I believe that Jesus is calling us to go deeper in being aware of each moment we have with Him and that He is truly the same yesterday, today and forever (ht: to my Foursquare peeps!).

Lent: Day 1

2008-02-06T14:55:00.000-08:00

Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. Lent is traditionally a time of fasting and seeking after God in preparation for the great celebration that is Easter. It is a challenging time. Which sets up this post:
Yesterday, not ten minutes after my initial post the following took place:

Phone rings: This John from Citibank, I'm calling because your payment is 5 days over due on your new credit card.
Me: What!?!? (In my mind - I thought we canceled that one because we got a better deal on the other one!) OK, I'll send the payment in today.
To myself: I can't believe it.. @#$#^$$ I am sure I canceled it. OK, where is the info for this card so I can pay it off an cancel it. (Can't find any paper work on it. Oh great!)
30 minutes of me digging through files, looking through piles of paper on my desk until I realize that I applied for this one online and that it is setup for online statements. (More @##$@% to myself because I don't know what the account number is.)
10 minutes later I find the card in my dresser drawer.
OK, now I have the account number, what is the password for the website.
5 minutes of futility in trying to guess what the password is until I click on "Forgot Password?"
Jump through the security hoops so that I can log in and make a payment.
A bit more @#%&^## to myself.
Then I remember, Oh yeah this is Lent. A time where I am supposed to put aside my own desires for control and find God in everything I do.
Many more minutes of confessing and asking God's help and forgiveness.

How often is it that I try to do something for God or to grow in devotion to the One who loves me in spite of myself and it turns out this way!

If this is the beginning of my Lent experience I'd better strap myself in...it's going to be a bumpy road!

40 Days of Lent

2008-02-05T08:39:00.000-08:00

I've decided to keep Lent this year. I haven't done it for quite some time, so this should be an interesting journey. I first started celebrating Lent when I was in seminary. My Greek professor was an Orthodox Priest and had a great influence on my spirituality.

The fasting portion of Lent is done to remind the follower of Jesus of his sacrifice. The minor inconveniences that that we endure during this season are daily reminders to pray that the Kingdom of God will come in its fullness and that we are to be a part of living it out where ever we are. Traditionally the money that was not used towards the food was to be given to the poor. The fasting of Lent reminds us that our lives are not simply about our own desires, but rather that we are to give of ourselves as Jesus did: denying our own desires that God's desires for the world would be done through us.

I won't be keeping the Orthodox sun up to sun down fasting. Instead I am going to do without sugar. There is nothing spiritual about going without something, as if sugar where somehow spiritually corrupt. My purpose in doing this is that sugar is in so many of the things I eat and by going without I am constantly reminded throughout my day of season of Lent. I'll be blogging daily over the next forty days as Easter approaches. Leave your comments here on your thoughts of Lent.

Today is "Fat Tuesday" so-called because during the traditional celebration of Lent no fat (read butter, Crisco, etc.) was to be used. Fat Tuesday was the day when all of the fat in the house was to be consumed so as not to waste it. So, for me today will be sugar Tuesday. I will not be taking on some form of Mardi Gras like consuming of sugar, but today will be the last day of consuming sugar until Easter. Oh baby, this ain't gonna be easy!

Ryan Bolger Interview

2007-04-20T21:24:00.000-07:00

There is a nice video of Ryan Bolger on the Allelon website.

Twitter

2007-04-19T17:39:00.000-07:00

follow petec999 at http://twitter.com

Swimming in Technology

2007-04-19T17:17:00.000-07:00

I've been ruminating since the shootings at Virginia Tech about technology. For my parents' generation technology is a tool, especially electronic technology. For my grandparents this was even greater. Talking on the phone with my wife's grandmother (when she was still alive) was always a conversation oddity. She was around when all phone calls were charged by the minute and long distance calls were very expensive. So, she would only talk on the phone in short conversations and then hang up. For me (40 years old) technology is both a tool and a life shaping reality. I recently looked at my wireless phone (Treo 650) and thought that I could keep it for the next 10 years as it does everything that I need it to right now. At the same time I realize that having a wireless phone has helped to shape the way that I live and that changes in that technology will continue to do so. My 9 year-old son is very fond of gadgets, phones especially. Back to the shootings: I read that within 24 hours of the shootings that there were over 17,000 posts on facebook by students from VT. facebook has become the way in which the students at VT and around the country are processing their grief over the experience. The students of today are swimming in technology. It is simply the reality in which they exist.

I recently created a twitter account. If you don't know about twitter, it is a new form of a social networking site where you can post updates to what you are doing at any time during the day. It is a way to keep intimately connected to the activities of others and to share your own. I don't think that twitter will be a life-shaping experience for me like it will for many others: the idea of wanting to know the minute by minutes activities of friends is a bit exhausting, but for those who grow up with the technology at their finger tips it will be a life shaping reality.

How will this affect community? How will this affect relationships? How will this affected the church? Only time will tell, but it is worth knowing about and being connected to.

I listened to a rage by Doug Pagitt today that connected to this. He was going off about how a pastor that he read an article about did not have any publicly listed email address. He conclusion was to point out the irony that during the Easter week that Jesus was accessible, even to his enemies, and that many of us that are 40 over try to keep our distance from others. Perhaps those 20 and younger will understand that aspect of following Jesus in a way that many of us never will.

Obligatory Post

2007-04-19T15:18:00.000-07:00

OK, here is my obligatory announcement that I am back to blogging. Yes, like so many other people I started this thing with lots of energy and grand ideas and then got busy with life. Well, that's no good. I'm back baby. I will be blogging regularly and I am going to expand the focus. I am interested in more than church stuff.

Solomon's Porch Video

2007-02-10T07:31:00.001-08:00

Here is a neat little video about Solomon's Porch in Minneapolis. Their pastor, Doug Pagitt will be teaching a class with Ryan Bolger on the emerging church at Fuller next month. I am going to attend the class as much as I can.

Ancient Prayers

2007-01-08T09:36:00.000-08:00

Our church has a tradition of writing Letters to Jesus on the first Sunday of January every year. I don't know how long we've been doing this, but it has been a long time. They are actually written prayers. We take time out during our gathering to be still and know and to set our eyes on Jesus the author and perfecter...We do this to quiet our minds and out bodies and listen to the Lord. For first timers it can seem a bit forced, but eventually the idea sinks in. Writing out prayers is an ancient tradition. It is a spiritual discipline that forces us to slow down, shut out the noises, and be still before the Lord. Written prayers take personal discipline and practice. Many of us were taught that prayer was simply a conversation with Jesus, and while that is true, it is not the whole story. Doug Pagitt's book Body Prayer talks about using our whole body as the prayer, not just words. He was interviewed on the radio recently about this. When I was in seminary I took notes on my laptop. I almost never remembered what I wrote until I reviewed the notes. Then my laptop crashed and I was forced back into the analog world. I found that I was able to remember a greater amount of the notes that I took by hand without having to review them! There must be some sort of mechanism between our hands and out brains that makes this possible. I shared with with our congregation and many seemed to connect with it. As we start out this new year, perhaps this is a spiritual disciple worth living out!

Tag, You're It

2007-01-08T08:57:00.000-08:00

I've been tagged by Billy Calderwood. I'll list out my five things in a bit, but I started thinking about this tag thing. I mean it does seem rather 7 Degrees oriented. I wonder how long it will take to come back around. Anyhow, it appears there has been a tagging war in my neighborhood between Burbank and Glendale gangs. Tagging is always about getting your name out there and claiming a certain space. The gang members are looking to expand their influence, likely over who gets to sell drugs in a certain area. It is a bit of a pissing contest. To this point it has not turned violent and hopefully never will. I wonder how many of us, in the workplace or in the church, enter into some form of turf war/pissing contest in order to feel like we are in control of something. It is difficult when Jesus talks about how the first will be last and all of that. When ever I've been to a pastors' conference the opening line seems to be "So, how big is your church? What kinds of great programs do you have?" I usually avoid this like the plague, but I am not always successful. If Jesus was really telling the truth about he economics of the Kingdom, then what do we do with all of the bravado and false competition?

OK, here are my five things (I am sure that the above meanderings revealed a few things too)
1) My favorite movie is War Games (I know some of the original phreaks of the 70's and 80s)
2) I was arrested in Jr. High for shooting squirrels with my BB gun.
3) I'm turning 40 this year and have only been out of the country twice: both times to New Zealand!
4) I never watched a pro basketball games from start to finish until after I was married. My wife is a jock and former PE teacher!

5) I really liked A Prayer for Owen Meaning, but hated Simon Birch.

I now tag:
Tim Harwick
David K
Carrie G

Have Fun Y'all

Fun at the Rose Parade

2007-01-02T09:24:00.000-08:00

I had a great time with my family at the Rose Parade yesterday and captured a couple of vids of the Star Wars floats.

Here is the first one:

Here is the second one:

Emerging Church Documentary

2006-12-18T19:20:00.000-08:00

I came across this today on youtube. Some interesting sound bites. It is a promo for a documentary on the emerging church. He interviews a number of the big hitters. It is always worth noting when documentaries start to appear...it often marks the beginning of the end. Hopefully not in this case.

Missional Preaching

2006-12-08T08:37:00.000-08:00

Jason Clark had a post 5 Tips for Preaching & Teaching in The Emerging Church. His 5th point was

5. Be Sacramental: Lead people into interaction, conversation, participation, and connection to God, each other, and the world, not just your own ideas.

What caught my eye was the idea of being sacramental. The Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches were formed in primarily illiterate cultures. This affect the creation of liturgy in that most of the people did not have the ability or luxury to read or study the scriptures. This, in part, led to the standardizing of the liturgies. The protestant churches in America reacted against this seeing it as a way in which the church and state sought to control the populus. It was easy to throw out the baby with the bathwater in that context because the people were more literate and certainly knew the scriptures.
I wonder if in our missional contexts that there again a need for such a liturgical/sacramental aspect of our churches. Since many of those coming to ec's have less and less of a knowledge of the bible and its content there is a greater need to provide divergent streams for people to encounter and understand the gospel. Liturgical/sacramental elements help to provide these multiple streams. For those who are more visual in their approach to the world, icons become encounters with the gospel. For those who are more kinesthetic elements of movement help them internalize the experience of worship. For the auditory the hearing of the word, singing of songs in worship, recitation of liturgy does the same.

Unintended Consequences

2006-12-01T11:18:00.000-08:00

I wear many hats: assistant pastor, adjunct professor, property manager, husband, father, etc, etc, etc. I have a hard time multi-tasking. I do it well for a while, but then my life gets too busy and complicated and it all seems to fall apart. Eventually I am able to pick up the pieces and take care of my core priorities. One of the tools that I use to keep all of this in motion is my cell phone. I've been an early adopter in many kinds of technology, but the cell phone has been one that I put off for a long time. I am coming up on the end of my first 2-year contract. One thing that has become apparent to me is the way that the convenience of being able to call anyone, from anywhere, at any time has changed the nature of the way that I related with others, especially on the phone. I've gotten into the habit of having short quippy conversations with people on the phone. They tend to be very practical. After one recent call I realized that I had called a friend, pumped him for the information that I needed and then hung up! I felt horrible afterwards and have made a commitment to no longer use my phone in that manner, but rather to connect with others and build them up. Sure, I will always need my cell phone to get information, but if that becomes the primary function of my call, then who will want to answer when they see me on Caller ID?

Food and Friendship

2006-11-20T08:22:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving is coming! It's my favorite holiday of the year. Every year we have a gaggle of people come to our home for Thanksgiving dinner and then even more show up for dessert. There are few things that I enjoy more in life than having a house filled with friends and good food. There is something indescribable that happens when we sit around the table and share food. There is an ancient middle eastern tradition that when a person is invited to another's home for dinner the first thing that is served is sweets. (I must be middle eastern at heart because I always want dessert before dinner:-) The subtext to this action is that if we share in sweet food then we will share in sweet conversation. I like this idea. In the bible so much seems to happen around food. It almost begins and ends with it. YHWH's command to Adam and Eve was that they could eat of anything in the garden except the one tree. It was improper eating that lead to the fall. In God's ability to redeem all things he takes that which lead to the fall and redeemed it as that around which the inauguration of heaven revolves around: the marriage feast of the lamb.
In Jesus' time table fellowship had been corrupted, it was a place of dividing people by class. Whether it be the clean/unclean divide: the elite v. sinners or the various classes in Israel's society or the Jew/Gentile divide table fellowship became a place of division. Jesus' approach was not to do away with it or even speak against, but rather he redeemed it through how he practiced it. He ate with everyone, the high and the lowly. In doing such a simple thing he challenged a core aspect of Israel's society. In this simple act he embodied the Kingdom. For it was Jesus who said that the first shall be the last and that the one who wants to be the leader must be the servant of all.
The unfortunate truth today is that Thanksgiving can be a time where the weakness of families come to the fore. Families that are divided throughout the year due to unresolved conflicts come together on Thanksgiving and then the fireworks start to fly. Instead of being a time of unifying families, Thanksgiving can be a time of reaffirming the divisions that lay within.
As we look forward to Thursday and the rest of the holiday season (yes, I am aware that even Walmart is again calling it the Christmas season) let us see how it is that we can redeem the act of these gatherings around food by the way that we practice them.

Community in Los Angeles

2006-11-14T18:04:00.000-08:00

In their book, Emerging Churches, Eddie Gibbs and Ryan Bolger outline 9 factors that are evident in the lives of emerging churches that they studied through America and the UK. They point out three core values/practices of emerging churches. The other 6 factors are an outgrowth of these three core values. The three core values are 1) Identifying with the life of Jesus 2) Communual Living and 3) removing the secular/sacred divide. I've been thinking about how this works in Los Angeles, where I live. LA is a highly transitory area and is highly spreadout. LA is up to 50 miles long at its longest point. It is difficult to tell when you enter or leave the city proper, unlike midwest or east coast cities. If Gibbs and Bolger are correct in their analysis of the three core values, and I believe they are, then I wonder how this will work itself out in LA. The transitory nature of LA coupled with the vast sprawl that we live in make the communal lifestyle that is described by many of the EC's seems impossible or at least very unlikely. I asked Ryan Bolger about this today (I am taking a class with him right now) and he said that there were very few EC's in LA, partly because of this. There is Tribe LA, as he pointed out, but they are in a more localized community in LA. I do believe that the pomo's do value community, but the kind of community manefested in EC's requires something that does not often occur in LA: people being involved in the communities where they actually live. The church I attend, while a medium sized church, draws people from as far west as Encino to as far east as Pomona, a distance of over 50 miles! This is not uncommon in LA where many people communute many miles to mega churches. When I've talked with friends, they say that the value of community is high, but the ability to make it happen is very limited. Instead, people tend to find community in their work or gym or other local activities. If the church is going to have an affect in local communities, then participants in those communites of faith must start to engage their immediate neighborhoods.

Who, then, can be saved?

2006-11-13T11:21:00.000-08:00

This was the question that the disciples asked Jesus when the person that they thought was already being blessed by God (the rich young man) turned away from Jesus' call. Jesus turned their paradigm of salvation upside down. It was not enough to say that since the man was being materially blessed that he was therefor righteous and therefor being blessed by God. A friend recently told me that many years ago Winkie Pratney made the comment that he foresaw a day when people would have to be educated before they could be saved. I sharply disagreed with this assessment. I am more in line with the thinking of Donald McGavran that a person should not have to leave their culture in order to become a follow of Jesus, i.e. get saved.
In the emerging church conversation the question of "What is the good news" is talked about a lot. The context often revolves around the question of the uniqueness of each church to live out the mission of God in the context in which they find themselves. This is a bit of a shock to evangelicalism as the concept of salvation is atonement based. Salvation, primarily, means forgiveness of sins and eternal life in heaven. But, when we look at the context of Jesus the idea of salvation had more to do with deliverance from political oppression, from the demonic realm, and of sickness and disease. They already had a means to achieve forgiveness of sins and there debate as to the existence of life after death. Thus, the EC question is a valid one and one that each community of faith must wrestle with. How much do we thrust the atonement to the forefront of proclaiming the good news? If we are living in an increasingly post-Christendom world, then the concept of being sinners and needed salvation from our sin nature would first have to be taught before a person could be saved. But, is that was salvation really is? Yes, Jesus did forgive sins and ultimately his death provided means by which sin was forgiven once and for all, but Jesus' call was not "Come and get your sins forgiven" instead it was "Come and follow me". This begs the question about the meaning of "repent" and if we are to discuss it we must start to peel away our cultural understanding of that word (more on that another time). For this post I'll simply say that when Jesus told people to repent he was calling them to a complete change in life and what they thought it meant to live as the people of God. Consequently we don't see Jesus giving the 1st century version of an altar call for people to confess their sins. He was calling them to follow him and thus to live the true meaning of the Kingdom of God.
Who can be saved? When is a person saved? These are questions that we must understand in our own setting and let our conclusions shape our communities of faith and how we live out the meaning of the Kingdom in our unique contexts.

The False Dichotomy of Religion vs. Relationship

2006-11-10T08:21:00.000-08:00

I recently came across a church website that had two interesting items in their forums section. One as a thread that the leaders had posted entitled “Relationship vs. Religion” which is the classic Evangelical saw denouncing first the Pharisees and then anyone who has an over structured church life. I understand the point that Jesus came to restore humanity’s relationship God and that he often railed against the religious leaders of his day because they honored traditional religious practice over God’s desire. On the other hand, this misses the point of having a body. It seems to state that what we do and how we live are not as important as the fact that we are in relationship with God, presumably through things that we do…

The second item in the forum was a post about a series the church is doing on spiritual disciples. Now, if Christianity is about relationship and not religion and the spiritual disciples (prayer, meditation, solitude, simplicity, fasting, worship, service, etc.) are actions and practices, then I see a conflict. Many of us X-ers and millennials are drawn to practices of the historical church as outline in the spiritual disciples. I have come to believe that, as Doug Pagitt aptly puts, “We have to live a certain way to live a certain way.” In other words we have to order and structure our lives around practices that make our relationship with God actual and not simply something that we feel. God gave the Israelites many practices that to our contemporary mind can seem illogical. When we look at the requirements for Yom Kippur (the annual Day of Atonement) it can seem quite daunting. What are we to make of this? The New Testament puts it this way: “And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.” (Col 3:17.) When God gave the Israelites the laws to live by he was telling them that everything that they do matters to him and is to be an act of worship. For us today, it is important in how we order our lives and what practices we live out. If we seek to live out the life of Jesus in our context we must begin to ask ourselves how we are structuring our lives.

I no longer call you slaves

2006-11-09T08:32:00.000-08:00

The concept of community is huge in the emerging church discussions. People are called to live in authentic relationships with one another. I believe that this is, in part, due to the way that Gen-Xers were devastated by divorce and how so many of us were latch-key kids. There is certain a basic desire of the human heart to have community, it is part of the imago dei, but in our generation this desire is heightened. We see Jesus building a community of twelve disciples with a special bond with three of them and we desire the same. I wonder if the desire that we have goes beyond community and the generic use of "relationship" and is really pointing to friendship. As Jesus was preparing his disciples for his eventual death he made many bold statements that were out of step with his culture (John 15). One of them is that he change the nature of the relationship between himself and his disciples from slaves/servants/disciples to friends. In a sense he calls them equals! What we are truly in need of are friends. I like what Doug Pagitt said recently on his podcast. He talked about how he doesn't need an accountability group to make sure he keeps his commitments, but rather needs friends with whom he can live out this life of Jesus. Billy Calderwood has a recent post concerning who a pastor confess to, which is a continuation of another post on the same subject. I think that the answer to that question for all us, pastors and non-pastors alike, is to have friendships. We don't need official church confessors, we need deep open friendships where others can see into our lives and speak prophetically. In a sense, authentic friendships form the basis for the exercise of the spiritual gifts, but that is a bit beyond the scope of this post.

Random Thoughts on a Post from Scot McKnight

2006-11-08T17:27:00.000-08:00

Scot McKnight had a simple post on a recent experience of a chapel talk he gave at John Brown University. A couple of comments stirred me:

"Every college has a history and a culture. JBU’s culture is undergoing change. "
Here he was referring to the challenges of entering into a Christian college's chapel service when the reality is that the students are mostly forced to be there. That coupled with the unique challenge of trying to bring a message that he developed outside of this matrix can leave one feeling uneasy. This will always be true, but is mitigated by if you know that it is the Father who has called you into this and to speak what you have been given.

"Christian colleges face one question all the time: How to be like the scribe who brings out both the old and the new for a culture that is always changing?"
- For the emerging movement I found this to be a stimulating statement. It give a biblical backing to the desire to both be connected to the ancient traditions and to be forging new ground! We must alway realize that we are connected to the historical church while at the same time we are seeking to faithfully follow Jesus in the present moment.

Thursday Reflection Week 2

2006-10-05T20:47:00.000-07:00

Another stimulating day looking at how Marxism has had a great effect on the understanding of culture. My understanding of Marx is very limited. I’ve read about him, but never his works. As I understand Marx he was still dealing with a pre-modern worldview that saw a limited amount of resources in the world. Thus, the masses would arise and overthrow their oppressors because they were not getting a fair share of the pie. He failed to see that resources, particularly wealth, were not limited in the fashion he felt. The masses did not rise against their so-called oppressors because the size of the pie continued to increase as did the amount of it they were receiving. Marx followed in a tradition as old as the world: whenever there is a large cultural shift some will rise up, bemoan the changes, and point to how the past was a better time.

This goes back to the children of Israel wandering the desert and complaining to Moses that while they were beaten, enslaved, and starved back in Egypt at least it was predictable. Ecclesiasties 7:10 reminds us that longing for the good old days does not come from a place of wisdom. Returning to the past is not only impossible, but foolish as we.

Tuesday Reflection Week 2

2006-10-04T23:12:00.000-07:00

I really enjoyed Tuesday's class. The small group time was fruitful. It was good to hear from others and start to build some community in the class. I do believe that I learn best through hearing stories. Dialoging with my group on Claiborne's book was intriguing. It is nice to be in conversation with others who are struggling with what it means to be a Christ follower in various context and with the challenges laid out by Clarborne. The introductory lectures raise a lot of questions for me as I have not studied sociology at all. It did seem heavy on the UK side, but perhaps that is where the discussions first got started. I am hopeful that the lectures will address the American setting as well. This discussion on how the concepts of high and low culture evolved was helpful to me. One aspect that stood out to me was that the fears that arose after the dawn of the industrial revolution see to occur any time there is a cultural shift. That is true of our day and the so-called culture wars. The idealism of the 50's "Father Knows Best" of the right and the ideals of 60's by the left fall in line with this. The right longs for their ideal of the 50's when they feel things were still idyllic in America. The current cultural upheaval that we are experiences has sent the right back to a time when they felt that America had reached an ideal. The fact of the matter is that the 50's were not an idyllic time at all. The ideal is only a fantasy. The same is true of the baby boomers' idealized view of the 60's. PBS is currently running a series called "The Decade that Shaped a Generation" dealing with the 60's. It seems that many continue to view themselves as 20-somethings long after they have left their 2nd decade of life. There is an idealization of the time when they felt that their whole was ahead of them. The baby boomers do this with the 60's. I wonder if the Gen X'ers will do this with the 80's. I've run into so many boomers who love to pull out their Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young CD's and sit back and let their eyes gloss over. They seem transported back to a time when they felt that their lives had meaning. I wonder if the X'ers will sit back in 20 years listening to Gun's-n-Roses lamenting the passing of the days when music was real. Dan Kimball recently had a blog entry about this wonder if there will ever be a band like the Clash again. This has been a long way of saying that the looking back towards an idealized life goes back at least as far as the Israelites wandering in the desert longing for the ideal times of being slaves in Egypt. They feel that they have no control over their lives and so they long for a time when their felt there was some regularity, predictability, and control; even if that meant returning to slavery.

Tuesday Reflection for Week 1

2006-09-27T08:46:00.000-07:00

Tuesday's class was very stimulating for me. Being somewhat new to the emergent conversation I am excited at engaging the material and other students in the class and see what is created. It's been 6 years since I graduated with my MDiv, so getting back into graduate work is going to be a bit of a challenge, but I am excited.

The questions that Newbingin raises concerning theologizing about western culture helped to put into words something that I've thought about quite a bit over the years. As my wife and I seek to share the good news of Jesus with our neighbors we have been asking these kinds questions. We are asking what the good news is to our neighbors in a post-christendom, postmodern setting. I've always felt disconnected with the traditional modes of evangelism, e.g. 4 spiritual laws. To reverse the quote from Ryan's book, I've felt like I was asking people to a gay bar when I invited people to church. But when the question of exegeting the culture and the lives of those whom I am in realtionship with who do not yet know Jesus I see the issue of evangelism in an entirely different light, one filled with hope.