I went downtown toward the end of last week to pick up tickets for our family to catch the Architecture in Helsinki show at the House of Blues in November. Our four year old daughter is a big fan — lately, she has been specifically requesting their new single, Heart It Races, during our car rides. Needless to say, we’re really looking forward to this show — especially after seeing their joyous Take Away Show performance below:
While I was at the box office, I realized that it would only be a quick jaunt to Horton Plaza to pick up a beloved fried — not baked — apple pie at the McDonald’s there. I was practically skipping as I made my way up the escalators in anticipation. But instead of being rewarded with this rare delicacy, I was greeted rudely by this sign:
I briefly considered taking their advice and visiting the food court for other dining options, but I knew that despite their wide international variety, any other dessert product would be a cheap substitute. Guess it’s back to the old fried apple pie locator for now.
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As long as I’m on this Take Away Show kick, check out these clips of Francois Virot. I hadn’t heard his work before this, but I must say the intimacy and immediacy of his performance has made a fan out of me.
These are dark days for fans of Michigan sports. It is bad enough that the Tiges have been tanking it lately — did they really have the best record in baseball at some point during this season? Or is that just my mind creating a defense mechanism against all of my dashed hopes?
But the true pain emanates from the ashes of what was once known as “The Big House,” the home of University of Michigan football. Last Saturday, the Wolverines — who were supposed to contend for a national title — suffered a stunning defeat at the hands of I-AA team Appalachian State. The winningest team in college football history suffered a loss like no other. Usually the Maize & Blue wait until the end of the season to crush my gridiron dreams, but I guess they decided to get an early start this year.
I think I’ll stick with Wii Sports this season. Any tips on how to get all ten homeruns in the homerun derby?I’m stuck at nine. I finally hit ten homeruns out of ten pitches. But now the Wolverines have been utterly crushed by a bunch of Ducks.
Jamie Arpin-Ricci recently wrote a great piece called, “Being Brian McLaren.” No, it’s not an emerging version of an RPG (yikes!) where you can write books or go on nationwide speaking tours — rather, Jamie speaks out about the way certain camps of Christianity have been in all-out attack mode on McLaren, and how he might feel about such things (thus, the title of Jamie’s post).
If you want to see this in action, just type “emerging church” in your favorite search engine and watch the sparks fly. Some people, in the name of upholding a certain doctrine, theology or orthodoxy, apparently feel that it is justifiable to insult, slander and generally resort to mean-spirited tactics (even name-calling). I see people drag names like Brian McLaren or Rob Bell into conversations that really have nothing to do with them on a regular basis, just to find a reason to attack them.
While I do not agree with everything they have ever written or said (does such a person exist with whom we can agree on everything, anyways?), I appreciate many of the thoughts, insights and opinions McLaren and Bell have offered to the Church. I understand that these two, in particular, are very public figures and thus open to a different kind of scrutiny than other individuals, but that hardly gives license for the kind of vitriol and nasty rhetoric some people have used against them.
I think their harshest critics operate under a set of false assumptions. The first: Jesus needs them to be His personal bodyguard to fend off the heretics and blasphemers. I don’t remember Jesus saying, “Now go into all the world, with shrill tones and snap judgments, mimicking the talking heads and pundits of 21st century American media and let loose on the people you think I don’t like.”
Please don’t misunderstand: Truth is central to our faith. However, I think we miss something crucial when we treat truth as a set of static propositions with which we can bash others who deviate from our perception of it. Truth changes us. From the beginning, God has been concerned about our hearts. As such, it doesn’t make sense to stomp around angrily all in the name of “truth.” I wonder how much we really believe if we’re not actually being changed.
The second false assumption: You can change someone’s opinions through finger-pointing and yelling. From my experience, these kinds of angry exchanges only serve to further entrench people in their established positions. Maybe it speaks to my reprobate heart, but when people come on too strong it makes me want to disagree with them, even if I actually agree with what they’re saying. It’s a lesson I’ve learned from my wife — the way in which we say something is just as important as what we say.
My wife and I were meeting up with one of our college students the other day. We’re just getting to know all of them, and it has been next-to impossible to get them all together at once. So, we’ve been meeting them individually. Much of what this student shared from her life reflects the experience of many Asian American college students — she had roommate problems her first year, she’s looking for an internship, her family life is, unfortunately, quite broken.
But one thing she shared stood out to me. In the midst of sharing about her family, she mentioned that her older brother was thinking of going to seminary. Oh really? we asked. Yes, she replied. He hasn’t had much luck finding a job with his current degree (I think it was environmental science), so he thought he might have better luck with seminary.
Ugh.
It’s so easy to misinterpret or misunderstand the call to vocational church ministry. At one extreme, we over-spiritualize “the call.” Some people love the seat of power, and they think becoming a pastor will give them some kind of authority over people. Jesus had a couple of choice words for these folks. My wife and I used to work with a pastoral intern who loved sitting right next to the senior pastor at church functions, and who hid out in his office area on the church-wide cleanup day. I don’t like the fact that I just spent the last hour and a half cleaning the bathrooms and mopping the hallways here at church but, hey, it’s part of the deal in this case. Not because I’m particularly humble or holy — just realistic. We’re a very small church, and if I don’t do it, no one will. And, in my OCDness, I cannot stand for it.
I am a huge believer in the priesthood of all believers. Although being a church pastor is a unique position, I don’t believe it is inherently more holy or spiritual than working in an office or waiting on tables (in fact, it has a lot more in common with these vocations than some might think). We are all called to ministry — but our specific vocation will vary from person to person.
At the other extreme, some people look down on pastors — as if we ended up where we are today because nothing else worked out. Just today, I was having lunch with a church family when one of them asked me if I had been to college. I was genuinely taken aback. I am a graduate of the top-ranked undergraduate business school for over ten years running (not to mention the same university as John Legend).
Youth ministry is more than glorified babysitting; I work hard to provide spiritual care, formation and direction for our students. I invest in their lives. I keep up with the latest professional journals. I am constantly trying to innovate, edit, repent and be creative, honest, and genuine in my ministry. I have a Masters degree from a rigorous theological seminary program; as such, I try to engage students and their families from a theological, and developmental, perspective.
This is probably a little bit presumptuous on my part, but being in ministry is a little bit like being an artist. How many people have walked up to a Jackson Pollack and said, “My four-year old kid could do that.” Heck, even Olivia tried it out home once. In a similar way, I cannot tell you how many people have come up to me and basically said, “I could do that.” My brother-in-law constantly tinkers with the idea of going to seminary (although he is already a medical doctor) because he is a good public speaker and likes the idea of getting up there to preach. In both art and ministry, it is a lot harder than it looks. In fact, the best preachers I have known make it look easy because of the preparation they have put into it. Not to mention the fact that preaching is actually a very small part of what “ministry” actually is.
If this has all put you into a bad mood, I apologize. Watch this. You’ll feel better.
Here are some of my favorite (and not-so favorite) things from the past couple of weeks. Below, find some of my ranting and raving — starting at the top right and going clockwise around the matrix…
Mop top hair shop. My wife recently began pastoring our church’s Pre/K ministry. As part of their age-appropriate learning, she sets up interactive learning stations each Sunday that relate to the day’s theme. A couple of weeks ago, because the lesson focused on Samson we searched high and low for a Play-Doh mop top hair shop — but to no avail. Of course, we found one at Target the week after this lesson. Oh, and it’s called the Fuzzy Pumper Crazy Cuts Playset.
Does 50% constitute a reunion? While the recent album from Dinosaur Jr. should probably be filed under, “Don’t call it a comeback,” I wonder what to do with the upcoming Smashing Pumpkins album. Gish and Siamese Dream pumped some glammy, arena-rock energy into the 90’s indie rock scene, but what I liked best about them was that their band members included James Iha, an Asian American guitarist, and D’arcy Wretzky, a female bassist. However, for their upcoming “reunion” tour & album, neither of these core members will be participating. Boo!
Give me a break. Apparently, the American media is still determined to portray Asian American men as either geeky, asexual nerds or kung-fu fighting foreigners who no speakie-Engrish, as Yul Kwon points out in this video [h/t: David Park]. Double boo!
These are dark days for fans of Michigan sports. It is bad enough that 
headsparks* 
