Money...Dinero...Geld...Mammon

There has been a single winner in the Mega Millions lottery. Somebody in a suburb of Cincinnati has a winning ticket worth $196 million dollars. Now, after taxes, and depending on it they take a lump sum or an annuity, it will be less. The fact remains, however, that someone has just one a boatload of cash. Ever thought about winning that much money...about what it would be like? I have. When I do, I waver between thoughts of laying on the beach on an exotic island, and doing a lot of social and humanitarian good.

But let's try to put this amount of money in perspective:

-half the world lives on less than $2 a day.
-the poorest 40% of the world's population accounts for 5% of its income. The richest 20% accounts for 75% of the income.
-over 20,000 children a day die from poverty-related issues.

And those are some of the rosier statistics. Forget about the 196 million...it makes you and me look vastly wealthy. The media is jumping around and making a lot of noise about how bad the economy is, and how there are tough times ahead. My response is: as compared to what? As compared to the majority of the world where the idea of three full meals a day is only a day dream? Where every product imaginable is not at your fingertips, within a few minutes drive, or at least attainable online w/ a credit card?

Our society has a serious case of affluenza. Our society is far too comfortable with our standard of living while other children of God are starving at the gate (check out Luke chapter 16 for the reference, starting at verse 19 and following). And I'm guilty of it too.

We are truly blessed...overly so...and perhaps we need to share those blessings a little more. I know I do.

Peace,
Kevin

Be the ball....Be creative!

Today's pic is of the gopher from Caddyshack. Why? Because I like Caddyshack!

There was a little girl drawing a picture in class one day. The teacher asked the girl, “What are you drawing?” The girl confidently replied “A picture of God.” The teacher tried to gently correct her, “But no one knows what God looks like.” The girl replied, “They will in a minute.”

The confidence of kids is fantastic. Would you even attempt to draw a picture of God? Probably not. You might put your theology hat on, and draw a picture of Jesus and deftly explain: This is a picture of Jesus. Jesus is God. Therefore, this is a picture of God. QED.

True? Yes. But also a bit of a cop-out. To draw a picture of God seems an impossible undertaking. The Scriptures tell us that no one has ever seen God. And indeed, I think that is true (with the aforementioned exception of God incarnated in flesh as Jesus).

So what is it that underlies this audacious claim by the girl? Creativity. Children have a creativity that we can’t even begin to touch. Something happens to us by the time we come out the other side of our educational system…and I’m not sure it’s a good thing in some ways. We lose a lot of our creativity because we have believed what we have been told: you can’t do this, this other thing is impossible, it would be too hard to do that, etc.

But what if we were to cast off the shackles of those who came before us and instead rediscovered our imaginations? What if we saw our dreams as possibilities…even probabilities…rather than flights of fancy.

Take the rubrics and conventional wisdom of the past for what they are…suggestions. Step out in faith and, as Gandhi said, be the change you want to see in the world. Don’t let the naysayers be your guides. And don’t trust anyone over 30…er, um…wait a minute – I’m over 30. Scratch that! But listen to the other stuff I wrote!

Peace,

Kevin

A Drop in the Bucket...

Have you ever heard the metaphor that the length of time that humanity has been on earth has been a drop in a bucketful of water when compared with how long the dinosaurs were on earth? When I was a kid I was fascinated with dinosaurs – they rocked. And since I was into them, paleontologists have found a bunch more. Kids today who are into dinosaurs have that much more to explore and learn about!

But back to the math for a moment. The dinosaurs were on the earth for over 150 million years. Human civilization has been around for…oh…like maybe 20,000 years (and that’s probably with a generous definition of what ‘civilization’ means). Have you grasped what an incredibly small slice of time we have been around?

It’s sort of the same feeling you get when you look at a night sky full of stars and realize how utterly tiny the earth is compared to what else is out there.

So where am I going with this? Well…have you thought recently about the afterlife? Now this isn’t a big speech about Heaven and Hell. But have you really thought recently about what happens after you shuffle off this mortal coil?

Usually we don’t. Usually we spend almost all our time thinking about what’s going on right in front of…whatever is requiring our action (paper, job, etc.). A friend of mine calls it “the tyranny of the urgent.” But think about how loooooooong eternity is. And so how infinitesimally small our time on earth is. It doesn’t even register a blip. Not even that drop in the bucket, or the blink of an eye. Our time here, as a percent of the time we spend in the afterlife, is so close to zero that it can’t even be fathomed.

And I think that makes our time here really precious. In fact, our life here on earth is the only ‘time’ when the word ‘time’ has any meaning. When one moment being followed by another and another has any significance. So take a few of those moments, and consider what a rare and wondrous gift this thing called life really is.

Have a good weekend.
Peace,
Kevin

Throw Me THE Life Preserver

On this day in 1920 the Turkish Grand National Assembly had its’ first meeting in Ankara. Mass beachings have been associated with active sonar. The U.S. Dept of Energy expects wind power to supply 5 percent of our power supply by 2020. In Baltimore, Maryland it is not legal to take a lion to the movies. Fire stations have circle staircases because back when fire engines were pulled by horses, the horses were stabled in the station and learned how to walk up straight flights of stairs.

What possible reason could I have for giving you this non-sequitor list of bizarre statements (most of which were found at www.randomfacts.org)? Because I’m trying to demonstrate that we are inundated, bombarded, and deluged with information. We have gone way past simply being in the Information Age. We are drowning in an information flood of biblical proportions (nice reference to Noah, eh?)!

Information has trumped formation. And we run from it to keep our sanity. Some of you don’t check your regular email and so will never read this. It’s because your inboxes are full of junk from various things/people/places trying to get your attention. And so you run to Instant Messaging…but as time goes on you find you get inundated there as well. And so you spend most of your time texting. But it’s a false security. The phone companies are already sending out mass text messages and the time will come when you get inundated there with unwanted information as well. Places like Facebook and MySpace provide some refuge as well for the time being…but you won’t be able to hide there forever.

Everyone wants your attention…mostly so you will spend money. Because without you spending money the great capitalist economy grinds to a halt.

For my part, I play the game as well. After sending out the mass email saying the blog is updated I’ll announce on Facebook that the blog is updated in the hope that you’ll hear my faint voice above the ever-increasing din of those seeking your attention.

But here’s the difference: I’m not trying to sell you anything…because what I have is not mine to give. It comes from another, who has been gracious enough to lend it to me. What is it? Well, not to sound like a Boomer reminiscing, but it is Peace and Love. Peace of heart. Depth of love. It comes with a personal relationship with the Risen Christ, and it’s really all the information you need.

Be well my friends,

Kevin

Holy Pope, Batman!

Greetings,

If you haven’t heard by now, the Pope is here. By ‘here’ I mean in USAmerica. In fact he’s going to be in NYC, including Yankee Stadium. My hope is that holding mass at Yankee Stadium will help the pitching of the Bronx Bombers…but even God’s grace may not be enough :)

If you go to NYC, you might actually get to see his Holiness pass by in the Popemobile. From USAToday.com: “In New York on April 19, Benedict will ride about 22 blocks along Fifth Avenue from St. Patrick's Cathedral north to 72nd Street, to the residence of the Vatican's permanent observer to the United Nations, says Joseph Zwilling, spokesman for the Archdiocese of New York. The procession will be at 1:15 p.m.”

The Popemobile is actually a series of vehicles of various makes and models. The current one is a modified 2002 Mercedes-Benz M-class (see pic). The bulletproof glass started getting used after the 1981 assassination attempt of Pope John Paul II.

If you had an audience with the Pope what would you want to talk with him about? Given the opportunity I would no doubt come up with a bevy of sharp theological questions and inquisitions to ask him. But once I sat down with him, I would probably just cherish quietly sharing a slice of space and time with “il papa”. To be in his presence, and to know that he is in mine, would do more for my soul than grilling him on transubstantiation or needling him on homosexuality or female clergy (although these last two are important issues that I think Catholic doctrine is way wrong on).

But what would YOU do if you had an audience with the Pope? Let me know…I’d be interested to hear.

Peace,

Kevin

L-A-R-K...etc.

Greetings!,

The pic here is that of a bird called a lark. “Larks are passerine birds of the predominantly Old World family Alaudidae.” (from Wikipedia). Now I don’t know what any of that means…and it doesn’t really matter because that’s not what the blog post is about.

A lark can also be a noun that is not a bird, or a verb. It can mean “a merry, carefree adventure; frolic; escapade” or “to have fun; frolic; romp.” (from Dictionary.com). Interesting, no? Well that doesn’t matter either…with the exception that every blog post here is pretty much a carefree adventure…

So now we get to the matter at hand! I’d like to introduce you to a website, larknews.com. I would imagine that some of you are fans of the Onion, or at least know that it’s a spoof newspaper. Well larknews is in a very similar vein except that it deals with Christianity. I find it to be quite funny…if we can’t poke fun at ourselves, who can we poke fun at? So I encourage you to go on a lark and check out larknews.com.

While I’m in the website advertisement mood…you should also check out poptech.com and ted.com. They are sites where you can watch podcasts of visionaries in all sorts of fields of expertise. You want to know what people will be talking about 5 years from now? Watch some stuff from these sites. I’m not kidding. If you want a good one to start off with, check out this video. It’s about a woman, a neuroanatomist, who walks you through a narrative of a stroke she had 8 years ago. It has some amazing insights regarding religion if you stop to think about it (I think so anyway)...plus it's just scientifically fascinating.

So have fun! As you can see, all three of these sites are now in the link list to the right (along with the new Pittsburgh mission trip blog site).

Peace,

Kevin

Hurray for Phlegm!...ok, maybe not.

Greetings all,

Well, I have been sick. Yuck! It’s been about a week now since it first started. It peaked Thursday night I think, when I had a fever and chills. Since then I’ve been slowly getting better, but it hasn’t been fast enough for me. I think what I dislike the most about being sick is that feeling that I’m not in control of my body. No matter how much I will it, I can’t stop myself from coughing at night. No matter how hard I try, I can’t make myself feel anymore energetic than I am (which isn’t very!). It’s an unwelcome intrusion of reality into my nice little universe of believing that my body is a tool to be used at my discretion, in whatever way I see fit.

It’s also an unwelcome glimpse of the future…think about it. It’s more likely than not that we will meet our mortal demise after a long life (its true that some will die before their time, but it’s not the norm…otherwise it wouldn’t be “before their time” – tricky, eh?). But even with good medicine and technological advances, the body of an 80 year old is not the body of a 20 year old. Over time you lose certain abilities. You start to deal with increasing limitations. It’s not really about you controlling your body. It’s more about you negotiating with your body in order to do what you can, come to terms with what you can’t, and learn the gift of letting others help you.

Perhaps the experience of being sick is really a lesson in grace. Or maybe I’ve been taking too much cough medicine and drinking too much decaf tea. It’s your call.

Hey, happy belated April Fools Day by the way...did you play a prank on anyone?

As soon as I’m fully back on my feet expect to see more about the mission trips (to Atlantic City at the end of May, and Pittsburgh in early August), including a new blog site, etc. I’m pushing for early commitments this year so we can get everything set with a minimum of churn.

Alright. Be well my friends. Peace of Christ to you!

Kevin

Quid est veritas?

John 18:38a “Pilate said to [Jesus], ‘What is truth?’” Whether wittingly or no, a question of great profundity was uttered by Pontius Pilate to Jesus in those three words. In biblical Greek (using our alphabet) it’s “Ti estin aletheia?” The latin is above in the title. Most people would answer this question with a doctrinal proposition. And then someone would disagree with that proposition. And then we would start fighting (refer to pretty much all of human history for evidence of this). But for we who call ourselves Christians…if we take the time to reflect on this question…we find that truth is not a proposition. It’s a person. In John 14:6 Jesus says “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.”

So if Jesus is the truth, then what is a lie? I believe that the answer is un-Christlike, literally. If Jesus is the truth, then anything we willfully do that is not like Jesus is not truth…and therefore a lie. Now, I’m not being shallow about this. I don’t mean to say that when you watch TV your being not like Jesus because Jesus didn’t have a TV. I’m talking about when you live out relationship in a way that is incongruous with how Jesus lived out relationship. The example could be big (pushing someone down a flight of stairs) or small (telling someone ‘yes’ [or ‘maybe’] when you know the answer to their question or invitation is ‘no’). But either way it is un-Christlike…and so is lie.

Take some time to think about that. Think about truth as a person rather than a proposition…and see if it alters how you operate in relation to others.

Grace and peace to you,

Kevin

Holy Week 2008!

Hey Folks,

Holy holy holy week! Easter is right around the corner. My hope is that you are not taking the most important week of the year for granted, but are instead reflecting on the reality-altering events of Jesus’ life almost 2000 years ago. This week really is what its all about. This is where the rubber meets the road. If you ain’t takin’ this week seriously, then its time to really think hard about whether or not you can identify yourself as a Christian. Holy week is the World Series, Superbowl, and March Madness of Christianity all rolled into one. As the apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1:18 ¹⁸ For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Hey. Wait just a second. Did I say March Madness? I did! Indeed, the Madness has begun! Last night Mt. St. Mary’s beat Coppin State to kick the whole thing off. If you haven’t filled out a bracket yet it’s not too late, since the bulk of the games don’t start until Thursday. And since this is a Methodist blog, I strongly encourage you to fill out your bracket for fun and not for money ;)

Finally, while I do not endorse any particular political candidate on this blog, I am posting a link (this link right HERE) to the speech that Sen. Barack Obama gave yesterday dealing with racism. It’s something I think everyone should watch and be conversant with, even if you don’t like the man. I believe that it will be looked back on as an important cultural event as time goes on.

Be well my friends, and prepare your hearts. Christ dies for you again on Friday.

Blessings,

Kevin

Graduation Musings...

Grace and peace my friends.

It is spring break for me, and let me tell you, it rocks. Among other things it has given me the chance to take a few deep breaths and think about graduation (both in general and my impending one in May). In doing so, I've recalled to memory a song from back in the day: "Everybody's Free (to wear sunscreen)" by Baz Luhrmann. It started as a column in the Chicago Tribune, June 1, 1997 as a pseudo commencement address (fortuitous because that is the year I graduated from undergrad!). Then in 1999, this dude Baz Luhrmann made a song over it. Here is the link to the video on YouTube, and here are the lyrics:

Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of ’99
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience…I will dispense this advice now.
Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth; oh nevermind; you will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded. But trust me, in 20 years you’ll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before
you and how fabulous you really looked….You’re not as fat as you imagine.
Don’t worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm
on some idle Tuesday.
Do one thing everyday that scares you. Sing.
Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts, don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours. Floss.
Don’t waste your time on jealousy; sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind…the race is long, and in the end, it’s only with yourself.
Remember the compliments you receive, forget the insults; if you succeed in doing this, tell me how.
Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements. Stretch.
Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your life…the most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don’t.
Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees, you’ll miss them when they’re gone.
Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll have children,maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll divorce at 40, maybe you’ll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary…what ever you do, don’t congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either – your choices are half chance, so are everybody else’s.
Enjoy your body, use it every way you can…don’t be afraid of it, or what other people think of it, it’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever own..
Dance…even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room.
Read the directions, even if you don’t follow them.
Do NOT read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly.
Get to know your parents, you never know when they’ll be gone for good.
Be nice to your siblings; they are the best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future. Understand that friends come and go,but for the precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young.
Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard; live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft. Travel.
Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too will get old, and when you do you’ll fantasize that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders. Respect your elders.
Don’t expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund, maybe you have a wealthy spouse; but you never know when either one might run out.
Don’t mess too much with your hair, or by the time you're 40, it will look 85.
Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth.
But trust me on the sunscreen…

Be well my friends!
Peace,
Kevin

The Starbucks "Stunt"...or was it?

Greetings and Salutations,

As some of you no doubt know, there was a period of time last week when the foundations of the coffee world were shaken (and perhaps even stirred). Tomorrow will mark one week after Starbucks, who singly-handedly reinvented how Americans approach coffee, closed all 7100 of their stores for about 3 hours. This was done so that the coffee masters, the baristas, could be retrained. Now most of the media made one of two very incorrect assumptions about this statement. Some fell into the first trap of thinking this retraining had to do with the mechanics and systems...as if there was a new piece of equipment that everyone was learning how to use. Nope. Some (the punditry mainly) tried to dismiss it as a public relations "stunt". Now it may have had some public relations elements to it, but not in the shallow, circus-sideshow way that the media elites would have you believe.
So, what was this closing really about? It was about passion. Specifically, it was about the founder and (once again) CEO Howard Schultz energizing the baristas and helping them to become passionate about coffee again. If the baristas fall in love with coffee again, then they will be coffee evangelists, and the company will once again be the caffeinated juggernaut it was. There is no better formula for success than being passionate about your product or service.
I wonder, as the church body are we Christians passionate about our faith lives? Maybe we should close every church in America one Sunday morning and get some retraining on how to share our love for Christ will others...I think I'll go get a Starbucks skinny latte while I think about that.

Peace!,
Kevin

PS The pic is the original Starbucks logo, still viewable at the first store in Seattle (which I've been to :) )...its a twin-tailed siren...

Easter Math!

Hey all,

Ever wonder how the date for Easter gets calculated? Here is a forward I got from Cathi that does a nice job of talking about it. Oh, and the pic echoes my sentiments on that long-eared flea hotel that has co-opted the holiday.

Easter in 2008

Do you realize how early Easter is this year and why? It's March 23! As you may know, Easter is always the 1st Sunday after the 1st full moon after the Spring Equinox (which is March 20).

This dating of Easter is based on the lunar calendar that Hebrew people used to identify Passover, which is why it moves around in date on our Roman based calendar.

I found out a couple of things you might be interested in!

Based on the above, Easter can actually be one day earlier (March 22) but that is pretty rare. Here's the interesting info. This year (2008) is the earliest Easter any of us will ever see for the rest of our lives! And only the most elderly of our population have ever seen it this early (95 years old or above!). And none of us have ever, or will ever, see it a day earlier!

Here's the facts:

1) The next time Easter will be this early (March 23) will be the year 2160 (152 years from now).

2) The last time it was this early was 1913 (so if you're 95 or older, you are the only ones that were around for that!).

3) The next time it will be a day earlier, March 22, will be in the year 2285 (277 years from now).

4) The last time it was on March 22 was 1818. So, no one alive today has, or will ever see it any earlier than this year! And, by the way, the latest date that Easter can fall is April 25^th. The last time that occurred was 1943 and it will happen again in 2038, so it is more common for a late rather than an early Easter date.

Peace,
Kevin

2/29, China, and ...Churchiness!

Hey All,

This is a big year, ya know? First of all, it’s a leap year. That means that there is going to be a February 29^th. Have you thought about how you’re going to spend this extra day in your calendar? If you want to learn more about the history, etc of leap year, go here.

Besides being a leap year, this is also an Olympics year. The summer Olympics are going to be in Beijing, China. The official site is here .

But this year is also the year of the latest United Methodist quadrennial. In the parlance of the day, that means General Conference. Every four years the wise, the sage, the lucky, the luminaries, and the comparatively few gather together to debate and vote on whatever issues have been building for the last four years in the United Methodist Church. This is the ultimate vehicle through which the church structure changes.

Any proposed change has a long way to go: from the local church to the district to the conference to General Conference. The result is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, every voice has a chance to be heard. It is very democratic. On the other hand, however, change tends to occur much more slowly than it does outside of the church. It lacks a certain nimbleness.

So it ain’t a perfect system. But until it changes, it’s all the UMC has…officially. This General Conference in particular could make some important decisions regarding what direction the church is going to take as it moves forward. For more information, go here .

OK, folks, have a good one!

Peace,

Kevin

In the Year of our Lord...?

Hey all,

“What year is it here?” I heard that provocative and somewhat outlandish question from one of my professors. He uses it when he goes to various churches to give talks or consult. It’s a wonderful way to cluing the hosting church into realizing that they are, perhaps, behind the times.

Now, when I say ‘behind the times’, I’m talking about multiple levels. One level is technologically. If you walk into a church and the most sophisticated piece of technology in there is the microphone…they’re behind the times. But a church could also be behind the times spatially. Now I’m not talking about stained glass windows and stone buildings. Those things rock and can be used in ways that are quite up to date. I’m more talking about things like fixed pews and a raised pulpit. These types of things tend to limit the flexibility of the worship and the ability of the congregation to freely grow and evolve.

Perhaps the most important way that a church can be ‘behind the times’, however, is culturally. If you step through the doors of a church and you feel like you stepped into anything other than 2008, the church is behind the times. Check out the music, the structure of the worship, how people are dressed, how people talk, what (if any) cultural references you see or hear, etc… Sometimes it’s like the 50’s. Sometimes it’s like the 80’s. And, unfortunately, sometimes it’s like the 90’s…the 1890’s. The church doesn’t serve anyone by being a museum. Jesus is just as present in the culture of 2008 as He was in the culture of 1908, 1608, or 1208…or 0008 for that matter. In fact, there are things about Jesus we’ll never be able to know until we see him incarnated in today’s culture, both in Bridgewater and Beijing (or any other location you care to choose).

So the next time you walk into a church, take a few moments to soak it all in. Then, if you’re up to it, nudge the person next to you and ask “What year is it here?”

Peace,
Kevin

That Little Wharf-rat Saw His Shadow!

A Happy Groundhog Day to all of you….

I’m going to throw a wrench in the works by not talking about Groundhog Day at all. Not a whit. Not a jot. Not a tittle. You’ll have to go get your Groundhog Day fix elsewhere.

I AM, however, going to talk to you about Lent (a-ha! Gotcha! Mwahahahahahahaha). Lent is starting this week. Have you thought about what to give up for Lent? After all, that’s the traditional thing to do – give something up, yeah?

Well…let me propose an alternative. You can sacrifice and focus on Jesus during the period of Lent without necessarily giving something up (although if you want to, go ahead – I both support and endorse giving up stuff for God…I’ll be doing some of that myself in fact). You may find it just as beneficial though to ADD something (or several things) to your life during Lent rather than subtracting something from it. Here are a few examples…during Lent you could:

-Intentionally take some time in the morning or before bed to engage in a spiritual discipline of some type (read a passage of Scripture, journal, light a candle and spend some time in prayer, etc). If you already have a regimen of some type of spiritual discipline(s), consider adding a new one during Lent. Try Lectio Divina or the Jesus Prayer.

-You could engage in more service activities during Lent. Give blood, work a shift at a soup kitchen, donate food or clothes, etc.

-Make a POINT of being more humane to your fellow human. Hold open doors for people, let someone in when you’re driving, pray for people you see stopped on the side of road, give up your seat on the bus or train to someone else, etc.

We don’t have Lent police walking around making sure that you use this time of penitence and reflection as its intended. We don’t have Lent legislators passing laws mandating Lenten activities because they don’t think you have the ability to do it on your own (thankfully). So it is up to you. Take a few moments to consider Christ. Just take a few idle moments and let your mind rest upon Jesus. Let that guide your thoughts (rather than our natural inclination to rationalize a way to doing whatever we want to do) and make a decision about what to do (or not do) as we begin our Lenten journey together.

Grace and peace to you, my friends!

Blessings,

Kevin

It's Time to Serve!

Greetings and salutations!,

Well, my trip to South Dakota got cancelled. So instead I spent a few days back home in snowbound Pulaski, NY. It snowed almost 4 feet while I was there. Ah…nothing like home, eh?

So, on with the show! Let me tell you about the mission trip opportunities this summer. There are three options:

1) Pittsburgh, PA (Sunday August 3^rd – Saturday, August 9^th). This service opportunity will be “buffet style”, like the Toronto trip was last year. By that I mean that we’ll engage in a variety of ministries while we are there in order to get a feel for the city and the levels of need that are there. The specific ministry opportunities are still in flux, but one of them will be a children’s hospital. As I am able to hash out the others I will fill everyone in. This trip is geared towards college students, but any young adult is welcome. Cost is $100 per person.

2) Taize, France (Thursday July 24^th – Monday August 4^th). This is a spiritual pilgrimage that is organized and run by the Greater New Jersey Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. It is an absolutely incredible experience. Please check out these links for more info: http://www.gnjumc.org/taize_pilgrimage/ and http://www.taize.fr/en. Cost is $1899. BUMC has a few hundred dollars available for scholarship, and there are other scholarships available at the District and Conference level. I encourage you to consider taking a leap of faith and consider this journey!

3) Atlantic City (TBA). This service opportunity will be a long weekend – likely a Thursday night through Sunday afternoon. The dates haven’t been set yet, but it will either be late May or mid August. This will involve being in service to the poor of the area, working in places like the Atlantic City Rescue Mission. This trip is geared towards post-college young professionals, but any young adult is welcome. Cost is $75 per person.

Please let me know which service opportunity you are interested in. I hope that you will feel led to be the hands and feet of Christ this summer and participate in some type of service to others.

Grace and Peace,

Kevin

I'm making a break for it!

Hello Everybody!,

I’m taking the next couple weeks off before the next semester starts. I’ll still be in church on Sunday, but otherwise I’m flying the coop for a while. So you all have a good couple weeks and I’ll be back in touch the last week of the month. First I'm going to spend a few days at Holy Cross Monastery and then going on a road trip adventure to South Dakota.

But before I go, I’d like to mention to you a couple of Christian magazines. Yes, magazines. Things are still produced in print that you have to pick up and flip through and that don’t appear on your phone or computer screen (I’m not sure why they still exist, but they do). The bigger surprise, though, is that they are relevant to today’s culture (sometimes)! Here are a couple to check out (that are available at the BUMC library):

http://relevantmagazine.com/ This one focuses on God, life, and progressive culture. It’s worth a look at the site to get a flavor for the mag.

http://www.sportsspectrum.com/ This one is about the integration of sports and faith. Typically we never see these two things mixing…but famous athletes have faith lives too, eh?

I’m getting close to posting info (here, on Facebook, in email, on the calendar, etc.) about mission trips for the summer. So stay tuned on that front.

Finally, here’s a link to a pretty good talk about the current culture of 'suckitude' and our 'fault default'. Never mind the schlocky infomercial intro…the content after that is good stuff.

Have a good one folks.

Peace,

Kevin

Auld Lang Syne and the like...

Happy New Year!,

Well, the new year is upon us. It is the year of our Lord 2008. Where did 2007 go exactly? It really seemed to whiz by. Usually this is the time for people to try and improve their lives by making and trying to stick to various resolutions. “This is the year! I’m going to eat less, and exercise more, and focus more on this, and take that more seriously…etc etc”. But it doesn’t usually work out. Trying to alter behavior without altering what is in your heart typically doesn’t work so well.

That’s one of the reason that it’s this time of year when United Methodist recite Wesley’s Covenant Prayer. It is a reminder and rededication of what our Christian lives are supposed to be about. It speaks to and from our servant heart.

There’s an old saying in the IT industry that runs like this “If you put lipstick on a pig, it’s still a pig.” Changing yourself on the outside but not on the inside won’t change who you really are. If you focus on making sure you have the inside right, the other stuff will work itself out.

The prayer:

I am no longer my own, but thine.

Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.

Put me to doing, put me to suffering.

Let me be employed for thee or laid aside for thee,

exalted for thee or brought low for thee.

Let me be full, let me be empty.

Let me have all things, let me have nothing.

I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal.

And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,

thou art mine, and I am thine.

So be it.

And the covenant which I have made on earth,

let it be ratified in heaven.

Amen.

Peace,

Kevin
PS OH! You ever wonder what Auld Lang Syne means in the new years eve song? Find out here.

Barry Sanders used to juke defenders out of their shoes...

Greetings and salutations!,

From dictionary.com: “Gullah, the English-based Creole language spoken by people of African ancestry off the coast of Georgia and South Carolina, retains a number of words from the West African languages brought over by slaves. One such word is juke, "bad, wicked, disorderly," the probable source of the English word juke. Used originally in Florida and then chiefly in the Southeastern states, juke (also appearing in the compound juke joint) was an African-American word meaning a roadside drinking establishment that offers cheap drinks, food, and music for dancing and often doubles as a brothel. "To juke" is to dance, particularly at a juke joint or to the music of a jukebox whose name, no longer regional and having lost the connotation of sleaziness, contains the same word.”

I’ve also heard ‘juke’ used as a verb meaning to fake out a defender in football….

I’m listening to music on my new juke phone (see pic) while I write this. I’ve found it to be quite a fun phone. As I do chores around the house, I’ll have it playing music while sticking out of the pocket of my jeans. It certainly makes laundry a lot more fun. But I’m discovering that there is also a downside. I sort of miss the quiet. I find that my mind doesn’t explore and reflect on as many things during the course of my day…because I’m being distracted by the (albeit good) music playing from my new phone.

I wonder, do you spend enough time…or any…without distractions? When was the last time you took the time to drink in quietness…and simply listened to your thoughts and to the rhythm of life going on around you? If it’s been awhile I urge you to give it a try. Schedule yourself some silence before going back to work or school after New Years. You may just find that you dig it.

Have a happy and safe New Year’s. I’m excited about 2008 – I think it’s going to rock!

Peace,

Kevin

Rowan Williams is cool!

Merry Christmas Everyone!,

Let me shoot out of the gate strong, here: the popular mainstream media loves to find problems. And if they don’t find any problems, they create them so they’ll have something to talk about. Good news really bums them out, and NOTHING is better than controversy. Another example of that happened this past week when people went a bit nutty thinking that the Archbishop of Canterbury (Rowan Williams) was trashing all of Christian tradition.

That’s simply not the case. You can read parts of the actual interview here. I’ll try to address a couple of the things the mass media drooled over…and inaccurately so.

1. ‘Christians don’t have to believe in the virgin birth!’ What the archbishop actually said was “I don't want to set it as a kind of hurdle that people have to get over before they, you know, be signed up”. And then he went on to say that he does believe in it. The bottom line is that Christians fall all over the spectrum on lots of tidbits from our tradition. Admittedly, usually when people disagree with something from the tradition it’s because their god is science (which is as much salesmanship, theory, and faith as it is fact…if not more). But there’s still a lot of wiggle room for people to find an understanding of Christianity that fits where they are on their journey.

2. ‘The wise men were legends!’ What the archbishop actually said was “Well Matthew's gospel doesn't tell us that there were three of them, doesn't tell us they were kings, doesn't tell us where they came from, it says they're astrologers, wise men, priests from somewhere outside the Roman Empire. That's all we're really told so, yes, 'the three kings with the one from Africa' - that's legend; it works quite well as legend.” Let me throw in that the gospel account has them visiting Jesus when he was around 2 yrs old, so the nativity scenes you see with the wise men are inaccurate.

And there is more. I recommend that you read the interview. I also recommend that you don’t believe what the mainstream media tells you on face value. Always try to search out the truth for yourself…don’t believe it just because someone tells you.

Have a blessed Christmas my friends – our Savior is born!

Grace and Peace,

Kevin

Christmas isn't just green and red.

Advent Greetings everyone,

“And when those blue snowflakes start falling
Thats when those blue memories start calling
Youll be doin all right, with your christmas of white
But Ill have a blue, blue blue blue Christmas”

These are lyrics from the song Blue Christmas, made famous by Elvis Presley in 1957. While the song may be slightly cheesy (just my personal opinion), there’s a significant message in it: not everyone is happy during the holiday season. Whether it’s the passing away of loved ones, the ending of personal relationships, or just knowing that past Christmas joys will never come again, there are a lot of people during this time of year that identify with “Bah Humbug!” more than they do “Merry Christmas!”

Most of the time there is not a real cultural expectation of happiness. At least I don’t get that sense when I walk the streets of New Jersey 10 months of the year. But for the last six weeks of the year or so, there IS a cultural expectation of happiness. You see it on TV, you hear it in the music on the radio and in the malls, you see it on websites. You are to be happy! So those who do not feel particularly happy have to deal with not only their current struggles, but also with being ostracized by their environment.

So be aware these days that the person you’re talking to might be putting on a front, and may need some extra kindness and prayers. And if you are one of those living a blue Christmas, know that you are not alone, and that you are loved and being prayed for.

If you are local on Wednesday the 19^th, there’ll be a worship service at the church specially tailored for those struggling this season. Feel free to come and to spread the word to others who might benefit from it.

Peace on earth, goodwill towards all,

Kevin

Elections, BCS, and the Church

Young Adults!,

Well, it’s happening again. Arguments. Controversy. The strange fruit of an obvious imperfect system. During this time of year, we’ve come to expect it. Am I talking about the insanity of our two-party system of government and the election craziness that we can’t get away from?

NO! I’m talking about the BCS (Bowl Championship Series)! After much bally-hooing (look up the term here), it’s going to be Ohio State and LSU in the NCAA football championship game. Are they the best two teams in the nation? Maybe not. Are they the two hottest teams right now? Definitely not! Are they the two teams that deserve to play for the championship based on the BCS system? Yes. And that’s an indictment of the BCS system.

There’s a parallel here for the earthly institution of the church. Now, I’m not talking about the theological concept of the church as the Body of Christ. That’s alive and well and very cool. I’m talking about the very earthly human construct that involves a lot of buildings with steeples and such [Important thing to note: These two “churches” are NOT mutually exclusive. Neither are they wholly synonymous.]

Is the earthly institution of the church focusing enough on what goes on outside the walls of the church building? Maybe not. Is it up to speed with the culture of the day and the context of the current generation? Definitely not! But is it the best option we have at the moment? Yes. That doesn’t mean you should be comfortable with it. God is well pleased with every step forward you take, but God is never satisfied with where you are. Similarly, we should celebrate each step the church takes to improve itself, but we should never be content with the state of the church. So don't give up on the church. But also don't lower your expectations for it. Be part of the change. Revolutionize the church. Transform the world. I dare you. Amen.

Peace,
Kevin

The Color of Objects that do not reflect visible light

Hello YA’s and OYA’s (Young Adults and Older Young Adults),

Today is Saturday. Yesterday was:

-Black Friday. It’s the day that’s recognized as the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. It was originally called “black” because of the bad traffic, but has come to be associated with retailers being ‘in the black’ because of the day…i.e., turning a profit. Here are other ‘black days’…

-Black Monday. On October 19^th, 1987 the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 508 points…a fall of 22.6%.

-Black Thursday (October 24^th, 1929). This was the beginning of the great stock market crash of 1929. Prices fell sharply as a record 12.9 million shares were traded that day.

-Black Tuesday (October 29^th, 1929). The market lost $14 billion in value that day, almost 5 times the budget of the federal government.

-Black Saturday (August 4, 1621). A particularly dark and stormy day in Scotland.

-Black Sunday (April 14, 1935). Day that a series of intense dust storms swept across the US and Canadian prairie lands, causing severe damage.

And here are a couple of ‘black’ religious references…just because (based on entries in Wikipedia):

-Black Pope. This is a nickname for the leader of the Jesuits, a Catholic religious order.

-Black Mass. This is probably best described as a ritual or ceremony that is a parody of a Roman Catholic mass. It’s typically associated with witchcraft and such.

-Black Church. There are several denominations whose worshippers are primarily African-American. Here are some of them…three of which are Methodist:

-African Methodist Episcopal (AME)

-African Methodist Episcopal Zion (AME Zion) [I live 3 doors down from a church of this denomination]

-National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc.

-Church of God in Christ

-African Union First Colored Methodist Protestant Church and Connection (A.U.M.P.)

-Christian Methodist Episcopal Church (CME)

-Pentecostal Assemblies of The World, Inc. (PAW)

-Apostolic Faith Church (AFC)

Our pic today is of Richard Allen, the first African-American Bishop and founder of the AME Church. He was ordained by Francis Asbury…who was BIG in the early Methodist Church.

Be well my friends. I hope you are all still sleepy from eating too much turkey!

Peace,

Kevin

Happy Thanksgiving, slightly early

Hey all,

Well, Thanksgiving is a week away. Turkey! Stuffing! Cranberry sauce! Pie! Football! Family! It is a time of food, fellowship, family, and humble thankfulness for all the blessings in our lives (that’s what it’s supposed to be about anyway). It reminds me actually of the early Christian church. Before there were big stone churches, even before the term “Christian” had been coined, a meeting of the followers of Jesus Christ would look a lot like a Thanksgiving dinner. They would meet in a house and share food and fellowship with others who they considered to be spiritual family. Each shared meal was a time of thanksgiving for what God had blessed them with through Jesus Christ. The pic for this post is of what the layout of one of those houses might have looked like.

As you either go to see family for the holiday, or come home for it, or share it with new people because travel for you isn’t a possibility this year, keep a few thoughts in your head:

-There are far too many who won’t get to eat anything on Thanksgiving, much less extra helpings of turkey and pie. Check out ONE if you want to get rid of poverty, and with it, hunger.

-Take some time BEFORE Thanksgiving to really think about what you’re thankful for in your life. On Thanksgiving itself we’re often too busy enjoying the day to reflect too much on the deeper questions of life.

-Minnesota raises more turkeys than any other state

-Illinois produces the most pumpkins

-Wisconsin produces the most cranberries

OK, that’s all I guess. Have a great one, everybody. I’m going to be doing some research, compiling some data, and presenting a couple options for the mission trip for next year. So please be ready to weigh in with an opinion when the time comes!

Blessings,

Kevin

When the eternal becomes tangible...

Hey Folks,

Have you ever heard of the term “thin places”? Not like thin ice, or a thin sheet of paper, but thin places? According to Celtic spirituality, it’s a place and time where two worlds meet…our world and something that isn’t our world. Here is how it’s described one website: “Thin Places are ports in the storm of life, where the pilgrims can move closer to the God they seek, where one leaves that which is familiar and journeys into the Divine Presence.” I would consider this a possible definition, but not an all-encompassing one.

Have you had an experience that you can’t explain? Have you ever been in a place and time where you felt a connection with God that was above and beyond anything you could conceive? These would be examples of thin places, where the veil between our world and the next is slightly pulled back.

A person who is dying in a hospital says that they have been talking with a family member who is long dead. Are they confused and delusional? Perhaps not. Some people believe they see the auras of people, either occasionally or consistently. Are they all addled in the head? Perhaps not.

Not convinced yet that things happen that haven’t been adequately explained to us, including by the Church? I’ll go out on a limb and share one of the odd experiences that I have witnessed.

My Dad passed away in 1998. On the morning he died, at the time he died, three things happened simultaneously. I woke up, which is not so special. But two of my nieces, in different states but of about the same age, ran crying into their parents bedrooms saying that they wanted their grandpa. I can’t explain in any scientific way why that happened. My suspicion though is that my Dad said goodbye to the family at the time he moved over. That was a space and time that I would describe as a thin place.

Yeah, I know. Weird stuff this post. But life is weird. Have a good one.

Peace,

Kevin

Don't be lukewarm!

Have you heard about this hullabaloo about the Republican candidate for president, Mitt Romney, being Mormon? Basically, there are some people out there who feel the country isn’t ready for a Mormon president. But if you think about it, the winner of the presidential election next year will likely be the first something: first woman, first African-American, first Mormon, first person to be president having not served in a higher elected office than mayor, and the list goes on. Barring something unforeseen, business-as-usual (from an election standpoint) is going to get tossed out the window.

Is Romney a Christian? I think the question itself is a red herring. Here is the breakdown of the top 6 affiliations of the 110^th Congregation, according to wikipedia (by the way, don’t trust everything you read on wikipedia…):

Roman Catholic: 28.8%

Baptist: 14.1%

Methodist: 11.4%

Presbyterian: 9.7%

Episcopalian: 7.9%

Jewish: 6.9%

And further down the list there are 16 Mormons, 2 Buddhists, 1 Scientologist, 1 Muslim, and 1 Atheist.

My question is that out of these people in Washington, how many of them are living out their faith when they get to work and are in front of crowds and cameras, as opposed to leaving it for at home and occasional worship attendance? A thought that makes me tremble is that the atheist might be the most genuine one there.

Now, of course, the bleak picture I paint makes the situation sound worse than it really is. But sometimes you need to shout to get your voice heard even a little bit. Our mainstream society is not only secular, but it is becoming increasingly anti-Christian. So how is it that these people, who designate themselves as having faith of one type or another, manage to keep getting elected? Chew on that one for a while.

Don’t hide your faith. Embrace it. You can authentically be a disciple of Jesus Christ in America without offending the person sitting next to you. Don’t believe the madness out there that says you need to hide or minimize your faith in order to be in community with others or not impinge on their rights. Listen instead to your heart, and live out boldly the faith that you find there. Check out Revelation 3:15, “I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot!” Don’t be lukewarm with your faith.

[Note: This blogger does not support any specific party or candidate…unless Jesus comes back and decides to run for something.]

Peace,

Kevin

The Dalai Lama does not go "Baaaaaaaaa"!