Monday, March 22, 2010

Speak Like You Mean It

Typography from Ronnie Bruce on Vimeo.



This poem is by Taylor Mali, and it speaks to my deep seated love for the English language and modern rhetoric. I've dedicated my education life to this type of thing, and I have become so fascinated with the way we try to persuade audiences and move language around that it almost destroys me as an audience member. Mali does what poets do best, he speaks and sees prophetically what we do not.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

There's God, and Then There's People

My pastor and mentor Joel Dombrow is a very wise man. Joel was my youth pastor when I was really getting to know Jesus in high school, and when he moved on to take the Lead Pastor position at Willamette Christian Church, I remember being sad to see him go but happy for him to be meeting his potential. In one of the first sermons I heard him give as Lead Pastor at WCC, I remember him speaking out of James 1 saying, "There's no better people. There's God, and then there's people." He used his hands to show God being above and everyone else below him, inferring that there were no ranks of humans but that all fall short of God and his holiness.

Today, Joel is my pastor as I have transitioned to Willamette Christian Church for this season of my life. I love sitting under Joel's teaching and it's been very fun to work along side him again. In his sermon today out of Nehemiah 9, which is essentially a two page prayer of thanksgiving and praise from the Israelites after they realize their sins, Joel read the entire chapter out loud and had the congregation do a great exercise.

As he read all 38 verses, he had us separate our notes into two columns: On the left hand side, we were to write words the Israelites used to describe God in their lengthy prayer. On the right hand side, we were to write how they characterized people and the words they used. Here's just some of what I wrote down:
GOD:
Blessed, creator, life giver, LORD, freer of the captives, righteous, leaders, light giver, judge, giver of good laws, commander, slow to anger, giver of food, forgiver, compassionate, never-abandoning, knowledgeable, sustainer of life and the earth, grace giver, deliverer, merciful, covenant keeper, just, faithful.

PEOPLE:
arrogant, stif-necked, disobedient, rebellious, idolaters, receivers of God's gifts, prophet killers, blasphemers, oppressed, criers, comfortable with evil, sinners, refusers of listening, unjust, unfaithful, slaves.
I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE THINKING. Great, another time I'm going to hear how I'm a filthy sinner going to hell. I didn't view it like that. As I was furiously writing, I began to think that we are only those things listed above when compared to God. When we are far away from God, distant and stubborn in our own ways, we actually look okay. Because humans, on their own, can get away with a lot. However, putting God in the picture changes everything. And in the end, putting yourself next to animals and each other shows you very little. In order to truly reveal the human's potential, you must know God.

Look at it like this: my nephew Ethan is a strong kid. Well, his teachers say that he's a strong kid. He's a solid athlete and runs well. He's also smart. His teachers compliment him on his reading and math abilities. He knows what he's doing. He's also 7. And when you put me in a room with him, I can break his neck, do long division, and drive a car. He doesn't stand a chance next to me. Next to all of his classmates and peers, the kid looks smart and strong. But bring in a person outside of his potential, from a totally new category of development, and the opinion of Ethan's wit and strength totally changes.

When we compare humans with humans and humans with animals it's easy to conclude that we're pretty awesome. We're giving people. We're honest. We're charitable. We're kind. We love one another. We care about the world. But in reality, the knowledge, strength, grace, and compassion of the creator God makes us look very different.

Joel ended with a great line: "To be proud is to not know God. Humility is not about turning away in cowardice, it's about understanding who God really is."

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill!

"I'll be in Portland, Oregon this Thursday, March 11 to talk about volcanoes."

That's all Bill Nye says, and that's all he needs to freaking say.

I love Bill Nye. And NO, not just because he has the same awesome last name as me, but because Bill Nye thinks EVERYTHING is cool and he makes you think everything is cool. He has a passion about the universe that is rarely seen in teachers today. Not only that, but he possesses a tirelessly creative mind that is always working out the best ways to teach kids everything from the elementary to the expertise. He raises the bar for kids too, which is something I love. It drives me crazy (whether in Christian ministry or in education) when I hear adults say, "They won't understand that," or, "No, they would never get that...they'll get that later." What bologna (spelled that right the first time!). Kids rise and fall to the standard YOU and I set for them. They won't appreciate Poe or Picasso or physics if you don't. Bill Nye did that with science. He made it awesome. He was never afraid to use different medias and technologies to help kids understand the wonder of the world they walked on. And in the process of doing that, his show won 18 Emmy's in five years. Yeah. Bill Nye was the greatest teacher of the 90s, and certainly in the top 5 of the greatest teachers of all time.

For those who grew up in a loving family, Bill Nye the Science Guy is no stranger to you. I check his blog more often than I should and found out he's in Portland tonight. Boo yah! First Congregational Church is going to get a healthy dose of some SCIENCE at 7pm. $5 for students.

This is his rant on volcanoes after he tells us he'll be in town:
Like so many of you, I am a big fan of volcanoes, and in the Northwest, we have one in our backyard. Mt St. Helens is an extraordinary place. One that has expanded our understanding of volcanoes, the movement of the Earth’s tectonic plates, and the remarkable nature of how ecosystems develop on volcanic soils. It’s much faster than most scientists expected. There’s rain and a rain of insects. There are loose rocks that become places to fix nitrogen. Volcanoes change and shape our world. So do we, it turns out. The more we can understand volcanoes and our place among them, the better we will do in the coming decades. So come this Thursday. It’s all for you in… the Subduction Zone, where tectonic plates rock, da’ lava bombs, and it’s all magmalicious! Drag your friends kicking and steaming! We’ll see you there Thursday Night!
Kicking and STEAMING....you gotta love this dude.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

What We Are

I'm preaching out of Mark 12:28-31 this week and focusing on "Loving Your Neighbor." In my limited time to prepare, I managed to jot down a few things the Bible says about humans. Certainly not complete, but a good foundation.

What Are Humans?
-Created in the Image of Triune God by Triune God (Gen. 1:24-27)
-Created for that God’s glory (Is. 43:6-7)
-Fallen from God, incomplete without God, unrighteous (Gen. 3, Ps. 14, Rom. 3:9-20)
-Rebellious to God (Rom. 1:18-32, Eph. 2:1-3)
-Loved and sought after by the God who created them (Hos. 2:14-23, Jn. 3:16)

Just in the Biblical picture of humanity, we see the gospel.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Friday, March 5, 2010

Your Idea is More Timely Than Ever

A buddy of mine pointed out this article by Clifford Stoll, a once "big name" in science and astronomy. The article titled, "The Internet? Bah!" with the subtitle: "Hype alert: Why cyberspace isn't, and will never be, nirvana." Written in 1995, Stoll rants for about 600 words about how the Internet will never replace the newspaper, the book, or casual reading materials like magazines. My favorite line has to be:

"How about electronic publishing? Try reading a book on disc. At best, it's an unpleasant chore: the myopic glow of a clunky computer replaces the friendly pages of a book. And you can't tote that laptop to the beach. Yet Nicholas Negroponte, director of the MIT Media Lab, predicts that we'll soon buy books and newspapers straight over the Internet. Uh, sure."

I'm not here to bash Stoll, it was a total guess from a man who was hoping things wouldn't change. But to me, this article is a very telling sign of two things our world is going through:

1) Things are moving fast. Duh. So fast, that this article from 15 years ago could have been refuted 7 years ago. Our ideas are becoming more and more timely and devalued and proven wrong faster than ever. With more access to information, it is easier to see through a seemingly new argument.

2) No matter what, many of your ideas and worldview will be outdated at some point. Every generation laughs at certain things about the generation before it. Your children's children will prove most of your ideas wrong. It happens all the time and your grandchildren are no exception. Never assume the classical nature of your opinion, it is more than likely that it'll be changed completely.

It is clear to me that the most important thing the human can do now is seek the ideas and worldviews that have stood the test of time. Certainly there are many. One of my favorite writers, Marilynne Robinson, recognizes in her book of essays, The Death of Adam, that the primary defect in post-modernism is the ignorance and ignoring of primary texts. Her main beef is with the critics of John Calvin, the great Protestant Reformer of Geneva, many of whom have never read the Institutes, but have read what people have said about them and just mimic the critics opinion.

With the rise of the information age, it's more difficult than ever to decipher who will end up standing the test of time and who's ideas will be laughable in ten years. Maybe that's encouragement to read the classics, as it gives one an eye for the imperishable.

But hey, it's just an idea that could be seen as ridiculous tomorrow.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Conquered Words: February

This is my monthly post where I tell you what I have read and (ever so briefly) what I thought about each work. If you haven't read these books, then read this blog and pretend that you did!

Multiple factors are included that resulted in my embarrassingly short reading completions this month, but I think the top reason is because I read SO MUCH for school. SO MUCH. And a lot of dense stuff...anyways, I know it was really cute how I posted what I read for school last time, but it's just too much and I don't really want to tell you the Hellenistic philosophy readings I drove through this month.

Here, then, is what I read in February.

1) Feel by Matthew Elliott (Tyndale House Publishers, 228 pages). I think I've already told you before that I really do not find a lot of Christian books that I like/I believe to be well written. For the most part, there's TONS of repetition. That's why I tend to read Ph.D's because they have research to present (for the most part). This is Elliott's dissertation in plain language. It has to do with the role of emotions in the Bible and it singlehandedly refutes most of modern evangelical thinking in regards to human emotion. I've heard it a million times: "Love is not an emotion, don't trust your emotions..." or, "The 'joy' the Bible talks about is not a feeling, it's a state of mind." I think I've even preached that before. But Elliott just shows that there is no way around the fact that in God's redemption, he redeems our emotions and that our emotions are not only to be tolerated, but celebrated and followed in some respects. He clarifies a lot in here and it's a very well researched book. We are to have real, passionate feelings for God and others. We are supposed to feel alive inside, it is a part of God's redemption of the human. I realized that this is part of my story. I had very little passion and affection and feeling toward God until the Holy Spirit really and totally invaded my life. Since then, I actually have grown in how I feel toward God and how I feel toward others. I think his more academic book, Faithful Feelings should have been read instead, but I was given this book so, what are you gonna do? Anyways. This book changed my theology, plain and simple. I have no argument back for Elliott and I would be surprised if someone comes out with one. My new exhortation to my students: FEEL SOMETHING!

2) Lectures to my Students by Charles Haddon Spurgeon (Zondervan, 446 pages). I FINALLY FINISHED IT. I think it's been about 9 months. There are a lot of books that I just slowly make my way through and this is one of them. I read a page or a chapter here and there when I feel like it or remember it. Spurgeon is the man, and if you have any desire to preach or pastor, this book is a MUST read. Spurgeon is called the prince of preachers by most and he truly is. The dude started his preaching ministry at the age of 19 and was pastoring two churches by the time he was 21. But he didn't fit any mold. He was despised by many and got kicked out of his own denomination in England. He planted hundreds of churches and started his own Pastor's College, which still stands in England to date. He also smoked a pipe. Anyways, he was a gifted pastor and an overall excellent teacher. God brings along dudes like this every once and a while...but not often. A lot of people resist Spurgeon because he is so loved in the Reformed circles, but is that any reason to not read him? The dude was ridiculously gifted and God used him to spark a revival in England right when they needed it. You know what? I think it's time for another one of those...

Aaaaannnd that was all.

Keep reading, friends.

I Couldn't Have Put It Better Myself

"The supreme function of reason is to show man that some things are beyond reason."

-Blaise Pascal