Under the Oak

So in the past week or so. . .

The great state of Minnesota has selected an actual clown as its representative in the Senate chamber. While I worry that the interests of Minnesotans will be poorly represented, I seriously doubt that the addition of said clown to the Senate could negatively effect the stellar reputation of that body. *cough*

Speaking of clowns…you may not have heard: Michael Jackson died!!!!!!!1 I was sitting in Barnes & Noble when I was accosted by the couple behind me who were receiving constant texts and emails to tell them that Jackson he died. I know its a generational thing, but seriously, people. Get over it. The man was a freak show either by choice or as a product of the twisted environment in which he lived. I feel for his children, but I don’t see why this should be in the news almost a week later.

No clown flavored post would be complete without another cunning strike by the Cult of Green, right? The House this week passed what amounts to a massive tax increase on energy consumption. The chances of it ever passing the Senate are slim, but the very fact that it passed the House scares me – especially now that we have a one-party government. It will “only” cost $150 per year, we are told. Turns out, its more like $1800…and by 2030 $6300 per year for an average family of four (actually, if the CBO is as wrong in their predictions of the cost of this bill as they were about prescription drug coverage, then the cost will be more like $150,000 per year per family). But it is NECESSARY in order to SAVE THE PLANET from IMMINENT DESTRUCTION. I wonder how much a double-decker taco from Taco Bell (which uses energy to produce flour, tortillas, beans, hot water, corn, beef, beef grinding, cheese production, lettuce, paper, and ink on top of the energy cost of the actual retail of said product) would cost in this green future that our politicians dream up. $59.99 Value Meals!!

Meanwhile, President Obama has sided with Chavez and the United Nations against Honduras. From everything I’ve read, the ousted president of Honduras was in direct violation of the constitution of that country. No wonder they got rid of him. And no wonder our government would jump to his defense.

The blazing heat has zapped whatever spirited blog posts I might otherwise have been coming up with this week, but as much as I hate the heat, I wish I was leaving for Jamaica on Friday.

Tags: Al Franken, Cap-and-Trade, Chavez, Clowns, Cult of Green, Honduras, Jamaica, Minnesota, Socialism

One of my favorite characters in any book is Death in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld Series. I cannot even begin to describe the hilarity that accompanies Pratchett’s Death wherever he appears (and he does have a knack for appearing at the most inopportune times). I am tempted to shower you with quotes from the dozens of Discworld books to show you how Pratchett satires and humanizes Death, but I’ll spare you and simply say that if you haven’t or aren’t reading Terry Pratchett’s books, then you’re missing out on a lot of laughs (I refuse to read Pratchett in public as it has led to several embarrassing moments where everyone in the restaurant was wondering what was so funny).

Of course, Pratchett’s humanizing and (in his masterful way) belittling of Death is nothing particularly new. Man fears death. It strikes everyone we ever meet and eventually it catches up to us as well. That being the case, anything that lessens, even for a moment, our fear of death is welcomed with open arms whether it be satire or serious.

Obviously, I believe that central to our hope is the promise that Jesus has made that we will be given life – that Death is not the end and this life is not all there is to look forward to (and plan for). For example:

And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:39,40, ESV)

When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
“O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:54,55, ESV)

Those who are citizens of Jesus’ kingdom really can view Death differently that do others (1 Thess 4:13). We have nothing to fear. Death is not the end. This life is not all that there is. Resurrection takes the scythe out of Death’s hand. Death loses.

That being said, our joy at being freed from the terror of Death is sometimes expressed poorly. . .

Continue Reading »

Tags: Baptism, Beginnings, Death, Life, Resurrection, Romans, Romans 6, Terry Pratchett

I’ll not even attempt to explain how I wound up at John Piper’s blog during my rambling little journey through the theological blogosphere today, but I wanted to quickly share what I thought was an insightful list of 6 reasons why preachers (Piper refers to them as “pastors”) should blog.

(Preachers) should blog to. . .

1. . . .write.

. . .Through writing, you delve into new ideas and new insights. If you strive to write well, you will at the same time be striving to think well. . .

2. . . .teach.

. . .And more than just a catch-all for sermon spill-over, a blog is a perfect place for those 30-second nuggets of truth that come in your devotions or while you’re reading the newspaper. You may never write a full-fledged article about these brief insights or preach a whole sermon, but via your blog, your people can still learn from them just like you did. . .

3. . . .recommend.

. . .they’re ideal for suggesting and commending. . .

4. . . .interact.

. . .it does add a helpful new way to stay abreast of people’s opinions and questions. . .

5. . . .develop an eye for what is meaniful.

. . .most committed bloggers live with the constant question in their mind: Is this bloggable?. . .If you live life looking for what is worthwhile in every little thing, you will see more of what God has to teach you. And the more he teaches you, the more you can teach others. . .

6. . . .to be known.

. . .You can’t be everybody’s friend, and keeping a blog is not a way of pretending that you can. It’s simply a way for your people to know you as a human being, even if you can’t know them back. . .

Obviously, Piper is coming from a denominational perspective with its view of pastoral leadership, so some of the things he says I would argue are more applicable to…well…actual pastors, but I still think there are some good insights in there for those of us who are preachers. Have a look.

Tags: Blogging, John Piper, Preachers

I often think of the preacher’s role as a kind of “full-time student.” I’m not a terribly big fan of the perception of preachers as some sort of professional – councilor, speaker, human resources manager, etc. I don’t care much for all the trappings that are associated with that “professional view” of what a preacher is (office hours, weekday shirt & tie, etc.). We are all to be students of the bible, but those of us who are freed financially from the necessity of other work are blessed with the opportunity to do more thorough and intensive studies. It seems to me that that is the chief difference between a “full-time preacher” and other members.

It was in college that I learned to love that kind of study. I never would have thought so until my third or fourth year at Florida College, but I truly enjoy doing research. The second most frustrating thing* that I’ve found about preaching thusfar has been the practical difficulty of doing intensive – scholarly – study while at the same time meeting all the weekly study requirements – sermons, bible classes, bulletins, etc. Add to that the numerous expectations that brethren have for preachers that are not related to biblical study and there just isn’t any “thinking time” left. The preacher soon finds himself having to choose between well thought out and prepared sermons and thorough, intensive, personal bible study (which doesn’t always lend itself to two sermons per week – or even one). When something has to give, it is usually the “personal studies” that go, both because the preacher does not want to neglect the spiritual growth of his brethren and because (lets face it) a preacher that slips into less prepared lessons will soon be on the dreaded “preachers looking” list (I’ll have to do another post on the horrors of that status some other time). Furthermore, the preacher – especially the young preacher – often has limited access to some of the ‘tools of the trade’ that are needed for intensive study. I have set eyes on all of three academic papers since I graduated from Florida College, and the only thing that I’ve written that even comes close to an academic study was a hurried, somewhat clunky essay published in “Beneath the Cross”. This after I told myself that after I left school, I would keep up a practice of regular, academic research. It just hasn’t happened.

I’ve often thought about how practical it would be to write research papers outside of a school setting. Who would read it? Would I even want anyone reading it? How thorough could it be without that sense of accountability hanging over my shoulder? I write best against a deadline. Would an arbitrary deadline hold up? The thought has crossed my mind before that some sort of interaction with other preachers who are interested in this kind of academic study would be profitable – perhaps sharing and editing papers amongst a small group – but there are dangers in something like that. How long before a somewhat unorthodox conclusion shared privately is revealed to the brotherhood as the Next Great Heresy? Bleh.

Doy Moyer once advised me and another student to write “for yourself” about things whether you publish what your write or not. I haven’t been doing that, but I think I’m going to make an effort at it starting next month. I’m planning on doing a few things to help:

• I’ll be taking a hard look during the next few weeks at what I can do to change my routine and give me more “thinking time” (its not that I don’t have any free time, but concentrated thought is tiring and no one that I know can spend ALL day in intensive thought). My routine got thrown off earlier this year, and I’ve had a hard time getting back into it, but without a routine, I’m terribly unproductive
• I want to try and reestablish some of my access to the goings on in biblical studies. I’ll be looking into getting a library membership with the FC Library (primarily to give me access to the online version of ATLA Religion Database).
• I’d like to put Zotero to use. Zotero is a program that works with Firefox to help organize resources for research. I’m still playing with it, but I think it could be a big help (to anyone doing any kind of research really).
• Most importantly, I want to begin a practice of writing a monthly or bi-monthly (depending on the topic) “position paper” in which I focus my private study time on a particular topic and write an “academic-style” paper on that particular question. It might be something as general as “Does the church have the authority to use instrumental music?” or something as in depth as “The New Perspective as applied to XXXX chapter X”. The point is I’ll be engaging in a more intensive level of study that I’ve been able to do since leaving school. Only there are some rules:
  • This is personal study, not sermon preparation or class preparation. If a sermon idea comes from it, fine, but that is not the purpose of these particular studies. (This will be the most challenging part as I will soon be running out of ‘used’ sermons to preach)
  • These “position papers” are subject to review (as are any  conclusions we ever come to…it is a sad and ridiculous testament to the divisive state of the brotherhood that I feel compelled to state this). In fact, after I have a good supply of them, I may even make every third month or so a time to go back and revise and rethink previous studies
  • I have no intention of publishing or in any way making these studies public. They are essentially raw, in-process thoughts and conclusions about various topics, subject to dramatic change upon further study and meditation

I say all that to come to this:

1. Do you have any topic ideas for me? (not that you’d ever know if I went with it )
2. If you are a preacher, do you do anything like this? (or, Am I insane?)

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* By far the most frustrating thing has been the extra-biblical mold that people want to force the preacher into. I ain’t that guy.

Tags: ATLA, Biblical Studies, Position Papers, Preaching, Zotero

I suppose the fundamental success of a prank call is if the subject is convinced that the caller is someone who they are not, but a prank call reaches Epic Win status when the subject is not only convinced of the claimed identity of the caller, but also is convinced to act as a result of the call – especially when the act is downright outrageous. Evidently, this was the case on Saturday morning when a Holiday Inn employee was convinced that a caller was from the sprinkler company and that it was necessary for her to act.

The man told Bergmann that there was a problem with the hotel’s fire sprinklers and that she “needed to pull the fire alarm to reset them,” cops reported. “Bergmann proceeded to pull the fire alarm at this point, causing the audible alarm.” Bergmann, aided by a hotel guest, would subsequently follow a series of directions from the caller that would result in about $50,000 in damages to the hotel’s windows, carpets and electrical system.

These instructions included breaking glass doors and dismantling the sprinkler system. Incredible.

Now, while I always enjoy a good laugh, I obviously do not condone what certainly crossed a line from an innocent joke to massive vandalism and fraud. That said, does it really require a great deal of intelligence to say ‘wait…something isn’t right about this’ as you are breaking the glass out of the front door. ‘Common sense’ is all too rare these days.

I suppose I don’t really blame the hotel guest that helped since the authority of an employee asking you to help adds a bit of credibility. Its quite clear he was not happy about the situation, though calling it ‘domestic terrorism’ is coming in a bit high in my opinion.

Rusty Brown, the Holiday Inn guest who helped Bergmann follow the prankster’s instructions, told TSG he was “an innocent bystander and got involved in domestic terrorism.” Bown [sic], 36, remarked that there was “absolute panic in that hotel,” adding that, “all I did was make it worse. I’m not proud of breaking windows. It is very disheartening.”

The employee, on the other hand, is surely going to be looking for a job soon. Wow.

Tags: Arkansas, Holiday Inn, Prank Call, Vandalism