And They're Off...

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Kentucky_derbyAfter spending about 6 years in Kentucky (3 of those in Louisville), I'm used to getting excited for the Kentucky Derby.  Today is Kentucky Derby 131 at Churchill Downs in Louisville. 

I know very little about the horses, jockeys, trainers, or favorites this year.  But we gained great respect for the history and pagentry of the race.  We even lived on a street named "Mint Julep" while in the bluegrass state.

If you have a chance today, turn on the tube and enjoy something different.  Post time is 6:04pm eastern.  Don't be late!  These guys are fast. 

The Letter of James

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Moo_jamesDoug_moo_2I'm finishing up the fourth chapter of James in my sermon this Sunday.  I've really enjoyed preaching through James, and have seen many important issues work through the life of my church. 

The main commentary I've been using is the Pillar New Testament Commentary on James by Douglas Moo (who is obviously the long, lost twin brother of Stephen King with different writing goals). 

I've also been using other commentaries.  Kent Hughes, Thomas Manton, Peter Davids, and the New Bible Commentary among others.  But none of them are as good as Moo.  I'm very happy with it and encourage you to pick it up if you need a fairly critical commentary on James.

Andy Roddick Rules

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Andy_roddickThis is really cool.  Andy deals honestly with the point that would have won him the match, and ends up losing. 

Sportsline.com front-page story title as of midnight says "Roddick's good-guy move backfires."  What a dumb thing to say.  It's just good, honest sport.  I guess for Sportsline winning and losing is the bottom-line. (See also Sports Illustrated article)

Experiential Storytelling 2

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I just finished Mark Miller's book, Experiential Storytelling.  I already gave one post on this book when I was part way through.  Now, let me give a few quotes from the rest of the book, and then at the end I will comment briefly on my take.

On reimagining the sermon...

Why not take a breather for a time and let the story speak for itself in a language those gathered can understand?  When presented without all of the trappings of exegetical interpretation, the biblical text is freed from the limits of our minds and is open to the organic beauty of the infinite word. (p. 87)

Benjamin Franklin quote...

Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn. (p. 94)

On the elements of experiential storytelling...

Remember to let your audience think for themselves.  Do not make everything obvious by spelling out every detail for them.  This is where you are going to have to trust that your audience members have imaginative abilities and a built-in mechanism that allows them to think for themselves. (p. 112)

My take...

I expected more.  It was a fast read, with not a great deal of content.  The book did spark some interesting questions in my head and I learned a few things along the way, but by the end I felt like it never took me where I needed to go.  It never got me into "aha!" stuff.  It never solidified anything I was already thinking. 

It's possible the issue is partially with me, but the book is explained as a book about "rediscovering narrative," and I didn't read it that way.  I felt the point the book ultimately made was to emphasize "sensory" stories over "verbal" stories.  Verbal has a role for Miller, but for this book at least it's a diminished one.

I think a couple of quotes show that emphasis.

Studies have shown that only about 10 to 15 percent of what we "hear" comes in the form of spoken words.  God has designed us to experience the world around us in all of its fullness, so most of our learning is nonverbal. (p. 103)

It is crucial that you do not interpret the experience for them.  The whole point is the experience does the talking. (p. 113)

I think the book serves better as a tool for helping a handful of youth leaders supplement their normal communication of the truth with creative experiences.  Because of the work it would entail, these youth leaders would probably need to be in large churches with lots of youth and a sizable budget.  So there is a place for this book, but I'm not just so sure that place is on the bookshelf of the typical missional pastor.

Violence, Movies & Redemption

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The new BP article by Mark Kelly, on Hollywood and the new movie Kingdom of Heaven, isn't very interesting, but the opening paragraph is funny to me...

Evangelicals have tried for years to convinceHollywood it is more profitable to make decent movies for normal people than to grind out the gratuitous sex and violence that only sucks society deeper into the sewer. Mel Gibson finally got their attention when his “Passion of the Christ” grossed almost $612 million worldwide -- more than 20 times his original investment.

Please tell me I'm not the only one who sees the irony here.  Roger Ebert wrote in his review of "Passion"...

The movie is 126 minutes long, and I would guess that at least 100 of those minutes, maybe more, are concerned specifically and graphically with the details of the torture and death of Jesus. This is the most violent film I have ever seen.

I think this is really, truly funny.  But I also think it's sad and revealing.

We say things about movies like "Violence just leads to violence, so let's keep it clean."  But how can we say that real violence doesn't tell a story far better?  If it did for Passion then why not for Kingdom of Heaven or Gladiator or Braveheart? 

The Bible tells bloody stories.  It is not a PG-13 book.  And if we are going to get our children and teenagers and everyone else to understand the Story of redemption, they are going to have to understand violence because the death of Jesus was incredibly violent.

Is it reasonable for Christians to encourage violence in movies since it reminds us of redemption?

Jesus Creed Blog

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Many of us have discovered Scot McKnight's blog, Jesus Creed, as he went through the process of reviewing Don Carson's Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church a few weeks ago.  Having completed that task with thoughtfulness, he is now plugging along with some great insights on the emerging church and ecclesiology through a look at Doug Pagitt's book Reimagining Spiritual Formation.  Really good stuff.

Even when I disagree, I'm better for having read McKnight.  I highly recommend keeping up with his thinking.

Christian Counterculture

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It appears Chrisitan Counterculture, an online newsletter of sorts, is back online.  Rob Schlapfer, who also runs The Discerning Reader online bookstore, has emailed out the Christian Counterculture May 2005 issue.  With his Calvinistic background and new thoughts on the NPP and the emerging church (that have encouraged the war cries of critcs), this could get interesting.  I'm going to be reading each issue.

Note the "editor's desk" section where Rob jabs at bloggers (some of them, at least).  Also note a personal apology from Rob.

Church Isn't About You

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One blogging pastor has resigned from his church.  In a recent post he said many things, but finished with this.  It means more coming from a guy who has been sticking it out for years rather than a seminary student who just learned something.

if you are reading this i'd like to remind you that church isn't aboutyou. it isn't about your needs or your comfort or your musical tastes. sure you need to find a place where you can find a family but it's hard for me to believe that jesus died on the cross so his kids could have the best sunday school in town.

Wi-Fi in My House

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Linksys_router_1Oh man.  Wi-Fi in the house is awesome.  It's just one more step into making every moment of my life Internet dependent. 

I tried D-Link, but I hated it.  I had to reset that thing 5 times a day.  It only took me a couple of days to take it back to Best Buy and pick up the Linksys WRT54G (Arrh...arrh...arrh -- Tim Allen style).  Great stuff, easy to set up (they necessarily treated me like an idiot), and the setup was automatic -- meaning they didn't make me try to find IP addresses and other monumental tasks.

After a week of constant disasters in computing (please don't ask...the wounds are too new), my Linksys has renewed my hope.

Mohler Get's a New Chair

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Congratulations to Al Mohler, President of Southern Seminary, for being appointed to an historic position.

Southern Baptist Theological Seminary’s boardof trustees has elected President R. Albert Mohler Jr. to the Joseph Emerson Brown Chair of Christian Theology.

The chair has been held by other giants on the landscape of Southern Seminary’s history such as founding President James Pettigru Boyce and E.Y. Mullins, seminary president from 1899 to 1928. Mohler was elected the seminary’s ninth president in 1993.

“It is an historic chair in systematic theology and we believe an historic president like Dr. Mohler deserves to be teaching from this chair,” said Russell D. Moore, dean of the school of theology and senior vice president for academic administration, said after the seminary trustee action April 26. “This will be a great and momentous act in Southern Seminary history.”

Mohler responds...

“This means more than I can say,” Mohler said of the trustee action. “Especially with Dr. Boyce and Dr. Mullins holding that chair during their presidencies, it is an historical connection that speaks to my heart and to the sense of calling.

“It also is a reminder that the Lord has used significant individuals [such as Brown] to make this institution what it is. Some of these names are inscribed on buildings, some are memorialized in scholarship and professorships, and it is easy for us to forget what they meant and who they were.”

Read the entire Baptist Press article.

Experiential Storytelling

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Miller_experiential_storytellingWhile perusing through my local Borders Bookstore on Sunday evening, I ran across and purchased a book I heard about but haven't seen:  Experiential Storytelling: (Re)Discovering Narrative to Communicate God's Message by Mark Miller.

I read through about a third of the book last night.  I find it intriguing and compelling as well as scandalous and disturbing all at the same time.  Some, just by the title alone, will judge the book as postmodernism's destructive work in the church.  Others will think these ideas are the key to speaking to a world changed by postmodernism.  I want to deliver some quotes for discussion here. 

Miller defines "experiential storytelling"...

- creating an environment that allows others to participate in the telling of a story through sensory interaction (p. 7)

On Experience...

What if we were to take our message and begin speaking the language of the natives?  Instead of telling people Jesus is the light of the world, what if we showed them the stark difference between light and darkness?

What if we removed all of the argumentative language, replaced it with beautiful narratives, and let people feel the power of the story?  Instead of trying to convince people to accept a list of spiritual laws, how about placing individuals in the story, allowing them to learn and interact with God's character? (p. 26)

A Jewish Teaching Story...

Truth, naked and cold, had been turned away from every door in the village.  Her nakedness frightened the people.  When Parable found her, she was huddled in a corner, shivering and hungry.  Taking pity on her, Parable gathered her up and took her home.  There, she dressed Truth in story, warmed her and sent her out again.  Clothed in story, Truth knocked again at the villagers' doors and was readily welcomed into the people's houses.  They invited her to eat at their table and warm herself by their fire. (p. 29)

On Story...

Stories address us on every level.  They speak to the mind, the body, the emotions, the spirit, and the will.  In a story a person can identify with situations he or she has never been in.  The individual's imagination is unlocked to dream what was previously unimaginable. (p. 33)

Quoting Annette Simmons...

Stories are "more true" than facts because stories are multi-dimensional.  Truth with a capital "T" has many layers.  Truths like justice or integrity are too complex to be expressed in a law, a statistic, or a fact.  Facts need the context of when, who, and where to become Truths. (p. 36)

Sermon vs. Story...

A sermon tells people what to think.  A story forces people to do the thinking for themselves.  It can feel dangerous because it allows for interpretation.  But on of the adjectives used to describe the Holy Spirit is "counselor."  Do we trust our people and the Holy Spirit enough to allow them to think for themselves?  Can we leave something open-ended, knowing the conclusion might not come until later that day, week, month, or year?  Can we allows people to own the stories?  Or do we do all of the interpreting and leave nothing to the imagination?

My believe is that when a story becomes personal and people begin to become unsettled and challenged by it, then they have been touched in a place where facts fear to tread.  It is a place so personal that it can spark and inner transformation. (p. 41)

Quoting Dieter Zander...

When you put your face next to an "A" string and begin to hum and "A"--that string will begin to vibrate.  The "D" won't, the "G" won't, but the "A" will.  Because it was created to vibrate with that tone.  The thing about the story--God's story--is that when it is told and applied well, and when it is supported in a sensorial way, something inside our heart starts to vibrate, regardless of whether we are a Christian or not, because we were created for our hearts to vibrate with that story. (pp. 42-43)

Buy it at Amazon.  Also, read my follow-up post on this book along with my take after finishing it.