The Burr in the Burgh

This film reminded me of Crash (the one with Matt Dillon) the same sort of journalistic - almost voyeuristic - realism. See also 21 Grams. The same overall theme too: People basically misunderstand each other. It's a good theme.

Films like this sometimes remind me of a Dicken's novel or a Shakespeare play. Mistaken identities. Interconnected stories. Tragic lives resounding from false assumptions, prejudices, and ignorance.

It's a sad movie. Sad in the sense that Macbeth is sad or Hamlet or Othello. So much needless human suffering. What is the source of our pain? Some of it is the result of the malicious intent of a few. Some of it comes from stupidity. And then the foolish things we do to cover our stupidity. A lot of it just results from the broken jumbled mess of life.

Of course, Babel takes a little jab at the U.S. government, making it so quick to see terrorism behind every bush. But other than that, I found the film a moving expression of corrupted humanity.

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Behold what I beheld outside my hotel window this morning in Boulder, CO. Not a sign off snow yesterday. I was going around w/o a jacket.

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Hell and damnation are real, says Pope Benedict XVI.

It's not easy in this day and age to speak about these subjects. Few take the words of Jesus seriously. He tells us more about hell and damnation that any other figure in the Old or New Testaments.

I've met Christians who may agree that hell exists, just don't think anyone really goes there. No one except baby rapists, in any case. Jesus teaches differently.

A pastor must learn to know his sheep so that he can apply the whole counsel of God appropriately. While the message of atonement through the blood of Jesus is central to all we proclaim, the gospel has no context if we don't announce the threat of hell. If there is no such thing as eternal damnation, then what, precisely, did Jesus save us from? Some people are afraid to die, they fear the judgment. And rightly so. We must ease their fears with the promise of grace. But many others are not afraid of God at all. To them, the cross is just a weird thing pastors talk about.

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I get so irritated with myself when I let so many days pass between blog posts. I strongly desire to post every day. But some weeks I just don't have it in me.

Tonight, I don't want to talk about me however. I want to talk about our staff in the Admission Department of Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, IN.

This weekend, we have a bunch of guests for one of our two annual visitation weekends. It is exciting to have so many excellent prospective students and their families with us.

I must say that I was particularly impressed with my recruitment staff today and this evening. This is an outstanding group of hardworking and dedicated individuals. They really do go above and beyond the call of duty. I am thankful and the seminary is blessed to have them.

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A friend and I went to see 300 this evening at the local theater. What a spectacle! One thing I thought very interesting was how Satanic Xerxes was in the movie.

Certainly, it was not uncommon for ancient near eastern monarchs to attribute divine status to themselves - an act which is inherently Satanic. But I could not help noticing how similar his speeches were to the enticements of Old Nick himself.

"Hey, I don't ask for much. You can keep your lands. You will receive wealth beyond your wildest imaginings. You're a victor. You can be the warlord of all Greece. Only bow to me and all this can be yours."

Not so different from the Tempter's attempted seduction of Jesus, eh? This is the Enemy's tactic. He presents himself as your greatest ally. He's really on your side after all. He only wants what is best for you. "Jesus, you're hungry. Make yourself a sandwich."

For a nice write up on the film 300, see Pr. Petersen's blog here.

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So who has seen 300? What are your thoughts? I haven't seen it yet, but am thinking tomorrow night sounds good.

Not surprisingly, the Iranian government doesn't like it. See here. It's astonishing how the official quoted actually thinks Hollyweird bows to the political wishes of our president.

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So this morning, I just finished reading Hannibal Rising by Thomas Harris. It was a disappointment, I must say. It is definitely the weakest of the books in the Hannibal Lecter series. It seems that Harris was writing on auto-pilot, probably just fulfilling the request of some movie producer. It's formulaic and predictable, not scary in the least. Serious fans of the franchise will want to read it, if only to fill in the blanks, but it is not a must-read for anyone else.

I guess my most serious criticism is that Harris succumbs to the post-modern trend of making the bad guys the real good guys. How can anyone really fault Hannibal for his atrocious deeds when you consider the circumstances? The reader roots for the villain, who is quite understandable after all. This is a far cry from the complicated yet undeniably evil Dr. Lecter of the previous stories.

Are real serial killers made or born? The evidence says both. I regret that Harris's latest installment makes Lecter purely a product of his experiences. He is not just a sociopath. He's a victim.

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If you or someone you know is planning to prepare to become a Lutheran pastor, go to my facebook page and request to join my group called, "LCMS Pastors 2 Be." We are currently discussing "contemporary worship" and "contemporary Christian music."

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Everyone who runs meetings should look at this book by Patrick Lencioni, Death by Meeting. We all hate meetings. Me too. But the problem is not usually that we have too many meetings, but that our meetings are too disorganized. Hence they last too long and get very little done.

Lencioni recommends have more meetings, not less, but doing them smarter. He suggests four types of meetings. These are my take on what he writes:

• The Daily Check-IN - No more than 5 minutes every morning. No one sits down. Everyone has 60 seconds or less to tell the others what they're doing that day. This is nota time to problem solve. You can ask clarifying questions but no debate.


• The Weekly Tactical - This should be an hour or two. This is the meeting where you plan how to get things done. You solve nuts-and-bolts problems.
  


• The Monthly Strategic - 2 to 3 hours. Let people think big and talk big. Discuss strategy, vision, goals and long-range plans.


• Quarterly Brainstorm - A offsite retreat. Lencioni suggests 2-3 days long. Gives everyone a chance to talk.

Obviously, ever organization has its own culture. Some of this is not practical for us. We won't do things exactly like he suggests. But it is interesting.

As it is, I think many organizations try to do their informative, tactical, strategic, and brainstorming all in one meeting. And that's too confusing.

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I am usually reading at least three books at any given time. I like to have one fiction, one general non-fiction, and one on religion or theology. You can determine which is from which category.

Here's what I'm reading these days:

• Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die - I think the title is very self-explanatory. I think anyone who ever has to communicate ideas (pastor, teacher, advertiser, parent, coach, etc.) should read this book. Made to Stick reminds me a lot of another book I like a lot, The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference.

• What Dreams May Come- So far, I've enjoyed everything I've read by Richard Matheson. Besides this one, I've read I Am Legend and The Beardless Warriors: A Novel of World War II. Dreams is a fanciful story of a man who dies, goes to "heaven" but misses his wife so much that he is willing to endure the torments of hell to be with her. This book does not convey a Christian understanding of life, death and the afterlife. But he has researched very thoroughly the views of other world religions which inform many of the trendy armchair philosophers of our time. Very romantic. Very interesting. Very full of rubbish.
  

• Faith and Film: A Guidebook for Leaders - Just trying to increase my understanding of film both as an artistic medium and as a conveyer of particular impressions and ideas.
  

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What is the difference between faith and wishful thinking? Someone said to me regarding a specific desired outcome to a problem, "let's trust God that this will happen."

Now that would have been good and pious if he'd meant, "I don't know what will happen, but I believe that God is good and He will work it all out for the best." But that is not what this person meant. The rest of his conversation made it clear that he was saying, "I want this to be resolved in this particular way. I will put my faith in God that he will resolve it in this very manner."

It's like someone saying, I have cancer and I am going to trust God to heal me. Or I want this thing so I'm going to pay for it, even though I can't afford it. I will trust God to make my ends meet for me.

Faith can only exist where there has first been a specific promise. If you can show me that God has promised unequivocally to heal you of your malady in this lifetime, then you can trust him for that. Otherwise, it is wishful thinking.

We can't use faith to excuse us from being responsible beings. God does not promise to pay your credit card bills or remove every disease in this lifetime. So many times people simply project their wants and desire on God and make him responsible for them. And then when things don't happen as hoped, they get hurt and upset with God.

Remember this: Faith requires a promise. You cannot get mad at God for not doing things which He has never promised to do.

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I've learned that computers do not like to drink coffee. I discovered this interesting fact after spilling coffee all over my laptop yesterday morning. It is now ... how do you say... on the fritz.

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After a busy morning filling in for our pastor, I flew out west for a week-long recruitment trip. Arrived in Phoenix Sunday evening. Went to the restaurant attached to the hotel and lo and behold, what did I see? They have rattlesnake on the menu. And let me tell you that rattlesnake does not taste like chicken. That is, unless you think chicken tastes slightly sweet, is slimy and chewy.

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I am always intrigued by the story from Genesis 32 of Jacob wrestling with the angel. Of course, this passage and Hosea 12 identify the mysterious stranger as the Lord God himself.

What does it mean to wrestle with God? Jacob was always wrestling with someone. Even in his mother's womb, he wrestled with his twin brother Esau.

What is remarkable is that Jacob refuses to release the angel until he grants him a blessing. What is it with Jacob and his obsession over getting blessed? Remember his crafty deception of his father, Isaac, to steal the blessing intended for Esau?

Jacob wrestled with God and lived to tell about it. Notice he didn't walk away without injury, however. Being in the intimate presence of the holy one has a crippling effect upon us. But in our hobbling, we become recipients of divine favor.

Interestingly, the lectionary our congregation uses aligns this Old Testament text with the healing of the Canaanite woman's daughter in Matthew 15. There was another example of someone grasping desperately for God, refusing to be discouraged, insisting humbly on being helped. Martin Luther said we should boldly expect God to honor his promises. And what precisely does God promise the sinner? Forgiveness. God gives the sinner the right to demand that God fulfill His own Word. That's the kind of firm confidence demonstrated by the woman who persisted in prayer despite Jesus' initial unfriendliness and Jacob putting God into a headlock.

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We went last night to our 11-year-old son's school musical. It was based on all those awesome Schoolhouse Rock ditties from the 70s. I used to enjoy those on Saturday mornings. Still remember so many of the lyrics from Conjunction Junction, I'm Only a Bill, Interplanet Janet, etc. It was great fun and the kids were beyond cute.

One thing struck me, however, when they sang the one on America being the great melting pot. I was reflecting on how politically incorrect that is today. You can tell that was written at least 30 years ago.

The favored notion today is multi-culturalism and NOT that we're a melting pot. The melting pot image says that people come here from all different backgrounds and blend together to make something new and wonderful. That's a cool image for America. But the politically correct view is not that our former cultural distinctives should be blurred to create a new and truly American culture. The newer view is that I am identified first by my native tribe and only secondly by being an American citizen.

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Actor and comedian Jim Carrey riffs on religion etc. here.

Notice the dry, withered, old canard, "I'm not religious, but spiritual."

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