Of Pilgrims and Plymouth Plantation

This year, I'm trying to immerse myself a little more in the roots of Thanksgiving (if Christmas can have a 2 month season, why can't Thanksgiving get a little more early press?). Therefore, I ordered a copy of Of Plymouth Plantation -- it's a very nice hardcover reprint of the 1909 translation to contemporary english. What could be better than the first hand history of a man who was actually there? That should tide my reading over for the next month or so.

However, I also saw this interesting article in Smithsonian magazine online. It's a pretty balanced article -- not a hagiography by any stretch. You might also be interested in Chuck Colson's article on Squanto, the Native American who befriended the Pilgrims. Or perhaps these articles from Christian History about the American Puritans.

Soli Deo Gloria
Russell

This I believe.....

Here's a great opportunity for you Eagle and Child readers.

Since April 2005, National Public Radio has been airing the "This I Believe" feature -- it consists of essays written by people from all walks of life. These essays are stories and rememberances of their deepest held core values. In NPR's own words "This I Believe is a national media project engaging people in writing, sharing, and discussing the core values and beliefs that guide their daily lives."

Based on the popular 1950's show hosted by Edward R. Murrow, This I Believe has garnered quite a bit of attention. The NPR site hosts over 17,000 essays, from both the 50's and today -- you can search through them. They provide a list of the top 20 most viewed essays. At the top is Penn Jillette's atheist manifesto. However, also in the top 20 is this charming essay about comfort through prayer.

One might wonder about the relevance of such a project today -- in the 1950's, the "common person" didn't have much of a voice; whereas today, a vast swath of our society has the capacity to create and distribute statements about life, meaning and personal interests. Indeed, so much content is being generated that many of us are living on information overload.

Even so, it seems that this is a realm where we as Christians are being asked for input, and it is a fine opportunity for us to respond. I'm encouraging Eagle and Child readers to work on a "this I believe" essay (and you bloggers -- pass the challenge along to your readers as well). Go read the tips on the NPR website and craft a statement. Also realize that your local NPR station might be doing the project locally (as is our WVXU here in Cincinnati).

When you've submitted your essay -- email me and let me know so that I can read your work. I'll get cracking on mine. Let's bear witness to our faith -- because we're being invited to tell our stories. As Peter tells us "...in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame." (I Pet 3:15-16). Let us not miss out on the call to do this with gentleness and respect. We've seen too much vilification and name calling during this political season -- let our words be seasoned with salt and abounding in light.

Looking forward to seeing what you write.
Soli Deo Gloria
Russell

What to do about upcoming elections

As a pastor, I'm generally pretty chary about sharing my political views. As near as I can recall, I've only written once about a specific public policy issue (a permit for a casino downtown) and never about candidates. This is mainly because I get two uneasy vibes from the general public (not from everyone, but this is a general sense): 1) they view pastors talking about specific political details with the same level of trust as they might view a used car salesman on the merits that '76 Volare that you just have to drive home today. 2) When pastors spend more time talking political policy than talking about Christ, they become pawns of political strategists rather than physicians of souls. (you may disagree with me on these two general senses -- but then I humbly ask, what is your inner response when you hear a pastor espousing political views with which you disagree. Do you immediately dismiss those views, or do you internally begin to challenge your own stances.)

For these reasons, I generally speak to big issues, without comment about particular items of legislation, policy, or lawmakers. I try to remind our congregation that God is not the sole province of any of the political parties.

However, I do remind my congregation that they as Christian citizens are called to be active in our political process. When Peter writes about submission to authority, he says "Be subject to for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good....Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor." (I pet 2:13-14, 16-17). Paul expresses similar sentiment in Romans 13:1-7 (even talking about the necessity of paying taxes that are due).

Now if the early Christians were called to submit to the governing authorities of the day, then it is logical to infer that we are too. However, we've been blessed to be born or naturalized into a democratic republic, a part of which means that submission to the authority implies at minimum a call to participate in the electoral process as informed voters.

Then I read articles like this one on voting habits of the American public. (Hat tip to Librarian's Internet Index for this one). According to this article only 1/3 of eligible voters actually make the effort to vote in every election. There's a full 22% of the eligible voting population that isn't even registered! The survey measured voting habits as compared to church going habits. Interestingly, weekly churchgoers were had the highest percentage of attending elections (39% vs 35% for monthly or less churchgoers and 31% for seldom or never); even so, there were still 38% of weekly churchgoers who responded that they seldom or never participate in elections!

Now I know that there are lots of ways to participate in society -- volunteering, local work, civic organizations, church work. We're called to be salt and light in many different spheres, and participating in elections is but one small way -- but based on what I see in I Peter and Romans, I believe that we have a responsibility to be informed participants in elections. We may have honest disagreements on the role of government in a democratic republic -- we may have differing opinions about particular policiy initiatives or candidates qualifications -- but we all, each of us who claims the name of Christ, has the responsibility to respect our wordly government by participating in the process.

One main part of this participation consists of being informed -- The Librarian Internet Index pointed me to this website of information -- but it is mostly geared toward California. Are there similar resources for other states? Please let me know. By being informed -- perhaps the most important things to be informed on are the local ballot initiatives in your area -- your vote carries much more weight locally -- and those issues are ones which will impact you and your community directly.

Remember -- election day is on Tuesday. Pray hard - not that your "team" wins, but that you and me and we all might have wisdom.

Soli Deo Gloria
Russell

Honor thy father and thy mother

Today is my birthday.

I can think of no more appropriate way to celebrate this day than by publicly doing that which none of us do enough:

Thanks Mom and Dad. Not only were you used by God to give me life, but by your character you shaped who I am.

Mom, you taught me what it is to approach the world with wonder and excitement, as though every day and experience were an adventure. You taught me to laugh, to think of other people, and to be spontaneous. From you I learned a love of the earth, a delight in the wonders of creation, a joy in the arts, and whatever conversational skills I have.

Dad, you showed me what it was to be strong, to be diligent, to get a job done. Anything I've learned about being a gentleman comes from your propriety, warmth, and graciousness. When I've had to show backbone in confrontation, it was your steel that gave me courage. You have taught me what it means to show respect and to give back to the community.

Both of you have taught me faith by example -- by your service, by quiet acts of kindness (yes, the stories come back to me, even though you did kindnesses behind the scenes), by your well-worn bibles and devotionals, and by the times I came across you reading them in the early morning or late at night. You taught me faith by making sure I was in church almost every Sunday and by letting me rub up against a lot of other people of faith. You gave me room to learn faith for myself, but kept Christ before me in so many ways.

You taught me about friendships through your loyalty and willingness to be there for your friends. You've shown me the value of hospitality -- opening our home to friends passing through and to friends for meals and fellowship. Your wide circle of friends -- all of them distinctive characters and individuals with color and opinion and verve -- has taught me that people are both fascinating and a little maddening, and we can enjoy friendship even in the face of difference.

You've taught me that the whole world is fascinating -- your wide array of interests has provided me a fullness of experience that I treasure. You came to every play or concert I performed in. You watched soccer games, track meets, and church basketball games. You bear patiently with my scatterbrainedness and you have been consistent encouragers.

And so, I want you to know that I am thankful for you -- and I am proud of you (hence the reason I put this on the blog -- for I want it publicly known that you have been very good parents). Today is my birthday -- and I thank you for your role in making me who I am.

I love you both,

Wheet - ting

Music Mission Kiev Photos

Dyah sent me some great music mission kiev photos -- and in the process, she set up a flickr page for all church photos. I'll be getting more info out about this later on the church webpage. In the meantime, check out these beauties that Dyah took!

Halloween -- some thoughts

I don't really have a lot to add to the Christian blogosphere's discussions about Halloween. There are two main camps that catch my attention: Halloween is evil (and thus should be shunned at all costs as a holiday belonging to Satan) and Halloween is a missional opportunity (while there are some disturbing elements, it is a great time to interact with neighbors in a friendly relaxed atmosphere).

I think Tim Challies nails it in his post:

Perhaps the greatest fallacy Christians believe about Halloween is that by refusing to participate in the day we are somehow taking a stand against Satan. And second to that, is that participation in the day is an endorsement of Satan and his evil holidays. The truth is that Halloween is not much different from any other day in this world where, at least for the time being, every day is Satan's day and a celebration of him and his power. A member of the discussion discussion list wrote the following last year around this time: "Yeah... I've heard all of the 'pagan' reasons Christians should avoid Halloween. The question is whether we are actually participating in Samhain when we participate in Halloween? Who or what makes the 'Witch's League of Public Awareness' the definers of what Halloween is, either now or historically? Such a connection between Samhain and my daughter as a ladybug or my son as a Bengals Boy is highly dubious." And it is highly dubious at best.

Rob Wilkerson has a thoughtful critique however of the horror element that has really creeped into Halloween celebration the past 20 years. He writes about contemporary horror/splatter films:

My son asked me yesterday as we were shopping together why we don't watch movies like that. As with me at his age, they produced a certain boyish fascination that comes with a beloved naievete whose bliss is most welcome at ten years old. I simply responded with one answer: "If you were watching someone torture your little brothers or sister would you want someone to pay to watch it and laugh at it and then walk away commenting to a newspaper that they enjoyed it?" He cringed with justifiable horror as he should have. It's all of the sudden different when it's someone you know.

I wrestled with this a little bit back in July in the A Call for Sanity Pleasepost.

I'm not sure that Halloween has such direct links to satanism as it does to consumerism. I've been reading cultural histories of Halloween -- written by real scholars who look at real primary sources. Most interesting has been Death Makes a Holiday by David Skal. Skal shows that the roots of Halloween are in many different holidays (such as Guy Fawkes day) -- the connections to Samhain in Ireland are tenuous at best. Ultimately, Skal suggests, Halloween is a uniquely American holiday. In some ways, Halloween becomes what we make of it.

I don't have a word from the Lord on this -- I don't have authoritative teaching. However, I see nothing wrong with children playing dress up in appropriate outfits and going door to door in a neighborly attempt to ask for candy. I am, however creeped out by haunted houses, glorification of the macabre, and fascination with the occult. I'm disturbed that adult Halloween parties are opportunities for grown women to parade themselves as tramps -- and I'm bothered that Halloween has become an excuse in some urban areas to indulge in yet another freewheeling party.

But I'm still passing out candy to kids tonight....
what about you?
Excelsior
Russell

The Ukrainian Invasion has passed -- thoughts on Music Mission Kiev 2006

Posting was light last week because we were preparing for the Ukrainian invasion of Cincinnati. This weekend, we hosted Music Mission Kiev in two concerts for their 2006 eastern US tour. We've been preparingg for a year -- arranging for housing, raising money, selling tickets, prepping advertising, working with other churches, contacing media sources, and prepping our sanctuary (we had to move two rows of pews and all our very heavy pulpit furniture).

They provided two stunning, simply stunning concerts -- standing ovations at both intermission and conclusion. I've been fielding calls and emails all day from people who told me the concerts brought tears to their eyes. I've been spending all day basking in the after-glow of the glory of the weekend -- it's kind of a remnant of God in his common grace touching our hearts through created beauty (see my previous post on The Artist and the Jock for a more extended reflection on this).

As I process this weekend's experience, I wanted to share a few stories with you from the concerts:

First were obvious God moment: In Saturday night's concert, a beautiful late 50s blonde woman came forward, red shawl draped daringly around her shoulders, and sang a lovely traditional Ukrainian song. Her eyes were radiant and she was animated. Meanwhile, sitting next to me and Tammy was a young twentysomething man, tears streaming down his reddened cheeks into his ample beard. At the end of the song, the woman put her fingertips to her mouth and blew them toward the young man. I leaned over to look again at his face as the crowed thundered applause. His wife leaned from his other side to say to me "that was his mother". At intermission, we spoke -- he hasn't seen his mother since the last time Music Mission Kiev came to Cincinnati -- and his wife had never met her mother in law. Blessedly, the director of the Orchestra, Roger McMurrin, gave this lovely lady the next day off so she could spend it with her son.

Then there was the appreciation of the performers. I love hearing our church people being affirmed -- and they received tons of affirmation. Our dear friend Mary Dillon coached our kitchen co-ordinators on what kinds of meals would be traditional Ukrainian meals. Our kitchen volunteers pulled out all the stops, and as our Ukrainian friends were leaving, I had more than one person tell me that our meals were the best meals they had on the entire tour. Mary, when she came into the dining hall last night to check on everyone, received enthusiastic applause for her work. Our kitchen team did a great work.

Meanwhile our facility got rave reviews as well -- the musicians told us that acoustically, ours was one of the best venues they've ever performed in on tour. They sang and played their hearts out, in part because they knew that with our acoustics they would sound great. And believe me, they did.

The people who housed musicians came talking about the host and hostess gifts that they recieved and the warmth with which our Ukrainian friends received hospitality. I delighted in seeing one of our dignified gentlemen in church come to the Sunday concert with a scarf sized Ukrainian flag draped about his neck. When I asked him about it, he told me that the performer that he and his wife hosted gave it to him, and he could think of no better way of honoring the gift than by wearing it with pride to show his appreciation to her.

Then there were the stories. Roger spoke in both concerts about the Mission's work with widows and orphans -- he told us about their orphan ministry taking on 100 new children. He told us how they provide food for over 500 widows each month. He drew an audible gasp on Saturday night when he told us of their medical work -- that they could arrange for cataract surgery for a blind widow for only $50.

Our team is already talking about arranging a group to go over to Kiev, perhaps in summer of 2007.

The Spirit moved mightily in and among our people this weekend. I pray that the blessing will continue.

Soli Deo Gloria

Russell

Chicago Trip -- the Pirate Queen

Tammy told me she had a surprise for me. She gets this little giggly grin when she has surprises, and then inevitably comes the question "Do you want to know what it is?" My customary response is "Wouldn't that spoil the effect of the surprise?" -- this is something of a litany in our house -- much like "The Lord be with you" "And also with you"

Usually, I wind up being told about the surprise -- and this time was no exception. Tammy told me that on our trip to Chicago we would be going to see a new musical from the creators of Les Miserables, the musical.

Some background. When my parents took me to New York in the 11th grade, all I wanted to do was see theatre (I was very involved in theatre at that time -- eomehow they managed to make me also see the United Nations, the Met Museum, and Central Park -- but they also took me to see lots of great theater on Broadway -- I have great parents). Somehow, they had gotten us front row tickets for a Boublil and Schoenberg's adaptation of Les Miserables, which in 1988 was still a relatively new production. Set in post-revolutionary france, it is the story of Jean Valjean, a fugitive from an the law who is trying to rebuild his life. Valjean finds God and dedicates himself to trying to be a good decent person -- he and his adopted daughter are pursued by the relentless Inspector Javert and hounded by the villanous con-man and extortionist Thenardier. All these characters get caught in the curious blend of idealism and revolt and revolution in mid 1800s Paris. The musical is basically a rock opera -- big and splashy with lots of passion, energy, gunfire, big stages, loves lost, deeds of nobility, betrayal, reconciliation, and a ripping good ending that hints at the hope of resurrection and reconciliation in the world beyond. The villans were complex and compelling. And the heroes were noble and strong. It was the perfect musical for a Lord of the Rings loving 17 year old.

I memorized the soundtrack. I'd regularly sing the whole thing on drives from college back home. I even got a ticket once for running a traffic light while I was immersed in singing along with the soundtrack. The musical inspired me to slog through Victor Hugo's immense tome (hundreds of richly detailed pages -- each one of them a sermon -- well worth the investment of time) and to enjoy the Liam Neeson/Jeffery Rush portrayals in the 1998 version of the film (IMDB lists 19 different film versions -- one as far back as 1917 -- read the wikipedia article on Les Miserables -- it's had huge cultural impact). I joined PBS to receive the complementary VCR tape of the 10th anniversary concert featuring the "all star cast".

Get the idea? I kind of liked the musical. (did I really talk about "a bit excessive" in my last post?)

Now, put yourself back into my chair 4 weeks ago when Tammy told me that we were seeing a new musical from the same collaborators who adapted Les Miserables to stage. I was thrilled. I went straight to the website for, this musical, titled The Pirate Queen -- it looked good. Ireland, pirates, celtic music, dance, swordfighting. I couldn't wait.

So after a great meal of authentic Chicago pizza, we settled into our seats at the Cadillac Palace Theatre. We thrilled to the swelling music of the overture. And we let the story begin. It's the story of Grace O'Malley, a contemporary of Queen Elizabeth. Both Grace and Elizabeth grow up in the shadow of their fathers who were leaders of their respective peoples. Grace grows up with love and affection and affirmation -- and she learns that leadership comes with hard choices for the good of the community. Elizabeth's father, Henry VIII is most conspicuous in his absence -- she says at her coronation that she'll be just like him as a ruler. And she's stern and harsh, especially against these upstart pirates in Ireland. As these two strong women set themselves against each other, there is bloodshed, violence, and lots of stylized stage swordfighting. The play comes to a climactic resolution when the two women meet face to face and speak as woman to woman, rather than as ruler to ruler. They reach an understanding and banish the scheming courtier who was playing the conflict to his advantage.

The worst I can say about this is that it's a very good show -- lots of great Irish dancing -- outstanding performances (the villans, while well played, were written rather flat -- I saw no evidence of the streak of nobility that made inspector Javert so compelling, nor of the ruthless cleverness of Thenardier). Memorable songs and a stunning set/costume design guarantee that this will be an enjoyable show. But it's not Les Miz.

Nor could it ever be. How could anything compare to the mythic proportions that show took on in my mind. It would be unfair to compare the two. I saw Les Miz when I was an impressionable 17 year old filled with the starry eyed dreams of youth. I read the same story now, and I no longer identify with the herioic young Marius. I cherish the play for the place it held in my life a decade ago. Just like aging baby boomers who cherish Woodstock (and believe me, I really just don't get that), so have I treated Les Miz. Therefore The Pirate Queen could never fill that role for me.

But it might some day for my daughters.....

Like I said, I keyed into the part of the story being about fathers and daughters. This show features strong women who are heroes. Who knows.....

Excelsior
Russell