Category: General

Amen, Brother

[Seth Godin:](http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2006/08/marketing_moral.html)

> I have no standing to sit here and tell you that it’s wrong for you to market cigarettes or SUVs, vodka or other habit-forming drugs. What we do need to realize, though, is that it’s our choice and our responsibility. As marketers, we have the power to change things, and the way we use that power is our responsibility–not the market’s, not our boss’s. Ours.

If you don’t get why this is important, you need to realize that the task of Christian evangelism is essentially a task of marketing.

The Valerie and Kyle Show

We are currently in Massillon, Ohio, visiting with Valerie’s aunt and uncle, and it has been a lovely experience. We decided to skip town for a week and these were the nearest relatives who were willing to put us up. Valerie’s aunt Cindy owns a beauty salon called Chrysalis, and is the perpetrator of Valerie’s new haircut. She’s one of the best hairdressers I have ever met. (Incidentally, she cut my hair before our wedding, saying “we want it to look like you got this cut two weeks ago…”) Valerie’s uncle Dean owns a Christian bookstore, [The Light](http://myspace.com/thelightcbam).

Er, sort of. Continue reading “The Valerie and Kyle Show”

Community

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately about the purpose and importance of the church. I’ve been coming to the conclusion that modern individualism has caused us to totally misunderstand its purpose.

Most western Christians seem to think that their purpose in life, once they are part of the church, is to improve in Christian maturity and holiness until they die. Thus you get sayings like, “this life is just a practice run,” or “this life is just preparation for the next.” With this understanding, the purpose of the church is to help us, as individuals, grow in our Christian walk. The purpose of everything is my personal testimony when I die and go to heaven.

I’m coming around to the position that this is entirely backwards from what Christ intended. Continue reading “Community”

The Appeal of the Clerical Collar

Anthony Esolen, who writes for [Touchstone Magazine](http://merecomments.typepad.com/merecomments/2006/08/man_of_god.html), has a post up promoting the ideal that ministers should set themselves apart from the common man.

> Ministers who want to be jus’ folks should take heed. God has singled you out, you men of God. I accept the priesthood of all believers; but I think that God has marked you with the sign of Melchizedek in a way that he has not marked me. Then do not try to efface that sign. I suppose it is a burden to you. Does it leave splinters in your shoulder? Does it bow your back and make your legs tremble for weariness? You cannot have expected otherwise. But it does not matter whether you would prefer to be my pal, the buddy at the card table, somebody just like me. You are no longer just like me. Pals I already have, and plenty. I don’t need any more of them. I need you: the spiritual father, the minister, the man of God.

I’m not sure what to make of this kind of perspective. Esolen is from a very different tradition than I am, and it’s doubtful that I’ll ever be wearing robes and clerical collars, but this “clothes make the man” sort of argument has some intrigue to it for me. Continue reading “The Appeal of the Clerical Collar”

Speaking in Tongues

This sermon first delivered at Pigeon Cove Chapel in Rockport, Mass, on August 20, 2006

Reading: 1 Corinthians 14:1-25

You may not be aware of it, but there is one major distinction between Valerie and me. Valerie is a milk guzzler. I like milk. I’m fond of milk, but I don’t really drink a lot of it. I like to put it *in* things. A little milk in my coffee. Some milk in my cereal… But I can almost never drink the stuff straight. If I’m going to drink a glass of milk, I have to put something in it… like Ovaltine. I love Ovaltine. Valerie just likes the taste of milk. She can just pour herself a whole glass of milk and just… drink it.

I also like to think that I’m pretty good with words. Words are my tool of choice in almost any situation. But these two basic realities came into conflict a few years ago, before Valerie and I were married. It was a pretty normal situation, really. She was with me at my apartment, sitting with a glass of milk. I was heading in the general vicinity of the kitchen, so she asked me to take her glass with me. The only problem was that her glass was still mostly full. The solution was simple: She tipped her head back, and finished off the glass – the entire thing – in a single pass.

I was appalled. The thought of drinking that much milk in on sitting was nearly nauseating to me. I decided I had to do something. I had to make a stand. Continue reading “Speaking in Tongues”

Developmetal Assets and the Community

I’m not dead, honest. Tomorrow is my last day at the Health Department so I’ve been busily finishing up a lot of stuff for my presentations next week about what I’ve been doing here this summer.

For those of you who don’t know (and I’m sure that might be most of you since I haven’t written anything in at least a month), this summer I’ve been working on a project looking at external developmental assets for the youth population of Gloucester. “What in the world is that?” I hear you ask in your heads, well I’ll tell you. Continue reading “Developmetal Assets and the Community”

Emergence

*This is old. I found it in my archives, unpublished, and I was loathe to delete it, though it seems impossible to complete at this future date. I’ve since come to some conclusions about the Emergent movment, but to say everything right would require an article far too long for me to complete with my current time costraints. Nevertheless, I thought I’d share this “as is” for you consideration.*

“Hey look at that.” I pointed at a bumper sticker on the SUV next to us.

“Yeah? What about it?” Valerie was obviously not impressed.

“It says, ‘I’m proud of my cub scout’ on a bumper sticker!”

“OK. So what?”

“Well, if they’re so proud of their son, how come it’s on a bumper sticker?”

“Because they’re proud of him.” Continue reading “Emergence”

Peer Reviewed

As I was saying, I’m required by my class to read 1500 pages in addition to the assigned text, so I’ve been browsing the academic archives for articles relevant to pastoral counseling.

Be forewarned: Stay away from the Journal of Pastoral Counseling. It gives a whole new meaning to the concept of Peer Review. Apparently, the question to consider is ever “who are the peers?”

Just a few salient quotes:

> Secularization is based on fact and therefore it will inevitably dismiss beliefs that cannot be proven.
*From: “Psycholgy Versus Religion” (2001)*

Continue reading “Peer Reviewed”