Pop Culture Roundup

I'd hoped to finish Home this week, but I still have about 100 pages to go. Lately, Ames' family has been present more, with Jack wanting to play catch with Robby and Rev. Ames giving Jack lots of disapproving looks. Since this is from Glory's point of view, there is only interaction between Jack and Ames when the Ameses visit the Boughtons, although we get more of Jack's side. In particular, we discover that Jack really wants to make an effort to win Ames' approval. He's a much more sympathetic character in this book. Or at least is sympathetic more throughout.

The week of The Game, ESPNClassic always shows a handful of past games. The very first that they showed this year was the 1969 game, which was Bo's first. With this year being the 40th anniversary of that game, I made it a point to sit down and watch. Boy am I glad Michigan doesn't do the helmet sticker thing any more. Later in the day, the 1995 game was on, during which Biakabatuka ran all over the Buckeyes (also, it was Carr's first Game after Moeller had to abruptly be let go). In both games, Ohio State came to the Big House as the overwhelming favorite, and Michigan was able to do a bunch of stuff that caught them off-guard and led to convincing wins. It gives me hope that that sort of thing is at least possible. Possible this year? I'm trying not to let my hopes get too high.

Internet Monk has an interview up with Mike Mercer, who is a hospice chaplain. The main concern of the interview is a model--or lack thereof--of pastoral care for the dying and grieving in evangelical churches. Even with that focus, I found it informative for "mainline/oldline" types as well because many of the concerns and things to be improved in our traditions are actually similar, in my experience. So go check it out.

Here's the video for "You and Me" by Dave Matthews Band, which has a cute little concept to it. I suppose that the main reason I post it is due to my surprise at the inclusion of Tim Reynolds, Jeff Coffin, and Rashawn Ross, who have been touring members and who all contributed to Big Whiskey, but whom I didn't think were permanent members. Their inclusion in this seems to give a strong indication that they're at least moving in that direction. Or not.


Dave Matthews Band - You & Me (Official Music Video) - Click here for another funny movie.

Between Homes

I hate moving. Not counting college and the time my family had to move back and forth after a house flood, this will be my 10th time moving. And I've hated it every time.

I hate tracking down boxes. I hate scheduling movers and/or renting a truck. I hate the meticulous process of going through all my crap and packing it (although there's something cathartic about throwing stuff out). I hate driving back and forth between the old place and the new place. I hate thinking I have everything packed up and then discovering that there's still so much left.

When we moved here from St. Louis, I discovered something new that I hate about moving. I've probably hated it all along, but I never picked up on it until that time.

I hate the feeling of being between homes.

When you pack up all your stuff, there are decisions to be made. What are the essentials that need to be left out until the last moment we leave this house? What pots and pans do we still need to cook with? How many sets of clothes to wear? What will Coffeeson need between now and then? Those items deemed essential are all that remain.

Everything else is temporarily removed from your active life. Pictures get taken down. Other items of entertainment stored away. And before long, you're left with stacks of boxes lined up like cardboard gravestones, memorials to a place that used to feel much warmer and much more inviting. For as long as it takes to pack, to finalize plans, and to move everything to the new place, home becomes hard to define. The current house becomes just a house. The new place hasn't really been made a home yet.

I clearly recall the despair that crept in the last time we moved. Our apartment had been packed and most of our stuff was already in transit to Ohio. All that was left was a TV on top of a box, our desktop computer set up on the floor, our sleeping arrangements a couple blankets with no mattress or padding. Coffeewife still had to work a few final shifts, so it was mostly me, our cat, and empty, echoing rooms. This was our life for only a couple days, but it was long enough to feel displaced without changing locations.

Fortunately, this move will go much quicker, and be much less lonely. We're only moving a few miles down the road, and there will be plenty of people around to help, so that feeling of displacement may not be as pronounced.

But It's there. It's always there. Our walls are becoming more bare, and we've been making decisions about essentials. We have to dodge around boxes to get from one room to another. The sense of home is disappearing, albeit more slowly.

I look forward to creating a home in our new place. I look forward to discovering what it will entail; how best to make it our own.

But this time in between homes is awful. As many times as I've moved and will move, I'll never get used to it.

Still All In.

"Never mind. Brown fumbled it. They suck today."

This was one of many texts sent to me by my brother during this year's Michigan-Penn State game. It coincided with my church's swiss steak dinner, so I needed to rely on him for updates. But some variation of it could have been texted during the second half of the Illinois game. Or the second half of Purdue. Or the second half of Wisconsin.

Since Michigan's 4-0 start in September, which included an instantly classic win over Notre Dame, they've gone 1-6. That one win was a blowout against an extra-sweet cupcake team, which was an enjoyable Saturday spent at the Big House, but we knew the outcome back when the game was scheduled.

But back to the Notre Dame game. After that win, the fanbase began licking its lips for what this season could possibly bring. There began talk of going 8-4 or 9-3 and a New Year's bowl. Their 3-9 record from the previous season was becoming more and more of a distant memory.

Then they started losing. They lost close games to Sparty and Iowa, but then just fell apart four weeks in a row.

And as early as the Iowa loss, some different talk began. It was talk about how RichRod probably can't get it done after all. More and more people began calling for his head. Back-to-back losses to teams they probably should've beaten didn't help. This talk has persisted up to this point, and there is likely a long year of it ahead leading up to next season.

I'm a regular reader of MGoBlog, which has provided a voice of sanity in the midst of the chaos. The site has a forum, which has featured plenty of "Fire RichRod" rhetoric, but there have been more level-headed opinions offered by Brian (the site's owner) and others, including this one that I made a point to bookmark and will probably read repeatedly over the next nine months. The last couple paragraphs are the ones that give me most hope:

I want to end with just a glimpse of what a more TL;DR answer would be to the question I see spread by some persistently loud posters around here dismayed at Rodriguez and wondering where the accomplishments are. Sink on these numbers, with all rankings per Rivals.

In 2005-07, Michigan brought in 23 five/four star players. Only 13 remain with the program. Eleven of those recruits came from the 2005 class, so that's just 12 five/four star recruits in our jr/sr classes right now.

In 2008-2009, the two seasons where Rodriguez had to get them to sign on the dotted line, Michigan brought in 31 five/four star recruits, with 26 still on the roster that are either sophomore, redshirt freshmen, freshmen or redshirting.

Rodriguez is stockpiling talent. Replinishing the lifeblood of a program that had received guru approvals in the past thanks in large part to brand name alone. It might not be a very savvy or seasoned team right now. I would even grant that it's not a very well coached team right now, either. But, the program has at least twice as much talent in the underclassmen ranks as it does in the upperclassmen ranks. These kids intend on being here for awhile. I hope the coach that brought him here gets the same chance.

This year's Michigan team is the youngest in the Big Ten. They're starting mostly freshmen, sophomores, and walk-ons. But as this poster notes, many of the players that RichRod has signed are highly-touted, and most of them haven't seen the field yet. It'll be a couple more years before this team matures, and thus fans need to learn a little patience. Has RichRod made some questionable decisions during games? Sure. After the Illinois game I wrote an entry that'll remain unposted blasting those sorts of things.

I'm not really going to write much about The Game here. I'd love to see a win, especially since Ohio State will be wearing their cutesy little throwback uniforms on Michigan's field. I'd love to see karma dictate the outcome, but I also thought that Bo's death would help determine the outcome in 2006, and that Henne and Hart would atone for Appalachian State in 2007. Apparently the 1969 Michigan team (read: Bo's first team who upset the Buckeyes that year) will be in attendance, so one would like to think that those sorts of "intangible" things would help.

I no longer have any illusions about that sort of thing. Michigan is young, they're relying on freshman QBs, their defense has no depth and couldn't stop Illinois. A loss would still be upsetting, but not surprising.

But long-term, Michigan's future is bright if fans are able to look at the situation rationally.

I'm still All In. I still can do no other.

Go Blue.

Quotable

From Jaroslav Pelikan:

"Tradition is the living faith of the dead, traditionalism is the dead faith of the living."

HT to Songbird.

Video-Heavy Pop Culture Roundup

I continue to read Home, but was glad to read 50 pages or so yesterday. That did a lot for me getting into the book more. Robinson is beginning to intersperse snippets of theology, mostly as Jack and Glory converse. The two muse on what a soul is and whether one can help save another. It's nothing too heavy, which would have weighed down the narrative, and since this isn't theology thinly masked as story like The Shack, that's all the deeper Robinson is going to take it. Fine by me. Interestingly, the relationship between Jack and his father hasn't been dealt with too much. There are small scenes here and there, but then the father gets tired and wants to go back to bed. I'd expected more interaction from those two.

I've finished Keating, which wasn't hard. In the final chapter, he offers the briefest of treatments to a handful of spiritual practices, and not all of them are necessarily practices: he mentions lectio devina, self-differentiation, staying away from groupthink, and a few others. I may give Keating another shot with another book someday, but maybe not any time soon.

Coffeewife and I watched a little bit of the Country Music Awards this past week. Why? Dunno. But we caught Darius Rucker's performance and Taylor Swift made a joke about Kanye and some other stuff. I've actually become fairly appreciative of country music the past few years, apart from the overly whiny stuff and Toby Keith. But then I found out the next morning that Dave Matthews had made an appearance to duet with Kenny Chesney on his song "I'm Alive." I didn't know that they'd even recorded this song together. So naturally I had to track down the Youtube:



This week I also learned of a DVD coming out entitled "The Rise and Fall of Five Iron Frenzy." Here's a teaser trailer that I found for that:



And the United Church of Christ recently produced a new video explaining our special denominational offering, Our Church's Wider Mission, which was debuted at General Synod, showed up at our Association meeting, and has been making its way around my Facebook friends. So now you have the option of watching it.

Sean Hannity's Epic FAIL

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Sean Hannity Uses Glenn Beck's Protest Footage
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

Did I mention...

...that the final walk-through is this Friday?

And that we close next Wednesday, at which point we will be handed keys?

And that we should have electricity, cable, phone, and security all by Thanksgiving week?

And that we'll be moving all our stuff that same week?

And that despite that, we're still planning to host Thanksgiving?

Well...there you go.

Woo!

Maybe She Was on to Something

Scene: The greeting line after worship yesterday.

An older woman walks up to the pastor and says, "That was a really good sermon!"

The pastor half-jokingly responds, "Yeah, for once!"

The woman quickly replies, "Oh no, I like a lot of them! I want a book of them!"

For a couple years now, I've toyed with the idea of a book project. Not coincidentally, it didn't really pop into my head until after I started blogging. This was due in large part to books generated by the RevGalBlogPals and RealLivePreacher, which of course were direct products of their blogging ventures.

So I started with a similar idea, but I've never been convinced that I have enough quality entries even from nearly five years of blogging to create a collection of "greatest hits" essays like RLP. I've tried to make this blog about that kind of serious content before, and it's just never worked out.

One idea that I've had more recently, however, is a collection of sermons from my first five years of ministry. It would be mostly for my church as a "thank you" of sorts, but certainly open to anyone else as well. My church member's comment yesterday reinforced the idea for me. And my upcoming sabbatical would provide the perfect opportunity to do all the compiling, formatting, and submitting.

Two qualifiers:

1. I have no illusions of making any money off of this. Only well-known preachers could even dream of a collection of sermons producing a profit. And even then, do anyone other than other preachers and the author's church members buy them?
2. I also have no illusions of this project being accepted by a real publisher. It'll be a self-published deal, and I'm okay with that. I love having total creative control, anyway.

More details about this to follow for any blog readers interested. Since I'm sharing the news here, it'd be silly for me to withhold the final project from you. This blog is semi-anonymous and all, but it's mostly people who know me who read it anyway.

And so it begins, I think. Will there be a more POC-specific book down the road? I think so. I'm thinking of more of a spirituality-specific focus...maybe a devotional book, but with my own twist. But those thoughts aren't fully formed yet.

Pop Culture Roundup

I've continued to read Home, though still slowly. I passed page 100 recently, and we've gotten hints of Jack's past actions and current concerns, thought they've been subtle. It is still too early in the story for that to be developed too much. Again, an afternoon in a coffeeshop may really get me into this book.

I've picked up Invitation to Love once again, now that my book study group has discussed the previously assigned chapters. The book is only 138 pages long, so I expect to be finished with it in the next week or so. Keating provides his own interpretation of the Beatitudes from Matthew, which he totally reads the monastic life back into. For instance, he takes "blessed are the poor in spirit" to mean that those who are not only poor, but who have consciously chosen to leave possessions "as God or others require," and instead place their trust in God, then they will be blessed. That's such a monk-ish interpretation. There are ways to infer from his other teachings about wealth that Jesus means such a thing, but considering all the time he spent with the downtrodden and outcasts, maybe the "poor in spirit" means the "poor in spirit," without a vow of poverty read back into it.

This year's live Ghost Hunters sucked. In years past, the SyFy network would set aside a 6-8 hour block of time on Halloween to follow the team around, with an online component for viewers to look at live camera feeds in rooms they weren't necessarily investigating at the moment. The idea with the internet was that people could write in if they caught a glimpse of something. So this year, I sat down to watch this live show, only to find that SyFy was counting down the five scariest GH episodes, with updates on the live investigation during commercial breaks. But people could still sit in front of their computers for 6-8 hours and watch the camera feeds. It was an incredibly lame, incredibly disappointing Halloween, and it didn't help that Michigan got blown out by freaking Illinois earlier in the day.

This Sunday's sermon is brought to you in part by Dave Matthews Band's "Funny the Way It Is." The official video for the song is a little odd, so I found a live performance instead:

Local Church Ministries Told to Take Some Cues from Emerging Church

Rev. Steve Sterner, Executive Minister for Local Church Ministries for the United Church of Christ, reported to the board that "existing churches" could stand to learn some things from "emerging churches:"

In his report to the UCC's Local Church Ministries board Oct. 23, the Rev. Steve Sterner looked back on two years as LCM's Executive Minister and charted a future for relationships with local congregations that serve two expressions of the church: "existing" and "emergent" churches.

"The Existing Church is far and away the largest partner in our mission from a numerical perspective," Sterner said. He expressed that the existing church:

is interested in perpetuating where it is, or where its memory is.
has members. Membership requirements are few.
supports the wider church out of historic obligation.
looks to the denomination for resources for its life.
has lots of committees that focus on programs.
is often pastor- or program-driven.
draws its identity from historic denominational theology and practices.
sees technology as a tool to be used.

Local Church Ministries will continue to take "the existing church" seriously as its partner and will respond to its needs, Sterner said. "Some existing churches," however, "are also increasingly stepping into elements of emerging churches," and understanding the difference is a key to the renewal of any congregation. He said the emerging church:

is interested in moving to where its vision is.
is mission driven.
has less interest in structure and more in relational communities.
draws its identity from multiple connections and partnerships.
has "disciples" rather than "members." There are expectations for being a disciple.
doesn't only "use" technology, but sees technology as part of its ethos.
is drawn to networks and relationships more than historical ties.

"I can't say this strongly enough: these are to some extent characterizations to make a point," Sterner said. "These are not criticisms. They are descriptions. These are only examples from a long list of descriptive possibilities."

Sterner said that LCM needs "to be attentive to both of these churches—new and emerging. We need to balance our staffing and our budget in appropriate ways in support of both." Increasingly, though, "the scales will be tilting to the emerging church" as new congregations grow and established congregations renew their life and become more like "emergent" churches.

People even in "existing churches" may look at this and say, "Well, duh," but the sorts of things that Rev. Sterner is talking about most likely will entail a major overhaul of a church's thinking and culture. For instance, many may argue that they are being faithful disciples, but every description that they provide for what constitutes discipleship relates to their involvement as a church member.

Rev. Sterner is also describing a post-denominational reality, where churches are identifying more and more with multiple networks and communities.

I think it's very important for the UCC to be talking about this at the national level. Continuing to be honest with ourselves about what truly works and what doesn't, what will inspire discipleship and what will just be propping up the institution, will help us face the future with our mind on transformation rather than survival. This includes the denomination as a whole and not just local churches.