somber celebration...?

"I thank God for my life
And for the stars and stripes
May freedom forever fly, let it ring

Salute the ones who died
The ones that gave their lives
So we don't have to sacrifice
All the things we love

Like our chicken fried
Cold beer on a Friday night
A pair of jeans that fit just right
And the radio up..."
(The Zac Brown Band, Chicken Fried)

I was thinking about how strange we Americans can be... having a holiday like "Memorial Day"... one that is meant to be a day to honor the brave men and women who paid the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom that we commemorate by... BBQ's and Beer, maybe a little bit of baseball (or basketball... go Cavs!)...

Just as I was about to comment to a co-worker the apparent disconnect... the seemingly irreverent way we have of celebrating what (I was then thinking) should be one of our more somber days... the lines (above) from the song Chicken Fried popped into my head...

Attitude: Adjusted.

The service-people who died for our country... probably wouldn't have it any other way... their deaths were not so we could sit around and mourn their passing... or our own loss... their lives were given that we might enjoy the freedoms they were protecting... and what better way to honor them than by doing just that?

So weather you have made the ultimate sacrifice... or something as small as your best friend's wedding... to defend my freedom and the values of this nation... thank you!

won't you be, won't you be... authentic

Sometime ago, the cable network A&E ran an episode of their Biography series dedicated to Fred "Mister" Rogers. It was an interesting program that featured a number of interviews with Rogers, his family, and many of the people who had various opportunities to work with him over his long career. One of those colleagues was LaVar Burton. Many remember Burton from his work as Kunta Kinte in the ABC mini-series Roots, others as Lt. Geordi LaForge from Star Trek: The Next Generation. He is probably most universally known as the host of the PBS program, Reading Rainbow. It was that particular show which brought him into the same circles as Mr. Rogers.

Burton expressed, in his Biography interview, that his first reaction to meeting Fred Rogers was surprise.

He wasn't surprised by a missed place curse word, or an off-color joke. LeVar Burton was surprised by the fact that Fred Rogers and "Mister Rogers" were the same person. He had not expected that the fictionalized character would be such an accurate portrayal of the real man.

The ability to be who one is, all of the time, is truly a gift. Think about it.... how free would you feel if you always were the character people believed you to be? Never having to think up a cover story... never really having to explain yourself... where you were... who you were with...

Sounds liberating, doesn't it?

I would love for others to say that I was that authentic of a person... that they felt everything I did was not driven by ulterior motives, but by a desire to show myself for who I am... for who Christ has made me...

THAT would be one of the highest compliments, I think, I could be paid...

(Of course, all of this reminds me of one of my favorite quotes from Mark Twain:
"If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything.")

trying to be profound...

Part of the reason I don't blog, or write, as much as an aspiring writer/preacher should is because I struggle with the idea that what I have to say needs to be crafted just so... and that I am incapable of conveying my thoughts in a way that maximizes impact, yet minimizes the opportunity for misinterpretation. I have started literally hundreds of blog posts... bought countless paper journals... and scribbled endless notes and questions in the margins of more than one Bible (each, a different translation)... all in an effort to say something worth saying...

In my life, I don't seem to have this problem... I live my life as an exercise in free-association, or stream-of-consciousness... I also seem to not have a working valve between my brain and my mouth...

Yet... when I sit with pen in hand, or at a computer keyboard... my obsessive self-editing... self-censoring... prevents me from ever hitting the "submit" or "save" button...

It seems I work in reverse... I stutter when the material is prepared ahead of time... when I just "go with the flow"... I seem to have little trouble communicating...

Now... I'm at the place where I'm wondering if I have let something go "unsaid" (at least, in a recorded manner) something profound, all in my quest to say something... profound...

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lamentation...

One of the podcasted preachers I listen to has spent this lent leading his people through the book of Lamentations. Each Sunday, a different chapter has been highlighted, with the longer third chapter taking up 2 Sundays. I have joined in this more fully by reading a chapter of the book each day (with the exception of Sundays) during this season, which means that today I read that third chapter for the eighth time since Ash Wednesday.

Lamentations has an interesting structure. The first 2 chapters are each 22 line acrostic poems, as is the fourth, with the fifth mimicing the form in its 22 lines. The third is a 66 line poem that breaks the typical acrostic style, but has a repetitious nature that would have helped the Hebrews in their oral tradition. This symetrical structure has also led me to believe that this book, as a whole, is a chiasm. In a chiastic structure, often times, the center of the symetry is the main point. The center of this book is this:

"31 For the Lord will not cast off forever,

32 but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion

according to the abundance of his steadfast love;

33 for he does not willingly afflict

or grieve the children of men.

34 To crush underfoot

all the prisoners of the earth,

35 to deny a man justice

in the presence of the Most High,

36 to subvert a man in his lawsuit,

the Lord does not approve."

Lamentations 3:31-36 (ESV)

So if these 6 verses, the exact center of the book, is the focus of what Lamentations is trying to communicate, what does it tell us? I think that these 2 central stanzas tell us 2 central ideas about the character of God: He is faithful and He is just.

I think that these are 2 very important things that are true of God, and that we need to rememeber during trying times (economy, anyone?) and that is my major takeaway from what I've read.

also... one of the blogs I keep up with posted this about a unique occurence in Hebrew Worship, the Birkat Ha-Chamah (Blessing of the Sun). It's pretty cool.

fresh starts...

So... I will try this one more time... a fresh start for "thoughts from the mower..."

It's April 1, the first week of spring, and my first day as Outreach/Evangelism Director here at Christ Presbyterian Church... A perfect time to reboot my blog... by re-posting one from last year (see below) that ties in pretty well with what our pastor (Randy Working) had to say this past week. His sermons as well as those of guest prechers (like me!) can be downloaded at our church website...

Thanks, and have a great day!

jsm

solomon and shel...

One of the things that strikes me about Shel Silverstein's poems is their lack of symbolism. Alliterative and consonant, rhyming and rhythmic, yet always strait forward. The words he chooses create a feel or tell a story. The times he tries to make his readers think, we are never left wondering what about or the conclusion he is trying to convey. Such is the case with his poem "LESTER", which happens to be my personal favorite of his writing.

The subject of "LESTER" is a man named (of all things) Lester who receives a wish from "...the goblin who lives in the banyan tree". Once he receives this wish, he greedily sets about his wishing. Lester is so greedy that he wishes for more wishes, then uses those wishes to wish for more wishes. We are only told of his wishing... for wishes. He's so proud of his wishes, his wealth, his ability to get things, that he never bothers with even the simple joys of life. Lester never smiled or cried, or loved, reached or touched anything. Anything, except his wishes. He kept wishing for wishes and died with nothing. Nothing, except his wishes.

Lester sits in contrast to the character of King Solomon in 1 Kings 3. In this passage, God appears to the newly-crowned king in a dream and tells him that He will grant whatever he asks. Rather than asking for long life or for riches, Solomon asks the LORD for more wisdom. He desires to be a better king for the Lord's people, Israel and Judah. God is so pleased with King Solomon's request that He goes beyond and makes him the wisest man who will ever live. The Lord goes even further and guarantees both riches and honor to the king.

Throughout scripture, from Proverbs to Paul, we are exhorted to chase after wisdom in our own lives. Not just wisdom, as the world knows it, but the wisdom of the Lord. Christ tells us in Luke 12:31 to "...seek his kingdom" the characteristics of which include love, compassion, righteousness, and wisdom. He continues in that verse, and following:
"...seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.
Do not be afraid... ...your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom." (Lk 12:31-32)
In these two verses, I see an echo of God's words to Solomon and promises to us, as well. The kingdom waits for those who seek it.

"if you always seek

WISDOM

you will always prove

WISE"