Oscars

There are things about the Oscars that are funny.  I could hear my mom in my head saying, "Oh Goldie..." at one point.

Alas, I am catching up today.  However, I heard Dustin Lance Black's comments at his award for best Screenplay.  It was almost unnerving how good they were.  Carefully nuanced, incisive, terribly saddening, and unqualified enough to convict evangelicals (I hope).  

"I think he'd (Harvey Milk) want me to say to all of the gay and lesbian kids out there tonight who have been they are less then by their churches, or by the government, or by their families, that you are beautiful, wonderful creatures of value.  And that no matter what everyone tells you, God does love you, and that very soon, I promise you, you will have equal rights federally across this great nation of ours."

The political part gets me less than the first part...  I am embarrassed that he says it so well when Christians seem like they cannot.  People do not deserve to be marginalized and abused...  period.  I think Jesus would have stood and applauded, or maybe he would have been out pleading with the picketers to stop.

90 Blogs later

And I am still not positive what the purpose of a blog is.

I know this one is a random thought blog (because I twitched when the job ge by the guy at school said, "if you have a random thoughts blog...  shut it down while you're looking for a job).

I know i like to put up pictures of my daughters.  

I know I sometimes like to try to be provocative, by saying things like "I voted for Obama" or "I think Abortion is a gigantic distraction to evangelicalism".   Both of those things are true by the way.

I don't label much.  (down at the bottom)  

Here is a question...  I get to preach in April.  I am thinking of a couple of possibilities and would love your thoughts.  1.  "Margin" - How do you feel knowing the Bible takes your questions and often answers other ones oftentimes?  This would be about the Bible and our questions essentially.  2.  "Why be good?"  My short answer would be mission.  In my 31 years of experience I don't think many Christians get why to be good, and many who are watching churches (insert your word, "non-religious, religious, irreligious, atheist, seeker, agnostic, etc.) tend to perceive that Christianity is big on rules and be annoyed by it.  3.  What about giving people two Sundays where they could write their questions on index cards and then I could take like the top four (having no idea how I would determine that...  especially without being deterministic)?  

Thoughts?  

The great thing is that I stopped reading for school about 15 minutes ago because I was tired...  I was reading a 60 year old article about Natural Law by a professor who is trying REALLY hard to be relevant.  I couldn't focus...  till i started blogging about...  NOTHING.  Hilarious.  I really would appreciate your thoughts though!

Stuff Christians Like

Hannah Wood turned me on to this blog. It is unbelievably accurate towards the strange subculture of evangelicalism. AND, I just learned that Jon went to college with my wife. Hilarious.

Here is a brief sampling, a bullet-point of a fictional interview with that guy that interviews movie stars... It is about people criticizing the Sermon at lunch.

1. I'm just not being fed.
What a fantastic way to look as if you're more spiritual than the pastor himself.

2. That message was not meant for me.
You are so generous to have sat there patiently while someone else that needed that sermon was able to receive it. What kindness.

3. That didn't feel like church.
What a perfect smokescreen of vagueness. How can anyone argue with your feeling? What does that even mean? More organ? Less organ? Better lasers? No lasers?

4. There wasn't enough Bible in that for me. That felt like a business leadership book.
What's enough? No one knows, which is why this is such a gem.

5. I'm not sure that sermon works in a postmodern world.
I'm not even sure I know what the word "postmodern" means, but it's fun to say. Few things make you look smarter than repeating this word. Repeatedly.