Ohio Barnstorming Tour, Day Two, Part Two

This chronicle of my weekend in Ohio has taken longer than I intended - sorry! - but I'm going to try and move it along now.

After wrapping up our visit to Point Pleasant, Julie and I still had some time on our hands so we took a drive south of Gallipolis to enjoy the view of the Ohio River. Several miles downstream, we turned it around and headed back into town, where we arrived at the First Baptist Church for the wedding of Patrick O'Donnell and Barbara Hood.

I've already described some of the backstory of the wedding in earlier posts here, but let me recap. Patrick and I have known each other since the early '90's as co-workers and eventually friends here at Wedgwood. He's in his mid-40's and for a number of years it seemed almost a settled fact that he just wouldn't get married. A transplant from Ohio, he came to Grand Rapids to pursue his graduate education in the late 80's, got a job here and has lived away from his hometown ever since. Several years ago, he made the commitment of buying a condo, making his settledness in Michigan more of an established fact. He had a comfortable bachelor's life going and just given his personality and temperament, he gave the sense of being content in his status as a single guy. Patrick is an earnest Christian, an ordained Baptist pastor, who now works as a full-time chaplain at Wedgwood. He also likes science fiction, political discussions, sports and all sorts of other cultural and psychological topics of interest. Beyond that, he's a warm, generous, big-hearted guy who relates well across the spectrum of personalities and diverse backgrounds represented in our workforce. In short, he's a beloved figure. When he began dating a childhood acquaintance from his hometown, it generated a lot of interest from folks who've gotten to know him well over the years, and the cuteness of the couple when you got them both together only added to the intrigue.

So after all the courtship and anticipation, here we were down on the southern edge of Ohio, a bunch of us from Grand Rapids here to see our pal get hitched. Patrick and Barb planned out a beautful, gracious service, full of music and sweet emotion - I'm sure that for most of the people there, this was one of the more unique weddings we'd ever been to, given the age of the couple and both of them married for the first time. Patrick pulled off one of the most remarkable things I'd ever seen, singing two songs in his own wedding, one of which was a solo of Steven Curtis Chapman's "I Will Be Here," which is almost too emotionally wrought to sing to one's beloved on any occasion, much less a ceremony like this one where everyone in the world who means a lot to you is sitting there staring at you. I was very impressed at how he managed to corral and channel his emotions. The rest of the music was excellent as well - another co-worker of mine, Karen who is also Wedgwood's CFO, played the flute and did so exquisitely. I'd gotten to know her well recently as we did some interviewing our a new IT manager together, and figured she'd be pretty good with her instrument, but she still surprised me with her skills. I'd have to say that the aesthetics of this wedding struck me more profoundly than just about any other such proceedings that come to mind. (And though it may sound harsh to say it this way, I've been to a lot of "mediocre" weddings over the years...)

So here are a few pics of the day, probably of more interest to me than to most anyone else who would read this, but I'm sure you can manage!


The Groom (center) and a bunch of my friends from Grand Rapids.


Karen and me and Julie and Joy and LeRae at the reception.


The happy, adorable, relaxed, just-perfect-for-each-other newlyweds!

Incarnation Bits 10 - Rita Dove on Ephesians

When I was a teenager, Paul seemed to be a hard man with an unrealistically severe code of sacrifice, a fanatic who devised silly laws of diet, dress codes and impossible rules of behavior; an ideologue who equated belief with ethics and transformation with institutional rhetoric.

I see now that Paul's proclamations were demanded of him. At that time Christianity was still a heresy within a larger tradition; Saul's persecution of Christians, his conversion and his consequent wrangles with the priests of the Temple - these events were all in the family, so to speak. At the time when the Pauline Epistles were written, the biggest question for the new religion was whether or not to accept Gentiles; once that quandary was settled, more mundane issues (Can they remain uncircumcised? Must they obey the Judaic rules of diet?) were the order of the day. The disciples attempted to thread a path through the existing Old Testament laws; they sought an extension, and fulfillment, of Judaism. Paul's public needed concrete rules, so he gave them restrictions to hold on to: Wife, obey your husband; husband, love your wife - just as you obey Christ and He loves you. Children, obey your parents. Servants (this is the tricky one), obey your masters - followed by a telling conditional: "according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ" (Ephesians 6:5-6). And because pictures are worth a thousand words, he gave them metaphors: the Church as a bride, Christ as a bridegroom, and martial imagery sure to delight a city devoted to the huntress Diana. Gird the loins with truth, slip the feet into the Gospel of peace, take up the breastplate of righteousness and the shield of faith! Blatant theatrics, but it worked.

Yet Paul was a mystic. Only a mystic would address the newly converted with "And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins." Or: "the fulness of him that filleth all in all." Devising a system for connecting and reflection, a guide for conducting a life of energized joy - this is Paul's abiding light.

Ohio Barnstorming Tour, Day Two, Part One

Saturday morning, Julie and I woke up fairly early in our room at the Super 8 Motel in Gallipolis. The wedding wasn't until 1:00 p.m. so we had a few hours to occupy before the main event. We decided that the most interesting thing to do would be to get back over to Point Pleasant WV, where we'd eaten and strolled the night before. We spied a nice little park at the intersection of the Ohio and Kanawha Rivers that we discovered from a tourist brochure had some kind of historical story to tell.

The park is called Tu-Endie-Wei Point Pleasant Battle Monument State Park, kind of a mouthful but after all that, a beautiful little spot. Here are a few pics that we snapped there.


The always-endearing "extended arm self-portrait with scenic background" shot...


The Silver Memorial Bridge that connects Ohio and West Virginia. The Mothman tried to warn the locals of the original Silver Bridge's impending collapse in 1967 but the ominous portent went unheeded. 46 people perished in the tragedy. This bridge was completed in 1969.


Point Pleasant was the site of a historically significant battle in 1774 between colonial militias and a group of Indian warriors led by Chief Cornstalk. The victory that day went to the colonists, and the ensuing "quieting" of nearby Indians allowed troops to be withdrawn from the Virginia frontier so that they could mass themselves for combat with the British forces, improving the chances for eventual victory in the American Revolution. This tall monument explains all this in predictably self-aggrandizing and Caucasian-flattering terms.


The Mansion House dates from 1796. It's the original log-hewn building, loaded full of odd historic artifacts from the centuries between then and now. The park staff that hung out in it's "parlor" were friendly folks who seem to me to have a pretty cushy little job, though I have no idea how much it actually pays. But there are certainly tougher ways to earn a living!

Incarnation Bits 9 - Anthony Hecht on Galatians

What Paul does, quite brilliantly... is to turn what appears to be his initial disadvantage in never having known Jesus of Nazareth during his lifetime to a distinction denied the other apostles, and at the same time to adopt the position most likely to appeal not only to those of his contemporaries who likewise had never met Jesus but, by implication, to all posterity as well - an immeasurable advantage in terms of plain numbers. In fact, he makes his own inward experience the equivalent of Peter's recognition of Jesus' messiahship at the moment of the Transfiguration, thereby effectually silencing any opposition. He even has the temerity to publicly rebuke Peter (Galatians 2) for hypocrisy in his fear of offending those Jewish converts who believed that Gentiles must accept the Jewish Law, including circumcision, before achieving salvation through Christ. If the doctrine of justification by faith alone, so central to Galatians, gave solace and ammunition to Luther in his revolt from Catholic orthodoxy, the doctrine of predestination, based on God's election of Jacob over Esau, is strongly implied in Romans 9:6-13. So the grounds for doctrinal rebellion seem to have been sown by a man who was lacking in humility, and boastfully condescending. But he knew his shortcomings, fought against them, and sometimes conquered them.

Ohio Barnstorming Tour, Day One

Here's Part One of my recap of what I did on my little mini-vacation down in the Buckeye State.

Julie and I left Friday morning around 11 a.m. and we arrived in Gallipolis a little after 6 p.m. I won't bother saying much about the drive - it went smoothly. The most interesting landmarks we passed were two ominous looking nuclear power plant towers north of Gallipolis. They looked ominous to us because we don't see structures like that very often, they were belching big clouds of steam and I've been conditioned to respond negatively to their shape and size ever since I became friends with no-nukes activists - that and watching "The Simpsons."

Our destination was the Super 8 Motel, a suitably cheap lodging for the night before a much anticipated wedding that I've described elsewhere on this site already. I had been led to believe that more people from Grand Rapids would be there but we discovered some people were staying at the Holiday Inn and others were going to drive in on Saturday straight to the wedding. So figuring that there was not going to be any kind of social scene at the hotel worth waiting around for, Julie and I set out to see what was shakin' in downtown Gallipolis on a Friday night.

The Ohio Chautauqua was the main thing happening, and it turned out to be an okay thing to do, to get things started at least. In the Super 8 lobby, I saw a poster advertising something to do with "War and Peace," which got my attention. A woman portraying famed Civil War nurse Clara Barton was Friday's feature event. Other nights featured luminaries like Teddy Roosevelt, Francisco Pizarro, Ernie Pyle and Chief Cornstalk, each of which presumably had some kind of historic connection with Ohio. The woman portraying Clara Barton did a very effective job describing her experiences and accomplishments during the Civil War and afterward. I remembered Barton's name from old school textbooks but had never really paid much attention to her story. However, I gained a lot of respect for what she was able to do, pioneering the role of women in providing medical and nursing care in war zones and getting the USA involved in the International Red Cross. We also learned a bit of Appalachian area history as she vividly described the dreadful Johnstown Flood and the part she played in providing relief to the thousands who suffered devastation and injury or death when a dam burst in 1889.

When the performance finished, Julie and I continued to explore the city. We walked the riverfront, wandered through the urban center, a quaint "Main Street USA" environment, and stopped by a small pharmacy where I asked about where a good place to get dinner could be found.
The clerk told us of a new Bennigan's that had just opened in Point Pleasant, across the river on the West Virginia side. Now I can eat at Bennigan's any day of the week, since they're a franchise operation with a few locations here in Grand Rapids. But I liked the idea of going into a different state so I took him up on the tip.

He also mentioned that they have a Mothman statue nearby.

Mothman? you ask. Here's a place to read all about it. I was intrigued and pleasantly surprised to discover that we were so close to the place where those wierd events took place, or at least, were reported. When we got over to Point Pleasant, we saw the statue, took some pictures and found out that the town is holding a Mothman Festival this September. Hmmm, maybe someday...?

Anyway, we had a pretty nice dinner at Bennigan's. I was impressed with the fun and friendly waitress that served us - she had that southern "honey" thing going on and seemed to enjoy bantering with us on her frequent check-ins, so I think we made a good choice even though it wasn't an example of fine locally-developed cuisine. That's life in suburbia, I guess.

After that, we took a stroll on the eastern banks of the Ohio River along the beautiful amphitheater and concrete walkway that runs for a stretch down that shore. The night was perfect, a big old barge rumbled down past us in the darkness and we got to cross a few cool old bridges as well. A nice relaxed evening to get things started as we knew things would get busier the next day.

This Boy is Back in Town

At last report, I was headin' out and hittin' the road for a journey "south of the border" (the Michigan-Ohio border, that is.) What a great time we had, so full of events that I will continue to ponder and relive in memory for quite awhile! I won't be able to sort it all out tonight, so my ambitions for this particular post are rather humble - mainly to indicate that the trip went smoothly and to thank our hosts for the wonderful hospitality and kindness they showed us in all the different places we landed between Friday afternoon and Sunday night. I got back home around 3:00 a.m. Monday morning, slid right into bed, and was up by 8:15 a.m. to check my emails, bills, baseball scores, headlines and blogs before jumping in the shower, jetting off to work, putting in a full day of meetings, plannings, decidings, , consultings and brainstormings, before heading back home, changing my clothes and leaving a few minutes later for the annual IGE Board summer retreat, which was held this year at Groundswell Farm, a community supported agricultural enterprise that Julie and I are considering buying a share in so that we can get a weekly shipment of organic, locally grown veggies and support a cool and worthy project. It was a beautiful night for us to have a little potluck dinner and talk about the future of IGE. But now I'm a bit wiped out and it will take another night's sleep before I'm able to start unpacking the mental suitcase full of recollections that piled up so quickly these past few days!

So in the meantime, let me amuse you with some more pictures of my son Derek in China...



... on top of the Great Wall of China!



... in front of the Great Hall of the People!



... in the shadow of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda! And that's probably enough for now.

Derek is easy to spot, even if you don't know him. He seems to have packed nothing but orange and red t-shirts for this trip!

Weekend Off

I think I'll be closing up shop on this here blog for a few days. In an hour or so, my wife Julie and I are heading south to Ohio for the weekend. It's going to be a fun time as we have a wedding and two different get-togethers with friends that will keep us busy until Sunday night.

The wedding is for a long-time friend and co-worker, Patrick, who I first got to know when I became his supervisor back in 1993. At the time, he was a graduate student at Grand Rapids Baptist Theological Seminary working on his Th.M. (He had already earned his M.Div.) Patrick is a big jolly Irishman from southern Ohio (just across the river from West Virginia), an avowed and unapologetic Buckeye in a place where Wolverines and Spartans rule, whose parents had a "mixed faith" marriage - dad is Catholic, mom is Baptist. Patrick obviously went the Baptist route but retains a generously ecumenical perspective even as he preaches and teaches in fundamentalist churches. And he is without a doubt a conservative at heart. He and I have had many wonderful conversations over the years, across a wide range of topics - theological, political, psychological, cultural... oh yeah, and sports too, as well as social work and job-related stuff. He used to have the staff trainer job that I now hold, but gave that up when an opportunity to move into a full-time chaplaincy position at Wedgwood opened up. He had been a half-time chaplain for several years prior to taking on the full role at the end of 2004.

Anyway, Patrick was one of the most prominent "confirmed bachelors" at Wedgwood and because of his position as chaplain, he's gotten to know many people around the agency, and his gregarious, warm personality has endeared him to quite a few of us. So we were all thrilled to discover a year and some months ago that he had a serious dating thing going on with a woman he's known since childhood. This "late blooming" romance has made Patrick an even more beloved figure than he was before, especially after we had a chance to meet his fiancee and realized that this woman was indeed Patrick's foreordained soul mate. With their wedding announced well in advance, it gave a few dozen of his work-pals time to include a quick jaunt to Ohio in our summer plans, so there will be about 50 of us crowding the two motels in beautiful Gallipolis, OH tonight before we all disperse after the reception tomorrow afternoon.

From there, Julie and I will head over to Cincinnatti to visit a family that we've known for almost as long as Patrick and have. Dan and Patty Olson have sons pretty close in age to our own boys. We met them when our guys were in T-ball together. Julie and Patty hit it off pretty well and Dan and I have gotten to enjoy each others company as well. Last summer, the Olsons moved to Ohio after a lengthy period of job-searching in West Michigan proved fruitless for Dan. He's a computer programmer and network administrator who got downsized back in 2003 and had a really hard time finding the right gig. So he had to relocate his family last year, which was a bummer for us all but especially Julie and Patty. But with us traveling so far down into Ohio for the wedding, the perfect excuse to visit them in their new home was created so we're happy to have the opportunity to go hang out with them on Saturday night and Sunday morning.

Then on Sunday afternoon, I will get to meet, for the second time, Julie and Jon Bogart. Julie has been one of my very favorite on-line acquaintances for the past four years or so. She's a gifted writer, a great thinker, witty, compassionate, informed, just an all-around cool person. She and I share many perspectives on life and faith and how it all fits together, and sometimes I feel a bit embarrassed at just how readily I agree with and endorse the things she posts on my email list or her blog. I got to meet her in late 2004, just after the elections, when Wedgwood sent me down for a job-related training seminar in Cincinnatti. Now it turns out that Dan and Patty live only 15 minutes away from Julie and Jon! So I have a hunch that we may pop down Cinci-way again in the future as opportunities allow.

Julie has also invited over to join us on Sunday a few locals in her area who participate on the email list - I'm not exactly sure if she invited them to join, or if they just found us coincidentally and then discovered that they happen to live in the same part of the country? In any case, we are all a bunch of theological explorers and wonderers who are in the process of sorting out just what it was that we've been through in our varied, respective journeys through the bewildering milieu of postmodern suburban evangelical pop culture. Chuck Wiggins and Brian Smith and their wives are due to show up for an afternoon/evening cookout and chat session. It will be a memorable experience for me, and hopefully for all of us, whatever happens. I don't have any clear agenda or list of talking points - I'll just show up and we'll see what happens!

I don't expect to have much computer access or time to do much blogging - perhaps I will when we're at the Olson's but I'm not going to make a deliberate effort while I'm there. So I may not have much of anything new until Monday at the earliest. And even then, Monday will be busy since I have an IGE Board retreat that night. But it will be chronicled eventually, don't doubt that!

Incarnation Bits 8 - Alfred Corn on 2 Corinthians

Saint Paul had no body of doctrine to build on; he is the first Christian theologian, and it is clear that he is often at sea in trying to formulate coherent interpretations of Jesus' proclamation. The great Pauline contradiction is between Law and Freedom, which he could not resolve because, within Christian thought, it cannot be resolved in final terms: the debate concerning what we must do, what we may do, and what we may be forgiven for has never been settled and probably never will be. As suggested before, the Christian spirit is evolutionary, revisionist. All questions are examined first in the framework of law inherited from Judaism and then held up to the light of Jesus' teachings to form new guides for action. Evolutionary Christianity sees it not as religion but only as idolatry that would require animal sacrifice or maim human lives by insisting on present conformity to metaphors and rigidities appropriate to earlier historical periods. Yet Saint Paul knew it was equally meaningless to prate of grace and forgiveness where there is no discoverable intention to abandon malice, cynicism, greed, oppression and violence. If not now, when? as Rabbi Hillel said.

MY SON IS IN CHINA!!!

I am kind of stunned at the reality of it. That's a picture of my son Derek (standing, fourth from the left) and a bunch of his high school friends standing in front of the Gate of Heavenly Peace in Tiananmen Square!

Derek in front of Mount Rushmore, on the edge of the Grand Canyon, under the geodesic dome at Epcot/Disney World... that all seems conventional enough to me to process easily. Even off to some kind of mission trip to Central America or some backwoods hillbilly hamlet down in Appalachia somewhere. But this...?

MY SON IS IN CHINA!!!

And check out this nutty strange summary of the group's first day on their trip from the Explorica.com Tour Diary:

"We are so happy we are in china,we can't believe it.This is a city complitely different from us.we are really enjoyed to stay in china.Today we did a lot of place,we went to the Tiananmen square,The Great hall of people,The Forbidden city,The summer palace and the Hutong tour,this city fill of old history,we are happy to choose china tour."

I love it! One day in Beijing and they are already speaking Engrish!

Headline: Bush Accuses Iran of Dragging Its Feet

Doesn't the President have better things to do than critiquing the World Cup performance of the Iranian soccer team?

Expanding God's circle or walking apart?

Even though I'm not an Episcopalian, I am interested in what's happening at their General Convention winding up today in Columbus OH.

The big news coming out of this meeting is that the Episcopal Church has selected a woman, the Rt. Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, as their new presiding bishop. She's already spoken openly about her support for ordination of qualified gays and lesbians and same-sex unions. Her election has angered traditionalists and conservatives both here in the USA and overseas who strongly disagree with her stance and consider the ECUSA to be getting further and further out of line. Pressures continue to build for some kind of rupture, presumably where either the conservatives will leave or the ECUSA will be disciplined in some way that would effectively thwart the influence of liberal/progressive advocates who want to proceed on a path that they regard as more inclusive of any and all who are marginalized.

My choice of the subject header (Expanding God's circle or walking apart?) comes from quotes in this article. There's a lot of commentary buzzing around the net on this topic but I think this piece offers a good summary of what's happening, covered by local reporters on the scene. The characterizations of what is happening here grow out of one's personal perspective, obviously. I tend to think that both statements are true, in some ways, and inaccurate in others. I like the idea of inclusiveness overall - at the very least, I think it needs to be tried out more sincerely and vigorously within Christendom since the "exclusivity" thing has been given such free reign for all these centuries and has been found wanting in many respects. But I am also not sure it's our place to say that we are expanding God's circle. Maybe we're expanding our definition of God's circle, or our appreciation of diversity. But it's not like any person's access to God is dependent on institutional decrees. At least, that's not how I see it.

About the "walking apart:" Somewhere I read a conservative who was pushing for a church split because he believes that "two different religions" are being practiced and trying to co-exist within one denomination. That thought leads me to ask two questions. First, who made the rule that only one religion has to be practiced within a denomination? Maybe a religious organization can grant itself the freedom to stay intact even while acknowledging diversity within their own ranks. Second, is it proper to conclude that two religions are indeed being practiced? What pushes "differences" past the line that mandates "division"? Maybe there are more than two to be found, depending on how we draw the distinctions between various practices and expressions of the faith. I think one can say that there are "several" religions being practiced within Roman Catholicism, there's such a range of theologies, rituals and customs to be found within that global community.

Apparently the big deal here really is about whether homosexuality should be seen as a "norm" or as "deviancy." Failure to allow gays and lesbians to serve in ministry positions that they are otherwise seen to be good candidates for can only be based on the belief that there is no acceptable expression (other than perhaps repressed chastity) for intimate affection between two life-partners of the same sex. That's a very difficult position for me to support, given my beliefs that adults should have the freedom to make these personal decisions without the interference of either state or church. There are any number of situations where two men or two women may believe it is in their best interests to share a household and a deep interpersonal
relationship. Whatever may or may not happen between them sexually is really not anyone else's business, and I don't really think that God is as preoccupied with how we handle our genitals as He has traditionally been made out to be in some of the more repressive phases of our cultural history. In short, I think the emphasis on sexual orientation has been misplaced. I'm not suggesting that gay and lesbian sexuality ought to be kept entirely private and out of the conversation, because I know the topic is important and deserves more exploration and understanding. But I also don't think it's fair to those who are ordained to be continually referred to as "the gay bishop" any more than it is right to speak of "black bishops" or "woman bishops," unless we are also going to start referring to "white bishops" and "male bishops." In other words, don't single out minorities as their own sub-category.

Given that I'm not really involved or attracted to the ECUSA (can't really get into the ceremonial pomp 'n circumstance) I don't really have a vested interest in whatever the denomination or worldwide Anglicanism winds up doing about all this, but I am genuinely glad to hear mainstream religious leaders like Jefferts Schori in the news taking a stand that is bold, optimistic and in my opinion more concerned with people than with ideologies. That in itself seems pretty refreshing.

Feeling worn down by the general condition of things in this country.

For no particular reason other than the fact that I'm simply tired of having to mentally process the "why's?" behind so many stories of corruption and foolishness that seem to come at me whenever I tune in to the news, I'm feeling kind of weary and resigned about where our society is at. I'm in one of those moods where it seems way too painfully apparent to me that the people who are at the highest degree of "in charge" are no better prepared than I am to handle the responsibilities. And I have plenty of reason to believe they are a lot less conscientious than I would be about whether or not the effects of their decisions are really in the best interests of the people most significantly affected by them.

My intention is not simply to roll out another round of "Bush bashing." I'm beyond verbally or mentally beating up on that little well-connected weasel. He is hardly the root of the problem, as much as I lament the consequences of his presidency. The dilemma runs much deeper than that - I am seriously concerned that the momentum behind America's decline is close to irreversible and that even if some kind of effort to turn things around were to be implemented on a mass scale, insidious forces embedded deep within the most powerful institutions of our society would bend the levers of control in such a way as to put us back on the road to ruin. I'm convinced that the powers-that-be in this country are hell-bent on pursuing what they perceive to be advantages in such a way that while they may personally benefit in the short run, the price to be paid by the rest of us will be extraordinarily painful in the long run.

Sorry to lay such a dose of gloom on you, dear reader. It's not like I'm wallowing in misery. Actually, today was a gorgeous day around here, I enjoyed my day at work, I had a nice salad for dinner and for the moment, I have little to personally complain about. I just got through watching the news on TV and while I know that I could block out the grim reports coming from Iraq, Somalia, New Orleans, North Korea and elsewhere, I don't really like that "bury my head in the sand" approach. It's just a sad thing that when I cast my glance a little wider than my own community and try to get a handle on what the movers and shakers are doing, there's so much going on that seems to not be merely bungled, but is actively being driven in directions that appear to be unrighteous and self-deluding.

I remember feeling much differently in the late 90's as we approached the end of the millennium. In those years, I really felt, like many others, that we just might be on the verge of "something better." But the wind has really been taken from that sail. I'd say that our national "soul" here in the USA has regressed terribly, on the large scale, and there are few voices that I can identify in all the clamor that sound like they have a clear way forward. There are some people, values, causes, notions, that I admire, but they don't seem to have much clout, at least not enough to really move things ahead in ways that might rekindle the fires of hope and enthusiasm that I have had at various times in my life. I guess I'm just tired of feeling like I have to sit on the "waiting, hanging in there, suffering the fools" side of the equation in the great social and political debates of our times. And I'm frustrated with this sense of sitting on the sidelines waiting for someone with the opportunity, availability and creativity to get out there and take the lead. Could it be that I am somehow supposed to put myself more on the line, to take the risks necessary to kick-start that change?

I dunno. I'll have to think about that some more.

Incarnation Bits 7 - Frederick Buechner on I Corinthians

The church in Corinth, and everywhere else for that matter, was indeed ordinary men and women who, spiritually speaking, hadn't cut their first teeth yet. It was slaves, dockhands, shopkeepers, potters, housewives, bronze workers, leather workers, and what have you. They were no better than anybody else, and at least in one sense worse, because, "sanctified in Christ Jesus" as Paul believed them to be, so much more was expected of them and should have been forthcoming. They were in fact Christ's body, as Paul wrote to there here in one of his most enduring metaphors - Christ's eyes, ears, hands - but the way they were carrying on, that could only leave Christ bloodshot, ass-eared, all thumbs, to carry on God's work in a fallen world. What came forth from them was just the kind of wretched tangle they were in at the moment and, harder still for Paul to deal with, the wretchedness it gave rise to within himself. This is what First Corinthians is essentially about - Paul's sense of futility and despair at war with his exultant hope, the terrible tension between the in spite of and the because of of his restless and often anguished faith.

My Dispersing Family

Today is Father's Day, but it's really more about most of us in the Blakeslee household preparing to go our separate ways over the next week or two. I've already mentioned the trip to China that my youngest son Derek will be leaving on later tonight. This morning, one of my twin sons, Brandon, left with a group of his friends for a week-long campout in Cambridge, Ohio, to participate in Ragnarok XXI, one of the premier dagorhir events to be found in this part of the country. If you don't feel like following the link, dagorhir (a word derived from Tolkein's "Lord of the Rings"vocabulary) is an elaborate fantasy role-playing game that allows players to adopt the costumes, customs and foam-covered weaponry of ancient and medieval warriors. Brandon and friends have been building up their collection of weapons for the past few months now. A couple of weeks ago, he attended a weekend camp in northern Ohio. Now he's getting really into it as he and his fellow combatants from the Eryndor chapter take their part in the battles scheduled to begin tomorrow morning. I'm not entirely steeped in the mythology or finer points of technical knowledge of dagorhir, but from what Brandon tells me, his unit's first assignment will be to serve as guards for their camp, so they had to leave early this morning in order to arrive in time to set up their tents, get their orders and settle into their positions.

Curt, Brandon's twin, is staying home for this one. He has a job that he can't get off from, though it's only a temp assignment. He was away at college this past school year, so he's not as advanced in the arts of war as his brother, though at some point it seems likely that he will join his mates at a future event. Plus, he has his own plans for travel - he intends to go out west, to California, where his aunt (my sister-in-law) and uncle are building a house in the north-coastal town of Elk (fairly close to Fort Bragg.) Curt's intrigued by the chance to travel, to learn some construction skills, and to make some decent money while he's out there. So his plan is to leave sometime in July, shortly after Derek returns from China.

Julie and I will be heading down to Ohio this coming Friday to attend the wedding of a long-time co-worker (a long-confirmed bachelor right around my age, who is just now getting started on the matrimonial phase of life) and then from there, we'll be visiting some internet friends I've met through the PoMoXian email list that I moderate. Alyssa and Curt will be staying here without parents next weekend, and I am quite confident that once we get down to Ohio, our family will be more geographically spread out and distant from one another than we've ever been, ever!

Incarnation Bits 6 - David Plante on Romans

"Well, take it this way," Daniel said, leaning across the table toward his friend, "take it the way Saint Paul would take it, if Saint Paul were myself or I were Saint Paul. He says over and over, in Romans, that people can't live fulfilled lives according to the law, but only according to the spirit, and the spirit is above the law. He even says that it's only because of laws that there are sins, and without laws there wouldn't be sins. He says that he knows that there is nothing unclean of itself, but a thing is unclean to someone only if he thinks it is unclean. He also says that a man is happy who doesn't condemn himself for what he allows himself. I can quote you chapter and verse for these - the first, chapter 5, verse 13; the second, chapter 15, verse 14; the third, chapter 15, verse 22 -"


"You mean," Charlie said, "you've read the Bible?"

"The Protestant," Daniel said.

"And?"

"And it made me want to talk with Saint Paul. I want to tell him that he contradicted himself so badly in his letters, especially in Romans, that everything he says is canceled out, or would be canceled out if he himself had been responsible for the contradictions. But I believe something else, something greater than himself, something above the laws of logic, made him contradict himself, and instead of condemning his writing, it - this something greater than himself - saved it, at least for me."

Pleasant Friday

Today was simply enjoyable. I only had to work a few hours because I had already put in plenty of time earlier in the week, the weather was gorgeous and the duties I tended to on the job were simple and fun.

The main event was Wedgwood's annual "International Food Fair," a celebration of diversity event that I've been involved with planning for the past six years. This time out, I really didn't do all that much, other than write a short article publicizing it for the "Diversity Digest" newsletter that I edit for the agency. What happens is that all of the residential programs choose a country (other than our own) and we have the kids and staff collaborate on doing some research, creating some artwork and cooking up batches of food sufficient to give a hundred and fifty or so people a taste of whatever they think looks good. So my lunch today featured tasty samples of the cuisine of Scotland, Iraq, Liberia, Mexico, Jamaica, China, Thailand, Japan, Brazil, Korea and probably a couple other nations that I can't think to identify at the moment. So besides the abundance of great food (and it really was well-seasoned and prepared, across the board!) at an unbeatable price (free!), I enjoyed the opportunity to socialize with a wide variety of people that I work with in one convenient place and location. And to top it all off, it is a nice occasion to promote human and cultural diversity in a way that most everyone can easily, comfortably relate to.

After work, I picked up 2200 yuan (the currency of the People's Republic of China) for my son Derek who will be traveling their next week with about 20 students plus a few teachers and chaperones from Wyoming Park High School. I'll have more to say about his trip here as it happens, I'm sure. But the task this afternoon was just getting some cash for him to take along - the 2200 yuan is worth somewhere just shy of $300. It's about 8 yuan to the dollar at this time, roughly speaking. We figured that with the exchange fee factored in, each 100 yuan note is worth about $13.50. Here's what the bills look like:



Pretty cool, huh?

After I got home, I had a nice frosty Miller Genuine Draft and watched a good portion of the Argentina-Serbia/Montenegro FIFA World Cup soccer match, where the Argentines just destroyed the poor, long-suffering Serbs 6-0 (and it would have been 7-0 except a goal was disallowed for some petty rules violation that I didn't understand since I was watching the game on Univision, in Spanish.) I understand that the Serbian people suffer acutely from a wounded sense of pride and a feeling that they are overly hard-pressed and beleagured amongst the peoples of the earth. At least, this collective low national self-esteem was routinely trotted out as an explanation for Slobodan Milosovic's ethnic cleansing campaigns in Kosovo and elsewhere. (Their soccer team even has a player named Milosovic, fwiw.) Given the long cultural memory, that broods upon the ignominious defeats of ancestors from centuries ago, and an apparent inclination for holding grudges against those who foisted misery upon them, I just wonder how the Serbs are going to cope with and respond to this travesty.

Well, that's their problem, not mine. I'm officially on the Argentina bandwagon and I hope they win the whole thing. I was enthralled by their vigorous attacking style and the sheer grace and flair that they put on display, both when scoring their goals and when thwarting the other team's efforts on defense. This may be the World Cup tourney that gets me to pay attention to soccer a bit during the "in-between" years...

Then later tonight, we went out and did some shopping for travel supplies and stuff for Derek to do, eat and keep his mind occupied on the long flight across the USA and overseas that will take up most of Monday (and on the way back too, of course.) He bought a travel version of Blokus, a game he's played a bit at a friend's house, but was new to me until we played a few rounds of it tonight.

In less cheerful news, my daughter Alyssa was distraught to see that three baby birds had fallen out of their nests into our backyard this afternoon. Two were already dead, but one was clinging to life and she went to considerable efforts to dig up and chop up some worms to try and help it through the crisis. We aren't too optomistic, but I was moved by her heart and empathy for the unfortunate little chickie-birds.

My famous celebrity acquaintance

I was delighted to learn that my co-worker and friend Juanito Moore somehow, almost inexplicably, got his name into the NEW YORK TIMES today! I say "almost" inexplicably because the truth is, Juanito (or Mr. Moore, as the Times calls him) is a very creative person who does any number of things that are potentially worth being featured in that illustrious journal. But what he did get recognized for was his skill at assembling home-made video clips into something with entertainment value to people who don't even know him! And here's the link where you can read for yourself of Juanito's achievement in short-subject web-based multimedia production.

Juanito's blog is also featured on my sidebar, "Friends of PoMoXian" so I hope that you will check it out. And you can also see the video that got all this attention (how negligent of the Times to not include a direct link, even though the video is now a featured clip, of course, on Jumpcut's main page!)

I'm still waiting to hear the story of how the Times decided to feature his work, but I really would love to see this turn into an opportunity for Mr. Moore to parlay his talents into something that gets him paid! There's a glut of witless, heartless "entertainment" in our culture, and I figure if people pumping out that schlock can earn a decent livelihood for themselves and their loved ones, Juanito and his family surely deserve a piece of that pie as well, because what he does is so much better!

Recent Pictures

I just wanted to post a few pics here to illustrate what I've been up to lately...



On my way back from Toledo last week, I stopped by a huge sporting goods store called "Cabella's." It brands itself "The World's Premier Outfitters" and has a vast selection of goods and apparel useful for people who like to hunt, camp or go fishing. In the middle of the store is a huge faux mountain occupied by dozens of taxidermically-preserved dead animals. Though I don't have the time to upload them here and now, I have several other pics of dioramas featuring various species of deer, bears, elk, and even some baboons, leopards, elephants and vultures (Cabella's sell weapons that are effective at killing animals on all seven continents!) The store is something of a landmark - they claim to be "Michigan's most popular tourist attraction," but that seems like statistical manipulation to me. They just happen to be across the border from Ohio and draw a lot of shoppers from the region who know of no better place to purchase their "back to nature" equipment. I also saw a few guys lusting after some high-end grills, in the $5000 range, no kidding!



This past Sunday, we went out to Ada Park to soak up some rays on a beautiful late-spring afternoon. Here's a quick little snapshot of my wife and three of our kids (the youngest was at a youth-group outing.) Nothing real fancy or special, but just a glimpse of us relaxing.



This last shot is a picture of some pond scum. It makes for nice Desktop Wallpaper if you are looking for something fresh and unique. It's what I'm using at the moment!

Incarnation Bits 5 - Larry Woiwode on Acts

I want to insert a note about Luke's use of feet in the book of Acts. The focus, first, renders incarnate the prophecy of Isaiah (52:7), "How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news." ... Luke is pointing to both the power and the peace of those who convey the gospel by the most common mode of transportation then available, foot power, out into the widening world. Whether Luke purposely intended the connection to Isaiah, or is employing a literary symbol, pales beside the content of his focus; it is clear that Luke's considerable literary talents are being employed to the utmost as the Holy Spirit speaks what the Spirit wants to communicate through him, because no human mind could channel and arrange the structure and patterns that at certain moments in Acts step off through whole tracts of the Old and New Testaments while applying to a situation the reader noted only this morning.

For me, a writer, aware of how much more complex each story or book grows with each sentence added, it was the power of these patterns and structure in Scripture, and their ability to interlock with one another through as many levels as I could hold in my mind, that convinced me that the Bible couldn't possibly be the creation of a man, or any number of men, and certainly not the product of separate men divided by centuries. It was of another world: supernatural.

Secret Message of Jesus: First Impressions

Brian McLaren's most recent book, The Secret Message of Jesus: Unconvering the Truth that Could Change Everything, has been mentioned on this blog a couple of times at least over the past month or two. I've had the book for a few weeks now and I'm about halfway through so I figure this is a good time to relay a bit of what I've read and see if it prompts any comments from anyone. My interest in the book has as much to do with my curiousity to see where McLaren is going in his journey of spiritual exploration as it has to do with the possibility of getting something "new" or previously unexamined by me from reading it. Not to sound too presumptuous or like a know-it-all, but I haven't really found McLaren to be the deepest or most provocative thinker. But I see him as something of a bellwether of what's happening on the more progressive edge of evangelicalism, and that subject most definitely interests me as I find the most interesting things about most cultures to be that which happens at the fringes, where predictability, stability and consistency are not nearly as esteemed as they are at the center.

So what is McLaren's take on Jesus' supposedly "secret" message? There's no place that I've seen where he comes out and says, "The Secret Message of Jesus is ... _________________" But on page 60, he says this: "...what I believe the signs and wonders of Jesus are secretly telling us: that God, the good King, is present - working from the inside. The King is in the kingdom, and the kingdom is among us here and now - for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear. The King is present in the mess and chaos of everyday life on earth, bringing healing, sight, perception, liberation, wholeness, wholesomeness, movement, health, fullness, nourishment, sanity and balance. The incursion of the kingdom of God has begun. We are under a gentle, compassionate assault by a kingdom of peace and healing and forgiveness and life. Could Jesus secret message be any clearer than that?"

So I take that as the best concise statement of his central point that I could find in a less-than-exhaustive search of the first two (of three) sections of the book. I'm not sure that "the kingdom of God is here and now" is all that radical or upsetting of a message - I've seen any number of books that make that same point. But what is a bit unusual about McLaren's book is that he is more comfortable than most evangelical authors I know in turning a positive focus on an application of the gospel message that is not tightly bound up with a defense of middle-class American values involving the kind of consumerism, militarism and triumphalistic/dominionist thinking that still appears to hold a tight grip on the sensibilities of most "mainstream" evangelical churches in this country. Another way of putting it is that McLaren's approach does a little bit to offset the negative image of conservative evangelicalism one gets from reading a book like Kevin Phillips' American Theocracy. He even takes a few tentative (some might say timid) swipes at the kind of imperialistic norms that have crept into the thinking of many traditional and patriotic Christians in the USA. I think that he will get a little more pointed in this critique as he gets into the concluding section of the book, but so far, I'd say that this has been a pretty light workout, intellectually and theologically, but one that could be potentially helpful in giving some readers a sense of permission to explore further and press on into what to them might be an unconventional but invigorating and rewarding way of looking at the life, work and teaching of Jesus.

I will make some further observations on this book later, but am willing to comment more on what I've read to this point.

Incarnation Bits 4 - Reynolds Price on John

Say that John is the one surviving Gospel. Given the disappearance of a great mass of early Christian writing, it might easily be. Say that we have no other believing narrative testimony to the man and his meaning. Would Christianity have survived the death of the last disciples and apostles? Would the memory of Jesus have lingered any more powerfully in the world's imagination than the memory of Socrates, Alexander, Joan of Arc or a made-up figure like King Lear?

Unless the Holy Spirit had inspired belief in many more hearts, the answer is surely no. Original and powerful as he is, John would not be enough. Neither would Matthew nor Luke, though their reports of the teachings would lodge Jesus firmly in the history of ethics. Paul and all the other writers of the New Testament would have gathered dust as eccentric exhibits in the history of mystery religions. Only Mark - with his blunt air of no-nonsense reportage, his bat-out-of-hell commitment to vivid action over slowed-down speech and his brick-wall collision at 16:8 - might have gone the long way toward keeping Jesus strong among us: a young man coming to John for baptism, learning in that instant of God's will for him, choosing disciples, working compassionate miracles, incurring the wrath of officialdom, revealing his mystic status as Son in a nighttime mountaintop transfiguration, then choosing death as a substitute for man and apparently - apparently - rising from the tomb. It's at least a story worth hearing and weighing.

What of John, though, with his patent design on human lives (lives in his own time, if not ours) and his wild demand? It turns out, to his good, that three more Gospels also survive and that each provides a good deal that we miss in John - three more distinct angles on the presence, acts and words of Jesus. I have noted numerous ways in which John, with a tranquil mastery worthy of his teacher, stakes down the tent of his own story with the hard pegs of contemporary Palestinian detail, then floats it on the literal air of a voice unlike any other on human record.

"Justice" for al-Zarqawi?

I heard a couple of days ago about the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the notorious thug and leader of the "al-Qaeda in Iraq" terrorist network who is said to have been personally involved in the beheading of hostages and other atrocities. It was strange for me to digest this information - I'm much more accustomed to characters like him remaining unapprehended for long, indefinite stretches of time that transform them from simple-yet-dangerous criminals into nefarious bogeymen who serve to justify interminable wars and the diversion of resources and priorities that those in power use to further their own agendas on other fronts as well. It seems to me that characters like Zarqawi and bin Laden are as necessary for "our side" in continuing to sell and justify the war as they are for leading and coordinating the actions of our "enemies," so I find myself somewhat surprised when one of these leading villains actually gets taken out of the picture. But I do hope that this turn of events can lead to some increased sense of stability for the suffering people who are still alive in Iraq. I'm not optimistic, but it does appear that at least one less homicidal menace has been removed - perhaps this will buy some time for the new Iraqi government to get its act together and figure out a way to manage their society.

I am bothered to hear that President Bush used the word "justice" to describe what happened to Zarqawi. That seems like a poor misuse of the term (which unfortunately I have a hard time accepting as a slip of the tongue, but see instead as a deliberate choice used to spin the story), which has the effect of muddying popular perception of what justice actually represents. Justice is about administering the law in a thoughtful, reflective, deliberate manner, weighing evidence, allowing victims to tell their story, the accused to offer their defense, and a clear, structured procedure for determining guilt, innocence and a socially-sanctioned set of consequences for inappropriate or criminal behaviors. Justice also takes great pains to ensure that those who are innocent do not suffer as a result of the verdict. Justice does what it can to heal, restore and give dignity to those whose lives have been negatively affected by injustice. Even those who are found guilty are given a basic level of respect. None of that happened in the bombing raid that killed Zarqawi, and it's an insult and a misrepresentation of what is at its heart a biblical concept and value to say that justice was "delivered" to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. What about the woman and child who also died in that attack? Where is the justice for them?

A Prairie Home Companion

Our family (minus the twins) went to see the new movie last night. We all found it quite entertaining, even my 16 year-old son, though the movie isn't geared toward that market or (typical) mindset. I was in a pretty jovial mood to begin with, for whatever reason, but the dialogue was funny and I just kept chuckling at many of the little touches that Altman and Keillor tossed into the film. I wasn't the only one erupting into laughter at the subtle humor though. I'm even thinking that I would like to get the soundtrack, largely because of the Dusty & Lefty duet on "Bad Jokes" which was a real crowd pleaser. But I will also admit to have fallen in love with Meryl Streep all over again. She is just radiant in this movie and it reminds me of other films she's made over the years that have left me entranced, going back to "Kramer vs. Kramer." I'm going to have to revisit her back-catalogue. And I am now tuned in a bit more as to why Lindsay Lohan is such a big deal to some people - she has charm, she's magnetic on the screen and her performance was simple but effective. I have generally ignored the movies she's been in because they are childish fluff, but now I think I get it. There's also a slightly off-beat religious/philosophical theme running through the plot that keeps this from being a simple "nostalgia-fest" - it's a project that I think everyone involved should feel proud to be associated with.

Back on track.

OK, it's been a busy few days for me but I'm about to jump back into my normal routine. I got back home last night around 10:30 p.m. after leaving the grant-writing seminar in Toledo OH. Got to sleep in a bit this morning, which was nice - and I leave shortly to go to work and report to administrators on the classes I just took and see where we want to go with this grant-writing initiative. But let me catch the blog up with a few other things I was up to recently.

This past Saturday, I worked the Kenny Chesney concert, one of two sold-out shows he performed here in Grand Rapids. The tickets were gone in something like 10 minutes after they went on sale. That's the third consecutive year where Kenny's sold out the arena and two years straight that he sold out multiple nights. Ridiculous! I grant that he's got the basic skills and work-ethic to be a crowd-pleasing entertainer, but I simply cannot account for what makes him so extremely popular like that. He's basically a twerpy guy in tight jeans, 80's rock t-shirts (Friday: Eagles "Long Run" and Saturday: Bruce Springsteen "Live '75-'85" album covers) and a big cowboy hat. I don't think that hat EVER comes off in public because if it did it would wipe out his whole image. Probably the best reason I can come up with to explain his popularity is that his music and message don't require much serious thought and he appeals effortlessly to a demographic that is well-represented around here - reasonably affluent middle-class consumers who can relate to and afford the kind of feel-good escapism that his songs celebrate. "No Shirt, No Shoes, No Problem" kind of sums it up. His big finale song is "She Think's My Tractor's Sexy." That about sums it up, right?

Highlights of the show, for what they are worth, were a surprise appearance by none other than Uncle Kracker. That's right, Uncle-freakin'-Cracker was in the house! He did a duet with Kenny on his hit from a few years back, "Follow Me" and then they pulled out all the stops with a rousing rendition of Kid Rock's "Cowboy." The crowd went nuts. They were hitting beach balls into the air! Actually, I have to say, Kenny knows how to work the crowd. He was as impressive as Billy Joe from Green Day (who also has great stage presence) in getting everyone to mimic his hand-waving motions and commanding constant attention even though he often wasn't doing anything all that remarkable. I guess that's what they call charisma. Another peak moment for me was watching Carrie Underwood (last year's American Idol winner, lest anyone forgets) doing her warm-ups with the band, dressed in pink sweats and a T-shirt, doing her little dance moves in an empty arena. Pretty cute kid, which is why she's AI material, after all.

OK, so much for that. Sunday I drove down to Toledo. Here are a few pictures I took while I was there:


I call this one "Toledo Skyline."


Every university of note seems to require at least one stately tall old building with a carillon tower, and the University of Toledo, which rented out the room where my classes took place, is no exception. Unfortunately, I could not find the door that would allow me access to the bells or the view from that lofty perch, or I'd have a photo of that to show you.


Here's a picture of me on the Riverwalk, unable to get my big old head out of the way of the festive fountain in the lagoon of Toledo's International Park (which actually flies a U.N. flag, for reasons I'm not aware of...)

OK, I have to head out now. I'll have some more to report soon.

Incarnation Bits 3: Annie Dillard on Luke

The third installment of my series featuring excerpts from the "Incarnation" anthology, edited by Alfred Corn.

"Fear not, little flock": this seems apt for those pious watercolor people so long ago, those blameless and endearing shepherds and fishermen, in colorful native garb, whose lives seem pure, because they are not our lives. They were rustics, silent and sunlit, outdoors, whom we sentimentalize and ignore. They are not in our world. They had some nascent sort of money, but not the kind to take seriously. They got their miracles, perhaps, but they died anyway, long ago, and so did their children. Salvation is obviously for them, and so is God, for they are, like the very young and the very old in our world, peripheral. Religion is for outcasts and victims; Jesus made that clear. Religion suits primitives. They have time to work up their touching faith in unverifiable promises, and they might as well, having bugger-all else.

Our lives are complex. There are many things we must consider before we go considering any lilies. There are many things we must fear. We are in charge; we are running things in a world we made; we are nobody's little flock.

The sad story of a tragic error

I'm down here in Toledo, as I mentioned last night, but I see in the local papers and in some of the national media that the story of Laura Van Ryn and Whitney Cerak has gotten a lot of attention. It's a heart-rending situation to think about - a pair of girls involved in a fatal car accident, one survives, the other dies, but a case of mistaken identity sends the families and friends affected by the events into a mind-bending cycle of emotional upheaval as the family who thought they lost a daughter discovers that she's still alive, while the other family that's been tending to a severely injured young woman has to grapple with the fact that their daughter was buried under someone else's name. I can hardly imagine what it must be like to be either of the parents of the girls and I honestly have not spent much time contemplating the circumstances all that much because it's just too bizarre and difficult to comprehend. And I've been busy with other things.

But the reason that I mention it in my blog is that this national-level story happened pretty close to my home. This weekend's Grand Rapids Press noted that all the networks, CNN, FOX, USA Today and the New York Times had all contacted the church where Laura's memorial service was held (which also happens to be my mom's church.) The girl who actually died in the accident was from Caledonia, just south of Grand Rapids, my wife's home town as a matter of fact.

I'm not trying to exploit the incident or claim any connection to it other than the fact that it occurred in my part of the world and I think that the uncanny circumstances are drawing attention from a lot of quarters, at least for a day or two before the story slips away in the news cycle. The fact that it involved two pretty young blonde-haired women (which we have a lot of here in this Dutch enclave of West Michigan) also adds to the intrigue - I think that if the mistaken identity had involved two less physically attractive individuals, we wouldn't see the pictures featured so prominently on TV and in the newspapers. I know it sounds kind of crass to put it that way, but I think it's true.

Sunday Night in Toledo, Ohio

Yes, you read me correctly. I'm sitting here in Room 1163 of the Clarion Hotel, close to the campus of the University of Toledo, where I'll be attending a conference on writing grants on Monday and Tuesday. Right now, I'm just burning up some time before I head to bed in a few minutes, listening to the Ohio Players (great funk band from the 1970's, if you're not familiar with them... they did "Fire" and "Love Rollercoaster" and so much more!) On the way down, I was listening to another great Ohio band - DEVO, who emerged out of Akron OH almost thirty years ago before relocating to Southern California. So much for my musical tribute to the great state of Ohio. (The title of this post is an homage to John Denver, who performed a song titled "Saturday Night in Toledo, Ohio" on his double-live album back in 1975 or so, the same album from which his #1 single "Thank God I'm A Country Boy" can be found. But I showed up a day too late for that title to ring true...)

This short little business trip is a welcome diversion - it gives me a couple of days where I don't have to wonder what to do about my computer problems (though it looks more likely to me that I'll just be re-installing Windows when I get back home, since the numerous other attempts at a fix have not resulted in any progress at all. My important info is backed up anyway, so it wouldn't be an entirely bad thing to freshen up my C: drive and get rid of some of the clutter that has accumulated there over the past eight months or so since my last fresh installation of WXP. (Thanks for the advice, Alex, but I wasn't able to transform it into a solution.)

I always enjoy a chance to get away from the ordinary routine of things, especially when I'm getting paid for it too. I have some idea of what to expect at the seminar tomorrow, but I'll wait until I've gone through it a bit before I say more. Good night for now.

Bah

I'm kind of aggravated at the moment - as is so often the case, I have a lot going on. Today I have some household chores to tend to, then a graduation open house in the afternoon, perhaps a quick little visit to Festival 2006 downtown, and then I have to work at the Kenny Chesney concert at the Van Andel Arena tonight. Busy day! Compounding the pressure is a so-far unresolvable problem with my computer, where I can't get Windows XP to boot up properly... it just sticks at one of the opening lines of its command sequence (I don't know if that's the right term, but it speaks meaningfully to me!) and doesn't go anywhere from there. So I'm writing this post from "Safe Mode with Networking" which is a semi-functional condition. I can at least check my emails and surf the web, but I can't listen to music or access my DVD drive. :o(

So I'm seriously contemplating a re-installation of Windows XP - just not sure I want to take that step quite yet if there are other alternatives to explore - but I've tried a bunch of things already - spent a couple hours on it last night, to no avail. It is frustrating to go through so many stupid computer problems. I really don't stress my machines out all that much compared to others that I know (like my sons) but I have had way too many hassles over the past couple of years. Anyway, this is of little interest to you, I know, so I'll find a different way to vent.

A couple other things to throw out there... I'm now getting into Brian McLaren's Secret Message of Jesus, as well as another hot pick among current emergent-esque Christian writing, Shane Claiborne's Irresistable Revolution. I'm reading them side by side, a chapter or two from one book, then switch over to the other. I will have more to say about each of them in a future post where I can gather my thoughts more intentionally and speak with assurance about the positions of each respective author. The books are complementary to each other, but probably aimed at slightly different audiences.

Incarnation Bits 2 - Mary Gordon on Mark

Here's the second excerpt from the "Incarnation" anthology that I'll be quoting from time to time here, this time by novelist Mary Gordon, who I knew nothing about until I read this piece, but I am intrigued to read more of her writing. I chose this one because the question of why Jesus blasted the fig tree came up on the email list recently...

The Fig Tree

Jesus curses the fig tree for conforming to natural law. Why is this incident exciting? It induces a kind of masochistic thrill: to observe sympathetically someone whose demands are, literally, supernatural, requiring not just heroism but betrayal of causality. Simone Weil took the parable terribly to heart: she identified with the fig tree. We are all less fruitful than we might be; we are all in the grips of nature. We would all like to blossom, out of season, at a word.

The petulant, irritable Jesus. He appears often in Mark. Mark's tone is harsh. It wasn't something we were listening for in church: tone. But the idea of gentle Jesus meek and mild is certainly extra-textual. Just after he curses the fig tree, He drives the money changer from the Temple, another thrilling episode. No one could possibly identify with the money changers. Their shock, their venal faces registering mercantile outrage, the upraised arm of Jesus, brandishing the rope He uses as a whip, the doves, loosed from their cages, disoriented in the Temple courtyard. It is violent: male.

He is often impatient with the pressing demands of the crowd; He is caught between the demands of the eternally growing multitude and His mystical nature that requires solitude. There are always more blind, deaf, possessed. He keeps wanting to escape from them. We never noticed it. But, even as He broke out of the frozen attitude of recoil from the menstrual taboo, He breaks out of the attitude of wearied impatience with the needs and the stupidity of the crowd. He says to the father with a possessed child, "What an unbelieving and perverse generation! How long shall I be with you!" This is because the father insists upon Jesus actually laying on hands; he doesn't believe in the power of his own faith. Finally, though, Jesus responds to the father's less than fully mature needs and says: "Bring him to me."

Next: Annie Dillard on Luke!