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If you are as much of a Jazz fanatic as I am, you will appreciate this post. Check out the Jazz at Lincoln Center archive if you want to hear some great Jazz. There are three years of broadcasts on the site. Each is about an hour long and features some of the best performers in the Jazz.
I’m currently listening to the performance by Dave Brubeck from October 20th.
Whose Advent?
Charles Moore
Though Advent (literally "arrival") has been observed for centuries as a time to contemplate Christ's birth, most people today acknowledge it only with a blank look. For the vast majority of us, December flies by in a flurry of activities, and what is called "the holiday season" turns out to be the most stressful time of the year.
It is also a time of contrasting emotions. We are eager, yet frazzled; sentimental, yet indifferent. One minute we glow at the thought of getting together with our family and friends; the next we feel utterly lonely. Our hope is mingled with dread, our anticipation with despair. We sense the deeper meanings of the season but grasp at them in vain; and in the end, all the bustle leaves us frustrated and drained.
It is that time of year again. Rather than repost my comments on the season of holiday, just go here if you are interrested in my thoughts on the "American Holiday Season."
I am constantly amazed by the lack of freedom many people feel within the confines of the church. I’m specifically thinking of an incident that happened some time ago when I was guest speaking at a traditional form of church.
A few minutes before the service, the worship leader, Jack*, approached me with a look of great concern on his face. “I don’t know what’s going on. Pastor Smith is not here and has not called in to let anyone know if he will make it or not. (We later found out that he was very ill and simply could not get anyone so he left a message on the church answering machine.) What should we do?”
Sensing that he was on the verge of a meltdown I decided to see what we could pull together. Within minutes we had developed a backup plan and were recruiting people to facilitate the service.
I asked a board member to see if he could do the announcements and other housekeeping issues then I’d come up and lead a communal prayer of repentance before the worship service began. With the color returning to his face, Jack requested some detailed direction as to how I wanted the worship service to go and when he was suppose to shift gears and do the more contemplative songs.
I got the distinct impression that his Sr. pastor orchestrated everything down to a tee so I decided to ask Jack a simple question. “Do you have some songs ready?”
“Yes I do.” he replied.
“Good! I trust you to hear from God during worship. Feel free to follow the Spirit and do what you think God would have you do in our time of worship as a community.”
After a few moments of chit-chat, Jack's comments seemed to back up my hypothesis. I don’t think he had ever been given the freedom to just go with the flow. Sure some people need guidance when they are new to leading, but the freedom to experiment and follow the Sprit is a must in my book.
Being over-controlling is something that many pastors need to overcome. Pastors with control issues remind me of the doting mother who will not let her child experience the risks in life so they will be safe-and-sound. Sure their children don’t get hurt as often, but they also do not get to experience the dynamic tension of life. Their growth is stunted and they may struggle being self-reliant.
An “over-controlled” church experiences the same thing. There is hardly any life in it! Everything is safe and tame. While this may keep things going, the vibrancy and shear risk of serving God is lost. Often times, churches that are in this situation implode as people leave to find a place where they are freer to experience God and follow him. Those congregations that do not implode will most likely experience stagnation and begin the gradual slide to organizational death.
Exerting too much control in a church is just as
destructive as being too laid-back.
(*Names Changed)
As an avid backpacker and hiker, I tend to go everywhere with my Nalgene water bottle. The thing is perfect for jogging, biking, filling with hot water to make a hand warmer, but I still needed another solution to have my coffee in the wild. 
Freeze dried coffee just does not cut it. I’ve used it in a pinch but the experience was far from enjoyable.
But those days are gone with the Press-Bot. This device utilizes the wide mouth Nalgene bottle to make coffee on the go. It turns the Nalgene bottle into a portable French press. I wish i had thought of using the bottle as a carafe like this. Necessity is the mother of invention.
Not a bad idea for $20.00 USD . I know what i want for Christmas!
Check out their site over at press-bot.
Last night my wife and I went to a nice Italian restaurant in Puyallup. The food was excellent and the Clam Linguine was fantastic. Afterwords, we went to a local Starbucks to hang out with a friend from out of town.
9:00 p.m. on a Wednesday night seemed to be Bible Study night. As Cheryl and I talked with Steve, I began to notice that quite a few of the college aged people in the room were sitting alone reading their Bible while other people were simply hanging out with friends and chatting as we were.
These people were not at one table having a group study as they were all doing their own thing in separate parts of this public space. I kept thinking that it would be really cool bring these people together and open up a forum for discussion with anyone who cared to join in.
I’ve got to talk to some people about that and see if there is some interest.
Being the coffee lover that I am, I like a good espresso. For the past 10 years I’ve used a pump driven home machine to make my morning mocha. With all the constant use, it is beginning to show signs of wear as the pump sounds like it is going to quit at any moment.
If I were to replace the machine with an identical unit I’d have to purchase it at a Starbucks. They now call it the “Barista” which retails for $400.00 USD. Replacing my current unit is simply not an option at the moment.
Rebuilding sounded like a better option so I began looking for replacement pumps and other hardware to rebuild my old faithful espresso machine. Unfortunately, the cost of a new pump, boiler unit and other materials made the cost of purchasing a new one more attractive.
Now here is the good part.
Last weekend, my wife and I stopped at a thrift store on a
whim. 
As I walked down the isles I happened to notice an espresso machine on
the self that was an exact duplicate of mine. It was priced at $20.00 so I
plugged it in to see if everything works. It did!
The pump functioned perfectly. W’hoo! When I got the machine home and tried to make a coffee with it, water just poured out of the top of the filter basket, as it was not sealing up. The fix was to purchase a rubber gasket for a few dollars. The previous owners had stored the unit with the basket locked in place and ruined the gasket.
Now I have a replacement unit for about $370.00 dollars less than I was expecting to pay. I’m also a bargain hunter so I’m happy on many different levels.
Enough blogging, I’m going to make an espresso.
"Discipleship is not limited to what you can understand – it must transcend all comprehension. Plunge into the deep waters beyond your own understanding, and I will help you to comprehend.
Bewilderment is the true comprehension. Not to know where you are going is the true knowledge. In this way Abraham went forth from his father, not knowing where he was going. That is the way of the cross. You cannot find it in yourself, so you must let me lead you as though you were a blind man.
Not
the work which you choose, not the suffering you devise, but the road
which is contrary to all that you choose or contrive or desire – that
is the road you must take. It is to this path that I call you, and in
this sense that you must be my disciple."
By Martin Luther (1483-1546)
Dreams are rather strange things. Often times we do not remember them but we all have them. Like many of us, my dreams are in Black & White. Occasionally I will have a dream that is in vivid color and highly memorable. Given that I usually don’t remember the content of my dreams, this always catches my attention and makes me ponder the symbolism of the dream.
I should add that often times when I have dreams that are in color, they have elements that come to pass in the future. I don’t claim to be a prophet or anything like that, but I sometimes dream things that happen weeks or years in the future. These dreams are always in vivid color and i never forget them.
What disturbs me about this phenomena is the dream I had three weeks ago.
I saw myself in a room talking to a group of people when I suddenly looked down and noticed a leg protruding from my groin as if I possessed a vagina. The leg was sticking out and kicking. I took it in my hands, Instinctively squatted into a birthing position and finished delivering the baby.
This child was no ordinary child as it was the size of your average one year old and did not possess an unbiblical cord. The child came out quietly and was perfectly at ease. As I cradled the child in my arms, a man came up to me and said that I had just given birth to his son. At this point he took the child out of my arms, thanked me and then proceeded to play with his child.
I simply don’t get this dream. This is the most symbolic imagery that i've ever experienced in one of my memorable dreams. Moreover, it was in color like my dreams that come to pass yet it is obviously beyond my physical abilities to literally achieve. So. . . .I ponder the meaning and interpretation of a man giving a breach birth to someone else’s child.
FYI, FireFox at 10% market share. Read the article.
I'd have to say "Excellent" in my best Montgomery Burns voice.
Having rather large environmental sensibilities and concern for ones personal energy usage is not a hot topic at dinner parties in the Suburbs. Many people get dismissed as “tree-huggers” or environmental freaks. You know, the kind who eat granola, wear natural fibers and wear sandals. Yet our consumption of the worlds resources must move to the forefront if our world is going to thrive.
Moreover, as a Christ-follower, it could be argued that an increased environmental awareness is part of our stewardship of the earth. The Christian community has historically ignored the call of the God’s creation as we sought to master it. When we reflect on the Christian narrative of creation we see that Adam was made to be a steward of the garden and not a master of it.
We live in a society that consumes the worlds resources at an astonishing rate. The individual energy use of a typical American is twice that of their counterparts in Germany and Japan. We use an amazing 40% of the worlds resources in our quest for ease. Ours is an energy consumption that is simply unsustainable in the long haul. The recent rise in fuel prices over the last two years only demonstrates our dependency on an OIL based energy economy.
I live in the Pacific Northwest were we have an abundance of cheap hydro-electric power. Yet our employment patters often have us driving 45 to 60 miles each way to get to affordable housing. Our energy usage skyrockets even among the abundance of our hydro-electric power. But is this inevitable? Can an American Suburbanite reduce their energy footprint on the planet? I think it is possible.
In our home, we accept the need to utilize oil to commute so we reduce our energy demands in other ways. Rather than drive a new SUV (YUCK!) we own older cars that are fuel efficient and well maintained. We consolidate our shopping trips with other necessary excursions to reduce our use of the automobile. You simply cannot remove the car from your routine in the suburbs, as the auto is what makes the burbs possible.
We further cut down our energy consumption by installing compact fluorescent lighting, keeping the house heated to 65-68 degrees during the day and 60 degrees at night. If we get cold, we put on a sweater or use a light throw blanket. If we are not in a room, we turn off the lights. Our home is not lit from the outside as we have done away with all outside lighting. I’m looking into solar powered replacement lighting for security reasons.
Additionally, we only use the dishwasher and cloths washer in the evening prior to going to bed if they have a full load. As I write this, my wife is looking for a more water and energy efficient model, as our current washing machine needs replacement. The initial cost will be greater but the savings in water and energy will more than make up for it over the life of the unit.
Most importantly, we have reduced our television viewing to a few hours a week. It is amazing how much energy a 32 inch television uses. I know people who have them on all day. When I let them in on my little secret, I’m often asked how can we do that in this day and age? It is amazing how easy it is to reduce your television viewing when you do not have cable or satellite TV in your home. We rent DVD’s when we want to watch a movie but that is about it.
Our energy usage patters have been a way of life for the past eight years. Our energy bills have been about 1/3 that of our neighbors in the other duplex unit. With greater home insulation and point of use hot water, our energy usage could drop further. BUT we live in a rental and cannot make such changes to the unit so we are now looking to purchase a home while we plan our ultimate energy efficient home. I have already made initial designs of a completely “off grid” passive solar home that can be built with little skilled labor using a natural earthen technique called COBing.
Such a home would provide a rather sustainable lifestyle with minimal energy impact outside of our automobile and backup heat source for two months a year. To realize this dream we’d have to leave the suburbs and head further into the rural landscape where the covenants and restrictions are fewer. Besides, we need at least three acres for our garden, chickens and wind turbine.
As an intermediate step, we are also considering a more suburban location where we can do some solar retrofitting to a home. When we sell it, we can take our solar cells with us and install them in our more natural, energy efficient, “green house.”
Changing our energy usage habits are not impossible in the burbs, it just takes some creative thinking and acceptance of your current limitations. I’m no tree-hugger but we are taking steps to be the best stewards of the planet we can be.
BTW: I don’t think we would be able to make a quick jump to a sustainable home at this point. We are still making the little steps that will lead us to the Green Home of our dreams.
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