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hey at least I didn't end up as catwoman!

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politics

Let me begin with a disclaimer... I have only voted Republican once in my life and I am ashamed to have voted for that person (I'll give you a hint - he resigned in disgrace). I have voted for a number of third party candidates, but usually I have voted for Democrats.

Having made that disclaimer, let me comment on two Republicans. I'll begin with the positive comment to show that I'm only a little partisan.

In George Will's column today he talks about a Republican who [I]could[/I] inspire me to vote for a Republican sometime. Tom Coburn is a representative from Oklahoma. I don't know anything about his politics but I do respect his integrity. He was the one who proposed that the $223 million that was earmarked for Alaska's "bridge to nowhere" be diverted to New Orleans. He has tirelessly worked against pork barrel projects that do nothing to further the interests of the country as a whole. He champions that old fashioned Republican virtue of fiscal conservatism. He is willing to stand up against his own party when he believes they are wrong. We need more folk in government with similar spines.

Will has a great line in the column... "Civilization depends upon the ability to make even majorities blush..." which brings us to the second Republican.

One statement that keeps getting thrown around by those on the right regarding the domestic wire taping has been - "If you don't have something to hide, what are you worried about?" Well, the vice president had something to hide. While hunting for quail, he ignored the training that the NRA proposes and shot a friend. Then the white house took 24 hours to release the information. Now we know why. Cheney had a hunting license but did not have the required stamp to hunt quail. He was hunting illegally. After hiding the information, the administration made light of what happened. It seems to me that the event is a wonderful and terrible metaphor for this administration. He was reckless, careless, broke the law, hid the information, and then made light of the entire event. This administration has no shame. They have no respect for the law, for the people of our country, for traditional Republican policies, or for the constitution. They do not blush.

Extravagance

Extravagance... it is one of my favorite words these days. God is amazingly extravagant! Extravagant love... extravagant beauty... and now extravagant wonder

Scientists have discovered a slew of new species and a few that were thought to be extinct in a remote section of the jungle in Indonesia. One of the species - long-beaked echidnas - at least in this region obviously has no history with human beings and wasn't afraid to allow the scientists to pick it up and carry it back to camp! Amazing

here's a slide show from the expedition including both animals and plants.

extravagant wonder!

his royal highness

Ok... I'm a big Prince fan. The man is a genius and an amazing player. Yeah, there is lots of filler material on most of his records but he still has an amazing body of work and his live performances are supposed to be astounding. I've never seen him live but if the tv performances that I've seen are any indication, there isn't a better show out there. If you didn't catch him on SNL this past Saturday you can see the clip. here!
Compare that performance with the drivel of the Rolling Stones at halftime on the superbowl. my, my, my

a great sermon

Bono spoke at the president's prayer breakfast last week... the following are his words. powerful, powerful stuff.

If you're wondering what I'm doing here, at a prayer breakfast, well, so am I. I'm certainly not here as a man of the cloth, unless that cloth is leather. It's certainly not because I'm a rock star. Which leaves one possible explanation: I'm here because I've got a messianic complex.

Yes, it's true. And for anyone who knows me, it's hardly a revelation.

Well, I'm the first to admit that there's something unnatural...something unseemly...about rock stars mounting the pulpit and preaching at presidents, and then disappearing to their villas in the south of France. Talk about a fish out of water. It was weird enough when Jesse Helms showed up at a U2 concert...but this is really weird, isn't it?

You know, one of the things I love about this country is its separation of church and state. Although I have to say: in inviting me here, both church and state have been separated from something else completely: their mind.

Mr. President, are you sure about this?

It's very humbling and I will try to keep my homily brief. But be warned - I'm Irish.

I'd like to talk about the laws of man, here in this city where those laws are written. And I'd like to talk about higher laws. It would be great to assume that the one serves the other; that the laws of man serve these higher laws...but of course, they don't always. And I presume that, in a sense, is why you're here.

I presume the reason for this gathering is that all of us here - Muslims, Jews, Christians - all are searching our souls for how to better serve our family, our community, our nation, our God.

I know I am. Searching, I mean. And that, I suppose, is what led me here, too.

Yes, it's odd, having a rock star here - but maybe it's odder for me than for you. You see, I avoided religious people most of my life. Maybe it had something to do with having a father who was Protestant and a mother who was Catholic in a country where the line between the two was, quite literally, a battle line. Where the line between church and state was...well, a little blurry, and hard to see.

I remember how my mother would bring us to chapel on Sundays... and my father used to wait outside. One of the things that I picked up from my father and my mother was the sense that religion often gets in the way of God.

For me, at least, it got in the way. Seeing what religious people, in the name of God, did to my native land...and in this country, seeing God's second-hand car salesmen on the cable TV channels, offering indulgences for cash...in fact, all over the world, seeing the self-righteousness roll down like a mighty stream from certain corners of the religious establishment...

I must confess, I changed the channel. I wanted my MTV.

Even though I was a believer.

Perhaps because I was a believer.

I was cynical...not about God, but about God's politics. (There you are, Jim.)

Then, in 1997, a couple of eccentric, septuagenarian British Christians went and ruined my shtick - my reproachfulness. They did it by describing the millennium, the year 2000, as a Jubilee year, as an opportunity to cancel the chronic debts of the world's poorest people. They had the audacity to renew the Lord's call - and were joined by Pope John Paul II, who, from an Irish half-Catholic's point of view, may have had a more direct line to the Almighty.

'Jubilee' - why 'Jubilee'?

What was this year of Jubilee, this year of our Lord's favor?

I'd always read the scriptures, even the obscure stuff. There it was in Leviticus (25:35)...

'If your brother becomes poor,' the scriptures say, 'and cannot maintain himself...you shall maintain him.... You shall not lend him your money at interest, not give him your food for profit.'

It is such an important idea, Jubilee, that Jesus begins his ministry with this. Jesus is a young man, he's met with the rabbis, impressed everyone, people are talking. The elders say, he's a clever guy, this Jesus, but he hasn't done much...yet. He hasn't spoken in public before...

When he does, is first words are from Isaiah: 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,' he says, 'because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.' And Jesus proclaims the year of the Lord's favour, the year of Jubilee (Luke 4:18).

What he was really talking about was an era of grace - and we're still in it.

So fast-forward 2,000 years. That same thought, grace, was made incarnate - in a movement of all kinds of people. It wasn't a bless-me club... it wasn't a holy huddle. These religious guys were willing to get out in the streets, get their boots dirty, wave the placards, follow their convictions with actions...making it really hard for people like me to keep their distance. It was amazing. I almost started to like these church people.

But then my cynicism got another helping hand.

It was what Colin Powell, a five-star general, called the greatest W.M.D. of them all: a tiny little virus called AIDS. And the religious community, in large part, missed it. The ones that didn't miss it could only see it as divine retribution for bad behaviour. Even on children...even [though the] fastest growing group of HIV infections were married, faithful women.

Aha, there they go again! I thought to myself judgmentalism is back!

But in truth, I was wrong again. The church was slow but the church got busy on this the leprosy of our age.

Love was on the move.

Mercy was on the move.

God was on the move.

Moving people of all kinds to work with others they had never met, never would have cared to meet...conservative church groups hanging out with spokesmen for the gay community, all singing off the same hymn sheet on AIDS...soccer moms and quarterbacks...hip-hop stars and country stars. This is what happens when God gets on the move: crazy stuff happens!

Popes were seen wearing sunglasses!

Jesse Helms was seen with a ghetto blaster!

Crazy stuff. Evidence of the spirit.

It was breathtaking. Literally. It stopped the world in its tracks.

When churches started demonstrating on debt, governments listened - and acted. When churches starting organising, petitioning, and even - that most unholy of acts today, God forbid, lobbying...on AIDS and global health, governments listened - and acted.

I'm here today in all humility to say: you changed minds; you changed policy; you changed the world.

Look, whatever thoughts you have about God, who He is or if He exists, most will agree that if there is a God, He has a special place for the poor. In fact, the poor are where God lives.

Check Judaism. Check Islam. Check pretty much anyone.

I mean, God may well be with us in our mansions on the hill. I hope so. He may well be with us as in all manner of controversial stuff. Maybe, maybe not. But the one thing we can all agree, all faiths and ideologies, is that God is with the vulnerable and poor.

God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house. God is in the silence of a mother who has infected her child with a virus that will end both their lives. God is in the cries heard under the rubble of war. God is in the debris of wasted opportunity and lives, and God is with us if we are with them. "If you remove the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness, and if you give yourself to the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then your light will rise in darkness and your gloom with become like midday and the Lord will continually guide you and satisfy your desire in scorched places."

It's not a coincidence that in the scriptures, poverty is mentioned more than 2,100 times. It's not an accident. That's a lot of air time, 2,100 mentions. (You know, the only time Christ is judgmental is on the subject of the poor.) 'As you have done it unto the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me' (Matthew 25:40). As I say, good news to the poor.

Here's some good news for the president. After 9/11 we were told America would have no time for the world's poor. America would be taken up with its own problems of safety. And it's true these are dangerous times, but America has not drawn the blinds and double-locked the doors.

In fact, you have doubled aid to Africa. You have tripled funding for global health. Mr. President, your emergency plan for AIDS relief and support for the Global Fund - you and Congress - have put 700,000 people onto life-saving anti-retroviral drugs and provided 8 million bed nets to protect children from malaria.

Outstanding human achievements. Counterintuitive. Historic. Be very, very proud.

But here's the bad news. From charity to justice, the good news is yet to come. There is much more to do. There's a gigantic chasm between the scale of the emergency and the scale of the response.

And finally, it's not about charity after all, is it? It's about justice.

Let me repeat that: It's not about charity, it's about justice.

And that's too bad.

Because you're good at charity. Americans, like the Irish, are good at it. We like to give, and we give a lot, even those who can't afford it.

But justice is a higher standard. Africa makes a fool of our idea of justice; it makes a farce of our idea of equality. It mocks our pieties, it doubts our concern, it questions our commitment.

Sixty-five hundred Africans are still dying every day of a preventable, treatable disease, for lack of drugs we can buy at any drug store. This is not about charity, this is about justice and equality.

Because there's no way we can look at what's happening in Africa and, if we're honest, conclude that deep down, we really accept that Africans are equal to us. Anywhere else in the world, we wouldn't accept it. Look at what happened in South East Asia with the tsunami. 150,000 lives lost to that misnomer of all misnomers, "mother nature." In Africa, 150,000 lives are lost every month. A tsunami every month. And it's a completely avoidable catastrophe.

It's annoying but justice and equality are mates. Aren't they? Justice always wants to hang out with equality. And equality is a real pain.

You know, think of those Jewish sheep-herders going to meet the Pharaoh, mud on their shoes, and the Pharaoh says, "Equal?" A preposterous idea: rich and poor are equal? And they say, "Yeah, 'equal,' that's what it says here in this book. We're all made in the image of God."

And eventually the Pharaoh says, "OK, I can accept that. I can accept the Jews - but not the blacks."

"Not the women. Not the gays. Not the Irish. No way, man."

So on we go with our journey of equality.

On we go in the pursuit of justice.

We hear that call in the ONE Campaign, a growing movement of more than 2 million Americans...Left and Right together... united in the belief that where you live should no longer determine whether you live.

We hear that call even more powerfully today, as we mourn the loss of Coretta Scott King - mother of a movement for equality, one that changed the world but is only just getting started. These issues are as alive as they ever were; they just change shape and cross the seas.

Preventing the poorest of the poor from selling their products while we sing the virtues of the free market...that's a justice issue. Holding children to ransom for the debts of their grandparents...that's a justice issue. Withholding life-saving medicines out of deference to the Office of Patents...that's a justice issue.

And while the law is what we say it is, God is not silent on the subject.

That's why I say there's the law of the land. And then there is a higher standard. There's the law of the land, and we can hire experts to write them so they benefit us, so the laws say it's OK to protect our agriculture but it's not OK for African farmers to do the same, to earn a living?

As the laws of man are written, that's what they say.

God will not accept that.

Mine won't, at least. Will yours?

I close this morning on...very...thin...ice.

This is a dangerous idea I've put on the table: my God vs. your God, their God vs. our God...vs. no God. It is very easy, in these times, to see religion as a force for division rather than unity.

And this is a town - Washington - that knows something of division.

But the reason I am here, and the reason I keep coming back to Washington, is because this is a town that is proving it can come together on behalf of what the scriptures call the least of these.

This is not a Republican idea. It is not a Democratic idea. It is not even, with all due respect, an American idea. Nor it is unique to any one faith.

'Do to others as you would have them do to you' (Luke 6:30). Jesus says that.

'Righteousness is this: that one should...give away wealth out of love for him to the near of kin and the orphans and the needy and the wayfarer and the beggars and for the emancipation of the captives.' The Koran says that (2.177).

Thus sayeth the Lord: 'Bring the homeless poor into the house, when you see the naked, cover him, then your light will break out like the dawn and your recovery will speedily spring fourth, then your Lord will be your rear guard.' The Jewish scripture says that. Isaiah 58 again.

That is a powerful incentive: 'The Lord will watch your back.' Sounds like a good deal to me, right now.

A number of years ago, I met a wise man who changed my life. In countless ways, large and small, I was always seeking the Lord's blessing. I was saying, you know, I have a new song, look after it. I have a family, please look after them. I have this crazy idea...

And this wise man said: stop.

He said, stop asking God to bless what you're doing.

Get involved in what God is doing - because it's already blessed.

Well, God, as I said, is with the poor. That, I believe, is what God is doing.

And that is what he's calling us to do.

I was amazed when I first got to this country and I learned how much some churchgoers tithe. Up to 10% of the family budget. Well, how does that compare with the federal budget, the budget for the entire American family? How much of that goes to the poorest people in the world? Less than 1%.

Mr. President, Congress, people of faith, people of America:

I want to suggest to you today that you see the flow of effective foreign assistance as tithing.... Which, to be truly meaningful, will mean an additional 1% of the federal budget tithed to the poor.

What is 1%?

1% is not merely a number on a balance sheet.

1% is the girl in Africa who gets to go to school, thanks to you. 1% is the AIDS patient who gets her medicine, thanks to you. 1% is the African entrepreneur who can start a small family business thanks to you. 1% is not redecorating presidential palaces or money flowing down a rat hole. This 1% is digging waterholes to provide clean water.

1% is a new partnership with Africa, not paternalism toward Africa, where increased assistance flows toward improved governance and initiatives with proven track records and away from boondoggles and white elephants of every description.

America gives less than 1% now. We're asking for an extra 1% to change the world. to transform millions of lives - but not just that and I say this to the military men now - to transform the way that they see us.

1% is national security, enlightened economic self-interest, and a better, safer world rolled into one. Sounds to me that in this town of deals and compromises, 1% is the best bargain around.

These goals - clean water for all; school for every child; medicine for the afflicted, an end to extreme and senseless poverty - these are not just any goals; they are the Millennium Development goals, which this country supports. And they are more than that. They are the Beatitudes for a globalised world.

Now, I'm very lucky. I don't have to sit on any budget committees. And I certainly don't have to sit where you do, Mr. President. I don't have to make the tough choices.

But I can tell you this:

To give 1% more is right. It's smart. And it's blessed.

There is a continent - Africa - being consumed by flames.

I truly believe that when the history books are written, our age will be remembered for three things: the war on terror, the digital revolution, and what we did - or did not to - to put the fire out in Africa.

History, like God, is watching what we do.

Thank you. Thank you, America, and God bless you all.

Go Steelers

This week I realized that I last lived in Pittsburgh in 1973! Why is it that this place that I did not spend he majority of my life have such an impact on who I am? Obviously, I was formed there... and our formation is critical for our entire life.

So what were the pieces? growing up in a blue collar city in a blue collar family... hearing the news about Viet Namn on the news every evening... being faced with the struggle for civil rights in my neighborhood... knowing that the churches - and indirectly, God - cared because they reached out to us kids who very eaily could have been lost to the streets...

So the atmosphere in which we raise our children - the community, the church, our homes - will have an impact that will mark them for their entire lives...

Go Steelers!

so much going on

boy, you don't put a blog up for a few days and the topics are endless. So, here they are in thumbnails:

Alexis is doing well although she does have an infection and has had to go on a different anti-biotic.

The W said pretty much what I expected in the SOTU and I was as unhappy as I expected.

The house voted yesterday to cut about 40 Billion dollars, mostly from programs aimed at the poor. Including 13 B cut from education. I was reminded of a scriture passage this morning where Ezekiel gives the real reason why Sodom was destroyed - Ezekiel 16:49 (NRSV) "This was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy."

The Steelers are still picked to win the superbowl... with the point spread running from 3 to about 4.5 I think. One of my congregation members gave me a Steelers AFC Championship t-shirt. I think I'll wear it on Sunday.

Riding the Bus

Ok... I'm a Steelers fan. Not a rabid one, but a fan. I grew up in Pittsburgh and found my formation just before the glory days of the steel curtain. I was ready when Franco Harris, Joe Greene, etc. came along. My heart warms when I see a Steelers shirt, hat, or bumper sticker.

We've (see I said "we" even though I live in Santa Barbara!) had some good teams over the years but this one feels right. There still is a blue collar integrity to football played Steelers style and I think Jerome Bettis personifies that ethic. He was a franchise running back... one of the best in the history of the game but easily moved into a position as backup and elder statesman when that was what was best for the team. They have a long-tenured coach and lots of long tenured players in a time when many coaches and players play musical chairs as they move from one team to another every few years. They have a quarterback in Roethlisberger who would rather hang out with the guys at the pub that chase after silicone enhanced young women and live the lifestyle of a glamorous QB. They still don't have cheer leaders, after all, Steelers fans go to see football not, well, you know.

The Steelers are now on their way to Super Bowl XL in Bettis's home town of Detroit. I hope they win. It sounds like it could be a good game although many super bowls haven't been. And I have a church meeting scheduled for 5:30... just towards the end of the game Pacific time... do you think I should cancel the meeting?

politics

I've been avoiding speaking too much about the president but I have to say that I agree with what seemed to be the majority of folk in this short video. I think the peaches would be a good thing. Check it out.

Africasize Me

Here is an amazing idea to raise awareness about poverty...

If you know anyone who has a spare 100K sitting around and could bankroll this, send them to this link and get them in touch with Ryan Kellermeyer.

NAMM '06

For the past couple of years I've been able to wrangle a pass to NAMM - the big trade show for musical instrument merchandizers in Anaheim. It is a bizarre experience. It is HUGE with thousands of companies all pitching the newest biggest thing to music stre buyers, artists, etc. It is the very antithesis of music. The noise is oppresive... so much so that when you pick up your badge at the registration desk, they hand you ear plugs. One of the most popular booths was one where they were doing molds for custom ear plugs.

Then there are the people. I saw more silicone, more piercings, and more ink than I thought existed in the world. Gene Simmons (formerly of KISS) passed by a few times followed by a television camera, sound person, and an entourage. Many of the guitar, drum, and keyboard booths had "stars" signing autographs or performing. I didn't know who most of them were although many of the musicians who were performing were amazingly good. I did take a bunch of photos. Here are two of the most strange looking folk... I have no idea who or what they are.

I was there courtesy of the Lowden Guitar Company - wonderful people and the best guitars in the world (thanks George!). They brought with them a model from their new line - the 50 series that was one of the most beautiful guitars I've ever seen.
I played it too but it was too noisy to really hear it.


My friend Thomas Leeb was demonstrating Lowdens, playing his new F35 curly maple, and wowed the crowds with his amazing playing. It was fun watching the crowds. More than one person stood there with open mouth.

Alex DiGrassi spent a good deal of time at the booth too as he plays Lowden guitars and was picking up a new one. What a great guy.

I ran into a few friends and missed some others who were there. I also played two wonderful electric guitars - a Briggs and a Soloway. Either would be a great guitar to own. And I heard an amplifier that I would love to own - a Talos Basic. It was just wonderful sounding - maybe the best amp I've ever heard - organic and responsive.

The evening ended with a meal with the Lowden folk, lots of laughter, wine, food, and good fellowship. If the convention was the crass side of making music, that meal reflected the wonderful side - community. I hope I get to go again next year.

some silly fun

go to gizoogle and enter the URL of one of your favorite web pages... or even this one and see what happens. It is fun fa shizzle.

a great book

I'm reading The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell for the 2nd time. It is a marvelous book that raises some very difficult questions.

The story takes place in the middle of this century... researchers have received radio signals of music from a planet in a nearby galaxy. The Jesuits mount a mission to the planet. The story plays off optimism and faith verses deep disappointment with God, religious ecstasy vs. horrible pain. It shows how easy it is to have preconceptions and expectations get in the way of real understanding and that misunderstanding a culture can bring about disastrous results.

In the paperback edition, there are study questions for a group to discuss and an interview with the author. She grew up Roman Catholic but converted to Judaism in her adult life. She says, "When you convert to Judaism in a post-Holocaust world, you know two things for sure: one is that being Jewish can get you killed; the other is that God won't rescue you." With that theology in mind, the main character becomes a sort of Jeremiah who feels as if he has been used and abused by God.

I think it should be required reading for church leaders.

There is a sequel too - The Children of God - that I'll re-read after I finish The Sparrow.

update

Alexis had her first post-surgery appointment with the surgeon yesterday. He said everything looks good and they are amazed that the swelling is so little. A number of the office personnel commented that she didn't look as if she was only 6 days out of surgery.

So I guess she won't stick that way.

parenting

One of my favorite blogs to read is Heather Armstrong's. She is honest, poetic, at times a little outrageous, and very very human. One of her favorite topics has to do with life with their nearly 2 year old daughter. She writes with the wonder of one discovering something marvelous for the first time... which of course she is.

Anyway, I was thinking about her blog and reflecting on my experience as my now 23 year old underwent this serious surgery. It is amazing how much power your child has over you. They hold your heart in their hands for the rest of your life and have the same power at age 23 that they had at 2 weeks... without a thought they can rip your heart out and stomp on it (even if they haven't yet learned to walk) and not even realize it.

Going up to the surgery, I didn't sleep well and had an over-active imagination which thought of everything that could possibly go wrong from amputating a limb because they mixed up patients to the orthognathic surgeon making a mistake and my beautiful daughter ending up looking like Jay Leno. Of course, neither happened. Still, I do find myself secretly fearing that the swelling won't go down and she'll look like a hamster with its cheeks filled with seeds for the rest of her life... and I paid for it.

Parenting is difficult... and I'm guessing it never gets easier, not even when they have long since grown up and moved out. I suspect Alexis and John will always be just below the surface of my consciousness and I hope that with each change in their lives, I too will experience the wonder of doing something amazing for the first time. I'll pretend that nothing this hard will ever happen again.

prayers and results

thanks for all of the good thoughts and prayers that went our way. Alexis' surgery went well. The physician estimated 4-5 hours and it took a bit under 4 and he said everything went into place nicely. She is swollen and has a few bruises which will get worse until Sat. or Sunday and then begin to abate and her jaw is held closed by wires and rubber bands.

Of course now we begin the ordeal of recovery - 15 days of particle free liquids, then just liquids, then after 8 to 10 weeks soft food and finally about Easter, a more normal diet.

surgery

On Weds. 1/11, my daughter Alexis is having pretty extensive jaw surgery (4-5 hours worth). We had our final meeting with the surgeon today and I'm well into the panicking dad mode. If you pray, send some her way on Weds. and following. If you don't... good thoughts will do.

Walmart churches

We received some gift cards for Christmas and so, the other day we went shopping at one of my least favorite places in the world – Walmart. I hate the narrow isles, the cheap stuff, the size, the labor practices, and the business practices. At the same time, I understand the attraction. Where else can you go and while your tires are being rotated, eat lunch, buy groceries, try on some clothes, and check out a new faucet for your bathroom? And the prices are pretty reasonable. Still, nothing seems quite right. You can get clothes but they always feel like imitations of what I’d really like. And the tools aren’t the same quality as those from a tool store. The groceries are cheap but you can’t get those interesting foods that I like to have on my table. And service? They’re friendly enough but don’t expect someone to know the difference in quality between two brands or be able to recommend the perfect tool for an obscure job. And certainly don't expect them to know your name. Nope. They want to get you in, load you with stuff and get you out. And they put the mom & pop stores out of business. The mom & pops really have service. They’ll even tell you where to go to buy what they don’t have but they can’t compete with Walmart’s prices or convenience.

Let me paint with a broad brush here – too broad perhaps but still helpful. I think Walmart is a metaphor for many of the mega-churches. They too are huge and flashy and seem at first to have everything you could possibly want from recovery programs to sports teams to 4 different styles of worship so you can find the one that you really identify with. Don’t expect personal service. Nobody even knows whether you’ve been there or not. And don’t expect the real thing… no self-respecting post modern would be part of a big box church, that pomo worship is just a slickly produced imitation of the real thing. The kids ministry may have all of the bells and whistles but the kids don’t end up with a community filled with surrogate grandparents and aunts and uncles. They just have one more big program thrown at them. There may be amazing musicians but don’t expect anything edgy or artsy. It doesn’t work for too many people. And they rarely admit it, it may not even be purposeful, but they really are putting the mom & pop churches out of business. As George Barna and Bill Hull observed, the mom & pops have been feeders for the mega-churches. Yeah, they try. They have small groups to try to build community. Some have begun serious outreach projects like Saddleback’s AIDS initiative and others have wrestled with social justice issues like Willow Creek raising questions about institutionalized racism within their church. Bu no matter what they do... they are still Walmarts - big box churches.

The mom & pop’s are endangered. They don’t meet the needs of our culture and they never really put enough energy into discipleship and mission. They are on the way out and it is time.

There is another kind of store though – a boutique. Let me tell you about one of my favorites. Cathedral Music in Troy, NY. Klem only sells acoustic guitars and an occassional banjo or mandolin. He has everything from beginners instruments up but he specializes in high end, small builder instruments. Don’t go there to buy an electric guitar or an effects pedal or a drum set or a trombone. He doesn’t have them. But if you want the very best acoustic guitar in your price range, a friendly place to sit and play, great customer service, and competitive prices… go see Klem.

That is what we need in churches - boutiques. We need smaller churches that offer the real thing… so real that it is scary… and expensive. There won’t be any way to sustain it without serious commitment from all of the members of that community of faith. One boutique won’t fit everyone. You may have to search a while for the right one. And even when you find it, it won’t have everything. You may have to give up some expectations. There won’t be a children’s program with 100 5th graders and a singles group for 20 somethings that has a large enough population to do serious spouse hunting. And if the niche that the boutique meets disappears, it will disappear. But while it is there… it is the real thing.

listen up

When we lived in Albany, NY, my daughter Alexis and I played the acoustic circuit as Alexis d, released one CD, and recorded enough material for a second one that was never released. The first CD has been available at CD Baby for some time but now it is also available as individual mp3's there. We also have a few songs from the CD and a few of the unreleased ones available now as mp3s from Soundclick and more of the unreleased material will be added. So for only $.99 a track you can load up on Alexis d!

bad movies

The other night I needed to do some spacing so I turned on HBO and watched the movie that was on - Alexander. Well, it has to be one of the 5 worst movies I've ever seen. Overblown dialog, silly accents, Macedonians with blond hair and blue eyes... the only character I believed was Bucephalus (do you remember who that was from your ancient history?)

Other really bad films that come immediately to mind are Battlefield Earth and Alphaville. What are your worst movies?