Top 5 of 2009

My Top 5 Movies of 2009:

5. Inglorious Basterds

4. The Hurt Locker

3. Up

2. (500) Days of Summer

1. Up in the Air

My Bottom 4 Movies of 2009 (I only saw 4 movies that I hated this year)

4. Terminator: Salvation

3. Ghosts of Girlfriends Past

2. X-Men Origins: Wolverine

1. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Top 5 Nonfiction Books:

5. The Unlikely Disciple, by Kevin Roose

4. Columbine, by Dave Cullen

3. Flickering Pixels, by Shane Hipps

2. Drops Like Stars, by Rob Bell

1. A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, by Donald Miller

Top 5 Fiction Books I Read in 2009 (not necessarily released in 2009):

5. American Gods, by Neil Gaiman (Released in 2001)

4. Juliet, Naked, by Nick Hornby (Released in 2009)

3. Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal, by Christopher Moore (Released in 2002)

2. Life of Pi, by Yann Martel (Released in 2001)

1. Wonder Boys, by Michael Chabon (Released in 1995)

Top 5 New Albums of 2009:

5. Monsters of Folk (by Monsters of Folk)

4. Draw the Line (by David Gray)

3. A Sucker's Dream (by The Alternate Routes)

2. The Hazards of Love (by The Decemberists)

1. Working On A Dream (by Bruce Springsteen)

(Honorable mention: "Wilco: The Album" by Wilco)

Does anybody want to share their top five lists from 2009?

Better Know a Stephen

Here is a really funny interview between Stephen Colbert and Stephen King.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Better Know a Stephen - Stephen King
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor U.S. Speedskating

My Subconscious is Tuned to a Very Specific Radio Station

On Monday, I posted this on my Facebook status:

I had a dream last night that I was invited to dinner at the White House. I was given the opportunity to ask the president one question. So, I asked, "Do you think Bruce Springsteen might show up?" I woke up before he could answer.

What I did not know is that very same night, Bruce was actually being honored by the President at the Kennedy Center. I had no idea that there was an event at the Kennedy Center or that Springsteen would be among the honorees at any upcoming event. However, given the chance to answer my question, the president obviously would have said, "As a matter of fact, yes. He will be here." How about that?

Here is the video of President Obama honoring Bruce:



First of all, I love what he said. It's all true.

Second, I am obviously psychic regarding all things Springsteen-related. This is a gift that I plan to use with wisdom and responsibility.

Now excuse me as I embark on a last-chance power drive down Highway 9...

Free the Children

This seems like a really great organization.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Kid Gloves - Marc Kielburger
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor U.S. Speedskating

Peter Rollins Cracks Me Up

One writer/speaker that I really enjoy is Peter Rollins. One of the coolest experiences I had last summer was that I was sitting in a pub in Grand Rapids, Michigan with a bunch of guys from Texas, and Rollins came and joined us for a few minutes. We were in town for a preaching conference, and Rollins was one of the speakers. As it turned out, he was friends with the guy sitting directly to my right. It was an amazing thing to get to simply sit and listen to him talk. He's incredibly dynamic and brilliant.

Last week on his blog, he talked about putting the finishing touches on his new book. Then, at the end of the post, he wrote this:

In the mean time don’t forget The Orthodox Heretic, she is very lonely in the Amazon store house and is being picked on by the Mark Driscoll books. Please consider giving her a good home!

It's even funnier if you imagine the words being spoken in Rollins' Irish accent.

If you want to read Peter Rollins' blog, click here.

Humanity Sounds Like...

Back in June, I was walking out of a hotel in Chicago and spotted a group of guys unloading a van. It was clear that these were musicians. It's about as easy to spot a band as it is to notice when someone has accidentally caught themselves on fire. People in bands tend to have a specific look. If you see five guys hanging out together, and they all appear to be strategically disheveled, you are probably looking at a band.

I was with my boss, Doug, who walked right up to one of the guys and said, "Hey, what band are you in?"

"It's called Augustana," the guy said.

I geeked out a little bit. Not because I'm a big fan of Augustana (although I do like their music), but because I knew that they were touring with Counting Crows, which is my favorite band (even more than Springsteen). I asked if Counting Crows were in town, and he said that they were all playing together that night at the Taste of Chicago festival. So, later that night, I ditched Doug and attended the (free) Counting Crows/Augustana concert in downtown Chicago. While the entire set was amazing, the best parts of the show were when every member of both bands were on stage. During the Crows' set, Augustana reappeared on the stage for seven songs on the setlist. They did some amazing cover songs including Bob Dylan's "You Ain't Going Nowhere" and "Caravan" by Van Morrison. There were no fewer than twelve musicians on the stage, all doing something different than everybody else. And while each person was doing something independent, it all came together to make beautiful music. If one person had started playing the wrong song, everybody would have gotten off. Each part contributed to the whole, and the whole was greater than the sum of its parts.

This is what it means to be a part of the human race. Each of us, in a thousand different ways, does something different than everybody else. However, each person's contribution informs the result of the whole.

I just finished reading a gut-wrenching book called Beautiful Boy by David Sheff. It's a memoir about a father who struggles and journeys through his son's drug addiction. One of the striking details of the book is how many times, when he is confronted with the destructive nature of his choices, the son shouts, "It's my life!" In other words, "My choices are mine alone. They only affect me, so I should be the only person who has an opinion about it."

As I read through the book, it became intensely obvious how false this claim really is. The father, the mother, the stepmother, the stepfather, the younger brother, the younger sister, family friends, and so many other people are deeply wounded and suffer at the hands of the boy's addiction.

This is a powerful example of how we are all connected. The consequences of my choices are not isolated to me. It's like being in a band. When I stop playing good music, the whole band suffers.

Perhaps this is what it means to be truly human; to understand the connectedness of all other humans. The realization that my choices have profound and endless ripples. Every choice leaves a fingerprint on all those who surround us, whether we realize it or not. We do not live in an isolation chamber. We live in a world filled with people making thousands of choices every day.

Dallas Willard says it like this:

"Anyone who says, ‘It’s just between me and God, or ‘What I do is my own business,’ has misunderstood God as well as ‘me.’ Strictly speaking there is nothing ‘just between me and God.’ For all that is between me and God affects who I am; and that, in turn, modifies my relationship to everyone around me." (from Renovation of the Heart).

Perhaps being human means making choices and interacting with people in such a way that brings good into the lives of those within my sphere of influence. There is a deep level of naive self-absorption that accompanies the claim, "It's my life." Perhaps at some level, this is true, but my life leaves a mark on hundreds of other lives. So, my life is not just about me.

In his book Jewish Spirituality: A Brief Introduction for Christians, Jewish mystic Lawrence Kushner says it like this:

"We are joined not only to people who have lived long before us, and who will live after we have died, but to people now living and to people we do not know…Nothing is ever detached, alone. We are all parts of one great living organism."

Each of us is part of the same band. When one person stops playing the music, everybody suffers. It's a train wreck.

But when everybody is playing their part, it's a beautiful sound.



**********

Here is the set list from the Counting Crows concert at Taste of Chicago on June 27, 2009:

Caravan (with Augustana)
Omaha
Mrs. Potter's Lullaby
A Long December
Colorblind
Hanging Tree
Catapult
Washington Square (with Augustana)
Hard Candy
Mr. Jones (with Augustana)
Why Should You Come When I Call? (with Augustana)
Rain King/With a Little Help From My Friends (with Augustana)
Cecilia (with Augustana)
You Ain't Goin' Nowhere (with Augustana)
Holiday in Spain

Memoir Fever

Recently, I've read two books that I feel are worth recommending.

The first is called The Guinea Pig Diaries by A.J. Jacobs. I've talked about Jacobs before. This book is a compilation of several short experiments that he has put himself through over the past few years. I'm amazed at what I've learned about the human mind and relationships as I've read through his experiences. There is one experiment in which he chooses to abandon all multi-tasking for a full month. In another, he relinquishes all decision-making ability to his wife, which she refers to as the best month of their marriage. This is one of the most interesting and entertaining books that I have read.

The second book is a memoir by Mishna Wolff called I'm Down. It's hard to explain what makes this a good book, but it is. In her own description of her upbringing, she describes being one of the only white kids in a mostly predominant African-American neighborhood and living in the home of a white single father who desperately wanted to be black himself. If you're looking for a good memoir, I recommend this one.

Texas

A couple of months ago, I was in Michigan for a pastor's conference. At the beginning of the event, the main speaker asked the crowd: "Do we have anyone here from another country?" And after one person yelled, "Canada!" and another, "Ireland!" one guy near the front shouted, "TEXAS!" Everyone laughed.

Not originally from Texas, I've been going this whole time thinking the idea of Texas existing as its own country was just a running joke. That is, until I saw the following bumper sticker on my way home from church yesterday:



This was the only bumper sticker on the car. On my car, the only bumper sticker says, "Love Wins." I put it there because it's something that I really believe in and I don't want to just put anything with text on my car. I think this guy feels the same way about his sticker. I took a look at the driver, and he's definitely not the kind of guy who uses irony in his choice of bumper stickers. This guy is seriously ready to declare Texas independent from....well, everything.

I didn't know people were making these stickers.

I didn't know people were buying these stickers.

I'm not saying I wouldn't buy one. I would. I would buy one right now if the opportunity presented itself. But I would immediately place it in my office somewhere near my Transformers-themed Mr. Potato Head and my Jesus CelebriDuck. In other words, I would put it somewhere that, when people see it, they would think, "Oh that Rob. He loves silly novelty items that nobody takes very seriously."

As I was staring at the back of this guy's car (and subsequently missing my turn), I had a little conversation with him in my head:

Me: "So....secede?"

Truck Guy: "Yup."

Me: "You know, the last time someone wanted to do that, it started this huge war and hundreds of thousands of people died. Not only that, it didn't even work. By the end of the war, the secession had failed. And they had 11 states and a couple of territories. You're talking about just Texas. That would be Texas vs. The Other 49 States. How do you feel about that?"

Truck Guy: "We can take 'em."

Spiritual Practices

I have been doing a lot of study on the concept of spiritual practices. I think we tend to think of spiritual practices in terms of Bible study, prayer, and fasting. If you were to ask most church-goers to talk about spiritual practices, you probably wouldn't get much more than this. But there is so much more to be considered.

Taking a Sabbath is a spiritual practice.

Listening to music or a sermon can be spiritual practices.

Reading a book can be a spiritual practice.

Spending time alone in silence can be a spiritual practice.

Eating can be a spiritual practice.

Breathing can be a spiritual practice.


My Sunday night small group is going to spend this semester considering what it means to engage in spiritual practices, so I've wanted to get through as much research as I could. One of the best books that I've found that speaks to this is Sacred Rhythms by Ruth Haley Barton.

I'm curious about something. If you're reading this, what are your thoughts? What are some things that you have learned to engage in a spiritual way that you never would have previously categorized as "spiritual" before? How big does this category of spiritual practices get?


*EDIT: Just after I posted this, I read this quote from Henri Nouwen: "Precisely because our secular milieu offers us so few spiritual dsciplines, we have to develop our own. We have, indeed, to fashion our own desert where we can withdraw every day, shake off compulsions, and dwell in the gentle healing presence of our Lord. Without such a desert we will lose our own soul while preaching the gospel to others. But with such a spiritual abode, we will become increasingly conformed to him in whose Name we minister." (this is from The Way of the Heart)

Once again, Nouwen brings the thunder.

Experimenting on Yourself

I have recently gotten into a few books that would all fall under the category of "Self Experimentation" (I don't know if this is really a category, it's just something that I said). I think the true pioneer of this kind of writing (at least recently) is a an Esquire Magazine columnist named A.J. Jacobs. A few months ago, I read his first book, which was titled The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest To Become the Smartest Person in the World. The basic premise is that he sets out to read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica in a year's time. He has written a second book entitled The Year of Living Biblically, in which he spends a year (you guessed it) living strictly according to the laws of the Old Testament.

Jacobs has taken curiosity to the next level. He has found things in our world that he is fascinated by, and then he fully engulfs himself in them. There are two books that I've recently come across that could both fit this same description (and both have Jacobs' endorsement on the front cover). The first is called My Jesus Year about the son of a Jewish rabbi who experiments with Christianity. The second is The Unlikely Disciple about a non-Christian college student who spends a semester at Liberty University (former institution of the late Jerry Falwell).

I love this trend in writing. People seem to be more and more curious about things that they don't fully understand, and this type of writing allows us to vicariously take our curiosity to the next level. I've begun asking myself, "If I did this kind of thing, what would I do?" My brother-in-law said that he would "go green" for a year. That sounded interesting.

What about you? What would you do? If you were going to experiment on yourself with a sub-culture or a lifestyle, where would you start?

Caption

I just found this picture while I was browsing a photography website. I don't know why, but it made me laugh. I thought it would be fun to see if anyone wanted to write their own caption for it. So, I am inviting anyone reading this blog to do this. Have at it.

Update

Just to keep everyone up to speed, I am now on staff at Fellowship of the Parks. I am serving as an Associate Pastor and occasional Teaching Pastor.

I will be leading two LifeGroups this fall. If you want information on either of these groups, you can find it at one of the following blogs:

The Sunday Night Gathering

The Tuesday Night Gathering

Also, Caroline is pregnant.

Flickering Pixels

Right now, I'm in Grand Rapids, Michigan at a conference for preachers. We're about halfway through the event, and I am already overwhelmed by the possibilities of how big and beautiful and creative and artistic a good sermon can be.

I just finished a session with a guy named Shane Hipps, who is the pastor at Trinity Mennonite Church near Phoenix, Arizona. It was phenomenal. It reminded me that I haven't posted a recommendation for his outstanding book, Flickering Pixels. If you've ever wondered how technology and faith are connected or how the media that you employ affect your worldview, you must read this book. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Thoughts On A Thought...

I just read this quote from Alan Watts, and I wanted to know what people think of it.

"Irrevocable commitment to any religion is not only intellectual suicide; it is positive unfaith because it closes the mind to any new vision of the world. Faith is, above all, openness--an act of trust in the unknown."

Fire away.

Book Recommendations

Over the past month, I have read two incredibly good books. If you're looking for something to add to your summer reading list, I hope you'll consider one (if not both) of these works:

1) How (Not) To Speak Of God (Peter Rollins)

Rollins is a gifted philosopher and theologian. This book challenged several ideas and practices that I had been taking for granted. It can be kind of a dense read, but it will challenge your paradigm.



2) Columbine (Dave Cullen)
I don't know about you, but when the Columbine high school massacre happened in April of 1999, it had a tremendous effect on me. Not only were the shooters the same age as I was, but so were most of their victims. I have always been deeply curious about this specific event in our history, and this book explores all of the mysteries, issues, and misconceptions surrounding the tragedy. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

Prophets?

So, I'm sitting in the backseat of a car, riding around Fort Worth with three other guys. I'm seventeen years old. The other guys are all older than me: one college student, one seminary student, and one guy in his thirties. The older guy has just been introduced to the college student earlier that day. We're all involved in low-grade chit-chat until the older guy looks at the college guy and says, "So, I hear you've got the gift of prophecy."

Okay, now I'm listening.

"Yeah," the other guy says casually. "I heard the same thing about you."

Apparently the seminary student had been playing the role of Prophecy-Gift Cupid and had introduced these two guys based primarily on their special little abilities. I was just in the car because someone said that we might go to Sonic, and I wanted a corn dog. I felt like I had just found myself on a ride with a bunch of spiritual weirdos.

"I hear you've got the gift of prophecy?" I thought to myself. "Did he really just say that?" In my experience, I had basically come to understand the gift of prophecy as something that didn't show up that much anymore. In my mind, it would have been basically the same thing as if the guy in the front seat had turned around to the guy in the back and said, "So, I hear you burn witches for a living. What's that like?"

I think my perspective on the concept of prophecy was the same as a lot of people. I was under the impression that a prophet was someone who could see into the future and predict when catastrophic events would happen. Nostradamus was a prophet. The guy sitting next to me eating onion rings probably wasn't.

As it turns out, I think I had it all wrong. That conversation ended up being a really helpful experience for me. The biblical role of the prophet was almost never to talk about specific future events. The prophet was not a fortune-teller. The prophet was someone who spoke truth in such a way as to subvert the status quo. The prophet is someone who seeks to alert his or her listeners that there is something in our world that is broken, and we as a people must seek its remedy.

American philosopher Cornell West writes a great deal about the role of the prophet in culture. As I read through West's description of prophecy, I realized that there are prophets all around us.

First, West discusses that a prophet must have discernment." What he means by this is that the prophet must be able to examine the world around us and clearly see who is bearing the greatest social cost among us. A prophet must see who is in pain and understand the source of that pain.

Second, a prophet must have "human connection," which places a great deal on the virtue of empathy, which West understands as "the capacity to get in contact with the anxieties and frustrations of others" (quoted from Beyond Eurocentrism and Multicultrualism, Vol. 1). A prophet must not only sense the suffering of others, but must be able to vicariously experience it on some emotional level. The prophet must bleed for others, never losing a sense of deep humanity.

Third, the prophet must "track hypocrisy," but be able to do so in a self-critical way. As West says, we have to recognize that "we are often complicit with the very thing we are criticizing." The prophet cannot simply take the high ground and condemn in a condescending way; the prophet must also recognize his or her role in the suffering that is being condemned. This leads to the condemnation existing as a lament rather than simply a harsh judgment between two people.

Fourth and finally, the prophet must possess hope. One of my favorite quotes from West's writing is this: "To talk about human hope is to engage in an audacious attempt to galvanize and energize, to inspire and invigorate world weary people."

With this new understanding of prophecy, not only can I affirm the gift of prophecy in those that I know, I am hopeful that prophets will continue to arise from within our own culture. I believe that one of the roles of the preacher is to serve as a prophet. Very often, people expect their pastors to simply preach out of complacency: "Here is something that I know you will agree with. So, please don't fire me." The role of the preacher as prophet is something completely foreign to this impulse. Sometimes, the preacher must dare his people to fire him.

As I think through it, I've known plenty of prophets. I would consider several of the authors that I have quoted on this blog to be prophets (two examples would be Rob Bell and Shane Claiborne). I have found that some of the most powerful prophets in our culture would probably not even consider themselves "Christians." Taylor Mali (the poet from the previous post) has quite a prophetic streak. Actually, Cornell West uses Bruce Springsteen as an example of a modern-day prophet (which I love).

When someone challenges us to consider the implications of our wealth in relation to the rest of the world's poverty, that is the voice of a prophet.

When someone points out that human trafficking is a global crime of unspeakable wickedness and that we must be aware of its implications in our own lives, that is the voice of a prophet.

When a pastor stands in front of his or her church and declares that this congregation must become a place of healing and restoration for people who are broken and empty, that is the voice of a prophet.

Thinking back on the moments in my life when I have been most challenged, I realize that the voice of encouragement that was pushing me to think or act in a new way was that of a prophet.

I wonder how different our lives would be if we were tuned in to the voices of the prophets all around us...

"What Teachers Make" (WARNING: Explicit Content)

This is my favorite poem by my favorite poet. The poet is a guy named Taylor Mali and the poem is entitled "What Teachers Make." Before you watch it, I should warn you that there is some mild language, but the truth of the poem is so potent that I had to post it. I find that a lot of people tend to determine how successful/valuable a person is based on their net worth and never consider the question, "What do I contribute to the world?" This poem is a response (an angry response) to that impulse.

Enjoy!

Curiosity Kills the Closed-Minded

To quote John (Cougar?) Mellencamp, I was born in a small town. There are a lot of great things about growing up in a community with a relatively small population. For instance, as a kid, I very rarely needed a ride to go somewhere; I could just as easily walk to a friend's house as ask my parents to drive me. Also, I have experienced the benefits that are described in the phrase, "It takes a village to raise a child." I realize now that, as I was growing up, I was watched after and cared for by people all around me. What I'm trying to say is this: there are wonderful things about growing up in a semi-rural community, and I would not change a thing about where I was raised.

However, as I grew older and approached my high school graduation, I felt an ever-increasing ache to get out. It's a pretty common thing for kids in small towns to feel this way, but I've never really been able to articulate what, exactly, I was trying to escape. At least, not until recently, as I read Chuck Klosterman's Fargo Rock City (which I've mentioned a couple of times in blog form). In the book, Klosterman explores his own experiences in a small rural community in North Dakota. As he explores the various facets of his growing up and his eventual move to New York City as a journalist, he writes something that opened my eyes to my own experience:

"What the culture lacked (and still lacks) is an emphasis on ideas--especially ideas that don't serve a practical, tangible purpose. In North Dakota, life is about work. Everything is based on working hard, regardless of what it earns you. If you're spending a lot of time mulling over the state of the universe (or even the state of your own life), you're oviously not working. You probably need to get back to work. And when that work is over, you will either watch network TV or you will get drunk (or both). Even in moments of freedom, you're never dealing with ideas" (38).

He continues to say...

"We are products of our enviornment, even if we like to pretend otherwise. So let's say you are the smartest sixteen-year-old in town; let's assume you're creative and introspective and philosophical. You still have a finite number of social tools to work with. You're only going to apply those espoused intellectual qualities to the redneck paradigm that already exists. You may indeed be having 'deep thoughts,' but they're only deep versions of the same ideas that are available to everyone else."

When I first read this, I felt like I had had some sort of great breakthrough. Speaking as someone who grew up in a small community, I can say, without any reservation, that Klosterman is 100% correct. And, the more that I have discovered about myself, I realize that this was (for the most part) the source of my desire for a quick exodus.

I am insatiably curious. I have a serious problem of wanting to buy every book that I haven't read (this is also the reason that I can't afford new clothes); I subscribe to over 60 different podcasts; I want to see (almost) every movie that comes out; if someone that I know has an interesting experience, I have to hear every detail. I'm currently in graduate school and, while I complain about having to go to class and doing the homework, the truth is that I've grown to actually love the educational process. I love the act of going somewhere that my only responsibility is to learn something new.

I'm not saying anything about my own intellectual prowess or aptitude (I'm actually lacking quite a bit in that department); what I am trying to say is this: I love a new idea, and the greatest levels of frustration that I have experienced in my life have been a result of a stifling of this impulse.

I wonder how many of us have lost our curiosity. I was watching an episode of the televised version of This American Life (which, if you're not aware, is basically a program that consists of miniature documentaries about various people in the U.S. and around the world). This particular program centered around an Iraqi citizen who had moved to the United States for the purpose of going to school. At some point this man had an idea: he would travel the country and set up a booth that hosted a banner that read, "ASK AN IRAQI." The idea was that people could just walk up to the booth and ask this man what his life in Iraq had been like and to get an Iraqi citizen's perspective on the current war. As I watched I was impressed with people's curiosity and open-mindedness. I was also amazed at how closed-minded some people could be. One man actually spent over thirty minutes lecturing the Iraqi about the conditions in Iraq and how great the American presence was for his country. He asked no questions and sought no common understanding; he only wanted to speak his mind and move on. He had no curiosity.

This can be very problematic when it comes to our ideas about God. I would argue that fundamentalism is born out of this same impulse; that when we stop being curious and questions are no longer a part of the conversation, then we get very rigid and closed off very quickly. When we stop being interested in new and unfamiliar ideas, we are at risk of becoming out touch with the God who is, by any estimation, greater than our own understanding. I wonder how many religious people we've encountered who, at the very mention of a new idea, might become very uncomfortable, to say the least. I wonder how often I've been this type of person.

The great Jewish mystic Lawrence Kushner (who has been quoted a few times on this blog) writes this:

“Again and again we trade infinite wonder for a handful of statue; we barter the limitless…for the short-term bird in the hand. And when the deal is done, we have become what we serve: things rather than children of light" (from God Was In This Place, And I, i Did Not Know It)

We have become so uncomfortable with the mysterious that we have actually grown hostile to it. The idea of a new idea actually frightens us. We have made ourselves at home in our small communities of limited ideas and have grown quite leery of anyone who might suggest something new.

Often, we forget how small we've allowed God to become in our own eyes. We have allowed fear to conquer our curiosity, and so much of the wonder and beauty and mystery of God has tragically been left unexplored. And when we stop asking questions, we can no longer grow into the people that God has ultimately made us to be.

May you reclaim your insatiable curiosity.

And may you be empowered to explore and be totally confused by the endless beauty and mystery that created the universe.

New Side Blog

Just FYI, I've started another blog solely for the purpose of reviewing, recommending and discussing books. It's called RobisaBibliophile.blogspot.com.