Archive for November, 2007

Blog on Blog

Published
by
Mike
on November 6, 2007
in General
. 34 Comments

To see my buddy Richard’s psychological insights into this blog, scoot over here.

Here’s a taste:

My interest in this case was piqued when I saw a blog post blow up on my friend (and preacher) Mike Cope’s blog. In the post Mike writes about the progressive/conservative split about our a cappella tradition. And the post (as other posts before it on this topic) proceeds to blow up with over 250+ comments.

For a psychologist the comments to this and related posts are rich in data. Many of you might be interested in reading them out of anthropological curiosity. As I read the comments my overwhelming response was the degree of defensiveness in the conversation. Doctrinal positions were locked in and immovable. Reason is absent and emotions run hot.

Lots of interesting stuff on that blog if you haven’t checked it out before. Take time to look through the posts on “theology and evolutionary psychology” while you’re there (linked in the right-hand column).

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I’ve been hearing on the news that we will have $4/gallon gas by the summer of ‘08, based on the current price of oil that will be reflected months later at the pump. So we have that to look forward to.

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Check out the poem “Gate C22″ here. (Thanks, Steve P., for the link.)

Aging

Published
by
Mike
on November 5, 2007
in General
. 37 Comments

My internal clock and my passport don’t agree.

My passport says I’m a guy in his 50’s. Fifty-one, to be exact. But it doesn’t seem that that’s possible.

Why is that?

I’m guessing most of us don’t THINK of ourselves as old as we really are. Nearly everyone imagines themselves aging better than most people their age. The powers of self-deception are great.

It may also be that I was born when my parents were twenty. So, since they’re just barely in their seventies, I ought to be — what? — maybe 40?

One of the keys in life is to age gracefully. I want to do that.

I don’t want to be bitter about the energy and unpredictable ideas of people who are younger.

I don’t want to do combovers.

I don’t want to quit learning.

I don’t want to become cynical. (All right. More cynical.)

I don’t want to become a grump.

I’ve seen so many people age well: ripened with kindness, wisdom, and patience. They age like good wine.

Those are the examples I’d like to follow.

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Yesterday my six-year-old niece caught me after our second assembly to inform me that her fish appears to be dying.

But she’s praying for it. (See post from a few days ago.)

She’s learned a lesson about the power of prayer. She may be about to enter the mystery of unanswered prayer.

If there is a sudden reversal of health, I’ll let you know.

Abraham and Isaac

Published
by
Mike
on November 3, 2007
in scripture
. 72 Comments

Tomorrow I’m preaching on the story of Abraham and Isaac in Genesis 22. I’m still, after all these years, baffled by it. God tested Abraham by asking for a child sacrifice.

Here are the insightful questions of Eugene Peterson:

There is so much here that we cannot comprehend, so much that violates our pious sensibilities, so much that refuses to conform to our expectations. How can God command a murder? And not just murder in general but the murder of a beloved son? How can God go back on the miracle-promise fulfilled in the birth of Isaac? How can God, who our parents and pastors have taught us loves us from eternity, command this cold-blooded cruelty? How can God, who Jesus tells us has such a tender heart that he is moved even by the death of sparrows, command a father to kill his son, without so much as a hint of explanation? We Can’t handle this.