The first night of the World Convention was amazing. People of (at least) three denominations from nations around the world met in the Nashville convention center to worship.
Ken and Cole Young led the worship — but this wasn’t your father’s C of C lectureship. Some of the music was a cappella. (My favorite song of the evening was “All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name,” which we sang a cappella.) But the bagpipes on “Amazing Grace” and the violin accompaniment for “In Christ Alone” were just right. Very moving. It was the first time I’d seen Cole lead with his father, and I loved it. However, it made me smile several times. The two of them and Matt and I have taken a few “guy trips” that left plenty of humorous memories. I think, for example, about the time we were snowmobiling in northern New Mexico when I buried my snowmobile in a soft, deep spot. I looked up and here came Cole and Matt to the rescue as Ken yelled, “Nooooooooo.” Too late. We then had three snowmobiles buried handle deep and spent the next hour digging them out.
The speaker for the evening was Cynthia Hale, senior pastor for a vibrant Disciples of Christ congregation in Atlanta. She was articulate, warm, and convicting. Tonight we’ll get to hear Bob Russell. (I speak Friday evening.)
One thing I’m especially anticipating at 9:00 this morning is an option of worship experiences. Since people are here from all over the world, several have been invited to lead times of worship. One option is described this way: “Non Instrumental Worship: This will be led by Nashville congregations of the Church of Christ and will be a reflection of US non instrumental worship.” While I think that will be wonderful, and I imagine several will want to experience that . . . I think I’ve got that one covered. I’ll probably go more for: “traditional anthems (both accompanied and a cappella), contemporary instrumental and vocal, gospel quartet music, stringed and woodwind accompaniment” or “African worship: This service will reflect Kenyan Church worship.”
We’re here! The land where our sweet granddaughter lives (Durham, NC). Today we drove fourteen hours, which included going through Nashville, where I’ll be flying back to tomorrow while Diane and Chris get to stay here. I linked earlier to the World Convention, where I’m speaking Friday evening.
It’s been a long time since we lived in Wilmington, NC, and I’d forgotten how breathtaking the drive from Knoxville to Ashville is. Unbelievable. Refer back to my “I like . . . ” post from a few days ago. It also helped that Jimmy Buffett’s concert in Indiana was live tonight on Sirius radio (channel 31, of course).
I’ll write more about the Nashville conference later. The three streams of the American Restoration Movement come together once every four years for this convention.
Later this afternoon, I’ll perform the wedding ceremony for my niece and her husband-to-be.
I’m full of memories:
The day we found out that my brother and sister-in-law would be driving to St. Louis to get her.
The many times Crista played school teacher while her older (but mentally handicapped) cousin, Megan, dutifully sat and listened to her instructions.
The sadness at Megan’s funeral. The sadness at Jantsen’s (her brother’s) funeral. And last year, the sadness at her cousin Dallas’s funeral.
This girl is a survivor. She came to ACU for a year, and became like a daughter to us. (That was confirmed on Father’s Day when I received a “Happy Father’s Day” text message from her while I was in Turkey.) We fell deeper in love with her. Alas, being near to us didn’t make up for being far from Zach. So at the end of that year, she returned to MO.
She has followed her mom and dad’s hearts into the pains of the world. The orphans and slaves of Ghana are especially dear to her. And she’s marrying a young man with the mission of Jesus downloaded into his soul.
Blessings on the journey, my dear.
In a week, this blog will have completed five years. Have I said all there is to say? I ran across this from four years ago. It had to undergo minor changes:
I like . . .
Gatorade not Powerade;
Diet Dr. Pepper or Cherry Diet Pepsi not Diet Coke;
Guacamole not bean dip;
Pens that write thin not pens that write thick;
Cold weather not hot weather;
Mountains not beach;
High desert not low desert;
Pie for dessert not ice cream for dessert;
Steel-cut oatmeal not instant oatmeal;
the Angels not the A’s;
the Rangers and Red Sox not the Yankees;
CNN not Fox News;
Today Show not Good Morning America;
Mac not PC;
3G not Edge;
College hoops not the NBA;
Scuba diving not sky diving;
Dogs not cats;
Early morning not late night;
Letterman not Leno;
Subway not Burger King;
Barnes and Noble not Christian bookstores.
I like Tolkien, Amos Lee, rainy mornings, fajitas, Kudo Chocolate Chip bars, clever humor, the Eagles’ Greatest Hits, hikes with Diane and the fam, Philip Roth, Bill Cosby’s humor, Highland elder meetings, long bike rides on Saturday mornings, CCR, 104 degree jacuzzis, Eugene Peterson and N. T. Wright, Pappasito’s, teaching eighteen year olds, Billy Crystal, retreating in VT with the three buddies, retreating in Malibu with a couple other buddies, playing catch with my boys, and dancin’ with my granddaughter.
And it’s not a HUGE deal, but I wish Reilly would go back to SI, Katie would go back to The Today Show, and A-Rod would come back to the Rangers.
NOW . . . how about you?
Go, Greg Norman. Make me feel young.
“The Church At Play” is going well. We’re meeting in our gym at 6:00 for dinner together — with everyone bringing their own dinner plus one extra dinner for those who may come without anything. Then around 6:40, we have a short devotional together — something that underscores the strengths of being intergenerational.
After that, we play. One week people had the option of watching “Cars” or sitting longer with an endless supply of watermelon. The next week was “water week.” People headed out with the children for water rides and water games that had been set up. (Again, many chose the safer, drier option of continuing to visit in the air-conditioning.) Then this week, it was Domino night (billed as “The National Game of Texas” — you know, Texas would not settle for “the state game” . . . “That’s right, you’re not from Texas,” as LL might say.) That included Domino camp for the game-challenged, serious games of 42 in another room, and children setting up designs of dominoes so they could flick them over in the atrium. Another renegade bunch played something I’d never seen in the gym.
We won’t do this forever. Just four more week. It, too, would get boring after awhile.
But it’s been a nice time of eating, praying, and playing together.
Old adage: When you have nothing to say, be quiet.
My adage: When you have nothing to say, quote Eugene Peterson.
“The gospel pulls us into community. One of the immediate changes that the gospel makes is grammatical: we instead of I; our instead of my; us instead of me.”
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What’s happening? I heard T. Boone Pickens this morning on “The Today Show” saying that he’s in about 95% agreement with Al Gore.
Here’s what we know:
1. The environment is being effected. You don’t have to be a true-blue global warming person to agree with this. Pollution: bad.
2. Dependence on foreign oil can’t be good for the country.
3. Dependence on oil can’t ultimately be good for the country. You don’t have to be a true “Peak Oil” person (by the way, googling “Peak Oil” is not for the faint of heart) to agree here either. There is a limited amount of the stuff. It’s not like reforestation. You don’t take a barrel and plant a barrel. There is oil because of processes from millions of years ago. Everyone ultimately believes in “peak oil” (lower case to separate us from those who think WaterWorld is ahead). We know that it isn’t renewable. More drilling will not change this fact: there is a limited supply. This limited supply may be our problem or the problem of our great, great grandchildren.
From Eugene Peterson:
The churches of the Revelation show us that churches are not Victorian parlors where everything is always picked up and ready for guests. They are messy family rooms. Entering a person’s house unexpectedly, we are sometimes met with a barrage of apologies. St. John does not apologize. Things are out of order, to be sure, but that is what happens to churches that are lived in. They are not show rooms. They are living rooms, and if the persons living in them are sinners, there are going to be clothes scattered about, handprints on the woodwork, and mud on the carpet. For as long as Jesus insists on calling sinners and not the righteous to repentance – and there is no indication as yet that he has changed his policy in that regard – churches are going to be an embarrassment to the fastidious and an affront to the upright.
When I grow up, I want to be Eddie Sharp — maybe the best minister I’ve known in my life. I’ll miss you, amigo.
He and I have drank so many Diet DPs together over the last seventeen years; we’ve eaten so many “one egg specials” at Towne Crier; we’ve sat side-by-side for so many football and baseball games.
What can I say? He’s got a two-year-old grandson in Austin! Enough said.
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If you didn’t know who Josh Hamilton was before last night, you do now. What an amazing story. (And how about the 71 year old who threw all those pitches. HE is my hero this morning!)
No team in baseball has four hitters this year quite like the Rangers: Kinsler (.337), Young (.302), Bradley (.316), and Hamilton (.310, 95 RBIs).
While you’ve got to figure the AL will win again tonight, how would you like to be pitching to the heart of the NL line-up: Lance Berkman, Albert Pujols (the best player in baseball), and Chipper Jones. They’re batting .347, .350, and .376, respectively.
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Our little beach girl — at the same NC beach where we took her father when he was the same age.
To get the weekend going right:
1. Drive by an AT&T store and be thankful YOU don’t have to wait in line two hours to get a new iPhone.
2. If you’re not one of the 38 million who’s seen it (”Charlie Bit Me!”), then see it.
3. And if you haven’t read it (Maureen Dowd, “An Ideal Husband”), then read it.
4. Put Keb Mo or Eric Bibb on your iTunes and enjoy.
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Thanks for all that feedback on your favorite early artists. I guess my all-time favorite Christian music artist is Steven Curtis Chapman.
I never get tired of Zoe (how many times have I listened and re-listened to Sheryl sing “Redeemer?”), Bebo Norman, Third Day, Chris Tomlin, Shawn McDonald, and Michael Card.
Hearing D. C. Talk’s “Jesus Freak” or Audio Adrenaline’s “Big House” still takes me back to Matt’s middle teenage years.
