cow tipping: wrestling with youth ministry

"If you could see their music... you would see heaven."

My buddy just turned me on to Sigur Rós. Sigur Rós (['sɪːɣʏr rouːs] is an Icelandic post-rock band with melodic, classical and minimalist elements. The band is known for its ethereal sound and lead singer Jónsi’s falsetto. Their newest album, Takk..., is allegedly the group's first sung album in Icelandic rather than their own made-up "Hopelandic" (not that this listener could tell the difference). It is "relentlessly joyous" and inventive but never just for its own sake. As one Amazon.com reviewer commented, "If you could see their music... you would see heaven." I agree, it's become the soundtrack for my spiritual disciplines.

My other favorite album is Arcade Fire's, Neon Bible. My love for Funeral already had me excited about this album. The Arcade Fire's album has received an immense amount of play at my desk and in my car (they were even playing it at Mar's Hill before the service began). In fact, I can't really say enough good things about it.

"I'm never going to wash this hand again!"

So we asked our 8th graders where they wanted to go for their class retreat. It is our tradition to take the 8th graders away for the weekend to hang out with the middle school staff and high school staff and talk about the past three years in middle school and the future 4 years in high school. They unanimously voted to visit Mars Hill Bible Church in Grand Rapids to hear Rob Bell teach. We've probably showed half of the Noomas and we've had a few of the student ministry guys (Josh Bishop & Steve Carter) teach on our retreats, but I was still surprised that they cooked up the idea all by themselves. So we went up to GR and stayed at a hotel right next door to the church and went out for dinner and bowled. The next morning our kids got up at the crack of dawn so they could get the "good seats." They sat spellbound listening to the message (which was on fasting). When the service ended, 25 students made a bee-line for the stage. I started to imagine all of them asking Rob to autograph their Bibles. I was relieved to watch from my seat, as they formed a single-file line to simply shake Rob's hand and say "hi". Rob was very cool and shook each kid's hand and said "howdy". All I heard from our girls on the 3-hour trip home was "I'm never going to wash this hand again!"

I guess I could be concerned that our kids have a bad case of hero-worship and see church as a spectator sport, but I'm pretty cool with 25 students going back to school yesterday telling their friends how excited they were to shake hands with a pastor. Sure, that's not normal. But that is what is so cool about it.

Zach Hunter's Good Morning America Interview

My middle school mission project team are reading Be the Change by Zach Hunter this spring. They love the book and are huge admirers of Zach's. We were so excited to learn that Zach was on Good Morning America today. We're even more excited that we could get a copy of the video.

Good Morning America Interview

My Bracket

The reason I haven't posted in a while is because I am studying my NCAA bracket. I'm really struggling this year (I haven't kept tabs on the NCAA like I have in previous years, thanks to Emma), but it starts over this Thursday. So, here are my final four teams: Florida, Kansas, Ohio State, and Georgetown. I have Kansas and Ohio State in the final game and Ohio State winning it all. What do you think? I can still make changes before I submit my bracket tomorrow. Let me know if I'm crazy!

Sorry I didn't think of this sooner, but I started a junior high ministry only bracket challenege over at ESPN. Some of the best junior high youth workers in the country and playing for big bucks! Join us!

To enter, follow the link below to the ESPN web site and set up your FREE entry form by this Thursday morning. If you need help navigating the ESPN web site, please feel free to ask me for help.

Get in the action now: http://games.espn.go.com/tcmen/group?groupID=157839&password=foho
Game Front: http://games.espn.go.com/tcmen/frontpage
Group: JH Youthworkers
Password: foho

I'll let you in on a little secret: create a spreadsheet with the Sagarin computer rankings and Mike Greenfield's Power Ranking and create your own formula to calculate the optimal bracket? It's so much fun!

Chicken-Eating Cow

I wouldn't have believed it unless I saw the video with my own eyes, but this is a pretty bizarre story. I wanted post the video, but I can't seem to find it. If you find it, let me know.

Chicken-Eating Calf Makes India Farmer Famous

CALCUTTA, India  —  When his chickens started disappearing a few weeks ago, a farmer in eastern India figured dogs or jackals were to blame — until he discovered his calf making a meal of his poultry.

Moloy, who uses only one name, and his 1-year-old calf have since become local celebrities, with the carnivorous cow appearing on television in India's state and hundreds of people flocking to see them in Chandipur, a village 145 miles southwest of the state capital.

To catch the culprit, Moloy got up very early ... and to his disbelief found that it was his calf which came out from the cow shed and was eating the chickens alive," Debjyoti Chatterjee, a local resident who filmed the calf eating a chicken, said Thursday The local veterinarian was at a loss for an explanation.

"I've never read or heard about cows turning carnivorous," said Mihir Tripathy. They eat grass and other vegetarian food but not fish or other non-vegetarian stuff."

Balliver Jones: The Thomas Pynchon of the blogging world

First, let me just say that I am a huge fan of über-blogger Balliver Jones - the Thomas Pynchon of the blogging world. Jones is known for his avoidance of personal publicity: very few photographs of him have ever been published, and rumors about his location and identity have been circulated since the 1980s.

Anyway, he had an excellent post today and clued his readers into a great new website: Watching Grass Grow. Thanks Balliver!

Soul Searching Screening

Soul Searching: A Movie About Teenagers and God
Wednesday, April 18, 2007, at 7:00 pm
Browning Cinema, DeBartolo Performing Arts Center University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN This is a FREE, but ticketed event. Call the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center Ticket Office at 574.631.2800 to reserve tickets.

SOUL SEARCHING, a movie about Teenagers and God, is a compelling documentary about the religious and spiritual lives of American teenagers based on research by the National Study of Youth and Religion, which began in 2000 under the direction of Dr. Christian Smith and continues today with generous grants from Lilly Endowment. Michael Eaton and Timothy Eaton of Revelation Studios have worked with Dr. Smith to bring you this documentary journey into the lives of teenagers from all over the country. Find out what mostly Christian teenagers think about God and religion, what their hopes and aspirations are, and what the research says about the effect of religion in their lives.

Brian McLaren: Advice for Barack Obama

Thanks for entering the 2008 presidential race. I know a lot of people feel as I do: After several elections where we felt we were left to choose between tired and uninspiring candidates with little fresh to offer except new twists on old electioneering techniques, it seems that in the upcoming primary elections, at least, we will have several exciting options. In both parties, in fact, we may get to choose between a number of fresh, creative, and substantial candidates instead of settling for the lesser of famliar disappointments. I hope that we will feel the same way when it comes down to two candidates in the 2008 presidential elections as well.

No doubt you'll be getting a lot of advice and requests from a lot of people in the coming weeks, and the only reason I think mine deserves to be heard is that I know I'm expressing what a lot of people feel. So I would like to make this request at the beginning of your campaign.

Please don't lie to us. Please forego both the repulsive, deceptive, and twisted lies and also the flattering lies we like to hear. For example, I heard a fellow candidate recently trot out the tired old line, "America is the greatest country in the history of the world." This makes Americans feel good and gets applause. Maybe it wins votes. But it is a lie.

Yes, we are the richest country. Yes, we have the most weapons. Yes, we dominate in many fields, from sports to pop music to movies to pornographic websites to resource consumption and waste production. But the seductive lie of superiority is bad for any nation, including ours. Any nation that keeps telling itself that it is the greatest will become a proud nation (if it isn't already), and pride, I have it on good authority, comes before a fall. Pride makes nations, as
individuals, unpleasant and ugly neighbors, and so candidates make a bad long-term decision when they seek to coddle pride in exchange for votes. If they win, they will preside over a country that their rhetoric has made more ugly and more likely to fall.

Instead of telling us this lie of American superiority, please tell us the truths that we need to hear. Tell us, as you just did in your campaign-launch speech, inconvenient truths – that we and our leaders have a habit of making mistakes and blaming others – whether it's in New Orleans or Baghdad. Tell us the truth about our past – from our own original genocide and ongoing apartheid regarding the Native peoples of this land, to our profoundly unacknowledged and unhealed legacy of slavery and racism, to our failure to care properly for this beautiful part of God's green earth, to our desperate and shameful violations of our own principles and ideals around the world, from Congo to Chile, and from Central America to the Middle East.

Those who say, "Those things are in the past, we should just move on," would never say that about, say, September 11, 2001. Tell us the truth that we have unfinished business, recalling the old proverb that says the one who hides his transgressions will not prosper, but the one who confesses and forsakes them will find mercy. South Africa discovered how a different future is possible when a nation tells the truth about its past, and you could help us have our own time of truth and reconciliation.

And of course, please tell us the truth about the hope that comes through truth-telling. You and John Edwards and several other candidates have already begun inspiring many of us with your hope – audacious hope regarding poverty, environmental healing, and peace. Because, as you say, another world is possible. Many of us dare to hope that, and if you don't tell us the old political lies and instead tell us the inconvenient truth, then our shared emerging hopes
can become a dynamic new reality.

All of us are cynical at times, but in the launch of your campaign, I feel more hopeful and inspired than I have in a long time. Thank you.

Brian McLaren

Source: God's Politics

Taize

I'm headed out to Ascension Catholic Church in Oak Park, IL tonight for their monthly Taize Prayer Service. I was introduced to Taize (and Ascension) when I was a grad student at Wheaton College. We were required to attend for a class on spirituality, and I enjoyed it so much that I kept attending for 2 years. After getting back into full-time ministry, I stopped going. I don't know what I was thinking! It's probably the most powerful practice for personal transformation I have ever experienced. I have decided to make Taize a part of my "Rule For Life." I'm also scouting it out for my student leaders - I'd love to take them with me some month and get their perspecitve.

What is Taize?
Taize was founded at the beginning of World War II by a young Swiss theologian named Roger Shutz who wanted to work for peace and help refugees by celebrating Christian unity. Today, more than 100 men -- Catholic, Protestant, and Eastern Orthodox, from all over the world -- are monks there, led by Brother Roger. The community has no preaching but has become famous for its simple, meditative music, and prayer. Many thousands of visitors travel to Taize every summer. Outside of France, Oak Park, IL is reportedly the largest Taize gathering.

What does a Taize service look like?
The service begins with several Taize chants. The purpose of those 2 or 3 chants that they begin with is to help people make the transition from the business of their day into the spirit of the prayer.

All the children will come forward to the cross and light their candles, and they'll take their candles through the church. And at that time everybody stands and we sing an alleluia.

There is normally a Scripture reading. The point of the Scripture is to proclaim God's word, to allow people to hear God's word. Later in the service it will provide a source for people to meditate on. There's no preaching at a Taize service. We listen to God's word and we offer our prayers. We don't have some dogmatic sermon or homily; it's pure prayer in that way.

Then, people will bring their candles forward -- a great procession of light. They will place their candles in containers around the altar area. There are various icons, ancient Christian images. For some people it's a wonderful way of being united with everyone that's here. It seems that Christians often want to focus on their differences instead of the unity that already exists. That lighted candle can be symbolic of a prayer they're holding in their heart. It can be symbolic of a loved one or a friend who's in great need.

We have a period of silence. And the period of silence lasts about ten minutes. Everybody in this church prays in a different way. What we try to provide here is a place and a space for people to encounter the presence of God in silence. Then we have intercessory prayer, and we believe that's one of the greatest things we can do -- pray for each other and pray for peace. We open it up in the church, and we allow people to pray for whatever the feel they need to pray for.

We end with a final hymn or song or chant. Music can be very powerful. It doesn't have to be extravagant, it can be very simple. And that is the whole point of worship music. It's supposed to help people in their spiritual search.

Emma