Whew! After another rough night - the cold persists - I worked at projects all day. Picked music for Friday night's service and Sunday morning's worship service. Did some studying and got a haircut. But the middle hours of the day were spent laying block for the raised rose bed. They're now calling for an inch or more of rain beginning tonight so getting the blocks all in place and the dirt something close to level was important. This ground ranks as whatever is worse than clay and when it gets wet it clumps and gets very slick. It also does NOT drain. It will be days before anything more can be done out there.
A pallet holds 144 of these blocks at 24 pounds each. I have two left over, which means I placed just over 3,400 pounds of block. Do I need to say my body hurts?
I would have included pictures but it started to rain as I was finishing. I know how disappointed you are but practice patience.
Two motorcycle accidents here in the last 24 hours. The first was an off-duty Phoenix police officer riding on the freeway in heavy traffic. He was changing lanes which, if you ride a bike means turning to look over your shoulder. Right after making that change the box truck he'd pulled in behind braked quickly. He rear-ended the truck and went down. He wasn't wearing a helmet. He's now in very critical condition.
The other motorcycle crash involved a 19-year old male who went by a Sheriff's Deputy doing 157 mph. He crashed into a light pole three miles later. Pictures of his bike show lots of little pieces. He's also in very critical condition. If he recovers he'll be charged with DUI in addition to speeding.
DISCLAIMER: The following are the views of this writer and should not be understood to represent those of Blogspot, Pathway Bible Church or your neighborhood Ace Hardware Store. In an effort to forestall the death threats resulting from an earlier post about children's Christmas programs please note that the acronyms FWIW and IMHO apply in double measure here.
In the last couple of days I've watched two Christmas You Tube videos. One tells the story of the nativity from the perspective of digital media and the other as though it had taken place using Facebook. (I debated whether or not to include the links for reasons you'll understand momentarily.)
Both videos are clever and well produced. The first arguably holds some educational value as it puts the geography of the biblical narrative in perspective. But both trouble me.
At some point contextualizing any biblical narrative runs the very real risk of trivializing God's Word. That risk seems especially real with the birth narrative. I can't think of any other Bible story holding the aura of the supernatural, from the announcements made to Mary and Joseph, to the incarnation itself, to the angelic host appearing before the shepherds to the reverent worship of the magi. With the possible exception of the crucifixion no other narrative so clearly involves all three members of the Trinity, an act of God's love and grace towards all mankind and the humiliation required of God's Son to accomplish our redemption. (see Phil. 2)
Awe and reverence seems a more appropriate reaction to the incarnation than clever contextualization utilizing humor and playing off of internet trends and fads. The verb profane means to treat something sacred with irreverence or contempt. I'm certain no contempt is behind either of these videos but they strike me as irreverent, given the uniquely holy nature of the event. I can't picture the shepherds making light of what they experienced and saw that night, or the wise men drawing clever analogies to cultural trends months later.
Methinks we've gotten too casual with God's Word, and with these two videos as examples, with the birth of God's Son in particular. An increasingly informal culture invades the church and the cost is the sacrifice of awe and reverence in his presence, including at the stable. If you know me you know I enjoy humor and almost nothing about me could be described as formal. But my response to the nativity will take its cue from those present, and those who showed up sometime soon thereafter. I also can't help but wonder what our Heavenly Father thinks of You Tube videos about the incarnation that make us grin and think of Facebook as his Son takes on the form of a servant.
Not everything that can be done should be done.
4 comments:
I saw the Facebook one somewhere. I watched about half of it and turned it off. I didn't like it, either.
The Facebook thing is just a creative comment on today's media culture. Someone will think about what it would have been like if God had waited for 2000 years to send his son. I've been a public school teacher for the last 23 of my 31 years of teaching and presenting Christmas (Holiday) musical programs with Jews, Hindus, atheists and "separatation of church and statists" in my audiences (and often in my office:(. Christmas is not a casual thing in my world. However the cartoon with the Christmas tree in the wife's "tookhes" was a good example of a casual comment on both Christmas and the sanctity of marriage.
I think it's today's version of bumper sticker theology. Replace "My boss is a Jewish carpenter" and "In case of rapture this vehicle will be unmanned" with Facebook and Youtube videos. I'm not sure if that makes them bad or just a little tacky.
I don't know.... I saw the FB version, and I did like it. It touched me. I even cried a little, but I'm kind of mushy that way. I think it reminded me God had even *this* generation in mind way back then.
I do see your point, though.
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