Altered Faces

Thursday Thinking - Attitude Check

2012-02-02T09:27:00.005-06:00

Ever find yourself stuck in a bad mood? You know what I mean. For one reason or another you've got a case of the doldrums. You've got a lot to do, and you realize that you need to get your attitude in check if you're going to get it done.

Good news! There may be some very practical steps that could help you turn things around.

On his Intentional Leadership blog, Michael Hyatt, suggests three actions people can take to adjust their emotional state. He says it's possible to instantly shift your attitude by taking the following three actions:

1. Shift your mental focus. We can choose what we think about.
Hyatt says we can look at our day with an "Argh, I have to..." sort of perspective, or a "Wow, I get to..." perspective. He has written a script for himself to recite as a way to frame and shape his focus. His "script" is pretty specific to his own situation, so I've adapted it into something more general you might be able to use:

• I am not here by accident. God can use me here, with these people, right now.
• That’s because He has a purpose; therefore, I have a purpose in being here.
• Through Christ, I can do all things. He has given me every resource I need to succeed.
• With the energy, the heart, and my gifts, I can make an impact—now and for eternity.
• I have something important to share. What I do matters.
• Something I do today could matter for years from now. Someone may look back on this day and say, “It started there.”
• By God’s grace, I can make a difference!

2. Change your posture. We can choose how we act.
Hyatt suggests that every emotion has physical attributes. He says:

For example, if I say to you, “act like you are depressed,” you would likely slump your shoulders, tilt your head down, and rub your face. You would frown and your breathing might slow down. If I say to you, “act like you won the lottery,” you would likely jump up and down, thrust your arms up into the air, and scream with joy. You would smile and your breathing might speed up.

Does the emotion cause the action or does the action cause the emotion? The truth is, it doesn’t matter. If you smile, for example, and hold it for several seconds, it will change your biochemistry.

In an article published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, a team of psychologists at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, showed that simply having people put their facial muscles in a configuration typical of a given emotion produced the feeling that the expressions represent. (See this article in the New York Times and this one in Scientific American.)

3. Watch your language. We can choose what we say.
Hyatt says that our words are more important than we think. They reflect our thinking. But they sometimes influence our thinking as well. He says:

Words have tremendous power. King Solomon reminds us, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit (Proverbs 18:21).

But rarely do we apply these words to the language we use in talking to ourselves. For example, you ask someone, “How are you doing?” They respond, “Well, I’m surviving.” Strangely, those words shape their reality—or at least their perception of it. They end up barely getting by.

Conversely, I have another friend who always replies, “Outstanding!” This too shapes his reality. He always seems to be doing well. I know he has challenges, but his words empower him and give him the resources he needs to overcome them.

What do you think? Is Hyatt on to something here, or is it just a bunch of positive-thinking-self-help nonsense?

From my point of view, there really is something to all of these. My personal experience has proven all three of these attitude shifters to be helpful and effective.

It's important to note, however, that a healthy person in a funk on any given day is something very different from an unhealthy person struggling with clinical depression. We should be careful not to confuse people adjusting their attitudes and perspectives with people who truly struggle with a emotional wellness. It's one thing to shift an attitude, and quite another to address depressive disorders. One requires advice, the other requires treatment.

If you think you are suffering from something more serious than a bad attitude, please seek the help of your physician or a professional counselor. If, however, you're a generally healthy person who occasionally suffers from the blahs, you might want to try Hyatt's approach. Make a choice to change your focus, your posture, and your words.

As always, your thoughtful comments are welcomed.

Wednesday Words - Joyce Sutphen

2012-02-01T10:15:00.007-06:00

I am delighted to be discovering the poetry of Joyce Sutphen, who is currently Minnesota's Poet Laureate. I'm jealous of students at Gustavus Adolphus College (St. Peter, MN) who get to have her as their English professor.

The poetry I love most somehow connects the everyday with the timeless, the personal with the universal, and the mundane with the wonderful. I like it when a poem comes across as simple and straightforward, and yet stirs up deep and complex feelings and thoughts. I enjoy poems that make me want to be a poet.

It's no surprise, then, that Joyce Sutphen's writing is appealing to me. I'm sure I won't be satisfied until I have all her books of poetry on my shelf. Even then I'll still be unsatisfied because I will wish that there was another.

At the Moment
Suddenly, I stopped thinking about Love,
after so many years of only that,
after thinking that nothing else mattered.

And what was I thinking of when I stopped
thinking about Love? Death, of course—what else
could take Love’s place? What else could hold such force?

I thought about how far away Death once
had seemed, how unexpected that it could
happen to someone I knew quite well,

how impossible that this should be the
normal thing, as natural as frost and
winter. I thought about the way we’d aged,

how skin fell into wrinkles, how eyes grew
dim; then (of course) my love, I thought of you.

“At the Moment” by Joyce Sutphen from Naming the Stars (Holy Cow! Press).
© 2004 by Joyce Sutphen.

Purchase on Amazon:
Naming the Stars (Joyce Sutphen)

Tuesday Tome - C. S. Lewis / Free Will

2012-01-31T23:54:00.006-06:00

Tonight we had the first session of our Mere Christianity Book Club. We had a large group. I'd guess about twenty or so.

It was hard to cover the first two sections and do them justice as they deal with so many big topics in such a short space. We discussed the case Lewis makes for a universal impulse for determining right from wrong. This led into the need to find a transcendent cause or source for morality. The sense most people have of the world's brokenness and the need for healing moved us toward the Christian idea of Jesus as savior--the very center of God's strategy to make the world right.

Our next session will be held on February 21, 7:00pm. You're welcome to join us. We'll be discussion Section 2, Chapter 5 and all of Section 3.

In case you didn't catch it in my post last Tuesday, the entire book for free online. The entire text is there, downloadable as a pdf, and available as audio. CLICK HERE.

From Book Two, What Christians Believe, Chapter 3, "The Shocking Alternative"--

Some people think they can imagine a creature which was free but had no possibility of going wrong; I cannot. If a thing is free to be good it is also free to be bad. And free will is what has made evil possible. Why, then, did God give them free will? Because free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having. A world of automata—of creatures that worked like machines—would hardly be worth creating. The happiness which God designs for His higher creatures is the happiness of being freely, voluntarily united to Him and to each other in an ecstasy of love and delight compared with which the most rapturous love between a man and a woman on this earth is mere milk and water. And for that they must be free.

Monday Music - Charn

2012-01-30T07:00:00.001-06:00

Let's get the new week started with some music from a band that will be new to most Altered Faces readers, CHARN. My nephews, Alex Hicks and Phil Hicks, have a band with friends Steve Bosmans and Levi Stugelmeyer. If you like what you hear, you can find out more about them HERE.

Sunday Supplication - Light & Wisdom

2012-01-29T07:00:00.002-06:00

Almighty and Everlasting God, you are the rightful authority over all things in heaven and on earth. We ask you to hear our prayers. We ask that today and every day you would grant us your peace. We thank you for your mercy and goodness toward us.

We confess our sins and weaknesses, Lord. We repent of the ways we have disobeyed and turned from you. Forgive us and help us to turn away from wrong. Transform us and give us the faith to press toward life, healing, restoration, holiness, and good deeds. You are so gracious to us, and we ask you to make us able and quick to be gracious toward others.

O God, thank you for revealing yourself through Jesus, your son. Just as the rising sun is visible with each new day, and by its brightness makes all things visible, help us to see the light and wisdom of Jesus, and make us able to see everything else rightly by the light of his truth.

Through Christ, we pray. Amen.

Saturday Smile - 15 Yrs Ago vs. Today

2012-01-28T11:41:00.002-06:00

Friday Family - Cowboy Östen

2012-01-27T23:23:00.004-06:00

I'm barely getting a chance to blog today, so I guess I'll just post a favorite picture of my grandson, Östen Lowe Burkum. This little guy is a sweetheart. Hope I get to see him tomorrow.

Thursday Thinking - Jesus & Religion

2012-01-26T22:42:00.006-06:00

The Why I Hate Religion, but Love Jesus video by Jefferson Bethke has attracted a lot of attention. Posted on YouTube on January 10th, it has had nearly 17,000,000 views in just two weeks.

I could easily point out some good things about the video, and just as easily level some criticisms and complaints. I don't think the "poem" is very good poetry or even very good rap, and content-wise it suffers from simplistic overstatement. Nonetheless, I think it has provoked some healthy conversation and some thoughtful responses.

Provocative...

Reactive...

Reflective...
Jesus Was Religious
from Jared Wilson @ Gospel-Driven Church

Does Jesus Hate Religion? Kinda, Sorta, Not Really
Kevin Deyoung @ Gospel Coalition

Clanging Cymbal Ecclesiology
Matthew Canterino @ First Things

Why I Hate Religion, but Love Jesus - SMACKDOWN
Response @ Bad Catholic

Hey Jefferson Bethke, Let Me Tell You What Religion Is
Tony Jones @ Theoblogy

Interactive...
What are your thoughts? Leave a comment.

Wednesday Words - Ted Kooser

2012-01-25T09:00:00.001-06:00

The Writer's Almanac with Garrison Keiller is a little treasure among the programs heard on Minnesota Public Radio. Taking in a poem a day is a good idea for everyone.

The Writer's Almanac has introduced me to many a poem and poet. The little factoids and biographical sketches are interesting and memorable, and Keiller does a great job of reading the poems.

Here is a beautiful little poem from Ted Kooser that was featured on The Writer's Almanac just a couple of days ago.

At the Cancer Clinic
She is being helped toward the open door
that leads to the examining rooms
by two young women I take to be her sisters.
Each bends to the weight of an arm
and steps with the straight, tough bearing
of courage. At what must seem to be
a great distance, a nurse holds the door,
smiling and calling encouragement.
How patient she is in the crisp white sails
of her clothes. The sick woman
peers from under her funny knit cap
to watch each foot swing scuffing forward
and take its turn under her weight.
There is no restlessness or impatience
or anger anywhere in sight. Grace
fills the clean mold of this moment
and all the shuffling magazines grow still.

"At the Cancer Clinic" by Ted Kooser, from Delights & Shadows.
© Copper Canyon Press, 2004.

Tuesday Tome - C. S. Lewis / Reality and Belief

2012-01-24T11:21:00.003-06:00

The first session of my Mere Christianity Book Club takes place next Tuesday night, January 31, at 7:00pm. We'll be discussion our observations, questions, and reactions to the material in the first two sections. If you live in the Twin Cities, you're welcome to join us.

Incidentally, I just discovered the entire book for free online. The entire text is there, downloadable as a pdf, and available as audio. Wow! CLICK HERE.

From Book Two, What Christians Believe, Chapter 2, "The Invasion"--

Besides being complicated, reality, in my experience, is usually odd. It is not neat, not obvious, not what you expect. For instance, when you have grasped that the earth and the other planets all go round the sun, you would naturally expect that all the planets were made to match-all at equal distances from each other, say, or distances that regularly increased, or all the same size, or else getting bigger or smaller as you go farther from the sun. In fact, you find no rhyme or reason (that we can see) about either the sizes or the distances; and some of them have one moon, one has four, one has two, some have none, and one has a ring.

Reality, in fact, is usually something you could not have guessed. That is one of the reasons I believe Christianity. It is a religion you could not have guessed. If it offered us just the kind of universe we had always expected, I should feel we were making it up. But, in fact, it is not the sort of thing anyone would have made up. It has just that queer twist about it that real things have. So let us leave behind all these boys' philosophies-these over-simple answers. The problem is not simple and the answer is not going to be simpler either.

Monday Music - Patty and the Buttons

2012-01-23T08:00:00.000-06:00

Every once in awhile, my wife and I enjoy the opportunity to take in Sunday brunch at the Aster Cafe in Minneapolis. The food is good, the atmosphere is fun, and Patty and the Buttons provide the music.

Sunday Supplication - Proclaiming Good News

2012-01-22T07:00:00.000-06:00

O Lord, help us to answer the call of our Savior Jesus Christ. Help us to seriously and readily seek your will for our lives. Help us, by our words and actions, to proclaim the Good News of Jesus to all people. Help us and the world around us to recognize the salvation he brings.

Thank you for the forgiveness and renewal you have given to us through Christ Jesus. Help us to extend forgiveness to each other. And help us grow into a redemptive and healing community. Help us to have a saving and healing impact on the world around us.

O God, life in this world is more than we can face on our own. Help us to navigate our way through the many challenges and conflicts. Help us to live with integrity and care toward others in authentic Christian fellowship. Help our Valley community to be an instrument of your grace, your truth, and your peace. Make us a blessing to the world around us.

Through Christ, we pray. Amen.

Saturday Smile - Existential Crisis

2012-01-21T09:00:00.007-06:00

Friday Family - Luca Buca

2012-01-20T12:18:00.006-06:00

My youngest grandson, Luca, came to our house for a visit yesterday. On Thursdays, it's typical for him to come over to enjoy Redbird Childcare play with his Néné. I'm usually working in the back room at home on Thursdays, and at some point Luca will come tiptoeing down the hall if he hears me talking on the phone or clearing my throat. He'll look around the corner of the door and say, "Hi Papa!"

Sometimes, he'll be too busy with other things to stick around too long. But yesterday he thought he needed to get up on my lap and do a little work at the computer with me, which I thought was a splendid idea.

Once we got situated, we decided to do some important research into the behavior and habitat of penguins. Here's what we learned...

Thursday Thinking - MacLaurinCSF

2012-01-19T15:17:00.004-06:00

Before becoming the pastor at Valley Christian Church, I served for fifteen years as a campus pastor at the University of Minnesota. The campus ministry I worked with was Christian Student Fellowship. Last year, Christian Student Fellowship merged with another ministry, the MacLaurin Institute, to form what is now called MacLaurinCSF. I believe the new joint ministry is a very good thing, and I am currently serving on the MacLaurinCSF board of directors.

MacLaurinCSF's goal is to strengthen Christian intellectual life in this region by creating public space for leaders in the academy and church to address enduring human questions together.

On Thursday, February 2, MacLaurinCSF is presenting the 8th Annual Faith & Law Lecture. The lecture will be presented by Margo Bagley, Professor of Law, University of Virginia. It will focus on concerns and Christian perspectives related to organic seed growers and larger concerns regarding the patenting of "life."

If you are interested in this topic, please plan to attend, Thursday, February 3, 12:15pm, Room 30, Mondale Hall, University of Minnesota Law School (Westbank), 229 - 19th Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55455.

Wednesday Words - What Could Have Been

2012-01-18T08:00:00.005-06:00

I have quite a list of songs "in the can" waiting to be recorded. A number of them are simple meditations and others are scripture and worship songs I've been writing for church. It would please me greatly to get caught up with some overdue recording this year.

I'm hoping to record two projects in 2012. One will be a new collection of me singing and playing some simple songs. The other will be a new collection of scripture songs sung by church friends at Valley Christian. All my previous recordings are available here.

A good friend sent me a note last week asking me for the lyrics of an old song of mine that had crossed his mind. I was glad for the note because it's a song I had almost forgotten about, and one I want to include on my new project. The working title for the song is "What Could Have Been." The idea came to mw after meditating on Isaiah 48:17-19.

What Could Have Been
Saw you walking out the door
With ambition in your pocket and a thirst for something more.
Heard you promising yourself
You’d work twice as hard as anybody else.
Saw you turning on a friend
Some are winners, some are losers, some are means to get an end.
You should hear the things you say!
But when I look you in the eye
You just turn and pass me by
And I’m not the kind to make you go my way.

Your peace could have been like a river,
Your righteousness like waves on the sea,
Your children could have been like the sand,
Like the numberless grains they would be.

Heard you tell another lie--
In the old days you’d feel guilty now you never blink an eye.
Saw you tossing in your sleep
I guess you dream about the company you keep.
Saw you driving down the road,
It was quiet in the car so you turned on the radio--
They just play the same old songs.
And though I whispered in your ear
Loud enough for you to hear
You just turned the music up and sang along.

Your peace could have been like a river,
Your righteousness like waves on the sea,
Your children could have been like the sand,
Like the numberless grains they would be.

© Copyright by Dave Burkum.

Tuesday Tome - C. S. Lewis / Real Morality

2012-01-17T08:00:00.002-06:00

It looks like quite a number of people at church will be reading through Mere Christianity with me . In the early chapters of the book, Lewis attempts to show that there is a universal impulse toward the concepts of right and wrong, and that some ideas of morality are superior to others.

One of the strengths of Lewis' writing is his ability to come up with simple and helpful ways to illustrate the points he is trying to make. Here is an example of one such illustration from chapter 2:

If your moral ideas can be truer, and those of the Nazis less true, there must be something — some Real Morality — for them to be true about. The reason why your idea of New York can be truer of less true than mine is that New York is a real place, existing quite apart from what either of us thinks. If when each of us said 'New York' each means merely 'The town I am imagining in my own head', how could one of us have truer ideas than the other? There would be no question of truth or falsehood at all. In the same way, if the Rule of Decent Behaviour meant simply 'whatever each nation happens to approve', there would be no sense in saying that any one nation had even been more correct in its approval than any other; no sense in saying that the world would ever grow morally better or morally worse.

If you would like to read the book and participate in three book club sessions I will be leading, please do. You can find out dates and times for that book club on the Valley Christian Church website.

Mere Christianity is available in Kindle format, and is also available as a audio book from Audible.com.

Monday Music - March on Washington 1963

2012-01-16T09:40:00.002-06:00

Pictured above is Dr. Martin Luther King's visit to the University of Minnesota St. Paul Campus in 1967. You can read more about that visit here. The building you can see in the background is the former Lutheran Student Center on Cleveland Ave. The event was held on the park/lawn just across the street from where I had my office during my years as a campus pastor at the U of M. Incidentally, if the photographer had turned to the left about 90º, the house that now serves as the MacLaurinCSF Center would have been in the background.

Below are links to the the folk music performed at the 1963 March on Washington. I was seven years old at that time, but I can still remember the impact of that music and how I felt as I heard it. The music of Peter, Paul, and Mary is about the only secular music I remember my parents having in our house. I believe I wore that album out.

Martin Luther King Jr. - "I Have a Dream" Speech

Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and others...

Sunday Supplication - The Radiance of Christ

2012-01-15T07:00:00.001-06:00

Almighty God, Your Son, Jesus, is the true light than enlightens all people. Help your church to be illuminated by your Word and Spirit. Help us to shine so brightly with the radiance of Christ's glory that he is known, worshiped, and obeyed to the ends of the earth.

Forgive us our sins. Renew us by your Spirit. Show us how to act, think, and live as Christ.

As you have forgiven us, make us merciful and ready to forgive those who have sinned against us. Give us the courage and the grace we need to restore relationships, heal brokenness, sacrifice our rights, and humble ourselves in order that we might experience forgiveness and reconciliation in our families, our friendships, our church, and our community.

O God, thank you for the freedom from sin you make available to us through Christ. Thank you for the saving and transforming power of your Holy Spirit. Renovate our hearts and minds. Help us to want what you want. Make us people who delight in your will, and walk in your ways,
to the glory of your name.

Through Christ, we pray. Amen.

Saturday Smile - Small Group Guitar

2012-01-14T08:00:00.000-06:00

When I saw this last week, I smiled.
Maybe it will bring a smile to your face too.

Friday Family - Tyler & Leagues

2012-01-13T08:00:00.001-06:00

All this week, my son, Tyler, has been over in Wisconsin for a songwriting retreat with LEAGUES bandmates, Thad Cockrell and Jeremy Lutito. The guys have been hiding out to work on new music before heading into the studio to record their first full length album.

Please pray for Tyler and friends as they put their hearts and energy into making this band a success. They're all seasoned musicians who have certainly payed their dues. It would be so great if 2012 turns out to be the year things really take off for them.

The music industry is a tough and fickle place to be building a career. I'm hoping LEAGUES will find an enthusiastic audience, some amazing opportunities, and some solid advocates within the music industry.

You can find out more about Leagues on their website.

You can buy their 2011 EP on iTunes.

Thursday Thinking - About New Hampshire

2012-01-12T11:18:00.005-06:00

One of the blogs I keep an eye on is the First Thoughts Blog which is part of the website for First Things Magazine. Yesterday, there was a post from Joseph Knippenberg, Professor of Politics at Oglethorpe University, Atlanta, GA.

Knippenberg made some interesting observations about the New Hampshire primary and the top runners among the republican candidates.

...the 22% of the respondents who described themselves as evangelical or born again gave 76% of their votes to Catholics or Mormons, which is pretty close to the 45% of those who said they were Protestants (78%) and to the 35% of those who said they were Catholics (81%). The 13% who claimed no religious affiliation gave a significant plurality (47%) of their support to Rep. Paul, and a bare majority to the four Catholic or Mormon candidates. In other words, no religious group played identity politics; indeed, only 19% of the self-identified Catholics supported Catholic candidates. Indeed, the most self-consciously Catholic candidate, Rick Santorum, did significantly worse among Catholics (8%) than among evangelicals (23%).

Click Here to Read the Entire Article

Wednesday Words - Morning Song

2012-01-11T10:30:00.000-06:00

I came across this beautiful old hymn text quite some time ago. I put it to music and use it as part of my morning devotion time. You can also sing it to the tune of "Rock of Ages."

MORNING SONG
Every morning mercies new
Fall as fresh as morning dew;
Every morning let us pay
Tribute with the early day:
For your mercies, God, are sure;
Your compassion does endure.

Still the greatness of your love
Daily does our sins remove;
Daily, far as east from west,
Lifts the burden from the breast;
Gives unbought to those who pray
Strength to stand in every day.

Let our prayers each day prevail,
That these gifts might never fail;
And, as we confess the sin
And temptation's pow'r within,
Every morning, for the strife,
Feed us with the Bread of Life.

As the morning light returns,
As the sun with splendor burns,
Teach us still to turn to Thee,
Ever blessèd Trinity,
With our hands our hearts to raise,
In unfailing prayer and praise.

Words: Greville Phillimore (19thC)

Tuesday Tome - Foreword Thinking

2012-01-10T06:00:00.000-06:00

I've begun to read through Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis once again. This reading begins with some material new to me as the edition I just purchased has a new Foreword by Kathleen Norris. Here is an excerpt from that foreword:

The "mere" Christianity of C. S. Lewis is not a philosophy or even a theology that may be considered, argued, and put away in book on a shelf. It is a way of life, one that challenges us always to remember, as Lewis once stated, that "there are no ordinary people" and that "it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit." Once we tune ourselves to this reality, Lewis believes, we open ourselves to imaginatively transform our lives in such a way that evil diminishes and good prevails. It is what Christ asked of us in taking on our humanity, sanctifying our flesh, and asking us in turn to reveal God to one another.

If you would like to read the book and participate in three book club sessions I will be leading, please do. You can find out dates and times for that book club on the Valley Christian Church website.

Incidentally, Kathleen Norris has written some wonderful books that I have thoroughly enjoyed. They include: The Cloister Walk and Amazing Grace.

Monday Music - Skypiper

2012-01-09T05:00:00.003-06:00

Today, I'm posting my favorite song, Framer, track 3 on the new album from SKYPIPER. My nephews, Graham and Gabe, are at the heart of this indie/pop/rock band from Omaha. Yes, if your last name is Burkum you are required to make music!

You can check out the band's Facebook Page HERE.

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://skypiper.bandcamp.com/track/framer"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Framer by Skypiper&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

Check out and buy their new album here. You can listen to full songs.

Skypiper is playing a show in Minneapolis this Friday night. There will be one or two bands playing before they hit they stage, so it's going to be too late for an old-timer like me. Maybe I can have them over for breakfast.

Sunday Supplication - What Matters Most

2012-01-08T05:00:00.002-06:00

Father in heaven, when Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River, you proclaimed him to be your beloved Son and anointed him with the Holy Spirit. Today, we ask that you would help all of us who have been baptized into his Name to live as your children. Help us to keep the covenant we have made with you, and help us declare with our words and our deeds that Jesus is truly our Lord and Savior, forgive us our sins.

Renew us by your Spirit. Show us how to act, think, and live as Christ. As you have forgiven us, make us merciful and ready to forgive those who have sinned against us.

O God, We thank you for your goodness to those who seek you. Give us the humility and the wisdom to seek you above all else. Give us the perspective and discernment to know what is true and what is real. Deepen our understanding of life. Help us to know what matters most.

Through Christ, we pray. Amen.

Saturday Smile - Bad Lip Reading

2012-01-07T06:00:00.000-06:00

What would happen if you took a lot of footage of political candidates, then took away the audio, then did a terrible job of reading their lips, and then created a new audio track that matches the video, but makes no sense at all?

See for yourself.

I know it's absolute silliness, but it does make me laugh. If you find silliness as amusing as I do, you can find more here.

Friday Family - Bark'm Canine Portraits

2012-01-06T06:00:00.000-06:00

My nephew, Taylor Burkum, is a wonderful artist and has really found a great niche in the commercial art scene. He and his wife live in the Omaha/Council Bluffs area. Please visit his website, Bark'm Canine Portraits, to see the beautiful work he's doing. You can also visit the Bark'm Facebook Page to pass along any encouragement you have to offer. If you're a dog lover and you're interested in capturing your pet in a quality portrait you'll enjoy for years to come, let Taylor know.

It looks like Taylor may be on the cutting edge of this art trend. An article headlined, From Art House to Dog House, appeared in the January 4 issue of the StarTribune. It talks about a number of artists in the Twin Cities that are discovering the same niche.

Way to go, Taylor! I love the work you're doing!

Thursday Thinking - The Fresh Coast

2012-01-05T07:00:00.001-06:00

I have been in love with Lake Superior since my first trip to the Boundary Waters thirty years ago. My most recent visit was with my wife in October 2011. I'm hoping to go up again this winter. The North Shore never ceases to be a source of refreshment and inspiration to me.

I'm thinking of the North Shore this week because I just learned of a new project called The Fresh Coast Project. It is an effort, by photographer Ed Wargin, to document the Great Lakes as thoroughly as possible via the media of photographic film. Fantastic! The website for the project has a number of photo galleries with some of the most beautiful images I've ever seen.

Visit the Website

From the website:

The Fresh Coast Project is the endeavor to capture the Great Lakes on film prior to the cessation of film as a photographic medium. But why is this important? Why has this project driven one photographer to do so now, before the chance is gone?

With decades behind the lens and working with film, professional photographer Ed Wargin has dedicated his craft and career to discovering the Great Lakes, one frame at a time.

From Ed: "I grew up in the Great Lakes, I've always felt the connection to it. Long ago, it became my goal to capture the grandeur of the entire Fresh Coast as an artistic, archival, and historical project. My initial aim was to retain its pristine image for future generations to enjoy, in the hope that it encourages forthcoming populations to care for, celebrate, and preserve this great resource. But along the way, the project became much more than this. There are historical repercussions to the loss of film. A piece of film is tangible, and provides an indisputable reference. A digital file is not quite tangible in that sense. You cannot touch or feel it, and therefore, from an historical reference point of view, you cannot guarantee that it has been untouched, unaltered. Think about all historical documentation going forward once film is gone - and how much we need tangible mediums to serve as reference points. In addition, consider the many environmental factors placed on our Great Lakes. My goal is also to create a body of work that will serve future generations of leaders, teachers, artists, legislators, citizens and stewards by allowing them to use these images of the Fresh Coast Project as a way to judge how the shores have changed, the impact we are making whether for good or bad, many years from now."
Read complete page...

Wednesday Words - Prayer, Desire, and Faith

2012-01-04T07:00:00.005-06:00

On Sunday, January 8, I will begin a new teaching series at Valley Christian Church called All Kinds of Prayer. The title of the series comes from Ephesians 6:8, "...pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests." You can see an overview of the whole series here.

Each week we'll be looking at at a different facet or theme of prayer. As we do, we will take note of principles, people, and practices that can help us pray along that particular theme. The first week, we'll be considering prayers of humility.

A simple and humble prayer that I have grown to appreciate is one by Thomas Merton. It weaves humility, prayer, and desire into a beautiful expression of faith.

My Lord God
I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself,
and the fact that I think I am following
your will does not mean
that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that my desire to please you
does in fact please you.
And I hope that I have that desire
in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything
apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this
you will lead me by the right road
though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore will I trust you always
though I may seem to be lost
and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear,
for you are ever with me,
and you will never leave me
to face my perils alone.

- Thomas Merton (1915-1968)

Tuesday Tome - A Year with Hafiz

2012-01-03T07:15:00.004-06:00

One of the books I'll be reading very slowly through 2012 is a new collection of poems by the the fourteenth century Persian poet, Hafiz Shirazi. The collection, a gift from my good friend Jordan Peacock, is called A Year with Hafiz (Penguin Books) and contains a poem for each day of the year.

The poems are newly "translated" by Daniel Ladinsky, though rendering may be a better word than translation. Medieval Sufi poetry is difficult to translate because of the many-layered ambiguities and meanings bound up in the original language. To put it mildly, Ladinsky's Hafiz poems are not so much scholarly translations as they are dynamic reinterpretations.

Before reading the book, I decided to do a little research online to see what others think of Ladinsky's work. He has some great fans, but he also has some scathing critics. Some of the criticisms, I must confess, did resonate with things I saw in the book's preface and introduction, namely his egotism coupled with an inflated sense of his personal relationship with the "spirit of Hafiz." I guess I'll give the book an honest try and see how it goes. If I find Ladinsky too hard to take, I'll look for something else, perhaps 50 Poems of Hfiz (Cambridge University Press). If anyone has suggestions for other good Hafiz translations/renderings, I'd love to hear about them.

Some of you may wonder what it is that makes me interested in ancient Sufi poetry. Well, I'd have to say it all started with the poetry of Rumi who wrote a century earlier than Hafiz. I first discovered Rumi's poetry through the radio program, On Being. I find the mysticism and devotion of ancient Sufi poets to be very compelling in and of itself, but their spiritual insights and their appreciation of Jesus certainly grabs my attention as well. Take, for example, the first poem in the Ladinsky collection:

Listen to this Music
I am a hole in a flute that the Christ's breath
moves through--listen to this music.
I am the concert from the movement of every
creature singing in myriad chords.
And every dancer, their foot I know and lift.
And every brush and hand, well, that is me
too, who caresses any canvas or cheek.
How did I become all these things, and beyond
all things?
It was my destiny, as it is yours. My poems are
about our glorious journey.
We are a hole in a flute, a moment in space, that
the Christ's body can move through and sway
all forms--in an exquisite dance--as the wind in
a forest.

Monday Music - Stoplight Kisses

2012-01-02T07:00:00.003-06:00

I've been posting a lot about The Cactus Blossoms in recent weeks, but it's only because they've been getting so much good press. Just last week they were mentioned in the StarTribune's Twin Cities Critics Tally 2011: Songs, live acts, 'signs of life.' The song, Stoplight Kisses, was in the critics' list of "Favorite Songs of 2011."

If you take a look at all the individual ballots, you'll see that KFAI's Cyn Collins (host of "Spin with Cyn") included The Cactus Blossoms in her list of best albums of 2011. Farmington correspondent, Jim Meyer, also put The Cactus Blossoms in his list of best albums of 2011.

Jessica J. Paxton, of KYMN Radio in Northfield, listed The Cactus Blossoms as #3 on her ranked lineup of best albums of 2011. She also placed, Stoplight Kisses in the #1 slot on her list of best songs for 2011. Freelance writer and City Pages contributor, Peter Scholtes, included The Cactus Blossoms on his list of best live acts.

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://thecactusblossoms.bandcamp.com/track/stoplight-kisses"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Stoplight Kisses by The Cactus Blossoms&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

Click Here to buy the CD.

Sunday Supplication - New Year's Day

2012-01-01T07:00:00.001-06:00

Eternal Father, you gave your incarnate Son, Jesus, to be our salvation. Place within our hearts, we pray, the love of him who is the Savior of the world.

Thank you for the forgiveness and renewal you have given to us through Christ Jesus. Help us to extend forgiveness to each other and help us grow into a redemptive and healing community. Help us to have a redemptive and healing impact on the world around us.

O God, in this new year, help us to find our lives in you. Give us faith that makes us able to commit all things to you. Give us hearts to love your will and to serve your purposes. Shape and strengthen us to follow Jesus wherever he leads. Whether by life or death, may Christ be exalted in us. Help us to press on to take hold of all you have in mind for our lives.

We pray these things in Jesus name. Amen.

Saturday Smile - Superiority

2011-12-31T07:00:00.001-06:00

This XKCD Comic is a fitting follow-up to Thursday's post on Hitchens and Wilson. Have a great Saturday, friends.

Friday Family - Brother Joel

2011-12-30T07:00:00.001-06:00

My brother, Joel, is the executive director and co-founder of For God's Children International. And if all has gone according to plan, I should be returning to Minnesota today from a quick Christmas visit to his home in Council Bluffs, IA.

Joel's home and the For God's Children International headquarters are located in Iowa, but his heart is often in Romania. Since the mid-90s, Joel has had what he refers to as a severe case of "Romania on the Brania." He just recently returned from a trip to Romania, and I believe this was his first trip during the Christmas season.

If you'd like to find out more about Joel's ministry with FCGI, visit their website. They could use your prayers and financial support.

Thursday Thinking - Collision

2011-12-29T07:00:00.004-06:00

Last week, I posted about the passing of Christopher Hitchens. I thought I would follow up this week with a couple interesting resources that showcase his arguments against Christianity.

In 2008, the book Is Christianity Good for the World? was published. The book began as a series of open letters between Christopher Hitchens and Douglas Wilson published in Christianity Today magazine. Though Hitchens is well-known, you may be less familiar with Douglas Wilson, who is a pastor of Christ Church (Moscow, Idaho), a Senior Fellow at New Saint Andrews College, and a prolific author.

In addition to the magazine letters and the book, Hitchens and Wilson did a tour of public debates on the same question: Is Christianity Good for the World? Independent filmmaker, Darren Doane, produced a documentary, COLLISION, that captures the arguments and personalities of both men. If you are interested in the theological and philosophical debate about the existence or human knowledge about God, you'll probably enjoy this documentary.

I enjoy watching Hitchens and Wilson interact with each other as much or more than listening to their arguments about God. I love their ability to be relentless in their arguments and yet cordial in their relationship. For me, that's probably the most valuable payoff the documentary offers. It's worth watching.

See the Collision trailer.

Watch Collision online.

Visit the Collision website.

Wednesday Words - Mercy Street

2011-12-28T07:00:00.002-06:00

Too long my feet have wandered these winding roads,
But I keep searching through this town.
My back in breaking under this heavy load;
Where can I go to lay it down?

What I would give if you could point me to that place!
I'm looking for Mercy.
I want to live on the avenue of grace;
I'm looking for Mercy-

Mercy Street,
Where the weary find rest.
Mercy Street,
Where the guilty are forgiven,
Mercy Street,
Where the weeping are blessed.
Mercy Street.

How I kept walking is a mystery;
My wasted days turned into years.
Until a stranger came along side of me;
He took my hand and dried my tears.

He said I've come from the place you hope to find,
I am from Mercy.
Cast off your burden and leave the past behind;
Leave it on Mercy-

Mercy Street,
Where the weary find rest.
Mercy Street,
Where the guilty are forgiven,
Mercy Street,
Where the weeping are blessed.
Mercy Street.

And now I walk the same old streets I used to roam,
Handin' out Mercy.
Come take my hand, I have been sent to bring you home;
I am from Mercy-
Mercy Street,
Where the weary find rest.
Mercy Street,
Where the guilty are forgiven,
Mercy Street,
Where the weeping are blessed.
Mercy Street.

"Mercy Sreet" - Words & Music by Dave Burkum.
© Copyright 1993 by Dave Burkum. All rights reserved.

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://daveburkum.bandcamp.com/track/mercy-street"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Mercy Street by Dave Burkum&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

Tuesday Tome - Mere Christianity

2011-12-27T07:00:00.007-06:00

A couple of months ago I was talking with someone about Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis. As we talked, I realized that it has been quite some time (too much time) since the last time I read that much-loved and much-quoted classic. And so, I've decided to read it again and make it the selected book for my next Pastor's Book Club at Valley Christian Church.

We'll be meeting to discuss the book on three nights:
Tuesday, January 31 - Discussing first two sections.
Tuesday, February 21 - Discussing section three.
Tuesday, March 13 - Discussing section four.

I invite you to read the book with me. Occasionally, I'll be posting quotations from and comments about the book here on Altered Faces (Tome Tuesdays and Word Wednesdays). Your comments are welcomed. If you live in the Twin Cities, please consider joining us for our book club discussions. Contact and location information can be found at valleycc.org.

Publisher's Description of the book:
Mere Christianity is the most popular of C. S. Lewis' works of nonfiction, with several million copies sold worldwide. Heard first as radio addresses and then published as three separate books--The Case for Christianity, Christian Behavior, and Beyond Personality--this book brings together Lewis' legendary broadcast talks of the war years, talks in which he set out simply to "explain and defend the belief that has been common to nearly all Christians at all times." It is a collection of scintillating brilliance which remains strikingly fresh for the modern reader, and which confirms C. S. Lewis's reputation as one of the leading Christian writers and thinkers of our age.

Monday Music - Gillian Welch

2011-12-26T07:00:00.001-06:00

The first music purchase I intend to make in 2012 will be The Harrow and the Harvest by Gillian Welch. Gillian's recent appearance on A Prairie Home Companion with her long-time collaborator, David Rawlings, was a lot of fun. And then when I came across a video of a live performance of "The Way It Goes," I decided it was time to get the CD. Visit the Gillian Welch website.

Sunday Supplication - Christmas Day

2011-12-25T07:00:00.000-06:00

Almighty God, you have given your only-begotten Son to become one of us, and to be born this day to live among us full of grace and truth. Help us to see his glory. Make us receptive to the salvation he brings. Help us to receive him as our Lord and Savior.

By the power and grace of your Holy Spirit, transform our lives. Renew our minds. Change our hearts. And as Christ became like us, help us now to become like him.

On this Christmas morning, we thank you for the good will and peace you have extended to us through Jesus, even though we are sinners. Forgive us, O God. And make us ready and able to extend good will and peace toward those who have sinned against us.

O God, you have promised to deliver and sustain us. You have promised that we will find life and hope in you. You promise that if we will surrender to you, you will protect, provide, forgive, renew, empower, transform, lead, strengthen, and deliver us. Help us to trust in you completely, and to live out our trust every day and in every situation.

Through Christ, we pray. Amen.

Saturday Smile - Grilling with Santa

2011-12-24T07:00:00.000-06:00

The forecast for tomorrow in the Twin Cities is for sunshine and a high near 40º. It's not very often that we get to have a patio campfire and grill on Christmas Day. If you really need some snow, do a google search for "let it snow" and watch what happens to your browser.

Friday Family - Good Press for the Blossoms

2011-12-23T00:27:00.014-06:00

Looks like The Cactus Blossoms (my sons, Page and Jack Torrey) are getting some good end-of-the-year attention. The City Pages listed their recently released CD as one of Minnesota's Best Albums of 2011.

It's easy enough to phone in a cornball imitation of old country. Slap on a Western shirt and pair of cheesy cowboy boots, perfect a properly affected twang, and yodel along all the requisite themes: Mama, Trains, Trucks, Prison, Gettin' Drunk (thanks, David Allan Coe). It's another thing entirely to live and breathe the craft of writing and singing a good country and western song, as the Cactus Blossoms have done. The self-titled first release by close-harmonizing brothers Page Burkum and Jack Torrey features two traditional covers, but really takes wing in its eight originals, carefully smithed songs that prove these brothers are every bit as real-deal as their country predecessors. --Nikki Miller (See Article)

On the national stage, CMT News also gave them a nice mention in a December 20 article, The Most Overlooked Albums in 2011.

Finally, the album I've listened to the most this fall is by the Cactus Blossoms, a close-harmony duo from Minneapolis. These young men won a duets competition at the Minnesota State Fair last year, and this self-titled debut project of mostly original tunes proves they deserved that blue ribbon. It's true and traditional country, folks. --Craig Shelburne (See Article)

Thursday Thinking - Science's Crisis of Faith

2011-12-22T06:00:00.001-06:00

Old theories about the universe are now giving way to new theories about the multiverse. In a December 2011 Harper's Magazine article, Alan Lightman, a physicist at MIT, ruminates on why these new multiverse theories are an indication that physics is now stepping outside the boundaries of science and into the realm of faith.

The history of science can be viewed as the recasting of phenomena that were once thought to be accidents as phenomena that can be understood in terms of fundamental causes and principles. One can add to the list of the fully explained: the hue of the sky, the orbits of planets, the angle of the wake of a boat moving through a lake, the six-sided patterns of snowflakes, the weight of a flying bustard, the temperature of boiling water, the size of raindrops, the circular shape of the sun. All these phenomena and many more, once thought to have been fixed at the beginning of time or to be the result of random events thereafter, have been explained as necessary consequences of the fundamental laws of nature—laws discovered by human beings.

This long and appealing trend may be coming to an end. Dramatic developments in cosmological findings and thought have led some of the world’s premier physicists to propose that our universe is only one of an enormous number of universes with wildly varying properties, and that some of the most basic features of our particular universe are indeed mere accidents—a random throw of the cosmic dice. In which case, there is no hope of ever explaining our universe’s features in terms of fundamental causes and principles.

It is perhaps impossible to say how far apart the different universes may be, or whether they exist simultaneously in time. Some may have stars and galaxies like ours. Some may not. Some may be finite in size. Some may be infinite. Physicists call the totality of universes the “multiverse.” Alan Guth, a pioneer in cosmological thought, says that “the multiple-universe idea severely limits our hopes to understand the world from fundamental principles.” And the philosophical ethos of science is torn from its roots.

Read more . . .

Wednesday Words - Some Children See

2011-12-21T06:00:00.002-06:00

Please keep in mind the many refugee children who have come to live in the Twin Cities. Be a part of helping them see the love of Christ.

Some Children See Him
Some children see Him lily white,
the baby Jesus born this night.
Some children see Him lily white,
with tresses soft and fair.

Some children see Him bronzed and brown,
The Lord of heav'n to earth come down.
Some children see Him bronzed and brown,
with dark and heavy hair.

Some children see Him almond-eyed,
this Savior whom we kneel beside.
some children see Him almond-eyed,
with skin of yellow hue.

Some children see Him dark as they,
sweet Mary's Son to whom we pray.
Some children see him dark as they,
and, ah! they love Him, too!

The children in each different place
will see the baby Jesus' face
like theirs, but bright with heavenly grace,
and filled with holy light.

O lay aside each earthly thing
and with thy heart as offering,
come worship now the infant King.
'Tis love that's born tonight!

Some Children See Him, by Wihla Hutson & Alfred S. Burt 1951.© Copyright (renewed 1982) and 1957 (renewed 1985) Hollis Music, Inc., New York, N.Y. International Copyright Secured. All Rights Reserved.

Tuesday Tomes - Havel and Hitchins

2011-12-20T06:00:00.013-06:00

In the course of just a few days, the world has said good-bye to two exceptional writers and thinkers. Christopher Hitchens and Vaclav Havel were profoundly different men. Perhaps the only thing they would find themselves in complete agreement about would be their mutual love of cigarettes.

While both of them were brilliant thinkers and lucid communicators, they had decidedly different views and personalities. Hitchens had an aggressive and acerbic edge that could easily be mistaken for arrogance. Havel seemed a little shy and always approached his audience with a humble and respectful tone that could easily be mistaken for meekness. Hitchens was a journalist. Havel was an artist. Because of their intelligence, clarity of thought, and their outspoken and provocative points of view, both were important and influential in the public sphere.

Hitchens was a champion for atheism and believed religion to be poisonous to the world.

“One must state it plainly. Religion comes from the period of human prehistory where nobody-not even the mighty Democritus who concluded that all matter was made from atoms-had the smallest idea what was going on. It comes from the bawling and fearful infancy of our species, and is a babyish attempt to meet our inescapable demand for knowledge (as well as for comfort, reassurance and other infantile needs). Today the least educated of my children knows much more about the natural order than any of the founders of religion, and one would like to think--though the connection is not a fully demonstrable one--that this is why they seem so uninterested in sending fellow humans to hell.” [God is Not Great]

Havel championed conscience and spirituality, and saw atheism as a poison to the world.

But we are also living in the first atheistic civilisation, in other words, a civilisation that has lost its connection with the infinite and eternity. For that reason it prefers short-term profit to long-term profit. What is important is whether an investment will provide a return in ten or fifteen years; how it will affect the lives of our descendants in a hundred years is less important. However, the most dangerous aspect of this global atheistic civilisation is its pride. The pride of someone who is driven by the very logic of his wealth to stop respecting the contribution of nature and our forebears, to stop respecting it on principle and respect it only as a further potential source of profit. [Forum 2000 Address]

Havel and Hitchens saw things and approached things very differently, but both confronted boldly anything they believed to be untrue or destructive to humanity and the world. I don't know if they knew each other. Surely they must have had some occasion to meet. And if they did, I wouldn't be surprised to learn they had a good conversation and a cordial respect for one another. They were able to listen and engage in conversation with those with whom they did not agree. If bold confrontation combined with honest conversation is something we are able to learn from their lives and their writing, it will be a blessed tribute to their memories.

BOOKS FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION

Arguably: Essays by Christopher Hitchens (Christopher Hitchens)
"All first-rate criticism first defines what we are confronting," the late, great jazz critic Whitney Balliett once wrote. By that measure, the essays of Christopher Hitchens are in the first tier. For nearly four decades, Hitchens has been telling us, in pitch-perfect prose, what we confront when we grapple with first principles-the principles of reason and tolerance and skepticism that define and inform the foundations of our civilization-principles that, to endure, must be defended anew by every generation.

Hitch 22 (Christopher Hitchens)
Over the course of his 60 years, Christopher Hitchens has been a citizen of both the United States and the United Kingdom. He has been both a socialist opposed to the war in Vietnam and a supporter of the U.S. war against Islamic extremism in Iraq. He has been both a foreign correspondent in some of the world's most dangerous places and a legendary bon vivant with an unquenchable thirst for alcohol and literature. He is a fervent atheist, raised as a Christian, by a mother whose Jewish heritage was not revealed to him until her suicide. In other words, Christopher Hitchens contains multitudes. He sees all sides of an argument. And he believes the personal is political. This is the story of his life, lived large.

The Art of the Impossible
(Vaclav Havel)
This volume consists of thirty-five of these essays, written between the years 1990 and 1996, that manage to be both profoundly personal and profoundly political. Havel writes of totalitarianism, its miseries and the nonetheless difficult emergence from it. He describes how his country and the other postcommunist countries are learning democracy from scratch and are encountering obstacles from inside and out.

To the Castle and Back (Vaclav Havel)
From the former president of the Czech Republic comes this first-hand account of his years in office and the transition to democracy following the fall of Communism. A renowned playwright, Václav Havel became one of Czechoslovakia's most prominent dissidents under Communist rule – and the president after the Velvet Revolution, making him a key player in European politics. Here we see first-hand the challenges of creating a new government, tempered with Havel's revealing insights into the difficulties posed by an era of increased globalization and conflict.

Monday Music - Corelli Christmas Concerto

2011-12-19T06:00:00.008-06:00

My first encounter with the music of Arcangelo Corelli was the doing of my childhood music instructor, John Grossman. Mr. Grossman, as I always refer to him--even now, was my music teacher through grade school, junior high, and high school. He conducted the first orchestras I played in. He's the one who got me started on violin, the instrument I managed to play all the way from grade school through my University of Nebraska undergraduate days.

Eventually, I learned that it was much more fun to write for the violin than to play it. I could think and write things that I knew full well I would never be able to play. So I majored in composition instead of the fiddle, but my writing for the instrument was greatly improved by the experience of playing it.

A favorite piece of my high school violin experience was when we played Corelli's Christmas Concerto. He's been one of my favorite composers ever since. In fact, thanks to a CD alarm clock, I've awakened to the music of Corelli almost every day for the past ten years. Believe me...the world seems like a better place to wake up to when Corelli is the first thing you hear.

It seems that Handel, with his Messiah and Hallelujah Chorus, is destined to be the baroque composer that gets most attention around Christmas time. That's okay and well-deserved, but if you want to put on some music that will truly transform the atmosphere of your home on Christmas morning, nothing will do better than Corelli's Christmas Concerto.

Corelli Concerto Grosso Op.6 No 8 "Christmas Concerto" in G Minor Part 2

Corelli Concerto Grosso Op.6 No 8 "Christmas Concerto" in G Minor Part 2

Click Here for Corelli's Christmas Concerto on Amazon.

Sunday Supplication - Fourth Sunday of Advent

2011-12-18T07:00:00.000-06:00

Heavenly Father, make us aware of your presence in our lives and purify our hearts and minds. We pray that we would find our identity and our home in your Son Jesus Christ as we await the day of his appearing. Sustain us and shape us by the power of your Holy Spirit.

Thank you for your grace and mercy. Lead us away from temptation. Deliver us from evil. Forgive us our sins. And give us the grace and courage to forgive others just as we you have forgiven us.

O God, thank you for your promise to be with your people. Remind us that you are with us today. Grant us the strength and the faith we need to face the challenges and circumstances of our lives. When we are frightened, guard our hearts and minds with the peace of Christ Jesus. Protect us from discouragement, and encourage us by your Holy Spirit, through your Word, your people, your promises, and all that is beautiful and true.

Through Christ, we pray. Amen.

Saturday Smile - Timmy's New Bike

2011-12-17T07:00:00.000-06:00

Friday Family - Miss Cheri

2011-12-16T06:00:00.001-06:00

My wife, Cheri, operates Redbird Childcare. The entire lower level of our home is dedicated space for her licensed childcare center. Mondays through Thursdays from 7:30am to 5:00pm, Miss Cheri (that's what all the kids and parents call her) gives her all to provide eight to ten preschoolers with the best care possible.

They sing, learn, run, play, draw, eat, sleep, and generally have about as nice of a day a kid could hope to have. They also, let's be honest, cry and scream and dirty diapers and lots of other less than pleasant behaviors. It's a very demanding enterprise. I would go crazy, but Miss Cheri takes it all in stride. She's the consummate childcare professional. I'm super proud of her.

The most important thing about Red Bird is that Miss Cheri doesn't see it merely as a job--for her it's a ministry, a calling. Believe me, there are way easier ways to make a living. The truth is that Cheri loves these kids and the family she serves. She loves coming up with lessons and projects and songs and activities. She knows that doing her work well makes a difference in the lives of these children and their families.

So here's to you, Miss Cheri! Bless you, bless you. Enjoy having the house and some time all to yourself today! Oh...and maybe a little time with me too.

Thursday Thinking - John Polkinghorne

2011-12-15T06:00:00.002-06:00

John Polkinghorne is both a physicist and a theologian. He's also just a lovely and decent human being. He's brilliant and winsome. He is able to talk about big and complicated things in down-to-earth ways. I've found so many of his ideas to be helpful to me in my own faith as I try to sort through issues of being, science, reason, theology, and belief.

BioLogos Forum has recently posted a short video and transcript entitled John Polkinghorne in a Nutshell. It's a nice little introduction to Polkinghorne, his work, and his philosophy of life. Here is a quotation from that transcript...

Everybody has to make a commitment beyond what they know for certain to be true. I would define faith as commitment to well motivated belief, accepting the consequences of that, not only for my intellectual attitude to the world, but also the way I live my life.

If you'd like to hear more, I would also recommend Krista Tippett's interview of Polkinghorne on her thought-provoking radio program, On Being (American Public Media).

Here is a link to that interview and transcript.

You can check out John Polkinghorne books HERE.

Wednesday Words - Angels I Have Heard

2011-12-14T06:00:00.001-06:00

Angels I Have Heard
I was down and on my front porch,
I said, "God are you still there?
Well, I need to know you better...
I guess this is a prayer."

And I swear that in the silence
I could hear the Savior say,
"If you seek me you will find me;
If you look, I'll show the way."

And I'm sure that there were angels-
Angels in the sky,
Angels I could hear on high.

I was bruised and I was battered;
I was tryin' to serve the Lord-
Tryin' to live by faith in Jesus,
But I was dyin' by the sword.

On the road to Minneapolis,
I said, "Jesus tell me why?"
I could feel Him in my sorrow,
I was sure He heard my cry.

And I knew that there were angels-
Angels in the sky,
Angels I could hear on high.

Peace in every earthly test.
Good will! On you God's favor rests.

When my weary overtakes me,
When the dark of night descends,
When I'm lonely as a shepherd
In the hills of Bethlehem.

I think back and I remember
Another night alone out there
When a great light filled the heavens,
Shouts of glory in the air.

Yes, I think about those angels,
Angels in the sky,
Angels I have heard on high.

From the If I Close My Eyes album, words & music by Dave Burkum (1995).

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Tuesday Tome - That Distant Land

2011-12-13T06:00:00.002-06:00

My introduction to the writing of Wendell Berry began about five years ago when I started reading his poetry. Last year I began reading his his fiction and have become an ardent admirer.

First, I read his novel, Jayber Crow, the life story of the barber in Port William "told in his own words." I loved the book so much that I felt sad the day I finished it. I wanted a few more chapters. I wanted to know more about the people, times, and places in and around Port William (a farming community Berry has imagined into the hills and history of Kentucky). I can't tell you how excited I was to discover he had written a whole collection of Port William books! I'm now taking a slow but steady journey through them all. I'll be taking my sweet time and savoring every page of the trip.

Last week I spent ninety of the most enjoyable minutes I've had in recent weeks reading That Distant Land, a collection of Port William short stories. The story I read was "Pray without Ceasing." It recounts the sad events surrounding the murder of the narrator's great-grandfather, Ben Feltner. The story is less about murder than about the human condition. In the end it's a testament of the power grace has to turn tragedy toward humility, healing, thankfulness, and maturity.

If you're interested in joining me in reading the books of Wendell Berry, Jayber Crow and That Distant Land are two good places to start. I'd recommend reading "Pray without Ceasing" (from That Distant Land) as a helpful introduction. It's short enough to be a quick read, but long enough to give you a real sense of Berry's depth and genius.

Monday Music - Christmas Music for Kids

2011-12-12T06:00:00.001-06:00

My wife, Cheri, runs a licensed childcare center in our home. Since I'm usually working out of my home in the mornings, I get to hear her interact with the kids and lead them in special activities. Every day they have something she calls Circle Time. It usually involves at least a little bit of singing.

This month she's been passing out the rhythm instruments and having the kids sing and play along to with "There Was a Little Baby" from the Raffi Christmas Album. The kids really love it and they sing their hearts out.

Raffi Cavoukian is a very interesting guy, and I sort of consider him to be the musical Mr. Rogers. He really respects children and has a calm, sweet, and relational tone in all of his music. He's also very non-commercial. If you're looking for a delightful and "sing-alongable" Christmas CD for your kids, you can't do any better than this one.

Sunday Supplication - Third Sunday of Advent

2011-12-11T06:00:00.000-06:00

O Lord, move in our hearts with your great might. Work in our lives with your power. Through your boundless grace and mercy, deliver us from the sins that entangle and destroy us.

Thank you for the forgiveness and renewal you have given to us through Christ Jesus. Help us, as your people, to extend that same forgiveness to any and all who have sinned against us. Help your Church to be a community of grace. Make each local expression of your Church, in every place it exists on earth, to have a redemptive and healing impact on the world around it.

O God, thank you for the forgiveness and life we have through Jesus. You have promised that whoever believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life. May all who seek you find you, O God. Help us to recognize Christ as King. Give us the willingness and the wisdom to make room for his saving and shaping work in our lives.

It is in his Name that we pray all these things. Amen.

Saturday Smile - Snow Woes

2011-12-10T06:00:00.000-06:00

Friday Family - Cold Foot Boogie

2011-12-09T06:00:00.005-06:00

My sons, Page and Jack, perform and write together as The Cactus Blossoms. Here is a fun little tune I really enjoy. When I hear the line in the lyric--"The ice all melts when the music plays, I grab my gal and we join the craze"-- I always smile because it's so unlikely that I would ever write a line like that myself. Anybody who knows me well knows that I'm much more likely to grab my guitar and join the band in order to avoid the craze. But if there was ever a song that made we wish I could dance, this is it.

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Thursday Thinking - Communication Tools

2011-12-08T06:00:00.008-06:00

Making a PowerPoint presentation has become a normal part of my weekly sermon preparation. This was something new for me when I began my ministry at Valley Christian Church in 2007. At first it seemed like an extraneous burden and it felt like more work than it was worth. With time, however, I've come to value PowerPoint as a helpful tool.

Working to make good PowerPoint presentations has actually helped me write better sermons. Learning to use PowerPoint effectively has made me a better communicator by helping me speak without notes, move around the stage, and look directly into the eyes of my audience.

All that said, there may be some other creative alternatives to PowerPoint that I have yet to consider. The TED Talks video below, sent to me by my good friend Rob Miller, opens up a whole new world of possibilities for how I might enhance the delivery of my sermons. Watch it and you'll be amazed, and I think it would be pretty amazing to preach a sermon this way.

Dancing as an alternative to PowerPoint is a bold and fantastic idea, but there's honestly no way I could manage it on a weekly basis. On the other hand, if Rob and a few others from my congregation are ready to put on their dancing tights, I'm more than willing to give it a shot every once in a while.

Wednesday Words - In the Bleak Midwinter

2011-12-07T08:00:00.000-06:00

The days are growing shorter, temperatures are diving, snowflakes are falling, and spirits are failing among those who struggle through the bleak days of winter. I have dear friends who have to deal with Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). I may have a touch of it myself.

Personally, I'd be fine if I could just retreat during the dark days from winter solstice through February. Winter isn't the problem. The problem is trying to pretend that winter days are the same as summer days. They're not. And I'm not the same in the winter as I am in the summer. I applaud and even envy those who are able to feel and act the same through all the seasons, but that has always been a challenge for me. I honestly wouldn't mind winter if I could just follow my natural inclination, which is to hibernate, hide, read, rest, stare at the fire, and keep a mug of something hot to drink nearby.

Alas, life and family and calling require me to do more than that. I give it my best shot. Sometimes, however, the ubiquitous holly-jolly-most-wonderful-time-of-the-year songs annoy me as they seem to encourage a sort of seasonal denial. I guess that's why I find it to be a welcome relief to hear the stark and honest words of "In the Bleak Midwinter." It's lovely little Christmas poem written by Christina Rossetti in the mid-nineteenth century. Sure, winter and life have their bleak moments, but Christmas still calls the heart to hope. Rossetti reminds me that even the poor in spirit can be blessed as they consider the Kingdom of Heaven.

In the Bleak Midwinter
By Christina Rossetti

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter, long ago.

Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him, nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away when He comes to reign.
In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.

Enough for Him, whom cherubim, worship night and day,
Breastful of milk, and a mangerful of hay;
Enough for Him, whom angels fall before,
The ox and ass and camel which adore.

Angels and archangels may have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air;
But His mother only, in her maiden bliss,
Worshipped the beloved with a kiss.

What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.

______________________________________

Shawn Colvin sings a wonderful version of this poem on her Holiday Songs and Lullabies album.

CLICK HERE to see and hear a beautiful arrangement with choristers and congregants at Gloucester Cathedral.

Tome Tuesday - A Christmas Carol

2011-12-06T06:00:00.007-06:00

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens is one of the most popular stories of the Christmas Season. Movies, plays, musicals, animations, even Muppets--this story has probably been told and retold in more ways that just about anything besides the Bible. And just as the Bible is one of the most purchased and least read books in the world, Dickens' A Christmas Carol, though a well-known story, has not been read as a book as often and as widely as it deserves to be.

That's too bad, because it is a truly beautifully written novella. It doesn't take long to read because it's only just over a hundred pages. If you have a Nook or a Kindle, you can probably get it for free, and a paperback is probably available for $5 or less. I'd recommend reading a real book with real pages by lamplight near a cozy fireplace with a cup of tea close at hand.

If you have never read it, I'd encourage you to do so. I think you'll discover there is more to this old story than you may have expected.

Music Monday - Nat King Cole

2011-12-05T06:00:00.004-06:00

One of the classic Christmas records in my collection is Nat King Cole's The Christmas Song (Capitol - 1963). Most of the album was originally released under the title, The Magic of Christmas (Capitol - 1960) which was arranged and conducted by Ralph Carmichael.

Earlier, in 1946, the Nat King Cole Trio had recorded and released "The Christmas Song" (Mel Tormé) as a holiday single. Then in 1961 Cole re-recorded the song in stereophonic with a full orchestra conducted by Ralph Carmichael. Finally, this new version of "The Christmas Song" was added to the tracks from The Magic of Christmas (1960) and released as a new record entitled The Christmas Song (1963).

I love this collection for several reasons. First, Nat King Cole is simply one of the greatest singers of his era and listening to his voice is constant delight. Secondly, the collection is decidedly more sacred than secular in content–there is more Jesus than Santa in this line-up of songs. And last, but not least, the arrangements are by Ralph Carmichael. Carmichael was one of the important influences in my own early years as a musician. I was influenced by many of the well-known singer songwriters of the 60s and 70s, but it was the music and arrangements of Ralph Carmichael that made me want to become an arranger and learn orchestration.

For most people, The Christmas Song is a classic Nat King Cole album, but for me, it's actually more of a Ralph Carmichael album featuring Nat King Cole as the lead singer. Either way you spin it, it's a terrific record for kids from 1 to 92.

Sunday Supplication - Second Sunday of Advent

2011-12-04T06:00:00.002-06:00

Merciful God, we thank you for every voice you’ve sent into our world to preach repentance and proclaim the way of salvation. Give us contrite hearts and help us to turn away from sin. And give us open and receptive hearts that joyfully welcome the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer.

Help us in this Advent season to honor Jesus in thought, word, and deed. Help us to follow him and to walk in the light as he is in the light. We confess our sins, trusting that you are faithful and just to forgive us and purify us from all unrighteousness. Thank you for the forgiveness and renewal you have given to us through Christ Jesus. Make us able and ready to graciously forgive those who have sinned against us.

O God, restore and renew us today. And make our lives a testimony of your power to restore and renew us. Help us to live by faith. And make our lives shining demonstrations of your promise to save and restore.

Through Christ, we pray. Amen.

Saturday Smile - Bikers Stunt

2011-12-03T06:00:00.000-06:00

Ever feel like you just don't fit in?

Friday Family - Beansmith Coffee

2011-12-02T06:00:00.003-06:00

This week I spent a few days in the Omaha area. I visited my parents and took a prospective student from Valley Christian Church for a campus visit at Nebraska Christian College. It was also my first time to visit NCC since it moved from Norfolk to Omaha.

Yesterday, before heading back home, I stopped by Beansmith Coffee where my brother, Jason, is the roast master. My nephew, Graham, does the brilliant art designs for the Beansmith coffee bags.

Beansmith has some really delicious coffee blends and you can order them online. I've ordered online on the afternoon of one day and had the coffee delivered to my home in the Twin Cities the very next morning.

Thursday Thinking - Good to Doubt

2011-12-01T06:00:00.007-06:00

Peter Enns has posted an abridged version of a lecture he presented at Asuza Pacific University in November of 2010. I think he shares some important insights that will be very helpful to anyone wrestling with belief and reason.

What follows is an excerpt from that lecture. Click Here to read the whole thing.

The Benefit of Doubt
Doubting one’s faith in God is a very tough place to be. Faith in God is what keeps it all together when you are facing one of life’s many challenges.
Sometimes things happen in our lives—it may be one big catastrophe or a line of smaller things that pile up—and you start having a lot of doubts. At first, when you have those disruptive thoughts, you try to push them to the side, hoping they’ll just go away, before God notices.
They don’t and he doesn’t.
So you feel your faith in God slipping away—and it is unsettling, disorienting, and frightening to watch that happen. You doubt that God cares, that he is listening; you doubt that he is even aware of who you are—that he even exists.
In such a state of doubt about God, you feel like there is clearly something very wrong with you.
Read More

Wednesday Words - There Is Room

2011-11-30T06:00:00.004-06:00

Making Room is the theme of my teaching series for this year's Advent/Christmas season. As part of the music preparation for the series, I've updated and expanded the text of the old Christmas Hymn, There is Room in My Heart for Thee. I hope it will make the song a little more singable and the message a bit more personal.

There Is Room In My Heart
Lord, you left your throne and your kingly crown,
When you came to the earth for me.
But in David's Town, there was no room found,
For your Holy Nativity.

Come into my heart, Lord Jesus!
There is room in my heart for You.
Come into my heart, Lord Jesus!
There is room in my heart for You.

When they look for rest, even birds have nests,
And the fox has its den, you said;
But for you, God's own, there was found no home,
You had no place to lay your head.

Come into my heart, Lord Jesus!
There is room in my heart for You.
Come into my heart, Lord Jesus!
There is room in my heart for You.

You are Christ the Lord, the Incarnate Word,
And you shine with the light of truth. 
But so few believed, you were not received,
And your people rejected you.

Come into my heart, Lord Jesus!
There is room in my heart for You.
Come into my heart, Lord Jesus!
There is room in my heart for You.

Give me open eyes that can see you, Lord,
Give me ears that can hear your call—
That in all I do, making room for you,
Jesus, you are my all in all.

Come into my heart, Lord Jesus!
There is room in my heart for You.
Come into my heart, Lord Jesus!
There is room in my heart for You.

Tuesday Tome - The King Jesus Gospel

2011-11-29T06:00:00.004-06:00

My copy of Scot McKnight's new book, The King Jesus Gospel, just arrived a few days ago. I'm looking forward to reading it. The publisher's description of the book is as follows:

Contemporary evangelicals have built a 'salvation culture' but not a 'gospel culture.' Evangelicals have reduced the gospel to the message of personal salvation. This book makes a plea for us to recover the old gospel as that which is still new and still fresh. The book stands on four arguments: that the gospel is defined by the apostles in 1 Corinthians 15 as the completion of the Story of Israel in the saving Story of Jesus; that the gospel is found in the Four Gospels; that the gospel was preached by Jesus; and that the sermons in the Book of Acts are the best example of gospeling in the New Testament. The King Jesus Gospel ends with practical suggestions about evangelism and about building a gospel culture.

Scot is putting up a few teaser posts on his popular Jesus Creed Blog. Here is a recent post raising questions about how good works and salvation fit together in the Good News according to Jesus. Anybody want to read through this little book with me? Let me know.

I will also soon be reading N. T. Wright's Simply Jesus. I'm hoping that they will spark some inspiration for the teaching series I'll be preaching in July/August 2012.

Monday Music - Bruce Cockburn

2011-11-28T06:00:00.001-06:00

With Thanksgiving behind us and Advent upon us, it's time to break out the Christmas Music. Bruce Cockburn's "Christmas" has been a longtime favorite of our family. It's a very special collection of songs that Cheri and I will be playing dozens of times in the next month.

Sunday Supplication - First Sunday of Advent

2011-11-27T06:00:00.002-06:00

Almighty God, we ask you to help us turn away darkness and to put on the armor of light. Today, as we live in this place and in this time, help us to hold fast to Jesus. Thank you that he came to live among us in humility. Thank you for the promise that he will one day come again in glory on to raise us to eternal life.

Forgive us for the wrongs we’ve done and the good we’ve left undone. Renew us by your Spirit. Help us to turn away from what is worthless and, instead, make us able to do what is right. Show us how to act, think, and live as Christ. And as you have forgiven us, make us merciful and ready to forgive those who have sinned against us.

O God, save us from troubles and mercifully stir our hearts toward complete trust in you. Grant us a deep sense of your loving presence when the troubles of life threaten to overwhelm us. Remind us of your faithfulness. Calm our hearts. Help us to be still and know that you are God.

Through Christ, we pray. Amen.

Saturday Smile - Pie Chart

2011-11-26T06:00:00.000-06:00

I hope you've recovered from your Thanksgiving Dinner.
How long will you be eating leftovers?

Friday Family - My Grandsons

2011-11-25T06:00:00.000-06:00

Who was I then? And what must I become?
Like newly minted coins, their faces catch
the evening's radiance. They are so sure of us,

more sure than we are of ourselves. Our children:
who gently push us toward the end of our own lives.
The future beckons brightly. They trust us to lead them there.

Excerpted from "The Faces of Children" by Elizabeth Spires,
from the book Now the Green Blade Rises. © W.W. Norton & Company, 2002.

Thursday Thinking - Amazon Empire

2011-11-24T06:00:00.003-06:00

I know this isn't the day to be a curmudgeon, but it really bugs me that the dark shadow of Black Friday is looming over this otherwise fine Thanksgiving Day. Corporate retailers are scooting up to our Thanksgiving tables and licking their chops as they prepare to consume us like a turkey dinner. Before they do, it might be good to pause a moment to think a little bit about commerce.

Of the little shopping I do, much of it is done on Amazon, and it appears that an unfathomable number of other people are doing the same. I knew, of course, that Amazon was big, but this info-graphic posted on the Frugel Dad blog showed me it was much bigger than I ever imagined. Take a few minutes to look through these nine amazing facts and let me know what you think.

Source: Frugaldad.com

Wednesday Words - Nun Danket Alle Gott

2011-11-23T06:00:00.005-06:00

In anticipation of Thanksgiving Day, I thought it would be appropriate to post the words of the well-loved hymn, "Now Thank We All Our God." The text for this hymn was written in the early 17th century (c. 1636) by Martin Rinkart, a Lutheran pastor who lived and served in Eilenberg, Saxony. The wonderful music we now associate with his words was based on a tune attributed to Johann Crüger, but later harmonized and perfected by J.S. Bach and Felix Mendelssohn.

Rinkart's life was difficult, to say the least. Eilenberg was a city of refuge for political and military fugitives during the 30 Years War and, as such, was subjected to deadly overcrowding, famine, disease, and war. During the worst of it, Rinkart performed as many as fifty funerals each day. One terrible year he officiated 4000 funerals, and one of those was for his own wife.

It is a testament of faith that this man who knew such heartache and misery should be best known for a glorious song of thanksgiving. I pray that I too, regardless of problems and pains, will be faithful to give God thanks for the blessing and promise he has given.

May we all persevere until that great and final day when together we will lift up our voices in the greatest song of thanks ever sung. God will wipe away all tears from our eyes, and though I know the scripture says he will make all things new, I would be very glad to find us still singing this old, old song.

Now thank we all our God, with heart and hands and voices,
Who wondrous things has done, in Whom this world rejoices;
Who from our mothers’ arms has blessed us on our way
With countless gifts of love, and still is ours today.

O may this bounteous God through all our life be near us,
With ever joyful hearts and blessèd peace to cheer us;
And keep us in His grace, and guide us when perplexed;
And free us from all ills, in this world and the next!

All praise and thanks to God the Father now be given;
The Son and Him Who reigns with Them in highest Heaven;
The one eternal God, whom earth and Heaven adore;
For thus it was, is now, and shall be evermore.

Tuesday Tome - The Big Book

2011-11-22T06:00:00.002-06:00

Tonight at 7:00pm I'll be leading a group discussion of Stan Guthrie's book, All That Jesus Asks. Feel free to join us at Valley Christian Church. Everyone is welcome, whether you have read all or part of the book, or just think you might be interested in reading it.

A few days ago I received my first copy of The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous. I ordered the book because I am working with several people at Valley to help our church offer a substance abuse recovery group that will meet one night each week. I've heard of the Big Book and seen it many times, but have never gotten around to reading it. I guess now is the time.

When it arrived, I took a quick glance through the book and realized that it's probably something every pastor should read–something I should have read a long time ago. I'm sure it will deepen my understanding of the human condition and give me a greater empathy for those who suffer with addiction.

Click Here for the Wikipedia article about The Big Book.

Monday Music - Blitzen Trapper

2011-11-21T06:00:00.001-06:00

A couple of weeks ago Blitzen Trapper and Dawes played First Avenue. I didn't hear about the show until it was already sold-out. Too bad, because it was a show I would have enjoyed. Either one of these bands could take a time machine back to the 70's and top the charts. It's pretty weird (and great) to hear brand new bands that take me back to some of the good old sounds of my youth.

Sunday Supplication

2011-11-20T06:00:00.002-06:00

Almighty and everlasting God, we pray and believe that you will restore all things through Jesus Christ, your beloved Son, the King of kings and Lord of lords. In your mercy, grant that the peoples of the earth, divided and enslaved by sin, may be freed and brought together under his gracious Lordship.

Pour upon us the abundance of your mercy. Forgive us for the sins we’ve committed. Relieve our guilty consciences. Purify our hearts and transform us that by your Spirit we might turn away from what is wrong and, instead, love to do what is right.

Make us ready and able to forgive those who have sinned against us. Make us merciful and forgiving toward others, as you have been merciful and forgiving toward us. Fill our lives and our church community to overflowing with your grace and goodness.

O God, thank you for the fruitful lives we are able to live through Christ. Help us to stay connected to Jesus. And by the power and grace of his Holy Spirit, lead, teach, transform, shape and strengthen us, that we might delight in your will, and walk in your ways to the glory of your name.

Through Christ, we pray. Amen.

Saturday Smile - Japanese Prank

2011-11-19T07:00:00.000-06:00

Friday Family - Tyler, Mat Kearney, and Leagues

2011-11-18T07:00:00.000-06:00

My son, Tyler, will be performing at First Avenue with Mat Kearney and Leagues, Sunday night, November 20. Sorry, but no tickets are available because the show is sold out.

This is the last concert of the Mat Kearney fall tour, and we're SO glad Tyler will be able to get a break from the very heavy touring schedule he's had since May.

Thursday Thinking - Dr. Daniel B. Wallace

2011-11-17T07:00:00.001-06:00

Daniel B. Wallace is the founder and the executive director of the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts. This past September he gave a couple of short lectures at Biola University's undergraduate chapel sessions entitled, "Is What We Have Now What They Wrote Then?" This lecture (part 1 and part 2) is a very accessible introduction to how we got the Bible and how we should think about it. The website for the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts is worth a visit to explore their mission, news updates, and resources they offer.

Wednesday Words - Making Room

2011-11-16T07:00:00.004-06:00

Advent begins on November 27. The theme of my advent teaching series at Valley is Making Room: The Christmas Call to Open Our Lives.

Thanks to Jason Daum for the wonderful artwork. Thanks in advance to Jonathan Miller for the theme chorus we'll be singing at worship times. Here are the lyrics I sent him yesterday morning.

Making Room
There is a knocking on the door.
It is the coming of the Lord.
The Light of Truth, the Living Word.
I'm making room, making room.

In this dark night I hear a plea.
A voice that calls with urgency,
And asks, "Do you have room for me?"
I'm making room, making room.

There is a promise to believe.
There is a Savior to receive.
Lord, you are welcome; do not leave.
I'm making room, making room.

My life is open, come inside.
Lord, be my vision, be my guide.
Be born in me; be glorified.
I’m making room, making room.

Tuesday Tome - All That Jesus Asks

2011-11-15T07:00:00.001-06:00

I recently completed a teaching series at Valley called All Jesus Asks. Each week's sermon was based on a specific question posed by Jesus somewhere in the pages of the gospels. I got the idea for the series from a book by Stan Guthrie called, All that Jesus Asks. I first heard about the book through the Books and Culture Podcast.

Over the last several months as I've been preaching this series, I've also been encouraging people to read Stan Guthrie's book as a companion to my teaching series. On November 22, 7:00pm, I'll be leading a book club discussion at Valley Christian Church (more info). If you've read the book or are interested in reading it in the future, please consider joining us.

Several copies of the book are still available at the Valley Resource Center or church office. It's also available at Amazon right now for a very low price.

Monday Music - Tedeschi Trucks Band

2011-11-14T07:00:00.002-06:00

Here's a rockin' way to get your week started. Susan Tedeschi and her husband, Derek Trucks, blow me away with this one. Soul baby!

Sunday Supplication

2011-11-13T19:05:00.003-06:00

Dear Lord, we thank you for the Scriptures you have inspired and provided. Make us quick to hear them, read, mark, learn, and apply them. Help us hold fast to the hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ.

You know our weaknesses and you understand our limitations. Our sins and failures are no secret or surprise to you. And yet, Dear Father, you are faithful to forgive, you are ready to renew, you are able to lift us up, and you call us to press forward in Christ.

Thank you for the forgiveness, hope, and redemption you give. In the same way, help us to forgive, to encourage, and to bless others. You are gracious and merciful to us, and we ask you to make us gracious and merciful to others.

O God, thank you for providing for our needs. Give us hearts that are generous toward others in need. Make us ready and willing to help those who are less fortunate. May your grace and provision for us always result in grace and provision for those around us.

Through Christ, we pray. Amen

Two Upcoming Concerts

2011-09-28T11:41:00.010-05:00

Ben Rosenbush and Jake Armerding
Valley Christian Church
Lakeville, 7:30pm, $5 adv. $7 door
Special duo concert w/ Jake Armerding
http://www.valleycc.org/concert-info.html

The Cactus Blossoms CD Release Show
Friday, October 7, 2011, Music at 8 PM, doors at 7pm
Ritz Theater (345 13th Ave NE Minneapolis).
$8 advance/$10 door.
All Ages
Click Here for Concert Info

Local Music: The Brighton

2011-08-25T12:10:00.003-05:00

One of my favorite local singer/songwriters is Ben Rosenbush (The Brighton). His music, lyrics, vocals, and arrangements are really as good as it gets. I've enjoyed several of Ben's live performances and been glad to see he's just as good in person as he is on the recordings.

Visit his facebook page.

I'm looking forward to getting together with Ben in the next week or two to talk about the possibilities of a concert at Valley sometime this autumn. Here is a beautiful song and video I just stumbled across yesterday. Hope you enjoy it and much as I do.

CONCERT: Tomorrow Night (Aug. 23) at the Ritz

2011-08-22T14:16:00.004-05:00

Don't miss a great concert tomorrow night at the RITZ in NE Minneapolis (Tuesday, August 23). My son Tyler's new band, LEAGUES, will be making their Minneapolis debut as part of a short tour. My sons Page and Jack, THE CACTUS BLOSSOMS, will also be performing.

You'll want to bring a few extra bucks to the show to buy a copy of The Cactus Blossom's new CD and the LEAGUES' new three-song EP.

Get a sample of Leagues by clicking here.
Get a sample of The Cactus Blossoms by clicking here.

I'm not sure how many tickets are left, but you should go online to buy your tickets now. Only 250 seats at the RITZ, so don't delay. Hope you can make it.

Cactus Blossoms on Tuesday, 8:00pm

2011-08-18T09:39:00.010-05:00

Don't miss your chance to see The Cactus Blossoms next Tuesday, August 23, 8:00pm at the Ritz Theatre in NE Minneapolis. Enjoy the live performance and pick up a copy of their new CD.
Get your tickets now!

Also on the same show bill: LEAGUES (featuring Tyler Burkum); and ZOO ANIMAL.

Leagues & Blossoms - August 24

2011-08-13T11:36:00.005-05:00

Click Here to Buy Tickets

Burkum Boys in Concert - Aug. 23 - $8.00

2011-08-12T13:18:00.002-05:00

I'm looking forward to hearing my boys play at the RITZ in NE Minneapolis on Tuesday, August 23. Tyler's new band, LEAGUES, will be making their Minneapolis debut as part of a short tour. Incidentally, LEAGUES will be opening for Mat Kearney on his upcoming fall tour.

Page and Jack, THE CACTUS BLOSSOMS, will also be performing at the RITZ on Tuesday, August 23. They'll be performing a batch of new songs from their brand new CD. You'll want to bring a few extra bucks to the show to buy a copy for yourself.

Mark it on your calendar and buy your tickets now. Only 250 seats at the RITZ, so don't delay.

John Stott: A Life Well-Lived

2011-07-29T11:20:00.007-05:00

John Stott died this week at age 90. For over half a century, his life and ministry have brought incalculable blessing to both individual Christians and the greater Church. Click here to read a tribute published by Christianity Today (see excerpt below).

Stott passed away peacefully at a retirement home for former Anglican clergy at St Barnabas College, just outside London.

He was a classical evangelical throughout his life, never compromising on the need for personal conversion, the authority of Scripture and the centrality of Jesus’ death for sinners.

Yet he also believed that Christian engagement with the world should not be limited to evangelism and was passionate about the moral and social dimensions of the Gospel, including justice for the poor and the care of creation.

Books by Stott that have been a help and inspiration for me include:

Between Two Worlds: The Challenge of Preaching Today

The Cross of Christ

Basic Leadership

The Living Church

The Message of the Sermon on the Mount

New EP from LEAGUES

2011-07-19T11:12:00.001-05:00

Download music free from my son, Tyler's, new band.
Click picture to open link.

Dear Emily

2011-06-16T09:19:00.004-05:00

Richard Beck posted some wonderful Emily Dickenson quotes on his Experimental Theology blog today. Each of them is a gem, and each reminded me of how much I enjoy the Belle of Amherst.

"'We thank thee Oh Father,' for these strange Minds, that enamor us against thee."

"On subjects of which we know nothing, we both believe and disbelieve a hundred times an Hour, which keeps Believing nimble."

"When Jesus tells us about his Father, we distrust him. When he shows us his House, we turn away, but when he confides to us that he is 'acquainted with Grief,' we listen, for that also is an Acquaintance of our own."

Years ago I wrote a song to Miss Dickenson that has quite a number of quotes from her poems. It's on my Breathe a Little Deeper CD.

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://daveburkum.bandcamp.com/track/dear-emily"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Dear Emily by Dave Burkum&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

Song for Memorial Day

2011-05-30T13:41:00.002-05:00

Day After Tomorrow
Tom Waits

I got your letter today
And I miss you all so much, here
I can't wait to see you all
And I'm counting the days, dear
I still believe that there's gold
At the end of the world
And I'll come home
To Illinois
On the day after tomorrow

It is so hard
And it's cold here
And I'm tired of taking orders
And I miss old Rockford town
Up by the Wisconsin border
But I miss you won't believe
Shoveling snow and raking leaves
And my plane will touch tomorrow
On the day after tomorrow

I close my eyes
Every night
And I dream that I can hold you
They fill us full of lies
Everyone buys
About what it means to be a soldier
I still don't know how I'm supposed to feel
About all the blood that's been spilled
Look out on the street
Get me back home
On the day after tomorrow

You can't deny
The other side
Don't want to die
Any more than we do
What I'm trying to say,
Is don't they pray
To the same God that we do?
Tell me, how does God choose?
Whose prayers does he refuse?
Who turns the wheel?
And who throws the dice
On the day after tomorrow?

Mmmmmmm...
I'm not fighting
For justice
I am not fighting
For freedom
I am fighting
For my life
And another day
In the world here
I just do what I've been told
You're just the gravel on the road
And the one's that are lucky
One's come home
On the day after tomorrow

And the summer
It too will fade
And with it comes the winter's frost, dear
And I know we too are made
Of all the things that we have lost here
I'll be twenty-one today
I've been saving all my pay
And my plane will touch down
On the day after tomorrow
And my plane it will touch down
On the day after tomorrow

Tsang: Tchaikovsky Tzardom

2011-05-07T10:22:00.007-05:00

Last night, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra presented a superb evening of Russian music at Wayzata Community Church. Cheri and I had wonderful seats in the fourth row. The program included: Tchaikovsky - Suite No. 4 in G, Op. 61; Tchaikovsky - Variations of a Rococo Theme for Cello and Orchestra, Op. 33; Shostakovich - Chamber Symphony in C Minor for String Orchestra, Op. 110a; and Prokofiev - Symphony No. 1 in D, Op. 25 (Classical).

The entire program was absolutely marvelous, but the shining jewel of the evening was Bion Tsang's solo performance in the Variations on a Rococo Theme for Cello and Orchestra (Tchaikovsky). His rich interpretation and breathtaking virtuosity brought the audience to its feet for a well-deserved, long, and energetic standing ovation.

Born in Michigan of Chinese parents, Bion Tsang began piano studies at age six and cello at age seven. He made his professional debut at age eleven in two concerts with Zubin Mehta and the New York Philharmonic. His professional achievements and awards are many. He currently lives in Austin, TX and teaches at the University of Texas. You can read more about his amazing career, current projects, and discography here. It's really worth reading!

We are so blessed to have the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra in the Twin Cities. I can assure you that last night there was no finer concert happening anywhere else on the planet. If you have not yet discovered the SPCO, now is a great time to do so. This year's season is winding down, but you can make plans to be a part of the 2011-12 season.

It's right here in your own back yard, and it's the best and most affordable classical music experience in America! I encourage you to explore the SPCO Website and get in on this world class experience.

Wrap Up on Bell's "Love Wins"

2011-04-21T10:04:00.009-05:00

A number of friends who are just now getting to Rob Bell's Love Wins have been asking for my opinion about it. I don't have the time or the expertise to write a thorough review or criticism of the book, but I'll make a few short comments. Then, I'll refer you to several blogs that have done a wonderful job of identifying and discussing what's good and not so good about the book.

I didn't find Bell's book to be nearly as controversial as all the hype and hysteria insinuated. I guess some evangelicals are shocked that someone so popular among their own would go public with speculations and ideas that theologians have been wrestling with for ages. Sadly, many high-profile conservative evangelicals seem to think heresy charges should be directed toward those who simply ask questions or humbly admit their uncertainty about some theological theories and constructs.

The style and substance of this Bell book are absolutely consistent with everything else he has published. Bell talks about faith and theology and discipleship in a personal and reflective style, almost poetic. He doesn't really assert new theological propositions as much as undermines old ones.

Rather than leading Christians astray, I'd say Bell's book is far more likely to cause those who have given up on Christianity to give it another look. The book's best quality is its invitation for people to believe and follow Jesus, even if they cannot believe in the beliefs of some Christians.

For a rich and helpful discussion of Bell's book, here are three of the best blog series I've seen:

Exploring Love Wins by Scot McKnight
The Jesus Creed Blog

For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ben Witherington III
The Bible and Culture Blog

Divided By Hell: An Assessment of Rob Bell's "Love Wins" by JR Woodward
Dream Awakener Blog

Lenten Readings and Video for April 17-23

2011-04-16T22:29:00.004-05:00

Some of us our reading through the Gospel of Mark during these weeks leading up to Resurrection Sunday. It's a wonderful way to enrich your Lenten season and prepare your heart for a more meaningful Easter. Each Saturday night, I'm post the reading schedule for the coming week. I'll also post videos of Max McLean's interpretive recitation of each chapter.

Lenten Readings for April 17-22:
April 17 – Mark 14:43-65
April 18 – Mark 14:66-72
April 19 – Mark 15:1-15
April 20 – Mark 15:16-32
April 21 – Mark 15:33-41
April 22 – Mark 15:42-47
April 23 – Mark 16:1-20

Watch Video of Max McLean's Recitation
Click Here to Watch Mark Chapter 14
Click Here to Watch Mark Chapter 15
Click Here to Watch Mark Chapter 16

Lenten Readings & Video for April 11-16

2011-04-09T19:15:00.000-05:00

Some of us our reading through the Gospel of Mark during these weeks leading up to Resurrection Sunday. It's a wonderful way to enrich your Lenten season and prepare your heart for a more meaningful Easter. Each Saturday night, I'm post the reading schedule for the coming week. I'll also post videos of Max McLean's interpretive recitation of each chapter.

Lenten Readings for April 11-16:
April 11 – Mark 12:28-22
April 12 – Mark 13:1-27
April 13 – Mark 13:28-36
April 14 – Mark 14:1-11
April 15 – Mark 14:12-26
April 16 – Mark 14:27-42

Watch Video of Max McLean's Recitation

Click Here to Watch Mark Chapter 12
Click Here to Watch Mark Chapter 13
Click Here to Watch Mark Chapter 14

Lenten Readings and Video for April 3-8

2011-04-02T15:56:00.000-05:00

I'd like to invite you to join me in reading through the Gospel of Mark during these weeks leading up to Resurrection Sunday. It's a wonderful way to enrich your Lenten season and prepare your heart for a more meaningful Easter. Each Saturday night, I'll post the reading schedule for the coming week. I'll also post videos of Max McLean's interpretive recitation of each chapter.

Lenten Readings for April 4-9:
April 4 – Mark 10:17-31
April 5 – Mark 10:32-45
April 6 – Mark 10:46—11:11
April 7 – Mark 11:12-33
April 8 – Mark 12:1-12
April 9 – Mark 12:13-27

Watch Video of Max McLean's Recitation

Click Here to Watch Mark Chapter 10
Click Here to Watch Mark Chapter 11
Click Here to Watch Mark Chapter 12

Valley Christian Church Website

2011-04-02T11:40:00.003-05:00

I haven't had time for many posts this week because I've been putting in lots of overtime to get Valley's new website launched.

We've got a ways to go, but I'm pleased that we're up and running. Check it out. And if you have any comments or corrections, email me. Thanks.

Astonishing New Archeological Discovery

2011-03-30T09:05:00.005-05:00

This amazing new find could yield some very interesting information about early Christianity. I'm looking forward to hearing more.

From the BBC News:
They could be the earliest Christian writing in existence, surviving almost 2,000 years in a Jordanian cave. They could, just possibly, change our understanding of how Jesus was crucified and resurrected, and how Christianity was born.

A group of 70 or so "books", each with between five and 15 lead leaves bound by lead rings, was apparently discovered in a remote arid valley in northern Jordan somewhere between 2005 and 2007.

Never has there been a discovery of relics on this scale from the early Christian movement, in its homeland and so early in its history.

Read the entire BBC Report

See More Pictures from BBC

Lenten Readings and Video for March 27 - April 2

2011-03-26T21:35:00.004-05:00

I'd like to invite you to join me in reading through the Gospel of Mark during these weeks leading up to Resurrection Sunday. It's a wonderful way to enrich your Lenten season and prepare your heart for a more meaningful Easter. Each Saturday night, I'll post the reading schedule for the coming week. I'll also post videos of Max McLean's interpretive recitation of each chapter.

Lenten Readings for March 27 - April 2:
March 28 – Mark 7:24-37
March 29 – Mark 8:1-21
March 30 – Mark 8:22-38
March 31 – Mark 9:1-29
April 1 – Mark 9:30-50
April 2 – Mark 10:1-16

Watch Video of Max McLean's Recitation
Click Here to Watch Mark Chapter 8
Click Here to Watch Mark Chapter 9
Click Here to Watch Mark Chapter 10