Thursday Thinking - Markets and Civic Life

Are there some things that money cannot (or should not) buy? This is a very succinct and thought-provoking talk from Michael Sandel. He raises some very good questions about markets, values, incentives, and meaning. If you've never seen Sandel before, I think you will find him to be a very effective communicator and teacher. I encourage you to watch the video and would appreciate any comments you might like to share in response.  Thanks.

An Excerpt from this TED Talk...

Over the past three decades, we have lived through a quiet revolution. We've drifted almost without realizing it from having a market economy to becoming market societies. The difference is this: A market economy is a tool, a valuable and effective tool, for organizing productive activity, but a market society is a place where almost everything is up for sale. It's a way of life, in which market thinking and market values begin to dominate every aspect of life: personal relations, family life, health, education, politics, law, civic life.

Now, why worry? Why worry about our becoming market societies? For two reasons, I think. One of them has to do with inequality. The more things money can buy, the more affluence, or the lack of it, matters. If the only thing that money determined was access to yachts or fancy vacations or BMWs, then inequality wouldn't matter very much. But when money comes increasingly to govern access to the essentials of the good life -- decent health care, access to the best education, political voice and influence in campaigns -- when money comes to govern all of those things, inequality matters a great deal. And so the marketization of everything sharpens the sting of inequality and its social and civic consequence. That's one reason to worry.

There's a second reason apart from the worry about inequality, and it's this: with some social goods and practices, when market thinking and market values enter, they may change the meaning of those practices and crowd out attitudes and norms worth caring about.

View Complete Transcript Here

Wednesday Words - In Autumn

What affection I have for the earth,
for the meadow already gone to golden,

for the burnt-orange reeds of the cattails,
and the maple leaves etched in yellow

against a pale blue sky, and the black trunk,
and the black branches, and the small black twigs.

In the morning, I remember how much
I love the colors of the sky before

the sun rises, not any one day
the same, changed by the haze in the valley,

the ridges of clouds riding high and white.
In the evening I return––as the light

is caught on the horizon––a glow
of opulence through the soldiering corn.

"In Autumn" by Joyce Sutphen, from First Words.
© Copyright 2010 by Joyce Sutphen.

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I can't tell you how much I love this collection of poems. If you enjoyed the poem above, you MUST buy this book. Poem after poem, Sutphen adroitly weaves memory, introspection, heart, mind, past and present. First Words by Joyce Sutphen is beautifully written and has become one of the treasures in my personal library.

SEE MORE ON AMAZON.COM

Tuesday Tome - Who Is This Man?

Who Is This Man? by John Ortberg is the reading selection for my current book club at Valley Christian Church. Our second session will be next Tuesday night, Tuesday, November 5, at 7:00pm. We will be discussing Chapter 6 - 11, pp. 74-149.

Monday Music - Jingles

Just for fun, I've pulled together a few of my old radio commercials to make a little collection called Jingles: Radio Fun from the 70s. Recording jingles really was a fun way to earn a living during my college days. Can't believe those days were 40 years ago. Yikes!

Sunday Supplication - Faithful People

Almighty and merciful God, we want to be your faithful people and we want to serve you and honor you through our lives. We ask you to make this possible by your grace and guidance. Help us to press forward. Lift us up when we stumble. And help us to run to win the prize of your upward calling.

Lead us away from temptation. Free us from selfishness and pride. Give us the honesty and humility to recognize our need for your grace and mercy. Forgive us our sins and make us ready to forgive others.

Thank you, O God, for providing for our needs. Give us the wisdom and humility to recognize your provision. Give us hearts that are generous toward others. Make us ready and willing to help those in need. And may your grace and provision in our lives always result in us being more gracious and generous as we follow in the way of Christ.

Through Him, we pray. Amen.

Saturday Smile - So That's How It Happened!

Friday Family - Tyler and Leagues

LEAGUES is currently touring in the Great Northwest.
Check out tour dates HERE.

LEAGUES interviewed in PASTE MAGAZINE...

LEAGUES: THE BEST OF WHAT'S NEXT
For even the most successful of musicians, there remain few experiences in their careers more satisfying than the days when they were jamming with their high-school buddies in a small garage, struggling to get through a song on tempo and having a grand old time doing it.

It’s this sort of pure dynamic that—after nearly 15 years of being a professional musician—guitarist and singer-songwriter Tyler Burkum sought to return to with his latest band, Leagues. Only whereas the aforementioned, theoretical garage band consists of amateur rock wannabes, Leagues boasts three music veterans at the top of their respective fields.

“In a lot of ways, I feel like it took me 15 years of playing music to actually just get to do what I want to do,” Burkum explains.  KEEP READING...

Thursday Thinking - Intentional Marriage

Lasting marriages with healthy and deepening relationships require intentionality. Distance, blame, and miscommunication can diminish even the best of marriages. Just one person being thoughtful and deliberate can make a marriage a whole lot better.

Here are 15 essential tips from Dr. Harriet Lerner posted on the Psychology Today website. If you're married, you are likely to find something helpful here that could invigorate your relationship with your spouse.

1. Warm things up. Make at least two positive comments every day to your partner and speak to the specifics about what you admire (“I loved how funny you were at the party last night”). Make sure that your positive comments exceed critical ones by a healthy margin.

2. Dial down the criticism. Many folks value criticism at the early stage of a relationship, but become more allergic to it over time. Get more bite marks on your tongue, by letting all but the most important issues go by. When you have a criticism, make it in three sentences or less. Remember this: No one can survive in a marriage (at least not happily) if they feel more judged than admired.

KEEP READING (There are 13 More Suggestions)

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Mark your calendars! Valley Christian Church will be having our Married Couples Retreat on February 21-22, 2014.
FIND OUT MORE

Wednesday Words - A Week Late for Columbus

Columbus sailed the ocean blue
Back in 1492.
He sailed across and spotted land,
A beach, and people on the sand.

He called them Indians because
He had no idea where he was,
India was just a guess.
When in doubt, declare success.

"Columbus Sailed the Ocean Blue..." by Ramon Montaigne.

Tuesday Tome - Meditations for Skeptical Believers

Early last spring, I was reading The Myth of Certainty by Daniel Taylor and subsequently did a blog post or two about it. A friend who saw those posts sent me a message that said something like, "Do you know Daniel Taylor? If not, you should. He lives just a couple blocks away from you."

So, I found a website for Daniel Taylor and sent him a message asking him if he would let me take him out for a cup of coffee and some conversation. He responded in the affirmative and we set up a time to meet at a nearby coffeehouse the following week.

It turned out to be a very snowy spring day, almost too snowy to keep the appointment, but we both showed up. The coffee was good, and so was the conversation. Before we left the coffee shop, I asked Daniel if he would sign my copy of The Myth of Certainty, which he graciously did. He wrote, "To David, a kindred spirit." I thought that was pretty nice and have since come to see it also as true.

Since our meeting, I've read Taylor's lastest book, The Skeptical Believer: Telling Stories to Your Inner Atheist. I can't tell you how many times while reading I thought, "He's right. We really are kindred spirits." Honestly, sometimes my thought was more along the lines of, "Wow, he's as bad as I am." Which, to be completely candid, was a warm comfort to me (and pleasantly discomforting to my inner atheist).

The Skeptical Believer is a a fairly long book (388 pages) comprised of very short chapters (86 of them). While there is an overarching structure and direction for the book, each of the short essays could easily stand alone. For that reason, I would encourage readers to take their time and to read this book slowly over a couple of months, reading maybe one or two essays a day. You could practically approach this book as a collection of daily meditations for skeptical believers.

The one-hundred-fifty psalms of the Old Testament are best read a little at a time. Because of the similarities in theme and structure, the depth and meaning of individual psalms may be lost to the reader if taken in too many at one time. Better to read less, savor slowly, and think more. I suggest the same is true with The Skeptical Believer. Go ahead and plow through other books on your reading list, but take this one slowly. Treat it like a long series of conversations with a neighbor at a nearby coffee shop.

Monday Music - Preoccupied with Pain

Is the tree that's pruned
preoccupied with pain?
standing with its wound
in the wind and rain....

Shrouded in cool mist,
kissed by the dew,
chosen for a nest
by a bird or two

Enveloped with fragrance
of rainwashed air,
bloodroots and violets
clustered round it there

gently transfigured
as sap begins to flow
flowers, leaves,
choicest fruit...

How I'd like to know:
Is the tree that's pruned
preoccupied with pain?

by Ruth Bell Graham, © Copyright 1977,
from Sitting By My Laughing Fire.

Sunday Supplication - Reaching Across Barriers

O God, we are so thankful for your mercy and love. We thank you for your Son, Jesus, and for the life and salvation he has made possible for us. Help us, as part of your Church, to be a living demonstration of your power to save and transform and renew. Make us a true community of grace.

Forgive us our sins. Help us to turn away from darkness and to love the light. Make us willing and able to forgive others as you have forgiven us. Help us to think, speak, and act in ways that restore lives, nurture relationships, create peace, and bring honor to you.

Thank you, O Lord, for Jesus, who did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself and became a servant. Help us, like him, to reach across barriers, to welcome the weak, to serve, and to look to the interests of others.

It’s in His name that we pray all these things. Amen.

Saturday Smile - My Son at the White House

More Pics

Friday Family - Leagues Tour

LEAGUES is currently touring in the beautiful Southwest. If that's where you are, you should try to catch one of their shows! After that they'll be in the Northwest, so c'mon folks, get out there and support Tyler and the guys.

10/18/13 Phoenix, AZ at Pub Rock
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10/19/13 San Diego, CA at The Griffin
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10/22/13 Los Angeles, CA at The Satellite
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10/23/13 San Francisco, CA at Brick and Mortar
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10/25/13 Portland, OR at Bunk Bar
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10/27/13 Seattle, WA at Barboza
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10/29/13 Vancouver, BC at The Media Club
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