Good Friday Random Ten

Hmmmm. this is going to be a good friday..check out this list! the next ten were even better!
oh, and wake? if you are using windows media player, there will be tremendous duplication of artists in a "random" list. i am moving everything into iTunes.
1) She's Hot To Go - Lyle Lovett
2) All Shine On (Instant Karma) - Scarecrow Collection
3) A100 - Billy Corgan
4) I'm Alive - Between Thieves
5) Let Me See - Between Thieves
6) Independence Day - Bruce Springsteen
7) Complicated - Good Charlotte
8) Oneda - Los Lonely Boys
9) Back 2 Good - Matchbox 20
10) The Circle Game - Joni Mitchell

whatcha got?

A Prayer of Discovery

For reflection between now and Easter I thought I would put this up. It's a chapter from And the Angels Were Silent by Max Lucado. I was having a hard time deciding between 2 chapters but settled on this one. I'll share just one line from the other chapter; a description of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane:

For it was in the garden that he made his decision.

He would rather go to hell for you than to heaven without you.

A Prayer of Discovery

"My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?"

Matthew 27:42

Lord?

Yes.

I may be stepping out of line by saying this, but I need to tell you something that's been on my mind.

Go ahead.

I don't like this verse: "My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?" It doesn't sound like you; it doesn't sound like something you would say.

Usually I love it when you speak. I listen when you speak. I imagine the power of your voice, the thunder of your commands, the dynamism in your dictates.

That's what I like to hear.

Remember the creation song you sang into the soundless eternity? Ah, now that's you. That was the act of a God!

And when you ordained the waves to splash and they roared, when you declared that the stars be flung and they flew, when you proclaimed that life be alive and it all began? ... Or the whisper into the clay-caked Adam? That was you at your best. That's the way I like to hear you. That's the voice I love to hear.

That's why I don't like like verse. Is that really you speaking? Are those words yours? Is that actually your voice? The voice which enflamed a bush, split a sea, and sent fire from heaven?

But this time, your voice is different.

Look at the sentence. There is a "why" at the beginning and a question mark at the end. You don't ask questions.

What happened to the exclamation point? That's your trademark. That's your signature closing. The mark as tall and strong as the words which precede it.

It's at the end of your command to Lazarus: "Come out!"

It's there as you exorcise the demons: "Go!"

It stands as courageously as you do as you walk on the waters and tell the followers: "Have courage!"

Your words deserve an exclamation point. They are the cymbal clash of the finale, the cannon shot of victory, the thunder of conquering chariots.

Your verbs form canyons and ignite disciples. Speak, God! You are the exclamation point of life itself ...

So, why the question mark hovering at the end of your words? Frail. Bent and bowed. Stooped as if weary. Would that you would straighten it. Stretch it. Make it stand tall.

And as long as I'm shooting straight with you -- I don't like to see the word abandon, either. The source of life ... abandoned? The giver of life ... alone? The father of all ... isolated?

Come on. Surely you don't mean it. Could deity feel abandoned?

Could we change the sentence a bit? Not much. Just the verb.

What would you suggest?

How about challenge? "My God, my God, why did you challenge me?" Isn't that better? Now we can applaud. Now we can lift banners for your dedication. Now we can exlain it to our children. It makes sense now. You see, that makes you a hero. A hero. History is full of heroes.

And who is a hero but someone who survives a challenge.

Or if that's not acceptable, I have another one. Why not afflict? "My God, my God, why did you afflict me?" Yes, that's it. Now you are a martyr, taking a stand for truth. A patriot, pierced by evil. A noble soldier who took the sword all the way to the hilt; bloody and beaten, but victorious.

Afflicted is much better than abandoned. You are a martyr. Right up there with Patrick Henry and Abraham Lincoln.

You are God, Jesus! You couldn't be abandoned. You couldn't be left alone. You couldn't be deserted in your most painful moment.

Abandonment. That is the punishment for a criminal. Abandonment. That is the suffering borne by the most evil. Abandonment. That's for the vile --- not for you. Not you, the King of kings. Not you, the Beginning and the End. Not you, the Unborn one. After all, didn't John call you the Lamb of God?

What a name! That's who you are. The spotless, unblemished Lamb of God. I can hear John say the words. I can see him lift up his eyes. I can see him smile and point at you and proclaim loud enough for all of Jordan to hear, "Behold, the Lamb of God."

And before he finishes the sentence, all eyes turn to you. Young, tan, robust. Broad shoulders and strong arms.

"Behold, the Lamb of God ..."

Do you like that verse?

I sure do, God. It's one of my favorites. It's you.

What about the second part of it?

What?

The second part of the verse.

Hmmm, let me see if I remember. "Behold, the Lamb of God who has come to take away the sins of the world." Is that it, God?

That's it. Think about what the Lamb of God came to do.

"Who has come to take away the sins of the world." Wait a minute. "To take away the sins ..." I'd never thought about those words.

I'd read them but never thought about them. I thought you just, I don't know, sent sin away. Banished it. I thought you'd just stood in front of the mountains of our sins and told them to begone. Just like you did to the demons. Just like you did to the hypocrites in the temple.

I just thought you commanded the evil out. I never noticed that you took it out. It never occurred to me that you actually touched it -- or worse still that it touched you.

That must have been a horrible moment. I know what it's like to be touched by sin. I know what it's like to smell the stench of that stuff. Remember what I used to be like? Before I knew you, I wallowed in that mire. I didn't just touch sin, I loved it. I drank it. I danced with it. I was in the middle of it.

But why am I telling you? You remember. You were the one who saw me. You were the one who found me. I was lonely. I was afraid. Remember? "Why? Why me? Why has all this hurt happened?"

I know it wasn't much of a question. It wasn't the right question. But it was all I knew to ask. You see, God, I felt so confused. So desolate. Sin will do that to you. Sin leaves you shipwrecked, orphaned, adrift. Sin leaves you aban--

Oh. Oh my.

My goodness, God. Is that what happened? You mean sin did the same to you that it did to me?

Oh, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't know. I didn't understand. You really were alone, weren't you?

Your question was real, wasn't it, Jesus? You really were afraid. You really were alone. Just like I was. Only, I deserved it. You didn't.

Forgive me, I spoke out of turn.

A Different Sort of Ink

Press ink! Something to read rather than wear....

The bible's account of the last week of Jesus life, portrayed from four perspectives, is a great read for this time of the year. And it also should be a must read for all those espousing a faith based politics. My faith deeply informs my politics, but I have always been wary of the Religious Right. But that doesn't mean I'm at all comfortable with the left's newfound discovery of faith as a motivating factor for political action. Here are two essays as to why, even though it is a shrewd move politically on the part of the Democrats, that a politicized Jesus does not fit with the biblical picture of Jesus. In each of the Gospel accounts he specifically refuses to be co-opted by any of the political partisans of his day. The essay by Wills is from the last few days. The one on Reinhold Neibuhr is from last Fall.

Neibuhr was the one who developed five typologies for the way Christians interact with culture: Christ of culture, Christ against culture, Christ above culture, Christ and culture, Christ transforming culture. When Christ is brought into politics as a partisan force it is typically either as Christ against culture or Christ of culture. Often a group will be espousing both, as seen in the RR's claim of a Christian America and the rant that society has fallen from our Christian heritage. But a politicized Jesus can never encompass the full range of the biblical witness to the reality of Jesus. So if you want Jesus 100% behind your party platform you get stuck with a cardboard Jesus. But isn't that appropriate. All they really wanted was a campaign poster!

One can acknowledge the religious roots of our country's founding and still not be a proponent of a shift back toward a theocracy. But that doesn't mean support for the separation of church and state as it's currently professed by the left either. Their concept with it's high wall creates as much of a theocracy as the Religious Right seeks -- it's just the god that's served is different, and the religion has different doctrines and precepts. For more on this one should read Stephen L. Carter's The Culture of Disbelief. It's an older book, but still valid in it's arguments.

A different bit of ink for y'all after Kurt's Inked adventures.

Inked!

After doing most of my required yardwork Saturday morning, I headed off to Fry Street Ink, which is located at 1302 West Hickory Street in Denton, Texas in time for my 3:00 PM appointment with Hank. I had decided on Hank as the artist for my first tattoo after on-line research, referrals from people whose tattoos I had admired and a personal interview. Okay, I had just stopped by after getting the referrals and seeing his work on-line and asked if he could do what I wanted, how long it would take and what his appointment book looked liked. He told me he could, it would be around an hour in the chair and he was two weeks out.

When I arrived with my brother-in-law Joe a few minutes before 3, Hank was busy on a young woman's back. That session lasted for another 20 or 25 minutes. Then Hank came over with paperwork. After signing forms stating I knew the risks, I don't have any blood-born diseases and releasing them from all liabilities for the same, Hank went outside to smoke. Then he had to eat something. He took care of a few other things before washing up like a surgeon. It's a good thing I was over my nervousness or the delay may have pushed me over the edge. There were a couple other artists in the studio, but they didn't have anyone in their chairs. None of them seemed concerned with the pace of things, or lack of it so I assumed this was just the way things are done in that world.

So finally, a little after 4 I sat down in the chair. Hank had taken the design and made the copies/transfers/whatever-you-call-thems and we were getting started. I had no idea there was so much hair growing on the inside of my arm, but it was smoothly shaved away. Then came the placement of the image. Here is a picture of the image placement that Joe took:

Joe was sort of bored by this time, so he left to walk around Denton and go to a great used book store across from the courthouse. Hank was not satisified with the alignment of the image on my arm and washed off the outline. Trice more he laid the outline on my arm, each time moving it no more than 2 or 3mm from where it had been.

"Let's try this with you standing," he said as he pushed his tool back, indicating that I needed to get out of chair. "I want to see where it is going to be when you stand and also how it will line up vertically." Apparently that was the trick, because he was happy after one attempt. He pointed out to me the sublety of the placement and how the entire design is centered on the vertical center of my forearm - the beak of the dove points down the center of the cross and that line extends between the center of the tendons on my wrist and straight out the center of my two middle fingers. If I spread them to make a "V" with my arm outstretched, it is like sighting a rifle down the line they make. Hmmm. I am glad he pays attention to these things. I would have never noticed this. Perhaps he is just a good salesman, but I am gaining confidence in the selection of this guy about now.

Many people had warned me I had selected one of the more sensitive places on my body to have a tattoo done. Pain was what they had said I would feel. Hank described the coming sensation as a cross between sunburn-like stinging and a little electric shock. He nailed that one, too. Did it hurt? A bit, I guess. But I have had more pain from a tooth ache or muscle spasm.

He finished the black outline of the cross a little after 5. Joe had managed to get lost in Denton and make it back to the shop by this time and he took this shot:

While Joe settled in to a stool nearby and began discussing politics with John, another artist working in the shop, Hank started filling in the blue. Hank is an anarchist who avoids political discussions. John, on the other hand, is as big of conspiracy-theroist as Art Bell. Joe and he were off and running, providing an entertaining diversion to those of us observing. Unions, the draft, merchanaries, illegal aliens, Sun Yung Moon, and the fascist takeover of the US goverment which began in 1939 were all discussed. For a moment I thought that I was in the disillusioned equivalent of Mayberry's barber shop with Floyd, Goober and the rest of the boys working things out.

Shortly my attention was refocused on Hank, as now he was working on the red. And then he was done.

Here is a link to the meaning of the various elements of this cross. I was not raised Presbyterian and would not claim this denomination is the only true Christian church. However, I embrace our theology and love the polity or structure of the denomination, which divides its governing powers equally between the clergy and lay people. It is said this representative governing style formed the basis for our founding fathers creation of the US Constitution.

Anyway, that was my Saturday afternoon. I had fun.