Time Out!

I been working almost exclusively with pre-schoolers the past 2 years at church and thoroughly enjoying watching Super Nanny. slate.com recently published a great article on effective use of the timeout.

It underscores what we (Evan and I), as behaviorists, have said before about longterm effective reinforcement - Positive/negative, Certain and Immediate consequences. I am not a parent, but I have experienced many times in a multitude of contexts how consistency and calmness results in obedience and respect. I'm pretty good about the immediate and the calmness aspects. I had not considered the timing. When I enforce a timeout with a child, I usually use terms like "take a break," rather than "time out," in part, simply to remove them immediately from the bad behavior and create a space where they can start over with new positive behaviors. I also try to name specifically what their doing wrong. Even though some things we have read have said to not provide an individual warning once the rules for behavior are laid out, I try to enforce the consequence after only one warning. That can be a hard thing to do.

The other thing I've noticed is that, even at a young age, the child will try to shift blame or include others in the correction. (This is true of tattling in general.) This may not seem fair, but I simply call the child on his/her own behavior. e.g. "I told you not to do this . . . not Bud. You need to think about your actions not Bud's. Etc."

I think this has been pretty effective because I think they sense I'm not there to make their lives miserable. They also know I mean what I say. And they will obey me, then, in other things as well.

These are some great kids!

What do you think about this article's definition of the time out? What would your greatest weakness be in implementing the technique according to the article? Any other suggestions in making the timeout effective?

Ha Ha . . . Ahem.

Admittedly less vitriolic than my own previous post, Jim Wallis comments on the JD BO tiff.

I appreciate his recognition of consistent pro-life convictions emerging among younger evangelicals.

I remember this big picture connection between God and life being made for me at a seminar with Tim Green on Old Testament preaching (or something like that) at MVNU. Thanks Tim!

Top Ten Things You Never Thought About Recycling

Some of my earlier posts on auntjuls have been talking about recycling, upcycling.

Here's an article on some often discarded items that can actually be reused or repurposed instead of simply thrown away.

Ha Ha!

James Dobson is apparently the authority, also, on who is or is not distorting Scripture.

If you're not from Illinois, you may not understand. But I am from Illinois, so I'm always a bit suspicious of those in Illinios politics (sorry Marc) and the Chicago machine. I'm not sold on Obama for reasons other than that. But who is J.D. to declare who is rightly or wrongly using Scripture?

I'm sure there are some things that JD actually knows something about -- spiritual arrogance, self-publicity, moral condescension, oh yes, and some psychology . . . but is the interpretation of Scripture really one of these? Somehow, I doubt it.

Amazing . . .

Lo-Teching It

We're so enamored by hi-tech things. Slate's Explainer article, The 25-Cent Flood Protection Device, is a great illustration of the efficiencies and advantages of things lo-tech.

It got me to thinking. What other things might be just as, or more effective, by using the lo-tech rather than hi-tech solution?

Now, I am not a Luddite but I think it is worth questioning our modern assumptions.

Fried: Follow up to Chicken Post

Maybe I really just don't understand what grace is, or what means of grace are -- but if it/they isn't/aren't fundamentally salvific in nature, then what is it?

Why make ourselves available to any means of grace - sacrament or not - if they're not going to work a change in our life?

If these aren't the things that do bring us into right relationship with God then why do anything at all?

Why is this salvific nature of sacrament such a problem?

Finally, it seems we have so "spiritualized" our salvation that we are no longer capable of being entirely saved. That is heart, soul, mind and strength.

What a position for us, of all people, to find ourselves in!

Top Ten New Species with Pictures!

The Top Ten New Species were announced by the International Institute for Species Exploration (IISE) at Arizona State University. These were new species discovered and classified in 2007.

Photo Credit: IISE/ASU

A Strange Sight

auntjuls.blogspot.com

Stuck in my Craw

OK, maybe I'm just missing something here, but my understanding of the Nazarene's stance on infant baptism is that it is a symbol, but it is not salvific. Huh?

If that's the case than what's the point at all? How can we claim to have any understanding of sacraments, grace or God if baptism is effective only in certain situations?

I'm on the cliff ready to jump . . . please tell me I'm missing it.

Intro to Christian Ed

Once again, I am teaching. Yeah!
Once again, I am teaching something I have had no formal training in. Yeah!

I was (and am) happy to have the opportunity to teach for the Southwest Ohio district ministry classes. As usual, it happens to be something that I, myself, did not go to school for. That's ok. I imagine most professors are making up most of their stuff too. I'm teaching Introduction to Christian Education. Fortunately, unlike physical science, I do not have to take another certification test in order to teach this.

I went online and found 4 or 5 different CE syllabus from different Methodist, Nazarene schools and cobbled together my own working bibliography and outline for the class.

The truth is, education seems to get relegated to the side lines in favor of more attention getting ministry endeavors -- preaching, music, etc.

Walter Bruggeman has said, “Every community that wants to last beyond a single generation must concern itself with education.” That's must be true not just for a faith community, but it is particularly true.

I think the most liberating thing for me was realizing that education in the faith takes place everywhere in the church -- but we need to be aware and intentional about it. I figured this out at St. Paul's in Kansas City. I was trying to acclimate myself to my new associate pastor position, really understanding what that meant for my call and that local community. I read Educating Congregations by Charles R. Foster. He talked about creating events within the life of the church that form and transform. Just as the Passover recalls the Exodus story in vivid chewy details, a local faith community must recall and recreate the moments in their journey that made and make them who they are.

When I figured this out, it opened up new horizons for purpose in what we did and what we said. Just a few opportunities I had in the time I was there - a series of worship banners and paraments for the entire church year, fellowship infused with meaning (St. Patrick's Day cabbage and corned beef, Shrove Tuesday pancakes, etc.), Remember your Baptism video (including people from our church telling their baptism stories), intergenerational and family events (marble tournament, Advent wreath making night), ministry to our local parish (Block Party, staff prayer as we walked around the blocks of our neighborhood), Covenant groups using Wesley's covenant questions, creating a multi-cultural Nativity set with Anglo shepherds, Asian and middle-Eastern wisemen, an African angel, and an Indian Mary. But the list could go on.

The thing that I remember about these community events and efforts were 1) their intentionality 2) the intergenerationality 3) their participation.

What Evan and I struggle with right now is the conviction that pastoral ministry is substantially different than any other job in the world. The time I need to spend in prayer, preparation and in activity is qualitatively and quantitatively different than a CEO, a lawyer, a teacher, doctor, or any other profession would need to spend doing what they do. Because we are not CEO's or business people, my bottom line is not money, or tasks completed, or even numbers people. It is lives.

And as Anna Carter Florence points out in her recent lectionary reflections, "Think about the ordination services you have taken part in, recently. Have Jesus’ words in this passage ever appeared in the liturgy? My job is to charge the newly ordained, so I charge you, our Associate Pastor for Christian Nurture here at First Church, to do four things: cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, and cast out demons. Start with the Sunday School and then go after the youth group."

I appreciate that.

For this is the essential nature of Christian education -- a growing knowledge of Christ so that we may actually become more like him. And Christ does not call any of us to a faith built upon the most gold stars for attendance, the longest most urgent prayers, or the most convincing argument for the world being made in seven days. Empty works, false piety, intellectual bullying are not faith.

Vital Christian faith comes in our being restored to his Image. Meaning and integration comes as we see Him in each other. We see the Holy Spirit at work in our own lives and in the lives of our brothers and sisters. We can begin to name where God is among us. And where He still needs to come.

So that's what I have to say about CE right now. Where does CE take place in your local congregation? Is is "working" or isn't it? What events, outside the formal settings such as Sunday School or specific Bible study, does your community learn the faith?

Day 2. A Long Walk to Nowhere

Sorry, not many pics today.

We thought we would go over to the Westside Market today, so we walked over a bridge with a highway and huge trucks barrelling past us.

We got over there. Found the market. It's closed. I was kind of irritated. So we're going to try again tomorrow.

3.5 miles - ok, I'm tired and I think my head got burnt some more.

So I worked on finishing my curriculum stuff the rest of the afternoon. Evan went geocaching for awhile.

We went to an Irish pub a couple blocks away for dinner. Evan had shepherd's pie and I had fish and chips. Very good. We sat and read for awhile. Evan read Ullyses, of course.

Tomorrow, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (hopefully with Paul and Tiffany), Westside Market, and a Rejuvinating Hand Treatment at the Spa downstairs. I've never had a manicure so we'll see.

Cleveland Day 1

Progressive field is only 4-5 blocks away.
We get to our seats and it is FREEZING because we're in the shade the entire time. It was a school day - so we had these hordes of kids in our section getting up and down the entire time. We moved down with the people behind us for awhile to sit in the sun where some lady asked us to move because the kids with her were supposed to be coming. I said, "Ok," and smiled. I would get up when they actually got there. The lady next to me totally gave her dirty looks and we started talking. If they can't sit in their seats and watch the game then surely I can keep warm for a little while.
Here we are finally in the sun. The kids still wouldn't sit down but we were warm.
The Indians lost 6 to 5. Oh well, it was still fun. And after all that we ended up with sunburns!
On the way back to the hotel, we went geocaching in an old cemetery. We found two different caches in there, and I always like visiting old graveyards like this.

Tuesday in Cleveland Ohio

"Who is this Utta?" from Urban Legends, BIO channel

Well, we made it to Cleveland and it is cold!  We're staying at the Hyatt Regency downtown.  It is about a mile from Jacob's (Progressive) Field, and a part of the Arcade.  The Cleveland Public Library appears to be right across the street. We're going to check that out before we leave.

Right now we're sitting in bed, both on our Facebook pages playing the dot game. Chatting.  Watching Urban Legends on some channel I've never heard of. 

We stopped outside Columbus at a weird little Max&Erma's.  It was this strange 70's Gobbler-esque building with a roof that covered about 3/4 of the building.  We got their pretzel stick appetizers, which were really good.  Then we got the fresh chocolate chip cookies before we left.  As you may know, Evan does not eat dessert, but he has a weakness for chocolate chip cookies.  Mmmm. . . 

We bought some T-shirts for the game tomorrow but as cold and windy as it was tonight, I'm afraid we're going to be freezing.  We'll take some pics tomorrow.  Until then . . . 

In a world of hawks and doves, is there room for a cardinal?

Chance, 1996-2008

Funeral Blues

W. H. Auden

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,

Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,

Silence the pianos and with muffled drum

Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead

Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead,

Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,

Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,

My working week and my Sunday rest,

My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;

I thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;

Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;

Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood;

For nothing now can ever come to any good.

It's Been a While

I haven't blogged in a while.  It's for good reason.  While I could say it's because I've been busy (and that's a lot of it), it's not the only reason.  I have been questioning a lot of things.  Why is it that those of us who claim we are a part of the Kingdom of God do not believe it to be THE Reality, but rather the ideal?  Why do we describe God's salvific work in sports related terms (i.e. "winning souls")?  What happens when you or your church doesn't have a winning season (that is, at least 50 wins and 50 losses)?  What happens if your church is more interested not drinking than in feeding the hungry?  Why didn't Christ say, "Go into all the world and make 20 disciples every year."?  It would've made everything easier.  For a church that's so interested in not being associated with anything that smacks of works righteousness, we love to quantify our works.  But hey, what are you going to do?

I don't know why, but I've been thinking about Elvis Costello's "God's Comic." Maybe God should've given the world to the monkeys after all. Here are the lyrics:

I wish you'd known me when I was alive, I was a funny feller

The crowd would hoot and holler for more

I wore a drunk's red nose for applause

Oh yes I was a comical priest

"With a joke for the flock and a hand up your fleece"

Drooling the drink and the lipstick and greasepaint

Down the cardboard front of my dirty dog-collar

 

Now I'm dead, now I'm dead, now I'm dead,

now I'm dead, now I'm dead

And I'm going on to meet my reward

I was scared, I was scared, I was scared, I was scared

He might of never heard God's Comic

 

So there he was on a water-bed

Drinking a cola of a mystery brand

Reading an airport novelette, listening to

Andrew Lloyd-Webber's "Requiem"

He said, before it had really begun, "I prefer the one about my son"

"I've been wading through all this unbelievable

junk and wondering if I should have given

the world to the monkeys"

 

Chorus

 

I'm going to take a little trip down Paradise's

endless shores

They say that travel broadens the mind, till you

can't get your head out of doors

 

I'm sitting here on the top of the world

I hang around in the longest night

Until each beast has gone bed and then I say

"God bless" and turn out the light

While you lie in the dark, afraid to breathe and

you beg and you promise

And you bargain and you plead

Sometimes you confuse me with Santa Claus

It's the big white beard I suppose

I'm going up to the pole, where you folks die of cold

I might be gone for a while if you need me

 

Now I'm dead, now I'm dead, now I'm dead,

now I'm dead, now I'm dead and you're all

going on to meet your reward

 

Are you scared? Are you scared? Are you scared? Are you scared?

You might have never heard, but God's comic

Pentecost 70ish Days early: Mud Pies and Hot Air

Read Genesis 2:4-7

What is it about Spring that we love so much?  You know I like autumn and summer, and sometimes winter, when the snow has just fallen and everything is so white . . . but spring is just such a sigh of relief after being cold and wet and rainy for months.  Even when it’s still kind of nippy outside, and you still have to wear a jacket, you can smell spring in the air, like nothing else.  You know exactly when the season changes when it’s spring. 

In fact, if you walk down any bath and beauty

 isle, spring is what they sell – read some of the labels and brands of bath gel, soap, shampoo, etc.

I don’t think it’s an accident that we celebrate one of the most important day of the Christian year in the spring.  

In fact, the day we celebrate the Lord’s resurrection is timed to go along with the season itself.  Easter actually means “spring.”  We use eggs and bunnies and flowers to remind ourselves of what the celebration is about – new life, growth, a fresh start.

I wonder if it was always spring in the Garden?  You know . . . plants always growing and flowering.  Fresh, clean smells.  Water keeping the grass and plants lush and beautiful.  And if this is the world that we lived in, why don’t we live in it now? 

I think you know the answer to that question: Adam and Eve.  Now these were the creatures that we just read about.  The creation that he first thought about when he went out to the riverbed to make mud pies.  His fingernails full of mud, there was a crust of dirt all the way up to his elbows.  He had formed these riverbeds in the early days of

 his creation after He separated the waters above from the waters below. Then he had pooled those waters below into oceans and seas and lakes and flowing rivers.  What was left was sticky, goopy and brown.  He remembered that when he started shaping the mud into human form.

God was getting warm with all this work, and he stared up into the sun that he had created just a few days ago.  It baked the mud and caused a warm breeze to make the

 river sparkle.  God wasn’t finished.

The body lay limp by the river, all wet and slimy, until God came over and held the man’s head in his hands and did the first CPR ever.  

The breath of God filled the man’s lungs up like a balloon and then God took his muddy fingers and gently squeezed his chest.

God had put a little bit of himself into the man.  Not that he would be God, himself, but that he would take the same pleasure in playing the mud or in being warmed by the sun as God the Creator himself did.  He wanted something, someone to share his pleasure with and that someone would need to have that ability to smile like God, to talk like God, to respond to creation like his creator. Being made of the earth itself and alive now because of God’s own breath, God figured that this man, and very soon the woman, would be his comp

anions in this new creation of His.  They could reflect his pleasure and his affection for his creatures in the world.

But His final and most daring act of creation was actually the ones who messed everything up.  You see, God had created something very special within them. He put something of himself in them.  And it was something so unique, so different, so dangerous that despite such beautiful surroundings and a perfect relationship with God, they said, “No!”

Instead they looked at themselves in the mirror and said “Yes  - we can do this on our own.  We don’t need God to be like him . . . “

But what would we see in a mirror if there were no face looking into it? What happens to the image in the mirror when the lights are turned off? There is no i

mage, no reflection.  The image of himself that God had created in us was distorted, changed, marred when we said “No” to him.

This is Bad News.

Like the paintings that Pastor Evan showed last night, God’s image in us becomes water damaged, cracked and stained.  The things in this world, like sin, wear us down to where or thoughts, our attitudes our selves don’t look anything like what God created us to be.  We need the artist to come back and restore His image upon us.

Read: 2 Corinthians 5:16-17

Have you ever tried to see these images?  The secret to seeing them is not to look at the picture, but to look through it.  Here’s a couple designs . . . can you tell what these images are?

This is God’s image in us.  He not only restores his image in us so that we reflect Him in the world, but we also look at the world differently as well.  We see it with new eyes, as his creation, deserving on respect, compassion, even love.  And it’s not really something that we’ll immediately see by looking at the surface of things . . . God imbedded this image deep within us and when he restores His image he gives us eyes that can see beyond the surface of things.

This is the Good News.

Remember the Fruit of the Spirit – Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindnes, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-control?  These don’t happen because were good at these things.  Their not personality traits – we’re not born with any of these things.  In fact, because Adam – so many years ago, said “No” to God, these fruit don’t grow in us naturally.  What they do is show a restored image in us.  When we bear these fruit in our lives – by showing kindness to others, be being gentle, by encouraging peace with our parents, friends, etc., choosing to do the right thing and exercising self-control over behaviors that can harm us – we exhibit the Artist’s restoration of our painting. 

God is the one who is kind and gentle, patient and faithful.  If we can reflect those things we are who we are supposed to be.

Remember, this is Good News, because it God’s Holy Spirit that makes this happen.  If you can think of things right now in your life that has not been kind, or gentle or loving, or good, know that at some point you have said “No” to God.  You’ve tried to create an image on your own, and you realize that it is not what you have been created to be.

Know, also, that God, through His own Spirit, is ready and able, to restore His image within you.   

What Makes It So Merry?

Christmas carols are an easy thing to dismiss. I’m kind of a scrooge and so I easily tire of Christmas tunes. There are a few advent songs I love (“Come Thou Long Expected Jesus” and “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”) and I’m a sucker for any Charles Wesley hymn so I’m always up for “Hark the Herald,” but last night something happened. At the Christmas Eve service at our church we sang a verse to a particular song that I hadn’t heard before (the verse). I don’t know why, but I just hadn’t.

Now, I’m not a scrooge because I don’t like Christmas, I just don’t like the busy-ness. This is actually, theologically, my favorite time of the year. This is when we celebrate the Incarnation. After all, Athanasius said, “God was made man, that man might be made [like] god.” All of salvation begins with a crying baby. But, I tire of all the commerce and materialism (easy for me to say, of course) that I’m just as guilty of as anyone else.

But this year was different. While singing “O Holy Night” we actually sang the last verse. I’ve never heard that verse before. I don’t remember singing it as a child or growing up. As an adult even when caroling we only sing the first verse if at all. The words were written (translated) by John S. Dwight well over a hundred years ago. Dwight was born in Boston and is buried there in Forest Hills Cemetery. Considering all of this, here is the part of the third verse that truly brought me into the presence of Christ this year:

Truly he taught us to love one another;
his law is love and his gospel is peace.
Chains shall he break, for the slave is our brother,
And in his name all oppression shall cease.

That is the power of Jesus Christ. That by his name every knee shall bow and tongue confess, oh, and don’t forget that slaves will be free and all oppression shall cease. This is the good news of Jesus Christ. This is what makes Christmas truly merry.

Christmas Surprises

I love Christmas surprises. You know the ones I mean. They are the ones that give us a true understanding of grace. Good Christmas surprises teach us that stuff just isn’t all that important. Last week I got an email out of the blue from an old friend who just happened to remember me while he rummaged through an old box of toys. Ben then called me later in the day.

Ben and I were pretty much best friends. We would walk home from school together. We played GI Joe. We watched the GI Joe animated movie. We sneaked around as though we were some sort of Special Forces team shooting at cars with our toy assault rifles. I worked his paper route when he went on vacation. We even threw rocks at cars and then hid behind a fence at the church (don’t try that at home). Ben reminded me of a time over at Pierre Moran mall, across the street from my house. We ran into some bigger kids on skateboards. After we did something to annoy them, they chased us all around the mall. I hope there are more fun stories to remember as time goes by.

I love remembering people and the things we did in the past. I had a good childhood and so it’s easy. For some, I know, it’s not as easy. Have you ever received a call, visit, or letter from someone you’ve not heard from in a while? Do you have any good stories from your childhood?

Prepare the Way of the Lord

This time of the year always reminds me of Isaiah 40. This is a passage of hope. And how many of us can use a little hope right now? Isaiah 40 is the first chapter in what many scholars call Second Isaiah. It was written after the first 39 chapters (or First Isaiah) and by a different author, though we don’t know who that author was. Some even suggest that it was written by a school of thinkers during that time. It was probably written in Babylonia around 540 BC before the Israelites’ journey home.

The Israelites had been conquered and both the kingdoms had fallen. They were exiled to Babylonia and lived, built houses, planted gardens, living life just as Jeremiah had suggested (Jer 29:5-6). Isaiah 40, however is about their imminent return home. Isaiah compares this journey to the Exodus from Egypt and into the Promised Land, only better. For the Exodus Israelites the journey was long and treacherous. There was no road. They were chased by Pharaoh and needed food and water from God when they were hungry. God was their shepherd for the journey home, and they certainly needed their shepherd. Isaiah says that this new journey home will be much better. The paths will be straight and the terrain covered with Eden-like growth. There will be water everywhere and instead of a Pharaoh chasing them it will be King Cyrus (commissioned by God) sending them home. God will not only shepherd them, God will carry them home.

This message was wonderful for the Israelites to hear. It was a message of hope in a time of living as aliens and strangers in a foreign land. It was also a message of preparation. Here is verse 3, “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight the desert highway for our God.” The season of Advent is a time to prepare the way of the Lord. It is a time to reflect in prayer and contemplation on being returned to the image of God. It is also a time to prepare for new and exciting ways for God to use you to bless the world and people around you. How can you reflect God’s image to your neighbors, friends, and family? What are some things you can do in your neighborhood to help show someone the love of Christ? Preparing the way of the Lord is about drawing closer to Christ in order to be sent out into his creation.

Advent is not only a season that prepares us for the Incarnation, Jesus’ birth. It is also a season that prepares us for the second coming of Jesus. In many ways we live in a time between. It is a sort of Holy Saturday, that day between (terribly) Good Friday and Easter Sunday. We await the second coming of Our Lord. But don’t get too comfortable in Babylon. Oh, do your work, build a home, grow your garden, but keep in mind that the King of Glory is coming again!