Christians in Culture, Continued

Kid1 gave me a detailed run-down of her day at school yesterday. She attends an “arts magnet” high school in Dallas, which draws all sorts of kids from the DFW area…and combine that with the type of kids who would want to attend an arts-focused high school. Throw in a mix of teachers that would want to teach and an arts-focused high school and you have a Heinz 57 of belief systems (a.k.a. “worldviews”–or ways of looking at the world). They’re all over the map…which I guess is going to be found in any high school–but at their school even folks who profess to be Christians are in an obvious minority. Again, that could be true at any public high school (which might be a topic for another day), but my impression from her is that it’s a lot different than when she attended the local high school.

Anyway, I’m not free to give you details of the issue, but suffice to say it’s pretty typical high school stuff. That much I know, as it’s universal to high school experiences by everybody everywhere. But Kid1 was in a situation where her advice was asked for and she let me in on the details of what she said. While she did her best to avoid using terms Christian vocabulary, the gist of the advice was from her framework.

How can you show the most love for the other person?
How can you serve the other person?
How can you show integrity?

Stuff like that. Kid1’s advice was taken under advisement and duly noted…I’m sure to be thrown in the hopper with the other advice thrown around the lunch table. Adults are no different, really. We just do the same thing over the phone or in small groups huddled at coffee shops or whatever. High school is hard. So is adulthood.

But, what got me was Kid1’s observation that the others around the table didn’t think the same way she thought. Not have the same ideas as her…that’s not what she meant at all. But rather that they seemed to be using entirely different criteria to make decisions.

Kid1 noted that she was focused on love and service. Others at the table gave advice that was was best for themselves. Or their feelings. Or their past experiences. Or stuff they’d learned from their parents. Or some book they’d read. Not all of it was bad advice, either, Kid1 noted. It was just coming from a different place. And her insights were given consideration, it’s just that the reaction was more of a “that’s really different and I’m not sure that’d work and I’ll have to think about that some more” vibe.

Kid1 mentioned that she could bring up stuff in her Bible study group and they’d all be generally coming from the same worldview and they’d understand her. “I’m really glad I have my Bible study group last night, Dad…and I’m glad that I can hang out with some of them tonight. Sometimes, after being surrounded by that stuff all day, I just enjoy being around friends that at least understand where I’m coming from.”

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not trying to glorify Kid1 as some spiritual giant. For all I really know, she’s pumping sunshine to Dad so she can get out of the house using the terms and type of conversation that she knows her PastorDad would eat up and keep him off her bak. That’d be a bit out of character for her to this point. But hey…teenagers, man. ‘Nuff said.

My point was that she was engaged with culture. Her culture. Loving her friends with no other agenda. Not to “evangelize” or “lead them to Christ.” Just being in the mix of folks who don’t know Christ and being who she is. But not backing off what she believes to be true, either.

And she was also engaged with her sisters in Christ and her small group leaders (who she bragged on). They were a place where she felt “gotten.” Understood. Supported. Reminded that she isn’t crazy. Reminded that she has a family with a bunch of other aliens and strangers.

So I thought of our discussion and was reminded of a quote from Bill Hybels who was addressing a bunch of youth leaders before he became Christian Spokesperson Bill Hybels (which isn’t all bad…it’s just that this was 20 years ago): “If we spend all our time with Christians only, we’ll yawn at movements of God we ought to be awed by.”

And I thought that the converse is true as well…if we spend all our time with those not of our faith, we’ll forget our uniqueness and place.

And there’s a balance there…

…somewhere…

…and I was kinda hoping for more discussion in the comments on this stuff.

As you can tell, I’m really intrigued by it at the moment.

Pour a cup of coffee and stay a while today, okay?

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Friday Football Picks, Final Edition (except for the bowl games)

Well, my big push to get back to .500 didn’t go so well, winning 8 and losing 9. This takes my season record to 51 wins, 59 losses and 3 ties. Frankly, I expected a bit more of myself, but I’ve been enjoying Auburn’s 6th straight win over Alabama so much that it’s hard to get the smile off my face.

But, today, I’ll get my game face on for one last deal, with conference championships and other big rivalry games afoot…so, here we go:

Pittsburgh (+28.5) at West Virginia: Did anybody else see what the Mountaineers did to UConn–who isn’t too shabby on defense–now that they sniff the BCS championship game. Morgantown will be a vicious atmosphere and I don’t care about the cliche that you throw records out the window in a rivalry game. This one won’t be close and Pat White, who is fantastic, will lead a rout. Diner Prediction: West Virginia 56, Pittsburgh 24

LSU vs. Tennessee (+7.5) in Atlanta: The SEC championship game, which LSU should win going away. But I think the Tigers have plenty of distraction with Les Miles’ infatuation with Michigan, and they haven’t played their best ball as of late. I’d like to put them on upset alert, but I do think they’ll manage to squeak out a win based on talent alone and the reality that this is the one thing that could soothe their lost national championship hopes…being the best team in the best conference. Diner Prediction: L.S.U. 27, Tennessee 21.

Virginia Tech vs. Boston College (+4.5) in Jacksonville: The ACC championship game, and the Hokies dominated BC at home, only to lose a 10 point lead in a driving rain on a fluke. The Hokies will be ACC champions because they know they lost a game they shouldn’t have and want to prove it on a big stage. Diner Prediction: Virginia Tech 24, Boston College 17.

UCLA (+20) vs. U.S.C. at Pasadena: Right now, the best championship game might be USC vs. Georgia. I don’t think any two teams are playing better football than those two teams. And USC will have their way with the Bruins, despite the reality that UCLA, in theory, could win the PAC-10. Diner Prediction: U.S.C. 45, U.C.L.A. 21.

Arizona (+6.5) at Arizona State: I like the underdog nature of the Wildcats, but Arizona State is a good team and I think any talk of an upset is based on how well U.S.C. took them to the woodshed. I like the Sun Devils at home to cover. Diner Prediction: Arizona State 35, Arizona 28.

Army (+14) vs. Navy at Baltimore: I cannot believe how some ESPN talking heads call this the best rivalry game in college sports. Sure, there’s some cool stuff before the game, but let’s be honest: These teams haven’t been serious football contenders since color film came into vogue. I don’t like this game being played in Baltimore, either. Philly is the place it should be played. There isn’t much to see beyond the cool cadet entrances and the commanders saluting and shaking hands before the coin toss. Diner Prediction: Navy 31, Army 14.

Washington (+14) vs. Hawaii: Ty Willingham on the hotseat? I think this guy’s a great coach and I firmly believe that skews my views on the Huskies. I picked them to win last week in the Apple Cup and they gave up 35 points to a middling Wazzu team. Colt Brennan will destroy that secondary. Diner Prediction: Hawaii 38, Washington 21.

California at Stanford (+13): I actually think this is one rivalry game where you CAN throw out the records and they get after each other…in a PAC-10 kind of finesse way, not an SEC smash-mouth kind of way. Stanford has been up and down, and Cal has been pretty good for much of the season, but I think Jim Harbaugh will get them motivated and emotional, which will keep it close. The Cal Bears will win, though. Diner Prediction: California 27, Stanford 17.

Oklahoma vs. Missouri (+3) at San Antonio: The Big-12 championship. Lemme get this straight: The number 1 team in the country is an underdog to OU? Mizzou hasn’t been on the big stage before and OU (wrongly) gets love from the press enough to get to the big stage if they remotely show promise (re: 2004). And, as much whining as Mizzou has done this week about how they “gave” OU the last game and how they aren’t getting “respect” from the national media, it only shows they aren’t ready for prime time. And, as much as I hate the thought of it, this will send Ohio State to the national championship game. Diner Prediction: Oklahoma 28, Missouri 21.

Your picks?

Gold Stars To The Five Commenters From Yesterday…

…but we’re not finished here, folks.

The entry from yesterday is still buzzing around in my brain, and I found it interesting that a pastor in Portland (that I met last year on my vacation), Bob Hyatt is engaging his blog community on a topic along the same lines as mine. And this was AFTER I wrote my entry.

He quoted Tim Keller, a pastor in New York City:

“This strategy (if we must call it that) will work. In every culture, some Christian conduct will be offensive and attacked, but some will be moving and attractive to outsiders. “Though they accuse you … they may see your good deeds and glorify God” (1 Peter 2:12, see also Matt. 5:16). In the Middle East, a Christian sexual ethic makes sense, but not “turn the other cheek.” In secular New York City, the Christian teaching on forgiveness and reconciliation is welcome, but our sexual ethics seem horribly regressive. Every non-Christian culture has enough common grace to recognize some of the work of God in the world and to be attracted to it, even while Christianity in other ways will offend the prevailing culture.

So we must neither just denounce the culture nor adopt it. We must sacrificially serve the common good, expecting to be constantly misunderstood and sometimes attacked. We must walk in the steps of the one who laid down his life for his opponents.”

You can read the rest of that article here, from Christianity Today’s May archives

Grab a cup of coffee and mull yesterday’s entry and today’s quotes, folks. The Diner’s going to stay on this theme for a bit.

The Tryptophan Has Worn Off And The Turkey Coma Is Over…So Let’s Have A Highbrow Roundtable!

It was a throwaway line during a Q&A session with author Philip Yancey.

Let me back up: A couple of years ago, our staff attended a breakfast with the author who was in Dallas promoting a new book (which, by the way, turned out to be his worst effort, IMHO). Said breakfast was underpromoted which meant we got an abundance of swag and a lot more personal attention during the Q&A session. Someone in the audience noted that the author got to see a lot of churches on his book tours and wondered if he’d made any general observations regarding the state of the church in America.

Prefacing a comparatively lengthy discourse, the author said something along the lines of, “I think the biggest difference in the church in America these days is that, while my generation grew up in a Galatian church, this generation faces challenges in growing up in a Corinthian church.” Now, that’s from memory because, while I remember writing it down I have no idea where I put that scrap of paper.

And that throwaway line stayed on my brain’s hard drive until a recent class I’m teaching asked me a similar question. Part of my answer began with, “I heard Philip Yancey say once that…” Granted, I didn’t take the idea for myself, but I did sorta “big time” my class by name-dropping.

Anyway, for those who don’t keep track of such things off the top of your head, a major issue Paul addressed in his letter to the churches in Galatia was–in simplest terms–the mixing of “law” and “grace.” Or, more simply, “good works” and the role they play in the life of a believer. A major theme in Paul’s letter to the church in Corinth was that they were allowing the culture to have too much influence in the life of the church.

What Mr. Yancey was implying was that the church, when he was growing up, struggled with the reality that it was very important to look good in the eyes of others rather than transforming your life inwardly and letting that reality show. Really, it was behavior management rather than a heart revolution. He said that the church that our kids are growing up in struggles with the outside influences causing compromise within our hearts and minds.

Now, get your coffee ready, okay, patrons?

What I’d like to do right off the bat is concede that you may or may not agree with Mr. Yancey. It’s certainly open for debate. But for our purposes here, let’s assume he’s correct in his observation…at least on a general level.

And I’d like for you to chat about your observations from your church growing up and what you see going on in our churches right now regarding influence.

Don’t worry, I’ll weigh in tomorrow.

But it’s open forum here at The Diner today.

*turns sign around that says, “Yes, We’re Open!” Sets chairs underneath the table & brews the coffee. Rubs his hands together like he’s trying to start a fire with sticks, giggles with excitement, and waits on customers*

So, Today I’m Thinking…

I know.

I know.

I just did this a couple of days ago, but I still have a lot of little things going on in my brain rather than one large issue going on in my brain. So, here we go.

So, Today I’m Thinking…

…that can’t really explain how bad that commercial for Dr. Pepper is where the heavy-set lineman scores a touchdown and dances (eventually flipping off the goalpost and doing the Worm) was the first time and now it gets worse every time I watch it.
…that it’d be difficult to explain why anyone would purchase plain old Cheerios when the Honey-Nut version is vastly superior.
…I can’t figure out who these kids are that aren’t getting enough sun and exercise to the point that the soft-bone disease “ricketts” is making a comeback. Every kid under the age of 10 I know is constantly being shuttled to some sort of practice every single day of their lives.
…I’m in the lull time of reading where I the stack is low but my family loads me up with books for Christmas.
…that I asked our congregation for their “review” of our 5 O’Clock Worship services and I’m amazed at how many of them being with, “I don’t attend that one because I heard that (insert something that isn’t fact here)…” Really?
…that no one seems to have noticed our Dallas Stars are on a six-game winning steak and looking pretty good in the process.
…it must be hard to be a coach at any level these days. Sure, coaches in professional sports and big-time colleges are very well compensated and know that the pressure to win comes with the territory. But I’m concerned that high school coaches–at least in our area–have too much pressure to win rather than teaching the disciplines of sport to young teenagers. Sure, the product local fans get to watch is vastly superior to what high-school sports were 25 years ago, but the goals don’t seem to be.
..it must be hard to be a teacher these days. What I see in parents is a failure to trust the teacher as a classroom authority. Even if the teacher is bad and unfair, the parents need to butt out and understand that respect for authority, following chain-of-command and letting kids learn to respectfully fight their own battles are infinitely more important than little Johnny’s moving from a 79 to a 91 if the parent is the one “fixing” it.
…all of us as parents need that gentle reminder that our kids watch us like hawks to see if the message we teach lines up with the life we live. Especially in the little things.
…I really haven’t found much Christmas music that I like, and most of what I do like, no one else seems to like. Of course, this isn’t really any different than in my “normal” musical choices, either.
…I’m thinking more and more about teaching that “film and theology” class over the summer. The more I think about taking some movie and critically analyzing it against Scripture, and then drawing practical applications from the findings, the more excited I get about it. I’m thinking about “Stranger than Fiction,” but if Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium is on DVD by then, I might do a summer series on child-like faith. This should play right into my Peter Pan Syndrome. Any other suggestions?
…that it’s been the year of maintaining the house. Our house is at that age. Fences replaced. Bathrooms remodeled out of necessity. New air conditioner-heating unit. New dishwasher. The list goes on, too. But we’d like to eventually get around to upgrading like with a deck/patio with an enclosed room as part of it, hardwood floors (or maybe stained concrete like in our kitchen), new landscaping, etc. But what I wouldn’t do for loft-living in FloMo if it were remotely affordable. If it were to ever exist.
…Kid1 didn’t have to have new tires after all. It was just a different leak around the valve stem. It’s pretty cool to have the local tire places patch tires for free, I can tell you. Her airport run went smoothly, although she didn’t check the website before leaving for a little flight delay, trusting her Google text-messaging to have the most recent updates. Lesson learned there.
…I often wonder how serious folks are when they say that they trust Scripture, but oddly, seem to let doctors and lawyers and professors have more sway and authority when it comes to “real life” decision-making.
…that it never gets old to me that my children rearrange the stocking-holders over the mantle that are supposed to say “NOEL” to read “LEON.” It’s even funnier when we forget to “fix” it and someone walks in and notices, but isn’t sure if they should say anything or not.
…that watching Kid2 decorate the tree this year was funny because she started out quietly putting all the ornaments that represented Kid1 on the back of the tree until she couldn’t contain herself and brought it up. There seems to be a line of thought now that the kids are older to go more thematic on the tree and get new ornaments that match and look good, but I can’t be serious about that yet. The old ornaments that kids made from puzzle pieces and pictures in Sunday School or the one ornament we got each year that represented something about that particular year are more meaningful to me.
…that I’m actually itching to get back to work.

Still Smiling!

Auburn 17, Alabama 10. Six straight years! Hehehehehehe.

photo courtesy al.com

No cleaning out the garage.

Going to work out.

Going to read.

Going to nap.

Maybe going to see a movie. Most likely not.

Just enjoying the last day of vacation…

So, Today I’m Thinking…

…that it might get old with Auburn beating Alabama six straight times in the Iron Bowl (that’s never happened in Auburn’s history), but, well, I was wrong. It’s just as much fun as it ever was! In fact, here is a running counter that counts the exact length of time it’s been since the Evil Empire has beaten us!
…that it’s so cool that my friend Keila was in the newspaper today in the “metro” section as our community’s “Good Kid” for the week. In my opinion, she’s been a “Good Kid” for much longer, but I’m glad she got publicly recognized. It’s usually pretty cool to get your name in the paper.
…that you should RUN, not walk, to go see “Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium.” No, not if you have kids (although any kid over five would love it). Everybody. Now. To the theatre. You will NOT regret it.
…that it’s nice to have in-laws who stayed the entire week, and when they left this morning, you kinda miss ’em.
…that Kid1’s car needs to get new tires and I don’t regret using the moment to teach her how to change a tire. She had to do it on Thanksgiving Day, and she put on the donut, drove it to the shop and got it patched. The patch didn’t hold. So, today, she’ll change the tire, put on the donut and I’ll go with her to buy new tires.
…that Kid1’s also taking part in Dallas-area necessary tradition: The DFW airport pick-up run for a friend. Another teaching moment. Man, the teen years seem full of those and you always have to make sure you’re crossing t’s and dotting i’s.
…Tracy got an inordinate amount of Christmas shopping done already. Now we’re in that awkward time where you kinda have to ask if it’s okay to buy that CD or DVD you might want to watch or whatever you might grab on a spur of the moment.
…that it’s kind of cool to have to get new clothes for Christmas. Not that I care about clothes or whatever, but because of my diet/health-kick thing my clothes are a bit loose. I’ll have to hit the gym extra hard starting tomorrow because when you have an old-school Southern woman in the house for a week, your refrigerator fills up with stuff like pies (current leftover: chocolate peanut butter cup pie. Yes, you read that right.) and tupperware full of all sorts of delicious treadmill-inspiring fare.
…it’s time to call the wood guy to bring the annual half-cord of firewood. I still can’t bring myself to go with the gas logs in the fireplace. Yes, I went to the gas barbecue grill (are both of those words necessary there…or is it either-or?) and am okay with that on sheer practicality, but, manalive do I love a “real” fire and the sounds and smell that come with it.
…it still feels weird not to be going to church today. Part of me wants to check out a local church this morning that I’ve heard good things about, but it’s hard when you work at a church, to simply go and enjoy the teaching and friendliness and music without going into analysis of it all. You know…stuff like “we should do that, too” or “because of that, we should change this.” It becomes work and for some reason it’s hard to turn that off.
…my dog is exhausted. He’s a creature of routine and his routine has been blown apart this week with increase of people in our home this week and he could use a couple of days of lounging & napping.
…I can’t decide if I should clean out the garage tomorrow or wait until my next round of off-days. I’m hesitant because I might want another day of lounging & napping. I’m a creature of routine and my routine has been blown apart this week with the increase of people in our home this week.
…smokin’ hot shutterbug trophy wife gets really busy, what with all the folks wanting Christmas card pictures. She’s off to shoot the higer-order barnstorming Sentz family next weekend–which reminds me, we need to Skype as I could use a Margaux fix pretty soon. Not sure I should wait a week on that deal.
…I kinda miss my other neice and nephew, too. Thanksgiving wasn’t the same without hearing Peyton spout off about how Bama will win every game they play for the next 10 years and updating me on all his athletic endeavors (he’s on the wrestling team these days) and watching some cartoon DVD movie (I know I would’ve gone with “Surf’s Up”) and constantly harrassing my partner-in-crime Katelyn, who dishes it right back.
…I think Kid2 pirated a gift we purchased for Katelyn by hiding it from the in-laws last night when they packed and I just remembered we forgot to load it this morning. Oh well, that’s what UPS is for.
…I’m on the last book in my book stack.
…that I should go finish that book and get ready for serving my dog by having a long nap today, after I supervise the changing of the tire.

Thinking Out Loud

Is it wrong to like Thanksgiving more than Christmas these days?

I’m beginning to think we should reverse the tone of each holiday…and scale down the “new” Thanksgiving by about half to two-thirds.

And, So You Can Grow In Your Appreciation For The Finer Things…

It’s the Iron Bowl in the state of Alabama…and just to show you that I can still get my game face on even if the highlight of The Diner today is the fine arts, here’s the video they show on the scoreboard jumbotron before the Tigers take the field:

Win or lose the big game, War Eagle, everybody!

Proud Dad Alert As Promised

Here are photos from Kid2’s performance as Dew Drop in The Nutcracker this year. I cannot say enough how proud I am of her. I mean, sometimes it’s easier here at The Diner to put up artwork from Kid1 because of the nature of a painting…but I can assure you as soon as I can get some video of this performance, well, hello YouTube! She was brilliant. See for yourself:

Like I said: She was brilliant. A blind guy with one eye could tell you that.