The Prince of halftime…

Posted on February 5, 2007 by me

In spite of the rain, there were no malfunctions (wardrobe or electrical) at yesterday’s SB halftime show.

By the way, I’m not a football fan. Not that I don’t enjoy watching football – it can be mildly entertaining. However, it’s like a mini-series in that you’ve either got to watch alot of it so you can keep up, or you don’t watch at all. I figured out many years ago that for me, it just wasn’t worth the time. So, until yesterday I didn’t even know who was playing. I didn’t even know that Indianapolis had a professional team. What I did know was that at the particular party we were invited to, there would be food. So, I spent most of the afternoon within reach of the goodies.

Except for halftime- I had heard rumors that Prince was performing, so I moved back into the big-screen room. Unfortunately, the room was filled with people making cracks about “The artist formerly known as the artist formerly known as Prince,” and so on. (Once was kind of amusing; after that, it was just annoying.)

I should say here that I had been somewhat of a Prince fan during the Purple Rain years; Prince is an incredibly gifted performer, and is, I think, often underrated by the masses, because – let’s face it – he’s a might peculiar, as artists can tend to be. I haven’t listened to him at all in many years, but I have been kind of curious as to how his conversion to the Jehovah’s Witnesses has impacted him. He’s always had a spiritual dimension to his music that I found intriguing, and it’s unfortunate that his journey has taken this particular rabbit trail. (Although, it’s apparently made his music a bit more socially acceptable.)

Yesterday, in spite of the noisy room and less than acceptable sound system, I was impressed, and somewhat surprised, with Prince’s performance. First, he performed no new material of his own. He started with 2 songs from the Purple Rain soundtrack (both good selections), then moved into a great cover of the Foo Fighters’ “Best of You” (one of my personal favorites) borrowing a little “All Along the Watchtower” for the intro. In my opinion, this was a great version of the song, and is worth listening to again. Finally, he closed with none other than Purple Rain, which is not only one of his more “spiritual” songs, but also has a somewhat evangelistic edge to it (though highly metaphorical).

Each was a great performance, in spite of the rainfall (you could only tell it was raining from the drops hitting the camera lens). This was, in my opinion, the best half-time show since Michael Jackson (no matter what you think of him, that was a great show). You can read my thoughts on last year’s Stones performance here; that was possibly the worst halftime show I can recall, and that’s saying something…

I’m guessing that more than Prince performing his greatest hits, they were chosen more for their underlying spiritual tone – after all, Purple Rain was a redemption story. “Best of You” also has a spiritual message, discussing loss of faith, etc. This, I think, was Prince’s one big chance to reach probably his greatest audience ever with his current apocalyptic message, whatever that might be. Obscure metaphors have their advantages.

But, perhaps I’m reading too much into it; perhaps he just wanted to do a great show. In that respect, he certainly succeeded.

Posted in Reviews | 2 Comments

No time …

Posted on February 3, 2007 by me

Distant roads are calling me… – The Guess Who

I’ve so many things to put down in ones and zeros, but just haven’t had the time, with too many demands pulling me in different directions. But, it works well for you, for I’ve got some great links for you instead of my own self-indulgent ruminatings. I am fortunate to have some friends who are better writers than me, and it is my distinct pleasure to highlight a couple of them now.

My friend Mike has an article on racial profiling, appearing on the American Chronicle site. It’s both well-written and insightful, and you can hardly tell that he’s a liberal. 😉

He’s also got some great stuff on his own blog (he’s the Tangled Up In Blue Guy), especially a couple of recent posts on his journey from Christianity to atheism. Check out Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Then, just poke around and read some other stuff.

Then, take a look at my favorite Totally Baked writer, Quixote’s latest thoughts on Christianity vs America (or the other way around), something we should all be thinking about, all of the time…

I’ll also throw a quick plug in for my son, Elliot, who is interviewed here on current trends in web design.

There, that should keep you busy, and now I don’t feel so bad for not having the time to write down all of the good stuff bouncing around my head (sometimes I wish it would stop, it keeps me awake….).

Posted in Random Thoughts | 2 Comments

The Church That Is

Posted on January 30, 2007 by me

Last Sunday morning I was sitting in church contemplating how we often spin our wheels trying to achieve something that we already have, when I realized that a prime example was presenting itself in the sermon. The pastor was teaching on community, which has been a common topic in the Western evangelical church. As I’ve said before, I think one of the reasons community needs to be talked about so much, is because the Western evangelical church fails to recognize the community that exists in the Spirit, and actually undermines the functioning of community.

“Wherever two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them,” said Jesus. This should give us a clue as to the reality of community and the nature of the Church. While the “One Holy and Apostolic Church” includes all Christians worldwide (no longer practical to meet in one place), an expression of the Church – and a very real expression of community – exists wherever 2 or more gather “in Jesus’ name.” Church and community, then, are not dependent upon having a pastor, a building, a worship team, or an organizational structure. It is solely dependent upon meeting “in Jesus’ name.”

I contend that very real and tangible community (and “church”) happens daily across the globe in homes, coffeehouses, backyards and places of work, wherever people get together with a Kingdom purpose, whether to pray, serve, or merely encourage and relate to one another. These “2 or 3” could be from different church families, different countries, or different theological positions; it doesn’t matter, as long as they meet “in Jesus’ name.”

I also contend that pastors are trained not to see or recognize this, for it often undermines the agenda of the “para-church” organizations that we call churches. In an age where a city boasts dozens and even hundreds of churches – often who recognize and respect each other – no one church can claim to be a church modality, or the only local representation of the universal Church. However, there is still a whole lot of kingdom-building (in the organizational rather than spiritual sense) going on, with many pastors jealous of any activity outside of their little organization in which their members may be involved. There is a definite tension between these church organizations (in my opinion, sodalities) and “The Church That Is,” that exists wherever 2 or more are gathered.

Take, for example, this sermon snippet:

There is no place for unholy individualism in this church. There is no place for just doin’ our own thing. If this is the place God has called you to… what it means is we begin to let go of our own of our individual stuff and doing our own thing … and we begin to ask … ‘how does what I do fit in with [this church]'”

You can feel the tension here, can’t you? It’s one thing to say, “stop following the wide path and get on the straight and narrow.” It’s another thing to say “this church’s way or the highway.” Could it be that the needs of the church organization are not in line – and even in opposition – with the purposes of The Church That Is?

The problem, as I perceive it, is the proverbial failure to see the forest for the trees, or in our case, the failure to see community and church for the people. One pastor may look out on a church and see people off in many directions, with little or no energy to maintain the processes of the church organization. Another may look out and see wonderful examples of community and the Kingdom in action. One builds a structure and tries to make his people fit; another sees the people and tried to create a structure to support them. I think you can tell which viewpoint I prefer.

Posted in Church, My Own Personal Religion | 4 Comments

The State of the Union – my version

Posted on January 24, 2007 by me

I feel compelled to offer a short commentary on the state of the union; not the President’s speech, but rather the media’s response to the speech, the day after. In my opinion, what I see in the media this morning is itself a sad commentary on the state of the media, which unfortunately is all many ever get to see of the union itself. If perception is reality, our reality is what shows up on our TV and computer screens.

It seems to me that either no one was listening, or if the media was listening, it appears that they would rather have you listen to them than to the President. For one thing, it was clear to me that having just presented his Iraq plan a few days ago, he didn’t need to address it again last night. However, apparently that’s all anyone wants to talk about, as the vast majority of the reporting focused only on Iraq. Bush had a lot to say on a number of other topics, which were only given perfunctory attention.

Then, of course, you balance the space given to the President’s 50-minute speech with that given to a 7-minute response by a fledgling Senator (interesting choice by the Democrats), which again focused almost totally on Iraq. I have to say that the initial responses by the TV media was fairly even-handed; that is, until Jim Webb spoke, and then they all seemed to develop memory lapses.

In case anyone is confused, the state of the union is that there are issues other than Iraq. That’s not to say we ignore Iraq (in fact, no one could make the claim that Iraq is being ignored); however, the State of the Union address is the place to discuss those other issues.

I also noted that within 1/2 hour of the Address, the Democratic Presidential hopefuls were taking pot-shots at each other, trying to establish why their opposition to the President’s Iraq policy is better than the other’s opposition. Give me a break, people. This does nothing to increase my faith in the state of politics.

In my opinion, the state of Union seems pretty sound, and our future looks hopeful. The state of the media is at best questionable. My assessment of the state of National politics is that it pretty well sucks. On the bright side, by 8 p.m. most people had turned off CNN and were watching American Idol.

Posted in Politics/Current Events | 1 Comment