Target has set a new standard this year for Christmas advertising that, although admittedly humorous, consistently send a message that Christmas is about spending. It doesn't take more than a moment to hear the messages that these commercials are sending us in the weeks leading up to Christmas:
Gifts are not about relationship, they are about the price tag.
Don't be thoughtful or original...spend money on a Target-sold gift.
Worrying about the recession or finances is unnecessary if you're running up debt at Target's low prices.
The happiness of children or loved ones is dependent not upon what we can give them, but upon what we can purchase for them at Target.
Take a moment to watch these commercials...and then keep them in mind as you determine how you will be a gift giver this Christmas.
Derek Webb, a singer-songwriter connected with the Contemporary Christian band Caedmon's Call has had to resort to distributing his new album, Stockholm Syndrome, directly from his website because his record label found the song "What Matters More?" to be too controversial.
I haven't yet been a listener of Webb's music (or Caedmon's Call). Below is a video and lyrics to the "controversial" song. I don't know enough to comment on the music in the song, but the lyrics (which is where the controversy resides) deserve to be flooding the so-called "Christian music" market. I suspect they will not.
What Matters More?
Derek Webb
from The Stockholm Syndrome
You say you always treat people like you'd like to be I guess you love being hated for your sexuality You love when people put words in your mouth About what you believe, make you sound like a freak'
Cause if you really believe what you say you believe You wouldn't be so damn reckless with the words you speak Wouldn't silently consent when the liars speak Denying all the dying or the remedy
Tell me, brother, what matters more to you? Tell me, sister, what matters more to you?
If I can tell what's in your heart by what comes out of your mouth Then it sure looks to me like being straights is all it's about Yeah, it looks like being hated for all the wrong things And chasing the wind while the pendulum swings
We can talk and debate it till we're blue in the face About the language and tradition that He's coming to save Meanwhile we sit just like we don't give a shit About fifty-thousand people who are dying today
Tell me, brother, what matters more to you? Tell me, sister, what matters more to you?
I had the honor & privilege to stand with Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter on behalf of The ONE Campaign to announce that Philadelphia has proclaimed itself a "ONE City". Cofounded by U2's Bono and other campaigners, ONE was launched five years ago in Philadelphia.
With Mayor Nutter signing the ONE City proclamation, Philadelphia joins more than 130 cities across the nation working to mobilize public support behind initiatives to fight poverty, combat diseases like AIDS and malaria, put children in school and increase opportunity for those living in extreme poverty around the world.
Click here for video of news coverage of the event from NBC 10 & ABC 6.
Every now and then I'm amazed at the sermons I hear in the middle of every day life. I caught one last night watching Criminal Minds on CBS. I sat down to watch some TV in an attempt to mentally escape from what seemed like a mounting pile of too much to do. Instead of escape, I found something more valuable. I was engaged by what was very much the voice of God for me at the moment.
In the video clip below, one of the main characters, FBI agent Hotchner is upset because a criminal had tried to play a mind game with him by offering a "deal" to stop killing if the FBI would stop hunting for him (it worked with previous agent mentioned in the video). When Hotchner refused to give in, the criminal went on a horrendous killing spree and several people died. The clip is of Hotchner trying to deal with the outcome of the situation:
Agent Hotchner did something that I think many people do. I know I do it all the time. He does not differentiate himself from his work and wants to carry the responsibility for the actions of others while losing sight of the bigger picture that he a part of. I suspect we do this all too often...in our personal relationships, in our attempts to create change in the world. Like agent Hotchner, we do it in our professional work, also.
Maybe I'm speaking only for myself, but I think church professionals are particularly good at making this mistake. Pastors and other church leaders lose sight of the bigger picture we are a part of (that includes millions of us working together...with God at the center). We become susceptible to what Parker Palmer calls "functional atheism", which is "the unconscious, unexamined conviction that if anything decent is going to happen here, we are the ones who must make it happen – a conviction held even by people who talk a good game about God."
For me the sermon came in these words spoken to Agent Hotchner by a friend/co-worker: "That voice in your head...it's not your conscience, it's your ego."
Again...maybe I'm the only one here...but maybe it is our own ego that brings us the most trouble. I suspect I'm not the only person that falls into this trap...and I'm fairly confident I'm far from the only pastor that can too often be found carrying the unecessary strain and scars of the functional atheism created by my own ego.
We have several journals laying around our house. My wife, Monica, has been very intentional in encouraging our 7-year old daughter Amber to write in them. This not only affirms what she is doing in her first grade classroom, but also (we hope) expands her learning at home.
I found one of the journals left out this morning and read the following. I'm still overwhelmed by it:
Below is a video and lyrics to the next U2 single...and first great hymn of 2009...enjoy!
"Magnificent" Magnificent Oh, magnificent
I was born I was born to be with you In this space and time After that and ever after I haven't had a clue
Only to break rhyme This foolishness can leave a heart Black and blue
Only love Only love can leave such a mark But only love Only love can heal such a scar
I was born I was born to sing for you I didn’t have a choice But to lift you up And sing whatever song you wanted me to I give you back my voice From the womb my first cry It was a joyful noise
Oh, oh Only love Only love can leave such a mark But only love Only love can heal such a scar
Justified till we die You and I will magnify Oh, the magnificent
Magnificent
Only love Only love can leave such a mark But only love Only love unites our hearts
Justified till we die You and I will magnify Oh, the magnificent Magnificent Magnificent
Husband to Monica. Father to Amber. Pastor of Temple Lutheran Church. Happy Philadelphia Suburbanite. Native of Pittsburgh. Born in 1971. Lover of God and rock 'n roll. Hockey fan. Believes many churches will die in his lifetime, but the body of Christ will always rise again.
