Common Grounds Online

Doug Serven, The State of Oklahoma

On Nov. 16th, the state of Oklahoma will celebrate its 100th year of statehood.
Though from Missouri, I've lived in Oklahoma for nine years of my life, soon to be ten if you're keeping track. In anticipation of this event, there is an email circulating that recounts Oklahoma's accomplishments. I pass it on to you in its entirety.
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1. Oklahoma is not only the home of Ado Annie and Aunt
Eller from "Oklahoma!" but of the parking meter
(invented in OKC) and the shopping cart (invented in
Ardmore).

 

2. The electric guitar also was invented in Oklahoma, by
a Beggs musician named Bob Dunn. The first "Yield"
sign was installed in Tulsa.

3. **Environmental Protection Agency recognizes Oklahoma
as having the most diverse terrain of any state in the
nation. The state, according to EPA, boasts 11
distinct eco-regions.

4. The state has more man-made lakes than any other
state, which give us more than a million surface-acres
of water and 2,000 more miles of shoreline than the
Atlantic and Gulf coasts combined.

5. The Sooner State has produced more astronauts than any
other state in the union. Owen Garriott is an Enid
boy, of course, while Tom Stafford is from
Weatherford, Shannon Lucid from Oklahoma City, William
Pogue from Okemah and the late Gordon Cooper from
Shawnee.

 

6. Oklahoma is home to the Amateur Softball Association
and Hall of Fame, a world class zoo in OKC and more F4
and F5 tornadoes than any other state.

Reggie Kidd: Listening to Bob Webber Listening

A few — a very few — people you get to know in life are larger than life. The force of their character seems to enlarge a room when they walk into it. Of course, larger than life people can either be “black holes” that suck everything and everybody into themselves — you get smaller because they’re there. Or they can be “suns” that make everything and everybody else shine brighter — you get larger because they’re there.

Bob Webber was larger than life in the latter sense. He went on to glory this spring, and I’ve spent a lot of quiet time this summer parsing his passing. He made me shine brighter and feel larger, and I’ve been trying to understand why.

A lot of what made Webber an enlargingly large presence comes to light in the last book that was “in the pipeline” before he became ill, Listening to the Beliefs of Emerging Churches: Five Perspectives (Zondervan, 2007). (Happily, during his illness, Bob was able to write quite a bit, and so this is not the last book we will see.) I’d like to offer some observations (reader beware: this is not a review … so not only will you be spared any ending-spoiling revelations, you’ll also be spoiled any real plot analysis … suffice it to say, Webber assembles essays on theological concerns by “emergent” leaders, from right to left: Mark Driscoll, John Burke, Dan Kimball, Doug Pagitt, and Karen Ward).

Leigh McLeroy, Thank God for Harry!

 
Q: How many wizards can you cram into a nice, neat, evangelical box?

A: Not even one. Especially not this one.

Like 8.5 or so million other readers, I learned this week of Harry Potter’s fate in the seventh and final installment of Jo Rowling’s serial tale about the wizard “boy who lived.” If you haven’t yet finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, read this post later, when you have. And enjoy the story in the meantime. (Or, if you’d rather read “Christian fiction” than “stories of the occult,” well, read on…and pray for my eternal soul while you’re climbing up on your moral high horse.)

Now that I have finished the book, I’ve allowed myself to sample the discussions that are “apparating” right and left in the media, particularly the blogosphere, and finding that “deconstructing Harry” is a favorite pastime of many.

Is J. K. Rowling a believer, Christian readers want to know? Were the three hallows – the resurrection stone, the elder’s wand and the invisibility cape – symbolic of the three temptations of Christ? Is Harry a Christ-figure? Could Hermione be Mary Magdelene? Does the fact that Harry arrives in King’s Cross to sort out his fate in the presence of fallen Dumbledore mean anything? “Come on, King’s Cross, get it?” And what about those Bible verses on the tombstones of Kendra and Ariana Dumbledore, and James and Lily Potter?

Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows

I've read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and loved it.  For any CGO readers who are Harry fans, here are some items of interest.

Travis Prinzi runs the excellent Sword of Gryffindor blog. Among the many and varied Harry Potter sites, Travis' is my favorite.

Links worth checking out:

Travis' review of Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows in his local paper.

Travis on Dumbledore in Deathly Hallows.

Travis on the fans who are disappointed in Deathly Hallows.

Washington Post review.

Joanne Rowling talks about Harry Potter.

And lastly, back in March 2007 Travis and a guest blogger wrote about whether Joanne Rowling is a Christian. Potent ammunition against the fundamentalist Harry Haters.

Esther L. Meek; Psalm Writing 107

Take a look, if you will, at Psalm 107. There are some things about this psalm that intrigue me, and suggest a project.

First of all, between the opening and the closer, it’s got stanzas, and the stanzas have a structure, so people could fill in the blanks and contribute their own stanzas:

Some …..(your experience here—your stupidity, your sin, your business project, your going off to college, your kidnapping…)…..

They (or, For they) …..(what happened to you as a result, or why it happened, here)…..

(Optional: add a line or two of further description here.)

Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble,

And he delivered them from their distress. (No blanks to fill in here; it’s the same climax of every stanza!)

He ......(how God delivered you here)…..

Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love

And his wonderful deeds for men, (this isn’t optional, either)

For He (or Let them (cont.))…..(pick one and get a wee bit jubilant and poetic here)…

This first line just cracks me up, when I imagine writing my own stanza, and you writing your personal stanzas, to think of starting off the narration by referring to ourselves as “Some…”: Some had to leave their home and move to start a job…. Or, Some searched through first semester to find friends and made some bad choices… Or, Some had parents who got divorced… In Psalm 107, some of the Somes recount sinful rebellion. But some don’t. Some recount good beginnings or hard developments that have nothing to do with sin. It’s not a bad thing to go to the sea in ships.

Les Newsom, Knowing and Imagination

“Daddy, is the Easter Bunny our parents?”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“I mean, is it true that on Easter, it’s not the Easter Bunny that brings us our candy baskets, but you and mommy?”

I wish that I had a picture of my face through my 8-year-old’s eyes when she directed this question at us recently before bedtime. She probably saw a sheepish grin spread over our faces combined with looks of vague disappointment. She would also have noted that her father stalled out on his question. It took a few seconds for me to respond.

The reason I hesitated to answer is that I had been dreading this question for years. And my dread is NOT just because the question represents the end of an era of parenting for my wife and me.

Christian apologist Ravi Zacharias once said that meaning is established across a lifetime in four distinct phases. First, as a child, the dominate path to meaning comes by wonder: the gleam in a child’s eye on Christmas Eve night as she dares to peek out of her window to steal a glimpse of Santa and his sleigh. Second, as a young person, meaning looks much like a quest for truth: questions are asked; logic is sought; coherence is deeply valued. Third, as one grows older, meaning takes on the appearance of a desire for love: the search for community and understanding, the deep desire for someone to commit themselves to us. Finally, as old age creeps along, meaning morphs into a desire for security: what happens to me when I die; what can I really count on in life.

If Zacharias is right, then my daughter’s question represents a departure marker. And I’m sure that the look on our faces reflected some sense of lament at the loss of wonder. I expect that, even though it may be necessary, my daughter’s quest for truth has just begun.

Kelly (Monroe) Kullberg, Setting a Course

My marriage came with five children. At present, on a good day, all of us are out of diapers and the kids are now in their teens and 20s.

After a busy school year, I wanted some down time. After some meetings in Boston last week I snuck off, alone, for a few days on Cape Cod and then caught a ferry to hear a friend sing in a Nantucket jazz series. We were kindly invited to lunch at the local yacht club, where I soon found myself admiring the boats both moored and in motion.

Sailing is complicated, of course, especially at sea where the risks contend with the rewards. There’s much to think about — currents, wind, storms, unfurling sails, tacks and reaches, booms and blenders, and avoiding rocks and other potential collisions. William Buckley once quipped, and I paraphrase, “Sailing is like standing in a cold shower while ripping up $100 bills.” (That was thirty years ago. Inflation translation: $500 bills.).

Given the domestic routines, and expenses, of living in community/family, I’m pondering sailing as a metaphor for keeping a home and raising children, or nurturing a community of any kind. Of course the joys are worth the ride, but I’ll save those for other CGO entries.

A Culturalized Gospel

I’m a big fan of finding examples in our culture that demonstrate mainstream views of God and of what constitutes truth.  Last weekend I watched a movie that did just that.  In a summer of sequels, I watched the original Bruce Almighty. This is a story of a common man, Bruce, who is suddenly endowed by God with all of His power in an attempt to show Bruce how to be the person he was created to be.  In the tipping point of the movie, as the world literally falls into chaos under Bruce’s watch, Bruce calls out to God for help. God replies to Bruce, “People want me to do everything for them, but they don’t realize that they have the power. You want to see a miracle son? Be the miracle.” Bruce replies, “What if I need you? What if I have questions?” God, replies, “That’s your problem Bruce; that’s everybody’s problem. You keep looking up.”

In the following scene the viewer witnesses Bruce’s dramatic life change. As Bruce begins to put both his and other people’s lives back in order, we hear the chorus of a song repeating the words: “You’re a god, and I’m a god…” Strangely, I actually appreciate the imagery this song presents as an all too accurate view of the attitude held by our society. This is a great example of how something our culture sees as important and “good” is spiritualized in a way that to most seems like a practical application of our faith. 

The ideals of our culture often shape our faith. And while many things in our culture can appear to be in line with our faith, so often, our culture promotes values that are actually clever perversions of sin. Take for instance the example shown in this film. The message is that while wanting to “fix” the world and care for those around us is good, we don’t need to depend on God to do this. The self-reliant man is a character that is held in high esteem in our culture, but the Christian must be careful not to fall into the trap of revering a man who lacks dependence on our heavenly Father. While this may seem an obvious warning, so many principles within our faith are based more in cultural experience than in scripture. Take for instance the way most Christians define fairness. To a contemporary American society, being ‘fair and just’ means that everyone is treated equally. This definition is taught in secular schools and churches alike. In fact, one of the most common complaints often raised against God is that what has happened to us is not “fair” or “just,” yet scripture does not define fairness in such a context. Scripture defines fairness/justice as reaping what one deserves, which for all of mankind means complete condemnation apart from the saving work of Christ. While rescued from condemnation, we as Christians are still so quick to condemn God if we do not receive the things that we feel we deserve.

Lastly, and potentially most deadly, our culture has demonstrated a hatred for any mention of God’s sovereignty. In fact, even in Bruce Almighty, God tells Bruce that he can do anything he wants, but he cannot affect free will. In a country which was founded by revolution against a single authority, we are so put off by the mention of control in our lives. “Freedom” is something that is engrained in every one of us as a foundation of the American way of life. However, freedom has been perverted such that we believe that freedom means becoming our own masters. Rather than being a good thing, freedom becomes mutiny against the very God that we claim to love and to serve. While scripture tells us that we have been freed from sin, rarely do we hear the next part which declares that we have been set free from sin so that we may be slaves to Christ. 

Most of us cannot see the presuppositions that we hold because they have been with us for so long that we take them for granted.  Sometimes, it takes stepping back and questioning if the values we hold as “good” more closely model our culture rather than scripture. Perhaps it is worth watching our movies, reading our books, listening to our songs, and analyzing our thoughts with a critical mind to seek what message is truly being preached. Every spoken word has a basic belief behind it. The responsibility for deconstructing these words and themes in our society should not be a task uniquely left to pastors. 

Timothy McConnell - Finding Your Fist Pump

Wandering through the television channels the other night, I stopped on "Next Best Thing.”  Not a bad show all told.  But I was struck by the notion that a man was being applauded, in full force by hundreds of audience members, for impersonating Little Richard.  I said to my wife, (it is the incumbent duty of all husbands to scan television shows and make moral pronouncements about them to their wives), “Little Richard, now there’s a guy who is set for life for singing ‘Tutti Frutti, O Rudy’ a thousand times.  And here’s a guy getting applauded by hundreds just for pretending to be him!”  I’m not sure our culture has its reward and praise machine on the right settings.

     I also recently scanned over the ESPY Awards with a similar reaction.  These are ESPN’s version of the Oscars.  Sports figures recognized for excellence in their athletics.  “Aren’t they already rewarded enough?” my wife immediately received.  “I mean they get paid millions of dollars just to play games!”  LaDainian Tomlinson won best male athlete.  Tiger Woods won in 2002, and he was up again.  These guys really need to be recognized for what they do…

Carolyn Custis James—Disney, Dreams and Dancing in the Street

Contrary to all the television ads, summer is the wrong time to visit Disney World in Orlando. In summer, the weather is miserably hot and humid. You can get soaked (or zapped by lightning) in one of Florida’s afternoon monsoons. The place is jammed with tourists, and you’re sure to spend a lot of time standing in lines.

But when Jack, our thirteen-year-old nephew and the youngest of Kelly’s four kids, came to see us, none of that seemed to matter. (Frank’s brother Kelly was one of three climbers who lost his life on Mount Hood last December).

Our mid-afternoon decision to take an ice cream break just happened to coincide with Disney’s daily Main Street parade. We sat with our ice cream cones at a café table off to the side from all the commotion, while Main Street erupted with a virtual Who’s Who of Disney characters scampering and dancing about, singing jubilantly: “Just believe and your dreams will come true!”

I felt a bit disoriented listening to the music, sitting there between my husband and my nephew who carry around with them an unseen ache and broken dreams that no amount of wishing on a star can fix.