Moving to a Permanent Site


I've committed to making my blog quite a bit more active and with that I'm moving to a permanent site and doing a full redesign of the blog.


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As of this posting, it is so new some of the paint's still fresh and a few rooms still need to be furnished, but I think you'll like it.

SandSkript.blogspot will no longer be updated.

Thanks for reading!


5:27 PM | Labels: , | 0 Comments  

Burning Man

Terry Jones, pastor of Dove World Outreach Center in Gainsville, Fla., is holding a book burning on 9/11. He's burning Korans. I know, hard to believe - right?

The first question I asked myself is, does he really believe that the entire Islamic faith is responsible for 9/11? If so, he is either naive or misinformed. Then I thought, does he hate them that much? If so, he's missing the point of many of Jesus' teachings - love. Finally, I thought, does he really think that burning paper with words on it matters (unless of course you are burning all of them that exist). He probably thinks it's symbolic. If so, I'd like to point out that God is much bigger than his symbolic hatred.

Ultimately, I've decided to FedEx (to make sure it gets there in time)Rev. Jones my personal Bible. I've had it since I was 6 years old. It went with me to college when I left home and has always been with me. I'm asking him to include it in his book burning. Because my God is big enough to handle it and my God's love is large enough to stand with others who claim Abraham as a religious relative.

It is a shame that this one act of Christian hatred has recieved so much press. I think it would be a wonderful statement of love if the news also had to cover shipments of Bibles coming in to Rev. Jones with personal notes saying to burn this with the Korans, because the God of Abraham is big enough.


If you would like to do the same, the mailing information is readily available at http://www.doveworld.org/contact : Dove World Outreach, 5805 NW 37th St., Gainsville, FL 32653 Attn: Rev. Terry Jones

9:52 AM | Labels: , , , , , | 8 Comments  

Reluctant Drum Majors: The Unfinished Legacy of MLK


Probably my favorite sermon from Dr. King was, "The Drum Major Instinct." The great line, "If you want to be important—wonderful. If you want to be recognized—wonderful. If you want to be great—wonderful. But recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. (Amen) That's a new definition of greatness," comes from that message.

If you haven't heard or read "The Drum Major Instinct," before going any further take a moment and click on the link.

Another fantastic read, is this essay by Valerie Smith, the Woodrow Wilson Professor of Literature and director of the Program in African-American Studies, entitled "Memory." She, among other things, speaks of "The Drum Major Instinct." I particularly like her perspective on how we try to reduce Dr. King to an icon.

Once, after listening to that sermon, I started thinking about High School. You see, I am embarrassed to admit that in High School – um, in High School, I was a drum major. There I said it. Not the impressive strutting to the rhythm kind of drum major you will find at the A&T Aggie’s football games, mind you. No, my shirt was made of silk and the collar reached my shoulders. The pants were just a bit to form fitting for my taste and I wasn’t there for show, my only job was to direct the band.

Not to bore you too much with the story, but I was a reluctant drum major. In Junior High (I guess I’m supposed to call it Middle School now), I was a drummer. Technically I was a “percussionist,” but I really could not read a note, so I preferred to think of myself as a drummer. I was pretty good at it and the “easy A” certainly didn’t hurt my GPA.

When I moved to High School, I was one of the first ever sophomore at Asheboro High to earn the right to play the tri-tones (that’s the set of three drums) in the marching band. To be quite honest, I really loved it and, as I said, the “easy A” certainly didn’t hurt my GPA.
By the end of that year I was put in a very uncomfortable position. The Band director had called me in after school one day. “Mark,” he said, “I grade people here on their ability to live up to there potential.” “No problem there,” I thought, “I put everything I have into those drums.” He continued, “And I believe you have the potential to be a drum major.”

Now here’s the thing, I’d say the were a good number of the people in the band would have paid good money to here those very words. I, on the other hand, felt like I had been told that Jesus would be appearing in the auditorium next week and I had been elected to run the coat check. It was devastating. I didn’t want to do it. I liked how things were going. I didn’t know anything about being a drum major. The very thought of it frightened me. I was a reluctant drum major.

Thinking of "The Drum Major Instinct" and what Dr. king teaches us about human behavior and the behavior God expects from us, I believe that we, each one of us, are reluctant drum majors. I believe that there are two sides to the drum major persona. One lives out the Drum Major Instinct. That instinct, as Dr. King puts it, is on a “quest for attention and recognition and importance.” That’s the part of us that tries to one up the neighbor and feels like many of those who are less fortunate are probably either getting what they deserve or are trying to take advantage of the system. It is also the part of the persona that likes Dr. King as an icon. It likes to wrap him up in a few cleaver remarks and keep him buried in 1968.

I believe however that there is a second stronger part of the drum major persona. It is that piece of us that was formed by the very breath of God in the very image of God. It is the reluctant drum major. It isn’t seeking attention or recognition or importance. It is a reflection of the God who made us – the God who loves us, all of us – the God who suffered here on earth through the person of Jesus. That part of us does not seek attention or recognition or importance – it only seeks justice and peace and righteousness.

We, all of us, have let the less Godly part of the drum major in us win out. We, all of us, have reduced, yes – reduced Dr. King to the status of an icon – a logo if you will - a picture of a time gone by – no longer relevant. Oh, we say the right words – talk the right talk, but the status seeking drum major in us is only playing the game…for if were to not only talk the talk, but walk the walk…well, we might have to stoop down from the heights of our comfortable lives to look into the eyes of those who, contrary to what we might think, are not trying to take advantage of the system but rather are being taken advantage of by the system.

The reluctant drum major in us sees that. It sees the ills of the world. It sees how God’s children are marginalized as the band plays on as if nothing is wrong, or at the very least as if all is right. That part of us calls out, “Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the melody of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” That, that is the message of Dr. King – not the icon, but Dr. King the reluctant drum major.

Truly answering God’s call to be instruments of justice on this earth - to let justice roll down like mighty waters – means, for every one of us, living life differently than we do right now. It might feel devastating. Many of us don’t want to do it. Most of us like how things are going. For heaven sake, we don’t know anything about being a drum major. The very thought of it frightens us. But if we don’t do it, in the words of Dr. King, “We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people.” (Letter from Birmingham Jail," April 16, 1963)

So, on this day, the birthday of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I ask you to look at your life, look at your heart and answer this one simple question: Which one is winning? The status seeking drum major…or the reluctant drum major? Have you turned the legacy of King into to an iconic tomb or are you marching to the tune of his biblically inspired message. What I can tell you is that in life there is no “easy A” but God still wants us to live up to our potential.

Let us take up the march as reluctant drum majors. Let us shout to the world, not only in words but in our daily deeds, “Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the melody of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”





7:20 AM | Labels: , | 0 Comments  

The Twitter(er)'s Prayer

A number of people have asked me to post my Twitter(er)'s Prayer somewhere besides Facebook. In response to an article about Tweeting during worship a friend posted on my FB "Tweet Hour of Prayer." Well, those who know me, know what I thought next..."You wanna play?...Let's do this." and so, I shot back with a quick rewrite of the Lord's Prayer. It is all in fun and has sort of taken on a life of it's own. But for what it is worth, hopefuly for your enjoyment, here's my Twitter(er)'s Prayer:


Our Tweeter, which art in CyberSpace,

retweeted be thy post;

Thy Followers come;

thy links be done,

on Facebook as they are in Twitter.

Give us this day our daily tweet.

And forgive us our posts as we forgive other posters.

Lead us not into a RickRoll;

but deliver us from blind links.

For thine is the homepage,

and the sticky site, and the blogpost.

For 140 characters.

Amen.

9:14 AM | Labels: , , | 0 Comments  

The Future...

A little video support for my article on "Can the Church Catch Up?" Don't think things are getting ready to change faster and more drastically than we could have ever imagined? Check this out:

Did You Know? from Amybeth on Vimeo.

6:40 AM | Labels: , , | 2 Comments  

A Sanitized Christmas or A Santa-sized Christmas

Isaiah 9:2-7

In recent years, around about Christmas, the American viewing public has been subjected to seemingly constant squabbling by television pundits about “The War on Christmas.” Personally, I have to say, I find the whole concept to be little more than a perfunctory exercise in what has become a continual hype-fest aimed at polarizing the nation. To make matters worse, the point on which they attempt to divide us is completely and utterly untrue and lacks any semblance of logical rationale. In particular, I have a problem with the way the “two-sided” argument implies that there are…well, only two sides to the argument – the Christian side and the side that everyone else is on.


You see, the reality is that that particular perspective is far, far from the truth. Now, if what they had really meant by “War on Christmas” was that they wanted to minimize the dominance of the modern Christian culture in America throughout the Holidays, then (believe it or not) I’d have to say, “I’m ready to enlist.”


Now, before anyone gets upset because the preacher just said he wants to see Christianity de-emphasized during the Holiday season, let me just say, it’s not for the reasons you might think. It’s not like I’m on the side that by default is considered the “Non-Christian” side of the “War on Christmas.” Quite the contrary, if anything I’d make the argument that the dominate face of Christianity (as it is seen on television and promoted through news programming) is itself far from what Christianity is supposed to be about. It is a sort-of white-washed, sanitized version of Christianity that every year presents an increasingly sanitized version of the Christmas story to the viewing public.


That’s the beginning of the unraveling of the “there-are-only-two-sides-to-the War on Christmas” myth – a Christian side and a non-Christian side.


You see, the baby we are here to remember tonight, was not part of the dominate culture the way the religion he started now is. The stories that were told in those days were told under the shadow of the dominate culture. They were stories of oppression and hardships, stories of overcoming unthinkable odds, stories of hope for a people living in times and cultural positions that – well, quite frankly felt hopeless.


But today, our stories are told from places and positions of power. Today, Christianity is the dominate culture. So, instead of story of a olive skinned middle-eastern, unwed, pregnant mother, who was seen as little more than property, giving birth to what the world would surely see as an illegitimate child who was wrapped in what rags they could find and placed in a smelly, flee infested feeding trough in the midst of a dark musky smelling animal stall… instead of that story, we end up with a clean, white skinned European woman giving birth to a glowing baby wrapped in swaddling clothes so white that even my own mother couldn’t get them that clean and then laid to rest in a manger that looks more like a crib than a trough in the midst of a barn that is more kept and clean than many of our houses.


“War on Christmas?”, sure sign me up. I’d just about prefer the elimination of the modern “celebration” to the increasingly sanitized version we hear every year.The Christmas story has been high jacked by a dominate culture. Places of power and positions of prestige have warped the comeuppance sensibilities of the original Christmas story. God’s vision of liberating the oppressed, the downtrodden, has been slowly replaced year after year with a story that no longer brings fear to the Powers that Be, but rather supports the big business agendas of profit and mass consumerism that this time of year pant on the face of a jolly, portly man with rosy red cheeks.


“War On Christmas?” – come to think of it – they’re right. There is a “War On Christmas,” but many of the people who think Christmas is getting squeezed out of our culture in the name of plurality and other religions are actually the ones who are killing it. If the Christmas they support wins – well, I for one, would have to say all is lost. So, yes, there is a “War on Christmas” and we Christians have been supporting it. If the present day, sanitized version of Christmas continues to be the dominate version, then I believe a great darkness will smother us in a sea of privilege and perverse oblivion to the struggle of those most in need – the oppressed, the downtrodden.

If the Christmas Present continues to masquerade as Christmas Past, we will be left with not only a sanitized Christmas, but a Santa-sized Christmas where we give out of our abundance rather than out of a response to need and out of a response to God’s love - a sanitized, Santa-sized Christmas where we give abundantly to those who already have while the oppressed, the downtrodden, watch our overindulgence and rightfully judge us by actions that run contrary to our words of a child born to bring light into the dark corners of the world.


Isaiah 9:2 – “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness— on them light has shined.” That is the first verse out of our texts for tonight and it is supposed to be the dominate message of the Christmas narrative. Is it? Does the way we celebrate Christmas bring light into the darkness? Does it bring hope to the hopeless? As the end of our texts suggests, does our modern day Christmas celebration bring justice to those who have been treated unjustly?


If your answer is “no” then, whether you knew it or not, you too believe that the Christmas Past has been sanitized and Santa-sized by the Christmas Present.


On this night, as we remember not only the birth of the light of the world, a child sent to enlighten the darkness, we also remember his words, “No greater love has anyone than this, that they lay down their life for a friend.” As we remember the humble, unassuming way he came into this world, let us not forget that he left this world among thieves, as outsider hanging on a cross in an attempt to teach us something about God’s love.


A child born in a manger, no crib for his head – sent into this world to teach us something about the value of every human soul – sent in as the least-of-these, born to a poor woman in a borrowed animal stall – sent to teach us that “the least-of-these” is simply a human construct created by the insiders to define themselves over and against people they see as somehow less than themselves – sent to show us what a life looks like when it starts from the assumption that all people are worthy of God’s love.


This Christmas I wish for you and for me light in the darkness of the Christmas Present. I wish for us enlightenment from God – an enlightenment that helps us see clearly the love for all people that laid in a manger some 2000 years ago – an enlightenment that encourages us to be the light to those trapped in the darkness of hunger, homelessness, oppression, poverty and war – an enlightenment that allows us to see we too have darkness in our lives – an enlightenment that helps us see beyond the sanitized, Santa-sized Christmas of the present to the humble, unassuming beginnings of our religion, the Christmas Past – a baby King, born to an outsider – born to save the world from darkness.

12:09 PM | Labels: , , , , , | 0 Comments  

Stand By Me

4:02 AM | Labels: | 0 Comments  

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