Taking out the trash

Today I threw something in the trash. I stopped to think about what day it was. I realize that some of my life is built around trash day. I see the canister getting fuller as the week goes by and it is such a great feeling to come home to an empty trashcan, knowing that someone took it all away. The week can begin anew.

I started thinking about where we go for trash day in our internal lives. In living we generate trash around the house in the form of discarded packaging, dirt and dust. I believe we do the same in our internal lives as well. Living is mess. So where do we go to dump the mess in our internal lives on a consistent basis? The Catholics may have been on to something with confession, by allowing the priest to be the garbage collector, and admitting how long it has been since the last time you took out the trash.

A shift in thinking Part 1

A friend of mine gave me a book called “The gospel according to the Simpsons”. I wasn’t thrilled but decided to read it with an open mind. I consider myself as thinking outside the box when it comes to God, and Christianity. When I saw the two combined, I wasn’t too thrilled. I have history with the Simpsons.

As I read the book, I realized that I had never given the Simpsons a chance when it came to an honest assessment. I saw Bart as being a brat and not wanting to encourage that in my children I placed the show off limits to them. They ended up sneaking watching it when I wasn’t nearby. Eventually I gave up trying to monitor it at all and it became a part of their world.

What troubled me as time went on was how consuming the show was in my children’s thinking. It became their worldview, their mental schemata for encountering new experiences. If there was something they didn’t understand they referred to an episode or a character in the series and related it to that. Honestly, that bothered me a lot.

What the book is pointing out to me is that I no longer have to look at this through the eyes of a father concerned about influences on his children. I don’t know that it will ever be a show I will enjoy watching. Maybe I’m too old, too set in my ways. But the book has been able to shine a light into my thinking and my heart and illuminate areas that can be softened.

Compete or eat

The Sunday paper had an article describing how younger children are experiencing substantial injuries at younger ages from organized sports.I thought about a relationship between childhood obesity and an increase in significant sports injuries in children.

I remember as a kid, leaving the house on a given Saturday and being gone for a significant part of the day. I played war with toy guns, rode bikes everywhere, and played pick up games of football, baseball, kickball, or tag.

So what has happened?

A number of years ago, my children walking purchased bicycles out to the car from a Target store, heard someone holler at us from a checkout stand "didn't you buy helmets for those kids?"As a parent there has been increasing pressure to comply with the norms of the community. You could counter the community values and send your kids to the park, and they would either be by themselves, or other parents would be critically watching the child whose parents don't care.

We don't let our children play anymore. At least not out of our sight, and not without all the protective gear that can be found. We are fearful of the preditory stranger who will abduct our child. We are fearful that our children will injure themselves, through rough play or antiquated playground equipment.

Somehow my generation survived, Okay, most of us.

So what is left? For some there is competitive sports which allows the child to be supervised by an adult. Those who don't have the skill or desire, play video games where they perform feats of skill, bravery, danger, and the like, all within the safety of the home. They may die a million times in the video game, but they come up for a meal when called. (Okay, maybe that last one is a stretch.)

There aren't many options left children any more. Watch movies, and play video games on the one end, and compete at an ever increasing rate if you want to stay in the game. Compete or eat.

We see what we want to see

I was at a basketball game last night. The referees were mediocre in their calling of the game. They missed a lot of fouls, and traveling calls. We were sitting in an area with fans of the opposing team surrounding us. They roared their disapproval, pointing out the referee's mistake when calls were made or not made in our team's favor. When the referees missed a call in their team's favor the throng around us was eerily silent.

In continuing my harangue of the religious right's outrage of the heaping of awards and honors on the gay elements in films, I read an intriguing blog from Hollywood Jesus where the writer was appalled that the religious right had not condemned the use of torture by our military and secret service.

I guess in a way it is no different than the game last night. The religious right is vigilant in their self interest. They bellow when calls don't go their way, and silent when there are actions that are tacitly agreed with. Outrage and silence used to their advantage.

Let's be honest here

Christian groups have launched a furious campaign against Hollywood, claiming the Golden Globe Awards promote films with gay or "leftist" themes to serve a political agenda. This, after the awards given to Brokeback Mountain, Capote, and Transamerica, depictions of alternate sexual lifestyles, all won awards, while Narnia won nothing.

As I see it, two factors are at work here. One is that a few years ago "good Christians" didn't go to movies. We go now. The other factor is that the evangelical community has entered the political arena. Rather than being “salt and light” in a dark and tasteless world, they are attempting to insure their rights by political means. When you enter politics you are faced with might, not necessarily right.

Some religious leaders are concerned about what they see as the “homosexualization” of America. I think that to people who classify themselves as GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered), it looks like the Christianization of America. But (as they say) that’s politics! Many in the religious community have focused on political agendas to get their values in. Since all are now in the same arena, I guess the one who screams the loudest or leverages the most power will win.

Let's be honest here. Politics is politics. If you don't like the movie, don't go see it. It seems to me to be just that simple. Why get so up in arms? In fact, I think controversial movies benefit from the uproar.

I don't care for horror or violent movies. I don’t complain, I just don’t spend my money there. However, a movie I did see and liked was “Silence of the lambs”. There was a WHOLE lot of sinning going on in this movie, including a person who eats people, and another one who skins people. It won five Oscar awards in 1992 for best actor, actress, director, picture and screenplay adaptation from a book. One has to wonder where the religious people were for that! It’s hard to have a good horror flick without someone being murdered. The last time I checked, murder is mentioned in the Ten Commandments, but I don’t think sodomy is identified by name. I think it is implied in the adultery, coveting section.

I could also bring up Charlise Theron in 2004 for her incredible performance of Aileen Wournos, a female serial killer. Oh wait, she portrayed a lesbian, Never mind.

I am not endorsing the movie. I don’t find it entertaining to see two guys playing tonsil hockey. Neither do I find it entertaining to watch graphic images of violence and killing. But let’s not be hypocrites here. I think the religious leadership better be very careful how they tread here so they don’t make the distinction of elevating one sin over another. Last time I checked the Bible said that God hates ALL sin.

Politics is seductive and it gives the illusion that changes are being made. However politics may not be the most powerful force for good. Maybe Christ-followers committed to loving people around them as Christ does may be more effective than legislating from on high.

Definition:Propaganda

prop·a·gan·da Propaganda is information that you don't agree with. Fair and balanced information is information that you agree with.

And the winner is...

The critics have spoken. Brokeback Mountain, the movie about the gay cowBOYS (and I don't mean happy) walked away with 4 Golden Globe awards, best dramatic film, director, song, and screen play. Narnia got nothing.

If you look at it a different way Brokeback grossed 4.9 million in two weeks. Narnia grossed 66 million in it's opening 3 day weekend. I wonder if that says anything about the values of the two movies.

The "back to their roots" boat cruise

The Minnesota Vikings ended their football season several weeks ago. At the same time Mike Tice, the head coach was fired. One of the problems that didn't enhance Tice's Viking's career was a boat trip some of the team members took a while back. There were allegations of sexual impropriety that happened on the cruise. People were embarrassed and disappointed by it.

Robert Bly, a modern day poet and "Men's movement guru" has had males paint their faces, don loin clothes, and beat drums to get in touch with the primal male inside. It is a chance to get back to their roots.

Maybe that is how we should look at the Viking's cruise boat incident. If you go back to the original Vikings, they did a lot of raping and pillaging. Perhaps this was just an opportunity to go back to their roots at least on the raping part. I guess the pillaging may come later. (maybe with the advent of a new stadium).

The males who beat drums know that this is just part of a artificially contrived paid activity to provide the participant with new insight, The Vikings may have had the same idea in mind by hiring prostitutes to play the part of the raped woment.

I think we should lighten up on the boys in purple. A little compassion and understanding may be in order here. It's better when we know who we are and where we came from.

Whose side is God on?

The Colts are out of the running now for the Superbowl. In the Times online Tony Dungee was reported to now have to face the grief of his son's suicide without the distraction of coaching. He was quoted as saying that “And I wish we were going a little longer.(The Colts) I really thought the Lord’s hand was on this team.”

Who side is God on? What Tony is implying is that God is only on the side of the winners. If you are a loser God's hand wasn't on you. That's not how I read the Bible. What the Bible states is that ones who are willing to lose are God's champions.

I know the metaphor falls apart when you invoke a football team's season. However Tony, God embraces those who have lost. I think that means He has His hands on you. Even better yet, He has his arms around you.

My how time flies

The holidays are over. I was going to start blogging again. As I look at the last time I made an entry it doesn't seem that long, but I think I'm going on a month. The weird thing is that it doesn't seem that long. Why is it that when I'm waiting for something, time can take so long, and when I am going to "get around to it:" time just flies?