I’m off this week.  This means, given that the kids were in school Monday through Wednesday and my wife’s family is coming here, I’m hanging around the house.  I have to say, it’s nice.  I don’t really like traveling all that much because suddenly a vacation turns from “rest” to planning how to fill one’s time.  I plan how to fill my time when I’m working, I really don’t like doing it when I’m off. Notable exceptions to my dislike of travel are the Jersey Shore, Williamsburg, and Gettysburg.  Otherwise I’m a “staycation” kinda guy.  Though the Jersey shore is really just the extension of one’s home town for everyone living in the greater Philadelphia area so I guess that really doesn’t fit into the travel category. I’ll even be in worship at Central on Sunday so I can be with my friends there and support the wonderful man who is coming to share with us.  There are times where I do visit other churches when I’m off – but I like worshiping with my friends at Central, and when I’m “off” on a Sunday the congregation respects that and lets me enjoy being out of the center of things.

I bring this up because a friend of mine came over to help me hang some stuff up yesterday (actually, I watched and learned) and he asked me, “Aren’t you on vacation?”  I said, “Yup.”  Then he smiled and said, “You really suck at going on vacation.”  This was my friend Absent Scott, who just got back from a cruise – so I can see how the contrast was rather large for him.

In actuality, I’m quite happy.  For the last three days I’ve played with my kids (we’re trying to get all 120 stars in Super Mario Galaxy) and dusted off my copy of Civilization 4.  When I’ve felt like it I’ve read out of the Lincoln Biography on my night-stand, and I’ve have lunch with a good friend.  My one regret is that I forgot to save a novel to read over vacation, though I might have a couple of the free ones I got from amazon in the kindle app on my iTouch.  In other words, I’m de-stressing.  I’m even trying to get back into my exercise routine despite the crowded house (the cold that leveled me the other week got me off balance there).  I’ve been rather stressed since September because I failed to stagger my vacation time – so it’s really nice to de-stress.

So, happy Thanksgiving folks – how are you de-stressing?

I’m preaching on the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30) to conclude our series on stewardship.  Just to see what would happen, I created a wordle out of my manuscript.  I think it turned out OK, actually. Click on the image to see the larger view.

I was recently asked by a fellow pastor, “Wes, are you going to show something new every time we get together?”  When I responded what this pastor meant they replied, “Well, I still haven’t figured out the last tool you showed off.” I get this pastor’s point, the problem is it springs from a mentality that no longer works.  A mentality, I might add, many churches still work from.

My friend still thinks of the trends I show in technology as a series of tools to be learned, mastered, and leveraged.  As such, the rapid development of these tools – e-mail, personal web-sites, blogs,myspace/facebook, texting, IM, linkedIN, youTube, and twitter – seems overwhelming.  After all, no sooner do you master one tool, that seven more are developed!  It’s no wonder that people and churches which are working from the mentality of “tools to be learned, mastered, and leveraged” retreat into their shell.  The rapidity of change and development is enough to drive anyone mad.

Here’s the problem.  The above mentality springs from the old industrial revolution mind-set of specialization.  People learned to do one thing, and do it well – that’s all they needed to master.  That was revolutionary in it’s day, and created a lot of displacement when it happened, but over time it became the accepted norm.  It was simply how things got done – and that mentality migrated off of the manufacturing floor and into every facet of industrialized society.  Heck there’s even a seminary out there that boldly proclaims how they train “specialists in the Bible.”

The Industrial Revolution, however, is over.  We are in the midst of the Communications Revolution and the old mentality of “learn, master, leverage” no longer functions.  The tools expand, adapt, and migrate away from the specialists to rapidly to keep up.  Every vocation needs to accept this paradigm shift, even pastors.  We can no longer simply hope to teach people a tool to master so they can Communicate with others in this shifting environment – people will feel discouraged and overwhelmed near-instantly.  Rather, we need to train people into embracing a mentality which can migrate with the shifting tool-set along with those who are native to the Revolution.  This mentality would help people to first focus on the nature of the Communications Revolution, rather than it’s tools – a mentality which helps people to understand that it is act of networking and strengthening connections that matters more than the tools that are used to make the connections.  From this mentality,  an intuition can be learned that assists people as the tools shift.  Instead of wondering what buttons to press in order to master the tool, people will learn to watch and see how any given tool is helping people to connect.

The irony is that the mentality central to the Communications Revolution is actually closer to the heart of the Church than the specialist model of the Industrial Revolution – churches have been in that model so long, however, that specialization is viewed as the way things have “always been done.”  It’s my hope that the Holy Spirit will continue to make believers aware of the possibilities for ministry in this revolutionary time as we move forward.

Getting started, however, is the trick.  Many people feel as though they’ve been forcibly migrated into the Communications Revolution – exiled from their home in the Industrial mentality.  Resentment among these people high, as is sorrow for what has been lost and bitterness towards those who have managed to adjust.  Perhaps in this the prophetic message with call upon the exiles in Babylon to embrace life in the foreign realm, along with the Biblical tradition of healthy lamentation, may help move us forward.  Time will tell, but we must make a start.

Man it’s been a while!

I was sent a link to the video below this morning by a friend who thought I would enjoy it.  She was right!  It is a series of reflections on the shift in narratives that education must take if we are to truly educate people in this intensively connected world.  In short, if we’re going to have students who learn how to think in the 21st Century, we’re going to have to move away from the factory model of education that’s dominated our system since the industrial revolution.  I’m in general agreement with the premise of the video – though I do think the first point is a bogus stat.  What matters isn’t the amount of IT an “industry” uses, what matters is the connectivity that an industry leverages to grow in understanding.  In this world, that will inevitably lead to IT – but as the expression of connectivity, not as the goal itself.  At least, that’s what I think.

Anyway, enjoy the video.

I did this video last week, and announced it on twitter.  The fact that I didn’t put it on my blog is a sign that my on-line activities are shifting a bit.  Though I would like to get in the habit of blogging more provided I have something to say, and don’t become a ranting loony looking for conspiracies in order to drive traffic.  We’ll see.

Anyway, if you have an iPhone or an iTouch, you really should consider picking up the OliveTree reader from the App Store.  Enjoy.

http://www.wordle.net/. Images of Wordles are licensed CreativeCommons

I’m currently writing a retreat for Eastern’s Student Chaplains.  This year’s focus will be on the centrality of testimony to the Christian life and journey.  The first session will spend some time in Acts 10, detailing Peter’s encounter with both God and Cornelius.

On a whim I wondered what Acts 10 would look like as a wordle, and here are the results.  Isn’t that cool?

Last night, when the Phillies came back to win the game and take a 3-1 lead in the NLCS my gang and I were all amazed by the lack of any kind of excitement on the part of the TBS broadcasters.  To be honest, this z-level broadcast team seems to talk about the Dodgers constantly and we’ve been wondering just how much MLB is hoping for that “cleansing” series between the Dodgers and Yankees (how it’s “cleansing” is beyond my ability to comprehend). Last night, the image on the right popped up on twitpic (click on it for the larger pic).

Whoops!

Now what probably happened, in case you’re wondering, is that this story was written after the 8th, with some details left to be filled in after the game had ended.  That basically how sports-writing works. If they were decent sports writers they would have had another story ready to go in case the Phillies came back – which they did.  Unfortunately for MLB, a writer appears to have gotten a bit lazy late in the same and submitted the story to be published at the conclusion of the game.  In a word, busted.

MLB’s web-editor had egg on their face, but so does the writer – and now Philadelphia has even more fuel to be the loudest fans on the planet when game 5 starts up.  Thanks MLB – you’ll have to wait until next year for your “cleanse,” the Phightin’s are moving on.

My neighbors and I are baseball and football fans, so we’ve taken to getting together and watching games together.  Football has been the ideal gathering, because we all crash at someone’s house and enjoy the game.  It’s a lot of fun.  Yesterday we did a double-header, crashing at my house for the Eagles game and then heading across the street to take in the Phillies.  The football game was boring, but the company was good.  The baseball game was pretty dang good, but may I officially log a complain to Major League Baseball pointing out that the Phillies actually won the World Series last year, and sold out an insane amount of home games this year.  A tiny bit of respect for this team and it’s fan base would be appreciated.  10:00 EST starts and z-level commentators who apparently were on the Rockies payroll are insults.  OK?

Got that out of my system.  Now on to the description of the gang I watch the games with.

If you’re going to watch sports with a group of people, it really helps if the people in the group are a little bit nuts.  Thankfully, my crew meets this need in spades.  In fact, I’m tempted to just tape the banter of the group and stick it on YouTube as an episodic series.  The Ginger Snap conversation of last year was priceless material that I wish I had on tape.  Here’s the crew, listed by nickname.

The Clicker:  If you’re watching a game with The Clicker, no matter whose house you’re in, it helps to be a bit ADD.  The Clicker rules the remote, and has every channel where sports are being televised committed to memory.  The Red Zone channel is The Clicker’s dream destination and we spent much time flipping to it during breaks in the Birds’ or Sox games.  Actually, I’m not sure if we actually saw one commercial during our afternoon session.  It also helps to have spare batteries on hand for The Clicker, because if your remote isn’t up to snuff he can get agitated.  The Clicker also painted his home a bright yellow-orange which my son refers as, “The school bus down the street.”  His home is now referred to as, “The Bus.”  The Clicker is a great guy, who happens to be a little nuts in all the right ways.

Mongo: Mongo is The Clicker’s neighbor and a committed “do-it-yourselfer”  who often enlists The Clicker and Mrs. The Clicker to share labor and costs by doing projects together.  Mongo is a brave and ambitious man, because he really doesn’t often control “the plan” when it comes to his grand projects.  Usually, this leads to The Clicker and Mrs. The Clicker giving Mongo instructions to lug materials around their work-site.  He just smiles and says, “Mongo Do!”  This is kind of a shame, though, because Mongo is a really intelligent guy who often generates the topics for our banter during the games.  Our Ginger Snap discussion still isn’t settled.  Mongo also has a dream of flying a helicopter to Bryn Mawr (don’t ask).

The Cooler:  The Cooler  got his nickname because he made the mistake of mentioning the temperature during Game 5 of the 2008 World Series (something about Tampa Bay and cold).  He was shooshed by the people of 5 tables at PJ’s over in Moorestown and a legend was born.  The Cooler is not as fanatical a fan as the rest of the group, but he represents well and has connections the got him tix to Game 1 of the 2009 NLDS – which gets deep respect from the of the group.  The Cooler will often pop in late, often quoting some stats which get The Clicker spouting from his well of information.  It’s great fun.

Absent Scott:  He doesn’t have an official nick yet, as Absent Scott failed to escape work in order to watch game one of the NLDS in The Clicker’s Man-Cave.  Knowing Absent Scott, however, I look forward to his inclusion to this particular group of lunatics.

Dash: That’s my nick-name.  Not because I’m able to fix Mongo’s computer problems during half-time (10 minutes, that’s all I need) but because I grew up with the self-defeating, “told you so,” mentality that can only come from being a life-long Philly fan who, up until 2009, had never been to a victory parade.  Never.  4 Sports teams and 35 years, and I’d never been to a parade.  Maybe if my parents had pulled me out of first grade to go to the parade in 1980 I would have never gotten my nickname, but alas that was not to be.  I suffered through blown off-sides calls, the fog bowl, Joe Carter, a Stanley Cup sweep, and a “competitive” Eagles team that has never gotten over the hump.  My mom said it best after one of our NFC title game losses, “No, we’re Philadelphia.  We never win anything because we’re losers.”  This is how I got my sports-gang nickname, “Dash.”  I’m negative.  Even after going to a parade, and shouting so loudly I lost my voice last October, the years and years of losing have just in-grained a mentality that wonders when the hammer is going to come down and the wheels are going to fall off.  The Clicker understands this mentality, but negativity blows his sports feng shui – hence the rebuke, “Dash, stop with the negativity!”  It is my role in the group to spark this comment, and so I do it with all the strength I have.

So this is my gang. They are much fun.

I mentioned in my Gettysburg post yesterday that I find the appeals to “providence” when referring to events in the war unconvincing.  Today I came across a quote that communicates why it is that I feel this way:

The march of Providence is so slow and our desires so impatient; the work of progress is so immense and our means of aiding it so feeble; the life of humanity is so long, that of the individual so brief, that we often see only the ebb of the advancing wave and are thus discouraged.  It is history that teaches us to hope.

The  above quote was written after the Civil War by Robert E. Lee.  From quotes like this I get the feeling that Robert E Lee was a better theologian than most of the pastors in our pulpits today – for he never confused Western individualism (which was coming into its own in post-Civil War America) with the Christian Religion.  Providence guided the long life of humanity, rather than blessed the brief life of the individual.  It is a sentiment that is antithetical to the self-lusting belief that the “individual” is all that matters (for the record, Robert E. Lee valued both the society and the individual).

So, let’s not be too quick to interpret the acts “providence” we see in the daily news – nor should we be so quick to certainty about the “meaning” of events in history.  As the wise theologian said above, it is history that teaches us to hope in the future God’s providence is unfolding – rather than to have certainty that we know it’s path.

I’ve been meaning to write some reflections on my experiences at Gettysburg this past summer for the last two months, but haven’t been able to given all that was going on in my life.  Actually, I really haven’t been able to do much writing at all, which always bums me out.

Now that September is all but gone and fall is in the air, however, I’m finding the mental strength to write.  It’s about time!

First, let me say that if you’ve never been to Gettysburg you owe it to yourself to go.  The national park is well-preserved and the the new visitor’s center is grade A.  When you add a wonderful bookstore specializing in Civil War Era American History, it’s hard to pass up.

Second, to answer my friends who wondered why a Christian pastor would take his children to a bloody battlefield, “Because something like Gettysburg ought never to be forgotten.”  I wanted my kids to go to this place not out of some patriotic fervor or celebration of violence, but to remember the people who died in that place (all of whom thought their cause “just”) and experience something of the awful waste of war.  While no one knew it at the time, the Battle of Gettysburg all but assured the continuation of the Union – but that continuation was bought with a price of insane proportions.  The South was ruined in that war, and while many of us in Northern States might say, “Well and good, we didn’t try to leave,” the ramifications of that price continue to felt today in everything from race relations to current political loyalties.  War saps humanity of it’s best and brightest, and not just during the battle – but for years afterward.  To me, the monuments that mark the battlefield beautifully and mournfully communicate that.

I keep hearing words like “valor” and “bravery” when I discuss Gettysburg with people.  I guess those are valid observations, the letters of participants that I’ve been able to read certainly use them.  As I stood on top of Little Round Top, or in front of The Angle, however, those words didnt’ come to mind.  All I could think of was the futility of climbing the throny earth in the sight of union guns, the horror of being ordered to stay put “against all hazards,” and the disciplined rows of soldiers in Picket’s division being mowed down as they pressed forward.  See, I’ve read reports on the aftermath of the battle so other words come to mind when I think of the fighting itself: Disease, disfigurement, poverty, and stench.  The North celebrated the Victory, but the town of Gettysburg was left holding the bill.  Meade took the majority of the surgeons with him when he cautiously pursued Lee back into Virginia – and it was only groups like the US Christian Commission that were able to find the wounded, bury the dead, and prepare for ecological disaster.  The wounded were everywhere, and so was their blood – on couches, on beds, on floors.  The cries of the wounded and dying shook the town to it’s core.  When I move through Gettysburg these are the things I think about – I’ll leave the celebration of the strategic importance of the Battle to my history books.  It’s where it belongs.

I also keep hearing about the narrow victory at Gettysburg (I’m of the opinion that Sickles nearly blew the whole thing, brave or not) being God’s “providence” that the United States be preserved.  I don’t find that the be a particularly compelling assertion of faith, to be honest.  I find it to be more an assertion of certainty based on the fact that history turned out the way the one who utters the statement thinks it should have.  Making assertions about God’s providence with the assumption of 20×20 hindsight is a dangerous prospect.  Was it God’s providence that the Northern reaction to John Brown’s raid at Harper’s Ferry made the secessionists seem “sane” for the first time in the south?  Was it providence that led Lincoln to act so rashly at the outset of the war that Virginia seceded in protest and joined the Confederacy (and a soldier named Robert E. Lee)?  Was it providence that McClellan was so pompous that he didn’t bother to tell the President his real plan for the Peninsula campaign, thus slowing his progress and creating mistrust between him and the White House (a plan that might have ended the war years earlier)?  Was it providence that Jefferson Davis had a sudden flash of sanity and placed Lee in Command of the forces around Richmond shortly before they were about to collapse utterly?  Unless one is willing to say, “Yes” to all of these (and more), and also with the resulting death and destruction that came from them, then one should not speak of “providence.”  Providence isn’t when something good happens to you, folks, it’s when something happens.

The thing is, both Lee and Lincoln could of perhaps embraced the above statements.  Lee had a very simple faith that God ordered all things.  This meant that he would do his best in everything becaus that’s simply who he was, but in the end he trusted that all things were ultimately in God’s hands.  Lincoln had a much more confused spirituality, but even he came to believe that the Civil War was punishment on both north and south because neither was willing to really deal with the issue of slavery.  Thus the losing General and the “victorious” leader were able to embrace both good and bad – one of whom transparently referred to such things as “providence.” Thus, I have respect for these two men in a way that I cannot respect a modern who glibly claims “providence” because something good happened to them, or bad happened to their enemies.

Gettysburg happened and became a pivot point upon which much of American History now revolves.  Was it God’s “providence” that it happened the way it it?  Perhaps , but if it was that act of God’s providence doesn’t exist to pat me on the back and say, “Hey, your side won, congratulations!”  Rather, I think, if anything, it’s a warning about how suffering leads to suffering, and to brake the cycle calls for a lot of blood.  Celebrating the “win,” might lead us to miss the actual message.

Oh, and would the history teachers and parents out there please spend some time in the civil war era, I grow tired of high school students asking, “Whaever happened in Gettysburg?