i’ve been tagged...

by rick the book bitch but i only have five minutes to answer. let’s see what transpires.

1. one book that changed your life:

reaching out by henri nouwen. in this foundational work, henri speaks of spirituality as a movement from loneliness to solitude, hostility to hospitality and illusion to prayer. these movements provide an apt description of and direction for my spiritual life and this book continues to frame my consideration and assessment of my spiritual health. did i mention that the pixie gave me a personal audio recording of this book for my 26th birthday? i could say more, but i’ve only got three minutes left.

2. one book that you’ve read more than once:

crooked river burning by mark winegardner. this majestic book is a love song to the midwest, a chronicle of a class crossed love story and a reminder that “everything is what it is and also something else.” if I could force my friends and family to read one book, this would be it.

3. one book you’d want on a desert island:

the book of bebb by frederick buechner. i’ve also read this one more than once, but i only have one minute left.

4. one book that made you laugh:

a walk in the woods by bill bryson. the part about the mouthy, incompetent, ultimately failed thru-hiker who had an ass you could project a movie on just about killed me.

5. one book that made you cry:

the rise of evangelicalism by mark noll. um, weird, i know. but lately i’ve had enough of head religion and the stories of those who’ve found heart religion have been making me a little weepy.

6. one book you wish you had written:

shit, i’m one minute over. how about now and then by frederick buechner. that piece about “listening to life” and so ultimately finding out that “all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace” always kills me.

7. one book you wish had never been written:

uh….dharma bums by jack kerouac. not because it’s a bad book, but because it’s so damn good and i cannot read it (for reasons I am unwilling to discuss here).

8. one book you’re currently reading:

four minutes over. fuuuuck. evangelicalism divided by iain murray. for the record, i don’t consider him an evangelical at all, but a neo-fundamentalist. but it’s still worth reading.

9. one book you’ve been meaning to read:

on beauty by zadie smith. i tried to listen to the audio book while ripping the horsehair plaster out of my living room but the setting was all wrong.

consider yourself tagged. comment below.

mid-morning time waster



last night, after we had finished priming the baseboards and were in the midst of watching a close red sox/tigers scrum, cade impulsively grabbed the comcast remote and muttered “don’t judge me”* as he turned the channel to the miss teen usa pageant on nbc.

i’d love to tell you that i cursed my future housemate and immediately turned the channel back to the ballgame, but i must admit i found the pageant highly entertaining. after a half hour of, um, poking fun at the physical limitations of the girls on the stage, laughing at their barely concealed attempts to flaunt their nascent sex appeal and ridiculing at their ambiguous responses to rather unremarkable queries, i asked cade how the pageant folk come up with the questions. in my mind’s eye i could envision the pageant coordinators writing the questions as they sipped amaretto sours and watched the second season of will and grace on dvd. cade suggested that the questions were created in an altogether sober environment, but still i had to wonder what kind of questions my friends could come up with if we had just the tiniest bit to drink and were not concerned with matters of propriety.

so there’s the catch. if you were sitting with me in some velvet covered lounge, sharing some drinks and enduring the androgynous, coldplay inspired music that was being piped over the pa, what questions could we come up with for miss teen usa? here’s my first batch.

1. now that you've excelled in the electric swimsuit competition and stunned us with that evening gown that accentuates your legs how would you answer accusations that the miss teen usa pageant objectifies young women?

2. do you consider the french government's ban on hijabs in state schools to be an offense to muslim civil rights or simply an attempt to impart a little fashion sense to their islamic citizens?

3. if you had to choose between a marine who looked absolutely gorgeous in his uniform but was a little light in the intellect and an air force lieutenant who looked atrocious in baby blue but had a bright future ahead of him in engineering who would you do?

4. if your parents bought you the hot pink lamborghini you've always dreamed about would you be willing to exchange the car for middle east peace?

Help me out here…what questions would you like to ask the ambitious contestants of miss teen usa?


* which, in my experience, is a phrase that serves as either a precursor to a particularly stupid action or a desperate attempt to justify some past sin.

musing…

one of my favorite moments in clerks is when the cat jumps on the counter, provoking a customer to remark “cute cat. what’s its name?” and randall to savagely reply “annoying customer.” although the customer interpreted randall’s comment as proof that he was a “fucking dickhead,” at that moment i realized that randall was my customer service hero and the perfect incarnation of my attitude towards customers.

i still think that the latter fact is the foundation of good, workplace comedy. unfortunately, i’m also beginning to suspect that it is unfitting for a disciple of Jesus.

i was forced to think about these matters on saturday, when i bumped into an old acquaintance who i remembered as both a complete pain in the ass in hebrew class and an excellent example of a christian work ethic. since i’m trying to remain positive here, i’ll ignore the classroom and focus on the work place ethics.

this friend has served in the bowels of S.H.I.T.’s* bursar office for three years. his ultimate goal is to be a united methodist pastor and he has the theological training and the homiletical ability to pursue his goal immediately. however, since he finds it hard to serve people that he considers incompetent and/or a complete pain in the ass he has chosen to remain in his current position so that he can learn to humble himself and serve people more effectively. if i didn’t personally know the guy, i’d suspect that the story was a crock of shit. but seeing as that i’ve personally been served by and watched him serve others for three or four years, i cannot deny the power of his witness.

i thought about his Christ-centered, wholly incarnational, approach to ministry this weekend as we waited in line for cocktail weenies at a friend’s wedding and for the past 11 hours of work i’ve been trying to follow his example by bearing with incompetent customers and trying not to curse a number of my coworkers.

my friend’s commitment to humble ministry reminds me that every occasion presents an opportunity to incarnate Christ’s love and compassion to the other. as a result, i realize that i can utilize this limited stint in gift sales to walk the way of Jesus and so continue the journey of being conformed to the image of Christ or i can continue to revel in bitterness and, admittedly often wittily stated, condescension that divides me from others and ultimately points to death.


* also known as the South Hamilton Institute of Theology.

cohort gathering

boston's emergent cohort will be gathering on tuesday august 29th at a TBA location. the latter part is where we could use your help. although bukowski's is a great pub with cheap eats and an extensive beer list, lately it has not been very conducive to conversation. thus, craig and i have been thinking about relocating the cohort to a place where we can actually hear ourselves and one another think.

i know that there is an applebees only a block or two away from bukowski's. i realize that this location is the opposite of cool, but it might suit our purposes perfectly. if you have a better idea please speak now or forever hold your peace.