In Praise of Bureaucracy. An Inside Look at the FAA Inspired Crisis at AA

Editor’s Note: I realize this blog doesn’t usually cover airline affairs. However, I have had a number of conversations about the recent maintenance related groundings at AA, the pix & p had to reroute their trip on account of cancellations and this topic is all over the news. So when a friend of the family who works in a management role at AA recently sent me this harangue concerning the crisis, I thought it’d be interesting to post. I realize that the post does not strive for objectivity and overuses capitalizations and ellipses. But I can vouch for the competency of the source and thought you might like to hear an informed perspective on AA’s recent trials.


“As you may or may not know I work for American Airlines on the MD-80's here in Tulsa. I was directly involved with sending mechanics all around the country trying to make the FAA happy. My own MD-80 in the dock was also up for their inspection and was it a trial and tribulation in hypocrisy. I am now so disillusioned with the FAA. I had always had a somewhat positive attitude for them because of what they have to do. Theirs in undoubtedly a daunting task. But after this last bureaucratic mess I am now convinced their leadership and the inspectors on the airplanes have a fantastic degree in bureaucracy and most likely have never even changed spark plugs in their car let alone know about the silver thing with wings and the round thingies in back that are loud. Yes, there are excellent employees in the FAA and do a great job because they have common sense. Not this leadership group.

You cannot believe the idiocy we had to put up with. THIS WAS NEVER A SAFETY OR FLIGHT issue.....but basically how many tie wraps and washers there were and were they in the correct place. Total stupidity. I would have flown any of them with my granddaughter! As an example, we would get the FAA to sign off on an airplane in Dallas and as soon as it would get to Chicago another FAA inspector would ground the airplane that the job was not correct. This info came from a mechanic from my dock out in the field.....not hearsay. Because they got burned with Southwest they go after AA. They have no one to blame but themselves for not listening to those out in the field. What a crying shame the money lost, jobs in jeopardy, our customers so inconvenienced, the slander they put out or implied (we helped them write the original Airworthiness Directive because they don't know enough about the airplane)...............yet they don't care what overseas maintenance facilities do to our airplanes. These wires are connected to a hydraulic unit that is USED ONLY ON THE GROUND to get pressure for the brakes before engine start....not in the air.

Their priorities are skewed because of the butt chewing they are getting from Congress.............good. If they would ever really work with the airlines instead of trying to see what havoc they can cause maybe they could be a partner. But no, they are the FAA and know it all. BS. They are in it to move up the ladder all the while we lose 10's of millions of dollars, PR problems to last for years, while they sit back in their offices toasting each other on how they got 'American'. Congratulations Southwest Region FAA. Pat yourself on the back. Job well done for a bureaucrat. Good god, you must be so proud.

AA was only one of two airlines that did not go into bankruptcy (Southwest the other) in the last few years. Three airlines went out of business last week and another into bankruptcy Friday. The airline business takes an enormous amount of money to run, to but parts, and all these upstarts don't have a clue what it really takes. So we must be doing something, actually a hell of lot of things correct. The amount of money we spend on our maintenance is nothing short of staggering. Did you know the most junior mechanic can keep a jet form flying if he/she is concerned about an issue? I personally have not allowed a jet to be put into service until some additional items were reconfirmed. We take safety as the #1 PRIORITY. We have so many checks and balances......... Check with the others. Ever since I have been at American I really don't see how we do it. While, you can see by the Wall Street Journal article below the FAA is in for yet another PR debacle when even an outsider can see their never ending faults. I now really wonder, traffic delays, the Hoover law, understaffed control towers, the air traffic control system behind the times..........what really do they do right????? They always want accountability................who is watching those that watch us! Yes, the FAA will put a dandy spin on this. I can hardly wait to see it.

These are my own thoughts and I do not represent AA but there are a bunch of us who are just fit to be tied over this. We take our job VERY seriously. Remember, we and our families, like my granddaughter, fly these birds also.”

musing...

as many of your know, i regularly have the privilege of assisting and accompanying individuals with significant physical and intellectual disabilities as they take their first steps out of high school sped programs and step into the world of competitive employment. i don't claim to be a perfect advocate for my clients, but i pour a lot of myself into my work, i have helped a number of clients achieve better employment outcomes than they would have likely achieved without me and i revel in my client's success. so please keep the former paragraph in mind as you read the following gross generalization.

family is the greatest disability.

over the past year i have worked with a number of parents who through their love, support, chiding and encouragement have empowered their children to transform their limited skills into an effective means of serving their employer, community, family and selves well. however, more often than i would like to admit, i have run into families who have used their adult children as a ssi funded atm card, protected them from the risk that accompanies almost every success and seemingly expected everyone but themselves to guide their children into personal maturity and social responsibility.

now that i've stepped in it, i'd like to affirm that, fortunately, the majority of my client's parents, guardian's and support teams are incredibly supportive. moreover, i didn't pen this post in order to harangue the failures of families who have been dealt a difficult hand.

rather, a i reflect on the often fractured nature of of the families of my clients, colleagues and myself, i cannot help but wonder what the church is doing to help members develop healthy families that can be characterized by such virtues as service, fidelity, fiscal responsibility, integrity and commitment to city, town and neighbor. i don't know about you, but in the churches i grew up in, and not a few of those that i have attended and, yes, helped lead since, we have vigilantly sought to "protect" the family from perceived threats such as homosexuality, evolutionary theory, drugs,* democrats, "welfare queens" and darker skinned aliens** and neighbors. however, in the midst of our defensive posture we have also too often failed to proactively and comprehensively address the internal poisons that plague so many families and, ultimately, produce these catastrophic disabilities that are so.damn.difficult to remedy.

a month or so ago a close friend said that she thought the church should offer classes on curtailing the gossip that so easily entangles our tongues and damages so many lives. i really think she is onto something. shouldn't our faith communities also be offering innovative and integrative education and accompaniment concerning topics such as interpersonal conflict, anger, infidelity, money management,*** sustainable living, substance abuse, employment assistance, child rearing, etc?

as much as i love preaching Scripture and leading people in a roughly expository way through the teachings of the Judeo-Christian faith, i don't think that occasionally preaching through series such as "extreme money makeover!" is going to cut it. instead, i suspect that we're going to have to completely rethink our past educational approaches and create more holistic learning environments if we are going to replace the nasty generalization i typed**** above with a more positive statement such as:

family is the greatest incubator, encourager and sustainer of ability.

please take everything i've said above with a grain of salt. i'm often quick to generalize and i'm also bit of an asshole. i've also spent the past twenty minutes thinking about the horrendous denkinger call that crippled the '85 cardinals and saddled the baseball universe with an undeserving champion. the latter thoughts have left me somewhat less sanguine than usual.

* not hugs.
** side note: we seriously need to reconsider what Scripture has to say about the orientation of our communities to this group.
*** i realize that many churches already tackle this topic head on, and that's great. however, i don't think a community
can provide enough resources in this area.
**** with some measure of fear and trembling.

"Mind His L'il Fontanel"
submitted by: slowfo

Fontanel....that's the best analogy I can think of to describe this part of my Jesus faith (and if you don't recognize the title quote, run, don't walk to your nearest Blockbuster and rent Raising Arizona). It's a soft spot....not very well protected. John the Baptist is my fontanel. I don't get him mostly because JtB is not a Jesus follower. Literally. And logic tells me that he should have been.

Sure, he publicly introduced Jesus as the Messiah who takes away the sin of the world, baptized Jesus (altho' he felt it more appropriate that Jesus should really be doing the baptizing), saw the dove descend and heard the voice of the Father acknowledging Jesus as His son (and shouldn't that have been enough?!?), but JtB didn't follow. He kept doing his own thing. JtB exclaimed that he must become less and Jesus greater, but we don't see anywhere that JtB ever encouraged his own followers to follow Jesus (Andrew voluntarily chose to leave John and follow Jesus). I can actually stomach that later JtB questions whether Jesus really is the Messiah from prison - prison life might make anyone a little delusional.

But if my entire career had been pointing toward one history-defining moment when the true Master would takeover and live, breathe, and speak the words of the one and only God of the universe to humanity, I think I'd probably drop everything and follow Him, wouldn't you? And I'd for sure tell everyone else to follow Him. Geez, the last thing I want to be is Jesus Christ's competitor on the speaking circuit. Getting Jesus a little peeved with me because my show is pulling viewers from His is not my idea of fun.

My only conclusion I've come to is that John was just another voice preaching repentance - but what kind of repentance did he preach after he kicked off Jesus' ministry? Was it repentance through Jesus? If so, then JtB should have naturally at least suggested (let alone maybe he should have been commanding it) that those who repent should follow Jesus. But I don't see that in the Bible. I've got a pretty good foundation to following Jesus myself....I just have this one, vulnerable soft spot.

P.S. My favorite new environmentally-friendly website is http://www.unscrewamerica.org. Check it out. It's kinda fun.

it is appointed

tempest shrieks
anchor's cut
sails raised
and torn

cast about
breathing mouth
jagged rocks
welcoming shore

the worst franchise idea ever: monster mini golf

you've played miniature golf before...

but have you done so in the dark?

surrounded by monsters?

now you can at monster mini golf in creepy danvers massachusetts!

parsing pulpit talk
submitted by: slowfo

So yesterday I found myself leaning back in my theater seat and listening to yet another sermon on solomon and his obsessions with women. The preacher went on and on about how many problems this richest and wisest man in the world had because of his hundreds of wives and sex slaves.......er......"concubines." Hmmm...knocking down the Angelina Jolie's, Scarlett Johansson's and Amanda Peet's (ok, Amanda's kinda my personal hang-up) of his day while sitting in a cedar palace, observing life with the help of limitless wisdom and surrounded by subordinates willing to carry out every command and respond to every whim. Yeah, sounds like he had a tough life.

However, in the midst of such abundance "Solomon's wives got him to worship the same gods they worshipped," the talking head solemnly reminded us. I anticipated what would come next from him (mostly because I've heard it many times before): "Okay gang, we've got a few gods of our own today don't we? We worship the gods of money, power, sex, beauty, etc. don't we?"

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold it right there Pastor. I caught that. You just created your own spin on "The Word of the Lord" out of thin air.

Let's be clear on this: temptations aren't gods and gods aren't temptations. Sure they work hand-in-hand but not always. The gods of today are Scientology, Hindu, Wicca, etc. and the temptations are money, sex, and power as they've always been. Let's also include convenience as a tasty temptation for the Church and its pastors. In the name of producing a good practical moral from the story, we stretch, tweak, and spin a biblical text to fit our Sunday morning needs. Count me as guilty. I've done it myself in years past. Good intentions in our ministries don't justify speaking words of God that aren't His words at all; otherwise we create a "false" God ourselves.

Every time a pastor or a member of the church speaks the Word of God in hopes that it will become the Word for Today we must ask ourselves: "With my ministry, am I really reflecting the teaching of God accurately and in accordance with the grammatical/historical context that these books and letters were written in? Or am I interpreting the these texts according to my own lights and shaping the word of scripture so that it coheres with my predetermined theme and so does not challenge the conceptions or either myself or my audience. Have I shaped this text in accordance with my own intentions and so succumbed to temptation of convenience?"

ecclesiological portraits: seven mile road

(ir)relevant stats
former church name: edgeworth church
current church name: seven mile road
future church name: tba
location: malden, ma
affiliation: conservative congregational christian conference and acts 29 network
leadership: pastors matthew kruse, ajay thomas and kevin luce
sanctioned scripture: the english standard version (esv)
coffee: free and tolerable but not plentiful

this morning kieran and i made our first stop on our ecclesiological pilgrimage throughout greater boston. the purpose of this pilgrimage is to explore the growing number of innovative churches and faith communities in the greater boston area so that we can: get a better sense of what God is doing in our region, provide an idiosyncratic road map that will both help interested parties find these communities and help these communities find one another, and simply spend a morning each month hanging out with one another.

we decided to make seven mile road our first stop because the community is located a stone's throw from rectangle, in the edgeworth section of malden, and i've been looking for an excuse to visit this community for quite some time. since this is only the second post i've penned in this series,* i'm still not sure of the best way to structure these reports. but, since i have to structure it somehow, i'm going to provide you with a brief outline of the liturgy, capsule comments that recount some of my experiences at seven mile road and conclude with a few questions i've raised in the few short hours since my visit. after reading the post, i'd appreciate it if you'd let me know if you found this structure helpful or not

an outline of the work of the people**:

introduction: fairly brief, a little stiff, could very well have been plagiarised from a piper podcast

psalm reading: wish i remember what it was and don't have a bulletin to double check

song: "you are amazing God." the worship leader has chops, the sound is clean and spare and, by this point, i'm
getting the warm , fuzzy sense that we won't be accosted with a poorly contextualized movie clip

greet and give: the congregation gets up to greet one another and give their tithes and offerings by placing
commodities that hopefully fold and do not jingle in a basket on the front of the stage

new testament reading: i tim. 1:18-20

commissioning of new members: pastor kruse follows the reading by reminding the congregation that it is
membership sunday. after his introduction, he calls forward about 20 people who have decided to join this
church body, briefly explains the nature of their commitment to the body and the body's commitment to them
and prays over the new members. i am doing this segment of the service no justice. it was quite beautiful.

sermon: as part of the series on "timothy's inferno" pastor kruse explicates i tim. 1:18-20 and thematically
considers how we can fire proof the church by "disciplining well." the man can definitely preach, but this is
definitely a sermon for guys who love sermons. start time: 10:24 a.m. stop time: 11:13 a.m.

song: "nothing but the blood" by matt redman. nothing against matt, but i prefer the original to the remix

sacrament: pastor kruse says something pithy about communion and without direction people stream
forward to partake of the body and the blood. it takes me a moment to realize that everyone is holding the
elements before taking them. there is very little orientation to the way the church practices the sacrament. i am a
little confused until pastor kruse prays and we all partake together.

song: it's an original entitled "we are one." this community clearly has some gifted songwriters and musicians. as
superficial as it may sound, i am easily distracted by off-key worship leaders, unnecessarily flashy graphics or
any utilization of the iworship product. fortunately seven mile suffers from none of these things.

song: "wholly yours" by david crowder. it's a long song which provides a good opportunity for me to slip out and
recycle the aformentioned coffee.

doxology: pastor kruse prays over us, challenging us to hold firm onto Christ and dedicating our service to
"God's great glory and our great joy." this latter phrase, that has been repeated two or three times throughout
the service, is a clear pointer to the church's reformed theology and piperian influence.

recessional: although the church did not have a formal recessional, they did have a clearly rehearsed conclusion.
immediately after the service everyone stood up, folded up their chairs and took them to the front of the stage
where they were immediately hung on racks. this practice was incredibly efficient, saved the take down team
many minutes and, in a small way, bore witness to the congregation's willingness to serve.

capsule narrative:

7 mile road is an incredibly friendly community. from the moment kieran and i walked in we were warmly greeted and throughout our time at the service people consistently welcomed us, asked us about ourselves and shared a little bit of their stories. it is also worth noting that before, during and after the service children were all over the place playing with one another, interacting with people of all ages and, after the service, streaking around the gym, sprinting through packs of adults and so reminding us of the original purpose of the room. 7 mile eagerly incorporates and encourages children to participate in almost all aspects of their worship. i found this element of their gathering quite beautiful.

as can be reasonably deduced from the outline above, 7 mile road is clearly a protestant church that is primarily focused on worshiping God through the proclamation of his Word. pastor kruse's sermon on church discipline was passionate, well structured and clearly delivered. i suspect that his treatment of the (incredibly difficult!) topic of church discipline was a little heavy on the definition of the problem and a little light on the proposed solution, but clearly this was a man who had wrestled well with the text and had carefully considered the implications this text had for his community. interestingly, in the midst of his sermon the pastor also mentioned that while studying for this sermon he was a little put of by the way a fellow pastor in his network had used this text to, apparently humorously, identify two emergent writers with hymenaeus and alexander, the soon-to-be-excommunicated divisive men who paul instructs the church to "hand over to satan, that they might be taught not to blaspheme." by contradicting the teaching of one of the leaders of the acts 29 movement in this way and suggesting that any pastor who has to deal with "hymenaeus and alexander" in the church must do so with much greater humility, pastor kruse bore witness to his courageous authenticity and humility. in that moment, although i realized that there are a number of non-essential*** issues of theology and practice that pastor kruse and i would not see eye to eye on, i could clearly learn a lot from the pastoral heart of this man. in the end, the sermon was not simply an explication of i tim. 1:18-20 but a consideration of how a pastor can call, encourage and exhort his community to biblical fidelity in a manner that is marked by humility. so yeah, i appreciated the sermon.

before the sermon and after, kieran and i made the most of our time to meet the members and pastors in the community, including pastor ajay, who is going to start planting a 7 mile road church in philly this summer. in the midst of almost every conversation i tried to introduce the people to both the point of our little pilgrimage and the fact that we are both involved with the emergent cohort in boston. i emphasized the pilgrimage because i wanted, and subsequently received, their blessing to post this little introduction. i mentioned the second part because i realize there has been a fair amount of hostility as of late between those affiliated with emergent village and the acts 29 crew and i wanted to see how they would react to the "emergent" tag. fortunately, no one cut off the conversation at the first mention of emergent or first sight of the hitchcockian profile of mclaren that i've recently tattooed upon my ass. however, when the e-word was dropped walls seemed to go up and the conversations did seem to become a bit more guarded. i hope that in the midst of our conversations, in which i went out of my way to emphasize my passion for and shared investment in the mission of this church, the members and pastors were able to suspect, if not see, that there are many of us within the emergent conversation that are eager to partner with them as together we pursue God's great glory and await our great joy, namely, the fulfilment of God's Kingdom, Christ's reign and the Spirit breathed recreation of the world.

a question or two:

how in the world do these pastors maintain full-time day jobs, pastor a growing church of this size (approx. 110) and nurture what clearly appeared to be nurturing relationships with their, rather large and growing, families? it's rare to run across such fruitful bi-vocational ministers. my hat's off to them!

when will the acts 29 crew and the emergent cohorts finally reach a detente? both of these movements of the Spirit shared similar origins before they diverged in a wood. i hope one day we all learn not simply to quote, but to passionately live out the old reformation credo: in essentials, unity. in non-essentials, liberty. in all things love.

why do i have the bladder of an eight year old girl? why!?

that's all for now. if you have questions about our visit or would like to drop a comment, correction or critique, please feel free.


* you can see the first post, which focuses on the gathering, kieran and i's home community, here.
** or liturgy.
*** in my opinion anyhow.

new life at the cemetery

i spent yesterday afternoon struggling through dr. x's exegesis of the poets and prophets class. up to this point, almost every class period has been littered with inane statements (e.g., "we know very well that the Lord doesn't redeem societies, but he redeems individuals all the time!"), utterly worthless lectures (if you need to know more about scholastic perspectives on trito-isaiah, please ask, but if you want to know something about the socio-political conditions that gave rise to isaiah's poetry and prose keep your questions to yourself) and vain attempts to circumvent the wicked network system that allows my laptop to register a wireless signal but refuses access to the internet.

in the midst of those classes i am often eager to take a piss and yesterday, yet again, dr. x provided me with a golden opportunity. while delving into yet another excursus in a class that has been defined by such meaningless little jaunts, dr. x shared a story about a time when a visitor to his local congregation took him aside and "gave me a word from the Lord." according to dr. x the "word" that the visitor gave was ripped completely out of its biblical context but, sure enough, the word spoke directly into his life. almost apologetically, dr. x said that he was "sure that some of you might not be comfortable with the word of God being used in this way, but that's what happened."

seeing what i sensed was a golden opportunity, i raised my hand and told him that i loved his story. further, i suggested that his story was a perfect example of how evangelicals can find commonality with and create collaborative mission with liberal christians and non-believers who completely agree with the function of certain biblical texts (e.g., the biblical callings to justice, compassion and mercy), but have widely divergent views on the origins of scripture (e.g., they question mosaic authorship of the pentateuch, consider isaiah and micah to be post-exilic and may not believe in any kind of inspiration). for this reason, i suggested, a living and active christian life could well be built upon our response to the biblical text rather than upon a foundationalist theology.

i suppose, in the interest of full disclosure, i should tell you that this was not the first time i have tried to, um, what's the word, truck(?) with the professor. in years past we have argued about the existence of institutional sin, the significance of racial sensitivity and other topics that i am surely forgetting. thus, although i do believe the truth of what i suggested in the comment above, i didn't offer it with constructive intentions, but said it merely to extend the logic of his pietistic little story to an absurd degree and so produce another lecture about how Christians are saved by denying the existence of deutero-isaiah.

however, as soon as i finished my comment the prof nodded his head thoughtfully and said that he saw the importance and significance of finding whatever common ground we can with Christians of all stripes so that we can continue fulfilling the work of God. moreover, he admitted that "because of my position within the seminary and the church i haven't had much reason to engage with and serve beside liberal Christians or many unbelievers. however, i agree with you that it is essential that we seek out common ground."

in that wholly unexpected moment, i was struck by two things.

one, i learn best in an environment that is open to, and to some extent encourages, conflict. at s.h.i.t. i usually feel like i am am floundering in a sea of well-intentioned, but poorly fleshed out icthuses who are committed to silently swimming along in their safe little schools where all they have to do is follow the leader. when i'm stuck in the midst of those schools my tendency is to strike at the fish around me and angle at the leader if at all possible. the more i've thought about it, the more i realize that my learning style simply does not square with the pedagogical intentions of this institution. the resultant dissonance i feel (almost) every time i'm struggling through a class at s.h.i.t. is probably more my fault than theirs. i should have done my freaking homework while looking for graduate institutions or, failing that, i should have listened to my heart and stayed at l'arche.

two, i really am an asshole. although, in the past i have had legitimate differences with this professor, i have often ignored evidences of his gentle spirit and servant's heart. yesterday he had to teach me again that a gentle word turns away (my) wrath. i've read my Bible a time or two and i've been around the block. i should have known that already.

i could go on by telling you about the intriguing conversation i had throughout, and after, class with a pastor who came into s.h.i.t. as a full-on, fundamentalist calvinist, but is somehow leaving as a four-square missionary and continue plying you with the rewarding conversations i've had today with old classmates who have shared their unique journeys and have been genuinely interested in my own. i could tell you more, but i won't.

sola Dei gloria.

questions concerning evangelism
submitted by slowfo

Here's something I wonder.....what if, other than faraway tribes that really haven't heard this Jesus story, the Church should really just put the whole evangelism thing into a much lower gear. I was just thinking about the context of the whole "spread the good news" thing the other day and was simultaneously trying to visualize a world without TV, internet, cell phones, radios, etc. let alone a decent postal system.

I mean, if Jesus was a brand new story during the 1st Century and I didn't have any of those means of communication, then hell yes....spread the good news!! Tell everyone! Make it quick too! Hurry!! Go, go, go! It's NEW news. But, I don't think Paul, Peter, or John, originally had any idea that we would one day be able to communicate instantly with people on the other side of the globe.......otherwise if they were living today, they might think "Alright, good. The Word's out. Now let's just live as Jesus lived and see how He draws people to Himself through us."

I'm not saying that Jesus is worn-out news, dull news, or irrelevant news for today's world but it definitely isn't NEW news - especially for people in the United States. So I just wonder, should we still treat it like it's NEW news?? Or is it time to just put it in a lower gear on the evangelism and in a higher gear on living Jesus' love to others? Maybe more of an attitude of "Look, you all know about Jesus....I'll just leave it to you to decide whenever you want....meantime, I'm gonna just do my thing and care for the poor, feed the hungry, etc.......and we'll all watch and see how Jesus changes the world one person at a time." I dunno.....just thinking.

in memoriam



good night wire.

as i continue on i hope to do so with mcnulty's angst, bunk's code, freamon's details, gregg's intuition, carver's humor, daniel's dignity, presbo's earnestness, bunny's idealism, sydnor's eagerness, avon's fidelity, stringer's industry, bodie's loyalty, prop joe's schemin', omar's honor, sobotka's persistance, zig's zanyness, nick's ambition, the greek's cunning, marlo's poise, cutty's dreams, michael's confidence, randy's intentions, namond's tenderness, carcetti's oratory, royce's constituency, gus' integrity, burns' experience and simon's writing running through my veins.

thanks for the ride.

you slowly realize you're a bad daddy when...

you try to introduce your son to mrs. renfro's habanero salsa.

twice.

open questions

why am i finding it so difficult to finish what i start?*

am i really a "lovable tyrant?"

how did an introvert like me end up becoming a professional networker?

why are southerners so damn secretive?

is there a reason i cannot get images of the diseased trees of north central oklahoma out of my head?


* books that are currently open, and unfinished, upon my desk include: the fellowship of the ring; intuitive leadership; johnny cash and the great american contradiction; the book of bebb; and God at sinai.

read and recommended

over at revolution in jesusland there is an excellent post that provides a non-religious introduction to shane claiborne and his influence on emerging evangelicalism. if you aren't reading revolution in jesusland and you're interested in the ongoing developments in this evolutionary experiment we call evangelicalism, you should be ashamed of yourself.

unless you've never heard of the site. then, of course, you are forgiven.

foolish wisdom

yesterday i became convinced that God has called me to focus wholly on the horizontal aspects of life and surrender the vertical aspects to Life itself. but today i was ambushed by another's insecurities and accused of building a kingdom with another's coin.

i realize that i was made for liminal space and i want to focus my life on reaching out to others instead of reaching up for the next next rung in the godforsaken ladder. but at the same time i refuse to shape my life around the insecurities of others. i have not surrendered my kingdom only to be rent asunder by someone else's petty fiefdom.

i suppose all of this is an elaborate way of saying that i am really, really pissed off right now and tempted to war up instead of responding in charity. yet, in this moment, i am mindful of nalia's reminder that it is by kindness that we can overcome the world.

ecclesiological musing...

on thursday night i had the opportunity to oversee the maundy thursday service at the gathering.* i began thinking about the service on sunday afternoon and in about 5 minutes i developed the following liturgy, which i think is one of the most innovative services i've had a hand in.

---
when the participants walked in they entered into a dim and quickly darkening space that was lit only by a trinitarian triangle of three candles. as the liturgy began i shared a few brief thoughts about the intricate relationship between intimacy and desolation** that i perceive in the gospels and then we immediately headed to the front of the church where we celebrated the institution of eucharist by sharing the sacrament together.

we shared the sacrament sinners and saints style*** and it was beautiful. as we stood around the table newly baptized Christians practiced our common priesthood for the first time; local, first-time visitors served out of town guests; and the utterly broken offered this means of grace to the utterly broken.

after eucharist everyone returned to their seats, all of which were encompassed by the trinitarian triangle of candles, and the first reader read matthew 26:36-41. after the reader spoke of Jesus' desperation for support and the disciples resultant slumber, the blew out the first candle then sat down.

immediately following five long, uninterrupted moments of silence followed. i knew that the silence would be awkward and unnerving, but i did not know that it would be so uncomfortable that i would find myself eventually staring at the second reader and inwardly pleading that she would get on with it.

eventually the second reader read matthew 26:42-43. after she had spoken of Christ's willful submission to unrelenting agony as well as the disciples' second failure, she blew out the second candle, then sat down.

five more, slightly less awkward minutes of silence followed. i tried to meditate a bit as i counted in my head to 300 and tried to work up enough courage to enact my portion of the liturgy.

finally, i stood, read matthew 26:45-46. after i read "rise, let us go. here comes my betrayer!" i asked the congregation to rise, picked up a large mirror, handed the mirror to a friend, looked in the mirror and said "here comes Christ's betrayer." then i quickly took the mirror from my friend, held it in front of her face and said "here comes Christ's betrayer." i then proceeded to stumble around the room, holding this large mirror in front of each participant and repeating this rather offensive indictment that clearly resounds through the narrative.

after each participant had faced the mirror and i faced the mirror a second time another three minutes of silence followed. then i clumsily plugged in a spotlight that shone upon a lone cross, took thirty seconds or so to gather my senses and offered a benediction.
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i share my reflections on this service not to draw attention to myself, but to record one of my first attempts at developing a liturgy that draws the participants into an experience that resonates with, and hopefully reflects, the encounter recorded in the text. years ago my college preaching profs encouraged us to shape sermons that reflected the shape of the text. i have long realized the wisdom of that teaching and have often tried to fashion my logocentric sermons in such a manner that they reflect the biblical writers' flow of thought. however, it was not until last night that i realized the value of shaping a liturgy that physically, intellectually, spiritually and emotionally draws people into the narrative of the text.

i suppose i also share these reflections as a way of repenting of the derogatory and, i fear, mostly uninformed accusations i have aimed towards folks like dan kimball in the past. i have long been disinterested with the practices and thought of those who i have labeled programmatic emergents since many of the alt.worship experiences i have had have been too individualistically focused and often, in my not-so-humble estimation, trite. i am now beginning to see how potentially meaningful communal liturgical services that are shaped by the text can be. i suppose the next step is for me to explore how meaningful liturgical services can also be shaped in part by the history of Christian practice throughout the ages, but the pixie is staring at me right now and i get the feeling that i need to get off this damned computer.

one more quick note: the first sunday of the coming months, starting april 6, my friend kieren and i are going to be visiting emerging faith communities throughout the boston area. we will be reporting on our travels on this site as well as kieran's emergent wrestlings page. if you're interested in hosting kieren and i at your faith community or you know of a local boston community that you have wanted to explore but haven't yet found the time to do so, please drop me a line at gentry13@gmail.com.

peace be with you throughout this holiest of holy weeks.


* take a minute and check out our new digs. it's simple, informative and infinitely more accessible than our old site. thank you rhonda and elijah!
** i.e., Jesus is baptized by john in the jordan and immediately heads to the desert; the disciples experience the wonders of the transfiguration only to be warned by Jesus on the way down the mountain that they are not to speak of their experience until after His death; peter's magnificent confession is quickly followed by Christ's denunciation, etc.
*** look the person in the eye, speak their name, offer words of orientation (the body of Christ, the bread of heaven, the blood of Christ, the cup of salvation) and then the recipient becomes the servant.

the passion of the would-be presidents



to smack your opponent rapidly depress "a s d f." to move your preferred candidate, use the arrow keys. enjoy!

The Dreaming Tree Has Died: Lamenting a Formerly Great Band

It’s hard to believe it’s been 10 years since the Dave Matthews Band released, in my opinion, their masterpiece, Before These Crowded Streets. As one who worshiped 1996’s Crash, I didn’t think anything could top it. I was wrong. BTCS captures what the band’s trademark jam/improvisation style and highlighted each member’s talent. Just listen to Carter Beaufort’s drums on “Rapunzel” or Boyd Tinsley’s violin on “The Stone.” What about Leroi Moore’s sax on “The Last Stop” or “Stay (Wasting Time)?" This was DMB at their best. Four-minute diddies are for radio bands. DMB are not a radio band, which is what made this album so great…radio tried to turn “Crush” into a hit by trimming the damn thing in half…all it did was strip it of its groove. Eleven tracks (though, at 40 seconds, “Pantala Naga Pampa” hardly counts), seventy minutes—in an era where singles are championed, it stressed the album as a whole…which explains the album’s many “interludes” (some of which are so badass, I wish there were lyrics and an extra six minutes to them).

Unfortunately, the dreaming tree has died. BTCS songs, by and large, have fallen out of the DMB’s touring repertoire, in favor of fan (and by fan, I mean the drunk a-hole and his slutty girlfriend next to me) favorites “Where Are You Going” and (please shoot me in the face) “All Along the Watchtower.” Instead of starting a concert with the fury of “The Last Stop”, they opt for the phone-it-in “Ants Marching” or “Grey Street.” I long for the simpler days…I saw DMB in Lexington, Kentucky on November 20, 1998. 13 songs played over 2+ hours, the bulk coming from BTCS…the definition of an ideal DMB concert. Before everyone from Delta Tau Delta got a copy of The Lillywhite Sessions and thought they were insiders…before Glen Ballard stuck an electric in Dave’s hands…before Dave traded songs about getting high for government manifestos (please leave political songs to Neil Young, Bono, or Bright Eyes)…Before These Crowded Streets found a way to capture everything that was right about a once great band. Looking back ten years, sad to say, this was the last stop.

Kevin Smith Clark

memorandum from captain random


on sunday morning a young man who has been attending the gathering for only a few weeks came forward to make a confession of faith and be baptized. during his confession the guy said something like: "i don't know if any of you would call yourselves born again, but i feel like i have been born again. after a long period of struggle God has given me the faith of a child and i now know what it is to be filled with wonder." this confession was at once remarkably beautiful and a little peculiar, for as pastor phil and i discussed after the service, neither of us has used "born again" language to talk about the reconciliation of God in many years,* yet this man still spoke of God's radical work of restoration in this way. needless to say it was a beautiful sunday.

preston took his first tottering steps today. when interviewed later he responded that it was one small step for man and one giant leap for preston-kind.

i have the pink-eye yet the pix incessantly swears that she didn't fart on my pillow.

i am currently struggling through my last seminary class and considering whether i should show up at graduation with obama '08 plastered across the top of my mortar board.

there is a lot of cool emergent stuff coming up in the next couple of months. on april 29th will sampson will be visiting the boston cohort in order to discuss themes related to his book justice in the burbs. then, on august 3rd doug pagitt, tony jones and mark scandrette will be stopping by the gathering to belatedly commemorate the seventeenth anniversary of sadaam hussein's toppling of kuwait, hold court on why Christians shouldn't just pray and talk a little about their new books as well. good times.


* in fact, i don't think i have ever used that language to describe my, or prescribe others', experience. not that there's anything wrong with that.

i'm an idiot. please save me from myself.

as i've mentioned once or twice before in this space, reciprocity is a sonuvabitch. last week i admonished the pix for letting preston play with her cell phone since, as i wisely noted at the time, "he will definitely break it and we don't have the money to replace it."

based on your knowledge of the gentry law of marital reciprocity you can no doubt guess what happened next .

as a result i am currently looking for a used sprint phone that i can transfer my data onto and use for personal and business use. if you have an old sprint phone lying around or have a friend who might an extra burner, please take advantage of this opportunity to save me from myself. i'd also be willing to purchase a used sprint phone if it is in good condition, includes a charger and costs less than $20.

now if you'll excuse me, i have things to do, people to meet and words to eat. f*&^!!!

ecclesiological portraits: the gathering


for the past year and a half i've wanted to visit various emerging forms of church in the greater boston area and issue reports on this site. the intent of these ecclesiological portraits would be to explore the diversity of emerging communities in the area and provide a brief introduction of the communities to interested parties. eventually, i would like to visit communities such as seven mile road in malden, mosaic boston, the crossing, and reunion christian church in boston, quincy street missional church in quincy, a few of the neo-monastic communities, the sunday evening service at international community church and other communities* that i am currently ignorant of but will hopefully, eventually explore.

anyway, since this is my first, and perhaps only, ecclesiological portrait, i thought i would start with the gathering in salem, my family's church home.**

6:05 - people are starting to assemble, grab a cup of tea and catch up with one another. a few of these individuals such as - aaron s., erin, pastor phil and pastor phil part deux, kieren, carlos and elizabeth - are bloggers or have some other form of web presence. feel free to check their sites out.

6:20 - it's 6:20 and a bakers dozen of us have joined for the evening service. pastor phil has lowered the lights, a multitude of candles are lit and phil is strumming his guitar and introducing us to the text and topic we will be exploring together this evening.

6:24 - after a long introduction pastor phil encourages us to read together the gathering's declaration of simple faith, a statement which not only expresses some of our community's convictions, but reminds us of the gentle and open manner in which we hope to treat one another. text of a declaration of simple faith.

i will follow the simple ways of Jesus
i will try to be: open and accepting, simple and genuine, honest and caring
i will try not to be: judgmental and exclusive, complicated or disingenuous, secretive
or self-serving
i will listen, i will learn
i will remember that God's gentleness makes us great

6:41 - we are currently in the midst of a rather long worship set that is populated with wow worship standards such as arms of love and more love, more power*** as well as a few songs such as as a memorial that were written by pastor phil or other members of our community.

6:44 - we're currently in a series in which we are exploring the gift of the Holy Spirit. this series has included sermons on miracles from john 4, an unabashedly evangelical and fiery sermon on acts 1:1-10**** and tonight is leading us to consider the healing words of Jesus beside the pool of bethsaida in john 5. pastor phil just ended a period of silence, which was awkwardly punctuated by the clicking of my keys, by talking about the Spirit of God as ruah, or the breath of God, and asking the participants what associations this understanding of the Spirit provoked in the hearers. brother michael, the sole pentecostal, eastern orthodox monk among us, reported that the breath of God within him makes him want to never hear again. two others also offered reflections, but i couldn't hear them in the silence of this room, over the clicking of my keys.

6:52 - just realized my font is jacked. happy, happy, joy, joy!

6:55 - in the midst of my pissed offness, kieran offered a reading from uh, somewhere, and brother michael offered a reading from psalm 119:105.

6:58 - people are sharing their frustration, bewilderment and surprise at the difficulty of their spiritual journeys. one participant states that she expected that her walk with God would be like traversing a beautiful bridge while holding hands with a god who was showering her with flowers. fortunately, she said that God is still with her, but the bridge is rickety and the flowers, non-existent.*****

7:05 - pastor phil begins his discussion of Jesus at bethsaida by mentioning that the healing waters of the pool remind him of the stories he has heard of the shrine at lourdes. apparently the rcc has only documented 65 confirmed healings at lourdes, but that has not stopped 4 - 5 million annual visitors from going to lourdes to seek healing. after this brief introduction, phil reads the text.

open question: what is it that inspires people to wait upon God?

responses: the people are hungry

what i hear in this text is a great amount of trauma and struggle. i am a trauma survior...what i see here is how grief can immobilize you and how tears can release you and set you free to experience life. it is really miraculous when we have the courage to look inside and be human no matter what.

pastor phil: there are many of us who have experienced a clear, dynamic movement of God which has brought us to a place of experiencing His presence.

i just kept focusing on the stirring of the waters of bethsaida. then i thought of the apostle paul who told us to stir up the gifts of God that are within us. it's like sugar that sits at the bottom of a cup of coffee. your coffee won't be sweet unto the taste until you stir it up.

you've got to listen to the still voice. the voice will not argue with you, you have to chose to listen and once you listen you need to follow. it takes practice and experimentation.

7:20 - pastor phil: i want everyone to take a moment and share one word that right now expresses the attribute or characteristic that you think the Lord is looking for in your heart in regards to this specific issue of waiting on Him. what characteristic do you think God is looking for most?

love; stings;****** genuineness; marriage; desert; watchfulness; understanding; communion.

pastor phil: why desert?

me: because God is calling me into the desert. lately i've felt a fear of the silence and, in my heart, a fear of silence is a fear of God.

pastor phil: patience came up twice. why? we'll wait patiently.

participant: because it is a struggle.
participant: because our world moves so quickly.

7:31 - i would like to take a quick commercial break to introduce you to cade's new pageant production gig. i've heard that something needs to revive the miss america pageant and i'm (desperately) hoping that this is that something.

7:36 - i'm quickly losing interest in the free form discussion, but i am apparently the only one in the room who's wrestling with this malady. people are truly engaged in the back and forth.

phil: in the back and forth i see a beautiful kalediscope of emotion, experience and pursuit of the path that we have. i tend to view the path we've been given as tailor made. God has not stamped out a path that all of us have to do just right to discover Him. we know simple things, such as out of john 17 - this is life that they know me, the one whom you have sent - but along our path we will be challenged by unique elements. in a particular season one of us might hear and need, hope, another commitment, another boldness...

7:44 - participant: i was really hoping we could sing more love, more power. i love that song.

phil: i was going to sing that. let's close with that.

7:51 - still singing more love, more power. must be the extremely extended edition.*******

7:54 - announcements. there's a small group, women's group, open discussion group and movie night coming this week.


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* to wit: if anyone knows of a synagogue 3000 related community that is currently meeting in the area, please let me know.
** in the interests of full-disclosure, i should also note that i serve on the gathering's pastoral staff.
*** but, fortunately not Lord i lift your name on high or as the deer.
**** i'm glad that one isn't available on the internet. i still believe almost every word i said, but even i can't grasp the implications of some of the things i said. i am simply not ready to wrestle with some of those matters over the internet.
***** while i sit here thinking that her ideal god must look a lot like mike myers in love guru. .
****** it also hurts.
******* it's also quite contemplative, beautiful and capped off with a celtic benediction known as God's aid.