And so begins my third year of full time ministry. As an administration we have been meeting since Monday dreaming and planning the next year for our school. This was a good year but I am convinced that the coming school year will be great. We are planning quite a few changes and tightening up a few loose ends. It is great when you can meet with your team and have a great time growing together and learing together.

This school year is over and my second year of full-time ministry is coming to a close. This year was drastically different from the first and I am eagerly anticipating the fall. I am on a 12 month calender so even though the students will not be walking the hallways this summer I will be. The past 2 weeks have been draining on me. I am mentally and physically exhausted. I stayed up way too late last night watching “Episode III” with some of my students and graduation is tomorrow. I have also spent the last few days fighting my insomnia so until Monday I am going to lay low. I’ll resume blogging on Monday afternoon. Until then enjoy today’s question from my Simpsons daily desk calendar:

In “This Little Wiggy” (5F13), at the science museum, Ralph says he found a Moon rock where?
a) In his nose
b) Deep in the Mooniverse
c) In the cheese section of Kwik-E-Mart
d) In his jammies

The answer (of couse) is: A

This morning I walked into work and found an envelope in my box. It was a thank you note to my wife and I for helping out the boss and the school with various projects. Our schedules for the last few weeks have been filled up with these projects in one way or another. Some tasks have been tedious. Others enjoyable. None the less, we enjoy using our talents when asked so that we can help out. I never expected a thank you note but we got one today with a handsome gift card to my favorite resturant inside. Life is good.

Just a few of my favorite conversations from Bono in Conversation with Mishka Assayas. Enjoy!

Conversation 1

Assayas: Some of your fans had a hard time with records you made in the nineties.

Bono: That’s right. They didn’t see it. On Pop, I thought it was a tough relationship with God that was described there: Looking for to save my, save my soul/ Looking in the places where no flowers grow /Looking for to fill that God shaped hole. That’s quite a interesting lyric, because that’s the real blues- that comes from Robert Johnson, it happens through the machine age, through the techno din, but there it is: the same yearning. But he (Bob Hewson, Bono’s father) didn’t see it. A lot of people didn’t see it, because they wanted to feel it, not think it. (25)

Conversation 2

Bono: (Paul McGuinness) would sit me down and say, “You have what it takes. You must have more confidence in yourself and continue to dig deeper. And I don’t be upset or surprised when you pull something out of the depth that’s uncomfortable.”

Assayas: So you discovered things that, on first glance, you’d rather have kept hidden? What were those?

Bono: The gauche nature of awe, of worship, the wonderment at the world around you. Coolness might help in your negotiation with your world, maybe, but it is impossible to meet God with sunglasses on. It is impossible to meet God without abandon, without exposing yourself, being raw. That’s the connection with great music and art, and that’s the other reason you wanted to join a band: you wanted to do the cool thing. Trying to capture religious experiences on tape wasn’t what ypu had in mind when you signed up for the job.

Assayas: What about your own sunglasses, then? Do you wear them the same way a taxi driver would turn off his front light, so as to signal to God that this rock star is too full of himself and not to hire at the moment?

Bono: Yeah, my insincerity… I have learnt the importance of not being earnest at all times. You don’t know what’s going on behind those glasses, but God, I can assure you, does. (53-54)

Conversation 3

Bono: I know what God is. God is love, and as much as I respond (sighs) in allowing myself to be transforrmed by that love and acting in that love, that’s my religion. Where things get complicated for me, is when I try and live this love. Now, that’s not so easy.

Assayas: What about the God of the Old Testament? He wasn’t so “peace and love.”

Bono: There’s nothing hippie about my picture of Christ. The Gospels paint a picture of a very demanding, sometimes divisive love, but love it is. I accept the Old Testament as more of an action movie: blood, car chases, evacuations, a lot of special effects, seas dividing, mass murder, adultery. The children of God are running amok, wayward. Maybe that’s why they’re so relatable. But the way we would see it, those of us who are trying to figure out our Christian conundrum, is that the God of the Old Testament is like the journey from stern father to friend. When you’re a child, you need clear directions and some strict rules. But with Christ, we have access to a one-to-one relationship, for, as in the Old Testament, it was more one of worship and awe, a vertical relationship. The New Testament, on the other hand, we look across at a Jesus who looks familiar, horizontal. The combonation is what makes the Cross. (200)

Conversation 4
Assayas: The son of God who takes away the sins of the world. I wish I could believe in that.

Bono:But I love the idea of the Sacrificial Lamb. I love the idea that God says: Look, you cretins, there are certian results to the way we are, to selfishness, and there’s morality as part of your very sinful nature, and, let’s face it, you’re not living a very good life, are you? There are consequences to your actions. The point of the death of Christ is that Christ took on the sins of the world, so that what we put out did not come back to us, and that our sinful nature does not reap the obvious death. That’s the point. It should keep us humbled… It’s not our own good works that get us through the gates of Heaven.

Assayas: That’s a great idea, no denying it. Such great hope is wonderful, even though it’s close to lunacy, in my view. Christ has his rank among the world’s great thinkers. But Son of God, isn’t that farfetched?

Bono: No, it’s not farfetched to me. Look the secular response to the Christ story always goes like this: he was a great prophet, obviously a very interesting guy, had a lot to say along the lines of other great prophets, be they Elijah, Muhammad, Buddha, or Confucius. But acctually Christ doesn’t allow you that. He doesn’t let you off that hook. Christ says: No. I’m not saying I’m a teacher, don’t call me teacher. I’m not saying I’m a prophet. I’m saying: “I’m the Messiah.” I’m saying: “I’m God incarnate.” And people say: No, no please, just be a prophet. A prophet we can take. You’re a bit eccentric. We’ve had John the baptist eating locusts and wild honey, we can handle that. But don’t mention the “M” word! Because, you know, we’re gonna have to crucify you. An He goes: No, no. I know you’re expecting me to come back with an army, and set you free from these creeps, but acctually I’m the Messiah. At this point, everyone starts staring at their shoes, and says: Oh, my God, he’s gonna keep saying this. So what you’re left with is: either Christ was who He said He is- the Messiah- or a complete nutcase. I mean, we’re talking nutcase on the level of Chrles Manson. This man was like some of the people we’ve been talking about earlier (Islamic fundamentalists). This man was straping himself to a bomb, and had “King of the Jews” on his head, and, as they were putting him up on the Cross, was going: Ok, martyrdom, here we go. Bring on the pain! I can take it. I’m not joking here. The idea that the entire course of civilization for over a half of the globe could have its fate changed and turned upside-down by a nut case, for me, that’s farfetched… (204-205)

My father is a high school Govt/Economics teacher in Texas. He is one of those great teachers who gives his lessons through story. I grew up listening to him regale his students with tale after tale of how our country came to be. As I went to college I had a professor who would have to dismiss class because he would not be able to compose himself after telling the story of heroes such as LaFayette and Lincoln. I had a great experience learning history and that has served me very well as a minister. I am at heart a storyteller. I love history and I love engaging with it.

Today, I engaged.

I am in Williamsburg, VA. One of the “perks” of my job as a campus minister is that I do not teach a daily class. That frees my schedule up so that I can join groups on class trips. Right now, I am with our band as they are preparing for a competition tomorrow in colonial Williamsburg. We spent the day in town and took a “hauntings” tour this evening. We had a grand old(e) time!

I have enjoyed my time with these students this week. On the 14hr bus ride here I spent some time with a number of students talking about the school year and where they want to take the school next year. Many of these students are thirsty for true spiritual development. Some of them have talked to me for an hour about their Bible classes, family life, and relationships. Then they quote “Family Guy.” I have a weird job. A wonderful, frustrating, rewarding, heart-wrenching, great, weird job.

Wow! It has been a long time since I last posted. I have written a little but nothing “post-worthy” has been able to escape my brain. Life has been pulling me in 80 different directions lately and later this week I will board a bus and head to the nation’s capital on a band trip with my stuidents. I wanted to post something this morning because I have a window of opportunity.

Books on My Desk

The Challenge of Jesus by N.T. Wright
What a great book. Wright is the Man! In his quest to find out who Jesus really was and is Wright gives these 4 reasons for the journey: God, Scripture, Truth, Mission. He believes that the better we understand Jesusthe Son the more we understand about God the Father. Wright seeks Jesus out of a loyalty to scripture isn’t afraid of Truth. Finally, we seek Jesus because as Christians we are committed to His mission. I am accepting the Challenge

Bono: In Conversation with Michka Assayas by Michka Assayas
The Singer on his father. The Singer on Africa. The Singer on God, faith, and politics. The Singer.

These two books have been great. Look for them next week on the Best of page.

Last night I made my radio broadcast debut. The private school where I work is holding its annual benefit dinner next week. We have asked Jim Morris to be our speaker. Morris’ story was retold in the Disney movie “The Rookie.” At 35 years old, he signed a major league contract with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Tampa Bay’s AA farm team plays here in the city so I had a chance to talk about the event during the game last night. Being in the radio booth was fascinating. The announcer had his laptop at the desk with 3-4 browser windows open. He would call the pitches and then use the internet to announce game scores or small facts about the players. He also had two stat books open and update the stats mid-game. One time a player stole second base. He picked up the book called the 1-1 pitch and then talked about how that player had only stolen 2 bases in his whole career. The man needed four arms to complete his braodcast. It was alot of fun. At the beginning of my interview, the announcer thought I had said “Jim Morrison” instead of “Jim Morris.” I quickly recovered by assuring him that it wasn’t the Lizard King who was speaking but the baseball player.

UPDATE
My foot is not broken. The ER doctor did not read the x-ray correctly. So, yeah….

I broke my foot.

To be continued…

Last night, I was messing with some code and… well, I’m not sure. So here we are back at the default scheme. I still haven’t officially moved over from Blogger yet. Hopefully by May 1st, I will make this my permanant home. The look will change so hang on!

I’ve been so busy that I haven’t had time to breathe (not good). We had a retreat this past weekend that went very well. God blessed us with some great weather too. I made a few “youth ministry nuts and bolts” mistakes but I learned some lessons and next time I’ll do even better. It is amazing how God can use us inspite of ourselves. I saw firsthand his strength in my weakness. Anyways, have a great day!

It has been five years, since I spent 6 wonderful weeks in the country of Scotland. For me, just stepping one foot in Scotland made me tingle with excitement. Like many Americans, my love for scotland came from an Australian. Mel Gibson’s epic Braveheart had turned every American into a blue faced, kilt wearing Scotish lord (well, at least in their hearts). I was no exception. Around the time that the movie was released on VHS, my grandmother passed away and we were forced to move into her home near downtown Dallas for about 3 months. I felt far way from my friends and although the house was tiny, I felt removed from my family. I played high school football under Texas friday night lights. To get pumped up, I would watch Braveheart every Thursday. Every Thursday. Widescreen. Both tapes. All the way through. I tried to live the motto “Every man dies, but not every man truly lives” to the fullest extent that a dumb 17 year-old boy could. I loved it! When I went off to university, the campus ministery offered me the chance of a lifetime. Six weeks serving churches in Scotland on a mission trip. I jumped at that chance. When we arrived, I fell in love with the country and her people even more. I’ll never forget traveling to Stirling and climbing the steps in Wallace Tower. In the tower, hung the sword of William Wallace. The sword was much taller than I am. It didno’t look like the movie sword. This weapon wasn’t beauitiful. it was striking. The AP photo above is of William Wallace’s sword. 700 years after Wallace’s execution, the sword is traveling to New York City as the cernterpiece in the Tarten Celebrations. If you live in New York, try and get over to GCS and take a peak at this peice of history. If you miss it you might one day find yourselves dying. And lying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willing to trade… Sorry. I get really passionate about some things.