44

I was tagged by my friend Carl for a project that goes like this:

*each blogger posts 44 things about the 44th President of the USA

*somewhere in the post, the tag #44:44 is included, so all the posts are more easily tracked

*each blogger then tags 4 other bloggers to invite them to post their own 44 things about the 44th President on their blog

Here are mine:

1. He is 47 years old

2. He is not too young to be President

3. He is African-American

4. He is white

5. He is Hawaiian

6. He is Indonesian

7. He is L.A.

7. He is New York

8. He is Chicago

9. He is Harvard

10. He is Illinois

11. He is shaped by his history, but not defined by it

12. He is a Senator

13. He is an author

14. He can do two things at once

15. He is a father

16. He is a son

17. He is a husband

18. He knows what matters

19. He is an American

20. He is a Christian

21. He understands these words don't mean the same thing

22. He understands the complexities of trying to be both

23. He is a former drug user

24. He is open about that fact

25. He calls that his greatest moral failure

26. He understands that past failures don't define us if we're willing to change

27. He likes change

28. He makes change

29. He calls us to make change

30. He calls us to make sacrifices

31. He makes decisions

32. He does not always make the right decisions

33. He will not always make the right decisions

34. He knows this

35. He does not expect us to always agree with him

36. He does not want us to always agree with him

37. We will not always agree with him

38. He is not a communist

39. He is not a socialist

40. He encourages us to share

41. He encourages us to hope

42. He is not our hope 

43. He is not the anti-Christ

44. He is not Jesus Christ

I tag: Joe Hays, Jason Middlekauff, Dean Smith, and Julie Clawson

A King and A Kingdom

A good reminder to Christians, whether your guy won or not.

My first allegiance is not to a flag, a country, or a man

My first allegiance is not to democracy or blood

It's to a King and a Kingdom

                                                      -Derek Webb

What Is Good

No matter what happens on election day, our task remains the same; to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly.

Also, you should check out Derek Webb's article on voting.

Going All In

I once said of Immanuel that it was the first church that I would be willing to go broke working for. That statement has certainly been (and continues to be) tested (in that going broke is a real possibility), but one that I would still make. Immanuel has been the most challenging and rewarding church experience that I have ever had, and much, if not most, of that has been tied to the degree of expectation attached to it.

That degree of expectation hasn't just been something Rachel and I have experienced as pastors, but something at the heart of the Immanuel vision. As it says on our website, "No promises of an easy road...just people to walk it with you."

But as a church grows it gets easier to begin to compromise that vision. It gets easier to fall into routines. It gets easier to expect less of ourselves and of being the church.

So, my question is, how much should we expect of each other when it comes to being the church? Jesus' call to discipleship is nothing less than a "going all in." Is that what we should expect of Christian community?

Heroes

I'm out. This past week's Heroes episode was my last. 

This show started out in Season One as if it had been written with me in mind. I love a good superhero story. I loved that Twilight Zone, "something weird is happening, but we don't know why" element of super power discovery. I loved that the show understood that good superhero stories are always about the people and not the powers. Season One focused on a few fascinating characters and the intriguing plot behind their newfound powers.

Season Two was a mess. Blame the writers' strike if you like, but other shows seemed to do just fine in spite of it.

Regardless, Season Three has had ample opportunity to make up for whatever went wrong in Season Two and it hasn't. And while a lot has gone wrong with this show, it's what (or who) was at the heart of this show that serves as a metaphor for all that's gone wrong. The hero at the heart of Heroes is Hiro.

Hiro was the best part of Season One, a guy who had grown up on the stories of heroes and knew, when his powers began to develop, that it meant something big was coming. No one had to explain to him that "with great power comes great responsibility."

Season Three finds Hiro without any big problem to solve. So, instead of doing what any hero (and, for that matter what Hiro) would do and train patiently for whatever is coming next, Hiro creates an unnecessary problem in order to have something to solve. This problem begins (and continues to be) the main conflict of Season Three. 

So, I'm done. I don't like the characters I used to like nor any of the new ones I've met. I hate the meandering purposelessness of these heroes every bit as much as I loved the resolve and purpose of the first season ones. I don't mind when Zach Braff's characters don't know how to move forward or serve as their own worst enemies, but Zach Braff's characters were never billed as heroes (and they tend to be funnier). This thing has gotten convoluted and frustrating and boring. I'm out. I'm done.