John Wayne movies

I've got several lists that I've been working on every now and then. Here is my first list. These are my favorite John Wayne movies, in no particular order. His 100th birthday is this week. Horses, cowboys and more horses, can't do much better than that.
a. True Grit
b. The Horse Soldiers
c. The War Wagon
d. The Green Berets
e. The Cowboys
f. The Train Robbers
g. She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
h. Fort Apache
i. The Alamo
j. The Sands of Iwo Jima
k. Rio Bravo

Self-Esteem, Therapeutic Culture

I pulled this article from one of the pastoral information emails I get. I thought this was very interesting. Attending a church to serve has taken a back seat to "what's in it for me". The article illustrates that point.

"In a column for ChristianPost.com, Michael Craven writes: "Christopher Lasch points out in his important book, The Culture of Narcissism, 'The contemporary climate is therapeutic not religious. People today hunger not for personal salvation, but for the feeling, the momentary illusion, of personal well-being, health, and psychic security.' Following the eclipse of the Christian worldview that once shaped American life and culture, the 'therapeutic' revolution of the sixties emerged to convince us that 'personal happiness' was the ultimate goal of human life. This idea has only further encouraged the individual self to elevate his or her needs and interests above everyone else's.

"By replacing the former religious culture with today's therapeutic culture we have unwittingly created the most narcissistic generation in American history. 'For a multi-university study released this year, 16,475 college students took the standardized narcissistic personality inventory . . . Students' scores have risen steadily since the test was first offered, in 1982. The average college student in 2006 was 30 percent more narcissistic than the average student in 1982.' (WSJ)

"What precisely is this narcissism I speak of and how does the therapeutic sensibility contribute to its formation? In short, the advent of Freudian psychotherapy sought to liberate men from what it saw as outdated modes of thinking about such things as love, duty, self-sacrifice, and submission to higher authority. Under the Freudian premise 'mental health,' which becomes the highest human goal, was defined as 'the overthrow of inhibitions and the immediate gratification of every impulse.' Each person's own desires and wants were given primacy over and above everything and everyone else, including God. Doing so, we were told, would make us 'happy' and nearly every aspect of contemporary American culture has combined to reinforce this message.
"By contrast, the Bible defines love as subordinating your needs to those of others; that we have a God-given duty to serve and assist others, that self-sacrifice is the ultimate demonstration of this love, and that we are to submit to authority in the same way we submit to God.

Furthermore, happiness is NOT the central aim of human existence -- knowing and glorifying God is, and from this flows something much deeper than temporal happiness: joy, which endures beyond circumstances, producing true contentment."

Too Serious

Church people often take life way too seriously. I had a friend send this to me, and I've got to link it for you to read. This is from a blogging pastor in another area. But there is a warning, if you get easily offended or have little sense of humor, then pass.

http://www.johnlaeger.typepad.com/johnlaegercom/2007/05/rotflmbo.html

Innovation: Church Party

Innovation: (From Wikipedia) Innovation typically involves creativity, but is not identical to it: innovation involves acting on the creative ideas to make some specific and tangible difference in the domain in which the innovation occur (emphasis mine). For example, Amabile et al (1996) propose:
"All innovation begins with creative ideas . . . We define innovation as the successful implementation of creative ideas within an organization. In this view, creativity by individuals and teams is a starting point for innovation; the first is necessary but not sufficient condition for the second". (p. 1154-1155).

I enjoy change, but not change for the sake of change, but change with innovation in mind, the desire to create or make new. With that innovation in mind, and a desire for our two services to get to know one another better (and for that matter, for those within the services to get to know one another better) we cancelled our two worship experiences and had a party on Sunday morning. The pictures above were what the tables looked like before everyone started coming.

We had a fantastic time! Part of being in a local body of believers is fellowship, so that's what we did. We laughed, sang, ate, prayed and shared communion, and did all of it together.

I believe we did exactly what the definition says, we acted on the "creative ideas to make some specific and tangible difference in the domain in which the innovation occurs". Isn't being creative and innovative alot more fun, and add LIFE to a church?

Jesus and Lifestyle Changes

This was the introduction to my sermon last week. This was the last week of our series was called "Revolution".

Jesus came and brought a revolution, a revolution not just of ideas but of an ideology. He brought not just a different way of living; He said this is the only way to truly live. He didn’t bring a way to get to God; He said He was the only way to get to God. He didn’t just say here is how to live in this world, He said if you follow me you will no longer be of this world. He brought a way that didn’t end with death but conquered death. He made eternity reachable. He brought a revolution.

In the words of Dorothy Sayers:
"To do them justice, the people who crucified Jesus did not do so because he was a bore. Quite the contrary; he was too dynamic to be safe. It has been left for later generations to muffle up that shattering personality and surround him with an atmosphere of tedium. We have declawed the lion of Judah and made him a housecat for pale priests and pious old ladies."

Christianity has the most radical, dangerous, message of life, calling us to a radical, dangerous, daring earth-shattering life, but too many of us live a life of hum-drum, safe and tedious days. Is that really the call of Jesus? Not according to the Bible I read.

Saved or Lost

I saw this bumper sticker when we were on vacation in Monterey, CA a few weeks ago that said, "I'm not lost."

I figured it was a take off of the "saved" bumper stickers that Christians use.

I was irritated at first, and thought about the arrogance of that statement. What if he (or she) is wrong(which I believe they are wrong)? What if what they are doing isn't enough at the end of their life to get them to heaven (assuming heaven is their goal at death)?

That is the generation we deal with, though. And what I am realizng is my own self-righteousness that judges his prideful attitude rather than what I believe Jesus would do, cry out for their salvation.

Everyone reaches the "dead end" at some point. Am I living the kind of life for Jesus that reveals to the "I'm not lost" group not only their lostness but also their answer?

Google/Blogger Irritation

Has anyone had problems with their blogger password? I haven't been able to get on for the last three days due to an inaccurate password, which was the same password I've been using for almost two years. It was extremely irritating. I was ready to bail, but couldn't even get in to my account to let people know I was moving web sites. Justin, my son, has had the same problem with his password. The account keeps rejecting his password. We "updated", which really meant that we put the same password on twice.

Yes, I have considered that it might be the user, but rejected that, since, as I said earlier, I've used the same password for quite a while.