Jennifer (as I’m walking out the door): Goodbye hot man.

Madox: Goodbye hot man.

Jaxon:  Mommy, you’re hot.

And also:

Me: Madox are you a boy?

Madox: No.

Me: Are you a girl?

Madox: No.

Me: Do you like broccoli?

Madox: No.

Me: Do you like beer?

Madox: I LOVE MILK!

(2, going on 3, is a HILARIOUS age!)

I won’t lie.  In my worst moments I love a full room of people on Sunday morning.  At my most insecure, it makes me feel good about myself.  (fyi: if a pastor says that he or she doesn’t really care about attendance, they are either a) lying, or b) waaaay more spiritual/confident/secure than I!)

I’ve been a pastor for almost 11 years now.  (I’m pretty sure that I started my first pastoral position on June 14, 1999.)  Numbers have always been a tricky thing.  But something has happened in me the last couple of years, leading Imago.  It’s really captured in this quotation that I came across a couple minutes ago:

God’s goal is not a perfect attendance record; it is a community of people who actually want to be in a community.” – J. Ortberg, The Me I Want to Be

I get super-excited when I hear people say things like “I’ve been gone a couple weeks, and I’ve missed the people of Imago,” or “I’ve always seen church as something I just ’show up’ to, but, for the first time, I get excited to come to church and be around these people.”  And I get encouraged when I hear of groups spontaneously gathering to hang out, serve the poor, or discuss a book together – not because we’ve created a program and asked for perfect attendance, but because they want to be a community that is changing the world.

I was a late-comer to the Jimmy Eat World party.  I knew that Dave liked them a lot, so I bought Chase This Light when it came out a couple years ago on a lark, and I was hooked!  Eventually, I went back and bought all their albums.  One of my favorite songs, just in terms of the sound of the song, is “A Praise Chorus,” off the Bleed American album.

And then, I recently came across some discussion of the song and about how the song is a love song about falling in love with rock n’ roll.  I now I think it might just be one of my favorite songs ever.  The first part of the song is about kind of being a wallflower… then finding a song to fall in love with.  The end of the song is a whole compilation of lines, lyrics and references to other songs.  I particularly love the reference to Motley Crue (“kick start my rock n’ roll heart”)!

Favorite line: “I want to always feel like part of this was mine.”  That line captures for me what listening to music is always about for me… finding something in the music and feeling like part of the lyric is my story, my poetry, my song.

Another favorite line:  “Crimson and Clover, over and over.”  “Crimson and Clover” was a hit in the 60’s by Tommy James and the Shondells.  I love this lyric because it’s all about how you find a song you love and you can just play it over and over.

Here are the lyrics from songmeaning.com, along with some commentary.

Here is a youtube link with the official video, if you just want to hear the song.

For a breakdown of the songs referenced or alluded to, here’s the wikipedia entry.

When I am growing toward the me I want to be, I am being freed from the me I pretend to be.  I no longer try to convince people I am important while secretly fearing I am not.  (emphasis mine)

John Ortberg, The Me I Want to Be, p. 24

One of the things I’ve learned, in the last three years, is that there is a rhythm to Lent.  Ash Wednesday is exciting.  It’s like starting a new workout regimen.  It’s new, you’ve psyched yourself up for it, the church is full of people who are ready to commit themselves to new disciplines, there’s an energy in the air.  That continues for the first week, and maybe into the next.

On the other side, as you near the end of Lent, you come up against Holy Week.  And that’s exciting as you know that Holy Thursday, Good Friday & Easter are coming.

But this week, we’re in the middle.  The excitement of the beginning is over, and Easter is still a long way off.  I really want to order a couple CD’s on iTunes, and I have a list of books that I really want to buy on Amazon.com.  And frankly, it’s just kind of hard, and blah.

But, I think this is maybe the most important time in the journey.  No one ever got healthier by only working out when it was easy.

So, if you’re like me, and you find yourself in the Lenten Doldrums, don’t give up.  (and come hang out with us “fellow journey-ers” at dinner on Wednesday night!)

One of them is a fundamentalist straw man.  He never smiles, hates everything new, is an arrogant jerk and thinks he’s right all the time about everything.  Man, do I love to punch him in the face.  Every time I have a glass of wine I laugh at him and his belief that in the Bible wine=grape juice.  And I feel so superior.

Another one is the one I call “fan boi.”  Whatever the fad of the day is, he’s there.  He never has the guts to stand up and say, “I know that everyone else likes this book/movie/song/idea, but not me.  I think it sucks.”  I like to slap him (He probably couldn’t take it anyway.)  When I take a real moral stand (like #ihatefigureskating), I poke him in the chest and show him how confident and sure I am.)

And while there may be a few people here and there who may look a lot like my straw men, I have to remind myself, that they are just caricatures.  And the reason that I win every argument with them is because they are my creation – one dimensional, illogical, lame, ill-intentioned, misguided – created to be a foil where I can work out my moral/cultural/philosophical/theological thoughts & ideas.  And it’s probably okay.  At least in my head.

The danger lies in those places where I move my straw man from just in my head, to projecting them upon real people.  So I look at real people, who are so much more complex than my straw man version, and I reduce their deeply held beliefs, ideas to a simple straw man caricature.

• One day of being sick enough to stay in bed for the day is kind of like a little vacation.  A week of it drives one crazy.  Plus you feel like a bad spouse, bad father and frankly, a bit lonely.
• One of the things I liked about the Oscars last night was the tribute to John Hughes.  I think he made almost every movie I loved from the late 80’s.
• Another thing I liked was when co-stars and directors paid tribute to the nominees for Lead Actor/Actress.  Being a “words guy,” I thought it was touching.
• You know that poem from Ecclesiastes?  The one that goes, “for everything there is a season… a time to plant, a time to reap, etc.  It seems that this is a time for much sorrow.  I have friends dealing with tough stuff.  My heart aches for them, and makes me feel lame for complaining about a little cold I had last week.
• I love the rain.  It means spring is coming.  Jennifer and I are going to sit down and plan out our garden here in a couple weeks.  I’m excited.  We will be expanding.
• My 4-year old beat me at Wii bowling 3 straight games last night, and I was trying.  Pathetic!

⁃    Praepropere – eating too soon.
⁃    Laute – eating too expensively
⁃    Nimis – eating too much.
⁃    Ardenter – eating too eagerly
⁃    Studiose – eating too daintily
⁃    Forente - eating wildly

I’m not sure exactly what he had in mind in terms of “eating wildly,” but I’m sure I’ve done it, since I’ve most assuredly committed the other five!

(I’d love to hear your take on Holden Caulfield.  When did you first read the novel?  Did you like it?  Hate it?  Did you identify with Holden or loath him?)

Anyway, there are a couple of thoughts running through my head this morning…

• I did a little research, and in 1981, The Catcher in the Rye, was the most banned book in public schools, as well as the second-most taught book, at the same time.  That’s interesting.
• Of course, in my parochial school high school, in the late 80’s, early 90’s, we did NOT read it.  Personally, I don’t think I’d want my boys reading it until they are in their late teens.
• Who exactly is The Catcher in the Rye?  I had a thought last night, as I finished, that it’s Phoebe, in that she saves Holden from himself.
• I heard once, somewhere, that The Catcher in the Rye has been a popular book among assassins.  I’m not sure why, except that Holden is so immature, particularly in his relationship and judgment of other people, he’s prone to exaggeration, and hyperbole and that must somehow connect to people like Lee Harvey Oswald, Timothy McVeigh, and others.  But I’m no criminal profiler…

Me: I refuse to watch Jay Leno.

Jennifer: I know, but I’d kinda like to see them.

Me: I’ll have to leave the room, but you’re free to watch.  I’m a principled man after all.

Jennifer: Sigh.

Wow.  Is she amazing or what?  I don’t know how she puts up with me.  Really.