Milk

One of my favorite drinks is milk. I didn't even realize this until my wife brought home a glass bottle of Jersey Cow Whole Milk. After shaking the bottle to make sure the cream had mixed in with the rest of the milk, I poured myself a glass. Thick and white with a smell of almost sweetness. It was amazing stuff.

I have always enjoyed milk but I grew up on the 2% or less variety and it only seemed like a friendly companion to a bowl of cereal. Drinking a glass on its own always seemed a bit lacking, a little watered down. What I didn't know is that the modern, standard glass of milk is not the same type of milk my grandparents were drinking or even my mom. She talked about cream on the top of her glass of milk and I could only picture the little plastic cups for coffee on the table at Denny's. 

Over and over I am pleasantly surprised when we buy or make something as close to untouched as possible. (I'm avoiding the word natural to steer away from a hippy or organic conversation). The experience is akin to when I listen to a beloved album on a pair of high quality speakers. It always feels as though I am listening for the first time. "Oh, the drummer is creating a sound on the bell of the cymbal." "The voice has a gravelly quality on the low end of that line." "Do you hear the way his fingers drag along the string?"

Food and drink is the same way. Leslie, my wife, sometimes makes butter from scratch. I put it on my bread and think, "have I ever had butter before?"

We buy a bar of simple dark chocolate, anticipating a candy bar I brace myself for a sugar load and, instead, encounter a firm base of dark chocolate with subtle notes of botanical and fruity flavors.

We buy eggs from a neighbor farm and I am blinded by yellow when I crack them into the pan.

Or I pour a glass of milk and enjoy its creamy goodness.

Journey through Joy

One of the recent books in our Reading Society was the autobiography of C.S. Lewis: Surprised by Joy. Less of a step by step explanation of his entire past, it is a methodical walk through his discovery, loss, rediscovery and eventual surrender to what he calls Joy. 

It, somewhat, takes the traditional form of an autobiography. Think Augustine’s Confessions. But Lewis, takes the reader on a journey through the specific chapters in his life that introduced him to Joy. He then talks much of his studies that gave him the capacity to understand it. The final third of the book is the “chess game” with the Creator whose checkmate brought Lewis into Christianity.

Clearly the main surprise was, of course, the explanation of Joy. From the very beginning of the book he is describing these chance encounters with this emotion called Joy. And, for Lewis, Joy is something powerful and distinct.

“Joy (in my sense) has indeed one characteristic, and one only, in common with them [pleasure and happiness]; the fact that anyone who has experienced it will want it again. Apart from that, and considered only in its quality, it might almost equally well be called a particular kind of     unhappiness or grief. But then it is a kind we want. I doubt whether anyone who has tasted it would ever, if both were in his power, exchange it for all the pleasures in the world. But then Joy is never in our power and pleasure often is.”

Lewis, C. S.. Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life (p. 18).             

Through his eloquence and thoughtfulness Lewis explained to me Joy, caused me to reminisce, and had me longing for Joy. I had felt the longing pang of Joy before but I did not possess, like Lewis, the mental fortitude to go on looking for it in such a methodical and intellectual way. 

Lewis’s journey is not one of sensational conversion or emotional repentance. He engages in a serious look at the world while striving to be intellectually honest and pragmatically consistent with his beliefs. 

After reading, I have found myself more attune to the “signposts of the kingdom”, these pangs of Joy, and find myself now properly focused on the kingdom when I encounter a Joy-filled moment.

I highly recommend this book. It is such a thoughtful walk through the signposts Lewis encountered that it gives the reader the chance to practice the gait of his steps. There has not been a book in recent memory for me that has had me more thoughtful and ready to plunge into more reading so I can be fit and versed to experience Joy like Lewis did. 

Why Comic Books?

In mentioning a taste that does not likely align with another adult’s taste C.S. Lewis said, “A certain shame or bashfulness attached itself to whatever one deeply and privately enjoyed.” I have a bit of reticence to even bring up comic books. There is a touch of stigma associated perhaps because of its elementary literary level or categorization as a picture book. 

But I do enjoy comic books, they are a lighter fare and different medium in the genre of storytelling. I almost feel pressured to mention the plethora of other books I am currently reading to justify the presence of the comic book but I will save that reading system for another day.

The comic book is an enjoyable medium often associated with superheroes. There are many other types of stories in the medium but my reading sits firmly in the realm of the superhero and their cosmic adventures. 

The first comics I read were given to me by my youth pastor in Jr. High. I read about the Silver Surfer traveling the cosmos and observing the vastness of space and the altogether otherness of different planets. As a Jr. Higher, I was spellbound. I hadn’t even begun to imagine the type of visuals and grand stories I was witnessing (and it did feel like witnessing). I had, through this little floppy book, a window into a world far bigger and fantastical than my own. Through this window were stories amazing and wonderful that stirred the imagination. 

This feeling is very much akin to the feeling C.S. Lewis describes experiencing when he encountered Norse Mythology. He, and I, was aware of their fictitious nature but nonetheless stirred by their grandeur.* 

I lost the medium through most of high school and college and rediscovered them a couple years ago when Starbucks offered a free digital download of the new Action Comics #1. I was transported back to the same wonder I had before. All of a sudden, I again had a window for my imagination. 

I added comics, mainly Superman stories and now old Marvel stories, into my reading regiment. They serve as simple reads that can be a quick respite from the stress of the day or a pallet cleanser after reading a 500 page tome on 13th century history. 

I just finished Crisis on Infinite Earths which is a universe-spanning and all-of-time-encompassing story full of peril and end of the world type adventure. Time and space are bent and everything about the universe (the DC Universe to be precise) is reshaped at the end of the story. 

That is just pure fun! 

But it also takes my mind past the scope of my day to day work and catapults my perspective back into the grandeur of a universe wide story. This perspective, albeit in a fictitious realm, is more in line with the cosmos-invading nature of the story I actually belong to. Every time I read a cosmos-changing storyline I am reminded of the study I did in Ephesians that reveals the cosmic scope of the Gospel story: 

    [9] and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in         God, who created all things, [10] so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God         might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. Ephesians 2:9-10

The Gospel shows up and the Church reveals the wisdom of God not just to the street level people changed by it but also to every authority and ruler against it in the heavenly places. That’s cosmos wide, my friends.

While it is can be slightly silly, and Batman is lurking in the genre, the stories are one way I remind myself of that grand truth and scope and that is worthwhile.

* Surprised by Joy. C.S. Lewis

The Movie List

I am very annoyed by wasting an hour trying to decide which movie to watch. I loathe it when said movie turns out to be complete flop.

This is a great system to quickly give you a movie to watch and also plunge you into a world of filmmaking that demands attention and observation. I can’t guarantee I always end up with a great film but I always feel as though I have used the time well. 

Step 1: Download a list from The Academy Awards site.

For my list I added every nominee for:

Best Picture, Best Directing, Best Writing (Original), Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay), Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress

I used the years 1979-2015 (this is because I had already seen the majority of the great films before 1979 through watching the Top 100 AFI List)

Step 2: Print off the List

Step 3: Highlight (in all categories) the movies you have seen

As I was doing this with my wife, I highlighted in blue and she in yellow so if we both had     seen the movie it was green.

Step 4: When it is time to watch a movie, produce a random year.

We use the RNG (Random Number Generator) app but Siri will work just fine, “Give me         a number between 1979-2015.”

Step 5: With the year chosen, go to the first category (Best Picture) and chose the winner of the category. If you have already seen it then you proceed to the next film starting in alphabetical order. If all movies have been seen or vetoed (see below) proceed to the next category (in our list we would continue to Best Directing)

Step 6: Don’t watch a movie you have already seen. 

        Everyone watching gets one veto per movie watching time.

i.e. My wife and I generate the number 1991. We go to Best Picture, Silence of the Lambs. I have seen it so I use my veto. We then go to Beauty and the Best which we have both seen. We then proceed to Bugsy and she uses her veto. Out of vetoes, we watch JFK.

Step 7: Enjoy the movie and look for reasons you think it may have been nominated. 

Step 8: Highlight (in all categories) the movie you just watched.

Note: If you know there is a movie that you want to watch, watch it. Don’t worry about only watching movies from the list. I still watch every Marvel movie.

Among Mountains

Music has a sense of place. The ability to create a landscape and environment. Sometimes recognized. Sometimes foreign and new. It uses sound and rhythm the way wine uses smell and taste to point to a land or country. 

I had the pleasure of enjoying the opening night of the Oregon Symphony’s 2016 season. They commissioned a piece, for their 160th anniversary, from Chris Rogerson. He put together a soaring piece dedicated to the Pacific Northwest: Among Mountains. 

From the first notes I was surrounded by the grandeur of the Pacific Northwest. The strings created a vision of the evergreen forests draped in thick fog. It almost had a cinematic feel to it—as though we had the point of view of an aerial camera flying over the dense Cascade forests in the early morning dew. 

And then the brass… they soared into the music like Mt. Hood flies above the clouds. They were majestic and inspiring. My heart was stirred, picturing the land I love and being all the more reminded of it by such beautiful music. 

I had never heard the piece before but it took me straight to a place I treasure. Music does that. It was no surprise that the crowd erupted in applause and took to their feet. A music hall of spectators were all transported to the same place. They recognized it and they marveled.

Blood and Tears

Leslie, my wife, sent me a song a while back. We had been enduring a bit of the difficulties of ministry and the messiness of life, and the song fit right into those feelings of weariness but with a willingness to keep walking forward. 

“Blood and Tears”, by the band Joseph (a Pacific Northwest band I once shared a stage with, but that is another story), is a heartfelt anthem that realizes the difficulty life can bring to a relationship. “We’ll say it wasn’t easy. No, it was never easy.” Despite the difficulty the singers promise to push on with full knowledge of what could be ahead. “I will stay ‘til the end of the line.”

I think this song sits in the context of the band members, three sisters, knowing the difficulty that being in relationship doing music together will bring but resolving to plow forward anyway. “If it will be a fight regardless I only want the fight to be with you.”

I can also see this song fitting nicely in the idea of vowing in marriage—till death do us part. 

With my first listen, however, my imagination and heart were drawn to viewing the road of ministry and loving the church. I was in a particularly hard spot. This song had a resolve that sounded familiar. The road is difficult and sometimes the Church does not want to be loved. Other times the messiness of life gets too close, discomfort seems to encroach at every corner, and, if you are honest, there are circumstances that make you want to sit down and give up.

This song spoke right into that vulnerability. It did not avoid the reality of pain but proclaimed its anthem anyway. I deeply appreciate that kind of perspective. There is an arduous road with a glorious end ahead. Glorious…but this road is arduous nonetheless, especially when you pursue meaningful relationship. If you trudge through with that end in mind you can look back and wonder how it is you got there. Much of it is the grace the Holy Spirit dispenses in the midst of hard times. It is often difficult to notice or see the grace through the blood and the tears, but when it’s over, you can look back and see that the journey was worth it. It is worth it because the relationship with the person laboring beside you is strong and ultimately because you are walking toward the Kingdom together. 

If you are walking through a tough spot or you want a song to help the next time a mountain blocks your path, I think this one is worth a listen.

The Cave

I recently finished Plato’s Republic. It is a long conversation that considers the merit of practicing justice. It eventually blows up into a macro view of what the “ideal” city would look like. While it is replete with logical fallacies, the way it walks through arguments and reveals the speaker’s values is quite interesting.

One of the biggest catalysts of thought was Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. 

I had a vague recollection of talking through this allegory in undergrad and remember being required to read but don’t recall actually reading it. In Republic, Plato, through his character Socrates, employs the allegory to talk about the kind of leaders that should be leading the people of a city. 

The allegory is that of men limited to living in a cave looking at shadows, falsely thinking they look at reality. When one escapes the cave and sees light, fully experiencing all it touches, he is finally able to properly see reality. If he then goes back to his neighbors in the cave, he is best suited to lead them toward reality because he has seen it, and because he has lived in the cave and knows what it is like to be transfixed with shadows. (Book 7)

The allegory was used to point to the need for a leader to be versed in philosophy and knowledge, but my mind took the allegory and saw the ramifications of the Gospel. We are the ones trapped in the cave, looking at mere shadows, thinking they are the extent of reality when they are but imitations. As we come out of the cave and begin to see light, we see things as they truly are. 

We see the brokenness of our prior state and the presence of grace permeating our lives. We see that the Savior Creator has made us, redeemed us, and is worth glorifying. We see that the things we used to glory in were shadows and realize the insufficiencies of the shadows we used to be enamored by. We thought the small things could hold the weight of life and glory but really they are tools that, in their proper context, point us back to the light. Family. Work. Marriage. Joy. All of these are only shadows if not seen in the light. 

The shadow of marriage is fragile until you realize you sit in a glorious picture of Christ’s love for his Church. The gift of children could be taken as a weight or glorified beyond its station to idol until we see that relationship as a picture of Father God lovingly bringing us up into sonship in Christ. In addition, it is an opportunity to call your own out of the cave. The examples are numerous.

Those who see the light are those best suited to run back into the cave and explain the light to those who still sit in darkness—trapped in their shortsighted view of reality. The whole allegory seemed to put legs on the metaphorical language used by John in the New Testament. He often talks about walking in the light, living in the light, realizing the light is here (Jn 12:35, 1:5, 3:19). He plays the darkness against the light and begs us to abandon the shadows and the death that dwells there and glory in the light. 

John was a former cave dweller that saw the light and invites us to true reality illuminated by the light he experienced. He calls us out of the cave.

Scotch

It was a mild weeknight evening when he walked into the bar—an establishment of character and thoughtfulness. Their offerings were large and curated.

He chose a Campbeltown 12 year scotch after perusing the lengthy menu. 

“What’s the occasion?” The barmen asked given the type of drink and time of the week.

“I just finished the last class of my master’s degree,” He said with the hint of a satisfied smile.

“What did you study?” The barmen asked, clearly impressed.

“I completed a Master’s of Divinity. A type of pastoral degree.”

The barmen was surprised and uncertain how to proceed in the conversation. He proceeded to pour the drink and pushed it toward the man. 

“Are you new to scotch? It might be hard for you to totally enjoy the drink because of your religion.” His tone betrayed a caricature of understanding about the idea of a pastor but no ill will.

The man observed the glass and then the liquid inside as he raised it to the light. With his eyes closed he smelled the contents. First, with a serious look and then with a rush of happiness of his face.

He looked at the barmen, “No, my friend. In fact, the differences in your and mine enjoyment gives me a touch of sadness. I may enjoy this far more than you will ever be able to. You touch this glass to your lips and taste something good. Something, even, very good. And there you find an end. A glorious moment in the midst of disappointment or perhaps, if you are graced, enjoyable existence. But that is all it is. A moment. 

I touch the glass to my lips and realization floods into my mind as the notes touch my tongue and the aromas overwhelm my nose. I picture the creator behind this dram and I see a reflection of creator God, molding and crafting and protecting this liquid into a creative masterpiece. As he works he is singing, as close as can be, a harmony alongside the great melody. 

The song echoes in this glass and invites me along as it, in a continual build to the great crescendo, marches ever louder, trumpeting the climax and restoration of all that is created. In that day, the creator God will show himself as the restoring God and bring to grandeur all we now hear in only feeble whispers. 

I hear that song in this glass and it is not an end for me but a reminder of hope. And that makes me glad.”

The man took a sip and smiled. “Do you want to hear more?”

…