Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter Here

I am about ready to carve this above every entrance to Target Field.


The silver lining in tonight's dark cloud of a baseball game:

-The company I was keeping while watching this disaster could not have been better. Baseball is a game to be enjoyed with good friends. :)
-It could have been worse - it wasn't a shutout.
-Joe Nathan had a really solid 9th inning. That is something to be thankful for.

But still. . .

Also, I've noticed this spring, Target Field literally weeds out the fair weather fans. It takes dedication to watch crappy baseball in 49 degrees.

Behavior That *Should* Get One Removed From the Roster

There is a retired pastor in Central Pennsylvania who really hates gay people. I mean, REALLY. HATES. gay people.

. . .so much so, that he makes inappropriate and non-sequitor bestiality references when arguing against resolutions on the synod assembly floor.

. . .so much so, that for the past several years he has turned preaching supply gigs into a bully pulpit to rail against all things LGBT. This is why I never allowed the man into my pulpit. Technically, if we were looking for supply we were supposed to exhaust all ordained options first before moving on to synodically authorized lay worship leaders. Pretty much every time I was going to be away, this guy was the only ordained clergy on the list. I never called him. I wasn't going to do that to my people, I wasn't going to let him abuse the office of preaching like that, and I sure wasn't going to give him a platform.

. . .so much so, that a couple years ago he put out a blanket call to strategize about the upcoming churchwide assembly, scheduling this meeting for the day after Easter. As Andy said, "Man, you've really gotta hate gay people to call a meeting to talk about how much you hate gay people and plot their demise within the church the day after we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord."

His behavior is just obnoxious, all the more so because he has somehow managed to get his hands on the synod's mailing lists and continues to sporadically assault pastors and churches with undesired mailings and emails, extending "invitations" to join his cause (I just got another one today, hence the rant).

To me, his is the kind of behavior that's way more harmful and damaging to the people of God, to the Word of God, and to the institution of the church, than anything two consenting adults do in the privacy of their own room.

Some days I wonder why the church is so good at fretting over sins of a personal nature, yet so bad at calling out sins against community. . .

Brian Frons, You're an Ass

A few weeks ago a bunch of rumors surfaced that ABC was planning to cancel All My Children. The rumors were plausible enough that some stars of the show mobilized their fanbases into a letter-writing and phone-calling campaign to save the soap. Then word spread that the rumors were just that, rumors. An executive producer assured the cast the show was not being cancelled.

Today ABC announced they are canceling both All My Children and One Life to Live. Both shows created by Agnes Nixon. Both shows not merely silly tales of "love in the afternoon" but for many years cutting edge in addressing major social issues through their characters and stories.

Granted, the writing hasn't been very good lately - in part because there hasn't been a meaty social issue storyline for a long time. But you know how you fix crappy soap writing, ABC? You hire better writers. You don't cancel the show.

The title of this post tells you what I think of this move and the executive behind it. Frons is an ass not only for cancelling these shows but especially for misleading the cast and crew, telling them their jobs were secure and then yanking the rug out from under them just a few weeks later.

I can tell you this: I'm in the demographic they're supposedly targeting, and I've intentionally watched All My Children for the better part of 25 years. I've watched through thick and thin, I've remained loyal through good story lines and crappy story lines, because in the end it was always about the bigger story that was being told.

I have no interest in the shows lined up to replace my (and my mother's and my grandmother's) stories. ABC Daytime, you have lost this viewer for good.

Buy Me Some Peanuts and Crackerjack

Now that was some good baseball - a beautiful night to be at the Field.

Thank you Twins!

PS to the Lutheran Zephyr: I've heard rumors you are moving this way and have asked for Twins Tweeters to follow. He tweets and blogs about more than just the Twins, but Aaron Gleeman knows this team (and generally, all of baseball) inside and out.

Subversive Transfigurative Theology

I did a double-header of worship today, participated in my own congregation this morning, then over to the House of Mercy in the afternoon, where Debbie Blue preached this brilliant sermon that openly wrestled with and steadily deconstructed sacrificial notions of atonement.

The sermon powerfully transitioned right into the Supper, during which the band quietly played "The Old Rugged Cross" as everyone came forward for communion. They didn't sing the words, they just played the music, but it was obvious what they were playing and it felt very jarring to me at the time, because I usually think of "The Old Rugged Cross" as a hymn steeped in sacrificial atonement theory, so as I'm walking forward I'm thinking "What the. . .? She just picked this kind of stuff apart, why are they playing this song?"

I've been - consciously and unconsciously - stewing over it the rest of the evening. Finally, I looked up the words to the hymn, intent on analyzing them in more depth, and realized there's actually nothing directly about sacrifice in the lyrics, that was something I had been reading into them all these years (which was part of Debbie's point, that we are so steeped in notions of sacrifice that we read it into things we shouldn't and set it up as an ultimate frame, when maybe it's not the best frame to be using, and maybe it's not the direction God would have us go). It was a total creeper move, took me several hours of ongoing wrestling with the sermon and the music to get there, but the sermon has actually transfigured my hearing of the hymn. . .

Such is the House of Mercy, and welcome to it.

#wordsiamalreadysickof

"Well, today certainly wasn't the outing that [insert random Twin's name here] was hoping for. . ."



Oh my beloved Twinkies, in case you haven't noticed, we are in last place in the AL Central, and almost in last place in the whole stinking MLB. Kansas City is ahead of us right now, fellas. Kansas. City.

But let's not dwell on the negative. I'm here to make you a deal: you can have this slump now, and I will even quit complaining about it, as long as it's the only slump you will have this season. Agreed?

Vindication

11 years ago when I was doing environmental advocacy work for churchwide, I saw both what was going on at that time and what was coming down the pike with genetically modified food, and told the folks I knew in the Department of Studies that the ELCA really ought to start developing a social statement on genetics. They poo-pooed the idea back then, but look what the Churchwide Assembly will be voting on this coming August.

FFR: Nonprofit Funding Bias

Need to keep track of this powerpoint for work, putting it here for safekeeping.

Nonprofit Funding Bias And Foundation Diversity

View more presentations from Andrew Sears

April Fools

Sojourners didn't send out an April Fools email today, or if they did, I didn't get it. . .they've gotten me the last two years, I bought it hook, line, and sinker (last year's joke was that they finally got Glenn Beck to agree to a debate with Jim Wallis; I don't remember two years ago but they got me with that one too).

Which means the best April Fools joke I experienced today was the Twins opening performance tonight. Very funny losing 13-3 to Toronto, boys, such a non-auspicious beginning for the team that's going to win the 2011 World Series, you've got me rolling on the floor with that one. Tomorrow we're going to get serious, right?

Right???

Honorable mention goes to Donald Miller for this review of Love Wins.


In what is totally not a joke but complete awesomeness, Bryce and Lily's baby sister was born today. I'm not usually one to cry tears of joy, but as soon as I got the picture text of the beautiful Zaylie Faye, the tears just came and they only stopped because I had to collect myself for the AAR/SBL regional meeting. Welcome to the world, baby girl - you cannot fathom how glad we are that you are here!