Jesus Loves Guinness

March 5th, 2010 | Comments

I knew my love for Guinness was not misplaced! Great article by Stephen Mansfield at Relevant. The gospel gets hold of one successful businessman and his company blesses thousands of people across generations. What would happen if it got hold of five?

Entry Filed under: Blog Tags: culture, found object, jesus

Hymns That Suck

March 3rd, 2010 | Comments

I am continually amazed at how rich a tradition we have in the hymns of past song writers. Brian T Murphy over at Red Mountain Church in Birmingham pretty much exactly expresses my thoughts on the value of hymns in worship. Since becoming the music director at my church almost 6 years ago, I’ve been a big fan of hymns and re-introducing hymn texts through new music. And yes, I have been guilty on more than one occasion of grumbling about the lameness of more contemporary worship songwriters.

That being said, I really enjoyed Steve Holmes resetting my perspective by pointing out some really, really horrendous (and hilarious) hymns from some of my favorite hymn writers. Fact: The great Charles Wesley wrote over 6000 hymns, only about 20 of which we use today. Conclusion: 5960 of his songs suuuhhuck. Bravo, Steve. Bravo.

Oh, and by the way, “hymns are the dead wood of the service.” Who said that? C.S. Freaking Lewis, that’s who. Ouch.

As a bonus I include this link to the most awesomest worst hymn ever written.

Entry Filed under: Blog Tags: art, culture, music

GenerateHope: Open!

March 1st, 2010 | Comments

A friend from my church started an organization dedicated to helping sexually trafficked women and children escape from forced sex work. Susan hatched this idea almost two years ago, but honestly up until yesterday I had my doubts about whether anything would ever come of it. But yesterday GenerateHope opened the doors to it’s first safe house here in San Diego, and two women moved in. I am utterly amazed and really stoked. Today Susan was interviewed on local public radio station KPBS.

In our North Park neighborhood prostitution is common as the day is long. The intensity on our corner fluctuates, I guess, as vice herds it east and west along El Cajon Blvd. But Mellie and I have had multiple run-ins, from flushing johns off our street, to finding out a woman had been working in the vacant apartment below us, to intervening when a girl was being bullied by her pimp. Parked in the alley, Mellie accidentally left her car unlocked one night and the next day we found, um, “evidence” in the front seat. My job that day was to get the interior detailed. Walking home late one night I passed a girl sobbing on the sidewalk. I stopped to help her and we ended up talking about her life over tacos at Taco Bell. She had been hassled by the cops and was afraid of getting arrested again. Nothing but spike heels, so I drove her the 15 blocks back to her place in City Heights. Her night was a bust so I gave her $20 as she got out of my car. What do you think that looked like to anyone watching? When I got home and crawled into bed I whispered to half-asleep Mellie, “Sorry I’m late, I was with a prostitute. G’night.”

Some girls are doing it by choice, obviously. But in my limited experience it seems like things get murky pretty quickly. The girl who lost her john when I told him I was calling the cops cussed me out and asked if I was going to come over and feed her 3 kids that night. The girl I met sobbing on the street was a freelancer, but had been beat up several times and was looking for a pimp that could protect her. On the phone to SDPD to report a dude I had just watched drop off one girl and who was now picking up another in my driveway, I was told that the police could only arrest the guy if an officer witnessed him exchanging money for sex, but if I gave a description of the girl they would send an officer right away to pick her up. What? That seems pretty messed up to me. Seems like there are a lot of factors that might push a woman into a bad situation, or contribute to making a bad situation worse.

Susan has some pretty crazy stats on the numbers of girls—some as young as 13, 14—who are coerced to hook or escort. They are actually enslaved—unable to leave their pimps either through force or intimidation. San Diego is one of the top US cities for sexual slavery. WTF. This is some messed up stuff. Check out the interview above and support GenerateHope if you can—donations are tax deductible.

Entry Filed under: Blog Tags: community, culture, jesus

Lost Bingo

February 4th, 2010 | Comments

Plus cupcakes!

Entry Filed under: Blog Tags: community, culture, lost, nonsense

Sacred Harp

January 19th, 2010 | Comments

Joining a Sacred Harp singing is now on my short list of highly recommended, along with New Zealand and guacamole. The physical power of this strange, haunting, apocalyptic music is not captured at all by this video (sorry Richard). Mellie and I stumbled across Sacred Harp a few years ago through this great documentary. We’ve been waiting for the west coast convention to arrive in San Diego ever since. Very nice folks took us in and even let us lead a song or two.

Entry Filed under: Blog Tags: adventure, community, culture, mellie, music, sacred harp

Visions From The Guestbook

September 18th, 2009 | Comments

A cross section of my neighborhood’s visions of a perfected city, taken from the Harbor Art Show guestbook.

Entry Filed under: Blog Tags: art, community, culture, Harbor Art

Harbor Art Show Video

August 17th, 2009 | Comments

Harbor Art: Visions From A Perfected City from Harbor Uptown on Vimeo.

Entry Filed under: Blog Tags: art, community, culture, Harbor Art, video

I Love It When A Plan Comes Together

August 17th, 2009 | Comments

Harbor Art just pulled off a pretty bitchin art show. Over 30 pieces from 22 San Diego artists exploring the theme Visions From A Perfected City. We partnered with Zagrodnik+Thomas Architects in North Park, who have a really unique and awesome gallery space. They even lent us the talented Mr Dan, gallery consultant extraordinaire. Heather, Matt & Erika did an outstanding job pulling everything together, from artist recruitment to webpage building to finding the gallery space to marketing to live music to refreshments and decor. We estimate somewhere around 250 people showed up, and by all accounts everyone had a great time. I had some cool conversations with the artists, two of which told me it was one of the best shows they had ever been a part of. Our tiny brains are already rolling with ideas for the next event. Hit me up if you want to be part of it! Check out harborart.org for pix and other cool stuff.

I love it when a plan comes together.

Entry Filed under: Blog Tags: art, community, culture, Harbor Art

Advent Conspiracy

November 12th, 2008 | Comments

www.adventconspiracy.org

Entry Filed under: Blog Tags: community, culture, found object, jesus

Marriage Amendment

August 25th, 2008 | Comments

From an article written by Robert T Miller, in light of the recent ruling on gay marriage in California.

My knee-jerk reaction to most people who push for a Constitutional amendment about marriage has been negative, but I think Miller makes a strong case, no matter what your views on the topic are. Salient points distilled below, courtesy of my friend Steven Cooper. Tacked on some further thoughts at the end, based on discussions with Steven.

1. if the matter is not constitutionalized through the amendment process, it will be constitutionalized by the courts of the Commonwealth. This is not because we have an “activist” judiciary. It is because courts are required to decide the cases that come before them, and which cases come before a court depends not on the court but on whether a private party decides to bring a lawsuit.
2. the next question is why the constitutionalization should be accomplished through the amendment process. After all, most questions of constitutional law are settled by the courts, and by and large the courts of the Commonwealth do a very good job of settling such questions. If this issue concerning marriage is to be constitutionalized, there is a real question as to whether it should be constitutionalized through the amendment process or through adjudication in the [California] Supreme Court.
3. What is important is that I recognize, and I think any honest person who looks at the arguments has to recognize, that the issues surrounding same-sex marriage are both very complicated and very deep. Any definitive view of the matter requires that a person, at least implicitly, take positions on any number of moral, philosophical, political, sociological, and empirical questions. As I consider these matters, my overwhelming impression is that the only thing obvious and certain about the question of same-sex marriage is that reasonable people can in perfect good faith disagree about this question.
4. if resolving the issue of whether the state should recognize same-sex marriages or the equivalent requires us to make many difficult judgments in, among other areas, morality, philosophy, and politics, and if the question is one about which reasonable people can disagree in good faith, then it is clear to me that the issue is not one that should be resolved by courts.
5. Courts are composed of judges, and judges are lawyers, and lawyers have expertise in the law. Legal knowledge and legal skills of the kind we convey in law schools will not resolve deep moral, philosophical, and political issues like those involved in the same-sex marriage dispute. The issues involved in same-sex marriage are much bigger than legal issues. They touch on profound questions such as the foundations of morality and meta-ethics, the relationship between the individual and the state, and the meaning of human sexuality. Lawyers, even judges, are no better than anyone else in forming opinions on such profound questions. In fact, on average, lawyers may even be worse than other people in dealing with such questions, for lawyers are often tempted to apply legal methods, at which they are adept, to philosophical problems, for which such methods are necessarily inadequate.
6. In a democratic society, these great questions of social policy about which reasonable people can and will disagree should not be settled in an authoritarian way. In a democratic society, these great questions of social policy can be settled only by the people themselves through democratic procedures—that is, by voting. The majority wins, which contributes to social peace, and the minority has not only the consolation of having had a fair opportunity to make its case but also the possibility of returning and prevailing in a subsequent vote. It loses, but only for today. As Lincoln said in his first inaugural address, “[I]f the policy of the Government upon vital questions affecting the whole people is to be irrevocably fixed by decisions of the Supreme Court, . . . the people will have ceased to be their own rulers, having to that extent practically resigned their Government into the hands of that eminent tribunal.”
7. Accordingly, the constitutionalization of the question of same-sex marriage should be settled not by the courts of the Commonwealth but by the people themselves.

[Further thoughts:]
I think this is right. It seems that in a pluralistic society, a vote is not just the best way to go about this, but it also seems like the Christian way to do it. Even if the judiciary were packed with judges who agreed with my own personal convictions on this issue, I think it’s healthiest to the common good for the precedent to be set that these issues be determined by vote. Voting puts the onus on all to convince others of their view. This invites the most people to pursue their desired ends along the road of persuasion, not force—either physical or judicial.

Entry Filed under: Blog Tags: culture, politics