1. We’ll leave today for Hannibal and stay for lots of food and probably some shopping until Friday afternoon or Saturday morning. Edie has an appointment with Rachel’s dogs’ vet Friday morning to try to get to the bottom of her chewing, but it should be pretty relaxing.
2. We’ll head to Columbia Friday afternoon or Saturday morning to spend some time with Andy’s family and to play at St. Andrew’s with Mike Will from Missouri UMC on Saturday night. Sunday, Andy’s aunts have a baby shower in Lohman planned for us, then we’ll head back home.
3. It will probably take us four days to unload everything that we’ll have accumulated over the weekend, so we’ll see you late next week!!!
Opa!
Every year since we moved to St. Louis, we’ve said we should go to St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in the Central West End for their annual Labor Day Greek Festival. Since this is hopefully the last year we’ll be in the area, we went ahead and made plans to go this weekend. Unfortunately, it rained ALL day Saturday, so we went after church today.
We took a tour of the church and listened to a couple of dudes talk about their faith and the symbols throughout the church. Even though I have been to Greece for the sole purpose of understanding the religions that have been important throughout their history, I really didn’t have a clear understanding of what makes Greek Orthodoxy all that different from Catholicism, except the priests’ pointy beards and funny hats (turns out that the priest at St. Nicholas looked and dressed a lot like Pastor Paul at St. Andrews Lutheran, not the priests I encountered in Greece…). However, there are a lot of differences, most that Andy and I sat there and nodded our heads in agreement to, like not using philosophy to define parts of their faith, just going by the scriptures and acts of Christ, not praying to or through saints (in fact, in every depiction of Mary, Jesus MUST also be present), and not having a hierarchy of leadership (no pope, or one person in charge who has some sort of “divine” connection). Of course, there are lots of parts that I don’t agree with, such as the role (or lack thereof) of women, having 7 sacraments (we only have 2), and the whole saint thing in general.
Anyway, we really went for the food, so after the tour and listening to their choir “chant,” we waited in line for about 35 minutes for some gyros, salad, Greek fries (not as good as the ones in Greece, unfortunately), and baklava. The gyros were great and the salad as good as you’re going to get when they’re serving thousands of people in a tent outside. We were too full for the baklava, so brought it home for later. It looks really good and fresh, though, unlike others I’ve had at local restaurants (my baklava standards are pretty high!).
So, in memory of the soon to be deceased Reading Rainbow, here’s my pitch: If you live in St. Louis and have never been to the Greek Festival, you should definitely go. They’ll be there until 9 tonight and from 11-8 tomorrow!
Of Music and Middle-Age…
So, I talked with a visitor at church last Sunday and she tipped me off to a coffee house (of sorts) at Kingshighway United Methodist Church. They apparently do it every third Saturday and bill it as a family evening, something to get some folks together for fellowship while also enjoying each other’s talents. There were a good 30-40 people down in this old fellowship hall about 10 min. south of us on I-55, in a neat area of south St. Louis City.
While I’m not sure I’d classify it as a “coffee house,” necessarily, it was still a good time. I mean, there was coffee there, and cookies and cheese puffs, but that was about it. And truthfully, it was more of a variety show than anything else. That’s not to say that it wasn’t entertaining, but again, I’m not sure “coffee house” was the correct moniker.
Either way, we had a surprisingly good time. There were a few kids that told jokes, one did some magic tricks, one guy sang “I Can’t Help Falling In Love With You” with a karaoke machine, a group of guys played some CCR and Elton John music…overall, it was a very entertaining evening!
The truly neat part about it is that many of these individuals that were getting up there performing were middle-aged, and this was probably their only outlet to share their musical talents. It’s difficult for me to imagine being in a similar situation, as I’ve been able to keep playing drums/guitar/etc. ever since leaving high school, but many of these folks graduated from high school and didn’t play with a group ever again. An opportunity like this allows them to get to practice their instrument and play it occasionally in front of a group, which is more than I can say for others out there with their instrument hidden in a closet.
Anyway, it was pretty neat. I can only hope I’m playing something in another 30 years!
Projects
I have been administering the Webster Hills UMC website for a year now, largely making basic content changes and adding Newsletter information whenever it comes out on Wednesdays. I’ve never really been very happy with the system, personally, as it isn’t really a user-friendly system. We are using ACS Technologies Extend, which is specifically designed for churches, to allow full integration between web content, online calendering systems and financial systems (i.e. the ability to make automatic withdrawals as an offering each month, or see how much you’ve donated that year, etc.). That’s all well and good, but the back-end system is so arcane that you need to go to training seminars to fully understand it, let alone get the people at your church to deal with it. Since I’m a bit more comfortable doing web content management, I just kinda took it on, but I really don’t understand how half of it works.
Anyway, we’re moving to a new system. ACS is difficult to deal with, and not particularly cheap. We already had an account and server with GoDaddy.com, and they provide many useful FREE tools, like WordPress (which my site runs on), to install and update automatically. Very, very user friendly once it’s set up. I chose Joomla to use for the new church site, as it provides a bit more flexibility with themes and plugins, allowing me to make it look how I want it to.
The site is currently sitting at http://whtest.websterhillsumc.org/ (now defunct, as of 09.02.09). It doesn’t quite have the bandwidth I’d like, so it may seem a bit slow, but it’s much more functional. The other benefit, as the guy that’s been putting information up there for a year, is that you can log in and simply click “Edit” on any article you want to. Very, very easily. This means that the church staff can just go on and change information themselves rather than sending me an e-mail and hoping I get it done that day. Articles can be uploaded by anyone and approved by an administrator. I can do polling. I can move the poll from one spot to another. I can have a rotating banner at the top of the screen. I can make that banner as large or as small as I want. These are all things that I was unable to do with ACS, which made life truly annoying…
Anyway, check it out and give me suggestions. I don’t have all the content on the new site yet, but I’m hoping to shift it over to “www” sometime mid- to late-July. You should check out the regular site first, though…keep in mind that I didn’t design that…just been managing it…
Huckabee’s “Daily Show” Interview
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Mike Huckabee Extended Interview Pt. 1 | ||||
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Mike Huckabee was on the Daily Show last week and I finally got to watch the episode this past Sunday (as we were in Kansas City for the rest of the weekend…had a great time!). The interview ran long, so the episode didn’t contain the whole thing. With the wonders of the interwebs, however, it has all been posted to their website!
Huckabee and Stewart had a lengthy discussion on the issue of abortion. While I disagree with Huckabee, I can at the very least appreciate this interview as a thought-provoking and well-mannered discussion on a complicated issue.
I will take issue with one specific part of Huckabee’s argument here, however. Around the 3:20 mark in the video above, Huckabee defines the point at which “life” begins. “I believe life begins at conception. 23 chromosomes from a male and 23 from a female female create a DNA schedule that’s never existed before…biologically and scientifically it’s irrefutable that that’s when life begins.” Now, one could make a philosophical argument about what exactly life means and what it looks like, but I will instead refute the whole “biologically and scientifically it’s irrefutable” part of his argument… Just because two halves of DNA have been put together to make chromosomes, you do not have “life.” Even if you have one cell, you do not have “life.” Even if you have a group of cells, you do not have “life.” [Note: Huckabee goes on to address whether we consider it “human life” or not, but doesn’t elaborate much on that] As Wikipedia states, in order to be considered “alive,” one must meet certain criteria, including homeostasis, organization, metabolism, adaptation, growth, response to stimuli and reproduction. You could say that a cell is capable of doing those things (and yes, indeed, a cell is capable of doing those things!), BUT it’s only capable of doing those things in the controlled environment of a uterus. That’s the ONLY place. Other single-celled organisms, like bacteria, are capable of doing it in all kinds of places (that’s the very important “adaptation” part of the definition of life).
As another example, I work with cell culture systems, which essentially means that I grow cells in a flask that I give specially-made growth factors and nutrients to keep them “alive,” before I allow them to “die” and see how that happened. So, yes, from a technical standpoint, they have “life” (otherwise, you can’t get “death”). However, these are just cells. If I took them out of that flask, they would not survive. They would never be productive. They would never grow into an organism. This is the problem with Huckabee’s (and the Pro-Life movement’s) argument, in my opinion. If you took sperm and egg and did not implant them into a uterus, you would never get a child. Even if you took a fetus out of the mother, it would not survive on its own. That’s, at least, where the difference lies for me. Obviously there are many that disagree with that interpretation, but that’s usually where I put “the beginning of life:” the point at which an individual can survive (perhaps with help from an incubator) outside of the mother. That point is somewhere around the end of the second trimester, or early third trimester, if I remember correctly. And this is why I generally go against late-term abortions (and so do many Pro-Choice individuals).
I do, however, agree with the future implications that Huckabee puts forward, especially talking about “value of life” as a whole. He sees it as a slippery slope. He uses the example of people in nursing homes, as your children would refer to you as an “inconvenience” or as an “interruption,” the same things that are frequently said of the possibility of having children when they aren’t desired. Jon Stewart eventually goes on to try and reframe the argument as a sovereignty issue for the Pro-Choice camp (i.e. you don’t have control over your body…the government does). Both of these two points are valid and discussed at length in the interview.
For those that care, here’s Part 2 and Part 3 of the extended interview. The whole thing is something like 15 minutes long across the three parts.
The whole thing is a complicated issue and neither side will ever fully agree on it, I’m afraid. But, interviews like this hopefully foster greater understanding between both sides, as the issue is discussed intelligently and reasonably (unlike many other discussions around the internet…).
Hard work may actually be worth it…
…once in awhile anyway! So, you probably already know, but Andy and I have been serving as the “interim directors of worship arts” at church since September. During this time, we relaunched our contemporary service, including a few physical improvements. One of the improvements were two mounted crosses that were designed by Sara Simpson (based on the necklace Andy gave me a long time ago) and constructed by Dave Wickman, two church members. Dave then made us a 1/3 size replica as a reminder of our time in charge, so Andy hung it up today before Sharon and Josh came over for dinner (don’t worry, I will continue to be the constructor in our family, but I knew Andy would be more likely to put everything away when he was finished than me). It looks great on our wall and will be a very nice reminder for a very long time!
U2charist
So, as many of you know, Brooke and I are currently (and temporarily…) running the contemporary worship service, 1040 Connection, at Webster Hills United Methodist Church, where we’ve been attending since moving to St. Louis. As part of this, we got the crazy idea of doing the “U2charist,” which is essentially as the name sounds: a communion service built around the music of the Irish rock band, U2.
We had talked about doing it for awhile now, but after we took control of the song choices last September, we got to thinking about when to make it happen. Somehow, Maundy Thursday (or Holy Thursday) seemed appropriate, as it marks the Last Supper (i.e. the first communion).
Anyway, here’s the song list, for those that know the music of U2:
Prelude/Postlude:
During the service:
During Communion:
We are also including this document in the bulletin as an insert that (briefly) points out some lyrics and what they may mean from a theological standpoint.
Anyway, it should be a fun night, and we’ve put a lot of work into it. We’ll probably do it again at the beginning of July, just as a regular Sunday morning service.
A step too far?
So, I heard this mentioned a few weeks ago on a video game blog I listen to: if you don’t like the message of the songs presented in the popular Guitar Hero or Rock Band franchises, you’re in luck, ’cause now there’s Guitar Praise!! You can how have “inspirational fun” with 52 songs from Christian bands like Skillet, Petra and Casting Crowns!
But that’s not all! Remember the seemingly unstoppable”High School Musical” franchise? Well, maybe some of the themes in those movies are questionable…but you’re in luck there too, ’cause now there’s “Sunday School Musical!” An “inspirational story” about a group of kids that enter a music competition to save their church from closing! Watch the trailer – it’s gripping…
So yeah, perhaps I’m wrong (and I usually am…), but isn’t this a step too far? I understand that the “High School Musical” franchise is primarily watched by middle school-aged kids (as opposed to actual high school kids), perhaps exposing them to some themes that aren’t exactly age appropriate…but shouldn’t it be the parent’s responsibility to limit that exposure? Or the fact that music from Guitar Hero or Rock Band are on the radio/TV all the time….wouldn’t it make more sense to talk to your kids about the themes in popular music rather than simply ignoring them and avoiding them? Isn’t it better to teach kids how to handle a variety of media that they may be exposed to on a daily basis…rather than trying to keep it from them only to have them see it on their own at a friend’s house, not knowing how to treat it?
It seems to me that, while I don’t have any kids (besides a very lazy beagle), I’d want to help my children integrate into the world around them efficiently and effectively, rather than shelter them to the point where they may not know how to deal with what’s really out there until they leave home and go to college.
Fun with 3D animation!
So, back in the old days of high school (10 years ago…sigh…), I had a great deal of fun in the CASA program. Most of what I did during that time, as I don’t know the first thing about building things, was to work with animation software like Bryce3D and 3D Studio Max. We set up some animations of the space shuttle docking with the International Space Station, of the shuttle landing on the tarmack, and of explosions in space for when the ISS would be invaded by aliens (it’s true…it happened nearly every day… :-P).
Anyway, Slickdeals.net had highlighted the free version of Bryce 5 a few months back and I grabbed it, but didn’t have much to use it for…until now…
Brooke and I are now quite involved at Webster Hills UMC getting our church service “revitalized,” which entails some changes in format, but perhaps more importantly, atmosphere and environment for the service. We’re trying to get people to buy new chairs for the service, mostly for comfort but also to absorb sound, as part of this “change in atmosphere.” We’ve got some money raised, but haven’t progressed as far as we’d like to if we’re going to get this moving by Christmas Eve.
Anyway, Brooke is setting up a Powerpoint presentation that will hopefully be played this weekend. Originally, we were going to Photoshop in some of the new chairs with a change in paint job, etc. into an image of the gym. Mostly, it looked terrible when I tried it…
…so I gave Bryce 5 a go…and had a great deal of fun messing with 3D animation again!
…and it’s now up on Youtube… 🙂
On being Pro-Life for Obama…
Obama has made the point a few times, but it tends to fly over the heads of many that consider themselves to be “pro-life”… Obama has consistently said that he wants to limit the need for abortion by providing good health care and education to the masses, which tends to be the prevailing strategy of Western Europe (most of which has a lower abortion rate than the U.S.). Regardless, Sister Mary Jude Jun made an editorial comment in today’s St. Louis Post-Dispatch that gets this point across very well. Keep in mind that she makes no mention of who she’ll vote for in November, but she still makes the point effectively.
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Web of life
The view of pro-life is distorted when only the birth of children is considered instead of the entire web of life. Abortion is not the underlying problem. Poverty and other difficult situations lead women to this extreme way out. What can be done to make abortions fewer and the entire web of life more respected?
If, with billions to spend on space research, we rejoice to find water on Mars, do we have funds for the untold numbers of children dying each day for lack of clean water on this planet?
New mothers often work several jobs to survive. They need child care when they are at work, healthy food for their children and insurance for sickness. Are we pro-life when we forget about mothers and their babies after they are born?
Countless women die in childbirth because they lack prenatal care; sometimes, the babies die, too. Can we be pro-life and not be concerned?
Jails are a multi-billion dollar business; we fill them with our youth. Could we use those funds to give them the help they need before the cycle of violence begins on our streets and in our schools?
Life is precious from the womb to the tomb; in identifying only one part as important while neglecting the entire web of life issues, we lose our values as citizens and the respect of others.
Sister Mary Jude Jun | St. Louis
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Point is: people should realize that there is a clear distinction between “pro-life” and “pro-birth,” and this distinction is frequently lost in the nuance of political campaigning and speeches.
If you’re truly pro-life, you need to look at all the policies being put forward instead of looking for “ban abortion” in a political platform, and then writing off everything else that individual or party stands for.