Supernatural

This one goes out to all those hard science people out there:

I am a historically, literarily, theologically bent fellow. As such I have very little problem accepting/assiging mystery to the world around me. I have been wondering, however, how do my friends in the sciences deal with the supernatural? The aim of the sciences is to measure, categorize, and define the world and thus (it appears to me) erase mystery.

Discuss . . .

And the Winner Is . . .

The winner for my [renamed] Winter Reading Project is Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. Melissa Jerkins who recommended it has history on her side as she and her husband Nathan are the ones responsible (and probably culpable) for recommending such classics as Steven King's The Gunslinger; Herman Wouk's The Caine Mutiny; and they are singularly responsible for my acting career.

Thank you all for your wonderful suggestions which I will also attempt to read as well.

Holy Crap, How many of these Things are There?

Numenorean


To which race of Middle Earth do you belong?
brought to you by Quizilla

Well, now I know. Don't we all feel better now?

My December Reading Project

To all my diehard fans out there who have been pestering me to post some more of my profound thoughts, I turn the tables. Here is your chance to be profound on MY blog. I'm going to let you my loyal friends and enemies pick out the books (2) which I will read during the December holidays. ACU was so kind to us this year and has given us 5 weeks instead of the usual 4 so I wish to read something good.

Here are the ground rules:

1) The book MUST tell a story (Fiction or Non-Fiction). I am not looking for a philosophical/ethical/theological treatise no matter how profound.

2) You MUST present coherent arguments for me to read it.

I will pick the winner (probably 3) and post their persuasive arguments on the front page of my blog for all to read. Seriously, you can't buy this kind of publicity. But you're welcome to make an offer.

So, Tell me what I should read and why.

A Question

I have spent much time during my TV watching years watching televangelists preaching that God wants me to be Healthy, Wealthy, and Happy. Yet my perspective on the will of God seems to suggest that the mission is more important than the man. I am left with this question: Is my personal happiness and success vital to participation in the mission of God, or is it merely a happy coincidence?

I would really like to hear what the one or two people who read my blog think about this question?

Harry

Back to the Grind

Tomorrow (Monday Aug. 1), I together with the other eight people on staff here at Smith-Adams Hall will be joining the other Residence Hall staffs at Buttman Methodist Encampment for RA camp 2005. In short I am looking at two days of happy fun and glorious tedium. Look for highlights on Wednesday.

Ramen Lite

Recently during a grocery getting excursion to super Wally world (Wal-Mart) I found a twelve (12) pack of ramen noodles for $1.20. That comes out to 12 cents a pack. This evening though I had a hearty meal of ramen noodles, and about an hour later I was once again ravenously hungry. This has led me to believe that Ramen noodles have great taste and are less filling.

The Gambler

(Originally published on my fantasy baseball league message board)

Is anyone else sick of the Kenny Rogers story? I know I am. I wish the media in the metroplex would get the memo and back off and let the man have some space and let the Rangers maybe have a run at the playoffs. Right now it seems that Rogers is target number one for cameramen looking to make a story, or just a quick buck. I hate the media and it's one-sided the player is the devil; the plucky camera guy or obscene audience member an innocent saint. People (especially players) don't just blow up for no reason. What did the cameraman do/say? What line did the fans in Oakland cross that sent a chair headed their way last year. Can we allow / treat our sports stars as human beings first and heroes later.

Acting Lessons - Epilogue

Well, we just finished striking the sets for the Abilene Summer Shakespeare fesitval. After a grueling two and a half hour performance we quickly changed into work clothes and began taking the past two months of our lives down.

It was fun to work that hard with my new closest friends, but boy am I hurting now and boy will I be hurting tomorrow.

Expect an upcoming post to reflect more perfectly upon the experience. For now I'm going to bed.

For A Raving Lunatic . . .

I Found a link to this blog on ESPN.com Page 2's Daily Links section. It's from the blog of Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. While he usually puts on a public persona that is far from sane, he does demonstrate that at times he is capable of intelligent thought with this post. It's really good.

Click HERE to read the post.

The World's Largest Bible

I am working this summer at the circulation desk of the ACU library. For the most part this means I sit around checking my e-mail, posting on my blog, and handling the odd patron who needs to check something out or send an international fax or something.

About twice during my morning shift, however, I get to witness something really odd and slightly disturbing. The ACU welcome center gives campus tours to prospective students and their parents and this invariably includes a visit to the library. They take them upstairs and proclaim the academic virtues of the school and then they descend and show them our "claim to fame." The World's Largest Bible. It is enclosed in a glass case that is sealed and protected from damaging elements. Those on the tour come and gawk in amazement over a Bible so large it prevents actual use. They are amazed and even inspired by such a mammoth book.

Maybe it is the cynic in me, but I wonder, What's the point? What is the purpose of so massive a book? Are we so in awe of the scriptures that we must create such massive images of it and fawn over them in near worship? Would we rather idolize a book than embody a way of life?

"I pause for reply"

A Room with A View to A Murder

Last night I, together with about 10-15 of my friends from church, watched the movie "Hotel Rwanda" about the 100 days of Genocide that gripped that country in 1994 and left nearly a million people dead.

Afterward we talked about our reactions to the movie. There was a combined sense of shame, outrage, and powerlessness to do anything about it. In the following discussion prayer was mentioned several times, but I really didn't feel like we had a good grip on what that prayer was for, or even what it was supposed to do.

Why do we pray? Is prayer the cop-out for our inactivity? (Oh, I'll not help you but I will pray for you.) Do we pray just so we'll feel better about a situation? Is prayer ever really about us? These are the questions spawned by our discussion of the movie.

Discuss . . .

Acting Lessons

We just started week two of rehearsals for the Abilene Summer Shakespeare Festival production of Julius Caesar. Let me tell ya, acting is tough. You have to become a whole new person, or in my case two new people, who you most likely have never met. Then you have to take a text and put bones and muscle and flesh to it. It is enacting the encarnation. Words on a page become living breathing people and situations when acted. In this way the Christian is called to become an actor by taking the text of the gospel and putting flesh and bones on it and living it out so that people can see it.

happy holiday

Why is it that on days I do absolutely nothing, I feel the most tired?

To Fall on My Sword Part 2

So, I was thinking last night about what else I would "fall on my sword" for in ministry in the church. I came up with one more to the previous list.

3. The Centrality of the Eucharist in Worship. When Christians come together to worship God, they do so primarily to celebrate the Eucharist. Like baptism it is a ritual invested with a considerable amount of meaning. More than I have been able to explore in my two years as a member of the communion committee at Minter Lane Church writing Eucharistic Liturgy.

Well, there you have it. The things I would get fired for, or resign over.

To Fall On my Sword

After a recent (read 5 minutes ago) conversation with a fellow GST'er I decided I should post on what issues in ministry I would fall on my sword for.

1. The Right Women have to Participate fully in the life of the church. I will go to the mat for my sisters in Christ to be able to use their gifts within the life of the church. It is a shame that over half of the church should be silenced because we men are afraid to give up our power.

2. Baptism. I think that baptism is essential for salvation, but more importantly it is an important ritual and road-marker on the Christian journey. It is an act that is filled to overflowing with meaning and importance. In baptism, we reenact the gospel story in our lives and let Jesus have the claim on our lives. We have done a disservice to it by harping on its essentiality, and not its essence.

That's about all I can think of right now.

To Spoof or not to Spoof

I saw Star Wars: Episode 3, The Revenge of the Sith today. After that I went home and watched the Mel Brooks version. I must say that the Mel Brooks version is much better than the original. Now don't get me wrong. Episode 3 is much better than the first 2 (much like the 1980's Tampa Bay Buccaneers were better than, well I can't think who they were better than). I just believe that Mel Brooks has a better grip on what it takes to tell a story than does George Lucas. Good ole' George depended too heavily on computers to tell the story for him. The line between live action and cartoon was crossed so many times that it was hard to keep switching mental modes. That and Mel Brooks just knows comedy. Much like his Robin Hood Men in Tights, he successfully lampoons a higher budget but worse movie. So to all you nerds out there who are up in arms ready to storm my castle and burn me out with your torches and pitchforks, I say bring it. I would prefer to laugh than weep over the fall of a character I could never care for any day.

Upcoming Events

So, in case anyone out there cares to know what's going on in my life I'll tell you. Nothing. It's great. Right now I'm doing nothing and enjoying every fun-unfilled minute of it. But soon, I will be doing something. Starting in June I begin rehearsals for the Abilene Summer Shakespeare production of Julius Caesar. This will be my theatre debut and I am looking forward to it. I have two small roles (Flavius Act 1 and Artemidorus Act 4 I think). I'll be a spectator by the time they kill Caesar. I won't win an Oscar for my performance, but I look forward to having a good time. So, if any of you are bored in July and are nearby, come and see. I promise I'll be funny. (If the director lets me)

A Wave of Melancholy

I have just finished watching the latest cinematic version of Phantom of the Opera. It is a singularly great musical, and one which has tapped a well of emotion in me that I did not know existed. There is something about the story of a love lost, of love abandoned that touches me and calls forth my pity. I know what it means to be the phantom. To watch as the love of one's life walks away and pledges her love to another. This is not a fate to be wished upon one's worst enemies, one's most mortal of foes. I have heard a song that made my heart swell and burst and what do I now do with the pieces?

Postcards from the Edge

Well, I have finished yet another semester of graduate school and am now enjoying a quiet vacation of working at the ACU library and contemplating taking care of the two "I"'s on my transcript.

I know you must be asking: Harry, how can you be on vacation and working at the same time? Well, I'll tell you. I have just finished a year as the Assistant Residence Director at Smith Hall here at ACU. During that time I was semi-responsible for about 125 sophomore men and part of a staff of 10 people. Needless to say, the past nine months have been the most stressful to date. Now, I have a job where I work regular hours, and when I go home, work stays where it belongs . . . AT WORK!!

Well, I had better get back to sitting around trolling the internet and answering the occasional Library related question.