The Post Mortem

"I have a dream"

Today is a day in our country when we honor, not just the man known as Martin Luther King Jr., but the cause that he and so many other great men and women carried the banner for, and hopefully this is a banner that the community also carries.  Within the historic speech linked above, Dr. King preached about the ideal that we are all God's children, that oppression of any kind cannot be tolerated, and those of us who have a voice need to use it stand against those oppressions.

The assumption of the masses when MLK day is spoken of is that it is a day about the equality of race.  I believe the spirit of what we celebrate on this day goes much deeper.  I believe the Human Rights movement tapped into a primal element that God created within all of us.  He created us for relationship with one another, and anything that fractures or splinters any of our relationships is causing us to live counter to how He's wired us to live.  We are stewards of the relationships in our lives, and every person we build a bond with is a divine gift.

An interesting challenge for this week might be to find a relationship in your own life that might be broken, and by using the the love that God has given us, make contact with that person to attempt to reconcile.  This may be exactly what Dr. King had in mind when he dreamed that one day the sons and daughters of former slaves and the sons and daughters of former slave owners would someday sit down at the table of brotherhood.

Have an awesome day.

The Week Link

With the devastating effects from this week's earthquake near Port au Prince in Haiti, today's link is myriad of organizations who need help in the relief of this disaster that is effecting over 3 million people.  At the least, support the efforts of these organizations with your prayers over the next few months.

Haiti relief organizations

Friday's Finds are in tomorrow.

Super Tuesday

I wanted to apologize for the late posting of today's Super Tuesday, but I wanted to wait and see how things played out before posting the candidates for today's vote.

As a TV network, it is one thing to have programming on your airwaves.  It's a whole other thing to mess up the good programming that is already on your airwaves.  If you've been away from the television for a year or two, you may not have known about the NBC late night situation involving Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien that can best described as gross incompetence.  Essentially, Conan was the heir apparent to Leno for "The Tonight Show", and because of that growing feeling, NBC promised Conan that he would take over the show back in 2004 to keep him from bolting to another network.  But as the date approached for Conan to take over (last June), something weird happened:  Jay Leno's ratings refused to drop.  It was assumed that Leno would fade into the sunset and give way to O'Brien, and when he didn't fade, NBC panicked and looked for a way to keep Leno on their airwaves.

Without going into detail on the rest of the story, it's sufficient to say that NBC set "The Tonight Show" up for failure by keeping "the old guy" around, and everyone knows in a professional setting that the new guy can't fully reach his/her potential if the old guy is lingering around to look over his/her shoulder.  Conan is loved by millions, and is a brand name in and of himself.  Yet NBC took this talented comic and mistreated him to the point that it's hard to think that anyone with any entertainment success would ever want to do business with the network in the future.

All of this as context, today's Super Tuesday vote is simple:  which late night comic do you prefer?

Jay Leno:  This large chinned car freak has been a mainstay for close to two decades on the late night scene, and his comedy is very much reliant on structure; a "set 'em up and knock 'em down" type of comic.

Conan O'Brien:  This crazy haired, freakishly tall comic started off as a writer before hitting the night time airwaves around fifteen years ago.  His comedy is more reliant on his ability to make fun of himself and roll with the punches.

So who do you love?  Cast your vote with a comment or on the 611 facebook page...and do yourself a favor and watch Letterman while this whole this thing sorts itself out.

The Post Mortem

Before we begin the post mortem today, I think it's important to identify the five people who personified what 611 is all about last night, taking the fishes and loaves they have and using them to be a part of God's plan.  Bryce Thompson was our lead singer for music last night, along with his wife Jenna, TJ Thompson shredding on the guitar, Ryan Ikeler banging on drums like Animal from the Muppet Babies, and Brian Banks adding the sweet effects.

We also need to send a shout out to everyone who helped us as we made 2040 sandwiches for Cass Community Social Services, sandwiches that will both be given away to the hungry and sold to other organizations to raise money for some the other amazing programs that Cass performs daily.

As for the Post Mortem, the theme for today is that context matters.  If we ever run across people who are homeless, the obvious question is "Why?".  What get's someone to the place where they are unable to find shelter for himself/herself?  If homelessness is a symptom, then what is the illness that we need to treat in the world around us?  And if a person is homeless on the account of bad decisions that they've made, are we the kind of people to go ahead and say, "...they got what they deserved."?

No one ever wants to read a list of the mistakes they've made, nor do they want to see the instant replay.  We all have made choices of which we're not proud.  I believe that our community stands for the idea that no screw up is too big for God's forgiveness, and if that is true, then maybe no screw up should be too big for our forgiveness.  If someone is homeless because of their own poor choices, I believe God demands that we come along side of that person, show them love and forgiveness, and walk with them as they learn how to not repeat the same mistakes.

Let's close the post mortem this way:  We stand for these ideas because we believe that God has created us and shown us the best possible way to live, devoted to the God's reclamation work; forgiveness, service, and love.

Friday's Finds

So with the new year off and running, this weekend has lots of hidden little treats for you to experience if you're looking for some fun.

Dwight Slade in concert, Ridley's Comedy Castle, Royal Oak,both Friday and Saturday night:  If you like to laugh (I don't), then Dwight will hit the spot for you.  He was the winner of this year's Boston Comedy Festival, and has performed on Leno and in Vegas, and has been performing live since the age of 14.

Dallas Cowboys vs. Philadelphia Eagles, NFL wildcard playoff game, Saturday night, 8PM:  These are the kind of games everyone loves to watch, when one team's strength goes head-to-head with another's.  Philly's big play potential vs. Dallas's stout defense should make for great theatre in the best 1st round matchup of the NFL playoffs.

Our Sunday morning service:  I know a lot of us attend the Sunday night 611 service, but you should know that Rick will teaching through a book known as "The Prodigal God" for four weeks, and his first teaching is this Sunday morning.  I've read the book and I can tell you that the best stuff is in the first chapter, so if you're gonna catch any of it, this is the Sunday to catch.

Stay safe on the roads this weekend.

The Week Link

First, apologies for not putting out a H.I. life post yesterday, life happened.  I will make this up to you in two ways.  First, I'll make next week's H.I. life post a double shot (you'll see what that means next Wednesday).  Second, for the Week Link today, I'll give you interview that may/may not blow your mind about television/internet/video mass media, and why the church cares gives a hoot.  Enjoy.

Shane Hipps interview

Tune in tomorrow for Friday's Finds.

Super Tuesday

Today's vote is on a subject that has garnered a lot of informal chatter over the last couple weeks, mostly by me.  But with the decade coming to the close, there are some things have gone undefined.  Today's Super Tuesday vote will help put one of these arguments to rest.  

The question that has been floated is this:  Who was the most iconic figure of the decade?  And for the purpose of this exercise, "most iconic" means, in 20-30 years, when you look back on the previous decade, who will be the first person that you associate with the decade.  Examples of past possibilities are JFK with the '60's, Michael Jackson with the '80's, or even Hitler with the '40's.  So for the zeroes, here are the consensus five nominees for most iconic of the decade.

George W. Bush:  Was president during the majority of the decade, and many of his decisions strongly impacted not only western civilization, but global civilization.

Tiger Woods:  Not only was his dominance of one sport unprecedented, it led to him named AP athlete of the decade.  And his fall from grace was as public of an episode as any other celebrity's fall from grace.

Al Gore:  I've been shouted down for this suggestion, but his contribution to internet development (which transformed life in the decade), the fight against global warming and coinciding Nobel Prize, and his involvement in the weirdest election since Dewey/Truman have to make him a contender at the least.

Osama Bin Ladin:  Every decade had it's "villain", and he was easily the most public villain of the last ten years.

Brittney Spears:  One of the most talked about, googled, and successful child-to-adult celebrities we've ever seen.  An extra couple points have to go to her for the historic breakdown in the fall of 2007, when many paparazzi members made enough money to pay for their kid's college by just following her around to see what she'd do next.

So the nominees are in.  Cast your vote for the most iconic figure of the past decade.