the church geek

Since Sunday is the start of Advent and we’re finally getting into the Christmas spirit in the Wunder-Bonewald household, I thought I’d offer up my essential listening for Christmas.

This album (actually 5 set CD collection) by Sufjan Stevens has sky-rocketed to the top of my list of favorite Christmas albums. Sufjan works his musical magic with a collection of fresh, creative renditions of classic sacred carols combined with a number of his own original offerings. Christmas albums can be sappy and schmaltzy, but this album never is. Instead it evokes the feeling of warmth and love that one feels when family and friends gather around the piano and fireplace to sing together the songs of the season.

I’m not normally a big flute fan, but James Galway’s album, Christmas Carol, has found its way into my heart. I’ve had this album for about ten years, and it never fails to move me into the wonder and celebration that Christmas truly is. This album was the first to introduce me to what has become perhaps my favorite Christmas carol, “Jesus Christ the Apple Tree.”

As far as sacred Christmas music goes, my all time favorite is Sing We Christmas from the a capella choir Chanticleer. The vocals of this twelve man group are crisp and clear. They grab you right from the beginning with a glorious rendition of another of my favorite carols, Es ist ein Ros entsprungen (Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming) and they keep you spell bound through the course of this wonderful album. For many years, this and Galway’s album were about all I had in my Christmas collection and to be honest I didn’t feel as if I needed much more than that!

The Vince Guaraldi Jazz Trio is simply brilliant in this original score from A Charlie Brown Christmas. If you love good jazz and you love Christmas then this is the one album you must absolutely own, but then if you love those two things I’m sure I didn’t have to tell you that!

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I put up our outside christmas decorations today. I’m still experimenting with ‘bokeh’ which is a fancy word for interesting depths of field, or areas that are simply out of focus. I really like these photos with the lights.

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The sun was gleaming off some ice on a frozen stream. This photo is much better large.

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Here is yesterday’s photo…

We went out to help celebrate a friend’s birthday last night, and how else do you celebrate a birthday? With karaoke, of course!

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The National Council of Churches Eco-Justice Program recently sponsored a Wilderness Photo Contest. I have one photo in the slide show:

Wilderness Contest

My particular photo entitled Psalm 1 came from my project 365 series. As part of the contest you were supposed to write something about how nature connects you to God. Here was my reflection:

The title of my photo is Psalm 1. The Psalm extols the blessedness of those who meditate on God’s laws saying they are like trees planted by streams of water. I find the opposite of this passage is true as well. As a pastor, I find it important every so often to get away from all the busyness of life and ministry just to spend some time in the natural world. Immersing myself among the trees and next to the waters makes it possible for me to be better rooted in God’s word.

And here was the photo:

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Well, tomorrow night turns out to be the night of the big game most of America won’t get to see. The game pits my 10-1 Green Bay Packers with the 10-1 Dallas Cowboys (Interestingly enough Dallas QB, Tony Romo, grew up in Burlington WI which is of course Packerland and a 10 minute drive from my home town.)

It turns out that this game is on the evil NFL Network and that only 40% of America has access to this said Network. The NFL is banking on people being irate enough with their cable providers for not forking over the NFL’s price to carry their network. Of course, they also hope that folks will switch to some sort of satellite or dish network.

Sounds familiar to Hawkeye fans in Iowa who have been hijacked by the just as evil Big 10 network, doesn’t it?!?

Today, I checked and our local cable provider does in fact carry the NFL Network, but my wife and I have the most basic cable service possible. We simply don’t value TV that much to make it worth shelling out $$ for big time cable or for satellite/dish service. And as far as the NFL is concerned there is no way I’m paying a subscription fee to them to get just the one game I care about watching this year.

So, I guess I’ll be calling around to some of our local sports bars to find out where I can watch the game. That is unless there is some kind local reader of this blog who has the NFL Network and wants to offer me a spot on their couch…

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I’m not sure what possessed me to agree to see Enchanted. Maybe it was because we were looking for a movie for a Sunday afternoon and noticed that Rotten Tomatoes had this one listed as a surprisingly 93% fresh movie!

Disney’s latest movie begins in the land of Andalasia where Princess Giselle meets her true love Prince Edward. On the day of their wedding the evil Queen (Edward’s step-mother) casts Giselle to the place where there are no happily ever afters: New York City!

Giselle meets a divorced NYC lawyer and father who ends up taking her into his home to help her out, and together they both learn about the real nature of ‘true love.’

While there is lots of cheese in this movie, an endearing message emerges that perhaps a bit of innocence can go along way in this cold, cynical world.

I give this movie 6 out of 10 stars.

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On some afternoons I have to have a cup of instant coffee in my office in order to stay awake!

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Right now in Iowa we are stuck in the time between fall and winter. The leaves have fallen and some snow has come, but we’re not really certain which of the two seasons it is.

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The text for this sermon is Micah 6:1-8 and is from today, November 25th.

To start us off this morning I want to paint two pictures for you.

The first picture comes from the recent movie called, American Gangster, which tells the true story of Frank Lucas, a black man in the early 1970. Lucas rises to the top of the drug trade in New York City and becomes enormously wealthy by finding a way to sell a purer product at a lower price than his competition.

Initially Lucas avoids detection by law enforcement, by bribing police and other authorities. However he is eventually found out by Richie Roberts a federal drug agent.

At the point in the movie, when we are certain the whole house of cards is going to crash in on Lucas and that all things have fallen in place for him to be brought to justice, Lucas takes his mother and his wife to worship at their family church.

As he gathers his family to leave, Lucas pushes open the front doors of the church only to find that Roberts is waiting there with all of his police back-up, ready to apprehend him and to bring him to justice.

A few times throughout the movies, we are given the impression that church for Lucas is a regular sort of thing, though we don’t know exactly why that is so.

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The text for this sermon is Jeremiah 31: 31-34 and is from Sunday Nov 18.

Do you ever have one of those days where you just want to start over? That proverbial day where you wake up on the wrong side of the bed and things just never seem to get on the right track? You spill your cup of coffee on the table or drop the jug of milk on the floor and the rest of your day is down hill from there?

Remember that classic Bill Murray Movie Groundhog Day? The one where Bill plays weather man Phil Connors who is assigned to cover Ground Hog Day ceremonies in Punxsutawney, PA for the fifth year in a row.

Phil begrudgingly goes about serving his duty, reporting the activities of the famous Punxsutawney Phil. He goes to bed that day, only to wake up the next morning and discover that it is February 2nd – Ground Hog Day - all over again.

When he tries to explain to his producer that they are repeating yesterday all over again, she just returns his explanation with a blank stare. It seems he’s the only one repeating that miserable day. And each night he goes to bed, only to wake up to face February 2nd all over again.

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The text for this sermon is Isaiah 55: 1-9, and is from Sunday Nov 11th.

Imagine stepping into a restaurant and discovering there are no prices listed on the menu. As you look around to figure out what’s going on, you see signs on the wall that read, “Pay what you can afford!” You’d probably think you were in a dream, maybe living in a fantasy world.

Well if you were in Los Angeles – which is a dream or fantasy world in and of itself - you may just have stepped into a small café operated by Libby and Brad Birky. The name of their little café is called, SAME, or “So All May Eat.”

In soup kitchens the hungry are rounded up and they are publicly identified. In contrast, this place is different, the hungry are treated with dignity and with respect and its tables are open to all without distinction.

The “No Price” policy means those who have a little more wealth help shoulder the burden for those who have little or none. Some who come to the café may not be able to pay, but if they choose, they can go to the kitchen to dice onions, to wash dishes, or they can wait on tables.

Before Dee discovered the café, she lived on instant noodles and cold cereal. Every once in a while, for a treat, she’d buy a burger from a fast-food joint. Now she lunches at the cafe four times a week. When she can, Dee pays $3 or $4 and when she can’t, she mops the floor.

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Here is yesterday’s photo:

I spent most of yesterday working on my sermon for today, but I did get a few moments at the close of the day to relax on the couch and to read a couple chapters in my book.

I’m currently reading P.D. James’ book The Children of Men. James is one of my favorite authors of detective novels, but this particular book is actually sci-fi and was made into a motion picture last year that I really enjoyed. Interestingly enough, I’m discovering that the book is more rooted theologically than the movie led me to believe.

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What do Iowans do in the winter? They put together jigsaw puzzles of Grant Wood paintings, of course!

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