What I Write About

I write about the infinite number of intersections between every day life and the good news of the God who has come to get us.

Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Wednesday Grab-Bag: Sandra Bullock, Michael Jackson, and NT Wright

*Kelly and I celebrated our 11th anniversary this past weekend. Nice dinner out and went to see "The Proposal." We both give it thumbs up--funny and it doesn't take itself too seriously. Sandra Bullock is hilarious in her role.

*I don't think I'm the only one singing Michael Jackson songs in their head all week long. Saw a piece on him on 20/20 on Friday night. One fairly recent interview he talked with Diane Sawyer about how much he missed the fans.

"You're in concert, 50,000 people singing this song that you wrote in a cramped hotel room on the road. Awesome."

The dude was about as freakishly gifted as they come. I wonder if some of his personal issues didn't stem from a life built around the applause of the crowd.

*I'm continuing my summer-time drinking-buddy love affair with N.T. Wright. Reading "Surprised by Hope," it's fantastic.

The past couple of summers my study has been more skill-set development (leadership, management, etc.). Doing a summer of more theological study causes problems.

In the past week I've had to turn off four podcasts of preachers or daily devotionals for theological reasons. Here-to-fore I had been able to play through their theological shakiness, but spending my free time thinking about this stuff makes it harder to do that with ease.

This gives me a little more sympathy for all you seminary-types who, after a semester or two in the ivory tower, think that you know just about everything there is to know about just about everything.

It's hard when your days are spent in theological reflection and study to let things slide when stuff gets said that's just not true...or is sort of true but not the full story.

And it's even harder when you're the self-appointed arbiter and decider of all such things. But you know, we've all got our crosses to bear.

1 comment:

TwoSquareMeals said...

I loved "Surprised by Hope." And living with a seminarian for a couple of years was enough to make me snobby about sermons. Tell your brother "thanks" for me ;)

Seriously, though, I think Wright offers such a paradigm shift for those in Western Protestant Evangelicalism that anyone who reads him and agrees with him will find it hard to fit back into that world. I know we have. It is such a balance for us, being humble enough to accept good teaching, even if there is some part of it that doesn't ring totally true. If only everyone were as smart as you and your bro...