The Pizza Resistance (My Old Blog)

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The Pizza Resistance is winding down. I don't think I'll be blogging here much anymore. It's tough to come up with new content regularly, and then when I don't blog for a week I feel about it, and then I don't blog at all for month, and then two months, and then it feels like such a sad little blog with a post every four months or so.

So I am now blogging with a small team of folks for the ooze over HERE. Less pressure and, hopefully, more content. If you'd like to join us as a contributor, send me an email.

Sorry the blogging has been so sporadic. Three factors have been working against me. 1) My life is too busy to support daily blogging. 2) I get depressed when I see only a post a week, so I don’t blog at all for months. Which is even more depressing. All this leads to 3) I suck.

I really need to get into a team blog where there is less pressure to produce, and there is built in encouragement from having others post. Anyway, that’s not what I wanted to write about.

For the new year, I declared this the year of “fish or cut bait” for the house church idea. I was either time to stop bitching and do something else, or stop bitching and be part of the solution here. Because being the disgruntled prophet was taking a lot out of me. I admire Jeremiah’s fortitude, but I don’t think that is my calling.

So we are over halfway through the year. And here is the mid-year checkup.

1) I am not really any closer to starting a house church. I’ve certainly read a lot more about it. I still am infatuated with the idea. I still think it is a much better way of being church. But it does not seem that many in my community share the vision. It seems to me that the little bedroom community prefers to stay that way. Which is perfectly within their rights. It’s just a little sad for me.

2) I have stopped bitching. Not only that, I have reached a place of contentment. I have a sense of freedom. I no longer feel the need to tilt at windmills. I have found I can be constructive, and even a critic, without being harsh. Without feeling that someone else’s idea of community necessarily repudiates my own. That there are multiple kinds of community for all God’s children. “Red & yellow, black & white, they are precious in His sight.” “Different strokes for different folks.” It’s an idea I always espoused, really; it’s just that I finally believe it.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that I’ve given up on the house church idea. If the opportunity presents itself, I’m there. But if not...well, I’m okay with that too. :)

I need to find a new job.

It’s not that the job I have right now is bad. I still like most of the people I work with. And though most of what I do is quite routine, none of it is really distasteful. It’s just that “certain people” I work “with” make things most unpleasant sometimes. And not just unpleasant for me. It’s unpleasant to watch and unpleasant to be around, even when it isn’t happening to you.

Don’t they teach you in manager’s school not to berate people in front of everyone?

And why is it so damn important who “fault” something is? I understand people need to held accountable, but why do “some people” seem to take such joy in pointing out the mistakes of others? And why does it seem that these same finger-pointing “people” have so much difficulty accepting responsibility for their own gaffes? Bottom line: everybody makes mistakes from time to time. So let’s focus a little more on making things right than on whose fault it is.

It must be the military background. Civilians with military backgrounds (especially as officers) tend to think they are better than the rest of us, I think. And that’s not really their fault. The military told them that for years, so of course they are going to believe it after awhile.

But I’m not in the military anymore. I got my birthday back fifteen years ago. I don’t have to take this crap.

So, like I said, I need to find a new job.

Labels: job satisfaction

So Roger Clemens is a Yankee again. Just another case of the rich getting richer. By that, I mean that Roger is richer, not the Yankees.

The Rocket certainly will help their rotation, which has been a train wreck. But does he make them a better team? Does he up the odds that they win that elusive World Series? (What is it, eight years now? An eternity!)

It says here: nuh-uh.

This kind of thing should be bad for team chemistry. A guy just saunters in at mid-season and hops to the top of the rotation? For the third season in a row? I don’t care if you're the best right-handed since Walter Johnson, that ought to muck things up in the clubhouse. (Hey, did you see that run support he got in Houston last year?)

Of course, none of the Yankees seem to think so. And that is the real problem. This will not muck up the chemistry because there is no chemistry. The Yankees of the mid-to-late 1990s were a team. The Yankees since the turn of the millennium have been a collection of All-Stars. You may win a lot of games that way, but you don’t win championships very often. Clemens joining them should be a problem, one that might be overcome, but a problem nonetheless. That it apparently isn’t a problem, that’s a sign things are much worse than an aging and injury plagued starting rotation.

Labels: Roger Clemens, team chemistry, Yankees

So I made a New Year’s resolution this year. I decided it was time to fish or cut bait on the simple church/organic church/house church thing. That is, either get out there and do it, or quit bitching about the situation at First UMC of Land O’Lakes.

And we are now almost a third of the way through the year. I’m still attending First UMC, still attending my Sunday school class, still active in the music ministry, and even done a bit of writing for a dramatic production (which I will also be acting in). And...I’ve stopped bitching. This is a very good first step.

But it doesn't mean I'm moving on from the house church idea. Been doing a lot of studying. I’ve finished about half my house church reading list. (Organic Church by Neil Cole was exceptional.) So the passion for something different hasn’t subsided. I think the summer might be a good time to give it a try.

The biggest obstacle will be in getting other people to try it with me. Because a house church with just me is not a church. It’s just me. Which means meeting people. And meeting people scares the pants off me. And starting a church with Sponge Bob No-Pants is not likely to generate a lot of interest in the community.

Well, actually it might. Just not the kind of interest I'm interested in. :)

Labels: house church, organic church, simple church

As my buddy Ted from work says, this intra-web-thingie is really gonna take off someday.

I tracked down an old friend from high school. (Hi, John!) He was actually in my wedding, but we lost touch somewhere along the way. (I think right after the reception…) We’ve traded a few emails, and I hope to continue. Hardest part is, where do you start in recapping 18 years worth of stuff? Anybody else out there is the blogosphere been through this?

In other news: the novella is finished. Now comes the fun part of trying to get it published. On the bright side, it has already been rejected by a dozen literary agents. And, yes, that really is the bright side. It means I’ve gotten up the gumption to send it out at all. Also on the bright side is the four agents I sent it to that haven’t yet rejected it. And the brightest side of all is, I have more time blogging.

Labels: Old Friends, Writing

Hey, long time no blog! The flu, the Christmas season, my glacier-paced novel writing all seem to be conspiring against me. But something occurred to me as I was over at THEOOZE today, and it seemed worthy to blog about.

I’ve begun to feel some empathy for the Pharisees, the Priests, the Sadducees, all those power brokers back in the day. Because Jesus really mucked things up.

Imagine you’re a Pharisee. You have been given TORAH. It is God’s word to you, how you should live, how YAHWEH wants you to live. And then Jesus comes along. He is extremely frustrating to deal with. He’s saying all kinds of weird new stuff, or at least old stuff in weird ways, like he's some kinda rabbi, and that’s YOUR job. But he doesn't seem to be following the teachings of any rabbi you’ve ever heard of. At least, he's not consistent with it. Some people say he might be dangerous. And, by golly, some of the stuff he says does sound dangerous. So you want to nail him down a little. You just want to do your job, protect the kids, protect the faith. So ask him a simple question. “Should we pay taxes?” And he goes off on this rant about giving to Caesar what his and God what’s His, and you’re like, “Um, that doesn’t answer my question. Does that mean we should or shouldn’t pay taxes?” I mean, why can’t he answer a simple question? And so you ask him “Why don’t your disciples fast?” And he goes off into this STORY about old wine and new garments and wineskins. And you're like...uh, what? And this goes on and on, and you get more and more frustrated. Then there’s that crap about you being a whitewashed tomb. I mean, that is so over the line. Not only is he dangerous; he's disrespectful. Somebody's gotta do something.

Or you’re a Priest. The Temple is the thing, has been for a long time. And it’s your job to protect it, to intercede for the people. It’s what you were born to do. And this Jesus guy comes along, talking about tearing down the Temple! Talking like HE’S the Temple! And then, on top of that, he trashes the place! So you ask him, “Who the heck are you to talk like this? To act like this? Who gave you this authority? Who made you boss? WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE???” And not only doesn't he apologize, he doesn't even answer your questions! He starts sassing back, “First, tell me who gave John authority, then I’ll tell who gave me authority.” And you’re like, “There he goes again! We’re not telling him any such thing!” And so he says, “I’m not going to tell you where my authority comes from either.” And you are speechless at the gall of this man. Somebody’s gotta do something.

So you all get together. You decide, if it walks like a camel and talks like a camel, it’s a camel. He sounds like he has something to hide because, he really does have something to hide. You decide to something. For the children. For the Faith. To protect God's honor.

Do you see yourself in there anywhere? I know I see myself, in bold italics. So what does that mean?

Jesus; Pharisees; Temple

What have we become? Is this what America is all about?

I'm going to have to comment at lenght later. For now, let me sum up: some people just need to get a life.

Christmas wreath; homeowners associations

I say "Muslim Dialogue I" because I hope there will be more. I work with a guy who is a Syrian-born Muslim. By and large, he is a nice guy and I genuinely like him, even if I don't always understand him. So we talk sometimes.

The other day, we were talking about an atheist guy who talks to him from time to time. The atheist guy tries to show him "the error of his ways." He (the atheist) was pointing out all the violent passages in the Koran. And my friend told him that he misunderstood something about Islam. It is not a "turn the other cheek" religion. It may be a "religion of peace" as we are so often told, but it is not a passivist peace. It is a religion that defends the oppressed. It a faith that puts wrongs to right, sometime by force (if that's what it takes). He (my friend) says it is not a matter of defending Islam per se, that it doesn't matter if the oppressed person or people are Muslim or Christian or whatever. As a Muslim, he must defend those who are wronged.

This kind of crystalized a lot of what I have been thinking about American/Muslim (and Christian/Muslim) relations. We are using the same words (like "peace") but these words don't mean the same things. It also illustrated the major difference I see between Islam & Christianity. Jesus taught us to overlook offenses. To forgive. And this is something that Islam emphatically (according to my friend) does NOT teach.

It's also something I don't see taught in a lot of American Christianity. There is a lot of time spent defending ourselves. Defending our rights. Looking for new and different ways to be offended. (The War on Christmas, anybody?) And you know what? Those kind of things will always be there. Because people will always hurt us. Sometimes intentionally, sometimes (more often than not) unintentionally. Because people are broken. It's a sickness called sin, and we all have it. And there is only one way to combat it. And it's not by "standing up for our rights." It is by demonstrating true love. Forgiveness. Turning the other cheek. Doing unto other as we would have them do to us.

If we want to see the Muslim world changed (and this country, for that matter) it starts with living out these things Jesus taught. It will happen when we decide that praying for God to send His kingdom to earth as it is in heaven is not enough. It will happen when we decide to be agents that bring the kingdom of heaven here.

"Do not merely listen to the word, as so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." -James 1:22

Christianity/Islam