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Hope Deferred...

There's a passage in scripture that says," Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life" (or as Eugene Peterson would have it, "but a sudden good break can turn life around.")

A lot of my American friends and acquaintances have already voted in the advance polls. They'll spend November 4th getting the vote out for the Changeling candidate. Many others have marked their calendars in eager anticipation of November 4th. Hope and Change are in their thoughts, on their lips and in their writing.

My friend, Ed Brenegar, made this comment on the We are Stupid post below.

This is a therapeutic election. Who one votes for is intended to make one feel good about oneself. One of my closest friends, an Obama supporter, told me that he believes that Obama will not lead according to his past political convictions, but from the middle. My heart sank. Not because I though he was mistaken, but that he, the smartest guy I known, invested so much hope in a narrative that is clearly designed for him to get elected. I felt he was hoping against reason, and that has become the meme of this election. (emphasis added)

When my boys were younger, I used to take elements from their previous day or two and weave them into what we called the "Little Lion" bedtime stories. (Liam was the Little Lion, Rylan the Littler Lion - sorry Kai that I didn't continue the tradition with you - I guess you would have been the Littlest Lioness.) I took some of the hard things they'd gone through and turned them into fun stories of overcoming. But. They were stories. They weren't truth. And they were designed for a specific audience to promote change and bring hope. (And, yes, sometimes they were successful.)

One of the things Obama has said is that people project their ideas and convictions onto him, as if he were a blank slate. I find this quote from an Obama supporter on the BarackObama.com site rather telling,

...specific public display events, like festivals, often have intentionally ambiguous meanings so that individual members of that society can project their own personal meaning onto the representations. So while you have one singular event, you have multiple understanding of that event (which we like to call postmodern hermeneutics).

This is so Obama. He is criticized for being vague and lacking substance in his speeches, but that's precisely the genius of him as a public figure (not a public festival, but still a public figure that operates by using discourse in the public sphere). By remaining somewhat ambiguous, he allows many different people to project their own meaning onto him. That's how he can reach across party, racial, and gender divides: he means something different for everyone. This is also why I consider him to be an important figure as a politician: through his presence in the public sphere as a politician, he has the ability to change our national imaginary.

Perhaps Obama will truly be the first post-modern president - one who "has the ability to change our national imaginary." Or, and I'm afraid more likely, he will turn out to be a thoroughly modern Chicago-bred politician - fully indebted to the machine that brought him to prominence.

While finishing this post, I read a tweet from an Obama supporter, who is a Christian leader, twittering about watching a documentary on how the Republicans stole the '04 election - and how he is so ashamed he was once one of them. He's bought the narrative - Republicans Evil, Democrats Good. (Because, of course, the Democrats would never attempt to steal an election, right!) But I do wonder what he and others will be writing four years from now.

My fear: many happy voters today will have their hearts made sick by hope deferred... once again.

A Kuyper Komment

“In the total expanse of human life there is not a single square inch of which the Christ, who alone is sovereign, does not declare,'That is mine!'
Abraham Kuyper

neo-Calvinism, Abraham Kuyper

Keep it Simple. We are Stupid, afterall.

We want simple solutions. Keep it simple, stupid. This one's better than that one. No need to dig too deep. Just go with your gut. Everything will be fine. Trust me. Everyone wins in the end. Really.

This would seem to explain why Fireproof, the movie produced for half a million has grossed $23.6 million in its first month of release whilst Amazing Grace, the intelligent movie about William Wilberforce which cost $29 million, grossed a million less than Fireproof at the end of it's entire run.

You see, Amazing Grace deals with 20 years of Wilberforce's parliamentary fight against the slave trade. It is an epic battle that leaves him battered and bruised. It deals realistically with the ugly side of humanity, even, dare say, the ugly side of Christians. Fireproof, on the other hand, provides a simple message - Get Jesus, He Fixes Everything. To quote John Armstrong,

There are no tensions in this film that go unresolved. There are no problems that cannot be met if you simply love Jesus enough. This is not life.

The first part of this post was triggered by Andy Crouch's post, Amazing Gross. The gross speaks volumes about the "Christian" audience as Crouch suggests quoting William Goldman, "nobody nows anything." Crouch adds, "let the reader understand."

Fireproof is the kind of movie where the writers start with a solution and work their way backwards. It reminds me a lot of what's happening in the church's response to the US elections.

Most of my friends have bought "Change You Can Believe In." One wears a shirt emblazoned with the date of Bush's last day in office. We need CHANGE. Whatever that might mean.

Those of us who would dare to suggest that Obama's abortion position is cause for more than grave concern are written off as single-issue voters. In near Orwellian doublespeak it is explained, as if to children, how Obama's presidency will actually lead to fewer abortions. This, of course, right after he signs the Freedom of Choice Act as his first act as president - a promise he made to Planned Parenthood on July 17th, 2007.

The simple narrative is Bush = Bad. McCain = Bush. Obama = Good. Vote Obama.

It's a narrative pushed by the Main Stream Media and a narrative that many of my friends echo - people who I would have identified as prophetic voices. They have become shills for a political campaign. (Note, as Imbi and I discussed with an American friend last night, I would probably write-in Bugs Bunny if I had a US vote. Our American friend can't and won't support either candidate. )

In a post never published, called Not for Prophets, I wrote this:

I spent almost a decade (in my teens and twenties) actively involved in Canadian politics - with one party. The Liberals. (Ostensibly similar to the American Democratic Party.) I disengaged from active involvement in party politics when I became a Christian at 27. (Though my political leanings became more Red Tory than Liberal.)

Twenty-six years later I still remember the thrill of the campaigns. The demonization of the opposition. The creation of talking points to put our opponents in their place. The door to door thrust and parry. It was a blood-lust, team sport.

I should also have written that it was all about the creation of simple narratives. Us - friend, them - enemy. Destroy the other.

I've watched this simple narrative with the same blood-lust play out on blogs, Twitter and Facebook. Writers who are Christians have been as politically partisan and graceless as those who claim no belief system whatever.

Earlier this electoral season, Ben Witherington quoted his friend James Howell, pastor of Myers Park UMC,

People ask me: are you liberal? or conservative? Sometimes my reply is: it depends on the issue – but my true answer is: neither! The Church drifts into absurd irrelevance if we do nothing more than baptize one or the other of the prevalent options society has dreamed up. We have our own perspective, which at times seems in sync with this or that policy – but then Bam! …we surprise everybody with a wrinkle, a twist. We are not middle of the road, although when we are most faithful to God we are likely to annoy (and occasionally to please) liberals and conservatives in equal measure.

How could this be? Human institutions, political parties, and even the noblest people who choose public service, are sinful, flawed; self-serving agendas get in the way, or the perils of the moment blind us to a greater good God would have us pursue. And frankly, not everybody out there is exactly “lost in wonder, love and praise,” deeply immersed in the Bible, and prepared to “take up your cross and follow” (Mark 8:34). Many citizens in both parties don’t think twice about God, or God is like a good-luck charm they think will help them get the goodies they crave. Politicans fawn over the electorate; they will “say anything,” and they even hire wizards to advise them on how to talk religious folks into voting for them. Parties and politics are not surprisingly out of sync with God.

Howell later quotes Hauerwas (who was prominent in our conversation last evening) and then Lincoln,

“The Church is not simply a ‘voluntary association’ that may be of some use to the wider public, but rather is the community constituted by practices by which all other politics are to be judged” (Stanley Hauerwas).

Abraham Lincoln told the truth about “sides” who boast of God: “Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; each invokes His aid against the other. The prayers of both could not be answered… The Almighty has His own purposes.” Knowing this, we treat each other charitably, and look to God for something better: “With malice toward none; with charity for all… to bind up the nation’s wounds – to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.”

UPDATE: John Armstrong has an important post from earlier today that needs to be included in this discussion - a post triggered by Peggy Noonan's book, Patriotic Grace. Armstrong says,

This will all be over in one week. It appears that Barack Obama will soon be President Obama. When I tell conservatives that I want him to succeed they go into orbit, especially conservative Christians. They seem to genuinely hate this man. They think he is a criminal who has no right to live in the White House. I ask: "What is different from this response and the way the far left has attacked President Bush so fiercely for nearly eight years now?"

Who is worse in this constant polemical tearing down of our social fabric? Both sides point to the other. Peggy Noonan suggests we need to rise above our fierce partisanship and reaffirm what it means to be Americans. To this end I will not only pray for Barack Obama if he wins but I will do everything in my power to support him as an American while I remain committed to my political philosophy. One thing I do know---this angry, mean-spirited period in our history needs to end, the sooner the better. Nothing serves the nation's real interest when we engage in non-stop name calling and character assassination.

Original Ending: Let me end this long-winded post by pointing you to another post of mine which I wrote on March 30th called We Need A King. Like Dan Edelen has done recently, I remind my brothers and sisters of the people of Israel and their desperate desire for a King in 1 Samuel 8. Please read God's response to Samuel again as you prepare to vote.

The following Chris Falson and the Amazing Stories video is in that post - I'm sticking it in this one to belabor my point - as is my wont. (Back in the early 90's, Imbi and I produced and directed the project from whence commeth this song. BTW, this version is a rough cut. The Muppet on piano is Rob Mathes. This was shot at Dana Point Calvary Chapel behind the Orange Curtain in SoCal.)

1 Samuel 8, Amazing Grace, Andy Crouch, Fireproof, Politics, US Election, We Nee A King

Trying to Get Things Done

I've spent a lot of my time approaching and now passing the halfway point of life (as we don't know whether the Singularity is here or not) often managing to forget to get important things done. A diagnosis of ADD thanks to this book in the early '90's was helpful (prompting a professional to be involved) - as it allowed Imbi and I to work to put tools in place to deal with the simple manifestations of my attention deficit. The Palm Pilot was a God-send. (Maybe I can get her to tell the funny story of how I worked on her to let me get one, many years ago @ an NAB show in Vegas. The comments are open, dear.)

In the last few months, I'd noticed the return of an inability to keep track of how many balls I had in the air. In a previous season, I'd been a huge fan of 37signals Backcamp and Basecamp. (I still love the company and their software.) But, as the iPod Touch has become my primary computing tool when I'm visiting clients or on the road I needed something that would work well with it.

I saw Things (a software package rather than a description of the thousands of Apps available in the Apps store) in the Productivity section of the iTunes Apps store. I was intrigued. I've been using it for about a month now and am impressed. Right now the Beta desktop version only syncs with one desktop client (my main computer, the MacPro). This will be fixed when the product is released at MacWorld in January. I need it to be able to sync between my MacPro, the MacBook and the Touch. And hooks to Gcal would be helpful.

I love Things' simplicity and ease of use. As I do the final close-up at our summer place (which is on an island and will become inaccessible in a matter of weeks because of freeze up on Lake Simcoe), I'm walking through my ToDo list on things to ensure I don't forget to do - things like make sure all the drains have non-toxic antifreeze in them.

Imbi just emailed me a few more things and I've updated them manually. (If it worked with the Laptop along with the MacPro, Things would be so much simpler - but that's coming.)

MacWorld said this about Cultured Code's Things,

Although Things is still in preview stage, which means features and its appearance could still change, it feels close to complete already. In fact, its open simplicity is exactly what leads us to recommend it to anyone with a Mac.

 If you're a Mac and iPhone/Touch user, and like me, find yourself a little less than organized (pictures of my office to come) then Things might be the perfect solution.

I should also note that I'm checking out ActionMethod, which appears to be a very good, ajaxy, project manager. It's what I would have used Basecamp for, in earlier days. There's a free version for up to a Gazillion projects - but each with only 50 steps per project. Or for $12 per month or $99 per year, you get gazillions of projects, gazillions of steps and 2 gigs of free space. I've signed up for the basic unit to see whether it will help on a particular project Imbi and I are working on. For my purposes, it needs an iPhone/Touch app to make it a viable productivity tool.

Here's the review from Mashable that turned me onto it.

Now I need to get some things done.

Cluetrain Revisited as a Quick Slide Show

Cluetrain Review

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: web 2.0 cluetrain)

via Doc Searls who calls Michael Specht's SlideShare pres above, "the best way to pound through all 95 of Cluetrain’s theses."

Oh, and if you're wondering...

...where I am today. Here's a clue.

Though this was taken by the polymath, Tom Millard in August of '07. It was about 80F that day. It's about 36F right now. But it will hit 52F later today and almost 60F tomorrow, when I come back to the city.

Lake Simcoe, Snake Island

It's Hansen's Fault

Searching for some illogical reason to blame for my almost total lack of posting, I've decided it's Brant Hansen's fault. Since he's not posting, neither I am.

Now. I have found time to waste on Facebook (as has the aforementioned radio guy) and even twitter - but blogging, I d'know. It just seems so 2004. (You'd need to be reading Doc Searls - at the very least - to get that reference.)

In related news, Gmail now offers Smilies and Canned Responses. How cool is that!? (I expect the Canned Responses to be very effective in blog communication.)

Brant Hansen, Stupid Things To Say, If This is Friday, I Must Be Heading to the Cottage

Particularly Appropriate: A Hymn, by G.K. Chesterton

Wycliffe's Professor Joe Mangina mentioned this piece by G.K.C last week. It seems particularly appropriate (which I'm sure is why he mentioned it.) It appears in a number of Hymnals as O God of Earth and Altar:

A Hymn

O God of earth and altar,
Bow down and hear our cry,
Our earthly rulers falter,
Our people drift and die;
The walls of gold entomb us,
The swords of scorn divide,
Take not thy thunder from us,
But take away our pride.

From all that terror teaches,
From lies of tongue and pen,
From all the easy speeches
That comfort cruel men,
From sale and profanation
Of honour and the sword,
From sleep and from damnation,
Deliver us, good Lord.

Tie in a living tether
The prince and priest and thrall,
Bind all our lives together,
Smite us and save us all;
In ire and exultation
Aflame with faith, and free,
Lift up a living nation,
A single sword to thee.

- Gilbert Keith Chesterton

G.K. Chesterton

Blood:Water, TED & Turok - Blog Action Day

I ended my "Get Serious" post (two posts ago) with an addendum. In it I quoted Dr. Al Mohler, speaking on the wonders of American capitalism. Apparently, it wasn't obvious that I was being sarcastic in my quote. Mohler seemed as inflicted as most North American Christians with an almost exclusive focus on ourselves - and the really horrible times we are going through. (I need to quickly finish this post so I can rush out to the food lines in hopes of getting a piece of moldy bread and a cup of thin gruel.)

Perhaps we could look for sympathy in the two-thirds world, where most would simply be happy with clean drinking water. Or in sub-Saharan Africa, where mosquito nets costing only a dollar per, would dramatically reduce the number of children who die daily from malaria - one every 30 seconds. (Only 3% of the most at-risk kids have the nets in place.)

Clean drinking water and effective anti-malaria protection would have profound impact on the economic well-being of individuals, families and nations in sub-Saharan Africa - where up to 40% of health expenditures go to treating malaria alone - that treatment doesn't deal with the parasites and diseases that accompany dirty water.

I want to point you at two things on this Blog Action Day. The first is the Blood:Water Mission.

Blood:Water Mission is partnering with groups and individuals to empower Africans to build healthier communities through sustainable clean blood and clean water solutions, while developing social responsibility in the U.S. through initiatives that provoke personal engagement and ownership.

$1 = ONE YEAR OF WATER FOR AN AFRICAN
YOUR ONE DOLLAR WILL SAVE A LIFE

We've given to Blood:Water today, and I'd ask that you'd consider giving as well.

The second thing I'd ask is that you watch this video from Physicist Neil Turok, 2008 TED prize winner. Perhaps the next Einstein will be saved by the clean water and mosquito nets we help to provide.

UPDATE: Read Brother Maynard's Blog Action Day Post, please.

UPDATE 2: Please read Jake Meador and Jamie Arpin-Ricci, too.

---

This post is part of Blog Action Day 08 - Poverty

Blog Action Day 08, Blood:Water Mission, Neil Turock, Poverty, TED

Human Editors vs Algorithms vs The Power of Collaboration

The power of the link
Read any of the online versions of newspapers that I do, and you will note that a lot of them suggest other articles. For the most part, these suggestions are being created by computer algorithms. However, my reality is that most of what I read online is filtered through the voices I have chosen to listen to - whether the Saturday link-a-thon from Brother Maynard or Scot McKnight, the political pointers from Drudge, Josh Marshall and Glenn Reynolds or the thousands of blog posts that act as way markers on this journey of insight and discovery.

Scot Karp, responding to the brilliance of people like Jeff Jarvis and Jay Rosen (both who've been infected by the Cluetrain idea virus) points to the power of collaboration for the news media:

...look at where the most innovative, entrepreneurial minds in journalism have focused their efforts — it’s all about collaboration:

Ryan Sholin just launched ReportingOn, a site where journalists share in short Twitter-like messages what they are reporting on — with the aim of actually HELPING each other. With fewer journalists in newsrooms doing original reporting, doesn’t it make perfect sense that more and better reporting could get done collaboratively? Why should a beat be a solo effort?

That’s is also the idea behind Beat Blogging, the brainchild of Jay Rosen, with journalism iconoclast Patrick Thornton now leading the charge. The idea is for journalists to develop social networks to improve their beat reporting — by collaborating with people involved with and interested in the topics they cover, journalists can do better reporting. (Beat Blogging is even collaborating to find great examples of beat blogging.)

Speaking of collaborating with communities, Mark Briggs, of Journalism 2.0 fame, co-founded a company called Serra Media, whose first product Newsgarden is a map-based local news platform that allows news orgs to collaborate with their communities to publish hyperlocal news. And their bet is that journalists and community members all posting hyperlocal news as they come across it can do a better job than algorithm-based local sites in judging what news is important to the community.

The Power of Collective Intelligence, so brilliantly shown in the Linux model of collaborative development is both infecting and impacting every corner of human communication and endeavor.

I'm involved in a networked conspiracy of fellow missional travelers who are working to create a wiki-style resource center. It will point to the hundreds of coherent voices in the missional movement scattered across the expanse of these interwebs. Collaborative human editors will create the links to help map where this discussion and the ideas/stories it generates are going. No algorithms involved. Just passionate people embedded in the midst of the next reformation.