Uncategorized on netfull.org

Fri, 14 Feb 2025 10:16:18 -0400

Two Sandhills Cranes.

Sun, 09 Feb 2025 18:13:28 -0400

I published a repo for an Alfred workflow that I made for searching my links using the GoodLinks app on macOS.

Moral Excellence

Mon, 16 Dec 2024 10:30:12 -0400

…Isaac with his indifference to any moral excellence he himself does not care to practice…

How much of our self-righteous conflict emerges from the result that we each, being limited, fight our moral battles on particular fields, and when we find others who have left our chosen fields to fight in others, deny them moral excellence?

Our moral rubrics are always weighted toward our passions.

New Old Typewriter

Tue, 10 Dec 2024 08:50:53 -0400

I was inspired by Chris Aldrich’s post to purchase, clean, and repair an old typewriter. I never realized what marvels these things are. This instrument works just about as well as it did in the forties.

It makes me think about machines a bit differently.

Mon, 09 Dec 2024 18:59:57 -0400

A lot of people are fleeing from Twitter/X looking for the next place where ‘everybody is.’ But consider that the scale required for a place where everybody is might be the whole problem. Or at least attract the worst of social network health.

Wed, 04 Dec 2024 13:54:22 -0400

Last night at a middle school band concert, the director announced a student would play “a little ditty” but all the kids heard “play a little Diddy” and they all went nuts.

Stories about reality

Tue, 19 Nov 2024 10:03:42 -0400

Because Large Language Models are trained on human language about reality, their chatbots can often sound like they are in touch with reality. Sometimes they give remarkably lucid responses about things in the world that we would all agree with. But that can hide the fact that these models have no basis in reality whatsoever…only in the recorded interpretations of reality available to them.

Humans are meaning making machines. We are constantly interpreting the randomness of the world as stories which more or less work, but may also not be objectively true. This is why the events of the world continue to surprise us, or cause us anguish when they do not fit into our stories.

Chatbots don’t do that because they don’t know reality, just our stories about reality.

It would be like asking someone about the ocean who has read many books about the ocean, but has never actually experienced the ocean. You could learn a lot, but you’d always be a layer or two (philosophers can argue about this) removed from reality. And I think that makes a difference.

Thu, 14 Nov 2024 08:02:19 -0400

This is super helpful. Thank you.

Wed, 13 Nov 2024 21:38:58 -0400

Fri, 08 Nov 2024 09:14:19 -0400

Brooding: Should Our Children Have a Political Party?

Most of us have loved ones whose beliefs don’t perfectly align with ours, and kids need help making sense of that beyond a binary of right and wrong. Our biases are often simultaneously irrational and grounded in experience. Understanding this is not moral relativism, it’s social intelligence. Belonging to a group feels good, but teaching your kids how to identify group dynamics can feel good too.

This was from before the election, but will continue to be relevant.

Thu, 07 Nov 2024 07:57:52 -0400

Finished reading: Martin Heidegger by George Steiner 📚

Wed, 06 Nov 2024 23:34:57 -0400

Cadillac Mountain, Maine

Sun, 03 Nov 2024 17:01:53 -0400

Verona Island, Maine

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 20:53:44 -0400

Accountability sinks | A Working Library

Once you start looking for accountability sinks, you see them all over the place. When your health insurance declines a procedure; when the airline cancels your flight; when a government agency declares that you are ineligible for a benefit; when an investor tells all their companies to shovel so-called AI into their apps. Everywhere, broken links between the people who face the consequences of the decision and the people making the decisions.

I’m thinking about how accountability sinks might operate in my context, the local church. Sometimes you get opposing sinks: the pastor concludes the church doesn’t move forward because of the stubbornness of the laity; the laity conclude the pastor is to blame; everyone escapes accountability as the community degrades. The consequences, though, are much harder to discern in this case.

Other People's Projects

Mon, 28 Oct 2024 06:42:43 -0400

Pluralistic: Keeping a suspense file gives you superpowers (26 Oct 2024) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow

This is not an imposition, it’s a kindness. The point of a suspense file isn’t to nag others into living up to their commitments, it’s to form a network of support among collaborators where we all help one another make those conscious choices about what we’re not going to do, rather than having the stuff we really value slip away because we forgot about it.

This is important…I’ve often wondered about good boundaries around reminding other people of their obligations. Should I send out a reminder email about the meeting, or assume we’re all adults? Instead of seeing it though through the expectation of perfection, if I admit that we all need help (this is why I have a Getting Things Done system after all), reminding others turns into a collaborative system in which we’re all trying to do our best.

Sat, 26 Oct 2024 15:23:25 -0400

“merlin mann” apple site:music.apple.com at DuckDuckGo

Merlin doesn’t share his profile on Apple Music but you can find his public playlists with this search.

Tue, 22 Oct 2024 07:41:16 -0400

Mon, 21 Oct 2024 19:21:42 -0400

Wed, 24 Jul 2024 20:00:00 -0400

Wed, 03 Jul 2024 15:23:38 -0400

Finished reading: Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan 📚

Wed, 03 Jul 2024 15:22:22 -0400

Finished reading: Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker 📚

Wed, 03 Jul 2024 15:19:58 -0400

Finished reading: Low Anthropology by David Zahl 📚

Wed, 03 Jul 2024 15:12:26 -0400

Finished reading: Free of Charge by Miroslav Volf 📚

Tue, 19 Dec 2023 08:13:20 -0400

Finished reading: America’s Theologian by Robert W. Jenson 📚

Thu, 03 Aug 2023 22:14:22 -0400

Finished reading: A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life by George Saunders 📚

Tue, 27 Jun 2023 06:34:42 -0400

Finished reading: The Blithedale Romance by Nathaniel Hawthorne 📚

Tue, 27 Jun 2023 06:34:06 -0400

Finished reading: The Humans by Matt Haig 📚

Wed, 24 May 2023 09:39:12 -0400

Finished reading: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin 📚

Thu, 11 May 2023 09:42:26 -0400

Finished reading: The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. It’s a big book with diverse parts so I have big and diverse feelings about it. 📚

Wed, 10 May 2023 16:15:58 -0400

Finished reading: Saving Time by Jenny Odell 📚

Fri, 28 Apr 2023 08:33:16 -0400

The Homebound Symphony

Perhaps [‘the history of anarchism, almost alone among modern social movements, is one of unrelieved failure.’]; but its failures are different and less shameful than the failures of Marxism. There are many ways for a social movement to fail, and I prefer those that don’t result in the murder of tens of millions of human beings.

Maybe a good question for leaders of any social movement: how will you fail? Failure is guaranteed but not all failure is equal.

Tue, 28 Mar 2023 07:58:40 -0400

A great test for Large Language Model AI’s would be to remove some artist’s specific work and see if it could be anticipated based on the remaining work. I don’t think the nature of super large datasets would ever allow this, though.

Thu, 23 Mar 2023 20:47:20 -0400

Finished reading: Across the Everglades by Hugh Laussat Willoughby 📚

Thu, 23 Mar 2023 11:32:38 -0400

Finished reading: I Heard the Owl Call My Name by Margaret Craven 📚

Thu, 09 Mar 2023 14:13:11 -0400

The First Battleground of the Age of AI Is Art

Kottke says:

Like, just think about how powerful this is: normal people who have ideas but lack technical skills can now create imagery. Is it art? Perhaps not in most cases, but some of it will be.

My definition of art is “craft + courage.” I think it’s pretty clear that typing a prompt into a text box to make art isn’t an act of courage. So for now I’ll say that generating images using AI – especially in honing the prompts – is craft but not art.

Sun, 05 Mar 2023 17:08:06 -0400

Finished reading: The 2 Oz. Backpacker by Robert S. Wood 📚

Sun, 05 Mar 2023 16:29:22 -0400

Finished reading: The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas 📚

Fri, 17 Feb 2023 08:50:28 -0400

Finished reading: The World-Ending Fire by Wendell Berry 📚

Fences

Wed, 08 Feb 2023 21:55:12 -0400

Pirkei Avot 1:1 & English Explanation of Pirkei Avot 1:1:1 from the Talmud

Making a fence around the Torah is another principle of supreme importance in Judaism. There are many laws that are not strictly obligatory upon a person from the Torah, but rather were instituted by the Rabbis to prevent a Jew from transgressing a Torah law. An example is the use of money on Shabbat. The Torah itself does not prohibit using money on Shabbat. However, the Rabbis said one should not do so, lest one write, which is prohibited by the Torah (at least the midrashic understanding of the Torah).

Prior to legalism, with which my theological background is very concerned, there is a purpose for rules – to keep us out of trouble. I like the image of the fence one puts up to keep others from coming into harm. Here, the Talmud means the ‘lesser laws’ which keep one from encroaching on the Torah commandments. But really, aren’t all the rules a fence? They try to keep us from coming into harm. Just because we are bound to fixate on the fence and abuse it doesn’t mean it wasn’t put up with gentle kindness in mind. Even when we are impaled on it.

The American Crisis Discourse

Tue, 07 Feb 2023 20:23:45 -0400

The Homebound Symphony

But goodness, is it difficult to get many editors interested in books that aren’t somehow implicated in (or can somehow be shoehorned into) the American crisis discourse.

The “American crisis discourse” is real and I think I’m infected: I often come across ideas and wonder where they fit into our crises. There is a difference between “how does this idea apply to now” and “how does this idea fit into the current outrage discourse.”

A Treadmill for the Mind

Mon, 06 Feb 2023 00:23:32 -0400

As a long time user and admirer of Apple’s products, I find myself in a new situation: I am not only unenthusiastic about the anticipated virtual reality headset – I’m against the whole idea. The headset sure seems like a step in the wrong direction for a company that recently has been so focused on health. In what way does a VR headset contribute to health? Mental, physical, social, whatever?

Steve Jobs was famous for using the analogy of the bicycle. Like a bicycle, a computer can enhance the natural power of a human. It’s like a bicycle for the mind. I’ve used my iPhone to help me find my destination. I’ve used my Apple Watch to help me train for athletic competitions. Bicycles.

Maybe I have poor imagination, but I can’t see a VR headset enhancing my natural power. Only tricking it. Sure, I can attend a more visceral virtual meeting. Maybe the attendees will even have legs. But it’s still a virtual meeting. Something that feels more real isn’t actually more real or healthy.

In that way, a VR headset feels more like a treadmill. You can move a lot, but never go anywhere.

It’s a treadmill for the mind.

Tue, 31 Jan 2023 07:37:31 -0400

Chassahowitzka River

Mon, 16 Jan 2023 10:49:58 -0400

Ted Gioia on AI music.

In agreement with my 2023 goal of doing work that cannot be replaced by AI.

Fri, 13 Jan 2023 09:08:53 -0400

Austin Kleon:

Whether you’re into AI or not, it’s worth spending some time honoring what is not machine-like in you.
And if you’re going to spend time with machines, be sure to spend time with machines that make you feel more human.

Thu, 12 Jan 2023 13:37:01 -0400

Mon, 09 Jan 2023 13:21:12 -0400

I’ve done similar before with two lists: ‘cultivate’ and ‘resist.’

Mon, 09 Jan 2023 12:19:29 -0400

Mon, 09 Jan 2023 12:05:23 -0400

I know there are bookmarklets, but I’d love a Safari extension that put micropub actions onto a button…

Sun, 08 Jan 2023 23:31:58 -0400

Myakka

Fri, 06 Jan 2023 14:14:49 -0400

Preservice Music at Christmas Eve

Tue, 18 Dec 2018 17:08:45 -0400

No one ever tells the bad guys, “This time you’ve gone exactly the right amount of far.” I mean, maybe with the right feedback…

Sun, 09 Dec 2018 03:22:03 -0400

by Robert Indiana

Tue, 23 Oct 2018 00:12:21 -0400

Pack your own parachute, Roll your own rig. If you want to make a Newton, Bring your own fig.

We have a lot of Fake News; It’s the worst. If you want to share an article, READ IT FIRST.

Mon, 22 Oct 2018 14:15:59 -0400

Houston, TX

Sun, 30 Sep 2018 19:58:35 -0400

Maybe we should re-examine our trope that kids today are such ‘snowflakes’ that they cry when asked difficult questions in job interviews.

Sun, 30 Sep 2018 19:58:13 -0400

Maybe we should re-examine our trope that kids today are so entitled that they think they can get away with anything and write about it in public places.

Wed, 26 Sep 2018 15:51:23 -0400

I should have made better notes for myself when I set up my micropub endpoint…

Wed, 26 Sep 2018 15:30:26 -0400

Really appreciate the great, quick updates with excellent release notes from @joec and his app RECaf.

Wed, 26 Sep 2018 02:04:32 -0400

No, not everyone is Ernest Hemingway, but imagine for a moment a world where the majority of people had access and encouragement to craft their thoughts into blog posts. I used to scoff at “everyone’s a blogger” but now I hope for it.

Mon, 24 Sep 2018 14:24:41 -0400

Thu, 20 Sep 2018 22:12:25 -0400

Ten Minutes of Peace

Thu, 20 Sep 2018 12:45:00 -0400

If you use an iOS device and you’ve upgraded to iOS 12, do yourself a favor and add this Shortcut, “Ten Minutes of Peace”. You’ll need to download Apple’s Shortcuts app if you haven’t already.

All it does is turn on your Do Not Disturb setting for ten minutes and then turn it back off again. But during that time – no buzzing, dinging, vibrating: bliss.

Add it to Siri and get yourself ten minutes of peace just by asking.

Wed, 19 Sep 2018 17:22:22 -0400

One time I listened to so much Wilco I showed up to all my appointments on Central Time.

Mon, 17 Sep 2018 12:52:23 -0400

Mathews County, VA

Tue, 11 Sep 2018 12:31:24 -0400

Jekyll Island, GA

Sat, 08 Sep 2018 18:39:03 -0400

Houston, TX

Sat, 08 Sep 2018 18:37:23 -0400

Pastor: Jesus said ‘I am the Bread of Life.’

Parishioner: ‘Sheesh. Some people just need to be kneaded.’

Fri, 07 Sep 2018 21:38:30 -0400

Winchester, VA

Wed, 22 Aug 2018 02:06:46 -0400

Verizon throttled California fire department during wildfire crisis - The Verge

The Revolution will not be televised due to bandwidth throttling. Please stay on the line for customer support. The current wait time is approximately 37 hours.

Is Facebook evil? Everything bad about Facebook is bad for the same reason — Quartz

Fri, 03 Aug 2018 17:29:00 -0400

Is Facebook evil? Everything bad about Facebook is bad for the same reason — Quartz

Without question, Facebook enables brutal and immoral hatemongers. I can hear Facebook arguing that they cannot possibly take a stand on moral issues without becoming censors and losing objectivity. Facebook cannot make those decisions without messing up a lot of the time. I agree. Its scale is just too massive.

That’s just the thing: Facebook can’t admit it, but it’s possible that the most moral thing is for Facebook not to exist.

Sat, 09 Jun 2018 12:37:36 -0400

Sat, 26 May 2018 13:49:24 -0400

In a country that slew indigenous people and was built on slave labor, White Nationalism is always also White Supremacy.

Thu, 10 May 2018 11:57:57 -0400

273.16 degrees of Kelvin Bacon is so close to being a good joke.

Seven Books I Have Loved

Sat, 31 Mar 2018 03:17:00 -0400

I can’t say ‘favorite’ because these are basically the earliest books I loved, or the latest books I have loved.

- Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig

- A Field Guide to Ecology of Eastern Forests; North America by John C. Kricher and Gordon Morrison

- How to Be an Adult in Relationships: The Five Keys to Mindful Loving by David Richo

- Beloved by Toni Morrison

- Daring Greatly by Brené Brown

- A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn

- How the Mind Works by Steven Pinker

Wed, 28 Mar 2018 13:42:05 -0400

My ego is like a Cable News pundit telling me how to think and feel about everything that happens, and meditation is like turning off the TV and seeing life myself.

Wed, 28 Mar 2018 02:24:49 -0400

How’s it going? - BrettTerpstra.com →

Hey buddy, how you doing? I’m good, thanks for asking. You don’t seem good. What’s going on?

I deeply appreciate when writers share how they’re really doing.

Mon, 26 Mar 2018 12:45:38 -0400

Since the time my firstborn was very little it’s always been clear he’s going to roll his own bowling ball and all I can ever hope to do is put bumpers in the right gutters.

Oscar Romero, May 11, 1973

Sat, 24 Mar 2018 21:45:00 -0400

Even when they call us mad, when they call us subversives and communists and all the epithets they put on us, we know that we only preach the subversive witness of the Beatitudes, which have turned everything upside down to proclaim blessed the poor, blessed the thirsting for justice, blessed the suffering.

I’m Not Driving

Wed, 21 Mar 2018 09:51:00 -0400

I love my iPhone’s Do Not Disturb feature which mutes the parade of bells and vibrations that come from it. I use it at night so I’m not woken up to the ding of some robot account which liked one of my Instagram photos from four years ago.

I’ve always wanted to use it for temporary moments throughout my day when I don’t want to be disturbed, but after forgetting to turn it off and missing important messages on several occasions, I stopped trusting it for this purpose. It’s just too easy to miss the little moon icon up there reminding me.

But with iOS 11, Apple introduced a related feature: Do Not Disturb While Driving. It holds back on notifications like its older cousin of a feature, but it also won’t let you interact with the phone while it’s on. You have to press an additional button asserting “I’m Not Driving.” My phone automatically turns this on when I’m in the car, which is annoying in the short term, but better for me overall.

But I’ve actually started to manually turn on the feature – you can put it in Control Center – for those temporary moments of peace. And because of the way the feature is designed, it won’t let me use my phone until I turn it off. This way I can’t forget it’s on so long as I try to use my phone.

Which is too often.

Tue, 20 Mar 2018 21:22:24 -0400

Tue, 20 Mar 2018 18:11:20 -0400

So, do we just accept that people use the phrase ‘anal’ to mean ‘anal-retentive’ in polite conversation these days?

Daring Fireball: Facebook Security Chief Said to Leave After Clashes Over Disinformation

Tue, 20 Mar 2018 02:27:31 -0400

That Sandberg and (presumably) Zuckerberg resisted investigating and disclosing everything they could about how the Russians took advantage of them says everything you need to know about them.

The power that Facebook stewards is almost unimaginable, yet goes unchecked by regulation. I realize this is new territory for humanity, but leaving our fastest growing source of power in the hands of just a couple tech moguls is profoundly short sited.

The Horse

Thu, 15 Mar 2018 09:31:00 -0400

I’m stepping into a great big backyard. It’s familiar, yet new to me. It stretches on farther than I can see. It’s nice. I notice in the middle of the yard, there’s a small trailer. It makes me nervous because it looks…a little damaged. As I approach it, I can hear breathing sounds, quickening. There is a small window. I look in. I connect eyes briefly with a wild stallion and as soon as it sees me it panics. Jumping, kicking in the trailer. I fall backwards and then stumble up and away from the trailer.

Sitting on the porch I stare at the trailer. I can see it moving. The horse is pacing. I’m wondering what to do about it. I ignore it. I walk around it as far as possible, but I can’t stop thinking about it. At night I can hear the sounds.

So I throw a party. Loud music. Lots of people. There’s some caution tape around the trailer so no one gets hurt. And…for a moment…Yes! The sound is drowned. I’m feeling better than I’ve felt in a while. To keep it up, I drink, I laugh, I get a little reckless. Until I pass out.

But then the people are gone. The music has died. The drinks are out. And I can hear the horse and it’s angry. I’m angry. I can’t sleep, I can’t be free.

But I also have kerosene. I don’t know what this horse’s problem is, but it won’t calm down: I don’t really have a choice. Don’t judge me; I’m putting it out of its misery. As I pour the fuel around the trailer, the horse kicks wildly. The trailer may collapse before I’m done.

It doesn’t.

I watch the flames safely from the porch. I don’t know if I should say some words or something, but I wouldn’t know what to say. I didn’t even know its name. The trailer was moving, but now it isn’t. I feel sad.

The sadness kept me up all night, but the dawn’s light gives me hope. Smoke rises from the burnt out trailer which is still pretty intact. I approach slowly. Why am I so scared? As peer around the corner I’m breathless; I hear nothing inside.

But I see them. Eyes, open and sad but fierce. It kicks and neighs; I scream and recoil. Backwards, I fall.

Darkness.

Silence.

I must have hit my head. I’m on the ground and I slowly realize I’ve been lying just a few feet from a wild creature trapped in an attempted murder site. As my eyes regain focus they fall upon the horse’s eyes. It’s lying down, but its head is raised. I never noticed how beautiful its eyes are. There’s fire still in them.

I climb to my feet. So does the horse. I slowly approach. It breathes faster. Its knees are quivering and I realize mine are too. I can feel the hair on the back of my neck. It breathes loudly and I want to run. I have to run.

But I don’t. I just stay. As I keep breathing, I notice its scars. They’re from me. It hurts me to look at them. But I keep looking at them. The horse keeps breathing, too.

I stay. It hurts, but I stay. I just…stay.

I’ve lost track of time, but…sometime…later I notice the door on the back of the trailer. I do something risky: I unlock it. The horse watches me. I throw open the door and light streams in. The horse shivers and watches me.

It trusts me, so I climb on and we ride out together into the great country that surrounds us, faster than I could ever go on my own, feeling a dangerous wildness and an exhilarating trust.

Mon, 12 Mar 2018 14:00:43 -0400

When I take my metal coffee thermos out of my bag it rubs against a grommet and sounds like a sword being unsheathed, and it’s exactly how I want to start my day.

Sun, 11 Mar 2018 20:39:00 -0400

Joining Micro.blog has really gotten me curious about the IndieWeb movement. Looks like more changes to my blog are coming…

Thu, 08 Mar 2018 23:55:45 -0400

I’m less angry if I accept at the beginning of the day that being a parent will elicit physical pain by the end of the day.

Internet Friends: 1: How We Met on the Internet

Sun, 04 Mar 2018 04:56:00 -0400

This podcast about the internet and society really resonated with me, in particular, how each of the hosts described a time of great optimism for what the web could be, and how it’s all become pretty complicated and, um, disappointing in 2018.

So I thought about it and came up with my great (naive?) period of hope for the web. It was about 2006. I had stumbled upon a couple internet communities that were flourishing…

One was the show with zefrank, a quirky video blog that used a bunch of short, creative, and confessional segments by its creator. But notably it also encouraged, facilitated, and shared back contributions from the people who followed it. People were asked to (and did) submit little pieces of songs or sounds or pictures that Ze would put together in creative ways. The people who became the show’s community helped produce these cathartic pieces of group art. In today’s world — where groups of guys who’ve forgotten whether they are ironically or earnestly neo-nazis organize to abuse others on the internet — remembering old episodes of the show feels like remembering the internet’s Garden of Eden.

The other community was Radio Open Source, a public radio show and podcast hosted by Christopher Lydon (a name associated with the very beginnings of podcasting.) The setup of the show and the wide range of topics it covered fostered this incredible conversation on its website. Listeners shared insight from all kinds of perspectives that enhanced the context of each show and steered the direction of the next one.

Open Source has been through several incarnations through the years, and still exists, although I don’t think the community still does in the same way.

Pastor Lura N. Groen: Spiritual Abuse at the Meeting at ULS regarding Dr Latini

Thu, 01 Mar 2018 21:10:00 -0400

I understand Dr. Latini’s desire to control her own story and her own identity. And yet she has applied and accepted a position as a public face of a religious institution before being able to talk about parts of her religious life that were very public. Public theologians, and public representatives of institutions, need to be able to take responsibility for their public record, and to explain previous writings and actions.

Context here.

I agree with Lura. There is a crucially important distinction between personal repentance and redemption and public accountability.

I expect more from the president and board of my alma mater or any institution.

Tue, 27 Feb 2018 20:31:50 -0400

I’m putting microblog posts in the same stream as regular posts. It’s blog succotash!

Tue, 27 Feb 2018 01:01:12 -0400

Lake Street Dive - Good Kisser (Live Performance - YouTube) →

Chills. If the rest of the songs are half this good, the album will be amazing.

Sat, 24 Feb 2018 21:23:49 -0400

Do you ever have that thing where you write something incredible in the ecstasy of a caffeine high…only to find it incoherent the next time you read it?

Sat, 17 Feb 2018 02:51:39 -0400

I have a fairly long history with meditation but I just got Mindfulness for Mere Mortals by @patrickrhone to read together with my wife.

Safety

Fri, 16 Feb 2018 18:23:00 -0400

Sen. Marco Rubio, in 2014, in a bid to raise his NRA rating from a B+ to an A:

The safety of our families is not something people should hope government can provide.

Martin Luther and the Reformers, in 1530, in the Augsburg Confession:

[Government defends] not minds, but bodies and bodily things against manifest injuries, and restrain[s] men with the sword and bodily punishments in order to preserve civil justice and peace.

I’d wager more Americans would agree with the 500 year old statement than with Sen. Rubio’s.

Fri, 16 Feb 2018 04:46:18 -0400

I love and work alongside older adults everyday, yet I can’t help but think we need a Jubilee election in which no one over 30 can vote.

Tue, 13 Feb 2018 14:53:02 -0400

At the gym there are three muted TVs set to Cable News, SportsCenter, and a contestant show…and they all look remarkably similar at a glance.

Explicit Bias

Fri, 09 Feb 2018 13:06:00 -0400

If your skin is white, like mine, I urge you to take the online Implicit Bias test conducted by Harvard University. They have several, but I’m specifically talking about the White-Black bias test.

You won’t like the results. Most of us white folk put a lot of energy into appearing to be unbiased based on race. Most of us get very defensive if called a racist. I admit to having a certain amount of ill-founded pride in being ‘very tolerant’ towards race — so I was very disappointed to find the test revealed that I had a certain amount of implicit bias. In other words, I automatically have a stronger positive feeling towards people of lighter skin than darker skin.

My first response (which is typical for people taking the test) was to blame the test. After all, I think racism is evil, and all prejudice based on skin color is wrong, and even dumb. But what the test measures is our ‘gut response,’ formed before the thinking part of the brain kicks in. Just take it and you’ll see what I mean.

Now that I’ve calmed down, I know it’s true. My experiences, conversations, media, and curricula have taught me to see dark skin in a more negative way. Think of a Disney villain…I’ll bet they have darker skin than the Hero. How many Bad Guys can you think of that have dark skin? How many mugshots have you seen on the news of folks with dark skin? I didn’t ask for this. But I am responsible for my response. These experiences form my automatic bias, and if I pass them on uncritically…well, I’m not one of the Good Guys.

I’m not a Bad Guy for having implicit bias, but my responsibility is to stop uncritically accepting the ways that my bias gets passed on or tolerated. I have to start with myself, so I’ve developed a list of ‘explicit biases’ that I want to train myself in. Just as our negative implicit biases take a while to learn, so will my correction to them.

When I encounter a person that is culturally, socially, economically distant from me, I run through a list. I affirm in my head that this person:

- is different from anyone else on the planet

- has a rich inner life that I may or may not see

- has an education that I don’t

- is embedded in family relationships, some of which may be complicated

- is embedded in social relationships, some of which may be complicated

- is a Child of God

It might seem clumsy, but I already make those assumptions about people I find very similar to me. Either way, I am convinced that my moral responsibility to change racism does not stop at passively deciding something is wrong, but includes actively changing the way it works through me. In this case, it starts with rewiring my brain.

Mon, 05 Feb 2018 18:07:21 -0400

Not only that but when you finish making your website you will have gained superpowers: you now have an independent voice, a URL, and a home on the open web.

Robin Rendle

Mon, 05 Feb 2018 14:37:49 -0400

Carpet with the color and smell of spilled coffee as a feature, not a bug?

Wed, 31 Jan 2018 18:01:18 -0400

Yes, Florida has seasons. You just don’t look at the tree leaves to tell them apart.

Tue, 30 Jan 2018 15:15:00 -0400

Parenting is helping children grow from generally being monsters to whatever specific type of monster they become.

Doors and Walls

Tue, 30 Jan 2018 11:45:00 -0400

I’ve been finding myself feeling frazzled pretty regularly which is something that happens when I haven’t taken time to review everything going on in my life from a ‘big picture’ perspective. Tasks are essential, but without a larger sense of goals and priorities they just become turns around the hamster wheel.

The problem for me is that I cannot get the big picture perspective without slowing down, stepping back, and doing honest-to-god thinking. And because I’m an introvert, I cannot do that in the midst of other people. I really have to take some time by myself to do that.

My office has a door and walls. The walls are permanent and meant to keep the environment out, and me in. The door, however, opens and closes – alternatively allowing things going in and out and then stopping things going in and out.

I’ve not been treating the door that way. I see the open door as symbolic of my openness to people. I like people and God knows I want them to like me. So I leave it open almost all the time. As if the door were a wall and of course I don’t want to put up walls between me and people.

But the alternative is not between walls and unrestricted access: I have a door. My door is here to selectively enforce boundaries that I – and I imagine, everyone else – need. There are times when I need to temporarily close off open access to me so that I can do some deep, reflective work. I may only need this a couple hours all week. But I do need it, and the door helps me take that time.

I need to be able to close my door without feeling like I’m putting up a wall. I’m just closing the door now, so I can better welcome others through it later.

Mon, 29 Jan 2018 22:36:01 -0400

Getting close to having all my micro.blog basic setup in place!

Mon, 29 Jan 2018 03:36:49 -0400

I wouldn’t be a true micro.blog user without a blog post on setting up my micro.blog, right?

How This Site is Built

Mon, 29 Jan 2018 01:00:00 -0400

Update to the Update: Site is now hosted on Wordpress with IndieWeb plugins.

Update: I’m now putting my microblog posts into the same stream as my blog posts. This required some pretty major changes to the structure of the site since my plugin options are limited on Github Pages. You can now subscribe to just the full (titled) posts, just the microblog posts, or both (the default feed.)

Here’s how I post blog posts to www.netfull.org and microblog posts to www.netfull.org/microblog as well as Micro.blog…

My blog, this blog, which is trying to tie together the various threads I’m interested in, is now hosted on Github Pages. It’s a static site built by Jekyll which means that Github builds it automatically every time I update the files.

The nice thing about building the site this way is it’s always under version control so there’s always a trail of bread crumbs back to any previous version of the site. I can revert back in time to fix the mistakes I regularly make while coding it. Also, the source is public so you can see the mistakes yourself.

I’ve been intrigued by Manton Reese’s Micro.blog project as an independent way to publish little thoughts and to have a little dialogue back and forth. Like the way I once thought Twitter should work, but without all the baggage. Twitter’s annoying attempts at monetization are understandable; Twitter’s enabling of White Supremacy, misogyny, and genocidal nuclear threats are unconscionable.

I really recommend you give it a try. I also recommend you pay a few dollars a month and get Micro.blog’s hosted service unless you really want to sink some hours into a painful, substandard, DIY system like mine.

~~For now ‘microblog’ posts, which you can think of like Tweets, don’t show up in the main JSON/RSS feed or on the homepage. Instead, they live on the Microblog part of my site.~~ To get that set up, I relied heavily on excellent posts by Tim Smith, Ross Kimes, and Kirby Turner. You make fewer mistakes when you stand on the shoulders of others.

Health

Wed, 24 Jan 2018 01:00:00 -0400

I spent way too much of 2017 sick.

My goal for 2018 is to be much healthier. Some causes of illness are out of my control (like having small children in the house) but many are in my control. Here are some things I should do to be healthier:

- sleep at least 7.5 hours a night

- make a smoothie for breakfast daily

- wash hands every scene change

- keep hands off face

- go to the gym weekly

- do yoga a couple times a week

- do meditation daily

Comfort in Beliefs

Wed, 29 Nov 2017 01:00:00 -0400

I think there’s a difference between taking comfort in my beliefs and taking comfort in my own understanding of my beliefs.

For example, if it comforts you that God is in control of the world – that’s fine. If it comforts you that you understand exactly who God is condemning – that’s troubling.

Mon, 21 Aug 2017 20:14:11 -0400

Hungry, boy?

Mon, 12 Jun 2017 00:00:00 -0400

Back in my freshman year of college, my roommate Jon had gotten involved with an on-campus Christian group that was also associated with – I think – Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Jon invited me to an event they organized and I was game. It wasn’t the kind of thing we often did, but I seem to remember a potential romantic relationship for one of us was at play.

The event was an old fashioned BBQ with hay rides and everything on a farm outside of Gainesville. Really outside: I can remember how bright the stars were out there. The most notable part, however, was that this BBQ was hosted at the personal home of Sonny Tillman, the founder of Sonny’s BBQ. He is something of a legend in those parts. Guess he had a soft spot for FCA and provided his farm and all the Sonny’s food we could eat. nAnd I was ready for it. Doing a lot of cycling in those days, I could put away some calories. As I went through the line, I loaded up my plate with everything I could: pulled pork, beans, garlic bread – oh and ribs! I have to have ribs! My plate was full and then some, and I had to walk carefully back to a table.

By chance, I happened to cross paths with Sonny himself as I was delicately navigating the crowded barn. He looked down at my overloaded plate and then at the 150 pound awkward 18-year-old holding it and said, in at least six syllables of deep southern drawl, “Hungry, boy?”

I grinned sheepishly and said, “Yeah.”

He said, “You better finish that plate, you hear?”

And in one of the proud moments of my life up to that point, I did.

Sat, 22 Apr 2017 02:36:51 -0400

Stress

Wed, 05 Apr 2017 00:00:00 -0400

When I fall apart under stress it looks like this:

- I become disillusioned with everything: with myself, with others, faith, etc. My cynicism which is often held at bay takes over. It’s hard to remain motivated.

- I get tired.

- I do not look for help; in fact, I probably avoid it. I tell myself it’s not good for me to show signs of weakness due to stress. Because then, I say, others will have to be inconvenienced.

- I do not think clearly or do my best work.

- I do not have courageous compassion for others.

Sat, 01 Apr 2017 00:03:51 -0400

Fri, 31 Mar 2017 17:31:11 -0400

Jolene

Wed, 04 Jan 2017 01:00:00 -0400

Despite its sexist premise (it’s the other woman’s fault this man can’t honor his commitment?) and its dubious backstory (is he really the ‘only man’ for you if he would dump you for a soft-spoken ginger?), Jolene really is the best song ever written.

It’s a masterclass in leaving you wanting more. The simple and elegant chord progression moves so pleasingly under the clever but natural rhymes of the verses, but just enough to give you a taste for more. I wish there were twelve more verses.

But ultimately, it’s the naked pathos of one woman pleading with another to have pity. She has no other resources left; she’s arrived at her last resort: begging. Her happiness depends on Jolene and what she decides to do…and we never find out.

Sun, 18 Dec 2016 03:17:06 -0400

Sat, 17 Dec 2016 02:40:47 -0400

Fri, 25 Nov 2016 19:56:27 -0400

The Greater Evil

Fri, 30 Sep 2016 00:00:00 -0400

I have a feeling that many Americans will be going to the polls without a lot of passion for their candidate. You know, the whole ‘lesser of two evils’ idea. I have to confess that I am not exactly passionate about the candidate I’ll be voting for.

But let me offer another motivation for voting: survival. No, not mine – as a white man, the American system already has a lot of momentum towards protecting my interests. I’ll be using my vote to help preserve others.

We have a candidate who has consistently – in his life, in his campaign, and in his suggested policies – discriminated against, diminished, and endangered the lives of people of color, women, Muslims, immigrants, refugees, people with disabilities, and those he simply considers ‘losers.’ He has been endorsed by numerous white supremacist, nativist, and anti-Semitic groups that have never before endorsed a major candidate. Behind him are people who believe we would be ‘great again’ by controlling and diminishing the lives of certain classes of humans.

For the sake of those fellow humans, cast your vote accordingly. No, we aren’t there yet, but despite his bleak, autocratic vision of the country, we could actually live up to the unfulfilled promise we started with that we are stronger when we not only tolerate but embrace the tired, poor, huddled masses yearning to breathe free. That we will be a better nation because of the free contributions of those who have been previously enslaved and destroyed because of fear. That real ‘greatness’ will come not from looking back toward a time of greater domination, but forward to a time of greater love.

Even if you aren’t completely smitten with your candidate, be passionate about that when you go to the polls. And vote accordingly.

A Communion Parable

Thu, 22 Sep 2016 00:00:00 -0400

There once was a man who had a neighbor. The neighbor invited him to a great party. Food was shared. Everyone cared for each other and the man went home happy. He was surprised that the next week, his neighbor invited him over for another great party. He attended again and loved it again. The third week in a row, the neighbor invited the man to the party and the man became suspicious. “How can he afford to throw so many parties? Perhaps he is trying to trick us into doing something. I’ll not go. Besides, I’m tired of parties.”

But the man noticed that week after week, the neighbor continued to throw parties for whoever came. Often there were people there he did not recognize. Week after week, the neighbor invited him to parties. The man pitied his neighbor and started calling him names behind his back.

Then one day, the man took sick, lost his job, and could not afford to buy himself food. When his neighbor invited him to the party, he thought to himself, “what choice do I have? Besides, I want to see whether the parties are any good anymore.” When the man joined the party he found food and neighbors caring for each other just as he did at the first party. Tears filled his eyes as he realized he had been wrong about the neighbor.

Without anything to contribute, the man asked his neighbor how he could help. “You can’t,” he said, but instead gave him all the leftovers from the meal. “It’s too much,” said the man. The neighbor simply said, “Then, that’s how you can help.”

Tue, 16 Aug 2016 03:26:58 -0400

Music Ghosts

Tue, 29 Sep 2015 00:00:00 -0400

When you make music, you call up a lot of ghosts. American music no less than any other.

This country may be new, but its people are ancient.nWhen you play its music, you’re responsible – if not to them, then for them.

If your melody waxes nostalgic for Dixie, then your words better talk the ghosts down.

Phrases that are Always Lies

Thu, 10 Sep 2015 00:00:00 -0400

- “The more, the merrier.”

- “Be my guest.”

- “No offense, but …”

- “It’s not a threat; it’s a promise.”

- “No pun intended.”

- “Nothing to see here, folks.”

- “This hurts me more than it hurts you.”

- “People always ask me …”

- “I’m not a racist, but …”

- “Not to brag, but …”

- “Well, I’m sorry that you …”

- “… literally …”

Multitasking Considered Harmful

Wed, 01 Oct 2014 00:00:00 -0400

Clay Shirkey banned laptops in class even though he is a proponent of technology. But distraction is like secondhand smoke: it hurts us and the group. Our basic urges follow distraction down rabbit holes before we even have time to stop it. He now seems himself working together with students against these tendencies by banning devices.

Attention is precious in our faith. The church should also work together, when appropriate, to limit distraction without demonizing technology.

Prayer for Depth

Wed, 01 May 2013 00:00:00 -0400

My mom recently told me that when I was born, she sincerely prayed for me to have to particular qualities that would help me in my life.

It’s funny because when my son was born, I also felt a deep desire to pray for something in particular for Henry. It’s hard to want something for someone who will have to eventually become his own person. I agree with Merlin Mann that the absolute best you can do for your child is allow them to be messed up in their own way. So I worry: if I pray for Henry to be calm, is it just because I don’t like noise? If I pray for him to be artistic, am I already trying to live vicariously through him?

So here’s my prayer as I hold him in the hospital. I want him to know depth. I believe the world and every part of it is deep. I want him to just know that whatever he stands on, there are tectonic layers and plates stretching through time and space and all resting on a molten core that infinitely provides energy for everything he does.

As much as I can avoid passing along fears, inadequacies, and all sorts of shortcomings, I want him to know that deep down, underneath his own quirks, that he is not alone. That there is a richness to the soil he is planted in and to never stop drawing from it.

Richie Havens

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0400

When I was pretty young I read an article in Guitar Player about Richie Havens. Thirty years after the world saw him in the film Woodstock, he was still touring the country and playing threehundredsomething shows a year. You gotta respect the work ethic, but for someone who had been around for a while with many albums under his belt and connections with various organizations…why would he continue to tour almost nonstop?

A couple years later, I was working stage crew in Clearwater and Richie Havens was playing. Before he went on, somehow he found out that my friend Jeff and I were fans. I guess it touched him that he had fans that were only like 15 years old. He closed the door to the greenroom and played a couple songs. For an audience of two. I figured out how he could keep up his touring schedule: he just loved to share the music.

I thought about this story about two days ago. Richie Havens died today. If that sounds like a coincidence, it’s not. I think about this story about once a week anyways. Probably always will.

Four Reasons Why I Procrastinate

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 06:00:00 -0400

The Obvious One

I just don’t want to do it.

Solution: Just do it.

The Pernicious One

I’m feeling guilty about not completing the task yet, but I would rather avoid it then deal with that feeling and the consequences. This one usually makes itself worse.

Solution: Forgive myself for the delay. Then, just do it.

The Narcissistic One

I need the last minute pressure of the approaching deadline to force me give up on my silly perfectionism and accept less-than-perfect work from myself.

Solution: Manage expectations about what kind of time and energy I can put into a project/task, then just do it.

The Cynical One

I’m nursing the task in my own task list because it keeps me in control of the project, instead of putting the ball in someone else’s court where it belongs.

Solution: Sharing is caring, and I’m in the caring business. Let someone else do it.

Baptism and the Cross

Thu, 16 Sep 2010 12:06:00 -0400

This essay was written for a class I took in seminary called “Interseminary Seminar” in which students from the local Lutheran, Catholic, and Baptist seminary each presented an essay exploring the theme of baptism from their own faith tradition.

Baptism and the Cross

One perplexing focus of Lutheran theology is ‘Theology of the Cross.’ This concept has been variously used and confused since Martin Luther first alluded to it, but if anything, it’s been under-utilized. Though difficult to describe, it gets at the heart of the paradoxes that Lutherans are notorious for confessing. It provides a framework for talking about God’s work, specifically on the cross, but also throughout Scripture and throughout the life of the believer. By the cross I mean not just the Roman system for punishment or Christ’s death and suffering, but the totality of Christ’s life, death, resurrection, and ascension. The connection I will make here is between theology of the cross and a Lutheran understanding of baptism. Through a series of opposites – wisdom and foolishness, death and life, law and gospel, glory and the cross, etc. – baptism and theology of the cross are deeply related. But more, I hope the connection is useful. In the daily and continuous nature of baptism as dying and rising, the seemingly foolish work of God is done in the believer. For Lutherans, after all, there is no theology for the sake of theology, but always for the sake of God’s work: to produce faith in the hearts of believers.

Calling a Thing What It Is

Where can we find God? What do we know about God’s actions in the world with certainty? These questions, which are both ancient and modern, are taken up decidedly in the Heidelberg Disputation, public theses written by Martin Luther in A.D. 1518. Through a series of theses and their proofs, Luther defended his challenged teachings by setting forth a framework for theological discussion. While his Ninety-five Theses are more widely remembered historically, the Heidelberg Disputation is more important theologically.¹ It is primarily from this document and Luther’s subsequent writings that modern theologians (from Lutheran and other traditions) begin their work describing ‘theology of the cross.’

Broadly, theology of the cross in the Heidelberg Disputation deals with the issue of revelation. How is God known? Luther’s ‘new theology’ is partly born out of his response to those church teachings which he saw as seeking the ‘invisible things of God’ through philosophy. But as Luther objects, God is never revealed through the works of man, and because of sin, God cannot be known fully known through creation. The Mona Lisa is beautiful, and the Grand Canyon is awe-inspiring, but they cannot reveal the true nature of God to humans. Rather, God is revealed as God chooses: indirectly, though suffering and weakness and by faith. A theology of the cross assumes Jesus on the cross is the definitive revelation of God to humanity. Luther’s contribution in the Heidelberg Disputation is insisting on limiting God’s revelation to God’s terms. Theology of the cross, then, seeks God where God is to be found – in Christ, for whoever has seen Christ has seen God.²

It is impossible to systematically define this theology of the cross. Indeed, Luther spoke initially of what a theologian of the cross does rather than what a theology of the cross is. Even more challenging is that Luther describes this ‘new theology’ in the form of opposites. The most basic definition of this theology of the cross is that it is the opposite of a theology of glory.³ The dichotomy is set between a theologian of the cross, and a theologian of glory. What, then, does a theologian of glory do?

Thesis 21 of the Heidelberg Disputation states, “A theologian of glory calls evil good and good evil. A theologian of the cross calls the thing what it actually is.”⁴ A theologian of glory is attracted to those things which appear good: good works, glory, elegant ideas, strong positions. But this is contrary to Christ’s revelation on the cross which comes through victimization, suffering, foolishness, and weakness. Apart from Christ, one naturally prefers “works to suffering, glow to the cross, strength to weakness, wisdom to folly, and, in general, good to evil.”⁵ The forces of the world run on power, after all; might makes right. Right? But to not know Christ, who comes in weakness and suffering, is to not know God. A theologian of the cross affirms that God “can be found only in suffering and the cross.”⁶ God can only be found in the last place anyone would look: in weakness, in a victim. In a crib, on a cross.⁷ Indeed, theology of the cross operates in opposites. For Luther, ‘calling a thing what it is’ meant facing the question of a terrible, punishing God and trusting in faith while professing hope. For the modern theologian, it might mean facing the question of a non-existent God and professing that same hope.⁸ It should be made clear that while these two types of theologians are mutually exclusive, any individual is always both. A roster of pastors or a faculty of professors cannot be simply labeled either a theologian of the cross or a theologian of glory. Just as Lutherans affirm “Simultaneously Saint and Sinner” they would affirm “Simultaneously Theologian of the Cross and Theologian of Glory.”

A theology of glory arises, says Luther, any time humanity presumes to know God on human terms. The effect of sin (defined not simply as moral indiscretions but humanity’s enmity with God) is such that humanity is unable to grasp that which is God’s. Any attempt, then, to grasp God through human effort is a theology of glory. Theologies of glory are so dangerous, and thus so strongly rejected, because they lead to faith in the theology, rather than faith in God:

What is revealed is precisely that we don’t know God. Our problem is not that we lay claim to such little knowledge of God but that we think we know so much. […] God refuses to be known according to the schemes of a theology of glory.⁹

It may seem that theology of the cross rules out good works. In fact, Lutherans would say that good works are done by God through the Spirit more and more in the life of the baptized. But the work done is always God’s alone, and not to be confused with its source. The greatest temptation for the theologian of glory is to do good works or think good thoughts and put trust in them. Thus the Heidelberg Disputation: “Although the works of man always seem attractive and good, they are nevertheless likely to be mortal¹⁰ sins,” and “[a]lthough the works of God always seem unattractive and appear evil, they are nevertheless really eternal merits.”¹¹ It is a difficult pill to swallow for theologians (ancient and modern) to confess that the very best human achievements are ‘filthy rags,’ and without merit. But those things or works which appear most good are most likely to produce trust in the thing done, rather than God who accomplished it. On the contrary, the works of God appear as weakness and folly. The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. Because the world did not know God though wisdom, God saves through the foolishness of those who believe.¹²

Co-buried with Christ

Baptism, rightly, holds multiple meanings for Christians. The range of themes and meanings in Christian tradition comes from the biblical witness itself. New Testament baptism can mean repentance, forgiveness of sins, washing of sins, and ‘putting on Christ.’ This discussion will focus on one particular set of meanings – being claimed ‘in Christ’ by participating in his death and resurrection. It is this theme which is most deeply connected to theology of the cross.

The Lutheran perspective is careful to say first that baptism belongs to God. Although the rite is performed by a human, baptism ‘is nevertheless truly God’s own act.’¹³ Baptism is done by God and to achieve God’s purpose: to save. Through the lens of ‘assignment,’ baptism has been described as God claiming heirs: the baptized person does not become Christ’s by “placing himself under Christ, but rather he becomes Christ’s […]” through baptism.¹⁴ The believer is assigned to Christ.

Becoming Christ’s means not just bearing the name of Christ, but bearing the cross. Baptism seals us with the cross for our life in Christ. Through baptism we participate in the cross, that is, in death and resurrection. The theme of baptism as participation in Christ’s death and resurrection most directly comes from the sixth chapter of Romans.

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.¹⁵

Paul is describing a very real death to be experienced. This particular death is not an imitation of Christ made possible by baptism, or a symbolic copy of Christ’s death, but an insertion into the “once-for-all death of Jesus Christ.”¹⁶ It should also not be completely individualized: Paul is talking about the death of the old “dominion of sin, of which all believers were a part.”¹⁷ While baptism is indeed a washing and forgiveness of sins as the Scriptures promise, it is also a real connection to the cross. Baptism brings death to sin, but this event is not different from the saving work of Jesus accomplished on the cross.¹⁸ Baptism looks back to the death of Jesus on the cross, but also forward to the resurrection of the body:

Even though in this world the baptized is still moving toward his death, he may be certain on the basis of his Baptism that he has already experienced his death, for he has been given into Christ’s death.¹⁹

Baptism’s meaning is eschatological in the sense that while the believer remains bound to death in earthly life, God has won the last word over death. This becomes a source of constant hope for the believer, even in the midst of suffering and death.

This connection between baptism, dying, and rising also appears in Colossians 2:11-12: You are co-buried with Christ! In the synoptic Gospels, as well, Jesus equates baptism with his journey to the cross in Mark 10:38-39 and Luke 12:50. It is also important to read Paul’s use of baptism in Rom. 6 within a larger context of dying and rising found, most notably, in Galatians and II Corinthians; this context has been lacking in much interpretation of Rom. 6.²⁰ Accordingly, Paul’s discussion of baptism in Romans cannot be considered a summation of his doctrine of baptism, but it does make clear the intimate connection to Christ’s death and resurrection. It bridges the gap between between the cross and the life of the believer:

[…] not because baptism repeats Christ’s death or enables it to be present in some unique way, but because in baptism the destruction of the old world and founding of the new which the cross brings about reaches its goal in the life of the believer.²¹

Therefore baptism is the present reality of God’s past work in Christ and future redemption of the world. The past and future work of God come together in the believer’s present life. Death and resurrection are a present reality for the baptized.

A Rhythm of Dying and Rising

From this insight flows the Lutheran concern for understanding baptism as a continuous and daily treasure. Luther, for example, always works to expand the notion of baptism from a one-time rite to a life-long gift. While the initial rite baptism inaugurates the drowning of sin, it is “not fulfilled completely in this life.”²² In baptism, God begins to bring about death to sin and life to faith, but not until the end of earthly life is the work of baptism completed in the believer. The work of baptism is therefore ongoing and eschatological. In baptism, God continues throughout life to overrule sin. “[I]t is daily being more and more destroyed in us until our death.”²³ The ever present reality of sin does not nullify baptism, but rather shows its purpose. Paradoxically, Luther can say that baptism “makes all sufferings, and especially death, profitable and helpful.”²⁴ How can baptism use evil for good? Baptism does not glorify suffering, evil, or violence, but speaks against them with work of the cross. Baptism does not prove that human suffering is redemptive, but in suffering, it provides the assurance of Christian hope: that out of death, God brings life.

According to Robert Kolb, baptism signifies a ‘rhythm of dying and rising.’ Through baptism the Lutheran lenses of Law (which kills) and Gospel (which makes alive to God) enter daily life:

According to Luther, God introduced the rhythm of dying under the accusation of the law and rising under the power of Christ’s resurrection in baptism. That rhythm of life gives believers a new start each day, a start from the creative beginning that God gave life in the very beginning, with the creation of the universe, and in the beginning of our new life in Christ, whenever his Word in one form or another brought us into his family.²⁵

The rhythm of dying to sin and rising to God takes place each day in the life of the believer. God’s word does more than edify, it kills that which is false and raises that which is true. The connection between dying and rising with Christ and daily life is apparent in Rom. 6. Paul moves immediately from theological concept to its implications for ethical living.²⁶ Long after the initial rite of baptism is over, this rhythm of dying and rising with Christ continues to bring daily life of service to God and neighbor out of the daily putting to death of sin.

Baptism as Theology of the Cross

For Lutherans, the sacraments of baptism and communion promise to be visible signs in which one could assuredly find the mercy of God. Unlike seeking the ‘invisible things of God in works’ of human origin, which Luther condemns in the Heidelberg Disputation, trust in baptism and communion ‘comprehends the visible and manifest things of God seen through suffering and the cross.’ And indeed, both baptism and communion are intimately connected with the cross – participation in the cross.²⁷ Therefore, Luther says, in baptism “we surely find and meet with [God’s] grace.”²⁸

Baptism cannot be grasped by the wisdom of the world. It is not simply a promise of life; It is also a promise of death. What kind of wisdom is that? Baptism proclaims this foolishness, that in participating in Christ’s death, one will participate in his resurrection. To take this promise seriously means to be at odds with reason and the human instinct which avoids death at all costs. Put another way, because of captivity to sin, human nature cannot accept complete dependence on God and looks for a way around the cross. It looks for a way around death and therefore rejects Christ.

Paradoxically, death to sin becomes the way in which the power of death is defeated. Baptism effects continual death to sin in the life of a Christian, and leading him or her to walk in newness of life. Through opposites, through weakness, God’s work is done in the baptized. Baptism marks the radical reversal from trusting in good works to regarding them as evil. It brings death to all theologies of glory – it brings death to the theologian of glory. By affirming this death as the key to new life, it forces the theologian to ‘call the thing what it actually is.’

Practically speaking, it can be difficult to hold to this type of teaching which proclaims the cross instead of glory. Not only are baptism and the theology of the cross paradoxes, but they point to suffering – not a well-received topic in pubic discourse. A modern day theologian of the cross may well be nicknamed Reverend Killjoy. Luther anticipates this complaint in the Heidelberg disputation.²⁹ The cross, he says, does not give cause for despair but for “arousing the desire to humble oneself and seek the grace of Christ.”³⁰ The cross brings death where there is false hope in life – life apart from God. The cross corrects bad vision by attacking this false hope until the believer cries out with the Apostle Paul, “who will rescue me from this body of death?”³¹ Thanks be to God that Christ Jesus provides the answer: You must be born anew.³² In the Gospel of John, Jesus tells Nicodemus of the new birth received by faith. But because the inner theologian of glory is never far away, as Forde points out, Nicodemus even tries to take baptism (so to speak) under his own control: “Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?”³³ No. Baptism is of the Spirit, of God, and is not within human power.

Most baptized Christians will quickly recognize that sin is indeed present after baptism. Sin and baptism are understood together through the theology of the cross. As Luther argued in the Heidelberg Disputation, the works of humanity, though seemingly good and attractive, are likely to be mortal sins. The sin which remains after baptism ‘makes it impossible for any good works to be pure before God.’³⁴ Because sin is ever present, no human work can ever be acceptable to God. Thesis 24 of the Heidelberg Disputation acknowledges this fact – that wisdom and the law are not evil in themselves but in humanity’s misuse of them. Without the theology of the cross, humanity “misuses the best in the worst manner.”³⁵ Finally, the problem is sin. The brokenness of humanity twists every good toward evil. Thus Christians misuse scripture, damage creation, and use God-given gifts to violate others’ human rights. The wisdom of the world is not the problem; it’s the wise.

The pervasive presence of sin doesn’t invalidate baptism, but rather draws the sinner closer to it. For Luther, this means one should boldly ‘hold fast’ to our baptism and ‘set it high’ against all sins.³⁶ In baptism, that sinner finds assurance of a loving God in the midst of sin and suffering. Against all questions and doubt, baptism speaks hope. Though sinful eyes distort vision until good appears bad and bad appears good, baptism is a true revelation of who God is for the believer. Baptism saves. Luther would not say the sacrament in and of itself saves, but rather God’s work through it. It is strictly the work of God revealed through the cross that saves, and not – especially not – any human work, well-intentioned or otherwise. In this, the sinner finds comfort.

Life from Death

Baptism is a daily sacrament of dying and rising. Baptism provides the antidote to every theology of glory: death. It is a revelation of the cross of Christ; life in the cross. In baptism Christians find continual participation in Christ’s death and resurrection – daily experience of Law and Gospel – God’s word which drowns sinful nature, and brings to life trust in a merciful God. God speaks the last word over sin and death, and gives faith in new life. Through baptism, this new life continuously springs up each day from death, that is, from the drowning of the ‘old creature,’ the theologian of glory. And God allows the theologian of the cross to walk in newness of life. God’s word continues to work on the baptized, connecting them with the event of the cross, and preparing them for the future of God’s promise.

Theology of the cross is for every baptized person to do, not simply professional theologians. My purpose in connecting baptism with theology of the cross is not to glorify the theology itself. This would be the greatest of sins; a devious attempt to replace faith in God with faith in something else. I hope to have shown that through baptism, God raises up theologians of the cross: those who trust in God who brings life from death.

References

Cousar, Charles B. A Theology of the Cross: The Death of Jesus in the Pauline Letters. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1990.

Dunn, James D. G. “Salvation Proclaimed, 6: Romans 6:1-11: Dead and Alive.” Expository Times 93, no. 9 (1982): 259–264.

Forde, Gerhard O. On Being a Theologian of the Cross: Reflections on Luther’s Heidelberg Disputation, 1518. Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans, 1997.

Kolb, Robert. “Luther on the Theology of the Cross.” Lutheran Quarterly 16, no. 1 (2002): 443–466.

Kolb, Robert, and Charles P. Arand. The Genius of Luther’s Theology: A Wittenberg Way of Thinking for the Contemporary Church. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2008.

Kolb, Robert, Timothy J. Wengert, and Charles P. Arand. The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2000.

Loewenich, Walther von. Luther’s Theology of the Cross. Minneapolis: Augsburg Pub. House, 1976.

Luther, Martin. Luther’s Works, Vol. 35. Edited by Jaroslav Pelikan and Helmut T. Lehmann. American edition. Saint Louis: Concordia, 1986.

———. Luther’s Works, Vol. 51. Edited by Jaroslav Pelikan and Helmut T. Lehmann. American edition. Saint Louis: Concordia, 1986.

———. Three Treatises. 2nd edition. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1970.

Luther, Martin, and Timothy F Lull. Martin Luther’s Basic Theological Writings. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1989.

Pannenberg, Wolfhart. “A Theology of the Cross.” Word & World 8 (1988): 162–72.

Root, Andrew. “A Theology of the Cross and Ministry in Our Time: How Do You Call a Thing What It Is When You Don’t Know What the Thing Is?.” Dialog: A Journal of Theology 48, no. 2 (2009): 187–193.

Schlink, Edmund. The Doctrine of Baptism. Saint Louis: Concordia Pub. House, 1972.

Tannehill, Robert C. Dying and Rising with Christ: A Study in Pauline Theology. Vol. 32. Beiheft zur zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche wissenschaft und die kunde der Älteren kirche. Berlin: Töpelmann, 1967.

Wengert, Timothy J. “Peace, Peace … Cross, Cross: Reflections on how Martin Luther Relates the Theology of the Cross to Suffering.” Theology Today 59, no. 2 (2002): 190–205.

Wengert, Timothy J. Martin Luther’s Catechisms: Forming the Faith. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2009.

Gerhard O. Forde, On Being a Theologian of the Cross: Reflections on Luther’s Heidelberg Disputation, 1518 (Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans, 1997), 19.↩︎
See John 14:9.↩︎
Robert Kolb, “Luther on the Theology of the Cross,” Lutheran Quarterly 16, no. 1 (2002): 446.↩︎
Martin Luther and Timothy F Lull, Martin Luther’s Basic Theological Writings (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1989), 49.↩︎
Ibid., 58.↩︎
Ibid., 58.↩︎
Kolb, “Luther on the Theology of the Cross,” 449.↩︎
Andrew Root, “A Theology of the Cross and Ministry in Our Time: How Do You Call a Thing What It Is When You Don’t Know What the Thing Is?.” Dialog: A Journal of Theology 48, no. 2 (2009): 190.↩︎
Forde, On Being a Theologian of the Cross, 80.↩︎
Luther is not strictly following the traditional teaching on mortal versus venial sins. Following Forde (1997, p. 33), a ‘mortal sin’ may be taken as a ‘deadly sin’ in that its ‘apparent goodness is such that it seduces us into trusting in it and our own doing of it,’ thus denying God.↩︎
Luther and Lull, Martin Luther’s Basic Theological Writings, 48.↩︎
See I Cor 1:18-21↩︎
Robert Kolb, Timothy J. Wengert, and Charles P. Arand, The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2000), 457.↩︎
Edmund Schlink, The Doctrine of Baptism (Saint Louis: Concordia Pub. House, 1972), 44.↩︎
Romans 6:3–4 (NRSV)↩︎
Ibid., 50.↩︎
Robert C. Tannehill, Dying and Rising with Christ: A Study in Pauline Theology, vol. 32, Beiheft zur zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche wissenschaft und die kunde der Älteren kirche (Berlin: Töpelmann, 1967), 30.↩︎
Schlink, The Doctrine of Baptism, 51.↩︎
Ibid., 53.↩︎
Tannehill, Dying and Rising with Christ, 32:7.↩︎
Ibid., 32:42.↩︎
Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, Vol. 35, ed. Jaroslav Pelikan and Helmut T. Lehmann, American edition. (Saint Louis: Concordia, 1986), 30.↩︎
Ibid., 35.↩︎
Ibid., 39.↩︎
Robert Kolb and Charles P. Arand, The Genius of Luther’s Theology: A Wittenberg Way of Thinking for the Contemporary Church (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2008), 195–196.↩︎
James D. G. Dunn, “Salvation Proclaimed, 6: Romans 6:1-11: Dead and Alive.” Expository Times 93, no. 9 (1982): 262–263.↩︎
See Rom. 6:4 and I Cor. 10:16 for example.↩︎
Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, Vol. 51, ed. Jaroslav Pelikan and Helmut T. Lehmann, American edition. (Saint Louis: Concordia, 1986), 328.↩︎
Forde, On Being a Theologian of the Cross, 63.↩︎
Luther and Lull, Martin Luther’s Basic Theological Writings, 49.↩︎
Rom. 7:24↩︎
John 3:7↩︎
Forde, On Being a Theologian of the Cross, 99.↩︎
Luther, Luther’s Works, Vol. 35, 36.↩︎
Luther and Lull, Martin Luther’s Basic Theological Writings, 49.↩︎
Luther, Luther’s Works, Vol. 35, 36.↩︎

Clint Eastwood and Mass Culture

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 05:00:00 -0400

On the movies of Clint Eastwood, by The New Yorker:

“Mass culture is a machine for showing desire,” Roland Barthesnwrote. It’s also a machine for expressing resentment, a frustrationnof desire. Harry Callahan is lonely, hard, intolerant. Eastwood became npopular, in part, because he allowed people to dream that they couldnbe effective without being nice.

What does our mass culture desire today? Winning arguments and passingnjudgment according to cable news and reality television…

Free Speech, Free Will

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 01:02:00 -0400

Legally we have free speech, but in reality, it’s anything but free. Our public communication is captive to sin and it cannot free itself, even on the web—which is touted as the most democratic system of communication invented. But by human nature, our communication always bends towards evil.

Sound dramatic?

When anonymous feedback is allowed on heavily visited sites, it doesn’t take long for the racism, bigotry and Hitler references to appear—buried just beneath the main article. More subltly: a church’s commitment to articulate a particular moral belief might end up alienating those most in need of its support. In other words, we invariably fail to communicate perfectly. The multiplication of tools for communicating online doesn’t reduce the risk, it increases the risk that we fail to live up to our name—at a larger scale. Let’s be honest about this…

Our gift, then is editing, moderation, and most importantly: forgiveness!

Message and Medium

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 01:01:00 -0400

We can use the growing resources of electronic communication to bring the gospel message to many who have not heard. But we need to investigate the message and the medium. Because this isn’t about producing electronic tracts. That would be called spam. This is about real connections that draw us to real relationships that, put together, represent God’s work in this particular place, in this particular time.

We can’t pretend the Internet doesn’t exist. It does; at least for those people living in developing nations. We also can’t assume that Christians have a monopoly on this new medium, as we did with past technological advances. We don’t. And thank God that Christendom is over. But between naiveté and arrogance, Christians are called to engage these new electronic tools and work that they may be used justly and effectively.

We may even have something to say about how our new tools should be used for the better. But first we need to learn what it all this means for doing ministry—the same ministry that the church has always done.

Net Full of Fish

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 01:00:00 -0400

Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, “Children, you have no fish, have you?” They answered him, “No.” He said to them, “Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish.
John 21:4-6

Internet full of fish

It was inevitable that the single most profound technological revolution of the 20th century would eventually be mentioned in conversation with the Christian Gospel. It’s a meeting of a Christian’s most urgent communication—the good news of Jesus Christ—with this century’s most advanced medium—the Internet.

Like the Gutenberg revolution, though, the advancement of the Internet is not simply by degree over traditional media, but rather by radical change to the way Western society works, plays, and even thinks.

Strictly speaking, as a medium, the Internet cannot ensure value. Those things that are most important to us are still contained in the message—wherever that message may be found. In the quoted verse, the disciples have a net. Sure, it’s not an internet, but I trust you’ll forgive the wordplay. The net alone, though, was not enough to catch fish. The disciples followed Jesus to fill their net with fish.

Where are the fish?

As our recent generations of disciples have begun using the Internet, they’ve also discovered disappointment. Despite its increasing ubiquity in our society, the net does not provide all the fish it promises. Many churches have invested in the Internet with hopes that it will provide new relationships and a generation of members that has been missing from their pews. Instead of nets full of fish, many churches find their Internet presence dwindling and lifeless. Our web sites may even be diligently maintained, but what fish are we finding?

What are we called to do with our Internet?

Jesus called the disciples in the boat ‘children.’ After reading any number of anonymous ‘comments’ on a public site like YouTube, you’ll probably agree the label still fits. Like any new technology, the Internet has multiplied the ways in which we communicate, but it has by no means taught us how to communicate better. As it becomes harder and harder for us to avoid the Internet, we are more and more called to work on communicating authentically in this new medium. We have a lot to learn. Before we cast our new nets to the sea, let’s think about using them responsibly. Let’s listen for direction.

“You will find some.”

If we put our faith in our new net alone, we will be disappointed. Without centering our work in the Gospel, the energy we put into making our place on the Internet will be wasted. The promise of an online church, free of walls and limitations is empty and dangerous. The last thing we need is a virtual church. But for those who humbly take up their nets, listening for the voice of Jesus, the promise is there, “you will find some.” We will know we’ve learned to use our new technology appropriately when our nets are full of fish.

And then our real work begins.