The Lutheran Zephyr

Mormons Are Weird (and other thoughts)

The Mormons returned to our doorstep last evening.  Elder Watkins and Elder Brown, my previous Mormon guests (I describe our meeting here), had moved on from here but passed our names and address along to two other missionaries who graced us with their presence today.  They were nice young women (Sister Ross and Sister M - I never got her full last name) who spent alot of time at first just chatting about life and families and work and stuff.  However, when I began to ask questions about their faith and tradition, they asked if we could begin with a word of prayer.  I remember this from the previous visit - chit-chat is nice, but when conversation turns to God and Mormonism, we must first begin with a word of prayer.

My wife and I asked a few probing questions about the Book of Mormon and their teaching about the restoration - that the church of Jesus Christ and its teaching was properly restored through Joseph Smith (post-Bible times the church went into a Great Apostasy, and even though some good teachers sought to reform the church - St. Francis, Martin Luther, etc. - it was not until Joseph Smith that the church was restored).  Guided by angels, Joseph Smith recovered a lost testament of Jesus Christ (the Book of Mormon) and translated it.  He was then made a priest and a prophet (by the angels?  I don't remember) and re-established the church of Jesus Christ by gathering 12 men to be apostles.  It's all a little odd to me.

Female clergy, clothes, and the corpus of Christ

Listen to this wonderful little commentary by a woman about to enter the ministry - she wonders about what to wear to church, and how her feminine body influences how she is seen, heard and accepted as a minister of an embodied Word.

Many thanks to NPR for this gem!

Too Little, Too Late

Today the Philadelphia Phillies announced, via press release, that they have granted Brett Myers leave from the team until the end of the All-Star break "to concentrate on personal matters associated with his arrest in Boston last week" (Brett Myers was arrested last week for hitting his wife on a street outside of his Boston hotel.  I've written about it here and here).

• Philly.com article here
• Phillies press release
• Brett Myers' statement

Let's talk about consequences for off-the-field behavior.  Last week White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen used a derogatory term for homosexual to describe a Chicago sports writer.  Major League Baseball has fined him and ordered him to attend sensitivity training.  Guillen's boss, White Sox Sr. Vice President/General Manager Ken Williams, discussed his frustration with Guillen on ESPN and publicly threatened to fire Guillen if he doesn't clean up his act (this was not Guillen's first public, insensitive, obnoxious outburst).  Many baseball people thought that Guillen got off easy, that Major League Baseball should have suspended him for at least one game.

On the other hand Brett Myers, who hit his wife in public and was arrested, was neither sanctioned nor reprimanded by either the Phillies or Major League Baseball.  Rather, he was given the ball and the starting pitching assignment for a nationally televised game on Saturday against the Boston Red Sox.

Do we really believe that Brett Myers requested this leave, or rather that this too-little-too-late move was laid down by a Phillies management team responding to the thunderous public disapproval of their immoral inaction?  Either way, it makes no difference.  The Phillies lost their opportunity to do the right thing when they put the ball in Myers' hand on Saturday afternoon - and with that they lost any shred of dignity they had.

Good Call by the Philadelphia Inquirer

The Philadelphia Inquirer editorial board offered a strong condemnation of the Phillies' decision to allow Brett Myers to take the mound on Saturday, just a day after being arrested for hitting his wife.  The Phillies should understand that some things are more important than baseball - and they should have given Myers a week or two of leave from the team to settle down and tend to personal matters.

I'm a former partial season ticket holder.  My dad and my in-laws all have partial season ticket plans for the Phillies.  When we were dating, my wife and I were more likely to go to a Phillies game than to a fancy restaurant.  I love baseball, and I love my Phillies.

But as much as I grew up with baseball (some of my best memories of my teen years are of attending baseball games with my father), I also grew up with domestic violence (*even though my name is not on this blog, it used to be - and some of you know me, my family, etc. etc..  Let me say this - my folks divorced when I was very young, and the violence was perpetuated by a man other than my father).  I have seen the bruises and scars and wounds of domestic violence - both physical and emotional - and I have zero tolerance for scumbags who abuse the women or children in their lives.

I heard an ESPN analyist say that the Brett Myers situation "was a shame."  What a crock of shit.  This situation is an abusive, immoral crime carried out by a highly paid, professional athlete who is stronger and more aggressive than your average human being.  The Phillies should recognize this and give Brett Myers some time away from the team to reflect on his behavior, his relationships, and his life.

Some things are more important than baseball.  But when it comes to the more important things in life, the Phillies just don't get it.  And judging by their current losing streak, it seems they don't get the baseball part, either.

Shame on them.

The World Is Flat

I'm reading The World Is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman, the NYT Bestseller about the forces and effects of globalization, and I am simply blown away.  Despite the scant attention he pays to the failures of capitalism, his observations on the "flattening" of the world - the transformation from hierarchies to horizontal communities - are spot on.  Through technology, growing freedom, expanded opportunities and emerging efficiencies, the world is becoming flat. 

More later, but I'm already wondering what a "flat" church looks like . . .

Every Fifth Game

Every fifth game - whenever Brett Myers is the starting pitcher - I'll be cheering against my beloved Philadelphia Phillies.  The former 1st round draft pick and Phillies best pitcher was arrested last night in Boston after hitting his wife on a street near Fenway Park.  Full article here.  Fine him, bench him, trade him - The Phillies need to send Brett Myers a message (somehow, though, I doubt they will).

I can often put aside personal stuff when I cheer for a guy on the field, but not in this situation - there's no excuse for domestic violence. 

Being Lutheran: A Closed Question (for now!)

After 2 months I'm taking down The Question - What Does It Mean to Be Lutheran?  We had 17 responses, which I think is wonderful.  Review the responses and links to their blogs by clicking on this link - Lutheranism: What It Means. 

Thanks for participating!

Re-building Lego

I grew up with a HUGE table in the basement covered with thousands of Lego blocks.  From creating towns to building fancy houses, cars, robots, I could play with Legos for hours and days on end.

And so, it was with great sadness that I read today that Lego Group is laying off thousands of workers in an effort to remain competitive.  I hope they recover and rebuild!  Read article here.

Baby Boomers Are Ruining the World: Example #73

$300 is the average ticket price to see Barbara Streisand this October at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia.  Dinner, hotel and VIP packages range up to $5000 per person.  This is insanity.

Seven performers who came to Philadelphia last year charged an average ticket price of over $100:

• Barry Manilow, $154
• Celine Dion, $136
• Paul McCartney, $135
• The Rolling Stones, $134
• Andrea Bocelli, $120
• The Eagles, $108
• Elton John, $102

I hear that the AARP co-sponsors the defibrillator machines and emergency oxygen tanks at these concerts . . . And this generation accuses us of having bad music?  The Rolling Stones and Paul McCartney I'll give you, but Celine Dion, Barry Manilow and The Eagles?  Give me a break. 

However, let this be a fair warning to my children: when I'm 64 I will spend your inheritance on overpriced tickets to see Madonna strut her wrinkled body across a stage with the help of a walker . . . You've been warned!

Link: Philadelphia Inquirer | 06/18/2006 | Hello, Dollar! Streisand tickets to set a record.

Good News

I get the ELCA News Service feed on my personalized Google home page, and this evening I noticed a headline "Good News from the ELCA News Service."  I clicked on the link and got a blank page with "No Results" in large, bold font at the top.  I guess that no news is good news! Or, perhaps this is a way of saying that there is no good news in the ELCA, but I know that's not the case . . .