The time has come and can no longer be delayed. Once again the annual assault on our stoic denial of feeling for our women comes around again. It is not that we do not love our women, it is just that to have to sit up and perform our duty does not always go well with us, okay me. Perfunctory is not where I live...
Valentines day seems to have noble faith roots. The thought of a man marrying believers against an unrighteous repressive edict, strikes one as a brave courageous valiant act. The question is how did we get from there to pajamas in a tin, a weekend in Vegas or some genetically modified chocolates?
I would not want there to be any hint here however, of me not loving Mrs 3xl. Far from it, she is my lifelong love and one for whom nothing is too much. Its just that when someone has to tell me to perform it feels like I am being molded in to a shape I do not want to go, or asked to fall in line with no other reason for it other than it is expected.
For 3xl a call to do the expected is never warmly received. Ever the quiet rebel, and against the flow 3xl would like to find other times and ways to honor his missus when he wanted to do it and in the way he wanted to. Now what does that say about me... who cares, I'm a rebel remember.
So in uncharacteristically short style I will write a poem for this auspicious non occasion and trust that after 23 years, Mrs 3xl knows me well enough to laugh at me rather than beat me up.
Throughout the ages some have gazed up to the sky for signs,
Some lovelorn souls have gone outside to ponder and opine,
While others struck by cupid's dart gaze on their love and sigh,
But now in modern practical days we send a valentine.
When I was young and gauche and sweet and found affection hard,
When girlish giggles and smiles and looks could silence a nascent bard,
When friends would nudge and wink at me, and point from places far
Then in those days I do confess, to purchasing a card.
But now when love has been displayed for many a wondrous year,
When the love of my life is constant, and my affection's focus clear,
Is it right for me with some disdain to stand and give a sneer,
Or is their space and no disgrace to pander once a year.
Roses are red violets are blue,
my love for you will always be true.
Happy Valentines day dear.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Fighting the good fight
Greetings Dear Readers,
it has been a few months since we last spoke and I have been remiss in my blogging. I have no excuse other than a busy life, some illness and the holiday melee, but that is over and I need to vent my literary spleen, drain the vein and get the writing chicken kicking, as they apparently say.
I had a conversation with a colleague recently and the subject of the fastest growing sport came up. If you have no idea of which sport I am referring to, it is Ultimate Fighting, cage fighting, freestyle martial arts etc...
Apparently those who do statistics have decided that it is the fastest growing sport. Of course this is like making the sensational revelation that 4 plus 8 equals 200% growth, and that makes it the fastest growing...whatever it is.
Certainly though it is a "sport" that has grown in popularity, but so if you ask the NFL is dog fighting.
The question was raised by my colleague regarding a Christian response to Ultimate Fighting, and that if Paul did not speak about gladiatorial brutality in his letters from Corinth, was it such an issue.
My personal Christian response to a crazed, snarling, muscle bound barbarian would be to run but many, even in the land of faith seem to have considered this fair game as a platform to share their faith, no doubt committing every opponent's bone they break, to the Lord for healing.
Experience though tell us that some have sanctioned promiscuity, breaking bricks with their heads and selling themselves as slaves to share the faith, and knowing this, helps us see that human ingenuity knows no bounds in supporting its actions.
Why would such a brutal and cruel sport that's sole purpose is to beat one other human being in to submission, even be considered conscionable, by a modern society let alone a Christian in modern society and why would some pastors name themselves amongst the roll of fans of this activity.
Perhaps we need to look to the nature of man in contemporary society for some of our answers. Mr Hunter Gatherer of old has had to develop other skills and seek other ways to display prowess in this modern jungle. The rush of testosterone comes infrequently now at sporting events or tax audits, but rarely as one is chasing or being chased by a large animal intent, on making you or evading you as a dinner option. The constant demands for peaceful coexistence through life and in the work place, at school, and on the street and the zero tolerance sanctions that enforce it, jar at a man's sense of expressing his physical power and in some senses brutality that lurks all too close to the surface, looking for a little outlet for aggression.
We talk about the mild mannered man who goes postal, the straw that broke the camel's back or the jilted quiet man who silently and brutally kills without warning. We strive to understand Columbine, Virginia Tec. and the like. He showed them... but what ? That he is a man who can not be messed with, left, spurned or abused, a man who can only inflict pain to show that he is a "real" man, thrashing like a man who feels his impotency, and powerlessness to succeed, and shows it all the more clearly as he acts out?
Film culture explores this phenomena and provides us with hundreds of vengeful quiet people who have a death wish...no, not theirs, or who only attack because someone else draws first blood. Of course, when payback time came, the result was rarely commensurate to the situation.
Films like Fight Club explore what is in the nature of man and his desire for empowerment, approval, validation and worship as the champion, the most brutal of them all. Yes this desire for all out fighting may actually come from the sense that they have lost what it is to be warrior and for many men even Christians that is a cry that needs to be heard and answered, an energy that needs to be channeled.
Books that seek to identify the place and power of men, Fathers, sages and kings within a Christian context and parameter are perhaps a quiet yearning for the same thing that is in the heart of the common man. Leadership is male... depending on your view of a leader, world inspired or not.
So what is the object of Ultimate Fighting and does our desire as Christians to watch it and fantasize about being able to last ten seconds with these guys come from some thing lacking in ourselves. Has our understanding of our faith become a little too meek and a little too mild. The training of bodies and the discipline required to be a fully functioning fighter is probably no more rigorous than what it would take to be a fully functioning disciple, it just seems that we do not believe that, or that our view of a disciple's life is one of restraint and passivity rather than storming the gates of hell and bringing life into the darkest and meanest parts of the Earth. We perhaps envy the wrong kind of glory and what it might mean for us to have it. 3G may be a phone system but it also speaks of the Gold the Gals and the Glory,3 pervasive and powerful elements in creating our meaningful validation context.
Our desire to conquer as men is very strong in us, but our desire to Father and stand in the face of the onslaught of the demonic host should be no less strong, and certainly no less dangerous than three rounds with the Brooklyn Bomber, the Punxatawny Panther and the Sacremento Smasher.
We do have a powerful brutal adversary.
We do have a task to do that will take no less commitment and cost no less in terms of our devotion and sacrifice to achieve, if we are to be fit to vanquish this foe and take back the captive from the warrior.
As Paul said, our enemy and our fight is not with flesh and blood, and our meekness is not passivity, it should be like that of a horse trained for riding and work, but no less strong or vital. If we want to fight we have no lack of opponents, but they do not usually come at us in cages with boxing gloves.
In the spirit world the gloves are always off, the rounds last a life time, and the stakes are eternally high.
That sounds a little more "Ultimate" to me... Ready, ding ding, round one!
it has been a few months since we last spoke and I have been remiss in my blogging. I have no excuse other than a busy life, some illness and the holiday melee, but that is over and I need to vent my literary spleen, drain the vein and get the writing chicken kicking, as they apparently say.
I had a conversation with a colleague recently and the subject of the fastest growing sport came up. If you have no idea of which sport I am referring to, it is Ultimate Fighting, cage fighting, freestyle martial arts etc...
Apparently those who do statistics have decided that it is the fastest growing sport. Of course this is like making the sensational revelation that 4 plus 8 equals 200% growth, and that makes it the fastest growing...whatever it is.
Certainly though it is a "sport" that has grown in popularity, but so if you ask the NFL is dog fighting.
The question was raised by my colleague regarding a Christian response to Ultimate Fighting, and that if Paul did not speak about gladiatorial brutality in his letters from Corinth, was it such an issue.
My personal Christian response to a crazed, snarling, muscle bound barbarian would be to run but many, even in the land of faith seem to have considered this fair game as a platform to share their faith, no doubt committing every opponent's bone they break, to the Lord for healing.
Experience though tell us that some have sanctioned promiscuity, breaking bricks with their heads and selling themselves as slaves to share the faith, and knowing this, helps us see that human ingenuity knows no bounds in supporting its actions.
Why would such a brutal and cruel sport that's sole purpose is to beat one other human being in to submission, even be considered conscionable, by a modern society let alone a Christian in modern society and why would some pastors name themselves amongst the roll of fans of this activity.
Perhaps we need to look to the nature of man in contemporary society for some of our answers. Mr Hunter Gatherer of old has had to develop other skills and seek other ways to display prowess in this modern jungle. The rush of testosterone comes infrequently now at sporting events or tax audits, but rarely as one is chasing or being chased by a large animal intent, on making you or evading you as a dinner option. The constant demands for peaceful coexistence through life and in the work place, at school, and on the street and the zero tolerance sanctions that enforce it, jar at a man's sense of expressing his physical power and in some senses brutality that lurks all too close to the surface, looking for a little outlet for aggression.
We talk about the mild mannered man who goes postal, the straw that broke the camel's back or the jilted quiet man who silently and brutally kills without warning. We strive to understand Columbine, Virginia Tec. and the like. He showed them... but what ? That he is a man who can not be messed with, left, spurned or abused, a man who can only inflict pain to show that he is a "real" man, thrashing like a man who feels his impotency, and powerlessness to succeed, and shows it all the more clearly as he acts out?
Film culture explores this phenomena and provides us with hundreds of vengeful quiet people who have a death wish...no, not theirs, or who only attack because someone else draws first blood. Of course, when payback time came, the result was rarely commensurate to the situation.
Films like Fight Club explore what is in the nature of man and his desire for empowerment, approval, validation and worship as the champion, the most brutal of them all. Yes this desire for all out fighting may actually come from the sense that they have lost what it is to be warrior and for many men even Christians that is a cry that needs to be heard and answered, an energy that needs to be channeled.
Books that seek to identify the place and power of men, Fathers, sages and kings within a Christian context and parameter are perhaps a quiet yearning for the same thing that is in the heart of the common man. Leadership is male... depending on your view of a leader, world inspired or not.
So what is the object of Ultimate Fighting and does our desire as Christians to watch it and fantasize about being able to last ten seconds with these guys come from some thing lacking in ourselves. Has our understanding of our faith become a little too meek and a little too mild. The training of bodies and the discipline required to be a fully functioning fighter is probably no more rigorous than what it would take to be a fully functioning disciple, it just seems that we do not believe that, or that our view of a disciple's life is one of restraint and passivity rather than storming the gates of hell and bringing life into the darkest and meanest parts of the Earth. We perhaps envy the wrong kind of glory and what it might mean for us to have it. 3G may be a phone system but it also speaks of the Gold the Gals and the Glory,3 pervasive and powerful elements in creating our meaningful validation context.
Our desire to conquer as men is very strong in us, but our desire to Father and stand in the face of the onslaught of the demonic host should be no less strong, and certainly no less dangerous than three rounds with the Brooklyn Bomber, the Punxatawny Panther and the Sacremento Smasher.
We do have a powerful brutal adversary.
We do have a task to do that will take no less commitment and cost no less in terms of our devotion and sacrifice to achieve, if we are to be fit to vanquish this foe and take back the captive from the warrior.
As Paul said, our enemy and our fight is not with flesh and blood, and our meekness is not passivity, it should be like that of a horse trained for riding and work, but no less strong or vital. If we want to fight we have no lack of opponents, but they do not usually come at us in cages with boxing gloves.
In the spirit world the gloves are always off, the rounds last a life time, and the stakes are eternally high.
That sounds a little more "Ultimate" to me... Ready, ding ding, round one!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)