Hyde Park Speaks

Do I Have To Go To Work Monday?

by John Parrish

So, there's a lot of talk about the rapture happening this Saturday (May 21, 2011) at 6 p.m. Now we can take the attitude that all these people predicting rapture for tomorrow are misguided. Or, we can look at it as one more day of opportunity to continue making Heaven on Earth (or in our case, Making God's Love Real).

I don't know about you, but I've got plans. I'm sure you do, too. And I don't have any inclination to alter them. So, if rapture happens tomorrow ... well, it happens. If you're a follower of Jesus like I am, it really shouldn't make any difference how you spend your Saturday. Just keep Making God's Love Real like any other day.

Jim had some things to say about it in Faith Matters this week. As well as in this Channel 8 interview.

Deleted Scenes from Joseph and the Impossible Dream: Judah and Tamar

By Matt Horan

Every movie ever made starts with a "long version" that has to be cut down to a size that a movie audience can enjoy.  Some filmmakers who fall in love with the scenes that they regrettably had to delete now have an avenue to share them once the DVD comes out with "special features."

Well, as with any summer blockbuster, the (worship) director of Joseph and the Impossible Dream faced similar hard choices.  One part of the story that wound up relegated to the "special features" (in this case, on the Hyde Park Speaks blog) was the chapter concerning Judah and Tamar, Genesis 38.

Jim Harnish Blogs The Lectionary

Each issue of the Christian Century magazine (bi-weekly) includes a column entitled "Living the Word - Reflections on the lectionary." The April 6 issue features Hyde Park United Methodist's Jim Harnish. You can read the full column in the magazine, which is available in the church's Media Center (Knox Hall Room 154). You can also read the blog post on the Christian Century's blog "Theolog."

Here is a glimpse:

"I’m fascinated by the way John weaves so many memories from the past into this week's Gospel reading. Maybe it points to the way we carry our past around with us, for good or ill. We get to decide what we will do with the memory of our failures. Will they be 'all she wrote'? Will they block us from living into the future? Or can they be redeemed and made useful for others?"

Click here to read the rest of the story.

Rev. Cliff Melvin of Palm Harbor United Methodist Talks To Jim Harnish About "Radical Renovation"

Recently Rev. Cliff Melvin of Palm Harbor United Methodist Church came to Hyde Park to interview our own Dr. Jim Harnish about his 2010 Lenten Study guide "Radical Renovation." Palm Harbor is using the guide in worship and small groups during this Lenten season, and filmed this interview for use in promoting the study.

Jim Finds Truth In "The Shack"

In case you missed it, you can read Jim Harnish's excellent take on "The Shack" online here.

At one point he says:

"I don't believe that everything that happens is micromanaged by God. But I will bet my soul on the assurance that there is nothing that happens that cannot be used by God for God's redeeming purpose, and that God's grace can bring good out of even the worse that happens to us."

That particular quote more or less illustrates one of my stronger impressions of The Shack (which our Tuesday night group has been reading). I've always struggled with the thought of pre-destination and whether or not God is micromanaging our lives. I don't believe He is. It's just beyond my human comprehension that this would even be possible (even though with God, anything is possible). I mean, if we're all praying for certain things to happen and they're in complete opposition to one another, how can that be managed? The answer is "I dont' know," and may never know. So I much prefer to follow the notion that God takes the events of our lives and uses them for His purpose.

This is why I don't pray for a good parking space or for the Gators to win their next game. I pray more for ... well, God to help me make sense of whatever is going on in my life. Right or wrong, that's my opinion.

Does anyone else feel this way?

Life After Life After Death

I was pleasantly surprised to see one of my favorite theologians,  Bishop N.T. Wright, on the Colbert Report last week. He was talking about his new book "Surprised by Hope." I bought the book at Annual Conference last month, and it's in my "to read" cue on my nightstand. After seeing this, I think I'll move it to the top.

Trying To Understand Sin And Punishment

I posted recently about a DBS book our Wesleyan group is studying: Invitation To John. (Read more about it here.) This week's reading has us looking at Jesus as provider (feeding thousands with but a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish). And also as healer. In particular, the story of the lame man Jesus heals at the pool of Bethesda. "Stand up, pick up your sleeping mat, and walk!"

I assume the healed man was quite delighted with this sudden turn of events after 38 years of misery. But before he gets too comfortable with his new found health, Jesus warns him, "Now you are well; so stop sinning, or something even worse may happen to you." (John 5:14)

What is the lesson here? Many believe sin is punished by God. Interestingly, in our group, there seemed to be some consensus that we do a pretty good job of punishing ourselves by sinning. If you eat too much, you become unhealthy. If you envy what others have, your actions lead to self-destruction. And so forth. Seems like there's little need for divine intervention, given the amount of harm we make for ourselves.

You may fall on one side of this fence or the other, but then there are the gray areas. How do you explain how natural disasters (such as recent events in Myanmar and China) offer plenty of suffering to go around -- for the good and the wicked?

So, Jesus admonishes the man to "stop sinning, or something even worse may happen to you." So from where do you think this something worse comes from? God? Or by our own hands?

A Pint-Size Disciple Bible Study

I guess this is sort of appropriate that I only have time for a short post now, because I'm here to tell you about a short-term Disciple Bible Study. That's right. Anyone who's taken one of the four 34-week studies may be surprised to learn that DBS also offers shorter 11-week studies.

I'm part of a little tight-night group that meets most Tuesdays to discuss Christian learning and we've done so by reading a series of books. Over time, we realized that although we were reading a number of very thought provoking tomes, we weren't reading the Bible itself so much. Sort of ironic for a "Bible" study group, don't you think? We all remembered back to our DBS days and were delighted to find that DBS offered these shorter studies. We're going to be reading "Invitation to John," that literally focuses only on this one gospel. Perhaps you have a small group that might be interested in such a study. We ordered ours through the Aldersgate bookstore, and you can learn more about it at the Cokesbury site.

We have fond memories of our 34-week studies and created close bonds with a number of the participants, including some who went on to join our Tuesday group. But perhaps, like us, you might want to supplement your learning with one of these shorter studies.

I can't exactly go on to recommend "Invitation to John" yet. I've barely cracked it open. But hopefully I'll find time to update you on our progress.

Can't my friend see God?

Along with about 25 of his other friends, I was the recipient of an email this morning that was forwarded to me by a friend who lives out of state. We all have at least one of them in our lives: A "serial forwarder." Someone who feels compelled to forward EVERY email that they find remotely interesting to ALL of the people in their address book. It's amazing to me that even some of my most respected, intelligent, centered friends seem to truly believe that if they don't forward that email they just received to 93 of their friends within 17 minutes, their greatest wish won't come true. Delete!

Now, I have to admit that in my own mind, I tend to categorize these habitual senders, based on what they've sent in the past, and my resulting degree of amusement. If it comes from so-and-so, it gets immediately deleted, but if it comes from that guy, it's a guaranteed laugh and at least worth saving for later. So for me, this guy - the one who sent the email that I received this morning - falls into the category of "Delete Most / Save Some, Depending on Subject Line."

The subject line of this morning's email was "Fantastic Photos." Hmmm, I thought, during the split second in which my index finger lay poised on the mouse, ready to delete - hmmm... sounds intriguing enough to open. So I opened. There was no email text - just an attachment - a PowerPoint Slide Show entitled "The Simple Life." Well, I'd gotten this far, so I decided to go ahead and open the attachment.

The opening screen read: "Sit back, relax and enjoy. The simple, yet remarkable life... of Mother Nature and the animals she created. Please use the enter button to scroll through at your own pace."

Wait, I thought... "the animals SHE created?!?" Mother Nature!? What is this?! I followed the instructions and used my 'enter' button to scroll through about 60 "Fantastic Photos." And they were. There were photos of magnificent animals, majestic mountains, colorful creatures of land and sea... absolutely breathtakingly beautiful, just as God created them. As I viewed each photo, I was struck by the awesome love of our God who so generously gave us such an amazing world to live in, so much beauty for which to be grateful... to enjoy and appreciate and cherish. Mother Nature?!?!

The 7th photo in the series (shown above - click to open it), summarizes the attitude and belief system of both the creator of the slide show, and the friend who sent me the email. It's an image of a large silver-back gorilla, lying on his stomach and "reading" a book that's propped in his giant ape-hands. The title of the book: The Origin of Man.

Beautiful photos. Sad commentary. Can't my friend see God?

What is your Purpose?

I have a friend who forwards emails to me all the time. This is her primary way of keeping in touch with me. Isn't it strange how we have devolved into relationships that consist almost entirely of email? How is that forwarding a stupid video to me is keeping in touch? Though when they stop forwarding the emails, I really do feel like I've lost touch with them.

But anyway - the point of this entry is because she finally sent an email that was really worth sharing (not that laughing at funny Maxine cartoons isn't worth anything...) but really, I'm not much of an email forwarder, I'm one of those people that do not EVER keep the chain going and I NEVER believe for one instant that anything at all will happen to me if I don't forward that email. But once again, I digress.

The email she sent was this amazing interview with Rick Warren (the author of The Purpose Driven Life). His comments were nothing short of stunning. I just sat there staring at the screen for several minutes. And then I forwarded it to my friend, John, who forced me .... er I mean he suggested that I add this post to the blog and share this with all of you who are checking out Hyde Park Speaks. Since this was actually a really good idea, I thought I'd see if I could figure out how to include a link into my post. Here is the full text.

Here are just a few lines from the interview to pique your interest ...

• People ask me, What is the purpose of life? And I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven.
• Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one.
• The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort.
• God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy.
• I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be able to serve God for free

Hope you enjoy. Let us know what you think of his comments.