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| New summer goal: get this ripped. |
Total Mileage: 753
Song of the Day: “Pillar of Salt" (The Thermals)
Book of the Day:
- still making my way through Living in Favor, Abundance, and Joy (Joel Osteen)
Ah, safely back in Ohio. I’ve missed this place. Of course, I’ve decided that every animal in Ohio is suicidal; the amount of roadkill on the highway quintupled when I crossed over the border into my old stomping grounds, and I’m pretty sure every bug in the state was instantly drawn to my windshield. In spite of the potential risk, I rolled down my window to take in the sweet Ohio air. This state is the perfect temperature in May, which may be the main thing that keeps Kenyon students coming back for another year.
My friends Jon and Alyssa have opened their home to me tonight, and I’m pumped to see them again! They moved back up here from North Carolina about a month ago, so it’s been great to catch up and hang out with them. We went and saw Thor, and Jon and I got to go back to the old standby of acting like the two guys in the balcony from The Muppet Show. Great movie. A little predictable at times, but possibly my favorite Marvel adaptation so far. Just goes to show that great things can happen when a Shakespearean director gets put in charge of a film about magic space Vikings. Seriously, with a combination like that, how can you go wrong?
I’m not going to write too much tonight since I’m having fun with friends, but one thing was weighing on me a bit:
On the drive, I popped in a few more Joel Osteen sermons on the drive, and I have to admit that I’m seeing him as more of a mixed bag now that I’ve gotten farther into that sermon series. He preached a sermon on being thankful for the things that God has given us, and it suddenly occurred to me, “He’s almost preaching kind of a backwards prosperity gospel, pointing to every single good thing in his life as coming from God. He’s not saying that we should demand good things from God; rather, we should be grateful for the good things we’ve already received. No one could have a problem with that message.” I listened on. Joel talked about the significance of staffs for God’s people in the Old Testament and explained that the notches made in a man’s staff were used to keep a record of historical events (especially cases of very good fortune). When Moses holds his staff up before God in front of the Red Sea, he is holding up a reminder of all of the good things that the Lord has done. Raising his staff is not a commanding gesture, but rather a gesture of thanks. I’d be interested in researching this further, but I thought it was a pretty cool take on that story.
Of course, as I moved deeper into the sermons, I hit a few unsettling themes too. One of the sermons was on “controlling your moods,” and this one didn’t have quite as many Scripture citations as a lot of Joel’s sermons do. The more Joel talked about putting on a happy face through tragedy and keeping a positive outlook on life, the more unsettled I became. What about the biblical tradition of lament? What about mourning? I understand the importance of keeping a positive outlook, but this was kind of pushing it. In fact, I think the best comparison for Joel’s message at this point was a classic Seinfeld episode called “Serenity Now,” in which several of the characters experiment with cleansing their anger through the screaming of the phrase “Serenity now!” It turns out that what they are really doing is repressing their rage, which will have to be purged later in an inevitable violent outburst. I’ll say about this sermon the same thing that I said about Rick Warren’s writings on dealing with depression: pastors are not psychologists. There are some problems that pastors are just not equipped to handle and which are best left to medical professionals. What Joel called “being moody” really sounded like bipolar disorder to me. It’s a little dangerous to say that we have to have a positive outlook on life to continue having God’s favor; some people need real medical help, and I feel like God’s love is so big that, no matter what we do or how we act or what our outlook on life, God always favors us, and God always wants us to prosper (even if it doesn't necessarily fit our definition of prosperity). God is love.
The financial aspects of these last few sermons were a little troubling too, but I want to make sure that my criticisms here aren’t just grounded in envy of Joel’s success, so I’m going to think on that some more before making any claims.
Other than that, things are good. I’m with friends that I haven’t seen in far too long, and I’m back in a place where the temperature is constantly comfortable during the summer months. I’ll head to Kenyon tomorrow, and then I’ll sequester myself in the library to talk about some of the things I alluded to in the last post.
Oh, and a special shout-out to all the UMBC students who have been giving me feedback on the blog, asking some great questions, and sharing some great ideas. You guys rock!
Peace and Blessings,
Tom
P.S.- I saw a groundhog again today for the first time in two years! Oh, Ohio wildlife, you're so goofy-looking.
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