The problem I have with tech support

Yesterday, the cable Internet connection was not functioning correctly for a couple of hours. All I wanted to know was if the company was aware of the problem.

I call up the toll-free support number and go through the multiple menus to get to tech support. The response I get is, “No, we aren’t aware of any problems.” That was exactly what I expected, but not what I wanted to hear.

At this point, support has two options: 1) go find out if this is a widespread problem, or 2) assume the problem is with my connection and go through the scripted steps to try to resolve it.

Of course the support side has no idea that I used to be a professional in the network and PC security business and I don’t call support unless I’ve exhausted the obvious and not-so-obvious solutions and workarounds. I don’t call unless I’m pretty certain the problem is not with my end of things. (After all, I hate wasting my time with support – and their time too…) But support opts for option two, when I would much rather have them go with option one and call me back. Even an, “I don’t know. We’ll look into it,” would be more welcome than patronizing the support rep and pretend to go through the useless steps.

Yesterday’s example is with the network connection, but I’ve also experienced similar things time and again with other pieces of hardware and software. The assumption is that if I am experiencing a problem, then the problem must likely be with me.

On the other hand, with less experienced and knowledgeable customers, it probably is helpful to look for some obvious failure points: Is the cable connected and secure? What are the status indicators? Did you make any changes recently? Does the Cable TV work?

In my ideal world, when someone calls tech support, the support person would already know the background and experience of the customer and can begin at an appropriate level. They would have already seen me going through troubleshooting procedures so they won’t ask me to repeat them. But it isn’t an ideal world and customers and tech support don’t have an ongoing relationship (well, I hope they don’t…) where that base of knowledge is learned.

I write this because it seems like there are some applications from this experience and these thoughts that might carry over to the arena of church and spiritual communities and life. And that will be left as an exercise for the reader, because I don’t have answers and some of the ideas I have, I haven’t fully thought through yet.

Good Friday

I was part of the annual, Community Good Friday service held this evening, as has been for all the years we’ve been here, at the Lutheran church.

This year, we changed the format from the seven last words of Jesus to taking the account written in Luke 23:26-56, dividing this up into four and having four speakers provide short sermons on each.

I also volunteered to sing a solo. I chose The Weight of the Cross by Christopher Machen. This was placed near the beginning of the service.

The passage I was given to speak upon was Luke 23:50-56. What follows is the detailed outline of the sermon on this passage.

• Joseph of Arimathea "was looking for the kingdom of God"
• This is the final mention of "the kingdom of God" by Luke in his gospel account
• The kingdom of God is one of the major themes in Luke
• By placing Joseph's request of Jesus' body immediately after "looking for the kingdom of God," Luke may be saying that somehow, in Jesus and in his death, the kingdom of God is realized
• Just a few minutes ago we heard that one thief asked Jesus for entry into the kingdom, and Jesus promised that he would be
• What is this kingdom?
• We need to turn back to the very beginning of Jesus' ministry
• Luke 2:43, Jesus said, "I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose."
• This good news describes the kingdom of God
• What is the good news?
• Luke 2:18-19, Jesus, in Nazareth read from Isaiah, "18The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor."
• This is the kingdom that Jesus proclaimed and which now Luke portrays as being realized in Jesus through his death
• Why do I say this?
• The final sentence of Luke 23: "On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment."
• Here is the Sabbath commandment in Deuteronomy 5:12-15
  • 12"'Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you. 13Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 14but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. 15 You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.

• Did you catch the last two sentences?
• Are the similarities between this commandment and the last part of Luke 23 coincidental or intentional?
• The command to rest on the Sabbath is tied to deliverance from slavery
• This deliverance was accomplished through an outstretched arm
• Jesus' mission was to "set at liberty those who are oppressed"
• Jesus outstretched his arms on the cross and had his hands nailed to the tree to deliver us from slavery to sin
• Heb 4:9-10, the author of Hebrews writes, "9So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, 10for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his."
• Through Jesus and the cross, God completed the work of making freedom from sin available to us
• Jesus, having completed his work through his death, rested on the Sabbath
• The choice is now ours to make
• Do we enter the kingdom of God and the Sabbath rest it offers?
• Will we choose to cease our attempts to save ourselves and instead, rest in God's completed work of salvation?
• May each of us here this evening enter into the promised Sabbath rest

Maundy Thursday

Today is Maundy Thursday. Most Adventists would say, “Huh?” The word Maundy is derived from the Latin mandatum, meaning “command” (or “mandate”), which is the first word of the commandment (in Latin) in John 13:34 found in English as, “A new command I give you: that you love one another as I have loved you.” Maundy Thursday commemorates the Last Supper and the giving of this “new commandment.”

I attended the worship service at the Presbyterian Church. It was a nice, reflective service. The core of the service consisted of hypothetical reflections on this evening by seven of the disciples that were present. This was followed by communion around the table up front.

Now the reason I’m writing this post is that up until today I hadn’t thought much about the actual setting and how this Passover meal (because that is what it was) would have played out. Even if I had, I hadn’t given it much notice. But I realized how much my particular religious tradition colors how I view this event.

The gospel writers would have assumed their readers already understood, if not participated in, the Jewish Passover meal. So they had no reason to go into all the details, elements, and order of the various components. They only wrote about the key points in the meal where Jesus said or did something significant. (See the present-day Seder order for an idea of the Passover ritual.)

One of the big revelations for me is that the foot-washing was probably not the first thing that happened. Rather the first occurrence of the meal was a blessing offered for the wine. Hand washing then follows the initial blessing. According to one historical resource, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, what Jesus did was instead of performing the ritual hand washing, he stood up to wash his disciples’ feet. Following this, the rest of the meal continues, including breaking the bread, additional drinking, and more blessings.

In my newly acquired copy of The Didache, what I found interesting in the instruction regarding the Eucharist is that rather than the bread followed by wine, it is wine followed by bread. This follows the traditional Jewish Seder order rather than the order given by Paul (1 Corinthians 11:23-26) and the one used by most present-day Christian traditions. What is interesting is Matthew and Mark only record the bread followed by the cup (Matthew 26:26-29; Mark 14:22-25) but Luke records the cup, followed by bread, followed by the cup again (Luke 22:14-21), giving weight to the impression that what is recorded is just a small part of the whole meal.

Another interesting item I discovered is found in Numbers 28 (particularly v. 7, “strong drink” for a daily drink offering; and v. 24, the daily drink offering is to be continued during Passover and the weeklong Feast of Unleavened Bread). All these years I thought that nothing fermented (with yeast, or leavened) was permitted during Passover, but what is this that I read…? Maybe with our modern-day scientific understanding, we’ve over-generalized the term “leaven” that is used in the Bible. Could it be that the Bible really only refers to bread and its associated dough when it says to clean out the leaven for Passover?

As for the idea that Communion is part of the church liturgy, where did that come from? From the picture we read in 1 Corinthians 11:17-34 and also from what the Didache describes, the early Christian community simply met together for meals. During that time, someone would take the bread and wine and bring to remembrance Jesus and the Last Supper. Communion or Eucharist (which simply means “Thanksgiving” – the other “baggage” associated with this term came much later) apparently came to be a ritual around the year 100 with Ignatius of Antioch and the associated strengthening of ecclesiastical authority (c.f, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origin_of_the_Eucharist).

I’m not writing this to say that our interpretations and what we typically do in regards to Communion is wrong. I am writing this to show how our present-day traditions and and assumptions can color how we read Biblical accounts.

It is a revelation to realize that Communion was probably never intended to become a ritual. Rather, the interpretation I have now of Jesus’ words are to simply remember him and remind one another of him whenever we get together for a fellowship meal and share bread and wine (grape juice…).

How to find a leader

From this week’s Leadership Journal Weekly e-mail newsletter is an article, “How Do We Hire? What happens when we let gifts and relationships define our organizational structures?” by John Ortberg.

“We have to break old models of church leadership—not to go to new models, but to go back to an even older model—organization around gifts.”

“But I do have a conviction that when it comes to getting leadership right, 98 percent of the ballgame is relationship. I believe where there is a relationship of joy and commitment and mutual submission and trust and authentic love—then the division of labor issues can flow freely and effectively. But where the relationship is broken, all the org charts in the world can't save it.”

Stormy, stormy

Last night was a very noisy night. The wind was strong and driving the rain into the windows and roofs. I guess it sounded like there was more rain than actually fell since the basement floor wasn’t nearly as wet as I thought it might be. The forecast for this week doesn’t look very promising: quite a bit of rain.

The forecast for Easter Sunday looks decent. The churches hold a sunrise service at a beachside shelter, and driving rain and wind would not be very pleasant. I’ve been asked to give a short sermon right near the close of the service.

Good Friday is also coming up this week and I will be providing a vocal solo and one of the short sermons as part of the community Good Friday service.

Nice weather is not taken for granted

After some rather heavy rains the past several days, today is dry with some sun.

I took advantage of the weather to ride the bike out to milepost 9 and back, a total distance of 20.3 miles. I took it at a moderate pace – not easy, but neither was it too hard. It was the longest time so far this calendar year at 1 hour 20 minutes.

I could be wrong, but I think this may be one of the longer rides I’ve done in March anywhere. Back in Oregon, March was just about the time I put away the indoor trainer and started getting outside. After all, I thought riding outside for fun in temps less than 50 degrees was a bit extreme. Not here though. If it isn’t icy and/or snowing and the sun is out, it’s good enough to go out.

PTSD?

Over the last several weeks things have been going from bad to worse. My anxiety has gotten so high that I cannot even enter the Adventist church grounds without feeling a wave of panic that forces me to leave after just a few minutes. I have been experiencing regular nightmares. If this continues, I don’t know if I will be able to function as a normal person.

Shelley’s artwork

Here is Shelley’s latest work, a hummingbird. It will be submitted to another art contest.

Once I get a new PC to replace the one that died a couple months back, get Photoshop installed on it, and printer hooked up to it, I’ll be able to create prints. Until then, it is only available online.

Sermon: True Treasure

(Click HERE for MP3 sermon audio.)

Text: Luke 12:13-34

Luke 12:31 reads, “Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things [food, clothing; i.e., material needs] will be added to you.”

For those of us in the developed nations, this isn’t a terribly difficult promise. We have not gone without basic needs. But what about Christians, not to mention nonChristians, in areas of the world where hunger and exposure are daily concerns? Did Jesus not really mean what he promised? Is God not powerful enough to keep his promises? Or perhaps, my understanding is deficient…

This sermon, given at the Presbyterian Church, explores this promise in the context of the passages that come before and after. The passage begins with a man coming to Jesus, asking that his inheritance be divided between him and his brother. Jesus, instead of doing that, tells about a parable of a rich, foolish, landowner. In that context Jesus exhorts his disciples to not worry about their basic, daily needs, and instead seek (or pursue) God’s kingdom. Jesus continues his exhortation by saying that his disciples ought to sell their possessions and give to the poor.

By understanding the surrounding context, I believe we can better understand how God has designed the fulfillment of his promise to provide for the basic needs of his children.

Another spring day

Today turned out to be sunny and warm. Okay, so 45 degrees may be cold for many people, but it is definitely spring temperatures here. After Bible study this morning followed by a rather substantial lunch, I went out for another hour long spin on the bike.

After the rather large lunch I thought my body might feel sluggish but that was not at all the case. Rather I felt the best I have in many rides. (Maybe Wii Fit with the Yoga and strength exercises are helping with flexibility and core strength.) In spite of the somewhat breezy conditions I was able to average 16.2 mph over the whole hour, remaining in a low, tucked position for a great part of the ride.

While on the road heading out, just a little ways away from the house, I saw a couple of kids casting out for some fish. Fishing season must be here…

Another spring-like day

This week has been rainy and icy for much of it. Then today came with bright, sunny skies (after the fog burned off).

I walked over to the Presbyterian church in the morning to pick out some hymns for this upcoming Sunday’s worship (where I will be giving the sermon), and also to practice a couple of piano duets that will be played during the prelude.

In the afternoon I took a bike ride out the road to mile 6.62 and back; a total of a little over 15 miles in a little under an hour. This was the longest ride so far this winter and this calendar year. I was feeling pretty good on the bike, getting down into the drops and motoring along at a fairly good pace. I am feeling the effects of the position now though. My sit-bones feel a little sore and my back feels a little stiff.

I’m starting to wonder if there are any herring to be found in the harbor. I am itching to go out and catch some fish. Typically the dock and shore fishing doesn’t really begin until April, but with the warmer winter, I wonder…

Chicken in Creamy Red Curry Sauce

It’s been quite some time since I posted anything cooking related.

For this evening’s meal I put together chicken cooked in a red curry sauce. I browsed a few recipes to get some ideas and refresh my memory as to the different spice combinations and cooking methods.

I had some bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs in the freezer. I have plenty of potatoes. I also had about a cup of cream left in a container. Finally I had a few carrots in the refrigerator. All of that combined with the usual suspects –onion, garlic, ginger, spices – should do the trick. I wanted red curry, not yellow curry, so I used some bright, red paprika and omitted the turmeric. One of the recipes employed white vinegar, but I had a can of diced tomatoes lying around, so I used that to add the acidity to the curry.

If the chicken was already defrosted and I had enough time, I probably would have marinated the chicken, or at least let it sit in brine, but I didn’t have time for that so the chicken turned out a bit bland all by itself. It was fine though eaten with the sauce.

Ingredients

• 1 lb. potatoes
• 4 cloves garlic
• 2 inches fresh ginger, roughly chopped
• 1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
• 4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
• 1 large onion, chopped medium
• salt
• 1 Tbsp. ground cumin
• 1 Tbsp. ground coriander
• 1 tsp. cardamom seeds
• 2 tsp. paprika
• 1/4 tsp. ground cayenne
• black pepper
• 4-5 carrots, large dice
• 1 14.5-oz can diced tomatoes (with juice)
• 1 cup whipping or heavy cream
• More salt to taste

Directions

1. “Bake” potatoes in microwave (many microwaves have a “baked potato” setting – that is what I used). Let cool. Peel and dice into 1-inch chunks.
2. Place garlic and ginger pieces in food processor. Add 2-3 Tbsp. water and process until paste is formed. Set aside.
3. Heat oil in a large sauté pan (I use a 13-inch pan with 2.5-inch high sides with a lid) over medium-high heat. When hot, place chicken pieces in pan and brown, about 5-6 minutes per side. (Use a splatter screen.) Remove and set aside.
4. Without removing pan from heat, add onions into the chicken juices and fat, sprinkle with about 1 tsp. salt, and cook until they become slightly softened. Move onions to the sides of pan and in the open space in center, pour in the garlic-ginger paste. Stir and fry until most of the liquid has evaporated. Combine with the onions and continue to fry until onions are translucent.
5. Move the onion mixture to the sides of pan once more. Pour in the spices (cumin through black pepper) in the open area, stir and fry for about half a minute, then combine with the onions. Stir and fry another minute longer.
6. Add the tomatoes, their juice, cream, and carrots. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to medium-low. Add potatoes and stir gently to combine. Taste sauce and add more salt if desired.
7. Return chicken pieces to pan, skin side up, creating holes in the pan contents so that chicken sits well in the sauce, but without covering the skin. Simmer 18-20 minutes until chicken is fully cooked.

Winter is back

After an almost spring-like January and February, we have been getting snow storms this week. The snow accumulated a several inches on Monday, but by evening the rain started falling, the wind blew and most of the snow melted away.

The snow returned last night but the temperatures were just a little too warm for it to stick around. The snow kept falling through the day, but again, too warm to stay. I did go out for about forty minutes on the bike, braving the strong gusts of wind and the snow.

The weather forecast for the rest of the week calls for more of the same.

Plug: Did God Really Say All That?

James Coffin, senior pastor of the Markham Woods Church of Seventh-day Adventists in Longwood, Florida, writes over at Spectrum, Divining the Voice in My Head.

I often hear the expression (used rather glibly, I must say): “God told me.” The words are typically the preamble to a description of some strongly held conviction. But the expression leaves me uncomfortable…

Anyway, as I read the scriptures, I wonder if maybe the people in Bible times weren’t given to the use and misuse of the “God told me” expression just as we are now. Maybe even more so. “God told” people a lot of things back then, it seems. And judging just from the context and the ethics of the advice given, I think it possible that there may have been times when God gets the credit for something that came from other sources…

I find it fascinating that we attribute actions to God that, if they were engaged in by any human, would call down the strongest of denunciations. Yet we commend God for them. If, for example, any humans had caused another to suffer as Hagar was suffering there in the desert, we would find their role despicable. But we never even blink when suggesting that God told Abraham to take steps that were going to bring such pain to another human. Why…?

Could it be that it was because Abraham [in justifying sending away Hagar and Ishmael] too willingly attributed his own thoughts to God? Could it be that if Abraham had removed the “God told me” phrase from his vocabulary, he would have been forced to ponder more deeply and more critically the thoughts that were running through his mind? Could it be that he would have behaved in a more moral, more ethical, more loving manner if he knew that he personally had to accept responsibility for his actions and couldn’t hang the blame on God?

And could it be that we today need to face up to that same reality?

[Click for article.]

The Suffering of Affliction

This psalm describes my feelings at the present time.

Psalm 88 (NLT)

For the choir director: A psalm of the descendants of Korah. A song to be sung to the tune “The Suffering of Affliction.” A psalm of Heman the Ezrahite.

¹ O Lord, God of my salvation,
      I cry out to you by day.
      I come to you at night.
² Now hear my prayer;
      listen to my cry.
³ For my life is full of troubles,
      and death draws near.
⁴ I am as good as dead,
      like a strong man with no strength left.
⁵ They have left me among the dead,
      and I lie like a corpse in a grave.
   I am forgotten,
      cut off from your care.
⁶ You have thrown me into the lowest pit,
      into the darkest depths.
⁷ Your anger weighs me down;
      with wave after wave you have engulfed me.
Interlude

⁸ You have driven my friends away
      by making me repulsive to them.
   I am in a trap with no way of escape.
⁹ My eyes are blinded by my tears.
   Each day I beg for your help, O Lord;
      I lift my hands to you for mercy.
¹⁰ Are your wonderful deeds of any use to the dead?
      Do the dead rise up and praise you?
Interlude

¹¹ Can those in the grave declare your unfailing love?
      Can they proclaim your faithfulness in the place of destruction?
¹² Can the darkness speak of your wonderful deeds?
      Can anyone in the land of forgetfulness talk about your righteousness?
¹³ O Lord, I cry out to you.
      I will keep on pleading day by day.
¹⁴ O Lord, why do you reject me?
      Why do you turn your face from me?

¹⁵ I have been sick and close to death since my youth.
      I stand helpless and desperate before your terrors.
¹⁶ Your fierce anger has overwhelmed me.
      Your terrors have paralyzed me.
¹⁷ They swirl around me like floodwaters all day long.
      They have engulfed me completely.
¹⁸ You have taken away my companions and loved ones.
      Darkness is my closest friend.

Ten Symptoms of emotionally unhealthy spirituality

1. Using God to run from God
2. Ignoring the emotions of anger, sadness, and fear
3. Dying to the wrong things
4. Denying the past’s impact on the present
5. Dividing our lives into “secular” and “sacred” compartments
6. Doing for God instead of being with God
7. Spiritualizing away conflict
8. Covering over brokenness, weakness, and failure
9. Living without limits
10. Judging other people’s spiritual journey

-- from Emotionally Healthy Spirituality, Scazzero, p. 24

Love of Unimaginable Proportions | What do to when you find yourself praying to the quid pro quo god

Love of Unimaginable Proportions
by Mark Galli of Christianity Today

A couple of recent conversations suggest how hard it is to exorcize the quid pro quo god. Quid pro quo is a Latin phrase meaning "something for something." The quid pro quo god is one who does something for us if we do something for him, and the one who refuses to do something for us, or even punishes us, if we fail to do something for him...

When we find ourselves explaining that God is "doing this for my own good," or secretly striving "to do better," or saying to ourselves that "I deserve my fate," you can be sure we are in the presence of the quid pro quo god, the god of fear and just desserts...

[Read full article]

Pre-show radio interview with drama cast

If anyone is interested in listening to it, KFSK, the local public radio station, interviewed the cast and staff of Alice in Wonderland prior to the show. Shelley is heard in the interview towards the beginning. There is also a photo of the cast in front of the set.

Protecting the Shine: Why Ministers Need Ministry, Too

A recent article from Crosswalk.com begins,

Stained glass windows are a lot like pastors. They're really good at hiding stormy weather. They always look beautiful; they always appear inspirational; you can even get them to glisten when it's pitch black outside by shining manufactured light through them. Stained glass, like pastors, appears to be immune from the roughness of life. But they're not—unless they're well protected…

The short article concludes,

I know the debates (and war stories) are lengthy and legendary about pastors opening up too much during times of personal need… However, despite the risks, it's essential that those of us in ministry allow others into our lives…

Click to read more…

Ignorance or apathy, which is worse (or preferable)?