steve-o
Introduction To The House of Carr
Introduction To The House of Carr

Introspection

Since the Bengals don't play until tonight [gotta beat the Colts, Marvin] there is nothing to Monday morning quarterback about. So, instead, I'll make it personal and critique my Sunday teaching performance. While I've been preaching for almost twenty years now [delivered my first sermon at the age of twelve] this past year at Echo has been my first prolonged week-to-week preaching experience; I had stints where I preached for a few months in a row, but never consistently over a year. I'm not really feeling the pressure of coming up with new material each Sunday as I can almost always find something to run with. I do, however, get lower when I bomb now than when I used to when I just occasionally preached. It probably has less to do about my subject matter or style and more about where we're at as a church.

Despite trusting God to take care of Echo, I feel like a lot of our "success" comes down to me. If my preaching sucks then we don't have much of a chance; the reality is there's not that much else going on around here to offer people. So each week I try to prepare something that's relevant, Biblically deep, and engaging. I try not to suck. But sometimes, despite my best efforts, it just doesn't work out.

Last night, as we continued examining different aspects of the Christmas story, I wanted to illustrate the role of Herod in the birth narrative. We have many extra-Biblical references to Herod that usually aren't discussed around Christmas time. As you put Herod's paranoid, self-serving persona against that of Jesus, you get a very different idea of what it means to be a King. Sounded like a good idea, I just don't think I made it work. I got bogged down in the facts and don't think I was able to make them "come alive." I also taught much shorter than I usually do, which is indicative of me not feeling a good flow. Fortunately I didn't try to make-up for it on the spot and strech it to cover the space. It was what it was and that was the best I could do.

It's tough to walk out of the pulpit feeling like you just laid an egg. Like a bad athletic performance, you're left to dwell on it and relive it over and over in your mind. But then you realize that you can pick yourself up and do it all over again next week. If you dwell on it too long, it can really start to mess with your mind, so I give myself Monday morning until lunch to get over it; I'm almost there now.

A couple additional thoughts:

First, I just love the chance to try something out. Some preachers are fearful of failing so they refuse to take risks in their teaching. Echo affords me a great luxury: the opportunity to experiment and not sweat it if I fail. I tried to pull off something different last night and it didn't flow well. That's cool. I'm all the more wiser this morning.

And I do need to share this interesting tidbit: sometimes when I feel like I've bombed with my preaching people get something out of it. So while I beat myself up for sucking, someone claims that something I said really clicked with them. It's absolutely maddening, but it once again proves that this whole preaching thing is more than just my capabilities.

God is good. And my job is to tell people about that.

That'll take away the Monday morning blues.

How Big Is Steeler Hatred Here?

From the Cincinnati Cyclones marketing department:

Big Ben Helmet Safety Night is Tonight!

Tonight’s game (Dec. 15) is Big Ben Helmet Safety Night. The Ohio Dept. of Public Safety will provide information on motorcycle safety to all in attendance, along with $50 gift certificates to The Plastic Surgery Group--with a grand prize winner getting a $500 gift certificate. The first 1500 kids will receive Cyclones foam goalie helmets and two lucky ticket holders will receive Pocket Rocket motor bikes (complete with helmets, knee pads and other accessories).

Yikes.

Avoiding Death

Kelly got this 48-hour bug that knocked her out today. Apparently it's going around all over the tri-state area. The best we can figure she picked it up Tuesday at work, which means I've had constant exposure to her for the past couple of days. So now I wait to see if I'm going to get it or not. I have been popping my multi-vitamin consistently the past few months but I don't think that's the kind of protective supplement I need to get me through. I think the waiting is as bad as actually getting the virus. If I feel even a slight twinge in my stomach I get paranoid that I'm five minutes away from hurling. Wonderful.

For now, I wait . . .

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Doctor Who?

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Story time, kiddies. When I was in college I tried to get a scholarship for preaching students being awarded by a old school church planting organization from southeastern Ohio. I heard about this group because they were popular in the Maysville, Kentucky area where my grandparents resided. In order to interview for this $1000 scholarship I had to drive to Portsmouth, Ohio to interview for it. It was a five hour round trip, coupled with an hour interview about my theology and career aspirations. Low and behold, I didn't get the scholarship. It's a Saturday from my life that I'm still bitter about losing.

The head of this group had an interesting name: Hoyt Allen Jr. I only met him that one time, but I had difficulty forgetting that name, perhaps because I forever linked him to that scholarship snub. While online today, reading a news blurb about my grandparent's church, I saw that they invited good ole' Hoyt to come speak to their gathering. I normally would've passed on this article but noticed that it referred to him as DOCTOR Hoyt. I don't mean to be judgmental, but I couldn't buy that this guy had earned a doctorate; I'm certain that the closest he got to legitimately claiming this title was by downing a Dr Pepper [sorry, I felt that lame joke was necessary].

The article said that Hoyt earned his Master of Divinity and Doctorate at a Lake Charles Bible College in Louisiana. Having never heard of Lake Charles I looked up their website where I perused their intensive academic offering. You can check it all out here, but I would like to cite their rigorous requirements for attaining a doctorate at their prestigious institution.

DOCTOR OF MINISTRIES This course consists of four sections, all comprehensive and discussion questions. You will use your own library for research. The total course cost is $500, payable in four equal installments.

This, my friends, in case you were wondering, is not a fully accredited academic institution. I have to include this advertising gem from their MDiv description:

MASTER OF DIVINITY Our Master Of Divinity is a comprehensive program that requires one textbook, The textbook consists of four sections, all discussion questions. In other words, there are no completely wrong answers.

How refreshing! For somebody. I have no idea how someone could drop $1000 for these two pieces of paper and then, with a straight face, have someone address them as Doctor.

Unfortunately, the background of our movement of churches is extremely anti-intellectual. This sentiment developed as a stand against the highly-intellectual liberalism that rampaged Protestant churches in the early twentieth century. As a result, we've not been able to overcome this past and embrace the idea that we can be both intelligent and Biblically conservative. Hence, you get a degree mill like the Lake Charles Bible College where there are no wrong answers.

We still need some work if we're going to become the movement we need to be.

Honestly, I'd like to get a PhD someday . . . especially if I could get someone else to pay for it. Not that I want people to call me Doctor, but that I could specialize in a subject and become an authority. But if it never happens, I'll be OK. I'd rather it not happen than me to get a cereal-box-top degree not worth the paper it's written on.

Beit Carr Publicity

My neighbor Dustin is a beat writer for Xavier basketball and wrote an article in today's paper about ESPN's hijacking of the Crosstown Shootout. The game has been relegated to ESPNU, which Time Warner Cable does not provide because of the exuberant cost of the channel; this means the majority of Cincinnatians won't be able to watch the game in their homes. He solicited a bunch of quotes for the article and used some words of mine for the article. Apparently I said:

"Honestly, I'm not willing to pay the extra money just to watch my team," UC fan Steve Carr of Walnut Hills said. "Chances are, I'll be at a sports bar watching the game. And if I miss it, I can read about it the next day on the Internet for free."

Not my most eloquent work, but it's the opinion of an average Cincinnati basketball fan.

I think that makes the fifth time I've received pub in a Gannett local paper this year. I had a letter to the editor, a Cin Weekly article, an Echo Church article, a mention in the Mayor's Cabinet, and this one.

I am taking over the city, one sound-byte at a time.

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Lessons From A Sunday Night

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Just a week ago I wrote about how awesome the Sunday experience was. Of course, I had to open up my big mouth as that was followed by one of those not so great nights this week. All in all, I'm sure everything went well [props to Scott Duebber for being awesome and filling in while Tye was gone]. I had a message I was excited about and was just ready to hit the home stretch when a guy came in off the street.

Readers note: Whenever I refer to said "guy came in off the street," I define it as an individual who is merely looking to for money. Before I proceed I should also explain that this may come off as calloused to some of you; and it might actually be.

In the past year plus I have yet to encounter someone requesting funds from us who have honestly been in severe need. In Walnut Hills there are not many homeless people. It is an area where many of the needy are on various of forms of government assistance and live in Section 8 type housing. So if someone is able to get money from you, it's an icing on the cake type deal.

This being said, we have yet to refuse someone a first time asker; we believe that if you're willing to lie to Jesus' church just to get some cash then it's on you. That doesn't disqualify our need to be benevolent. And since the majority of monetary requests are accompanied by an offer for remittance, we usually never see the people ever again.

Sorry about the sidebar. Back to the story.

So guy from the street comes in about two thirds of the way through my message I notice something happening behind me. The sanctuary at Walnut Hills is set up that there's a hallway at stage left that leads to the back entrance. This guy is now standing in the doorway just checking out what's happening. I stop speaking and ask, "can I help you" and he says something about he's just waiting to ask for help. I'm a tad annoyed that he thought a doorway at the front of the church was a good place to wait, but Tim Tucker went out to talk to the guy. Tim tells him he'd have to wait until after church and that he's more than welcome to stay. The guy agrees and comes in to have a seat. Fine.

As I'm talking about the virginity of Mary, guy from the street thinks it's a good time for Q&A and stops me to ask a question. I'm not too thrown off about it because it's not the first time that this has happened while at Echo; it has, however, been long enough that it broke my flow and I struggled through the rest of the message. No biggie there, except that I'm disappointed that I didn't recover well; the minute you start letting the little distractions affect you, you're Kramer yelling racial slurs into the audience.

After the service I go over to talk to Kevin [he did have a name] and find out his story. It's the same as most stories: ambiguity concerning every facet of his life except that he needs funds. I decided in advance that he'd get some cash [he did help me preach my sermon] but he insists on finishing his spiel.

This is the point in the conversation that many guys from the street go for the gold: they try to assure me that I was helping a Christian guy out so that talk about faith or the Bible. I always laugh at this, as if it makes a difference to me whether you're a believer or not. But it happens very frequently that someone asking for money will try to convince me that they're incredibly spiritual.

Kevin tries to accomplish this by asking me a theological question. He just stopped at a church up the street to ask them for money [admitting to me that he's working all the neighborhood churches but he has cash in hand so he's feeling pretty good now so he hits the gas] and he met the pastor there. He looks at me straight-faced and says, "It was a WOMAN pastor," as if I should be shocked. Kevin then proceeds to tell me of the trend in the city of black women pastors and can't comprehend how these woman have the gall to go against Scripture and try to preach. He now wants to know my perspective on the matter.

Now perhaps you don't fully appreciate this but I wanted to laugh out loud. Here's a guy who obviously grew up in church and had a decent knowledge of church-ese. And instead of wanting to discuss the ways that he could correct his own life he wants to rant about how unBiblical churches with women pastors are. Classic.

I told Kevin that perhaps these ladies are in communities where the men haven't stepped up to lead in the way that Scripture commands and that these ladies have recognized that if they don't step up, no one will. I was subtly trying to suggest that he should be part of the solution. At this point, Kevin was no longer interested in playing hack theologian. What's more ironic is that very subject he talked about was part of my message; but Kevin, instead, decided to ask a question about Mary's virginity.

So trying to deconstruct last night, I have a few thoughts this morning I want to write down. In no particular order:

Dialogue preaching is dumb. It's now cool and hip to interact with people during your sermon time. This is derived from the understanding that everyone in your worship gathering has something applicable to add to conversation. While it sounds like a good idea I just can't buy it and last night was the perfect example why.

I've been called to be a pastor. I've spent the past week [or even longer] struggling through a text or an issue to teach on a Sunday. And I've dedicated years of my life in study and preparation to lead a church and teach Scripture. Why, then, are you just as qualified as me to give your two cents? Preaching, as seen in the Bible, is authoritative.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying I know everything, nor am I saying that I'm perfect by any means. And I'm not implying that other opinions aren't important. But when it comes to teaching, this is what I've been called to do. And my butt's on the line if I screw it up. So I'm perfectly fine with being the guy who does all the talking.

Your lifestyle should reflect your theology. Before we feel fit to criticize other issues such as female pastors, perhaps we should make sure the rest of our beliefs are in line. This was the whole plank and sawdust issue Jesus addressed in his sermon on the mount. Kevin felt empowered to critique the way someone else was practicing their faith but he is part of the problem contributing to it. If we're going to be critical, we should critically examine ourselves first. It's a good reminder to me to "chiggity check myself before I 'reck myself."

There's always next week. I do my best not to live for Sundays; it's how I keep my sanity. This last week didn't turn out the way I planned it, but there are now six days until we do it all over again. Every day is a new day. That's why I was up at 5:30 this morning to get a jump on things.

Never a dull moment at Echo.

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Effing Zune

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Been immersed in a few projects this week, so the blog has taken a backseat. Thought this would be a great time to link to an article I've been sitting on for a few weeks. Since Microsoft is finally ready to compete with the Apple iPod for mp3 player supremacy, you think the would've done extensive research in anticipation of a market blitz. You could say that they thought of everything . . . oh, except for the fact that the product's name sounds like a Hebrew curse word. Yep, the name "Zune" is amazingly similar to the modern Hebrew f-bomb.

I will refrain from any additional jokes.

Everything Equal

So concerning our cinematic experience last night . . . Kelly and I chose to attend the nearby Showcase Cinema of the Norwood Lateral because 1) we had a gift card for that chain and 2) it was only a few minutes away. We arrived fifteen minutes early but almost missed our show because the employees were struggling to scan the card. This gave us plenty of time to mutter to each other and observe the ambiance of the theater lobby.

As we waited, we noticed something unusual about the movie listing behind the cashier's desk. The movie we were waiting to see, Stranger Than Fiction, had only one star's name listed next to it: Queen Latifah. Now it's true that the Queen was in the feature, but hers was a minor character at best. I'd say Will Ferrell, Dustin Hoffman, Emma Thompson, and Maggie Gyllenhall, who had much bigger roles, would be more worthy of notice. So the question presents itself: why would they only list the Queen on the marquee?

Location, location, location.

Considering that this theater is located in a predominantly African American area, the owners were trying to deceive people into seeing the mostly white starring film.

You might not think it's a big deal, but I think it's a low blow. I wonder if the same kind of marketing takes place in suburban midwestern cities. It would be akin to advertising the new film Dreamgirls to a bunch of white senior citizens by claiming it stars John Lithgow.

Makes you think.

Smiling . . .

. . . is what I'm doing after a wonderful night. Melissa and Jessica were the champs and watched Kaelyn as Kelly and I went to see a movie. We haven't been to a movie theater since before Kaelyn was born, so we were due. Kel's choice to see the Will Ferrell flim Stranger Than Fiction. Since it's been out a few weeks nobody else wanted to see it so we had the whole theater to ourselves [I, however, received no hickies]. Great flick but I'll have some interesting social commentary about our cinematic experience tomorrow though.

We stopped by Steak 'N' Shake to pick up some shakes and made it home in time to watch some shows we DVR'd. Last night's Studio 60 was great; if you're not watching, you're missing out. I told you Sorkin dramas rock.

We also watched a half hour special Channel 9 aired tonight concerning the revitalization of Over-The-Rhine. The report was a very positive examination on how far this part of the urban core has progressed in the past five years. I can't remember the last time I watched a news station in this town report something positive about the city. Good things are happening, people. If interested, you can catch parts of Visions of Vine Street online.

So it was a great night that's left a grin on my face. And did I mention no hickies on my neck?

BCS Hangover

Hate to say, "I told you so," but I did predict on Saturday that BCS voters would feel guilty and put Florida ahead of Michigan. They couldn't help themselves; this system is totally flawed. Allow me to cite an example of how ridiculous the BCS system is. Jim Walden, former coach of Washington State and current TV analyst for the team, votes for the all important Harris Poll. On Saturday night he filled out his ballot and ranked one loss Florida #1 ahead of the undefeated Ohio State Buckeyes. His reasoning:

"In my heart of hearts, I believe that neither Ohio State or Michigan could get through Florida's schedule with only one loss."

So he cast his all important vote based on a hypothetical situation. Walden's vote didn't determine the OSU/Florida match-up, but his reasoning was indicative of a system that is totally objective. More wisdom from Walden:

"In my opinion, not only has Florida proved themselves No. 1 through the season, they had to play the winningest teams to get there. Look at their schedule: Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, LSU, Auburn, Georgia, South Carolina. Even the team with one of the worst records, Florida State, is still Florida State. "

If Walden forgot that this was 2006 and thought it was another decade, then this reasoning is defensible. But this year's SEC was incredibly top heavy and not as impressive the further down you go. The whole "The SEC is the toughest conference in America" stigma is totally subjective. I watched a lot of SEC games this year and it wasn't pretty. Seems to me like Walden wasn't even watching college football this year.

Oh, I almost forgot to ask. Coach Walden, as an informed voter, how many games did you watch Florida play this year? His response:

"I haven't seen Florida play. But I used to be a Miami Hurricane. I hate the d*mn Gators,"

Brilliant. I'm glad the NCAA uses such an air-tight system to protect the integrity of their sport.

Doesn't really matter to me. I'm stoked about buying more OSU National Championship gear anyway.

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Echo Rocks

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I enjoy our church. We're having the time of our lives. We had five more first-time visitors tonight. And our core group rocks, working incredibly hard to get things set up and running smoothly. Slowly but surely we're getting there. For some reason Kaelyn shines on Sunday nights. She constantly smiles at everyone and loves to sing along while Tye leads worship. She's still not getting the words right though.

And then there's me and my mastery of the English language. Tonight, in the midst teaching on some of the sexual melees in Jesus' family tree, I transitioned to the life of Rahab the prostitute. Trying to tell where it was located in the Bible, I misspoke and said, "Joshua tapped it, too" instead of "Joshua chapter 2." I guess Jericho was a happening place.

Good times.

Bomb Alert

Recipient: The Bowl Championship Series Now that USC lost to UCLA and Florida isn't going to blow-out Arkansas it looks like we're in-line for the epic Ohio State/Michigan rematch. While that's good news to the school up north [RIP Woody] as well as good news for Buckeye fans [getting to smack Michigan in the mouth twice in one season AND win a national championship? Too good to be true] it really sucks for the BCS. Nobody outside of Big Ten land cares to see this and it could finally bring about the playoff we've all been longing for.

But here's my prediction: the powers that be will manipulate the system so that Florida will go to the title game, even if they squeak by the Razorbacks. It's the only way to save face.

Wear your kevlar, just in case.

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Merry ******mas?

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Over at the House of Carr homepage, I added a tab for our eventual Christmas stuff. To save space, I merely labeled it "Xmas." A good friend wondered if this was akin to selling out,"taking the "Christ" out of "Christmas." Good question. Let me explain it here.

First, in order for me to ruin everyone's holiday, we need to understand that it was very unlikely that Jesus was actually born on or near December 25th. The date was picked a few centuries after Jesus lived, in order to replace the popularly celebrated winter solstice, a pagan holiday. The most common deity worshiped on this date was Mithra; in Israel, we were able to observe a Mithra shrine in the sea port of Caesarea [for more on Mithra & Christmas, see here].

The word "Christmas" is literally a contraction of "Christ's Mass." The Greek word for Christ is "Χριστός" [Christos]. Notice the first letter is an X, the Greek letter Chi [pronounced "Key"]. For over 1,000 years the word "Christ" has been abbreviated with an "X" or "Xp" throughout various Anglo-Saxon and Eastern Orthodox writings. So using "Xmas" still emphasizes the presence of Christ in the holiday.*

Somehow, as retailers began to use Xmas as an abbreviation for the holiday [which has been done for almost 100 years now in America], some believers felt it was an attack on Jesus, not recognizing him being the center of the holiday. I'm not quite sure where this rumor started. I suspect that it comes down to advertisers trying to save a buck. Whenever you can shorten an ad to conserve space/ink, you usually do it.

Regardless of how you spell it, it's impossible to deny that the the holiday that we celebrate as Christmas today has its origins in the Christian faith.

*I should admit that I really don't take issue with calling this "the holiday season" because the word "holiday" is derived from "Holy Day," again showing the religious nature of the celebration.

What Is It Good For?

You probably haven't heard of Malachi Ritscher. And that would probably disappoint him . . . if he were still alive. Ritscher was a war activist, who was deep disturbed by the Iraqi Conflict. He wanted to make a powerful statement against the war to get people thinking before the midterm elections. So four days before Election Day, next to a busy expressway during the Chicago morning rush-hour, Ritscher doused himself with gasoline and set himself on fire. He died within minutes. This form of suicide, known as self-immolation, has been practiced by devout Hindu and Buddhist monks for many years.

Ritscher had prepared a suicide note, as well as obituary claiming, "if I am required to pay for your barbaric war, I choose not to live in your world." He presumed that his violent death would make headlines around the country, but it didn't. It took the coroner five days to examine his remains. It wasn't until a local independent Chicago paper picked up on the story that it's begun to raise interest.

There is now a group of individuals who are heralding Ritscher as a martyr to advance their anti-war cause. They long to carry his anti-war platform across the country and inform people of his terrible, violent death. But these people should beware how closely they align themselves with Malachi.

This was a very troubled individual. It seems he had a life-long struggle with depression, which in of itself isn't bad, but it went deeper. Ritscher claimed that he was in a situation to kill Donald Rumsfeld one day on a Chicago street, knife in hand, but chickened out. And yet there's now a group who want to laud him as a hero and make sure that his death wasn't in vain.

But that's all a bunch of crap.

Look, everyone has an opinion about this war, and many Americans are ready to be done with it. But how does killing yourself add to the debate? Enough people have died in the conflict itself. Ritscher claimed that he killed himself so that his death could make a difference. This guy could've done many, many more productive things with his life than trying to be an anti-war symbol and ending it.

I'm sorry, but Ritscher was just being selfish, trying to go out in a blaze of glory [pardon the pun]. He thought suicide was his ticket to postmortem stardom. He bet that if he killed himself at election time next to a busy expressway that everyone would talk about him. But nobody really noticed. And chances are, if I didn't write this post about him, you wouldn't know about him either.

You probably never heard of Norman Morrison either. Morrison was a Quaker, opposed to the Vietnam war and he too burned himself in protest. This guy, however, to the act to a different level as he brought his daughter with him to witness his death. What difference did his actions make? I'm glad the media ignored this story. The last message we need to send to young people is that if you kill yourself for a cause then you'll make the evening news. These anti-war groups should steer clear of using Ritscher as an example. Next thing you know, this action will elicit a copycat effect.

From personal experience I know that suicide is never the answer. If this becomes a new American trend for extreme activism, then "barbaric war" won't be our only moral problem.

Grammar: The Really Mean Girl

Fortunately she's an actress and not a writer. Lindsey Lohan's effort to extend condolences to Robert Altman's family was a massacre of the English language. Highlights include:

"He left us with a legend that all of us have the ability to do."

"Please just take each moment day by day and consider yourself lucky to breathe and feel at all and smile"

"Make a searching and fearless moral inventory of yourselves' (12st book) -everytime there's a triumph in the world a million souls hafta be trampled on.-altman Its true."

Read the gruesome details here.

And Now For Something Completely Different

Had lunch last week with friend Dave Little. Dave and I met at the beginning of the year as we endured the Christ Hospital Pregnancy Class with our wives. We sat in the back of the room and constantly lobbed one-liners at the instructor. I think she didn't like us, thus Dave and I instantly clicked. His wife Holly gave birth to little Paige a few weeks after Kaelyn was born. Come to find out, he was works at Crossroads Community Church in Oakley. Dave was in the business sector and left it to join the Crossroads staff, taking on the title of Creative Dude. Dave is a talented designer/artist currently working on a Chickens In Space

Thought I'd tip you off to his blog where he posts sketches. Sketch Ninja is a hodge-podge of his doodles that are varied yet interesting. I've subscribed to the RSS feed; it's a wonderful addition to my Google Reader. Do check it out.