Wayward Son

Musician. Composer. Recovering perfectionist. Minister-in-transition. Lover of puns. Hijacker of rock song references. Questioner of the status quo. I'm not really a rebel. Just a sincere Christ-follower with a thirst for significance that gets me into trouble. My quest has taken me over the fence of institutional Christianity. Here are some of my random thoughts along the way. Read along, join in the conversation. Just be nice.

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My Favorite and Un-Favorite Christmas Carols

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Categories: fun, What the heck was THAT?

Okay, so this local radio station that usually plays the hits of the “’80s, ’90s, and today” has been doing constant Christmas music since Thanksgiving. I love having that kind of thing around, especially while driving in the flower van. I commented to a coworker today that I am glad no one is in the van with me while the radio is playing. (Think Meg Ryan in Sleepless in Seattle.)

My only complaint is that they only seem to play the same 20 Christmas songs on this station. Or maybe it’s twenty different versions of those 20 songs. Anyhow, it all runs together.

This is a preview of My Favorite and Un-Favorite Christmas Carols. Read the full post (424 words, 1 image, estimated 1:42 mins reading time)

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Pre-Christmas Ramblings

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Categories: holidays, Meanderings (look it up)

For those of you waiting with baited breath for part two of “Dangerous Musings on Equality“…breathe. And don’t worry; it’s coming soon, likely after Christmas.

For the time being…it’s been a bit harder to post, because the closer we get to Christmas, the more my extra flower delivery jobs have kicked in. Lotssss of people ordering flowers this year (don’t get any ideas, I’m not telling you where I work). It’s a lot of fun, actually. What’s not to love about making people smile? But this time of year it gets grueling.

This is a preview of Pre-Christmas Ramblings. Read the full post (262 words, 2 images, estimated 1:03 mins reading time)

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Dangerous Musings About Equality (part 1)

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Categories: changing mindsets, food for thought

Kathy over at the carnival in my head has been doing a great series of posts called “what could be.” One of her recent entries was about “equality practiced,” in which she shares about how the church should intentionally practice equality with one another with regard to gender, race, socio-economic standing…in all things.

I’ve been mulling over this one for days, and finally decided to post my thoughts here rather than in her comments. And this post is in two parts so as not to overwhelm the reader. 🙂

This is a preview of Dangerous Musings About Equality (part 1). Read the full post (918 words, 1 image, estimated 3:40 mins reading time)

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Are You Christianized?

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Categories: What the heck was THAT?

**TONGUE IN CHEEK ALERT**

Based on the discussion from yesterday’s post–and Steve’s suggestion that the word “Christianize” has become a verb–I’m thinking we should use that word more often.

“Christianize.”

What does it mean when something is Christianized? It means that we have attached a label on it that differentiates it–and insulates it–from the world. It means we Christians can trust it as safe, sterile, and untainted by the evil world we live in. (Not unlike when milk is “pasteurized” so it’s safe to drink.) So for example, when some Christian singer sings a Christian song and releases it on a Christian record label…we can buy it with peace of mind, knowing it is family-friendly and will make us feel good.

This is a preview of Are You Christianized?. Read the full post (620 words, 1 image, estimated 2:29 mins reading time)

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The Christianization of Stuff

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Categories: food for thought, Rantings

I don’t know if it’s like this where you are, but Tulsa churches are notorious for having a bandwagon mentality; if one of them does something “cool”, other churches have to follow suit as quickly as possible. For example, a few years ago one of our mega-churches installed a merry-go-round in their children’s department (you read that right–a real merry-go-round like in the amusement parks). Now word is out that another mega-church is going to follow suit, and maybe one or two more.

Another example…now that the phrase “emergent church” is going mainstream, churches here are scrambling to form “emergent” services, and sometimes do emergent church plants to reach that “market.” Not that this is bad in itself, and some are doing it from pure motives. But the bandwagon mentality kind of ruins the whole idea for me.

This is a preview of The Christianization of Stuff. Read the full post (881 words, 2 images, estimated 3:31 mins reading time)

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I Must Defer…This Is A Post that Should Be Read

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Categories: food for thought, link love

I’ve often quipped that “pastor’s wives” are consistently given all the same responsibility as their husbands, with none of the authority.

I’ve not seen the plight of pastor’s wives stated quite so well as in Lyn Hallewell’s recent post. It’s actually a repost from before I entered blogland, so it’s the first time I’ve read it…but it is a must-read.

P.S. And what if the wife is the pastor?

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Permanent link to this post (70 words, 1 image, estimated 17 secs reading time)

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Finally, A Large Bloc of Time In Which to Blog…Now What the Crap Do I Write?

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Categories: Meanderings (look it up), random stuff

Today is the first day in almost 2 weeks that I have not had to rush to some job, or investigate some job opportunity.

It also happens to be icy on the roads here today, and a balmy 19 degrees outside…which makes it a perfect opportunity to sit by the fire and blog to my heart’s content.

This is a preview of Finally, A Large Bloc of Time In Which to Blog…Now What the Crap Do I Write?. Read the full post (580 words, 2 images, estimated 2:19 mins reading time)

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Why Deconstruct?

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Categories: changing mindsets, food for thought

**Note: For those of you who remember the phantom in my laptop…when I first typed the word “deconstruct” this morning, it came out “deconsuc”. 🙂

Among the lingo that surrounds me (and that I use frequently) is the word “deconstruction”. A lot of us are using this word to describe our spiritual walk as an attempt to get real about our faith. And what it usually means is that we are removing the institutional forms of Christianity from our lives, and/or leaving those institutions behind, without forsaking our faith.

This is a preview of Why Deconstruct?. Read the full post (929 words, 1 image, estimated 3:43 mins reading time)

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Judge Not

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Categories: Meanderings (look it up)

So in between all my other busy-ness, I’ve been (slowly) working my way through David Kinnaman’s book UnChristian. And the chapter about how Christians are perceived as judgmental…

…well, it’s cleaning my clock.

The bottom line is that we are perceived by outsiders as judgmental because, for the most part, we are judgmental. (In other words, the perception is mostly justified.) And a lot of our judgmental attitudes aren’t so blatant as the angry, hate-filled, anti-gay protesters we see on the news. Many of them are a lot more subtle, coming off as condescending and self-superior. We might try to act with kindness toward a “sinner”, but that person will pick up the vibe that we see ourselves above them, stooping down to be kind to them.

There are a lot of people out there who aren’t too proud to receive charity. But nobody likes false charity. Nobody likes charity with a side order of guilt and judgmentalism.

This is a preview of Judge Not. Read the full post (641 words, 2 images, estimated 2:34 mins reading time)
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