It seems a bit absurd for me to be disappointed by the Dolphins loss to the Ravens yesterday. After a 1-15 season the year before I guess I should be elated that they won the division and made huge strides toward turning the franchise around.
The Dolphins success this season came from taking care of the football and smart, efficient play from Chad Pennington at quarterback. The polar opposite of the effort they put on display in yesterday’s debacle.
I was very disappointed. I could have lived with a loss, if they had bothered to show up for the game.
Ah well. I guess there’s always next year. Or the year after that. Or the year …
My mother passed away on December 27th from a pneumonia related infection in her lungs. She was 54.
On behalf of my family, I want to say “thank you” to everyone for their love and support during what was a very difficult time for us all. There were close to 400 people who paid their respects during her calling hours, and another couple hundred attended her funeral. Words cannot express what your presence, kind words, stories, emails, comments, voicemails, meals, flowers, cards, texts and generosity have meant to us. We are truly humbled and grateful.
Below is what I shared at my mother’s funeral. It was a difficult day for all of us, but I was honored to be asked to pay tribute to her.
We love you mom. We’re going to miss you like crazy.
“The idea that God, if there is a force of Logic and Love in the universe, that it would seek to explain itself is amazing enough. That it would seek to explain itself and describe itself by becoming a child born in straw poverty, in sh*t and straw . . . a child . . . I just thought: “Wow!” Just the poetry . . . Unknowable love, unknowable power, describes itself as the most vulnerable. There it was. I was sitting there, and it’s not that it hadn’t struck me before, but tears came streaming down my face, and I saw the genius of this, utter genius of picking a particular point in time and deciding to turn on this.”
Tonight - after attending the early Christmas Eve service at Artisan and sharing a meal with close friends - we’ll be starting a new Christmas tradition by reading this classic poem to the kids before bed. Although, I’m sure it won’t sound nearly as cool coming from me.
I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas warmly spent with close family and friends.
Once again, I had alot of fun digging up tunes for this year’s countdown. I hope it was an enjoyable part of your soundtrack for this Christmas season.
Here’s the rundown:
1. Rosie Thomas - Why Can’t It Be Christmastime All Year?
2. Ben Folds - Lonely Christmas Eve
3. Sixpence None the Richer - The Last Christmas
4. Jack Johnson - Someday at Christmas
5. Bright Eyes - Blue Christmas
6. Sojourn - Amen, Amen
7. Over the Rhine - All I Ever Get For Christmas Is Blue
8. Bing Crosby - It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas
9. Ella Fitzgerald - Sleep, My Little Jesus
10. James Brown - Santa Claus Go Straight to the Ghetto
11. Sufjan Stevens - That Was the Worst Christmas Ever
12. Louis Armstrong - Christmas in New Orleans
Ah Satchmo. Born into poverty. The grandson of slaves. Abandoned by his father when he was just an infant. A major financial supporter of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The voice of jazz.
It’s being reported that the New York Yankees have reached a preliminary agreement with All-Star first baseman Mark Teixeira. The deal with pay him $180 million over eight years.
The Yankees seem determined to gobble up every high-profile free agent on the market. Could Manny be next?
While Sufjan Stevens may be falling well off pace in his goal to record an album about each of the 50 states, his behemoth Songs for Christmas release has provided enough material to include him in each “12 Tunes of Christmas” countdown from here to Kingdom Come.
In this tune Sufjan recalls his “worst Christmas ever” as his enraged father throws their gifts in the wood stove. Yeah, it’s not exactly a happy holiday tune, but the good news for young Sufjan, and the hope of mankind, is that “in time the Lord will rise.”
Sufjan Stevens - That Was the Worst Christmas Ever!
Since December 25th will mark the second anniversary of the Godfather of Soul’s death, it would seem appropriate to pay homage to him in the countdown.
This song comes by way of Tamara’s reccomendation. It first appeared on his 1966 release James Brown Sings Christmas Songs. It has been more recently made available on the 20th Century Masters Christmas Collection.
James Brown - Santa Claus Go Straight to the Ghetto
Another voice that is synonymous with Christmas is that of Ella Fitzgerald. “The First Lady of Song” is one of the most influential jazz singers of all time. She won 13 Grammy awards in her 57 year recording career and received honors from Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.
This song comes from her 1967 relase Ella Fitzgerald’s Christmas on Capitol Records. Her second Christmas album.
With the onslaught of snow we’ve received here in Rochester this past weekend it truly is beginning to look a lot like Christmas! And we simply cannot have a Christmas countdown without the croonings of Bing Crosby!
They shut down our offices at 3PM today so everyone could have plenty of time to try to get home safely. This is how I spent my extra time at home. More to come over the weekend!
Over the Rhine and Christmas are pretty much synonymous in our household. So of course it was a only a matter of time before they made the countdown.
This song appears on their second Christmas release Snow Angels. The Seattle Times calls the album “”the best soundtrack since A Charlie Brown Christmas for feeling melancholy and lovesick in December.” If you don’t own it already - and you should - you can listen to the album in its entirety here.
Over the Rhine - All I Ever Get for Christmas is Blue
I briefly mentioned this in another thread, but I think it merits its own post. If for no other reason than to help generate outreach ideas for other churches out there.
Artisan Church has opened their doors to host the Long Season Farmers Market. The market will feature about 15 vendors and will be held from now through May - when it’s a wee bit too cold in these parts to shop for locally grown fruits and veggies outdoors.
I think it’s a really unique way to collaborate with other organizations and raise the church’s visibility. It’s also great fit culturally for the church and the neighborhood they’re in. Plus it will provide countless ways to connect with others in the community.
As we reach the halfway point in our countdown I thought it might be nice to take time to reflect on the peculiar tension that exists within the gospel message. Joy to the world, the Lord has come! (Yet is to come!) I think this song captures that tension gorgeously.
“Amen, Amen” appears on Advent Songs, a 2007 release by Sojourn. Sojourn is a music ministry of Sojourn Community Church in Louisville, KY. You can download the album for free on NoiseTrade.
Here’s a situation that could get very interesting in the near future.
Rebecca Hancock is a 49-year-old divorcee and former member of Grace Community Church in Jacksonville, FL. She and her boyfriend have been together for some time now and - as you might expect from consenting adults - the two have become sexually involved.
Apparently the nature of her relationship with her boyfriend became a real bone of contention with others in the church. She felt so harassed by the congregation over it that she recently left the church. She said that felt like she was being “run out” for being “the church harlot.”
But the story doesn’t end there.
Despite leaving the congregation and now attending another fellowship, the elders of Grace Community Church sent her a letter informing her that they have “no other choice” but to “tell it to the church.’” They intend to air her dirty laundry to the congregation on January 4th.
Granted, there are very few details available about the history of this conflict. We don’t know what the elders have done previous to this to try to address her behavior in accordance with the teaching of Scripture. And if she is defiant and unrepentant regarding the sexual nature of her relationship to her boyfriend, there is cause for correction and rebuke.
But I can’t help but feel like the church has over-reached its jurisdiction by threatening to publicly air the “sins” of a former member. It would seem to me that if there were a need for discipline her removal from the fellowship should have satisfied it - even if it was her decision to leave.
I also wonder … If the church does make good on their threat to air the dirty laundry of a former member, have they then paved the way for a very winnable harassment or libel case to be brought against them?
Every year I look at the Bonnaroo lineup and say to myself, “Dang, I should really go to this!”
Then I look in the mirror, remember the fact that I have a full-time job, a wife and two kids and say to myself, “Dang, I’m too old for that (stuff).”
Anyway, Rolling Stone is citing some “reliable sources” that Phish is slated to headline both nights of this year’s festival. How far is Tennessee from Rochester again?
Ah Satchmo. Born into poverty. The grandson of slaves. Abandoned by his father when he was just an infant. A major financial supporter of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The voice of jazz.
While Sufjan Stevens may be falling well off pace in his goal to record an album about each of the 50 states, his behemoth 
Since December 25th will mark the second anniversary of the Godfather of Soul’s death, it would seem appropriate to pay homage to him in the countdown.
Another voice that is synonymous with Christmas is that of Ella Fitzgerald. “The First Lady of Song” is one of the most influential jazz singers of all time. She won 13 Grammy awards in her 57 year recording career and received honors from Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.
With the onslaught of snow we’ve received here in Rochester this past weekend it truly is beginning to look a lot like Christmas! And we simply cannot have a Christmas countdown without the croonings of Bing Crosby!
I briefly mentioned this in another thread, but I think it merits its own post. If for no other reason than to help generate outreach ideas for other churches out there.
As we reach the halfway point in our countdown I thought it might be nice to take time to reflect on the peculiar tension that exists within the gospel message. Joy to the world, the Lord has come! (Yet is to come!) I think this song captures that tension gorgeously.
