I went 2-0 in my NFL picks last week; and though I have not listed my former picks on the blog, I have gone 9-1 through the playoffs to this point. The only game that I missed was the Jets at SD in the first week of postseason play. Yes this also means that would have picked against the Falcons over my beloved Rams had I been betting.
As my previous blog suggests, I believe that the New England Patriots will make it three Super Bowl wins in four years. They will contain McNabb. Owens will not be 100% if he plays at all. The huge loss for Philly though is their tight end Chad Lewis, who played a huge role in Philly’s win over Atlanta. NE’s defense plays well and their offense will move the ball against the Eagles. Brady will be the MVP, and the Pats will win 24-16.
Here’s the only bummer. I will likely be in the air or in an airport when the Super Bowl starts. I will be flying home from an ATS (Association of Theological Schools = the accrediting organization for theological schools in the U.S.) conference on Super Bowl Sunday. I can’t believe that the conference is scheduled on Super Bowl Sunday! Kwok Pui-Lan, a well-known feminist theologian and friend, is going to be ticked! She also is going to be at the conference, and she is a big Patriots fan.
I guess I can TIVO the game, but it’s not quite the same.
Time for a sports blog:
The Seabury Saints won their first basketball game of the intramural season last night, 43-37. Phil Fackler provided some hot shooting early in the game, and Patrick Warriner Bolt scored, rebounded, and blocked shots all night long. The Saints, who played with only a six-man team, were gassed by the end of the evening. They managed to hold off a late push from the opposing team to take the win.
NFL Playoff Predictions:
There are two NFL championship games being played on Sunday. The NFC title clash is between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Atlanta Falcons. People have questioned whether or not Philly could be the same team without Terrell Owens, their star WR; but, Donovan McNabb and company took care of business against the Minnesota Vikings last week. Atlanta won't be able to run the ball down Philly's throat like the Falcons did against the Rams. This is going to be a close game, but in the end, I see the Eagles going to the Super Bowl.
The AFC title game will determine who is the Super Bowl champion in my opinion. Two very hot teams face each other--the New England Patriots and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Pittsburgh has not lost under rookie QB Ben Roethlisberger, and the Steeler defense is rock solid. New England has won two of the last three Super Bowls. Tom Brady is this generations Joe Montana. He's not particularly athletic, but he knows how to win in the clutch. Pittsburgh has homefield advantage, and NE's secondary is riddled with injuries. Still, I think this one will come down to the play of the QBs, which gives the edge to NE. Roethlisberger has had a nice run, but it will end on Sunday. His rookie-ness will come out against a disciplined and smart NE defense. It will be close, but NE will win.
I recently finished an article on Asian American biblical interpretation from a later generation perspective. Yes, I realize that it sounds like a very particular context-specific understanding of biblical interpretation. I DO think, however, that later generation Asian Americans have something to say about God and the Bible that sounds very different than the theological discourse of Asian Americans to this point.
In this article I argue that most Asian American theological discourse has stressed issues and themes that relate to or are hovering around the context of Asian American immigrant life. I believe that this has been a profound and rich contribution to theology. I do not think, however, that it reflects the lived-realities of a significant group within Asian America, particularly those who are of the third generations or later.
Instead of themes like marginality and liminality, which stress the essential difference between “American” and “Asian” cultures, I would argue that notions such as hybridity, heterogeneity are more reflective of later generational experience. Rather than agreeing with assimilationist theories that assume that later generations lose their Asian cultural heritages as they spend more time in America, I would argue that Asian Americans like the Sansei (third generation Japanese Americans) are in the process of ongoing cultural construction, reformulating what it means to be both Asian and American.
This is just a snippet of what is in the article. I go on to discuss on how I imagine that this affects an understanding of culturally-contextual biblical interpretation.
The Rams looked horrible last night. In fact, I think that is the worst that I have seen them play in years.
The old playoff-contending Rams were frustrating. They would fumble, throw INTs, and Martz would make crazy coaching decisions. Last night, however, they just got spanked. They were overmatched, outcoached, outplayed, you name it. It was pathetic. I can't remember seeing poorer run defense or special teams play. Some heads are going to roll on the coaching staff, even though Martz will live to coach another year.
People have different experiences of writing and different metaphors (or similes) for describing the writing process. This may sound funny, but I actually don't like writing. I believe it is one of God's great ironies that I would end up in a profession where I do scholarship.
I DO enjoy the interaction that written scholarship creates, but it still seems to me to be a large amount of work for a conversation that is slow, full of jargon, and, at times, out of touch with what I do in my day-to-day life.
Don't get me wrong, I love being a scholar, and it is still a rush to see my name in print. But when I am really honest with myself, I realize that writing is not something that I enjoy.
So, back to metaphors, or in this case a simile...Writing for me is like...
Running and training for a long distance race.
Why?
1) There may be others that aid you along the way, but ultimately writing is a solo sport
2) It takes endurance -- just when you think you can't keep going, you keep going, and keep going...
3) You usually get a second wind, and a third wind, and a fourth...
4) There is a finish line at which point you bathe in the sunlight of accomplishment
5) It leaves you sore (at least the way that I write); you're body aches, your mind is tired from concentration; and all you want to do is fall into a heap on the couch and watch TV for...a few days.
That at least is my experience of writing.
P.S., I will finish my article today. Thanks be to God!
I don't know if this is a good thing. I am back writing at my carrel this week in order to finish an essay on Asian American biblical interpretation. Getting back to the carrel feels both familiar and comforting. Strange!
This past Sunday, I began a five week series on Job and suffering at First Pres. Arlington Heights. Obviously we spent much of our discussion time talking about God’s role in human suffering, esp. in light of the recent disaster in South Asia. Our small class is not alone on pondering such ideas. NPR, ABC news, and many other news and information sites are talking about religion and suffering. I may have some more thoughts on this later.
I realized this weekend that the last time I taught on Job and suffering was 9/9 and 9/16, 2001. Needless to say, the discussion on 9/16 took on a completely different tone. I shared this fact with my class last Sunday. Afterward, one of the participants jokingly told me that I should be careful about the next time that I teach Job at a church. I should be clear that I don’t believe in this kind of Holy Spirit determinism, at least not in relation to such terrible events. Still, it is a strange coincidence in a “Twilight Zone” kind of way.
This is the sermon I preached tonight on the Feast of Epiphany:
Hope in the Midst of Despair
Epiphany is a feast of hope, and hope is what we need in this day and age. I am reminded of a line from the movie, Shawshank Redemption. Andy Dufresne, a recent escapee from Shawshank prison writes to his newly paroled friend, Red, “Remember, Red. Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.” It is one of most memorable lines in the movie. Taken out of context, it is still a powerful truth. However, when one remembers that the character, Andy Dufresne, played by Tim Robbins, was unjustly accused of murdering his wife, sent to prison, and spent years of hell in a crookedly run facility—where he was raped, put in solitary for months, and saw one of his friends killed—when one remembers this context for hope, his words are all the more striking. Finding hope in such a setting is what helped to keep him sane amidst the insanity of prison life. In fact, the stark walls of the prison and the dehumanizing life within make Dufresne’s hope shine more brightly and profoundly, like a single candle illuminating a completely darkened room. For a single light becomes more significant, more illuminating, and, indeed, more necessary in the midst of total darkness.
Hope, in the same way, becomes more important, more life-giving and life-altering when despair attempts to rush in and overwhelm the faithful. In Isaiah 60, the prophet addresses the newly returned exiles, who are disillusioned by the hardships of their new life on their home soil. The relative comforts that they had worked so hard to establish in exile in Babylon were now gone, and now they faced the uncertainties and displacement of living in a home that had now become foreign to them. To this situation, the prophet proclaims hope to the people:
Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. 2For darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the LORD will arise upon you, and his glory will appear over you. 3Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
To the discouraged masses, the poet exhorts the people to stand up and shine, because the LORD’s glory has risen upon them. For those whose lives are darkened by despair, the prophet says, “but the LORD will arise upon you, and his glory will appear over you.” And to a nation that had lost its bearing and its sense of identity and purpose, this writer says, “Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.” (in other words) “Not only will you survive, but you will thrive again, so much so, that nations will flock to the light that comes from you.” In this way, the opening words of chapter 60, “Arise and shine” become a form of repentance—not a repentance from sins, but a turning from despair and a turning to God, a turning toward hope.
The prophet’s message speaks to us today. I haven’t always had time to think about how my life has changed in the post 9/11 era. But one thing I am sure about is that I am more afraid, and fear is always the partner of despair. I am more afraid for my children and the world that we are leaving them. I am more afraid of violence and the possibility of violence striking close to home. I am afraid of my participation in a country whose citizens are increasingly hated around the world because of the actions or inactions of our government. I hate to admit it, because in general I am a very hopeful person; but I am afraid and it seems to me that I live among a people who are also bound by fear.
In this context, it seems to me that we too need to hear the prophets words, “Arise and shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.” Or as the band Switchfoot suggests in their recent hit tune: “I dare you to move.” Brothers and sisters, I dare you to move—to not give into despair. I dare you to believe that the world can be a place that embraces peace as a core value. I dare you to believe that our children hold the future and will not be bound to the mistakes that we have made. I dare you to believe that racism, sexism, heterosexism, and all the other isms won’t carry the day, but God’s justice and peace will reign. I dare you to believe that love is strong enough, that love is enough period. I dare you to believe that all of this can happen because ultimately this world is not ours but it is God’s. I dare you to hope.
And in closing, I wanted to offer these final words as a prayer for those whose lives have been affected by the tsunamis in South Asia and East Africa. The death toll has climbed to at least 150,000; and according to UNICEF, 1.5 million children were directly affected by the killer waves. We have only begun to understand the magnitude of this disaster and its affects on the human community. When one hears of the ruined lives and the desolation, it is hard not to despair.
Still, I hope for Indonesia and Thailand. I hope for India, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives. I hope for the half a dozen other countries who were affected by the tsunamis. I hope that they will lift up their eyes and look around, that their sons and daughters, parents, and grandparents will gather together, that they will come back to each other. That they will come from far away, and that their infants will be carried on their nurses’ arms. I hope that they will one day again be radiant, that their hearts will thrill and rejoice. I hope that the wealth of the nations will come to them, that the world will bring gold and frankincense and proclaim the praise of the LORD. I hope that God will glorify them, that the nations will come to their light and kings to the brightness of their dawn. I hope for them. I hope.
[p.s., The "Dare You to Move" video is on the VH 1 website linked above. It takes a long time for it to buffer the streaming video. Slide the progress bar back to the begining a half a dozen times or so and you should be able to see the whole thing].