Ikea & the Transfiguration

A post very similar to what I preached @LCMontheHILL on Luke 9.

I feel a real connection with Peter. Now, I haven’t followed Jesus to the top of a mountain or seen his face transfigured. I haven’t seen Jesus checking in with Moses and Elijah. I haven’t heard the booming voice of God speaking directly to me from a cloud. But...I have been to Ikea. 

Peter, James and John follow Jesus up to the top of the mountain. As he’s praying, the face of the man whom they had dropped their nets to follow around the Galilean countryside was transfigured. Jesus’ face, something incredibly familiar, became something incredibly new and different. The familiar became strange. In the face of an itinerant preacher they saw the face of God. 

A trip to Ikea is not that different. The multi-story blue and yellow behemoth looms above the interstate like a summit. My search for cheap and stylish furniture fix is a journey through a prayer-like labyrinth where transfiguration awaits around each turn. Inside the maze, all the ‘stuff’ of my everyday life is seen in a completely new and exciting way. I’ve got a couch at home, but at Ikea it becomes a dagstorp. Tea kettles become ödmjuk’s and comforters become smörboll's. It’s my regular life, except more functional, stylish, and gleaming. It’s all the pieces of my life transfigured. 

A trip to Ikea evokes in many a desire to never leave. A man in New Jersey decided to live inside of an Ikea for a week. In Sweden they actually sell Ikea houses. You could buy one for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah!

New Rule: Love wins.

a sermon on Luke 4 from @LCMontheHILL

My television is under siege. Flipping through the channel guide Parking Wars, Whale Wars, Storage Wars, and Property Wars all fight for my attention. While it seems that producers have packaged every sort of conflict imaginable for my viewing pleasure, I’d like to pitch just one more…

Introducing...Neighbor Wars! Imagine a young professional couple in their twenties settling into life in an idyllic college town nestled against the mountains in Colorado. For this couple it’s early to bed and early to rise for a walk with their small, docile, and elderly dog. A big night involves dinner at a local restaurant, a stop for froyo, and bed by 10:30pm. 

Enter...the college students. Late one August night two students arrive with a pair of monster trucks and a trailer full of trouble from...California. Late night parties, an unleashed pit bull, and the opening of what appears to be a nocturnal auto mechanic shop has led to the worst and most entertaining type of conflict...passive aggressive warfare.

Why Beyonce, Jesus, & Lip-Synching Matters

Last night's sermon at Lutheran Campus Ministry at the University of Colorado-Boulder featuring Luke 4.14-20. 

Last week classrooms sat empty, powerpoint presentations went unpointed, and due dates postponed as the university celebrated a civic holiday. A big part of that holiday this year was the presidential inauguration. I imagine you heard some of the controversy emerging from the inaugural ritual. The media from the Times to the Post all the way down to the TMZ have been up in arms because it appears that much of the inaugural event may have been fake. 

The biggest offender of our notions of authenticity and originality was Beyonce. The pop music heavyweight may or may not have lip synched her powerful rendition of the Star Spangled Banner, depending on which sources you trust. But the whole day, with thousands of people spread out along the parade route and the mall was, in a sense, fake. The Constitution requires that the president be sworn into office on January 20th, this past Sunday. The inaugural celebration traditionally takes place on a weekday. So, President Obama took the oath of office in the blue room on Sunday in a small private service and opted to move the public celebration to the traditional Monday. While many presidents have made this same choice, you could see the entire inaugural affair on Monday as one collective lip synch, reciting the same words, songs, and rituals from the day before, but without the constitutional punch.

Huell Howser, Baptism, & the Death of Cynicism.

I was moved last week when I heard that Huell Howser had died. Huell, for those of you who have not been blessed with exposure to public television in California, was the host of California’s Gold. For 18 seasons Huell explored the natural, cultural and historic wonders of the Golden State. To me the show is as much a part of my California experience as In-N-Out or Trader Joe's. 

Introducing...PZ's Office Hours!

Everybody knows that one of the keys to a successful semester is stopping by your professor's office hours every once in a while to ask a question or just to let them know you exist. In that same spirit, I'm excited to announce that I'll be keeping office hours on campus this semester!

Monday mornings are tough. I'm going to do my part to help you get your week off on the right foot by being in Pekoe Coffee Shop in the ATLAS building on campus from 9.00am until 11:15am every Monday morning. I'll be there waiting for you to stop by to chat and/or to buy you a cup of coffee. 

If you ask professors about assignments and coursework, what would you talk to Pastor Zach about during office hours? Well, I'm glad you asked. Below is a list of acceptable topics for discussion during office hours this semester:

• the mysteries of the universe
• Roommates/Parents/Professors
• The latest episode of Doctor Who.
• Why the Old Testament is PZ's favorite.
• The merits of the House of Lords.
• College Basketball (other seasonally appropriate sports topics are ok.)
• What's up with the bible? 
• Maps
• Why PZ is a pastor. 
• Where is God in all of this?
• The Wire/Curb your Enthusiasm/Homeland/Top Gear
• Any Dave Eggers book.
• Seattle-based Rap.
• The banjo.
• Why faith matters.
• The merits of various forms of public transportation. 
• How Manhattan is the greenest place on earth. 
• Paradoxes.
• Ralphie: great or greatest mascot?
• Current events. 
• Debate the best breakfast place in Boulder (the village, duh.)
• Why PZ is always talking about baptism and the eucharist. 

(Please note this list is not all-inclusive, additional topics may prove acceptable. Feel free to request additional topics in the comments below or just show up and we'll talk.)

See you on Monday mornings!
Pastor Zach

The CBS Evening News with Jesus, a Syrophoenician Woman, & Dan Rather

a sermon on Isaiah 35.4-7, James 2.1-17, & Mark 7.24-37

September 9th, 2011 | @LCMontheHILL

One of my heroes growing up was CBS Evening News anchor, Dan Rather. I grew up in rural North Carolina, far enough away from town that we didn't have access to cable television. Of the 2.5 television stations we did receive, the only one we could get with any semblance of regularity and without project funding from NASA was CBS. So, every week night at 6:30pm my family would, like clockwork, tune into the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather. 

Over time, after years of watching him every night, Mr. Rather become someone whom I greatly admired. I loved what he gave me. He was my connection with the mystery of all that was happening beyond the borders of the neighboring soybean fields, all that lie outside the reach of our rural county. He took all the world’s events, wrestled out the truth, and gave it to me.

I became such a fan that at some point in elementary school I acquired a series of videocassettes CBS had produced that were essentially the greatest hits of the evening news. I watched Rather on the convention room floor in Chicago. I saw Cronkite reporting on the assassination of President Kennedy and the civil rights movement. There was Murrow taking on McCarthy. Watching, rewinding, and re-watching those videos until the tape gave out, I came to see Mr. Rather as one in a long line of the ones called to the holy vocation of news anchor, called to be society’s designated arbiters of truth. 

An Appalachian Iliad

a Holy Trinity sermon on John 3 | June 3rd, 2012 | @ Grace, Boulder

It is good to be back living in the shadow of the mountains. As my accent might reveal in an occasional feel or well, I grew up in the shadows of the southern Appalachians. As I’ve grappled with this aspect of my identity, I have developed a deep respect for southern Appalachian literature. 

Life lived and described in prose in this place is always measured against the backdrop of the mountains. They function as monuments to eternity, as sentinels of the centuries. Generations come and go, trying scape together a life in this unforgiving terrain while the mountains remain. Against this backdrop, an emphasis of human frailty emerges and with it a theology that proclaims the importance of the by and by. Humanity’s fragile fate seems as certain as the enduring presence of the mountains. Against such incredible odds, these Appalachian theologies proclaim that the best we can hope for is the life God promises in the world to come, because most assuredly the new life of Christ isn’t coming in this one.