Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, …

We have a rotation among our church’s Session to fill the pulpit whenever there is a fifth Sunday in a month (though it gets moved around sometimes for the sake of convenience). Until recently, it worked out to about once a year for each of us (now that we have added two more elders the gap will be longer). Before yesterday, the last time I was up was on December, 31 2006. I was next scheduled to preach back in January of this year, but circumstances delayed the event until yesterday … with the only difference being 1) it was not a fifth Sunday, and 2) the passage was assigned.

Unfortunately, we are currently experiencing technical difficulties (a hardware driver issue in XP). Hopefully I will have an audio version for you next time.

Sermon Date: 04/20/2008
Sermon Passage: Matthew 6:16-24
Sermon Title: Life Coram Deo

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I have been waiting for some time for folks within the Dispensational Premillenialism camp to accuse Barack Obama of being the Anti-Christ. Finally, when we are well into the 2008 presidential campaign cycle, the warning message has filtered its way into the mainstream media. On its heels comes the shocking revelation that Barack Obama may actually be the Messiah. As a casual observer, the latter seems to be the more widely held public opinion (no doubt fueling the eschatological concerns).

It is fascinating. I mean, really, fascinating. It is a window into what the multitudes must have been blogging about when Jesus walked through the countryside. In fact, it was exactly what they were blogging about. They were wild and frenzied with uncontrolled hope for exactly the same reasons … they had no real spiritual awareness, per se; Jesus was going to be the guy who finally got the country in order.

With very little fanfare I hereby announce Transformatum’s 2008 Men’s College Basketball Pick’Em. Enter your picks online by 3/20/08 at 12:20 PM.

Thanks to Ben of openswitch, I have become the latest victim of the 123 Meme (did you know that the origin of the word ‘meme’ comes from evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins?). Essentially, this latest online cultural idea — that, supposedly like a gene, can replicate and evolve — requires you to select the nearest book and post an excerpt on your blog using the following rules:

1. Pick up the nearest book of 123 pages or more. No cheating! ¹
2. Turn to page 123.
3. Find the first 5 [full] sentences. ²
4. Post the next 3 sentences.
5. Tag 5 people.

For regular readers this quote will come as no big surprise:

[...] Where they supported the Persian Gulf War, this administration has not garnered their support for partisan reasons. The principles of interventionism, constitutionality and morality have not been applied consistently to each war effort by either political party; and there is a precise reason for this, over and above the petty partisanship of many.

The use of government force to mold personal behavior, manipulate the economy and interfere in the affairs of other nations is an acceptable practice endorsed by nearly everyone in Washington, regardless of party affiliation. [...]

The above was taken from “A Foreign Policy of Freedom: Peace, Commerce, and Honest Friendship,” which is a collection of Congressional speeches given by U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas between 1976 and 2006. What might surprise you is that the date of this speech was April 21, 1999, in which Dr. Paul addressed U.S. foreign policy and NATO’s involvement in Yugoslavia and Kosovo. And you thought he was talking about Bush.

I am tagging: Rob, Jeremy, Jake, Matthew and stelmodad.

¹ I only later noticed that Dave Ramsey’s book, ‘Financial Peace,’ might have been closer. However, it was covered by a stack of papers on my desk. I guess that is natural selection at work.

² The original meme did not specify whether or not partial sentences counted. There goes that evolution and memetic mutation again.