A View from the Heitz

I was in Barnes & Noble the other day and say the Sony Reader (PRS-505).  It was small and light and the E-Ink technology was impressive.  Thinking about all the space I could save in my luggage during my summer travels I began to seriously investigate eBook Readers.  The great news is that E-Ink technology has finally made it possible to read for 12-hours or more without the eye strain and headaches that prevent most of us from reading on typical back-lit computer screen.  It looks very similar to paper.  And that’s a good thing.  So in reviewing the Sony Reader and Amazon Kindle on CNET, I found a reference to the iRex iLiad.  Mainly popular in Europe this devices is the clear technology winner on the current eBook Reader market. 

Given the limited research, I purchased an iRex iLiad 2nd Edition from eReader Outfitters.  The iRex iLiad is certainly the best eReader available today from a technology perspective.  The page flip bar is unqiue to the iLiad and positioned on the left so turning a page is just like turning a physical page.  It’s built in WiFi, open development platform and support for multiple formats makes it the leading technology.  However, if the iLiad is your first eBook reader you will probably begin to be frustrated at some point by the overwhelming number of titles available on the Amazon Kindle.  Currently there are over 131,000 titles available in Kindle format while none of the other competing formats have more than 50,000 titles.   

I’m also starting to see books that are available for the Kindle that aren’t available in any other format right now.  Also if you read a lot of new non-fiction, you’ll probably find it on Amazon long before it makes its way to MobiPocket or other eBook stores.

While the iRex iLiad is a much superior device it has its own set of challenges that if you want to simplify your eReading experience the Kindle is probably not a bad choice.  While I’m not a fan of the Kindle’s keyboard, layout, or its closed “Amazon only” system, it is pretty hassle free.

Solving the content issue is really a business and marketing problem that book reading community needs to come together to solve.  Ideally it would be great to see Amazon and iRex add support for the Kindle format to the iLiad.  There is definitely a revenue opportunity for selling eBooks in the Kindle format to non-Kindle users.  

That said, FeedBooks.com‘s iLiad Download software which takes advantage of the iLiad’s WiFi connection may just save the iLiad.  FeedBooks.com is still much a work in progress and the site has challenges.  For example if you search for “economist” you won’t find any results but it is listed in the Top Newspapers and the Your Newspapers area currently lists the same name for all newspapers.

So if you aren’t a technologist and really want something simple that works with a lot of content buy the Amazon Kindle.  Hopefully, the iRex and FeedBooks will find a way to level the content playing field.  For me, I may end up owning both a Kindle and an iLiad.  Two readers still save a lot of space in the suitcase.  I’m not totally unhappy with my investment in the iLiad.  I think I’m just upset that the book I wanted to read during my trip is available as a Kindle book and not in any other format.

Today modernity and its foundations in existentialism are the latest front in the continuing struggle against the gospel message as man continues to make himself the measure of all things and attempts to escape meaninglessness.  Not only does this influence the atheists and agnostics alike as evident from the aptly named blog Everything is Pointless, but it is also impacting the church, particularly many evangelicals who have adopted decision theology in combination with a focus on self help teachings.

First let me say that the Bible has much to say regarding how we are to live, so I am not opposed to spiritual maturity through practical sermons, discipleship programs, or small groups.  However, this focus on the outward fruits of faith combined with the non-scriptural idea that “I choose Christ” or “I participate in or enable my salvation through a decision for Christ” opens the door for a higher view of man and self authentication which is eerily similar to the tenants of existentialism rather than the plain teachings of scripture.  Some evangelicals even go so far as to make the “relationship” with Christ so central that it provides their very meaning outside of scripture and allows them to ignore some of its teachings and become a “denomination of one.”

Many Christians justify this through an improper understanding of the doctrine of free will which they would say gives them the ability to choose.  Existentialism is all about the will.  One of the key tenants of existentialism is that you authenticate yourself or bring meaning to your life by your own actions through an act of the will.  Further this act is pure in and of itself without any moral boundaries.  So a person who helps an old lady to cross the street authenticates himself by an act of the will.  But equally authenticated is the person who runs over the old lady as she crosses the street.  Both have equal meaning because meaning is based in existence not in purpose or relationship.  Francis Schaeffer’s book Escape from Reason is an excellent treatise on this subject.

In the movie Life is Beautiful a father and son end up in a Nazi concentration camp where the father pretends that it is all a game.  This shields the boy from the harsh reality and moral issues at stake in the world around him.  So too many attendees of today’s evangelical churches are shielded from the harsh reality of their true spiritual state and blinded to the subtle but steady focus on good works which can become work righteousness.

Luther and Augustine both point us back to scripture when it comes to the concept of free will.  The Augsburg Confession actually quotes from Augustine’s Hypognosticon, Book III:

We grant that all people have a free will.  It is free as far as it has the judgment of reason.  This does not mean that it is able, without God, either to begin or at least to complete anything that has to do with God.  It is free only in the works of this life…

Or as stated in Article XVIII:

A person’s will has some freedom to choose civil righteousness and to do things subject to reason.  It has no power, without the Holy Spirit, to work the righteousness of God, that is, spiritual righteousness.  For “the natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God” (1 Corinthians 2:14)…

Although nature is able in a certain way to do the outward work (for it is able to keep the hands from theft and murder), yet it cannot produce the inward motions, such as the fear of God, trust in God…

So rather than “self authentication” a Christian has “Holy Spirit authentication” which provides meaning in life, purpose, and a relationship with God through Christ. 

“And this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God –not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8b-9)

For those who accept existentialism, regardless of their self authenticating acts of the will or denial of the truth of scriptures, reality, much like in Life is Beautiful, is happening all around them and one day they will have to face it.  For those in the church who motivate through decisions for Christ and self help teachings, both acts of the will, short term changes in behavior or civic righteousness may not bear eternal fruit which can come only through the power of the Holy Spirit working through God’s word.

The Ex

Originally uploaded by viewfromtheheitz

This is a wonderful painting by my friend Michelle. I’ve named it “The Ex” because as the story goes she painted this during a protracted breakup period. Michelle is a great artist and one of the more interesting creative people I know. She’s probably working her magic on a new line of nutritious breads for local coffee houses, but one day she will get back to painting. The Ex is now prominently featured in my home with the frame picked out by my sister Lindsay. Good choice on the frame Lindsay. I’m accepting offers on reproductions with proceeds going to the artist.

I sat in the pew at St Sava Serbian Orthodox Church following a long service of standing and attending as the “godfather” after the baptism of my nephew Gerald Allen.  Everyone else but the sponsors sat in the congregation including the parents.  The sponsors went through an almost full hour ceremony which was steeped in meaning and tradition.  What struck me most was the connection with the past the service invoked and the meaning it brought to the event in many different ways.  It was so unlike the typical baptism in many other Christian churches which includes about 10 minutes of a normal church service.  It wasn’t just a baptism, for in the Serbian Orthodox Church, where he was baptized, there are actually two sacraments performed: baptism and chrismation.  Even though I hear “christening” often I never understood it until today. 

The service began outside the sanctuary with exorcisms for both the mother and the sponsors for “in order for one to belong to God, one must be completely separated from Satan.”   Also many things were done in triplicate for Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  This emphasis on “three” carried over to the actual application of water as Gerald was immersed three times.  They actually had what my brother referred to jokingly as “the Stanley cup” where Gerald was almost fully immersed.   “The life into which one is born in baptism is the life of the Holy Trinity…one in essence and undivided.”

According to orthodoxy, baptism is rebirth while chrismation is the bestowing of the Holy Spirit which gives power to live a new life.  Gerald was anointed with special oil called Holy Chrism which represented the “seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit.” 

As I think more about it chrismation is so important and so often neglected.  And it’s definitely not a sacrament for most of Christianity.  Luther talks about living in our baptismal grace or remembering our baptismal identity as a child of God, but maybe what we really need is more emphasis on the power in which we can live in this identity. It’s so easy for Satan to make us believe we can do it on our own and blur the separation of the old and new person until we struggle to live in our baptismal grace under our own power instead of the power of the spirit.

Towards the end of the service came the cutting of hair.  When the priest mentioned this included not just the baby but also sponsors I was a little panicked.  Little Gerald Allen already has more hair than I do.  Thankfully, I got out with my hair intact, but Gerald had hair removed in four places to form the sign of the cross.  This was Gerald’s first offering: “an offering of himself…a sign of dedication, commitment, and obedience, as well as faithful service to God.”  This tied right in to my readings this week in Romans:  “use your whole body as a tool to do what is right for the glory of God.”  (Romans 6:13b) 

Another word used often in the sacrament was the word “illumination.”  It really struck me probably because I was holding a candle the entire service.  The candle symbolized the Christians receiving Christ who is the light of the Word.  How much we need this Christ light and the power of the Holy Spirit to in order to live that light.

So I lost the big bet with my friend Patrick over the ASU vs. UofA basketball game.  Too bad Troy wasn’t around to keep me from putting my honor where my mouth was.  So I had a choice to make.  Do I get an ASU plate with WELST or similar and drag my team through the muck with me?  Or, should I step I like an honorable person and praise the good things about the UofA?

Yes, it has taken me a good week to decide but I am going to do the right thing…  I can’t believe I am going to have a UofA license plate.  Ahh… I want to scream and use obscenities.  But I won’t.  That would only make Patrick happy.  So you’ll have to check out the license plate next time you see me.  And yes, I may be in sackcloth and ashes.  But then again Ash Wednesday is coming up soon. 

Today I am sitting in the lunch room at East Fork Lutheran School pondering the ever changing landscape of Christian schools.  As the high school will be closing, I realize that we are losing another Christian school.  Closing a school is always a very emotional experience and I have been here before as I served on the board of Covenant Christian School which closed its main K-12 programs almost eight years ago.  At East Fork, however, there is an alternative.  A charter school run and governed by a group of Christians with high standards and a proven educational model.

As a product of Christian schools, I have been revisiting the reasons why we have Christian schools in the first place.  Don’t get me wrong I think that in most cases the continual evolution of Christian education is a good thing, but at the same time I want to go back the foundational reasons for it and make sure I understand what we are losing.

In marketing we talk about the fact that products and services change but the brand foundation does not.  Translated: the ministry plan may change but the doctrine and teachings do not change.  This is what is happening in Christian education, the delivery of it is changing but the reasons for it should not.

My experience with Christian schools in both Reformed and Lutheran circles has shown that reasons for Christian schools include both the creation mandate and Christ-centered education.

The creation mandate approach to Christian schools starts with the view that:

“Since God is the creator we should only learn from His perspective.”

This approach emphasizes knowledge as we see the character of God revealed in natural revelation.  This goes way beyond slapping a bible verse on the top of a quiz and instead says studying infinity in Calculus teaches us something about God since He is infinite.  Knowledge is important and these educators tend to have more advanced degrees than their counterparts.  This view is largely embraced by evangelicals who are migrating from main-line denominations to community churches.

Christ-centered education on the other hand puts faith first as the most important purpose.

Christ-centered schools focus on distributing the means of grace in word and sacrament as the first and foremost priority–sharing law and gospel with each child.

The Christ-centered approach measures success by number of confirmands while the creation mandate approach measures the intellectual growth in the knowledge of God.  The purpose is not necessarily to learn about God in natural revelation but to strengthen faith.  In the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS), which runs the fourth largest parochial school system, this means that teachers are experts in religion but not necessarily experts in their subject matters and few educators in this system have advanced degrees such as a masters or a doctorate.

The big question for both:

Are Christian schools a necessity or a luxury?

People who subscribe to the creation mandate view tend to be more ready to say yes it is a necessity.  I have met many in both camps that would love to have the resources to make Christian schools a non-luxury item.  Parochial school systems are more committed to making this an affordable option than are the loosely-affiliated, evangelical Christian schools.  The problem is resources and by resources this is not only money but skilled educators.  Enter charter schools.

If you believe the creation mandate then you most likely also believe that all truth is God’s truth.  This belief makes secular schools an option as long as the person’s world view is maintained.   If you take a Christ-centered approach than you realize that the distribution of the means of grace for the purpose of salvation is not limited education in its classic forms: elementary, secondary, and post-secondary schools.

And so you end up where most parents are:

Give us a school that reflects our values with good families and a safe environment so we can raise our kids.

In the past, Christian schools have met the needs of people with this view in a way the public school system had been unable to do.  Now with charter schools and other options, why run Christian schools?  Let’s just have public schools with Christian teachers, classical curriculum, special focuses, and classroom sizes we are comfortable with.

I recall some of the prayers from the Lutheran Book of Prayer where we pray for the peace and prosperity of our nation that we might live quite, peaceful lives with the freedom to spread the gospel.  Maybe that’s what we are doing here at East Fork.

Schools have become as essential to our lives as food, clothing, and shelter.  This is the “Salvation Army” approach to Christian schools.  Give them the basics and then give them the gospel.   So now we face the challenge of resources that only a public or charter system can provide and in response we strive to create “conditions of peace” which will allow for the spread of the gospel.

I pray that this will not turn out like Joseph and the Israelites in the land of Egypt.  The Israelites ended up there because of a famine and a lack of resources.  God provided through Joseph a way out much like the charter option so many of us are considering.  Many years later however Joseph was forgotten and the Israelites were enslaved.  Egypt was part of God’s plan for the growth of His people.  Charter schools may well be God’s plan for the growth of His people.  In the long term we may say with Moses: “Let my people go.”

If you’re from Tempe, Arizona then you know you always bet against the UofA.  However, this weekend I made a bet with a UofA friend of mine even though I was not following our ASU Sundevil Basketball team as I had in the past during my season ticket holder days.  So, after a Bloody Mary at a wedding reception this Saturday, I ponied up for the Devils and bet with my friend who is just recently married.  Both of us own Saab 9-3s–his white, mine marroon.  Instead of money he wanted to really make a statement:

If the Devils beat the Wildcats tonight then my friend who has a UofA license plate of YUMMIE will have to change to an ASU license plate and add a rainbow sticker to his rear window,

But if the Devils loose then I have to get a UofA plate that says ASU LOST or similar.

Finding out after I made the bet that the Devils were winless didn’t help.  And no, I wont be traveling to Tucson to watch tonights match up.  But I am calling on all ASU fans to hope and pray for a big upset victory!

Well it’s only January 4th and a few of my resolutions are already broken.  In the past I’ve been able to keep some resolutions going all year long, but to be honest some days I had to play catch-up–like when you decide to read the Bible through in a year and end up doing two days worth of readings in one day.  As I was contemplating my false start this year the words of the hymn came to mind:

Father, let me dedicate all this year to you,
In whate’er my earthly state, In what e’er I do.
Not from sorrow, pain, or care freedom dare I claim;
This alone shall be my prayer: Glorify your name.
Christian Worship #75

What struck me about this hymn, and notice that I am deliberately using hymn and not “God’s Word,” were two things that are key our personal growth.  First we must accept that growth isn’t pain free, when we claim freedom from pain we never grow.  And secondly the great inward cry that should mark our days: Glorify your name.  My goal this year is to re-orient my thinking around this theme–Glorify your name.

How does this tie into false starts and New Year’s resolutions?  How did Jesus start his ministry, what was one of the first things he preached?  Matthew 4:17 says:

From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”

Daily repentance and living in our baptismal grace is a key part of the life of the believer.  False starts and repentance all remind us of our deep need for a savior.  Hmm… That sounds like instead of me it’s God.  This alone shall be my prayer: Glorify your name.