Snickerdoodles: Zwingli, row your boat ashore

Jim West continues to amaze and amuse. It was fun to ping-pong a few goofy posts about Zwingli and the result of all my slander is that he blogrolled my blog! Hurray! One step closer to market saturation and SEO. Jim’s scurrilous post David Ker: The Devil? Or Just One of His Minions? gave my blog the biggest spike since iMonk made a passing comment about something I had said about the Missionary Mirage. The header photo on Jim’s blog apparently shows the actual body of water where it happened.

I see that hand! was an interesting post. I discovered that many people are switching or have already switched to Google Reader. There is some way in Feed Burner to see how many people are getting your feed but I haven’t been able to work it out. I’m still mad at WordPress for taking down the Feed Stats. Sure, they were wildly inaccurate. But they felt good.

And since I’m talking about stats, I’m happy to report that I’m no longer getting hundreds of visits to my blog by people looking for “Jesus” and “tattoo” or “Greek” and “s-x.” Duh.

Yesterday, our Mozambican Internet provider got the modems working again and so suddenly I have been able to read people’s blogs and see the pictures and also comment, clean up my blog’s blogrolls, etc.

Finally, God is speaking to me a lot about not saying anything. I’ve been thinking about the importance of meditation, silence, using the Scriptures as a mirror. All of that requires “turning off the noise” of scores of blogs, RSS feeds, carnivals, Facebook walls, emails, etc. and just clearing out the brain and straining to hear the voice of God. This morning I was reading the Psalms in the 40’s and there is much beauty there. I think I’ll take the dog for a walk this morning and be silent in the fields with God.

Commentary on Cyber-Psalm 5

Cyber-Psalm 5.0

I woke up thinking about acrostics and doxologies and clichés. In this prayer I wanted to let the acrostic form and an avoidance of clichés lead my praising in unexpected directions. The result is terse and cryptic but refreshing. Doxologible means “worthy to be praised.” And jamborific means “cause for celebration.” Of course, Kerfuffle-keeper is a reference to God taking care of our noisy and chaotic family! The penultimate stanza is the most evocative for me. Each word and even the letter X is a launching pad for reflection on the character of God.

Had it not been for the acrostic form, I’m not sure I would have ever thought of calling God a zealous zephyr but I enjoy that phrase a lot.

All commentary and suggestions are welcome. My hope is that this prayer would not cause you to praise my poetry but praise the “A to Z”. I would be honored to edit this prayer based on your suggestions. Then we can publish version 5.1. Or maybe you would like to write your own “alphabetic doxology.”

Snickerdoodles: Worthy is the Barber

Do you remember the old days when you used to have to connect your computer to the phone line and the modem would make all the scratchy beeps and whistles while connecting? That’s what we do now and it feels lightning fast after almost a year of realllly slow Internet.

One thing I wanted to do when I got “reliable” access (I say “reliable” because as we speak the phone is working but the Internet service provider isn’t answering…) was to upload more music. I put up a version of “At The Sea” and a Greekish rock song “Axios.” Suzanne was nice enough to point out that I was saying “koorios” which means “barber” thus, “Worthy is the Barber.” “Kirios” will be the new-and-improved version on the updated recording. There’s something both thrilling and humiliating about throwing bootleg recordings out there.

I’ve been pondering the Internet and it seems to me that there are three strategies for attracting readers: peep show, side show and cow pie. Where exactly does “city on a hill” fit into that schema?

We’ve had a traumatic day. I awoke to discover that Chaka our male Labrador Retriever was missing. When I went to find him someone met me and said they knew where he was. During the night he got into a fight with a pack of very nasty mutts. We carried him home and cleaned him up the best we could but he died of his injuries this afternoon. I was really choked up by the affair. Walks in the pine forest won’t be the same without him. His “widow” survives him and might even be pregnant. Hope springs eternal.

Someone was kind enough to share this story with me:

RAINBOW BRIDGE

Just this side of heaven there is a place called Rainbow Bridge. When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills where all our special friends can run and play together. There is always plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable. All the animals who have been ill and old are restored to health and vigor. Those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by.

The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing, they each miss someone special to them who had to be left behind. They run and play, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent, his eager body beginning to quiver. Suddenly he runs from the group flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster. You have been spotted and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous re-union never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face, your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then, you cross the Rainbow Bridge – together ……………..

See ya there, Chaka. If it were only true… See my post Dragons, dogs and disco for an alternative scenario.

My sister said it best: Chaka was named after a Zulu warrior and it sounds like he died fighting.

A bright spot in this sad day was getting to lecture on and discuss The Song of Solomon with six Mozambican pastoral candidates. One of them asked, “How are we supposed to preach this in our churches?” I’m glad you asked. It’s not for preaching to your congregation in church. It’s for reading to your wife before bed. Any questions?

Playing around with "Re: Greek" (formerly www.zhubert.com)

I’m playing around with the daily NT Greek passage thingy from Re: Greek. My blog host doesn’t allow java script but you can look at the daily passage with this link:

Click here to see the NT Greek passage at Re: Greek

When you move your cursor over the Greek words a little box pops up with the English definition, part of speech and other information. Neato!

A cool feature is that at the bottom of the page you can create a vocabulary list for the passage. You should see something like this:

Produce a vocabulary list from this passage

Click on that link and it brings up a list that allows you to choose which words you want to display. We want to see all of them so click on this link:

More than 1

Oooooo! Aaaahhhh! I think I like this.

Parlez vous Mr. Gone?

I’ve tried to find an online source for lyrics to Mr. Gone’s La Pomme D’Adam. Can you help me?

At the end of the song it sounds like he’s saying “Yesus.”

Amazon.com: Fresh Out The Box: Music: Mr. Gone

After recording the rock version of Rev. 4:11 I got inspired to do an electronica version of John 1:1 which got me thinking about Moby and Mr. Gone which got me thinking about…

It’s been a fun Saturday with the kids, flying kites made out of plastic bags and playing crazy 8’s and drinking Kool Aid.

While I’ve been recording my own weirdness my son has been sneaking around with a cassette recorder trying to catch family members saying embarrassing things… that’s my boy.

Hilary’s music of choice has been all four Keith Green mega-albums back to back. That’s like heaven (for her).

Forgot to mention: Mr. Gone himself dropped in at this site to say hello: Freestyle Grooves

His website: http://mr-gone.com/

Snickerdoodles: Idea Hamster spinning out of control

In a brief twenty months of blogging I have tried and abandoned so many weird, wonderful and downright awful ideas. Nice thing about this literary form: quick, free and if it doesn’t fly just let it die.

5 Slices of Baloney was a not-so-sneaky attempt to create buzz by awarding “Baloney Badges” to bloggers who were cutting the baloney. It was a dumb idea, kinda fun, but dumb.

Then there was I hear humanity singing, a collaborative multilingual poem that my good-hearted and long-suffering online friends participated in but it didn’t exactly fly. Or make any sense. Is this art?

I hear humanity singing, the varied carols I hear…

Se uma gaivota viesse trazer-me o céu de Lisboa (Portuguese)

Təməlindən qopub getdi əzəmətli canlı qaya (Azerbaijani)

Mijn Schilt ende betrouwen sijt ghy, o Godt mijn Heer (Dutch)

Von guten Mächten wunderbar geborgen, erwarte ich getrost, was kommen mag (German)

And the Bible Puzzler was my brainstorm which set out:

1. To demonstrate Bible study skills.
2. To model collaborative scholarship.
3. To promote application of the Bible to real-world situations.

Some cool folks signed on to put up posts but then summer fun took over and we all bailed out.

This seems like an appropriate time to mention another one of Lingamish’s Notorious IX Commandments of Blogging:

II Entertain

People read your blog when they should be working. They think about your blog while they’re commuting to work. But only if you’re not boring. Entertain them. Use hyperbole. Be outlandish. And opinionated. Make me laugh. Make me cry. Touch my emotions or tick me off and I’ll come back for more. Entertain me or I will ignore you. And being ignored is the most painful form of blog death. Burnout is the best (See the 8th commandment).

Source: Lingamish’s Notorious IX Commandments of Blogging

A year ago I was hiding out at Stinson Beach, California. Boogie Boarding. Lots of food and family. I want to go back. Everyone’s there right now. Except for our family! Waaaaahhh.

Update: I’ve uploaded a bootleg version of “At The Sea” which I wrote around this time. Click here to listen to “At The Sea (Sparrow Mix)” at the Lingamish Soundclick site. I think it’s worth a listen just for the sparrow BGVs and the humming.

Suzanne’s Hen Scratches are back at Better Bibles. It’s a good name, S. And a nice exercise in chatty link love. The pit bull makes me uneasy however.

Commentary on Cyber-Psalm 4.0

Cyber-Psalm 4.0 is an evening prayer I composed a couple months ago to the Celtic air “Mary, Young and Fair.”

Here’s a midi version of “Mary Young and Fair.” Although the melody is slightly different from what I’m used to. Eventually I’d like to put recordings up for all the sung Cyber-Psalms. The vocal range is quite challenging!

When we were living in the village, nightfall was quite dramatic in the sense that our entire valley became very dark. We had solar panels and batteries to provide lights but everywhere else the only lights were fires, the stars and during part of the month the moon. We often felt vulnerable at night. This psalm reflects some of that vulnerability and the desire to have God protect us in the night. Living in the modern age it is hard to imagine that there are people in the world who fear things lurking in the dark outside their homes. But I imagine that is probably true for many people. I know that when we could hear drums beating in the distance and the shouts of people involved in invocations to dead ancestors, we would sometimes feel uneasy in the night. Thus the part of the prayer that says “surround us with your angels” is a sincere desire for spiritual protection from malignant forces. The coming of day is a relief from these fears and a good time for a morning prayer of thanks for protection as well as dedication of our lives in the Lord’s service.

I wonder if those of living in the developed world are unaffected by the insecurity of darkness at night or whether our homes provide us a sense of protection.

Lingamish: Parental Guidance Suggested

You might want to cover the kiddies’ eyes in some parts of my blog. According to Mingle2, Lingamish is rated PG:

Notice the fine print at the bottom. It gives you an indication of the kinds of scandalous things I’ve been talking about.

I checked Better Bibles and it ranks PG for using the words dead (4x) and drugs (1x).

This is an utterly worthless and inaccurate gidget.

The Spectator: On writing for a varied audience

I may cast my readers under two general Divisions, the Mercurial and the Saturnine. The first are the gay part of my Disciples, who require Speculations of Wit and Humour; the others are those of a more solemn and sober Turn, who find no Pleasure but in Papers of Morality and sound Sense; the former call everything that is Serious Stupid. The latter look upon every thing as Impertinent that is Ludicrous. Were I always Grave one half of my Readers would fall off from me: Were I always Merry I should lose the other. I make it therefore my endeavour to find out Entertainments of both kinds, and by that means perhaps consult the good of both more than I should do, did I always write to the particular Taste of either.

From The Spectator, Tuesday, September 25, 1711: No. 179 [Addison.]

Commentary on Cyber-Psalm 3.0

Cyber-Psalm 3.0 is a republication of The Blogger’s Prayer which came out in April of last year. This prayer floats around in the back of my thoughts when I’m on the Internet. As Christians we must be on the offensive on the Internet, taking territory and shining our light, and we must be on the defensive, guarding ourselves from the Devil who would like to defeat us through the garbage that is out there.