NBC's "Book of Daniel"

Starting on January 6th, NBC will kick off a new show called "The Book of Daniel." I've already gotten about 20 e-mails from friends urging me to write NBC to take it off the air ... it's not even started its run on TV yet.

When Christians get involved in stuff like this, it's usually never good for the networks. The last time this happened was in the late 90s (1996 or 1997, I think) when ABC tried to run a show called "Nothing Sacred." It was basically about a priest who cursed a lot, was conflicted about his call to the ministry and was unorthodox in his ministry approach. The show was on only a handful of times before ABC was forced to yank it off the air. Most of the protests came from Evangelicals and not Catholics. (For the record, most of the Catholic priests that ministered to me went to the movies, smoked, drank and would be in bad moods from time to time. In spite of all that, I wanted to be a priest just like them because these were real guys but they loved the Lord and they loved me.)

So, here we go again with "The Book of Daniel." Given the number of e-mail forwards I've already received about this new show, I have to admit that my curiosity was piqued. So, I went to NBC's website to check out some of the commercials about this new show and I have to admit that I chuckled because of what I saw.

Basically, the outrage is over some of the character flaws. The title character in this new show is addicted to prescription pain pills. The priest's wife appears to be an alcoholic (who has been drinking heavily since one of her sons died of Leukemia), his daughter is a drug dealer and his other son is gay. Oh, and he talks to Jesus who appears in person to Daniel. OK, I see how this could be problematic for those Christians who like to believe that their pastors are practically Jesus.

Now, here's a bit of a disconnect for me. Evangelicals will get assembled to protest (and successfully kill a show like "Nothing Sacred") and will try to kill "The Book of Daniel" before it even shows up on TV.

But, these same Christians thought "The Apostle" was the best movie ever made about pastors.



Now, Robert Duvall's character in this movie was not the most flattering picture ever painted about ministers -- especially Pentecostal ones. His character, Sonny, killed his wife's lover (the lover was also Sonny's associate pastor), sank his own car in a swamp in an attempt to elude the authorities, baptized himself to be "an apostle," gave himself a new identity, planted a new Pentecostal church and started a radio ministry... and he tried to sleep with a recent divorcee who was a secretary at the radio station. In the end, he was picked up by the police and then went off to jail. But, given all his character flaws, Christian leaders everywhere urged us to go out and see this movie. Why? Because they saw the movie as redemptive -- "that God can draw straight lines with crooked sticks" and all that.

So, I don't quite see the disconnect here between "The Apostle" and "The Book of Daniel." Will I be watching the premiere? Probably. At least I'll give it a chance before I pass judgment. I'm curious to see how the Daniel character's faith is portrayed as well as his interaction with Jesus. The commercial that features Jesus appearing to Daniel while he's driving is pretty funny. Jesus tells Daniel, "Watch out, you're tailgating." That made me chuckle.

From NBC.com on "The Book of Daniel"
Emmy nominee Aidan Quinn (“An Early Frost,” “Plainsong,” “Legends of the Fall”) stars as Reverend Daniel Webster, an unconventional Episcopalian minister who not only believes in Jesus - he actually sees him and discusses life with him. Webster is challenged on many levels as he struggles to be a good husband, father and minister, while trying to control a nagging addiction to prescription painkillers, and an often rocky relationship with the church hierarchy, led by Bishop Beatrice Congreve (Oscar winner Ellen Burstyn, “Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore,” “Requiem of a Dream”), Roger Paxton, a senior warden of the parish and stalwart churchgoer (Dylan Baker, “Kinsey,” “Happiness”).



The reverend also has loving, but challenging relationships with his three children: Peter (Christian Campbell, “Trick”), his 23-year-old gay son, who struggles with the loss of his twin brother; Grace (Alison Pill, “Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen”), his 16-year-old daughter who doesn't try to push her father's buttons but succeeds at it nonetheless; and Adam (Ivan Shaw, “All My Children”), his 16-year-old adopted Chinese son, a handsome and cocky high school jock with a wicked sense of humor. Keeping Webster grounded is his strong and loving wife Judith (Susanna Thompson, “Now and Again”), who is fighting her own fondness for mid-day martinis, as well as Jesus (Garret Dillahunt, “Deadwood”), whose frequent chats with Daniel serve to remind him of his strengths and weaknesses.

"Both the builder and the wrecking ball"

"Piece together these little mysteries/
It isn't hard to see the writing on the wall/
Triumph and tragedy, only God can be/
Both the builder and the wrecking ball."
--Jill Phillips

At church lately, we have been singing this great song by Jill Phillips called "Wrecking Ball." But just this morning, I was just struck by the simplicity of the truth in this song that offers a familiar message of God using tragedy, inconveniences or just opposition to shape us. It exemplifies the theme of finding strength in weakness and discovering what matters most.

You can hear her sing the chorus here. It really blessed me this morning.

Things I'm Looking Forward To In 2006

Instead of making a trite list of resolutions for the New Year (only to
be broken by Jan. 8th), I've decided to compose a list of "Things I'm
Looking Forward To In 2006." It seems like more of a positive outlook
on the New Year.

- being in better shape
- being able to say "I'm 30" without getting teary-eyed
- the final season of "The Sopranos" on HBO starting in March (by the
way, if you need to reach me on Sunday nights, please don't call when
"The Sopranos" are on unless you are bleeding profusely or some other
tragedy has befallen you that can't wait an hour)
- watching my daughter grow up some more this new year
- seeing my chaplaincy ministry flourish
- making new friends at church
- getting some sleep!!!
- taking the next step in my ministry -- whatever that might be

I'm waiting patiently at my neighborhood Great Clips for my $6 buzz cut
and they've got the local "soft rock" radio station playing in the
background. I can tell when Christmas is over as they're done playing
back-to-back Christmas music and have reverted to their normal playlist
that includes Amy Grant's "Baby Baby," Celine Dion's "Because You Loved
Me" and Edwin McCain's "I'll Be."

I'm a veteran on-air radio personality working for a conglomerate of
stations that included Christian music, country, soft rock, smooth jazz
and news/talk. I'm glad that I'll never have to utter the words,
"Welcome to another no-repeat workday..."

Christmas is over and it's back to work for a few days before I'm off for New Year's. I had the day off yesterday and spent most of it with my daughter. We hung out at the park (it was an unseasonably warm December day -- 55 degrees!) and did some wine shopping (I did most of the shopping, as my daughter insisted on me carrying her as I walked the aisles). I'd say the best part of my day was sitting in my big leather chair in the living room with my daughter in my arms.

I ate entirely way too much over the last few days. My conscience soothed by the fact that I went to the gym just about every day (except for Christmas Day) while I was off work. We'll see if I can do salads for a week as I did post-Thanksgiving.

Ugh... 10 year college reunion coming up

I just got an e-mail from my alma mater, Cornell College, reminding me about the upcoming 10 year reunion. May 2006 will mark 10 years since I graduated from Cornell and I'm really officially starting to feel old.

Ten years later, I think I'm a bit wiser, a lot more cynical and now 30 years old.

Champagne shopping always brightens my day

The last week has been pretty viciously busy and incredibly stressful. I told my wife a few days ago that I had been in a filthy mood and she reported that she hadn't noticed -- lucky for all of us.

I have this little coin valet on my dresser and I let it accumulate with spare change until it's pretty sizeable. Yesterday, I decided it was time to take it to the bank and see how much I had to work with. I got a whopping $15.00 back in bills. I was ready to go home but that newly-acquired cash was burning a hole in my pocket. So, I turned my car to my favorite wine shop to go Champagne shopping.

This time of year is one of my absolute favorite times of the year -- for Champagne shopping. Whenever I'm at a party, I can never turn down Champagne or sparkling wine when it's offered to me (yes, there is a difference as not every sparkling wine is Champagne). At the shop, there were just boxes and boxes of brand new releases of Champagnes. The Champagne shopping put me in a better frame of mind for the rest of my evening with the family.

Champagne / sparkling wine is such a fun way to celebrate. The last good bottle of sparkling wine I opened up was a Gloria Ferrer NV (rated a 90 by Wine Spectator). I enjoyed it after finishing up my doctorate. It was a fun occasion for me and my family. I think any extra spending cash I might get will go toward another such special bottle to hold on for later.

Carlton Pearson

NPR's "This American Life" dedicated an entire hour to tell the story of Bishop Carlton Pearson. The story is a first-person narrative of his meteoric rise in Pentecostal circles to his fall from grace due to his embrace of "The Doctrine of Inclusion." Basically, his doctrine says that there is no hell. If it sounds a lot like Universalism or Hinduism or Buddhism, well it's because it is one in the same as far as doctrine is concerned.

I've been a huge fan of his preaching and his singing from his "ASUZA" conferences ... no one sings the old Pentecostal songs quite like Carlton Pearson. But, it was so disappointing to see his downward slide over the last 4 or 5 years.

I don't share his belief in "inclusion" but my heart does go out to him after hearing him tell his story. My heart goes out to him because of the human factor -- he's a human being after all but he's been "excommunicated" by Charisma Magazine. Charisma Magazine for God's sake!!! You've got to be quite the heretic to be excommunicated by Charisma Magazine! They look the other way on most other excesses of the charismatic / Pentecostal world, but Carlton Pearson was worthy of being excommunicated.

Pearson's church shrank from 4,000 to about 100 or 200 depending on the Sunday. His building in Tulsa is in foreclosure and he's been taking shelter at an Episcopal church in the same town.

I think the show is worth a listen. It's an interesting story that chronicles his rise and fall. It's hard to not feel sorry for Carlton Pearson after hearing this:
http://www.thislife.org/ra/304.ram

another silly survey stolen from my friend Holly

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet and street name)
Bloomington (just the street name - we had no pets)

2. YOUR MOVIE STAR NAME: (grandfather/grandmother on father's side first name, favorite candy)
- Jose ("Pepe") Heath

3. YOUR "FLY GIRL/GUY" NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name)
- J Lum

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite animal, name of high school mascot)
- Eagle Marauder (when at St. Peter's Prep in NJ) or Eagle Contender (when I transferred to Faith Baptist HS in CA)

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born)
- Ignatius Hoboken

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (first 3 letters of your last name, last 3 letters of mother's maiden, first 3 letters of your pet's name)
- Lum Nte

random observations

I just realized something ... I haven't smoked since Thanksgiving. I do have a rule that I can have one but no more than two cigarettes (if needed) in a given day. Perhaps it's all the time in the gym lately that's making me feel healthier and not have any urges to smoke. I do miss the occasional cigar, though. But, it is getting cold outside with it being December and all. Plus, my wife still has a no smoking in the house rule (even in my upstairs study -- sanctum sanctorum that it is ... still no cigars or pipe smoking up there!).

I also noticed that at my gym, there are about 4 or 5 personal trainers milling around with their clients. I have also noticed that they don't do one damn bit of exercising. Each of them is wearing a gym t-shirt with emblazoned with the gym logo and they just lay about drinking their protein shakes and turning the treadmill on and off for the client. What the hell kind of personal training is that? I don't have $80/hour to blow on that kind of crap. Occasionally, I see them stretch a client out on the floor before and after their exercising. But, basically, you're paid to be some sort of accountability partner. I do hear them say, "good job" or "one more" every once in a while.

This is going to sound terribly elitist, but here it goes. I heard one of the trainers going on and on about all the schooling they had to go through in order to be certified. And, that it's almost as hard to be a personal trainer as it is to be a physician with all the "medical stuff" that you need to know. Well, for all the money that it costs to enlist the services of a personal trainer at my gym, at least they should be wearing a white lab coat and doing experiments or something while I'm sweating away on the treadmill. At least I wouldn't have to turn it on or off ... apparently, you need advanced school work for that sort of thing.

I've also noticed that their is a heirarchy at the gym. At the top, are the personal trainers. They are your untouchable class, so to speak. Below them are the "grunters." You know, the meatheads that work out in pairs and grunt as they exert themselves on the weights. Below them, the "Stairmaster fanatics." I have no idea what is attractive about climbing a flight of stairs for an hour. Hell, I've got stairs in my house but you don't see me going up and down them while reading a magazine. You've also got the "free weight freaks" that spend countless hours in front of the mirror as they go at it. And then you've got me ... "casual workout boy (or girl)" who's sole purpose is to workout just enough to delay a heart attack somewhere down the road.

back at it

After being gone to Chicago for the weekend, I'm finally getting caught up with everything. The wedding that we attended went well. Had a good time at the reception. My wife got to catch up with some of her college friends and then... it happened.

Yet again while visiting Chicago, I got sick. The last time this happened was a couple of years ago. My wife and I went to our favorite fondue restaurant and I was sick and she wasn't. I like to have my food a bit on the rarer side. I may not have been all that attentive to my foods cooking time in the broth -- ahhh, the pleasures of fondue, right?

This time, I was so violently ill that I felt badly for the maintenance crew at the hotel. Yes, folks, it was that bad. My wife, bless her heart, looked after me the whole time. I'm pretty sure that everyone should have someone in their life that can wipe puke of your face and be OK with it. So, I owe my wife big time for cleaning up after me.

Adding insult to serious injury, it took forever for us to get home to Kansas City. After a series of delays at O'Hare Airport, we finally got home at around 1am. Not fun if you're travelling with a 19-month-old.

Well, I'm off to finish up some more work.

J.I. Packer rules!

The Rev'd Dr J.I. Packer

On Sunday, my wife and I had the huge treat of hearing J.I. Packer preach -- live and in person at All Souls Anglican Fellowship in Wheaton, IL. What an amazing sermon. It was so pastoral, but clearly from his learned perspective on the Word. If anyone off the street had heard him, you would think, "Wow, what a down-to-earth pastor!" But really, he is one of the most important theologians of the 20th and now 21st centuries and you could hardly tell from his delivery or the way he carried himself. What a humble looking man who didn't speak condescendingly or act as an aloof theologian. It's clear that he loves the Lord and he loves to encourage people who also love the Lord. I think I want to be like J.I. Packer when I grow up!

The experience of worship at All Souls was just so unforgettable. I love the whole range of Christian worship. I can get a lot out of Pentecostal churches with lots of hand-clapping, hand-raising, "Amens" and "Hallelujahs!" I can also get a lot out of a simple Protestant service that focuses on the preaching. But, this was classical Anglican worship at its best -- straight out of the Church of England Book of Common Worship and my what a treat. The "worship team" consisted of an organ and a trumpet player -- no songleader at all (kind of a change after being in charismatic circules for so long). My heart thrilled to hear the organ so wonderfully played and I was moved to tears just hearing the organ during the opening processional.

damn computer problems

My lovely e-machine PC has been giving me some headaches lately. What should I expect when I got the computer free with my 10 gallons of gas purchase at QuikTrip? (Well, not really. It was on sale at Costco).

The computer decided it didn't want to power up anymore last week. I finally decided to bring it in to a computer repair shop yesterday and had to leave it overnight. First, the power supply was dead and had to be replaced. Then, all morning, I've been back and forth on the phone with the repairman because as he searches through the computer, something else has been fried. Next was the motherboard and then after that the modem.

The moral of the story is -- when offered a choice between a brand name computer like Dell or HP -- go with the brand name. Don't ask for e-machines by name, that's for sure.

Rick Warren

OK ... I might be changing my mind on Rick Warren. At first glance, his books are vacuous. But, Rick Warren is leading the charge on something that is totally foreign to the Evangelical movement -- the AIDS pandemic. Most of the world is tuned into this worldwide crisis. Everyone, that is, except for Evangelicals. Evangelicals act as if the only social justice causes worth taking up are warring against abortion, gay marriage and fighting to keep nativity scenes up in front of your local city hall.

This is why I resist the "Evangelical" tag so much. Evangelicals seem irrelevant sometimes because they are not conversant in social justice issues. Rick Warren seems committed to changing all that and I have to give him credit for that. Rick Warren's Saddleback Church even has a dedicated staff person that handles AIDS outreach -- totally unheard of in your typical Evangelical church.

There's a story on the Christianity Today website here that covered his "Disturbing Voices" conference on AIDS outreach. It's really worth a read.

Thoughts on Christmas

I'm not a big fan of Christmas. As a pastor, I think it's an
occupational hazard to not like Christmas. My wife, who is always
filled with holiday cheer this time of year, thinks my disdain for
Christmas falls somewhere between legendary and borderline depressing.

At dinner last night, my mother-in-law asked me why I don't like
Christmas so much. Here's what I told her:

I hate that Christmas seems to be an orgy of greed. I hate that
Christmas is a big transaction. It's like going to the bank. I came
here to get such-and-such and you better give me such-and-such otherwise
you didn't serve me properly in this transaction.

I don't understand Christmas lists. If I have a Christmas list and I
give it to someone else, and that someone else gives me their list and
we're expected to shop off those lists, right? Why even bother shopping
at all? Why not buy nothing and call it even? Because, if it's true
that "it's the thought that counts" then why don't we leave it at the
thought and not involve an additional transaction that is in essence an
exercise in futility?

Think about the first Christmas -- the three Wise Men presented Jesus
with gold, frankincense and myrrh. These were not gifts purchased off
Mary's baby registry at "Messiahs 'R Us". These are gifts that speak to
Jesus's kingly nature and prophesy of the bitterness to come (myrrh).
These are not practical baby gifts but rather are gifts of "knowing" the
recipient.

My disdain for what Christmas has become is not because I'm stingy or
anything. I'm as utilitarian as the next person. But Christmas is not
and should not be about utility. It only encourages the whole orgy of
greed and fosters disappointment if one didn't get the gift they really
wanted. Why not actually live up to "it's the thought that counts" line
we've been peddling? We might be pleasantly surprised to find out that
the line isn't a load of crap after all.

(Jack steps off his soapbox)

up to 3 medals

I'm up to 3 ribbons (or medals like the one shown above!). I just received the Chuck Yeager Aerospace Award. I'm very excited about it and now you can share in my joy.

Since I'm kind of a dork, I check occasionally to see how people stumble across my blog through my webstats application. A lot of people are finding me through links sent through e-mail programs or by using search engines. Some looking for "Filipino doctors of divinity" to "SOUNDING OUT WORDS FOR KINDERGARTEN WORKSHEETS" have stumbled onto yours truly.

But, someone looking for church clip art found my post about preaching at Advent last year and then they blogged about my blog. To further cement my vanity street cred, here is a link to that post and an excerpt from their blog. Thought we all could it enjoy it together...

http://www.livejournal.com/users/ecumaniac/14168.html

This morning I came across this guy's blog while googling for pretty pictures to use on my church hymnsheet for this Sunday.He had an article called "O come, O come Emmanuel and Pimp my Advent" which is why it showed up in the search.He writes some funny stuff at times. He's a Filipino minister who is also a defence forces chaplain. And, would you believe, he does the typically Filipino thing of photographing his food, and then sharing it with the world on his blog.

guilty pleasures

I was thinking about guilty pleasures (still got that Catholic guilt thing going after all these years of not being Catholic) as I was reading my US WEEKLY last night. So, I thought I'd put some more of my other guilty pleasures out there for you all to enjoy:

• my newly-acquired US WEEKLY subscription
• Dawson's Creek reruns
• Dove ice cream bars -- with the Heath bar shell
• smoking
• Britney Spears's "Hit Me Baby One More Time," "Toxic" and "Stronger" -- all on my MP3 player workout mix. Laugh if you want, but you know that you sing along when you hear it anywhere.
• any Gwyneth Paltrow movie no matter how bad it is -- I dragged my wife to both "Bounce" and "Duets" while it was in the theatres
• MTV's Laguna Beach season 1
• really, really bad Christian TV preachers (mostly on "The Word Network" or TBN really late at night ... most of them do their best imitation of TD Jakes and it's usually really, really bad with questionable theology but still quite entertaining)
• late night infomercials featuring colon cleansers -- I can't believe these "experts" can say all this stuff on TV with a straight face
• a fatty piece of steak -- yummy marbling
• sleeping in for another hour instead of going to the gym -- just did that on Wednesday morning and it was the best extra hour of sleep I'd ever had!
• the movie "Die Hard"
• deep fried anything -- especially chicken, egg rolls, Chinese dumplings with spicy sauce and French fries fried in lard
• foie gras -- yes, I know that cruelty to the ducks is involved in order to get this delicacy
• while I'm on the whole animal cruelty thing, any dish prepared with veal
• occasionally when people call me "Dr. Lumanog" -- it's on my credit cards so they usually call me "Dr." when presenting me with my receipts
• going to bed around 8 or 9pm
• the movie "American Flyers" -- poorly acted Kevin Costner 80s film featuring cycling which I own on DVD
• the comedy of Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle and George Carlin (I've seen Chris Rock and Carlin live and it was just amazing)
• being both a Celine Dion and Southern Gospel fan -- I've endured quite a bit of abuse for specifically these two parts of my pretty vast musical tastes. I can proudly say that I've been to 6 Gaither Homecoming concerts, saw the Cathedral Quartet live and the Blackwell Brothers live. And, I used to sing in a Southern Gospel quartet. Aren't I a total dork?
• writing on this blog -- total vanity project I started 3 years ago and I'm still shocked that people find it and read it

I'll add more to this post as I think of them.

totally random laugh for the day

I saw this online and just found it oddly hysterical. So, I'm sharing.