A New Hope (for sitcoms)

This clip sums up in ninety seconds, all ten seasons of Friends, the undisputed sticom king of the nineties. Sure, it had it faults: not least of all, its disregard of anyone other then liberal, white Americans. However, at the bottom line, Friends was funny.

However, a darkness is rising off the plain of US sitcoms. It’s not quite there yet, but within a year, we could be devoid of any decent US sitcoms.

• Friends – over after ten seasons
• Will & Grace – over
• Fraiser – Over
• Joey – put out of his misery
• Stacked – dead before it had a chance
• Everybody Love Raymond – nobody likes Raymond
• The War at Home – characters aren’t likeable
• Scrubs – season 6 is rumoured to be the end for Sacred Heart

This brings me to the new kids on the block: Will and Gareth (those in the above clip).
These guys are the main character of Scrub’s creator, Bill’s Lawrence’s latest project. Nobody’s Watching is the story of two guys (fraternal lovers in the vein of Turk and J.D.) who love sitcoms and given the chance from WB to create their own sitcom while WB record their own show about the making of the sitcom. So, basically a very easy premise.

In an evil twist of fate, NBC (in reality) cancelled the show after the pilot. In a good twist of fate, the pilot made it onto YouTube and international interest was raised in the show. Now, Nobody’s Watching has started an internet campaign to get it’s show from NBC (ironically, the opposite of in the pilot). I watched these guys, they’re good, very good. Here’s the link to their site. Go there. Watch It. Tell your friends.


I want this show to make it to air. We need a light in sitcom land.

ELEVATION

For the next couple of weeks or so, I'm going to analyse song lyrics , in relation to God and worshiping, surrendering to, and serving Him.

To start with, I gonna use an U2 (I'm gonna use a few of theirs) song, Elevation. It's kinda a power rock song, best known for having Angelina Jolie (Tomb Raider) in the video. The song could be about romantic love, but if so, it's asking alot. How can any any woman "explain all these controls" to our soul. Anyway, here's the lyrics and my thoughts. Comment me or e-mail me if you know of any artists or song that you think I'd like.

ELEVATION

High, Higher then the sun.
You shoot me from a gun.
I need you to elevate me here.
In the corner of your lips is the orbits of your hips.
Eclipse. You elevate my soul.
I’ve got no self control.
Living like a mole, now going down, excavation.
Iodine in the sky. You make me feel like I can fly. So high.

ELEVATION

A star, it looked like a cigar.
Still got like a guitar,
Maybe you educate my mind.
Explain all these controls.
Can’t sing but I’ve got soul.
The goal. Is elevation.

A mole, digging in a hole.
Digging up my soul, now going down, excavation.
Iodine in the sky. You make me feel like I can fly. So high.

ELEVATION

Lift me up from these blues.
Won’t you tell me something true, I believe in you.

A mole, digging in a hole.
Digging up my soul, now going down, excavation.
Iodine in the sky. You make me feel like I can fly. So high.

ELEVATION

Bono addresses in this song, someone higher then himself. If we take this to be our heavenly father. The song takes on a depth of meaning.

In the first verse, Bono acknowledges God ‘s highness (higher then the sun), his control over his own life (You shoot me from a gun) and possibly his beauty (in your lips is the orbit of your hips). Maybe eclipse is him acknowledging that his knowledge of God is pretty much blind in view of God’s infinity or maybe he’s admitting that in spite of God’s power, we don’t always see him.

Bono goes on to say he’s got no self-control. I can relate. I know from my own experience that my lack of self-control invariably leads to sin, which leads to distance from and blindness to God. Eclipse.
In times of spiritual darkness, we’re like the mole, digging ourselves deeper. It’s God’s mercy that He uses these “hole” experience to examine the deeper hurts and desires in our soul and begin healing the. “Digging up my soul – excavation”

The second verse seems to be concerned with our image, inadequacy and asking for God to teach us. Bono, I thinks compares our God-given image with our feelings. “A star, it looked like a cigar.” He see some good in himself. “Still got like a guitar” and asks God to teach him how he use what he has “…educate my mind. Explain… controls.” He is not perfect yet, but know sthat in his God-given soul he is good. “Can’t sing, but I got soul.”
The goal isn’t to recreate himself from scratch but allow God to elevate him by surrendering to Him.

I recommend reading Psalm 139 in relation to what I guess you could call a modern psalm and look at the parallels.

Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!
(Psa 139:23-24 ESV)


“You make feel like I can fly. So high. Elevation.

Only Quality Music (no not Phantom FM)

While Phantom FM did finally give us good radio, the web's done one better.

Pandora is a website that creates dynamic individual radio stations based on your taste of music. Just enter in a song or artist (or many) and Pandora creates a playlist based on musical properties. It even tells you precisely why it selected each song (all way over my head but still nice to have).

A negative though is that it doesn't base its lists on lyrical content. So, while I like heavy stuff, I only like songs with deep lyrics and Pandora is offering some not-so-good ones.

No problem though; you can give music a thumbs up or down so Pandora gradually gets used to your taste. The music genuinely gets better the more you use it.

I think Pandora is just example of the new phonomenen know as Web 2.0, a emerging web with more user control and communication spearhead by such net giants as YouTube, Wikipedia and Bebo.

Thanks to Mike Kingsley for making me aware of Pandora. You done good.

No Risk Tithing

8 "Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. "But you ask, 'How do we rob you?' "In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. 11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit," says the LORD Almighty. 12 "Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land," says the LORD Almighty.

I used to hear these words from Malachi 3 every week in my old Pentecostal church and cringe. Every meeting, rather it be a small group or Sunday morning, included a 5 -10 minute sermon on this same passage and encouraging if not quite demand giving. This drilling rather unsurprisingly has put me off the whole concept of tithes. I far from believe that they are a central part of the New Testament church and I definitely depised the fact that promises of financial gain were used as a motive.

However, one chuch is taking this challenge literally and inviting people or test God on tithes or get their money back.

http://www.lifechurch.tv/p/465/Default.aspx

LifeChurch is challenging people to give for three months and if they're not satisfied that God has moved to bless them, they can ask for their money back.

Will I tithe in light of this promise? I believe that God doesn't ask for a tithe anymore but for complete surrender to his will. So, as for me, I will try to be a steward of every cent I have and every hour I watch go by. The link is above so do as you will.

Why Thailand

I'm back recently from a missions trip in Thailand.
It's a very startling place in both darkness and light. There's honesty there, not the greyness that most Irish people portray. Here, I think we don't want to let people into our lives but the Thais(from what I've seen which is a very small group) are humble and open in that respect. They know they're needy when they are. The believers fully accept that they have something that must be shared. They unashamed and confident to get involved in the lives of others.

I was inspired and perhaps even a little embarrassed by the active ministry present. One guy, Bobby is the same age as me. Bobby goes in, by himself or with one young teen, into several prisions three times a week. He gives out necessary things like fruit, toiletries and water, but he also reaches out to the souls of the people he helps and listens to their lives and applies the Gospel. This embarrasses me because it completely unlike my comfortable ministry.

Pattaya is a town full of Christian pioneers. That excites me. When I go back, which I plan to, it won't be about giving what I have, because that isn't that much. It will be about learning how to love and live closer to the way Jesus asked us to. I want to go to serve. I pray that I will get this opportunity because it will change me.

I started reading this book today. I was entralled by the bright cover image. I was startled by the large capital letters. Even more though, it was the latest in a long line of books I've been reading about what it means to be a man or more specifically a man as God intended. What John Elredge started (Wild at Heart), Paul Coughlan continues. It's different here though.

No one would really argue about John Elredge's angle. Surely men are supposed to be wild. It appeals to the classic idea which are more or less reinforced in the culture around - men go fishing, hunting (some men do) and basically stuff that men would like to do. We all want to live an adventure, fight a battle, and rescue a beauty. I don't know of anyone who is offended by that.

No More Christian Nice Guy is another beast entirely. Niceness is wrong is the basic premise. Jesus was not only wild, but he was offensive, subversive, rude, impatient and used righteous sarcasm - all that and an agressive sense of humour. Yep, Jesus sounds pretty, well, unnice. Coughlan is also critical of the feminist movements and an idea that often thought but seldom said that women are ever so slightly more Spiritual then women. As crazy as this all sounds, I tend to agree with his ideas. Niceness is basically pleasing other people and as long as that takes a high place in our value scheme, we're ineffective in our Godly mandate and often lying to ourselves. Niceness - so overrated.

I should be finish the book in the next week if anyone wants to borrow it.
Leave some comments, I want to hear what people think.