CS Lewis Likes Final Battles!

harbarger theory:earthy spirituality is heavenly

I finally have gotten back to good ol' Jack (as his family called him). Not sure how they got Jack as a nickname for Clive Staples Lewis, but ...

I finished the Space Trilogy with That Hideous Strength where the nefarious N.I.C.E Institute was working in concert with the "Macrobes" or the Eldil that is in control of Tellus (earth) comes in conflict with the powers of right that is headquartered in a home in St Anne's led by our old friend Ransom.

But, so as to not offer any more of a spoiler, I'll simply deal with a small part of the final battle at the end of the book.

To empower the forces of good, the Eldils who have never visited the quarantined planet, Tellus, come to visit and lend firepower. When Perelandra (Venus) comes, all who are in the vicinity of her coming, find themselves a bit amorous. This is without a hint of apology. How refreshing!!! The human couples are married folk and they get a bit frisky and seem to like it. I like that!!! It's about time!!!

Also, the Eldil Malacandra (Mars) comes down and inspires humans and animals to lay a whuppin' on the bad guys ... again without apology. Sometimes (even for a pacifist like me) bad guys need a whuppin'! It happened. Must have been frightening though for those receiving the whuppin' to have it laid down by tigers and wolves and such. YIKES!!!

I've always been a person who believes that real spirituality includes human emotions and tendencies. Within the right relationships, amorousness is a GREAT thing. It can and should happen ... as often as possible. And, sometimes bad guys need to be stopped. These are just human reactions.

I think our tendency as folks of faith is to promote a spirituality that is nice, but a little forced and maybe sterile. I don't find that to be a faith that is attractive. I think a proper faith is about enjoyment (and that includes physical enjoyment), laughter and also resistance to that which is wrong (and that may include physical resistance).

In the end, let's worry a bit less about those things that bring us physical enjoyment (within bounds, of course) and more about making our hearts right with God. After all, we belong to a faith that starts with getting the heart right and having the heart lead our behavior. If ... for me... swearing is something that gets between me and God, then I need to stop it. If ... for you smoking or drinking gets between you and God, then you need to stop it. But, we find that out by submitting our hearts to the leadership and sovereignty of God.

Of course, this is not a license for licentiousness (how about that for alliteration??). You know better than that. But, it is a call for us to lighten up a bit and let God deal with our hearts and to support each other in the process.

CS Lewis celebrated physical resistance to evil and the physical celebration of love. I think we should too!! So, go get all snugly with your spouse. Go ahead, the blog will be here when you get back. Just go. GO!!!!

And, stand up for what is right ... even if it puts you in harm's way or forces you to come into opposition with the powers that be. Fight injustice. Speak truth to power. Denounce evil. Look it in the eye and tell it to leave and never come back. Do it as often as you need to and if you need someone to watch your back, call me. I'll back you up!

In the end, be comfortable with the body God gave you and use it for the glory of God. Love your loved one. Fight evil. Laugh deeply. Cry from your heart. Feel with your heart. These are God's gifts to you. Enjoy them!

harbarger theory:earthy spirituality is heavenly

Free Will-y or Workin' The Plan, Man?

harbarger theory: God DOES have a plan for your life, but it's up to you to follow it!

Wendy and I wanted to go to a movie tonight. We ended up choosing The Adjustment Bureau at 6:50pm at Movies 10 near Nelsonville. Was it REALLY our choice or was it part of "The Plan?" In this movie, "Fate" or "The Plan" are written by "The Chairman" (a euphemism for God).

Like usual, I don't want to offer a spoiler, so let me share less about what happens in the movie and discuss more about what the movie is all about.

The Adjustment Bureau talks a LOT about the issues of Free Will and Predestination. These two schools of thought are described in Christian theology as Arminianism and Calvinism. The Calvinist or Reformed idea is that because God is omniscient (sees all), that OF COURSE, God would determine what would happen in every bit of our lives. So, when we hear, "God has a wonderful plan for your life," some mean that explicitly. They mean that God has already determined whether you will come to faith or not, marry this person or not, succeed in life or not. Proponents of this school of thought talk about this in terms of God's sovereignty. The idea is that IF God really is sovereign, then God must control the destinies of humanity.

I'm afraid that I have never, ever been comfortable with this line of thinking. To my way of thinking, God has a plan for each of us, but it is completely up to us to follow it every step of the way ... or not. We have the ability to thwart the will of God for our lives. I know, I know ... What is God thinking?? God has placed complete choice in OUR hands? What a CRAZY idea!!! We're not equipped for that!

You don't believe me? Really? Then explain things like war, despots, serial killers, child abuse or weak and tepid coffee. Nope, we're not equipped ... or are we?

Maybe we have the capability to do amazing things, as well. You don't believe me? Really? Then explain things like millions of dollars given to help people affected by the Japan earthquake within hours of the huge rumble, people who take their own vacations to build trails in state and national parks, build homes for the poor, give of their hard-earned money to give care to people they don't even know. What is God thinking? That we have the capacity to do amazingly loving and caring things. God HAS placed complete choice in our hands. What an crazy fabulous idea! We are divinely equipped for this!

You see, this is EXACTLY what the issue is. God's will for us is to love God and to love each other. But, you see, love requires that we have be able to choose. Forced or required love is no love at all. But, when we rise to what we were created to be, we live lives of love. We love God and therefore we love our neighbors (both next door and across the globe!).

Of course, we can also choose to be selfish or hateful or simply petty. We ARE capable of incredible horrors. That is our choice.

To choose the best, we have to have the worst as a choice, as well. That's the risk that God takes. But, isn't that the risk that ll of us take when we choose to love? We take the risk that they might hurt us. Love IS a risk.

Gentle reader, God trusts you to choose love, grace and mercy. Choose it and the world will be a better place. Deny it and the world will be a darker and more dangerous place.

It's all up to you. You are free to do as you wish. Your will is, indeed, free. Our calling, though is to make Joshua's choice and say this to those around you ...

"But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and myhousehold, we will serve the LORD."

Choose love. Choose love.

harbarger theory: God DOES have a plan for your life, but it's up to you to follow it!

Sometimes strong men cry

harbarger theory: you can never replace the ones you love. you just miss them.

We lost Pop last October. It was a dark day for all of us. He was one of the lights of our lives. Many of us have been limping along ever since.

But, we who loved Wayne Harbarger are not the only ones who grieve. Thousands grieve every day and they didn't get 86 years with their loved one. Some only get days, hours or a few short years.

But, we all hurt.

There are constants in the human condition. One of those is pain. We all have pain. Some of it is self-inflicted; some of it is inflicted by others intentionally; some of it is inflicted by others unintentionally; some is random; some is a part of life.

Missing Pop is a part of life. He lived a great life. A great life. He loved. He was loved. He did great things. He raised a family and loved a good woman. He was afflicted with cancer and it killed him.

But, I still miss him. When I eat ice cream, I miss him. When I take a walk on a nice day, I miss him. When I tell people, "Good on you!" I miss him. He'll never see me succeed again. He'll never go golfing with me again (Oh, how he loved to golf). We'll never try a new restaurant again. There are a whole host of things I'll never do with him again. That brings me pain.

But, I'm a lucky one. I was able to do those things with him. I was able to take him to doctor's visits and hospitals. I laughed with him. I talked theology with him. We shared books. I got to be his son. I'm the lucky one.

Love always takes the risk of pain. Necessarily. If there is no risk of pain, there is no real love.

It was worth it. It was worth it all.

I love you, Pop.

harbarger theory: you can never replace the ones you love. you just miss them.

It's a small world after all!!!

harbarger theory: it's a small world, but i wouldn't want to paint it!

Like many of you, I woke up this morning to hear about the devastating earthquake in Japan, which unleashed a tsunami that tried to devour that island nation and Sumatra and sent it hurtling across the globe through Hawaii to the West Coast of the USA. I was transfixed by it and have been listening to radio reports all day. Amazing.

At first, I listened and then was relieved that Sacramento (where my "beloved son in whom I am well pleased" lives along with my brothers and their families) was not going to be threatened. WHEW!!!!

But, then I sat up in horror!! I knew people all along that tsunami's path!!

My first appointment as an ordained pastor was at First UMC in Middletown, OH. Among a few other duties, I was the Youth Guy. And, as is my wont, I became very close to those kids. One family hosted a Japanese exchange student and, as time went on, Paul ended up marrying her. Paul was one of my very, very faithful kids in the group and, indeed went on to seminary and ended up as a sorta kinda missionary in Japan. He and Mari and their boys are living and serving in Tokyo currently. But he used to serve in Sendai. The epicenter of the earthquake. My heart was in my throat.

After a number of years, I moved to First UMC in Athens, OH where, among some other duties, I was the Youth Guy and the Campus Minister. One of the college students at the Wesley Student Center was Shannon. Shannon was raised in Hawaii and after she got married, she and her hubby moved back to Hawaii in Aiea. Now, my hawaiian geography is lousy and I don't know if Aiea is on the side of the island that the tsunami was going to hit, but, even if it's not, there has to be fallout where she lives. Again, my heart was in my throat.

Before I came back to Ohio, I had become best friends (dare I say brother?) with Schuyler while we were both in seminary at Drew Univ Theological School. After a time of serving in NYC, he relocated to the Left Coast and now serves Temple UMC in San Francisco. SF is one of the few places in Cali that does NOT have cliffs for a coastline.

I've been on pins and needles all day. I noticed Schuyler was on Facebook, so I called him from my cell to his. He's OK. They're OK. WHEW!!!!

I got a Facebook post from one of the folks I did youth ministry with back in Middletown that Paul, Mari and the family are OK in Japan. WHEW!!!!

I just got a Facebook post from Shannon that she and her family are OK in Hawaii. WHEW!!!!

This morning, I am glad that I got to pray fervently for these people who are a part of me and are part of my family. I am glad they are OK. And I thank God for Facebook, cell phones and modern communication technology because it allowed me the grace to hear of and from these beloved people so easily and quickly.

Technology is not ALWAYS of the devil!! = ) Sometimes, it is a gift from God!!!

I further reflected that I am a blessed man because I know and love people who live all over the globe. Although times like these can fray one's nerves, it's because of the shared love and history that makes the moments frantic. This world is so vast and varied, yet sometimes it seems like a small marble floating in the universe and we are just one big village. To think that one tsunami could threaten 3 families that I know and love amazes me. I thank God for far-flung relationships! I thank God they are safe!! And I thank God knowing that, because these people are where they are and they are WHO they are, they will help other people who have been affected by this terrible event.

But, mostly, I just thank God!!

harbarger theory: it's a small world, but i wouldn't want to paint it!

Sci-Fi can be so deep

harbarger theory: sin doesn't HAVE to reign supreme

In this installment of CS Lewis' science fiction trilogy, we experience the protagonist, Elwin Ransom, distinguished philologist/linguist being asked by the Malacandrian (Mars) Oyarsa (archangel or archon) to take a trip. Ransom doesn't know where he's going nor what will happen once he gets there.

The cosmology of this book is that this is the first planet to be populated after the Christ event on Thulcandra (earth) and therefore all sentient beings after the Christ event are human (or at least humanoid).

The conflict in this book is about whether sin will come to Perelandra (Venus). Will the inhabitants of Perelandra be as bound to sin as we are here on Earth. What a fantastic concept! What if ... we still lived in the Eden state? What if ... we could still "walk with God in the cool of the evening?" What if ... ?

Also, the way Evil arrives in Perelandra and the way it tries to tempt "The Lady" (the Eve character) is interesting and the way that Ransom deals with the Evil is equally interesting. If I went further, it would be a "spoiler," so I shan't!

But, what if we were sinless and simply did God's will? Some of us would believe that to be a boring life, others would find it exciting and most of us simply can't conceive of it. But this is what we were designed to experience. In fact, I believe that "returning to Eden" is the biblical vision of redemption. It's not to live on vacation our whole life, but, rather that we walk with God at all times and in all places. We may be tempted, but we never, ever ... not ever ... succumb.

Oh, I ache for that reality! Lord, let it come soon! Let me be free from my rebelliousness and my need to please everybody ... but You. Let me return to Eden!! Amen.

harbarger theory: sin doesn't HAVE to reign supreme

Th-Th-Th-That's All Folks!

harbarger theory: stuttering stinks, I don't care if you are a king.

What do Porky Pig, Max Headroom, Michael Palin, Mel Tillis, King George VI and Joel Harbarger have in common? We all have ears. Oh yeah! And we all stutter.

I'm a stutterer. Like all these famous folks, I'm a stutterer. I can't remember NOT being a stutterer. So is my oldest brother. Maybe I should blame it all on him!!!

I hesitated for a long time about going to see "The King's Speech." Actually, BECAUSE I'm a stutterer, I didn't want to watch another stutterer struggle through his stuttering in public and vicariously share in his humiliation. I like Colin Firth and Helena Bonham Carter and I REALLY like Geoffrey Rush, but I find it painful to watch another person stutter. Really, really painful.

But, everybody (except Sue) told me that it was wonderful, so I felt like I had to go. We did. It was wonderful. And it was painful. But, it's a great way for stutterers to share with other people how it feels to stutter. The shame, the anxiety, the stares and the averted glances, the cajoling "Just spit it out!" We experience all of it. It's not fun.

Colin Firth did a great job in playing the part. He evidenced the inner anxiety and the physical tension in simply trying to get the words out. Actually, the way Firth played King George VI, I stutter the same way. Some call it stammering, but we get blocked and just can't get the @#$%^& words out. My brother sort of bounces the sounds (like Porky Pig or Max Headroom), but I get stuck and can't get it out.

I thought the movie was excellent and I hope it wins Best Picture and Colin Firth gets Best Actor. But, more than that, I hope that more people learn a bit about us stutterers and learn that we are not stupid because we cannot speak fluently; that we are not "damaged goods" because we get stuck on some word; that we are not "handicapped" because our fluency is compromised.

As a Pastor, I have an obvious flaw. I am an imperfect vessel. But, aren't we all? Every single one of us have our problems. Mine just shows a bit more than other people's do. When I was a Youth Pastor (for 17 years!), I had more than one teenager tell me that my stuttering made me seem more real, more approachable. I appreciated that. I wonder what I would be like if I didn't stutter?

But, I'd give up my stuttering in a minute if I could. It would be gone, gone, gone. But, this is not my lot. Like the Apostle Paul who prayed for his "thorn in the flesh" to be removed, but God chose not to grant that prayer, I have learned that this is a part of me.

So, I embrace it. I stutter. I shuffle words around to ones I can say. I carefully choose my words. Although attracted to it, I chose not to even TRY to be a disc jockey ... or an auctioneer ... or a band announcer. But, I do choose to honor my calling to preach most every week, to speak in public when it's appropriate, to counsel, to chat, to be with people. Athough it IS embarassing at the moment when I stutter, I'm not ashamed of being a stutter any more than I am ashamed of being 6 feet tall. It's who I am.

So, go see The King's Speech. Watch the painful process that King George VI went through to fulfill his calling, his destiny. Then, appreciate the giftedness of those around you who stumble through their speech and who still stand up and do what needs done.

But ... stuttering still stinks.

harbarger theory: stuttering stinks, I don't care if you are a king.

26 years and a day

harbarger theory: sons are a gift of grace

Twenty six years ago yesterday, I called my dear friend, Schuyler, and told him, "I now know what miracles are!" Our son ... our first-born child ... had been born and immediately wrapped me around his teeny-tiny wittle finger. I was instantaneously smitten and still am.

I grew up in a sports-loving family. My brothers loved to play and watch sports and still do. My dad was a star athlete and played and watched sports until his death. My mom has always been an avid sports fan and has done more than anyone's share of bleacher sitting over the years as she NEVER missed one of our games. But, not me. I played sports in elementary school because, that's what Harbargers did. I played football until the beginning of my Junior year in High School and I realized that, actually, I was terrible and would NEVER start. Unlike my family, I didn't and don't watch sports on TV. While I was still in my teens, my mom said, "I hope you have a kid who loves sports!"

So ... Nate enters the picture. I think his first word was "BALL!" Certainly in elementary school and maybe before he was old enough for school, he figured out how to tune in SportsCenter and would eat his breakfast watching it. No cartoons for this boy. He was, and is, fascinated (dare I say obsessed?) with sports.

I watched more sports in his first six years of life than I had ever watched in my lifetime up to that point. Cumulatively. We would sit and watch games. Sometimes, I'd have a book and he'd watch. But, we'd do it together. My favorite team has ALWAYS been whatever team my kids were on. I wore the colors. I watched every single game I could that they played in. I watched soccer, basketball, baseball, football, summer basketball, whatever. I learned to keep stats for baseball and basketball. I took him to pro games. I took him to college games. We watched lots of sports.

And it was worth it. It was worth it because I was with him doing what he wanted. I was participating in the things he loved. I've never regretted any of it. Not even the baseball games where I froze or the football games where I sat in the driving rain. Not one of them. I loved being a part of his life and sports were (and are) his life.

Today, he is the player/manager for a men's baseball team (Sacramento Braves ... and yes, I have a Braves hat!) and is an Assistant Coach for the Varsity Baseball team for Rio Americano High School (yes, I have a Rio Sweatshirt). It's still wall-to-wall sports for the boy.

I'm proud of him. He works hard and does well and does good at his work. He plays hard with his beloved Braves. He takes good care of his boys on his Rio team and teaches them baseball and life. He's a good friend to his buddies. He's a good boss. He's a good son. He's a good grandson. He is the man I hoped he would be.

Happy belated birthday, Nate. I love you.

(by the way, this is a pic of Nate and me whitewater rafting on the famous New River. Woo Hoo! Paddles UP!!)

harbarger theory: sons are a gift of grace