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Happy New Year, Everybody... I'm in Simi Valley at my in-laws' house. We're leaving this afternoon for home. Back to normal life. It's been a fun week. We were at Disneyland with the kids for two days; even spent the night in Anaheim. We saw The Pursuit of Happyness with Dominic and Lisa last night. Great movie. What else? Normally I'd be full of New Year's resolutions and Top Ten lists for 2006. Just not feeling like it today. Stay tuned. I'll write more soon.

Is up here. Go read it.

Hey, Everyone... Here's a cool e-mail I got this week... edited to eliminate unnecessary details.

July 13, 2006

For those who don't know, I've been writing for a site called Dadbloggers. It's a cool idea... Celebrating Fatherhood. A blog for dads, by dads. My posts appear on the 7th of every month. This month's entry explores our recent family camping trip. Check it out here. Since I was thinking about camping, I went back and found a photo that's nearly a quarter of a century old... Camping with my family when I was 10, circa 1981. Dad's on the left, taking care of business, and Sarah, Micah and I are apparently mesmerized by the fire. Some things never change! Kids are pyros, man...

Luanne and I had the amazing opportunity a few weeks back to get away - just the two of us - on a pastor's retreat hosted by the Pastor's Retreat Network. It's a wonderful organization that allows pastors and their spouses to get away for a full week and just be with one another and God. All we had to do was get ourselves there and they take care of everything else... all food and lodging is free. What a gift! To get away from our crazy lives here in the Bay Area and just be. Our hosts, David and Karen Camp, were wonderful... Basically, they took care of our needs, suggested a program of reading and time with God, and then got out of the way! They were great about reminding us to let God direct our time. If we never got to the readings, we were not made to feel guilty... It was time for us. Amazing.

We would spend hours just sitting on a dock by the river and reading or talking or just being silent. Luanne spent some time fishing (and actually caught one), and we went out on the canoe several times. We went down the Rio Frio ("Cold River") on inner tubes and I almost got killed by a water snake. OK, I thought I was going to be killed. If there are any pastors reading this, you really owe it to yourself: Check out this opportunity.

I got to see my best friend from my college days, Curt, and his sweet family. They live in Austin, and Curt is the mad genius behind The Happy Husband.

One of the most fun things about our trip was flying Zach and Emmy down to their grandparents' house in LA... It was Zach's first trip on an airplane and the boy was beside himself with excitement. He couldn't stop exclaiming, every few seconds, "DAD! LOOK..." and then pointing at something. If you know my son, you know his voice, uh... carries. It was so cute.

We are grateful to the Gapastiones for watching the big boys... A little taste of parenthood for them!

Now when I say we got away, I really mean it. We were in Vanderpool, Texas. Population 20. I'm not kidding; look it up. Way out in the Texas Hill Country northwest of San Antonio. Closest "big" city is Kerrville.

To wrap this up, here's a picture that says it all:

On Sunday, I had the amazing privilege of baptizing my oldest son, Joshua. I introduced myself and then introduced him as "my beloved son, in whom I am well-pleased." These were the words that were heard coming from heaven as Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan River. I wanted Josh to know that I am so pleased with him... so proud. I hope he can grow up knowing that my love for him is unconditional...

He talked about "asking Jesus to come into his heart" when he was a little boy of four, and then he said he wanted to be baptized because he knew it was the right thing to do and he wanted to follow God and follow what the bible said. Way to go, Josh!

Hey Friends,

I'm back from Chicago... So good to be back with Luanne and the kids! I'm sitting in Starbucks enjoying the California weather, even though it is a little overcast today.

This is just a quick one to let you know that I've been chosen to be the Local Artist of the Month on WFRN 104.7 FM in Elkhart, Indiana. This means that I'm featured in a banner on the top of their website with a link to my site. It also means I'll be calling in to do an interview with them probably early next week. Best of all, my song "God of All Light" will be played throughout the whole month of February, and even after that if the response is good.

How am I, a San Francisco-based artist, considered a "Local" Artist of the month? Well, I grew up in and around Elkhart, Indiana, and I went to Grace College in Winona Lake. My parents and sister still live in Mishawaka, so I have lots of roots there. Perhaps more significantly, about eight years ago, I had a minor hit on WFRN with my song, "Always Entertaining Me (The La-La Song)." It's a long story, and I'll spare you the details, but it was a really rough demo version with only guitar and vocals. I listen to it now, and it's a little painful. But for whatever reason, it captured people's ears and WFRN played it for a long time. I even hit the station's top ten for one week! So there's a chance that they will feature that song in addition to "God of All Light."

The request line is 1-888-800-WFRN or 1-574-875-5553 for you locals. Please call and request "God of All Light" whenever you want to! You can even listen to the station online.

And thanks to Music Director Doug Moore for adding me to the playlist!

Blessings to you all.

Matt 

P.S. Click here to read the latest about Kathy Holmgren. This a truly amazing story!

Hey Everybody,

I'm writing from Chicago, where I'm taking a class at North Park Theological Seminary called History and Theology of the Evangelical Covenant Church. This class is the first of many over the next several years as I pursue ministerial credentialing in my denomination.

Theres a lot of news, so I'll try to keep this short and get to the good stuff.

Thanks to your support, "Always Entertaining Me (The La-La Song)" finished at #5 on the Indieheaven Radio chart December 31. For about 24 hours there, I was even at #1! This means that my song will go onto the Indieheaven compilation disc and distributed throughout the United States in approximately 1200 Christian bookstores! That is good news! You can look for the compilation disc to hit stores sometime April - June 2006.

I have submitted a second single to the Indieheaven Radio chart. It's called God of All Light, and I would love your support in voting for it. Remember, to vote, go to Indieheaven Radio, scroll down to my song and click it so that the song plays. Then scroll back up to the top and click on the stars. You can give me anywhere from 1/2 star to 5 stars. You can vote once every 24 hours.

I have been nominated for four Momentum Awards, including Song of the Year, Album of the Year, Male Vocalist of the Year and Contemporary Artist of the Year. The Momentum Awards will be handed out at the Christian Independent Artists Summit in Nashville on March 25. You can vote for me here: Momentum Awards. You can only vote once.

Rockin' Ron, a DJ from KBCU in North Newton, Kansas, has been playing my song every Saturday night on his program. "Always Entertaining Me" ended up #16 for the year, based on listener requests and feedback. Ron is now playing "God of All Light," and both songs continue to be in his program's Top 40. Thanks, Ron!

I'm excited to be getting my first reviews in national publications. First, you can check out the current issue of Worship Musician Magazine. Reviewer Shawn McLaughlin writes, Another example of the fine music being made recently without the benefit of conventional industry distribution or marketing techniques (i.e. indie), Still Standing presents Matt Nightingale, a California area pastor of Music and Creative Arts, as a purveyor of worshipful, if not conventionally worship music that is rich in literate imagery and emotional import. It helps, of course, that the man possesses a remarkably rugged and soulful voice (think Michael McDonald minus the cotton balls) and is backed up by the legendary 77s, whose leader, Mike Roe, provides empathetic production to this collection of solid pop/rock tunes. Nightingale's vision is neatly encapsulated in a strong trio of songs that form the capstone of Still Standing. "Always Entertaining Me (The La-La Song)" is a joyous little pop gem that speaks of the wonder of God's presence in even the mundane moments of everyday existence. "Oh My Child" is breezy folk/jazz/pop that relates the joys, fears and expectations of parenthood, eventually drawing a parallel to God's role as Abba Father, while "God of All Light," perhaps the most likely congregational worship number on the disc, is a humble invitation for God to take control of every area of the worshipper's life. Amazingly enough, Nightingale has created a disc that, for all its artistic accomplishments, is most notable for how relatable it is, both thematically and in a musical sense. There is no reason that, with a little providence, Still Standing couldnt be heard on ANY Triple A format radio station in the country... it is that good.

The Phantom Tollbooth is a website that I've read for the last ten years. Its a thrill to be reviewed in its hallowed pages. Check out The Phantom Tollbooth for that very positive review.

I am excited to be one of the contributing writers on a new blog by dads, for dads called Dadbloggers. I submit an article every month on the 7th, so please check it out and join the community! While you're there, check out my latest entry, "Belonging to the Brotherhood of Men." I have appreciated seeing the responses to it. One man, a writer named Kevin Klein from Australia, enjoyed my post so much he is quoting from it on a website he writes for: www.babyzone.com. Be watching for that article to appear in the next week or so.

Remember: Still Standing is available on iTunes and at the following online locations:

www.independentbands.com
www.indieheaven.com
www.cdbaby.com
www.towerrecords.com
www.bestbuy.com
www.covenantbookstore.com
www.mattnightingale.com

All of these sites accept customer reviews, so I'd appreciate your support in that way as well. Get on there and rave about the music!

I think that's it, my friends Thanks again for all your love and support, and I'll write again soon.

Matt

I'm totally behind in my blogging, and I don't have much time now for anything original. (Still trying to slog through my Covenant History book.) BUT, whatever you're doing... take time out and check out the BEST BLONDE JOKE I've ever read. My friend Curt over at The Happy Husband unearthed it.

I leave in eleven days for Chicago. I'm going, along with some of my very best friends, Tony and Brian, to take a class at our denomination's seminary, North Park. It's on Covenant History and has been affectionately dubbed "I Love the Cov" over the years. I'm really excited about it on some levels, but I'm overwhelmed with everything that has to be done before I leave and all the prep for the class itself. Yesterday I got the textbook I'm supposed to read before I get there. It's called "By One Spirit," and it's only 811 pages long. Take out the footnotes, and it's still 643 pages. I just grabbed a calculator and did the math: I need to read 59 pages every day before I get there. Now normally, 59 pages a day is a cinch for me, but this material is a little... how shall I put it kindly?... dry. Let me give you a sample sentence, pulled at random from the book:

Nelson published The History of Puritans and Pilgrims in Sweden in 1901 - an obvious effort to find identities between the Mission Friends and the Congregationalists.

Here's one more, just for kicks:

Hasselquist's task in the face of these developments was to try to develop a church which would embody Lutheran structure and pietistic fervor - a church, in short, which would be enough like the Church of Sweden to placate "state church" Christians and yet devotional enough not to drive away the Revivalists.

Mmmm... Now that is some tasty reading. Light, yet flavorful.

Anyway, I'm stressed again. And as the beginning of the year has come around again, I have really been trying to live more simply... to focus on only that which is truly important. To trust in God to take care of the rest. One of the things that I'm having to face is that I do not give God enough of my time on a regular basis. I need so badly to spend time in prayer and meditation. To read the bible and seek the word of the Lord for today.

I'm attempting a new practice... well, it's really a very ancient practice... called lectio divina. Basically, you focus on a small passage of scripture and really go deep with it, trusting that God has a word for you today. I've been spending 30 minutes every morning since December 31, and it's really been good. Every day I sense God giving me a specific word to focus on... The first day was so powerful. I was away at Mission Springs for a personal retreat that morning, and I got down on my knees with Psalm 23 (from The Message) in front of me. I zeroed in on the first three verses:

GOD, my shepherd! I don't need a thing. You have bedded me down in lush meadows, you find me quiet pools to drink from. True to your word, you let me catch my breath and send me in the right direction.

You can imagine what words almost leapt off the page: Catch my breath. It was like God was saying to me, "This is the path... Slow down. Seek me. Let me refresh and heal you. Catch your breath."

So that's my theme this year: Catching my breath. My blogging, which has been pretty intense in the last month or so, will have to slow down. My soul needs some time. My wife and kids need some time. I want them to see my face rather than my back sitting at this damn computer.

Let it be, dear Lord, let it be.

Weight Watchers: My first week I lost 11 pounds, my second week I gained 4 back - Christmas - and today I had lost 7. So, in three weeks, I've lost something like 14 pounds total. Not too shabby. Anyone else out there doing WW? How's it going?

My Mission Statement for 2006:

I am a Revolutionary in the service of God Almighty. My life is not my own; I exist as a free man but have voluntarily become a slave to God. My role on earth is to live as a Revolutionary, committed to love, holiness and advancing God's kingdom. My life is not about me and my own natural desires; it is all about knowing, loving and serving God with all my heart, mind, strength and soul.

[From George Barna's Revolution.]

Let it be. Amen.

We'll call this one favorite musical experiences. There's no other category.

Best Concerts

OK, so really, this is more like only concerts. Nevertheless, since my "concert budget" is so small, I plan these very carefully and only go to ones that will be great. I must say, 2005 was the best concert-going year yet. First off, back in February, my buddy Eric took me to San Jose to see U2 for the first time. It was a religious experience. Kings of Leon opened, and that was fine for them. But then U2 came out onto the stage and in three magnificent songs, just blew my mind. There were more highlights than I have time to mention. One cool thing: Bono pointed me out to the crowd and mentioned my new album. Right. No, really... about a week later, Eric handed me a CD of the concert. Some bootlegger out there had recorded it, and now I have a recording of that evening. Love it.

Just a few weeks later, I finally got to see Linford and Karin: Over the Rhine. It was at a little club up in San Francisco. Kim Taylor opened. I got to talk with them after... Really great show.

In July, Luanne and I got to see the Indigo Girls live here in Redwood City. Again, just amazing. It was so fun to see these musicians I've admired for so long. It was a dream come true. Just Amy, Emily and their multitude of guitars. Who needs a band? 

One concert I'm looking forward to with great anticipation: The Manhattan Transfer is coming to Redwood City in March. I've been a big fan of these brilliant singers since high school. I love seeing genius in action.

Best Music-Making Experiences:

I can't ignore the most significant musical experience that happened to me this year. My album, Still Standing, was recorded and released. The legendary Mike Roe (77s, Lost Dogs) produced it, and the 77s (Mike, Mark Harmon and Bruce Spencer) were the rhythm section for the whole record. What a dream... What started as a nervous phone call to a hero led to all kinds of fun experiences. Here are a few:

Overhearing Mike call Terry Taylor on his birthday and getting to sing along on "Happy Birthday."

Sitting in the choir room at church with Mike and his guitar... Reminiscing about Gene Eugene and bursting into an impromptu sing-along of the greats: "Dunce Cap" and "Jimmy."

Going to The Warehouse, the church that launched the careers of The 77s, Charlie Peacock, Brent Bourgeois and others, to record drum tracks in their studio. Meeting Bruce Spencer and hearing him work his magic on my tracks.

Lying on Mike's couch, laughing hysterically at a Swirling Eddies DVD. I really thought Mike might die laughing.

Riding in Mike's car, trying not to eavesdrop, but not being able to help overhearing a conversation with Derri Daugherty where they decide - on the spot - NOT to record Jeff, the much-anticipated follow-up to Mutt. History being destroyed.

Hearing Ralph Stover's first loops for "Oh My Child" and realizing that this song was going to sound really good.

Too many more to mention. What an honor.

This is a great post, from a cool site I just discovered called GodSpy. It certainly has been true in my experience that, typically, so-called "Christian movies" suck, while some of my most profound spiritual experiences have occurred while watching the films of non-Christian filmmakers. Read the article and tell me what you think!

Why Do Heathens Make the Best Christian Films?

Can't be too thoughtful tonight, so here's a list... easy enough, right? :: Drumroll please :: My official picks for the 2006 Oscars. Please feel free to comment and leave your own predictions. We'll see who's right... And since all I'm doing is guessing here, I'll go out on a limb and bold my predictions for the winners.

Best Picture: Brokeback Mountain; Good Night, and Good Luck; Munich; Pride & Prejudice; Walk the Line

Best Director: George Clooney, Good Night, and Good Luck; Paul Haggis, Crash; Ang Lee, Brokeback Mountain; James Mangold, Walk the Line; Steven Spielberg, Munich

Best Actor: Ralph Fiennes, The Constant Gardener; Philip Seymour Hoffman, Capote; Terrence Howard, Hustle & Flow; Heath Ledger, Brokeback Mountain; Joaquin Phoenix, Walk the Line

Best Actress: Ziyi Zhang, Memoirs of a Geisha; Charlize Theron, North Country; Keira Knightley, Pride & Prejudice; Claire Danes, Shopgirl; Reese Witherspoon, Walk the Line

Best Supporting Actor: Jack Black, King Kong; Matt Dillon, Crash; Jake Gylenhall, Brokeback Mountain; William Hurt, A History of Violence; Frank Langella, Good Night, and Good Luck

Best Supporting Actress: Amy Adams, Junebug; Catherine Keener, Capote; Frances McDormand, North Country; Rachel Weisz, The Constant Gardener; Michelle Williams, Brokeback Mountain

What do you think?

::And on a completely different, and far more important, subject::

Please join me in praying for a friend of Josh's named Cole. He's a fifth grader at Roy Cloud, and he's been in the hosptial for almost three months with leukemia. Recently he developed an infection and now has meningitis and hydroencephalitis. He is struggling to even breathe on his own.

Please pray for miraculous healing for Cole and pray for his two older sisters and grandparents who are raising him.

I was sitting in Donut King this morning waiting for my decaf to brew, and I read an excellent op-ed piece by New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof. The link is here. Enjoy... and then give me some feedback!

A Challenge for Bill O'Reilly

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

Let us all pray for Bill O'Reilly.

Let us pray that Mr. O'Reilly will understand that the Christmas spirit isn't about hectoring people to say "Merry Christmas," rather than "Happy Holidays," but about helping the needy.

Let us pray that Mr. O'Reilly will use his huge audience and considerable media savvy to save lives and fight genocide, instead of to vilify those he disagrees with. Let him find inspiration in Jesus, rather than in the Assyrians.

Finally, let's pray that Mr. O'Reilly and other money-changers in the temple will donate the funds they raise exploiting Christmas - covering the nonexistent "War on Christmas" rakes in viewers and advertising - to feed the hungry and house the homeless.

Amen.

Alas, not all prayers can be answered. Fox News Channel's crusade against infidels who prefer generic expressions like "Happy Holidays" included 58 separate segments in just a five-day period.

After I suggested in last Sunday's column that a better way to honor the season might be to stand up to genocide in Darfur (a calamity that Mr. O'Reilly has ignored), Mr. O'Reilly denounced me on his show as a "left-wing ideologue." Bless you, Mr. O'Reilly, and Merry Christmas to you, too!

Later in the show, Mr. O'Reilly described us print journalists in general as "a bunch of vicious S.O.B.'s." Bless you again, Mr. O'Reilly; I'll pray harder for the Christmas spirit to soften your pugnacious soul.

Look, I put up a "Christmas tree," rather than a "holiday tree," and I'm sure Mr. O'Reilly is right that political correctness leads to absurd contortions this time of year. But when you've seen what real war does, you don't lightly use the word to describe disagreements about Christmas greetings. And does it really make sense to offer 58 segments on political correctness and zero on genocide?

Perhaps I'm particularly sensitive to religious hypocrites because I've spent a chunk of time abroad watching Muslim versions of Mr. O'Reilly - demagogic table-thumpers who exploit public religiosity as a cynical ploy to gain attention and money. And I always tell moderate Muslims that they need to stand up to blustery blowhards - so today, I'm taking my own advice.

Like the fundamentalist Islamic preachers, Mr. O'Reilly is a talented showman, and my sense is that his ranting is a calculated performance. The couple of times I've been on his show, he was mild mannered and amiable until the camera light went on - and then he burst into aggrieved indignation, because he knew it made good theater.

If Mr. O'Reilly wants to find a Christmas cause, he should invite guests from Catholic Relief Services, World Vision or the National Association of Evangelicals - among the many faith-based organizations that are doing heroic work battling everything from river blindness to sex trafficking. Indeed, the real victims of Mr. O'Reilly are the authentic religious conservatives, because some viewers falsely assume that ill-informed bombast characterizes the entire religious right.

(I'm tempted to think that Mr. O'Reilly is actually a liberal plant, meant to discredit conservatives. Think about it. Who would be a better plant than a self-righteous bully in the style of Father Coughlin or Joe McCarthy? What better way to caricature the right than by having Mr. O'Reilly urge on air that the staff of Air America be imprisoned: "Dissent, fine; undermining, you're a traitor. Got it? So, all those clowns over at the liberal radio network, we could incarcerate them immediately. Will you have that done, please? Send over the F.B.I. and just put them in chains, because they, you know, they're undermining everything.")

Some authentic religious conservatives are embarrassed by television phonies. Cal Thomas, the conservative Christian columnist, warned: "The effort by some cable TV hosts and ministers to force commercial establishments into wishing everyone a 'Merry Christmas' might be more objectionable to the One who is the reason for the season than the 'Happy Holidays' mantra required by some store managers."

So I have a challenge for Mr. O'Reilly: If you really want to defend traditional values, then come with me on a trip to Darfur. I'll introduce you to mothers who have had their babies clubbed to death in front of them, to teenage girls who have been gang-raped and then mutilated - and to the government-armed thugs who do these things.

You'll have to leave your studio, Bill. You'll encounter pure evil. If you're like me, you'll be scared. If you try to bully some of the goons in Darfur, they'll just hack your head off. But you'll also meet some genuine conservative Christians - aid workers who live the Gospel instead of sputtering about it - and you'll finally be using your talents for an important cause.

So, Bill, what'll it be? Will you dare travel to a real war against Christmas values, in which the victims aren't offended shoppers but terrified children thrown on bonfires? I'm waiting to hear.

Weddings. Advent worship gatherings. Buying and wrapping Christmas presents. Planning Christmas Eve. Rehearsals. Trying to stay on top of life in general. Kids. Wife. Friends. God. To borrow my friend Curt's trademarked phrase: "Real life trumps blogging."

Luanne and I are singing in a wedding tomorrow afternoon. Avisha Robinson is marrying Kenneth Mpemba, and the rehearsal dinner was tonight. Avisha and Ken took some time to thank just about everyone in the room after the dinner, and it was really touching. The most poignant moment (for me) was when she thanked her dad, Sean. I had to really fight hard to hold back the tears, and in the end I lost the battle. As I was gulping them back, I leaned over to Luanne and croaked out, "If I'm this way at Ken and Avisha's wedding, what am I gonna do when it's my kid?"

God, thank you for marriage; thank you for this beautiful picture of Your love for us and Your design for us. Please be watching over my kids as they grow, and may they be men and a woman who are satisfied fully in You. For their spouses, Lord, who may even now be out there... Protect them, grow them up in You, prepare them for great and wonderful things that You have planned for them. I'm so glad to know that all of this is in Your caring hands.

I love this picture of Zach and Emmy from around this same time last year. They were a little "bride and groom" in Tony and Wendy's wedding. So cute!

<Update> Weight Watchers was OK this morning. I'm not going to tell you how much I weighed. There's vulnerable, and then there's too vulnerable. I'll tell you what: After I lose all the weight, then I'll tell you what I weighed today when I started. </Update>

OK; I think I'm ready. Tomorrow morning I'm going to Weight Watchers. How's that for accountability? Not only am I going to Weight Watchers, but I'm going to talk about it here... Maybe I'll even let you in on the journey... Here's to health!

I'm trying to do this every day.

I am really tired tonight, and I'm not feeling well, so this is gonna be a very short post.

I recognized some fundamental flaws in the worldview of "Rent," but I still really liked it. The Phantom Tollbooth didn't like it too much. Check out their review here.

More Narnia discussion here, from several of my favorite bloggers/critics/cultural observers.

Finally, I'm excited to announce that I've been asked to be a contributor to a new blog called "Dadbloggers." Please check us out! I'm excited to be a part of a "community blog by Dads, for Dads, giving a male perspective on parenting and family relationships."

Hasta la Bloga...

<Update>

Our governor has denied clemency to Stan Williams. I can't imagine how he'll sleep tonight knowing that a man will die in less than two hours and he could have stopped it. Reminds me of Bush and Karla Faye Tucker. I'm grateful I'm not in that position. I never could be. We need to be praying for these men, our leaders. For strength, for peace, for courage. And for the integrity to listen for the leading of God and then do what God says to do.

</Update>

<Rant>

So, I'm a Christian. And I'm sure that when you read the title of tonight's rant, you're thinking to yourselves... "Oh geez, another Christian complaining that we're all 'taking the Christ out of Christmas.'" But au contraire, gentle reader. I am actually here to complain about the complainers.

For whatever reason, 2005 seems to be the year that a bunch of Christians decided to take offense at the seemingly innocuous December greeting, "Happy Holidays." I keep seeing it pop us as national news, for heaven's sake.

Just last week, the Washington Post ran this story on how "religious conservatives" are angry at President Bush for sending out cards with a generic end-of-the-year message, wishing his close friends and supporters a happy "holiday season." Check out this oh-so-mature response from Joseph Farah, editor of the conservative website WorldNetDaily.com:  "Bush claims to be a born-again, evangelical Christian, but he sure doesn't act like one. I threw out my White House card as soon as I got it." Of course, no one is mentioning that Presidents have gone back and forth on this for years... The Clintons never proclaimed "Merry Christmas" on their cards. Neither have the current Bushes. Not since the first George Bush have the cards said "Merry Christmas." Where were the angry Christian masses then?

Our dear Jerry Falwell is boycotting - again - and threatening legal action against anyone who would dare to "muzzle" them and their constitutional rights to say "Merry Christmas." Tell me: Where are these people who are trying to ban Christmas? I watch TV, I surf the web, I shop in stores... There is no conspiracy here. I see and hear LOTS of "Christmas." Listen to the radio! I have never been persecuted for wishing people a "Merry Christmas," and I live near ::gasp:: San Francisco! Here's David Batsone's take on it, from Sojourners Online. I agree with him.Here's the deal: We live in a postmodern, multicultural society. That is a simple fact. And you know what? I really do hope that my Jewish friends have a Happy Hanukah. I pray that my African-American friends have a wonderful celebration of Kwanzaa. And I pray for all of us to have a very merry Christmas.

Yes, I believe that following Jesus is the path to God. Believing in and following Jesus has saved me. I pray that everyone will come to know the joy and peace that can be found in Christ... but I cannot and will not try to force that on people. I will not fight for my "rights" to be a Christian. Our nation is not a "Christian nation," because nations cannot be Christians; only people can. I pray that people will see what Jesus has done in me and be attracted to God as a result. But I will not win people to Jesus because I'm fighting them over whether our kids are on "Christmas Break" or "Winter Break."

What a waste of time and energy! Perhaps Falwell and Co. could have used their advertising/legal budget to help feed the hungry or fight AIDS in Africa instead. That  kind of activism will win friends and draw people to God.

</Rant>

That's all for tonight. Merry Xmas.

I'll blog more extensively tonight, but just a quick note here. In 16 hours, Stan Williams will be killed unless Governor Schwarzenegger intervenes. Check out this site and sign the online petition! I think this Petition for Executive Clemency is well-written and explains the situation and the mercy we're asking the governor to extend.

I do not support the death penalty in general, but in this case especially, it is clear to me that killing Williams would be removing a powerful force for good in this world.

I'm praying for this man's life to be spared. Please join me.

It's Sunday night. Luanne's down at The Flipside; she's the guest speaker tonight. Tony's doing a series on Myspace, and Luanne is a good one to talk because she had a crazy experience over Thanksgiving weekend. She was randomly selected to be be a "Cool New Person" for four days and got over 130,000 hits to her page, something like 5,000 friends requests and 1,000 e-mails. In four days.

I'm home enjoying the peace and quiet after a big day of leading worship gatherings at church. I was really pleased at how well things went today. Especially the choir's song this morning! We did this funky a cappella gospel song called "What Ya Gonna Call Him?" and it really rocked. Tonight at Sunday At 6, it was like "Classic Christmas with the Sunday At 6 Band"... We did all the usual suspects: O Come, O Come Emmanuel; Babe in the Straw; Angels We Have... HEARD on high; and that modern-day classic, Satisfied Forever. Anyway, the kids are all in bed and I'm enjoying some solitude.

I'm listening to a new favorite, Andrew Bird. His album, "Andrew Bird & The Mysterious Production of Eggs" is a strange and wonderful thing. Music. Ah, music... I love music so much. Some of my latest discoveries are Keane ("Hopes and Fears"), The Decemberists ("Picaresque"), and John Vanderslice ("Cellar Door"). Each is a serious contender for my "Best of 2005" list.OK, fine, not all of them were released in 2005, but I discovered them in 2005...

True confessions: I have been listening to... um... how can I say this? Hanson. You know, these guys are OK. Lay off already.

Reading. Ah, reading... I love reading so much. It's funny... I go in cycles. I'll read a ton of nonfiction and not even have any interest in fiction. I'll read the spiritual writers: McLaren, Manning, Yancey, Langteaux, Wallis. This past summer I got all morbid and started reading about death... I mean the actual process of dying. There's a great book by Sherwin Nuland called "How We Die: Reflections on Life's Final Chapter." And then I read a book by Mary Roach called "Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers" that was somehow hilarious and sobering all at the same time. Highly recommended... if you can stomach it.

Now it's all about fiction, baby. Jeff and Joan were taking some boxes down to the preschool rummage sale, so I looked through them and found a few books that looked interesting: "Odd Thomas" by Dean Koontz and "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd. So, apparently, I was hungry for some fiction, because I tore thorugh both of them. Loved them. In the month or so since then, I've devoured two more Koontz books: "By the Light of the Moon" and "Forever Odd," the sequel to "Odd Thomas." Just finished that one yesterday. Awesome, but not as good as the first one. I've read Sue Monk Kidd's latest book, "The Mermaid Chair," and "Monster" by Frank Peretti. And I've discovered the amazing Ted Dekker. I've read "Blessed Child," and its sequel, "A Man Called Blessed," "THR3E" and now I'm reading "Black." Joan is like my own personal book-dealer. I've found my drug for now, and she's keeping me supplied.

Next up: "Hoot" by Carl Hiassen. Josh just did a book report on it. I figure I should know what the boy's reading, right? He said it has the "A Word" in it...

Luanne's back, and I've been giving too much to the computer and not enough to her. I'm outta here.

Tomorrow: "Happy Holidays: A Rant."

I saw "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe" last night with Josh and Jake. I've loved that book since I was a small child, and in the last three years I've read it again - twice - with both sons. I remember as a child wanting to see my two favorite books made into movies. (The other was "A Wrinkle in Time." Unfortunately, Disney took a stab at that a few years ago and BUTCHERED it.) "LWW" was awesome. Thank God they waited until now, when CGI is able to handle the special effects. If they had tried this even 10 years ago, it would have come off like "The Dark Crystal" or "The Never-Ending Story." No offense. Those were hugely important movies to me back then, and I have great nostalgia for them, but special effects? Please. We're talking puppets.

I'm not going to go into a huge review here. Just go see it. It really is worth your time and money. Lucy Pevensie is adorable.

G'night...