Feel Good Friday video

Brief background, "Starfish and Coffee" used to get a lot of airplay on XM Kids when we listened to it back before my kids moved on to other music. It's a great song, written by Prince. This video is of Matt Nathanson singing and having a great time with the song, and turning it in to a medley. It's his version (minus the medley) that was popular on XM Kids.

Matt will be at Memphis in May next Friday and I'm jealous of anyone who gets to go. (though I might pick Elvis Costello on Saturday if I had to choose a day.)

Watch it now before Prince finds out and strips the audio. He's mean like that.

Wesley is funny.

Photo by flickr user Serendigity.


On this day in Wesley's journal, we have an entry from 1760 in which Wesley discusses the problems that Ireland has faced over the years. He bases his thoughts on a book written by Sir John Davis (which may be Sir John Davies, but I haven't looked thoroughly) regarding the history of Ireland, and it's interesting stuff, especially since it discusses issues which still resonate in Ireland. No, that's not funny.

What's funny is the entry above it, from January 16th:

One came to me, as she said, with a message from the Lord, to tell me that I was laying up treasures on earth, taking my ease, and minding only my eating and drinking. I told her God knew me better; and if He had sent her, He would have sent her with a more proper message.

I love that God worked through this man. It gives me hope that I can overcome my often sarcastic, petulant attitude.

Jesus and the folded cloth / napkin.

Last year someone asked me about an email they received regarding the resurrection. Here's one version of it:

The Gospel of John (20: 7) tells us that the napkin, which was placed over the face of Jesus, was not just thrown aside like the grave clothes. The Bible takes an entire verse to tell us that the napkin was neatly folded, and was placed at the head of that stony coffin. Is that important? You'd better believe it! Is that significant? Absolutely! Is it really significant? Yes!

In order to understand the significance of the folded napkin, you have to understand a little bit about Hebrew tradition of that day. The folded napkin had to do with the Master and Servant, and every Jewish boy knew this tradition. When the servant set the dinner table for the master, he made sure that it was exactly the way the master wanted it. The table was furnished perfectly, and then the servant would wait, just out of sight, until the master had finished eating, and the servant would not dare touch that table, until the master was finished.

Now if the master was done eating, he would rise from the table, wipe his fingers, his mouth, and clean his beard, and would wad up that napkin and toss it onto the table. The servant would then know to clear the table. For in those days, the wadded napkin meant, "I'm done". But if the master got up from the table, and folded his napkin, and laid it beside his plate, the servant would not dare touch the table, because the servant knew that the folded napkin meant, "I'm not finished yet." The folded napkin meant, "I'm coming back!"

He is Coming Back!

For those of you with limited time, let me just say this. That's bullshit. For those who want more info, keep reading.

Brett Royal posted this email recently on his blog, and the he agrees with me in questioning the authenticity of the story. I'm not a Hebrew scholar, and what I know about Jewish traditions at the time of Christ is roughly equivalent to zero, but what sense would this story make? Jesus knows and participates in master/servant relationships from the master perspective? He uses his burial clothes in the same way that people use napkins at a table?

The email explanation tells us nothing that the Bible isn't already telling us. The clothes let us know one thing which is obvious. The body wasn't stolen. He's coming back has been assured to us in many passages of scripture. We don't need a contrived, unsigned, unresearched email to tell Christians what they believe about the resurrection and the return of Christ.

There are a few sites that can back me up on this. Truthorfiction.com is one of them. I also asked a professor who has well-known wisdom on the subject. This email tells us nothing that we didn't already know from scripture. It tells us a lot about our culture though. More on that later.