Saint Matthew's

Ugh.

For some reason, the cleaning bug came over me this morning. After church, I came into the office and started “straightening” things out. I have become a “No Clutter” person every since I started my little organization kick several weeks ago.

I just hope our church secretary doesn’t completely slaughter me for moving nearly everything around…

Someone I know paid a quick visit this morning. He was in the area heading off to a meeting in Mahwah. When he walked into the parsonage and into the home office, he asked me that most probing of questions:

“Anthony, is everything alright?”

He didn’t ask because he thought I was ill. No, he asked because he saw that the office was in “working shape.” In fact, his second question was funnier:

“Why is everything neat?”

He was quite surprised that I had actually organized most of the house. I’ve lived like a pack rat for a number of years now, especially in the year or so before I headed off to seminary. Then I had to move so much during my seminary time, I just got completely used to living out of boxes and piles.

As I mentioned over the weekend, I just got of living out of boxes and piles. Now I am about 75% organized here at home; about 80% in church. After a little clean up in my church office tomorrow, I should be near 90%. My home life is coming along slowly, but it is getting better organized each day.

I was struck today by an article below the fold in the Wall Street Journal: Apparently a rather important Islamic scholar in Germany believes that Mohammed, the man who established the Muslim faith, never existed.

Apparently, there is a slow growing movement that believes that the name “Mohammed” is more of a title, not the name of a particular person. Instead, these scholars believe that Islam is actually just a Christian heresy.

Professor Sven Mohammad Kalisch, a Muslim convert and the first professor of Islamic theology in Germany, has shocked and stunned the Muslim community. Of course, German police believe this public belief has put Kalish on a sort of Muslim hit list  - but then this regularly happens to people to say bad things about Mohammed. Remember the Danish artist who  drew cartoons that made fun of Mohammed? Riots broke out around the world.

For Christians, this whole idea that our religion is a fabrication is not new. People have questioned the deity of Jesus Christ and His very existence since He was born. However, from what I have studied, there have been no riots promoting death to the infidels, especially lately when Jesus has been mocked in movies, on Broadway, and on TV shows.

OK. There have been some protests. But really, no one has gotten scared over a bunch of moms and dads or a group of priests holding signs outside of MTV in Times Square.

Kalisch is the first “important” Muslim scholar to doubt the core of the faith. In Islam, Mohammed’s existence and his receiving the Koran are central to what Muslims believe. By kicking out the step-stool of this religion, Kalisch is opening up a door to questioning everything about the faith.

Contributing last year to a book on Islam, he weighed the odds and called Muhammad’s existence “more probable than not.” By early this year, though, his thinking had shifted. “The more I read, the historical person at the root of the whole thing became more and more improbable,” he says.

He has doubts, too, about the Quran. “God doesn’t write books,” Prof. Kalisch says.

Of course, God doesn’t write books, especially the Koran. Instead, we Christians believe that writers who were inspired by God wrote the books of the Bible.

But Kalisch has opened a door that will invoke outrage and possibly further study on Mohammed and the Islamic religion.

If you’ve come to church recently (and if you haven’t, why not????), then you’ve heard me discuss my recent conversion to organization. Yes, I admit it — I’ve been a hoarder, a pack rat, a pile creator, a messy desk person. When people have asked to use my desk - either at home or in church - they’ve gotten scared. They didn’t know what stuff to push off to the side in order to use the desk.

I had piles all over the place. Bills, receipts, newspaper or Internet articles, unopened mail, or just plain junk — all of it, piled up, all ready to topple over.

Then came October 27th and the article in the Wall Street Journal outlining a Japanese organization technique, originally crafted for manufacturing but now has found its way into offices and personal lives, called “5S.”

Essentially, this technique promotes the notion that if someone doesn’t need a particular item, it is to be either filed away or thrown out. In manufacturing, you would only have those items that were needed available for the workers, and everything else would be in storage or in the recycling bin. The manufacturing floor would be cleaned everyday and all items would be neat.

In the office, the same technique is used. For example, if you do not need a particular file, why have it on your desk? Or if you’re not going to use it, why have it near you? Why not file it into storage? Or even better, digitally file it away in order to reduce storage space?

The article made me think.

In its usage, “5S” uses five distinct processes to create an organized workplace, which also can be adapted to a personal home life, creating an organized home. Those areas are as follows:

Sort: Figure out what you need and what you don’t need; red tag questionable items to be figured out later; be ready with a lot of garbage bags.

Straighten: Make your work area accessible and easy to understand. Put things that you use regularly near your, keeping everything organized in their proper area. This promotes work flow. For example, if you’re working at home at your desk, you would want pens and paper nearby, not coupons for pizza.

Shine: After sorting all your stuff and straightening your desk or work area out, clean it up….everyday.

Standardize: Make sure that your previous efforts weren’t for naught — create an organized work schedule to make sure the above are rolled into your normal work life.

Sustain: After all that work, you have to keep it going.

So far, I am slowly creating this environment at home and at church. My desk in church is neat. It has to be. With only my iMac, back-up drive, telephone, a statue of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, and a Don Mattingly figurine painted in a Cubs uniform on my desk, it is pretty neat.

At home, I am slowly building to this. My living areas are almost in this organized condition. The home office is still a disaster, but it is a 5S disaster. I am in the sorting process. Thank goodness for sanitation workers hauling off all my recyclables and non-recyclables.

I will let you know when this process is complete. If you want to see my desk, you have to come to church.

Over the past couple of months, I have purchased dress socks from two places - Macy’s and Wal-Mart. The socks, as you would guess, cost considerably more at Macy’s than they did at the great American store, Wal-Mart.

However, the Macy’s socks either weren’t constructed properly or that the material that went into the socks was defective or shoddy.

Each of the four pairs of socks purchased at Macy’s has developed holes in them.

I bought them in September.

I keep my toe nails clipped.

Why should I have holes in these socks???

Each pair, in at least one sock, has a hole in the toe area. I have two usable socks left out of the 8.

However, from the four pairs I purchased at Wal-Mart, no holes. They fit wonderfully to this day. These 4 pairs for $5.00 socks were worth every penny.

Sorry. Had to vent.

Being at the movies when the clock strikes midnight is not something I long for, especially to sit in a packed movie theater in New York City to watch a movie I could see at 11am at the Garden State Plaza. However, when a friend asked me to join her this morning at this opening showing of “Quantum of Solace,” I couldn’t say “No.”

Before the movie, we went to a Cuban restaurant for dinner and to a bar for a drink before settling in to our rather comfortable seats for the latest James Bond flick. At the bar, the Jets game was on the tube, and with her being a Jets fan, her eyes were fixated on Brett Favre and Gang Green. We didn’t get to see the ending since we were off to the subway to get to the movies, though I was happy to hear that the Jets beat the Patriots.

I don’t know what I was looking for “Quantum of Solace.” While I like James Bond, I am not a diehard Bond fan. The remake of “Casino Royale” was spectacular, so I guess I was looking for the movie to be in that vein. To my surprise, most of the movie surpassed what I was looking for, though the ending wasn’t as spectacular as I was expecting, especially as the movie unfolded.

What I needed was to watch “Casino Royale” before heading to the theater. It would have helped me a lot in understanding and remembering some of the nuances that linked the films. For a diehard Bond fan, I think they are going to just love this film.

What I didn’t like — the new Bond song. It was blah. Maybe I still harbor those old Sheena Easton “For Your Eyes Only” fantasies where the song so completely tied into the movie and wanted something like that. For me to write something bad against Alicia Keys, who sang the song, is not easy because I love Keys music. But this Bond song, it just didn’t do it for me.

UPDATE: Yes, I know - the Keys song is a duet with rocker Jack White. However, to me, it is a Keys song. And yes, I know that this is the first Bond film that is not based on a novel. And yes, I know that one can see this missing element in the film. And a final yes, I know that Bond is more “Jason Bourne” in this film than in previous movies; but that is what happens when a movie is based primarily on a screenplay versus a movie screenplay based on a book. In the end, I liked the movie.

But I did get a feeling after watching this movie — I want to go to Italy.

I know, my whining is getting to you.

I’ve been busy. The past eight days have been insane. Why? I don’t know. I can’t control how my days unfold.

As I sit here in my church office at 8:05am, I am looking at my calendar for the next week — it looks like it is more open. And thank God for that! I need it.

On Monday night, our Voter’s Body reminded me that I need some time off considering that I haven’t used my vacation time since I started here at Saint Matthew’s.

Yes, you read that right. I haven’t taken an entire week, much less two, of my allotted vacation time during the past three-plus years. I know this is just plain wrong and dangerous for me.

So when I hear this  and know that my week is nuts, their words rang more truer in my ears.

My Friday is not too bad, and my Saturday is open — to a point. I do have to prepare for Saturday night church and for Sunday service. But there isn’t a whole lot to do.

And I am glad that my Friday isn’t too long because I spent early this morning in the city watching the new James Bond movie. I got home after 3, officiated at Morning Prayer at 7:15, and now I am typing in my office.

As you would guess, I need sleep.

Today brought a major change to the lineups of XM and Sirius Satellite Radio as the two services combined most of their music channels to save money. I know some XM subscribers aren’t too thrilled with this change since it was always believed that XM always had a deeper playlist than their Sirius counterparts. In my opinion, the loss of a couple of channels is balanced by the overall strength of their music lineups. So, they merged their rock stations. XMers now get Radio Margaritaville (programmed by Jimmy Buffet) and E. Street Radio (Bruce Springsteen 24/7).

To be honest, satellite radio has spoiled me. It isn’t because there are no commercials, but that there is such a vast choice of music options that are not available on regular radio. Heck, as I type this, I am listening to the 80s on 8 channel (as you can guess, all 80s music). And before that, I was listening to Lithium (90s alternative rock) in an effort to shake the sleepiness out of my head.

I do still listen to terrestrial radio — better known as regular, free radio: 1010 WINS, 880 WCBS (both for local news and traffic), 770 WABC (for Rush Limbaugh), and 101.9FM WRXP (for their “rock” mix). Outside of that, it is a rare day I flip on the AM/FM band.

However … with today’s merged lineups, I do have some mourning to get through. Gone are Lucy, Fred, and Ethel. These were the greatest names in alternative rock music. Oh, not because they made any sense, but in spite of their little quirkiness, it was just fun to say, “I was listening to Lucy and they played some Nirvana song I hadn’t heard in a long while.”

To which the response was always, “What’s Lucy?”

Tonight, our church Voter’s Body met. The big news coming from the meeting is that they adopted the 2009 church budget. Don’t ask me what is in it. But we’ll be mailing out a budget and an information packet over the next two weeks. There were a few other things that came from the meeting — we’ll print these in our “Saint Matthew’s Matters” this coming weekend.

Someone asked if we could upload a copy of the announcements to the church website. We have thought about doing this, but we’ve been having a formatting problem when we convert the file to a PDF. This is something we’re working on in the office.

ALSO, I hung up the 2009 Flower chart. It is located in the upper hallway. Don’t forget — when you sign up for a particular week, please fill out a pink “flower sheet” and place in the church office.

In other, less important news, when I arrived home, I turned on the Oilers-Rangers game from the Garden. At the time, they were late in the 3rd Period, tied at 2. The Blueshirts survived the OT period, but then took the collar in the shootout, losing 1-0, and the game 3-2.

I woke up this morning feeling more tired than I did when I went to sleep last night.

All day, I’ve been dragging. Even now, as I return from visits and a stop at home, I am pooped. 

Before coming back to church, I made a cup of yerba mate tea with the hopes it will kick me into gear. But I have zero confidence that it will work.

I went to the pet store today to pick up food for our church fish. Standing at the counter, I was listening to the workers who were moving boxes around. Their topic?

Prayer.

One guy said he prayed everyday, but he didn’t go to church much.

The other man said he went to church every week, but rarely prayed.

I giggled a bit when I heard this conversation, not because of what they said about their spiritual lives, but that in a society that rejects God, to have two people in a pet store talking about praying is always nice.

Of course, I turned to them and said that I went to church everyday AND I prayed everyday, as well. They both laughed.

I must write one more political post before putting my political hat away.

It is only hours after President-designate Obama’s victory speech and already conservatives are preparing the Kool Aid for mass suicide.

This morning — after speaking with friends and listening to morning talk radio — there are many conservatives who apparently think America has ceased to exist because we elected Democrat Barack Obama as president and expanded Democrat control in the Congress. They are complaining that everything is over, that conservatism has been swept into the dustpan of history, that rampant liberalism is going to destroy America and its core principles, and that they have the mainstream media to thank for it.

I have only one thing to ask them — do you know what a conservative is?

At its core, conservatism is an optimistic political ideology. Conservatives innately believe in individualism over the collectivism of the state. We believe that the best government is small, that laws to restrict personal freedom are minimized, and that morals are upheld.

When a neighbor is hurt, we help; not that we look for government to provide the help, WE HELP. We give of ourselves — our time, our money, our prayers. That is why conservatives donate to charity in record numbers each year. We give and don’t ask for a pat on the back.

When we lose elections, we don’t despair. We figure out why we lost and fix it. When we look with a serious eye at our current election loss, we must challenge ourselves to accept a few basic truths:

1. Our elected “conservative leaders,” from the President to the Congress, have let us down. They raised government spending, increased government intrusiveness into the lives of all Americans, and became the inside the beltway porkers they promised they never would become.

2. The conservative ideology didn’t fail in this election; our so-called moderate Republican leaders failed. Making deals for the sake of getting invites to Washington D.C. cocktail parties is not what we stand for — we stand for smaller government, lower taxes, and more freedom. When our elected leaders give us the opposite, then they failed us.

3. The world is not over. I went out to breakfast this morning with someone who voted for those I did not. Was our coffee hot and the conversation we had pleasant? Yes. Did she lord it over me that my woman lost? No. In fact, the election came up only briefly.

Did my New York Post get delivered on-time? Yes. My internet connection still works and the Rangers are giving me heartache over their latest loss to the Islanders. I went to church this morning and it was still standing. My prayer book still opened and my heart still had the joy of Christ in it.

The world hasn’t ended.

Conservatives may have lost an election, but our ideas are still relevant. They didn’t lose; our mushy candidates did. We remain optimistic this morning because of who we are and what we believe. We go to work with a smile on our faces because we know that we can make things better. Not that government can make America a better place, but the American spirit that fills all Americans will make our nation stronger and better.

We keep our heads high today because of our great faith in better times. Our political enemies only won an election. When they lost in 2000 and 2004, they cried like bratty kids until last night. We don’t act that way. Instead, we fight on, believing in the principles that William Buckley and Ronald Reagan espoused. They started and emboldened a great conservative movement through their words and optimistic outlook for our nation. They never hung their heads; they stood tall and continued to fight for what they believed.

That is conservatism.

Now back to my pastor’s life…

(Now to put on my political hat for a short time)

What an interesting Election Day, don’t you think?

First, America elects its first African-American president. Senator Barack Obama, the president-designate (he is NOT the president-elect yet since that election will take place when the Electors from the Electoral College cast their votes next month) was gracious and inspiring at his victory celebration in Chicago last night. It says something about this country — from its racial segregation history to all the race baiters and race haters that are still around — that the United States elected a young black man as its next Commander in Chief.

America should be proud of itself today.

Now, to make my vote of yesterday public, I voted for Sarah Palin and John McCain. Yes, I was much more comfortable with Sarah Palin than with John McCain. I think, in the end, if McCain picked any other of the rumored VP selections back in August, I could have seen myself writing in  Stephen Colbert for president. Back in the primary season, I voted for Governor Mitt Romney, the Mormon, feeling that he had a more solid conservative conviction and would have been a tougher candidate to face Obama in the general election. We’ll never know if I was right, but suffice to say, I wasn’t happy with Senator McCain and hated the way he ran his campaign.

However, as a nation we move forward with our heads up.

Second, Obama ran for election as one of the most liberal candidates in history, yet in state after state, voters, while casting ballots for Obama, cast votes in favor of traditional marriage. This shows an important political point — while America voted for Obama, this nation did not vote in favor of the far-left political policies he espoused. If they voted purely on political lines, there is no correlation as to why people would vote conservative on a major social issue and elect a very liberal president. But it shows that America still stands for conservative ideals.

This will present a governing challenge for Obama: Does he govern from the far left, where his candidacy was, or just from the left, something that will anger a good chunk of his fervent supporters who want a far left government?

It will be interesting to watch.

Third, New Jersey sent back to Washington a Senator who didn’t want the job a few years ago. He was dragged out of retirement to save his Democrat party from humiliation. How can anyone in the state Republican establishment look at themselves in the mirror today?

And fourth, did you see that council election here in New Milford? Wow!! Incumbent Republican Ann Szubrizi won re-election, but the other three candidates are locked in a virtual deadheat. This race is coming down to a recount and absentees. Only fifteen votes separate current councilmember Randi Duffie and her Democrat running mate and their Republican challenger. I love close elections!!

(Now to put the political hat back on the hat rack and get out to Morning Prayer)

This week, after more than three years, we’ve changed the Morning Prayer service. We are now using the Responsive Prayer 2 option from our new Lutheran Service Book hymnal. 

You can download the service here. You have to print it out - it is printed for legal sized paper. 

But if you come to church tomorrow morning at 7:15am, you don’t have to print it out at home.

As you probably know - Starbucks is offering free coffee to everyone who casts a ballot today. Of course, they are taking a person’s word for it that they voted.

So, have I gotten off my duff and gone to Starbucks to get my free coffee?

No.