I don’t like capris pants (those pant-short hybrids that come down to about mid-calf). While I strongly dislike them on women, I really don’t like seeing men wearing them. Yes, you read that correctly. I have seen men in capris pants. As a matter of fact, I’ve seen lots of men wearing capris pants. While we were wandering around the zoo yesterday I saw several men wearing them. And in case you are wondering, these were not particularly feminine men – they were just guys out for the day with their families. I am guessing the male version of capris pants has a masculine name. They are probably sold as “hiking shorts” or “macho masculine legwear” or something. I will never wear them. I promise.
I did some quick math this afternoon and estimate that today I filled out my two thousandth blank. I figure that each sermon has an average of 8 to 10 blanks to fill out. I have been attending churches that hand out the “fill-in-the-blank” message outlines for about four years now, so I should be right around 2000 blanks.
I was thinking today about the song “Unchanging” by Chris Tomlin, a song that many churches sing on a regular basis. The chorus includes the words “so we raise up holy hands / to praise the holy One / Who was and is and is to come.” Nice words and a great tune. I got to thinking, though, about the Biblical inspiration for the song and realized that the verse it comes from, 1 Timothy 2:8 reads “I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing.” The context of the verse is about how men should worship and is followed by a few verses speaking about women and worship. According to this passage, then, only men should be lifting their hands during this song. Actually, even more correctly, men should be lifting their hands in prayer, not in song.
This song also contains a grammatical error…I think. It says “wide is your love and grace.” Shouldn’t that read “wide are your love and grace?”
Coming up this week I have a review of Brian McLaren’s book More Ready Than You Realize. I am also working on a series of interviews to be posted (eventually) on this site. I have a few other things I am working on so hope to have a productive week of writing.
