This summer our family is foregoing cable TV, having cut it off completely in favor of a menu of Hulu and Netflix. In truth, we're probably watching more TV than we did before because so much of cable TV is crap and there's really a lot of good stuff on those two providers. But that's not why we quit...by doing this we're saving almost $90/month even after you add up the Netflix and Hulu fees.
Still, I miss watching sports, which you don't get on those two, and only watching highlights over the internet really isn't fulfilling. We did a trial of Sling TV, which gives you 21 channels (including the first two ESPNs) for $20, and could have added a sports package that included BeIN sports for another $5, but again, this led to a fundamental problem I have with the idea of cable: sure, you get a couple of channels that you want, but you also get a bunch more channels that you don't and have to pay for them in the meantime. I will never watch Polaris or Galavision (unless, of course, they get the rights to EPL soccer), so don't make me pay for it!
There's been some talk for years about a 'pick-and-pay' cable system, but it's never really taken off, mostly because groups as diverse as minorities (concerned about diversity) to religious broadcasters (worried that their stuff won't be selected) to ESPN (realizing with dread that if people knew the real cost of subscribing to them many would not) would fight it to the death. Every once in awhile the idea is proposed again, but cable companies know that this would kill their bottom line and so nothing like this will ever get done.
But still we can dream here in blogland. I got to thinking today while mowing the yard in a hundred degree heat about an entertainment company I would start if I had a few billion and could nullify most of the existing laws and agreements. It's called 'Fairgrounds Entertainment', conjuring up an idea about this being fair, but also the memory we have of buying a la carte tokens when we go to county fairs. Pay one token for a kiddie ride, but if you want to go big and ride the screamer that costs you five.
So here's how it would work, if a pick-and-pay system will never happen here: let's say for $50 you get a hundred tokens of value. You can't buy less, ensuring that the cable company gets something and making it where you have to buy at least a certain value number of channels. But with that hundred tokens you can choose what you want. Want to go cheap? There's El Rey for a single token! Willing to spend a little bit more to make the tweens happy? You can get a month of Nickelodeon for three tokens! And if you really want to splurge, you can buy each of the ESPNs for 10 apiece.
Companies can decide how many tokens they want to charge. If they have a high opinion of their network, they can charge as much as they want...but then will face the consequences of not having a lot of subscribers. Companies more interested in volume and increasing their market share can each get for a buck. Over time companies can lower or raise their cost, knowing that whatever they do will in turn affect their subscription rate. This really is the free market at its best; my old economics professors would combust in their Adam Smith-ness if they could see this happen.
Because here's the catch: every month consumers can re-choose what they want to buy by logging onto their account and switching up their lineup. Choice rules everything. No longer interested in AMC now that Mad Men and Breaking Bad are gone? That's four tokens to spend elsewhere. Want a month of watching the Copa Del Rey soccer tournament on BeIN sports for three tokens apiece? Sounds great! Again, this seems to be the dream of the free market at its best: cable channels that are good get selected for a fair price; cable channels no longer worth watching or who make the mistake of taking the easy buck by cramming in lots of infomercials get dumped. It's that easy.
If 100 tokens are not enough, there can be more variations than your simple 100 token package, but this will continue to be the minimum. Want to add another 50 tokens for $20? Sounds good. Look into 'bundling options' that some channels are teaming up to do (e.g. Oxygen, Lifetime, and HGTV are available together for three months at 10 tokens a month rather than their normal cost of 4 tokens each)? We can do that too. Rival channels running at discounts in order to get market share (getting Fox Sports and NBC Sports and the MLB channel at the same price as ESPN)? It's a TV wonderland!
The downside of this idea (beyond the fact that cable companies will never, EVER let Congress allow this to happen) is that bad channels will quickly go bankrupt. And in truth you won't get as many channels as you get now, and likely most people would be too lazy to ever change their channels monthly. I'm not really sure Americans could handle this much freedom.
But still, we can dream. If you love nothing but news you could get your fill of the cable news and financial channels. If you love sports, you could have a whole package of nothing but ESPN and Fox Sports and a ton of other channels. Networks could even get involved, though it would be hilarious when many of them are rudely awakened that not many people would pay half their tokens for a whole morning of Today and Jerry Springer.
Because I a)will never have the money to do this and b)do not have the business acumen to do this anybody who wants to steal this idea is more than welcome to do so. My only request is that I get extra tokens at least a couple of times a year...
Thursday, June 25, 2015
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
Booing Brownback
Recently there was a storm of outrage about Governor Brownback being booed at the WSU/KU game. How dare people boo the governor! Why, it's disrespectful and hateful. I've seen more than a few of my conservative friends up in arms about this.
And while I think some of the comments were funny (such as, 'how can he root for these teams when he's just as soon cut off funding for their schools'?), I agree at least in principle with what the frustration...leaders should be respected and prayed for. As a Christian, I should seek to pray for leaders I agree with and leaders I don't.
But I can't help but laugh when, living in the most red of red states, there is this outrage about Governor Brownback when he has been booed. President Obama, and most Democrats, can only hope to get off with booing from most Christians.
Will Christians repent for the hateful and slanderous things that have been said about Obama, the Clintons, Nancy Pelosi, and the like through most of my lifetime?
Will Christians turn off Fox News when 'fair and balanced' means little more than a token defender of the President while their hosts make endless and unsubstantiated allegations about him and his political allies?
Will Christians stop gleefully listening to hour upon hour of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and the like, who are little more than hatchet men who know that their mostly 'Christian' audiences love to hear mocking and salacious attacks on their political enemies?
Living in a red state, I can guarantee that it takes a lot more 'courage' and 'boldness' to speak against the poor policies of Brownback, the Koch brothers, and their political allies than it does to complain about the President and the federal government. Everybody does the latter...almost nobody does the former. Especially at church, when many of my fellow Christians feel that tea partyism is equivalent to Christianity.
So I agree...what happened was distasteful. But until I hear 'Christian' people start to be more proper and righteous with their words (and not behave like 'spoiled brats' as one writer said...conservative Christians live with far more of a delusion of entitlement than anybody I know, but that's for another time), I'll not really take those complaints seriously.
And while I think some of the comments were funny (such as, 'how can he root for these teams when he's just as soon cut off funding for their schools'?), I agree at least in principle with what the frustration...leaders should be respected and prayed for. As a Christian, I should seek to pray for leaders I agree with and leaders I don't.
But I can't help but laugh when, living in the most red of red states, there is this outrage about Governor Brownback when he has been booed. President Obama, and most Democrats, can only hope to get off with booing from most Christians.
Will Christians repent for the hateful and slanderous things that have been said about Obama, the Clintons, Nancy Pelosi, and the like through most of my lifetime?
Will Christians turn off Fox News when 'fair and balanced' means little more than a token defender of the President while their hosts make endless and unsubstantiated allegations about him and his political allies?
Will Christians stop gleefully listening to hour upon hour of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and the like, who are little more than hatchet men who know that their mostly 'Christian' audiences love to hear mocking and salacious attacks on their political enemies?
Living in a red state, I can guarantee that it takes a lot more 'courage' and 'boldness' to speak against the poor policies of Brownback, the Koch brothers, and their political allies than it does to complain about the President and the federal government. Everybody does the latter...almost nobody does the former. Especially at church, when many of my fellow Christians feel that tea partyism is equivalent to Christianity.
So I agree...what happened was distasteful. But until I hear 'Christian' people start to be more proper and righteous with their words (and not behave like 'spoiled brats' as one writer said...conservative Christians live with far more of a delusion of entitlement than anybody I know, but that's for another time), I'll not really take those complaints seriously.
Saturday, February 21, 2015
The last of the heroes
As a young boy I grew up, like most kids, looking for role models. Coming from a family in which sports was important I gravitated towards athletes. Pete Rose, O.J. Simpson, and Dr. J were three athletes that I thought were the coolest of the cool. Yep, a gambler, murderer, and a legendary philanderer were my heroes, though I didn't know any of their dirty secrets at the time.
But nobody compared to Bruce Jenner, 1976 Olympic decathlon winner. Here was the greatest athlete in the world, a man among men. He was forever on the box of Wheaties, the stud we all aspired to be. He became a reporter, man about town, race car driver. He was so manly that eventually he replaced Erik Estrada on CHIPS. Sure, it didn't last...but even Estrada never was on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
When did it all go wrong? Maybe it was when he appeared on Silver Spoons. Or maybe when he was the star of 'Can't Stop The Music'. But was there ever a point where we could say he was headed towards this bizarre Kardashian/transgender/hit-and-run place he is at now? And what does the seven-year-old within me think of all this?
Heroes are strange things. There's something within us that looks up to certain people, and when those people no longer are what we thought they were (or we realize that they never were what we thought they were to begin with) it affects us. None of these heroes should be blamed for not fulfilling our expectations...but the spotlight can be a very hard thing, not only for the ones under it but the ones watching it.
I suppose I still have heroes, though they are more about genuine character than our imaginations. Heroes in recent years are people I know...a minister friend of mine who died recently after many years of faithful service to the church, or a grandmother who takes her children in when her kids aren't able to raise them well, or a teacher who year after year puts up with the crap of the modern education system because she loves kids. People like this will still fail sometimes, but at least they won't have married a Kardashian.
But nobody compared to Bruce Jenner, 1976 Olympic decathlon winner. Here was the greatest athlete in the world, a man among men. He was forever on the box of Wheaties, the stud we all aspired to be. He became a reporter, man about town, race car driver. He was so manly that eventually he replaced Erik Estrada on CHIPS. Sure, it didn't last...but even Estrada never was on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
When did it all go wrong? Maybe it was when he appeared on Silver Spoons. Or maybe when he was the star of 'Can't Stop The Music'. But was there ever a point where we could say he was headed towards this bizarre Kardashian/transgender/hit-and-run place he is at now? And what does the seven-year-old within me think of all this?
Heroes are strange things. There's something within us that looks up to certain people, and when those people no longer are what we thought they were (or we realize that they never were what we thought they were to begin with) it affects us. None of these heroes should be blamed for not fulfilling our expectations...but the spotlight can be a very hard thing, not only for the ones under it but the ones watching it.
I suppose I still have heroes, though they are more about genuine character than our imaginations. Heroes in recent years are people I know...a minister friend of mine who died recently after many years of faithful service to the church, or a grandmother who takes her children in when her kids aren't able to raise them well, or a teacher who year after year puts up with the crap of the modern education system because she loves kids. People like this will still fail sometimes, but at least they won't have married a Kardashian.
Monday, January 26, 2015
The 10 sermons we preach
There's a preaching urban legend that goes something like this...one reason many old-time preachers only stayed one place for a short length of time is that they only had a years' worth of sermons. When they would get through their year of sermons, they would move on to somewhere else, repeat those sermons, and move on again.
The truth is, most of us only have a handful of sermons. No matter where we begin, we end up in the same places. In Churches of Christ my experience is that the standard-issue list of traditionalist sermons goes something like this.
-1)The importance of sound preaching.
-2)The necessity of baptism by immersion.
-3)The evils of instrumental music.
-4)The evils of denominationalism.
-5)The evils of creeds, since we preach the Bible alone.
-6)Divorce and remarriage.
-7)The pattern of the church organization (a. a plurality of elders; b. the qualification of elders and deacons; c. the evils of parachurch organizations)
-8)The pattern of acceptable worship (singing, communion, giving, praying, preaching)
-9)The Adamic, Mosaic, and Christian dispensations (for expert Jule Miller-filmstrip-approved preachers only)
-10)The sins of worldliness we must avoid (pre-1970s); the proper role of women (post-1970s).
Again, it's not really important where one started from, but these themes seemed to appear in almost every kind of sermon I grew up hearing. Nadab and Abihu? That's a warning about instrumental music! Acts (oh, we loved Acts)? Numerous examples of proper conversion! The Pastoral epistles? Church organization AND words on Sound Preaching! For all of our talk about creeds, these seem to be the Ten Most Important Things.
I used to laugh at the small-mindedness of this list...but as I have now finished 15 years of full-time preaching and almost 20 years of full-time ministry, I'm starting to realize that most of my sermons keep coming back to the same subjects. I might well have close to fifteen hundred sermons in my files (and probably another 800 classes), but put them back to back and there's not that much variety. I would, however, like to think that the things I have focused on are a more Biblical list, things that are genuinely important to matters of Christian faith. So, what's my list, if I am being honest?
-1)Jesus is the only way to salvation.
-2)Grace, not perfect obedience, grants one salvation.
-3)The death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.
-4)The love, grace and mercy we must show to one another.
-5)The abject sinfulness of humanity, repeated again and again in human history.
-6)The calling out to God (as exemplified in Psalms).
-7)The power of the Holy Spirit for a transformed life.
-8)The call of God to return from sin (as exemplified in the Prophets).
-9)The teachings of Jesus for a full life.
-10)Why the power of the gospel enables Christians to live a holy life.
I'm sure that there are a few other things that I preach, but really most of my sermons end back up in these subjects. I like my list a lot better than the first list, and I think it's more at the core of Scripture...but after all these years I'm finding that I'm not so different than my preaching ancestors.
The truth is, most of us only have a handful of sermons. No matter where we begin, we end up in the same places. In Churches of Christ my experience is that the standard-issue list of traditionalist sermons goes something like this.
-1)The importance of sound preaching.
-2)The necessity of baptism by immersion.
-3)The evils of instrumental music.
-4)The evils of denominationalism.
-5)The evils of creeds, since we preach the Bible alone.
-6)Divorce and remarriage.
-7)The pattern of the church organization (a. a plurality of elders; b. the qualification of elders and deacons; c. the evils of parachurch organizations)
-8)The pattern of acceptable worship (singing, communion, giving, praying, preaching)
-9)The Adamic, Mosaic, and Christian dispensations (for expert Jule Miller-filmstrip-approved preachers only)
-10)The sins of worldliness we must avoid (pre-1970s); the proper role of women (post-1970s).
Again, it's not really important where one started from, but these themes seemed to appear in almost every kind of sermon I grew up hearing. Nadab and Abihu? That's a warning about instrumental music! Acts (oh, we loved Acts)? Numerous examples of proper conversion! The Pastoral epistles? Church organization AND words on Sound Preaching! For all of our talk about creeds, these seem to be the Ten Most Important Things.
I used to laugh at the small-mindedness of this list...but as I have now finished 15 years of full-time preaching and almost 20 years of full-time ministry, I'm starting to realize that most of my sermons keep coming back to the same subjects. I might well have close to fifteen hundred sermons in my files (and probably another 800 classes), but put them back to back and there's not that much variety. I would, however, like to think that the things I have focused on are a more Biblical list, things that are genuinely important to matters of Christian faith. So, what's my list, if I am being honest?
-1)Jesus is the only way to salvation.
-2)Grace, not perfect obedience, grants one salvation.
-3)The death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.
-4)The love, grace and mercy we must show to one another.
-5)The abject sinfulness of humanity, repeated again and again in human history.
-6)The calling out to God (as exemplified in Psalms).
-7)The power of the Holy Spirit for a transformed life.
-8)The call of God to return from sin (as exemplified in the Prophets).
-9)The teachings of Jesus for a full life.
-10)Why the power of the gospel enables Christians to live a holy life.
I'm sure that there are a few other things that I preach, but really most of my sermons end back up in these subjects. I like my list a lot better than the first list, and I think it's more at the core of Scripture...but after all these years I'm finding that I'm not so different than my preaching ancestors.
Monday, December 29, 2014
Stopping a sermon before it crashes...
Monday mornings for some preachers is a time in which they feel bad about the previous Sunday. For me, though, Monday morning is when I start outlining my sermon for the coming Sunday. If all has gone well in previous weeks, when I've been doing proper Bible study and prayer and reflection about what needs to be said (or, better said, what God is trying to say through me), outlining the sermon that will be formally written on Wednesday is easy. The sermon writes itself.
Today, though, I knew that there was going to be a problem. Even as I had done my preliminary on this sermon, it never really felt right. In doing this for almost 20 years, when I have to go hunting for scriptures to back up my premise, the sermon becomes something that is probably not worth preaching. This was one of those sermons. While I think that the premise was probably good and needs to be said, I had a hard time justifying the sermon. I came to realize while looking over my previous notes that it was more like a rant than a sermon.
Rant sermons are all too common by preachers. We get fired up about something that is happened to us, or something makes us mad, and we want the congregation to know what's on our mind. Or we get really invested in some particular doctrinal point and we think that the congregation isn't right until they agree with us. So we rant and rave, and in the end we haven't preached the gospel of Jesus Christ. Yes, it's frustrating to have wasted all that time on a sermon that won't (and should not) be preached...but it's better to have destroyed a sermon before it can do any harm.
If there is one blessing about having preached for almost 20 years, it's that there are plenty of sermons stuck away in the file cabinets. Not all of them are good, of course, or are worthy of repeating. But at least I have one that can be preached so that the church will be blessed rather than cursed.
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