goodbye, michael scott

well, i was going to write about other things today, but i just can't shake this funk, so all i've got in me is to offer this tearful goodbye to michael scott, america's manager.  the office has been my favorite tv show for years now, and michael's antics, lack of verbal comprehension, and lovable loneliness has been at the center of that.  he has very literally made me laugh until my stomach ached, and made me sniffle, trying to hold in tears while thinking how ridiculous it is that a sitcom about a paper company could make me cry.  i've watched him burn his foot on a george forman grill, throw watermelons off an office building in scranton, and get himself into the most wildly awkward situations imaginable.  and over the course of it, i have come to love him.  and now he will be gone, flying off to colorado to his unknown future, and leaving me with a sad feeling, not just like my sitcom lost its central character, but like i'd lost a friend.  i know it's crazy, but it's how i feel.  i will miss you michael scott. 

our easter

we had a wonderful easter this year, as you will see below.  we actually did our easter basket thing on saturday morning, since easter sunday is a little busy for me.  then, saturday afternoon, we hosted an easter egg hunt at our church, and we had a great time there.  then, sunday started off with an early service at 7am led by the youth of our church, followed by a breakfast which was very well attended.  then we had sunday school and our regular worship service at 10am.  all in all we had about 250 people in church on easter morning, and the spirit was one of joy and excitment. 

after church we quickly got in the van and headed for shannon's parents house.  when we arrived there we had a wonderful feast of food, followed by an easter egg hunt for all of the cousins.  we had a little better weather than we expected and it was just fun to be outdoors.  after all of that we celebrated cade's birthday with a bunny cake and lots of birthday presents. 

and by the end of the day, we were all pretty tuckered out, as you can see in the final picture. 

hope your easter was as blessed as ours was. 

lent 2011 collage series

well, it was an amazing lent, full of ash and agony, rebellion and redemption, loss and life.  and for me personally, it was such a great endeavor to collage my way through it.  it was a discipline of time, to be sure, as well as one of creativity.  it isn't always easy to create on a deadline, but it forces you to think in a way that life doesn't always let you think.  it was challenging, to be sure, but so rewarding, too, to wrestle with each text, to discover the hidden questions underneath the familiarity.  i have enjoyed the process, and i have enjoyed sharing them with you along the way, as well as many of your comments here and on facebook.  many of you have commented about how you would like to own one or another, and so i have decided to sell them.  i will not be selling them as a complete set, but as individual pieces.  each one is priced at $40.  please be aware that these collages are unframed and are made on artist's canvas, which means you can't just go buy a frame at target and throw the collage in it.  however, the collage could be hung on a wall without a frame, simply by adding some simple hanging hardware available at department stores.  or you could pay to have it framed (which can be expensive).  they each measure 8x10 inches. 

if you would like to see each one, with title and price, please click the "keep reading" link below. 

***some of the collages have already been spoken for, so please leave a comment soon if you want one.  there are no bidding wars.  the price is the price.  the first to comment gets the collage. 

happy birthday, caedmon

today is cade's 4th birthday.  it's been a busy day for us, full of festivities and travel, so you'll have to wait for a more full post, but i wanted to just say on this day that i am head-over-heels in love with this kid.  happy birthday, caedmon. 

easter collage: not here

well, we've reached the end of Lent, the end of our 40 day journey that started in ashes and ends with life bursting forth against all odds.  hallelujah!  death sometimes looks so strong and overwhelming, but Jesus proved once and for all that LOVE WINS!!!!  it's the greatest part of our faith, that no matter what else happens, no matter how many things go wrong, no matter how advanced the cancer is, no matter how deep the debt is, no matter how terrible the sin is, no matter how bitter the pill, no matter how dark the night, no matter how lost the soul: love wins.  love wins.  love always wins.  hallelujah!

and so my lenten journey of collaging ends, as well.  the last one is one from mark 16:1-6, which talks of the three women who make their way to the tomb early in the morning.  mark tells us that they had bought some spices, and were worried about how they would move the stone at the entrance in order to properly annoint Jesus' body.  but when they got there, the stone was moved and Jesus' body was gone.  it makes me wonder what happened to those spices?  did they save them?  did they think the body would turn up somewhere?  did they drop them right there?  did they hold onto them as a reminder of the miraculous event?  no one knows, of course, but it causes me to wonder how often we as Christians are like ones who are still waiting to annoint a dead body.  our faith often resembles looks to others like the faith of ones who have lost their hope, rather than ones whose hope has defeated death once and for all.  and even though easter will be full of "hallelujahs" and "he is risens," what will the sound of our churches be in a week, in a month?  will we sound like those running away from the tomb to tell others the exciting news?  or will we sound like those who are still looking to use our spices to annoint something that is dead and gone?  my prayer for my church - and for the church universal - is that it will be the former. 

"lent 2011: not here"

mixed media on canvas

april, 2011

gregory a. milinovich

saturday song: 33

for this holy, rainy saturday, i give you this song by corrinne may. enjoy.



Feels like a milestone

Being in my 30
Friends become mothers and fathers
With little ones of their own
So and so's a doctor
A lawyer and accountant
So and so's got married
They've got a lifetime ahead
A beautiful lifetime ahead

CHORUS

33, the age that You died for me
Now here I am at 33
33, You crowned it with Your life upon a tree
The mystery of Your love for me

We could have been schoolmates
Studying together
We could have had tea and scones
And talked about our day
You walk this path before me
Living close to guide me
You're thirsting for someone
To show a little care
You've hidden in faces everywhere

CHORUS

BRIDGE
Everyone start a song to sing
It doesn't matter how short or long
Just let each note ring
So long as we're in this key

CHORUS
33, the age that You died for me
Now here I am at 33
33, You crowned it with Your life to set me free
The mystery of Your love
The mystery of Your love for me

good friday, 2011

i pray that you have a very full good friday: full of an attentive awareness of God's amazing love for all of us...and for you.  don't - DO NOT - let this day slip by without recognizing that the pain and agony of the Christ is all about love.  love that's stronger than death.  love that's wilder than we can imagine.  love that's deeper than we can realize.  love that's unbelievable.  and yet i pray that today, you might believe in it a little more.  you are loved.

***update:  i have put all of my lenten collages into a small devotional booklet of seven devotions (one for each collage/week of lent).  it is intended as a tool for thoughtful prayer and reflection during the next couple of days.  it is just some thoughts and questions and then a prayer for each collage.  if you remember, each collage was dealing with an event during the last day of Christ's life, so it is very apropos right now.  if you would like me to email you a copy that you can use or forward to others or whatever, just email me at gregorymilinovich at yahoo dot com.  i will be happy to send it out asap for you. 

another note

i got another note this week.  i guess you can tell that i have had some trouble finding the right kind of beans:

oops.  i guess a trip to the store is in order. 

in other news, our tulips are finally starting to bloom, a little late to the party, but beginning to shine forth like great red trumpets.  i love tulips, and have been monitoring their progress each day, so i couldn't resist taking some pics of their unfolding glory:

dying eggs

this bunny was in our back yard yesterday, and just sat there motionless for some time, as if he was here for easter, and realized that he was still several days early and had nowhere else to go.  i thought i'd snap a picture of the little furball just sitting there in his spring green easter grass. 

so, with our easter muse in full effect, we decided to dye easter eggs tonight.  this is always a fun family event, complete with stained hands and furniture and clothes and well, anything else within a 15-foot radius.  but the kids love it (and i absolutely include myself in that group), and we always try and make some interesting ones.  here is the visual proof of the experience:

palm sunday brothers

my boys looked as cute as ever on palm sunday, so i thought i'd post a couple of pics so that you can all share the spring-y cuteness.  nothing profound or elaborate to say today...just the simple joy of my beautiful boys. 

2011 lent collage 6: forsaken

as you probably know by now, i've been collaging my way through lent, using my hobbie as a way to practice spiritual discipline.  each week i have taken the text from worship on the coming sunday, and written it out by hand, struggled with it, played with it, and percolated it in my brain and heart.  i've wrestled with words, been overwhelmed with emotion, and cried more than once.  it has been a very good experience for me to express my interaction with and response to these ancient texts with something other than words.  i hope you've been enjoying it as well.

this week we were dealing with the crucifixion.  not my favorite portion of scripture, to be sure, but one that i think merits our careful attention, as well as our broken hearts.  as i read it through many times and prayed over it, i was struck by how mark's version uses the words "hurled" and "heaped" in reference to the insults and mockery being sent Jesus' way by onlookers.  i had this image of of Jesus just being covered by heaps of hatred, vicious and venomous piles of sin.  and then, for my whole life, i have never been able to be unmoved by the passionate, lonely and mysterious cry of Jesus, "why have you forsaken me?"  it is a call that echoes across the centuries and haunts me.  and so in my collage i tried to capture some of what felt like heaping piles of mockery and insult and the isolation that Christ felt.  it was an interesting topic to address because it seems like every artist has already dealt with the topic, and all of them have handled much more adeptly than i ever could.  so it was a humbling experience, not to mention very spiritually moving. 

i am praying that all of you, my dear readers, have a very rich holy week. 

"lent 2011: forsaken"

mixed media (acrylic paint, paper, crumbled crayon, masking tape) on canvas

april 2011

gregory a. milinovich

and here are some closer shots of the details:

saturday song: clean hands

much of today is going to spent at the church doing some spring cleaning and de-cluttering.  because of that i looked for a song with "clean" in the title, and while i was about to go with petra's 1985 song "clean" from the killer album "beat the system," but i found this song by kutless, and although i don't listen to kutless, i thought it was pretty good, and i enjoyed the little beatles interlude in the middle.  so, i hope your saturday is clean and springy.  peace.

jesus in juice ahem

here's a picture jack colored in "miss Mary's" sunday school class on sunday.  i was impressed with the coloring ability, and given the timely nature of the subject matter, i thought i would share it today.  sunday, of course, is palm sunday, when Jesus somewhat auspiciously entered jerusalem (or juice-ahem) as cade calls it. 

i believe (as i've written here many times) that God is constantly coming into our lives, in an infinite number of ways.  in the loving touch of my son...in the taste of chocolate milk....in the blessing of a good night's rest...in the smell of wet hyacinth being warmed in april sunlight...in all of these ways and millions more, God is coming to us. 

but what is our reaction?  do we even notice?  do we hide from God, or ignore God?  do we celebrate the God-moments we are aware of?  and then what?  do we quickly forget?  do we then change our minds a few days later when things don't go our way?  i, for one, want to welcome the King at every possible moment.  it's easier said than done, of course, but it is my ambition, anyway. 

have a blessed palm sunday as you begin your holy week journey. 

pregnancy update

awww...isn't she looking radiant? 

random: dismembered dolls and discomfort

-so how about that performance by hines ward on DWTS the other night?  huh?  not bad, right?  that is, if you enjoy your favorite football players half nekked on national tv pretending to be a matador.  sheesh.  it just doesn't get any easier.  and then today i read a story about a group of ravens fans who are organizing themselves to try and vote for everyone but hines.  really?  are these people really going to make me vote for this stupid show?  really? 

-maybe they are the ones who planted the messed up hines ward voodoo doll that my sister-in-law "found."  when your sister-in-law tells you excitedly that she found you something for your birthday, you assume that she means that she was at a store (where you buy things) and that she saw something nice that reminder her of you, or that she thought you would really like, and she bought it.  you don't think that she literally found it on the street, covered in soggy cigarette butts and bird droppings.  and even if you do think that, you would have to imagine that the thing she found would be a hundred dollar bill (or at least a 20-spot), or something really nice.  but no, that's not what happened.  instead, after getting your hopes up about she "found" you, she sends you this, in a regular business envelope, with postage due that you have to pay upon receiving it:

that's right.  for my birthday this year i got a badly broken, dismembered hines ward figurine that she literally found on the side of the road.  not to mention that i had to pay real money just to get the thing in the mail.  not the best present i ever recieved, to be sure.  but i think those angry/jealous raven fans had something to do with the dismemberment in the first place.  so i keep this sad little hines as a reminder of all that is inherently evil about baltimore and its legions of louts. 

so dance, hines!  dance!  dance for all that is good in the world!  dance for all that is black and yellow!  dance for the demise of those who would rip the arm of your likeness, or for the embarrassment of those who would give that fractured likeness to their brother-in-law as a birthday present.  i'm looking at you, shay. 

-moving on, i am currently listening to the new sleeping at last ep for april.  Sleeping At Last is a really cool band that is putting out a three song ep for each month of the year.  by the end of the project they will have a 36 song project that encompasses the whole range of the calendar, and let me tell you: it's beautiful.  gorgeous music filled with engaging poetic lyrics.  i love it.  you should check them out. 

-i have gotten up at 5am the last three days to workout, and while that is really early, it still isn't too early to laugh each and every time the opening to the dvd says, "if you experience any discomfort while doing this workout, please stop immediately."  um....really?  isn't that what got me to the point of needing to do a workout in the first place?  look, mr. dvd, i'm already uncomfortable just getting out of bed at this hour, not to mention putting on shoes.  seriously.  i don't need any extra incentive to go back to bed, so please don't talk to me about making sure i'm comfortable.  and don't tell me to consult my physician before working out.  i thought we'd already talked about this.  my physicians all think i'm fat.  they want me to work out.  stop bringing it up and go ahead and get started with the obligatory exercise cliches so i can get all uncomfortable, thank you very much. 

-and now, just for kicks and grins, give me a caption for this:

the 7 reasons i enjoyed my friday night

i didn't get a chance yet to share my joy at being able to see Explosions in the Sky on friday night at StageAE in pittsburgh.  there were many reasons why this was a great experience:

1.  it was in pittsburgh.  i love pittsburgh.  whether i enter from the liberty or fort pitt tubes, or coming down 279 from the north, or down the parkway from the west, i always feel like i'm coming home.  not that i ever lived there.  but it just always feels that way to me.  i love that city. 

2.  the concert was at a new venue which is located directly adjacent to heinz field. which meant that i got to see that giant yellow beauty.  it was glorious, as always, and i waved and shouted a "go steelers!" out the car window to the Chief who is sitting there frozen in time with his cigar.  also, when we left the concert, the pirates were still playing at PNC park (they won in the 14th inning!) and the stadium really is beautiful.  it looked absolutely majestic all lit up at night, like a jewel shining on the city.  stunning.

3.  i got to meet my brother-in-law and a couple of his friends for dinner, and it was great to catch up with him and also meet some new guys.  we ate at the jerome bettis grill 36, which is, of course, the restaurant owned (partly owned?) by jerome himself, and is full of memorabilia and steelers stuff.  everything tastes better in a place like that!  and that leads to the next point:

4.  the jerome bettis grille 36 has perhaps the most interesting restroom i've ever been in.  once you go in the restroom, you notice that right above the urinals there is a huge window which faces towards the bar area and all the tvs featuring any game you want to be watching.  so when you get up to pee, you don't have to miss any of the action!  it is, of course, a one-way mirror, so no one can see through from the other side (at least i hope not!), and it was strange to be looking out at people while peeing.  pretty cool. 

5.  i really enjoyed getting to know the guys i met.  one of them, whose name started with an M, was a very energetic guy and full of life and joy.  he had us all laughing several times, including when he told the story about how he had been told he couldn't bring his 24-ounce bottle of water into PNC park to see the pirates because they only allow bottles 20 ounces and smaller.  so he drank 4 ounces.  but then they told him that he couldn't bring an open container in.  he was irritated, and he threw away his newly purchased bottle of water.  while sitting in his seat watching the game, the woman in the seat in front of him pulled out knitting needles and began knitting a scarf or something.  KNITTING NEEDLES!!!  he was so mad that she was allowed to bring in lethal weapons of possible destruction and he wasn't even allowed to bring in his water, that he refuses to go back.  he told a dozen or so other hilarious stories, a hand full of which involved knitting needles in some capacity (or at least we found a way to make them a part of the story) and we had many laughs.  it was good to meet you, M.  and if you're reading this: you made the blog!  cheers.

6.  then there was the concert itself.  the venue was very nice, if a bit corporate-feeling (it's named after american eagle, who is headquartered in pittsburgh).  there was a great crowd there, which was good to see (even if it was made up of people mostly 10-15 years my junior in hipster uniforms).  the opening act was a band called "the octopus project" and while they really only had vocals on one song, their music was much more electronic based than Explosions' and i'm not sure that everyone loved it.  but i adored it.  they had all sorts of cool technology as part of the music, including instruments that i had never seen before, and a stellar artsy video display going on behind them during the music.  i could have easily enjoyed a whole show of their stuff (although i checked out their recorded stuff and don't like it nearly as much as the show).  then explosions came on and while they are similar in that they don't have any vocals, it couldn't have been more different.  there was no video show, or even light effects, really. it was mostly just the bare-bones, beautiful music.  one of the guys with us had never even heard explosions in the sky before, and he said that it was like a symphony.  truly there music is epic, with quiet understated moments punctuated by sweeping sounds of magnificent glory and rapture.  it is a journey, and it was cool to see them playing it and to enjoy the journey along with them.  really beautiful (and deafeningly loud) stuff. 

7.  after driving out of pittsburgh i spent the night at my sister's and brother-in-law's place and then got to see my sister and niece, my other sister and brother-in-law, and my mom and dad the next morning!  it was a fun surprise and then i headed back home to serve spaghetti at the United Methodist Men's annual spaghetti dinner.  during the drive home from pittsburgh i had plenty of time to sing my heart out, give thanks for opportunities like this, and celebrate a life that is full of clanging guitars, giant yellow stadiums, knitting needles, and one-way mirrors.  it's an amazing life. 

2011 lent collage 5: purple

this week in church we looked at the way the roman cohort of soldiers mocked and tortured Jesus prior to his crucifixion.  as i reread it, i could only see the twisted laughter on the face of the soldiers (and all humanity, really).  i can only see the juxtaposition between the broken face of God, dripping with sweat and blood, and the twisted sick grin of humanity, ironically beating the humanity out of the only one who could love humanity through it all.  i imagine hearing the soldiers laugh as they make a crown of thorns and a scepter of reeds and beat him around the face and head with it.  and the scene, to me, is colored purple with the robe of the fake coronation.  when love came...when our king came, the best we could do was treat him to a fake coronation full of whips and thorns. 

"and this is how we know what love is:  that Christ died for us while we were yet sinners"

i know that this is a dark topic: the violence of the romans and the way it gets repeated in the holocaust and the crusades, in rwanda and in yugoslavia, and in every age and every place in big and small ways.  the ugliness of this story reminds us of our own ugliness - the ugliness in each of us, and how we desperately need a savior.  and so while it is hard to take an honest look at ourselves and recognize our own faces in the mocking soldiers, we must do so if we are to really grasp the love Jesus demonstrates, and if we are really going to see our need for such a saving love. 

"lent 2011:purple"

mixed media collage on canvas

april 2011

gregory a. milinovich

hit the "keep reading" button to see some closer images revealing some of the details of the collage. 

explosions in the sky

i don't get to concerts too often.  it's not that i wouldn't like to; i love live music.  it's just that, with kids, and ticket prices, and babysitter prices, it becomes a bit unrealistic.  so, we don't get to too many concerts. 

which is why i'm all the more excited about where i am going tonight.  i'll be meeting my brother in law in pittsburgh to see the band explosions in the sky (as you can see from the concert poster i designed above). explosions in the sky is considered by many to be a "post-rock" band, which is another way of saying that they represent something beyond the typical beatles-wannabe 4 piece power pop rock and roll band. they themselves have denied the "post-rock" categorization, but they nonetheless are certainly pushing the boundaries of what rock and roll sounds like. 

you may have heard their music without even realizing it, because if you ever watched this movie:

then you've heard their music since they composed and performed the soundtrack.  you may have also heard their song "first breath after coma" in a variety of shows and commercials. 

an explosions in the sky song is an opus, often an epic sweeping adventure full of broad dynamics.  one song with only guitars and drums (their music is all instrumental) can make you feel both the desperation of a soul trapped in some sort of bondage and the incredible exhilaration of freedom from that bondage.  it is real and gritty and hopeful, and wide open for your own interpretation.  i can't wait to see what their live show is like, but if you have a few moments and you want to check out their music, i offer the following videos (with a warning that their songs are usually lengthy). 

 

the things we cling to

here is a story i just read on cnn.com this morning.  i thought it was worth sharing: 

Maryland man glued to Wal-Mart toilet seat
By Leigh Remizowski, CNN
April 6, 2011 8:52 p.m. EDT


(CNN) -- Police in Maryland are on the hunt for the perpetrator of what appears to be an April Fools' prank that left a man glued to a toilet at a Wal-Mart store.
If caught, the jokester who doused the seat with glue at the Elkton Wal-Mart on March 31 could face second-degree assault charges, said Lt. Matthew Donnelly of the Elkton Police Department.

Police, along with the Singerly Fire Company and the Cecil County Paramedics, were called to the scene at about 7 p.m.

There, they found the 48-year-old victim, who called for help after realizing the sticky situation he was in when he tried -- and failed -- to stand up and leave the superstore's restroom, Donnelly said.

It took responders 15 minutes to remove the victim from the stall, but they were unable to disconnect the toilet seat from his body, Donnelly said.

Instead, the victim was taken to Union Hospital of Cecil County, where the seat was detached. He left with only minor injuries to his buttocks, Donnelly said.

Police do not suspect that the victim was specifically targeted, but that the incident was a random prank, Donnelly said. They have not received reports of glue-laden toilet seats since.

----------------

wow.  can you imagine that ride to the hospital?  don't they tell you not to sit on the toilet seat too long as it can cause hemorrhoids? 
but before we even get to that, is anyone else wondering how he didn't see a pile of glue on the seat before he sat down? 
and i wonder how they removed it?  with a sawzall? 
 

hey, at least he didn't have to worry about putting the seat down.  he just took it with him. 

here's hoping your day is less...sticky. 

random: jelly bean ransom note

-i can't emphasize enough how wonderful it is that it's baseball season.  seriously.  there's nothing quite like listening to john sterling call the yankees game on my laptop, while i watch the pirates on tv.  it's almost too good to be true.  plus, the fact that the red sox can't seem to get out of their own way is helping quite a bit, too.  excuse me while i have a moment here:  I LOVE BASEBALL!!!!

-thanks.  i'm back to normal now.

-another thing i love about this time of year?  jelly beans.  but not the fruity ones.  i liked the spiced ones.  you know, the ones where green=spearmint and yellow=clove and red=cinnamon and so on.  love those.  i bought a couple of bags for my candy dish in my office at church, but they disappear so quickly, largely due to the extremely sticky fingers of the two milinovich boys, i suspect.  and so i have a feeling i know who left this ominous note on my desk, which i discovered monday morning: 

-i just read that hines ward will live to dance another week on dancing with the stars.  good for him.  i happened to catch his dance this week, and saw him waving a satin-ish gold towel as if it was a terrible towel.  as much as i want to hate the whole thing, because it makes me throw up in my mouth a little bit, i'm also proud of him and his attitude and how he demonstrates to the charlie sheens of the world that you don't need drugs or porn stars for winning.  you go hines! 

-do you want to know what names we're considering for milinovich boy #3?  too bad.  i'm not telling yet. 

-but if you want to make suggestions, knock yourselves out.  you never know...

kids say the darndest things: scabbage and twitterbug

everybody thinks that their kids are cute.  i am no exception.  the only difference is i have a blog and get to put their cuteness on the interwebs from time to time.  here's one for each of them right now:

-last week caedmon fell of had something fall on him or somehow got in an altercation with a big box of legos, which left him with a 3/4 inch scratch on his temple.  of course it scabbed up pretty quick, and, being a little boy, he discovered this hardness on the side of his face.  apparently he has heard the word "scab" before, but couldn't quite remember it, because he told his mother than he had bacon on his face.  she told him what it was really called, and then when i got home i inquired about this.  i asked him if he had bacon on his face earlier.  he chided me, "no daddy, there wasn't bacon on my face.  i was just picking my scabbage." 

that's right....he found a way to mix "scab" and "cabbage" into scabbage.  i don't know about you, but i love it. it's a keeper.  i declare that henceworth all scabs in this house will be exclusively known as scabbages. 

here's a recent pic of the cuteness:

as you may know, i'm on twitter (you can follow me at @gmilinovich), and i have software on my laptop called tweetdeck.  tweetdeck takes the tweets of all the people i follow and about once a minute a small box pops up in the corner of my screen to tell me how many new tweets i have.  yesterday i walked into the room and the boys were both looking at my computer.  when i inquired about what was up, jack replied, "oh, nothing.  somebody just called you on twitterbug but you missed it." 

how cute is that?  twitterbug.  as they discover and experiment with language, it brings me such great joy.  hope you got a smile from it, too.  have a great tuesday.

2011 lent collage 4: flogged

for this week as i continue my lenten discipline of wrestling with each week's sermon text by creating a collage, we moved to mark 15:1-15.  basically it's the story of how Jesus was handed over by the sanhedrin to the guy with the real power (read: the power to issue the death penalty), pontius pilate.  there's some real interesting stuff in this text, particularly as it pertains to the other jesus in the story, jesus barabbas, the insurrectionist.  i find it fascinating that the crowd there that morning decided that their chances were better with the violent insurrectionist than the peaceful Jesus of nazareth.  i makes me wonder how often i choose other ways than the way of Christ, because they look faster or easier or because they make more sense to me.  how often do i choose other "saviors" ("jesus" means savior)?    how often do i choose barabbas in my life?

but then, after pilate finally relents to the pressure of the crowd, he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to them. 

flogged. 

such a simple word without much cultural meaning for us.  we don't see much flogging (fortunately), and it is pretty easy to just gloss right over that word.  after all, we know what's coming next in the story which makes flogging look like a walk in the garden.  but still, maybe we would do well just to linger there for a moment.  Jesus certainly did.  this King of peace, who chose not to defend himself to the roman governor; who chose God's will rather than his own; who knew that these agonies were only a taste of what lied ahead.  this King of Love was stretched out as ignorant men striped his back with welts.  i have no desire to get all "mel gibson" on you here, but as i wrestled with this text i couldn't get past the sheer brutality of it: flogged.  like a common criminal.  the King of Creation, punished and humiliated in place of Barabbas, in place of all of us - any of us. 

it's nearly too much to imagine, and way more than enough to break my heart. 

so i made this collage:

"lent 2011: flogged"

mixed media collage on canvas

april, 2011

gregory a. milinovich

to see some close ups and details of the collage, click keep reading. 

"...by his wounds we are healed."  -isaiah 53:5

saturday song: untitled hymn

one of the items on the itinerary for today is to go with the youth group from my church to the alzeheimers unit of a local care center and just hang out with the folks there and love on them.  we'll be singing some hymns there, and i'll be playing them on the guitar.  and so thinking about hymns reminded me of this untitled one by chris rice that has such a gorgeous melody and meaning, that i thought i'd share it with you today.  the video is one person's interpretation.  peace to you all.

april fools doormats

hope you're having a funny april fools day.  it's snowing like crazy right now in central pa, so that is about as foolish as it gets.  a friend recently sent me an email with a bunch of funny doormats, and i thought i would share some of the best ones with you today.  enjoy.