Book Review: Playing with the Enemy

When I signed up for a history book club a few months ago, one of the books I initially ordered was an inspired-by-true-events baseball story titled Playing with the Enemy, by Gary Moore. Playing with the Enemy relates the story of Moore’s father, Gene Moore, a catcher from southern Illinois who becomes a prospect for the Brooklyn Dodgers when he is only fifteen.

It is the early 1940s, though, and world war soon interrupts Gene’s Major League plans. The Dodgers, eager to protect their talent, arrange for Gene to play exhibition baseball for the Navy. But after the crew of a German U-boat is captured, the Navy team is called up for a new assignment: top-secret guard duty in Louisiana for the duration of the war. Naturally, Gene and his teammates turn to baseball to relieve the boredom and monotony of their assignment, but their national pastime takes an unexpected international turn when they teach their German prisoners how to play, too—and sets in motion a series of events that changes Gene’s life forever.

Although the writing itself occasionally distracts from the story (disjointed and unrealistic dialogue is the usual culprit), the power of the story itself more than makes up for the occasional lapses of the pen (or word processor, I suppose). But this minor criticism aside, Playing with the Enemy is a read most worthy of your time and money.

You can read the introduction and first couple of chapters online at the book’s web site. I understand that plans are in the works to adapt the book to the silver screen, which, if done right and well, would be an extraordinary film to see.

UPDATE: Unfortunately, although the Playing with the Enemy web site claims to have the introduction and first two chapters available for online reading, I have been unable to find the excerpt on the site. You can read a (much) shorter excerpt at Amazon.

Be Nice to Me, I Gave Money Today

In memory of Todd Wilken & Jeff Schwartz of Issues, Etc.

($1.00, to be exact.)

Only in Baseball

Maybe we should all bury our "I've got Issues" t-shirts somewhere comparable...

The Big Dig: The Yanks Uncover a Red Sox Jersey

By SUSHIL CHEEMA

With dust swirling around them on Sunday afternoon, Frank Gramarossa and Rich Corrado extracted a Red Sox jersey that a construction worker had buried at the site of the new Yankee Stadium. After workers used jackhammers to break through about two and a half feet of concrete, Gramarossa and Corrado pulled out a dusty, torn David Ortiz jersey.

Randy Levine, the Yankees’ president, and Lonn Trost, the team’s chief operating officer, presided over what Levine called an “excavation ceremony.” The New York Post had reported Friday that a Red Sox-rooting construction worker hoping to curse the Yankees’ new stadium had buried a Red Sox jersey at the site last week.

But Levine said the team knew the location that was initially reported was inaccurate, because workers did not pour concrete in that area on the day the jersey was said to have been added to the mix. On Saturday morning, the Yankees got a tip from two other construction workers on the location of the jersey.

“Two thoughts occurred to us,” Levine said. “One is that it’s never a good thing to be buried in cement in New York, so we thought about just pouring more cement on it.”

Instead, the Yankees decided to turn what Levine called a “bad, dastardly act” into a good one.

Levine said the extracted jersey would be cleaned up, put in a display case along with a Yankees Universe T-shirt and sent to Boston. There, the Ortiz jersey and Yankee T-shirt will be auctioned to benefit the Jimmy Fund, the Red Sox’ primary charity, which is affiliated with the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Trost said that the Yankees were speaking with the Bronx district attorney’s office about whether there was any criminality involved in the act and that the team was considering filing charges against the construction worker, identified by The Associated Press as Gino Castignoli, a Bronx resident.

“We take great pride in hiring Bronx residents,” Levine said. “He abused the privilege.”

Like many of the workers at the site, Gramarossa said he was a big Yankee fan. “A lot of construction workers are proud of this job and were upset it was in there,” he said.

I Miss Issues

This last week I tuned in several times to The Afternoon Show, KFUO’s solution to the financial and ratings failure known as Issues, Etc. I didn’t expect Issues-quality hosts or Issues-quality guests or Issues-quality discussions. I simply aimed to listen with open ears and hoped to hear—at the least—clearly Lutheran discussions of the topics du jour.

Folks, we’re in trouble.

Let me say first of all that I'm not addressing the change in personalities and style. Wilken and Schwarz are men of rare talent, and it’s simply not fair to measure their replacements against their genius. I'm also not directly addressing the topics discussed on The Afternoon Show. Issues, Etc. was a show of uncommon breadth and depth, and no replacement could ever replicate the level of analysis and insight it brought to the air.

That being said, listeners to The Afternoon Show have good cause to be alarmed—and, I add, good cause to be assured that Issues, Etc. was not canceled for "stewardship" reasons. Canceled for programmatic reasons, maybe, depending on how you believe Issues did or did not reflect the programmatic (read: theological) goals of those who replaced it with The Afternoon Show.

I understand and note that the new show is still in its infancy. The program and its hosts undoubtedly have many wrinkles to iron out in the upcoming weeks and months. But if the general tenor of the show to date is any indicator, we’ve got a rough ride ahead of us—and I’m not referring to the problem of finding thoughtful and lively programming to replace our beloved Issues, Etc.

Here are a few of my impressions:

First, The Afternoon Show features many more women guests than Issues, Etc. did. THIS IS NOT BAD in itself and is expected, given the new female host and apparently different target demographic. And I hasten to add that Issues regularly featured outstanding female guests, guests who were eloquent, knowledgeable, and inspiring.

But from my perspective (a man’s, I admit), if Issues, Etc.’s female guests were always women, The Afternoon Show’s guests are too often only girls playing at womanhood. Where theological acumen and cultural discernment once reigned (on the part of both sexes!), heart-to-heart talks and popular advice on self-improvement now hold sway.

Second, whether intentionally or not, The Afternoon Show frequently downplays essential doctrinal distinctions in favor of generic, pan-Evangelical, seeker-sensitive approaches to “outreach” and “missions.” At first I attributed this change in emphasis to the odd guest who said unexpected things, but the evidence kept mounting—the wrestler-for-Jesus who was adamant that being sensitive and appealing to unbelievers is more important than the ministry of Word and Sacrament, for example, or the guest who gushed over Willow Creek’s innovations in using dramatic skits in worship. A greater tragedy than the expression of these sentiments, however, is that they are allowed to pass on Lutheran airwaves as orthodox teaching.

Which leads me to my third point: The Afternoon Show appears to lack firm theological conviction, so that when guests positively express heterodox views (such as decision theology on Friday), the hosts make no attempt to combat these unscriptural opinions. Nor do they even bother pointing out the differences between Lutheran teaching and the guest’s position—at least when I’m listening. (And I’ve got quite a few hours of listening in at this point.) Hearing heterodoxy on obviously un-Lutheran shows like Focus on the Family is one thing, but hearing it air unchallenged on in-house Lutheran programming is quite another—or at least should be.

Frankly, the differences between the old show and the new show appear not to reflect a change in format or focus or funding so much as a fundamental shift in theological direction. Perhaps I’m wrong; I sincerely hope I am and I would willingly stand corrected. But at this point I feel that The Afternoon Show is a rather accurate reflection of the way some in our synod would have us go.

Yet thanks be to God that his Church is not built on radio programming or any other human endeavor—not even Issues, Etc.—but on the Rock of faith, who is Christ, and that he has promised that not even the gates of hell itself will prevail against it.

Built on the Rock the Church doth stand,
Even when steeples are falling;
Crumbled have spires in every land,
Bells still are chiming and calling,
Calling the young and old to rest,
But above all the soul distrest,
Longing for rest everlasting.

Surely in temples made with hands,
God, the Most High, is not dwelling;
High above earth His temple stands,
All earthly temples excelling.
Yet He whom heavens cannot contain
Chose to abide on earth with men,
Built in our bodies His temple.

We are God's house of living stones,
Builded for His habitation;
He through baptismal grace us owns
Heirs of His wondrous salvation.
Were we but two His name to tell,
Yet He would deign with us to dwell,
With all His grace and His favor.

Now we may gather with our King
E'en in the lowliest dwelling;
Praises to Him we there may bring,
His wondrous mercy forthtelling.
Jesus His grace to us accords;
Spirit and life are all His words;
His truth doth hallow the temple.

Still we our earthly temples rear
That we may herald His praises;
They are the homes where He draws near
And little children embraces.
Beautiful things in them are said;
God there with us His covenant made,
Making us heirs of His kingdom.

Here stands the font before our eyes
Telling how God did receive us;
The altar recalls Christ's sacrifice
And what His table doth give us;
Here sounds the Word that doth proclaim
Christ yesterday, today, the same,
Yea, and for aye our Redeemer.

Grant then, O God, where'er men roam,
That, when the church-bells are ringing,
Many in saving faith may come
Where Christ His message is bringing:
"I know Mine own, Mine own know Me;
Ye, not the world, My face shall see.
My peace I leave with you." Amen.

"Built on the Rock the Church doth Stand"
by Nicolai F.S. Grundtvig, 1783-1872
Translated by Carl Doving, 1867-1937
Hymn #467, The Lutheran Hymnal

How Accountants Do Taxes

Warning: The following technique should only be performed by trained professionals. Do not attempt at home.

Lament of an Issues, Etc. Listener

à la The Man in Black

“I’m a Drifter”

I'm a drifter, lonesome drifter
Got no place to call my home no more
I'm a wanderer, lonesome wanderer
Got no one to call my own no more

Got no strings to tie me down
Got no cause to hang around
What difference does it make which way I go
Got an empty feelin' down inside
Still I need to stay alive
Who can tell what waits beyond this road
I'm a drifter, lonesome drifter
Got no one to call my own no more

Got no strings to tie me down
Got no cause to hang around
What difference does it make which way I go
Got an empty feelin' deep inside
Still I need to stay alive
And who can tell what waits beyond this road
I'm a drifter, lonesome drifter
Got no one to call my own no more

Got no one to call my own no more

John Stanley: Ex Tenebris Musica

I have the distinct privilege and pleasure of serving as one of our church’s organists on a weekly basis. Lately my own musical studies have included a healthy dose of the eighteenth-century English organist and composer John Stanley, who through misfortune lost his sight when just a little child. Yet despite this tragedy, Stanley became so proficient at music that he was appointed the organist at All Hallows Church in London at the ripe old age of eleven. Later in life, Stanley formed a friendship with George Frideric Handel; he continued the tradition of Handel’s oratorio performances (most notably The Messiah) after the great composer’s death.

You can read more about the organist and composer John Stanley at Eighteen Century English Music. Wikipedia offers a less informative biography, but it does have a decent recording of Stanley’s Voluntary in D minor, a piece I’ve been working on over the last few weeks.

A Short Welcome from St. Charles the Illuminous

This little light of mine...why should I let it shine (again)?

I first took up blogging two years ago this month. I enjoyed it immensely, but following a move from Georgia to Michigan, simultaneously working a full-time job and carrying a full university course load, and the birth of two children, my blogging efforts sputtered and died. More recent attempts to revive my blogging career have also proved abortive.

More successful were my efforts to avoid the blogosphere altogether for the time being--so much so that, due to my work schedule and listening to Cubs' spring training games instead of Issues, Etc. during February, I was shocked to learn of the show's cancellation only a week ago in Mollie Hemingway's Wall Street Journal article, "Radio Silence."

So whom am I fooling with this latest attempt at carving out my very own cyberniche? Probably only those persons who believe that Issues, Etc. really was cancelled for "business and programmatic reasons."

But the Issues, Etc. conversation is one for another day, one to which, at least in the near future, I hope to contribute positively. For now, I'm still drowning my sorrow over the ill-fated program in beer and tax returns. Here's to the best damned radio show I ever heard.

Therefore, since through God's mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:1-6)