Jimmy Fallon at Butler!

Watching Jimmy Fallon's post-Super Bowl show last night, I was excited to see where the opening number was set!



Small continuity issue: the dorm set seemed to be in the University Apartments, but they somehow pop out of Atherton Union. But who cares? Way to represent! Go Dawgs!

Sports Moment of the Year

Bob Ryan is one of the better sports talking-heads out there. "Around the Horn" is always better when he's on the panel (incidentally, the show is so much better since they gave Jay Mariotti the boot). For further proof that the guy knows what he's talking about, here's his "Moment of the Year" in sports:



While his description causes all Butler fans to relive the pain of Gordon Hayward's almost-there buzzer beater, he's right in saying that Butler's tournament run proves that anything really is possible.

Mixed Feelings

It appears that Gordon Hayward is going to test the NBA waters after all.

As a Butler alum and fan, I have mixed feelings.

On one hand, I want to see him come back next year and finish the job, winning a national title for the Bulldogs.

On the other, I understand the allure of NBA money (even though there's no way he'll get picked as high as Kentucky one-and-dones John Wall and Demarcus Cousins), especially in light of the potential NBA lockout (again? really? especially at the same time the NFL may have one because you guys are all so darn greedy?).

The silver lining is that Hayward hasn't hired an agent, which means he could return to the college ranks. I feel horrible hoping that he will be disappointed with his short-term professional prospects, but his presence and leadership are so crucial to the Dawgs success next year.

I am not a big NBA fan, but I guarantee that whenever Gordon Hayward gets a place on an NBA roster, they will automatically become my favorite team in the Association. I'd love to see a professional player who understands the team concept, and who doesn't have any neck tats.

Please, Gordon, for the love of God, don't get any ink on your neck...

Lasting Images

I'll get back to posting about religious issues soon enough, but I though I'd share a couple of my favorite images from Butler's run in the NCAA tournament.

"Air Gordon" Hayward blocks a dunk attempt by UTEP guard Randy Culpepper in the Bulldog's opening round game in San Jose.

Butler's mascot, Blue II, chews on a huge bone

Coach Stevens and the players celebrate beating Kansas State for a trip back to Indy for the Final Four (I think there were some flying hip bumps going on here)

The final verdict? Duke wins the title, Butler wins America's hearts.

And they stand a darn good chance of winning the title next year, since they've given Coach Stevens the payday he deserves.

Now hopefully Gordon Hayward makes the right decision and stays in school. David Letterman put it well: "they have guns in the locker rooms in the NBA. Don't let him go!"

Go Dawgs!!!

Final Four

On Saturday night, after Butler beat Michigan State to advance to the national title game, I decided that I had to go to Indianapolis for Monday night's showdown against Duke. If it had been any weekend other than Easter, I probably would have been in the stands on Saturday, too!

This quick trip was a present to myself for making it through Holy Week with my sanity intact (something you pastors know can be difficult).

I went online, found a ticket, called a friend from college to see if I could crash on their couch, and I was set to go.

After all, when else would I get to to this? Even if my alma mater makes it back to the Final Four next year (a decent possibility, if all the underclassmen return), it wouldn't be just a few hours drive away, and just a few miles from campus!

Even though Butler came up just short of the win, I had an amazing time. I saw a lot of people I hadn't seen in years, and I got to have coffee with my undergrad advisor on campus the following day. The only thing that could have made the trip better (other than winning the title, of course) was if Jessica and Kate could have come with me.

I could lay the blame on some questionable officiating, particularly the lack of a foul call when Ivan Drago, er, Brian Zoubek clothes-lined Gordon Hayward with about 3 minutes to go, but it's hard to win against anybody when they outshoot you from the field 48 to 37 percent.

But now that the disappointment has had a few days to subside, I'm grateful for all the fun I had watching the team all year, and for the prestige they continue to bring to the university. I've never been prouder to be a Butler Bulldog!

They Did It!!!

Can it be? YES!!! IT IS!!! The Butler Bulldogs, the smallest school (4,500 students) ever to go go the Final Four beat Michigan State in a 52-50 nail biter for a shot at the national title game!!!

For any regular readers who may be wondering about the state of the Kelley Family Bracket Smackdown, I'm leading with 56 points, Kate is hot on my heels with 54, and Jessica has 49. If Butler wins it all, the 14 month old wins! How crazy is that?

Oh yeah, about as crazy as Butler being in the national title game! WOO HOO!!!

Thoughts on Calling and Vocation

This past Wednesday I was honored to give the keynote address for the Center for Faith and Vocation's annual dinner at Butler University, my alma mater. I can't post my speech on the blog, since it included some anecdotes that are not my intellectual property, but I would like to reflect on one idea I shared there:

The folks at the Center asked me to speak on the subjects of calling and vocation. Recently I've reread Thomas Merton's Seven Storey Mountain, and while I love the thoughtfulness of his prose and the gentleness of spirit that comes with the contemplative life, I've realized how much I used to think like Father Thomas when it comes to the subject of calling, and how much good evolving away from that type of thinking has done me.

Thomas Merton reflected back on his early years through the lens of a drastic and profound conversion to Catholicism. In fact, he wrote his autobiography in his cell at the Abbey of Gethsemani. So his take on the subject of one's calling from God is completely formed by his robustly Augustinian form of Roman Catholicism. Augustine owed a great deal intellectually to the "pagan philosopher" (his term, not mine) Plato, from whom Augustine learned to be very dualistic in his view of the world.

Augustine's Platonic dualism led him to define pretty much everything in oppositional, either/or categories. Things were either good or evil. One either pursued the things of body or the things of the soul. And one either had a specific, definite calling from God to a vocation, or one did not. Thomas Merton shared this view of calling and it is evident throughout his writing.

I remember thinking for a long time that I had to figure out whether God was calling me or not. That's how I heard it talked about in the church and by most people. But in college a professor of mine introduced me to Paul Tillich by having me read Dynamics of Faith, where Tillich refutes the idea of faith being a dualistic, either/or proposition. Everyone has faith in something, according to Tillich, and the question is in what we are ultimately concerned.

So I began to think that if faith isn't an either/or proposition, maybe calling isn't either. Maybe it wasn't a question of whether God is calling me or not, but a question of what God is calling me to. Specifically, when it comes to the question of vocation, what kind of job will allow me to live with integrity to who God is calling me to be?

A colleague of mine once told me about a special service at his church when he was growing up where anybody who felt God was calling them could come up for a special blessing. Previously he had talked about his sense of calling with his pastor, telling him that he felt called to serve God, but he knew preaching wasn't for him. So when he came forward for the blessing, his pastor turned him away, saying, "God only calls people to the preaching ministry." This person later ended up getting ordained as a deacon in the United Methodist Church and served as the Director of the National Christian Educators Fellowship. So much for his pastor's dualistic, either/or view of calling.

Over the years since I've gotten a clearer sense that God is calls me to preach, teach, and write, so the job of a local church pastor is a pretty good way to live out that calling. But I know lots of people who are living out very faithful lives in all sorts of vocations, and frankly their example is probably more powerful than mine, because they serve in places people don't often expect to meet God.

I hope that people who are exploring what they want to do with their life will view the question of calling not as an either/or proposition, because doing so leads to a lot of anxiety about getting a particular question right or wrong, and the possibility that the wrong answer could have eternal consequences. If instead we believe that God calls all people to live faithfully wherever they are, then we can choose a vocation based not on whether it's right or wrong, but on how we can best live out our gifts and graces. In doing so we will find our life's calling.

March Madness!!!

The best sporting event of the year (except when the Titans are in the Superbowl) starts today. My alma matter, Butler University, plays LSU in the first game today. Everyone cheer for the Bulldogs, if for no other reason than President Obama picked them in his bracket.

My condolences to all the employers who are losing countless hours of productivity today and tomorrow. You can be comforted by the fact that your customers are as distracted as your employees.