postmodernpilgrim

i am also on wordpress.com as pomopilgrim. if you wordpress, please feel free to look me up there as well.

so i have been discussing Christmas practices and traditions with other young parents and families, esp. regarding whether or not we include a certain fat man in a red suit in our celebrations, which we do not. many questions and generative conversations ensue so i thought i would share some of my observations on this particular topic with you. this should come to no one's surprise, but for me it all comes back to story. to clarify, we do acknowledge the story of Santa Claus with our son. we acknowledge that the story of Santa Claus develops historically, finding its roots in Saint Nicholas. we acknowledge that the story of Santa Claus reveals the central idea of sharing all that we have with others. we acknowledge that, for some reason, some of our friends and family feel more comfortable calling themselves "Santa Claus" so that they can have some fun when they give us presents. but we also acknowledge that Santa Claus as a person does not exist. we do not celebr...

What If Jesus Meant All That Stuff? Posted using ShareThis

Recently found myself in situations where I overhear or notice very private conversations occuring in very public places (son and mother discussing finacial hardship, a marriage ending, a relationship disintergrating over competing understandings of spirituality, a friend sharing their deepening depression). Trying not to be a creeper or eavesdrop, assure you that these situations have literally fallen in my lap and, in all cases, had to actively work against listening in b/c of volume and proximity. It leaves me wondering how much of our lives we spend not noticing the lives of those around us b/c they fail to invade our own in some way?

over the past year or so i have really struggled with the most interesting man in the world ad campaign by a certain beer company. i haven't really been able to put my finger on exactly what i have been struggling with until this past week. to celebrate halloween, this ad campaign produced a radio spot touting the most interesting man's accomplishments re: halloween, including his alleged ban from cemeteries b/c he brought someone back from the dead. whoa. i've got to throw a flag on that one and share what really bothers me about this campaign. one, this beer company has supposedly found "the most interesting man in the world" without accepting nominations or suggestions from others. i would elect a certain someone else to hold this office and i am not speaking of chuck norris. that person would be Jesus Christ, who btw HAS actually raised someone from the dead and been raised from the dead as well. two, the tagline for this campaign is stay thirsty. ...

"There will soon be no more priests. Their work is done. They may wait awhile...perhaps a generation or two...dropping off by degrees. A superior breed shall take their place.... A new order shall arise, and they shall be the priests of man, and every man shall be his own priest. The churches built under their umbrage shall be the churches of men and women. Through the divinity of themselves shall the kosmos and the new breed of poets be interpreters of men and women and of all events and things. They shall find their inspiration in real objects today, symptoms of the past and future.... They shall not deign to defend immortality or God, or the perfection of things, or liberty, or the exquisite beauty and reality of the soul."-Walt Whitman, preface to Leaves of Grass

recently i posted responses on twitter and facebook to an article that shared observations about the business practices and working philosophies of microsoft and google and how the church could learn from these observations. last night (10/26/09) as i was watching a documentary on the decline of the newspaper on PBS it hit me that we have a more low-tech example. a newspaper exec was being interviewed about the failure of the newspaper to make the leap to becoming an online presence, which subsequently has led to its decline as a information medium and news source. the exec remarked that often the project to make that leap was given to newspaper execs who simply took the printed newspaper they were producing, scanned it, and posted it online; vainly failing to seek outside input from others on how to innovate and make it more accessible to an online community. he said that the responsibility for the failure lies in the hands of newspaper execs and identified their fatal flaw: they...

interesting article posted on CNet re: Facebook and memorialized profiles that touches on the earlier post re: who keeps our digital story (10/20/09), which seemed to garner some feedback. Thanks to Jason Valendy for bringing this to my attention first.

i have been giving a whole lot of people a whole lot of grief for their continued use of applying business model metaphors and terms to the function and identity of the church and its agents. though i believe that no institution or power is beyond redemption (thank you walter wink) i also believe that at this moment the business model may be temporarily bankrupt of integrity when it comes to models we should follow (e.g. enron, worldcom, aig, citicorp, bank of america, the list goes on...which is a major part of the problem). one of those folks challenged me to supply them with a model or models that might be less problematic. so i threw out three and i would like to see what you think... pioneers: (ala Walt Whitman & western US expansion) moving out into an unfamiliar area with little professional expertise but a boat load of common sense, the church could reclaim its pioneering spirit of not only reaching out into new areas to establish community but also rediscover the value...

its not too early to be thinking about Advent and its not too late, Christmas can [still] change the world...

great comments on "re:Post..." on 10/8/09. thanks to all who contribute and offer thought-provoking comments and questions. wanted to add to that discussion and our current stream of storytelling with a thought-provoking post by my friend Gavin Richardson re: a session at barcampnashville that got him thinking. find it here , the post is called "we're all gonna die : so who is your digital executor?" thanks to Gavin for sharing his barcampnashville experience. it got me to thinking that in this digital age, when all that we share/post/contribute online outlives us, who do we trust with our story after we are gone? i have a friend that died years ago but still has a facebook page, which myself and other friends still post on from time to time. even though it was unintentional (no one thought to take it down) it has been really therapeutic for us as we remember her light and energy. i also think about the fact that i desired greatly to record the stor...

Don't normally post prayer requests on this site but wanted to include one that has come to my attention over the last 24 hours. Project 44 is a local non-profit organization seeking to do the work of the kingdom by gifting cars to those in need and developing and maintaining community gardens. They have hit a snag in their car ministry as the laws surrounding the gifting of automobiles has changed and they would now be forced to pay an additional cost (tacked on to the cost of repairs, maintenance, and a years worth of insurance) upwards of $500 per car before they give it away. They are not in any financial position to do this and are obviously quite flustered about these recent developments putting a stranglehold on such a vital part of their ministry. Please be in prayer for Project 44...that they may find some assistance in continuing this facet of their ministry. Please be in prayer for those who need transportation...as this is an ongoing need. Please be in prayer for...

decided to get together with like-minded friends in student ministry and launch openspace student ministry , which will over time become a collaborative site offering connection, innovation, and the unrestricted sharing of ideas re: ministry with students and families. launch date is November 30, 2009.

So I am watching SNL this week while surfing the net and updating social networking sites and my ears perk up when I hear a voice reciting one of my favorite Walt Whitman poems, "O Pioneers!"  I am somewhat flabbergasted when I realize that this poem is being used to hock Levi jeans in their "Go Forth" commercial campaign.  Though the commercials are visually brilliant, shot by director Michael Gondry, I am supremely conflicted, believing in my heart of hearts that Whitman most assuredly would not be down with such shennanigans of selling jeans with his poetry.  As I milled it over, however, I began to think that Whitman might actually enjoy being associated with something so ingrained in Americana as the blue jean.  I will let you be the judge...check out the link and let me know if you think it is simply exploitation of fine poetry to sell jeans or an homage to a great American poet who captured the spiritual, emotional, psychological, and physical landscape of th...

check this blog archive from Mental Floss about stories told by one of the oldest mediums of storytelling: the message in a bottle. http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/36541

No, this rePost does not have anything to do with the theological validity of potlucks but one I posted last Friday that I believe is worth looking at again, as no one posted comments on it.... As I have been delving into creating an open source CMS and continually engaging in social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, and others I have begun to ask myself (and be asked by others) about the connective tissue between these and my previous stream of posts on story/storytelling (which I greatly appreciate Jason and Steve's comments upon).  My intial observations are these we often tell our stories without even being aware of it, in ways we are no longer even conscious of  through what we listen to, what we read, what we consume and how we publicize and encourage others to consume.  recently, I found that my re-tweeting excerpts from morning and evening prayers from TheUrbanAbbey was inadvertently encouraging others to follow these prayers as well, adding a whole new ...

"One of the most valuable things we can do to heal one another is listen to each other's stories." ~ Rebecca Falls

Reading an article from BBC news my friend Charles Harrison posted on his fb profile about the Billy, the most popular mass-produced bookcase in the world sold by Ikea, I was intrigued and inspired. The author not only chronicled the design and development of the Billy but also raised some great questions about the importance of displaying books and what a collection of books says about the collector. So, similar to my recent post on the iPod, I ask the question, "What story do your books (and how you display them) tell?" As I reflect on this question, two particular items are brought to mind: church libraries and the bookcase of a mechanic friend of mine. What do church libraries, how they are set up, where they are set, and how they are accessed tell you about a church? I believe these collections, their location in reference to the main flow of the church, and their contents tell a particular story about that congregation. It has, however, always been a myster...

Does identifying the Bible as "story" diminish it's importance? Sent from my iPhone

From Andre Corescu: http://www.npr.org/templates/text/s.php?sId=113034536&m=1 As I read this article, wondered what story my iPod tells? What memories would the music on my iPod ellicit? Do you use your iPod as a legitimate storytelling device? Sent from my iPhone...not my iPod or my MacBook.

Admittedly, when I hear the word "pirate" my mind conjours up images of eye patches, hooks, knives btwn teeth, and Jerry's puffy shirt. However, as I came across these two seemingly different (but in retrospect quite closely connected) articles on "pirates" (see links below), I began to think about archetypes (in the Freudian sense) and how our perceptions of archetypes influence the language of our stories.  Pirates have played a role in many pillars of literature as villans, revolutionaries, and heroes.  It left me with a couple of questions: -What are some of the archetypes/character types that make recurring appearances in your story? -Are there archetypes/character types beyond redemption? If so, why or why not?    Peter Rollins on pirates:  http://bit.ly/zmIJy Political Pirates in Sweden:  http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112767746&sc=17&f=1001

Once had a mentor tell me that they coyld tell so much about the theology and theodicy of others by listening to them pray. How is our story and the story of God (and the way these two unite/connect/ diverge) told through public and private prayer?

At what points do your story and the story of others intersect and diverge? At what points does your story and the story of God intersect and diverge? Sent from my iPhone...intimated?

What medium are you most comfortable with to tell your story? Realize that I might have limited some of you by utilizing the printed medium to ask your story.

Been intrigued lately with the power of narrative therapy and the impact of storytelling on a culture that supposedly no longer operates from a unified metanarrative. What is your story? (share as little or as much as you feel comfy with). How do you find your story linking to the stories of others? How do you find your story linking to a metanarrative (larger stories that tend to shape worldviews)? Thank you in advance for sharing! Sent from my iPhone

Chek it out: www.postitnotestories.com Sent from my iPhone

Back again blogosphere after a long sabbatical, new job, and a new home I return to my blog to unleash my inner thoughts on an unsuspecting world...enjoy! Sent from my iPhone

Bobby McFerrin demonstrates the power of the pentatonic scale, using audience participation, at the event "Notes & Neurons: In Search of the Common Chorus", from the 2009 World Science Festival, June 12, 2009. World Science Festival 2009: Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale from World Science Festival on Vimeo .

"And the world cannot be discovered by a journey of miles, no matter how long, but only by a spiritual journey, a journey of one inch, very arduous and humbling and joyful, by which we arrive at the ground at our feet, and learn to be at home. -Wendell Berry from The Collected Poems of Wendell Berry, 1957-1982

"Being mindful is hard for us because we are always anxious about time.... Learning that we have enough---money, time, love---may be our most important lesson. Even when we eliminate the apparent obstacles of working and consuming too much, we still have trouble relaxing and enjoying the present moment. So the problem is not just the scarcity of time, it's our attitude toward time. That little voice always creeps in: You'd better hurry, you've got a lot to do, you're not getting enough done, time is running out. What does this mean in terms of feeling alive? Surely, if things keep on this way, when we come to die, we will discover that we have not lived." -Cecile Andrews from The Circle of Simplicity: Return to the Good Life What is preventing you from living in the moment?

In an article recently posted by NPR , I read that scientists recently unearthed musical instruments, flutes to be exact, dating almost 35,000 to 40,000 years ago in caves in southwestern Germany. The flutes are made of hollowed-out mammoth tusk and vulture wing bone. You can hear a simple song played on one of the flutes by clicking here . I find this idea fantastic, that in the earliest days of our species we sought to create music. As I was reading the article, I began thinking about the cave paintings in Altamira, Spain that date back roughly 14,000 years ago. This would mean that the flutes pre-date the paintings as one of the earliest forms of creative work that our species produced (tools and weapons notwithstanding). I began to reflect on my own experience of the arts and music and how both move me (with great emotional force at times). I can imagine that the sound created by the simple flutes were accompanied, as one of the archeologists proposes, by hand claps and chest ...

"Whoever joins God's liberation movement must be content to spend time in the wilderness, to live in tents and not know what the morrow brings." -Elizabeth O'Connor

"We must reconcile ourselves across racial and cultural barriers. I hear people talking about the black church and the white church. I do it too---it's reality. But it's not in Scripture. We should not settle for the reality our culture presents us with. You see, the whole idea of the love of God was to draw people together in one body---reconciled to God. That's supposed to be the glory of the church! When reconciliation is taking place across cultural lines---between blacks and whites, between rich and poor, between indigenous and those who are new in the community---the quiet revolution is ready to spread." -John Perkins, from A Quiet Revolution What realities are you faced with? How are you dealing with reality? Where are your searching for possibilities when you are up against situations that seem to present the impossible?

"The very existence of the church is her primary task. It is in itself a proclamation of the Lordship of Christ to the powers from whose dominion the church has begun to be liberated. The church does not attack the powers; this Christ has done. The church concentrates upon not being seduced by them." -John Howard Yoder from The Politics of Jesus

"We do not have to sit around immobilized, waiting for help to come. We can learn to care for our society, which in large part means learning to care for our cities. If our streets are to be redeemed we will have to commit our own human and financial resources to that goal. We will have to recover our gifts of faith and hope and endurance, evoke the gifts of other persons, and thus develop leaders and facilitators for the building of a global network of small, disciplined, self-critical groups whose reflection will issue in purposeful action. This is a way to join in the liberation movement that is going on in all the poor countries of the world. We are not the initiators of this movement. Even the suffering ones of the earth are not the initiators, though they are the genuine leaders. The movement is God's." -Elizabeth O'Connor from Servant Leaders, Servant Structures

Alright, so it has been a while since i shared anything original here and i wanted to explain why. i move through cycles of information/inspiration gathering followed by a cycle of expository on my reflections after said gathering. i am still in gathering mode. i have finished Affluenza and Cecile Andrews' masterpiece The Circle of Simplicity and moving into her main source text, Duane Elgin's Voluntary Simplicity ...also reading through Richard Foster's Freedom of Simplicity again, it has been a while...also moving through Marie Sherlock's Living Simply with Children , as i want to incorporate simplicity in all aspects of my life. wish me luck. i really resonate with all that these authors/thinkers/theologians are sharing, it will take some courage, strength, and hard work to implement it into all areas of my life.

"No one longs for what he or she already has, and yet the accumulated insight of those wise about the spiritual life suggest that the reason so many of us cannot see the red X that marks the spot is because we are standing on it. The treasure we seek requires no lengthy expedition, no expensive equipment, no superior aptitude or special company. All we lack is the willingness to imagine that we already have everything we need." -Barbara Brown Taylor

"The affluent are literally possessed by their possessions. Money and the things it can buy stalks the rich countries like a demon. Mammon offers comforts and pleasures to delight the flesh but demands the soul in return. The attachment of Americans to their standard of living has become an addiction. We can't stop shopping, eating, consuming.... A successful life leads not to love, wisdom and maturity; progress and success in our society is instead based on adding more to one's pile of possessions. Our natural course is toward a better job, bigger house and richer lifestyle.... Material goods have become substitutes for faith. It's not that people literally place their cars on the altar; rather, it is the function of these goods in a consumer society. They function as idols, even though most affluent U.S. Christians, like rich Christians throughout history, would deny it." -Jim Wallis from The Call to Conversion

"If the world is sane, then Jesus is mad as a hatter and the Last Supper is the Mad Tea Party. The world says, Mind your own business, and Jesus says, There is no such thing as your own business. The world says, Follow the wisest course and be a success, and Jesus says, Follow me and be crucified. The world says, Drive carefully---the life you save may be your own---and Jesus says, Whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. The world says, Law and order, and Jesus says, Love. The world says, Get, and Jesus says, Give. In terms of the world's sanity, Jesus is crazy as a coot, and anybody who thinks we can follow him without being a little crazy too is laboring less under a cross than under a delusion." -Frederick Buechner from Listening to Your Life

Brian McLaren shares some really interesting views on recovery at inward/outward...check out the complete article by clicking here .

I have received a number of advertisements and postings from organizations or companies that encourage some form of consumption to commemorate Earth Day. I am refraining from posting these or advocating for consumption today. I believe that as we celebrate Earth Day today, we should instead be asking ourselves, "How we can make EVERY day Earth Day? What are some of the small and big ways we can simplify our lives, refrain from indiscriminate (or discriminate for that matter) consumption, and help conserve and allow the earth to renew the resources we share with our global community?" Not just b/c it would be the politically correct thing to do but b/c Christ calls us to care for the least of these, calls us to live life and live it abundantly. Just a thought...

"Jesus does not declare money worries unimportant. He does not call us to live only on the spiritual plane. He does not criticize the materialism of the person who has nothing. He does not say that we are wrong to be worried, because we ought to live in a carefree manner. He does not suggest evasion, and he does not judge us. He frees us, which is another thing altogether." -Jacques Ellul, from Money and Power

we really enjoyed our day, though Cordner and Joy could not participate due to health code conditions in the workplace and school, i let my feet free for the entire day. Cordner and i took a barefoot walk around our community and walked on different things to feel how they felt on our feet. then we traced our feet and made "happy feet" to commemorate our day. all in all, we and our bare feet had fun. and for a good cause, no less. thanks to TOMS and to all others who participated in ONE DAY w/o SHOES. don't wait around for another official event to let your feet free. take your shoes off today and let your tootsies roam. when someone asks why you have no shoes, tell them that there are children in some developing countries that walk miles w/o shoes to get clean water, food, and other essential items...

TOMS shoes; a small, grassroots start-up that manufactures simple shoes with the notion of one-to-one: for each pair of shoes you buy, a pair goes to a third world citizen who needs shoes, is asking that people go shoe-less for ONE DAY to raise awareness about this ongoing situation and the mission and goal of TOMS. that ONE DAY is tomorrow, April 16th, 2009. i am participating and encouraging all of you to participate as well. i fully realize that some work and commerce in settings where this is not acceptable so i would ask that you go shoe-less at your desk or during lunch and possibly re-consider commerce period but at least commerce at establishments where shoe-less-ness would not be acceptable. let's show our feet to show our support for the shoe-less. for more info, visit www.tomsshoes.com .

Duane Elgin, the author of Voluntary Simplicity contributed to inward/outward an examination of the different varieties of simplicity, which he calls the "garden" (i love that image). although the article is entitled "Planting a Lenten Garden of Simplicity", i believe the article holds a great deal of wisdom re: simplicity. i have found it extremely helpful as i am seeking simplicity in my own life. you can find his article here . enjoy.

now i am reading The Circle of Simplicity by Cecile Andrews, in an attempt to voluntarily simplify my own life and the life of my family. came across this early on in a section entitled "Getting Started" and thought it was worth sharing: "You begin to do this with everything. Do I really need this? Do I really want to spend time with this person? Do I really want to work for a promotion? You may be wondering if this really simplifies life. Be aware, we're not talking about efficiency or convenience. Sometimes living simply takes longer. We are talking about our quality of life-whether it brings joy and serenity rather than frustration and aggravation. Whether it brings a sense of congruence or fragmentation. But while simplicity may be more complex, it shouldn't be more complicated. Something that is complicated is confusing; something that is complex is challenging. A life of simplicity is complex and challenging." recommend this book highly, also...

"Reconciliation is not something accomplished by Christ for God, nor inflicted on Christ by God, but forged by God through Christ. This wreaks havoc on the medieval (but still widespread) doctrine that Christ's death functions to placate an angry or offended deity. Rather, the "crucified God" represents a fundamentally restorative initiative by the Divine victim towards the human offender." -Ched Myers, from the Bartimaeus Cooperative Ministries, E-News Aug.-Sept. 2008

The Triumphal Entry... "For more than two years, Jesus had been engaged in a public ministry.... He had learned much. So sensitive had grown his spirit and the living quality of his being that he seemed more and more to stand inside of life, looking out upon it as a man who gazes from a window in a room out into the yard and beyond to the distant hills. He could feel the sparrowness of the sparrow, the leprosy of the leper, the blindness of the blind, the crippleness of the cripple, and the frenzy of the mad. He had become joy, sorrow, hope, anguish, to the joyful, the sorrowful, the hopeful, the anguished. Could he feel his way into the mind and the mood of those who cast the palms and the flowers in his path? I wonder what was at work in the mind of Jesus of Nazareth as he jogged along on the back of the faithful donkey." -Howard Thurman, from The Inward Journey this past Sunday night, offered a prayer station to my students i called "the road to Jerusalem". i go...

Read Wendy Wright's entire article at inward/outward by clicking here . Her experience at a veneration service in a Spanish Catholic community is both deeply moving and humbling as we approach Good Friday and Easter. Scroll down to read the comments as well. I especially like "Jesus is the seamless garment that unites us all."

"Solitude does not necessarily mean living apart from others; rather, it means never living apart from one's self." -Parker Palmer, from A Hidden Wholeness

i received some interesting comments in response to my posting re: a church's attempt to set a world record for the world's largest potluck buffet. i also received an email from one of the organizers of this event, which sheds some light as to the focus and direction of the potluck. the potluck serves as a mission/outreach event for the church and local community organizations like the Salvation Army, Boys and Girls Club, local missions and night shelters, and other local churches and civic organizations were invited to attend. the church decided not to pay extra fees to ensure its "World Record" status and a representative from the Guinness Book of World Records will not be on hand (which apparently is an additional cost) to verify. the burden of proof will be upon the church to prove its claim to "World's Largest Potluck Buffet" with pictures and other verifiable data. the email also stated that the record was not the focus but a benefit of organiz...

in honor of Women's History Month, i am reading through some of my favorite women theologians work. already posted about Phyllis Tickle's The Great Emergence , now onto Robert Ellsberg's compilation of the diaries of Dorothy Day, The Duty of Delight , and then stopping back by Marjorie Hewitt Suchocki's God, Christ, Church: A Pratcical Guide to Process Theology . i know that this is only scratching the surface so i am putting it to you, the reader, to suggest your favorite women theologians to me for further reading. also, if you know of a good treatment of the church and female imagery, would love to have titles on this as well. as a sidenote, i have already received a ton of rec's for Diana Butler Bass so if you are recommending her, please be specific about which of her books you would suggest go first on my reading list. thanks, in advance, for your reader participation.

"Confessing Christ is not a matter of parroting biblical truths. It is possible to say all the right things, to be impeccably orthodox in one's theology, and still to be fatally disloyal. Loyalty to Jesus Christ occurs only when our confession of him is concrete.... The confessing church is a radical alternative. It rejects the individualism of the conversionists, the secularism of the activists, and a matter peculiar to them both: the equating of faithfulness with effectiveness (or with working for effectiveness).... It is committed first of all to restructuring neither society nor the heart but the church according to the will of God. The church restructured will be a church of reconciliation, a church of nonconformity, and a church of the cross." -George Hunsinger from Disruptive Grace

a local church will seek to make the impossible possible this Sunday by attempting to set a world record for the world's largest potluck buffet. which makes me wonder...is it events like this one that contribute to the feeling that the church has nothing of great import to offer them? i am certainly not pinpointing this one event as exhibit A but it is a compelling example: a community of faith attempting to build a monument to excess and gluttony. it is my hope that the proceeds of the potluck will benefit some greater good or that the potluck is open to those truly in need of a warm, filling meal. i am reminded of Ronald J. Sider's seminal work entitled Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger: Moving from Affluence to Generosity , which exposed thousands within the church to look outside of themselves to see the realities of world poverty and world hunger, that as they enjoy the benefits of affluence each day, roughly 30,000 children worldwide die of starvation. my wife says t...

But WE are the church. The "institutional church" is the last thing Jesus had in mind. Nor is there a scintilla of evidence that he thought his presence in history would prevent us from worshiping with his Jewish brothers and sisters. And so when we say we are the church, we ought to include all ... all who trace their origins to the way God revealed God's self to Abraham. (And we cannot be exclusive about that, either.) So, okay. How many times have you heard it? We are the church. So what does that mean for those who continue to struggle in institutional churches, synagogues, mosques where the vast majority do not get the Justice message of Yahweh, Jesus of Nazareth, and the Prophet? What does it all mean for those of us who have expended an unconscionable amount of energy trying to work for reform and Justice from within the institutional church? Some, I am sure, are called to continue to work from within. But for those to whom the "unconscionable" adjective ...

On Sunday morning, a car drove by a Dallas club and opened fire on the crowd gathered outside. Jessica Chane' Waldron and friends were waiting outside for the valet to pull their car around. Chane' was shot during the incident and died later of her wounds. I had the incredible opportunity to work with Chane' at SMU while in Residence Life and Student Housing. Chane' brought her energy, excitement, and bright, shining personality to everything she encountered. She was an excellent RA, an authentic life-assistant to the young men and women of McElvaney who were attempting to navigate their first years at SMU. Chane' will be greatly missed by so many people. Please join me in prayer for friends, family, and all those touched by the life of Jessica Chane' Waldron. Please join me in prayer for all those affected by senseless violence. Please join me in prayer for those who take an active role in senseless violence, that their hearts and lives may be transfor...

"The chief thing that separates us from God is the thought that we are separated from God." -Thomas Keating from Open Mind, Open Heart

"I confess I'm still not sure what it means to "be" church. Been in it since infancy, and still don't know what it means---to be it, to do it. Yesterday's poem reminds me how tricky it can be even to find the entry points when folks have such different ways of trying to open the door ... some that turn out to be threatening, deadly even. I haven't lived through bodily bloody "Christian" violence, but I've had enough of those "Are you saved?" moments, times when "the preacher would trounce my tender sins"... and "true believers come knocking to tell me that flaming hell is real" to run from overly eager saviors of my soul, bearing their ideas of 'truth,' 'right answers' and 'one way or no way.' Sometimes I don't step away fast enough and my eyebrows get singed, my heart contracts, and I find myself scanning the room for exits. So I'm thinking if love is the mark of the church, then...

If you care to know what is going on in North American Christianity, please read Phyllis Tickle's The Great Emergence . In it, Tickle outlines the rummage sales the church has engaged in every 500 years or so and outlines what is at the heart of the rummage sale the church currently finds itself engaged in as well as the ripples that spread out from it into surrounding society and culture. A must-read for those seeking to hear a constructive message of hope regarding the "death" of the church and what might possibly might move the church forward.

interesting observations regarding social networking usage by author Charlene Li, speaking at SXSW on her book Groundswell . think the church could really utilize her advice regarding how companies and corporations use social networking media. this was passed along to me from fellow blogger and friend Gavin Richardson, check out his observations on this topic by clicking here .

Check out the post, links, and comments on "The Church Should Die" on http://philshepherd.com/, think it provides some thought-provoking material, especially for those of us working within the church today.

check out Brad Cecil's article regarding "truth" by clicking here . posting this mainly in response to some recent discussions i have had with others on this topic, think it frames what i and others are attempting to communicate about this concept.

The following is Cameron Strang's, one of the editors of RELEVANT magazine, First Word column from the November/December 2008 issue of RELEVANT. It has been in my "drafts" section way too long so I wanted to share it with you. "In August, I was invited to pray at the Democratic National Convention. The invitation came as a surprise, considering I'm not famous, not a minister, not a Democrat and have differences with the party on several issues. But the Democrats have been proactively addressing some moral issues that should be of concern to all Christians. I thought, what if more Christians would be willing to cross party battle lines and work through disagreements to champion issues of common good—ones that should be bipartisan anyway? Maybe together we could rise above the political fray and see lasting change happen. And, after all, I'm a nobody who would probably get the 2 p.m. workshop prayer slot. I'd be no big deal. So, I accepted. Then, a week lat...

click here check out what's going on with my friends at Tolstoy House, a neo-monastic community house here in Cowtown that has been together for about a year. some really neat stuff coming up this Saturday, March 21st.

"Give me the strength that waits upon You in silence and peace. Give me humility in which alone is rest, and deliver me from pride which is the heaviest of burdens. And possess my whole heart and soul with the simplicity of love. Occupy my whole life with the one thought and the one desire of love, that I may love not for the sake of merit, not for the sake of perfection, not for the sake of virtue, not for the sake of sanctity, but for You alone." -Thomas Merton Source: New Seeds of Contemplation

after braving what i think was a combo of sinus infection and the black plague and entertaining my in-laws this past week, i return unscathed to post yet again! recently a friend posted this observation on his status update on Facebook, attributed to Marcus Borg, "Church 50yrs from now: Fewer professional clergy. But intentional groups of Christians will be around. Tents in the wilderness." wow. not a big believer in predicting the future, much less the future of the body of Christ (b/c i am asked often to do so), but feel that Borg is on to something really revelatory with this observation. if current trends continue and the spending habits of institutions (including the organized religious denominational institutions) continues to be put under a public microscope, the trending towards less professional, specialized clergy staff does not seem like an unlikely possibility. more and more, in discussions and dialogues i am a part of, hearing a downtrend among those seeking t...

Check out www.40daygiveaway.com to see a project my friend Flip Cadero is working through for his 40 days of Lent. Check out especially Day 2. Flip and I met through my wife's involvement with the Wesley Foundation at SMU in Dallas. Flip is Catholic and I am catholic so I always look forward to our conversations. Also, just being seen with Flip raises my cool factor proportionally so that's always a plus. Flip and I share a man-crush for Richard Rohr and Shane Claiborne so we have so much, from saints to the social gospel, to discuss when we hang out (which is not enough). He urgently facebooked me last week with a request to get together for coffee ASAP. At coffee we spent some time admiring one another's facial hair and he presented me with his fantastic ostrich belt which had the Virgin de Guadalupe buckle attached. Needless to say, I am a much stouter man than Flip so I am proudly donning the buckle but will need a few months to slim down in order to don the be...

As Lent approacheth, still working through some of my spiritual dryness, thanks to all who left encouraging and helpful comments. I believe that I will be giving up my selfishness and self-centeredness as well as my self-created complacency regarding my actual, physical involvement in real ministry with those on the margins. It is on this note, ministry with the least of these, that I feel compelled to ruminate upon today. Still working through this so please poke holes and challenge my assumptions. I recently read Compassion, Justice, and the Christian Life: Rethinking Ministry to the Poor by Dr. Robert Lupton, which was compelling for a number of different reasons: one being that it was succinct and compact handling without being over-simplified and another being that it dealt frankly with the church's approach to ministry with the poor, which one can do with years of real-life experience working in ministry with the poor like Dr. Lupton. This book got me to thinking about wh...

kind of in a spiritual dry place of sorts, any suggestions on how to get out...?

so i am watching CNN this morning and on the crawl i read this, and i quote, "cell phone rings amuse, annoy some." really?!? these are the up-to-the-minute news details that the world needs to know? this is like posting "socks with sandals deemed by most 'not a good look'" or "many choose not to wear flip flops in the rain because it may cause foot wetness" or "study of junior high aged males shows many find fart sounds comical" or "nation-wide poll reveals some enjoy coffee, others choose tea" or "another baseball player found using steroids" or "many believe our last president is a big dumb-ass" or "study reveals the endless war in Iraq actually claiming the lives of young people on both sides who displayed a great deal of potential and could change the world." is this what has become news? are we so ill-informed that we don't actually know these things? or have we become so apathetic tha...

OBAMA: My fellow citizens: I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition. Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because we the people have remained faithful to the ideals of our forebears, and true to our founding documents. So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans. That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a con...