In Long Island (“Lon Gisland,” for you East Coasters) a church member placed a winning lottery ticket worth $3 million into the offering plate. And, yes, it was on purpose (video at Yahoo). The only restriction? That the donor remains anonymous. One article calls this an “answered prayer” in the headline (although it does not appear that this church hosted prayer meetings specifically asking that a member would win the lottery).
Archives for category: faith
Perhaps because the stakes are so high, or maybe because we just like to fight, this November’s historic election cycle has elicited some very strong, emotional responses among Christians of various political persuasions.
I believe that followers of Christ should be engaged in the political process in meaningful ways rather than withdrawing into our own insular dreamworld while, at the same time, recognizing that our ultimate hope is not in a particular politician or the political process. The idea of being part of the already but not yet Kingdom certainly creates tension for any of us who want to live out our faith missionally into our culture.
A slightly tangential thread came up from a post Eugene Cho wrote recently about the Spanish basketball team and their slanty-eyed “affectionate” tribute (thank you, Pat Forde at ESPN for calling them out as buffoons not only for doing this in the first place but also for their response in your post-Olympics wrap-up; see #26) about the difference between forgiveness and reconciliation.
My latest television watching obsession, other than the Olympic coverage of Korean team handball and America’s Best Dance Crew (big ups to SuperCr3w!), has been JCTV.
JCTV (yes, apparently, it’s Jesus’ television) is a channel started up by the folks at TBN (yes, that TBN) to reach the “extreme” generation. Or something like that.
I’m not 100% sure why I keep on watching. It’s not that I enjoy the videos or programming (lots of old school skateboarding, loud music videos and, for some reason, an almost endless loop of something called “Cruise for a Cause”). And it’s not because I’m mocking it, although I do have some skepticism about it. I think it’s because I’m trying to figure out why JCTV exists.
With a nod to the good people of Love Light & Melody, our church community will begin a new worship series this week journeying through the book of First John together, titled Love, Light + Life.
Below you can find the graphic I designed for this series:
May the light of Christ break through the fog that so easily settles over our hearts and usher us into the fullness of God’s Shalom.
headsparks* 