1-2-3 Meme

February 11, 2008 //

I’ve been tagged by J. Evans for this 1-2-3 Meme. Here’s how it works: “The game is to grab the book nearest to you and turn to page 123. Find the 5th sentence and share the next 3 sentences with everyone. Then you tag five people.” So, from my desk to your screen…

Preaching Re-Imagined, by Doug Pagitt

“Is it possible that this kind of phrase (ball hog) could also apply to pastors who do all the studying, all the talking, and even have the gall to think they can apply the messages they create to the lives of other people? In this setting there is little for the hearers to do besides decide if they agree or not. Is it possible that we have, through the practice of speaching, created a culture in churches where agreeability is the necessary posture of our people?”

As a preacher-type, this hits really close to home. I’ve struggled for awhile with tying together the notion of the priesthood of all believers with the role of preaching. Certainly, a vocational pastor will have time to devote to exegesis, study and meditation on Scripture that others do not. Hopefully, prayerfully, this hard work will translate God’s voice to, in and for a particular community. However, I would love to see a more active, participatory engagement of Scripture from our entire community. I don’t know if we’d approach this in quite the way Solomon’s Porch does, but Doug’s thoughts here are a great jumping off point.

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I haven’t really participated in a meme before, but I am really interested in discovering what is on the bookshelf of Sam, Rich, David, Wayne and Dan.

Categories books, church, communication, community, faith, meme, missional, preaching

See, SportsCenter Is Good For You!

February 9, 2008 //

All those hours of hard work that I put into watching SportsCenter (often the same episode back-to-back) have paid off!

Last night they aired the story of Aaron Fotheringham, a teenager from Las Vegas who, despite being born with spina bifida, became the first person ever to land a wheelchair backflip — at a skatepark, of course.

Aaron seems like a remarkable kid — he has overcome so much in his life. And the story gets better: this feature told the story of how he has been inspiring other kids like him around the world. One 4-year old, Zach, had suffered a stroke at 18 months that left him a wheelchair as well. ESPN caught up with Zach as he got to spend a couple of days with his idol, Aaron:

Their connection is immediate and real, as Zach’s laughter echoes across the contours of the park, his eyes never leaving Aaron’s dashing chair. Watching it all in front of her, Linda Puddy wipes away her tears. “I didn’t know what to do until I saw Aaron, and then I knew,” she says. “It gives Zachary a direction to go.” “He’s a hero,” she says, watching the teenager pushing her son down a small slope. “Zach thinks that Aaron flies.”

Who needs those NBA commercials to make us cry when we’ve got inspirational stories like Aaron’s?

Categories community, health, hooray!, hope

Ways Of Understanding Church

February 7, 2008 //

Jason Evans recently posted a thought-provoking article over at the Ecclesia Collective, Church as a co-op. I love the idea of searching out new analogies that help us delve deeper into what it means to be the called out people of God in community. After all, even the familiar concepts of the Church as the body of Christ and the family of God are also analogies.

“Organic” has become an increasingly popular analogy for the church (The Organic God, Organic Community and Organic Church to name a few recent books), I believe, out of this desire to reclaim the idea that the Church is not a static, artificial monument but rather a dynamic, real movement.

Of course, any language we choose to use runs the risk of being misunderstood, overused or rendered virtually meaningless because of conflicting ideas and preconceived notions. The emerging/emergent church movement and corresponding controversy come to mind. For more information about the emerging church, DJ Chuang has posted a great article to help you navigate the many kinds of emerging church. Here is another post that might help you understand the relationship between Emergent and the emerging church (including insightful comments from Scot McKnight and Jamie Arpin-Ricci).

I’m looking forward to hearing more of Jason’s thoughts. As a huge believer in the priesthood of all believers (God has called all of us into ministry, whether that’s our professional vocation or not) I whole-heartedly agree with the idea, “To be the Church is to choose unity with those that also choose the way of the Kingdom through Jesus.”

Categories church, communication, community, controversy, emerging church, ministry, missional

Thank You, Al Gore

February 7, 2008 //

…for inventing the internets all those years ago. Without your help, I wouldn’t have been able to place the music of Anathallo in this Vick’s advert (or, at least, not as quickly):

While I do like the idea that this one, mentholated commercial singlehandedly financed the upcoming Anathallo album, it kind of offends my indie sensibilities to have massive corporations co-opt songs that have personal resonance with me solely for the purpose of trying to sell me more stuff. I did end up purchasing this box of Vicks flavored tissues at Target the other day, but only because they were on sale (or, maybe, these ads are working subconsciously).

Reminds me of other ads I’ve seen featuring music that I like. For example, nothing says, “I need more ink for my printer” than a slow jam from some mopey Brits (alright, so the song is called “Pictures of You” and the ad is for photo paper but what possible connection can we make between “How Soon Is Now?” by The Smiths and a Nissan Maxima or “Stars” by Hum and a Cadillac CTS?).

I can’t get “doing things is what I like to do” out of my head. But there’s not a Dunkin Donuts anywhere even remotely near here.

EDIT: This particular Super Bowl ad from E-trade was kind of clever (“You know, me and the boys were talking about what to do with all this extra coin and I was like, ‘I’m renting a clown.'”) but creepy X2 [clown + superimposed-mouth talking babies = creepazoid robots].

Categories advertising, indie, music

What Can Fix A Broken Heart?

February 4, 2008 //

According to this story on NPR’s Morning Edition, a Japanese cosmetics firm offers “heartache leave” to its employees who have just broken up with a significant other. They even recognize different levels of grief employees might endure from breaking up with a boyfriend or girlfriend, offering three days to older employees (while the presumably more resilient younger employees get one day to recover).

Although it might seem like just another Japanese cultural oddity (for those who hate getting their hair in their noodles! for those who need to blow their nose at all times! for those who must smoke mass quantities right now!) it is actually kind of nice for employers to recognize that the automatons filling all those cubicles are actual human beings. A little bit of empathy can go a long way.

Categories asian american, community, health, just grinning