At the beginning of this month I posted on a project run by MIT that aims to produce a million lap tops at the cost of $100 each and distributing them to the schools of third world nations. I thought that this would be pretty good idea, but then I dropped the idea by Melodie, a friend of a friend and a student at the School for International Studies in Brattleboro, VT.
The news is filled with sad reports of explosions in India, threats issued against Israel, and the imminent threat of the bird flu in Europe and Asia. On a smaller, but no less disturbing scale, there is a report that three Indonesian girls were beheaded and another was badly wounded on their way to school. BBC Link.
The young victims of this heinous and cowardly crime were all Christians on their way to a Christian school. One of the heads was left outside of a local church. The location of the attacks was the Sulawesi province, where there has been a history of clashes between Muslims and Christians. Though a peace agreement has cut down on violence, non-Muslims have been the target of smaller attacks. Link
<%image(20051029-wooster.jpg|92|102|wooster)%> A friend recommended a magazine called “First Things“. I gave it a look last night and found it to be thought-provoking and well-written.
Their web site says:
FIRST THINGS is published by The Institute on Religion and Public Life, an interreligious, nonpartisan research and education institute whose purpose is to advance a religiously informed public philosophy for the ordering of society.
The lastest issue has a great article on Bertie Wooster and God. It gave me a deeper appreciation for humor and the prosaic genius of P. G. Wodehouse.
This makes the war in Iraq a bit more real.
Images are powerful. When scanned by the eye, they become embedded in our minds, flash up into our memory even if we don’t want them there, and are nearly impossible to delete by any other means than time and the accumulation of fresher, more vivid images. In my desire to be missional to my North American culture, the pull of images today cannot be ignored. Whether they are still shots on web sites or newspapers, live video footage by a camera man on site, or a scripted movie or TV show, we are surrounded by images.
I have a snippet from Beginning Conversations on the project’s blog. It covers the way we use scripture when forming theology. I would like to know what everyone thinks of my musings.
Link.
(This post has been updated as of 8AM EST on Friday)
Today has been a busy day that included a great conference call with Ryan Bolger (Co-author of Emerging Churches: Creating Christian Community in Postmodern Cultures
Time seems to elude me (probably because I spend my free time taking pictures and shopping for a digital camera!) in getting out a post on the power of image and the nature of one’s calling to culture. So in preparation for further exploration, I wanted to throw out a few thoughts for discussion.
Assumption Number One
Christians must be aware of their context and culture. Part of that means interacting with and being aware of entertainment, literature, film, music, etc.
Assumption Nubmer Two
Each Christian/group of Christians has a specific calling in line with their gifts, strengths, and weaknesses to interact with certain aspects of culture, both popular culture and (unpopular?) mainstream artistic culture.
Does that sound right???
<%image(20051027-Window Snow.jpg|216|162|window)%> This was the view I enjoyed yesterday with a cup of coffee and a digital camera. We had snow two nights ago and it laid about one to two inches on the ground in our valley. It’s all melted now, but the mountains are still covered above 1,500 feet. It makes for a really pretty drive to work. If the clouds scoot out of the way for a minute the view from my office is pretty sweet, with the peak of Mt. Equinow, blanketed in white, towering over me.
Here are a few more pictures from the snow fall, including a maple tree with green leaves and white snow. Stanger things surely must be happening somewhere else, but this is tough to beat.
Read the rest of this entry »
<%image(20051026-elmo.jpg|66|49|elmo)%> Now they’ve done it. As if the LA police didn’t already have a bad rap, they have now arrested Elmo for “aggressive begging.” I guess our dog will be the next to go.
Stupid Pharisees. They waited, prayed, studied, and waited some more for the Messiah. And when the time came, they blew it. They wailed at the graves of the prophets, adored Moses, and memorized the messages of the prophets, and then they killed the greatest prophet of them all. How could they have been so blind to the Messiah with so many miracles, so much wisdom, and so many fulfilled prophecies? Simple, Jesus made them angry by telling them that they had it wrong.
But how could they have been angry at Jesus? Even some of the most hardened sinners have a soft spot for the Son of God. The truth is that Jesus attacked their theology, their religious system, their politics, and their lifestyle. He was a very real threat that needed to be disposed of in order to keep the status quo. What’s truly terrifying is that Jesus is just as much a threat to us today and we are in real danger of making the same mistakes as the Pharisees.
From the BBC: While 25 million Africans are infected by HIV, a recent UN report estimates that up to 90 million will be infected within 20 years unless action is taken. Those are staggering numbers, here are some reference points.
It’s as if most of the population of Australia (20,351,000) had HIV. The prediction for the future would be equivalent to the entire country of Germany (82,490,000) and NY city in the US (8,085,742) being infected with HIV. Or France (60,742,000) and the state of California (35,484,453) being completely infected with HIV. Stats from www.prb.org.
One great ministry that is currently serving the children of South Africa in the midst of the AIDS crisis is Rainbows of Hope.
<%image(20051024-sunrise crop.jpg|360|82|sunrise)%> Today began with a stunning view of the sunrise hitting red mountain behind our house. We have been enveloped in cloud cover for so long that I have literally forgotten what it looks like to have sun hitting the trees around us. The only bright spots have been fleeting and the only consolation from all of the clouds has been some scarce snow above 2800 feet (approx.), which gives the mountains a really pretty look. But today was not one for enjoying nature. Today was for errands and preparation for winter.
Last weekend we visited a friend of my wife who was in the hospital. After a solid week she was bored as can be and even resorted to making Christmas ornaments. And as if a week wasn’t bad enough, a relative of mine just completed 5-6 months straight in the hospital. Being in the hospital is hard because you’re in a fairly bland room with white walls, a tile floor, medical instruments all around you, and very few things that are familiar. The TV, newspapers, telephone, and visitors are your only links to the outside world, and it can be very hard to find out information on your condition while you are laid up.
While pondering this dilemna I thought that the thing hospitals need is wifi in each room and a few lap tops available for patient use. Apparently some hospitals are already on their way (link).
<%image(20051021-Leaf Upclose small.jpg|162|216|Maple Leaf)%> Whether lining a road with majestic yellow leaves shining bright, dotting a mountainside with flecks of yellow and red, or standing alone in the yard, providing a flare of color in a sea or green and brown, I simply cannot get enough of the maple trees this fall.
Even though this fall has been one of the worst for fall colors in Vermont, I have still found some real gems to photograph and obsess over. I think the sheer quantity of colorful maple trees this fall has me incredibly excited; they are truly a joy to be around. In fact, while treking through my yard yesterday to take this picture, I had a profound sense that I was engaged in a form of worship.
::INAMIRRORDIMLY:: A theology and culture blog with the Bible in one tab and a news feed in the other. Ed Cyzewski is a freelance writer, theologian, and a nonprofit employee in southern Vermont.
Sign up for Ed's monthly newsletter on theology & writing: edcyzewski at gmail dot com
Also On:
facebook,
flickr,
virb, del.icio.us, myspace
Supporting: The Not For Sale Campaign, Shevet Achim
