links for 2008-02-01
January 31, 08 by ed-
This is absolutely fascinating. Apparently entrepreneurs are shedding the old “for-profit” and “nonprofit” categories to forge new ways of making the world a better place.
Archive for January, 2008
The Dusty Cover: A Great Way to Minister in the Community
January 31, 08 by edJamie Arpin-Ricci and his wife are opening a little used bookstore and coffee shop called The Dusty Cover. It’s in Winnipeg, so I don’t imagine I’ll be dropping by any time soon, especially since he told me they’re hovering in the -40 degree zone of late.
However, I’m really interested in seeing what develops out of this. He’s partnering with community groups and working on making it more than just a book store. He just sent a message on Facebook with the following info:
The bookstore will be open Tuesday-Friday, 10:00am to 5:30pm. On Friday we are open until 6pm. We hope to expand hour once summer hits.
Also, we will be doing a Grand Opening week later in the Spring, once we’ve worked out the kinks and the weather improves. Thanks all!
Peace,
Jamie
Be sure to drop by his web site or if you’re an intrepid soul, drop in this Tuesday for the grand opening.
Who Wrote Giuliani’s Book on Leadership?
January 31, 08 by edRemember that book Rudy Giuliani published called Leadership after 9-11? It was a hot seller. I noticed that quite a few people were reading it from my own circles.
I can’t help saying that I was suspicious. Did Giuliani really write that book? If he did, then he forgot it all really, really fast.
On NPR’s All Things Considered, Robert Smith provided a bitterly ironic commentary on Giuliani’s campaign by using Leadership to contrast Rudy the book with Rudy the candidate. It’s well worth listening.
links for 2008-01-31
January 30, 08 by ed-
Interesting interview on fresh air about Evangelical history: “In his new book, God in the White House, Randall Balmer explores the interplay between religion and politics in America, tracking the “religionization” of the Oval Office across the last half
I Am Not the Poster Child for Compassion
January 30, 08 by edCan I just say that it’s hard to have compassion sometimes?
Compassion is more than just feeling sorry for someone. There are two movements to compassion: shared sorrow and then shared action.
It’s defined as “a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering.”
Even if the action we take to alleviate suffering goes no further than prayer, sometimes it is really hard to have compassion. People get under our skin, rankle us, offend us, inconvenience us… And thus the compassion runs dry.
Perhaps my kind of compassion is circumstantial compassion: I’ll have compassion if I deem it appropriate, if you haven’t annoyed me too much, if I think you’re worth it.
Did I just say all of that?
Sometimes I think I’m a lost cause.
Of course the universal human problem is navel gazing, a kind of near-sighted view of the world where the only things that matter are right in front of me, close to me, and within my realm of concern. What a horribly crippling, useless way to live, but there you have it. I’m so focused on my needs, my feelings, my reactions that I forget people out there really need me to pray, to act, to care, to forget about myself for just…one…minute.
But I’m SO important!!!
And if that is my line of thinking, existence becomes hardly bearable. Misery swoops in like a cold pelting rain. Everything is perceived as an attack on my happiness and position, everything ruins MY life, and everything revolves around me to the point that death seems like the worst possible thing because I will be removed from this world that is so deeply invested in me.
Suddenly, compassion doesn’t sound so bad after all.
Does Evangelism Miss the Point of Scripture?
January 28, 08 by edA while back I read Newbigin’s excellent book The Gospel in a Pluralist Society. It’s a heavyweight book, one that is digested slowly and refuses to be rushed.
I happened to be reading through a review of it on amazon.com and read the following review by Patrick Oden. Apparently I wasn’t reading Newbigin close enough. Oden says,
He [Newbigin] points out that the New Testament epistles are virtually devoid of references, exhortations, or instructions to evangelism and missions. This is an unusual observation in respect to the modern emphasis on such activities. Newbiggin points out that these were not referred to for one main reason. It is that the role of evangelism was never thought of as the responsibility for the believer. Rather, evangelism was a result of the power of the Holy Spirit acting in such a way that people were drawn to see and inquire what this new power was. “The mission of the Church in the pages of the New Testament is more like the fallout from a vast explosion, a radioactive fallout which is not lethal but life-giving.” Thus, we understand why Paul exhorted his churches to mature, growing in their faith and understanding of the Triune God. It would be through this maturity that the Spirit would naturally move in the lives of believers to reach out to the community around them. When a church loses this focus, ministry becomes difficult and impossible, especially in an age of pluralism.
Wow. I think I’ve been going about this Evangelism thing all wrong, though I have known somewhere within myself that the driving force behind any kind of evangelism is a vibrant life with the Holy Spirit.
Leave it to Newbigin to capture a modern metaphor for destruction and turn it into a life-giving concept.
The Pure in Heart are Bad for the Economy
January 28, 08 by edHave you ever wished you didn’t have to keep an eye on your checking account before paying rent or your mortgage, fixing your car, or even buying food? Have you ever envied the people who are wealthy enough to spend lavishly, give freely, and never worry about finances?
This is a typical situation in America today if you ask me. Our entire economy of late is riding on consumer spending, which means we are expected to be dissatisfied, accumulating possessions and trying to live like the wealthy. Can you imagine an economist or politician at this particular juncture suggesting that everyone settle for what they have, remain content, and carefully save what they have, unless they want to share it with a charity?
Political suicide.
Economic suicide.
The story is: You don’t have enough. You want to become like the wealthy, and the wealthy spend their money. In fact, the stock shares of the wealthy depend on YOU spending your money because you aren’t satisfied with where you are, who you are, and what you have.
Scripture presents an alternative picture. Envying those who have it all in this world is viewed as slipping away from a focus on God. What does God value? A pure heart. That doesn’t really help the market.
With these thoughts in mind, have a look at Psalm 73.
links for 2008-01-26
January 25, 08 by ed-
“The skies won’t seem especially friendly to anyone taking off from Philadelphia International Airport if they notice what a suburban couple wrote on the roof of their home.” Good old Philadelphia. Never a problem finding people who are outspoken.
links for 2008-01-24
January 23, 08 by ed-
Watching TBN one night on TV, Miller, 36, realized the conservative religious network was many people’s baseline for Christianity. He wanted to change that. “These people are absurd. I’ve been a Christian all my life and I don’t even know Christians this
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Baptist minister Mark Tronson has a well credentialed interest in Jewish Ministry. Currently he is alarmed at the perceived growing influence of well-meaning Christian leaders who disassociate themselves from the biblical prophetic announcements of God’s
links for 2008-01-19
January 18, 08 by ed-
Hooray! Another stupid controversy that will prove nothing to no one! Kenya is torn apart, Darfur rages on, Iraq is still unstable, who knows what Iran is up to, the Brits and Russians are seething at one another, the US presidential candidates are campai
links for 2008-01-18
January 17, 08 by ed-
The prosperity gospel is falling on hard times. I hope it goes bankrupt before it spreads to other nations around the world.
What Could We Do with $420 Million?
January 16, 08 by edCan you even imagine what we could do with $420 million? We could renovate schools, fund welfare programs, pay off all kinds of debts, pull people out of poverty, finance small businesses, feed the homeless, build homes for the homeless, repair bridges close to collapsing, provide aid to foreign nations gripped in poverty, war, famine, and who knows what else, and the list goes on.
I’ll admit that we can’t save the world by throwing money at our problems. You need people on the ground making it all happen. But still, we could really make some headway in our world with $420 million, even if we’re still a planet of sniveling weasels who would no doubt figure out a way to siphon off a significant chunk of that sum into the bulging pockets of a few corrupt leaders.
Why am I tossing around $420 million? Because the candidates in the 2008 election have, as of this point, raised that much money to fund their campaigns. And do you want to know the insane part? They’re hitting up people for more, lots more, straining for every donation they can drag out of their donors.
I ask you, have we lost our minds?
Why Sing a New Song to the Lord
January 15, 08 by edThere are all kinds of old songs that mention singing a new song to the Lord. From Catholics, to Baptists, to even U2, the theme of singing a new song to God comes up all over the place.
I was reading Psalm 98 last night, one of the references in scripture to singing a new song, when I finally asked, “Why? Why should I sing a new song to the Lord? Aren’t the old ones just fine?”
I thought back to an evening during my semester in Jerusalem when I found out that I would be able to stay and finish my semester despite the turmoil in the midst of the 2000 intifada. Gushing with relief and gratitude, I penned a poem or song, I’m not quite sure, that I can only compare to a Psalm. It was a celebration of God. I’ve never written anything like that before or since.
Was this a new song? In a sense, yes. And the attractiveness of a new song is the celebration of God’s new work. If we are the people of God singing new songs, that means we are living with God and experiencing the new work of God. In fact, if we run short on inspiration and “material,” chances are we have lost touch with the subject of our new songs.
Reasons to Pray the Our Father Every Day
January 13, 08 by ed“Your kingdom come, your will be done…”
“Give us this day our daily bread…”
“And forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us…”
“And Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
I’ve been a little selective here, but these lines from the prayer known as the Our Father have been rather significant in my life lately. I find myself praying them at work, driving through town, walking into the book store, and hanging out at home.
Sometimes a set prayer becomes something to parrot and simply get out of the way, having performed a holy obligation. Lately though the Our Father has been a helpful way to redirect my focus, to get myself on the same page with God, and to spark additional prayers.
The Our Father covers quite a bit of ground, including the importance of seeking first the Kingdom of God, combating consumerism by asking God to provide what we need for today, initiating a cycle of repentance and forgiveness, and asking God for protection in our struggle against evil. What a great prayer. It covers so much of what we face every day.
Sometimes the best things are right under our nose, the well-worn, over-used routines that are truly precious, but overlooked in favor of perhaps a cleaner, glittering prayer or method of meditation. Oddly enough, when Jesus’ disciples asked him to teach them how to pray, he delivered.
links for 2008-01-10
January 09, 08 by ed-
This paper comes recommended by Andrew Jones. Should be an interesting read.
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“TSK: Why all this controversy about having only trained, credentialed professions writing books like this from people that give verbal assent to the priesthood of all believers?” This is a conversation that I am very interested in.
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The phrase “authority of scripture” can make Christian sense only if it is shorthand for “the authority of the triune God, exercised somehow through scripture.”
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Wow, lots of really interesting links here about this important theologian in evangelical theology.
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Someone recommended this on Purgatorio and it seemed like an interesting site. I like the angle that a lot of the articles take.
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The woman who asked HIllary THE question that got her emotional and may have won her the primary ended up voting for Obama. Go figure.
