Month: June 2006

Organic church


Thomas has a great post on the Organic Church. I like his thinking:

Organic church will value fruit in all shapes and forms… diversity will be key… It will be about the insides, not the veneer that surrounds… Substance rather than surface. It will also keep close to its environment… not taking without giving back… living in balance.
I would say, however, that organic fruit is more at risk. It is easy for non-organic farmers to spray their fruit with agent orange or whatever evil pesticide they have… Organic farmers have less to choose from and have to live more on trust… on faith… with their food being more vulnerable.
Church will be at more risk when it is organic…because the people will be vulnerable. No man-made perservatives to keep them going – only the strength of the wholesome earth that they are immersed in. In organic church, we will only have God to keep us… there will be nothing man-made that will protect us.

Christian is a poor adjective

This is from Thomas:

In yesterday’s Metro American “trendspotter” Marian Salzman responded to the question :: “What trends are you predicting for the next 5 years?”

Americans have become so decidedly religious that religion is going to become a very serious problem between the US and the rest of the world. Americans are living in a country where CHRISTIAN RETAIL is a shopping option, CHRISTIAN FOOD is a snack food option – there’s a chain called “Chick-fil-a” – it’s Christian chicken.

Oh my goodness!

What happened to being in the world? If all I do is “CHRISTIAN” then where is the reality? where is the truth in being the salt and the light?

Reject Christian ghettoes!

I just read chapter three of “Velvet Elvis” last night by Rob Bell and it talks a lot about this.

“The prophet Isaiah had a vision of heaven, and in his vision angels were shouting, ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.’

The Hebrew word for glory here is kavod, which means weight or significance.

The whole earth is full of the weight and significance of who God is.

The writer David said, ‘The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it.’

According to the ancient Jewish worldview, God is not somewhere else. God is right here. It is God’s world and God made it and God owns it and God is present everwhere in it.”

“But God is always present. We’re the ones who show up. For the ancient Jew, the world is soaked in the presence of God. The whole earth is full of the kavad of God. For the writers of the Bible, this truth is everywhere. It’s here. It’s there. It’s all over.”

“Paul affirms the truth wherever he finds it.”

“If it is true, if it is beautiful, if it is honorable, if it is right, then claim it. Because it is from God. And you belong to God.”

“Jesus is the arrangement. Jesus is the design. Jesus is the intelligence. For a Christian, Jesus’ teachings aren’t to be followed because they are a nice way to live a moral life. They are to be followed because they are the best possible insight into how the world really works. They teach us how things are. I don’t follow Jesus because I think Christianity is the best religion. I follow Jesus because he leads me into the ultimate reality.”

“It is dangerous to label things ‘Christian.'”

“The problem with turning the noun into an adjective and then tacking it onto words is that it can create categories that limit the truth.”

“Something can be labled Christian and not be true or good.”

“A Christian political group puts me in an akward position: What if I disagree with them? Am I less of a Christian? What if I am convinced the “Christian” thing to do is to vote the exact opposite?”

“Christian is a great noun and a poor adjective.”

“I was playing in a punk band a few years ago, and we were playing clubs and bars and festivals and parties. People would regularly ask us if we were a Christian band when they found out I was a pastor. I always found that question a bit odd. When you meet a plumber, do you ask her if she is a Christian plumber?”

“My understanding is that to be a Christian is to do whatever you do with great passion and devotion.”

What’s your take?

P.S. Superman

An interesting point made by a Frontburner reader:

I thought a portion of Chris Vognar’s suggestion in Over The Top’s “Lessons from the Daily Planet” on the front of today’s GuideLive section (in the DMN)could have been a veiled response to his newsroom’s recent distress.
Vognar’s tip: “Boost circulation: If you want to keep circulation figures up, follow the advice of DP editor Perry White (Frank Langella): ‘Three things sell papers: tragedy, sex and Superman.’ Where’s the Man of Steel when we need him most?”

Superman cannot lie… and neither will I

Superman Returns

I went and saw “Superman Returns” at the special screening at 10:10 last night with my boy Aaron.

I will not lie. It was good. From the moment the John William’s Superman score hits the screen to the end I was caught in the moment.

I thought the storyline was great and answers the question, “Well where’s Superman been?” while Spiderman, X-Men, Batman and others have taken over Superman’s spot at the box office.

Apparently Superman (played by Brandon Routh) went home to see if there was anything left of his home planet.

But he returns to earth to see that the world has moved on without him, including the love of his life, Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth). Lane is even being awarded the Pulitzer Prize for her editorial piece, “Why the world doesn’t need Superman.”

Superman’s vile enemy Lex Luther, wonderfully played by Kevin Spacey, has been released from jail after Superman, the key witness in his case failed to appear at his trial. Luther sets out on his next plan to take over the world and of course only one man can stop him – Superman.

I kept sensing a spiritual theme in the movie as Lane tells Superman the world doesn’t need a savior. From his viewpoint high above the world, Superman tells her “I hear all the screams and cries for a savior.”

The movie also grapples with Superman’s mortality as the the others have as well.

Routh plays an excellent replacement for Christopher Reeves and at times you can see Reeves in Routh’s expressions and face.

There is definatly a greater element of special effects than the first three movies, but they’re done well enough that you don’t lose the “reality” of the movie.

You don’t get a chance to stop and think, now was that done with computers or the real thing?

I won’t give away the ending, but it will leave you applauding the film makers for a job well done.

The movie opens nationwide today.

Remember LeAnn Rhimes?


Remember that young up and coming country star from Garland a few years back.
That girl that every girl in the Metroplex wanted to be.
Looks like she’s grown up and jumped the pond to release her latest musical work.
Seems her album is only being released in the UK and not here in the US, although rumor is you can track one down at Tower Records or on Amazon.