Category: community

Seth Godin talks church

Marketing guru Seth Godin gave an interview to StreamingFaith.com. They naturally talked church and social media/marketing ::

Faith matters. A lot. Religion often gets in the way of faith. Religion, the scolding, rules-based part of religion, the part used as a lever in life or politics to insist that people follow a certain person or a certain idea… that’s not spreading so fast online.

But faith, faith is the salve we’ve always wanted and still want. Barack Obama offers a lot of people a different kind of faith, and we can see how it resonates. People want to believe, they want to be surrounded by people who believe and they want to feel good about it. What an opportunity.

(HT @stewartcutler – btw you can hear @stewartcutler and @headphonaught chat about advent on this week’s @sbpodcast)

Shane Claiborne on Buy Nothing Day & Black Friday

Shane Claiborne posted a guest blog entry on the Sojourner blog today and recapped his thoughts on Black Friday and Buy Nothing Day. Loved this story ::

I love the story of one pastor who got fed up with all the decorations and clutter. He began to see that we are in danger of losing the very “reason for the season,” Jesus — the Jesus that was born in the middle of Herod’s bloody genocide, the Jesus who was born a refugee with no room in the inn, the Jesus who knew suffering from the cradle to the cross. This pastor went through the sanctuary the night before the big Christmas service and spread out manure all over the floor — nasty, stinky piles of turd. As folks came in the next day in their best attire, he preached — and did he ever. He preached about how the original story of was not about malls and decorations. He preached about a story that was not pretty. He preached about a God who enters the s**t of this world and redeems all that is ugly and broken. It is a story they will never forget. It is the story of our faith.

Here’s a video from Buy Nothing Day events in Philly – posted by our friend Jamie Moffett – (look for Shane on stilts) ::


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World AIDS Day

Today is Dec. 1, 2008. Two big events take place today.

Rosa Parks in 1955 with Martin Luther King in the background (via Wikipedia)

The anniversary of Rosa Parks taking a stand, by taking a seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus in 1955, and World AIDS Day.

Two great movements/issues of our day — the civil rights movement and AIDS awareness/treatment/elimination.

I almost hate to compare the two movements (simply because I think they’re both worthy of their own attention and comprehension) but I think both are issues the church should be actively involved in and actively working to make change in. We’ve come a long way in both arenas but there’s still a long way to go as well.

I just started reading “On the Side of Angels” by Dr. Joseph D’Souza and Benedict Rogers. It talks right to this issue.

“Each person facing abuse of their own human rights is a fellow human being of eternal value, created by God in his image. Each one is our neighbor.”

For too long, we’ve delegated titles and stereotypes to people who are different than us. We’ve avoided people because of their different culture, or because of a disease that they might have contracted because of “immoral behavior.” And we’ve ignored the fact that each of us have contracted our own disease of sin that we DID contract because of our own immoral behavior.

Far too long we’ve said that you get what you deserve and you get what’s coming to you.

But as D’Souza and Rogers write, “Unless and until Christian life and witness actually becomes involved in individual lives and society, we cannot authentically carry out kingdom mission in this world.”

So here’s to my creed and the prayer that I live it out both today, and all the days to come ::

rather than seeking revenge, i will seek reconciliation
rather than repaying violence with violence, i will seek creative transforming nonviolent alternatives
rather than focusing on external conformity to moral codes, i will be internally transformed by love
rather than loving insiders and hating outsiders, i will welcome outsiders into a new “us” and “we”
rather than anxiety about money or security or pleasure, i will trust myself to the care of God
rather than living for wealth, i will live for God who loves all people, including our enemies
rather than hating our enemies and competitors, i will them and do unto them not as they have done unto me – or before they do unto me – but as i wish they would do for me

And to the mission of Jesus the Christ, the Messiah ::

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

resources ::
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)

Drug abuse by any route can put a person at risk for getting HIV. This is because drug and alcohol intoxication affect judgment and can lead to unsafe sexual practices, which put people at risk for getting HIV or transmitting it to someone else. NIDA has developed the following resources to help educate, share and increase awareness of the AIDS issue.

NIDA’s Learn the Link Campaign ::

More Resources ::

AIDS.gov

The Federal government has developed a wealth of HIV/AIDS testing, prevention, treatment and research information. In addition, the following are some of the many resources you can use to help response to HIV/AIDS.

Hitler does emergent


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Some of you might have no clue what they’re talking about here. So as a brief background, Tony Jones recently stepped down as the National Coordinator for Emergent Village. After he stepped down, Josh Case (now part of the Nick and Josh Podcast) posted a video suggesting that as part of the idea and concepts behind Emergent Village and “crowd-sourcing” (my words, not his) anyone who takes part in Emergent Village should now be a National Coordinator (I would add that it’s very similar in idea to the fact that because of Christ, we’re all now part of the priesthood).

But regardless, while this is a slam against Emergent Village I’m going to say this is greatness. Very funny. The “Scrawny Kiwi” writes that Matt, who posted the video, said it was made by Randy Brandt.

If you don’t quite understand the above video, maybe you’ll get a kick out of an earlier version that came out after my beloved Cowboys lost to the New York Giants in the playoffs last year.

How now should we live?

Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove writes ::

In the neighborhood where I live, people sometimes “flip” a house to make a quick buck. They buy it cheap because it’s in bad shape, but rather than fix the structural issues that compromise the house’s integrity, they just put some fresh paint on the walls, install a few flashy fixtures, and slap some new vinyl siding on the outside. The house often looks fantastic, but underneath the flash it’s still the same old shack.

For some time in North America, the church’s work has looked a lot like like house-flipping to many observers. Jesus easily becomes vinyl siding, a quick-fix for turning our lives around. Christianity becomes a way to clean up and make ourselves look respectable in the eyes of others, when all the while we’re still on the same path. Christians do business more or less like everyone else, but we do what we do “in God’s name.” If truly following God’s call to abundant life makes Christians into well-adjusted middle-class citizens, it makes you wonder how Jesus ever got himself executed.

Read the rest of Wilson-Hartgroves post.

He raises some excellent questions. Is Christianity all about becoming a well-adjusted middle-class citizen? My characters in #nanowrimo are struggling with some of these questions as well (and I’m struggling with giving them an answer ;-)).

What would you say? How does a person know they’re a Christian or my preferred terms – a Christ Follower or a Follower of The Way? What does it mean to be saved? Is it only a ticket to heaven when you die?

Look forward to your responses.