Category: faith

Bono on “non-believers”

Reading a great article on U2’s new album and Bono’s activism and all things in between ::

He says that a lot of people he most admires are non-believers. Bill Gates. Warren Buffett. “People who are prepared to spend their entire life’s fortune trying to make the lives of people they don’t know a lot better. These people are more Christian than the Christians. Zealotry and certainty are worrying for me. Love keeps religion from zealotry.”

SOH So without love, it becomes another kind of fixed ideology?

Bono “Yeah, that’s right! Anyway, there’s loads of pops in there about zealotry, religious and otherwise, and you’re the only person who’s picked up on this in the lyrics. I mean, ‘Stop helping God across the road like a little old lady.’ Come on?”

SOH That’s a pop at the militant atheists.

Bono “And at myself. I mean, I have a bit of it, myself. I have a bit of the helping God across the road like a little old lady.”….z

“You know, it’s like that thing that people said about U2, that most bands start off writing about girls and end up writing about God, but we started off writing about God and ended up writing about girls. But we found the God in the girls, that would be my retort.”

U2’s new album drops March 2 (3rd in the US). You can pre-order all five versions here.

44/365 a revolution

44/365

44/365
Originally uploaded by Jonathan D. Blundell


a revolution

“‘What a strange way to start a revolution… and a strange way to finish a world tour.’ We worship the seed that died. The revolution will not be televised. It will not be brought to you by Fox News with commercial interruptions… It will not be sandwiched between ads to accelerate your life or be all you can be. There will be no reruns. The revolution will be live. The revolution will be in the streets. The revolution will be cleaning toilets and giving another blanket to Karen. The revolution will not be talking about poverty in hotel ballrooms. It will be eating beans and rice with Ms. Sunshine and watching Back to the Future with our neighbor Mary. Get ready friends… God is preparing us for something really, really — small.”

-Shane Claiborne as quoted in Tom Sine’s book The New Conspirators

—
note: wish i had some mustard seeds on hand, but went with celery seeds instead.

Obama creates Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnership Council

“Instead of driving us apart, our very beliefs can bring us together,” President Obama said yesterday at the National Prayer Breakfast.

E pluribus unum, in other words.

From the Whitehouse.gov blog ::

The President named Joshua DuBois to lead the office, and also announced the creation of the President’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships — a group of 25 religious and secular leaders.

“Whether it’s connecting groups that are training people to do new jobs, or figuring out the role of faith-based organizations in combating global climate change, this office creates those partnerships in a way that’s responsible, constitutional, and — bottom line — helps those in need,” DuBois said.

It will be interesting to see what comes from this council.

Transforming Theology

Tripp Fuller, Tony Jones and a whole list of of other folks are taking off on a pretty interesting journey.

I’m playing catchup after a week off but as I’ve briefly gathered, there will be a conference in mid-March as well as several others throughout the year.

Briefly, “The mission of the Transforming Theology network is to tighten the bonds between theology and transformative action in the church and the world.”

Transforming Theology Mission ::

Our goal is an ambitious one: to create the intellectual framework for a progressive religious vision. By forming a broad alliance between the leading scholars and organizations in Christian religion today, we aim at nothing less than to “reclaim the progressive voice.” There are movements on the ground, active in various denominations and schools. Up to this point, however, what has been missing is a uniting intellectual and theoretical vision, comparable to what has emerged from the conservatives…

Beliefs orient communities; they create a sense of common cause; and frequently they motivate persons to sacrificial action. Motivating beliefs of this sort go by many names. They have been called ethical principles, rationales for action, ideologies, and worldviews. In the three Abrahamic traditions they are called “theologies”: beliefs about the world and the religious ultimate that suggest how one should live in the world. In order to guarantee that our project remains pluralistic and non-partisan, we will speak only of “theological models.” We claim that the loss of theological reflection represents a major crisis for the identity of religious communities and for their effectiveness as agents of social change, and we believe that concrete steps can be taken to reintroduce transformative reflection that leads to transformative action. We focus on Christianity, not because it is “truer” than other traditions, but because it is the tradition we know best and on which we can have the greatest influence. Thus our title: “Rekindling Theological Reflection: Transformative Thought for Progressive Action.”

The goal is not to talk about beliefs for belief’s sake. Yet religious beliefs will undeniably play a crucial role if progressive religion is again to impact the world on behalf of social change. The goal is not theory for theory’s sake. But some theoretical framing is required if progressive forces are to have the vision and the sustained commitment to move forward. In the past, progressive religion in America was able to move fluidly from theological models to transformative action, and from praxis in the world to new and richer theological models. We believe it is time to rekindle the organic interplay of religious thought and action. Renewing the justification for action will have general impact on local congregations, denominations, and a variety of progressive networks focusing on social change.

There’s a number of videos and blog posts over on the site and they’re also looking for your input.

In fact, Tripp and Tony are looking for your most pressing ‘God’ question to ask the gathered theologians in March. You can submit them via the comments section on the blog, email, youtube, etc.

And they’re even awarding the most active participants, including a travel stipend to be a special corespondent at a conference in September 09.

So, what is your most pressing ‘God question?’ Share it here and over at Transformingtheology.org.

In my neighborhood

long exposures

I saw this on a random church website describing their community groups…

Hopefully over the course of the year, our neighborhoods will be blessed by our coming together.

Could we say this about our own individual community groups/families?

Could we make that our goal this year?

Daniel’s Den, Waxahachie Cares, Austin Street, Goodwill etc. etc. etc. are ALL great causes. And I love the stories I hear about folks getting involved and wanting to get involved with each of them.

But what about YOUR neighborhood? Will it be blessed by your family and your group coming together this year? How will your group – no matter what size it may be – how will it bless your neighborhood?

Some ideas ::

  • Host a BBQ for your neighbors
  • Host a party for the big game and invite your neighbors
  • Deliver cookies or small bags of candies to your neighbors
  • Plant a community garden
  • Work to keep your house and landscaping in top notch condition and help encourage others to do the same — offer to help when they may not be able
  • Organize a neighborhood watch
  • Stock your freezer with heat and serve lasagnas or soups for when a neighbor gets sick or out of work
  • Invite neighbors over for coffee or tea or whatever
  • Get involved in the HOA – be a voice for positive change – not complaining about the wrongs others are doing
  • Walk the neighbor’s dogs
  • Pick up the mail for a neighbor going on vacation

I think the key to remember, no matter what it is – don’t do it because you have an agenda. If they ask why you’re doing it, just say “I want to be a better neighbor.”

What other ideas do you have?

What do you wish your neighbor would do for you? Now go and do likewise.

And while you’re at it – say a prayer for me and our group. Pray that we also can begin living this idea out.

Makes me proud

robgriggs

robgt2 :: @aaronaiken If I was you I’d create a ‘Where You Are Now’ online brand like the @sbpodcast one

I’m not sure what all Rob’s referring to as “our brand” but I’m glad others would consider it worthy of imitating. I hope it continues to be a great brand “people can follow as we follow Jesus” and share his story with others.

Thanks Rob. Your tweet made me proud.