Category: misc

FREE download “Prince of Peace – God of War”

Shawn Groves tipped me off to a new movie (and the free download) :: “Prince of Peace – God of War.”

The movie’s premise sounds “simple” enough ::

How did the command to “Love Your Enemies” get so complicated? This was the question I had for years both when I was a minister in the church and ever since I left it. It seemed to me the religious right, more a political force than anything else, who embraced policies of violence, killing and destruction, all in the name of a God they claimed to follow seemed to be at odds with the teachings of the founder of their faith.

I’m downloading it now and haven’t had a chance to watch it yet. But Groves said he’s disappointed in it – just like he was with Fireproof. And I understand where he’s coming from (however in full disclosure I haven’t seen either film yet).

Oh, my brain ate up all the information, history, scripture. Something deeper in me was even inspired several times to be more like Christ. But most of the time I just sat there wishing: I wish this movie wasn’t head after head talking about theology and history. I wish just one of these bright guys talking right now would let this camera man follow him home. I wish one of these guys would show me what it looks like in their neighborhood/office/church/Palestine to live justly or non-violently. I wish this movie wasn’t all telling and no showing. Yep, I wished that again.

A friend made a similar comment after we watched The Ordinary Radicals on Saturday night. He wanted less “telling” and more “showing.” And while I really loved The Ordinary Radicals I could see where he was coming from. He wanted to see how the homeless advocates were actually living out their missions — not just a 2 min. sound bite. He wanted to know how it was working and see it lived out.

For me however, The Ordinary Radicals sparked ideas (and many at that). After all, perhaps even if I had seen how a homeless advocate lived out her mission in San Fransisco, it’s going to look a lot different in Red Oak, Texas. To me the movie showed that Another World Is Possible.

But perhaps that’s what’s missing in our faith overall. We’re telling people how to live and giving them the rules to follow — but we’re not living it ourselves. Lots of telling — but not much showing.

All that to say — there’s a movie out that you might be interested in – for free. Check it out.

The relationship toolbox

Over the past few weeks Brian’s been sharing thoughts on relationship tools each Sunday. As part of the series he’s been posting clues to the upcoming week’s relationship tool on the blog. Since Brian will be out this week and Josh and I are doing “the sermon” I posed this week’s clues. See if you can guess ::

This Sunday we’ll talk about another relationship tool that like many of the other tools is not only vital to our personal relationships but to the church as a whole. While many of the tools we use in relationships and in church are things “we do.” This tool is something we must “become.”

When I mentioned it to a friend this week we called it “the ultimate tool” and he compared it to a leatherman. I think about as a sweetener or a spice that you add to the main dish and it brings out an entirely new flavor.

When used properly it can fill in for many other tools. It can fill in the gaps or voids that might be missing throughout the day. When used improperly it can wound and hurt and destroy. It’s like taking a knife and digging deep into someones flesh and soul.

Let the guessing game begin.

Steven Delopoulos on Noisetrade.com

Steven Delopoulos (Burlap to Cashmere) is back with a new album and Noisetrade.com has a great collection of exclusive downloads.

Of course like all of Noisetrade’s music – you can tell 5 friends about the music and download it for free — or pay what you’d like for the music. Fair trade music! Love it!

Two years ago…

Mike Blythe shared his latest KMZ file of Jos, Nigeria yesterday.
Going back and looking at the sites make me start thinking about my trip to Nigeria.
I went back and looked at my blog posts and realized two years ago exactly I was nearing the end of my two week stay there.
Thought this was also interesting…

Nearly two years ago today (on a Monday afternoon — Oct. 9th) I was enjoying church with a group of people who didn’t speak my language and met in a warehouse with dirt floors and wooden benches.

Yesterday we did shopping in the morning and then went to a church at the Motorpark.
The Motorpark is basically a large field where people bring their cars and wait for riders to take trips across the country.
You can probably find a ride to any part of the country if you’re willing to wait for enough other riders to make it profitable for the car owner and driver.
The church at the Motorpark meets in a large building with wooden benches and dirt floors. Their numbers are few, but they’ve doubled in size since last year.
The church was large in size years ago before fighting broke out between the Muslims and Christians. The church dispersed after that but everyday a group of women would continue to meet in the afternoon and pray for God to work.
Now their numbers have at least tripled and they are excited and on fire for God.

Jesus is a friend of mine

If you’ve missed it…

Here’s Sonseed’s video from the early 80’s — Jesus is a Friend of Mine ::

And here’s a cover of the song by the David Crowder Band ::

yesssss! i have a feeling this song may end up on a future podcast.
another HT to Tall Skinny Kiwi for the David Crowder version.

You might be a faith blogger if…

Catching up on some RSS feeds and had to share this from Tall Skinny Kiwi ::

You might be a faith blogger if…

  • if you sit in the back row of the church because thats where the wifi signal is the strongest
  • if your sermons allow both comments and trackbacks
  • if you tithe through a widget
  • if you think committing the original sin is getting tempted by the latest Apple
  • if you pray that God will allow you to upload your photo to the Lamb’s Book of Life
  • if your prayers are less than 140 characters because thats all Twitter allows
  • if you ever wonder why the domain of Satan doesn’t have its own URL
  • if you think Jesus’ command to Peter to “Feed my sheep” was to allow RSS syndication
  • if you think streams in the desert is a blog from Las Vegas

. . . then you just might be a faith-blogger!