“Let’s take a typical day’s drive for this self-destructive couple. Adding 38 miles of round-trip driving at the IRS’s estimate of total driving cost of $0.51 per mile, there’s $19 per day of direct driving and car ownership costs. It is possible to drive for less, but these people happen to have fairly new cars, bought on credit, so they are wasting the full amount. Next is the actual human time wasted. At 80 minutes per day, the self-imposed driving would be adding the equivalent of almost an entire work day to each work week – so they would now effectively be working 6 workdays per week.”
Friend and colleague, Rick Dake, pointed me to this audio from Bishop Gerald Kennedy from 1960 speaking on The Marks of a Methodist – interesting how little has changed in 50 years.
“It is easily forgotten that the fellowship of Christian brethren is a gift of grace, a gift of the Kingdom of God that any day may be taken from us… Therefore, let him who until now has had the privilege of living a common Christian life with other Christians praise God’s grace from the bottom of his heart. Let him thank God on his knees and declare: It is grace, nothing but grace, that we are allowed to live in community with Christian brethren.”
Another catch-up week with lots of links (I actually cut out a few that would have been included in a “normal” week):
Smashing Magazine: How to Make an eBook Don’t know what I’d ever write a book about, but I like the whole idea that whole new platforms are opening up to those seeking to self-publish and destribute their ideas.
Semi-related: John Piper on Exercise. I’m not one to often agree with Piper, but I think he does make a couple good points in this one – I especially appreciate the note he makes that obesity isn’t the same as gluttony.
Stephen Colbert on God and Hell (taken from a Fresh Air interview):
Dan Dick on Christi-inanity. I think Dan’s making a good point, but also I don’t think it’s quite as “black and white” as he makes it. Do we need to raise the bar on theological understanding and conversation within the church? Absolutely. But when you are dealing with congregations with a wide diversity of age, educational and theological backgrounds it’s hard to get good systems in place that can meet the different populations at different points of need. Even using words like “antinomianism” or “theodicy” has to be done differntly when I’m preaching to the university church where a majority are college graduates and many have post-grad degrees versus the rural congregations where less than 10% of the population has a college degree. One isn’t better than the other – they just have a different set of demands, and a different style of communication, even if the content is the same. Likewise, I feel like even with my seminary education, I lack a certain amount of critical theological discourse. I know I’m lacking in this area, myself, and yet I know I’m probably better than most in terms of on-going reading and education on these topics. In the midst of all the demands of ministry, reading to stay on top of topics like systematic theology, unfortunately, doesn’t fall on many people’s priority list. It needs to be fixed, but I’m not even sure where you might really begin.
Greg Boyd on Kingdom of God vs. Religion. Greg’s work is something I’ve not very familiar with (another admission of my limited theological depth, perhaps), but I’ve seen Roger Olson make reference to him on occasion in terms of his take on open theism, and he says some interesting things here, so maybe it’s worth checking out:
Sherman Haywood Cox II: Naming Your Sermon. I always dread having to come up with titles/names for my sermons, but there are some good ideas is this post.
Budgeting with Cash Envelopes. Great tip that made a big difference for my household (unfortunately we’ve fallen off the wagon); make sure you check it out, though, because they include a template so that you can print your own envelopes. We had always used the Dave Ramsey envelopes that come with the Financial Peace University kit, and the trouble we’d have is that they would wear out fairly quickly with use – so a nice template to make your own as needed is a good thing.
Related: My friend from college, Scott Heiferman, went on to make it big in the digital world (he’s founder and CEO of MeetUp.com). Here’s video of him asking Steve Jobs a question on how technology can change the world. Steve’s answer is okay, but I think Scott was hoping for more. Scott’s really gotten into the idea of using tech to bring people together in real face-to-face interactions (the whole idea behind MeetUp), and I think he’s on to something. Tech isn’t a tool in itself, only in it’s ability to connect and help facilitate real change to take happen:
Jay Voorhees: Rebuilding Trust – The DS and Bishop Dilemna. I feel badly that this is falling near the bottom of an already long post, because it is important and needs to be read (but I’m also too lazy to move it closer to the beginning). I think Jay is hitting some important points, but I’m also trying to fight my own cynicism around this area. Yes, there is a breakdown of trust especially among clergy, congregations and the Cabinet in the UMC, and it is an “occupational hazard” of the system, but the post seems to suggest that the necessary change needs to primarily come from the Cabinet. Maybe we need to start assuming that they are doing the best they can and everything they can, and instead focus on what we do have the capacity to change about ourselves. Instead of waiting for a DS to set up a regular process for fellowship and conversation with clergy, maybe the clergy need to initiate it and invite the DS into the process. We need to stop blaming and stop complaining and start finding ways to improve the system under our own initiative. (Of course, that is much easier said than done).
Semi-related: Bill Dobbs (assistant to the Bishop in the Michigan Episcopal Area) on The Appointment Process.
Seth Godin on Talker’s Block – great post about working through writer’s block; of course the mild irony, for me, is that I frequently do have “talker’s block” and tend to keep silent if I don’t have anything to say. Also from Godin: Marketing the Placebo – When Everyone Gets Their Own Belief.
I don’t really fit the theological camp that Good News Magazine is written for, but I do try to read it when it arrives in my mailbox to broaden my theology and to better be in dialogue with other United Methodists; and the fact is, frequently there are good articles in the pages. The article by Jason Vickers “Renewal in an age of Anxiety” has some great stuff in it (it doesn’t look like the on-line version is available yet, otherwise I’d link to it). I especially appreciated these thoughts:
“The truth is that we do not need more demographic or generational studies to figure out what people are looking for. In the midst of workplaces full of resentment and hostility, people are searching for love. Surrounded by anxiety and depression, people are looking for joy. Amid the violence and insanity of city streets and war-torn countries, people are searching high and low for peace. Faced with spouses and co-workers who lose their tempers at a moment’s notice, people are looking for self-control. Amid rampant road rage, people are in desperate need of patience. Against the backdrop that is the harshness and cruelty of the evening news, people will inevitably be drawn to churches that exhibit gentleness and kindness in every aspect of their lives. Over against the gospel of pervasive pessimism about human nature and human communities, people will be drawn to church that proclaim and embody a gospel of transformation and holiness.
“Conceived along these lines, the real question for the church is not whether we can get people to come to church in the first place. The real question is whether, upon coming, they will find compelling reasons to return time and time again.
“People will not be drawn to and held captive by the church simply because it carefully preserves and maintains its long-standing structures. Nor will they be drawn to and held captive by the church simply because it is part of a prophetic movement aimed at renewal or reform. Rather, people will ultimately be drawn to and help captive by the church when they discover in the church something they cannot readily get anywhere else, namely a community that embodies in readily discernible ways the mind of Christ, the theological virtues, and the fruits of the Spirit. In other words, they will be drawn to and held captive by those churches that bear the marks of incorporation into the Trinitarian life of God. Short of this, people may come to the church for a season, but they will ultimately look elsewhere for their salvation.”
I have the bad habit of trying to read several books at the same time. I’ll start one, get half-way through, set it on my bookshelf, get distracted by another book, then a couple chapters in, go back to the first, etc. Unfortunately that’s been the case with Dirty Word: The Vulgar, Offensive Language of the Kingdom of God by Jim Walker; unfortunate, because while the whole book is good, the last couple chapters are exceptional.
Jim’s words here, really spoke to me:
“In talking with the young adults who are part of our community, I have noticed that many of them are paralyzed by life. With so many choices and expectations, they freeze and don’t do anything at all. I think part of the problem is that our culture demands that we do something ‘big’ with our lives. In the face of that expectation, we go into a coma. There is a strong undercurrent in our culture, which makes its want into the church, that pulls us into thinking that we have to change the world somehow. This expectation leaves many young people who want to follow Christ trying to figure out how they can be a disciple of Jesus, the sufferer, and a big rock star at the same time. The result is an epidemic of Christian rock stars. Instead of finding places to serve, these Christian rock stars will only serve when the work is cool or sexy, or they get to climb up on the roof and take their shirt off. Or when there’s a camera around. Instead of being honest about their struggles, they push their dirty laundry under their beds and pretend that they have it all together. Instead of running toward the cross, they run away from the cross, all the while talking about their plans to change the world. We need less Christian rock stars and more heroes, people willing to surrender and sacrifice so that the kingdom of God will be near. “I believe that we are at a critical point in church history. There is a conflict going on, and we need losers like Jeremiah to stand in the fray and be torn to shreds. The outcome of this conflict will affect the future of the church. The conflict within the church and between those who call themselves Christians. The conflict is between those who are surrendered and those who use fear as a weapon. It is between those who humble themselves and wash feet and those who use rejection to conquer and control. It is between those who share in compassion and those who guard their luxury. It is between those who pursue the truth, the Word of God, and those who abide behind fake veneer or superficialities and disillusion. It is obvious who will win and who will lose this conflict. The winners will take the spoils – the beautiful buildings, the large endowments, and the places of position and power. The losers will quietly go their own way, back into the catacombs from which they came. They will go back underground, to the tattoo-shop basements and dark, dirty holes of this world where they share little pieces of body and little drops of blood with one another, and they sing quiet hymns of praise. We need heroes who are ready to go and lose that battle for the sake of the kingdom of God, ready to be losers for Christ, and for the sake of those who do not yet know of the awesome love and grace of Jesus.” (pgs. 244-246)
Rick Dake: Moving Out. Rick’s a good friend & colleague and I appreciate his thoughts on choosing isolation, or choosing to learn a new language and embrace a new culture.
“It is understandable why we would pretend to be something different than what we are, because to put it mildly, preachers have limitations. We are compared to poets, but we generally lack their precision with language, using words with clumsy brute force as often as not. We are sometimes called prophets, but we are not generally so courageous, especially since our livelihood generally depends on the people we prophesy to. We are not precisely artists, since we lack the artist’s originality. The preacher’s job is not to paint new things but to repeat old things…
“I am a preacher… I live under the weight of words. I carry words in my pockets, words in my satchel, words in my heart. Words, always the words. Words as pitiable weapons in a world when there are guns for sale at Wal Mart, words as medicine in a world where prescriptions are all we seem to need. Carrying my words to places where they are impractical and words to places where they are inept. Delivering words that make some people look at me with the superstitious fear of a witch doctor, a shaman, the village medicine man who has all the answers—words that make people look like the village idiot, a man out of time, a man that won’t move on with the world.
“And I know that words cannot always be the answer. But that sometimes they can, and that words can create galaxies and words can burn cities down. All this damnation and hope at my disposal, all this absurd power—living under the weight of the words. I wish that I could live up to the greatness of the words, to have a soul big enough and a life noble enough to be worthy of them. But don’t you see by now—I’m a preacher? There is nothing greater than the words, they are the stars that light up the night. Isn’t Jesus Himself called the Word of God? Only He could bear up under the weight of so many words, only he could exceed the expectation that words create and surpass the reality of what words signify.
“I don’t live up to the words, create the words, own the words. I gaze at them, I gibber with them. I consume them, I choke on them, I vomit them. I am a preacher. Words are all I’ve got, words will have to be enough.”
Lifehacker: Forget the Standing Desk – Move. Too bad, I always thought the idea of a standing desk seemed kind of cool (although also somewhat impractical).
Seth Godin: Lousy Tomatoes and the Rare Search for Wonder. While Godin’s critique crosses all institutions and industries, it seems especially apt for the church – we are the boring supermarket – there when people need us, more often than not, offering visitors “good enough” instead of remarkable. It’s possible the church can swing too far in one direction and go overboard with trying to get the “wow!” factor, especially when you set the expectation that each week you need to top the previous one – before too long, the pastor will have to be juggling flaming batons, while a trapeze act flies over the pews, or you end up with this. We can be reliable, let us also aim to be remarkable.
Jay Voorhees: Get the Churches to do it, They’ll do Anything! Great post from Jay, questioning one of the key arguments of those seeing to limit government assistance to people in need. The argument is that churches will pick up the slack, and that they are precisely the institutions with the missional foundation to best help those in need. You can back the argument up by showing how it was churches that built the key social structures in this country, hospitals, colleges, even public schools have their roots in religious institutions and are the result of faith-based leadership. The problem is the world has changed since then. Many hospitals and colleges are now only loosely affiliated with the religious bodies that founded them. I haven’t studied the reasons behind that shift, but I’m guess there were a few elements behind it – the institutions were adapting to a more secular culture and the churches shifted their focus to congregational life instead of social service. But my guess is the primary reason has to do with the professionalization of the fields – the business of running a hospital has become so complex that it no longer makes sense for pastoral authority to hold supervision over the institution. It might have worked 50 or 100 years ago when clergy were among the best educated people in the community, but that is no longer the case.
In Jay’s blog, he addresses a different point. Based on current conditions, most congregations are in no place to address the groundswell of needs that are happening in our nation right now. And the notion that a tax cut would produce a sharp increase in charitable giving to help churches provide for the new needs is questionable at best. The reality is, it would need to be basically a one-to-one ratio, not to mention the increase in inefficiency due to a lack of coordinated authority.
The end of R.E.M. I know I should feel sad, and I wish I had seen them perform live, but honestly they had pretty much dropped off my music radar for the last decade.
My DS, Eugene Blair, writes on cross-racial appointments and urban ministry here (and no, I’m not posting that just to “kiss up”).
One of my former professors, Rabbi Jay Holstein, is featured in a recent documentary. Unfortunately I don’t have the channel the program is being broadcast on, but he was a fascinating professor. (I’d especially love to go back and sit on one of his classes now).
This week – new music from Gungor – “When Death Dies.” Anytime you have a guy beat-boxing AND playing cello simultaneously, you know something awesome (or awful) is happening (fortunately, I file this under “awesome”).
by Jim Walker; unfortunate, because while the whole book is good, the last couple chapters are exceptional.