“You join a multitude of caring people. No one knows how many groups and organizations are working on the most salient issues of our day: climate change, poverty, deforestation, peace, water, hunger, conservation, human rights, and more. This is the largest movement the world has ever seen. Rather than control, it seeks connection. Rather than dominance, it strives to disperse concentrations of power. Like Mercy Corps, it works behind the scenes and gets the job done. Large as it is, no one knows the true size of this movement. It provides hope, support, and meaning to billions of people in the world. Its clout resides in idea, not in force. It is made up of teachers, children, peasants, businesspeople, rappers, organic farmers, nuns, artists, government workers, fisherfolk, engineers, students, incorrigible writers, weeping Muslims, concerned mothers, poets, doctors without borders, grieving Christians, street musicians, the President of the United States of America, and as the writer David James Duncan would say, the Creator, the One who loves us all in such a huge way.”
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a multitude of caring people
-Paul Hawken, graduation address at the University of Portland (via) -
the church needs heritics
seth godin’s latest ted talk on tribes is now out, and worth viewing:
in addition my friend, scott, recently reviewed douglas rushkoff’s latest book, below are some of the key points he highlighted:
- self-sufficiency was part of the myth of the self-made man in his private esate, so community property, carpools, or sharing of almost any kind became anathema to the suburban aesthetic 51
- conformty shouldn’t be confused with solidarity. the houses and families within these subdivisions were equal but separate. 61
- going into debt, distancing ourselves from our neighbors, and striving for conformity became equated with freedom 63
- the more disconnected people became from one another, the more easily they could be manipulated… and more dependent on central authorities to create both value and meaning 89
- the invention of the printing press turned reading, lit, and bible study from a group activity to an individual one 92
- if the oats were bad, you’d know where to find the man responsible. you knew his face… if his oats were bad he’s lose more than a customer, for you lived and worked in the same town… had had more at stake than your business. you were more than just one another’s customers; you were interdependent members of a community 98
- christian branding turns a religion based in charity and community into a personal relationship with jesus — a narcissistic faith mirroring the marketing framework on which it is now based 142
- kids want to be bill gates or to win american idol without wanting to be sw engineer or caring about singing … the money & recognition they envision for themselves is utterly disconnected from any real task or creation of value 181
- adam smith’s theories of the market were predicated on the regulating pressures of neighbors and social values 182
- credit card companies market credit as a lifestyle of choice 183
- things can feel — or be made to feel — novel or revolutionary, even though they still consistute biz as usual 193
- we’d rather send a donation to a middle east peace fund than engage directly with violence-endorsing extremists at our own place of worship 229
- the surest path to global change in a highly networked world is to make an extremely local impact that works so well it spreads… shared with or copied by other groups in other communities around the world 235
- by restoring our connections to real people, places, and values, we’ll be less likely to depend on the symbols and brands that have come to substitute for human relationships.
- the best reason to begin reconnecting with real people, places and value is that it feels good. happiness doesn’t com from the top down but from the bottom up…. real people doing real things for one another — without expectations — is the very activity that has been systematically extracted from our society 244
- self-sufficiency was part of the myth of the self-made man in his private esate, so community property, carpools, or sharing of almost any kind became anathema to the suburban aesthetic 51
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it’s personal
Gavin has some great thoughts on tech in worship here. His point about having a personal relationship is something, I’ve been thinking a lot about. On Twitter, I initially tried to limit myself to following friends – people I have real-life connections with. But, about the same time I started following Wil Wheaton’s blog, and soon after began following him on twitter. I enjoyed his blog, and figured I’d also like to see what he has to say on the other platform. From there I began to follow other “celebrities” – Greg Grunberg, John Cleese, LeVar Burton, and Rainn Wilson.
I began to follow them because something about their careers interested me (which is why I didn’t follow people like Britney Spears or Shaq), and I noticed by reading their updates I became more interested in what they were doing, because I felt like I had some sort of “inside scoop” to their lives. But soon the novelty began to wear off and I paired down my celebrity twitter following to Wil and Greg – Wil because he’s pretty funny and someone I relate to, and Greg because he consistently puts up interesting stuff (ie behind the scenes photos on the set of “Heroes”).
All of which is to say that Gavin’s right on in his analysis of social media and ministry. There has to be an initial “pull” beyond the medium itself – people aren’t looking for a podcast from a church in Grand Rapids, they are looking to hear Rob Bell, as he points out. But the media, if used properly can help deepen and develop those relationships (ie I first found out about Rob Bell through the Nooma videos, and from there started listening to the podcasts, but because of the podcasts, I’m more invested in the videos).
As he puts it:truth is, if you are wanting to reach out, what you are generally only doing is ‘speaking out’ and with todays cultural and generation values, that just doesn’t cut it anymore. no one cares to get involved in a one sided conversation.
so when you are talking up or talking about how to use technology to reach out of your church. remember these thoughts. just taking what ever is created within your church walls and then broadcasted out for people to hear is just lame. figure out a way, commit to doing, some things that truly engage people in a conversation.
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you’ve freed me from me
Blessed are you, O Lord, for you have not chosen to put my judgment in others’ hands, nor even in mine, but have reserved that for your own, and you’ve freed me from me, and from needing to sit in judgment on myself (which judgment, forced from my own intellect, could be nothing less than condemnation)—but you have reserved me to your mercy, because you love me more than I can love myself.
—Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1648-1695), A prayer within her defense of her right, even as a woman, to debate theology.
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35: a playlist
here’s a little play list i put together for today, some of the songs have meaning, others i just felt like listening to…
1. Flight Test – The Flaming Lips
2. I’m Amazed – My Morning Jacket
3. It’s A Shame About Ray – The Lemonheads
4. Constructive Summer – The Hold Steady
5. Light & Day / Reach For The Sun – The Polyphonic Spree
6. Five Get Over Excited – The Housemartins [Reminds me of the year I spent in Hull, where this band was from]
7. Waiting For The Great Leap Forward – Billy Bragg
8. Steve’s Hammer (For Pete) – Steve Earle
9. One Thing Real – Dan Bern [Story on Dan here]
10. You! Me! Dancing! – Los Campesinos!
11. Love Shack – The B-52’s [Cosmic Thing came out shortly before I turned 16 and started driving, it’s one of those tapes that I’d drive around listening to again and again]
12. Common People – Pulp
13. So What’cha Want – The Beastie Boys
14. U-Mass – The Pixies [When I was doing college radio one of my favorite combination of songs was the cold end on “So What’cha Want” and that great guitar into to “U-Mass”, I usually ran a tight board so it worked well (at least in my opinion)]
15. Waiting Room – Fugazi [Another song I associate with college radio]
16. Indian Summer – Luna [I really do enjoy music released in this decade, I guess I’m just choosing not to listen to much of it today]
17. Section 26: We Crawl – The Polyphonic Spree
18. Don’t Stop Believin’ – Petra Haden [Just because when Petra does these a capella covers they are so entertaining]
19. Tables And Chairs – Andrew Bird [“There will be snacks…”]
20. It’s The End Of The World As We Know It – R.E.M.
21. We’re Going to Be Friends – The White Stripes
22. Without A Trace – Soul Asylum [Soul Asylum was the first rock concert I attended, Vic Chesnutt opened]
23. Stratford-On-Guy – Liz Phair
24. U2 – Negativland [“I know it’s around here somewhere, but I still have found it…”]
25. Rainbow Connection – Willie Nelson
26. Von – Sigur Ros
27. King James Version – Billy Bragg [A very good song, but I especially love the first line, “He was trapped in a haircut he no longer believed in”]
28. Hoover Dam – Blue Sugar
29. Stay Positive – The Hold Steady
30. Thou Shalt Always Kill – Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip [This is a song I know I shouldn’t enjoy, but I do]
31. Thursday – Morphine
32. Another Sunny Day – Belle & Sebastian
33. All In Good Time – Pierce Pettis
34. One More Circle – Peter Mayer
35. Thank You Friends – Big StarRock over London. Rock on Chicago. Weaties, breakfast of champions.
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ten
neither one of us is sure on the exact date, but i believe today marks the tenth anniversary of a certain toga party, that took place in evanston. it was at this party that i told my friend, abby about my interest in a friend of hers – beautiful, young woman from michigan. as the evening progressed, i found out she had a similar interest in me.
on that particular night we kissed for the first time, and have been kissing ever since. thank you, amy, for ten amazing years of laughter and love.
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change the worldview
Seth Godin has some great thoughts on dealing with difficult (but not stupid) people here.
