Reason to Re-Think Consumerism

We have been suggesting people re-consider Black Friday and the whole consumeristic atmosphere around Christmas. Touting the Advent Conspiracy, Heifer International among other options we want to subvert this kind of tragedy.

(HT: Michael via Twitter and Mark)

Pitts on “Why Believe in God?”

You could say I pound the table for Leonard Pitts, Jr. It is not that I always agree with him. But, it is that he is always thoughtful. Leonard offers these thoughts in a recent column,

”Well, not you per se,” I admitted. ‘It’s about this atheist group, the American Humanist Association. They stirred up folks in Washington, D.C., recently by running a billboard on the buses. It said, `Why believe in a god?’ ”

God was curious, so I passed Him the computer. Just then, the plane lurched violently. The guy next to me spilled his drink and muttered a curse. God paid no attention. When He finished reading, He passed the computer back. ”That’s not about me,” He said. “It’s about defending their right to free speech.”

The Jesus Way … The Ordinary Radicals …

I recall a participating in a conversation where Len Sweet described the need to take risks. He noted that Jesus was not risk averse. The illustration he used concerned our oft used idiom as someone heads for any destination - “Be careful.”

The phrase conjured images of “don’t take a risk” for Sweet. When we are too careful we do nothing. We tend to be paralyzed by fear. Most often when it comes to following Jesus we are stricken with the thought, “What will they think?” Interesting, some will discourage others from doing something completely radical suggesting it too dangerous. Fearing keeps us from the first step. Reminds me of Peter seeing Jesus on the water. Fear kept others in the boat. Careful would have said, “Stay in the confines of the boat until Jesus walks over to us.” Careful does not offer a measure of faithfulness. Read more

Lost In Thought - Jon Hopkins

Some days you just get lost in your thoughts. This may be the video for you. I am really enjoying Jon Hopkins lately.

Thoughts from the Edge - Getting the Question Right

The question is not “Who is my neighbor or who is the the least of these?” What is the question?

Pardon the Interruption - Rob Bell Alert

Provocative book titles quickly get my attention. When Nathan told me about Rob Bell and Don Golden’s new book the title grabbed me quickly - Jesus Wants to Save Christians.

Growing up in a conservative evangelical denomination, a group that would eschew the connection to “evangelical” back in the day for it conveyed something of a progressive conservatism opting rather for the “deeper” commitments to Fundamentalism, “save” was an event that came to “sinners.” “Jesus came to save sinners,” the Apostle Paul wrote. So naturally the title was evocative. Read more

Hungry in America - Perish the Thought!

An article released by the AP was published in The Oklahoman today under the title, “Hunger rising among children.” Had it not been in the “Nation” section I would have immediately thought of the vast hunger problem in developing nations. But, this piece points up the growing number of children going hungry “sometime in 2007.” The number? 691,000! The piece goes on to point out we suffer better than a ten percent rate of hunger to population - 36.2 million in 2007 out of an estimated 301 million.

In the land of plenty, home of the free and brave, we have yet to find a way to vanquish hunger. Somewhere I recently read we throw away about 14% of our food. You do the math. If we could figure out how to “waste not, want not.” We could feed our entire population.

Jon Hopkins - Cold Out There

Jon Hopkins played before Coldplay last night. I could not help thinking of one of the worship experiences at the Soularize event in Minneapolis years ago. Then, a year or two later we caught the same at a conference in San Diego. Some suggest the genre is “New Age.” To me it was an ecclectic mix of sounds emanating from a synthesizer, keyboard, and loop machine. Admittedly I am not up to speed on this, but the music was interesting to say the least.

(De)Human Traffic - Are you watching?

Jonathan and Kari tell a story we should work against. Most often our problem is we are not alert to what is nearer than we know. Consumed with our own little worlds we miss the inhumane worlds of others. Consider,

French police estimate that 90% of the 15,000 to 18,000 prostitutes working in France are trafficking victims. One in four are believed to have been trafficked from Africa. The girls are brought to France and then must work to pay off their travel and living ‘debts’, usually around $45,000. According to a trafficking expert, many Sub-Saharian African prostitutes make as little as 10% of the going rate, sometimes only $65 to $180 per week. Most or all of their earnings are then turned over to their ‘Mama’ in order to pay off their debts.

If you are interested in learning more, why not check out Not for Sale

On the floor (Cold)play ing with my Best Friend

The seat did not matter. I had never bought tickets to a pop/rock/alternative concert before. When it was announced that Coldplay would be coming to Oklahoma City in July, I accessed Ticketmaster and clicked the button for tickets. Growing up it was about the “seat.” Since I had never been to a concert on par with Coldplay, the seat did not matter. I simply wanted to be in the building.

Patty had agreed to go with me. The July date was postponed. Fortunately the new date fell on an evening we had free - a Sunday evening. Yes, the pastor goes alt rock.
Read more

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