gathering in light

 As you know I’m interested in the environment and how our everyday practices impact it, so I’m always happy to see more people trying to raise awareness through creative means. A friend sent this link around the other day urging us to take the 20 minutes and watch the video. I’m going to do the same thing here.  Please, take a look at this video, watch it while you eat breakfast or watch it instead of your evening show, but really you’ll enjoy it, learn from it and be challenged by it. I know I was. I like the fact that its really well done, Annie, the host doesn’t brow beat anyone, she’s candid, has her facts straight and uses some fun and creative animation to help tell her story. Her story has a little more teeth to it than other enviro-films, in that she tackles production, marketing, consumption, waste as well as the politics behind this stuff. Here’s a teaser: [Read more]

Jesus Manifesto has posted a writing contest that I think some of you may want to know about, it sounds pretty interesting:

We want your words. Jesus Manifesto is inviting you to submit an original article exploring the theme of Pentecost. In particular we want you to explore the theme of Pentecost in light of the world’s struggles. In the so-called “first� world, Christendom is fading into memory. In the so-called “third� world, new religious realities are emerging as Pentecostalism, Catholicism, and Islam compete for souls. Meanwhile, our world is growing increasingly diverse as immigration patterns and globalization intensify both the interconnectedness and the fractured-ness of our world. Ours is a world where urban poor in US cities carry cell phones while urban poor in other cities live amidst disease and intractability.

(From Stepping into the Wind: A Pentecost-Inspired Writing Competition : Jesus Manifesto)

 

A friend of mine and regular reader and commenter on this blog is about to enter seminary at Gordon-Conwell this fall. I wanted to send her a list of books for some good pre-seminary summer reading. I tried to think of interesting books that will be somewhat challenging, offer new vocabulary that will help in seminary, shape ideas about theology and the church. Plus they’re books that I find just exciting to read. I also wanted big picture books, not with actual pictures (who ever heard of such a thing?!), but books that can help get a little bit of perspective over what’s going on in the culture and church. The first five, are the five picks I sent to my friend, the next few are really good and if you have the extra time they should be read. [Read more]

Here’s a great piece by literary critic Stanley Fish, over at his New York Times blog “Think Again,” who offers brief history in the coming to America of French Theory (and namely deconstruction). Here’s a couple quotes I like from the post:

[Read more]

If you ever get the chance to sit in on a silent Quaker meeting, take the opportunity. It’s not the kind of experience you’ll get just anywhere. Yes, it’s intense. Yes, it’s likely to be extremely difficult to “center down” and focus for an hour, but it’d still be a great exercise in listening. When I see conversations geared to listening, I automatically think of the Quaker tradition. What better group of people to turn to for advice about how to listen? When Quakers meet for worship they reserve a time during the service for complete silence; this silence is a commitment as a community to allowing God space in our worship. But it is rarely ever a “silent worship.” Rather, in worship Quakers listen for the Holy Spirit to move them to action. That is, if the Spirt of God moves you to share/preach/sing, then listening to God involves acting on what was heard. In this way, the practice of silence for Quakers only begins with listening, but true silence always leads to an action. [Read more]

The President of Fuller (where I attend) had this to say about the need for for charity among Evangelicals in a recent article he wrote for Christianity Today.

In a speech I heard several years ago, the Japanese-American theologian Kosuke Koyama put it nicely: We all have to decide, he said, whether we have a generous God or a stingy God. And the truth is that we evangelicals often give the impression that we have decided to be a spiritually stingy people. A recent Barna Group survey, for example, offers evidence that many young people in the larger society think of evangelicals primarily as “judgmental” types, hostile toward folks in other religions and mean-spirited in our attitudes about homosexuality. Even many young evangelicals share some of these assessments of the older generation. A leader at an evangelical college said it this way: “A lot of our students worry about typical evangelical attitudes toward people who have different belief systems and lifestyles. It’s not that they don’t take the Bible’s teachings seriously. It’s just that they have gotten to know Muslims and gays, and they are embarrassed by the harsh spirit toward such folks that they see in the older generation. If we don’t do something about this negative image soon, we could easily lose them for the evangelical cause.”

(From An Open-Handed Gospel | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction)

 Peter Rollins new book, “The Fidelity of Betrayl: Towards a Church Beyond Belief” is soon to release (June). Today I got a chance to take a peak at the prologue and introduction to the book and I’m really excited about the book for a few reasons.  First, I loved his first book and still think it’s one of the best and most engaging theology books I’ve read in the last few years. Part of the reason is he uses contemporary philosphy and cultural theory in a way that is provocative, yet useful for today’s church. Second, after reading these two sections of the book I can see that it is clearly even more influenced by some of my favorite theorists, Slavoj Žižek and Alain Badiou, than his previous one. The title gives this away. Third, I’m excited to see Rollins utilize some of his homespun parables (a collection of these parables is to be published under the working title dis-courses). [Read more]

In the spirit of creativity and utilizing the web to foster fan-based participation, Radiohead has launched the website Radioheadremix.com and are inviting everyone to remix their latest single “Nude.” They’ve split the song up into five separate tracks and have made each available for sale so that you can remix the song however you’d like. I was a little surprised and disappointed to see that they are selling the tracks, but otherwise I think it’s a pretty cool thing they’re doing. Despite the name of the band the number one remix right now is really good and worth listening too. Let me know if any of you decide to go ahead and make your own remix, I’d like to check it out and vote for it. [Read more]

I recently applied to and was accepted to be a part of the editorial board for the upcoming Quaker Youth Book Project, a group that operates as a part of Quakers United in Publication (and here). The project will:

feature short non-fiction prose, poetry and visual art by international young Quakers ages 15-30 from all branches of the Religious Society of Friends, including programmed, unprogrammed, conservative and evangelical traditions, from meetings and churches affiliated with Friends United Meeting (FUM), Friends General Conference (FGC), Evangelical Friends International (EFI), Conservative yearly meetings and independent yearly meetings.

The writing and art included will focus on the personal spiritual experiences, beliefs, and identities of contemporary young Friends. QUIP envisions a book that will spark discussion and dialogue, speak to and lift up the growing youth movement in Quakerism, and act as a catalyst for transformation within the Religious Society of Friends.

I’m really excited about the opportunity not only to get more involved with the Friends, but also to have the chance to work on a project of this nature. I’ll love learning more about publishing and this specific project is certainly in line with my interests as a ‘convergent friend.’ It will also be a great experience for my academic work as well in that I’ll have an opportunity to learn more about all the various Quaker demographics and practices. My first meeting is in North Carolina at the end of the month, I look forward to meeting all the people I’ll be working with.

If you’re a ‘young Friend’ from ages 15-30 be thinking about what you can submit to the book project. I’ll post more on this later when I have more details.