Waving or Drowning?

"Help!"

Mike — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 12:17:50 -0700

In his New York Times column last week Nicholas Kristof (@nytimeskristof) asked the question in his title "Would You Let This Girl Drown?".

It's a good piece that deserves reading. Ultimately though it brought me back to a little something I read somewhere.

‘ “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.’

We have so very far to go.

Reminder: Marcus Borg in Town This Weekend

Mike — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 08:00:19 -0700

Marcus Borg will be in Vancouver this weekend conducting a workshop with the minor title of ‘Re-thinking the Big Questions: God, the Bible, Jesus and the Christian Life’. There's a free public Lecture on Friday night, and an all-day seminar on Saturday (Saturday requires registration and payment.) Both events will be held at St. Mary’s (Kerrisdale) Anglican Church, 2490 West 37th at Larch, and all the details are here.

(I'm shooting to be there for the Friday night gig, but need to be back up at Linwood House on Saturday.)

Metanoia

Mike — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 14:17:23 -0700

I continue to slowly work my way through Richard Rohr's Things Hidden: Scripture As Spirituality. Here's a nugget of wisdom for you (emphasis mine):

"The unconverted ego wants one thing and one thing only: control--and it wants it now. It never wants to change, in fact, it hates change. Perhaps that is why Jesus puts metanoia (literally, "change your mind" or even "beyond your mind"!) at the very center of his proclamation. It is very unfortunate that this word has been historically translated as "repent" (Mark 1:15; Matthew 4:17). For moderns this word connotes strict moral stances, usually concerning so-called "hot" sins, instead of any actual transformation of consciousness. That's quite a loss, I would say." (p. 137)

I'd say so too.

Talk Talk II, Or...

Mike — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 10:53:51 -0700

...Conversa©tions

My South African brother-from-another-mother Tom Smith has been doing more thinking on our previous talk/action/language interaction. (You may recall our "So what?" mantra.)

Be sure to read his whole post, but this is what it boils down to:

"I propose … conversa©tions … conversations that lead to actions and actions that lead to conversations."

Love

Mike — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 13:13:52 -0700

"An act of love, a voluntary taking on oneself of some of the pain of the world, increases the courage and love and hope of all."
- Dorothy Day

"There is nothing more truly artistic than to love people."
- Vincent van Gogh

(via Ekklesia)

Plan B

Mike — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 08:30:35 -0700

Mike's Note: I'm a big fan of the fiction of Douglas Coupland (@dougcoupland)... I think I've read everything of his at least three times through. Last night I finished off Girlfriend in a Coma again. Use your imagination, here's how the penultimate chapter begins:

"Plan B is this:"
    "You're to be different now. Your behavior will be changing. Your thinking is to change. And people will watch these changes in you and they'll come to experience the world in your new manner."
    "How?" Richard asks. "How do we change?"
    "Richard, tell me this: back in the old world, didn't you often feel as if the only way you could fully truly change yourself in the powerful way you yearned for was to die and then start again from scratch? Didn't you feel as if all the symbols and ideas fed to you since birth had become worn out like old shoes? Didn't you ache for change but you didn't know how to achieve it? And even if you knew how to do it, would you have had the guts to go forth? Didn't you want your cards shuffled a different way?"
    "Yeah sure. But didn't everybody?"
    "No, Not always. This feeling is specific to the times we live in."
    "Okay..."
    "And Richard, haven't you always felt that you live forever on the brink of knowing a great truth? Well, that feeling is true. There is the truth. It does exist."
    "Aha!"
    "Yes, well, now it's going to be as if you died and were reincarnated but you stay inside your own body. For all of you. And in your new lives you'll have to live entirely for that one sensation--that of imminent truth. And you're going to have to holler for it, steal for it, beg for it--and you're never to stop asking questions about it twenty-four hours a day, the rest of your life."
    "This is Plan B."
    "Every day for the rest of your lives, all of your living moments are to be spent making others aware of this need--the need to probe and drill and examine and locate the words that take us beyond ourselves.
    "Scrape. Feel. Dig. Believe. Ask."

Your Collective Wisdom

Mike — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 20:44:31 -0700

OK Friends, I need your help.

I'm looking for suggestions/recommendations for an online donor/contact management application for a small-ish ministry/charity (500-1000 donors).

Thanks!

024 Whirlwind

Mike — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 07:22:12 -0700

The next beautiful offering from Rob Bell and Nooma is up, free, for 24 hours (starting from when I have no idea.)

Job. I love Job. Have you suffered? Have you gone through the Dark Night? Or, do you just need to know WHY? You'll love Job too. Well, you might.

Watch Whirlwind here.

The Story of the Day - Love

Mike — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 08:09:27 -0700

How many people can you love
before it's too much? she said & I
said I didn't think there was any real
limit as long as you didn't care if they
loved you back.
Brian Andreas, Story of the Day

What Matters More II (UPDATED 2X)

Mike — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 11:07:30 -0700

UPDATE (July 7): The Presale is on at DerekWebb.com

UPDATE 2 (July 8): Apparently there has been some technical issues resulting in delays for some folks (due to the overwhelming response no doubt) but I'm assured all will be cleared up today.

Further to my earlier post (with video) it looks like pre-order (and digital download is a go for tomorrow on Derek Webb's new album Stockholm Syndrome, although there's nothing on DerekWebb.com about it yet. DerekWebb.net has more on the cryptic campaign leading up to the release, but I'm obviously too old for this stuff. I'll check back tomorrow for the download.

BTW, here's my best try at the lyrics. I'm not sure about the lines marked with an asterisk, so feel free to weigh in with your suggestions/corrections. I think this track is going to (continue to) cause quite a stir.

What Matters More
Derek Webb
You say you always treat people like you'd like to be
I guess you love being hated for your sexuality
You love when people put words in your mouth
About what you believe, make you sound like a freak
'Cause if you really believe what you say you believe
You wouldn't be so damn reckless with the words you speak
What we silently conceal when the liars speak*
Denying all the dying or the remedy*
Tell me brother what matters more to you?
Tell me sister what matters more to you?
If I could tell what's in your heart by what comes out of your mouth
Then it sure looks to me like being straight is all it's about
Yeah it looks like being hated for all the wrong things
Of chasing the wind while the pendulum swings
'Cause we can talk and debate 'til we're blue in the face
About the language and tradition that he's coming to save
Meanwhile we sit just like we don't give a shit
About fifty thousand people who are dying today
Tell me brother what matters more to you?
Tell me sister what matters more to you?

Scared: A Novel on the Edge of the World

Mike — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 10:03:31 -0700

I'm really late to the party on this one, a screw-up that I'm sure my buddy Tom will forgive me for, eventually!

You can grab a free download of Tom Davis' new book, Scared: A Novel on the Edge of the World, compliments of his publisher, David C. Cook. All it will cost you is an email to 3 friends. But, this offer is only in effect until July 10, so act now, as they say. All the necessary links are here.

Scared - A Novel on the Edge of the World from Children's HopeChest on Vimeo.

The World

Mike — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 21:19:09 -0700

Our friend Danielle recently put up a post that included the following:

Bonhoeffer wrote in a letter to his brother in 1935: "The restoration of the church will surely come only from a new type of monasticism which has nothing in common with the old but a complete lack of compromise in a life lived in accordance with the Sermon on the Mount in the discipleship of Christ. I think it is time to gather people together to do this."

Commenting on Bonhoeffer's letter, the theologian Walter Rauschenbusch wrote: "Christian ascetism called the world evil and abandoned it. Humanity is waiting for a Christian revolution which will call the world evil and change it."

With all due respect to Dr. Rauschenbusch I think I would slightly alter his response to Bonhoeffer's brilliant assessment:

Christian ascetism called the world evil and abandoned it. Humanity is waiting for a Christian revolution which will call the world good and love it.

What Matters More (UPDATED)

Mike — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 16:18:43 -0700

Looks like pre-orders for Derek Webb's new album Stockholm Syndrome will commence on July 7, with a street release date of September 9. Rebelling Against Indifference has some of the story of the controversy surrounding this album here. (h/t to Matthew Paul Turner)

(UPDATE: More on the new disk from Bryan Allain here.)

Here's a sneak peak at What Matters More, apparently the track causing the problem with his label:

Happy July 4th

Mike — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 00:01:00 -0700

For our American friends living in that American Land:

American Land
(Bruce Springsteen)
What is this land of America, so many travel there
I’m going now while I’m still young, my darling meet me there
Wish me luck my lovely, I’ll send for you when I can
And we’ll make our home in the American land

Over there all the woman wear silk and satin to their knees
And children dear, the sweets, I hear, are growing on the trees
Gold comes rushing out the river straight into your hands
If you make your home in the American land

There’s diamonds in the sidewalks, there’s gutters lined in song
Dear I hear that beer flows through the faucets all night long
There’s treasure for the taking, for any hard working man
Who will make his home in the American land

I docked at Ellis Island in a city of light and spire
I wandered to the valley of red-hot steel and fire
We made the steel that built the cities with the sweat of our two hands
And I made my home in the American land

There’s diamonds in the sidewalk, there’s gutters lined in song
Dear I hear that beer flows through the faucets all night long
There’s treasure for the taking, for any hard working man
Who will make his home in the American land

The McNicholas, the Posalski’s, the Smiths, Zerillis too
The Blacks, the Irish, the Italians, the Germans and the Jews
They come across the water a thousand miles from home
With nothing in the bellies but the fire down below

They died building the railroads, worked to bones and skin
They died in the fields and factories, names scattered in the wind
They died to get here a hundred years ago, they’re dyin’ now
The hands that built the country we’re all trying to keep down

There’s diamonds in the sidewalk, there’s gutters lined in song
Dear I hear that beer flows through the faucets all night long
There’s treasure for the taking, for any hard working man
Who will make his home in the American land
Who will make his home in the American land
Who will make his home in the American land

Let the Good Times Roll!

Mike — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:18:52 -0700

The Tour de France starts tomorrow!

That of course is the German band Kraftwerk. I grabbed the video from a Wired wiki that has all the info on following the greatest sporting event on the planet online.

Talk Talk, Or...

Mike — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 10:44:35 -0700

...Yes, Yet Another Post About South Africa

Well, not really about South Africa, per se, but it pertains to my time there, and my time since returning.

I've already introduced you to my South Africa brother Tom Smith. Something that he said during one of our recent skype conversations has been rolling around in my mind for a week or so. It came out of our growing frustration with the increasing conversation around all things missional, incarnational, insert your favorite buzzword here. Conversation is good, but action (which can then generate meaningful, purposeful conversation) is better. We've made a pact of sorts. Every conversation we have, every speaker we listen to, every book we read, must be followed by the question, "So what?*" (If that offends you too much I'll let you off the hook with, "Now what?") If there is no answer to that question, then it has been so much talk. At the risk of putting words into his mouth, here's a paraphrase of something Tom said that I've been tinkering with that reveals to you what we think of that:

As Followers of Jesus we know what we need to do, but we're afraid to do it. So, we create new language, new systems, new programs, so that we can talk longer and more intelligently about what we have no intention of actually doing.

Too harsh? I don't think so. Thoughts?

* "How does this draw me closer to Jesus?", "How should/does this change the way I am to live?, etc.

Linwood Art Experience

Mike — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:45:36 -0700

3rd Annual
Linwood Art Experience

Sunday, July 19th, 1-5pm

Reserve the day for an exhibition
and sale by talented artists
Ed Hill, Todd Clark,
Brian Romer, Yzabelle Delisle-Milton,
Donna Stewart, Douglas Rae

Join us for an afternoon of Art, Music and Refreshments
in a garden setting

Photography – DTES Women

Music by Trudy Diening and Miles Black

Linwood House Ministries
“Journeying with women into the hope of their story”

(More photos from last year's event here)

When the Bottom Falls Out

Mike — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:56:28 -0700

Brian Walsh has written an outstanding targum on James 1:1-18. I do the work a major injustice by cutting it off anywhere, but I want to give you a taste:

James, a slave of God and of Jesus, the Messianic King,

To the people of God scattered to kingdom come around the world,

Greetings.

When the bottom falls out,

when things come apart at the seams,

when the stock market crashes,

your job is up for grabs,

the mortgage payments are getting harder to pay,

and you really don’t know how you are going to make ends meet,

this is a time for pure, unadulterated, ecstatic and contented joy!

When your church is without a pastor,

when older, faithful members are moving away,

when you are in a time of transition, unsure of the future,

when the budget looks like an unattainable dream,

that’s fantastic!

When you face all kinds of trials,

the infirmities of older age,

the insecurities of being a young person,

the struggles with loneliness,

painful confusion about sexuality,

the collapse of beloved institutions,

a marriage that has seen happier days,

tensions within the family,

you name it!

then again I say to you, this is pure joy!

“Joy?” you ask.

Grin and bear it, maybe.

Dig in and get through the trouble, perhaps.

Maybe even patience.

But joy?

This is the kind of stuff that strips me of any capacity for joy.

Economic anxiety,

worries about the future,

deep internal pain,

that debilitating sense of loss,

that impending death in so many areas of our lives …

and you say we should receive all this with joy?

Pure joy?

Yes, my friends, joy.

Read the rest here... with joy.

The Claw

Mike — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 07:12:29 -0700

Fast Company has a short piece on the incredible stage being used on U2's current 360 world tour. Unbelievable.

Read the piece here.

South Africa

Mike — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:35:16 -0700

As is to be expected, I'm still stumbling my way through processing my three weeks in South Africa. And although I'm generally not a violent person, I may actually inflict bodily harm, albeit minor, on the next person who asks, "So how was Africa?"

I will say though that one of the many delights and privileges of this last trip was getting to know my friend Tom Smith better. Tom, I feel like you're my South African brother. One of the things we're doing "together" is exploring some African theology. (And just this morning I was able to say hello to his two beautiful children on Skype!) Although it almost seems presumptuous of me to point this out, being the westerner that I am, you should know that Tom has written what I think is a vitally important post called An Open Letter to South African Friends. And despite the title, I think it is at least as important that we westerners read the letter too.

I believe these are dynamic and critical days in the church globally, and I also believe Africa will likely play a lead role in whatever is to come.