the journey

Rush Limbaugh on the John Edwards debacle

The New York Times has probably posted the most insightful article about John Edwards' affair. This, on the other hand, has probably been the least helpful:

We know -- we've been told that Elizabeth Edwards is smarter than John Edwards. That's part of the puff pieces on them that we've seen. Ergo, if Elizabeth Edwards is smarter than John Edwards, is it likely that she thinks she knows better than he does what his speeches ought to contain and what kind of things he ought to be doing strategy-wise in the campaign? If she is smarter than he is, could it have been her decision to keep going with the campaign? In other words, could it be that she doesn't shut up? Now, that's as far as I'm going to go....

It just seems to me that Edwards might be attracted to a woman whose mouth did something other than talk." Limbaugh went on to say in a subsequent segment: "my theory that I just explained to you about why -- you know, what could have John Edwards' motivations been to have the affair with Rielle Hunter, given his wife is smarter than he is and probably nagging him a lot about doing this, and he found somebody that did something with her mouth other than talk.

I'm afraid this comment tells me more about Rush Limbaugh's character than it does about Edwards.

Rush, you really need to hold back sometimes.

Source: The Plank

Technorati Tags: John Edwards, Rush Limbaugh

A prayer by Walter Brueggemann

Plein Air Communion
Originally uploaded by SnoShuu

[Click on photo for larger versions.]

You, you are the one we address,
always you,
only you… who has given us life,
who waits for us to answer.
We, toward you, speak and remain tongue-tied,
for we lack words that are honest enough,
and dangerous enough,
and fierce enough to match you.
We do not speak first, but after our mothers and fathers,
who knew cadences of honesty about our troubles,
who knew cadences of danger about your presence,
who knew cadences of fierceness to fit our rage and loss.
So we speak to you words that we have always spoken:
words of praise and adoration:
…into your gates with thanksgiving
into your courts with praise…
words of confession and remorse:
…against you and only you have we sinned…
words of thanks and astonishment:
…you have turned our mourning into dancing…
words of rage unabated:
…dash their heads against the rocks.
So many words we need to speak
to you from whom no secret can be hid,
you beyond us, you with us, you for us,
you with ears bent close to our lips,
You…and our woes turned toward you, always you, only you,
yet again you.

Amen.

HT: matt's online ramblings

Technorati Tags: Lord's Supper, Communion, Walter Brueggemann

Preparing us for life before death

Though I certainly don't agree with everything Shane Claiborne has to say, particularly his view on excommunication, but I wholeheartedly agree with this assessment:

. . .[W]e are convinced Jesus came not to prepare us to die but to teach us how to live. The kingdom of God is not just something we hope for when we die but something we live "on earth as it is in heaven." And we're not willing simply to promise the world that there is life after death when the world is asking, "Is there life before death?" We are thankful for heaven, but we are not willing to stand by and watch people live through hell to get there.

Source: Jesus for President by Shane Claiborne, p. 290.

Technorati Tags: Shane Claiborne, Kingdom of God

Entrenched in our thinking

Skálholt Church in Iceland
Originally uploaded by frontpage251

[Click on photograph for larger versions.]

Interesting quote:

“Most people I meet assume that Christian means very conservative, entrenched in their thinking, anti-gay, anti-choice, angry, violent, illogical, empire builders; they want to convert everyone, and they generally cannot live peacefully with anyone who doesn’t believe what they believe.”

—UnChristian, David Kinnaman

HT: The Blind Beggar

Does anyone know Molly's story?

Does anyone know Molly's story?
Originally uploaded by todmaffin

[Click on photo for larger versions.]

Luke recorded these words:

17The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him.
Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
18"The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
19to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

~ Luke 4: 17-19 NIV

No longer beholden to a single partisan ideology

Becky Garrison wrote this piece for God's Politics-- here's a short blurb

Soccer moms, NASCAR dads, and now holy hipsters have been touted by political pundits and the mainstream media as the group du jour that political candidates must court in order to win the coveted presidential prize. Using select books and blogs, they conclude that these missional millennials have abandoned the political party of their parents and will be casting their ballots for Obama come November. However, as Jim Wallis wrote earlier this year, "This doesn't mean young evangelicals are automatically becoming Democrats (and I don't think they should). It does mean that their agenda is broader and deeper, no longer beholden to a single partisan ideology."

Instead of voting Republican or Democrat, I think the issue voting Christian.  In other words, voting your Christian beliefs and values.

Source: God's Politics

Technorati Tags: Becky Garrison, God's Politics

What does it mean to have enough?

Relevant Magazine is running a 7-part series dealing with such hot topics as gay rights, war, consumerism, etc.  Here's an interesting tidbit from the article on consumerism:

What is enough is defined by our relationship to our neighbor—if our neighbor has four cars, then we think we are living simply if we have two cars. If our neighbor doesn’t have water, then two cars is probably too many. We have this command to love our neighbor as ourselves, but I think the great tragedy of our culture is that we are pushed away from suffering, away from poverty to the point that it’s enough if we give a tax-exempt donation or volunteer for a week out of the year. And yet if we’re really in relationship with people who are suffering, that messes with us. It keeps us up at night when we are faced with the reality that we have people in our neighborhood living in a cardboard box in the winter, and we have shelter.

Source: Relevant Magazine

Technorati Tags: consumerism, Relevant Magazine

How do Christians eat?

Something interesting from Shane Claiborne:

Every culture has particular ways of eating.  Some folks eat with chopsticks, others sit on  the floor, in India we ate with our right hands.  How do Christians eat? Christians eat with poor folks, with the outcast, the marginalized, and the excluded-- all who were never invited to anyone else's party. Ours is the different kind of part.  It's more like a divine banquet than another political program.  Society's misfits are our people, our "constituency."

Source: Jesus for President by Shane Claiborne, p. 241.

Here's a YouTube video of Shane leading the Jesus for President Litany.

Technorati Tags: Jesus for President, Shane Claiborne

Will we ever get past the attractional model?

From Kingdom grace:

The organizing purpose of most churches is the organization itself and the Sunday service. Most believe that the growth of their church and service within the church is the same as building the kingdom. They may be genuinely interested in mission, but it is not their central purpose.

HT: achievable ends

Source: Kingdom grace

Technorati Tags: missional church, attractional church

A compelling definition of missional

I really like this:

What is missional?  It is...

Out not In

An important distinction of missional is that it is Out rather than In. This is a 180 degree shift from traditional ministry methods. Ministry is a lifestyle out in the world rather than service to or within an organization.  As we love and serve others around us, we participate in the life of the kingdom.

With not For

As we walk together with others in their faith journey, we walk in mutual relationships, both giving of ourselves and receiving from them.  When we share the love of God with others, we encounter Christ himself in their midst.  The idea of mutuality is expressed by doing things With rather than For others.  This necessitates that we take the time to know them.  We develop relationships of commitment, to be with them in their journey rather than to simply show up for charity work.

Us not Them

Another necessary shift in thinking is to view the people that we minister among as Us rather than Them. We are all invited to share in Christ’s table.  We don’t view others as a project, but we identify with them as our family - broken as we are, in need of restoration.  Our own restoration and shalom is wrapped up in the reconciliation of those around us.  God is already at work in their lives.  It is our missional privilege to share in God’s mission of reconciliation among the people in our world.

Missional - sharing God’s love out among the people in our world

Source: Kingdom grace

Technorati Tags: missional, missional living, missional church