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AN ONGOING
SPIRITUAL WEBLOG
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August 31, 2010
Digital Info Overload?
One of the challenges of living in this constantly connected
digital social media new world is that we have to find
the proper way to budget our time and do the things that
are important. It is easy to get lost in time when conducting
social media interchange. Lots of pastors and ministries
are using the digital media tools. How do you prioritize
and what do you use each day?
These are questions that Brandon Cox, a pastor who is
well versed in this new modern way of communicating, wrestles
with. In particular, he has come up what he calls the
3 Big Questions of this Social, Digital Age.
It's worth reading his insight.
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August 28, 2010
Today is the 47th anniversary of the March
on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, where the Rev.
Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his famous “I
Have a Dream Speech.” It was a momentous occasion
and the words of King still resonate with us today.
On this anniversary of that moving 1963 speech talk show
host Glenn Beck hosted
a rally at the same spot on the Washington D. C. mall.
At the "Restoring Honor" rally Beck urged supporters
to renew their faith in God and in the nation. That sounds
good. Sarah Palin and others echoed the theme. But it
is worth noting that Glenn Beck's message has often been
tainted by what I think is a skewed look at Christianity.
He's self serving and uses talk show controversy to fuel
his radio ratings. He's opposed Christian social justice
action, something that was at the heart of Rev. King's
message. Oh, and by the way, the message of Jesus Christ.
It is worth noting what evangelist Jim Wallis of Sojourners
has
to say about this.
Let's rally around justice, faith in God, faith in each
other, love and compassion. But it is not about grandstanding.
It's about real Christian action, something I agree we
need at this crucial time in our nation. Truly, we need
it all times, for it is a timeless message.
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August 24, 2010
School is starting up again in many places. It's already
underway here in Albuquerque. I continue with my own education
as I travel the road to teacher certification. It's a
career change to become a teacher after over thirty years
in the radio broadcasting profession. But I feel this
is what God is calling me to do and it is very exciting
and challenging.
Public education is a challenge for many of us. But the
answer isn't to run away from the schools (homeschooling
and private schools are an option - but not the only one).
We need to be actively involved as parents, teachers,
community leaders and students to bring about the change
we need to create the best education and learning experiences
we can for our young people.
At EmergingParents.com
there are some postings under the category "Back
to School" and this
one about Hopes and Fears resonated with me.
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August 22, 2010
I've been troubled by all the anger over the proposed
"Ground Zero Mosque" controvery in New York
City. I fully recognize that strong emotion tied to the
site where so many perished at the hands of Islamic extremists
on 9-11-01. But those extremists do not represent Islam
anymore than the extremists who promote a message of intolerance
and hate towards others in the name of Christianity represent
Christ.
Part of the problem is that people choose sides in debates
such as this one without taking time to find out what
is really the issue. I recommend reading the fine Controversy
at Ground Zero article by Brent Parrish at RELEVANTmagazine.com.
I hope it gets you to consider things from a more enlightened
view.
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August 18, 2010
If you've spent time here at LivingtheSolution.com
and read some of my articles you know that I consider
questions to be important. Often they are more important
than answers. I don't mean to be flip by stating that.
But if you are asking the wrong questions...or not asking
questions at all, but rather sticking with "this
is the answer because I was told so" without doing
some of the hard "questioning" work yourself,
then you are not going deep enough on your faith journey.
A couple of questions to ponder this week. What does it
mean to be a Christian? What is Christianity? And, can
you be a follower of Jesus Christ and not call yourself
a Christian?
Anne Rice, novelist (Interview with a Vampire),
has been on quite the life journey - raised Christian,
then become an atheist, back to Catholicism and is now
"opting
out of Christianity" - says she's still keeping
Christ central to her life. (See
Brian McLaren's thoughts on this.)
It is my fervent hope that you discover a faith that is
meaningful and that you truly live to follow Jesus - and
all that entails. We can follow him together.
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August 9, 2010
The Big
Tent Christianity Synchroblog has begun.
I'm curious to see what posts show up. The idea is to
embrace a bigger, broader and more inclusive ecumenical
Christian approach to the Gospel. The tent has to be big
to allow enough diversity. Don't be afraid of this. Christianity
is not a club with strict rules to keep people out. It's
meant to include many. Think of the wedding
banquet invitation Jesus spoke about in the Gospel
of Matthew. People from all walks of life were invited
- then the responsibility to show up with a proper humility
and gratitude was expected. Too often I think we expect
people to "clean up their act" and then we'll
let them join.
It was interesting to read what Rachel Held Evans
had to say. She lives and works in Dayton, Tennessee,
arguably the "Buckle of the Bible Belt". Her
post is Small
Town, Big Tent.
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August 6, 2010
Dropping the A-Bomb - 65 Years Later
The 65th anniversary of the United States' bombing of
Hiroshima, Japan (effectively ending World War Two) was
marked again by ceremony (story
here). This time the US sent a delegation, as did
France and Britain. This was a first for all three nuclear
powers. But the United States did not apologize for using
nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Many think
we should. Something to consider - after all, we're the
only country to every use nuclear weapons this way. Yes,
WWII was awful and needed to end. But what did we unleash?
A world still on edge with nuclear weapons is a scary
proposition.
(photo Kyodo/Reuters - girls praying after release of
paper lanterns on Motoyasu River in remembrance of atomic
bomb victims)
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and delegates
from over 70 countries were also on hand. Ban made the
statement "The only way to ensure that nuclear weapons
will never again be used is to eliminate them all."
That's true. It's like when the alcoholic says the only
way to not get drunk is don't take the first drink.
The ideas of peace and non-violence are still controversial.
Christians like to say those things are important. Jesus
preached them. But how hard it is to practice!
Here in New Mexico, birthplace of the bomb, there are
annual ceremonies by Pax
Christi New Mexico of sackcloth, prayer, repentance
and protest in Los Alamos. It may be hard to recognize
our part in the "sin of nuclear bombing" - but
courage is a virtue. Martin Luther King, Jr said, "Courage
faces fear and thereby masters it."
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August 4, 2010
Big
Tent Christianity
Being and becoming the church. What does it mean? How
do we do that?
It should be plain to most of us that Christianity has
had an image problem for a long time. Too much divisiveness
makes it hard for non-Christians to find much attractiveness
to our faith. That needs to change. Jesus is
attractive...at least to many people. Let's focus on that.
And let's join in the big conversation taking place August
9 - 13. The Big
Tent Christianity Synchroblog will have bloggers
across the web discussing "big tent Christianity"
and the hopes and dreams of the church.
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Scripture taken from the
Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®.Copyright ©
1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. All rights
reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of International
Bible Society.
NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® and NIV® are registered
trademarks of International Bible Society. Use of either
trademark for the offering of goods or services requires
the prior written consent of International Bible Society.
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy
Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996. Used
by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton,
IL 60189, USA. All rights reserved.
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PSALM
118:24
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"This
is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and
be glad in it."
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(NIV)
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The
Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language
More info
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by Eugene
Peterson
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