Today, I cleaned and returned the keys to what was my home for the past ten months.
I gathered mt belongings in a small box and said good-bye to my office one last time.
I don't know how/what to feel.
Monday, April 29, 2013
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Saturday, April 20, 2013
Chik-fil-A does more than delicious chicken sandwiches...
http://vimeo.com/51610957
From "The Choice to Serve." The entire article can be found at here.
From "The Choice to Serve." The entire article can be found at here.
In life, it's not what happens to
you, but what happens in you and through you that counts. When adversity
visits your life, you have two choices: to be a victim or to be a
victor. Victims allow life circumstances to get them down, and they
spend their lives asking others to redress the grievances life has dealt
them. Victims are needy and demand to be served. Victors, on the other
hand, rise above the challenges they encounter. They rebound from life's
hardships with newfound strength, and they use their strength in
service of those around them.
***
taken from http://network.chick-fil-aleadercast.com/content/#!/the-choice-to-serve/
- Where do you focus the majority of your time, on self or on service?
- When the hardships of life show up at your door, do you back down or rise to the challenge?
- On your journey through life, will you allow yourself to be victimized, or will you be the one who claims victory over adversity and serves others out of your strength?
taken from http://network.chick-fil-aleadercast.com/content/#!/the-choice-to-serve/
"Hallelujah!" (or, It's Way Too Easy to Judge Sometimes)
These last five days have been amazingly difficult. Not just for me, mind you, but there was something new in the news (I don't know if it's a good thing to have variety once in a while--it's usually bad news when it is) almost every day. Still, I couldn't help but notice some things:
I'm sorry, but when did it become all right to celebrate the death of another person in that way? Yes, what they did was wrong, and yes, it's a relief that they are no longer threats, but, hallelujah? I don't know. It just doesn't feel right.
- The whole nation forgot whether or not they supported gun rights, gay rights, Obama or immigration reform. Everyone gathered and prayed for Boston.
- Everyone seemed to forget about the Earthquake in Iran. More people died there than in Boston (not taking anything away from the bombings.)
- Everyone seemed to forget about the Earthquake in China. Again, more people died (and again, please, don't get me wrong, I'm not taking anything away from the bombings.)
- This is the first news event since the Egyptian revolution that relied heavily in emerging media, both to spread a message and to crack down on the suspects.
- People tend to group any terrorist action with Muslims.
- Chechnya left the Mission Impossible canon and landed in the hands of racist/ignorant Americans, some of whom now have an irrational personal vendetta against anyone from Chechnya.
- Some said Americans don't realize that Chechnya and Czech Republic are two totally different things
I'm sorry, but when did it become all right to celebrate the death of another person in that way? Yes, what they did was wrong, and yes, it's a relief that they are no longer threats, but, hallelujah? I don't know. It just doesn't feel right.
Words from an Ordinary Radical, Shane Claiborne
“I'm just not convinced that Jesus is going to say, "When I was hungry, you gave a check to the United Way and they fed me.”
“To refer to the Church as a building is to call people 2 x 4's.”
“A pastor friend of mine said, "Our problem is that we no longer have martyrs. We only have celebrities.”
“So if the world hates us, we take courage that it hated Jesus first. If you're wondering whether you'll be safe, just look at what they did to Jesus and those who followed him. There are safer ways to live than by being a Christian.”
“How ironic is it to see a bumper sticker that says 'Jesus is the answer' next to a bumper sticker supporting the war in Iraq, as if to says 'Jesus is the answer - but not in the real world.”
“Most good things have been said far too many times and just need to be lived.”
“When we truly discover how to love our neighbor as our self, Capitalism will not be possible and Marxism will not be necessary.” “I wondered if there were other restless people asking the question with me: What if Jesus meant the stuff he said?”
From his book, The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical. He'll be at Lincoln on Sunday . . .
“To refer to the Church as a building is to call people 2 x 4's.”
“A pastor friend of mine said, "Our problem is that we no longer have martyrs. We only have celebrities.”
“So if the world hates us, we take courage that it hated Jesus first. If you're wondering whether you'll be safe, just look at what they did to Jesus and those who followed him. There are safer ways to live than by being a Christian.”
“How ironic is it to see a bumper sticker that says 'Jesus is the answer' next to a bumper sticker supporting the war in Iraq, as if to says 'Jesus is the answer - but not in the real world.”
“Most good things have been said far too many times and just need to be lived.”
“When we truly discover how to love our neighbor as our self, Capitalism will not be possible and Marxism will not be necessary.” “I wondered if there were other restless people asking the question with me: What if Jesus meant the stuff he said?”
From his book, The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical. He'll be at Lincoln on Sunday . . .
Friday, April 12, 2013
Is Christianity Relevant? (or, Why I'm not a Religionist, V)
Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm getting into deep, hot water here.
Saturday afternoon I made my way downtown and headed to the Lied Performing Arts center to watch a production of C.S. Lewis' classic The Screwtape Letters. I was especially keen to watch it since I've read the book more times than I care to count, and I was curious as to how they would adapt it to the stage.
I was not disappointed, and, happily, they left the moral intact. Delivered in monologue form, with some skits here and there to illustrate Screwtape's examples in his letters to his bumbling Junior Tempter nephew, Wormwood, the execution was powerful. I especially liked that they started with the sequel (here performed as a prequel) Screwtape Proposes a Toast, and I thought it worked well.
I had chills running down my spine throughout the play. It reminded me why I read the book at least once a year: I see myself, as in a mirror, when Screwtape mentions how to tempt the human Wormwood has assigned. C.S. Lewis has a knack of finding my tender spots.
I left the play awake. Fully awake. For those not inclined to theatre, the monologue style for 90 minutes was a bit much to follow. Some of the people (yeah, I dropped some eaves . . .) said they fell asleep at parts. I could not understand why . . . at least for the time being. The play, to me, drove a point home: I am a filthy sinner, and there is a very real and vivid, intense battle happening right here, right now, for my soul. And it's all up to me, the outcome.
Leaving the Lied Center, I overheard more conversations critiquing how well the play stuck to the source material or maybe discontent with the delivery style. Yet I didn't hear anyone assessing the effect it had on them, as an individual.
The friends I rode with stopped at Starbucks before heading back to campus. I was not in the mood for Starbucks, though. I sat at a table and pondered more. Then, I opened the program and a review for Screwtape Letters from a New York production jumped out at me.
The title said, "Is Christianity Alienating?" I read.
When I finished, I understood why people fell asleep, or why the production itself was what was being critiqued.
Christianity sounds, to be frank (and in the fairest, nicest way possible), bizarre. As the article put it, "Christianity is something for bible-thumpers and right-wing conservatives—something that we are predisposed to mock rather than venerate." I realized then that I was a part of a movement that is losing its relevancy.
Being a believer is now more closely associated with being a "Belieber" (I probably slaughtered the spelling), and church attendance among my age is dropping--quick. One friend in High School told me, "I don't like the idea of relying on someone, something, I know nothing about. I'm far too independent for that." I didn't know how to answer. The pre-cooked answer is "He'll take your burdens!" or "He's been there before, you can trust Him!" How could my friend, and those who don't relate with the book, trust in someone, something, they haven't experience? Much less the "bad" force portrayed in the story!
Hold on, before you lynch me. It's not losing its relevancy because of the message, rather because we have forgotten how to spread it. Christianity is alienating simply because we make it so. When we talk about it (when we're brave enough), we make it sound distant, proper, strict, and rather mystical. More like a cult than a movement. Instead, we should portray it as Jesus did: practically.
Everything Jesus taught has a practical application. It's when we become Pharisees and make rules that take the practicality out of worship for the sake of keeping worship "pure" (and what does that mean, anyway?) that we turn Christianity irrelevant, alienating: open to the select few, an elite club of insiders.
By living out the message I carry I can assure its relevancy. This works in all phases of life (i.e., practical). For example, when a candidate runs for office, they are expected to practice what they are promising the citizenry. As a journalist, I am expected to keep the audience's trust by being trustworthy myself. Giving myself ten thousand rules and regulations as to how to make, manipulate, the audience trust me is worthless if I do not try to become trustworthy.
So what do I say to my friend? How do I make the sleepy theatre patrons question how Screwtape impacts their own life?
In the book, Screwtape advises Wormwood to use the human's acquaintances and friends he surrounds himself with against himself. In other words, poor company makes for great opportunity, Wormwood! But, if the human surrounds himself with the right people . . . it's all over.
Why not I be the right person? Why not I be the Love the Jesus was every day on His life here on Earth? That is what drew people to Him (as opposed to alienating them): His lifestyle was a practical experience in Love.
Saturday afternoon I made my way downtown and headed to the Lied Performing Arts center to watch a production of C.S. Lewis' classic The Screwtape Letters. I was especially keen to watch it since I've read the book more times than I care to count, and I was curious as to how they would adapt it to the stage.
I was not disappointed, and, happily, they left the moral intact. Delivered in monologue form, with some skits here and there to illustrate Screwtape's examples in his letters to his bumbling Junior Tempter nephew, Wormwood, the execution was powerful. I especially liked that they started with the sequel (here performed as a prequel) Screwtape Proposes a Toast, and I thought it worked well.
I had chills running down my spine throughout the play. It reminded me why I read the book at least once a year: I see myself, as in a mirror, when Screwtape mentions how to tempt the human Wormwood has assigned. C.S. Lewis has a knack of finding my tender spots.
I left the play awake. Fully awake. For those not inclined to theatre, the monologue style for 90 minutes was a bit much to follow. Some of the people (yeah, I dropped some eaves . . .) said they fell asleep at parts. I could not understand why . . . at least for the time being. The play, to me, drove a point home: I am a filthy sinner, and there is a very real and vivid, intense battle happening right here, right now, for my soul. And it's all up to me, the outcome.
Leaving the Lied Center, I overheard more conversations critiquing how well the play stuck to the source material or maybe discontent with the delivery style. Yet I didn't hear anyone assessing the effect it had on them, as an individual.
The friends I rode with stopped at Starbucks before heading back to campus. I was not in the mood for Starbucks, though. I sat at a table and pondered more. Then, I opened the program and a review for Screwtape Letters from a New York production jumped out at me.
The title said, "Is Christianity Alienating?" I read.
When I finished, I understood why people fell asleep, or why the production itself was what was being critiqued.
Christianity sounds, to be frank (and in the fairest, nicest way possible), bizarre. As the article put it, "Christianity is something for bible-thumpers and right-wing conservatives—something that we are predisposed to mock rather than venerate." I realized then that I was a part of a movement that is losing its relevancy.
Being a believer is now more closely associated with being a "Belieber" (I probably slaughtered the spelling), and church attendance among my age is dropping--quick. One friend in High School told me, "I don't like the idea of relying on someone, something, I know nothing about. I'm far too independent for that." I didn't know how to answer. The pre-cooked answer is "He'll take your burdens!" or "He's been there before, you can trust Him!" How could my friend, and those who don't relate with the book, trust in someone, something, they haven't experience? Much less the "bad" force portrayed in the story!
Hold on, before you lynch me. It's not losing its relevancy because of the message, rather because we have forgotten how to spread it. Christianity is alienating simply because we make it so. When we talk about it (when we're brave enough), we make it sound distant, proper, strict, and rather mystical. More like a cult than a movement. Instead, we should portray it as Jesus did: practically.
Everything Jesus taught has a practical application. It's when we become Pharisees and make rules that take the practicality out of worship for the sake of keeping worship "pure" (and what does that mean, anyway?) that we turn Christianity irrelevant, alienating: open to the select few, an elite club of insiders.
By living out the message I carry I can assure its relevancy. This works in all phases of life (i.e., practical). For example, when a candidate runs for office, they are expected to practice what they are promising the citizenry. As a journalist, I am expected to keep the audience's trust by being trustworthy myself. Giving myself ten thousand rules and regulations as to how to make, manipulate, the audience trust me is worthless if I do not try to become trustworthy.
So what do I say to my friend? How do I make the sleepy theatre patrons question how Screwtape impacts their own life?
In the book, Screwtape advises Wormwood to use the human's acquaintances and friends he surrounds himself with against himself. In other words, poor company makes for great opportunity, Wormwood! But, if the human surrounds himself with the right people . . . it's all over.
Why not I be the right person? Why not I be the Love the Jesus was every day on His life here on Earth? That is what drew people to Him (as opposed to alienating them): His lifestyle was a practical experience in Love.
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Random Verses (or, A Mute's Plea Falls on Deaf Ears)
Out in the open, he receives not mercy from the great mother
A cardboard sign, ten quarters, and a sharpie to go with his worn out house shoes
The cards dealt to him no man wants, everyone fears, and all avoid
As if somehow they'll catch it, via some unseen evil gust of wind:
"We fear what we do not understand" --
All the while he re-counted his quarters and inquired of his soul:
Asked too much of myself,
left kneeling with empty pockets,
open eyes, and a shattered heart on the bookshelf.
It's not enough to be forgiven--
It's easy to be sorry for things I didn't do,
yet it's completeness that I crave: re-fill my pen!
I don't ask for a new book
A new beginning, I fear, is too late
but new ink a new story will tell.
In the street, the church bell tolls
One hundred pious actors bearing their sins as obvious as their mask
Turn the other way, protecting their child--or so they say,
of the threatening monster begging for compassion, a love he has never known:
a begging we dare not understand
****
Just what entered my mind when I left the Lied Center after watching Screwtape Letters and seeing a homeless man standing outside the door. No one, as far as I saw, gave him anything.
A cardboard sign, ten quarters, and a sharpie to go with his worn out house shoes
The cards dealt to him no man wants, everyone fears, and all avoid
As if somehow they'll catch it, via some unseen evil gust of wind:
"We fear what we do not understand" --
All the while he re-counted his quarters and inquired of his soul:
Asked too much of myself,
left kneeling with empty pockets,
open eyes, and a shattered heart on the bookshelf.
It's not enough to be forgiven--
It's easy to be sorry for things I didn't do,
yet it's completeness that I crave: re-fill my pen!
I don't ask for a new book
A new beginning, I fear, is too late
but new ink a new story will tell.
In the street, the church bell tolls
One hundred pious actors bearing their sins as obvious as their mask
Turn the other way, protecting their child--or so they say,
of the threatening monster begging for compassion, a love he has never known:
a begging we dare not understand
****
Just what entered my mind when I left the Lied Center after watching Screwtape Letters and seeing a homeless man standing outside the door. No one, as far as I saw, gave him anything.
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