Did you know there were deadly food riots in Haiti last week? And in several other countries around the world. The U.S. closed the embassy in Haiti, banned official travel, is discouraging civilian travel and encouraging U.S. citizens already in Haiti to get out. The soaring cost of food sparked the violent protests—around the world food prices have risen 45% in the past nine months and have doubled in the last three years. The Chairman of the World Bank, Robert B. Zoellick, said three dozen countries face potential social unrest because of rising food and fuel prices.
I didn’t hear about it until Sunday morning when our rector announced that our upcoming missions trip to Haiti (we have a nearly 20-year partnership with a congregation in Haiti) was up in the air. Apparently I’ve been reading the wrong news outlets (curse you CNN!). The U.S. has pledged $200 million for emergency food aid, so I guess it’s good that at least something is being done. Update: Though experts say this isn’t a short term problem.
In this wired world where a not-so-healthy debate is only a click a way, we could all use some help in how to disagree. Which is why I find this disagreement hierarchy kind of interesting. It helps to analyze a discussion a bit and figure out if what you’re arguing about is even worth arguing about.
More often than not, two people arguing passionately about something are actually arguing about two different things. Sometimes they even agree with one another, but are so caught up in their squabble they don’t realize it.
I think that happens a lot. More than we care to admit (because then we couldn’t argue, dammit!). So often I think the argument is over completely separate points. We argue over how it should happen, not realizing that we both want different outcomes, which would explain why we both think it should happen differently. But instead of realizing that and cutting to the chase, we keep going at each other over something irrelevant.
The Library of Congress has released loads of photos on Flickr. My favorite is this set of color photos from the 1930s and 1940s. I’ve seen very little if any color photography from that era. It all looks like it was shot 20 years later than it was.
It’s curious to me how film quality affects our perception of time periods. I always pictured the pre-1960 world as black and white, then a sort of off-kilter Technicolor world before film started to look more “normal” in the 1980s. Oddly enough, I always pictured the pre-photographic world as the random illustrations and paintings that appeared in textbooks.
It’s also interesting seeing all the horses and wagons. For whatever reason I always imagined the automobile being ubiquitous after 1920 or so.
Today I received another one of the questionable forwards. The story in a nutshell is that a court ruling had prohibited prayer at a graduation ceremony. When one of the speakers approached the podium, the entire graduating class simultaneously sneezed. Then the speaker simply said, “God bless you, each and every one,” and the crowd erupted with applause. A heart-warming ‘screw you’ to those anti-Christian courts.
The first clue that it’s not entirely true might be the mass simultaneous sneeze. The fact that it’s talking about prayer in school should at least make you wary about potential bias. The fact that it has to conclude with “This is a true story; it happened at the University of Maryland,” should also be a hint that’s something not right—how often does the newspaper have to assure you something is a true story? I also couldn’t help but wonder why the University of Maryland had a principal.
I looked this story up on Snopes.com, the go to site for questionable e-mail forwards, and found that the story is in fact true. With some notable exceptions.
Last week on Church Marketing Sucks we interviewed Mark Van Steenwyk of Jesus Manifesto. He talked a lot about New Monasticism and justice, but the money quote for me is when he talked about how churches have turned Christianity into a Sunday morning activity of teaching and singing, and not the way of life it’s meant to be:
Here’s the thing. Christianity started as a movement. It was a way of life. An orthopraxy. Sure, there were beliefs and creeds and teaching and songs, but all of that happened in the context of communities that were following in the way of Jesus. The Gospel was not simply something to be proclaimed, but lived out. Then things began to change. Slowly, the Church got in bed with the Empire. And those parts of the Way of Jesus that conflicted with the Way of Caesar got sidelined. And then, over time, Europe became a place where it was assumed that everyone was a Christian and the Church became a chaplain to society. Then the Reformation and Enlightenment hit and the Church began to understand itself primarily as an educational institution.
Today, “church” is a place one goes to listen to a half hour message and sing. And if you’re really spiritual, you also go to church on Wednesday to get more information. Ours is a disembodied faith that is about teaching and singing. It isn’t a way of life. We treat things like care for the poor, living simply, practicing hospitality, etc. as optional. They are primarily understood as supplemental programs. Not things that are woven into the fabric of our lives. (emphasis mine)
My Great-Uncle Junior died this week. Harry O. Hendricks Jr. (1924-2008) was my late grandfather’s brother. He lived just down the street from my Grandpa in a town so small everyone is a neighbor (and related, as my wife often reminds me). While we sat around the kitchen table at my Grandpa’s house talking and letting breakfast stretch over a few hours, Junior (as most people knew him) would inevitably stop by to partake in the conversation, usually making a point to chide me or my brother.
The Hendricks family loves to laugh and loves to kid. Hence my Grandpa often called me a turd. One of my favorite memories is sitting around my grandfather’s kitchen after his death and joking and laughing with my cousins. While laughter and ribbing characterized my grandfather, it was even more true of my Uncle Junior. He’d laugh and poke fun and slap his knee.
I’m not sure I want to keep blogging about politics, but sometimes I’m dumb that way. Here I go again.
U.S. Representative Michele Bachmann from Minnesota was recently speaking in Monticello and had this to say about immigration:
“We’re losing our country,” she said. “People are not assimilating themselves to America. They’re not speaking English, and you must speak it if you want to succeed here in this country.”
American Idol had it’s big ‘give back’ special last night (or so I’m told—I don’t watch it) and it ended with a group sing of “Shout to the Lord,” a well known worship song written by Darlene Zschech. What? Christian worship music on American Idol? You can watch it here or buy the single from iTunes (Full disclosure: I get a cut of purchases made from that link, which adds an extra level of oddity to this post).
Some people think this is kind of cool. And I can see that. Our soulless American culture embracing a little bit of Christianity. Maybe something will rub off. It’s a good conversation starter.
Here’s a real life writing example from the ‘what does that even mean?’ file:
“Mike’s personal history and present ministry evidences in The Foursquare Church indicate his unique gifting and calling as regarding his new pursuits among us.”
It comes from a Foursquare news release from a few months ago about a staff change. The quote comes from the president, Jack Hayford. Unfortunately I didn’t have the power to rewrite that line and make it a little more sensible (I tried).
Pastor Jack (as the Foursquare insiders call him) is a well liked guy. But sometimes I have no idea what he’s talking about.
