An Example of God at Work

I found this blog totally by accident yesterday. It is sad but amazing at the same time; a couple recovering after the husband's sexual wanderings. It is a hope inspiring thing to see redemption acted out before us. Personally I thought it was honoring that she would share her journey with us.

Peace,
Matt

Currently Reading: Kurt Vonnegut's Player Piano. It's awesome. Of course, that's not surprising since it is Kurt Vonnegut... Everyone should be required to read at least one of his books in their lifetime.

Great Article by Martin Accad

Check out this amazing article by Martin Accad on what is going on in Lebanon! I can't believe Christianity Today would allow such a great piece!

Peace,
Matt

The Great Giveaway

I bought The Great Giveaway yesterday, and wasn't really able to start reading it until late last night. But then I couldn't put it down! I barely slept at all last night because I just wanted to read this book! This book gives Frost and Hirsch's The Shaping of Things to Come a run for its money!

As somebody who is now working in his second mega-church job, this book makes a lot of sense. And it is healthier than most critiques; it points out problems, looks at the roots of said problems, then has helpful (even Biblical!) suggestions on what to do about it! Best of all, he looks to the best sources for help: Mennonites, real postmodern thinkers (Foucault, Derrida, etc, rather than Christian wannabes), and of course, Hauerwas. What more could you ask for?

To make it short - buy this book. Read it immediately. Then read it again. Then give it to somebody who needs to read it, even though we both know it will offend them. This book calls us out and it is about time somebody did. I'd put a quote from it here, but there are way too many good ones to choose from!

I hope my massive amount of exclamation points shows how good it is. Perhaps I'll come back with more direct thoughts about the whole book when I finish it. I'm only half done, but still would wholeheartedly recommend it.

Peace,
Matt

Cancer

NPR is currently running a series called "My Cancer." Since cancer is currently causing a tremendously terrible situation in my family, I find it helpful to read/hear stories from all over the board on the issue. I guess it's the solidarity that's nice. So many people have been hurt by it, be they family members, friends, survivors or victims.

I typically keep this blog from being very personal, but if you read this, please pray for my dad as he continues to fight. This is definitely the most difficult thing I've ever faced in my life, and obviously it's even harder on him.

Peace,
Matt

George W

Oh George, your brilliance astounds me yet again.

Paradise Now

I watched the movie Paradise Now last night. It had been sitting around my house for the past two weeks because I haven't been up to watching anything that intense until last night. I just have to say it was an amazing, well made movie. If you care at all about what is going on in the world today, you must watch this movie. It is the story of two Palestinian friends who basically get called up (to use baseball terminology) as suicide bombers. Although you only see things from their side, I thought the movie was balanced as you followed these two men around the strange place they call home.

I continue to hope that Americans will begin to really look into what the modern nation of Israel has become and gain a better view of it than the one they have from a poor reading of the Old Testament. Israel, our ally, continues to this day to commit major attrocities (just read the papers). Watch this movie. Or read Naim Ateek's book, Justice, and only Justice to see Palestinian liberation theology in action and gain a hopeful attitude about how things can yet be worked out in one small part of the turbulent Middle East.

Peace,
Matt

Just Read: Leslie Newbigin's Foolishness to the Greeks. I honestly think it is a much more important book than The Gospel in a Pluralist Society. Newbigin is more direct in this book, and very challenging. A must read.

War Crimes are Subjective...and Jurgen Moltmann has a say

Israel bombed Beirut yesterday (as well as Gaza, as usual) killing 36 civilians. The civilian deaths weren't surprising, considering Israel was bombing civilian targets. Luckily the US stood up for what is right...by condemning Hezbollah. Of course with the war crimes the US is currently committing everywhere, I guess we have no option but to support Israels raw agression. What a sad state of affairs we are witnessing today.

"Heavenly Father,
it is time for you to come,
for our time is running out
and our world is passing away.
You gave us life, one with another,
and we have destroyed it in conflict.
You made your creation in harmony and balance.
We want progress, and are perishing through our strivings for it.
Come, Creator of all things,
and renew the face of the earth.
In our unhappiness give us hope for your day,
the day when we can laugh in peace with all created beings,
and praise you to all eternity.

Lord Jesus Christ,
our brother on our way.
Give peace to our enemies.
Take from us our fear of death.
Make us ready to walk beside you
and to love our enemies.
We hope for your kingdom
as we hope for peace.
Come, Lord Jesus, come soon.

Holy Spirit,
we know you as power from on high
and as consolation in the depths.
We cry to you,
and you respond within us.
We fall silent,
and you speak for us with your yearning.
Come, Creator Spirit,
give us dreams of peace
and visions of freedom.
Make us inconsolable when they are betrayed.
Console us when they are disappointed.

God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, triune God:
unite with yourself your torn and divided world,
and let us all be one in you,
for it is in you that we all live and move and have our being."

-Jurgen Moltmann, 1981

Peace,
Matt

Recent Reads: Operating Instructions by Anne Lammott, The Transforming Vision by Brian Walsh and Richard Middleton, and The Truth about the Truth by Walter Truett Anderson. Anderson's book is a great introduction to postmodern thought (rather than just another lame Christian view on it). I am currently reading Jurgen Moltmann's The Power of the Powerless, which is where the prayer above comes from.

The Trade

I found myself inside a massive concrete shell
lit by glass tubes, with air pumped in, with
levels joined by moving stairs.

It was full of the things that were bought and made
in the twentieth century. Layed out in trays
or shelves

The throngs of people of that century, in their style,
clinging garb made on machines,

Were trading all their precious time
for things.

-Gary Snyder

Woe Is Me

My wife and I made a very conscious decision when we got married 6 years ago: we did not need television. But in the last few weeks all I hear about is the World Cup, and now I hear that the Tour de France has started up and the win is up for grabs!!! It's almost enough to get me to call up the cable people. Woe is me!