More Video Hope

Another video pick: Tent City,by Odyssey Networks
Jesus born here, not to "take over" but to incarnate hope.

Peace on Earth will come, because God intends it.  Jesus lived and died it.  Blessings and Peace to everyone reading this.

Christ in Public Spaces

I am so proud of her. A student at H-BWoodlawn School in Arlington was asked by a teacher to remove Bible verses displayed on the outside of her locker.  You have to understand something about this high school, which is peculiarly set up to promote freedom of expression and inquiry in the education setting. [defacto school motto is  Verbum Sap Sat (VSS) "A word to the wise is sufficient" in their translation, although the correct latin phrase would be verbus sat sapientia (est).]  The student and her friend had been taking turns putting bible verses on one another's lockers as a way to encourage each other.  Lockers, walls, doors and any other upright surface in the school seem to be fair game for promoting a wide variety of thoughts, ideas, but for some reason a teacher called the bible verse-displaying students into her room and asked that they be taken down. They students were both very upset by the teacher's request and took their objections to the school-wide Town Meeting , held every Thursday.  After hearing about this yesterday, I attended to support them today.
Wonderful!  I was quite impressed at the level of discussion and the respectful way the issue was handled.  Both students and faculty teased apart and put back together again a wide range of interlocking issues: freedom of expression, who gets to say what's offensive and must an open and tolerant atmosphere of expression guarantee that no one be offended?; freedom of religion and the constitutional questions, the use and abuse of power in authority, fair treatment, etc.  In the end, the requesting teacher's view was not supported by a great majority of people who spoke.  Both students and faculty members supported the brave bible verse posting students.
I think Jesus is pleased, and not just because I support Bible reading, but because the values of open and honest communication, tolerance and respect flow from my Christian conviction.  Go H-B!

Love these artists...

My "Good News" video of the month/week/day...Are you a trader?

Killing Organization

I love this guy at [D] mergent:  "Young people don’t have the same emotional investment in the programs and initiatives that proved so successful and rewarding to the generations that came before. Rightly or wrongly, what young people hear when churches appeal for help is: “We need more bodies to do stuff we thought up when we were your age, but no longer have the energy to do ourselves.” Instead of reassessing why there is no energy behind beloved programs, dropping them, and looking for those places where there is energy, churches often note the lack of energy, and then try to generate it by appealing to tradition, faithfulness, involvement, etc. Again, rightly or wrongly, young people apparently aren’t interested in propping up programs they had no hand in forming. They have neither the time nor the inclination to do work somebody else is passionate about, just because there are folks who feel strongly that it ought to be done, but are no longer able to do it themselves." See the whole article here 
Folks here know my 'druthers: If no one wants to do it...drop it!  AMEN.  'nuff said.

SBNR comments ubiquitous

More, following the Pastor's letter in our church newsletter, Covenant Call, on SBNR.

A growing category of North Americans are classifying themselves as SBNR.  The “I’m spiritual but not religious” community is growing so much that some compare it to a movement, even though there is no center or central spokesperson.  In a 2009 survey by the research firm LifeWay Christian Resources, 72 percent of millennials (18- to 29-year-olds) said they’re “more spiritual than religious.” [USA Today quoted Oct 14, 2010]  The phrase is now so common that it has its own web presence and a Facebook page.  BJ Gallagher, a Huffington Post blogger who writes about spirituality, says she’s SBNR because “organized religion inevitably degenerates into tussles over power, ego and money.”  Gallagher says there’s nothing wrong with people blending insights from different faith traditions to create what she calls a “Burger King Spirituality – have it your way.”  June-Ann Greeley, a professor of theology at Sacred Heart University in Connecticut, has said “People seem not to have the time nor the energy or interest to delve deeply into any one faith or religious tradition. … So they move through, collecting ideas and practices and tenets that most appeal to the self, but making no connections to groups or communities.”  http://www.usatoday.com/video/index.html#/Saying%20no%20to%20religion/34339656001  

Some people are impatient with what seems like the navel-gazing, self-centeredness inherent in this approach.  Lively discussions have popped up all over the blogosphere about the meaning of SBNR for mainline (increasingly old-line) Christian traditions. See the article by UCC Pastor Lillian Daniels and the comments at http://www.christiancentury.org/article/2011-08/you-can-t-make#.ToNhKev0So4.facebook

A congregation like Church of the Covenant lives right in the middle of this tension.  The generational difference between our members and their grown children is striking.  I hold the opinion that conversations like this are a movement of the Holy Spirit.  God can and does hold us accountable to the way “church folks” are perceived.  Still, it takes a living, breathing community to embody the living Jesus.  That’s what we mean by the church being “the body of Christ.”  How do you think the phrase “spiritual, but not religious” affects us?  Let’s talk.                             Pastor Beth

Russia and Baptism

Grand-daughter and God-father

Grandpa Goss waiting

Priest at the church of Alexander Nevsky, St. Petersburg, Russia

My husband and I were privileged to attend our granddaughter's baptism during our trip to Russia in early September 2011.  The Russian Orthodox Church does baptisms right!  It's a serious thing and a great joy at the same time.  The eastern and western churches share so much of the same liturgy.  Even though I couldn't understand all that the priest was saying, I could follow the movements--the presentation, the profession of faith--including my favorite part: renunciation of  evil, which in the Russian Orthodox church is accomplished by turning your back and spitting on the floor!--the prayer of thanksgiving over the water, the laying on of hands, the welcome into the church and benediction.  What takes about 10 minutes in a typical protestant baptism takes about an hour and a half in that setting.  Children are plunged naked into the font; the priest takes three large handfulls of water to dump over the child's head, at which point our granddaughter screamed bloody murder, as appropriately she should.  ^"It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." [Hebrews 10:31] So now we wait for God to the work, and in partnership with parents and god-parents look forward to the day when she may make her own confession of faith and spit on the devil.

Laughing and crying at the same time

I follow a bunch of websites and The OOZE" is one of them.  See the article " 7 Things your Pastor Wants to Tell You but Doesn't Have the Guts. "  by  Walter Thomason. LOL! I've been following (stalking?) Spencer Burke and this crowd for years.  If I were ten years younger, I'd follow them more closely, but as it is, I have enough trouble just following Jesus. Thanks, Walter and Spencer, for saying all things out loud!