The Passion according to Spencer Burke and the Christian Science Monitor

Spencer Burke was interviewed by the Christian Science Monitor about The Passion.

Evangelicals have seen the movie principally as a great vehicle for reaching the unchurched. In addition to buying out theaters and inviting people to attend, they've developed other outreach projects.
Spencer Burke, an evangelical pastor in California with an Internet ministry, questions that effort. While he enjoyed the film, "if I was interested in striking up a conversation with someone in my community tonight by purchasing a ticket to a movie, inviting them to dinner and a spiritual conversation, my money would be on 'In America', " he says.
Both films deal with the same themes, he says, but he thinks "In America" speaks more "to the soul of the average person who wonders about the struggles of everyday life and whether God is good or bad.
"The passion is only one part of the story, he adds. "My thought is that the passion wasn't about the cross. Jesus didn't really look at the cross; he looked at me."

Essay on space, the web, and community

I was going to post this essay earlier this week but lost it when w.bloggar died on me. You win some… unless you use Windows 98 I guess. I have been thinking about community lately. Strong ties and weak ties and that sort of thing. The other night I was hanging out with a couple people I went to college with, Lorne Cornish and Trevor Knight. During school we were shot at, jumped out of a third story dorm room (that almost killed me… snow is not the soft fluffy cushion we hoped for) and did a variety of other things that common sense and good judgement should have stopped. To be honest, I am kind of surprised I survived the night. There are quite a few people I keep up to date with my past and whenever we get together, we often talk about the past and am always surprised how many people have dropped off the face of the earth. Wendy and I are no better. Both of us skipped high school reunions because we had little desire to go to them and I have to admit, there are people that get dropped of Christmas letter lists once in a while. There is nothing wrong with those people, you just lose touch after a while.

It kind of relates a bit to my post a couple days ago when I mentioned just briefly, the idea that community for many people is very much linked to a space. Before I go on, I should point out that community is one of those words that I think the church overused. Brian McLaren and Len Sweet said this about community in their book, A is for Abductive

An overused word in recent Christian vocabulary. To experience "community", see almost anything but Community.

I agree with them. It is overused and I think the church has gotten its description of what it is wrong in the past. My post generated a lot of e-mail and I have enjoyed replying to them but thought I would post something here as well. Here are my thoughts.

Much of our community is linked to space (or lack of space). In the good old days, every house would have a front porch, a place where people would hang out in the evening, sipping tea on a swing in more or less public view. You could interact with people just by being out and about. It was community on accident on the basis that it wasn't that intentional. When I lived in Lawson Heights in Saskatoon growing up, much of our family life happened in the front of the house. The drive way was both a hockey arena and a basketball court (umm, sorry about the hedge, flowers, and garage window) and we had a front step that was sheltered enough to sit out on and enjoy a cup of coffee in the summer and still be in the shade (that and the dude behind our house would sunbathe naked… that kind of ruined our back deck for us). It was an important part of our family life. I am amazed by the amount of people we got to know while sitting out in the front of our house in the evenings as they walked by. Now, the dominant architectural structure of most homes is a double or triple garage out in the front, no public space and the deck in the backyard is where people spend their time (some chose to sunbathe naked). It is very is private and away from the street life (yet not from our back deck). Community has changed from accidental to intentional. You don't wander into a backyard accidentally. You need to be invited and according to books like Robert Putnam's Bowling Alone : The Collapse and Revival of American Community and Michael Adam's Fire and Ice: The United States, Canada and the Myth of Converging Values, it isn't happening anymore. It isn't just our lack of verandas either. It happens on a variety of levels. When I was going to college, I took the bus to school. For $30 a month, I got free transportation, got to know a whole lot of people, and didn't get the plethora of parking tickets my later years earned me. Of course when I drive, I drive alone most times. Our cars reflect the time we spend in them. Mind blowing stereo systems. The Honda Element makes into a bed easily. Many have GPS technology so you don't even have to ask for directions (as if I did before). Phones so we can more work done. We spend way more time in them but it is another private space where you don't meet other people accidentally. They are self-enclosed environments.

How I shop has changed too. The mall replaced the row of neighbourhood shops and now the mall is under siege by the big box retailer and the Internet. From my local community to a commercial community to now the Internet. The banks may be the first to encourage less interaction with high paid staff and more with a .com but they won't be the last. This week was a noticeable week in that I actually went into not just one but two bookstores instead of clicking once one Amazon.ca.

Even coffee, the social drink of the masses is customized to go. I don't drink out of a coffee mug anymore. I drink out of travel mug and if I am going out for coffee, most often it means I am going through a drive through.

I live in a neighborhood in Saskatoon called Mayfair. From what I have read, it is one of the older neighbourhoods in Saskatoon. It is a quaint older neighbourhood. Blue collar but kind of cool. Yeah the crime is kind of high but I have to admit, other than some character, it doesn't mean a lot to me. I am not part of the Mayfair community as there is very little commerce. No cafe's anything resembling what Ray Oldenburg would call a great good place. There is nothing other then chain restaurants (like too much of Saskatoon, Greek food). All over the west side there are abandoned neighbourhood grocers and confectionaries that have been bulldozed, converted into homes or just boarded up. (although I hope that changes in the future). I'll admit it, living in Mayfair means very little to me. It is just where my house is. Same with living in Lawson Heights. Same with Deer Ridge Estates before that (you could drop a bomb there in the morning and no one would call it in until they got home at 7 p.m.) and Queensland before that. There was very little day to day life to anchor me to my neighbourhood and more and more to pull me out of it. Most cities are designed this way. Saskatoon has great freeways and we use them. City council is discussing big box developments rather than coffee bistros. It will get worse before it gets better.

While in the era of solid modernity we were tied to a very small area. We farmed, worked, lived, and shopped all within a small place... in both urban and rural areas. In the cities you see the spread of suburbs and the rise of the malls that first signified urban change. I really noticed in rural Saskatchewan a couple of years ago when Wendy and I drove down a highway to the town where my ancestors had farmed. It had been over 20 years since I had been there. In 1980 my grandparents used to take me driving, looking at the crops, and through all of these small towns that seemed to be all over the place. Now all of them are gone or are on their death bed. What tied people to the land for generations was destroyed in 20 years completely by technology (a farmer can farm more land easier) and globalization (prices are lower than they were 20 years ago and WTO rules changed transportation subsidies which closed down rail lines and elevators). Urban centres have gone through a similar transition. North America's love with the automobile not only created some really bad rock songs but also helped change us into a convenience society. We want it now and we want it easily. Parking even became a pain so we fled from downtown cores to the suburb malls for that and one stop shopping. As for walking? Well we now need to do it not to get anywhere but as exercise, something to hide the fact that we drive everywhere.

While we are spending less time doing other things, we are spending a lot more time doing others (like driving). For many it is work and work is trying to create a place where you can work longer and happier. Companies like Pixar, Microsoft, Bloomberg Financial, and IDEO have realized the importance of this and have put great effort in creating workplaces where accidental contact happens more and not less, realizing that this kind of contact is good for creativity and it's staffs mental health. Ideo has used the neighbourhood concept for office organization for years. Team members need to be able to talk to each other and feel comfortable. If that mean hanging a wing of a DC-3 from the room, that is what it takes. Steve Jobs knew this during the launch of the Mac computer. The Mac building had pirate flags hanging all over the place and that galvanized the Mac team. According to Richard Florida, these features are not just wants but needed if organizations are going to recruit top talent. Creative people like working together.

Proximity still matters for some people. A person I know has complained that the location of their office away from their team isolates her from them and leaves her out of the loop. It isn't hard to understand, her office is in another wing and therefore isn't getting people talking outside her door or people just wandering in. When I was at Lakeview, I was surprised at how a change in office space changed my relationship with my co-workers. Moving from a larger (and heatless) office in the back corner to a smaller (and hot) office in a busy hallway changed the way I got information. I wasn't intentionally excluded or included in more or less information but the location meant that it just happened. There were also offices that I was rarely in, not because of my feelings towards the person but because they were out of the way and I rarely thought to walk down there to chat. I think of all of the conversations that I had with Mike Gingerich when we worked together. Many were about football (Mike shares my fascination with NFL minutia) but most happened because of my proximity to the staff coffee machine and we both drink coffee (and the phrase, "Coop, want a refill?"). Of course now with probably 10 miles between our coffee makers and not 10 feet our relationship has changed. Same with a bunch of former co-workers.

A decade ago that is probably all I needed to say about community. It is linked to space. The time together in the same space, the less community. Through out history humanity has seen strong ties weaken when common space was removed and people went on their way in different directions. Some organizations tried to remedy this with class reunions or church camps with the goal of bringing dispersed people together again but that was temporary until the next gathering was planned and attended.

I think what has changed for me is that there are now strong and growing ties for me that are developing that don't have any common space, at least not in the traditional sense. Those ties have grown because of the web. E-mail, weblogs, Yahoo! and MSN Instant Messenger. Even the occasional webcam chat. The weak ties of meeting at a conference once have been strengthened by technology considerably. Where at one time a business card might be exchanged, lost and forgotten about, today they are ongoing conversations.

I never could figure out why some relationships seemed to grow and some seemed to disappear. The answer for me can be documented by my cell phone and my Yahoo! Messenger. I am finding I have better relationships with many who call my cell phone than those who communicate through other means. The answer is easy. While both phone numbers are on my weblog, most people who connect to me, also connect via Yahoo! Instant Messenger. When they want to chat with me and it is important, most use my Yahoo! Instant Messenger. Of course I am not always online or am away from my computer. They naturally make the assumption that I am mobile or away from my office (and my phone) and call my cell number.

When I shared this theory to some people, there was two reactions. Several said, "that makes sense to me, I would do [or do] the same thing". Others said, "I can't imagine posting my cell phone number. I would hate to give it out." Or, "That's why I don't have a cell phone!". They also seemed horrified when I said that I don't answer all of my cell phone calls and let them go to my voice mail when I am in the middle of something or someplace that is more important than getting my phone (like driving while drinking coffee... not enough hands).

Technology adoption is more than just learning how to use it. Lots of people have cell phones that send SMS messages but few actually use that feature to keep up with anyone. The smart mobs that Howard Rheingold describes in Smart Mobs in Tokyo are few and far between in North America despite the fact that we have the technology to do it. Having e-mail is different in being comfortable using it for regular communications. Lot's of people who use e-mail are reluctant to use it for anything other than transmitting virus's. We have more technology than ever before to keep us connected and yet for many people, it is very hard for them to rethink and think outside the established boxes in regards of technology. Peter Drucker tells the story of the first executive training conference. It was about using the telephone. It was cancelled because no executives could conceptualize using them. That still happens but now with e-mail and weblogs. Learning how to use a piece of technology is one step. Learning how it can improve your ties to people in another story. Futurist Patrick Dixon in his excellent book FUTUREWISE says that it will be 2020 before the post-millenialists (as he calls them) achieve enough mass to kick the habit of space and meet much more virtually than we do now.

Rethinking space and technology is vital I think to understanding community in the new millennium. Smart Mobs was the first book that made the link for me between space and technology. In small Tokyo apartments, teens that may not even have their own room have their own cell phone. In a place where privacy is almost impossible to come through, SMS messages give them a chance for privacy and communication. It literally carves out some private and personal space for them that they may never have otherwise. The other example is technology as bridging space and allowing conversations that may never happen otherwise. The other night Rudy Carrasco and I bridged several thousand miles between a blizzard stricken Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and a rather balmy Pasadena, California via webcams and Yahoo! Instant Messenger. IM became the common ground and redefined space for us. It helped change a physical reality easily and for free (well after the Thinkpad, Powerbook, DSL lines and some cameras are paid for).

Salam Pax, the Baghdad Blogger brought a piece of Iraq to us everyday in his posts and when he lost his internet connection during the bombing, the war was brought to the world in a way that CNN and Fox News could not do.

TheOoze is another space for me. TheOoze is visited by one hundred thousand people from 90 countries everyday. But where is TheOoze? Some would say in Spencer Burke's garage. Others would post to where it is hosted in London, Ontario, Canada while others would just point to www.theooze.com. All three answers are correct. In fact none of us go to TheOoze, our browsers bring TheOoze to us. Whatever the answer, it has been "visited" by millions since it launched and even though we aren't sure where it is, many call it home. It is a space and home without any physical characteristics at all. So what are people finding there? Each other. Just like we have during so many other periods during our history. The difference is how we measure proximately has. Technology has allowed culture to be much more fluid and still keep in touch and keep those ties. Where as the ties weakened over space and time, we can now keep in touch and talk like we are in the same room. Actually Leighton and I often instant message each other while in my living room or while sitting around the same deck table (it's like he is right there).

I don't think the issue anymore in whether or not the technology is good enough anymore (it is). As Len Sweet has said, in the western world, it isn't about technology "have and have nots". It is about technology "want and want nots". We can connect to each other where ever we want but are we will willing to rethink and reconceptualize our relationships to the point of making those kinds of changes. That is the question.

The e-mail that I exchanged on the subject agreed up to this point but people have asked the really hard question, "what happens under today's paradigm when that space is removed?". For most people I have talked to, the sense of belonging ends right there. Different job, city, or church and the ties that tied people together socially seemed to change and weaken. I had an instant messenger conversation with someone a while ago and she talked of never putting down roots in a church anymore. Her career took her to different cities and it was hard to know that once she was gone, those connections were lost. Another thing is what happens to people whose work schedule doesn't align properly with church schedules? Instead of being torn from the space, they are unable to get to the space to connect with in the first place.

Wendy shared with me about the church that she grew up in. It was in a university town and a lot of university students came through the doors, got involved, became part of the churches leadership and then moved on when done school to pursue careers or get more education. A couple of years later someone would ask, "has anyone kept in touch with [insert name here]" and often the answer would be no. Once the common space (the church campus or programs) were removed, the ties were broken.

How is that any different than a workplace. Of course what you do in that community is different. Praying, worshipping, serving, tossing eggs at Lutherans and so on but are the ties any stronger? That I don't know. How does one measure those ties? What determines strong community? I was pondering this question over in my mind when I started reading Robert Webber's Ancient-Future Evangelism: Making Your Church a Faith-Forming Community. In it he said,

Social networking in a post-Christian world will primarily happen where people eat together in homes of Christians and in neighborhood communities where faith is shared. Eating has always played a central role in the Christian faith.
Jesus' own eating habits are frequently highlighted in the Gospels. His behaviour "recreated the world....Instead of symbolizing social rank and order, it blurred the distinctions between hosts and guests, need and plenty. Instead of reinforcing the rules of etiquette, it subverted them, making the last first and the first last." In this way Jesus both embodied the kingdom and prophetically anticipated the kingdom. Furthermore, there were no preconditions to eating together. Conversion was no prerequisite to fellowship at a common meal with Jesus. Instead conversion became a consequence of eating with Jesus. Likewise in the early Christian church eating together continued to be a vital part of community. (Acts 2:42-47). Today a crucial aspect of evangelism be of eating together. It is the primary context for establishing relationships that lead to discussion of things that matter. The success for example, of the Alpha course in reaching people is that friends and neighbors gather around food.

Webber's thoughts reminded me of something that Kevin Rains wrote over at Vineyard Central about the centrality of the meal. (I have edited the section a bit, follow the link to get the full description)

The Importance of the Common Meal
Meals together are crucial to the building of a close-knit and joyful community. Over the course of an internship, more time is spent sharing meals than is spent together in any other activity. Mealtime is, accordingly, the most powerful setting in communal life for a wide range of important activities, such as forming and maintaining friendships, learning how to listen and ask questions, being mentored, hearing Scripture, and learning to cooperate (e.g. preparing the meal, setting the table, cleaning up afterwards).

The Atmosphere
Meals are for pleasure, not for business. Unless it's unavoidable, we steer away from the discussion of burdensome and difficult subjects during this important time. Business can usually be cared for at another time. We look forward to the shared meal, knowing that here we can relax, enjoy catching up on the events of the day and one another's lives, and have a good home-cooked meal. The table setting is important as well. Disposable plates, utensils, and cups are avoided whenever possible. Aside from their contribution to a growing waste problem in America, they reflect the illness of an overly-busy, convenience-driven, and lazy society that has little regard for the consequences of its actions. We want to communicate in multiple ways (e.g., fresh flowers and candles) via the common meal that we care, are grateful, and have time. For us it's a mini-Sabbath.

The Food
It's difficult in a communal household to satisfy everyone's individual tastes and preferences without making life exceptionally difficult for the cook(s). Our general goal is to offer a meal that's both nutritious and good-tasting, with options for omnivores and vegetarians. We try simply to use good sense: avoiding meals high in fat, cholesterol, and simple sugars. We shoot for whole grains, legumes, vegetables and fruits, option for fresh food when available rather than canned or frozen food.

Food and community. It makes sense that they are linked. When I think of good friends, I think of food and hospitality in the home or restaurant. I think of LT and John Campea (how did that link get past the editors) before John moved to Hamilton. With both Leighton and John, I have eaten countless meals together. I sometimes take that for granted. I come from a long line of good and gracious hosts and Wendy is a wonderful host too. I think one of the things I have missed since John has moved to Toronto are the mini-Sabbaths. Sunday night football at Boston Pizza and watching almost the entire NHL playoffs and a lot of WWE Smackdown over pizza and Coke at my place. I can't remember one important thing being said during those games and maybe that is what makes it right. There is an intimacy that goes beyond running into someone over a meal. One may bump into his or her enemies and even make small talk but rarely does one break bread with them. Why does it have value? I think because it takes effort. It isn't accidental. To go out and share a meal it takes time, resources, and effort. More effort than what it seems it should but I think that is what makes it worthwhile. Some meals take risk in a new recipe or even cooking something that is a little beyond you. Even a meal out takes us out of our natural cycles. John and I didn't end up at Boston Pizza on accident. It took some phone calls, a baby-sitter for Mark often, driving across the city, and even a pickup at John or my place when Alison or Wendy were out and had one of vehicles with them.

Now community is much more than just eating together but when I think of the people I consider valuable parts of my life, they are the ones that I know have inconvienced me when they needed me and I would have no problem calling them when I needed help and not at all surprisingly, they were there for me too. Not coincidently, they are ones that I have had in my home and have fellowshipped with them. I tell my church, it is never to late to call and never too late to come by. You always say, "no problem" but really I am saying, "you are worth the hassle" and my friends and church are. Don't consider office hours, rules, or boundaries. You are more important than that. I think that is what a meal is saying. It is a hassle but our friendship is worth that.

I think community starts not when are all living in proximity to each other but when we are living with intentionality towards keeping those ties together. When community moves from the accidental community of bumping in to each other at Safeway or Jakes (hmmm, free wifi) to a much more intentional community, I think we are getting somewhere. Things of value are supposed to take some effort.

Intentionality is great but what about living in a liquid and fluid culture where ties are not to a land or community but to a company? I was thinking about McKinsey Consulting. McKinsey is one of the largest consulting companies but many of its staff are recruited and hired by their clients. In their own words

McKinsey is committed to helping our clients. We are equally committed to hiring and developing outstanding talent. Those who join our Firm find themselves part of a collegial culture, shaped by shared values. When consultants leave McKinsey, their connection to our culture and our people remains strong. The Alumni Center offers ways for alumni to maintain their connection to the Firm and to each other.

Do we ever think about those that leave our local churches in any way? Not very. I know many churches will recommend a church that shares their denomination or values (like a WCA church) but do any of think of finding a way to preserve and maintain those relationships. I know of one church that maintains an e-mail list for people who have moved away to keep them connected but most church websites I have seen are more focused on bringing people into the church rather than providing meaningful connection for those who can't be there.

If we do live in a fluid and changing culture where people are not tied to this place like they used to, does that take a different way in looking at how we do things. McKinsey as a company may have some flaws but by creating an alumni network, they are acknowledging reality that people do move on but values them where they are. I lent out Joe Myers excellent book, The Search to Belong: Rethinking Intimacy, Community, and Small Groups but one of the things I walked away from that book with was the idea of valuing people where they are. I wonder what it would look like to value people with connections in the past as we do connections in the present.

It would be a change from the "experience it live or don't experience it at all" paradigm of many organizations. I suggested to a few churches that they use blogs to not only hype the future events but to document and reflect on past ones at all. None of them have taken me up on it. An lot of time was spent on hyping the future but almost nothing about it when it has past. I can understand. Most church staff are evaluated on bringing people in to the building, not making connections to people who have left or can't get there. And that may be a big part of the problem. When I use the old clichés about the net changing everything and being a disruptive and discontinuitous technology, everyone agrees. When I talk about it needing to change expectations and skills for communicating the Gospel, people get defensive and mad. It is almost as if people were saying, "the net can change everything but don't expect me or my church to change." Andrew Careaga's blogged about Search Party 2002 and he said this

We've been asking the wrong questions about the Net. And we're still asking the wrong questions. Even those of us who think we get it.
What are the right questions? I don't know if I know what the right questions are. But I know some different questions we could be asking.
Instead of asking, "How can I make my page cool?" or "How can I get more hits on our church website?" or "How can I establish community with our church website?" why don't we try asking, "How can we engage Internet culture by joining in on the conversations that are happening all over the Net?" or "How can we be a part of the community that already exists online"?
Instead of talking about static billboards (websites), why don't we talk about the dynamic conversations springing up all over the Net -- on blogs, in chat rooms, over IM, on many and sundry forums, via Usenet?
Instead of debating among ourselves whether authentic community can exist over the Net, why don't we go out into all the world of cyberspace and be part of the community that does indeed exist on the Net? Who knows? Maybe the church can add some authenticity to what's there? (Assuming we have the market on authenticity.)
Instead of trying to lure people to our websites, why not go out where the people are? I got a lot out of Andrew Jones' comments about Jesus going to the parties at Matthew's house, at Zaccheus' house, etc. And sending his disciples out among the lost sheep of Israel. That seems to be a model of missional and mission-focused ministry that would work on the Internet.

That is a big change as church and generally community have all been location based. The idea of doing what Andrew Careaga is doing maybe missional but it is a huge paradigm shift for most church leaders today. It seems as if Patrick Dixon's predictions for 2020 are already starting to arrive today to my life quite a bit ahead of schedule. It will be interesting to see how things evolve and adapt... if they evolve and adapt at all.

Divide and Bicker

The Dean Campaign's Hip, High-Tech Image Hid a Nasty Civil War via former Dean aide Matthew Gross

Interviews with more than a dozen Dean advisers -- portions of which were not for attribution because many did not want to be viewed as disloyal to their former boss -- produced a picture far different from the public image of a hip, high-tech operation of dedicated Deaniacs.

It was, instead, a dysfunctional political family, filled with tales of blocking access to the candidate, neutralizing internal rivals, trying to penalize reporters deemed unfriendly. And some of its members just plain despised each other.

Howard Dean replies on Dean for America

The quotes attributed to me by others in Howard Kurtz's gossipy rendition of the divisions in the Dean for America campaign are entirely false, as is the description of my reaction after losing the Iowa caucuses, before the famous speech. Moreover, it is ridiculous to believe that all of us would work so hard - and spend over $50 million dollars - if we didn't believe that I could become president and that we could change America.

The danger of using unattributed sources as Kurtz and so many others do, is that the veracity of the informants can not be evaluated. In this case Kurtz included a significant amount of material which was not true, and produced a story which was greatly exaggerated.

Link

Jakes

LT had posted about Jakes offering free wifi. He was blogging from there tonight and im'ed me about it. When Wendy got home, we headed down there. In addition to free wifi, they offer a friendly staff, cool decor, and great food. Everything we had tasted excellent. It is my new favorite restaurant and is the kind of business that makes me think that Saskatoon can be redeemed as a city yet!

I need a break

This week I decided I would post a couple of thoughts about community. 5000 words later, I need a break. Am off for coffee...

If you'd like intermittent emails with updates and project info, subscribe to my announcment list::

email:

I have been meaning to do this for a while but it is a list where you can keep up-to-date with what is happening with my life and this site via e-mail. It won't be published that often but there are a couple of times a year where I think that I would like to announce something to the list and not the blog. Don't ask me why. Archives will be kept here. Thank you for your time. That is all. Time to move along folks. There is nothing to see here.

I'll integrate it into the site later.

Fasting/feasting though Lent

Jonny Baker posted this at the Grace Lent Blog.

Lent can be more than a time of fasting; it can be a season of feasting.
We can use Lent to fast from certain things and to feast on others.
Lent is a season in which we can:

Fast from judging others; feast on the Christ dwelling in them.

Fast from emphasis on differences; feast on the unity of life.

Fast from apparent darkness; feast on the reality of light.

Fast from, thoughts of illness; feast on the healing power of God.

Fast from words that pollute; feast on phrases that purify.

Fast from discontent; feast on gratitude.

Fast from anger; feast on patience.

Fast from pessimism; feast on optimism.

Fast from worry; feast on divine order.

Fast from complaining; feast on appreciation.

Fast from negatives; feast on affirmatives.

Fast from unrelenting pressure; feast on unceasing prayer.

Fast from hostility; feast on nonresistance.

Fast from bitterness; feast on forgiveness.

Fast from self-concern; feast on compassion for others.

Fast from personal anxiety; feast on eternal truth.

Fast from facts that depress; feast on verities that uplift.

Fast from discouragements; feast on hope.

Fast from lethargy; feast on enthusiasm.

Fast from thoughts that weaken; feast on promises that inspire.

Fast from shadows of sorrow; feast on the sunlight of serenity.

Fast from idle gossip; feast on purposeful silence.

Fast from problems that overwhelm; feast on prayer that undergirds.

from a Benedictine website as quoted in The Tablet, 3 March 2001, p. 325

The Joi of Technology

Joi Ito was loving GPRS until...

I spent last month so excited by my Nokia 6600. Land in a random city, flip open my PowerBook, click, "connect" and I was immediately online via bluetooth, gprs and my T-Mobile roaming. Internet everywhere. It was sooo cool... until I got my bill. $3500 for one month of mobile abandon. At $3500 / month, I would say that it works, "technically" but is totally unacceptable socially and economically.

Now Joi Ito lives in a different world then I do financially but he has a point. Broadband started a revolution because the pricing was stable and affordable. It wasn't paid for by the early adopters. As much as I would love a GRPS connection, it won't even be considered or even thought about at that cost.

Link

The cost of the remark

Someone I know fairly mean spiritedly cut down someone else I knew for a period of time behind their back. Of course like things like that always do, it got back to the person. In talking to them today the question was asking of me, "can you trust [this person] not to say same kind of things about you?" The answer was no, I can't. Sin destroys far more than we ever intend.

So what's the latest, latest blueprint?

Asks the Economist.

Link

U.S. Catholic priests abused 10,600 children

Link :: As a pastor, words escape me to describe the rage towards the priests who did it, those that looked the other way and the extreme sadness for the victims.

Greatest backyard rink ever?

I think so

Nice to know

These awards make me laugh. Back in 1996 they were a really big thing and I can think of a couple that were really cool but in the end, none really matter. Of all of them, I think only the USA Today and Yahoo! Site of the Day really matter that much.

Power stuggle between Howard Dean and Joe Trippi?

Boston Globe says there is.

Mailblocks is down

and so is my e-mail. If you are waiting for a reply from me it may be a while.

The Worship Freehouse

The site got a recent makeover. The last version of the site generated a lot of feedback. Not all supportive We'll leave it at that. The new site is simple and migrated to being a blog but will do a better job of keeping you up to date a lot better in two ways. First of all is the Atom XML feed that you can subscribe to at www.worshipfreehouse.com/atom.xml. The second is the new mailing list where you can add your address which makes it very easy to keep up to date on what is happening at the Worship Freehouse. I guess there is three ways as the blog is another way.

Regardless of which way you want to keep updated with, the people behind the Freehouse are planning another cool event for you and from what I have heard, it sounds really good.

The postmodern Thomas Kinkade

Spencer is selling some of this photographs over here. He is promising an icon a day. Cool... and I was able to use that Thomas Kinkade line. We can call him the "blogger of light".

Youth Ministry story

As told by Mark Riddle

I've had three lunches this week with youth pastors from the area.
They've all gone pretty much the same. Great pastors.. Great resumes. Big hearts. being hurt by the church.
I'm done gripping but I thought I'd quote one of them here.
"I had a parent tell me that the reason the youth ministry is not growing is because I'm fat and I look like a geek."

Tom Peters on "offshoring"

Interesting list

Why the Evangelical Church Needs the Liberal Church

Link from Sojouners

Changing nature of political jounalism

Jay Rosen has a great essay on the change in political jounalism after Watergate. Not only does he look at the problem, he proposes some solutions. No wonder why his blog has become one of my favorites.

PrairieFusion is redesigned

The new site is over here and we have launched a blog over here as well using Fusion Publisher. There are some tiny bugs to be ironed out but I think we have it done. Amazing work by Jeb and LT on it!

Dave Rogers on the Passion

Dave Rogers e-mailed tonight with a link about a review of The Passion. As good interesting as the review was, I thought his post about the review was even better.

Software That Takes Class Participation to Another Level

The system operates much like any other learning platform, allowing students and teachers to communicate outside the classroom, but is also designed to encourage electronic exchanges during class. Weir says the software makes learning more interactive, and therefore more effective. "When these tools are used in a learning environment . . . participation goes up 100 percent. Everybody gets called on all the time," Weir said. "It leads to better attentiveness."

Wow. Link to the rest of the article. Via Preaching Plus Blog.

Spencer Burke.com

Spencer Burke, co-creator of TheOoze.com, now has his own personal weblog at www.spencerburke.com. Featuring some amazing photo galleries and a pretty cool moblog as well. He also is publishing via RSS as well.

Link

Protect and Surf

Back from Lakeview's protect and surf. The two cops from the Saskatoon Police Department and the Saskatoon School Board did such a good job that they really didn't need me there. Don Pogoda did a really good job in putting everything together.

The principal of Lakeview School had some interesting words to say about cyber-bullying. Interesting stuff. You could have done an entire workshop on that topic alone. Howard Rheinhold talks about it in Smart Mobs but it was interesting to see someone who works with kids experiencing it.

It was a good workshop, I am glad Don asked me. I learned some and that was cool.

Tobogganing

Spent some time with Mark and Wendy tobogganing today. I can't believe I actually talked Wendy into going down the hill on a kids sled. The whole time I was thinking, if she wipes out, I am a dead man. The pictures are here.

In essentials unity, in all others angry ranting

Jason Evans has some good points to make in a pointed post today. Good thoughts although I am too scared to tell him that his permalinks are broken.

Journal

I was suprised to see some of the things in my shop sell (thanks!). Cafe Press has some great products that lend themselves to photographs (cards, calendars, posters). If you are interested, head on over to CafePress and take a look. Or head on over and buy a journal from me. Either way...

A couple of people have asked me about the picture. I took it when I was out in Mission and Scott Williams was giving me the tour of the city. It was in a cemetary where monks from a nearby monastery and loyal Catholics are buried. Scott pointed out the marker to me and it was covered in ice from a previous nights ice storm. I took it and was suprised how well it came out. I posted a full size picture over in the photoblog.

Just a peek

Link

An election issue maybe?

Forecast of Rising Oil Demand Challenges Tired Saudi Fields from the New York Times

President Bush has said he wants to make the United States less reliant on oil-producing countries that "don't like America" by diversifying suppliers and financing research into hydrogen fuel cells, but achieving that remains far off.
His administration backs foreign investment initiatives in the gulf region, including Saudi Arabia, and his energy policies rely on Energy Department projections showing the world even more dependent on Arabian oil in 20 years. That may be enough time for governments to find alternatives, but oil field development requires years of planning and work.
Publicly, Saudi oil executives express optimism about the future of their industry. Some economists are equally optimistic that if oil prices rise high enough, advanced recovery techniques will be applied, averting supply problems.
But privately, some Saudi oil officials are less sanguine.
"We don't see us as the ones making sure the oil is there for the rest of the world," one senior executive said in an interview. A Saudi Aramco official cautioned that even the attempt to get up to 12 million barrels a day would "wreak havoc within a decade," by causing damage to the oil fields.
In an unusual public statement, Sadad al-Husseini, Saudi Aramco's second-ranking executive and its leading geologist, warned at an oil conference in Jakarta in 2002 that global "natural declines in existing capacity are real and must be replaced."
Dr. al-Husseini, one Western oil expert said, has been "the brains of Saudi Aramco's exploration and production." But he has told associates that he plans to resign soon, and his departure, government oil experts in the United States and Saudi Arabia say, could hinder Saudi efforts to bolster production or entice foreign investment.
Saudi Arabia's reported proven reserves, more than 250 billion barrels, are one-fourth of the world's total. The most significant is Ghawar. Discovered in 1948, the 300-mile-long sliver near the Persian Gulf is the world's largest oil field and accounts for more than half of the kingdom's production.

When Fannie and Freddie fry

The Red Herring Blog has this story about how the Bush administration is going after Fannie May and Freddie Mac and the negative impact it could have on the American economy.

Some Random Tuesday Thoughts

For the last couple of months something has been eating away at me from the inside out. It has changed my eating habits (which lead to me shedding some pounds so it isn't all that bad), sleeping habit (my right eye has been twitching for weeks as a result) and how I have seen the world around me. Of course when I am like this I withdraw... and that hurts people around me and causes some other problems. I have talked to friends about it but despite their best intentions, I don't think they understood. They hadn't gone through it and I was unable to articulate what was bothering me in terms that made sense to me clearly let alone anyone else. I was talking to a Spiritual Director but that didn't really answer anything and I think made me feel worse. I finally talked to my last resort. Not that it was a bad resort but I didn't know who else to talk to. Someone who knew me but had dealt with the same thing I had. Within a couple of minutes he articulated through his story what I was unable to which was very painful to confront. It had to do with some lies that I was telling myself or rather some truths that I refused to acknowledge. Hearing someone else in tell me about the same stuff they told themself allowed me to see what I had been saying to myself. A knowledge of my past helped but I think it was the wisdom that comes with talking with as Nouwen put it, a wounded healer. The last couple of days I have been thinking I shouldn't feel this resolved but I do. Of course it doesn't eliminate the fact that the person who hurt me is racist, hateful, and a relational moron. Nothing changes that but talking to someone that has gone through it and was able to talk about what tomorrow is like, even if tomorrow hurts like today was helpful. Of course I should have known that but maybe there is something to this community thing we talk about so much.

The other thing that has been bugging me lately is a lot of people have been asking me about my future. I think I have some questions about it too. I recently turned down a position at one of the larger churches in North America (hilariously [or sadly] all of the former staff I e-mailed about the church said it was an "unpleasant" time working there) and so I am here in Saskatoon trying to figure out what to do in the future. This year was the first year that we have really felt removed and distant from a worshipping community. The 180 kms between Saskatoon and Spiritwood is a long way to go for coffee and without an other one to call home, it is a different experience than I have had in the past. The shift from working in a busy office to my basement is finished as well as my understanding of community and space has changed a bit as well. The question keeps coming up, "so now what are you going to do now that I am 30?" It's as if the first thirty years we for naught. I have to admit I was thinking the same thing some days. I have run for public office, been a pastor for nine years now, created some pretty cool things in my life, lead some others but most importantly, have helped some friends launch some dreams of theirs. None of them have paid very well and I am looking around Saskatoon right now looking for something (e-mail me if you know of something) that helps pay the bills, pay off some debt and keeps me able to contribute to some cool dreams (I hate hearing the phrase "over qualified"... as if doing the job too well is a problem).

I remember being in a meeting to motivate me and the leader of the meeting brought out his personal goals. Four international best selling books on leadership, land, prosperity, and happiness for him and his family. I really am not that specific (and mock those that are) Long term ambitious goals like that don't really appeal to me. Hans Kung talks of a very ambitious Karol Joseph Wojtyla he crossed paths with over the years. He may have gotten the cool hat and car but there is something about Kung's story I find so much more compelling (perhaps because he is telling it). Maybe because I don't like the conform enough to win or maybe I am too much of an idealist to give up my beliefs just yet. Time will tell.

So the question that remains. What do I want to do with my life? I have no idea. That's okay. When I was 20, I didn't think I would be a pastor, run for the Tories, host a conference, be married to Wendy, or was planning on having a kid. Actually there was absolutely nothing over the last decade that I expected. What I had planned was to do a master degree and maybe a Ph.D and teach somewhere. Now I think about that and shudder. I respect those that do it a lot but I could never but at the time I didn't know that. I think as I approach 40, I will say the same thing over the upcoming decade. What I have found is that God usually presents opportunities and the gifting comes later. Maybe the question isn't what do I want to do but rather, am I willing to live with the uncertainty of living out God's calling? One of the great cliches of the faith is "living in God's will is the safest place to be". Maybe I am reading a different Bible than they are. I keep reading of prison, lions, decapitations, and dying on crosses. I don't see a lot of safety there but that may just be. Maybe the question isn't, "what do I want to be?" but rather, "am I willing to pay the price to be what God wants me to be?". Maybe that is the question that I have to answer and maybe not just today but everyday. I have always cared much more about good questions that good answers. Maybe that is where I am right now, looking for better questions.

My blog got hacked

by Wendy who forgot to switch to her profile in w.blogger. No big problems....

Tricks Spammers Use

Link

Good question

David Weinberger is on the road and here is why

I'll be on the road through Wednesday, researching an article for Wired on how we end-users are going to find the snapshots we're looking for when we each have 25,000+ photos on our desktops.

I'm leaving tonight to visit Corbis on Monday. They have a few million photos, so they've given this issue some thought. I'm particularly interested in how they create and manage the taxonomies and other metadata.

Then, after traveling all day Tuesday, I'll spend most of Wednesday in the Iron Mountain hole in the ground where Corbis stores its prints and negatives.

The article is not about Corbis, though. Corbis, I hope, will give a way into some of the issues. I've already spoken with a bunch o' folks about what's going on in this field. If you know of someone I should talk with about how we're going to manage the oceans of digital photos we'll be storing, let me know...

I take about 350 digital pictures a month and already have a bunch of CD's with images on them. I never ever think of the question. I have a online gallery where about 1500 images are online sorted by date and about 4000 digital images on my hard drive. I never really thought about it because we have always used manual solutions. All the print pictures just got put into albums and we know how easy that was. Then again, my parents didn't take 350 digital images a month so old solutions won't work much longer.

PrairieFusion Redesign is Done

LT was over here tonight putting on the final touches of the new PrairieFusion site. It should be live sometime tomorrow. Jeb did a great job on the design and the content is finally done. Now it is time to eat chocolate cake.

John Campea

I was going to link to John Campea after all these years and then his blog was down. Kind of ironic isn't it.

Speaking of the Comanche

The BBC is reporting that the U.S. is cancelling the Comanche helicopter program. This is only interesting because of my current fascination with playing Comanche Gold but this thing has been under development for two decades. That's a lot invested.

Slow learners

Didn't Jayson Blair already try this. Warren Kinsella points out that some journalists at the Ottawa Citizen got part of a newstory wrong about a presentation that he gave at the provincial Liberal convention. It's his February 23rd post. Here is what he said

Boy, journalism sure is a lot more fun since I practiced it: you can pretend you attended sessions you didn't, you can say people said things they didn't, and you can report stuff that is completely, totally, utterly false! Heck, you don't even need to leave your house, anymore! You can just make stuff up in the comfort and safety of your bathroom!

The best (worst) part about the blogs is that they have taught me how sloppy some journalists really are again and again. Jay Rosen's blog and Spinsanity shock me again and again about how bad journalism can get.

The One

Karen Neudorf has some excellent thoughts about God and the Biblical characters over at One House. She quotes Eugene Peterson

Holy history is not utopian history -- the age of the Bible was not a "golden age" that we are trying to reproduce utopian terms. It is rather an affirmation that these are the conditions and people that provide the stuff of slavation. The biblical story, from beginning to end, is told in terms of the social, cultural, political, and ethical world as it is. God's revelation is not imposed from without, the rendition of a moral and spiritual utiopa that descends into our midst, which we can then enter. God's kingdom works from the inside, taking whatever is given at any one time as stuff to reveal God's presence and will. Morality is not a precondition for holiness or salvation.

Women: Am I Missing Something?

Andrew Jones replies on his weblog to some of the comments and e-mails.