AgainstApathy

revolution in world missions: read it.
the thesis behind this book is hugely supported by the recent earthquake in haiti and the response from our society.

SEND MONEY. on access hollywood-all the stars coming on camera begging you to dig deep in your pockets and give to the needy in haiti. madonna gave $250,000! brad and angelina will probably be en route to haiti as soon as the golden globes are over.
and we call ourselves different. and we say that we do our relief efforts in the name of christ. we give our money and give our two weeks (if we can afford the air travel) and hope that the people we wish to help will see something in us that they want.
WE ARE NO DIFFERENT than the stars in L.A. that beg you to give money and then rush off to have one last fitting of the $65,000 gown they will be wearing to the golden globes.
we are to preach the gospel. and we’ve been hiding behind that little poster that our middle school teachers hung on their podiums “you talk the talk but can you walk the walk?” we’ve allowed the talk to become a barely distinguishable whisper and our walk looks like we’ve had one too many.

i read this in the intro to a new book i’m starting.
“We all are skeptical of Christians with big dreams. We don’t know why exactly-perhaps we have met too many who pursued visions but whose personal lives were nightmares.”
maybe we’ve allowed the majority to become the rule and have given up on being the exception?

Hello all.  I’m posting this to put a plug in for Jesse, a young guy with the ambition to start an intentional community in Lancaster City.  I have talked with him personally and he seems to be an amazing guy, with a heart for others, justice and relational / communal living.  I thought some of you many be interested or may know people who are…so posted it here for what it is worth.  Just a side note…I am considering joining him…too soon to say for sure.

I’m a young, prospective PCAD student looking to start an intentional community in Lancaster. I have a lot of ideas regarding what I’d like to see happen, but basically I’m looking for a community of people committed to social justice, honest relationship with one another, and living a simple, eco-friendly lifestyle. Any age, male or female is welcome. Let me know if you’re interested- my name is Jesse and my email is beej52791@yahoo.com.

Love / Peace

I saw this video at sig’s blog and I thought that some this might create some conversation.  So far I’ve only had enough of time to briefly read the script, I’ll comment my opinion when I have more time.  Anyway looks very interesting, please comment your reactions agree/disagree/whatever.

The script for this video can be found here

Hi.  If you are confused about AA.  The rest of us are too, don’t worry.

Looking back AA was always what we, as a group made it.  Even though we meet every other week, didn’t mean that good conversations and edification happened every time. I’ll quickly add, that I think we’ve had many good times and I’m not trying to paint with too broad a brush.  I’ve felt, along with others that our discussion and gatherings seemed bit forced, at times…like we had to appease the gods of “aa must meet every other week” notion, or this whole thing will disappear and stop happening.

That is partially why I stopped organizing gatherings, the other part was that I’ve become busier with other things.  I’m trying to focus my energy, which means fewer things get my attention.  I’m not saying that AA means nothing to me, it’s meant alot, rather that it wasn’t seeming to work and I left it go for a bit. I’m trying to be honest, please don’t take that wrong.

Tonight, the AA elders me and chadd…ha ha ha!!!….talked about what is happening.  We sorta came to an understanding and would like to propose a new direction, for our group.  I will stop organizing every other week gatherings.  I still can pass event messages around, if you’d like me to. So what is AA?  We’re a community of close friends. This being the case, we hope that rather than having pre-scheduled gatherings, we would like begin meeting sporadically, when someone from the group wants a gathering. In other words, if you have something you want to talk about, have too much food, want to help a neighbor, want to go on a hike, need support, want to gather for prayer, or have better ideas than the ones listed here; just invite the group, by posting here on the blog or call or whatever.  I think it would be beautiful if we as a group could, do away with structured gatherings and meet together by our own will, simply because want to.  These would be “organic gatherings”, if you will…ones that happen naturally (sorry to use a buzz word).   The more I think about this, the more freeing and better it seems.

If this doesn’t end up working and the group slowly dissipates, at least we still aren’t meeting out of obligation.

Well so, what are you thoughts about this?

love / peace

An interesting thought: poverty is not a financial state that you can throw money at. It is a worldview. It is a tool of the enemy that he uses to keep people from using their full potential. -Jack Mooring

Actually now that I think about it, wealth does the same thing.

I went to a leeland concert tonight. they are my ultimate favorite worship band because they are so so focused on christ and on making a difference in the world because of the difference christ has made for us.
they had just done a trip with their tour partner brandon heath to cambodia where they met children that they sponsored and witnessed the work that Food for the Hungry is doing in something like 23 countries worldwide. FH not only gives money to one child, but to the whole community. A village that leeland visited had used the money they had saved ($300) to buy seeds and start a cucumber farm.
I took the liberty of picking up a child for AA to sponsor together. I know that some of us already sponser a child or two but i really want to encourage everyone to think about contributing to this adorable little boy. If 12 people would help, that would be only $32 per person for the whole year. We can easily spend that on a weekend. We have until October 12 to decide. let God lead you on this one.

Quick facts about Beimar:
Country: Bolivia
B-Day: March 13, 2003
Grade:1st
Favorite Subject:Drawing

for more info on the organization go to www.fh.org

Are you looking for something to do this year?

There will be 20,000+ college age kids that are thinking about the great commission, there will be over 300 mission organizations represented from 150+ countries and over 200 seminar/workshop options.

Shane Clairborne will be one of the Keynote speakers from our own home state of PA (Philly)

www.urbana09.org

Go.

it’s hard to believe that another year has gone by and it is the time for Rosh Hashanah again. It seems to me that this Holy Day, the beginning of the Jewish new year comes at a most appropriate time for me. I can feel the winds of change. Revival is coming-slowly-but it is coming.
And so comes Rosh Hashanah. Like I mentioned, RH is the beginning of the Jewish new year and celebrates the creation of the world. This year it begins at sundown on September 18.
I personally would like to celebrate this holiday privately and so I won’t be hosting a dinner like I did last year. But I highly encourage all of you to do your own RH research and take the time on Friday night to celebrate in your own way that God casts our sins as far as the east is from the west. (Only don’t try to get into a synagogue, I’ve heard they’ll be packed.)
I have here a traditional Rosh Hashanah blessing that is said at the lighting of the candles.
“Blessed are you Lord, our God ruler of the world who has kept us alive, sustained us, and brought us to this season.” I think it’s a really beautiful blessing and it really does embody the spirit of RH, that time for reflection and self evaluation. The time to cast away sins of the past year and resolve to be better.
Speaking of casting, the tradition of tashlich is symbolic of that casting away sins. Standing beside a stream, river, etc, cast bread into the water. The traditional readings for tashlich are taken from Micah and Psalms. I have Micah here.
“Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love. He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities under foot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.” (7:18-19)
So find a good recipe for challah and throw in some raisins. Eat it with honey and some apples. Bless a glass of wine.
Make it a day of blessing God. Spend some time in prayer. Be grateful for second and third and thousandth chances.

for all of ya’ll who would like to know what’s up with travis and how he’s doing: (we were going to make him a facebook but never got around to it).

as far as i know, he’s enjoying his adventure. some things got a bit shaken around for him this week so if you’re keeping him in your prayers, patience and calm would likely be a good thing to ask god for on trav’s behalf.
the past couple of weeks, he’s been doing orientation and learning how to be a chief to the boys. actually this week they were doing classes learning how to put boys into “holds”-basically a chokehold for the protection of the boy and the boys around him. and also, a bit freakier, they were learning how to get out of the holds that the boys attempt to put on the chiefs.
so in the midst of all that, one of the chiefs decided to leave unexpectedly, moving travis’s move out into the wilderness day to today. also, because he’s taking this chiefs place, he got assigned to an entirely different group of boys than he was expecting. in this particular group, the senior chief’s 2 year commitment is up in november. so instead of travis being junior chief for a year and a half, he will become senior chief in november when his current senior chief leaves.
so, like i said, things have gotten shaken up quite a bit so keep him in your thoughts and prayers. i’ll have prayer cards at the next aa if anyone would like his address to send him a random note of inspiration.
and we’ll work on the facebook situation.

Sometimes I think we’re become too serious on this blog….well that stops with this pop song.  Sorry, can’t really help it…I just think this song is great!