Caption Contest

Previous contest winner

WINNERS:

Allan R. Bevere: It's not so much that Jim needed the money; he just missed his ex-wife.

Mark Winter: Rev. Blandsermon decided to make some money off it for a change.

Why Join A Church?

"Why should I join the church?"

Despite my seminary training and pastoral experience, I was unprepared for this new Christian's question. He agreed from our study of the Scripture that he needed to identify himself as a disciple of Christ through baptism, but then he asked, "Can you show me from the New Testament that I'm supposed to officially join anything?"

Now he really had me.

"If I come and worship as often as the members," he continued, "if I fellowship with these believers as much as anyone else, if I profit from the teaching and other ministries of the church, and if I actively demonstrate love for my brothers and sisters in Christ here, why should I formally join the church?"

His question struck me with an uncomfortable logic.

I began to realize that many of my conclusions about church membership were actually nothing more than previously unchallenged assumptions. These assumptions were now melting into questions of my own. Can I give reasons from Scripture why anyone should join a church?

Kenneth Kantzer was surprised by this question, but decided to find an answer.

Hat tip: Dale Tedder

It's Hard to Be Seeker Sensitive When You Work For Jesus

This is a great Will Willimon piece from 2003, but still very relevant:

When, in Seeker Services, do we pull out the cross? When, as we're touting all the benefits of choosing Jesus, do we also say to them, "By the way, Jesus said that anyone who bought into his message would also suffer and die."

Hat tip: Michael Spencer

What Is Web 2.0?

A brilliant explanation by Dr. Michael Wesch, Professor of Anthropology at Kansas State University:



Hat tip: In the Agora

Goodbye, Jonathon

Methoblogger Jonathon Norman has left the building. He was one of the founders of this institution, and a great voice for community. I shall miss him.

Top 10 Signs You Spend Too Much Time Blogging

From Central Snark:

1. You think to yourself, “Am I spending too much time blogging?” And then you blog about it.

2. Your wife’s lawyer serves you with divorce papers by leaving a comment on your blog.

3. Your mom finds out about your son breaking his arm by reading your blog. (Sorry, mom).

4. You find yourself thinking, “I can’t wait to blog about this,” and you’re flossing.

5. You sometimes have nightmares about posting in front of a large group of people in a standard Blogger template.

Hat tip: Ironic Catholic

MySpace Outage Leaves Millions Friendless

BEVERLY HILLS, CA—An estimated 150 million people continued to be without social lives Tuesday as a massive system failure at MySpace.com entered its third day.

"The problem is taking longer than we anticipated, but rest assured we're working around the clock to get MySpace back online," said David Gundy, a spokesman for the social networking site. "We're hoping to have friendship restored to our users as soon as possible."

[snip]

"I lost 6,456 of my best friends in an instant," said Minneapolis resident Peter Steinberg, 20, who has loyally befriended as many profiles as possible over the past two years. "Nothing can describe how devastated I feel. Some of these people I've exchanged two, even three comments with, and I can't tell you how many ROTFLMAOs we've shared, too."

Story Link

Documentation

Jim Morrow has a suggestion for the writers of the MLA Handbook:

Suggestion for the next edition of the MLA Handbook for Research and Scholarly Writing: add “hat tip or h/t” to the citation options…

Workplace Hazards

The Liturgical Calendar

Now that Pentecost has passed, the Christian liturgical calendar switches to preparations for the high holy day of International Talk Like a Pirate Day on September 19. What is your church doing to prepare this ITLaPD season?

What If The Lord of the Rings Had Been Written By Different Authors?

Here's a funny message board thread with speculations about how LOTR would have turned out if it had been written by different writers, such as James Joyce, Ernest Hemingway, Ayn Rand, Dr. Seuss, and as a Choose Your Own Adventure Novel.

Here's the Frank Herbert option:

Legolas allowed himself the luxury of allowing himself the luxury of a stray thought. What new treachery is this? he mused at the form coming slowly toward them through the world-haze. He reached out with senses sharpened by years of Elvish training. It looks like ... no! That cannot be! It must be a vision. Nazgul spies must have poisoned my lembas.

But the self within himself knew that his lembas was uncorrupted, that the vision that he saw now was not merely of a possible future but of an inevitable future. Yet still it strode closer, and closer, its pointed white hat contrasting sharply with the dull oceans of unbroken forestland and mountainrock behind it.

Galdalf lives!

"I am no longer Gandalf the Grey," the wizard intoned, his white stillrobes glistening in the day's heat. "Through the Trial of the Balrog I came close to death, but now the sleeper has awakened! I shall now be called ... Gandalf-Muad'Dib, the Mithrandir, the Lisan Al'Maia!"

Hat tip: Literal Barrage

Re: Your Brains

A hilarious song about getting along with zombies. I can't believe that I haven't encountered it before.



It's called "Re: Your Brains" by Jonathan Coulton. Hat tip to Matthew Johnson.

Plus: Zombies attack Apple computer store (if you know Mac people, this makes sense). Hat tip to both Matthew Johnson and David Camphouse.

And: Kurt Boemler e-mailed this link to a trailer for a new zombie movie. I'd seen it before, and I think that it really doesn't take the zombie menace seriously. Zombies are not pets. But then again, pet stores are now selling scorpions as pets, so maybe the zombie-as-pet thing is just part of a generalized stupidity toward serious dangers.

Jockeystreet: New Daddy

Congratulations to Jockeystreet on becoming a father!

The Debate Of The Week: What Would Make The View Watchable?

Iowahawk and Jim Treacher square off in a formal debate over this resolution:

Would a hypothetical chained drowning episode make The View watchable?

What provoked the debate was this comment by Treacher:

I want to see an episode of that show where everyone is chained to the floor, audience included, and over the course of the hour the studio is slowly filled to the top with water. In particular, I want to watch the last 5 minutes.

Hat tip: Inoperable Terran

The Weaker Brother Argument and Drinking Alcohol

Joe Carter on bans on alcohol consumption by many evangelical institutions:

The "weaker brother" argument is often used as a justification for self-imposed (and institutionally mandated) teetotalism. And for good reason. It is scriptural admonition that must be prayerfully considered in regards to an issue like this in which personal conduct can have an impact on others. I myself am sympathetic to that argument and truly wish that I could be convinced that it provided the definitive answer. But no matter how much I want to accept that line of reasoning, I'm stymied by the obvious question: Why did Jesus not refrain from drinking alcohol if it is an obvious "stumbling block" to our "weaker brothers"?

There is no disputing the fact that alcohol abuse is, as my SBC brethren point out, the cause of much "physical, mental, and emotional damage." No doubt that was as true in 1st century Palestine as it is in 21st century America. So why didn’t Jesus say that we should avoid alcohol? If nothing else, why did he not refrain from drinking alcohol himself in order to set an example?

At Asbury, we like to joke that Jesus and John Wesley couldn't get into Asbury.

Previous post on this subject.

Review: The Wounded Minister by Guy Greenfield

The Wounded Minister: Healing From and Preventing Personal Attacks by Guy Greenfield is an examination of so-called 'clergy-killing' personalities and how to prevent them from wrecking ministries and ministers.

The author is a Southern Baptist pastor who experienced great success in his own lengthy career until his final pastorate, which ended while he was in his early 60s. Greenfield was surprised to find himself in a poisonous church environment which ultimately drove him out of his pulpit. He now counsels pastors whose lives and careers have been wrecked by those called 'clergy killers'.

All of his stories and most of his advice is primarily applicable to pastors in denominations with congregational governments. Many of these problems, such as sudden and arbitrary termination, could not happen in episcopal denominations, such as the United Methodist Church. He does, however, lift up the UMC institution of the Pastor-Parish Relations Committee as something that every church should have, although I think that he misunderstands its function in United Methodist polity.

Greenfield also examines pathological ministers who destroy congregations and ruin the lives of fellow clergy members and staff, and suggests various structural changes that could prevent or deter abuse in a congregational polity. Personally, I found the book interesting, if not immediately applicable to my own ministry.

The American Civil War in Four Minutes

Hat tip: Joe Carter

Caption Contest

Previous contest winner, as well as one that I didn't intend to become a caption contest, but did pretty well in that function.

WINNER: doodlebugmom:

Oh! Now I know what the "W" stands for in GW.

Jedi Mind-Trick: These Are Not the Monthly Payments That You Are Looking For

Obi-Wan Kenobi goes to a car dealership in order to find transporation to Aldershot. Preferably a means free from...Imperial entanglements.



Hat tip: Literal Barrage

"Then Tonight, We Dine in Cleveland!"

Parody of the excellent movie 300.

Funerals

One of the questions in the Methodist Blogger Profile series is "What, if anything, do you worry about?" Joel Thomas answered:

Botching funerals. There’s always another week to make up for a bad sermon, but survivors are looking for what the Gospel says about death and resurrection in both meaningful and powerful ways.

How very true. Which is why, over the past few days, I was in my church town (and away from Internet access), tending to a grieving family. It was my first funeral, and it went fine -- at least as far as funerals and episodes of grief can go.

Fired For Gossip

Here's an interesting news story: four employees of a New Hampshire town were fired for gossiping on the job. If this policy were enforced everywhere, public libraries and churches would be empty.

Hat tip: Instapundit

Another view on Evangelicalism and Catholicism

Mark Shea has some interesting thoughts from a Catholic perspective about why Evangelicals tend to view Catholics the way they do. Suprisingly, he doesn't even mention riding the Mary bus . . .

HT: John H. Armstrong, Chad Toney

Changing Evangelical Attitudes Toward Mary

Michael Spencer has an interesting interview with NT scholar Scott McKnight about changing evangelical attitudes toward Mary. Here's a snippet about how far evangelicals are willing to "ride the 'Mary Bus'":

Different evangelicals will get off at different stops. I encounter some evangelicals who won’t get on a bus with the name “Mary” on it or near it. My own experience with these sorts is that they have reacted, justifiably, to Marian extravagances in their past or in the their family. Others are quite happy to appreciate a Mary who learned, as did Peter, that the vision of Messiah Jesus was revealing was one that required they surrender their political vision for a cross vision. Some high church evangelicals, on the other hand, are quite happy to embrace the historic center of the Church on Mary — including perpetual virginity and immaculate conception. Recently an editor of a magazine said he embraced those things because the Church has always embraced those traditions.

I'll have to go look it up again, but I recall that the doctrine of the immaculate conception only emerged during the Renaissance, and was formally promulgated in the 19th Century. Anyway, I'll be glad to ride the Mary Bus as far as "Mary is a great role model for Christians", and thereafter get off. The Via Media has its limits.

UPDATE: Related: Why so many evangelicals are converting to Roman Catholicism:

A major attraction of Roman Catholicism is the desire to belong to a church that is really, really big. Many evangelicals have acquired a morbid love of big churches. There is no megachurch as mega as the Church of Rome. A TV preacher might build himself an empire from an auditorium designed to look like a shopping mall, but that is no match for an actual empire, ruled by an actual monarch, from the Sistine Chapel. Both evangelicals and Catholics are attracted to theologies of glory.

(Hat tip) I agree. Additionally, there are many sectors of evangelicism which have a complete disdain for tradition -- only the new, the fresh, and the contemporary is valuable. It makes the church hip, but it also gives people a sense of rootlessness. Roman Catholics know that they are a part of something that always has been and always shall be. The Catholic Church is the very antithesis of the Church of What's Happening Now. It is unconcerned with marketing data, and therefore lacks the sense of crass commercialism and consumerism that pervades much of modern evangelicisim. If you look at a Catholic cathedral, you know that it'll be here a hundred years from now. If you look at a mall-like megachurch, you wonder if it'll be here when the current pastor leaves. One of the major appeals of Catholicism is its permanence and stability. In a world of rapid change, people crave stability. They yearn to know that they are a part of something that has a long history and a long future.

Christ Died to Make You Rich

Here's a hilarious video satirizing televangelism.



Hat tip: Gavin Richardson

Life After Death By Power Point

Comedian/engineer Don McMillan on Power Point:



Hat tip: Joe Carter

UPDATE: Vacationing pastor lets Power Point do his preaching.

Boomhauer on the Meaning of Life

Hat tip: Joe Carter

Doctrinal Defaults

Back when he asked me to guest blog, John sent me some suggestions for topics at my request. These included discussing infant baptism, limited atonement, and ordaining women. You know stuff the Church has reached complete consensus over. He also suggested how to improve the training, development, and accountability of clergy.

Well to take the last one first, I'm not clergy. After honestly examining myself, I have no desire to be clergy. Also, I've only been a Presbyterian (PCA) and a Baptist in my short life. I've never been a Methodist and so I have no idea how you handle these issues already. So I'm going to do what I suggest you do when you realize that you are out of your depth. I am going to say that yes training, development, and accountability are very good things for clergy to have on a regular basis. And I am going to quickly change the subject.

As for the first three, I'm going to share a doctrinal realization I had during my ecumenical period in college. I don't really care about any of them. I have my preferences, but they are more like my doctrinal default settings than strongly held theological positions. I am comfortable with limited atonement, credo-baptism, and the non-ordination of women. These are the positions of my own local church (although I have attended churches that didn't hold to one or another of them). After research and prayerful consideration into these issues, they just aren't things I'm willing to break fellowship with another Christian over.

Now I'm not blowing these things off. I've given them prayerful consideration and study. I was going to explain the results of said study in more detail, but then John had to come back and spoil everything. I find that I am out time here but perhaps I'll tackle them over at my blog anyway. Let that be a lesson to all you procrastinators out there.

Anyway it has been fun blogging over here. Feel free to come visit my place and maybe John will cast some links in my direction when I get around to writing more on this subject.

Caption Contest

Previous contest winner

WINNER:

TrueVyne: Incarnation takes on an entirely new meaning.

Weekend Rabbit Blogging

Put your lazy bunny to work...as a letter opener.

More Theological Errors Than I Can Count

Photo via Ironic Catholic

UPDATE: Well, I didn't intend for this to become a caption contest, but it does seem to work. The winner is:

Tom Jackson: "Upon this three-quarter-inch tongue-and-groove white oak I will build my church."

Spending Our Tithes on Ourselves

David Wayne quotes an interesting argument: if we take a literal view of tithing, then a third of our tithes should be spent on ourselves, in order to do some serious partying.

I'm Baaack!

My thanks to Jeff the Baptist and Dan Trabue for tending to my blog during my absence. They did a great job of putting up challenging and funny content.

License to Preach School was tough. I'd tell you more, but in the Florida Conference we have a saying "What happens in Lakeland, stays in Lakeland."

What's It All About?

Hokey Pokey
Originally uploaded by paynehollow.

When I was a younger Baptist boy and learning about other faiths, I became enchanted with many of the writings of the brothers Wesley, especially John. He seemed sure without being sure in an ugly way - usually.

I especially like this line, where he was talking about employment, but seems to apply in other areas, as well:

None therefore can here determine for another; but every man must judge for himself, and abstain from whatever he in particular finds to be hurtful to his soul.

Here are a few more Wesley quotes I like:

The Church recruited people who had been starched and ironed before they were washed.

When I was young I was sure of everything; in a few years, having been mistaken a thousand times, I was not half so sure of most things as I was before; at present, I am hardly sure of anything but what God has revealed to me.

Think and let think.

The longer I live, the larger allowances I make for human infirmities.

Do all the good you can, in all the ways you can, to all the souls you can, in every place you can, at all the times you can, with all the zeal you can, as long as ever you can.

When I have money, I get rid of it quickly, lest it find a way into my heart.

Along with one quote from Wesley that I don't like at all:

Introduce no new tunes. See that none sing to slow, and the women sing their parts. Exhort all to sing, and all to stand at singing, as well to kneel at prayers.

!! Yuck. What horrible advice (the "no new tunes" and No Slow Singing advice)! What of you? Do you have favorite Wesley quotes? Or any that you hate?

Tongue in Cheek Economics

Sometimes the best way to tell the truth is with humor. So it is with the Geek's latest post:

Colleague: "Hey, whats the definition of oligarchy?"

Me: "Government by the few and elite."

Colleague: "No. That's not the word I was looking for. What's the word for when the government owns everything?"

Me: "Um....that would be communism. You know, Marx, from each according to his means, to each according to his needs, workers of the world unite, the only thing you have to lose is all your stuff, er, chains, etc."

Colleague: "Oh, right. Of course." {mild laughter}

Me: "Classical Capitalism, on the other hand, the government owns nothing, except for some buildings, some ships for the navy, and a pile of cannons for the army."

Colleague: {Increased laughter}

Me: "Socialism is when the government owns only the stuff worth owning, leaving the unprofitable sectors for private ownership"

Colleague: {Yet more laughter}

Me: "And finally, we have modern capitalism, which is the inverse of my flawed description of socialism: the profitable sectors are privately owned, and the unprofitable sectors are government owned, necessitating a tax increase."

Colleague: {Full out incoherent laughter}

Let Justice Roll Down...

Waterfall
Originally uploaded by paynehollow.

Okay, so the Baptists have had a week now of silliness. How 'bout a serious post?

I've been reading Bill McKibben's book, Deep Economy and find it to be speaking Truth. The book is a critique of consumerism. McKibben suggests (and documents pretty well) that our hyperconsumerism we experience in the Wealthy West is not working.

It's resulting, McKibben says, in unjust systems and environmental degradation. But aside from that, it's not even working to make we wealthy folk contented.

In one part, McKibben takes on NAFTA, saying:

NAFTA was supposed to “rationalize” agriculture, as, in a sense, it has. Great floods of subsidized corn grown in factory farms across the Midwest have “washed away 1.3 million small farmers in Mexico,” according to Michael Pollan. Mexican farmers can grow corn for 4 cents a pound, compared with the 6 cents a pound it costs to grow on American farms, but government subsidies bring our price down to 3 cents a pound, thereby setting world price, wrecking the Mexican countryside, and enriching firms like Archer Daniels Midland.

“Unable to compete, they have left their land to join the swelling pools of Mexico’s urban unemployed,” reports Pollan. “Others migrate to the US to pick our crops – former farmers become day laborers.” The small farmers forced off their land sell out to larger farmers, who, adopting the industrial agricultural practices of the north, use far more water and chemicals.

“Mexico’s scarce water resources are leaching north, one tomato at a time,” Pollan says. “It’s absurd for a country like Mexico – whose people are often hungry – to use its best land to grow produce for a country where food is so abundant that its people are obese – but under free trade, it makes economic sense.”

I read such passages and find myself reminded of the repeated and repeated warnings of the Bible against the dangers of wealth, oppressive economic systems and unjust measures.

Micah, for instance, says:

You have been told, O man, what is good, and what the LORD requires of you: Only to do the right and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God.

Hark! the LORD cries to the city. (It is wisdom to fear your name!) Hear, O tribe and city council, you whose rich men are full of violence, whose inhabitants speak falsehood with deceitful tongues in their heads!

Am I to bear any longer criminal hoarding and the meager ephah that is accursed? Shall I acquit criminal balances, bags of false weights?

~Micah 6:8-11

What say you? Are our economic systems that serve us so well (as in, making us able to hyper-consume) bankrupt from a moral, biblical, environmental and equity viewpoint?

Caption Contest

Previous Caption Contest

WINNER (by John): Danny G:

The budget office told the folks at Orange County Choppers that they would have to cut back on expenses.

Although I agree with Matthew; the photo really does look like Brian Russell.

Kitten or Husband?

For this woman it wasn't such an easy question...

Art Blogging: Gus Ravenwheel

Dancin' Fool
Originally uploaded by paynehollow.

Gus Ravenwheel (1397-1556), was a fictional Atlantean Retroglitter painter and coffee fiend. He was born in Confusion, the illegitimate son of a prosperous gumbo dealer, and studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Geste, and, in a previous life, in the studio of none other than Leonardo DaVinci, Sr.

From his master he learned the craft of painting by numbers, for which Ravenwheel was to become famous. He composed enormous canvases depicting scenes from popular (but not necessarily factually precise) historical memories.

Here, in the apty-titled, The Execution of an Odd Man (oil on canvas, 1834, at the National Gallery), one can see the Davinci, Sr influences, as well as the tribal remnants of Ravenwheel's years spent in a remote Antarctic farming village.

This one painting was the culmination - the beginning AND end - of Ravenwheel's foray into art. Had he lived longer and not been so thoroughly taunted for his initial art, who knows what manner of masterpieces would grace our museums today.

His sensational failure acquired the attention of the British and Early American art scholars, although neither nation was yet in existence in any meaningful way. "'Tis a shame," one fella was reputed to say.

A shame, indeed.

Zombie Survival

Are you worried about shambling masses of the walking dead? Zombie Squad is here to help. Not only do they have useful targets for practicing those all important brain shots, but they have suggestions for creating a bug-out bag and other useful gear for the inevitable Zombie Apocalypse.

For some reason they also have information to help people get through tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, and other natural disasters. Yeah, like those are going to happen in this modern age.

Caption Contest

My personal preference is Dan Trabue with:

"Now, turn your head and fire."

Previous caption contest

Greetings from the Dark Side of the Force.

When John asked me to do this I really wasn't sure. I have a self-titled blog that is all about me or at least my interests. Considering the cult of personality that unfortunately exists in some Baptist churches, I suppose this is a very Baptist thing to do. A blog all about little ole me! But now I'm blogging at some other guy's place in his stead. I guess now I know what it feels like to be a visiting preacher covering a senior pastor's vacation.

Thankfully John left me with some ideas so I won't just be talking about my cat for two weeks. Yes that was one of his actual suggestions for things to do to fill time. I'll let you rebuke him when he returns. I promise catblogging will only last a week tops.

This should be interesting. I've been told that the difference between Baptists and Methodists are that Methodists can read. Somehow that must be simplistic. Although it would explain why most of the hits on my blog are people looking for pistol targets.

Embury Methodist Church

Embury Methodist Church
Originally uploaded by paynehollow.

I thought I'd introduce myself with a photo of a cool-looking local Methodist church and a poem about one of our patron saints...

John Wayne's Gut
a cowboy rap/yodel shindig
dtrabue

I used to watch the Western shows
When I was a boy
The shoot 'em ups and slap 'em downs
brought me endless joy

As the years passed by, I've left behind
all my violent ways
But though I left the Duke behind
this one thing always stays:

I've got John Wayne's gut
Great big belly and a scrawny butt
I've got John Wayne's gut
Although I'm not a right wingnut
He rode off into that final sunset
Never to be seen again
And tho' he's gone
He'll always be
here,
my friend.
I got John Wayne's gut.

Thanks to John for the invitation to guest-blog in his absence. Here's hoping I don't embarass him or myself. He'll surely be missed...

The Baptist Hijacking of Locusts & Honey

I will be away from blogging for two whole weeks while I attend License to Preach School in Lakeland. It's a training event for all non-ordained clergy who aren't in the Course of Study program for local pastors.

Naturally I have turned over Locusts & Honey to a bunch of baptists, namely Jeff the Baptist and Dan Trabue. Thank you, guys, for helping out. She's a good blog, but she starts to shimmy if you take her over Warp 6. Watch out for Jim, he's likes his switchblade too much. And don't mind Gavin, he always smells that way. Otherwise the ol' girl will serve you right. Take good care of her.

Methodist Blogs Weekly Roundup # 114

...is up.

Uncritical Linking

Many bloggers link to other points of view, even outrageous ones, without taking a stand on them one way or another. My personal fav, Insty, does this all the time. Jonah Goldberg recently defended this practice, under attack by readers as cowardly.

I often link to other people without taking a stand one way or another (example). It can be a bit sniveling to toss a grenade and then go walking a way whistling, but I make uncritical links usually because I have either not formulated an opinion on the subject or don't have time to express a complete stance and justification thereof. And sometimes I do grenade-tossing just to see that vein on Jay Voorhees' forehead pop out.

Glenn Reynolds writes:

I link stuff because I think it's linkworthy, not necessarily because I agree with it. And, for that matter, plenty of people send me stuff that I agree with that I don't ever link, because it doesn't fit for whatever reason. It's like DJ-ing -- you put in what feels like it goes next in the mix.

Gone for the Weekend

Yes, I was absent over the weekend. The four of us (wife, dog, rabbit) went to my student appointment 2.5 hours north of us for my first Sunday. It was amazing to serve the Eucharist for the first time. And simply staggering to see my name on the church sign.

Rev. Zombie John. Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?

There's a 3/2 parsonage set on an immense 2-3 acre lot. A peacock lives in one of our trees. It's Heaven on earth.

Getting Paid to Blog

According to The Onion.

Caption Contest

Previous contest winners

Methodist Blogger Profile: Tiffany Steinwert

Tiffany Steinwert of Religion Is A Queer Thing
Why do you blog?
I blog partially as a way to reach out to those unable to come to Church (for one reason or another ) and partially as a spiritual discipline. I always hope that folks will leave comments as it provides a community in which to reflect about ourselves, God and the world in which we live.

What has been your best blogging experience?
The best experiences happen when I connect with people through the text. Sometimes this means re-connecting with old friends, other times discovering new ones.

What would be your main advice to a novice blogger?
Be disciplined.

If you only had time to read three blogs a day, what would they be?
The Gideonse Bible
Pastor Mom
Idle Rambling Thoughts

Who are your spiritual heroes?
Oscar Carcache, a Nicaraguan pastor of a base community church in Nicaragua, Mary Daly, Rosemary Radford Ruether, Roy Bourgeois, of the School of the Americas Watch, Sue Laurie of Reconciling Ministries Network, Letty Russell, Julian of Norwich, Barry Petrucci, a UM pastor in West Michigan

What are you reading at the moment?
“Early Class Meetings” by David Lowes Watson and “Traveling Mercies” by Anne Lamott (my second time through!)

What is your favorite hymn and why?
“In the Midst of New Dimensions” by Julian Rush. This hymn has been the theme song (so to speak) of the Reconciling movement of the United Methodist Church. I cannot hear this song without imagining Jeanne Audrey Powers singing and waving her fist to the tune of the music! I love the hope the hymn depicts and the explicit references to those marginalized in both Church and society. It is a beautiful vision and hymn of family, memories, and the movement.

Can you name a major moral, political, or intellectual issue on which you've changed your mind?
Just one? Issues come and go. It is our responsibility to be well-informed and educated, keeping an open mind so that we can be moved by the promptings of the Holy Spirit. Over the course of my lifetime I have moved many times in how I understand the world around me. Each time, I believe I have changed my mind on an issue through a deeper understanding of God’s call to move toward greater love and justice in the world.

What philosophical thesis do you think is most important to combat?
I think it is important that we critically engage all philosophical discourses, not to reject them out of hand, but rather to wrestle with the complexities and nuances of each argument. Philosophy, like theology, is not a neat set of propositions that we can either accept or reject, but rather a framework through which we can begin to understand the world. It is the process of struggling through ideas that helps us discern the movement of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

If you could effect one major change in the governing of your country, what would it be?
End the war! It is time to end the war in Iraq. When the war began our bishops and general Church condemned this action as unjust. It is time to end the violence, death and colonization.

If you could effect one major policy change in the United Methodist Church, what would it be?
I would end the prohibitions on the full participation of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons. Our Church is founded on the principles of inclusivity and welcome expressed in our denominational motto, “Open hearts, open minds, open doors.” It is time we live into that. We know that there are a multitude of faithful GLBT persons in our churches, serving in various capacities both lay and clergy. We need to acknowledge the gifts and graces of those GLBT persons among us and welcome them into the full rites of the Church…marriage and ordination included.

What would be your most important piece of advice about life?
Breathe deeply and realize that God gives us endless possibilities for the good in our lives. No matter what choices we make, God is always luring us to new possibilities and a future, not for our harm, but for our well-being….for a future with hope.

What, if anything, do you worry about?
I worry mostly about getting everything finished on time.

If you were to relive your life to this point, is there anything that you'd do differently?
I don’t think so…the decisions I have made have led me to this place and I rather like it!

Where would you most like to live (other than where you do now)?
Hmmm…..I love the Boston area, but I would return to Nicaragua where I served as a missionary in a heart beat! Thinking further abroad I would like to live in London, Caracas, Oaxaca, or Peru. Closer to home, I wouldn’t mind Chicago or even Seattle.

What do you like doing in your spare time? Spare time???
When I have time I like to walk the dogs; see/listen to good live, folk music; travel; and knit.

What is your most treasured possession?
My childhood stuffed bear named Teddy.

What talent would you most like to have?
Singing would be helpful as a pastor, but quite frankly I’d prefer to dance.

If you could have any three guests, past or present to dinner, who would they be?
Frida Kahlo
Alice Paul
Indigo Girls

Mark Driscoll on Church Planting

Here's a controversial video by legendary church planter Mark Driscoll on the personal and professional qualities necessary to found a church. He emphasizes the importance of discipling men as critical to building a congregation.

Reactions from Michael Spencer, Gavin Richardson, and Theresa Coleman.

The Last Stand: An Online Flash Zombie Game

After each night (if you survive), you get to allocate resources to finding weapons, other survivors, and building up your barricade. It's like Lemonade Stand, but with armies of the flesh-eating undead. For a free online game, it's very well-made.

Hat tip: Ace

Caption Contest

Picture via Ironic Catholic

Previous contest winner

WINNERS:

Jim Morrow: Orthodox iconography sure has gone down hill.

Tim Sisk: Photoshopped. Everybody knows Jesus would drive a John Deere. Please.

Tom Jackson: "Uh, well, that colt wasn't where you said it would be, so..."

CBS Making Pilot Episode for a TV Show About Zombies

It's called "Babylon Fields". CBS also experimented last year with the semi-cancelled Jericho, a show about life in a small Kansas town after a nuclear war. Although it's hard to screw up post-apocalyptic fiction, it was more like a version of Dawson's Creek with radiation poisoning. Although kudos to CBS for trying new ideas out.

Hat tip to David Camphouse.