Archive - November, 2008

Black Friday: 2008.1 Edition

November 27, 2008 in community, conforming, consumption, culture, dependency, global, humanity, justice, minimalism, worship with 25 Comments

I have at least four posts in my head about the previously posted idea of life. Though a post on Black Friday may not initially sound as though it pertains to the question "what is life?," it does, indeed, address the issue on life on a number of levels. Here is an excerpt from one of my posts last year:

"The day marked for the celebration of the birth of Jesus is nearing. Comments are frequently made about the origination of the holiday being pagan. I would argue that which was pagan and made religious has largely become pagan again. The “celebration” that we now call Christmas has become the commercial exploitation of God coming into the brokenness of humanity. I will continue to add some posts on the repulsivity of consumerism."

Another post read as follows:

"Jesus wept. It is a sentence often quoted as the shortest verse in the Bible. On Friday, it was a reality. Not just because of Black Friday monetary spending but because of the addiction to consumption and lust for material possession and/or entertainment.
Jesus wept."

This coming Friday, millions of people will sacrifice a full night of sleep and either stay up all night or awake very early to drive their vehicles to shopping malls and retail stores across the country. Long lines, crammed traffic grids, and hateful behaviors are no deterents from the "cost savings" for the mass purchasing of items that may or may not be needed. We’ll discuss the idea of a "need" soon (for those of you coming to the Narrative Gathering on Monday nights be thinking about what a need is). Black Friday is an interesting social phenomenon. Why do consumers think they are "saving" money? Do consumers consider what money actually is? Are the majority of purchases on Black Friday for items that would be purchased even if "sales" didn’t exist? Is the purchasing of items encouraging unfair trade or even slavery in other countries? Pick a question or add a question and we’ll kick it around. Of course, my hope is that we all begin to consider the fullness of what it means to consume, buy, worship, purchase, and enslave while imagining what alternative behavior may be more life sustaining.

What is life?

November 14, 2008 in language, life with 20 Comments

I wonder if those who claim to be "pro-life" have ever taken antibiotics.

What is life?

Are "pro-lifers" opposed to war? Is it morally acceptable to claim that "life" starts at conception and ends in an act of violence whether that be the capital punishment, war, or even slavery?

C-SPAN Appearance: My Vital Role in the 2008 Election.

November 11, 2008 in Conference, Envision, government, jesus, justice, politics, Princeton with 2 Comments

I found out that I made a grand television appearance last week. During the week of the election of the first African-American president of the United States I appeared on BookTV on C-SPAN2 . When I went to the Envision Conference this summer at Princeton my learning track was entitled "Beyond Consumption" and was led my Ronald Sider. We took a break from our dialogue on consumption in order for BookTV to record a lecture on Sider’s book, "The Scandal of Evangelical Politics." The lecture is worth watching and you can see the first portion of it below (check me out furiously typing my thoughts). I am in the video more at the end of the lecture during the question and answer time and you can check out the full length video at www.booktv.org . I didn’t ask a question on camera due to the impersonal nature of the filming but I asked Ron the first question when the cameras shut down. That question is posted below the video. Immediately following our session, Sider left for Chicago to meet personally with Barack Obama to discuss "religious issues."

http://www.youtube.com/v/5aXoLExNnWc

There can exist a certain form of idolatry toward certain candidates or partisan ideologies.
How would you suggest that one goes about influencing public policy with the danger of appearing as if one is placing trust in a certain candidate or party as the ultimate hope and solution for a community or promoting the government as the responsible body rather than the church?

A Little Insi(de)ght on Rob Bell.

November 8, 2008 in Emergent, reading, religion, Rob Bell, writing with 3 Comments

I had held off on reading Rob Bell ‘s "Jesus Wants to Save Christians" because I was figuring that it may be too much like the podcast series from Mars Hill Bible Church . I did go ahead and begin reading and the book is significantly different with a continuous narrative theme. Below is a webcam interview with Rob Bell from Zach Lind .

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=2147491&server=vimeo.com&show_title=0&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=ff0179&fullscreen=1
Rob Bell Interview, Part 1 from Zach Lind on Vimeo .

HOPE?

November 6, 2008 in community, culture, election, empire, government, religion with 8 Comments

Suppossed citizens of the United States cast their ballots to elect new "leaders" for an earthly empire. I would argue that we are global citizens and neighborhood communities (or pseudo-communities) rather than national citizens (that is another post for another time such as soon). I did end up "voting" (whether or not a vote matters is yet again another post for another time). I was one of the voters in Knox County , Ohio that selected Barack Obama on my computerized touch screen. John McCain won Knox Co. 59%-39% (16,207 to 10,702) yet the state of Ohio favored Barack Obama 51%-47% (2,683,043-2,483,805). The Obama campaign used language such "The New Hope" and "Change We Need." My questions I must consider are these: "Is Barack Obama ‘The New Hope?’" "Is Barack Obama the ‘Change We Need?’" What is hope? From where does hope come? What is change?