Is Cyber Monday any better than Black Friday? If one is, indeed, going to make purchases during the holiday season, is it more responsible to do so via the world-wide-web when many reduced priced items are available? Is it more theologically and monetarily responsible to buy a specific item online rather than being enticed by all the “deals” that one sees in the store?
Here is an example of cyber Monday: CYBER MONDAY
We all consume. Humanity would cease to exist without consumption. The question is: Do we consume responsibly? Art and music are rich and good for the human heart and mind. We listen. We connect. We consume and it is good. But why overspend for music when you can get it for free? Follow the link to the right to check out some FREE music from Amazon.com.
Our celebration of Christmas has become the commercial exploitation of Jesus. God showed up on earth to bring that which is wrong back to rights and we attempt to honor that God by misusing our resources and giving ourselves to the commercial entities that prey on the human bend to “need more.”
“I have to have it. It’s bigger. Its’ better. I have to have it. Or… I have to give it. Because then I can mend a broken relationship or show love by filling someone’s longing or addiction to have more stuff. It… completes…. me.”
Is there a better way? Is there a better way to worship the coming of the King?
How are you celebrating Christmas?
Black Friday shopping?
Spending time at a nursing home offering time and attention?
Going to see A Christmas Carol in 3-D?
Sending life-giving resources to children who do not have food?
Carving the holiday ham?
Watching Christmas Vacation repeatedly?
Black Friday shopping?
Buying stuff?
Using vacation time to read to your child?
Attending a religious gathering?
Is there a better way?
It’s coming. 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.
It’s coming. Black Friday. The day after Thanksgiving, 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 as we celebrate the coming of God into human reality.
A map connects me to other people. An app. distracts me from other people.
I appreciate those of you who commented on my mobile phone dilemma. I need to clarify that the problem with my current phone is not a battery issue. The charger simply does not connect correctly. A special thank you goes out to Josh Schluep for crafting a comment marked by humility and genius and to Beau Carlson for actually going to the Verizon store with me. After hearing your input in conversation and in comments, having LiveChatted with a helpful AT&T sales representative, having visited the Verizon store, I have determined that “there’s a map for that.” Though the iPhone boasts some 92,000 applications, the cost for AT&T is just as bad as its coverage area. The Google Android OS has 10,000 applications (which may be enough to start out) and is quite impressive. I didn’t like the Motorola Droid. It was too clumsy and complex of an interface. I couldn’t figure it out. The HTC Droid Eris on the other hand was quite impressive and only half the cost of the Motorola Droid. It is clean and simple and quite similar to the iPhone’s usability. I hope that HTC upgrades from Android 1.5 to 2.0 in order to include GPS.
Theological and sociological implications:
Use of a Smartphone will streamline my productivity and free up more time for relational interaction.
Fewer applications encourages fewer distractions that could deter me from the Christian life.
Monetary savings using Verizon rather than AT&T and HTC rather than Motorola for increased giving to others.
I am consuming.
What are other positive or negative implications are involved the purchase of an HTC Droid Eris.?
“Don’t go to start a church… go to serve a city.” -Steve Sjogren
I read this line on a twitter update from Chris Bean. I’m just going to leave it at this: What are your thoughts?
Click below on comments to add your perspective.
>> This post reminds me: After accepting a new position at MVNU in August and not having time to update subversiveREFORMATION.com I was unable to post the series “On Church.” Now is the time. Be checking back for posts from Chris Heuertz of Word Made Flesh, Adam Walker-Cleaveland of Pomomusings, and more “On Church.”
Relevant Magazine asked a “Question of the Day” and I replied.
Q: If you could have any person, living or dead, friend request you on Facebook, who would it be? And let’s assume that you’re already friends with Jesus so you don’t need a friend request from him.
A: Nice question. It would completely depend on why this person would friend request me. So… can we qualify the question? Here is what I need to know:
- Is this someone just wanting to really be friends and hang out sometime?
- Is s/he just trying to keep the friend stats high?
- Are they wanting me to contribute to a publication or be his/her personal assistant?
- Does s/he want to give something to me or get something from me or operate with reciprocal relationality?
- Rather than me wanting him/her to be my friend, is s/he wanting to be my friend (b/c i’m a big deal; people know me)?
So how about you? If you could have any person, living or dead, friend request you on Facebook, who would it be?
What does it really mean to be someone’s friend on Facebook?
My number (1) strength as identified by the Clifton StrengthsFinder assessment is “Input.” Essentially, I am inquisitive and collect as much information as possible primarily in words or books. Though I am quite aware of the cultural shift from word to image and value input from video, image, and social media resources, I am highly skeptical of propaganda.
Recent propaganda from Verizon Wireless is promoting the “smartphones” that run on the Google Android operating system. Motorola makes the Droid and HTC makes the Droid Eris. Both function somewhat similarly to the Apple iPhone. I would like to use an iPhone (since I have a MacBook Pro and like the simplicity and syncability) but it is only carried by AT&T whose coverage area in the United States is awful. I have also checked out various types of Blackberry phones such as the Storm, Storm2, and Tour. There is also an Apple iTouch that I have that must be factored into the equation. It came with the MacBook Pro and I have yet to open it trying to decide whether or not to use it. It would work great seeing as I live on a college campus with Wi-Fi everywhere but would be a secondary device.
I would like to think that I do not need an iPhone, Blackberry, or Droid, however…
(a) The demands of my new position at MVNU are beginning to necessitate higher mobile technology access.
(b) Social media and their equivalent mobile applications have become standard for communication and marketing.
(c) My current LG Chocolate phone is no longer charging properly.
What should Travis Keller do? What is the most socially and theologically responsible decision and why? What should I purchase or not purchase?
“Teaching Little Kyla…”
A series on Travis and Sarah’s journey of parental flubs, flaws, failures and accidental^ fortune.
The Invisible Children and Remember Nhu Clubs at MVNU are hosting an Art and Poetry awareness and fundraising event tonight (Wednesday) in the student union. Kyla will be presenting her piece of art that she and I composed this weekend. Her piece is called “Red and Yellow, Black and White” in reference to the song, “Jesus Loves the Little Children.” As we talked about “all the children of the world” and our need to show and express love to all, Kyla used her hands and fingers to paint red, yellow, and black around a cut-out of Africa that I drew, cut out, and taped to the canvas board making a white silhouette of the country where the dehumanization of children continues through militarization and exploitation. Though I cannot talk with Kyla yet about child soldiers and sexual trafficking, she can begin to understand that love and kindness for all of humanity. Eventually, she’ll hear their stories.
We are incapable to loving absent from relationship. We are incapable of relationship absent from the context of story. We have to learn about each other. We have to be aware of the formative life experiences that make us who we are both individually and as a collective group of people in a global community.
The world is our canvas. May we cover it with strokes of love.
^ There is someone(s) greater than me/us (a divine being and a community of people) that intercede with grace and giving.
In honor of our most recent Election Day in the U.S. I decided to republish this post from the archives:
I am somewhat frequently interviewed by students here at MVNU for Research Writing projects, Public Speaking presentations, or Christian Life and Ministry papers. Tonight I was interviewed by Daniel Coutz. It was one of the more thoughtful interviews that I have experienced and I appreciated the approach. The conversation went something like this:
Daniel: “Respond to this statement: The United States is a Christian Nation.”
Travis: “No earthly empire is distinctively in keeping with the way of Jesus. Those who claim the United States to be a Christian nation need to enroll in a post-reformation church history course that discusses the period of American colonization. Also helpful would be a study in theology and philosophy to explore the definitions of theism, deism, and idolatry.
Daniel: “Do you feel the American flag should be displayed in churches? Why or why not?”
Travis: “No. The church is laced with a history of symbol and icon for visual engagement in worship and when one considers what the American flag represents I would have to question what one is worshiping. I would have no problem with displaying a flag in a church if it was displayed beside every other flag of every other nation so long as the symbol is understood to represent equality and unity.
Daniel: “Respond to this statement: The loyalty of a person belongs first to his country.”
Travis: “Why would one view an earthly empire as something to which giving loyalty is necessary or a priority? My suggestion is that most would give said loyalty due to an enculturation that promotes a sense of loyalty as nessecary. I would also suggest it has something to do with the supposed ‘safety’ provided by the military branch of a certain country’s government. Fear would be that which fuels loyalty to an earthly empire.”
Daniel: “Respond to this statement. Christians living in the United States should be patriotic about the United States.”
Travis: “One’s definition of patriotism would be primary. I find it problematic for a follower of Jesus to pledge his allegiance to an earthly nation. So in the sense that the recitation of the ‘Pledge of Allegiance’ is patriotic, then patriotism may be considered contrary to ‘worshipping no other gods.’”
