Waving or Drowning?

Cultivate

Yesterday morning I had a great time hanging out and catching up with my pal Pernell Goodyear (@pernellgoodyear). If you don't know him and you're interested in urban, inner city church planting, he's doing something that actually works. Imagine! Dude gets it, plain and simple.

Speaking of Pernell, there's another Cultivate Gathering coming up November 14 in Hamilton, ON. I wish I could be there, but maybe you're in the area.

A Prayer

You asked for my hands
that you might use them for your purposes
I gave them for a moment then withdrew them
for the work was hard.

You asked for my mouth
to speak out against injustice.
I gave you a whisper that I might not be accused.

You asked for my eyes
to see the pain of poverty.
I closed them for I did not want to see.

You asked for my life
that you might work through me.
I gave you a small part that I might not get 'too involved'.

Lord, forgive me for calculated efforts to serve you
only when it is convenient for me to do so,
and only in those places where it is safe to do so,
and only with those who make it easy to do so.

Father, forgive me
renew me
send me out
as a usable instrument,
that I may take seriously the meaning of your cross.

(© Joe Seramane, South Africa, from Lifelines, Christian Aid, 1987, via ArmyBarmy REMIX)

The World We Live In

I pulled this one off Beth's blog. As I commented there, it's the best sermon I've heard in a while.

Take a few minutes to watch this video from the 2008 TED, where artist Chris Jordan shares some of his work on mass consumption. On his website he writes: "The immense scale of our consumption can appear desolate, macabre, oddly comical and ironic, and even darkly beautiful; for me its consistent feature is a staggering complexity. The pervasiveness of our consumerism holds a seductive kind of mob mentality. Collectively we are committing a vast and unsustainable act of taking, but we each are anonymous and no one is in charge or accountable for the consequences. I fear that in this process we are doing irreparable harm to our planet and to our individual spirits. As an American consumer myself, I am in no position to finger wag; but... in risking self-awareness, at least we know that we are awake."

Mad Max Meets The Bible?

It looks like there are some interesting films ahead. Here's a peek at Denzel Washington in the 2010 release, The Book of Eli. (h/t to Chris Curtis).

One of Those Moments When You Know You're Alive

This won't seem like much to most, but it was one of those moments for me.

The flight from Bujumbura, Burundi to Nairobi, Kenya would be stopping in Kigali, Rwanda for about 45 minutes. I had been reading Emmanuelle Katongole's A Future for Africa: Critical Essays in Christian Social Imagination for the first leg, and as we sat on the tarmac in Kigali I made eye contact with my seatmate and smiled.

"May I see the book you're reading?"

"Sure."

He spent some time carefully going through the table of contents, then excitedly showed it to his friend who was seated directly in front of him. Then he turned back to me.

"This looks very interesting. Where can I get a copy?"

I explained to him that it was available on Amazon, which I knew wouldn't do him much good as they don't ship to Africa.

"But I'm going to Sudan for many months."

Ah, I see. I made an instant decision.

"You can have that copy."

And so, sitting on the ground in Rwanda, en route from Burundi to Kenya, I gave my copy of A Future for Africa to a Burundian brother who was on his way to Sudan.

Seemed about right.

Generation A to X

You don't need to spend much time on this blog to figure out that I'm a big fan of the writing of Douglas Coupland (@dougcoupland, and on YouTube). A quick look at the 2009's Reading List on the sidebar will confirm that I'll go through just about all of his novels more or less annually. The man is a creative genius, and I like the way he thinks as well as writes. And I must admit that the fact that many (but not all) of his novels are set here in Vancouver adds to the appeal. (When he blows up the Esso station on Westview in Girlfriend in a Coma--at least I think that's the right book--I get a cheap thrill, as I used to fill up there all the time when we lived over on the North Shore.)

I've just finished his latest, Generation A, which is a kind of follow-up to his first, the cult classic Generation X. (Strangely enough, I've never actually read Generation X, so after finishing "A" I've started on "X". The first shall be last, and all that...) The spiritual themes in "A" are not as explicit as some of his others, so for that reason Life After God remains my favorite--it doesn't get much more explicit than that. However, Coupland's outstanding ability to tell a story in the first person from the points of view of several different characters continues to amaze me.

All that to point you to some very cool shorts produced in conjunction with the release of his latest book. Start with Generation A - 10 Question for Douglas Coupland and go from there. (h/t to ComputerLove, where you can find links to all the details on the films.)

Drew Marshall at Vancouver ComedyFest

Last week I received an email telling me that our friend Drew Marshall will be a guest panelist this weekend at Out of Bounds My Ass, which is part of the Vancouver ComedyFest. And just to make sure I didn't miss the point, Drew called me about 10 minutes later to make sure I knew. Here's his description:

Tie your shoes and buckle your pants, the Global ComedyFest is bringing a laughter-packed series of non-pc debates and roasts to the stage, exploring the three most off-limit dinner conversations! Politics, Race and Religion. Out of Bounds My Ass is one part comedy show, one part political debate and one part town hall meeting, pushing the boundaries of comedy and riding the edge (think Bill Maher's Religulous). Each show opens with a comedic presentation on the history of the great debate between science and religion, followed by panel discussion and questions from the audience, adding an interactive element to the show. We have no doubt that this will be the most talked about show at the festival! (Check your sensitivities at the door because we're going there.)

As it turns out I'm going to be in Toronto while Drew is here in Vancouver, but you might want to check out the show. Wish I could be there.

My Real Name

I can remember walking down the street, saying my name over & over, until all of a sudden, it didn't sound like my name anymore. It didn't even sound like a word at all & then I stopped & the silence rushed in & whispered words that sounded more like my real name & I smiled & thought to myself how surprised my parents would be when they found out what a mistake they had made.

(Brian Andreas, StoryPeople.com)

The Age of Stupid

More info here.

Our Hope

Our hope for the future lies not so much in what we are able to give, but in what we are willing to give up; not in what we are able to do, but in our willingness to do without.
(Daniel Deffenbaugh, via Inward/Outward)