Sunday is for Star Wars
Here's what I think about the buzz over the newest Star Trek:
The American Patriot's Bible [bad.hack]
Hey, while you were out, Emperor Constantine called.
Yeah, he's fine. Here's the message he left you.
He's glad his yoking of Christianity with Empire...now has its own book.
Yeah, he's fine. Here's the message he left you.
He's glad his yoking of Christianity with Empire...now has its own book.
Yeah, you can find it in the "Let's not be too obvious about the relationship between colonialism, imperialism, war, genocide of the Native Americans, and Christianity" department.
(hat tip: Wesley Report and Friendly Atheist)
(BTW: I'm totally stoked that "Empire" on Zemanta links first and foremost to "Galactic Empire (Star Wars)".
2nd Alternative Amendment One Video [video]
As a followup to the first video, I promised I would post more. So here's Sam Powers from Oklahoma Annual Conference:
Pretty clear theological foundations, not the fearmongering like on those other videos...
Jesus' 3day Exploit
Image by aLii_ via FlickrThen the conversation got even more interesting. He saw I had my cross out and visible and asked if I was a Christian. I said yes, I am a pastor, and I actually have a blog called "Hacking Christianity." He liked the blog name and then said something that really turned wheels in my head. Here's roughly what we said:
Hacker: You know what I think? I think if Death was a system, then Jesus hacked the system of death. We could say he did it through a 0day exploit.In hacking, a 0day exploit is a vulnerability in a system that is so newly uncovered that it is unfixed (hence: zero days in existence). It is not a virus, but knowledge of the vulnerability is shared from hacker to hacker once it is released into the wild. The company then has to fix the system quickly to keep the hack from working anymore. The longer the gap between detection and fixing it, the greater the 0day hack.
Me: Or in Jesus' case, a 3day exploit.
Hacker: Exactly. He broke it open for everyone.
I like this metaphor because it speaks to nerds about what Jesus did.
- Jesus hacked the system of death by living and dying in a way that death hadn't seen before or knew how to contain, even in a tomb.
- Three days later, Jesus escaped from death and told of his 3day exploit to his followers, with instructions to spread it "to all the nations."
- The followers did so, and the hack continues to work for generations of followers because the exploit of the system of death is unfixable. The hack is eternal life.
Nerds. You never know what they might come up with.
Thoughts?
An Alternative Amendment One Video [video]
I love this brave new world of church politics. Maxie Dunnam tries to change hearts and minds by creating a video outlining how the United Methodist Church's Amendment One (link) will loosen the standards and let unchecked people into membership as well as further the HomoLiberalAgenda. Watch the video if you like (link).
But that opened the floodgates a bit, and trickles of response videos are creeping out. One that I found today via Twitter has a Texas pastor presenting a situation that deals directly with this Amendment, including a case study of another Texas pastor and his son. Check it out:
Love it. Moral of the story? It's a brave new world, and if you want to make a video, be our guest. But don't be surprised if when you lay the tracks down through a medium, that other cars come through too. So thank you to Maxie Dunnam for getting people on Youtube and can find important Methodist videos like this one on the "What's Related" column. Tee hee.
Thoughts? If there are more videos out there, leave them in the comments!
Happy Star Wars Day!
May the Fourth be With You...Always. (May 4th is Star Wars Day)
For your entertainment, Star Wars & MacGuyver Mashup:
Ability as the Basis for Gifts Discernment?
Really old post here (drafted back in August 2008), but I finally got around to getting a complete thought about this video.
Thanks to Blake Huggins' twitter, I was extremely pleased with an interview with former British Parliament member Tony Benn. He is quoted as saying this:
Benn : The thing about a customer is if you haven't any money, you can't be a customer. So the word customer dehumanizes the poor. The people who need homes the most, homeless people on the streets, are not customers because they can't afford a house. So economic language classifies us according to our money and not our need. And I just think that leads unhappiness, revolutions, conflict, struggle...That critique started me thinking a bit about how we regard volunteers in the church. How often do we classify volunteers according to their ability instead of their need?
- In the video, only the people who reach a certain economic level are considered customers. Only when you are able to buy a house or a car are you considered a customer.
- In the Church, oftentimes it is only the people who are able to offer skills or service are asked to volunteer. Only when it becomes known that you are able to perform a service are you asked to volunteer.
Consider the typical workshop on Discovering Your Gifts. The pastor or workshop leader waxes on about "there is one body with many parts," you sing "Many Gifts, One Spirit," there are times of discernment, then there are inventories that help us discover our gifts...and finally a church committee or mission team signup! Or perhaps it is less intentional: the pastor or chairperson simply says "they are looking for people with gifts" to do the job. This process works...matching gifts with ministry can yield tremendous fruits! But like Benn outlines above, we are treating people like customers who have the ability to serve, not the need.
I started thinking about "ability v. need" recently. In my local church, we have some gifted people at organizing and running an event. The suggestion was made that instead of asking for baked goods from congregants for an event that we ask for money instead and the gifted and talented people can buy the food and arrange it professionally. Simple, clean, and well done! While it sounds like a good idea, it was classifying the organizer's ability over the congregant's need.
- A homebound member needs to be asked to bake brownies so that they feel connected to the church.
- A senior needs to be asked to bake cookies so they have an afternoon project to pass the time.
- A child needs to be asked to bake a cake so they and their parent have a family-building project together.
Perhaps it is time to see how your church programs relate to people according to their ability, and not according to their needs. To see how we relegate some responsibilities to people who have the ability, but there are people with needs in the wings waiting to be asked.
Thoughts?
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