A recent documentary has caught the attention of some of America’s most influential thinkers. The documentary, provocatively titled Lord Save Us From Your Followers, is described this way.
“Though nine out of ten Americans claim a belief in God, public expression of faith is more contentious as ever. Even as discussion of religion floods the media like never before, the rhetoric is divisive and hyper as the 2008 elections loom on the horizon.Lord, Save Us From Your Followers is the energetic, accessible documentary that explores the collision of faith and culture in America. Fed up with the angry, strident language filling the airwaves that has come to represent the Christian faith, director (and follower) Dan Merchant set out to discover why the Gospel of Love is dividing America. Utilizing a broad array of expert interviews, man-on-the-street bits, hilarious animations and “I’ve never seen that before” stunts, Lord, Save Us From Your Followers brings everyone into the conversation that this country is aching to have.”
The film is an equal opportunity offender--it does not matter where you fall on the religious/political/social map . . . you will be challenged by this film. Hopefully, you'll walk away asking "What does it mean to be Christian in today's climate?"
Showing posts with label Culture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Culture. Show all posts
08 January 2009
11 December 2008
Church
All semester, in my Culture and Evangelism class at RC, we've been talking about what it means/looks like to be the church in a post-modern culture. We read Blue Like Jazz, A New Kind of Christian, Father Joe, The Shaping of Things to Come, and The Shack. We also read the Bible for those of you a bit nervous from this reading list. We listened to each other's stories. We dreamed. We laughed. We got upset. We imagined. We pondered.
Today, their final exam consisted of only one essay question: what does it mean to be the church in a post-modern culture? It's one of the most important questions many churches ask . . . it's one of the most tragic questions some churches fail to ask.
I'm curious . . . readers in the blogosphere . . . what practices do you think are extremely important for churches to participate in as they travel on the journey?
Today, their final exam consisted of only one essay question: what does it mean to be the church in a post-modern culture? It's one of the most important questions many churches ask . . . it's one of the most tragic questions some churches fail to ask.
I'm curious . . . readers in the blogosphere . . . what practices do you think are extremely important for churches to participate in as they travel on the journey?
04 September 2008
Random
Christ Church Macomb is moving to a new time this Sunday. Join us for a great morning of worship and testimony followed by a block part from noon to three p.m. Worship begins at 10:30 a.m.
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My friend in Nashville, Lee Camp, is continuing his interesting work of bringing together religion, music, art, and literature (among other things). Check this site out.
NOTE: I had the wrong site for the Lee Camp link. I apologize, it's now fixed!
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My friend in Nashville, Lee Camp, is continuing his interesting work of bringing together religion, music, art, and literature (among other things). Check this site out.
NOTE: I had the wrong site for the Lee Camp link. I apologize, it's now fixed!
08 April 2008
Josh, Kite Runner, Leno
Josh Ross spent the weekend with us. He taught at our annual young adult formation retreat. He also preached (with me) three times on Sunday morning at Rochester Church (four if you add CC:M). He is truly a gifted teacher and preacher of the Jesus Story. He got to see two of the Tigers well-publicized losses while in the D. Maybe he's bad luck. No . . .maybe the Tigers are simply "fat cats" . . .
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Kara and I watched The Kite Runner tonight. I read the book this summer during our Florida vacation. I sat on the beach, paralyzed by this story, perhaps one of the great redemption narratives of our generation. Movies are never as good as the book. Never.
Yet, I admit, this movie is almost as good as the book. I'm going to be teaching our mid-week service tomorrow night about spiritual friendship using this book as the beginning point.
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Heard on Jay Leno tonight. "The Tigers are 0-6 (actually, now they are 0-7). That's incredible. They are scoring less than Mayor Kilpatrick." Nice, Jay. Kick us while we're down. We'll be back.
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Kara and I watched The Kite Runner tonight. I read the book this summer during our Florida vacation. I sat on the beach, paralyzed by this story, perhaps one of the great redemption narratives of our generation. Movies are never as good as the book. Never.
Yet, I admit, this movie is almost as good as the book. I'm going to be teaching our mid-week service tomorrow night about spiritual friendship using this book as the beginning point.
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Heard on Jay Leno tonight. "The Tigers are 0-6 (actually, now they are 0-7). That's incredible. They are scoring less than Mayor Kilpatrick." Nice, Jay. Kick us while we're down. We'll be back.
01 February 2008
Chick Flick
What constitutes a Chick Flick?
I taught at our mid-week service recently on being “in the world, but not of it.” At one point I used the film Chocolat as an example of different ways of engaging culture. The two main characters, the Comte and Vianne, provide a rich example of the difference between religion and spirituality. (NOTE: I’m using those two words as they’ve emerged in our current postmodern lexicon).
At lunch this week, some of my fellow staff members (Patrick, Dana, and Chris) suggested that this film is of the proverbial “Chick Flick” genre. And an ensuing assault upon my masculinity occurred. I'm over it. Really. I am.
I disagreed vehemently.
During the teaching time under consideration, I asked the church “Who’s seen this film?” About a hundred hands went up—of the hundred, approximately eighty-five were women.
Afterwards, a few men came up and said, “Hey, Josh. We’re going to see 27 Dresses at 9:45 p.m.—want to come?”
So, I’m asking you . . .the educated, savvy cultural aficianado—what are the criteria that must be present for a film to be labeled “Chick Flick"?
I taught at our mid-week service recently on being “in the world, but not of it.” At one point I used the film Chocolat as an example of different ways of engaging culture. The two main characters, the Comte and Vianne, provide a rich example of the difference between religion and spirituality. (NOTE: I’m using those two words as they’ve emerged in our current postmodern lexicon).
At lunch this week, some of my fellow staff members (Patrick, Dana, and Chris) suggested that this film is of the proverbial “Chick Flick” genre. And an ensuing assault upon my masculinity occurred. I'm over it. Really. I am.
I disagreed vehemently.
During the teaching time under consideration, I asked the church “Who’s seen this film?” About a hundred hands went up—of the hundred, approximately eighty-five were women.
Afterwards, a few men came up and said, “Hey, Josh. We’re going to see 27 Dresses at 9:45 p.m.—want to come?”
So, I’m asking you . . .the educated, savvy cultural aficianado—what are the criteria that must be present for a film to be labeled “Chick Flick"?
24 January 2008
Springsteen, Herod, and One Hot Preacher's Wife
. . . That just might be my favorite blog title to date.
If you want to have a thin-space moment (the British phrase for the times and places in our lives when heaven and earth kiss), listen to these three songs on Bruce Springsteen's LIVE IN DUBLIN: When the Saints Go Marching In, This Little Light of Mine (yes, you read that correctly), and We Shall Overcome.
The third verse of When the Saints goes like this: "When the new world is revealed . . . when the new world is revealed, oh when the new world is revealed. Lord, how I want to be there on that morning . . . when that new world is revealed."
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I just finished reading Eugene Peterson's THE JESUS WAY: A CONVERSATION ON THE WAYS THAT JESUS IS THE WAY. The last three chapters are vintage Peterson: He looks at the historical/biblical characters of Herod (and his counterpart: Essenes), Caiaphas (his counterpart: the Pharisee's), and Josephus (and his counterpart: the zealot's) in light of the spirituality Jesus embodied in his hown life. This completes his trilogy on "spiritual theology"--it's a must read for anyone who's interested in following Jesus in a world as complex as ours.
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The last three months has been a great time for family, friends, local church work, reading, writing (draft one of my first book, Jesus Feast, is complete!), and Sabbath Rest. Like all seasons, that time is now coming to an end.
Writing projects are intensifying, travel increases, and new church endeavors are just on the horizon. I feel rested and ready to see what God is up to in 2008. However, things are a changin'-- the next six months is going to be a great adventure: ZOE, DETROIT MISSION WEEK, TULSA WORKSHOP, TEACHING AT RC, TWO MAJOR WRITING PROJECTS, UGANDA TRIP, and LIPSCOMB SERMON SEMINAR, DOCTORAL WORK AT COLUMBIA--it all heats up now. Too bad the state I live in can't say the same.
I'm just glad I get to share the path with the most beautiful woman in the world.
Seriously, she's a hot preacher's wife.
If you want to have a thin-space moment (the British phrase for the times and places in our lives when heaven and earth kiss), listen to these three songs on Bruce Springsteen's LIVE IN DUBLIN: When the Saints Go Marching In, This Little Light of Mine (yes, you read that correctly), and We Shall Overcome.
The third verse of When the Saints goes like this: "When the new world is revealed . . . when the new world is revealed, oh when the new world is revealed. Lord, how I want to be there on that morning . . . when that new world is revealed."
-----------------
I just finished reading Eugene Peterson's THE JESUS WAY: A CONVERSATION ON THE WAYS THAT JESUS IS THE WAY. The last three chapters are vintage Peterson: He looks at the historical/biblical characters of Herod (and his counterpart: Essenes), Caiaphas (his counterpart: the Pharisee's), and Josephus (and his counterpart: the zealot's) in light of the spirituality Jesus embodied in his hown life. This completes his trilogy on "spiritual theology"--it's a must read for anyone who's interested in following Jesus in a world as complex as ours.
-----------------
The last three months has been a great time for family, friends, local church work, reading, writing (draft one of my first book, Jesus Feast, is complete!), and Sabbath Rest. Like all seasons, that time is now coming to an end.
Writing projects are intensifying, travel increases, and new church endeavors are just on the horizon. I feel rested and ready to see what God is up to in 2008. However, things are a changin'-- the next six months is going to be a great adventure: ZOE, DETROIT MISSION WEEK, TULSA WORKSHOP, TEACHING AT RC, TWO MAJOR WRITING PROJECTS, UGANDA TRIP, and LIPSCOMB SERMON SEMINAR, DOCTORAL WORK AT COLUMBIA--it all heats up now. Too bad the state I live in can't say the same.
I'm just glad I get to share the path with the most beautiful woman in the world.
Seriously, she's a hot preacher's wife.
14 January 2008
Michael Scott and George W. Bush
Wise words of wisdom from two of the more entertaining people in American culture: Michael Scott (The Office) and George W. Bush (President of the United States). Of course, one of these men is "made-up" . . . one of these men is real.
You decide.
"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."--George W. Bush in Washington D.C.; August 5, 2004
"Am I gonna tell them? No, I'm not going to tell them. I don't see the point of that. As a doctor, you would not tell a patient if they had cancer."--Michael Scott, on downsizing
You decide.
"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."--George W. Bush in Washington D.C.; August 5, 2004
"Am I gonna tell them? No, I'm not going to tell them. I don't see the point of that. As a doctor, you would not tell a patient if they had cancer."--Michael Scott, on downsizing
02 November 2007
NBA, Money
The NBA season is underway, which means my ongoing struggle with addiction to pro basketball is “ever before me”—to quote David from Psalm 51.
Thiss weekend, I’m teaching on Paul’s troublesome phrase in his letter to Timothy that “the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.”
Do you believe that? Was Paul speaking in hyperbole?
28 October 2007
Potter (part deux)
If the Harry Potter pot wasn't stirred enough last time, here's an interesting article on "Searching Truth in Harry Potter." The author is a former missionary to West Africa.
What do you think?
What are the strengths of her arguments? What are the weaknesses or inconsistencies?
UPDATE: Wade has an interesting article on his blog discussing whether or not Harry Potter is a Christian!?
What do you think?
What are the strengths of her arguments? What are the weaknesses or inconsistencies?
UPDATE: Wade has an interesting article on his blog discussing whether or not Harry Potter is a Christian!?
15 October 2007
Harry Potter and John Yoder
I'm late to the Harry Potter party. I finally gave in and read the first one this past week. Rowling is an excellent writer. I'm glad I finally gave in to Kara's prompting.
What is about Harry Potter that has everyone so intrigued? First, Rowling's creativity is unprecedented for modern popular work. C.S. Lewis once wrote, in an essay, that the chief sin of modernity was its war against the imagination of adult Westerners. Harry Potter dares the reader to see things upside down and sideways. Second, Harry Potter is a story of good and evil and we, as humans, seem to be drawn towards stories with clear heroes and obvious villains. We want to know that are lives are a part of some larger cosmic struggle. Third, people are drawn to Harry Potter because they need a person like Harry Potter to exist (common but virtuous, daring, and powerful). Potter is not superman per se, but he is a normal teen with limitless potential. Deep down we all want to believe that we can become more than we already are. Fourth, in Potter (at least the first novel but I'm guessing this is true all the way to the end)...love wins. Power, greed, deception, and even magic have their limits. But love breaks through the barriers and limits...love always wins.
That some Christians refuse to allow their children to ready Harry Potter is beyond me.
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I have found this quote from Yoder to be one of the most succinct statements concerning Jesus in all of New Testament scholarship.
Jesus was not just a moralist whose teachings had some political implications; he was not primarily a teacher of spirituality whose public ministry unfortunately was seen in a political light; he was not just a sacrificial lamb preparing for his immolation, or a God-Man whose divine status calls us to disregard his humanity. Jesus was, in his divinely mandated prophethood, priesthood, and kingship, the bearer of a new possibility of human, social and therefore political relationships. His baptism is the inauguration and his cross is the culmination of that new regime in which his disciples are called to share. Hearers or readers may choose to consider that kingdom as not real, or not relevant, or not possible, or not inviting; but…no such slicing can avoid his call to an ethic marked by the cross, a cross identified as the punishment of a man who threatens society by creating a new kind of community leading a radically new kind of life (The Politics of Jesus).
What is about Harry Potter that has everyone so intrigued? First, Rowling's creativity is unprecedented for modern popular work. C.S. Lewis once wrote, in an essay, that the chief sin of modernity was its war against the imagination of adult Westerners. Harry Potter dares the reader to see things upside down and sideways. Second, Harry Potter is a story of good and evil and we, as humans, seem to be drawn towards stories with clear heroes and obvious villains. We want to know that are lives are a part of some larger cosmic struggle. Third, people are drawn to Harry Potter because they need a person like Harry Potter to exist (common but virtuous, daring, and powerful). Potter is not superman per se, but he is a normal teen with limitless potential. Deep down we all want to believe that we can become more than we already are. Fourth, in Potter (at least the first novel but I'm guessing this is true all the way to the end)...love wins. Power, greed, deception, and even magic have their limits. But love breaks through the barriers and limits...love always wins.
That some Christians refuse to allow their children to ready Harry Potter is beyond me.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have found this quote from Yoder to be one of the most succinct statements concerning Jesus in all of New Testament scholarship.
Jesus was not just a moralist whose teachings had some political implications; he was not primarily a teacher of spirituality whose public ministry unfortunately was seen in a political light; he was not just a sacrificial lamb preparing for his immolation, or a God-Man whose divine status calls us to disregard his humanity. Jesus was, in his divinely mandated prophethood, priesthood, and kingship, the bearer of a new possibility of human, social and therefore political relationships. His baptism is the inauguration and his cross is the culmination of that new regime in which his disciples are called to share. Hearers or readers may choose to consider that kingdom as not real, or not relevant, or not possible, or not inviting; but…no such slicing can avoid his call to an ethic marked by the cross, a cross identified as the punishment of a man who threatens society by creating a new kind of community leading a radically new kind of life (The Politics of Jesus).
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