St. Blogory’s— The internet café d’un prêtre à la retraite ac o offeiriad wedi ymddeol.

The Future of Publishing

Today I was at a conference featuring Brian McLaren on the Emerging Church conversation.

Bishop Jeff Lee introduced this video from YouTube. The dimensions of the YouTube's screen are larger than this blog can accomodate, but the visual action is on the left-hand side so you won't lose anything by not being able to see the right-hand side.

If you want to access its YouTube provenance, click here.

Musing on McLaren's emc: Footnotes (3)

This is the forty-sixth and last in a periodic series of reflections on Brian D. McLaren's everything must change. Quotations used by kind permission of the author, with page citations from the edition featured on the Emerging Church Reading List to your right. 

.

Here’s footnote 6 on page 327:

.

“In a sermon on 2 Corinthians 12:9, Dietrich Bonhoeffer spoke of the need for more public action against injustice: ‘Christianity stands or falls with its revolutionary protest against violence, arbitrariness and pride of power and with its plea for the weak Christians are doing too little to make these points clear rather than too much. Christendom adjusts itself far too easily to the worship of power. Christians should give more offense, shock the world far more, than they are doing now. Christians should take a stronger stand in favor of the weak rather than considering first the possible right of the strong.’ members.tripod.com/~lutheran-peace/bonhoeffer24quotes.htm.” [I just tried to access this URL and received a 404-Page Not Found message]

.

This footnote is the last word in Brian’s Everything Must Change. For me, it is a poignant conclusion to this long and fruitful series of reflections because Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s book, The Cost of Discipleship, played a key role in my conversion experience nearly 38 years ago. “Those who believe, obey,” wrote Bonhoeffer, “but it is also true that those who obey, believe.” So I decided to act as though Christianity were true, and to pray as though Someone were listening.

.

I conclude with a final word of thanks to Brian McLaren for his generosity in letting me quote so extensively from his book, and for the insights he offered about why Everything Must Change.

Musing on McLaren's emc: Footnotes (2)

This is the forty-fifth in a periodic series of reflections on Brian D. McLaren's everything must change. Quotations used by kind permission of the author, with page citations from the edition featured on the Emerging Church Reading List to your right. 

.

Here’s footnote 5 on page 324:

.

“The total cost of the [Iraq] war was predicted to reach $1.2 trillion before the troop surge was instituted. Jim Wallis (sojo.net, January 2007) quotes a column in the New York Times by David Leonhardt on what this amount means:

.

“The way to come to grips with $1.2 trillion is to forget about the number itself and think instead about what you could buy with the money. When you do that, a trillion stops sounding anything like millions or billions.

.

“For starters, $1.2 trillion would pay for an unprecedented public health campaign — a doubling of cancer research funding, treatment for every American whose diabetes or heart disease is now going unmanaged and a global immunization campaign to save millions of children’s lives.

.

“Combined, the cost of running those programs for a decade wouldn’t use up even half our money pot. So we could then turn to poverty and education, starting with universal preschool for every 3- and 4-year-old child across the country. The city of New Orleans could also receive a huge increase in reconstruction funds.

.

“The final big chunk of the money could go to national security. The recommendations of the 9/11 Commission that have not been put in place — better baggage and cargo screening, stronger measures against nuclear proliferation — could be enacted. Financing for the war in Afghanistan could be increased to beat back the Taliban’s recent gains, and a peacekeeping force could put a stop to the genocide in Darfur.

.

“All that would be one way to spend $1.2 trillion. Here would be another:

.

“The war in Iraq.”

 

.

I’m wordless.

Musing on McLaren's emc: Footnotes (1)

This is the forty-fourth in a periodic series of reflections on Brian D. McLaren's everything must change. Quotations used by kind permission of the author, with page citations from the edition featured on the Emerging Church Reading List to your right. 

.

I always have an eye out for useful and informative footnotes and endnotes, and Brian has several eye-catching ones.

.

Here’s the first (p. 315, footnote 3):

.

“Considering that every molecule in your body came from food, and that all food ultimately came from plants, and those plants drew their nourishment and substance from soil, we are very literally organized dirt, created from ‘the dust of the ground’” (Genesis 2:7).

.

That’s why we’re called humus beings.

.

Here’s the second (p. 319, footnote 3), followed by the next and complementary footnote:

.

“It it interesting to note that many Christians in the United States have been energized to put the Ten Commandments in schools, courthouses, and other public buildings. One wonders why they haven’t instead sought to put the Beatitudes in public places. One also wonders what the response might have been if Christians sought to promote peacemaking through the Beatitudes rather than moralism through the Ten Commandments. Perhaps these well-meaning activists have never understood Jesus’ words about the ‘righteousness’ of the kingdom of God surpassing that of the Pharisees and religious scholars’” (Matthew 5:20).

.

“Many English Bibles use the word righteousness instead of justice, but I believe that justice is the better rendering. The former word suggests private religiosity, but the Greek word (dikaios) does not carry this connotation.”

.

I have never been a fan of the Ten Commandments, probably because the exhilarating experience of being forgiven after receiving the Sacrament of Penance (known today as the Reconciliation of a Penitent) was my one of my earliest, pre-teen, threshold experiences as a Christian. Perhaps a close second reason is because Jesus elegantly summed up the Ten Commandments with three:  

.

Ah-ha! Bill made a typo. Of course he means two Commandments, Love God and Love Neighbor.

.

“Jesus said, ‘The first commandment is this: Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is the only Lord. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second and third are these: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these three’” (Mark 12:19-31).

.

I confess that in my younger and even late middle years as a practicing Christian I bristled at the substitution, as I saw it, of justice for righteousness. I am not sure why, but I have two suspicions. First, the natural reluctance of an introvert toward activism against injustice. Second, the psychological reluctance of a relatively affluent and secure American to admit to the injustice which abounds in our own country and, of course, everywhere around the world. And third, the reluctance to sacrifice in order to bring more justice to others. I still struggle, especially with the third.

.

Working for justice will be a footnote in my life’s story, but it’s a longer footnote than it once was.

.

Two more footnotes to go, and then this series on Everything Must Change will be finished.

Musing on McLaren's emc: Communities versus Publics, Part 2

This is the forty-third in a periodic series of reflections on Brian D. McLaren's everything must change. Quotations used by kind permission of the author, with page citations from the edition featured on the Emerging Church Reading List to your right. 

.

“In my travels, whether in the inner cities of the United States or in slums around the world, the vast majority of [programs to rebuild communities devastated by publics] are overtly or implicitly faith-based, often drawing inspiration from Jesus’ good news about the kingdom of God. For all the obvious failures of ‘organized religion,’ in these organizations I see the power of organizing religion . . . people of faith organizing for something truly beautiful and good. As they promote a vision for the common good resourced by Jesus’ good news of the kingdom of God, they promote the seven components of equity: trade with integrity (both free and fair), wise aid, wise debt relief, respect for environmental limits in terms of both resource consumption and population growth, fair wages, the development of justice systems, and community and family development.

.

“If there is a force in the world powerful and good enough to overcome the grinding, destructive momentum of the [societal] machine, it is to be found, not in organized religion seeking institutional self-preservation, but in religion organizing for the common good” (pp. 264-265).

.

As I reread these paragraphs for today’s blog post, I immediately thought of Switch, one of the books I’m currently reading. The authors, Chip Heath and Dan Heath, divide their book on “how to change things when change is hard” into three sections: Direct the Rider (our thinking self); Motivate the Elephant (our emotional self); and Shape the Path (our environment). Here’s an excerpt about the Rider:

.

“When the Rider analyzes a problem, he seeks a solution that befits the scale of it. If the Rider spots a hole, he wants to fill it, and if he’s got a round hole with a 24-inch diameter, he’s gonna go looking for a 24-inch peg. But that mental model is wrong. For instance, in analyzing malnutrition in Vietnam, the experts had exhaustively analyzed all the big systemic forces that were responsible for it: lack of sanitation, poverty, ignorance, lack of water. No doubt they also concocted big systemic plans to address those forces. But that was fantasy. No one . . . thought to ask, ‘What’s working right now?’” (pp. 44-45)

.

Just before that paragraph the authors make this observation: “. . . Big problems are rarely solved with commensurately big solutions. Instead, they are most often solved by a sequence of small solutions, sometimes over weeks, sometimes over decades” (p. 44).

.

“What’s working right now” that I could replicate in order to “promote the seven components of equity?” What “small solution” could I bring to bear on “the grinding, destructive momentum of the [societal] machine?” What specific “organizing for something truly beautiful and good” might I undertake?

Musing on McLaren's emc: Communities versus Publics

This is the forty-second in a periodic series of reflections on Brian D. McLaren's everything must change. Quotations used by kind permission of the author, with page citations from the edition featured on the Emerging Church Reading List to your right. 

.

“Philosopher and author Wendell Barry introduces two helpful concepts that can aid us in our attempts to strengthen the equity system: communities and publics. Communities are families of families linked together in a local environment of land, water, air, and climate. Publics are larger networks of people who influence spreads over many communities, such as governments, political parties, multinational corporations, institutions, cartels, and media.

.

“Systemic injustice generally works on the level of publics, and publics often weaken or destroy communities as they seek more power or profit.  . . .   Obesity, addiction, promiscuity, violent crime, and hatred harm local communities, but the publics that promote them don’t have to pay the price of dealing with that local harm. Instead, they keep making more money and garnering more contributions. The publics can prosper at the communities’ expense” (pp. 263-264).

.

Wendell Barry’s insight about the fundamental distinction between communities and publics, and how systemic injustice arises from the asymmetrical influence of publics over communities, requires a reappraisal of the “Think globally, act locally” philosophy. Thinking globally is just as likely if not more likely to lead to acting globally without any consideration for local consequences.

.

“Think locally before you act globally” may be a clumsier aphorism, but it might be a saner aphorism.

Musing on McLaren's emc: “Everything Must Change” Begins With “Change One Thing.”

This is the forty-first in a periodic series of reflections on Brian D. McLaren's everything must change. Quotations used by kind permission of the author, with page citations from the edition featured on the Emerging Church Reading List to your right. 

.

“. . . building movements such as the ethical buying movement and the green movement are beginning to affect people’s behavior. For example, last month I met with a friend who is developing a website where people can buy fair trade gifts― meaning that the people who made these gifts in Africa or Latin America or Asia were paid a fair wage for their labor. Through his site (www.tradeasone.org), you can order a gift knowing that your purchase helps promote equity in the world. Or last week, I found websites where I could identify my ecological footprint, which helps me be sure that I don’t use more than my share of the earth’s resources (myfootprint.org and coolingcreation.org)” (pp. 251-252

.

Take a look at Brian’s cited sites, and make a Comment if you’re inspired by what you discover to change one thing.

Musing on McLaren's emc: Broken Glass

This is the fortieth in a periodic series of reflections on Brian D. McLaren's everything must change. Quotations used by kind permission of the author, with page citations from the edition featured on the Emerging Church Reading List to your right. 

.

“I think about where the path of gross inequity leads― globally, nationally, locally. I think about the streets in Latin America and Africa, where every window must be protected by iron gates and every wall topped with razor wire or broken glass to keep out desperately poor people who have found robbery the only way to survive” (p. 248).

.

Brian’s description struck me forcibly as I remembered my own experience in Antananarivo, Madagascar:

.

Wednesday night, July 29: “As he approached the solid metal gate at the end of his driveway, Guy honked his horn. A guard on the inside opened the gate and we entered the walled property. There were shards of colored glass sticking out of the top of the walls as a deterrence against trespassers.”

.

Thursday morning, July 30: “As I walked into the living room this morning Guy was raising the steel panel that had shielded the French doors against possible intruders, just as steel panels protect Chicago storefronts.”

.

Even so:

.

"After a generous breakfast which included croissants, omelets, and strong coffee, we loaded our luggage and got into the car. It took several tries to get the engine started, and then I noticed that the battery light was glowing bright red. Even though Guy and Claudia are better off than most Malagasys, their car was old and badly needed some basic maintenance work, not least at that particular moment a new battery or a new alternator, or maybe both. I had visions of our car rumbling to a halt by the roadside while our flight took off without us. Somehow we made it, and soon enough our flight took off with us."

.

This brief vignette from my Sabbatical time in Madagascar illustrates the intertwined dysfunction of all three subsystems: Prosperity, Equity, and Security. The only conclusion: Everything Must Change.

Musing on McLaren's emc: “To Do Justice, and to Love Kindness, and to Walk Humbly with your God.”

This is the thirty-ninth in a periodic series of reflections on Brian D. McLaren's everything must change. Quotations used by kind permission of the author, with page citations from the edition featured on the Emerging Church Reading List to your right. 

.

“With the Old Testament prophet Micah’s words in mind (6:8), we might say that all Christians and churches believe in walking humbly with God. More and more Christians and churches, thankfully, are also showing a concern to show kindness or compassion― helping the victims of injustice through mission trips, giving to social needs, and so on. But the number of individuals and churches focused on doing justice remains disproportionately low.”

.

I am glad to say that St. Gregory’s is one of the churches involved with doing justice, in concert with the other Episcopal churches and ecumenical and interfaith partners working through Lake County United. You can read about some of our justice-doing in this earlier post, on the LCU website, and this brochure about the Waukegan 2 College program.

Musing on McLaren's emc: "An Incredible Shrinking Gospel"

This is the thirty-eighth in a periodic series of reflections on Brian D. McLaren's everything must change. Quotations used by kind permission of the author, with page citations from the edition featured on the Emerging Church Reading List to your right. 

.

“For [John] Wesley, ‘The gospel of Christ knows no religion, but social; no holiness but social holiness.’  . . .  With this understanding of social holiness, no wonder Wesley was an early convert to the cause of abolishing slavery.

.

“Sadly, like many concepts in the modern era, the concept of holiness did not retain the profoundly social dimension it had for Wesley, but over time shrank to a matter of personal rule keeping. . . .

.

“We must take seriously the full dimension of collective sin, as contemporary Pentecostal theologian Eldin Villafane has said, ‘Our spirituality, and the very gospel we preach, needs to be as big and ubiquitous as sin and evil. We will falter in our spirituality and thus grieve the Spirit if “our struggle with evil” does not “correspond to the geography of evil”’” (pp. 242-244 passim).

.

One of the best and most important books I have read is Adam Hochschild’s Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire’s Slaves. It tells the story of how twelve Christians, meeting in a print shop in London, determined that the social sin of slavery be abolished. Slavery’s geography of evil was immense, but these twelve men, including Olaudah Equiano, a slave who had earned his freedom, demonstrated that the gospel is bigger and more ubiquitous than evil when those who hunger and thirst for justice con-Spirit.