Ched Myers – Water Webinar (Mar. 21)

Ched Myers will co-present a webinar on eco-justice, March 21 ($9.50).

“Redemption as Rehydration: The Eschatological Vision of Water in the Bible”!

>God’s Kingdom and Righteousness

“Seek first God’s kingdom and righteousness/justice* (Matt. 6:33).” What does this mean to you? What does it look like? How does one do this?

*NOTE: for more on translating justice/righteousness, see:

• http://concordances.org/greek/1343.htm
• http://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/hebrew/kjv/tsedeq.html
• http://www.basden.demon.co.uk/xn/tsedeq.html

Now back to the main question: How do we seek God’s kingdom and righteousness/justice?

>Even more random links.

Articles, Organizations & Websites:

• Priest pens spiritual survival guide for recession (John Blake, CNN, 17 Sept 2011)
• David Graeber: The Debt of the American Poor Should Be Forgiven (Democracy Now, 19 Sept 2011)
• Shame on you, Dick Cheney (Richard Cizik, RNS, 30 Aug 2011)
• Chronic disease to cost $47 trillion by 2030: WEF (Kate Kelland, Reuters, 18 Sept 2011)
• The Happiness Equation (Margret Aldrich, Utne, 9 Sept 2011)
• THE GOSPEL OF IMMIGRATION (RUSSELL MOORE , Neue Magazine, 14 SEPT 201)
• Epitaph for Another September 11 (Ariel Dorfman, The Nation, 30 Aug2011)
• The True Cost of 9/11 (Joseph E. Stiglitz, Slate, 1 Sept 2011)
• Ex-Bush Official Col. Lawrence Wilkerson: “I am Willing to Testify” If Dick Cheney is Put on Trial (Democracy Now!, 30 Aug 2011)
• London riots, African famine: The difference between first and third world problems (Peter Farquhar & Simon Black, News.com.au, 12 Aug 2011)
• 10 years after 9/11, we must end torture forever (Scott Anderson, The Cap Times, 31 Aug 2011)
• Ten Reasons to Move Cheney’s Book to the Crime Section (Medea Benjamin, Dissident Voice, 30 Aug 2011)
• The Curse of Tina (Think Tanks/PR) (Adam Curtis, BBC, 13 Sept 2011)
• Letter from prison: Tim DeChristopher speaks (Grist, 29 Aug 2011)
• INSPIRING DEVELOPMENT IN FRAGILE STATES (Seth Kaplan,  The Review of Faith & International Affairs,
  Vol 8,  Is 4,  Dec 2010, Pages 11 – 21)
• The Missing Fundamental Belief: Love as a Key to Church Renewal (Keith Augustus Burton, Ph.D.)
• Prophets Today? (Dennis Bratcher)
• Witness for Peace, US-Colombia FTA Info Sheet
• School of the Americas Watch
• Soles for Souls
• Global Nonviolent Action Database
• Tools for Reclaiming Communities from Militarism
• Civilian Public Service info
• Global days of Listening

Films & Videos:

• Becoming Fools
• Reparando
• Dirt!
• How to Live to be 100+ (Dan Buettner, TED)
• Pay Attention to Nonviolence (Julia Bacha, TED)
• Documentaries on School of the Americas (SOA/WHINSEC)
• Adventist Community Services (ACS) videos

>The Way

What do you think about these two assessments about what a good Christian or good Christianity is?

First, Ricky Gervais — good Christian.

Second, Marcus Borg:

>Globalization and the Liturgical Year

While doing laundry today, I read part of The Fullness of Time in a Flat World (Waalkes, 2010). The following section stood out to me. Waalkes, a non-Mennonite, draws on John Howard Yoder to develop a lens for viewing globalization from a Christian perspective. The Christian liturgical year is called to this task of analyzing globalization rather than relying solely on Thomas Friedman’s paradigm.

By contrast [to Friedman], the liturgical year ushers us into a story that transcends the story of the United States and connects us to an alternative story–an alternative drama that helps empower ethical creativity. John Howard Yoder explains how this creativity, a gift of the Spirit, schools the church in “genuine innovation, surprise and paradox in the ways one learns to see reality, as over against the monolinear ‘realism’ of the established power system.”[1] Such an alternative narrative helps Christians to read history differently, from the perspective of the losers rather than the winners.[2] Instead of reading history through the American story, which proclaims America to be a beacon, one reads history from the story of Christ and the church–a story that empowers creative ethical moves and proclaims the coming of the fullness of the Kingdom of Jesus as the beacon. Alasdair MacIntyre writes, “I can only answer the question ‘What am I to do?’ if I can answer the prior question ‘Of what story or stories do I find myself a part?’”[3] The liturgical year, which offers the saving acts of Christ as a rich source for ethical re-imagination, helps us to find ourselves in the chapters of the gospel story (not the American story) and then answer the question of what we are to do about globalization. (pp. 11-12)

[1] Yoder, Priestly Kingdom, 94.
[2] Ibid., 95.
[3] Ibid., 216.

>Peter Rollins

I heard Peter Rollins speak on the Mars Hill podcast recently. A bit of that talk also appears here:

Peter Rollins at Baylor University from Peter Rollins on Vimeo.

http://peterrollins.net/

>Imago Dei

I wanted to share the story of Imago Dei (church in Portland, OR) on a Spectrum conversation. Because of the length of the quotes, I put them together in this PDF document.

I used sections from Donald Miller’s Blue Like Jazz and Rick McKinley’s This Beautiful Mess to round out the picture of the power of prayer and service as demonstrated by Imago Dei. Check out how their community service has developed — http://www.imagodeicommunity.com/serve/.

Our lives have been so disjointed and chaotic that we haven’t had a consistent home church in a few years, but hopefully life will settle down soon to the place where we can pursue these ideas in our own community. We are thankful for those who have journeyed with us in multiple churches across three states even as our mobility has proved difficult for ministry and friendship. We wish to no longer be a flight risk.

This conversation is connected to my three-part series on peace theology at Spectrum: Part 1 |  Part 2 |  Part 3

>Practical Matters

>A fellow peace studies seminarian shared Practical Matters with me today. It is “a transdisciplinary multimedia journal of religious practices and practical theology.” The current edition is on ethnography and theology. Enjoy!

>International Day of Prayer for Peace

>

Today is the International Day of Prayer for Peace.

This year’s International Day of Prayer for Peace has a focus on Africa as part of the final year of the WCC’s Decade to Overcome Violence (DOV).

Africa is also the home of UN Messenger of Peace, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and green advocate, Wangari Maathai. Maathai, a Kenyan, has been designated as a Messenger of Peace with a focus on the environment and climate change.

The WCC-sponsored International Day of Prayer for Peace takes place on the same day as the UN International Day of Peace.

[From Decade to Overcome Violence]

Learn more at On Earth Peace (main site).

UPDATE (9-28-10): Learn more about the UN Day of Peace by watching the film Peace One Day or the subsequent film, The Day after Peace.

>Peace Among the Peoples

>Before the Peace Among the Peoples conference began, Christian Peace Witness (CPW) members spent a day worshiping and discussing where CPW has come and where it needs to go. As the Adventist Peace Fellowship representative, I appreciated the chance to search for the “things that make for peace” with people from diverse Christian faith traditions. Stay tuned for more from CPW.

At the conference hosted by AMBS, I was encouraged and challenged by the stories brought by Jarrod McKenna. A few links:

• EPYC
• More than Meets the Eye
• Pace e Bene

Other presenters that really spoke to me personally: Mary Jo Leddy (Romero House), Rita Nakashima Brock (Saving Paradise), Glen Stassen (Just Peacemaking), Brian McLaren (A New Kind of Christianity), and Paul Alexander (Peace to War). Also noteworthy were strong words spoken by Stanley Hauerwas and Linda Gehman Peachey. I wish I had a recording of the final sermon by Andre Gingerich Stoner.

Comic relief was offered by Ted and Co.–I’d Like to Buy an Enemy.

After the last session, a number of the younger attendees had a post-conference shindig at the apartment of the couple primarily responsible for Jesus Radicals. Unfortunately, the Quaker seminarians had already left campus to head home.

Bonus points to the person who can name the theologian pictured on the middle t-shirt in the front row:
(Picture used by permission. Taken from Jarrod McKenna’s FB album.)

MORE:

• Adventist Peace Messenger (APF blog)
• Adventist Activism