RiverRunning – Celebrating Intercultural Ministry

Canadian intercultural worship – Find out more on their website.  

Top-shelf Christians

I found this article a long time ago which nearly describes my faith experience to a T.  As I was re-hashing some things with God this morning, I was again reaffirmed by this wise man’s story and thought I’d share:

I received an email from someone puzzled about the grief I experienced when I gave up on God. This person felt liberated when she left Christianity.

I understand how some would feel that way. Many of you only know Christianity from bad books, TV preachers, and the people who watch them. If that were all I knew of Christianity I would celebrate my liberation from it all the days of my life.

But I was exposed early to the real stuff – Top Shelf Christianity – Deep and Old Christianity. This kind is practiced by people who work until they stink and take life in great draughts. Their hands are as rough as their hides, and they DO their faith in secret, hiding their good works in obedience to Christ. They know how to love and be loved in return. Their laughter is loud and has its roots in joy.

These Christians don’t want your money and they don’t advertise. You will only find them if you MUST find them. These are the ones who took me to Mexico as a boy and showed me pain and joy. They hid nothing from me.

I was also blessed by being exposed to the right kind of Christian thinkers. C.S Lewis and his friend J.R.R. Tolkein. Frederick Buechner, Carlyle Marney, and Thomas Merton. Will Campbell who wrote “Brother to a Dragonfly” and Eberhard Arnold. Frederick Dale Bruner and Martin Luther King Jr.

You did understand there was more to this than religious TV and the drivel they sell in those awful Christian bookstores, right? After all, Christianity didn’t sustain itself for twenty centuries by shitting Hallmark cards before a live studio audience.

What the world needs now…

We have a comedian and a philosopher in our house. The comedian usually makes the posts. This time, the philosopher (our six year old daughter) takes the cake…

My husband occasionally writes notes on our white board. My newly literate daughter has recently taken to responding to these notes. Today, my husband wrote, “What the world needs now, is love, sweet love.”

My daughter’s response?  “What the world needs is god.”

Dreams, readjusted.

If I had my druthers, I would have picked a really cool place to live – you know, like New York City, Seattle, or at least Chicago.  Then, when I met people from my past and they asked where I lived, I could suavely reply, “New York,” to be inevitably met by an impressive, “Wow.”

I also would have picked a really cool job – like resettling refugees, working in a soup kitchen, being an artist, or something a bit ‘edgy’ like that.  Then, when I met new people and they asked what I did, I could respond (with all humility, of course), “Oh, I work in a homeless shelter,” to be met by an even bigger “Wow.”

Then, surely I would be able to saunter down the street in my funky attire and be known as someone who ‘does something worthwhile’.  I also am a bit partial to being known as ‘one tough cookie’, but that doesn’t sound nearly as humble.

But, alas, the plan didn’t work.  I live in rural Indiana, drive my kids around in a mini-van, and teach part time at a Christian college – none of which have ever made my ‘cool’ list.  I used to live in Washington,, DC, where my husband and I enjoyed spending warm afternoons on the National Mall or hiking around the Potomac River.  When I first moved to Indiana, I desperately missed the ‘coolness’ factor of being able to tell far away friends that I’d walked by the White House or attended a peaceful protest/prayer walk past the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and Capital Building.  I mean, it doesn’t pack near the punch to say that you drove by a barn/tractor/cornfield or attended a hymn sing at church on Sunday night.  While cornfields in early summer are indeed a sight to behold, they simply lack the impressive aura of the Atlantic coast or the inspiring beauty of the Smokey Mountains.

Everything here is just quieter.  Instead of car horns and sirens, there are birdsongs and rustling branches.  Our only version of a traffic jam is getting stuck behind a tractor on a country road, and stopsigns are relevant only when a police car is present (because there are rarely other cars at intersections).  If you don’t count my neighbor who tests the engine on his race car every day in the summer, life around here is a gentle conversation between two old ladies on a front porch.

I don’t mean to insinuate anything about the folks who actually live in these places or do my definition of ‘cool’ things.  I know many of them, and the ones who have settled into these vocations maintain a humility and passion that extends far beyond my egotistical motivations to do such work.  It’s more about the gap between my own expectations of what meaningful life would look like, and what meaningful life actually is.

My evangelical brothers and sisters would speak of the grace and truth of Christ as the most meaningful component of their lives.  My liturgical brothers and sisters would highlight the mystery and majesty of God.  My charismatic siblings would claim joy and redemption.  I’m glad they’re all spot-on in their own ways, but also like to think the tangible ways meaning shows up, especially on a day like today (MLK day).

The Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays Dilemma

This time of year, i end up shaking my head at all the breath wasted over this perspective.  If you’re a Christian, I certainly wish you a very merry Christmas.  If you’re not, or I don’t know, you get a Happy Holidays.  Eugene Cho, one of my favorite bloggers, just shared an insightful reflection worth sharing…  Here’s another as well.

Learning to laugh

Walking out of my office to give a final exam, I thought, “Sometimes it just sucks to by human.”  When I reached the classroom, my students were bemoaning their lives and the stress levels within.  I grinned and set the plate of homemade, decorated cookies I’d brought them on a desk.

“It’s Christmas!” one remarked, as the hope of sugar eased some of the anxiety.  I told them my recent thought and we all shared a knowing smile.  I wonder if Jesus had the same idea just  before he came to Earth.

In the midst of major craziness waiting for the peace and calm of Christmas, I was grateful for this moment to be honest and chuckle at all in life beyond our control.

In case you need a few reasons to chuckle this season, this website often helps me…  Dry, sarcastic sometimes, but oh, so true!

Faith, development, and non-profits

Just *unbiasedly* passing along a link to my husband’s blog, Bricks and Mortar, for those of you with interest in faith-based development or non-profits.  He is currently working on his PhD in Community Economic Development and has some great resources to share.

“It’s the end of the world as we know it, again…”

Growing weary of the ’socialist criticisms’

Multiracial Family Blog

By birth. By adoption. By marriage. By choice. By circumstance.

Just found this – look appropriate to pass along!

What if Jesus meant all that stuff?

Shane Calibourne, author of Irresistible Revolution, worte an article in Esquire this week.  His letter is addressing those who don’t believe.  Here’s the intro:

To all my nonbelieving, sort-of-believing, and used-to-be-believing friends: I feel like I should begin with a confession. I am sorry that so often the biggest obstacle to God has been Christians. Christians who have had so much to say with our mouths and so little to show with our lives. I am sorry that so often we have forgotten the Christ of our Christianity.

Forgive us. Forgive us for the embarrassing things we have done in the name of God.

Read more: http://www.esquire.com/features/best-and-brightest-2009/shane-claiborne-1209#ixzz0XUgiAQP4

From Sojo.net: Unseen Privilege: The Overlooked Gender Dimension of the Deadly Viper Conversation

Kathy Khang has offered insightful, hilarious, and important perspective on how women are spoken about and portrayed in literature marketed to men.  My favorite excerpt, first quoting the book, then offering some feedback:

“And then there’s little old us looking like school girls with plaid skirts on, because we are unskilled and undisciplined in the area of character. We’re weaklings with rail skinny arms and toothpick legs.” DV, page 11

“So we are asking you to make a choice and a decision right now. We are asking you to go balls out with us and become warriors, fighters, and black belts in the art of integrity. For some, this might be painful. For others, this will simply validate your leadership choices and good decisions. This is the grand master challenge to conquer yourself. We want to party with Master Po! We are warriors in the making.” p. 21

School girls with plaid skirts? Really? And how the *bleep* am I supposed “to go balls out”? Yeah, that’s going to be painful if not impossible. I don’t have balls, thank you very much. What is that even supposed to mean? I asked my husband, because he has balls, and he couldn’t believe his eyes. We both agreed. If any of our kids used that phrase they would know immediately that Mom and Dad were not validating their leadership choices and that using the phrase was not a good decision.
Read the rest of the article here.

Top Ten Posts & Searches of all time on The Link Between

37,000 hits and 2 1/2 years later, here’s what you’re most interested in:

Posts:

1.  Exploding whales on the streets of Taiwan

2.  Differences between Eastern and Western

3.  Clowns vs. the KKK

4.  Transracial Adoption: The Pros and Cons

5.  The Prayer of Oscar Romero

‘6.  Intercultural Marriage, Promises and Pitfalls

7.  Cross-Cultural Kids

8.  Thoughts on raising a mixed raced child

9.  Intercultural Marriage: a Model of Reconciliation

10.  50 Experiences of Racially Mixed People

Searches:

1.  the whale that exploded

2.  exploding whale

3.  intercultural marriage

4.  consumerism

5.  exploding whales

6.  kkk

7.  difference between eastern and western

8.  funny whale

9.  hate crimes

10.  mk2mk

Could someone please explain to me the fascination with exploding whales???

Zondervan issues apology and pulls Deadly Viper from the shelves

What a move!!!  Way to go Zondervan!  See the apology on Soong Chan Rah’s blog.  (If you don’t know about this controversy, read this.)

closing words for the day…

Advent Conspiracy 2009

One of my favorite things from last Christmas – the Advent Conspiracy – has a new promo video out.  Worth a look!