May, 2009

Pentecost 2009 Reflections

May 31st, 2009

Today is Pentecost Sunday (yesterday, now that it is after midnight). I feel a little weird writing about it, being something of an ecclesial vagabond in the last couple of years.

Links for May 31st

Praying the Bible – Praying with Paul – The New Christians

More from Tony: "What do I do now, Master? is a question each Christ-follower should ask after the Lord brings us through a Damascus Road Experience, or any time he brings us through one chapter of our lives and into another."

tags:

spirituality

prayer

bible

new-testament

paul

tony-jones

Links for May 30th

Praying the Bible – A Working Definition – The New Christians

Again, I meant to link to this series when it was posted. Tony writes a great series on praying the Bible.

tags:

tony-jones

spirituality

bible

prayer

Praying the Bible – Praying with Deborah – The New Christians

Deborah's response to God.

tags:

tony-jones

old-testament

spirituality

prayer

bible

Praying the Bible – Praying with Solomon – The New Christians

On Solmon's well-known request for wisdom.

tags:

old-testament

tony-jones

spirituality

bible

prayer

Praying the Bible – Praying with Jesus – The New Christians

On Jesus' request for his killers to be forgiven.

tags:

tony-jones

spirituality

prayer

new-testament

bible

Praying the Bible – Praying with the Disciples – The New Christians

"How does God knowing you "inside and out" affect how you pray? When was the last time you went to God for guidance before a big decision? What happened? Would you feel comfortable casting lots or drawing straws to determine God's will on an issue? Why or why not?"

tags:

tony-jones

spirituality

new-testament

bible

prayer

Links for May 29th

Praying the Bible – The Bible Is (Still) Alive – The New Christians

I meant to link to these when they were first posted, so I'll do that moving forward. This is the intro to Tony Jones' series on lectio divina.

tags:

lectio-divina

tony-jones

bible

prayer

spirituality

Praying the Bible – The Ladder of Lectio Divina – The New Christians

The method of lectio divina.

tags:

lectio-divina

tony-jones

spirituality

prayer

bible

Praying the Bible – The Reading of Lectio Divina – The New Christians

The reading of lectio divina. "There's no secret formula to the first step of lectio divina, but it's a bit like savoring that one bite of food. Just read the passage slowly and repeatedly. Let it sink in. Read it out loud, and read it silently. Become familiar with the rhythms of the text, its ebbs and flows. Read it over and over again."

tags:

lectio-divina

tony-jones

spirituality

prayer

bible

Praying the Bible – The Meditation of Lectio Divina – The New Christians

"The kind of meditation to which God calls Joshua, and the kind of meditation to which the psalmist calls all of us, is more like a dog chewing a bone, or a lion working over a carcass, than what we usually think of as meditation."

tags:

spirituality

prayer

bible

lectio-divina

tony-jones

Praying the Bible – The Wrestling of Lectio Divina – The New Christians

"Biblical and non-biblical examples abound of praying with ardor and vehemence. In fact, our willingness to really and deeply engage God in fervent prayer may well be an indication of how seriously we take our relationship with God."

tags:

lectio-divina

prayer

spirituality

bible

tony-jones

Praying the Bible – The Contemplation of Lectio Divina – The New Christians

"For Christians, contemplation is a discipline in which we don't give up our bodies, but we temporarily quiet our bodies and minds for one purpose: to rest in God's love."

tags:

spirituality

prayer

bible

tony-jones

contemplation

lectio-divina

Brian McLaren on Plurality 2.0 — pomomusings

Brian McLaren's thoughts on plurality – really beautiful, gracious words.

tags:

ministry

culture

evangelism

brian-mclaren

Links for May 28th

What evangelicals fight about: atonement | open source theology

"Evangelicalism will not settle the debate over the atonement, in my view, until it grasps the fact that not only is it the product of the narrative, it remains subject to the narrative. As long as it insists in deal with abstractions, it remains a sub-biblical movement."

tags:

atonement

jesus

new-testament

bible

Links for May 27th

Book Review: The Patriot's Bible (part 2) | Out of Ur | Conversations for Ministry Leaders

Part two of Greg Boyd's review of The American Patriot Bible, an idolatrous study Bible designed to baptize patriotism.

tags:

greg-boyd

bible

Experimental Theology: Freud & Faith: Part 5, The Best Parents in America

"We live in an culture, in America at least, that is both child-centric and nurture-obsessed. Interestingly, American Christianity has fully embraced these cultural emphases. American Christianity has made the parental nurture of children its defining witness to the world. This is a strange move to make given Jesus's consistent marginalization of family love."

tags:

parenting

culture

psychology

freud

9 Ways to Set Dynamic Body IDs via PHP and WordPress • Perishable Press

Simple ways to use PHP for body tag IDs and classes. Good to keep around.

tags:

programming

php

wordpress

When it Comes to the Bible, Many Christians are disciples of Descartes – Alex McManus

The foundationalist faith of 20th century conservative and liberal theology, and why it needs to stop.

tags:

postmodernism

culture

theology

The Bible as Human Literature – Alex McManus

"The Bible is only human literature. Breathe."

tags:

theology

bible

Shapevine Missional Training Community — Church Planters, House Church, Simple Church, Attractional

"It is remarkable to me that the theologically most fertile parts of the Bible are all, yes all, set in the context of the people of God facing significant danger and chaos." Looks at institutional churches in the Christendom model in light of their drive to avoid chaos, and what this does.

tags:

church

culture

theology

alan-hirsch

Cheney's Core Contradiction | The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan

More lies from Cheney, and solid evidence that the torture program was not ever limited to a few cases at Abu Ghraib.

tags:

andrew-sullivan

torture

Links for May 26th

A List Apart: Articles: Burnout

"Web professionals are often expected to be “always on”—always working, absorbing information, and honing new skills. Unless our work and personal lives are carefully balanced, however, the physical and mental effects of an "always on" life can be debilitating."

tags:

health

design

psychology

Ascension Sunday

May 24th, 2009

Today, in liturgical churches at least, was Ascension Sunday, the day that celebrates the return of Jesus into heaven.

Links for May 22nd

Book Review: The Patriot's Bible (part 1) | Out of Ur | Conversations for Ministry Leaders

Part one of Greg Boyd's review of The American Patriot Bible, an idolatrous study Bible designed to baptize patriotism.

tags:

bible

greg-boyd

adaptive path » blog » Andrew Crow » The one about “look and feel”

"Often, people lack the language or understanding of the work to accurately express their opinions. Consequently, we use simple terms of the way an object 'looks' or how it 'feels'. Speaking in terms of these qualities does a disservice to the design. We cheapen the value of the work by paying attention only to the superficial aspects."

tags:

adaptive-path

business

design

Links for May 19th

God Talk, Part 2 – Stanley Fish Blog – NYTimes.com

Great words on the epistemology of the "new atheists" compared with the epistemology of faith. It often occurs to me that this new atheism has lagged behind postmodernism just as much as religious fundamentalism.

tags:

science

atheism

faith

epistemology