Protecting Mother Earth

Steve, over at nuggets of logic (http://www.nuggetsoflogic.com/) believes that John Boehner (R-Ohio) encapsulates truth about the current Climate bill. The article referred to reports that Boehner thinks the bill is a 'pile of shit'. The left are acting like fundamentalist Christians when reading Revelation (looking to Al Gore for answers) when it comes to climate change and the right is just down right absurd. More and more Americans are concerned with the Climate and how we treat Mother Earth. Many just want to be good stewards and aren't too caught up in the lefts hysterics and the rights silliness. So my charge to you is this: How do we move forward on this issue? Do you think that caring for the environment really matters? If so, why? If not, why?

My Favorite Michael Jackson Song

Enjoy,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ex30DYwQlHU

The latest from JibJab

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Some Thoughts on Iran

The following link is to a post by Brian Mclaren on the current upheaval in Iran. Brian makes reference to a Andrew Sullivan post that is also good.; check both out. I think there is so much we can learn from Islam and much they could learn from Jesus. We so often become polarized by misconceptions and nationalism that we fail to separate the fundamentalists (from either faith) from the mass majority of the faithful.

Enjoy,

http://www.brianmclaren.net/archives/blog/iran-two-kinds-of-islam-and-two.html

How about some theology? An Address by Stanley Hauerwas

Over the past 5 months I have been heavily influenced by the Anabaptists (Mennonites). Two authors in particular have been life-giving for me; John Howard Yoder and Stanley Hauerwas.

The questions and observations below come from an address Hauerwas gave to graduates of Princeton Theological Seminary. If you have never been exposed to Hauerwas, get ready.

http://digital.library.ptsem.edu/default.xqy?img=1&src=PSB2007282.xml&div=8

Many Christians have never thought of Jesus' life and message as political. Rather, if one says Jesus is political, we here in America jump to issues on the left and right. Jesus is not political in this way. Jesus came proclaiming access to a new reality (the Kingdom of God). This is the gospel. This new reality is foolish to the wise, confounds the scholar and elevates the socially marginalized to a status of honor. Hauerwas says:

Jesus is the politics of the new age, he is about the establishment of a kingdom, he is the one who has created a new time that gives us the time not only to care for the poor but to be poor. Jesus is the one who makes it possible to be nonviolent in a violent world. After all, Mary's song promised that the proud would have their imaginations "scattered" , the powerful would be brought down from their thrones, the rich would be sent away empty, The lowly would be lifted up, the hungry would be filled with good things. Is it any wonder that the world was not prepared to welcome this saviour?

After reading the address consider the following:

http://digital.library.ptsem.edu/default.xqy?img=1&src=PSB2007282.xml&div=8

• How have we tamed the gospel? Have we reduced it?

• Have you found that 'American' presuppositions have colored the way you read the Bible?

• In light of Jesus offering a different way of seeing the world, why are we not doing it?

What say you?

How would you fix our schools?

Even if you don't spend much time in public schools I can promise you that your tax dollars are not being used effectively. And so, my charge to you is: How do we fix our public schools? An election in this state is coming up and this should be a big issue to voters. See the link below to get an idea of what is going on in the world of public education.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/class-struggle/2009/05/how_would_you_fix_the_nations.html

Language Creates Reality

I have long believed that language creates reality. The words we use to describe our faith, our politics, our neighbors, and so on matter. If belief begets action (which it always should) then our words matter. The link below will take you to one of my favorite linguists-Stanley Fish- in which he explores the rhetoric of Obama's speeches. What say you?

Last week I was driving home listening to President Obama’s speech on the General Motors bankruptcy, and I heard the full emergence of a note that had been sounded only occasionally in the two-plus years since the announcement of his candidacy. It was the note of imperial possession, the accents and cadences of a man supremely aware of his authority and more than comfortable with its exercise. -Stanley Fish (NY Times, 6/8/09)

http://fish.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/07/yes-i-can/?ref=opinion

Chistianity is Dead in this Country.

This saddens me. Not because of any political issue but our faith has become nothing more than a tool of the state and a platform to preach American politics rather than the Kingdom of God.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/04/kentucky-pastor-invites-p_n_211498.html

Obama's Speech

What did you all think about Obama's speech in Cairo?

G.M. and Organizational Culture

David Brooks says:

G.M.’s core problem is its corporate and workplace culture — the unquantifiable but essential attitudes, mind-sets and relationship patterns that are passed down, year after year.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/02/opinion/02brooks.html?_r=1&ref=opinion

Two questions:

1. What elements make for a good organizational culture?

2. How do you change an organizational culture that has been steeped in bureaucratic sludge for decades?