The Vivid City

African Heartwood Project

2010-03-04T09:38:00.010-07:00

Salt Lake City based African Heartwood Project is making a difference one drum at a time! Last year I had the privilege of buying my Djembe drum from Djembe Direct and got to meet some folks who are making a difference in Africa by being involved with this project. Check out the video below to learn more about the African Heartwood Project from the project's founder Andy Jones.

www.africanheartwoodproject.org

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Christopher J.H. Wright @ Redcliff College

2010-03-02T08:49:00.005-07:00

Christopher J.H. Wright, Director of Langham Partnership, gave the 2009 Redcliff lecture on the Bible and Mission at the Centre for the study of the Bible and Mission at Redcliff College. He spoke about the missional framework of the biblical story using a case study from the book of Jeremiah. He shows how mission is not just a part of the Bible, but what the whole Bible is about. Wright states,

"The whole Bible renders to us the Mission of God, that the Bible as a whole canon from beginning to end is a witness of God's mission through God's people, in God's world, for God's purpose which is ultimately the redemption of the whole of God's creation. And the great overarching narrative is what the Apostle Paul would have probably meant when he spoke about the whole counsel of God, the whole will and plan and purpose of God running from creation through to new creation."

What do you think? Is mission what the whole Bible is about?

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Noelle's 1st Birthday!

2010-02-22T21:42:00.044-07:00

Noelle Sojourner turns 1!

Waiting for the party guests to arrive

Celebrate!

Vivid City Olympians

2010-02-22T06:42:00.012-07:00

Westminster College located in Salt Lake City is a small liberal arts college of just 2,600 students, but 14 of them are athletes participating in the Olympic Games in Vancouver. Check out the story from NPR here.

You can track the progress of all 14 athletes here.

Vivid City: Vancouver

2010-02-11T22:25:00.002-07:00

Vivid City: Vancouver

Vancouver 2010

SLC's City Creek Development

2010-02-10T23:24:00.004-07:00

City Creek is a sustainably designed, walkable urban community of residences, offices and retail stores that will rise over the next three years on approximately 20 acres across three blocks in the heart of downtown Salt Lake City. Upon project completion in 2012, the city will be one of few in the nation with a vibrant, mixed-use development at its core.

Salt Lake City is becoming more and more vivid as the City Creek Center development continues. According to this article in the Salt Lake Tribune, the LDS Church says that the development is on schedule for 2012.

What does City Creek mean for Salt Lake's downtown core? What difference will City Creek make in SLC?

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Christopher J.H. Wright @ AGTS

2010-02-06T23:30:00.004-07:00

Christopher J.H. Wright, International Director of Langham Partnership International, gave the following series of lectures last month at the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary's Spring Lectureship.

Here Wright speaks on his recent work for Cape Town 2010: The Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization, the mission of God, and the love of God and the centrality of the cross as it relates to God's mission.

His final lecture entitled, "Who Are We and What Are We Here For? The Identity and Calling of God's People" is centered around the subject matter of his forthcoming book, The Mission of God's People, which is scheduled for release by Zondervan in August.

Whole Gospel, Whole Church, Whole World - January 19, 2010

The Mission of God - January 19, 2010

Numbers 14 and Deuteronomy 1 - January 20, 2010

Who Does God Love? The Love of God and the Cross of Christ and the Christ's Mission - January 20, 2010

Isaiah 52:7-10 - January 20, 2010

Who Are We and What Are We Here For? The Identity and Calling of God's People - January 21, 2010

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Vivid City: Tokyo

2010-02-05T23:48:00.005-07:00

Here is a look at a new work of gospel ministry that is happening in Tokyo
Grace City Church Tokyo

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Redeemer City to City

2010-01-28T12:16:00.004-07:00

Redeemer Church Planting Center is now Redeemer City to City. Check out the new website here for news, blogs and training programs relevant to church planting.

Redeemer City to City focuses on church planting for the renewal of global cities and content resources for leaders who want to bring the power of the gospel to every part of life.

Redeemer City to City seeks to catalyze and serve a global movement of leaders who create new churches, new ventures, and new expressions of the gospel of Jesus Christ for the common good.

Culture Making at Covenant

2010-01-28T11:59:00.000-07:00

Andy Crouch, author of Culture Making, visited Covenant Theological Seminary and was the featured speaker for the 2009 Francis Schaeffer Institutes's fall lecture series. In this 4 part lecture series, Crouch talks about what he has learned since writing Culture Making, confronts the abuse of power and privilege in our world, and discusses creative power that results in renewal rather than oppression.

Andy Crouch's lectures are now available! Check them out here.

Words Create Worlds

2010-01-27T22:14:00.004-07:00

The following article written by Jon Foreman entitled, "What's in a Word?" is definitely worth a look! The Huffington Post posted this article on January 25, 2010.

What's in a Word?
by Jon Foreman

Communication is a pregnancy of sorts. In a speaker's mind, a thought is conceived, then spoken, heard, and then ultimately gives birth to new thought in the listener's mental landscape. For example, when I say "tree," a picture builds in your imagination, a new life-form within your mind; a platonic idea of oak or maple appears out of nothing within your thoughts. This mental icon represents your understanding of the word. (Incidentally, this apprehension is independent of the speaker's intentions).

In many ways, words are metaphors pointing to the objects they represent. The word "tree" is not a tree; it is simply a placeholder for the real thing. Our understanding of the world is built upon a deeper set of presuppositions. Meaning demands meaning. Reason demands reason: 1+1=2, only when we agree upon the meaning of these symbols. The same is true for words. Words are our framework of meaning. Every one is a metaphor reaching to something beyond it's simple spelling and articulation.

Words have incredible power. Words create worlds. The words we use define ourselves and the world around us. They shape our reality. Our words determine our ideologies.

In India there is a group of people who have been oppressed for over 3000 years. They are called the Dalit. They are relegated to the worst jobs, cleaning sewers and removing the bodies of dead animals from the roads. Even the cows, whose bodies they clean from the side of the road, are treated with far more respect. Over the coarse of time, the identity of the Dalit people group, (also called the "untouchables"), has been stripped of all dignity. "They have been oppressed not just economically or even physically, but also ideologically," states Jean- Luc Racine and Josiane Racine, who goes on to say that ultimate freedom will come when the Dalit's define themselves in a new way. According to the Racines the question becomes, "Which new identity will sustain the emancipation process?"¹

Words are the keepers of history. If the Dalit's handle of "untouchability" feels too foreign to our American ears, let us examine a few race-driven words within our own borders. These are words that I feel uncomfortable even putting into print. Nigger. Wetback. Red Neck. Cracker. Chinks. Spicks. These words are pregnant with incredible potency. These words do not have a history of tolerance, of acceptance, or compassion. No, these words tell the story of oppression -- of an American landscape of racism and mistrust. Without our past, these words have no negative connotations. Yet within our historical landscape of slavery and shame, these words have powerful implications.

Words are the foundation upon which we build our lives. This holds true even for wonderful words like Love, Light, Justice, Honor, Truth, Joy, Peace, Redemption, Happiness, or Beauty. These are beautiful words, yet they are words we know only in part.

We've seen glimpses of these entities on our planet, but only for a moment. How can we know the full meaning of justice on a planet where cruel power has the final say? How can we know peace against the backdrop of increasingly sophisticated war machines?

Today, thousands of six-year-olds around the world are hungry, wondering how they will get their next meal. Tragedy. Right now, thousands of innocent girls are being forced into prostitution. Tragedy. This very hour, millions of people are dying because of a lack of access to clean water. Tragedy.

Tragedy. Tragedy. Tragedy. And yet, if these are the simple facts, how can we call it tragic?

Hans Urs von Balthasar says that tragedy is dependent upon a belief system. "The meeting of these two words,'tragedy' and 'faith' is deeply significant, for what is broken in the tragic presupposes a faith in the unbroken totality."² Hope is believing in a world that does not exist yet, a concession towards the kingdom of the heavens. To hope is to believe that life could be better. It is ultimately our belief in this "unbroken totality" that allows for the potential of tragedy. For without this hope, tragedy is no longer tragedy -- it's simply expected. Without a belief that allows for a better world, the tragic is fact.

So we are given a choice at the edge of these two worlds. The choice between despair or hope. To be in despair is to deny that tragedy is tragedy. To be in despair is to disbelieve in the tragic and redefine it as acceptable, immutable, unchangeable. To hope is to call injustices and corruptions exactly what they are: tragic. Against all odds, against all that we know about this world, we could choose to hope for a better one -- to hope for love, for peace, for a form of contentment and solace that we have never fully realized. We choose to speak these worlds into being.

To create is to cosign the Maker's checks. In the Abrahamic beliefs, (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) the Maker speaks things into existence. Light, darkness, day, night, water, land, plants and animals... these are spoken into being. In the Hindu scriptures, there is a similar creation story, in which the verbal command comes from Vishnu, "Create the world." In all of these belief systems, the Word has tremendous power. The Christian account of the creation makes virtually no distinction between God and Word in the beginning. John 1:1 states, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

The artist is a bridge between despair and hope. The artist, more than anyone else is responsible for the re-creation, re-definition and re-thinking the world around us. Every poem, every song, every painting has tremendous possibility. Each of these creations could be a letter of resignation to The World That Is or a window into The World That Is Not. Each poem/painting/song could be a vehicle to a new reality, one in which the artist plays a part no matter how small. The artist paints a world into existence. The canvas, the paint, the brush--these known quantities of existence and reality are tools for stepping into the unknown. The notes of the song are a bridge from what is to what is not yet.

I don't write songs when I'm happy. When I'm content, I take my wife out to dinner, I go surfing. I hang out with my friends and play ridiculous cover tunes when I'm happy. But when I'm depressed, I turn to look for something beyond this life. When I'm lonely and nothing makes sense and the world has lost it's flavor I search for notes and words that usher in a transcendence that soars high above the tragedy. I look for to song to understand the present tragedy in the context of a hope for a better world. I look for words that remind me of a bigger story, for songs that acknowledge the tragedy and move beyond it. I look to artists who give me windows, words that provide for a new life to be birthed within me.

Is it escape? Is it a coping mechanism? Maybe a bit, but I feel that it is much more than that. The song becomes a hopeful defiance. A declaration that the injustices and absurdities of our postmodern existence are not the final downbeat. Music becomes a confession of disbelief in the world that surrounds me. A refusal to believe that these tragedies and horrors are the ultimate end. A refusal to accept the oppression of the Dalit's as anything other than tragic. A nonacceptance that the starving six year old is anything other than tragic. The song is written in defense of a world beyond this one, in defense of Truths that seldom make it to the front page of the newspaper. Words create worlds.

¹ Dalit Identities and The Dialectics of Oppression and Emancipation in a Changing India: The Tamil Case and Beyond -Jean-Luc Racine & Josiane Racine
² The von Bathasar reader p. 92

SLC's Best Coffee

2010-01-20T10:57:00.010-07:00

The Salt Lake City coffee scene is alive and well. In this city you don't have to go far to find a good cup of brewed bean, there are plenty of options. At 9th and 9th there is Coffee Garden which brews Logan, Utah's own Ibis coffee. To experience the college coffee scene there is Salt Lake Coffee Break on 400 South. Just down the street from Coffee Break is the Salt Lake Roasting Company which has set the pace for all the others in the SLC for years. Then there is Coffee Noir which is a nice close-to-campus option as well. The Avenues neighborhood has a few choices including Java Joe's serving a chocolate covered espresso been with every cup that adds a nice touch. They are located on the corner of 1st Avenue & E Street just a block from Jack Mormon Coffee.

On the West Side of Salt Lake City is, of course, Mestizo Coffeehouse. Mestizo is a great place for coffee, but more than that, it is a community who is seeking to impact the city through the arts, social activism, and community focused projects. Mestizo is also home to Mestizo Institute of Culture and Arts (MICA). Check out this article in Salt Lake Magazine about what they are doing in their community.

Salt Lake City also has a host of other coffee shops including the local chain Beans and Brews and, a number of Starbucks locations. However, if you want simply the best coffee Salt Lake City has to offer look no further than the neighborhood that an article in Sunset Magazine's November 2009 issue called a place "full of creative, Bohemian energy." Contributing to this buzz in the neighborhood is the Kayo Gallery, the Broadway Theatre (where there will be plenty of Sundance action during the next 2weeks!), and Slowtrain Music. Amidst the creative Bohemian energy is Nobrow Coffee and Tea Company at 315 East Broadway. Here you will find not only 1 of just 2 coffee shops in the city that offers coffee using the single-cup method, but coffee from Chicago based Intelligentsia.

Perhaps I am a bit overly excited about my coffee and so upon returning to the city after being in St. Louis for a few years I discovered Nobrow and was reassured that it was o.k. to be living back behind the Zion curtain! Prior to living in St. Louis, I was living in Chicago's Lake View neighborhood where I would frequent one of Intelligentsia's 3 Chicago locations, Intelli's Broadway Coffeebar. Intelligentsia is, according to Michaele Weissman, author of God in a Cup: The Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Coffee, "the largest and arguably the most influential of the elite speciality roasting companies." Intelli and it's founder and CEO, Geoff Watts, the best-known speciality coffee buyer in the world, "buys more highly ranked coffee than any other elite roaster," says Weissman. (pg. 18)

Salt Lake's coffee culture is alive with great coffee, but nobody in SLC but Nobrow is selling the best coffee in the world. If you are in town for Sundance or a local looking for good coffee head over to Broadway and check out Nobrow. Enjoy some fine coffee today Salt Lake City. Support your baristas and the many fine independent coffee shops the city has to offer!

MLK, the Beloved Community, and the Gospel Unhindered

2010-01-18T15:27:00.004-07:00

“Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like, anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.”

These words are the familiar words Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke the night before his assassination. Dr. King was a man with a dream. His dream was to see true integration. He dream was to see what he called “the beloved community.”

Nearly forty-one years later, Barack Obama was inaugurated as the first African-American President of the United States and many declared that Dr. King's dream was fulfilled. The day Barack Obama was inaugurated was certainly a glorious day and for those who have suffered and been oppressed because of race, this day was even much more meaningful than it was for me, I'm sure. But there is even a far more glorious day coming when the beloved community where oppression ceases and justice becomes reality.

Because the work of God empowering people like Dr. King, the beloved community indeed has been inaugurated, but it is not yet fulfilled. We've still got difficult days ahead. See, King's dream, the beloved community, is rooted in a larger, more comprehensive, more vivid dream, than I think we can even imagine. His dream was fundamentally rooted in the kingdom of God. King's words speak of this grand reality,

“But the end is reconciliation; the end is redemption; the end is the creation of the beloved community. It is this type of spirit and this type of love that can transform opposers into friends... It is an overflowing love which seeks nothing in return. It is the love of God working in the lives of men. This is the love that may well be the salvation of our civilization.” (from “The Role of the Church in Facing the Nation's Chief Moral Dilemma,” 1957)

His dream was for true redemption, a dream perhaps similar to the Apostle Paul's dream. The Apostle Paul had a dream that is a dream shared by all those who profess faith in Jesus Christ. It is the dream of the day when all things will be made new. Paul new that with the first coming of Jesus Christ the kingdom of God was inaugurated. But while Paul suffered, he was still awaiting fulfillment, full redemption, a day where all things would be made new.

Sometimes when I see the famous photograph of Dr. King looking through the bars of his Birmingham, Alabama jail cell, I think about the last chapter of the book of Acts and more specifically, the last words, “without hindrance.” The whole book of Acts depicts the redemptive and reconciling work of God going out unhindered in spite of overwhelming opposition. Indeed the work that Dr. King lead goes forth in spite of opposition. In Acts, we see that there is a great deal of opposition to the work of God, to the gospel. The opposition to the gospel that we see in Acts and indeed the opposition to the gospel today is disheartening. We know that in our own lives we face opposition of all kinds. Even today too many people around the world remain in situations where there is fierce oppression. Much of this oppression is based on race, gender, and social class. Today we also live in a world where the majority of Christians are also facing a great deal of oppression.

Acts however has good news for us! At the end of the book, the Apostle Paul is under arrest and imprisoned for his proclamation of Jesus Christ. And yet even with such a barrier like Paul's imprisonment, the work of God is still going forth and is going forth unhindered! Regardless of those barriers, those things that stand in opposed to God and God's people, the transforming of the beloved community goes forth! God is making all things new!

The kingdom of God and the beloved community was inaugurated when God pursued us in the coming of Jesus, who came to dwell among us, to die for all our wrongs, and to be raised from death to new life. God's work is going forth. The beloved community is, in the words of King, “the love of God working in the lives of men. This is the love that may well be the salvation of our civilization.” After all, it is this love of God so powerfully at work that not even death itself hindereds Christ's life and the life of all those who are united to him in faith.

The book of Acts clearly reveals that the transforming work of God goes forth without hindrance. until the glorious day when “a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages” will stand before our God and cry out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God...” (Revelation 7:9)

But Acts also leaves us with the question of whether or not we will be a part of this transformative work in the beloved community. It is impossible to experience a renewed life, a life resurrected by ourselves. We need to be connected relationally with the very one who was unhindered by death, Jesus Christ.

It is also impossible to follow Jesus by ourselves. Christians are called to love one another and are called into the beloved community. Robert Gelinas in his book, gets at this from the stand point of Jazz. He states,

“Most instruments used in jazz do not sound good by themselves. It is only when they are blended with others that they become compelling...the gospel is about the individual and the group...to follow Jesus is to become part of God's chosen people, the body of Christ...It is a beautiful challenge to be part of Christ's community, realizing that in the garden of Eden there was perfect relationship with God and each other and that as God restores a right relationship with him, he also restores those around us. Jesus' death on the cross broke down every barrier that could keep us from God and from each other. So much so that when the Apostle John gets a glimpse of heaven, he points our that there are people there from every tribe, language, people, and nation.” Finding the Groove: Composing a Jazz-Shaped Faith, pg. 90-91)

What about you and I? Where are we in relationship to the dream? Are we recognizing the extent of the dream? Are we participating in God's transforming unhindered work or are we reluctant to participate and to join this beloved community?

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30 Best Films of the Decade (2000-2009)

2009-12-30T22:45:00.006-07:00

Here are my picks of the 30 best films of the decade. You may notice that there is only one film (Silent Light) here from 2009. This year we have a new addition to our family and having a baby equals watching films primarily on DVD. With many of the big films of this year (such as Avatar, A Serious Man, Inglorious Basterds, Precious, and Up in the Air) unavailable to me, 2009 has little representation here. Nevertheless, listed are my picks!

What about your top picks? What are your choices for the best films of the Aughts?

30. Amelie (2001)
Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Writers: Guillaume Laurant, Jean-Pierre Jeunet

29. Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
Directors: Danny Boyle, Loveleen Tandan (co-director: India)
Writers: Simon Beaufoy (screenplay), Vikas Swarup (novel)

28. Maria Full of Grace (2004)
Director/Writer: Joshua Marston

27. Hotel Rwanda (2004)
Director: Terry George
Writers: Keir Pearson, Terry George

26. The Pianist (2002)
Director: Roman Polanski
Writers: Ronald Harwood (screenplay), Wladyslaw Szpilman (based on the book by)

25. Mystic River (2003)
Director: Clint Eastwood
Writers: Dennis Lehane (novel), Brian Helgeland (screenplay)

24. Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
Director/Writer: Guillermo del Toro

23. The Reader (2008)
Director: Stephen Daldry
Writers:David Hare (screenplay), Bernhard Schlink (book)

22. Revolutionary Road (2008)
Director: Sam Mendes
Writers:Justin Haythe (screenplay), Richard Yates (novel)

21. Crash (2004)
Director/Writer: Paul Haggis

20. Turtles Can Fly (2004)
Director/Writer: Bahman Ghobadi

19. The Station Agent (2003)
Writer/Director: Thomas McCarthy

18. In the Bedroom (2002)
Director:Todd Field
Writers:Andre Dubus (story), Robert Festinger (screenplay)

17. Dancer in the Dark (2000)
Director/Writer: Lars von Trier

16. Silent Light (2009)
Director/Writer: Carlos Reygadas

15. Nowhere in Africa (2001)
Director:Caroline Link
Writers:Caroline Link (writer), Stefanie Zweig (novel)

14. Babel (2006)
Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu
Writer: Guillermo Arriaga

13. City of God (2003)
Director: Fernando Meirelles
Writers: Paulo Lins (novel), Bráulio Mantovani

12. The Class (Entres Les Murs) (2008)
Writer/Director: Laurent Cantet

11. Once (2007)
Writer/Director: John Carney

10. Elephant (2003)
Writer/Director: Gus Van Sant

9.There Will Be Blood (2007)
Writer/Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Writer: Upton Sinclair (novel)

8. Juno (2007)
Director: Jason Reitman
Writer: Diablo Cody

7. Caché (Hidden) (2005)
Writer/Director: Michael Haneke

6. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)
Director: Julian Schnabel
Writers: Ronald Harwood (screenplay), Jean-Dominique Bauby (book)

5. No Country For Old Men (2007)
Writer/Directors: Joel and Ethan Coen
Writer: Cormac McCarthy (novel)

4. Sideways (2004)
Director: Alexander Payne
Writers: Rex Pickett (Novel), Alexander Payne (Screenplay)

3. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Writer/Director: Michel Gondry
Writers: Charlie Kaufman, Pierre Bismuth

2. Memento (2000)
Writer/Director: Christopher Nolan
Writer: Jonathan Nolan (short story)

1. Mulholland Drive (2001)
Writer/Director: David Lynch

Check out my picks for the 20 Best Albums of the decade here.

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Christmas Comes Anew!

2009-12-25T09:18:00.010-07:00

"The Nativity" by He Qi

"Christmas did not come after a great mass of people had completed something good, or because of the successful result of any human effort. No, it came as a miracle, as the child that comes when his time is fulfilled, as a gift of the Father which he lays into those arms that are stretched out in longing. In this way did Christmas come; in this way it always comes anew, both to individuals and to the whole world."
-Bill Wiser, theologian and pastor

Merry Christmas!

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New Song, New Location, New Website

2009-12-18T15:48:00.005-07:00

Beginning on Christmas Eve New Song will be meeting at a new location! We are relocating our Sunday services to the chapel at Rowland Hall (720 S. Guardsman Way in SLC)

Also, check out our new "stripped down" website at www.newsong.org

20 Best Albums of the Decade (2000-2009)

2009-12-17T22:50:00.003-07:00

It is that time of year, the time of year for "Best of" lists! So, I thought I would post what I consider the best albums of the decade. Now, keep in mind that I was unable to hear every album in entirety. Also, there are some albums that I would have liked to hear more than once or twice, such as, Radiohead's In Rainbows and Outkast's Stankonia (albums on many "best of" lists). So, give me your opinions on the best albums of the decade.

Here is my list of the 20 best albums of the Aughts:

20. Pedro The Lion: Control (2002)

19. Bob Dylan: Modern Times (2006)

18. Joseph Arthur: Our Shadows Will Remain (2004)

17. Over The Rhine: Drunkard's Prayer (2005)

16. The Postal Service: Give Up (2003)

15. Arcade Fire: Neon Bible (2007)

14. Iron & Wine: Our Endless Numbered Days (2004)

13. T.V. On the Radio: Return to Cookie Mountain (2006)

12. Patty Griffin: 1000 Kisses (2002)

11. White Stripes: Elephant (2003)

10. Sufjan Stevens: Seven Swans (2004)

9. Bob Dylan: Love and Theft (2001)

8. Over The Rhine: Ohio (2003)

7. Rilo Kiley: The Execution of All Things (2002)

6. T.V. On the Radio: Dear Science (2008)

5. Jill Scott: Who is Jill Scott? Word and Sounds, Vol. 1 (2000)

4. Beck: Sea Change (2002)

3. Arcade Fire: Funeral (2004)

2. Sufjan Stevens: Illinois (2005)

1. Bright Eyes: Lifted or The Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground (2002)

What albums do you think are the best of the decade?

Share.

Check out Paste Magazine's 50 best albums of the decade here.

Soul City I.C.E.

2009-12-17T08:22:00.009-07:00

Soul City I.C.E., Utah's premier African American network, is launched. Soul City I.C.E.com features the Internets first information page for African Americans in Utah.

Check it out here.

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Advent: God Interrupts!

2009-12-12T13:44:00.003-07:00

Most of us hate interruptions, but the advent season is a time to reflect on an interruption. God's interruption. Erupting out of the mercy and grace of God, comes Mary's song, the magnificat! This eruption follows the announcement that comes to Mary, the announcement that she will bear a son, Jesus. God interrupts and Mary sings!

"My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.

For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.

And his mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.

He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;
he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.

He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers,
to Abraham and to his offspring forever." (Luke 1:46-55)

About this song, Lauren Winner states, "The magnificat is a prayer about God's revolution interrupting not only our tidy, ordered lives but our whole social order. It is a prayer that allows us to see the way that God's reversals and interruptions are already at work in the world and invites us to participate in them."

Check out two articles on Advent by Lauren Winner here.

Artwork: "Annunciation" by He Qi

Shane Claiborne's Letter to all his Nonbelieving, Sort-of-believing, and Used-to-be-believing Friends

2009-11-27T09:45:00.003-07:00

Esquire Magazine asked Shane Claiborne of The Simple Way to address those who are not followers of Christ. Here is the letter:

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.

The other night I headed into downtown Philly for a stroll with some friends from out of town. We walked down to Penn's Landing along the river, where there are street performers, artists, musicians. We passed a great magician who did some pretty sweet tricks like pour change out of his iPhone, and then there was a preacher. He wasn't quite as captivating as the magician. He stood on a box, yelling into a microphone, and beside him was a coffin with a fake dead body inside. He talked about how we are all going to die and go to hell if we don't know Jesus.

Some folks snickered. Some told him to shut the hell up. A couple of teenagers tried to steal the dead body in the coffin. All I could do was think to myself, I want to jump up on a box beside him and yell at the top of my lungs, "God is not a monster." Maybe next time I will.

The more I have read the Bible and studied the life of Jesus, the more I have become convinced that Christianity spreads best not through force but through fascination. But over the past few decades our Christianity, at least here in the United States, has become less and less fascinating. We have given the atheists less and less to disbelieve. And the sort of Christianity many of us have seen on TV and heard on the radio looks less and less like Jesus.

At one point Gandhi was asked if he was a Christian, and he said, essentially, "I sure love Jesus, but the Christians seem so unlike their Christ." A recent study showed that the top three perceptions of Christians in the U. S. among young non-Christians are that Christians are 1) antigay, 2) judgmental, and 3) hypocritical. So what we have here is a bit of an image crisis, and much of that reputation is well deserved. That's the ugly stuff. And that's why I begin by saying that I'm sorry.

Now for the good news.

I want to invite you to consider that maybe the televangelists and street preachers are wrong — and that God really is love. Maybe the fruits of the Spirit really are beautiful things like peace, patience, kindness, joy, love, goodness, and not the ugly things that have come to characterize religion, or politics, for that matter. (If there is anything I have learned from liberals and conservatives, it's that you can have great answers and still be mean... and that just as important as being right is being nice.)

The Bible that I read says that God did not send Jesus to condemn the world but to save it... it was because "God so loved the world." That is the God I know, and I long for others to know. I did not choose to devote my life to Jesus because I was scared to death of hell or because I wanted crowns in heaven... but because he is good. For those of you who are on a sincere spiritual journey, I hope that you do not reject Christ because of Christians. We have always been a messed-up bunch, and somehow God has survived the embarrassing things we do in His name. At the core of our "Gospel" is the message that Jesus came "not [for] the healthy... but the sick." And if you choose Jesus, may it not be simply because of a fear of hell or hope for mansions in heaven.

Don't get me wrong, I still believe in the afterlife, but too often all the church has done is promise the world that there is life after death and use it as a ticket to ignore the hells around us. I am convinced that the Christian Gospel has as much to do with this life as the next, and that the message of that Gospel is not just about going up when we die but about bringing God's Kingdom down. It was Jesus who taught us to pray that God's will be done "on earth as it is in heaven." On earth.

One of Jesus' most scandalous stories is the story of the Good Samaritan. As sentimental as we may have made it, the original story was about a man who gets beat up and left on the side of the road. A priest passes by. A Levite, the quintessential religious guy, also passes by on the other side (perhaps late for a meeting at church). And then comes the Samaritan... you can almost imagine a snicker in the Jewish crowd. Jews did not talk to Samaritans, or even walk through Samaria. But the Samaritan stops and takes care of the guy in the ditch and is lifted up as the hero of the story. I'm sure some of the listeners were ticked. According to the religious elite, Samaritans did not keep the right rules, and they did not have sound doctrine... but Jesus shows that true faith has to work itself out in a way that is Good News to the most bruised and broken person lying in the ditch.

It is so simple, but the pious forget this lesson constantly. God may indeed be evident in a priest, but God is just as likely to be at work through a Samaritan or a prostitute. In fact the Scripture is brimful of God using folks like a lying prostitute named Rahab, an adulterous king named David... at one point God even speaks to a guy named Balaam through his donkey. Some say God spoke to Balaam through his ass and has been speaking through asses ever since. So if God should choose to use us, then we should be grateful but not think too highly of ourselves. And if upon meeting someone we think God could never use, we should think again.

After all, Jesus says to the religious elite who looked down on everybody else: "The tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the Kingdom ahead of you." And we wonder what got him killed?

I have a friend in the UK who talks about "dirty theology" — that we have a God who is always using dirt to bring life and healing and redemption, a God who shows up in the most unlikely and scandalous ways. After all, the whole story begins with God reaching down from heaven, picking up some dirt, and breathing life into it. At one point, Jesus takes some mud, spits in it, and wipes it on a blind man's eyes to heal him. (The priests and producers of anointing oil were not happy that day.)

In fact, the entire story of Jesus is about a God who did not just want to stay "out there" but who moves into the neighborhood, a neighborhood where folks said, "Nothing good could come." It is this Jesus who was accused of being a glutton and drunkard and rabble-rouser for hanging out with all of society's rejects, and who died on the imperial cross of Rome reserved for bandits and failed messiahs. This is why the triumph over the cross was a triumph over everything ugly we do to ourselves and to others. It is the final promise that love wins.

It is this Jesus who was born in a stank manger in the middle of a genocide. That is the God that we are just as likely to find in the streets as in the sanctuary, who can redeem revolutionaries and tax collectors, the oppressed and the oppressors... a God who is saving some of us from the ghettos of poverty, and some of us from the ghettos of wealth.

In closing, to those who have closed the door on religion — I was recently asked by a non-Christian friend if I thought he was going to hell. I said, "I hope not. It will be hard to enjoy heaven without you." If those of us who believe in God do not believe God's grace is big enough to save the whole world... well, we should at least pray that it is.

Your brother,

Shane

Original Post

Culture Making and the City

2009-11-23T14:21:00.002-07:00

Culture Making by Andy Crouch challenged me to think differently about the culture we live in and move beyond simply trying to analysize culture through my worldview to cultivating and creating culture. In the past I have thought about culture primarily from the perspective of worldview which is vitally important, but have often failed to see the importance of moving beyond viewing culture to creating culture. I am being challenged to think about what it would mean for me to make culture. The city is the ideal place for culture making and Salt Lake City has become my primary focus.

As the world becomes more and more urban, the possibilities for culture making are great. Because of it's density and diversity of people, the city provides an environment in which creative expression flourishes. Tim Keller makes this case stating, “Because I am put together (by its density) with unique numbers of diverse people, all my thinking and views are radically challenged. I am confronted with creative new ways to think about things, and I must abandon my traditional ways or become far more knowledgeable and committed to them than I was before. Thus I become vastly more creative, committed, skillful in all I am or do. (A Biblical Theology of the City, Evangelicals Now. July 2002). There is no better place for beauty to flourish than the city. Joel Kotkin puts it the best, "Cities compress and unleash the creative urges of humanity" (The City: A Global History, xx)

In thinking about culture making, we must first ask, "what is culture?" According to Crouch, "culture is what we make of the world." Humans are created in the image of God and this God, as Crouch states, "is first of all a source of limitless and extraodinary creativity." (pg. 21) As creatures made in his image, our creative activity is not disconnected from meaning, it is not meaningless. Rather, our imaging God by exercising our true humanity is incredibly meaningful and leads to beautiful possibilities.

Culture also has the power to shape what is possible in the world. Cultivaating and creating produces cultural artifacts and goods that shape the world. These cultural artifacts and goods also result from what has been produced in the past, but influence the future. Culture making involves cultivating both cultural goods that have been produced in the past and the creation of new cultural goods. The city is the place of abundant cultural goods in which to cultivate and to be stimulated toward creating new cultural goods.

What are you and I creating? Is it a cultural good that leads to what is possible? I have spent way too much time critiqueing culture. I hope to fiqure out how I might first cultivate what is beautiful in the culture and then move toward creating more beauty. Creating beauty requires that we become more and more human, living consistant with who we were created to be.

Crouch states, "our most important cultural contribution will very likely come from doing whatever keeps us precisely in the center of delight and surprise." (pg. 252) The energy of creating comes the moment we live out our true humanity by becoming more and more ourselves. This leads to life and influence in the culture.

Cornel West further defines culture in relationship to life and death. He defines culture as "dynamic, ever-changing structures of feeling and structures of meaning that help sustain humans in the face of death and extinction that’s inevitable."

Among culture there are existing channels or structures which influence the culture greatly and that impact our lives. Among them are business, government, media, church, arts and entertainment, education, and the social sector. Concerning these 7 channels, Gabe Lyons states, “Their combined output of ideas, films, books, theology, websites, restaurants, investments, social work, laws, medical breakthroughs and technology drive an entire nation. The ideas and values they perpetuate sustain the moral fiber and social conscience of the culture. The people who lead these influential institutions have the opportunity to shape the ideas, thoughts and preferences of millions of others." (Influencing Culture: An Opportunity for the Church, Fermi Project Online Journal (2007), pg. 10)

Spheres of culture shape what is possible and what is impossible. Condemning, critiqueing, and copying culture all have there place at times, but Crouch states, "creating culture is the only viable source of change." (pg. 73) The question I am asking is, "How can I create more cultural goods with others I am connected with in our city?"

The challenges for the transformation of Salt Lake City into what is possible are many, but ultimately what has been promised the biblical story is that what began as a beautiful garden (Genesis 1 & 2) will end in a glorious city (Revelation 21 & 22). The city today with its creative energy and its vivid diversity reflects the current reality that the beautiful kingdom of God has been inaugurated. But due to the disruption of beauty, we must continually strive to serve toward that end while looking forward to the day when all things will be made new and the glorious city of God will be in our midst. In that day the city's inhabitants will know that God reigns and God wins. Until that day we seek the welfare of the city in which we dwell through creative activity that becomes cultural goods. With hope we seek and we serve until the day God will dwell in all his fullness and we will know the reality of the new and glorious city!

Staggeringly Comprehensive Good News

2009-11-10T18:54:00.016-07:00

In society we often hear parts of stories and messages that are not comprehensive. Christopher J.H. Wright points out the importance of believing, living, and communicating the whole Christian message which is staggeringly comprehensive good news.

Wrights states,

"The great Christ-centered, Cross-centered redemptive truths of the NewTestament do not nullify, but rather complete, all that the Old Testament reveals about God's comprehensive commitment to the wholeness of human life, God's relentless opposition to all that oppresses, spoils, and diminishes human well-being, and God's ultimate mission of blessing the nations, destroying all forms of evil, and redeeming his whole creation, for his own supreme glory in Christ

The gospel as a whole, true to the Bible as a whole, shows us God's heart for his broken, suffering, wicked world. For the last and the least (socially, culturally, and economically) as well as the lost (spiritually)—not that these can be separated, since human beings are whole persons. For those who are dying eternally in their sins, but also for the causes of their preventably premature dying in this world. For those who are without Christ, without God, and without hope in the world, but who also suffer all kinds of other lacks—the landless and homeless, the loveless and limbless, the family-less and state-less. For the creation itself, frustrated in its supreme goal of giving glory to its Creator, and groaning under the onslaught of human greed and violence."

Check out the entire article Whole Gospel, Whole Church, Whole World over at the Global Conversation.

Nothing Left Behind

2009-11-02T16:42:00.004-07:00

Michael Williams, Professor of Systematic Theology at Covenant Seminary, met up with Bryan Chapell to talk about the story of redemption that the Bible tells. Williams discusses where the unfolding story is going and how it reveals that God is making "all things new." This is a three part series each lasting 26 minutes. In part 1, Williams discusses popular misconceptions about heaven and redefines heaven as it is described in the biblical story. In part 2 Williams takes on the importance of the resurrection of Jesus and how all things in the creation are being repaired. In part 3 Williams talks about the mission of the church in the world and the story form of the Bible.

Check out the discussions here:
Discussion with Michael Williams part 1
Discussion with Michael Williams part 2
Discussion with Michael Williams part 3

Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud

2009-10-26T07:49:00.001-06:00

Cornel West's new book was released this past week. It is a memoir titled Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud. Amy Goodman of Democracy Now interviewed the always insight Cornel West. West talks about his battle with cancer, upbringing, influences in his life, the Blues, his move from Harvard to Princton, and more.

Check out the interview here.

Christopher J.H. Wright Lectures at Covenant Seminary

2009-10-26T07:30:00.001-06:00

[Reposting from May 18th with updated links]

Christopher J.H. Wright was the featured speaker for the 2009 David C. Jones Theology Lectures at Covenant Seminary. The two evening lectures posted here are well worth a listen!

In the lecture entitled Reading the Whole Bible for Mission Wright gives an excellent 1 hour survey of the entire biblical narrative and shows how the whole Bible is a missional phenomenon. In a way, I felt like Wright summed up much of what I have learned in my OT and NT classes over the past 3 and a half years in this one lecture.

The final lecture of the night entitled Building Bridges - The West and the Rest was very challenging. Here Wright's lecture has challenged me to think further and has challenged me to act on much of what I have learned from my time at Covenant Seminary regarding the multinational, multi-direction mission.

Lecture 1 Marks of a Missional Church can be found here.