Lead leaderlessly. That is, lead in a non-leading kind of way. Serve. Step out of the leadership position continually. Perpetually. Create the vacuum for others to lead and serve.
Don’t go anywhere. No goal. No destiny. No vision. Keep it real and keep it present. You either serve the vision or you serve the people.
Don’t ever think of the “church” as some kind of entity ASIDE from the real flesh and blood people that constitute it. The church isn’t the entity, even though it wants to be and constantly endeavors to be.
Allow worship and expression of all sorts to be indigenous. Never think of worship as instruction. It is God-ward, not human-ward.
If prayer is always in the form of a song and never said or read, so be it.
Allow freedom of expression, even if it’s going to be weird, uncomfortable, and questionable. Judge it afterwards. Yes, when done with mutual respect, we do get used to this honest and authentic form of dialog and learning.
Let sinners play too.
Question everything.
Never be overly impressed with another person. No one is good but God alone.
Don’t be afraid to kill the mood. Always be honest and free, no matter how uncomfortable you might cause others to feel.
The incident happen in an exchange with the FOX News anchor. When asked her opinion of the recent scandal surrounding some comments made by Sen. Hillary Clinton, which Trotta described by saying that, “some are reading [it] as a suggestion that somebody knock off Osama.” Hemmer quickly corrected Trotta, having noticed that she had said “Osama” when she meant “Obama.” At this point, Trotta said, “Obama. Well…both if we could!” Trotta then laughed gleefully.
Well. They reported. I’ve decided that their FCC license should be suspended. I don’t care who you support politically, joking about someone’s death is inappropriate.
I became a rock star. No seriously, I became a rock star. Complete with music video. We took the Trinity youth to Frankies Fun park and I recorded this music video…
Today our president said some amazingly prescient words about the popes visit to America. Unfortunately they were also the most ironic words to ever leave his mouth. In his introduction of Pope Benedict XVI, Bush said:
In a world where some invoke the name of God to justify acts of terror, and murder, and hate we need your message that God is love…
Sadly, President Bush, you are too blindsided by power to see that you are one of those invoking the name of God to justify the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. What is worse, is that you equate God, with the idol of power. Your continual grab of power in the name of god has left a tsunami sized wake of blood and bodies strewn across not just the middle east, but across the homes and hearts of all those who have lost a loved one in your senseless war.
Ps: Tell your wife it’s exceedingly rude to wear white next to the Pope. (Uniforms don’t count, the cook gets a papal exemption.)
When the Apple tv went to “Take two” firmware it brought with it the ability to view podcasts on the big screen. One of the “featured” podcasts were the TED talks. It wasn’t long before I found this TED talk by Dave Eggers. He’s a 2008 TED prize winner. Here’s his talk.
I’d like to open one here in Durham. Supplies for the interstellar traveller. If only I could find a way to afford it…
While I find my support for political candidates to be tedious at best, I cannot help but react powerfully to Senator Clinton’s recent comments regarding Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
“He would not have been my pastor[.] You don’t choose your family, but you choose what church you want to attend.”
This is exactly the fundamental assumption of the American Project, that religious instruction and conformity is at the discretion of the individual, rather than the revealed community of God and it’s leaders.
We don’t get to choose our families, true. But our pastors, and our leaders, are as much our families as those tied to us by bloodlines. If there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither Black nor White, Methodist or Pentecostal.
Clinton speaks for change, yet the change she advocates is a change that doesn’t challenge the fundamental assumptions of the american project. Others, while still involved in the seductive siren of politics, are at least arguing for a change that upsets the american apple cart.
Besides, even if saying “God Damn America” is un-american, what makes us think that America is beyond God’s wrath? ugh.
While surfing around I stumbled onto this graphic:
Which is, by my definition, the best review of alt rock music I’ve ever read.
It’s amazing to me that ipods, with a shorter history than Nirvana->Puddle of Mud, have only gotten better. After all, the first ipods were tiny in storage, and large in size. Now we have ipod shuffles that are as big as the original ipods. And yet we have fewer and fewer things to put on them due to the impending march of De-Evolution in music. Plah.
In response to my e-mail to President Bush on the unchristian, evil practice of torture, I received the following message in response:
On behalf of President Bush, thank you for your correspondence.
We appreciate hearing your views and welcome your suggestions.
Due to the large volume of e-mail received, the White House cannot respond to every message.
Thank you again for taking the time to write.
Plah. Wish there was a snowflakes chance in hell that Bush read it / comprehended it.
K’naan, my latest musical obsession, has a song called “what is hardcore?” the lyrics, in part read:
I walk with three kids that can’t wait to meet Godlately, that’s Bucktooth, Mohamed and Crybaby,what they do everyday just to eat lord have mercy,strapped with an AK and they blood thirsty…
So what’s hardcore? Really, are you hardcore? Hmm.So what’s hardcore? Really, are you hardcore? Hmm.
We begin our day by the way of the gun, rocket propelled grenades blow you away if you front,we got no police ambulance or fire fighters,we start riots by burning car tires,they looting, and everybody start shooting,bullshit politicians talking bout solutions, but it’s all talk, you can’t go half a block with a road block, you don’t pay at the road block you get your throat shot,and each road block is set up by these gangsters,and different gangsters go by different standards,for example, the evening is a no go, unless you wanna wear a bullet like a logo,in the day you should never take the alleyway,the only thing that validates you is the AK,they chew on Jad it’s sorta like coco leafs,and there ain’t no police…
I can’t imagine any more fitting song, for this warrior to be listening to. Imagine the strange confluence of geo-political events that led to a lifetime of cultural practice –lip disk–, an AK47 assault rifle and an Ipod? Is this what Apple had in mind with it’s sales targets? We’re uncreative enough, as a society, to kill one another for that which we think is scarce but we find ways to bring iPods and Weapons to the table of a rough beast of ideology that is never fulfilled.
