Busyness as Moral Laziness | internetmonk.com

It took me a long, long time to learn how to NOT be busy.  I strongly recommend this article.  Here’s a sample:

The Desert Fathers (a protest movement in the early church) spoke of busyness as “moral laziness.” Busyness can also be an addictive drug, which is why its victims are increasingly referred to as “workaholics.” Busyness acts to repress our inner fears and perpetual anxieties, as we scramble to achieve an enviable image to display to others. We become “outward” people, obsessed with how we appear, rather than “inward” people, reflecting on the meaning of our lives.

 

Busyness also seems to be a determination not to “miss out on life.” Behind much of the rat-race of modern life is the unexamined assumption that what I do determines who I am. In this way, we define ourselves by what we do, rather than by any quality of what we are inside. It is typical in a party for one stranger to approach another with the question, “What do you do?” Perhaps we wouldn’t have a clue how to reply to the deeper question, “Who are you?”

– James Houston, The Transforming Friendship: A Guide to Prayer

 

via Busyness as Moral Laziness | internetmonk.com.

The latest on AMiA

Sigh…  oh AMiA, what a mess!

The Anglican Mission in America (AMiA)’s Society for Mission and Apostolic Works has lost one of its two ecclesial sponsors.  In a 22 August 2012 statement given to Anglican Ink, the Church of Uganda said the canonical cover offered by one of its bishops to clergy who wish to affiliate with the society under the leadership of Bishop Chuck Murphy had been withdrawn.

Moreover, apparently Congo is no longer offering oversight either!

Learn more here: http://anglicanink.com/article/amias-ugandan-option-closes

For those of you who are wondering, my own church has remained with Rwanda, through PEAR-USA (yeah, we’re working on the name…).

By the way, pray for The Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda — a lot of tension (and worse) going on there.

“Whu-der-yu-doo-ing-ere?”

I am a pretty big fan of SNL these days, especially of the cast from the last couple of seasons.  So, I was pleased to see that some of my favorites were nominated for Emmys!  And I was even MORE pleased that NBC posted some awesome sketches to celebrate the nominations:

SNL Emmys

Side note: we true Californians do not talk so strangely as our SNL counterparts… although we do give a lot of directions…

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/backstage/backstage/2012-emmy-nominations/index.shtml

Marriage for the 99%: Seeing Family as a Social Justice Issue | Christianity Today

Very interesting — marriage as one predictor of socioeconomic status.  This paragraph blew my mind:

Bill Galston, a senior fellow at Brookings who served as President Clinton’s domestic policy advisor, has explained that an American today must only do three things to avoid living in poverty: graduate from high school, marry before having a child, and have children after age 20. Only 8 percent of people who do these three things are poor, while a stunning 79 percent who fail to meet these expectations live in poverty.

I’m left with a lot of questions, but still food for thought.

Marriage for the 99%: Seeing Family as a Social Justice Issue | Christianity Today.

Back from Rwanda

As some of you know, part of the reason I’ve been AWOL recently is because I was traveling — I spent about a week in Rwanda with my pastor and his wife. Our church is linked with the church in Rwanda, so we went to strengthen the existing relationships, build new relationships, preach, do some training, etc. It was a wonderful, wonderful trip! If you want to read a bit more about our time there, visit our church’s Rwanda blog at redeeemernorthshore.org/rwanda.

I have had a hard time verbalizing why the trip was such a refreshing, energizing time for me — as well as answering the question, “what did you take away from your trip?” So here’s my best attempt to verbalize what I brought home with me — some serious, some not — from Rwanda.

It is amazing how much and what variety of things people can carry on their heads!   I was mesmerized by all the people walking along the roadside, gathered in public spaces or at markets, transporting goods from one place to another. The streets here seem empty by comparison (if you don’t count cars).

It is also amazing how easy it is to forget how much you have been given — how very grateful each of us ought to be for the resources we have at our disposal.  One of the biggest needs for the church in Rwanda is for pastors to receive theological education – or even education beyond elementary school.  And here we are in Deerfield, IL, right next to a seminary and right down the road from several other seminaries.  We really know SO MUCH!  And what we don’t know, we can easily find out by picking up a commentary.  You can’t do that if you only read Kinyarwandan.  There is a Kinyarwandan translation of a Study Bible that was just published, but it is too expensive for the average Rwandan pastor to purchase.  It costs about $10.00 — small price to pay for us, but a big price in Rwanda.

Preschool Children in Ruhengeri

Our pastor’s wife is a professor at a prominent college near Chicago, and she did some training for preschool teachers in the Shyira Diocese.  She had purchased some markers to give to the teachers, one for each of them — and she said they treated those markers like they were bricks of gold.  Think of THAT next time you have a complaint about your child’s school!  We here don’t know how rich we are, each one of us.

Note the poster in the background — refers to a program that guarantees each child gets one egg per day. Out of almost 200 preschool, only a handful have the resources to put this program into place.

Not that poverty is something to be revered — there was a night and day difference between the children we met that had the privilege of attending a church preschool and those we saw running around on their own in the streets.  But think of how much more we could do with the resources we’ve been given instead of spending iton entertainment and superfluous things for ourselves…

 

 

 

I love the people I met — names became faces, faces became personalities.  When, God willing, I go back, I will know some people who also know me.  I will have a foundation to build on.  I have sat with my fellow clergy from the Shyira Diocese and been encouraged by them, offering some encouragement in return.  I have had the privilege of hearing the stories of their calls to pastor. I have preached at our sister church in Musanze and brought greetings to the children from the people who helped get Sonrise started.  I am not just a name to them, and they are not just names to me — we are partners and family.

Clergy from the Shyira Diocese, Rwanda

When someone is going on a church-sponsored trip like this, the temptation is to ask, “What are you going to do?”  The more I think about it, the more I think this is the wrong question to ask, at least with trips such as the ones our church has sponsored so far.  Instead, ask the question “With whom are you going to be?”  Projects have their place, but people are more important than projects.  Build the relationships first, and the work will become clear.

I’m so grateful for the time I got to spend in Rwanda with friends old and new.  Thanks to those of you who donated so that I could go and who prayed for me along the way.  Here’s one last parting shot:  some a capella singing (worship) that was part of the preschool teacher training.

Friday Five Randomness

One of the blogs I follow, RevGalBlogPals, posted five random questions today that fellow bloggers are invited to answer, and I thought I’d play along!

So here we go…

1.  What religion/faith besides yours captures your curiousity and why?

I am fascinated by Judaism — perhaps in part because I love the Hebrew Scriptures, and I loved the process of learning biblical Hebrew in order to read the literature.  I would love to attend a synagogue at some point in order to experience the rhythm of Jewish worship over the course of a year — to experience the depth of history and tradition underlying the Jewish faith.  Plus, I am drawn to Judaism because of how Jews have been persecuted for centuries, culminating in the Holocaust — I sense the sorrow that Jewish people carry with them wherever they go.

2.  What is the first or most memorable pop song you ever learned as a kid? 

I distinctly remember hearing Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” for the first time.  Of course, being raised by classical musicians, at that time I had no idea who Queen was, but it was such a fun song I couldn’t help but sing along when my good friend Jackie pulled out the tape deck and said, “listen to this!”  Now I love Queen, and “Bohemian Rhapsody” never gets old.

3.  If God were a color…..(finish this sentence creatively)

That’s a tough one.  I think if God were a color, he would have to be a color that you couldn’t quite pinpoint — kinda like one of those shimmery fabrics that goes back and forth between a couple different colors so you have a general impression of what color it is, but when you look at the fabric you second guess yourself.

Mmmm….

 

Or he would be a color that all of us see differently — kinda like that syrup that Mary Poppins gives Jane and Michael that comes out a different color and flavor for each of them (“Rrrrrrum punch!”).

Or he would be the color of the sea, that varies according to the day and weather, yet you always know it’s the sea.  Ooo, I like this question after all! 4.  If you were going to make a sandwich right now for lunch, and you magically had all the items you need for it, what would that sandwich be?Hands-down, it would be a corned beef sandwich on sourdough with a little bit of butter and lots of mustard, with pickled beets and baked beans on the side (this is the way my favorite sandwich shop back home, The BackStreet Cafe, does it — so basically I would just want a sandwich from BackStreet).  Mmm…  now I miss BackStreet!

5.  How are you doing?  Really, how are you? 

Really, I’m doing great, other than the fact that I’ve had a headache for the past 5 days — I think it’s sinus stuff.  This is what happens when I get too tired…

Bonus:  What are you enjoying/loving right now?

Right now, I am loving the music that the choir in which I participate (Cantate) sang this past weekend.  It was a GLORIOUS, profound concert, and I can’t decide which piece I enjoyed more.  Here’s the rep we did, if you are interested: American Voices: Peace and Light.  I’ve never been happier to have music stuck in my head!

So that’s me.  I’d love to hear how YOU would answer these questions, if you get a chance!

Feminism — Rachel Held Evans

I think this is a great interview — thoughtful and charitable, but not afraid to tackle tricky questions.

Feminism, people, is not a dirty word.

Rachel Held Evans | Ask a feminist…response.

The Field of Panties: Sexual Violence and Immigrant Farmworkers – Rachel Stone | Gods Politics Blog | Sojourners

Shameful and outrageous.

It’s popular these days to talk about food and justice in terms of local foods and fair trade and animal welfare. But how much of the food on our plates is coming to us from hands that have wiped away many tears over vile and violent abuse?

 

Sandy Brown of the Swanton Berry Farm in California says this: “When people ask about food justice, I tell them, ‘you have to go contact your Congress[person] about immigration.’”

via The Field of Panties: Sexual Violence and Immigrant Farmworkers – Rachel Stone | Gods Politics Blog | Sojourners.

Bishop Todd Hunter joins ACNA | Anglican Ink

For all of you who have been following the Anglican shenanigans in the past months: In an interesting turn of events, Bishop Todd Hunter has decided to bring his church planting network, C4SO (Church for the Sake of Others) into ACNA, rather than following TheAM into the Congo.

Bishop Todd Hunter joins ACNA | Anglican Ink.

How to win a culture war and lose a generation

I think Rachel Held Evans is right on in this blog post.  Thoughts?

My generation is tired of the culture wars.

We are tired of fighting, tired of vain efforts to advance the Kingdom through politics and power, tired of drawing lines in the sand, tired of being known for what we are against, not what we are for.

And when it comes to homosexuality, we no longer think in the black-at-white categories of the generations before ours. We know too many wonderful people from the LGBT community to consider homosexuality a mere “issue.” These are people, and they are our friends. When they tell us that something hurts them, we listen. And Amendment One hurts like hell.

Regardless of whether you identify most with Side A or Side B, (or with one of the many variations within those two broad categories), it should be clear that amendments like these needlessly offend gays and lesbians, damage the reputation of Christians, and further alienate young adults—both Christians and non-Christian—from the Church.

So my question for those evangelicals leading the charge in the culture wars is this: Is it worth it?

via Rachel Held Evans | How to win a culture war and lose a generation.