This morning I am preaching at Naples United Church of Christ in Naples, FL. You can read the full text of my sermon, Reuniting Old Friends, here. For more information about the books referenced visit my reviews of Missional: Joining God in the Neighborhood (2011) by Alan J. Roxburgh To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy, & Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World (2010) by James Davison Hunter Putting Away Childish Things: A Tale of Modern Faith Read More …
Discipleship
Never Complain About (#0411)
Jon Acuff, author of Stuff Christians Like (2010) and Quitter (2011), recently blogged about complaining. In that post he shared his past personal experiences of complaining about various aspects of church life, before learning how unhealthy his perspective had become. In contrast, he suggests a better way for members and active participants to respond to areas of church life they see as less than ideal: then I learned a pretty powerful truth about church volunteers that forever Read More …
The Stages (or not) of Grief (#0409)
In the June 28, 2011, edition of the Christian Century, Thomas G. Long contributes an article that questions the wisdom of the idea of well defined stages of grief. Over the last generation, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's five stages of grief (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance) gained widespread acceptance and led to the creation of a "cottage industry of bereavement counselors and grief managers" (p.35). Drawing on Ruth Davis Konigsberg’s new book The Truth About Read More …
America’s Best Read Cities (#0408)
Across the country book stores have been closing their doors as more and more people opt to purchase their reading material online. Amazon has secured a seemingly ever increasing share in the market and has begun to leverage this new position. Recently, Amazon announced its list of America's "Most Well Read Cities," which is based on "sales data of all book, magazine and newspaper sales in both print and Kindle format" for the calendar year to date for "cities with more Read More …
No Vacation Nation (#0406)
Rebecca Ray and John Schmitt's report for the Center for Economic Policy and Research, "No-Vacation Nation," explores how different America is from the rest of the world's industrialized countries when it comes to vacation: The United States is the only advanced economy in the world that does not guarantee its workers paid vacation. European countries establish legal rights to at least 20 days of paid vacation per year, with legal requirement of 25 and even 30 or more days in some Read More …
Random Act of Kindness Or Not? (#0405)
WAY-FM provides listener supported Christian radio in multiple communities throughout the United States, including Southwest Florida. Like most stations, they engage in a significant amount of programming. One such appeal has captured my attention: Drive Through Difference. The local station has encouraged its listeners to participate in this endeavor on multiple occasions with the most recent being held yesterday on June 24. According to their description, participants are Read More …
Progressive Theology – Shared Affirmations (#0401)
Patheos recently launched a progressive Christian portal. During the next two weeks, this new portal is hosting a symposium exploring what progressive Christianity is and why that matters today. Bruce Epperly, an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ and Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) who serves as Professor of Practical Theology and Director of Continuing Education at Lancaster Theological Seminary, contributed an article to this week's discussion Read More …
If You Work . . . (#0400)
Seth Godin is the author of twelve books that have been bestsellers around the world and changed the way people think about marketing, change, and work. He recently posted these challenging words about work on his blog: If you're going to work . . . work hard. That way, you'll have something to show for it. The biggest waste is to do that thing you call work, but to interrupt it, compromise it, cheat it and still call it work. So What? I have had a number of jobs in both sacred and Read More …
How Happy Are Americans? (#0399)
According to a new list of the happiest nations, the United States has considerable room for improvement. Created by 24/7 Wall St., the list relies on data from the new Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Better Life Index, which is based on measurements of quality of life including housing, income, jobs, community, education, the environment, health, work-life balance, and life satisfaction. According to these standards, the world's happiest nations Read More …
Is Christianity on a Path Toward Extinction? (#0398)
John Shelby Spong served as bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark for 24 years before his retirement in 2001. In retirement, he has been a prolific writer and speaker. He concluded a recent essay outlining his thoughts on the future of Christianity with these words: The problems facing institutional Christianity today in the Western world cannot be addressed by tinkering around the edges of our theological formularies or structures . . . We are not today in a temporary Read More …