[there's something wrong with the village...]

They say it takes a village to raise a child... but sometimes, there's something wrong with the village:


Watch directly on YouTube

Background info on video

[starbucks as social assistor]

Here's a very interesting article I came across on Fast Company, about Starbucks opening locations in struggling communities as well as military towns, and being intentional about hiring, training, and promoting local people.

My initial reaction is to be skeptical -- after all, big corporations are only interested in profit and the bottom line. However, while obviously these stores do have to be profitable, it does seem that they are serious about making a difference.

On a related note, and I say this as someone who works in government, it's quite amazing to see the serious targets they set and how they reach many of them early...

Read the whole article yourself, and comment below!

[open your world]

So Heineken put together an interesting ad about getting people with very different views and beliefs to interact and see each other as human beings.



Watch on YouTube.

What if your church did something like this? How might that help the members learn how to relate to people who have different beliefs and behaviours than they are used to?

...

Why should a church even have to do such a complicated thing to help people to get along with one another? Shouldn't the life of Jesus as we see in the Gospels inform us and change us?

Or we could look at it like this: the church is full of all sorts of people. On our journey of following Jesus and becoming more like him, wouldn't it be reasonable and right for the church to be helping people with all aspects of that? Including how to better love one another? How to see all people as well-loved by God?

Perhaps it's time to try some innovative ways to break through our prejudices...

---

More on this:
Huffington Post article on this ad

humanlibrary.org is the organization that Heineken worked with to create this ad.

"A Worldwide Movement for Social Change
Don't Judge a Book by Its Cover


The Human Library™ is designed to build a positive framework for conversations that can challenge stereotypes and prejudices through dialogue.
The Human Library is a place where real people are on loan to readers.
A place where difficult questions are expected, appreciated and answered."

bread, stones and parents

We give sons & daughters a serpent instead of a fish, a stone instead of bread. They leave-we say it's due to "cultural relativism."

— Jonathan Martin (@theboyonthebike) April 20, 2017

Which daughters and sons are being given stones and serpents?

Which daughters and sons are being stoned 

instead of fed and nourished?

Matthew 7:9-11 (NIV)
“Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

Luke 11:11 (NIV)
“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

“Which of you fathers, if your son asks for[a] a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?

[why i left, why i stayed: book]

In Why I Left, Why I Stayed, Tony, a renowned Christian teacher and apologist, and Bart, a humanist chaplain at the University of Southern California, seek to provide a safe space for anyone wrestling with their own—or a loved one’s—decision to stay in or leave the church, providing compelling arguments in both directions and modeling for everyone how to strongly but lovingly disagree about the things that matter most.

For anyone who has questions about the viability and truth of the Christian life or wonders what life looks like after Christianity, this book promises to be challenging, inspiring, and highly informative. Read a sneak peek excerpt here.

(Source: Red Letter Christians email)

I haven't read this book, but it looks like a great example of how people with very different views can get along and, in fact, like and love each other as people.


Click here to watch on YouTube.

disco spirit

Oh look! Jesus' prayer has come true at St. Mark's in the Bowery (NYC):

image source

Try suggesting this to your church council...

[happy easter!]

Black Jesus from Coptic Church in Egypt. Happy Easter. pic.twitter.com/HD9p9hN2zM

— Khaled Beydoun (@KhaledBeydoun) April 16, 2017

[heathens and the church]

Really love the song Heathens by twenty one pilots, and then found that Richard Beck, one of my favourite bloggers and authors, has just written about them in his blog. Here's a snippet of what he says:

"Heathens" makes many of the points I try to make in Unclean. The speaker and audience of "Heathens" is unclear, but I'd like to read the song as Jesus speaking to the church, as TØP preaching to their fellow Christians. Read this way "Heathens" is both a prophetic rebuke to the church as well as an invitation into Jesus' lifestyle of radical hospitality.

Read the entire post:
Lovin' On the Freakshow Sitting Next to You: The Church According to Twenty One Pilots


If you haven't heard the song, you can hear it in this video. Note that as the song was used for a movie soundtrack, the images in this video are not related to what Richard Beck is speaking about!


Watch on YouTube.

Lyrics:

All my friends are heathens. Take it slow
Wait for them to ask you who you know
Please don't make any sudden moves
You don't know the half of the abuse

All my friends are heathens. Take it slow
Wait for them to ask you who you know
Please don't make any sudden moves
You don't know the half of the abuse

[evergreen presbyterian declares itself]

I came across this image in an article by Mary Button, Mission Developer at Evergreen Presbyterian Church, in Memphis. The article itself is worth reading, as it talks about how she and the church respond in open ways to what is happening around them.
Give it a read: Art as Resistance in Uncertain Times.

Love the way the church windows, being located in a store front, are right at the street level. No fences and manicured lawns between passersby and this building. There are the windows, and on them this church has declared what they are about.

[redemptive, full of hope and possibility]

in the chapel at holy trinity

In the chapel at Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Edmonton.

Artist?

[fishing tips, from rev. dr. john pentland]

"Fishing Tips is an open invitation to be curious. Using an ancient story as inspiration, John Pentland reflects on how Hillhurst United said "Yes" to throwing the nets on the other side of convention. The result was innovative, invigorating and transformative."

In the 1980s, Hillhurst United opposed the ordination of gay and lesbian people. Today, they are an affirming congregation. This book is by the minister who played a key role in this transformation.

Of particular interest to the topic of uncertain spaces and declared spaces is Fishing Tip Eight: Say Who You Are. This chapter has two parts: Naming Ourselves, and How a Name Leads to Action & Grows Your Church

For more on the book, click here: http://www.hillhurstunited.com/fishing-tips

Check out an article that discusses if a church can be biblical, evangelical and progressive.