Showing posts with label friendship. Show all posts
Showing posts with label friendship. Show all posts

Friday, September 05, 2014

[making friends among the taliban, by jonathan larson]

Making friends with the Taliban?? You gotta be kidding me!

Yet that is what this book is about: a Christian peacemaker spending decades in Afghanistan and, in the process becoming friends with the Taliban.

"[C]hildhood friend Jonathan Larson retraces Dan’s work in Afghanistan over almost four decades. During the successive power struggles among royal regimes, the Red Army, warlords, the Taliban, and the American-led coalition, Dan inspired small Afghan communities to seek a sweeter destiny for themselves. Using a cascade of interviews and eyewitness accounts, this moving narrative of Dan’s life and friendships in Afghanistan offers us all a model for authentic living wherever we are." (from the book site)

My first knowledge of the book came from reading a review at the Raven Foundation, and that was enough to show me my own prejudice towards the Taliban, of whom I only knew what the western media told me. I have now read the sample chapter, and am hoping to get hold of the book to read the entire story.

One quote: 'His Afghan friends claimed, “In the greatest commandments of our scripture–to practice humility; to be generous to widows, the orphans, and the poor; and to be selfless and persevering in the search for justice and peace–Dantri was more Muslim than we Muslims.”'

Book site (includes trailer, sample chapter, study guide and more).
Review with mimetic focus (at Raven Foundation).

Making Friends among the Taliban: A Peacemaker's Journey in Afghanistan
Jonathan Larson
(Herald Press, 2012)

Saturday, May 31, 2014

the love family

Oncle and Auntie and Silas

the love family, by silas

God loves everyone and when people hate Him, He loves them still. He sings the love song to us and we love him always.  Jesus is powerful. 

By Silas Brandle,
May 31, 2014

Thursday, August 29, 2013

[the cross in the closet]

"Timothy Kurek, raised within the confines of a strict, conservative Christian denomination in the Bible Belt, Nashville, Tennessee, was taught the gospel of separation from a young age. But it wasn't long before Timothy's path and the outside world converged when a friend came out as a lesbian, and revealed she had been excommunicated by her family. Distraught and overcome with questions and doubts about his religious upbringing, Timothy decided the only way to empathize and understand her pain was to walk in the shoes of very people he had been taught to shun. He decided to come out as a gay man to everyone in his life, and to see for himself how the label of gay would impact his life. In the tradition of Black Like Me, The Cross in the Closet is a story about people, a story about faith, and about one man's "abominable" quest to find Jesus in the margins."
(from the back cover)

This book was a fascinating read, and is enlightening in terms of how a person is able to not only gain a deeper understanding of others and to make a space in his or her heart for them, but to have love where before there was hatred and rejection. Definitely recommended.

Online preview available.
BlueHead Publishing (October 11, 2012)

p.s. Summer has given more opportunities to read, so I've been recommending books lately. In the next months, I plan to share quotes from Thurman's Jesus and the Disinherited along with more new cartoons.

Monday, May 27, 2013

beacon of love

St. Paul's, the church we attend, is at a new point in its life as a parish. Various conversations have been taking place regarding our future. However, it seems that a lot of the discussion that has transpired so far has resulted in many good ideas about what we might do. What I'm more interested in—what I think needs to happen first, and what this video is all about—is an exploration of who we want to be and who we want to become.

This presentation shares some of my thoughts, ideas and questions as to what the next part of our journey together might look like. The presentation is done "pecha kucha" style -- 20 images with 20 seconds to talk about each one. As a lot of the images are cartoons from this blog, I recommend that you view the video full screen in order to be able to see them properly.

I invite you to share your comments and feedback with me. More importantly, if you are part of St. Paul's, take time to pray, think and dream about what kind of a church we should be and become. Make your own video, draw pictures, make a list on a sheet of paper — record your thoughts and dreams somehow or other, and share them with the church leadership.




View full-screen for best results.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

[Why did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha and Mohammed...]


Brian D. McLaren has written an excellent book Why did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and Mohammed Cross the Road? Christian Identity in a Multi-Faith World, which I highly recommend.

From the Amazon.ca review:

When four religious leaders walk across the road, it's not the beginning of a joke. It's the start of one of the most important conversations in today's world.

Can you be a committed Christian without having to condemn or convert people of other faiths? Is it possible to affirm other religious traditions without watering down your own?

In his most important book yet, widely acclaimed author and speaker Brian McLaren proposes a new faith alternative, one built on "benevolence and solidarity rather than rivalry and hostility." This way of being Christian is strong but doesn't strong-arm anyone, going beyond mere tolerance to vigorous hospitality toward, interest in, and collaboration with the other.

Blending history, narrative, and brilliant insight, McLaren shows readers step-by-step how to reclaim this strong-benevolent faith, challenging us to stop creating barriers in the name of God and learn how affirming other religions can strengthen our commitment to our own. And in doing so, he invites Christians to become more Christ-like than ever before.
I will be quoting occasionally from this book in future posts. Buy it or borrow it from your local library!

Info: Brian D. McLaren (New York, Jericho Books: 2012)

Monday, July 30, 2012

[the sacrament of friendship]

What does true friendship look like? What does it offer the other person? What expectations are involved?

Richard Beck has been reading A Private and Public Faith by Stringfellow, and says the following:

So what does this sacramental life look like? For Stringfellow one proxy is simply friendship. In this chapter he describes his relationship (Stringfellow was living in a Harlem tenement at the time) with a boy addicted to narcotics. Stringfellow discusses how various clergy and social workers had come to view this boy with suspicion, as a lost cause, as a waste of their time and effort. And Stringfellow agrees that the boy probably is a lost cause from those pragmatic and programmatic perspectives. And insofar as Stringfellow can help the boy he helps. But his central concern is simply being a sacrament of life in the world of this boy. To be a life-giving oasis. To bring resurrection where only death is at work. To being a friend.
He often visits me when he is free, and we have talked a lot together. I am not aware that I have ever told him that he has a bad and costly and very debilitating habit. He knows that better than I do. And while he and I have talked about how his habit might be controlled or even cured, our relationship is not contingent upon his breaking his addiction. Acceptance of another person is acceptance of the other as he is, without entailing any demands that he change in any empirical way. This boy is an addict, and while I would rejoice if he were freed from this affliction, that would not change or increase my acceptance of him as a person. And though I am not an addict, that makes me no better nor worse than he. I am not his judge. I am just his friend. (Stringfellow)
And that, according to Stringfellow, is the central and primary witness of the Christian in the world.


The sacrament of friendship.

Overall excerpted from Richard Beck's blog post The William Stringfellow Project: A Private and Public Faith, Part 4. Stringfellow quotes from chapter 4 of  A Private and Public Faith.