Video on Ubuntu

the concept of Ubuntu, articulated by a selection of Zulu/South African community members, set to hauntingly beautiful music.

View this movie at cultureunplugged.com

TV bites.

My wife and I sat down to watch TV together last night for the first time in months. That's partially due to the fact that we've been insanely busy for the past few months and took a day off yesterday, so we had more time. It's also due to us primarily watching DVDs and online streams of TV shows and movies...

(Together this year we've watched a lot of Gilmore Girls, The West Wing, and M.A.S.H. We stream the Vicar of Dibley off of Netflix, too... btw, BBC power, baby! Love the girl power and the irreverence.)

We used to have shows that we watched together... like Pushing Daisies, for one. While Amy and I have different tastes when it comes to humor (I could watch Monty Python and Family Guy till I laugh myself sick; she considers it drivel...), we agree basically on what makes a TV show/series good:

Strong, nuanced character development.

Snappy, witty writing.

(and, it helps if the show addresses/comments on real-world issues... although it can do so without an overt agenda.)

So back to last night... Thursday night used to be the creme de la creme of TV-watching nights. The pinnacle for which every comedy show reached, especially NBC.

Now? It's Parks and Recreation.

AWFUL... just AWFUL. Sleeping (w/o dreaming) would have been more entertaining. Hee Haw reruns would have been more humorous. Amy Poehler (who I've never found very funny anyway) was particularly drab, in a role that basically did nothing but try to copy the Office, and it did so badly.

It wasn't just NBC. In our disgust we flipped around to other channels, trying to find something of worth... and found a drama with inane dialogue and with only sexual content driving the plot, a reality show with NO content, and another bad comedy. Thursday night, and NOTHING to watch.

Meanwhile, networks cancel shows like Pushing Daisies, and Arrested Development.

I know that ratings and advertisers control the airwaves, but the networks should have some power, too, and networks should know that earning viewers is like starting a movement, and movements take time to build momentum. M.A.S.H. ran for 11 seasons and is considered one of the most successful sitcoms in history, yet was a ratings dud its first year. Seinfeld struggled in the early years. In fact, VERY few shows, drama or comedy, that ended up successful, started immediately that way. I don't think the Office did either!... but the Office was innovative to the American market; nothing like it had ever been done before (and become popular)... that was part of its appeal (the mock-interview format, Steve Carrell's character that drove the show's humor, etc.)

But instead of having the same "let's try something new" attitude, the approach is always "let's imitate what works," or "let's interject as much superfluous drama / shock-value into the show as possible to gain viewers." Hence Parks and Rec's bad attempt to copy the Office. As long as the goal is for shows to "become successful NOW," this will stay the same... but in the meantime, the shows with actual CONTENT get flushed.

(Meanwhile, NBC, you're in last place in ratings. Maybe there's a connection?)



Reality TV has increased the problem-- for most of them, ALL of the allure for these shows(e.g. Big Brother, the Bachelor, etc.) is in the clashing of borderline personalities and in the overt sexual content. NO need for writing; just get people to fight and shack up as much as possible.

There are exceptions (30 Rock in my opinion is still going strong; J.J. Abrams and Aaron Sorkin's shows are good typically).... but the trend is definitely downward in quality, and has been so for years. Now it's up to Youtube to be our primary entertainment.

We need a cultural Renaissance; a resurrection of the television medium. We need writers to step up to the plate and deliver original material, and for networks to stop playing Russian roulette with their new shows, to show some foresight and ability to judge what is the "real deal" from the putrescence. (E.g., Pushing Daisies? Good! Parks and Rec, BOO!!)

For now Amy and I will remain content with the purchasing/Netflixing of DVDs, of old shows, the few good shows out now, the BBC, and the internet.

Finding the right Seminary, according to Mouw (not to b confused w Mao)

"The Chairman," as I like to call him, has written a helpful guide for anyone looking for the right seminary fit.

love your enemies.

Love Your Enemies from Kristen Miller on Vimeo.

found it on soul pancake

Todd and Norah's voices are getting heard.

Thanks to everyone who's sent letters; they've been making a huge difference. I hear from Amy that Todd and Norah's quest to bring back their adopted child from Guatemala is catching the ear of various House representatives and they're asking us to stop sending letters. I also hear that some news sources might be reporting on the story soon in Texas, but we'll have to wait and see on that one.

At any rate, keep sending letters!

Click here to get the story of what's going on, from my wife's blog.

Click here to read from Todd and Norah's blog.

Both above sites have copies of the letter to send to your representative, that you can copy and paste into an email box, accessible HERE. All you have to do is find your rep by typing in your zip code, and there will be a link to send them an online note.

It's making a difference, so keep it coming! (And it takes 1 minute, literally. )

developing a rhythm of life.

I've been on a journey of developing a so-called "rhythm of life" for a while, now... some of you close to me, and those who read my blog "back in the day" might recall that I've struggled with prayer and piety over the years.

Mainly because my prayer life, from a young age, revolved around my guilt. Basically, before I could get to the point where I could come before God, I had to do my own version of spiritual and mental self-flagellation; I had to feel worthless before I could accept God's grace. In the meantime, I would either ignore God or come to him on my own terms.


There's a very thin thread of truth in that kind of spirituality (which I am certain I am not the only one to have learned this kind)... God is indeed much bigger and greater than we are, and does forgive us. But I was so dependent on that feeling of worthlessness, that I really DIDN'T understand God's grace very well... I didn't understand the "light yoke" of being a Christ-follower, the daily rhythm of trying to follow Him through the ups and downs of life, and so I lived enslaved to my own desires when I wasn't really all that worthless, and enslaved to guilt when I did. And that's not grace at all. Grace is about freedom.


Many of you know that I actually gave up personal prayer for nearly a year while I was in seminary, as I tried to "relearn" how to pray and come before God (it's one thing to understand things cognitively, and an entirely other thing to have it seep into your being...). The result of that journey was a trip to Italy and a discovery of Tony Jones' the Sacred Way, and a sermon at Warehouse by the same title, revealing my journey towards what prayer fundamentally WAS, and what it was about (namely, "tuning" into the Spirit of God that is constantly at work in us, and in the world--- in other words, it's about listening.) Spiritual Disciplines at that point became the new focus, and I gladly embraced many of them, and brought them into the corporate setting. I began moving towards a more contemplative approach to ministry in general, and that has become reflected in the youth ministry I do now.... also thanks to Mark Yaconelli and his book.

I have incorporated contemplative elements into virtually every phase of my corporate worship of which I have control: our youth do lectio divina, meditations, stations of the cross, etc; I made some of them prayer ropes when they became church members; I've led Taize worship at our church during the Lenten season. And I would do many of these things on my own as well.

But I still couldn't get consistent with my own personal devotions, again.

Now I think this development is right; we learn to pray and worship in the context of a community FIRST, and then begin to take those communal practices into the "dark closet" and practice them on our own. But as a church leader, and as someone who has promoted and taught spiritual discipline; I have felt quite hypocritical at best, for not being more personally disciplined.... and in danger of abusing my calling as a pastor and church leader at worst... for while God does work in spite of me, over the long haul I cannot remain humble, loving, connected, present, or faithful... without first and foremost orienting myself to the spirit of God CONSTANTLY... I am convinced that there is a plethora of power-hungry, abusive, short-sighted and burnt-out pastors in our world precisely because of this. (this can never be separated from communal spirituality, either....)


What if instead our lives are structured around prayer? This is what the Daily Office of monastics is all about; Phyllis Tickle and others have promoted making this the goal of "common spirituality" as well... When I first began looking at Daily Office materials (mainly using the Book of Common Prayer and an Orthodox prayer book), I still could not get past the idea, or rather the sense, that I was fitting prayer INTO my schedule.... but really, having a "rhythm of life" is all about fitting LIFE into your prayer!!!!..... and that is a HUGE shift of priorities, one that does not make sense to the laborer, to the do-it-yourself, can-do, individualistic achievement-oriented culture in which we live and in which we try to be "spiritual." Neither does it make sense to pastors, parachurch workers, missionaries (in the traditional sense---I believe we're all missionaries), scholars, and other Christians in vocational ministry of some kind, who place their value, "worthiness," aims, sense of connectedness and/or "spiritual feeling," in their work..... for us, the lines are too easily blurred between what God is doing, and what we're doing. Squeezing God into our schedules, just isn't going to cut it.

If the Kingdom of God on earth is the crux of the Gospel, we cannot forget that it is precisely GOD's KINGDOM, and NOT OURS.


All of this to say, I have begun to make "the shift." Finally. Not perfectly, and not to toot my own horn, but I am sharing this because it's making a big difference for me. In another entry, I'm gonna share the specifics of what has "worked," and why. (At least so far.) Maybe you'll find these things/thoughts helpful as well.....

Rgh.

Can I just say that it kills me that I can't go to this????


I've used up my travel quota for the year already, having spent a month in Michigan, and headed to Hawaii again in December with family. (DEFINITELY not complaining about that!)

But if you randomly stumble upon this posting, and you're looking for discussion about the Christian faith that is raw, rigorous, head-spinning, and fully comfortable tackling the most loaded questions you can conjure up, then the Theological Conversations are as good as it gets.

Add to the fact that perhaps the most prolific theologian ALIVE is at the helm this year (Jurgen Moltmann), and you can add "inspiring," "Spirit-enlivening," "jaw-dropping" and a whole host of other bad adjectives and cliches... all to express just how amazing this thing's gonna be.

So go so I can live vicariously through you. Take lots of notes and vids and pics.

(Talking to you, Sam.)

getting in the christmas spirit early.

Saw this the first time while in MI... thought u might enjoy a midday-Friday break.

this brought a smile to my face today.

Thanks Rainn Wilson.

Belhar adopted.

Still needs to be accepted by 2/3 of the classes (regions in the RCA).

Click here for the RCA General Synod blog on the adoption.