Do you ever wonder what your blog posts look like as just 1’s and 0’s? Uh, I didn’t think so… errmmm, me neither…
So I guess y’all need your weekly funny groan. Here it is:
A rabbi and a priest get into a car accident, and it’s a bad one. Both cars are totally demolished, but amazingly, neither of the clerics is injured. As they crawl out of their cars, the rabbi sees the priest’s collar and says, “So, you’re a priest! I’m a rabbi! Just look at our cars — there’s nothing left, but we are unhurt. This must be a sign from God. God must have meant that we should meet and be friends and live together in peace the rest of our days.”
The priest replies, “I agree with you completely — this must be a sign from God!”
The rabbi continues, “And look at this — here’s another miracle! My car is completely demolished, but this bottle of Mogen David wine didn’t break! Surely God wants us to drink this wine and celebrate our good fortune!” He hands the bottle to the priest.
The priest takes the bottle and agrees. After taking a few big swigs, he hands the bottle back to the rabbi. The rabbi takes the bottle, immediately puts the cap on, and hands it back to the priest. The priest asks, “Aren’t you having any?”
The rabbi replies, “No…I think I’ll wait for the police.”
Alright, how about one of those online quiz thingies: me in the 1930s…
 |
87 As a 1930s husband, I am |
I figure I’d have scored higher except that I’m too egalitarian… or something like that ;^)
Okay, then… on to our regularly scheduled linkage:
- Leading off this week, something that made me laugh out loud. I mean really. I LOL’d. Or is that L’dOL? I guess a few Saturdays back, I said, “Christian satire is like shooting fish in a barrel,” so Bill, on whose post I was riffing at the time, said, “the next time someone asks you what happens when you ‘become a Christian’, tell them ‘Well, it’s kinda like electrocuting a pickle.'” Really. And he includes a YouTube video as proof, which is where the L-ing-O-L comes in. You see, before you become a Christian, you’re like a cucumber, and then after, you shrivel up and turn sour like a pickle, and… no, wait. That’s not it. A pickle is a cucumber soaked in evil, so when you become a pickle… no, that’s not it either. Assurance of salvation comes when you have smoke spewing from your ears… but that doesn’t sound right. Maybe the Holy Spirit is like having electrified alligator clips fastened to… no, probably not. Okay, so when you become a pickle–uh, a Christian, it’s like having an electric fork stuck up your… hmm. No, that can’t be right. At least I hope not, though I’ve met some Christians who– uh, never mind. I guess I dunno what the hell they’re talking about — if anyone figures it out, let me know, okay? I’m gonna go and watch that video again. Come to think of it, there are a few people I’d like to see pickled. Glow-in-the-dark pickles. Heh-heh-heh. Sing with me, alright? “This little pickle o’ mine, I’m gonna let it shine–” Contrary to the warning, I really want to try this…
- Bring A Bible To Church Day: A Clarification
- Ted Gossard quotes Philip Yancey on scripted or “fixed” prayer. (I don’t like the term “fixed” as it was neither broken nor inflexible.) People tend to accuse scripted prayer of being inauthentic (as I used to in my charismatic evangelical days), but they forget that authenticity isn’t bound to the words, it’s something you have to bring to the prayer yourself. Scripted or un- makes no difference to the authenticity with which one prays.
- I’ve been telling you about the power of story for a while… and now Garr Reynolds summarizes Robert McKee on the same subject. Just one of the money quotes: “When the storytelling goes bad in society, the result is decadence.” — Aristotle. Guess what? Actually, while I’m on the topic, Scientific American has a piece on The Secrets of Storytelling: Why We Love a Good Yarn which I discovered from Bob Carlton’s riff The piece summarizes its key concepts:
* Storytelling is a human universal, and common themes appear in tales throughout history and all over the the world.
* These characteristics of stories, and our natural affinity toward them, reveal clues about our evolutionary history and the roots of emotion and empathy in the mind.
* By studying narrative’s power to influence beliefs, researchers are discovering how we analyze information and accept new ideas.
Sounds about right to me… this is how we relate to story at more than a merely logical level… hence its power. - The Elder & Younger are back.
- Fonts, anyone?
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- NASA: 50 Years of Towering Achievement
- Deacon & Usher T-Shirts — or T-Shirt ideas, anyway… I like the “I traded my pastor” one.
- Alan Hirsch gets anarchic and anti-institutional, but not “just for the heck of it.” I was in the same vein yesterday, inspired by Clay Shirky. Making the same point as I was, Alan quotes Bill Easum:
Most theories about congregational life are flawed from the start because they are based on an institutional and mechanical worldview….Such a view is not biblical. Instead, it is fatalistic and self-serving because the goal is to fix and preserve the institution for as long a life as possible. Such a worldview allows one to focus on mere organizational and institutional survival rather than following Jesus onto the mission field for the purpose of fulfilling the great commission. However, the Old and New Testaments are based on an organic worldview. They clearly show a bias for ‘salvation history’ rather than institutional viability.
- Google has now launched Knol, it’s answer to Wikipedia… and it already has a definition of Missional that I don’t like, and have lightly critiqued before… problem is it adds evangelical items that aren’t strictly necessary to being missional. In a similar vein, Drew Goodmanson lists Shared Values of Missional Church Communities which, though basically good stuff, may not all be shared by all missional communities. He’s not actually defining missional though, and his list of values strike close to the heart of what most of us consider missional expressions.
- iMonk gets a bit more personal. Having gotten a bit personal myself on the blog, I appreciate when others do as well… it helps put bloggers’ words in context.
- Paul Fromont covers more Newbigin on The Importance of a Local Congregation
- Good News in the Diner John Frye writes a bit of fiction — or is it? I was wincing through much of the piece.
- Church Advertisements from 1927 (HT: Jared Wilson). We’ve been duped about “church growth” for a long, long time.
- Bob Hyatt chats with Paul Young and offers an update on The Shack — the movie.
Mike Clawson has a good riff on Phyllis Tickle’s articles about her forthcoming book, The Great Emergence: How Christianity Is Changing and Why. She discusses a shift (or “reformation”?) that takes place in the Christian church about every 500 years. We discussed this idea based on an older interview with Phyllis Tickle at a recent “Theology by the Glass” hosted by St. Benedict’s Table. Some of my further thought on the matter was just submitted to Anglican Journal at their request. The article takes the form of a conversation between Jamie Howison and me, and should appear in the October issue. The editor described it as “wonderful, wonderful” so I guess that’s not too bad ;^) I’ll link it when it’s up, but I guess I’ll have to add Tickle’s book to my wish list.
But seriously, folks…
We end on a sober note as recommended by Bill Kinnon: watch a brief video from World Vision UK and visit LivingWater.com.
Alright, tune in next week, same Bat-time, same Bat-channel… yes, I enjoyed The Dark Knight, ignoring the negative review of a certain now-repentant naysayer of the flick. It’s dark, like Batman is supposed to be… and no Katie Holmes! Good stuff, and if I didn’t know it was him, I don’t think I’d have even recognized Heath Ledger.
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