Not much today in the humour department, other than a cartoon panel. I’m still carrying on “summer hours” around here, but I do have some random linkage to foist upon the unsuspecting masses. (Both of you, that is.)

I’ve got some commentary mixed in that I didn’t put in the time to extend into full-out rants, so there’s a bit of link-bonus attitude as well. But make sure you get through to the last item.

Here we go…

1. Church-Loving Christians Make Case for Organized Religion — yet another article about people equating “The Bride of Christ” with an institution, failing to grasp that the church is a spiritual community first. Isn’t it a little arrogant to assume, untested, that your definition of church aligns perfectly with Jesus’ definition? But hey, at least I didn’t find myself reading a whole book based on this false assumption and having to review it, like my friend Bill Kinnon did quite charitably despite disliking it fairly comprehensively. So charitable was he that even Andrew Jones uttered harsher words when he noted that one of the authors
   

   gets paid for 20 hours a week to sit in an office and prepare a sermon. 20 hours!!!! Now thats a cushy job that will only work in a very rich area of the world with people who dont mind throwing money at that kind of model. It would be unheard of for an emerging/emergent pastor or leader to demand half a salary to prepare a 30 minute oratory. No wonder he is not emergent, and no wonder he loves that kind of church.

   This is such beautiful snark, I so wish I’d written it. I suppose that only in that kind of church is a 30-minute sermon lofted weekly at 500(? 1,000?) people considered “pastoral care” or adequate “equipping the saints” in such a manner as to justify the expense.

2. Roger Thoman Reviews Steve Addison’s Movements That Change the World — five characteristics of missionary movements: White-hot faith, Commitment to a cause, Contagious relationships, Rapid mobilization, and Adaptive methods; the book elaborates on each.
3. Christian Music: The Uncomfortable Truth.
4. Maybe now I’ve seen everything… Peter Rollins working on a Jack Chick -style tract. Stranger than fiction?
5. $100,000 Tool Bag Lost in Space Is Found … Sort Of. At least I don’t have to worry about a hammer falling from space and landing on my head. That’s a relief.
6. Even relatively “bland” landscapes made stunning.
7. Andrew Jones is one of 12 Bloggers [who] Summarize the Gospel in 10 Words or Less. I wasn’t asked directly, but here’s mine, exactly ten words: “Like water spilled, unrecoverable, we must die. But God intervenes.” See 2 Samuel 14:14 — do I get bonus points for that? It’s perhaps my favorite summary of the Gospel (after a fashion).
8. I should have mentioned this before, but my friend Alan Roxburgh has launched the Roxburgh Missional Network
9. Answers to the Rorschach Test Revealed on the Wikipedia entry
10. Last night I took the kids and visited Israel and Greece. When it’s in your own back yard, you sometimes forget what a great cultural festival we have here in the ‘peg.
11. Rick Meigs is steadily recovering from his serious motorcycle accident in June, making rapid recovery beyond expectations. He’s moved on to another rehab facility in Portland, and has even dropped by the post on the subject and left a couple of comments for us… great to hear from him directly! Pray that he’ll be home on schedule on Friday August 14^th for his and Fran’s 33^rd wedding anniversary.