Art to Change the World

Well I missed Earth Day, but it is never too late to enter into the spirit of going green. Here are some powerful images by Chris Jordan that relate to the statistics of consumption & help us to recognize the extent of the problem.
This series looks at contemporary American culture through the austere lens [...]

What the World Eats

Some of you may remember that last year for Lent we encouraged people to commit to The Mutunga $2 challenge for a week as a reminder of the fact that half the world’s population lives on less than $2 per person per day. Here is the first in a great series of images [...]

Going to the Ballet

On Saturday evening I had a chance to go to the ballet.  It was a wonderful experience first because it gave me some very special time with my friend Linda but also because I have always loved the ballet but have had few chances to attend in the last 20 years.  In fact I think [...]

Buy Nothing Make Something

Here is a great idea from The Ecclesia Collective in San Diego. Instead of beginning the Christmas season with a frenzy of shopping why not spend the day after Thanksgiving making gifts with your family or friends. Thanks to Eliacin for making me aware of this.
“In response to the over-consumptive habits of western [...]

One Party Too Many

This last week I seem to have gone from one festive gathering too another & cooked meals for hoards of people. Tuesday evening I spoke at Tom’s Fuller Seminary class on Shalom and the Vision of God, Wednesday lunch we feasted our Celtic planning group to wild mushroom soup and home made bread, Thursday [...]

Thou Shalt Not Kill Except in Video Games

Here is a very sobering article that was in the NY Times a few days ago.  Talk about buying into the secular culture with a vengeance.  What “Christian” values do we teach when so much of the entertainment even at church portrays violence.
“First the percussive sounds of sniper fire and the thrill of the [...]

Get Satisfied

This morning I have been making granola, reading Get Satisfied edited by Carol Holst and keeping tabs on the discussion about monastic orders of the white man on Eliacin’s blog.   Talk about multi tasking.  And what do all these things have in common you may ask?  To answer that let me refer back to Get [...]

What do I need to throw out?

Something to think about as we approach Thanksgiving, Christmas and the season of too much giving and too much eating.  How can we move our focus from what we want to what others need?   Self storage units have mushroomed all over the US as people buy more stuff and don’t know where to put it.  [...]

What Shoots Adrenaline Into Your Souls?

This me church video which we linked to in the last MSA Seed Sampler has been a real hit. The sad thing to me is that this is really how many people view church. We may not say it out loud but on main purpose in going to church can become “to get [...]

Water Anyone?

Just an interesting little fact from New American Dream
Americans consumed more than 31 billion liters of bottled water in 2006 – nearly 28 gallons for every man, woman, and child. Manufacturing all those bottles required 900,000 tons of plastic and emitted as much greenhouse gas as 500,000 cars! Trucking a bottle of [...]