I wanted to share this video with you to stimulate conversation about simplicity and consumerism. Consumption not only is bad for the planet, for impoverished people, and for animals – but it can pollute the soul. This has certainly been true in my life. Jesus warns us not to find our value “in the abundance of possessions” but the culture of the USA seems to have more authority in my life on a day-to-day basis. This is especially true when all the sales hit during Advent. What are your thoughts on this video and on Christmas spending sprees?
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I Believe in the “Here and Now” But Live Like I Trust in Escapism
I’ve noticed a trend in my life. When it comes to my worldview, the way I see reality, the way I see the Scriptures… I believe in a faith that focuses on God’s in-breaking future reality in the present. I believe in a Kingdom that each day can be realized “on earth as in heaven.” I believe in the final renewal of “all things” the final union of heaven and earth when Christ returns. But, for me, this isn’t some future reality with zero ramifications on the present.
This future hope draws me to believe that we can both experience and be signs of God’s eventual future New Creation, today! Justice for the poor, the blind receiving sight, living as peacemakers and opposing violence, miracles that demonstrate our proper place as good gardeners of creation, authentic communal relationships – these all matter today as God’s Spirit draws towards the both presently inaugurated and future consummated reign of Christ on the earth. Christian faith is rooted in the historical “here and now,” with the affirmation that this world matters both today and tomorrow!
Therefore, what we do in the present “here and now” is immensely important.
One of the greatest struggles that many of us have with the version of Christianity that we inherited is that it often focused solely on tomorrow. Continue Reading…
Dear Reader: Dealing With The Uninspired Self (Days When I Feel "Blah")
- Image Credit: SpEEdyRoBy
Dear Reader…
Do you ever have days when you just feel “blah?” Nothing motivates you to go change the world. To do the things that you love, seem laborious. To do the things that you hate, feels worse than they usually would.
For me, the things I love include reading, studying, and writing. The things I hate, well… the “honey do’s” of life such as house chores. As I write this (which is taking discipline, I might add), both love and hate lead to a path of angst. Unfortunately, I know that on days like this at the setting sun I will look back upon all of my wasted time and wonder – What’s my problem?! Come on Kurt Willems, you have too much to do to squander time and be unproductive!
My guess is that you have these kinds of days too. Maybe it’s the old “Monday” syndrome that affects us all. Continue Reading…
11:11 for 2011 Book Giveaway Contest Results!
I want to thank all of you who participated in this contest. It really helped me to continue to get the word out about this blog and the conversations I love being a part of on Facebook! What a blessing it is to be a facilitator of Christ-centered dialogue! Also, I believe that God is going to work in your life through whatever book you get…
*** If you are listed as a winner, I will be sending you a personal email to get your mailing address. Please respond by the end of the week, so I can get this all taken care of.
HERE ARE THE WINNERS!
| Jason Hess |
| Terri-Anne Williams |
| Jason Kinzel |
| Josh Wray |
| Ryan VanderHelm |
| wjcsydney |
| Jean |
| stephanie Tolle |
| martha mouner |
| Jo Stollings |
| Joshua |
11:11 for 2011 (Easy Book Giveaway Contest!)
11:11… this has been a haunting number in my life for the past 5 years. Most of my college friends can attest to this. It is a number that I see on the clock at the oddest moments. For instance, I have seen it on my phone three times in a row, completely without intention (am, pm, and am again!). I have seen it on the same digital clock/temperature sign at the bank I drive past on the freeway two nights in a row (when not in routine). These are two simple examples of the nightmare-ish phenomenon that has plagued my soul for quite some time. In fact, it has become a number that is believed to be “prophetic” in some odd way. My friends have jokingly taken bets about how the number is prophetic about my eventual death, or at the least, my demise! Well, this blog post is to prove them wrong!
11:11 for 2011 is a book giveaway contest that capitalizes on those haunting numbers as we break into this 11th year of the new millennium. I want to redeem this prophecy of doom to be a number that foretells of good things that are coming for this new year! Good for you and good for me. So, here is the deal…
11 Books — I will be giving away 11 books including: Shane Claiborne / Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove / Enuma Okoro‘s new transformational book – Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals; Ron Martoia‘s -The Bible as Improv: seeing and living the script in new ways; John Walton‘s – The Lost World of Genesis One; Scot McKnight‘s – One.Life: Jesus Calls, We Follow; Greg Boyd‘s – The Myth of a Christian Religion; and Rachel Held Evans‘ – Evolving in Monkey Town.
I am going to give them away to 11 winners who will be randomly selected. To enter you must fulfill ALL of the following requirements:
1) 11 Facebook Friend Suggestions — Go to 11 different Facebook friends profiles and suggest to them that they add me as a friend (via “suggest friends” option on the bottom of the left column of the their page). Here, I am hoping you add folks who would be interested in the conversations we have here on Pangea Blog and on my personal FB page.
2) Subscribe to the Pangea Blog by Email– On the top right corner of this site, below the banner, enter your email address to subscribe to receive email notifications when a new post publishes.
3) Promote 11:11 for 2011 on your FB Page! — Post a link to this blog article with a brief promotion of the contest as a “Status Update” on your FB page (and if you want to, feel free to also spread the word on Twitter 
)
Once you have done these three things: 1) Suggest to 11 friends that they add me as a friend on FB, 2) Subscribed to this site via email, and 3) promoted 11:11 for 2011 as a “status update”….
4) Leave me a comment indicating you have completed the above 3 steps on this post to secure your spot in the contest. You are welcome to tell me your top three choices, which I will consider when sending out the book to you if you are selected. If you are a winner, I will notify you personally by email (to get a mailing address, which I promise not to share with anyone) and will have a follow-up post announcing the winners on Tuesday January 11th.
Thanks for participating in this fun redemption of such an evil number! You are helping me to spread the word about the blog, and I will be hopefully adding to your library… Good luck and thanks again!!!
An "unpopular" 4th of July Post… Why this is Not a Day to Celebrate…
UPDATE: After you read this post and comment, Mason pointed out a very good article from Christianity Today written by Historical Christian Scholar Mark Noll (he is read in seminaries across America)… It asks similar questions from a historical perspective.
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ORIGINAL POST:
I want to start out this post with a huge disclaimer… what I am about to say may sound radical or irrational to some. I also want to say that I have a great respect for those who differ with me on this issue that I am about to discuss, so I invite your ideas on this post as well. Finally, I have a great deal of respect for those who are Christians and who ‘support’ military and our troops. Those who serve our country (although I may disagree with it to some extent from my standpoint theologically) deserve respect for their sacrifices and I am glad to have some friends who have served or are serving in the armed forces.
With all of that said, I have been struggling with the idea of the 4th of July for the past year or so. Each year we get together and remember the day when America won her freedom. We reenact the story through live action plays, we set off fireworks as a display of joy, and we sing prideful songs about our freedom from oppression. In many ways, we treat Independence Day like the Jews in Jesus’ day (and even to this day) remember the exodus from Egypt. Now here is the issue I have: No matter what position you hold in regards to being a Christian and war (I happen to lean towards a nonviolent stance), I cannot justify glorifying the ‘wining’ of our independence from our friends across the pond, even from a ‘just war theory’ viewpoint. How can we celebrate that we killed thousands upon thousands of people (MANY OF WHICH WORSHIPED THE SAME GOD!) over the fact that they were taxing our mammon with out giving us representation in parliament or whatever?!!!!! This seems just plain wrong!!!!! Yes, there might be some kind of justice issue here, but the greater injustice to taxation without representation is the violent killing of our brethren.
Is there anyone out there who agrees with me or am I just crazy [if you disagree take it easy on the crazy comments (-; ]? If you agree, why? If not, tell me your thoughts on this historic day and Christian biblical theology.
