The Forgotten

There is a war on the scale of WW 2 raging right now. But the word “war” may not be accurate – it’s more slaughter or genocide. And for some reason, there is a dearth of coverage given to it. I’m talking, of course, about the civil war in eastern Congo. What’s that? Don’t know what I’m talking about? Well, maybe you’ve heard of Rwanda – or seen the movie Hotel Rwanda. What’s happening to the people of eastern Congo makes Rwanda a paper cut in comparison.  That’s how bad it is. The Hutu militias responsible for much of the more recent violence (killings, rape, slavery, mutilation, etc) are from Rwanda. This is basically a continuation of the genocide from several years ago.

Filed under: Mission

Beauty In Simplicity

I’ve had this thing for minimalism for a while now.

I have a hard time with clutter. It bothers me. Not just in design and aesthetics, but life in general. The beautiful thing to me is usually the simplest / cleanest.

They say that one of the greatest drummers to ever have played was John Bonham – drummer for Led Zeppelin. The reason he was lauded was not what he was able to layer, layer, layer in his playing – which can be argument for good drumming, but rather what he was able to leave out. (Good example: When The Levee Breaks by Led Zeppelin) He was a master minimalist – he played bigger by playing less.

Antoine de Saint-Exupery, a French novelist (The Little Prince) wrote: In anything at all, perfection is finally attained not when there is no longer anything to add, but when there is no longer anything to take away.

The Japanese do it.

Modern architects do it. Not successful all the time.

Ernest Hemingway did it.

Restaurants are also trending that way as well.

Now, if I can only apply this to sermon writing.

I love theology – but some of it – no, most of it is pretty convoluted. It sort of has to be, I guess. But the theology that has stuck with me, that has given to me over and over again, are those images and explanations that are beautifully minimal. Of course, these minimalist images leave a lot to the imagination or just to plain mystery. But it’s not claiming to have all the answers or to speak to all the nuances. In some ways, the minimalist approach gives greater credence to what’s not been said.

Something I really appreciate about my denomination, the Evangelical Covenant Church, is that we operate out of a centered set theology. This simply means we affirm a few things (five to be exact) which we hold to be in the center of life before God and with each other. Everything else is tethered to these stakes in the middle of our communal lives together as God’s church. You can check it out here.

What else, in your mind, is beautifully minimal? When does minimalism outstay its welcome?

Filed under: Church, Design

Watch For The Teardrop

I’ve been taking video of Luca, my three month old, from time to time. I just noticed in watching this video, which is a week or two old, that Luca tears when she yawns. I’m not sure if all infants do that – BUT I do that! I’ve always been semi-embarrased about it. Like it’s a defect with my tear ducts. I was once kicked in the eye by a bully in the fifth grade – I attribute my penchant for teary yawns to Mike Ezzo. Anyways, now that Luca tears, it’s precious to me that we share this. Watch for the teardrop.

John hears in Revelation that every tear will be wiped away in the new heavens/earth – hopefully it doesn’t include these. I like these.

Filed under: Family

“With the young girls, you promise them heaven, they’ll follow you to hell”

That’s a quote from a former pimp from a recent NYT article. It’s particularly striking for me because of how it directly opposes in spirit, not to mention wording, the tag for this particular blog – “where the hell is heaven.”

Here’s the article. It’s absolutely heartbreaking.

The truth is, we are surrounded by hell. For most of us, we have little to no concept of what this might mean living out our lives in relative comfort. We’re insulated and fortunate, in one sense, for the buffers of civility and relative peace and provision in our lives. But not so for these young kids. Heaven is so much more appealing (not the case for us) when you’re living hell. And so even the promise of something little more, of love and reward, however chained to other nasty little details, can lead the weak to places they would otherwise have never set foot.

Filed under: Uncategorized

Design To Save The World

Carol, my wife, just bought a new Macbook. We’re lucky to be able to afford such a thing. Even though we bought it on sale (it’s last year’s model), it’s probably double what we would have paid for a comparably built PC laptop. But that’s not a true statement, is it. Reason: because even if it has the same memory, hard drive space, processor power, it’s still a PC – you lose something crucial when you go there – namely, good design.

Hear me out now – I believe design (all sorts) is at the heart of saving the world. Yup. Good design serves a greater aesthetic, a higher beauty, a fullness that is perfection. Design in the here and now is of that in a reaching, yearning for, reflecting in brokenness kind of way.

Is this true? Everything from macro economics to a children’s playground, from a God given talent to how that talent is expressed on a stage or a computer screen can be understood in terms of design (literally, to be drawn or marked out.) Make that computer screen a Mac, and you’re that much closer to heaven, I say.

Filed under: Design, Mission

The Power of Words

A friend told me about this experiment they did with rice and words and how different words affected the rice’s rate of spoilage. After doing some research, I stumbled upon this video. Apparently, this man, Masaru Emoto, started the initial experiment with words and their affect on water crystals. To be honest, I’m not sure what to make of this except to say – my mom was right – it does matter what you say.

The thin veil between the physical and the non-physical (spiritual?) has become thinner still.

Filed under: Science, Spirituality

70,000 Unarmed

This is an often hilarious, sometimes sad portrayal of what is passionately believed by a small minority of Americans who live between NYC and San Fran. They said 1 million – 1.5 million showed up for the march on D.C. this past Saturday. More like 70,000, so said the local police. Still, some of the signage, rhetoric and threats give me pause.

I also wonder how many coherent, thoughtful remarks were edited out – this is, after all, put out by New Left Media.

I give props to this interviewer. Some of this is down right scary – and he maintains a consistently non-anxious presence. He’s zen master-ish.

As part of the church, how does this make you feel? How would you have responded if you were there to witness these interviews?

Filed under: Church, Politics

The Place of Purpose

Seth Godin is a blogger/author and he writes mostly about marketing (his newest book I believe is “The Dip” “Tribes”.) He nevertheless has really good thoughts about many things. For example, from his blog sethgodin.typepad.com/:

The hierarchy of success

I think it looks like this:

Attitude

Approach

Goals

Strategy

Tactics

Execution

Filed under: Humanity, Mission

Franken Is A Stud

I aim to learn how to do this before I see my maker. The craziness of this is that he does it state by state, rather than drawing an outline of the lower 48 first.

I wonder if this ability has any bearing on his ability to be an effective senator. Probably not. But it’s a cool party trick.

Filed under: Uncategorized

Covenant

Two nights ago, as I was walking along 44th Drive, the street where Queenswest meets on Sundays, I noticed a teen stroll by with a roller luggage bag. It had tags on it. He walked with a curious laziness. I felt a prompting, you might call it an internal desire, to talk to him. I didn’t know what I would say. So, I didn’t. I got in my car and drove the two minutes back to my apartment. But it took me a few minutes to find parking – and when I had finally found a spot and was leaving my car – who did I see? The same teen. I was parked on a street with few streetlights, mostly warehouse, dead ending into the East River. Context can speak volumes, and when you’re seeing it happen, it’s amazing how much you assume within seconds. When I saw him again in full shuffle, the thoughts that came to mind were – he’s homeless, got kicked out, and he’s got no sense of where to go or what to do. So, I yelled at him from across the street.

Long story short: we ended up eating at a local diner. He (let’s call him G) hadn’t eaten in a day. He was indeed kicked out of his house in Pittsburgh by mom. He’s in NYC to pursue his dream of going to school for video editing. He’s 18. He’s a bright kid, but not bright enough to understand that you can’t just walk onto a campus and register for classes two days before classes start. 

Filed under: Community, Humanity