My wife and I were lucky enough to get a chance to see Amazing Grace on opening night thanks to some kind folks at the college where she works. I thought I would share a few thoughts I had after watching it (as a total amateur at both film review and the history surrounding this man.)
The movie, although overacted at points, refrains from the draining menial details that often take over movies set in the same period. I came in expecting Jane Austen with morals and got a welcome surprise in the form of Mr Apted’s deft handling of a potentially dangerous subject: British Parliamentary Procedure. The film captures the patience and tenacity needed to effect change in a society where vested interests often have far deeper pockets than what is morally right. This passion, what easily could be seen as Paul’s “running the race,” is far too rare a virtue in our day. We’re taught that an election, or a simple snap decision will solve all our problems, but the reality of this world is far harsher-and William Wilberforce’s life is a testimony to running the race.
Please don’t go to the movie expecting a spectacular work, but come expecting an affecting work. The kingdom still needs workers in the field and their is still an amazing grace redeeming this world.
You might not think that a white background on a website would be an ecological decision, but with millions of people out there browsing the web you should consider that, like rain, one drop might be small, but a billion or so can add up!
Take at look at Google, for instance, who gets about 200 million queries a day. Let’s assume each query is displayed for about 10 seconds; that means Google is running for about 550,000 hours every day on some desktop. Assuming that users run Google in full screen mode, the shift to a black background will save a total of 15 (74-59) watts. Now take into account that about 25 percent of the monitors in the world are CRTs, and at 10 cents a kilowatt-hour,
that’s about $75,000/year, a goodly amount of energy and dollars for changing a few color codes.
Note: there was a picture here, but it broke my blog… who knows why.
Like some sick and twisted death-match on late night Spike TV, both the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and The Episcopal Church are struggling to define the role of homosexuals within both the congregational life and in pastoral life - with liberals and conservatives occupying trenches equally deep and well planned. I’m not here to comment on that sad affair that is literally killing the churches mission (can you imagine how much these denominations could accomplish if they would talk
about something else at their annual meetings?), but rather I want to point out something obvious that vexes me about these institutions. These are both national churches, attempting to define the agendas for a whole country’s worth of believers – something I believe is antithetical to the entire purpose of the church from creation.
The church, at the most basic level is the group of people within which God has chosen to send his Spirit. This church is a highly personal group of interrelated individuals who seek to become more as God would have them be, and less like the world (and their own sinful ways) would have them be. They are a community at odds with the structure of power and authority, a quiet, but revolutionary counter-culture (in the purest sense.) These national churches, distracted (like the character Hyacinth
Bucket in the BBC’s Keeping Up Appearances) with presenting a facade to the press and the hypothetical alienated non-attender (insert likely, white, upper-middle class, college-educated) have missed the whole point in being the church and in the process done nothing to staunch the loss of their present members.
While this mess certainly sells newspapers it certainly is also illuminating the fundamental problem with large bureaucratic denominations: Christ-imitation doesn’t work when the faces you deal with are no longer people and God’s word is no longer the defining measure of this world. Power, consolidated in these national bodies, has done a similar corollary to the Church under Constantine… corrupted the mission of Christ. Luther tried to break the choke-hold of an authoritarian central church nearly
five hundred years ago because he saw the mission of Christ go undone, today I see petty centralized power missing the mission of Christ. I believe the collapse of these national churches will occur in my lifetime, and that gives me great hope. These denominations have a rich theological tradition that doesn’t need a national body to acknowledge or continue them, but rather need a people engaged in creating a community of God-lovers and Christ-seekers to continue what Christ and the martyrs have already
done.
Bucket and Jefferts-Schori – Same wardrobe department?
This usage of pegboard makes an ordinary desk into an extraordinary space-saver! As an IT worker with more cables than I care to admit this is nothing short of revolutionary, seems like a good project to try in the near future.
Catch the recap here. Although it is a conference for pastors the speakers present a well-honed cases for their topics that are universal, and refreshingly no-holds barred.
Currently I’m a fairly successful IT Analyst/Engineer, but in just a few months I’ll be going to graduate school and will not be nearly so fiscally safe. Reading the article “Surviving (and thriving) on $12,000 a year” made me think about the fact that existing on a fixed income is as much a mental change as it is a fiscal one.
Thanks to LifeHacker
All sin is from temptation (James 1:14). Sin is a fruit that comes from only that root. [...] [Those who are aware of sin] are sensible of their sins, not of their temptations—are displeased with the bitter fruit but cherish the poisonous root. Hence, in the midst of their humiliations for sin, they will continue in those ways, those societies, in the pursuit of those ends, which have occasioned that sin
Meg over at Megnut does an excellent job of summarizing this weekends Michael Pollan article (I’ll confess, it was too long for me to try to read online, until I saw her posting.) It is well worth reading the full thing after reading these wonderful cliff-notes for it!
1. Eat food. Don’t eat anything your great-great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food.
Non-dairy creamer? You’re out. You too, breakfast-cereal bars.
