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Weekly Meanderings

Weekly Meanderings

Last updated on: March 5, 2011 at 12:05 am by Scot McKnight

Weekly Meanderings 2011-03-04T20:19:37-06:00 Scot McKnight

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Peggy, the virtual abbess, surveys the land of her life … in a triad. Pastor Josh examines the burden of the image of God.

MaryKate Morse has planted two churches — good reflections. Mark Roberts writes from the other angle of pastoral ministry — on the suicide of a pastor. Back to ministry: Chaplain Mike has a wonderful post about Eugene Peterson. And Michael Kruse probes the Acts 16:5 Initiative.

Adam McHugh: “I had just informed a youth pastor at an evangelical conference that I was a certified spiritual director, and he, in a disarmingly curious way, linked me with people who look to the stars for mystical guidance and dating advice. In that moment, I realized I had another presentation problem.”

Attention Surplus Disorder. Now that’s funny. I’m glad Justin’s at NPU and is teaching this course. And I’m glad Brad Wright is a professor who agrees with me. Ted asks about how to deal with controversies.

Is he safe? Is it safe?, good questions by Wendy McCaig: “I did not get the profound significance of this statement until the second or third time I watched The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. I meet many Lucy’s in the work that I do. When I go out to Churches and invite Christians to venture into the inner city to spend time with Christ among the homeless population, the first question is always, “Is it safe?” I never know how to answer this question because following Christ is always a dangerous proposition.”

Pastor uses jackhammer. Karen uses a pen … and gets an award.

April’s reflections. LaVonne‘s reflections.

Ten things I don’t have time for. Here’s one thing Allan doesn’t have time for, and I’ll bet he will, but before then he’s got good perspective.

Here’s a guy I’ve got time for: Geeding — and only Geeding finds this kind of stuff.

Can’t not have this one. Leave it to Roger to lay it down: “In my opinion, anyone who reacts to that video negatively–with the intention of saying or implying that Rob Bell (based on the video) is teaching heresy–is theologically paranoid. OR they just want to score points with their crowd by being the first to denounce Bell as a universalist. Nothing in the video justifies the claim (whether explicit or implicit) that he is a universalist.”

The NYTimes enters into this Rob Bell discussion, but I’m confused why Al Mohler uses sexual imagery, and I’m not seeing any connection to Rob’s ideas — what am I missing?

Samuel Atchison: “Consider this: In 1999, the U.S. Justice Department estimated that state and federal inmates were parents to nearly 1.5 million minor children. Today, the children of the incarcerated number approximately 2.5 million, roughly one child for every adult currently in jail or prison. Consider as well that the number of affected children balloons to approximately 12 million when one takes into account the total number of parents who are under the jurisdiction of the criminal justice system, including those who are on parole or probation. Finally, when one considers the effects of incarceration on the communities from which prisoners come—and to which they will return—the total number of children impacted by incarceration exceeds 20 million.”

Meanderings in the News

1. This is a good sketch of the man John Dominic Crossan. Many themes in his Jesus books are not mentioned here, but this is a good way to get to know Dom. (But this is such old news…. unless, of course, he’s got a book coming out.)

2. Melba Newsome: “Boomers are the fastest-growing demographic at U.S. divinity schools, according to the Association of Theological Schools (ATS), an organization of more than 250 theological graduate schools in the U.S. and Canada. The under-30 crowd may still be the largest cohort of students — accounting for a third of the total — but the 50-or-older group has grown from 12% of students in 1995 to 20% in 2009, the most recent year for which data is available.”

3. Paul Courson, a good story: “Washington (CNN) — Frank Buckles, the last U.S. World War I veteran, has died, a spokesman for his family said Sunday. He was 110.”

4. Abraham Verghese on doctor care in hospitals: “This computer record creates what I call an “iPatient” — and this iPatient threatens to become the real focus of our attention, while the real patient in the bed often feels neglected, a mere placeholder for the virtual record.”

5. Kevin Williamson, at NtRev, on what Wisconsin represents: “As Wisconsin flips its wig, there has been a great deal of dishonest, ill-informed, and indeed knavish commentary on the relationship between public-sector unions and the fiscal conditions of the states. The thrust of these unenlightening analyses has been that public-sector unions are not to blame for the dire fiscal situation facing Wisconsin and many other states. The general shape of the Left’s argument here has been that of a compound error with two distinct components: 1) the inability to distinguish between the short-term problems facing states as a result of the recent recession and their long-term fiscal problems; 2) the much more serious conflation of collective-bargaining rights with unions’ political power.” He sees unions as a political block: “That is significant because, contra Polman, McCartin, and the bulk of the Democratic commentariat, these unions do not influence public policy mainly through engaging in collective bargaining. They influence it by determining the outcome of elections.” He continues: “In the elections Professor Moe studied, union support was as valuable as incumbency in determining winners.” And more: “These facts suggest that in a great many cases — a great many of the most significant political cases — elected officials answer to public-sector unions more than public-sector unions answer to elected officials. That is not democracy; it is a caste system given democratic form.”

Aksel Groweth

6. Across the nation folks are standing in support of the Wisconsion union labor folks.

7. It’s now official.

8. Maureen Dowd’s experience with a real “smart car”: “They are on the cusp of a system featuring the futuristic avatar Eva, the vaguely creepy face and voice of a woman on your dashboard who can read you your e-mail, update your schedule, recite articles from newspapers, guide you to the restaurant where you’re having lunch and recommend a selection from your iPod. Ford’s working on a Web browser, which would be locked while driving. Remember when your car used to be a haven of peace from the world? Now it’s just a bigger, noisier and much more dangerously distracting smartphone.”

9. Richie Daley had it going at Wheaton: “Saying he was pleased but not satisfied with the progress of Chicago Public Schools during his tenure, Daley recounted asking city teachers to spend 15 more minutes to teach to help disadvantaged students, but the union refused without additional pay. “Our teachers work six hours a day. Six hours a day. What do you think of that? Thirty hours a week,” Daley said. “I’m not condemning all the teachers, but you know, there has to be a time and place for everybody to have to give to the less fortunate. … Unions have to understand, that you have a responsibility. It’s not just a paycheck.” Mr. Daley, pardon me sir, but that’s like thinking pastors work one day a week.

10. On making soups with Mark Bittman: “I’m not anti-recipe (obviously), but some things just don’t need them — and most vegetable soups fall into that category. Here are easy-to-follow instructions for making vegetable (vegetarian and, for the most part, vegan) soups with common ingredients, a variety of choices and terrific flavor. Print the following page, stick it on your refrigerator and work your way through it. By the time you’re done — 12 days or 12 weeks later — you’ll never again need a recipe for vegetable soup. Promise.”

These good Cubs fans are ready for the season to begin … in chilly AZ.

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