2012

Why we call it Maundy Thursday

Today is Maundy Thursday — no, not Monday Thursday, which would be an interesting concept: society could work Monday through Thursday, with Fridays off! Some Christians misunderstand that this day is only a “Catholic” celebration. Christians both ancient and modern have remembered Christ’s last supper with his disciples on Maundy Thursday, which begins the great triduum, the three days of the paschal celebration.

The word “maundy” comes from the Latin word maundatum for “commandment”, which comes from Jesus’ words from the last supper: “I give you a new commandment; that you love one another…” The full Latin phase is maundatum novarum, which means “a new commandment.” According to Robert Webber (The Services of the Christian Year, #252), these words were translated in the French word mande. This in turn was anglicized into “maundy.”

During this day, Christians celebrate Jesus’ last supper with his disciples through serving and receiving communion with a special service. Often, all of or some of John 13 is read. This scripture recalls: Continue Reading…

Jesus

Newsweek’s hipster Jesus article all hype

How do sell copies of a dying medium? Put a hipster looking Jesus on the cover. It’s kind of interesting… the whole, “What if God was a dude?” routine. Hipster, yeah, it has been done before and we get it. Not really surprising.

What is more shocking is that Newsweek thinks Jesus is an Anglo-Saxon looking dude who doesn’t like buttons but snaps on his shirt. The Atlantic thinks he looks more like an Urban Outfitters Jesus. Give the cover a look and you decide which one it is:

The cover article is by Andrew Sullivan and he writes of the decline of Christianity. It takes him about 500 words to get to the point: Christianity is in crisis. I’m not troubled by the inaccurate depiction of Jesus or that Sullivan tells us what we already know about Christianity, but that he makes a bold statement without follow through. The article accurately describes the crisis but without remedy. Sullivan goes into great detail about how Thomas Jefferson and his edited ‘Bible’ sought to make faith palatable and how that’s supposed to correlate to solving the crisis.

The article really does not contribute anything to discussion of how to concretely connect Christianity to post-moderns or to enact reform. Sullivan writes, Continue Reading…

Trayvon Martin

Four troubling facts in the Trayvon Martin case

Last week, the evolving case of the killing of Trayvon Martin, a teenager, by George Zimmerman reached a fever pitch. Outrage on the part of pro- Martin groups swirled in a mix of frustration, anger, and sadness over law enforcement’s decision not to bring Zimmerman to trial. Protests in Orlando and other cities and towns around the country proclaimed one thing: justice for Trayvon Martin. We know by now, based on facts shared by law enforcement, that there is enough evidence for Zimmerman to be charged with a crime.

Celebrities, religious leaders, and even the President have weighed in on the tragedy with mixed results. An example of this fever pitch outrage manifested in director Spike Lee retweeting on his Twitter account a false address of the Zimmerman family. It turns out that the addressed shared was not a family related to Martin’s shooter, but another family with the same name. Death threats and intimation tactics were employed by individuals against the family, which resulted in Spike Lee apologizing and settling with the family.

I have waited to weigh in on Trayvon Martin because of the tenor of the tragedy. There is, and rightfully so to some degree, a great deal of sensitivity surround this case. I’ve waited as long as I could for officials to release more evidence. I didn’t want to blog on hearsay or speculation. Let me be clear here: It’s obvious that justice is needed for Trayvon Martin and his family, which calls for a trial. However, there are deeper issues present than just a teenager being shot and his shooter not charged.

Here are four troubling facts in the Trayvon Martin case: Continue Reading…

Churches, Millennials

Church giving increases, but hurts Millennials

millenials
As the economy rebounds it appears that contributions to churches are increasing as well. According to 4th annual “State of the Plate” survey , 51% of churches last year saw an increase in church giving, up from 43% in 2010 and 36% in 2009. That should make all churches rejoice. However, if you look deeper into this report, we see that we shouldn’t celebrate just yet.

This study shows increase support of churches, but concerns arise from which churches see an increase in giving:

The increase seen in 2011 was most noticeable in the most mega of megachurches: 86 percent of churches with more than 10,000 congregants saw an greatest rise in giving, compared to 39 percent of churches with fewer than 100 people saw an increase.

Still, nearly one-third (32 percent) of churches said giving was down in 2011 — although a smaller share than the 39 percent of churches that reported a decline two years ago, according to the survey.

This means that mega churches, which tend to be populated by affluent Christians, saw a rebound in giving compared to smaller churches, which tend to be populated by less affluent churches goers. This followers the pattern in our society: the rich are getting richer, and the poor are becoming poorer. Even in churches, we see an income and giving gap. As the economy rebounded for the more wealthy, the lower-income segment of the population continues to struggle. How can a wealthy mega church continue to pump money into their large buildings and staffs when their neighbors are suffering to survive?

dystopia

Why dystopia is in vogue

This past weekend the movie “The Hunger Games” opened to millions of adoring fans. Over 35 million books have been sold in “The Hunger Games” series and the books currently sit atop of Amazon’s best seller list. It seems that our culture is shifting to an interest in dystopia. Almost everyone I talk to who read “The Hunger Games” said they couldn’t put the book down.

Move over Harry Potter and Twilight. You have been replaced.

Dystopian novels and movies are all the rage. But, why now? Isn’t dystopia for sci-fi fans?

One of the major reasons why “The Hunger Games” is so en vogue, much like Harry Potter was, is because people love a good epic battle between the forces of good and evil. Especially, if there are young people involved. Erik Feig, president of production at Lionsgate, the studio behind “The Hunger Games” and “Twilight” sheds light on this type of entertainment:

tech

Tethered to Tech

I’m the first to admit a tethering to all things tech. Computers, my Blackberry, my Blackberry Playbook tablet, netbook, and the list goes on. I’ve even championed the cause of a “digital fast”. Celebrities are even caught with their fav device in hand.

There is a great discussion happening this Wednesday in the Albany area that addresses our tethering to technology.

The event: The Times Union and the School of Arts & Humanities at The College of Saint Rose are facilitating a discussion of the role of mobile technology and social networking in our lives. Students, professionals, and parents will speak to the advantages and disadvantages of technology in their lives from the workplace to personal relationships.

Blog czar Micheal Huber (check out his blog post on the topic) asked me to do an interview for a video that will be played during the event. I gave a few random thoughts on the topic and you should come out this Wednesday, March 21 7:30 pm – 9pm. You’ll need to register for the event and you can do that here (it’s free). Here is the parking map. I’ll be there.

Who is going to be on the panel? Good question. Check out these informed folks:

st. patrick

Google’s St. Patrick logo

A very cool Celtic Google Logo for St. Patrick’s Day. Also, check out the Top 3 St. Patrick Myths

Google is celebrating St. Patrick’s Day today with a homepage doodle that was inspired by the Book of Kells, a 9th-century gospel manuscript.

“Try knot to miss our Book-of-Kells-inspired doodle for St. Patrick’s Day,” Google tweeted today.

The colorful doodle focused on the “Celtic knots and the Chi Rho [monogram] from the Book of Kells,” Google doodler Jennifer Hom told the Washington Post’s Comic Riffs.

The Book of Kells, currently housed in the Old Library at Dublin’s Trinity College, is “celebrated for its lavish decoration,” according to the college. “The manuscript contains the four Gospels in Latin based on a Vulgate text, written on vellum (prepared calfskin), in a bold and expert version of the script known as ‘insular majuscule.'” link

Church Leadership, founder's syndrome

Crystal Cathedral’s epic fail & founder’s syndrome

It appears that the problems at the Crystal Cathedral have grown too great to overcome.

Robert Schuller founded the church and retired as the church’s senior pastor, but stayed on the board of directors. The church never fully recovered from Schuller’s pastoral departure. Though he stayed on the church’s governing board, two of his children took a shot at pastoring the large church. Schuller’s son, Robert became the senior pastor and two years later resigned. Then, Sheila, daughter of the elder Schuller, became senior pastor, and now left. The church then filed for bankruptcy in 2011 with $50 million in debt.

The Crystal Cathedral became one of the first mega churches and now is one of the first popular mega churches that may close. The Crystal Cathedral building was sold last year to the Catholic Diocese of Orange, CA for $57.5 million. The church continues to meet, but they must leave the building soon.

Much of the conflict around the transition of the elder Schuller to his children revolves around one fact: they are not their father.

When churches affix the identity of the church with the founding pastor, it becomes much harder for the church to transition to new leadership. A celebrity pastor is often a formula for explosive growth, but ultimately is that a formula for disaster?

The Schuller children enacted several changes in worship, music, leadership, and programming. The reason why those changes did not fit the congregation was centered on the fact that they did not do the necessary work. The church should have gone through a period of discernment and vision when Robert Schuller left as the senior pastor. It is clear that when the Schullers stayed on the board of directors of the church their leadership became ineffective.

Leadership requires a guiding presence that can empower people to their full potential. The Schuller family failed at how to handle a leadership change.

The USA Today reports on this failure of leadership: Continue Reading…

social media, White House

Three ways social media impacted my White House meeting

Yep, that’s me there tweeting away. (Photo: EthicsDaily.com)

As many of your know, I’m finishing up on reflecting upon my meeting with the Executive Office of the President and White House staff (read part 1 and part 2). It was an honor to be among 60 other Baptists who met with several advisers to the President. One of the unusual facets of this meeting was a media blackout. None of the tradition media outlets were allowed in this meeting.

The media blackout arose from the administration’s frustrations that past clergy leader meetings were nothing more than a photo opportunity. This meeting was supposed to be different, and so it was. We attendees were allow to tweet during the meeting and used the hashtag #BaptistsatWH. This created a direct link to our friends, congregation members, followers, and community individuals back home. Our four-hour long meeting was unencumbered by reporters interrupting or distracting from the meeting’s goal.

My friend and fellow pastor Dr. William Shiell and I discussed how the administration had a message they wanted to communicate. The byproduct of a media blackout, but social media friendly meeting is threefold:

White House

TV interview about my White House meeting

Albany’s C.J. Spang from YNN interviewed me about my White House meeting. For all the coverage on the event be sure to click part 1 of my White House meeting blog post and part 2. Be sure to stay tuned for part 3, a blog post on how social media shaped to reporting and interaction of this meeting.

White House

Four things learned from my White House meeting (part 2)

Yesterday, I gave an overview of my visit with the Executive Office of the President and White House staff. I was a part of a delegation of “goodwill Baptists”, in which there were about 60 of us from around the country. For part 1 and background on the meeting, please click here.

Looking back on the meeting, there are several things that I want to share with you. First, as I have blogged about before, faith and ethics inform this White House administration. Several of the administration officials spoke of their own experience with their churches and how their Christianity guides their work. It is clear that the administration is fighting such social ills as human trafficking and economic problems such as the mortgage crisis. And, did you know that at 14 federal agencies there are faith-based offices?

At the meeting, two officials were presented with a Common English Bible translation, which was given as “a moral document”. The translation renders the words “stranger” or “alien” as “immigrant”. Paul Monteiro, associate director of the White House Office of Public Engagement and Julie Rodriguez, associate director of the Office of Public Engagement received a Bible:

White House

My White House meeting with Baptists (part 1)

I’m fresh off my visit with the Executive Office of the President and White House staff. I want to share with you all about our meeting through multi-blog posts. The meeting including advisers from the Executive Office of the President and other administration officials. I was a part of a delegation of “goodwill Baptists”, in which there were about 60 of us from around the country. Robert Parham, executive director of the Baptist Center for Ethics, and Ricky Creech, executive director/minister of the District of Columbia Baptist Convention put the meeting together.

The meeting took place in the White House Executive Office Building. Some of the people/offices we talked with:

Jannah Scott, Deputy Director of the Center for Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnership
B.J. Douglas, Engram Lloyd and Paula Lincoln of the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development
Felicia Escobar, a Senior Policy Adviser for the Domestic Policy Council,
Chris Vaeth, Adviser for the Office of Community Affairs for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Julie Rodriquez, Associate Director for the Office of Public Engagement
Paul Monteiro, Associate Director for Office of Public Engagement
Engram Lloyd, Housing and Urban Development

What do our meeting look like? Several of the above individuals explained what their office does, what issues their addressing, and took questions/comments. Although I would have enjoyed more comments/questions from us Baptists, this meeting covered an array of issues. We discussed clean water standards, sex trafficking, payday loans, mortgage dept relief, faith-based programs, disaster relief. To see the meeting and comments, check out our Twitter hashtag #baptistsatWH.

There were a number of shocking and encouraging information points:

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