Rewind : Black Friday/ Buy Nothing Day

This past Friday, Americans spent $10,300,000,000.

Americans waiting to buy stuff they have plenty of

Afghani citizens waiting for something they are out of -- food

We could get ourselves more of this....

Or we would buy her a way out of poverty for $60

Or we could pay for a year of school for one of these kids for $32...

What would Jesus buy?

Bored & restless

It seems to strike me every year at about this time. I want to be doing something different. I begin to work on weaseling my way into ordination or looking at PhD programs, and reading academic journals to dream of my future. Why is this? Why is it that at such an exciting time of the year in the church, I feel so uninspired?
Part of it, I know, is my worship life. The worship services in my current congregation suck the marrow out of me. I try so hard to pay attention to the sermons, but the preacher's pace and tone are such that it renders me zombified. In the event that I do hear the words, they usually sound a lot like, "Blah, blah, blah, Jesus. Blah, blah, blah, church. Blah, blah, prayer." In three years here, I am not sure one sermon has inspired me.
The music is beautiful. But it is my dad's music. I like it once a month -- the organ, the orchestra, the good old setting 4 of the LBW or whatever confusing service we pull out of the new Lutheran Hymnal. I want something that sounds more like Ryan Adams or Death Cab with an occasional bit of Lily Allen thrown in. Something that moves me and speaks to me in my language. I speak "A Mighty Fortress is our God," but that is mostly because it is tradition. It does little to nothing to my soul.
If you don't know me, you are surely wondering why I still go to this church if it makes me feel this way. Well, I work there. And I am not in charge of worship. I make suggestions on occasion, but usually they are met with a bemused look and a statement that kind of sounds like, "That's nice, dear."
Outside of my lack of enthusiasm for worship, I am also affected by the fact that this is the longest I have stayed in one place since high school. I like to move around, see new things, meet new people, and I have been seeing the same people for a while now.
Argh -- I feel so spoiled for even bothering to complain about this. I mean, I am warm, I am comfortable, I am loved. I have a job, I have health insurance, I have running water and food. Still, I have this gnawing, aching feeling that I belong somewhere other than where I am today.

My new favorite cartoons

Thanks to Dan Kimball, I have found a site of wonderfully refreshing cartoons about the church and church life. Here's one of my fave's recently

Check out The Ongoing Adventures of ASBO Jesus

And, as for what ASBO means, "btw. for the non british among you… an ‘asbo’ is an ‘anti-social behaviour order’… the courts here award them to people who are deemed to be constant trouble in their neighbourhoods… presumably according to their neighbours!" from jon birch

When will we get it?

I just read a really great article from Relevant magazine on how the Hebrew of Genesis is emphatically asking us to care for the earth. The words used in the Hebrew are akin to how God told his people to care for the Temple and how we ask God to care for us. There were only three comments on th article. All of them made my heart ache. That first respondent also goes on to say that the Bible is clear that people are far more valuable than the land. First off, I would like to know where that is in the Bible other than the "do not worry" verse in Luke. Second, yeah, we are more blessed and gifted, and so the conclusion is to walk all over the less important. Yeah, that's Christian.
The second comment focused on how we need to accept Jesus an everything will be okay. I was just about to say that the world would probably be a better place if we were all Christian, citing all the wars caused by religion. However, as I was typing the sentence, it occurred to me that we would probably then war over who's Jesus was right and Baptists would be killing Catholics would be killing Lutherans and high schools would have Missouri Synod gangs fighting ELCA gangs over communing with Episcopalians. So, never mind. The world would still be the same world.
The fourth was the worst, and unfortunately, I can't see it on the website anymore, but it went something like this:
The condition of the Earth has only improved over the past 40 years. Globalization is the best thing to make the Earth better.
I can only think that this person is either kidding or is living somewhere in Orinda without media access beyond what he or she chooses to look at on the internet (I like Orinda, but it has occurred to me that one could live there and think all was well with the world). The earth is getting better, really? Are the signs of the wellness of the Earth the famine, the drying lakes, the disappearing species, the rising seas, the melting Arctic, the fact that Atlanta is almost out of water, the pollution of the waters in India, China, the Rio Grande, Lake Erie... need I go on?

I once watched a "cornucopist" talk about how is it okay for us to use all of the Earth's resources because God would provide. Seriously, when you were a kid and used all of the... Playdough and left it out to dry, did mom just go and buy you some more? God is clear -- we are to take care of this planet. And take care does not mean use it for all it's worth 'cause we're just gonna get a new one. When will Christians realize this? Will we before it is too late?