faithasawayoflife

auto bailout madness

Let's see if I understand this auto bailout mess. . . build inferior cars out of touch with global energy trends via inefficient processes, lose tons of money, cut tens of thousands of jobs, and then beg for the tax payers to save you with billions in aid?

If a church does its work terribly, loses members, cuts employees, and so on, it closes, sad as that may be for employees and others committed to that church.  I realize that lots of jobs are at stake, but when the headline is "GM cuts 47,000 jobs" AND are asking for billions more in government aid I start to wonder whose eyes the wool is being pulled over. 

Perhaps someone can help me understand why I should support this but for now, it seems like madness. Especially given their unwillingness to change their habits over the years.  Case in point:  The Detroit auto lobby in Washington, according to some senators I heard speak at Yale, were the sole force keeping significant climate change legislation from passing congress over decades!
peace,
Chris

Leonard Cohen Live . . .

In New York this Thursday night at the newly renovated Beacon Theater and in stores at the end of March on a new Live from London CD and DVD from his July 17 concert of last year.  Here's hoping he'll move on to other US cities--I've heard rumors that he'll be playing in Austin later this spring, but no official word yet.  It is not surprising that the society Douglas John Hall (another Canadian) labeled "officially optimistic" has not been as friendly to Cohen and so he didn't open his tour here but traveled the world first, only now returning to the USofA to play a gig in New York.  Perhaps his most famous album, Various Positions, wasn't even released in the US at the time because of fears of poor sales.  He told Terry Gross a couple years back that his two best songs are Hallelujah and If It Be Your Will, both on that album.  Here's the track listing for the Live from London double CD:

Disc 1
 1. Dance Me To The End Of Love
2. The Future
3. Ain't No Cure For Love
4. Bird On The Wire
5. Everybody Knows
6. In My Secret Life
7. Who By Fire
8. Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye
9. Anthem
10. Introduction
11. Tower Of Song
12. Suzanne
13. The Gypsy's Wife

Disc 2 
1. Boogie Street
2. Hallelujah
3. Democracy
4. I'm Your Man
5. Recitation w/ N.L.
6. Take This Waltz
7. So Long, Marianne8. First We Take Manhattan
9. Sisters Of Mercy
10. If It Be Your Will
11. Closing Time
12. I Tried To Leave You
13. Wither Thou Goest

Anon, and peace,
Chris

Bono on what's distinctive about U2: no us vs. them--only us

Amazing new article in the Observer by Sean O'Hagan who followed U2 over 18 months as they recorded their new album, No Line On The Horizon.  A quick insight to why this is not your run of the mill interview article:

The following week, Bono and I have one final conversation, and I ask about the album's last lines: "Choose you enemies carefully, 'cause they will define you/ Make then interesting, because in some ways they will mind you/ They're not there in the beginning, but when your story ends/ Gonna last longer with you than your friends."

Bono "Yeah. Yeah. They're are going to be closer than your friends. They are going to shape you."

SOH Are you singing from experience here?

Bono "In a way, I guess. I think one of the things that has set our band apart is the fact that we chose interesting enemies. We didn't choose the obvious enemies - The Man, the establishment. We didn't buy into that. Our credo was: no them, there's only us. Think about it. Every other band was us and them. The Clash, our great heroes. Then U2 arrived and it was no them, only us.     Read the rest here.

Trenches dug within our hearts, anyone?  Simil justus et peccator?

anon and peace,

Chris

Review of Tom Beaudoin, Witness to Dispossession

While the final version is forthcoming in Luther Seminary's journal Word and World, I thought I'd share a draft of my review of the Catholic practical theologian Tom Beaudoin's new book, Witness to Dispossession: The Vocation of a Postmodern Theologian (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis books. 2008. Pp. 225 $24.00).  I only got 900 words, so don't expect too much detail!  As you'll see, I'm a fan of the book, and of Tom.

Catholic practical theologian and educator Tom Beaudoin will be well-known to many readers because of his popular books on young adult faith (Virtual Faith:  The Irreverent Spiritual Quest of Generation X) and consumer culture (Consuming Faith: Integrating Who We Are and What We Buy).   He is one of the most creative and relevant theologians of his generation, someone who constantly presses theology to serve as a critical resource for discipleship today. 

While practical theologians such as myself have much to gain from serious engagement with Beaudoin’s work in this new volume, pastors have even more.  Pastors are the frontline theologians of the church, and their work with communities is often a witness to dispossession, even if they do not yet have the language to it as such.  How the practical theological work of the pastor and her community unfolds has much to do with how believable the witness is to an increasingly skeptical public.  In this review, I aim to first characterize what Beaudoin means by his title, then summarize the main sections, and finally editorialize regarding how his work is relevant, essential even, for pastors and their congregations.

Sinners, get your indulgences here!

I'm sort of in shock. I heard a paper at the North American Academy of Liturgy about the rise of use of the Latin Mass in England among some Catholics, and how Pope Benedict has made the way clear to do so. Many other small moves have followed, making space for conservatives to recover elements of the tradition set aside with the reforms of Vatican II.  Now I read in the NYT that indulgences are again entering the mainstream of Catholic life.

In recent months, dioceses around the world have been offering Catholics a spiritual benefit that fell out of favor decades ago — the indulgence, a sort of amnesty from punishment in the afterlife — and reminding them of the church’s clout in mitigating the wages of sin. The fact that many Catholics under 50 have never sought one, and never heard of indulgences except in high school European history (Martin Luther denounced the selling of them in 1517 while igniting the Protestant Reformation), simply makes their reintroduction more urgent among church leaders bent on restoring fading traditions of penance in what they see as a self-satisfied world. “Why are we bringing it back?” asked Bishop Nicholas A. DiMarzio of Brooklyn, who has embraced the move. “Because there is sin in the world.” Read the rest here.

I like believing that the words "for you" and "for the forgiveness of your sins" in Holy Communion are for me and for all.  If that is Jesus' promise to us when we share in the sacrament of the Altar, why are more means of forgiveness necessary?  I need to ask some of my Catholic friends about this.  I predict they're not fans of the move.

Anon, and peace,
Chris

Buzz (literally) from the TED Conference

Ever since Bono received the TED Prize in 2005 and gave a fantastic talk at that year's TED Conference I've been fascinated by this gathering and the intellectual and entrepreneurial energy it brings together to spark imagination.  David Pogue, the NYT's tech writer, just reported on his trip with a first post about how the conference works, and how it is evolving.

" TED started out, 25 years ago, it stood for Technology, Entertainment and Design. More recently, though, its focus has shifted. There’s a lot more emphasis on reporting and solving on the world’s crises, which are, according to this year’s speakers, more numerous and hopeless than ever. These days, the conferences is less about T, E and D than it is about ECOMA (Energy, Climate, Oceans, Music and Africa)."  Read the rest.

This year, apparently, Bill Gates' talk on his foundation's work on two global issues--education and malaria--created quite a buzz!  Watch it here.

Grammy night: Swagga Surprises

While the Grammy awards were fun, starting right off with U2 in full tilt playing "Get On Your Boots" (why were they performing when they're not up for any awards? oh yea--rating, album sales, that's the point of the Grammy awards), they ended up being pretty predictable on the big awards.  So what did I love? This collaboration between the best rappers in the world on a song I'd never heard, "Swagga Like Us."

While I don't particularly like the song, which features a section each from hip-hop stars Jay-Z, Kanye West, T.I. and Lil' Wayne, each set apart by a sample from MIA's "Paper Planes," I loved the performance.  First of all, the men all wore tuxes.  Here's Kanye, in a MTV interview:

"I'm gonna wear a pink tuxedo!" Kanye West jokingly told Sway Friday afternoon in Los Angeles.  "No, I'm wearing a black tux," he immediately clarified.  West hinted that his song-mates would be wearing similar outfits on the Grammy stage. "Yeah, everybody is gonna be fresh," Kanye promised. "Everybody is gonna be fresh to def. I mean, first of all, other than the fact that you got four — in my opinion — four of the freshest rappers making records right now. Aside from Jeezy, you got four of the freshest people consistently. When you see them, they look nice ... they're super fresh. So, it makes complete sense for us to get up there, do the 'Swagga' record at the Grammys and represent hip-hop. Represent black people, especially, in a really good light.

West seems bent on breaking stereotypes (for example, the 'gangsta' image in hip-hop), opening up new space for his music, and this is just one more episode.

Then, of course, instead of having the sample from MIA, she showed up nine months pregnant with an outfit to highlight the fact and sang her own sample.  She stole the show and it was so amazing to see her dancing, showing the men how to do it, all the while shouting out with her body, "I am woman!"  Cool.

Anon and peace,
Chris

picture share: cosette

Cosette, our new poochon, playing on day one. She's a honey.
Peace,
Chris

After years of debate, we're getting a dog

Here she is. Born October 10, runt of her litter, she's a Bichon Poodle mix.  She's a cutie pie. We're picking her up today and might I add my 8-year-old daughter Grace, who likes people but loves animals, couldn't sleep.  Best thing ever to happen in her life. Well, the idea was anyway.  We'll see how integrating a three-month old puppy into our household goes in practice!  Prayers, encouragement and advice welcome!
anon and peace,
Chris

AWESOME! Check out Zehnder's new album, "Going Up?"

I totally love these guys--they've played at two conferences I've planned (at Yale, in another life) and they are amazing.  For their website, go here.  After Charlie Hayden, Tim Zehnder is my total model for bass playing.  And these guys are transparently walking the walk in their lives. My kids love them. My wife Sonja loves them.  They are infectious. Their new album is on iTunes and their excellent previous album, Breating, is on CDBaby.
Anon, and peace,
Chris