Walking the way of Lent with the Psalms ~ 1 ~ 7 March 2019

Walking the way of Lent with the Psalms


Bono & Eugene Peterson / The Psalms

Walking the way of Lent with the Psalms ~ 1 ~ 7 March 2019

Walking the way of Lent with the Psalms


Bono & Eugene Peterson / The Psalms

Walking the way of Lent with the Psalms ~ 1 ~ 7 March 2019

Walking the way of Lent with the Psalms


Bono & Eugene Peterson / The Psalms

On mission - Post 2: Elizabeth Drescher

While I am working through thoughts on Mission, I thought Elizabeth Drescher's piece at Episcopal Cafe provided good food for thought, as well as the 20+ comments posted there in response.

Do we struggle with "singing a new song" in the church?  How so?  When I think of Jesus, I don't think of someone who was merely thinking about playing the "old standards"...he seemed to be pushing us beyond the same old same old.  However, we are often seeking the security of nostalgia for its own sake.  Is this what God is calling us to?  Is this what the Holy Spirit is empowering us to be?

The Church's Mission, Let's be honest

by Elizabeth Drescher posted at Episcopal Cafe

You know, I sometimes wonder whether the Israelites heard the call of the psalm we read today as I sometimes do: "Sing to the Lord a new song...? Really?"

I mean, let's be honest, even in the most literal sense, we struggle with this idea, resisting in our churches music that might nudge us even ever so slightly out of the nineteenth century. Oh, I'm not talking here about going all "U2-charist," or bringing in hip hop hymns that'll get the young folks dancing before the Lord. After all, we know that the few thriving emergent communities in our church are more likely to sing songs from the Middle Ages--a little Gregorian Chant, a remix of Hildegard of Bingen, or, to modernize just a smidge, some shape note tunes--than they are to be jamming to the spiritual stylings of Gospel Ganstaz. But they are singing those old songs in a new way--inhabiting them bodily, infusing them with a spirit that is often missing from our churches, truly "lifting every voice" in glorious praise.

Outside of these communities--the Crossing at St. Paul's Cathedral in Boston, Open Cathedral at St. Mark's in Seattle, Thad's in Los Angeles, Transmission in New York--"singing a new song" has, in the least nuanced, least metaphorical way, been something of a challenge for us.

And that makes me worry about how far along God's path we may be able to travel these days as we seek to realize the peaceable kingdom Isaiah prophesied. If we can't get the theme song down, what chance do we have to be so much as bit players in the whole new cosmic drama--the heartwarming story of true love realized across the earth that, as Paul reminds us, Jesus narrated with his life, death, and resurrection?

Of course, Paul points in his letter to the Ephesians to what throws us off tune in our efforts to sing a new, harmonious song, to live as one diverse body: barriers and the hostilities they cause among us. What do these barriers look like in our church in particular? If you've just lept in your mind to things like women's ordination or diverse opinions on human sexuality, I'm going to suggest that you guess again . . . 

Read the rest HERE

Still haven't found what I'm looking for - Bono and Rowan Williams

So, I'm sitting in the local St. Arbucks, and reading my Rowan Williams book and listening to the ipod, and I happen to run across probably the most profound paragraph that I've read in quite awhile, and as I began to read it, what should come up on the Ipod but U2's "I still haven't found what I'm looking for," from the Joshua Tree Album. It's worth reading a few times, and after you read it, you should go and buy the book it's from: "Wrestling with Angels: Conversations in Modern Theology," by Rowan Williams (edited by Mike Higton).

~ Peter Carey

Better yet, you should listen to U2's "Still haven't found what I'm looking for" while you read it...what do you think?

"We can only be at home in the world when we have given up the search for that thing, that person, that set of circumstances that will secure our existence, guarantee our being at home. To know that the world world as necessity, as utterly and finally other than my will, as incapable of sustaining my love (in the form toward which my love aspires, the form of unconditionality) is the necessary condition of loving the world. I love the world properly only when I have found 'evil', resistance to my gratification, in every determination of the world. As Weil repeats so many times, God is found only in the experience and the understanding of divine absence, which is also the experience of the impossibility of love in the world. 'The appropriate object for love' is the sole subject of love - that which is not the world, which is not 'there', God."

U2: Sometimes you can't make it on your own

My students shared some great music with me while I was teaching a class on Music and Social Justice over the last two weeks. I plan to share some of these songs as we approach Holy Week and then Easter. One of the great songs was this one by U2, "Sometimes you can't make it on your own." It's really pretty good. There is a lot of atonement theology alluded to in the song (which I will reflect upon, soon). And a deep sense that we are NOT alone, and that we don't have to feel like we have to do IT all on our own. This sentiment reminds me a bit of Desmond Tutu's Ubuntu theology of "I am because you are" which means that individuals are constituted relationally, and that individuals need other people to be fulfilled. I have been reminded of this truth at many times in my life, with family, with friends, on sports teams, in workplaces, and in seminary at Virginia Theological Seminary. I am because you are, and when I begin to think that "I can make it on my own," is when I cut myself off from others, and can even feel like I've cut myself off from God's grace. Is there any lesson here for us in the church? Is there an implied ecclesiology within this theory of ubuntu? Who is claiming that they can "make it on their own"? Hmmmm...perhaps Bono has something to teach us that does not solely relate to the MDGs (Millenium Development Goals)?

Some gems from the lyrics:

"you don't have to always be right"
"let me take some of the punches for you, tonight"
"you don't have to go it alone"
"sometimes you can't make it on your own"

Check it out below in the Youtube posting of it,




Peter+

Vanity Fair Issue on Africa - Don't Miss it

This month's (July 2007) Vanity Fair issue has a special issue on Africa that is worth a read! To catch our attention, there are 20 different covers in which some interesting pairs of people are photographed....Desmond Tutu and Brad Pitt, Madonna and Maya Angelou! Bono and Condy Rice!! It's worth a look!





Slide show: The 20 Covers
The 21 people who put their famous faces to work for this issue say it all. Annie Leibovitz paired them up on 20 different covers—shout-outs for the challenge, the promise, and the future of Africa.

Madonna's Malawi
A look at Madonna's work in Africa, including Raising Malawi, the nonprofit she co-founded. Also on VF.com: photos from Madonna's trips to Malawi and an exclusive conversation between Madonna and Harvard professor Jim Yong Kim.

At the Desert's Edge
Five years after a brutal al-Qaeda bombing in Tunisia, Christopher Hitchens explores the pressure points in one of Africa's most successful countries.

Picturing Genocide
Inspired by images of suffering in Africa, a lone Chicago woman pulls together "Darfur/Darfur," an exhibit of haunting photos by important photographers. By Evgenia Peretz.

Out of Africa
The DNA shared by the world's six-billion-plus people ultimately comes from the same place. Leading the Genographic Project, Spencer Wells traces a global debt to Africa.

Telling African Stories
Danny Glover's new production company, Louverture Films, is allowing him to work on the material that is closest to his heart, writes Austin Merrill. A VF.com exclusive.


The Lazarus Effect
AIDS is no longer a death sentence, thanks to miracle drugs. But millions still can't afford them. Enter the consumer-action strategy of (Product) Red. On the ground in Rwanda, Alex Shoumatoff learns what a difference buying (Red) can make.

Youssou N'Dour's Personal Playlist
N'Dour, the Senegalese singer, shot to world-music superstardom in the 1980s. For the Africa issue, he compiled this playlist. VF.com exclusive: Learn how to download all the songs from the iTunes Music Store.

Jeffrey Sachs's $200 Billion Dream
Extreme poverty can be eradicated, insists superstar economist Jeffrey Sachs—all it takes is determination, focus, and, well, money. In Uganda and Kenya, Nina Munk gets a tour of his ultimate battleground.

Africa: An Interactive Map
Vanity Fair's July 2007 issue captures the epic diversity of the African continent. Point your mouse at the countries on this map and you'll discover historical details, cultural items, useful links, and more.

The Africa Portfolio: Contributors
From archbishops and athletes to doctors and movie directors, the July issue's Africa portfolio (page 176) focuses on 71 people who are defying the status quo. Here are bios of the profile writers.

The Africa Issue: Online Resources
Here are dozens of sites that will help you dig deeper into the topics covered in the July issue.

The Africa Issue: Table of Contents