Watch this!

Have you watched the Story of Stuff yet? If not, sit back, turn up the sound, and watch this20-minute video. Please.

And then, after you watch the video, check out their blog, too.

Listening

A wise member of my congregation told me on Sunday that she's trying to listen more. Really listen. I don't know if this is a Lenten discipline for her, or a New Year's resolution that's lasting, but it is a worthy goal, either way.
My latest coffee cup from Starbucks agrees. (Their cups have "The Way I See It" - thoughts on various aspects of life from a whole bunch of different folks - printed on the side. Of course they've also got this disclaimer: This is the author's opinion, not necessarily that of Starbucks.) Anyway, this made me think:

You can learn a lot more from listening than you can from talking. Find
someone with whom you don't agree in the slightest and ask them to explain
themselves at length. Then take a seat, shut your mouth, and don't argue back.
It's physically impossible to listen with your mouth open. - John Moe, Radio host and author of Conservatize Me.

I wonder how different the world would be if we all actually listened to each other, so everyone would be heard.

I got an email today from the National Religious Campaign Against Torture. Here it is:

Dear Friends:
An important vote is going to take place tomorrow, Wednesday, February 13.
The Senate will decide whether we stop the CIA's use of "enhanced interrogation techniques" -- or as we would call them, torture.
Section 327 of the Intelligence Authorization Conference Report (H.R. 2082), would prohibit the CIA from using abusive interrogation techniques (such as waterboarding) by requiring the CIA to comply with the Army Field Manual while conducting interrogations.
The Army Field Manual prohibits torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment.Please call your Senators now -- and urge them to support Section 327 of the Intelligence Authorization conference report. Call the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask to be connected to your Senators' offices. You can also go to the NRCAT website (http://www.tortureisamoralissue.org/) and click on the link in the upper right red box. It will take you to a page that makes it easy to email your Senators.
This is the most important anti-torture legislation now before Congress with a real chance of passage. (The House has already passed this bill.) Every phone call counts.Thank you for all that you do to end U.S.-sponsored torture.
Sincerely,
Linda Gustitus, NRCAT President

PS - I'll be emailing my senators.

Ash Wednesday

Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the season of Lent. We "celebrate" Ash Wednesday by gathering for worship and confessing our sin. We receive the "imposition of ashes" on our foreheads. Often the ashes are from the burning of the previous year's Palm Sunday branches. (More on Palm Sunday when we get there.)

"Okay, Pastor Lindean. It's Lent. So what does it actually MEAN?" I hear you saying.
So...
Since the early church, Christians have marked the seven weeks before Easter as a time of penitence and spiritual self-examination. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the season. While a lot of us don't see a lot of ashes on a regular basis in the middle of a desert city like Phoenix, the ashes have a dual significance. First, ashes are an ancient (Old Testament) symbol of sadness and humility. In the midst of all his troubles, Job cried out to God from the ash heap.
Second, ashes are a reminder of our mortality. Our bodies and material possessions will, eventually, turn to dust and ashes. The cross of ashes on our foreheads is a reminder that we dare not trust in things that crumble. "Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return."

Lots of folks talk about "giving something up for Lent." That's not a bad idea, especially since we live with so much excess and instant gratification. It's also not required. I've been known (along with lots of others) to ADD something for Lent - adding special times of prayer and devotions, giving special offerings (which might require giving something up in order to have the money to give away), more meaningful time with family or friends.

Maybe one way to think of Lent is as an exercise in perspective. Lent lasts for forty days (it doesn't include Sundays, which are always "little Easters.") Jesus spent forty days in the wilderness.
During Lent we see just how fragile we are. We can be reminded of our weakness (Why is it so hard to quit drinking coffee or Diet Coke? Or to actually give to everyone who asks? Or forgive as we've been forgiven?). We are reminded of God's graciousness - there is real forgiveness with this God whose Son died on the cross. We are encouraged to LIVE what we BELIEVE with renewed focus. The disciplines of Lent are sometimes listed as prayer, fasting and works of love - not a bad way to live.

Memento, homo, quia pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris.
Remember, human, that you are dust, and to dust you will return.

Scripture as teacher

I read an interesting book earlier this week: More Ready Than You Realize- The Power of Everyday Conversations, by Brian McLaren. I'll say more about it in a couple of weeks when we get a little farther on in our exploration of six marks of discipleship, and talk about reconciling relationships or "spiritual friendships."

The book is based on an exchange of emails that McLaren had with a young woman he met at the church he pastored. She was, at the time, what many would call a "seeker."

In one series of emails, she asked questions about the Bible, and why it's so hard to make sense of so much of it.

I think McLaren's response is great:

"In spite of the fact that the Bible was written a long time ago and far away by many different writers in many different cultures, arising among people whose lives were radically different from our own, it still yields wisdom and insight and challenge and perspective to people today, so that we can find it abundantly 'worthwhile to dig through the Bible.'

"I suppose here, as in many places in life, our problem is one of expectations. We are used to people writing for us. Newspapers and popular magazines pitch at an eighth grade reading leve, easy for all of us. Textbooks are generally written not only by knowledgeable people, but by skilled educators who pay attention to our learning styles, attention spans, and format preferences. Popular novels (the ones most of us read, if we read them at all) are written to be popular, and that means easy for us, accessible to us. We assume, if the Bible is in any way inspired, that the Holy Spirit would be so kind and considerate as to similarly gear it exclusively to us. Reasonable enough... at first glance. But think again. If the Bible were written for twenty-first century readers, how would it have come accross to its original hearers, or hearers in the sixth century BC, or eighth century AD, or fourteenth century AD? And, assuming the world is still spinning, how would a style and form targeted on a primitive twenty-first century demographic cohort feel for advanced readers in the twenty-ninth century?

"It is hard for us, spoiled as we are by being marketing targets, but the Bible asks us to rise above our narrow parochial tastes. It asks us to learn, to understand, to imaginatively enter an alien geography (Jerusalem, Nineveh, Bethany, Bethlehem), alien economies (denarii, talents, shekels), alien cultures, and social structures (polygamy, patriarchy, monarchy, tribal confederation, slavery, arranged marriages). It asks us to stop absolutizing our perspective and, instead, to see our modern or postmodern viewpoints simply as views from a point - limited, contigent, changing, not privileged. In so doing, the very form of the Bible begins yeaching us something about humility and about opening our minds to new perspectives.

"This humility and open-mindedness are exactly what we need in order to become the kinds of friends people like [this seeker] need."

What do you think?