Unintended consequences of failure porn
Much food for thought.
I’m seven episodes into The Rise and Fall of Mars Hilland my feelings are more mixed than before. Not particularly towards the podcast itself. I have some questions about particular editorial choices in the more recent episodes, but I still feel it’s an important project, generally well-executed, and a valuable though painful listen. But I am increasingly perturbed by the cult following that is developing around it. The drooling anticipation that fills my Twitter timeline ahead of each episode. The cries of “I can’t wait”, or “I need the next episode NOW!” The eager anticipation of what new controversies the next instalment may unveil. The plethora of mocking memes that get shared after each installment.
That’s not normal for religious journalism.
It’s normal for reality TV.
It’s normal for celebrity gossip.
It’s normal for addictions.
And it’s the irony that bugs me. We’re listening to a podcast critiquing celebrity…
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Quebec passes motion calling on store clerks to greet customers with ‘bonjour’
Quebec passes motion calling on store clerks to greet customers with ‘bonjour’.
Reading this reminded me of walking into a hotel restaurant in Montreal, carrying two newspapers. The hostess looked down, saw the Montreal Star just as I was flipping to the second paper, La Presse. She switched languages mid-greeting, and I mimiced her. “Good soir.” “Bon evening.”
By the way, I think the motion is silly.
An Open Letter to Rev. Franklin Graham from a “Small Church” Pastor
Very nice, irenic, presentation.
Dear Frank
Can I call you Frank? This is just pastor to pastor. Feel free to call me Peter. Anyway, I have to say I was flattered when I learned that your Decision America Tour took a detour off the beaten path to call upon us “small community churches.” We are nothing if not small. We seat 30-40 on a good Sunday. And we are a century old fixture of our small community. Most often we are overlooked and overshadowed by mega-churches and politically influential religious voices like your own. We don’t hold a candle to an auditorium filled with the music of a one hundred voice choir led by professional musicians. We probably will never be recognized in any nationally syndicated media. After all, we don’t do anything really “newsworthy.” We just preach the good news of Jesus Christ; love one another the best we can (which sometimes isn’t…
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Sanctifying bigotry: why the Episcopal Church is wrong to host Donald Trump’s inaugural prayer service
Many good points here, but I’m not part of the Episcopal Church. And I find it interesting (and disappointing) that @realDonaldTrump asked for there to be no sermon.
The Episcopal Church has been my spiritual home for seven years now. It breathed new life into my faith at a time when I wasn’t sure I wanted any more to do with church.
Its liturgies, its willingness to engage the world, its ability to embrace orthodoxy without rigidity, its commitment to welcoming all people—these are just a few things I love about the Episcopal Church.
Add to this our presiding bishop, Michael Curry, who’s brought renewed passion for a big, robust gospel—for what he likes to call the Jesus Movement.
There is a lot to love about the Episcopal Church.
And yet.
My denomination is about to welcome Donald Trump into the presidency with a prayer service in his honor at the Washington National Cathedral.
We’re about to sanctify a man who exhales hate, arrogance, and greed. We’re about to legitimize a president whose pursuit of power has been…
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A distinction with a difference
In reading an obituary for Raymond Tomlinson, the person who came up with the idea of using the “@” symbol in e-mail addresses, I was struck by these sentences:
The Internet Society in Geneva, on inducting him into the newly created Internet Hall of Fame in 2012, honored Mr. Tomlinson for “having brought about a complete revolution, fundamentally changing the way people communicate.”
In accepting the honor, Mr. Tomlinson said: “I’m often asked, did I know what I was doing? And the answer is, yes, I knew exactly what I was doing. I just had no notion whatsoever of what the ultimate impact would be. What I was doing was providing a way for people to communicate with other people.”
And it’s true, isn’t it: even when we know exactly what we’re doing, do we really have any notion of what its ultimate impact will be?
Christian, Let My Transgender People Go! (When Bigotry Uses the Bathroom)
[RS: Powerful; excerpt/salient point: We’re punishing Transgender people who want to use public restrooms, because we don’t trust heterosexual men not to be predatory animals.]
Some days you read the news and you wonder how we’ve managed to survive as a civilization for millions of years without blowing it all up. Today is one of those days for me. This week Charlot…
Source: Christian, Let My Transgender People Go! (When Bigotry Uses the Bathroom)
Review: Moving Out of the Cave: Finding Freedom in the Light
Moving Out of the Cave: Finding Freedom in the Light by Carol Miller
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
The “About the Author” portion of this book mentions that Carol Miller “has decades of experience in discipleship and in praying for people’s deep healing and transformation.” I had the incredible good fortune to be praying alongside her in some of those deep healing/transformation sessions, and always came away having learned something from her.
In this book, she describes where humanity has gone wrong, explains some of the untruths that have been accepted over time as Biblical truth, and maps the way out, to Truth (her spelling).
While not nearly as refreshing as sitting and interacting with her, anyone interested in finding freedom will benefit from reading this book.
It is a pleasure to highly recommend this book.
“Celerity,” a wonderful word, just not for a business
I subscribe to Dictionary.com’s “Word of the Day” newsletter, and was pleased to see that today’s word is “celerity.” Grammarly just underlined the word in red, and asked if I meant “celebrity,” which anticipates the point of this post.
A number of years ago, I was a self-employed paralegal, and registered a business starting with “Celerity.” I lost track of how many cheques I received, or faxes, or memos, rendering the word “celebrity.” (Sometimes with caustic comments.)
Partially due to the confusion, and also due to the fact that speed wasn’t the only attribute I wanted to be known by, I chose not to renew the business registration when it expired.
But my appreciation for the word has not diminished. Feel free to take it for a (quick) spin.
Examining the prosperity gospel through the stage-4-cancer lens
I will admit up front that I have never been a proponent of the prosperity gospel (in fact, once put my foot in it by denigrating its merits to a person who turned out to be the pastor of the church in the Philippines I was visiting!), but my talking points have been reinforced by reading this powerful piece from yesterday’s New York Times.
Before starting, for those who aren’t aware of what is meant by “the prosperity gospel,” I will accept Kate Bowler’s (the author) definition in the piece:
Put simply, the prosperity gospel is the belief that God grants health and wealth to those with the right kind of faith.
Another excellent part of her piece (which deserves reading in full):
The prosperity gospel has taken a religion based on the contemplation of a dying man and stripped it of its call to surrender all. Perhaps worse, it has replaced Christian faith with the most painful forms of certainty.
I like the fact that she admires the admirable attributes of the followers of the prosperity gospel, while fully aware of their more facile utterances.
May she be healed, in this life!
Full disclosure: (1) Kate Bowler grew up a Mennonite, and says at one point, “The riddle of a Mennonite megachurch became my intellectual obsession.” I am a member and part-time staff member of an Anabaptist megachurch (Mennonites are another stream of Anabaptism). I’m not sure this disclosure adds anything; I just didn’t want to hide it.
(2) My wife is a cancer survivor (thankfully caught early, surgically excised, follow-ups clear).
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