Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Justice with Michael Sandel - Home

Justice with Michael Sandel - Home is a weekly lecture series on justice by a popular Harvard professor of moral philosophy. Who needs TV anymore when this kind of thing is available on the web? Oh wait, we didn't have TV to begin with... :)

Friday, September 25, 2009

Review: Monsters of Folk : NPR

Review: Monsters of Folk : NPR

Like The Highwaymen or The Traveling Wilburies, this is the real supergroup deal. Picked it up at Target today for 7.99, well worth it.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Awakening to Love and Joy

Awakening to Love and Joy

Had a chance to get to know John Mix better this week. He's the Dane County Jail chaplain, and a mixed media artist. This is his blog...

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Journey with Jesus

I often find the Journey with Jesus to be a worthwhile stopping point for personal devotions and reflection on the lectionary texts for the week.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Wednesday, September 09, 2009

Google Books

Still kind of amazed how much of any individual book is available on Google Books. This is one we're reading for our next study group meeting:

Tuesday, September 08, 2009

Leader Breakthru � Focused Living On-line

Leader Breakthru � Focused Living On-line

Hosted a retreat using these materials last year, and wonder if there's a group of 8-10 adults out there interested in attending a Focused Living Retreat again this year...

Saturday, September 05, 2009

Ecofont | less is more

Ecofont | less is more

Welcome to the Ernest Becker Foundation

Welcome to the Ernest Becker Foundation: "The EBF seeks to illuminate how the unconscious denial of mortality profoundly influences human behavior, giving rise to acts of hate and violence as well as noble, altruistic striving."

EBF has a web site redesign that is worth checking out. Great resources here!

Friday, September 04, 2009

Op-Ed Contributor - Is It Now a Crime to Be Poor? - NYTimes.com

Op-Ed Contributor - Is It Now a Crime to Be Poor? - NYTimes.com

Journey with Jesus

Journey with Jesus: "The Scriptures this week offer a rather politically-incorrect perspective on the poor. The psalmist (Psalm 146), Proverbs, and the epistle of James all blame the rich for the plight of the poor. Rich people, they say, oppress, exploit, and plunder the poor 'because they are poor,' for their own advantage. Rich people manipulate the legal system to 'crush' the poor in courts of law."

Thursday, September 03, 2009

Tuesday, September 01, 2009

Macca On Abbey Road: "We'd Come Full Circle" - Preview Page - Mojo

Macca On Abbey Road: "We'd Come Full Circle" - Preview Page - Mojo

Reflections on the ELCA 6 - Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Reflections on the ELCA 6 - Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Post CWA

A friend and colleague wrote this to me recently, and gave me permission to publish it here. I thought it a worthwhile reflection:

I also wanted to share a thought with you about your comment that some of your friends thoguht they would have to withdraw from the ELCA over the recent synod decisions.

It seems to me they are profoundly mistaken in treating this issue as a statu confessionis issue that must divide the church. I will grant the issue of gay pastors is a matter of the interpretation of Scripture...but the church has disagreed on many other serious issues in the past without fracturing...the ministry of women being only the most obvious in recent years, and on that issue the scripture texts are far more transparent.

We have talked much about "bound consciences"...but it always seems to be on the side of the opponents of ministry by gay persons. I feel my conscience is as surely bound on the other side of the issue, and I am not one to take Scripture lightly. Like Luther, when some argue Scripture against Christ, I will always argue Christ against Scripture.

I think on the gay issue we must take a very long and hard look at our own prejudices, as I think these have been pernicious in motivating or at least shaping church actions for many years if not centuries.

Anyway, I hope your friends can serve as pastor in a larger church that does not always agree with their own vision of what Scripture say. As Cromwell said, "By the bowels of Christ, sir, consider that you may be wrong."

pax,

jruppenthal

Till We Have Faces

Just finished C.S. Lewis's Till We Have Faces. At end of novel, learned through the novel something deeper about this truth: that instead of living as the Imago Dei, trusting that we are created in the image of God, we choose to create gods that... are not gods in our own image, and then worship them, which means we worship images of ourself rather than trust that we are already created in the image of God.