the church geek

My church has never had a Lenten study before at least not in recent years. I’ve been pondering offering something, but I’m not quite sure what that would be. I know of a handful of folks who have been dealing with issues of forgiveness and wondered about offering an in depth course related to that, since I think studies around lent ought to be about some of the more meaty issues of our faith.

I’m wondering what have you done in the past and what has worked in your congregation?

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I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! Even with a lot of travel over the next week to visit family, I’ve somehow managed to find a few minutes of blogging time today to offer up my Weekly Roundup:

1.) I really love this Franciscan Benediction that Tony Jones offers as a Christmas Blessing.

2.) Nick Norelli offers an interesting reflection on the atoning work of Christ, asking the question what would have happened if Jesus had been killed as a baby during Herod’s slaughter of the infants reported in Matthew? Reminds of my seminary professor who constantly stressed that Christ’s atoning work was comprised of much more than just his crucifixion.

3.) John Armstrong offers some reflections on Denzel Washington’s faith.

4.) Project 365 wraps up for me in less than a week. Julie Bogart, who encouraged me to start this whole project in the first place, offers some reflections on the impact the project has had on her life. And Ampersand 365, who had some pretty amazing pictures herself over the year, highlights some of her favorite pictures from other 365ers.

5.) I’ve not had a chance to listen to any of the these yet, but I recently managed to come across an amazing archive of sermons available in MP3 format. Some names: John Buchanan, William Willimon, Tim Keller, Barbara Brown Taylor, Joanna Adams.

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“The enormous volume of corn required by the ethanol industry is sending shock waves through the food system.” - from an article called “How Biofuels Could Starve the Poor”

This has been my concern all along with jumping on the biofuel band wagon. The reality is that biofuels will not solve anything.

The long and short of it is that we’ve got to find a way to curtail our use of non-renewable fuel sources. My guess is that using food products to do so is only going to screw up our global economic system.

HT: Rob Bell and his sermon series “God is Green.”

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What’s going on in Darfur doesn’t really seem to be on most folk’s radar screens. Thankfully Google and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum hope to change that by teaming up to raise our consciousness.

Check out the Genocide Prevention Mapping Initiative for a harrowing look at what’s really happening in Darfur. This is the first effort in the creation of an interactive “global crisis map.”

I was made aware of this by way of the July issue of Sojourners Magazine.

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I’ve been frustrated with my inability to keep up with my library books and their various due dates. I think in the past year or so Lori and I have paid close to $50 in late fines at the library. This fine situation is created by two facts:

1.) The books don’t have those little cards in each of their pockets anymore that were stamped with the due date. Instead, now when you check out books you get a receipt with each book listed on it and its due date. I am usually pretty good at keeping track of information but I still haven’t got a system down for keeping track of that little receipt.

2.) The computer system at the library knows when my books are due. I can go on line and check when they are due, but my library computer system has evidently not yet figured out how to send me an e-mail to notify me when they are due.

Now enters libraryelf and the problem is solved! If your library participates you can sign up for an account. Libraryelf will send you an e-mail notification whenever a due date approaches on your books. You will also get notification by e-mail when books you have on hold are available to be picked up. It’s pretty slick, and I say it’s about time!

Of course the downside is that now my library will lose me as a major source of revenue from all my overdue fines.

By the way I found this via Lifehacker. A week doesn’t go by where I don’t find something of use from the world of technology on this site.

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Looking over the past month or so, it seems as if the photos have taken over my blog! People seem to enjoy them, so they’ll remain, but I wonder if I should change my name to thephotogeek?!?

Here’s my first foray getting back to some other content on this blog. I’ve finally been listening to podcasts on a fairly regular basis now that I have a system down for getting them to my Palm PDA. My favorite place to listen to them is at the gym.

Here are three different podcasts that I’ve been enjoying:

1. The Internet Monk - This is the podcast of Michael Spencer, “the voice of post-evangelicals everywhere.” A little bit bible study, some movie and cultural reviews, and other good things to say along the way. All around this is a pretty decent and thoughtful podcast.

2. Decently and in Order - This is the first (and as far as I know only) podcast related to all things Presbyterian (PCUSA presbyterian that is!) It is a good analysis of news and views provide by a group of young ministers. Sometimes these folks get off on few tangents, but at other times they nail the hammer on the head making it a worth while listen. UPDATE: Great new website check it out!

3. The Kindlings Muse - This is quickly becoming my favorite podcast. This is a very thoughtful analysis of the intersection between faith and culture, seeking to be hospitable and never dismissive. Recent issues have explored “the new atheism” along with current literature and movies.

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I’m now a contributor and one of the editors for a new website called Presbymergent. This site arose just before the mainline emergent conference in Atlanta and has generated a lot of traffic in the aftermath. It’s intent is to be a forum to explore the convergence between the emergent and presbyterian worlds. Check it out if you get a chance and add your voice to the conversation.

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When it was still in beta testing and not yet open to the public, I was invited to review and promote a new Bible tool called eBible. At the time, things were pretty crazy and I didn’t have time to review it, plus I was a bit miffed that it didn’t have the NRSV translation in its catalog of bibles.

Today I was searching for a scripture verse. I went to my normal on-line bible search engine and typed in “child, peace.” Results? Nada. Hmmph…

I then jumped over to eBible and typed in the exact same thing. The verse I was looking for, Isaiah 9:6, popped right up as the very first entry along with 1128 other possibilities! The other nine results on the front result page all seemed like very reasonable results even though the exact words “peace” and “child” weren’t found in them. That sure was pleasing!

Clicking on the verse, I found the verse in its context and could scroll backwards or forwards to review both what came before and after it. On other on-line Bibles, you usually get only the verses you ask for and then have to click elsewhere to find the rest of the chapter. Also, clicking on the verse brought up a link to various commentaries (if you are signed in) but it looks like these might just be in the public domain (i.e. outdated! ) or way conservative.

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Miranda at Presbyterian Bloggers highlights a number of on-line advent calendars. Go and check them out. I especially like the Praying Advent Calendar.

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Over the past year, I’ve been evaluating a number of different resources for lectionary sermon and worship preparation. Here’s my review of what I generally turn to when I’m preparing for worship based on the lectionary:

Lectionary Homiletics: This is a bi-monthly printed journal. It’s not fancy by any stretch of the imagination, but I generally get one or two useful things out of it. Features for each Sunday include an exegesis of the chosen text, theological and pastoral implications, art and movie ideas focused on the theme (though these never seem to work for me), a review of three sermons, and a sample sermon. My only complaint is that it focuses on only one of the lectionary texts, so if you want to preach another one of them, the magazine for that week is worthless. (Plus as far as I know there is never an index so it makes it hard to look up particular texts in previous issues.)

Desperate Preacher: This is an online website with some free resources, other services require a one year subscription of $39.95. I just finished a four week trial and am considering subscribing to it soon. Subscribers receive a weekly e-mail with a more thorough exegesis of the chosen text than you’ll find in Lectionary Homiletics. It looks like the focus is generally on the Gospel text, but it sounds like as things continue to develop more texts will be included. One of the ‘free’ features on the site that I really like is a bulletin board discussion in which people can post their ideas and thoughts about how to preach the text.

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