escapingbabylon.com

So The Last Airbender comes out this summer. Here’s a good summary of my thoughts on the upcoming movie.

The Blog of Gene Luen Yang – The Last Airbender Movie.

Eugene Cho had a post about the Arizona law asking for comments. I’ve been thinking about the law and haven’t yet been able to put into words how it makes me feel. Here’s the comment that I posted that comes closest to my personal reaction to the law

As a foreign national who has been in this country for years, the Arizona law feels like the most unwelcoming thing I’ve experienced thus far.

Between the fingerprinting and the ever-changing immigration laws and the punditry, since september 12, 2001 there’s been a fair amount of things that has made me feel uncomfortable. Somehow this feels different. This feels like the closest thing to “You are second class and so you should know your place,” that I’ve felt.

Even assuming that there will be no racial profiling, or that they will not mistakenly arrest American citizens. It means that if I’m ever in Arizona, as a foreign national, I pretty much have to justify my right to be in this country whenever I interact with the law. Which says to me that I’m not wanted here, and it would really be more pleasant for everyone if I left.

At some point I might get into the social, theological, justice-oriented response. But right now this is my emotional response.

Culture Making has been one of the best books I’ve read in the past year. It takes a look at cultural goods in society, theology in terms of culture and makes the assertion that the best way, and in some ways the only way, to change culture is to create more, better culture. In the video below, Andy Crouch, the author, responds to the question “How can we devote time/energy/resources to creating art and culture, when there are so many who, because of poverty, are stripped of  the power to be culture makers?”

Check it out.

via: Culture Making and Poverty (Best Question #2) | Culture Making.

Best Question 2 – Culture Making and Poverty from Culture Making on Vimeo.

Imaginary Foundation: Make a difference. via BoingBoing.

Download the PDF. Print it. Stick it up somewhere.

Why?

Because, to be honest, there are too many voices that say that we are powerless, and that the machine goes on whether we want it to or not.

Those voices are wrong.

But first we need to decide that we will.

School Bullying Prevention: Teach Empathy at Young Age – TIME.

But like language, the development of this inherent tendency may be affected by early experience. As evidence, look no further than ancient Greece and the millennia-old child-rearing practices of Sparta and Athens. Spartans, who were celebrated almost exclusively as warriors, raised their ruling-class boys in an environment of uncompromising brutality — enlisting them in boot camp at age 7 and starving them to encourage enough deviousness and cunning to steal food, which skillfully bred yet more generations of ruthless killers.

In Athens, future leaders were brought up in a more nurturing and peaceful way, at home with their mothers and nurses, starting education in music and poetry at age 6. They became pioneers of democracy, art, theater and culture. “Just like we can train people to kill, the same is true with empathy. You can be taught to be a Spartan or an Athenian — and you can taught to be both,” says Teny Gross, executive director of the outreach group Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence in Providence, R.I., and a former sergeant in the Israeli army.

One of the reasons that I think Youth and Children’s Ministry is important is that I suspect that this idea can be expanded beyond empathy. We can choose whether we want to teach our kids to be selfish, to treat each other as sex objects, to be racist, etc. We choose what the world, into which our children are born, looks like, and what that world looks like, affects what the next generation will grow to become.

This is also why college ministry is important, because it is during this time where people make the decisions about what they want their world, and thus the world, to look like in the next ten years. It’s why the work of organizations like the Children at Risk Foundation, Jose Abreu’s El Sistema, Bolder Options, Frontier Youth Trust and Union Gospel Mission are important, because they are helping to teach values to kids, many of whom live in environments that are significantly more “Spartan” than “Athenian”.

Anyway, I thought the article was interesting, and it intersected with some things I care about. Take a look at it, tell me what you think (particularly if you see some interesting implications of the article, I’d love to hear and discuss them).

Coloradas Mangus, a sophomore at Ruidoso High School on the Mescalero Apache Reservation, N.M.

Coloradas, a member of the Chiricahua Apache tribe, lives on the Mescalero Apache Reservation in New Mexico, where there have been five youth suicides since the start of the school year. All were his friends.

via Youth suicides epidemic on tribal reservations – Mental health- msnbc.com.

This article showed up on MSNBC a couple of days ago, and has been floating in the back of my mind since then. Anybody have experience working with First Nation/Native American youth or know of any good organizations and initiatives to support and partner with? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Carlos Whittaker of Ragamuffin Soul invited Andrew Marin of Love is an Orientation (both blogs are on my reader and are pretty good)to answer a hypothetical question:

If a fat man can lead a church, serve on a church staff, and not be held responsible for his lack of self discipline when it comes to gluttony…
Then why can’t a gay man lead a church, serve on a church staff and not be held responsible for his lack of self discipline when it comes to homosexuality?

Welcome To Gay And Lesbian Church Leader Week At Ragamuffin Soul | Ragamuffin Soul.

I thought this was a pretty good answer. What are your thoughts. I expect this should be an interesting week over at Ragamuffin Soul.

I saw these images in my Google reader this morning, and had to pass them on.

via: People of the Second Chance.

Here’s a quote from the website of Just Detention International

The reason JDI does this work is simple: sexual abuse in detention is a perversion of justice and an affront to our society’s essential values.

There’s a parable in the bible that ends with Jesus’ famous words “Whatever you’ve done to the least of these, you’ve done to me.” I’ve been thinking recently of who the “least of these” are in Western, North American Society. I think that prisoners as a group are one answer to that question

Haiti Emergency Relief Fund | One Day’s Wages.

American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund

• Text “Haiti” to 90999 in order to donate $10 via mobile phone

• Go here to find a list of organizations that are responding to the crisis.

I thought this was a pretty good story about a church that is serving their community in a way that unique, but so obvious you wonder why it isn’t more widespread

Riverside Park Church of God is reaching out to seniors who need a little extra TLC.

At the same time, it’s assisting families who need respite from caring for an elderly loved one.

“We specialize in dementia,” said Justin Zarb, director of the Livonia church's adult day care ministry. “Taking care of someone in advanced stages of Alzheimer’s gets to be challenging. Caregivers need a break.”

via Local church embraces elderly with special needs | hometownlife.com | the Observer & Eccentric Newspapers and Hometown Weeklies. ht Monday Morning Insight

I hope you all are having a great new year. I’ll post a personal update soon. In the meantime, what other cool and unusual church or community based service have you heard about in the past year?