Religion - The oldest business in the world?
For those of you out there who believe religion has little to offer the world today I share with you an interview with Ira Glass** who discovers he "invented" the oldest device in the world - storytelling.
We in the mainline protestant Christian traditions have forgotten that religion is in the "business", if you will, of storytelling. We are not in the "business" of converting people (that is the work of the Spirit) or getting the to sign off on a doctrine (that is reductionism at its finest) or saving souls (that is the work of God). We are of the work of story integration - weaving together the human and the God stories.
** Please note Ira Glass is not that Elliott Gould.
We in the mainline protestant Christian traditions have forgotten that religion is in the "business", if you will, of storytelling. We are not in the "business" of converting people (that is the work of the Spirit) or getting the to sign off on a doctrine (that is reductionism at its finest) or saving souls (that is the work of God). We are of the work of story integration - weaving together the human and the God stories.
** Please note Ira Glass is not that Elliott Gould.
"Thought of you" - 2d Animation
Came across this little animation. Beyond the "personal" love story aspect of this little bit, I find there is a great "communal" love story aspect.
Thought of You from Ryan J Woodward on Vimeo.
Thought of You from Ryan J Woodward on Vimeo.
Christmas List = Prayer List
Just a little invitation to anyone who would like to try this - make your Christmas shopping list your prayer list.
It is important to Christians to remember that we are not supposed to pray to only the people we love and who love us, we also are to pray for the outcasts and the enemy. Likewise, what would it look like if we were to give gifts to not only those whom we love but also the outcasts and the enemy?
What would it look like if our Christmas list were our prayer list and our prayer list was our Christmas list?
It is important to Christians to remember that we are not supposed to pray to only the people we love and who love us, we also are to pray for the outcasts and the enemy. Likewise, what would it look like if we were to give gifts to not only those whom we love but also the outcasts and the enemy?
What would it look like if our Christmas list were our prayer list and our prayer list was our Christmas list?
Be the change by Jason Valendy is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.