Category Archives: Ruminations
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‘Page One’ and the future of news
I had the opportunity tonight to watch the documentary ‘Page One, a year at the New York Times.’ The most compelling bit of the movie was the way it looked at the ongoing struggle of newspapers to be profitable and relevant in the landscape of blogs and news aggregaters that provide their news – often the news of newspapers – for free and where advertising has become less profitable.
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Hidden
A couple of weeks ago while I was teaching Bible study, I started talking about the power of the Holy Spirit. I was more talking than anything, not really teaching, but it struck a cord with a couple of the people in the class. I had no idea what had happened until this week when I showed up to teach and this one lady, Sandy, started mentioning exactly how much it meant to her and how it had affected her. I was kind of stunned, largely because I couldn’t remember exactly what it was I said, but also because I don’t expect to make that kind of impact on people.
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Au Revoir TV Season – The Dramas
It’s not a secret that Jen and I watch a lot of prime time TV – and by a lot I mean in the twenty hours a week time range. So, it seems somewhat appropriate that here at the end of TV season we take some time to discuss the previous season.
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The unRapture
So the rapture didn’t happen, we all now have a reason to feel superior to Mr. Camping. He said a stupid thing and he now has approximately 100 million people mocking him. I for one will not mock him. He said something that is clearly contrary to the biblical text and yes that was wrong. [...]
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Beauty greater than evil
The question goes, “How can there be a loving God with so much evil in the world?” It’s the question which monotheists the world over have struggled with. There’s really no good answer to the question. Sure there are lots of answers, but once they’ve been examined they kind of suck. I don’t have any [...]
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The warmth of books
My wife and I have a lot of books. If I were to put it in poundage it’d easily top 1000lbs, which is for the most part a non-factor until we move and then I’m stuck moving boxes of books that weigh in at about 100lbs each. Fortunately we’re not moving anytime soon, so I [...]
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Faith makes reality different
I’ve been thinking for a little bit about how as a person of faith I experience life differently. As a person of faith there is a preconceived notion that there is a guiding force to existence and that at the end of all things there is something. As a result, suffering is different and joy is different. [...]
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Some quick thoughts on education
Yesterday I read an article about how the government policies around achievement in math and reading is causing a drop in funding for science education. I have so many thoughts surrounding this development, but really what it comes down to is my feeling that education has become un-personal. Educating someone is always a personal event. [...]
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A new home
For most of my life when I thought about going home it was to Maine, to my family and friends and my church. There was a point when I was about 25 years old that I realized that my church wasn’t my home any longer. It just didn’t fit the same way as it used [...]
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I love newspapers
I love newspapers. Yes, I know that I’m kind of biased being that I’ve spent a significant chunk of my life working for newspapers, but that makes it no less true. It’s not that I love news”paper”, I love the idea of a great newspaper. I love what newspapers can do for the truth, I [...]
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Beyond Christian labels
Recently I’ve been thinking about the labels we use in the church to describe different portions of the church. I know that labels are in some way important because they bring clarity to the discussion. The problem with this kind of label is that they often boil down to us versus them. The other problem [...]
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Common goodness
This morning I’m watching The West Wing while I get my to do list done. I’ve liked this show since I first watched it despite the fact that I disagree with the politics of the show, which is sort of a big deal for a show all about politics. The thing that makes me like [...]
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Our morning visitor
This morning my wife and I were abruptly woken by someone pounding on our door…at 5:30 a.m. I shuffled out of bed, grabbed my glasses and went downstairs to see who it was at our door. I spoke through the door, which was double locked for those concerned, and asked who they were and what [...]
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Social Justice and that radio guy
Earlier this week Glenn Beck made waves by urging Christians to leave any church that supports social justice. Promptly after he made these statements, prominent Christians all over the country reacted negatively and started to urge their followers to boycott Beck. While I understand the reaction, I’m wondering if it was the correct one. After [...]
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Open Source Church
Recently I’ve been thinking about the development of the church in terms of open source. Initially the two seem to be polar opposites, church and software development, but the more I’ve thought about it the more it makes sense.
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In praise of honest questions
No doubt you’ve heard about the kerfuffle surrounding Miss California in the Miss USA pageant on April 18. If you haven’t then you are truly a blessed person and I’m going to introduce you to it – and thus remove your blessing I guess. Basically in the Q&A section she was asked whether she thought [...]
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Marching Bands and Parades
Who does not like a parade? If you had asked me a couple days ago I’d say a lot of people. In fact I was of the opinion that parades had gone out of style. They just don’t seem like something that people are really into anymore. I mean we have Twitter and text messages, [...]