Spence: bits and pieces

Each month (or so) I distribute an eletter that contains things that have caught my eye and which I think might be of interest to others. Here is my February eletter.

1) Thought-starters:
a) “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom,” Viktor Frankl.
b) “Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around,” Leo Buscaglia.
c) “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality,” Bishop Desmond Tutu.
d) “Spirituality without a prayer life is no spirituality at all, and it will not last beyond the first defeats. Prayer is an opening of the self so that the Word of God can break in and make us new. Prayer unmasks. Prayer converts. Prayer impels. Prayer sustains us on the way. Pray for the grace it will take to continue what you would like to quit,” Joan Chittister, In a High Spiritual Season.
e) “The world is not comprehensible, but it is embraceable,” Martin Buber (Jewish philosopher, 1878-1965).
2) Explore ways to make prayer more than simply a way to mark the start or the close of your church leadership meeting with Charles Olsen, “Ways to pray in a board meeting.”
3) “Leadership is both a skill and an art; it is about both heart and mind. I call these two aspects of leadership the “what” and the “who” of leadership. It is as these come together, as we grow in both heart and mind, that the strength we need to be leaders comes to us,” Jeffrey D. Jones in “The ‘What’ and the ‘Who’ of Leadership.”
a) J. Sterling Livingston, a professor at Harvard Business School, concluded in 1971 that four key skills define successful leadership: Effective decision making, Successful problem finding, Effective opportunity finding, and Leadership style. By developing your skills in these fundamental areas, he argued that you can lead people, and inspire them to change.
4) Have a look at the questions asked concerning theology on the ChristanBibleStudies.com site. How many of these questions would your congregation ask/know?
5) “Why and when did Christians start constructing special buildings for worship?” Answered by Everett Ferguson.
6) 2009 Christianity Today book awards lists their top books for 2009 in ten different categories, including fiction, theology/ethics, and spirituality.
7) The ten most redeeming films of 2008 according to ChristianityTodayMovies.com; number 3 is still being shown at the cinemas.
8) “So does a belief in evolution automatically lead to disbelief in God? Actually, Darwin didn’t think that…Darwin’s rejection of God was less an act of unbelief than a rebellion against the kind of God posited by Christianity. A God who would allow his daughter to die and good people to go to hell was not anyone whom Darwin wanted to worship,” read “The Evolution of Darwin.”
9) A new study on “virginity pledges” suggests that they are ineffective and perhaps dangerous. Should we rethink how we approach teenagers about sex? Read article.
10) “Jesus Is Not a Brand“: Why it is dangerous to make evangelism another form of marketing.
11) “An Evangelical Manifesto is an open declaration of who Evangelicals are and what they stand for. It has been drafted and published by a representative group of Evangelical leaders who do not claim to speak for all Evangelicals, but who invite all other Evangelicals to stand with them and help clarify what Evangelical means in light of “confusions within and the consternation without” the movement. As the Manifesto states, the signers are not out to attack or exclude anyone, but to rally and to call for reform…For those who are Evangelicals, the deepest purpose of the Manifesto is a serious call to reform—an urgent challenge to reaffirm Evangelical identity, to reform Evangelical behavior, to reposition Evangelicals in public life, and so rededicate ourselves to the high calling of being Evangelical followers of Jesus Christ.” Read Christianity Today’s discussion of the Evangelical Manifesto.
12) Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks, the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth, was asked to speak at the conference of world Anglican leaders, the Lambeth Conference (28th July 2008) on the covenant; his address entitled “The Relationship between the People and God“ is available online.
13) Claiming the Beatitudes: Nine Stories from a New Generation (2009) by Anne Howard. Bishop Frederick Borsch writes, “Can the beatitudes come alive for us today? The moving stories and compelling reflections of Claiming the Beatitudes say ‘Yes!’ The question at the end of each chapter offer true-to-life challenges. The entire book is an invitation to conversation and conversion. Try it!” This is particularly addressed to, and relevant for, those in their 20s and 30s and is a product of The Beatitudes Society which “develops and sustains emerging Christian leaders at seminaries and divinity schools as they build a progressive network for justice, compassion and peace as expressed in the Beatitudes.”
14) The Lord’s Prayer “is a pattern for all Christian praying; Jesus is teaching that prayer will be acceptable when, and only when, the attitudes, thoughts, and desires expressed fit the pattern. That is to say: every prayer of ours should be a praying of the Lord’s Prayer in some shape or form,” J. I. Packer, Growing in Christ.
15) What do you know about Facebook and social networking – does it enhance or hinder community? Read “An Entertaining Saboteur“ by Mark Galli and then talk to someone with a Facebook page.
16) “Spiritual Formation Agenda: Three priorities for the next 30 years“ by Richard Foster.
17) Interested in generating discussion? Try John G. Stackhouse Jr.’s “Memo to Worship Bands: Five sound reasons to lower the volume.”
18) A research brief prepared by the School of Social Work at Baylor University has found that “Those who were personally involved in community ministry were not only more likely to volunteer time to help others, provide hospitality to strangers, and participate in activities promoting social justice, but also more likely to pray, attend worship service, and give financially to the church.” read the report…
19) I’m not too keen on ministers taking a “civil religion” role in community events, but Obama’s inauguration featured two pastors seeking to lead their nation in prayer and they’re worth listening to: Rick Warren’s Inaugural Invocation and Rev. Joseph Lowery’s Inauguration Benediction.
a) Rick Warren prayed in Jesus’ name in four languages in his invocation for the Obama Inauguration. Here’s a handy cheat sheet if you want to outdo him with how Jesus is named in 22 languages
20) Mark Stevens, one of the readers of this eletter and a Church of Christ pastor, is a blogger – you can read his reflections on “Scripture, Ministry, and the People of God” at https://server.adelaide.tabor.edu.au/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://revdmarkstevens.blogspot.com/. If there are other bloggers out there let me know and I will include a link for people to explore.
21) And finally: Hard to believe but – recently, several hundred members of Holy Trinity Church watched pastor Jeremy Woods eat breakfast, work on his sermon and make a Starbucks run. Woods had just joined a growing group of pastors who are broadcasting their lives 24/7 on the Internet. "When I first heard of going live I thought, 'This is the future of pastoring but I'm not sure I like it,'" Woods says. But after a month he says he "totally digs it." "It's the next step beyond blogging or even live blogging," he says. "It's about sharing life." To go live, pastors outfit their offices and homes with surveillance cameras and clip miniature video cameras to themselves which are linked to the Internet via cell phone. During counseling sessions and other sensitive occasions the audio is cut and faces are blurred. At night, pastors set the camera facing a closed bedroom door so viewers can see that they haven’t left the room.