gardens and grace
My friends in the Episcopal church here in Maryland are putting on the Gardens and Grace Conference in several weeks ...
Cathedral of the Incarnation, Baltimore, Maryland
September 28 – October 1, 2008
This national Conference is for clergy and lay leaders, students and parents, gardeners and seekers, to educate, inspire, and motivate participants to embrace environmental stewardship, social justice, sustainable living, and a creative, centered spirituality and take action to make positive changes in their lives and communities.
I'll be speaking and encourage you to be part of this interesting event on a truly important subject.
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faith, politics, and voting – part 4
Near the end of Everything Must Change, I wrote ...
If we disbelieve the dominant framing story and instead believe Jesus' good news of the kingdom of God, we will suddenly find ourselves making new personal decisions - not because we have to, as a duty, but because we want to...
Then I listed a number of examples, beginning with the way we pray, but not stopping there:
We will also buy differently. For example, when faced with a choice between an inexpensive pair of pants produced by a corporation that exploits workers (whom we now see to be our neighbors), we will choose a more expensive pair produced by a corporation that treats workers fairly. Maybe we'll own fewer pairs of pants, but we'll feel better wearing them.... We will vote differently, drive differently, invest differently, eat differently, volunteer differently, treat our neighbors differently, and so much more.
When I speak to large groups about the message of the book, I often ask people to do a little exercise. I have people check the tag sewn in the collar of one another's shirts and then call out where the shirt was made. Typically, in a group of 400 people, there will be 30 to 40 different nations shouted out. We then talk about what it means to see the people in these nations as our neighbors. We consider how we are connected to them by the shirts on our backs. We realize that our small buying decisions affect their daily lives. (For more on this important subject, check out the good work of Trade as One.)
Keeping that in mind helps US citizens like myself to put our voting in perspective. Voting is not the only decision that counts - in a sense, every dollar we spend is a ballot that endorses one company over another. Every time we choose to greet a stranger or smile or show kindness to another, we are voting for friendliness and warmth in the world. Every time we fail to do so, we vote for coldness and alienation.
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choluteca river bridge photo
Here's a link to a 1:30 video about the "bridge to nowhere" photo (over the Choluteca River in Honduras) shot by Vince Muci and available for download at offthemap.com ...
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Bargain Alert: Wow, this is inexpensive …
My book Secret Message of Jesus is on sale at amazon.com for $5.49. That's pretty cheap!
And amazon.com is selling my New Kind of Christian trilogy for $10.17 each ...
Even my newest book, in hardcover, Finding Our Way Again, is just over $12.
Just in case you're interested in picking up a copy for a friend or whatever ...
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interviews
I was just interviewed by a gifted journalist this morning about faith and politics. It made me think about the difference between a good interview and a not-so-good one. So much has to do with the interviewer's own curiosity ... and ability to challenge the interviewee to think (not just respond on auto-pilot).
I did a podcast interview a few months back with Tripp and Chad, who are inherently curious and fun to talk with ... you can listen to it here.
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