Two questions
I caught up briefly with my friends Chad and Amber at the EMC event in Kansas City. Chad sent me these questions, which I thought others might find helpful:
1) What are your favorite resources for preparation to preach or teach? I am a pastor and always seek insightful and healthy resources, commentaries, authors, etc.
-- On preaching/teaching: The best thing, I think, is to listen to good preachers. There are so many good resources for doing this. White people should be sure to listen to good African American and Latino/a preaching. Podcasts and youtube make this easier than ever.
I think Doug Pagitt's book on preaching raises really important questions ...
-- Commentaries: I consult a lot of commentaries, but I keep coming back to Walter Brueggemann on the Old Testament and N.T. Wright on the New Testament.
-- Fiction and Poetry: I think it's good for people who make their living using words - preachers, teachers, writers, etc. - to expose themselves to great authors, and especially poets. I always try to have a work of fiction along with me, and I have a handful of poets whom I read again and again. Lately, I've been reading the poetry and fiction of Wendell Berry and Chris Abani, and the poetry of Mary Oliver.
2) You referenced a website that lists different retailers and companies that pay fair wages and are environment friendly. What are some sites that list the companies to stay away from and those to buy from?
-- You can find more on this at everythingmustchange.org.
See especially Planet:Act:Ethical Buying
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Going to Rwanda and Burundi
A group of us will be joining a group of emerging African leaders associated with amahoro-africa.com in Rwanda and Burundi in a few weeks.
Here's a beautiful video/song from Sara Groves about Rwanda - it matches my experiences in Africa perfectly.
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May 13 – want to have breakfast?
For folks living in the Baltimore-Washington area ... a few of us will get be getting together for breakfast/coffee at 8 a.m. on Tuesday 13 May. We'll meet at the Daily Grind ...
From Route 95 between DC and Baltimore, take Route 216 West.
At your third traffic circle (roundabout), turn right - Daily Grind is on your left.
We'll enjoy good coffee and conversation together for 90 minutes or so ...
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going to the bronx
I'll be leaving early Thursday for our Everything Must Change event in the Bronx, hosted by the wonderful people at Latino Leadership Circle and Latino Pastoral Action Center.
If you're anywhere near the Big Apple, you should join us! Thanks to a generous church in Connecticut, basic expenses are covered, so you can be part of this event for just $20. Pretty amazing!
Hope to see you this weekend if you're in the Northeast ... and if you're in the Midwest, our last tour stop will be next weekend in Goshen, Indiana. See you there!
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on atheism
I'll have a posting over at God's Politics about an interesting conversation between N. T. Wright (Christian) and Bart Ehrman (former Christian) ...
My friend Jon Stanley has written a tremendous article on "Why Every Christian Should Rightly Pass for an Atheist" at The Other Journal.
And you may never have caught the song I co-wrote about atheism here ...
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