Six Words for April 23, 2008

Standing here, leaning into the future.

Six Words for April 22, 2008

Transition: A life in the re-making

Six Words for April 19, 2008

Sudanese kids, Ugandan beads, and me.

Six Words for April 17, 2008

Creative Action. Creative Action. Creative Action.

Life, captured in a short sentence

Like the new six word adventure? It was inspired by Smith Magazine. They held a contest for memoirs. Writers could use only six words. They could not use five. And they certainly could not use seven. So they had to be creative. Check out the video linked here. Life stories in only six words. Turns out, they say a lot.

Like Microsoft Word for the Human Machine

Community: the killer app of humanity.

[Update: I've changed my mind. I think love is the killer app of humanity. Community is what love looks like broadly lived.]

On television, creativity, and adventure

I was watching the debate between Obama and Clinton tonight and saw ads for upcoming television episodes: "This Thursday on Grey's Anatomy..." followed by references to past and upcoming fictional drama.

So many people are invested in these shows. They wait for the writers to dictate their emotions, to dream up their adventures and script their happy endings. When such passion awaits your passivity at the end of the day, it's much easier to live the life of the American consumer.

But what if we turned off the TV? What if we had to create our own stories? What if the only drama and comedy and adventure that we felt were for real, created and pursued by us, in the real world around us? What if sitting on the couch was the least interesting part of our day?

Oh what a world it would be. And I'd like to build it. I'm not very good yet at creating adventure, at coming up with the situations that we need for fulfillment, that will replace TV. But I know some people who are. Let's make that happen. Let's create our own lives. Let's live adventurously. Let's be the show. And let's invite everyone to join the cast.

Six Words for April 16, 2008

Ate lunch quietly in the sun.

Six words for April 15, 2008

Building a rocket? Or another wagon?

It's for everyone

What percentage of people in America can work for a non-profit? If everyone gives 10% to non-profits, and 90% of that should be used for programs, and only 50% of what's left is used for salaries, then at most, one half of 1% of people can work for a non-profit. And that's being generous.

100% of people can work for socially proactive businesses.

The Hard Work of Community

We're so good at making money. Or so good at trying, at least. We work more hours per week than any society on earth, ever, so that we can bring home the paycheck. The principle of hard work for hard-earned cash is sunk deeply into our paradigms even before we can pronounce 'paradigms.'

But here we are, checks banked, enough money to buy all that we need and more, and not satisfied. Here we are, distracted and isolated. Here we are, lonely. So terribly lonely.

Loneliness, I've recently discovered, is nothing more (or less) than the desire for community. Some will tell you that it's the need for romance or marriage or sex. But it's not, not this deep, pervasive loneliness, the one that feels like the inexpressible inside of you is shouting silently. That one is the desire for a rich, vibrant, deep community.

This community only exists when a group of people decide that they are going to love each other. That's what the church is. Remember what Jesus said about spotting his followers? You'll know them by their love for one another.

But this kind of community doesn't come easily. Most people seem to think (I know I did) that if they're relatively nice, normal, perhaps even interesting people then community will rush along and embrace them and they will be satisfied. But it doesn't come. It's never as rich as they know it ought to be, as they need it to be.

That is because, just like working year after year to build wealth, it takes sacrifice and commitment to build community. It takes a thousand little tasks - scheduling time to converse, asking questions, washing someone else's dishes, giving rides to the airport. And it takes major paradigm shifts - I'm responsible for your well being, your needs are as important to me as my own. And until we are ready to do the hard work of community we will remain rich and lonely, wondering why our paychecks can't hold a decent conversation.

For those of you who have agreed that the church as we see it on Sunday mornings is not all that it could be, I have no proven answers. What I do have is a direction that I'm headed, and that I'm confident will lead us closer to the lifestyle that Jesus taught. And that is the direction of deeper, more committed community. The direction of more love for one another. I don't presume to know what that looks like in all contexts, or your context, or even my own half the time. But I challenge you to begin doing the hard work of community. I have a hunch it's going to pay off better than any paycheck I've ever gotten. (Though that's not saying much.)

Six words for April 14, 2008

"... as centuries, loaded, fragrant" and tiring.


- from a favorite Emerson quote.

Six words for April 13, 2008

[Hemingway was once challenged to tell a whole story using only six words. His offering: "For sale, baby shoes, never used." I'm going to try recapping my days using six words. Just for fun.]


Drove from Phoenix, no air conditioning.

Those who sweat together...

I'm on may way out to Phoenix for the weekend for my friend J-Sad's bachelor party. Ironically I'm also on a parasite-killer medication that forbids me alcohol. So it'll be a fun weekend of drunk-watching.

Following on the Dear American Christian Church post and discussion, I'm working on a post about "the hard work of community." Community, in my mind, ties together a lot of the truth that I've learned about God, love, and humanity, and is a key to making some necessary changes in how we live faithful lives. I'm looking forward to hearing all of your thoughts!

Subscribe to my feed to the right to keep up to date.

"Don't tell people how to live their lives. Just tell them stories."

Quote from Dr. Randy Pausch. See his "Last Lecture" here. Worth every moment.

Dear American Christian Church,

- Putting a fish on the back of your SUV does not justify your excess.

- Caring for the poor, the sick, the widows and orphans, will always be more important than your new building project.

- Stop making watered-down versions of the things that the secular market is really good at. Trust in who you were meant to be and do what only you can do. If you don't know what that is, then stop everything and figure it out.

- You can be edgy, but your edge is a totally different edge than theirs.

- No number of NOTW stickers will make Christianity cool.

- I should know that you're a Christian by your love, not by your (choose one:) bumpersticker, t-shirt, CD collection, favorite books list, etc.

- Jesus didn't come so that one day all his disciples could live in really quiet, comfortable suburbs. Jesus didn't even have a house.

- Jesus didn't teach us how to be good CEOs. That's what business schools are for. Jesus taught us how to be good people.

- Spiritual growth comes from doing things, not from reading them.

- Jesus never said to his disciples: "Cultivate in yourselves a mindset such that if God were ever to call you to do something, you would be willing to do it." No, he said, "Follow me." Now.

- "Because Jesus is the only way," is not an appropriate answer when asked why you think that every other religion is wrong. Think about it.

- This whole Sunday morning thing has to stop.

- Or at least get an extreme restructuring.

- The word "communion" comes from the same root as "community" because it was meant to be a social affair, not a "be quiet, look at the floor, and eat this wafer" affair.

Apolis/IC Event this weekend

My friends at Apolis Activism (totally on board the Socially Proactive Business train) are having an event this Saturday at Bloomingdale's in South Coast Plaza, Costa Mesa. They've been huge supporters of IC and are helping us sell some bracelets at Bloomingdale's. Come by and support them as they support us! http://www.apolisactivism.com/

If you want to caravan from San Diego, drop me a line, or if you'll be there and want to meet up, let me know.

Oh, and bring a hundred bucks or so. You won't be disappointed.

Learn from failure

If you really do learn more from failure than anything else, go get a quick graduate degree at the FAIL blog. Hilarious.

PODcasts

Podcasts have almost taken over television, radio, and even movies as my entertainment of choice. Why? They are almost completely controllable, which means focussable. I choose what sorts of things I want to download, and I take them with me wherever I go for consumption at my convenience. And there is a ton of good stuff. The best of NPR and PRI for instance, and a host of resources that you don't find on TV because it wouldn't sell ads. And it's all free.

Some of my recent favorites:

Karen Armstrong's Wish speech at TED:
http://tinyurl.com/2965oh

To the Best of Our Knowledge on Pop Music:
http://tinyurl.com/ysuygj

And everything by This American Life:
http://tinyurl.com/y39ccr