Carbon Dioxide Diet
Hey folks,
Check out the carbon dioxide diet at Slate Magazine. If you've been wondering how to do something about global warming, and wanted to be a part of a bigger project, here's your chance:
Slate's Green Challenge
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
The Incarnation
Jesus is God’s beloved son, the firstborn from the dead. He is set apart, yet shares his Spirit generously. Through Jesus, we are children of God too, and have access to eternal life – life in God’s kingdom.
The most powerful aspect of the incarnation for me is how it shows God’s solidarity with humans. It comforts me to think of God as one of us—poor; suffering; subject to hunger and cold, fear and anger, even death. A song popular several years ago asks, “What if God was one of us?” My answer: God was (and is) one of us.
The church embodies Christ today. Communion is a reminder of this; we take into ourselves the body of Christ and in the process become one with each other and one in ministry to all the world. While the church embodies Christ, it is not perfect by any means. We hold in common the Spirit of God; it does not belong to a single individual, or a small group, or even exclusively to the church as an institution. Our goal as the church is to listen for and express that Spirit as faithfully and fully as we can.
Jesus is God’s beloved son, the firstborn from the dead. He is set apart, yet shares his Spirit generously. Through Jesus, we are children of God too, and have access to eternal life – life in God’s kingdom.
The most powerful aspect of the incarnation for me is how it shows God’s solidarity with humans. It comforts me to think of God as one of us—poor; suffering; subject to hunger and cold, fear and anger, even death. A song popular several years ago asks, “What if God was one of us?” My answer: God was (and is) one of us.
The church embodies Christ today. Communion is a reminder of this; we take into ourselves the body of Christ and in the process become one with each other and one in ministry to all the world. While the church embodies Christ, it is not perfect by any means. We hold in common the Spirit of God; it does not belong to a single individual, or a small group, or even exclusively to the church as an institution. Our goal as the church is to listen for and express that Spirit as faithfully and fully as we can.
Saturday, October 21, 2006
Desert Faith
A lot of people seem to think that you can’t be religious, or have faith, and also have doubt or skepticism. Going to church means “checking your brain at the door.” The picture of faithfulness is of people marching in lockstep, following the rules, and getting security and comfort from big, strong, (misguided) preachers.
But there is another way of being faithful. I call it desert faith. Desert faith is risky. It means doubting the things you’ve always been taught. It means leaving the safe buildings of civilization and going out where there’s very little food or water, but where there are also very few distractions. Desert faith is a journey in clarity – in finding truth for yourself, and not just accepting it from someone else.
A desert faith story: after God freed the Israelites from slavery, she didn’t immediately lead them into the Promised Land. Instead, the people wandered in the desert for forty years. Along the way, they questioned God’s goodness and faithfulness all the time. They doubted. They were skeptics. They were not lockstep believers.
But over those forty years, the people grew up. They learned how to trust God, not just when times were good, but when they were bad, too. They had a mature faith because they had been willing to live with doubt and uncertainty for all that time. The forty years spent in the wilderness weren’t an accident – Moses didn’t have a bad map. God led them into the wilderness on purpose. During those forty years the people of Israel learned a new kind of faith – a desert faith.
(This wasn't in my ordination paper, but I wanted to share)
A lot of people seem to think that you can’t be religious, or have faith, and also have doubt or skepticism. Going to church means “checking your brain at the door.” The picture of faithfulness is of people marching in lockstep, following the rules, and getting security and comfort from big, strong, (misguided) preachers.
But there is another way of being faithful. I call it desert faith. Desert faith is risky. It means doubting the things you’ve always been taught. It means leaving the safe buildings of civilization and going out where there’s very little food or water, but where there are also very few distractions. Desert faith is a journey in clarity – in finding truth for yourself, and not just accepting it from someone else.
A desert faith story: after God freed the Israelites from slavery, she didn’t immediately lead them into the Promised Land. Instead, the people wandered in the desert for forty years. Along the way, they questioned God’s goodness and faithfulness all the time. They doubted. They were skeptics. They were not lockstep believers.
But over those forty years, the people grew up. They learned how to trust God, not just when times were good, but when they were bad, too. They had a mature faith because they had been willing to live with doubt and uncertainty for all that time. The forty years spent in the wilderness weren’t an accident – Moses didn’t have a bad map. God led them into the wilderness on purpose. During those forty years the people of Israel learned a new kind of faith – a desert faith.
(This wasn't in my ordination paper, but I wanted to share)
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
The Rich Young Ruler
Scripture: from Mark 10
As [Jesus] went out into the street, a man came running up, greeted him with great reverence, and asked, “Good Teacher, what must I do to get eternal life?”
Jesus said, “Why are you calling me good? No one is good, only God. You know the commandments: Don’t murder, don’t commit adultery, don’t steal, don’t lie, don’t cheat, honor your father and mother.”
He said, “Teacher, I have—from my youth—kept them all!”
Jesus looked him hard in the eye—and loved him! He said, “There’s one thing left: Go sell whatever you own and give it to the poor. All your wealth will then be heavenly wealth. And come follow me.”
The man’s face clouded over. This was the last thing he expected to hear, and he walked off with a heavy heart. He was holding on tight to a lot of things, and not about to let go.
Looking at his disciples, Jesus said, “Do you have any idea how difficult it is for people who ‘have it all’ to enter God’s kingdom?” The disciples couldn’t believe what they were hearing, but Jesus kept on: “You can’t imagine how difficult. I’d say it’s easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye than for the rich to get into God’s kingdom.
That set the disciples back on their heels. “Then who has any chance at all?” they asked.
Jesus was blunt: “No chance at all if you think you can pull it off by yourself. Every chance in the world if you let God do it.”
This was the scripture for Sunday. I think that it's very tempting for preachers to avoid the talk about money in this scripture. After all, very few of us in the affluent West like hearing that "It's harder for a camel to go through a needle's eye..." Still, I think this is an important story, and we can't take the money part of it out. So, a few points:
First, "the kingdom of God" is not the same thing as "heaven," i.e. a place up past the stars somewhere with fluffy clouds, angels, and harps, etc. The kingdom of God, as Jesus taught it, is here among us now. Entering into it means being aware of something mysterious in this life.
So the next question is: can wealth stand in the way of entering into the kingdom of God? That's what Jesus argues, and I think it's true. All our stuff, and the time we spend tending to it, and thinking about it, and wishing for more money, and planning our careers around more money, and time spent shopping - all of that - keeps us distracted. And it promises us sense of security - falsely. The real source of power that matters is God, not things.
Finally, there are many people who think churches are obsessed with money. To me that's funny because the ones I've been to are usually obsessed with not talking about it, or else have a very matter-of-fact stewardship campaign that lasts for a few weeks out of the year. At any rate, no matter what I tell Heather, I'm actually not going to be rolling in dough now that I am ordained. Sorry honey.
My point, though, is that Jesus didn't say, "Go, sell what you own and give it to my cause." He told the rich young ruler, "give it to the poor." To me, this makes the true nature of the story much clearer: Jesus is trying to heal the rich young ruler of his false and empty dependence on his wealth. Unfortunately, that illness is one of the hardest to recognize. The man walks away upset, and unable to follow.
Scripture: from Mark 10
As [Jesus] went out into the street, a man came running up, greeted him with great reverence, and asked, “Good Teacher, what must I do to get eternal life?”
Jesus said, “Why are you calling me good? No one is good, only God. You know the commandments: Don’t murder, don’t commit adultery, don’t steal, don’t lie, don’t cheat, honor your father and mother.”
He said, “Teacher, I have—from my youth—kept them all!”
Jesus looked him hard in the eye—and loved him! He said, “There’s one thing left: Go sell whatever you own and give it to the poor. All your wealth will then be heavenly wealth. And come follow me.”
The man’s face clouded over. This was the last thing he expected to hear, and he walked off with a heavy heart. He was holding on tight to a lot of things, and not about to let go.
Looking at his disciples, Jesus said, “Do you have any idea how difficult it is for people who ‘have it all’ to enter God’s kingdom?” The disciples couldn’t believe what they were hearing, but Jesus kept on: “You can’t imagine how difficult. I’d say it’s easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye than for the rich to get into God’s kingdom.
That set the disciples back on their heels. “Then who has any chance at all?” they asked.
Jesus was blunt: “No chance at all if you think you can pull it off by yourself. Every chance in the world if you let God do it.”
This was the scripture for Sunday. I think that it's very tempting for preachers to avoid the talk about money in this scripture. After all, very few of us in the affluent West like hearing that "It's harder for a camel to go through a needle's eye..." Still, I think this is an important story, and we can't take the money part of it out. So, a few points:
First, "the kingdom of God" is not the same thing as "heaven," i.e. a place up past the stars somewhere with fluffy clouds, angels, and harps, etc. The kingdom of God, as Jesus taught it, is here among us now. Entering into it means being aware of something mysterious in this life.
So the next question is: can wealth stand in the way of entering into the kingdom of God? That's what Jesus argues, and I think it's true. All our stuff, and the time we spend tending to it, and thinking about it, and wishing for more money, and planning our careers around more money, and time spent shopping - all of that - keeps us distracted. And it promises us sense of security - falsely. The real source of power that matters is God, not things.
Finally, there are many people who think churches are obsessed with money. To me that's funny because the ones I've been to are usually obsessed with not talking about it, or else have a very matter-of-fact stewardship campaign that lasts for a few weeks out of the year. At any rate, no matter what I tell Heather, I'm actually not going to be rolling in dough now that I am ordained. Sorry honey.
My point, though, is that Jesus didn't say, "Go, sell what you own and give it to my cause." He told the rich young ruler, "give it to the poor." To me, this makes the true nature of the story much clearer: Jesus is trying to heal the rich young ruler of his false and empty dependence on his wealth. Unfortunately, that illness is one of the hardest to recognize. The man walks away upset, and unable to follow.
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Judgment
God is love, but that does not mean that God is never angry. In the Old and New Testaments, the things that anger God most are faithlessness and abuses of power—oppression of the widow and the orphaned, violence toward the traveler, stealing from the poor. In the gospels Jesus is often angry and in one famous confrontation he throws the moneychangers and merchants out of the Temple.
In spite of God’s righteous anger, however, injustice is alive and well. It often seems that there is no direct connection between sinful actions and punishment. As the psalmist complains, people who do evil thrive and flourish while the righteous suffer. Or as Jesus says, the rain falls on the just and the unjust.
I have some thoughts on this appearance of injustice. First, God is slow to anger. God gives us time to realize what we’ve done and repent. Second, God knows our shortcomings, our difficulties, our struggles, our doubts, our needs, and our desires. God knows all our mitigating circumstances and can judge us better than we humans can judge one another. What may seem unjust from my point of view might seem perfectly fair to someone else. In general, though, thinking that God will punish our sins in tangible, obvious ways is not very useful, perhaps because the power that God wields is very different from the power that humans wield. The resurrection did not include violent retribution meted out on those who conspired to kill Jesus. Rather, the transformation God brings through Jesus is one of conquering death, and the incarnation of Jesus was an act of reconciliation – that Jesus came to us even when we were behaving like God’s enemies. I don’t believe that God strikes people down with lightning, or causes spiritual wanderers to catch fire when they walk into a church. I trust that God’s plan will be worked out, and I accept that if I am going to be given God’s mercy, then I can only hope for that same mercy for everyone else.
God is love, but that does not mean that God is never angry. In the Old and New Testaments, the things that anger God most are faithlessness and abuses of power—oppression of the widow and the orphaned, violence toward the traveler, stealing from the poor. In the gospels Jesus is often angry and in one famous confrontation he throws the moneychangers and merchants out of the Temple.
In spite of God’s righteous anger, however, injustice is alive and well. It often seems that there is no direct connection between sinful actions and punishment. As the psalmist complains, people who do evil thrive and flourish while the righteous suffer. Or as Jesus says, the rain falls on the just and the unjust.
I have some thoughts on this appearance of injustice. First, God is slow to anger. God gives us time to realize what we’ve done and repent. Second, God knows our shortcomings, our difficulties, our struggles, our doubts, our needs, and our desires. God knows all our mitigating circumstances and can judge us better than we humans can judge one another. What may seem unjust from my point of view might seem perfectly fair to someone else. In general, though, thinking that God will punish our sins in tangible, obvious ways is not very useful, perhaps because the power that God wields is very different from the power that humans wield. The resurrection did not include violent retribution meted out on those who conspired to kill Jesus. Rather, the transformation God brings through Jesus is one of conquering death, and the incarnation of Jesus was an act of reconciliation – that Jesus came to us even when we were behaving like God’s enemies. I don’t believe that God strikes people down with lightning, or causes spiritual wanderers to catch fire when they walk into a church. I trust that God’s plan will be worked out, and I accept that if I am going to be given God’s mercy, then I can only hope for that same mercy for everyone else.
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Grace
Grace comes in many forms. God’s creation and providence are channels of God’s grace. God’s Holy Spirit reaches out to us in grace before we are even aware of what God might be or how we might relate to God. Grace is the generous love of God that makes up for our human shortcomings, and it is essential for true Christian ministry. As a Catholic sister reminded me once, “God doesn’t call the equipped, God equips the called."
I was getting ready to preach my second sermon of the year at my field education site, and I wasn’t feeling certain about the sermon at all. It was written out, ready to be preached, but I still didn’t feel right about it. There was no thesis. The topic was controversial. I had skimped on theology... My doubts went on and on. I prayed feverishly as the service began. Somehow, though, when the time came to stand up and speak, I was ready. Later, a congregant thanked me for what I’d said. She told me about a connection she made with my sermon that I could never have predicted. God’s grace was active in all this – in calming my fears, in preparing the congregation, and in making that spontaneous connection that allowed my parishioner to grow in her own faith and understanding. To borrow from the apostle Paul, God’s strength was made manifest in my weakness.
God’s grace is also God’s willingness to make up for our sins and shortcomings. Dietrich Bonhoeffer warns against what he calls “cheap grace,” in which we take God’s grace for granted. As Bonhoeffer suggests, the purpose of God’s grace is not to remove from us any responsibility for our actions. Rather, God seeks, through grace, to love us into becoming who we are created to be. Through grace, God invites, empowers and transforms.
Grace comes in many forms. God’s creation and providence are channels of God’s grace. God’s Holy Spirit reaches out to us in grace before we are even aware of what God might be or how we might relate to God. Grace is the generous love of God that makes up for our human shortcomings, and it is essential for true Christian ministry. As a Catholic sister reminded me once, “God doesn’t call the equipped, God equips the called."
I was getting ready to preach my second sermon of the year at my field education site, and I wasn’t feeling certain about the sermon at all. It was written out, ready to be preached, but I still didn’t feel right about it. There was no thesis. The topic was controversial. I had skimped on theology... My doubts went on and on. I prayed feverishly as the service began. Somehow, though, when the time came to stand up and speak, I was ready. Later, a congregant thanked me for what I’d said. She told me about a connection she made with my sermon that I could never have predicted. God’s grace was active in all this – in calming my fears, in preparing the congregation, and in making that spontaneous connection that allowed my parishioner to grow in her own faith and understanding. To borrow from the apostle Paul, God’s strength was made manifest in my weakness.
God’s grace is also God’s willingness to make up for our sins and shortcomings. Dietrich Bonhoeffer warns against what he calls “cheap grace,” in which we take God’s grace for granted. As Bonhoeffer suggests, the purpose of God’s grace is not to remove from us any responsibility for our actions. Rather, God seeks, through grace, to love us into becoming who we are created to be. Through grace, God invites, empowers and transforms.
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
My Ordination Paper
As part of preparing for my ordination, I wrote a long paper about a whole bunch of my beliefs on a variety of topics. Since I've got this thing written, and I at least think it's fairly interesting on a theoretical level, I'm going to post it, section by section to my blog. So, here's the first installment:
Creation and Providence
God created the world out of love for us. Everything we have is from God: the earth, living beings, our own selves. God hasn’t stopped creating, either—God continues to shape and guide the world even today. Evolution, for example, which has taken place over the course of hundreds of millions of years, is the result of God’s constant creative activity.1 Old species die and leave room for new; parents pass on advantageous traits to children. Opposing this process is the simple physical principle of entropy: the universe has a tendency to disorganization. Drop a bottle of ink into a tank of water, and the ink spreads out and scatters. A similar process is happening as we speak, in the constant expansion of the universe. Evolution is a miracle because it counteracts this tendency toward disorganization and uniformity. Instead of producing progressively simpler and more homogenized animals, evolution develops more and more complex creatures. God’s creative activity is at the heart of this trend.
As partners in God’s creative activity, we can affect our environment. However, we do not have God’s permission to abuse the creation. While the creation supports human life, it has beauty, purpose and value beyond this. One way that I live out my respect for the creation is through a simplified lifestyle. Each decision I make about what I will buy or what I will throw away has consequences for our environment, and I try to make decisions that protect and preserve natural resources. So for example, I make my household cleaners at home using natural ingredients. Similarly, in the wake of the coal mine accident in West Virginia last year, I’ve been wondering how we can move to sources of energy that do not destroy our mountains and put people in harm’s way.
God provides for us in many ways: in the creation itself, in the gifts of family and friends, in our capacity to have a relationship with God, even in the gift of our very selves. In terms of our bodies, I think there is often a temptation to regard only the mind as concerned with spiritual matters – for example, in the assertion that children should not take communion because they don’t understand what it means. However, when God saves us, God saves our whole selves, body included. Living the life of the spirit means living a life of care for the body as well as the mind.
Giving our wealth and our labor to others are important ways to express our gratitude for God’s generosity, and they are vital to a living faith. The point of giving back is not that we are repaying God what we owe; we will always be indebted to God. Rather, the spiritual practice of gratitude helps us recognize how much God really does to us.
This is particularly important in our society. Every day I see hundreds of advertisements. Each one of them is aimed at making me think about something I don’t have, but presumably need. Very few tell me to be happy with what I already have. Practicing gratitude is countercultural, but it is important to Christian life as a way of staying focused on what truly matters—God, family, friends—rather than on the things that moth and rust destroy, the things that thieves break in and steal. Believing the advertisements can only lead to dissatisfaction (and credit card debt).
As part of preparing for my ordination, I wrote a long paper about a whole bunch of my beliefs on a variety of topics. Since I've got this thing written, and I at least think it's fairly interesting on a theoretical level, I'm going to post it, section by section to my blog. So, here's the first installment:
Creation and Providence
God created the world out of love for us. Everything we have is from God: the earth, living beings, our own selves. God hasn’t stopped creating, either—God continues to shape and guide the world even today. Evolution, for example, which has taken place over the course of hundreds of millions of years, is the result of God’s constant creative activity.1 Old species die and leave room for new; parents pass on advantageous traits to children. Opposing this process is the simple physical principle of entropy: the universe has a tendency to disorganization. Drop a bottle of ink into a tank of water, and the ink spreads out and scatters. A similar process is happening as we speak, in the constant expansion of the universe. Evolution is a miracle because it counteracts this tendency toward disorganization and uniformity. Instead of producing progressively simpler and more homogenized animals, evolution develops more and more complex creatures. God’s creative activity is at the heart of this trend.
As partners in God’s creative activity, we can affect our environment. However, we do not have God’s permission to abuse the creation. While the creation supports human life, it has beauty, purpose and value beyond this. One way that I live out my respect for the creation is through a simplified lifestyle. Each decision I make about what I will buy or what I will throw away has consequences for our environment, and I try to make decisions that protect and preserve natural resources. So for example, I make my household cleaners at home using natural ingredients. Similarly, in the wake of the coal mine accident in West Virginia last year, I’ve been wondering how we can move to sources of energy that do not destroy our mountains and put people in harm’s way.
God provides for us in many ways: in the creation itself, in the gifts of family and friends, in our capacity to have a relationship with God, even in the gift of our very selves. In terms of our bodies, I think there is often a temptation to regard only the mind as concerned with spiritual matters – for example, in the assertion that children should not take communion because they don’t understand what it means. However, when God saves us, God saves our whole selves, body included. Living the life of the spirit means living a life of care for the body as well as the mind.
Giving our wealth and our labor to others are important ways to express our gratitude for God’s generosity, and they are vital to a living faith. The point of giving back is not that we are repaying God what we owe; we will always be indebted to God. Rather, the spiritual practice of gratitude helps us recognize how much God really does to us.
This is particularly important in our society. Every day I see hundreds of advertisements. Each one of them is aimed at making me think about something I don’t have, but presumably need. Very few tell me to be happy with what I already have. Practicing gratitude is countercultural, but it is important to Christian life as a way of staying focused on what truly matters—God, family, friends—rather than on the things that moth and rust destroy, the things that thieves break in and steal. Believing the advertisements can only lead to dissatisfaction (and credit card debt).
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
I'm ordained!
Hi folks,
I was ordained on Sunday, and it was just wonderful. I think I cried through almost the entire service. First, I was fine with singing, until I walked into the sanctuary behind everybody else. Then I started choking up. Then Heather got up and gave this talk that was so moving. I guess everybody got teary then. And it was so tremendous to have my dad read a passage from Isaiah that's about God's bounty and love. (Isaiah 55) My father-in-law read, too, and so did my campus pastor. Pastors from my church here in Maryland, and one of my former co-workers from the Lutheran Volunteer Corps. My seminary professors spoke kindly and encouragingly. I'm getting teary thinking about it now.
I guess the word I feel like speaks to the ordination most directly for me is: overwhelming joy. It was overwhelming to see, right in front of me, the many, many people who have guided me along my path, and who have encouraged and supported me in my sense of call. And the people who were there weren't even the sum total of everybody who has contributed to this honor and affirmation and responsibility. But just seeing all these people from so many parts of my life made me realize how long I've been on this path, how much I've wanted it, and how amazing it is to see how much other people have wanted it for me, too.
The sermon was great. I'm going to ask Mary if I can post it here. She talked about what it's like to be a pastor - how the gift of it is something that feels (and is) totally undeserved. And that's the grace in it. The final prayer at the end was from Ignatius of Loyola, and was so beautiful in its sense of surrender to and trust in God.
If you've never been to an ordination, it's similar to a wedding in the sense that there are vows made and that there are rituals followed for the thing to be done. I was making vows to the church and to God, and establishing a covenant in that way. The ritual that goes with an ordination, though, is not a wedding ring, but is a prayer of ordination and the laying on of hands. Everyone in the sanctuary gathered around me, and I kneeled down. Then, each person either put a hand on my head or shoulders, or put a hand on someone whose hand was on me - "the spoke method," as Elizabeth called it.
I really can't describe the feeling of having so many people around, each blessing me, while Elizabeth prayed the prayer. It's too much for words. But when I stood up again, and looking into peoples' happy faces, I felt like a new baby. It was incredible.
Hi folks,
I was ordained on Sunday, and it was just wonderful. I think I cried through almost the entire service. First, I was fine with singing, until I walked into the sanctuary behind everybody else. Then I started choking up. Then Heather got up and gave this talk that was so moving. I guess everybody got teary then. And it was so tremendous to have my dad read a passage from Isaiah that's about God's bounty and love. (Isaiah 55) My father-in-law read, too, and so did my campus pastor. Pastors from my church here in Maryland, and one of my former co-workers from the Lutheran Volunteer Corps. My seminary professors spoke kindly and encouragingly. I'm getting teary thinking about it now.
I guess the word I feel like speaks to the ordination most directly for me is: overwhelming joy. It was overwhelming to see, right in front of me, the many, many people who have guided me along my path, and who have encouraged and supported me in my sense of call. And the people who were there weren't even the sum total of everybody who has contributed to this honor and affirmation and responsibility. But just seeing all these people from so many parts of my life made me realize how long I've been on this path, how much I've wanted it, and how amazing it is to see how much other people have wanted it for me, too.
The sermon was great. I'm going to ask Mary if I can post it here. She talked about what it's like to be a pastor - how the gift of it is something that feels (and is) totally undeserved. And that's the grace in it. The final prayer at the end was from Ignatius of Loyola, and was so beautiful in its sense of surrender to and trust in God.
If you've never been to an ordination, it's similar to a wedding in the sense that there are vows made and that there are rituals followed for the thing to be done. I was making vows to the church and to God, and establishing a covenant in that way. The ritual that goes with an ordination, though, is not a wedding ring, but is a prayer of ordination and the laying on of hands. Everyone in the sanctuary gathered around me, and I kneeled down. Then, each person either put a hand on my head or shoulders, or put a hand on someone whose hand was on me - "the spoke method," as Elizabeth called it.
I really can't describe the feeling of having so many people around, each blessing me, while Elizabeth prayed the prayer. It's too much for words. But when I stood up again, and looking into peoples' happy faces, I felt like a new baby. It was incredible.
Monday, October 02, 2006
Generation X and the Church
Hi folks--
This is an excellent article on how Generation X is different from the generations that came before, in terms of how we approach faith and spirituality. It's written from a Catholic perspective.
Here's an interesting quote:
Blessings,
Amy
Hi folks--
This is an excellent article on how Generation X is different from the generations that came before, in terms of how we approach faith and spirituality. It's written from a Catholic perspective.
Here's an interesting quote:
I think that any encounter with my generation, a generation so skeptical of or downright indifferent to religious institutions, should take the church back to a foundation point of its own self-understanding: The church exists not for its own sake but as a sign of God's reign through love in this world toward the next, preached and lived by the church in humility and service...
Blessings,
Amy
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