United Methodist Reporter Blog

Anne Lamott on faith, writing, tennis ...

 

Anne Lamott has a considerable following, owing to such books as "Bird by Bird" (about writing) and "Traveling Mercies" (about Christian faith.)

Click here for an interview she did with Faith & Leadership.

 

 

Living out of faith and falling into fame

Ted Williams, homeless just a few short weeks ago is now a YouTube and media sensation. And yes, his story and voice are incredible. But what of the man who stopped to talk to him? To speak to, to film a homeless, dirty, kind of scary-looking fellow?

Would any of us do the same?

Doral Chenoweth III stopped not only becasue he is a videographer or a United Methodist but also becasue he is a man of faith. And as quoted in an article at CNN:

But the reason Chenoweth stopped goes deeper than his job.

It's "standard operating procedure" for him, he said, to stop and talk to people who are homeless, whether he's carrying a camera or not.

"It's part of my faith," he said after some prodding about his motivations. "You may not be able to help someone with money, but you can at least say hello, how you doing, and look at them."

What started as a simple gesture - a hello, a kind word and treating another as a child of God - has changed the lives of two men.

May it also be an opportunity to change ours as well.

You can read the full story on CNN here.

Techy ways to teach your kids Bible stories

Let’s face it. There’s a point in every child’s life when Bible-based coloring books and felt-board stories lose their awe, and today kids want the computer-generated imagery seen in their older sibling's video and computer games.

Well, Creation By Design isn’t going to let Christianity lose its relevance in this age of technology. In 2008, the company introduced their first product, “My Bible Cards”—a set of trading cards that recount the “greatest story ever told” with 200 computer-generated images of Biblical characters—to Christian bookstores and comic stores across the nation.

And now, a second series of 818 Old Testament cards, featuring events and people in historical order, will be released just in time for Christmas. 

Creation by Design has also published two book series utilizing the new images. The first is a chapter book designed for ages 6-8 that features nine-year-old explorer, Xander Nash, who travels back in time to meet Bible heroes. The second book product is a line of activity books for kids that use puzzles and games to teach kids their Bible stories.

Think your Bagukan-Yu-Gi-Oh- Pokemon-loving kids could benefit from My Bible Cards?

 How do you help bring the Bible to life for your kids?

 

Talking with God in Old Age

Since 2007 Missy Buchanan, a member of First UMC in Rockwall, Texas, has written a monthly column for the Reporter on the spirituality of aging. Bonds within families, intergenerational ministries, life with aging parents—all topics are handled with compassion and an awareness of God's presence in even the most difficult times.

In February Upper Room released her latest book, Talking with God in Old Age: Meditations and Psalms. "Many times people want to know how a Boomer like me got involved in writing for seniors," Ms. Buchanan has said. "In a nutshell, my books and columns were born out of real life experiences with my own elderly parents. Though my folks are no longer living, I still visit a number of older adult friends each week at several different senior residence centers in the Dallas area. They are my inspiration. In a culture that values youth, it is important that the spiritual needs of our older adults be addressed."

We'll post our thoughts on the book in a few days. Last week, it received a favorable review from Publishers Weekly. Congratulations, Missy!

Church of Facebook

I had a phone conversation yesterday with Jesse Rice, author of The Church of Facebook: How the Hyperconnected Are Redefining Community.

We talked about several aspects of the rise of social media, and he shared that part of the inspiration behind his title is that Facebook behavior can follow a pattern similar to church life: "It’s a gathering of people from all kinds of backgrounds and experiences, their own ideas of faith and spirituality, and they’re all coming together in this one environment to sort of figure themselves out, to figure out what is meaningful and what is true, and to be entertained and all these things."

Having thumbed through the review copy of the book before I talked with Jesse, I've now taken it home for a closer read. He's a worship leader with a degree in counseling psychology, so he's attentive to both the psychological and spiritual needs that people may be seeking to have met through social media.

We touched on that a bit in the phone chat, including the thought that in our desire to stay connected online, we might be losing other opportunities for connection right in front of us. I'm one of those people who has looked up and realized that I've been guilty of ignoring an entire room of in-person humanity because of the little communication gadget in my hand. I've also noticed how that mode is now standard operating procedure for many of us, and soon we'll have a big chunk of the adult population who grew up with it that way by default. I wonder what ramifications that will have in a few years.

Check out Jesse's blog if you're interested in more of his thoughts right now, and look for my Q&A with him in an upcoming issue of the Reporter.

Thoughts on nuChristian

We receive lots of review copies of books around here, and they’re often distributed according to personal interest or what news staffers have previously covered (or both).

One that Robin handed me recently is nuChristian: Finding Faith in a New Generation by Russell Rathbun. Why me? The words “Foreword by Shane Claiborne” appear on the cover. I covered a talk Shane gave on one of his visits to Dallas. (And yes, I confess I had him autograph my copy of The Irresistible Revolution afterward.)

I spent time on the phone with Russell Rathbun earlier this week, and got about double the material I needed for the Q&A that will run in our Nov. 6 issue.

My copy of nuChristian now has little red tabs sticking out all over the place where I’ve flagged things to revisit. It’s a thin book (88 pages), written in a conversational style. Some ideas in there might freak out your typical churchgoer, and maybe even depart a little from our Wesleyan theology so clearly outlined by Donald Haynes in his recent series of columns.

But there’s some good stuff in there (hence the dozen tabs I stuck on the pages). The author ends each chapter with a list of the characteristics of nuChristians. And there are little callout boxes with questions for pondering or discussing. Mr. Rathbun’s whole idea in writing this book is to respond to the invitation to continue conversation begun with the popular (popular in church-nerd circles, anyway) book unChristian by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons. I think he succeeds. He even includes a conversation with his father, also a pastor, that lays bare some of the generational and theological differences the church is facing right now.

Look for the Q&A to appear online later this month if you’re interested in the kinds of shifts happening in church and culture.

Comic books as theological texts?

This morning when I arrived at the office, I took note of six issues of Green Lantern: Rebirth sitting on my desk, and tucked them away with my purse so I won't forget to take them home later. It's not unusual for me to serve as courier between two of my favorite nerds -- my husband, John, and the Reporter's copy editor, Ken -- as they share their mutual affection for comic books by trading various items back and forth. (And just to assert my own nerd cred, I'll point out that John and Ken, like Superman, are both United Methodists.)

Then, making the rounds of United Methodist blogs, I find that Dan Dick is among the comic-book-nerd ranks, too. And he shares that a surprising number of clergy he knows share the fascination. Dan even gives us his Top 10 Reasons Pastors Like Comic Books. Here are some teasers:

5.  Secret identities — many pastors feel like they are two people; at home — normal guy, but at church?  Super-Pastor!  Robes are like costumes, stoles like capes, the Book of Discipline our equivalent of Captain America’s shield.  Many of us often think, “If people really knew who I REALLY am…”

3.  There is always hope — it does not matter how bad things look, there is always a way out.  Perseverance, patience, self-control, faith, and trust lay a foundation upon which every solution might be built.  Heroes never give up.

I'm making you click for the top two, though. Enjoy!

"A Jew Among Gentiles"

One of my favorite questions to ask interviewees is, “Why do you have a heart for this?”

"This" being whatever project, or good cause, or book topic in which the interviewee is involved.

The question usually gets past the general, rational answer to the specific, personal answer. Whatever the topic, there are always perfectly logical, ethical reasons to care, but the “heart question” gets at the emotional energy that is almost always driving the person to dedicate him or herself with passion.

I knew there would be an interesting answer to that question today when I interviewed Pamela Eisenbaum, a practicing Jew teaching in a Christian seminary.  Dr. Eisenbaum is the author of the upcoming book, Paul Was Not a Christian (HarperOne, September 2009.)  The book is the culmination of her fascination, and resulting scholarly work, about the apostle Paul.

 

Why Paul? Among other reasons, Dr. Eisenbaum says she relates to Paul. 

 

Growing up, her father was a doctor in the military. "Military bases are not exactly Jewish neighborhoods,” she told me. “I was a Jew among Gentiles, a lot like Paul.” 

 

Look for the Q&A later this fall. 

 

Giving Charles Wesley his due

There's a nice overview on Chritsianity Today's Books & Culture site about scholarly works published during this tercentenary of the birth of Charles Wesley (1707-88).

These new books really help John's hymn writing brother stand out on his own, says Bruce Hindmarsh. That's particularly helpful, he writes, because to modern-day Methodists, the Wesley brothers often appear indistinguishable:

    "Founders of Methodism, and key figures in the 18th-century evangelical revival in Britain, they appear from a distance as a kind of hyphenated compound: John-and-Charles-Wesley. One mountain. If we distinguish the two at all, it is John Wesley plus a hymn-writing sidekick. Charles Wesley is just John Wesley in rhyme. Maybe we even unconsciously see the Wesleys as an 18th-century version of the later evangelistic teams in American revivalism: preacher plus songleader, sort of like Moody and Sankey, or Billy Graham and Cliff Barrows. But does it really matter where you put that tiny little apostrophe, anyhow? Wesley's theology, or the Wesleys' theology?"

Read the entire article.

'New UM Hymnal' group on Facebook

I'd heard about it a while back, but today marked the first time I've visited the "New United Methodist Hymnal" group on Facebook (just search that phrase and it'll pop up).

A sampling of the discussion topics: Hymnal - Good; Hymnal - Not-So-Good; Tempo; Projection Version; New Hymnal and the Economy; Amens at the End of Hymns; Inclusive Language About God. 

I'm pretty sure that where two or three United Methodists are gathered, there will be at least four opinions.  But the cool thing about Facebook in this situation is that it levels the playing field a great deal more than was possible 20 years ago. Diverse opinions can be heard more easily. People who think a new hymnal is a waste of money have the power to say so, and to have upwards of 900 other people see their words. And those who can explain some of the rationale behind the decisions made for hymnals current and future can do that, too.

That said, I'm pretty sure I saw a comment on there from someone who got on Facebook just to ask if there was a way to participate in the discussion without being on Facebook. The short answer: no. True, we can't hear absolutely every voice through one medium. But I'm impressed to see the level of interaction that's taking place.

Red-letter Christians move over

Being green and being a Christian is about to get a little easier.

In October, HarperOne will publish The Green Bible, a nifty version for the environmentally minded that highlights in green ink every verse having to do with God's love for creation.

Whole chapters in Genesis, and most of Psalm 24 ("The earth is the Lord's and all that is in it") are highlighted. So are New Testament passages such as Jesus walking on the water, feeding the multitude on the mountain and telling the parable of the good seed.

It has an overview of Christian teachings on creation -- from Augustine to C.S. Lewis -- suggested ways to get involved in the green movement, and reflections by folks like Brian McLaren, Barbara Brown Taylor, N.T. Wright and Wendell Berry.

The publicity packet includes suggested interview questions, but I wonder who the publicists have lined up as the author? Hmmmmm.

J.K. Rowling talks religion -- at last

Suddenly it's Harry Potter all over the place.

Just as we are posting stories from our 10-26 focus on pop culture and the church, author J.K. Rowling has begun revealing her thoughts on religion, saying the parallels to Christianity in her Harry Potter books always seemed obvious to her.

MTV's Shawn Adler has one version.

Going Agrarian in Suburbia

Though he never was a Boy Scout, my husband has always liked their motto, Be prepared. He over-packs for hiking trips. He keeps extra tools and a windbreaker neatly tucked around his spare tire. On a bike ride this spring, he sent supplies home with me when I met him at the overnight stop -- turns out the ride organizers were well-prepared themselves, so he didn't need all he'd brought. And, in the less-practical-but-still-prepared department, one of his favorite books is The Zombie Survival Guide, something our friend John the Methodist is sure to appreciate.

Recently he bought a book in a new category for him: Mini Farming for Self Sufficiency.

Why? Among other reasons, he wants to know he can walk outside and get something to eat. He thinks we're missing out by not growing any of our own food, and I think he has a point. So, on our one-fifth of an acre on a pleasant suburban side street, we're preparing to dedicate a small area to growing produce. Learning new things -- or, in this case, old things -- keeps us prepared. And it's part of caring for God's creation in a way our parents have done, but we've never tried. We don't want that element of life to be lost to us.

God said, “See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food." (Genesis 1:29)

Required Reading

Relax... it's only 32 pages long, and there are lots of pictures.

Yesterday a friend and colleague showed me a copy of One Smile, written by Cindy McKinley and illustrated by Mary Gregg Byrne. It's supposedly a children's book, but that doesn't mean we adults shouldn't read it, even if we don't have kids ourselves.

It's a story we all know, yet must be reminded of repeatedly: one smile really can make the world better.

I'm something of a disoriented grump in the mornings... an average "hello" or "good morning" is usually tolerable, and I will smile, but greet me too enthusiastically and you're likely to get a suspicious look that roughly translates into Why are you so dang cheerful this early?  I remind myself of A.A. Milne's little gray donkey Eeyore, who once responded to the greeting "Good morning" with, "If it is a good morning... which I doubt." Consider me admonished for my behavior.

But back to this book: to me, one of the coolest things about it happens after the end of the story. The last page includes "Thoughtful Questions to Ponder With Your Family," followed by a challenge to think of and carry out 20 simple acts of kindness.  And then, there's information about the Pay It Forward Foundation and its corresponding Movement. (I first knew Pay It Forward through the movie starring Haley Joel Osment, Helen Hunt and Kevin Spacey, but it was a book first.)

There's so much more in One Smile than just 32 pages can hold. I think it's going on my Christmas gift list for more than one nephew, niece... and grown-up.

Heroin Jesus

Most of us remember our baptisms as holy but quiet occasions that attracted little fanfare outside of friends and family. But if you're a rock star, converting to Christianity sparks a lot of speculation, much of it cynical.

People have made web careers by obsessing over Bob Dylan's spiritual journey, including the two years in the early 1980s when he recorded a couple of gospel albums.  John Lennon flirted with Christianity by way of his correspondence with televangelist Oral Roberts, but, according to this account, Yoko would have none of it.  Alice Cooper claims he's been Christian for many years. I believe he's sincere, because he makes some pretty astute comments, like this one:   "Drinking beer is easy. Trashing your hotel room is easy. But being a Christian, that’s a tough call. That’s real rebellion," he told the London Sunday Times Magazine.