STUFF FROM THE INTERNET THIS WEEK

1. Neels Jackson is the church news journalist at the Afrikaans newspaper, Beeld. He wrote a good and very insightful article (in Afrikaans) on how Christians should make room for each other's viewpoints.
2. Michael Hyatt asks the question on how leaders create alignment within their organizations.
3. Meanwhile, the official Google Blog tells us how to refine our google searches to our nearest location. Why this is helpful, I'll probably never intentionally discover.
4. Ben Witherington posted an extremely insightful blogpost on the earliest temple in the world, dating back 11,500 years.
5. Julian Smith, an aspiring and innovative writer-director, made this hilarious video clip about a weird entrepreneurial idea, while actually showing the dynamics of a almost-loving family relationship.
6. Scot McKnight added his voice in reviewing Brian McLaren's latest book, A New Kind of Christianity for the magazine, Christianity Today. His review is so good I'll probably repost it in totality sometime next week here on this blog. In the meantime you'd do well to follow the conversation going on on his blog about the review - read all the comments here.
   
7. Finally, Alan Hirsch (@alanhirsch) tweeted the following remark: "The loss of genuinely creative people from any group means that the remaining members will opt for harmony above all else."
   

HUMOUR ME: "WALKING THE DOG"

Apparently this is a true story (but I'd never know for sure!)
.

A WOMAN was flying from Seattle to San Francisco. Unexpectedly, the plane was diverted to Sacramento along the way. The flight attendant explained that there would be a delay, and if the passengers wanted to get off the aircraft the plane would re-board in 50 minutes.

Everybody got off the plane except one lady who was blind. The man had noticed her as he walked by and could tell the lady was blind because her Seeing Eye dog lay quietly underneath the seats in front of her throughout the entire flight.

He could also tell she had flown this very flight before because the pilot approached her, and calling her by name, said, 'Kathy, we are in Sacramento for almost an hour. Would you like to get off and stretch your legs?'

The blind lady replied, 'No thanks, but maybe Buddy would like to stretch his legs.'

All the people in the gate area came to a complete stand still when they looked up and saw the pilot walk off the plane with a Seeing Eye dog! The pilot was even wearing sunglasses.

People scattered. They not only tried to change planes, but they were trying to change airlines!

Eight Trends That Will Shape the Future of Global Missions

Find the original posting HERE

"The future is already here--it's just not evenly distributed."

-Author William Gibsonⁱ

During 2009, I personally interviewed fifty leaders of large churches that were effectively engaged in global missions. All around us are examples of innovators and early adopters who have discovered new principles for doing mission--fresh, more effective ways of thinking, being and doing that are not yet dominant…but will be in only a matter of time. I'd like to introduce you to eight trends that I believe will shape the future of missions.

1) Mutuality
The future of missions will be shaped by mutuality between East and West, North and
South, sending and receiving nations. Because there are now vibrant believers and thriving churches in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Eurasia, and even the Middle East, we in the West shouldn't think of ourselves as the saving force in world missions. Churches worldwide are learning to come together.

2) Partnering
Partnering is different than mutuality. While mutuality describes the equality of those who come to the table, partnering pertains to projects that require the assistance of skilled co-laborers. Partnering is not about outside missionaries bringing prescribed programs into a country but rather it begins with what indigenous leaders in the country are trying to accomplish.

3) Investing in leaders
Leadership is everything. Wherever good things are happening, a capable and passionate man or woman will be leading the way. Churches that are effective overseas have learned to leverage the passion of local leaders. How do you recognize good leaders who will make great partners? The most obvious sign is they are already engaged in effective ministry without any outside help.

4) Combining good deeds and good news
Combining good deeds and good news is not novel in foreign missions. What is new is the level of problem solving in which externally focused, missional churches are engaged. Today, influential people are speaking out for global, holistic solutions. Jonathan Martin of Good Shepherd Church in Boring, OR (www.goodshepherdcc.org) says that even in the toughest of countries they don't leave Jesus at the immigration booth. Jonathan told me, "When we are asked if we intend to proselytize people through our service we tell them, 'We're here to make Jesus known and Jesus gets known through his followers doing good'--as opposed to, 'We are not here to get followers of Jesus.' So far, that has worked for us."

5) Greater financial accountability
Churches that effectively engage in global ministry are thinking differently about who, what and how they support missional engagement. The days of cutting a check and hoping for the best are rapidly disappearing. With all the needs and opportunities in the world, global missions leaders of the future are working to maximize every dollar expended on global outreach. Effective missional churches of the future support mission-critical projects that their global partners deem important. This type of giving can only come from a trusted relationship. Churches are learning never to start initiatives that will require western dollars to continue.

6) Business as mission
An emerging funding model ties business and mission together. This is more than missionaries posing as businesspeople but rather missional entrepreneurs who are starting businesses and creating jobs in the countries in which they serve.

7) Focus
There is a power in focus. On the flipside, the most frustrated pastors I interviewed were those whose churches supported scores of scattered legacy missionaries who were serving all over the map. Much of the time, these missionaries were not home-grown but rather nephews of former staff, or friends of friends, or a missionary tied to a designated gift. The often unstated missions goal was to place representatives from the church on every continent of the globe. Churches today are learning to do better by focusing on fewer places of engagement.

8) Technology
With every breakthrough in communication technology, there have been innovators who have exploited that technology to advance the gospel. The printing press, radio, TV, and the Internet have allowed the church to increasingly enter a world without boundaries. All around us are glimpses of churches that are discovering the power of today's newest technology--to impact a country without ever physically visiting that country. Tech-savvy mission leaders are shrinking the world with technology.

i. William Gibson, quoted in The Economist, December 4, 2003 Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Gibson. Accessed June 20, 2009

Found on the Internet: Google is the new Pre-interview

You can read the original posting and watch the video clip HERE.

Work Smart: Claiming Your Name on the Web

By: Gina Trapani

A startup founder I know was hiring recently, and she told me, "I search for applicants on the Web before I call them in for an interview. What people do online tells you more than a resume can."

When someone Googles your name, what do they find? Is it a outdated quote from an ancient article in your college newspaper? Is it your blog dedicated to cute photos of ferrets? Or is it a bunch of pages about someone else who happens to share your name?

Google is the new pre-interview. It's the universal way people try to find you. Potential clients, bosses, dates, and old high school friends are searching for your name on the Web, and you should have a say in what they get back. To make yourself findable, claim your name in Web search results by setting up pages with information you're comfortable sharing.

The best way to make yourself findable online is to set up a blog and update it regularly. Google loves pages that have fresh information on them, so a Web site that changes often and has your name on it will appear higher in search results. Remember that your blog will likely be the first thing people see when they search for you, so make sure it covers topics you're comfortable having out there in public. If your Web presence is for business purposes, keep your blog professional.

If you don't have time to blog, there are other options. My sister is an executive at a large organization, and she doesn't spend a lot of time on the Web. She doesn't want to tweet or blog or update Facebook, but she does want to be findable with minimal effort. A social network like LinkedIn offers a place for professionals to make their CV available, and doesn't require frequent updates. Google Profiles is another option: if you go to google.com/profiles and enter your name, profession, and the places you've lived, Google will include a link to your profile at the bottom of search results for your name.

What information you choose to share is up to you--but a good rule of thumb is to include enough details to identify you to people who are looking, but not enough to help out a stalker. Don't publish your address or phone number, but maybe do add the city you live in and your profession to your profile.

Don't forget that what you do online--especially on sites you don't control--can follow you till the end of time. If you spend time in forums or on blogs, consider setting up an alias that's not linked to your real name. That way, the snarky comment you left on some blog two years ago won't haunt you till the end of time.

Gina Trapani is the author of Upgrade Your Life and founding editor of Lifehacker.com. Work Smart appears every week on FastCompany.com. Last week: Stop Multitasking and Start Doing One Thing Really Well.

WHAT WOULD YOU GIVE UP FOR LENT?

This guy dumped his girl friend and then blamed Lent for it. What a lame excuse! (This was found on Postsecret).

FOUND ON THE INTERNET: EMAIL ETIQUETTE 101

Michael Hyatt wrote this insightful post on using your email account considerately. It can be read in its original position here.

The use of e-mail in corporate culture is pervasive. I rarely get letters any more. Even phone calls are uncommon. But I get scores of e-mail messages every day. Yet, I am continually surprised at how people often misuse this medium.

Photo courtesy of ©iStockphoto.com/DNY59

Therefore, I would like to humbly offer up 18 suggestions for better e-mail communication and etiquette:

1. Understand the difference between “To” and “CC.” As a rule of thumb, the more people you send an email to, the less likely any single person will respond to it, much less perform any action that you requested. The people you include in the “To” field should be the people you expect to read and respond to the message. The “CC” field should be used sparingly. You should only CC people who have a need to stay in the know. The “BCC” field should be used even more sparingly. People you include in the “BCC” field will not visible to others.
2. Keep messages brief and to the point. Make your most important point first, then provide detail if necessary. Make it clear at the beginning of the message why you are writing. There is nothing worse for the recipient than having to wade through a long message to get to the point. Worse, if you send long messages, it is much less likely that the person will act on what you have sent or respond to it. It’s just too much work. It often gets set aside and, unfortunately, forgotten.
Don’t discuss multiple subjects in a single message. Instead, send multiple e-mails.
3. Don’t discuss multiple subjects in a single message. If you need to discuss more than one subject, send multiple e-mails. This makes it easy to scan subject lines later to find the message you need. It also contributes to briefer e-mail messages and a greater likelihood of a response. Also, the more specific you can be about your subject heading, the better.
4. Reply in a timely manner. I don’t think e-mail demands an instantaneous response. I have written about this elsewhere. Responding once or twice a day is sufficient, unless you are in sales, customer service, tech support, or some other field where a faster response is expected. Regardless, you must reply in a timely manner, otherwise you will incrementally damage your reputation and decrease your effectiveness.
5. Be mindful of your tone. Unlike face-to-face meetings or even phone calls, those who read your e-mail messages don’t have the benefit of your pitch, tone, inflection, or other non-verbal cues. As a result, you need to be careful about your tone. Sarcasm is especially dangerous. If something gets “lost in translation,” you risk offending the other party. The more matter-of-fact you can be, the better.
6. Don’t use e-mail to criticize others. E-mail is a terrific way to commend someone or praise them. It is not an appropriate medium for criticism. Chances are, you will simply offend the other person, and they will miss your point. These kinds of conversations are usually better handled face-to-face or, if necessary, over the phone. Especially, don’t use e-mail to criticize a third party. E-mail messages live forever. They are easily forwarded. You can create a firestorm of conflict if you are not careful. Trust me, I’ve done it myself more than once.
Don’t reply in anger. It almost never serves your purpose or long-term interests.
7. Don’t reply in anger. In the heat of the moment, I have written some brilliant replies. I have said things in writing that I would never have the guts to say face-to-face. This is precisely why you should never ever fire off an e-mail in anger. They almost never serve their purpose or your long-term interests. They burn up relationships faster than just about anything you can do. If it makes you feel better, go ahead and write the message, then delete it. Usually a day or two after you didn’t send an angry e-mail, you’ll understand the wisdom of restraint.
8. Don’t overuse “reply to all.” Last week I received an e-mail from someone who needed to know my shirt-size for a golf tournament. He sent the e-mail to about ten or twelve people. No problem with that. However, some of the recipients, hit the “reply all” key (out of habit, I am sure) and sent their shirt size to everyone on the list. This, of course, just adds more clutter to everyone’s already unwieldily inbox. Your default response should be to reply only to the sender. Before you reply to everyone, make sure that everyone needs to know.
9. Don’t forward chain letters. These can be forgiven when they are from your mother, but they only add clutter in the workplace. Nine times out of ten, the information is bogus. It is often urban legend. If you feel you absolutely must pass it on, please make sure that it is valid information. If in doubt, check it out at Snopes.com, a Web site devoted to tracking urban legends and rumors.
10. Don’t “copy up” as a means of coercion. It’s one thing to copy someone’s boss as a courtesy. I do this whenever I am making an assignment to someone who is not a direct report. (I don’t want their boss to think I am going around them, but I also don’t want to bog my communication down in bureaucratic red tape.) But it is not a good idea to do this as a subtle—or not-so subtle—form of coercion. You may be tempted to do this when you don’t get a response to an earlier request. But I would suggest that you will be better served to pick up the phone and call the person. If they are not responding to your e-mails, try a different communications strategy.
11. Don’t overuse the “high priority” flag. Most e-mail programs allow you to set the priority of the message. “High priority” should be reserved for messages that are truly urgent. If you use it for every message (as one person I know does), you will simply be ignored. It’s like the boy who cried “wolf” one too many times.
12. Don’t write in ALL CAPS. This is the digital equivalent of shouting. Besides ALL CAPS are harder to read (as anyone in advertising will tell you.)
13. Don’t send or forward emails containing libelous, defamatory, offensive, racist or obscene remarks. If you do so, you can put yourself or your company at risk. You could be sued for simply passing something along, even if you aren’t the original author.
Remember that company e-mail isn’t private. You have no legal protection.
14. Remember that company e-mail isn’t private. You have no legal protection. Anyone with sufficient authority or access can monitor your conversations on company-owned servers. If you need to communicate privately, then get a free account at GMail. Use it for anything personal or private.
15. Use a signature with your contact information. This is a courtesy for those receiving your messages. It also cuts down on e-mail messages, since people don’t have to send a second or third e-mail asking for your phone number or mailing address.
16. Provide “if-then” options. This is another tip I picked up from Tim Ferris, author of The 4-Hour Work Week. He says to provide options to avoid the back and forth of single option messages. For example, “If you have completed the assignment, then please confirm that via e-mail. If not, then please estimate when you expect to finish.” Or, “I can meet at 10:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m. or 2:00 p.m. Will one of those times work? If not, would you please reply with three times that would work for you?”
17. Use your spell-checker. I take my correspondence seriously. It reflects on me. As a publishing executive, I think the bar is even higher. If I misspell words, use bad grammar or punctuation, then I think it reflects negatively on me and my company. Lapses in grammar or punctuation can be forgiven. But misspelled words are just too easy to correct. That’s why God gave us spell-checkers. Make sure yours is turned on.
18. Re-read your e-mail before you send it. I try to do this with every single message. My fingers have difficulty keeping up with my brain. It is not unusual for me to drop a word or two as I am racing to transcribe a thought. Therefore, it’s a good idea to re-read your messages and make sure that you are communicating clearly and observing good e-mail etiquette.

If you have other e-mail etiquette suggestions, please post a comment at the end of this post. If there’s something that drives you crazy, I’d like to hear about that as well. Most of us, I’m sure have ideas that can make e-mail a more civilized, effective tool for communication.

UNDERSTANDING THE SEASON OF LENT

In the church environment I function, we handle Lent as a seasonto preach about Jesus and the meaning of Easter. I only recently discovered the specific use of spiritual disciplines and practices to prepare for participating in the biggest single event on the Christian calendar - celebrating Christ's glorification on the cross.

This is what Wikipedia has to say about the season of Lent (read the original here):

Duration

Most followers of Western Catholicism observe Lent beginning on Ash Wednesday and concluding at the Ninth Hour of Holy Thursday (44 days in the Catholic Church) or on Holy Saturday (46 days). One notable exception is the Archdiocese of Milan which follows the Ambrosian Rite and observes Lent starting exactly 6 weeks before Easter. The six Sundays in Lent are not counted among the forty days because each Sunday represents a "mini-Easter," a celebration of Jesus' victory over sin and death. When Lent is to continue until Holy Saturday, this leaves exactly forty days of fasting.

In those churches which follow the Byzantine tradition (e.g. Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholics), the forty days of Lent are calculated differently: the fast begins on Clean Monday, Sundays are included in the count, and it ends on the Friday before Palm Sunday. The days of Lazarus Saturday, Palm Sunday and Holy Week are considered a distinct period of fasting. For more detailed information about the Eastern Christian practice of Lent, see the article Great Lent. Amongst Oriental Orthodox Christians, there are various local traditions regarding Lent. The Coptic, Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Churches observe a total of fifty-five days for Lent. Joyous Saturday and the week preceding it are counted separately from the forty day fast in accordance with the Apostolic Constitutions giving an extra eight days. The first seven days of the fast are considered by some to be an optional time of preparation.[citation needed] Others attribute these seven days to the fast of Holofernes who asked the Syrian Christians to fast for him after they requested his assistance to repel the invading pagan Persians.

Origin

The Lenten semi-fast may have originated for practical reasons: during the era of subsistence agriculture in the West as food stored away in the previous autumn was running out or had to be used before it went bad in store, and little or no new food-crop was expected soon (compare the period in Spring which British gardeners call the "hungry gap"). In its earliest Christian form Lent was an intense period of fasting and prayer for catechumens preparing for baptism at the Easter Vigil. [edit] Other related fasting periods The number forty has many Biblical references: the forty days Moses spent on Mount Sinai with God (Exodus 24:18); the forty days and nights Elijah spent walking to Mount Horeb (1 Kings 19:8); God made it rain for forty days and forty nights in the days of Noah (Genesis 7:4); the Hebrew people wandered forty years traveling to the Promised Land (Numbers 14:33); Jonah in his prophecy of judgment gave the city of Nineveh forty days in which to repent (Jonah 3:4).

Jesus retreated into the wilderness, where he fasted for forty days, and was tempted by the devil (Matthew 4:1-2, Mark 1:12-13, Luke 4:1-2). Jesus overcame all three of Satan's temptations by citing scripture to the devil, at which point the devil left him, angels ministered to Jesus, and he began his ministry. Jesus further said that his disciples should fast "when the bridegroom shall be taken from them" (Matthew 9:15), a reference to his Passion. Since, presumably, the Apostles fasted as they mourned the death of Jesus, Christians have traditionally fasted during the annual commemoration of his burial.

It is the traditional belief that Jesus lay for forty hours in the tomb[4] which led to the forty hours of total fast that preceded the Easter celebration in the early Church[5] (the biblical reference to 'three days in the tomb' is understood as spanning three days, from Friday afternoon to early Sunday morning, rather than three 24 hour periods of time). One of the most important ceremonies at Easter was the baptism of the initiates on Easter Eve. The fast was initially undertaken by the catechumens to prepare them for the reception of this sacrament. Later, the period of fasting from Good Friday until Easter Day was extended to six days, to correspond with the six weeks of training, necessary to give the final instruction to those converts who were to be baptized.

Converts to Christianity followed a strict catechumenate or period of instruction and discipline prior to baptism. In Jerusalem near the close of the fourth century, classes were held throughout Lent for three hours each day. With the legalization of Christianity (by the Edict of Milan) and its later imposition as the state religion of the Roman Empire, its character was endangered by the great influx of new members. In response, the Lenten fast and practices of self-renunciation were required annually of all Christians, both to show solidarity with the catechumens, and for their own spiritual benefit. The less zealous converts were thus brought more securely into the Christian fold.

Traditionally, on Easter Sunday, Roman Catholics may cease their fasting and start again whatever they gave up for Lent, after they attend Mass on Easter Sunday.

Name

In Latin the term quadragesima (translation of the original Greek tessarakoste, the "fortieth day" before Easter) is used. This nomenclature is preserved in Romance, Slavic and Celtic languages (for example, Spanish cuaresma, Portuguese quaresma, French carême, Italian quaresima, Croatian korizma, Irish Carghas, and Welsh C(a)rawys).

In the late Middle Ages, as sermons began to be given in the vernacular instead of Latin, the English word lent was adopted. This word initially simply meant spring (as in German language Lenz and Dutch lente) and derives from the Germanic root for long because in the spring the days visibly lengthen.

Associated customs

There are traditionally forty days in Lent which are marked by fasting, both from foods and festivities, and by other acts of penance. The three traditional practices to be taken up with renewed vigour during Lent are prayer (justice towards God), fasting (justice towards self), and almsgiving (justice towards neighbour). Today, some people give up a vice of theirs, add something that will bring them closer to God, and often give the time or money spent doing that to charitable purposes or organizations.

In many liturgical Christian denominations, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday form the Easter Triduum. Lent is a season of grief that necessarily ends with a great celebration of Easter. It is known in Eastern Orthodox circles as the season of "Bright Sadness." It is a season of sorrowful reflection which is punctuated by breaks in the fast on Sundays.

In the Roman Catholic Mass, Lutheran Divine Service, and Anglican Eucharist, the Gloria in Excelsis Deo is not sung during the Lenten season, disappearing on Ash Wednesday and not returning until the moment of the Resurrection during the Easter Vigil. On major feast days, the Gloria in Excelsis Deo is recited, but this in no way diminishes the penitential character of the season; it simply reflects the joyful character of the Mass of the day in question. It is also used in the Mass of the Lord's Supper. Likewise, the Alleluia is not sung during Lent; it is replaced before the Gospel reading by a seasonal acclamation. In the pre-1970 form of the Roman Rite omission of the Alleluia begins with Septuagesima. During the lenten season, some Catholic Churches remove the holy water at the entrances of their churches. Instead of water, stones are place in. This practice (removing the holy water) has been forbidden by the Vatican though.

The last two weeks of Lent are known as Passiontide. It begins on the Fifth Sunday in Lent, which in the 1962 edition of the Roman Missal is called the First Sunday in Passiontide and in earlier editions Passion Sunday. All statues (and in England paintings as well) in the church were traditionally veiled in violet, and according to the rubrics should continue to be so. This was seen to be in accordance with the Gospel of that Sunday (John 8:46-59), in which Jesus “hid himself” from the people. The veils were removed at the singing of the Gloria during the Easter Vigil. Following Vatican II, and in the Reformed Kalendar of 1970, the name Passiontide was formally dropped, although the last two weeks are markedly different from the rest of the season. The tradition of veiling images is left to the decision of a country's conference of bishops.

In the Byzantine Rite, the Gloria (Great Doxology) continues to be used in its normal place in the Matins service, and the Alleluia appears all the more frequently, replacing "God is the Lord" at Matins.

Pre-Lenten festivals

The traditional carnival celebrations which precede Lent in many cultures have become associated with the season of fasting if only because they are a last opportunity for excess before Lent begins. The most famous pre-Lenten carnival in the World is celebrated in Rio de Janeiro; other famous Carnivals are held in Venice, Cologne and in New Orleans (where it is termed Mardi Gras and only celebrated on Shrove Tuesday).

Fasting and abstinence

Fasting during Lent was more severe in ancient times than today. Socrates Scholasticus reports that in some places, all animal products were strictly forbidden, while others will permit fish, others permit fish and fowl, others prohibit fruit and eggs, and still others eat only bread. In some places, believers abstained from food for an entire day; others took only one meal each day, while others abstained from all food until 3 o'clock. In most places, however, the practice was to abstain from eating until the evening, when a small meal without vegetables or alcohol was eaten followed by a big fry with no eggs. Even now, the Orthodox Churches continue the practice of avoiding all animal products including fish, eggs, fowl and milk sourced from animals (e.g. goats and cows as opposed to the milk of soy beans and coconuts) for the entire fifty-five days of their Lent.

During the early Middle Ages, meat, eggs and dairy products were generally forbidden. Thomas Aquinas argued that "they afford greater pleasure as food [than fish], and greater nourishment to the human body, so that from their consumption there results a greater surplus available for seminal matter, which when abundant becomes a great incentive to lust."

However, dispensations for dairy products were given, frequently for a donation, from which several churches are popularly believed to have been built, including the "Butter Tower" of the Rouen Cathedral. In Spain, the bull of the Holy Crusade (renewed periodically after 1492)

allowed the consumption of dairy products and eggs during Lent in exchange for a contribution to the conflict.

Giraldus Cambrensis in his Itinerary of Archbishop Baldwin through Wales reports that "in Germany and the arctic regions," "great and religious persons," classified the tail of beavers as "fish" because of its superficial resemblance to a fish and their relative abundance.

In current Western societies the practice is considerably relaxed, though in the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches abstinence from the above-mentioned food products is still commonly practiced, meaning only vegetarian meals are consumed during this time in many Eastern countries. Lenten practices (as well as various other liturgical practices) are more common in Protestant circles than they once were. In the Roman Catholic Church it is tradition to abstain from meat from Mammals and fowl on Ash Wednesday and every Friday for the duration of Lent, although dairy products are still permitted. An alteration of this practice is found in the State of Louisiana, where Roman Catholics abstain from eating meat on Friday but allow themselves to consume any type of seafood; which is abundant in most parts of the state. On Ash Wednesday it is customary to fast for the day, with no meat, eating only one full meal, and if necessary, two small meals also.

In some years, there have been exceptions to abstinence on Fridays during the Lenten Season. If Saint Patrick's Day (March 17) falls on a Friday during Lent, the local Bishop can dispense with the rules and Catholics can eat meat. This is especially true in the United States among areas with large Irish-American populations, who eat corned beef on St. Patrick's Day. Approximately one third of all Catholic dioceses in the United States grant such a dispensation.

Contemporary legislation is rooted in the 1966 Apostolic Constitution of Pope Paul VI, Paenitemini. He recommended that fasting be appropriate to the local economic situation, and that all Catholics voluntarily fast and abstain. He also allowed that fasting and abstinence might be substituted with prayer and works of charity.

Pursuant to Canon 1253, days of fasting and abstinence are set by the national Episcopal conference. On days of fasting, one eats only one full meal, but may eat two smaller meals as necessary to keep up one's strength. The two small meals together must sum to less than the one full meal. Parallel to the fasting laws are the laws of abstinence. These bind those over the age of fourteen. On days of abstinence, the person must not eat meat or poultry. According to canon law, all Fridays of the year, Ash Wednesday and several other days are days of abstinence, though in most countries, the strict requirements of abstinence have been limited by the bishops (in accordance with Canon 1253) to the Fridays of Lent and Ash Wednesday. On other abstinence days, the faithful are invited to perform some other act of penance. A custom that developed later was to also give up something a person “enjoyed” receiving or doing for the duration of Lent. Although it is not required or part of any rule, many Christians today will also choose to give up something during the Lenten period.

Many modern Protestants consider the observation of Lent to be a choice, rather than an obligation. They may decide to give up a favorite food or drink (e.g. chocolate, alcohol) or activity (e.g., going to the movies, playing video games, etc.) for Lent, or they may instead take on a Lenten discipline such as devotions, volunteering for charity work, and so on. Roman Catholics may also observe Lent in this way in addition to the dietary restrictions outlined above, though observation is no longer mandatory under the threat of mortal sin. Many Christians who choose not to follow the dietary restrictions cite 1 Timothy 4:1-5 which warns of doctrines that "forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth."

When observing fasting or abstinence during Lent, regard must be paid to the fact that Sundays are Feast Days, so there is no fast or abstinence. The days from Ash Wednesday to the day before Easter Sunday, excluding the Sundays, are forty, corresponding to the number of days Christ spent in the wilderness.

Holy Days

There are several holy days within the season of Lent.

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Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent in Western Christianity.Clean Monday (or "Ash Monday") is the first day in Eastern Orthodox Christianity.The fourth Lenten Sunday, which marks the halfway point between Ash Wednesday and Easter, is sometimes referred to as Laetare Sunday, particularly by Roman Catholics, and Mothering Sunday, which has become synonymous with Mother's Day in the United Kingdom. However, its origin is a sixteenth century celebration of the Mother Church.The fifth Lenten Sunday, also known as Passion Sunday (however, that term is also applied to Palm Sunday) marks the beginning of Passiontide.The sixth Lenten Sunday, commonly called Palm Sunday, marks the beginning of Holy Week, the final week of Lent immediately preceding Easter.Wednesday of Holy Week is known as Spy Wednesday to commemorate the days on which Judas spied on Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane before betraying him.Thursday is known as Maundy Thursday, or Holy Thursday, and is a day Christians commemorate the Last Supper shared by Christ with his disciples.Good Friday follows the next day, on which Christians remember His crucifixion and burial.

In the Roman Catholic Church, the Easter Triduum is a three-day event that begins with the entrance hymn of the Mass of the Lord's Supper. After this Holy Thursday evening celebration, the consecrated hosts are taken from the altar solemnly to a place of reposition where the faithful are invited to worship the holy Body of Christ. On the next day the liturgical commemoration of the Passion of Jesus Christ is celebrated at 3 p.m., unless a later time is chosen due to work schedules. This service consists of readings from the Scriptures especially John the Evangelist's account of the Passion of Jesus, followed by prayers, adoration of the cross of Jesus, and a communion service at which the hosts consecrated at the evening Mass of the day before are distributed. The Easter Vigil during the night between Holy Saturday afternoon and Easter Sunday morning starts with the blessing of a fire and a special candle and with readings from Scripture associated with baptism, then the Gloria in Excelsis Deo is sung, water is blessed, baptism and confirmation of adults may take place, and the people are invited to renew the promises of their own baptism, and finally Mass is celebrated in the usual way from the Preparation of the Gifts onwards.

Holy Week and the season of Lent, depending on denomination and local custom, end with Easter Vigil at sundown on Holy Saturday or on the morning of Easter Sunday. It is custom for some churches to hold sunrise services which include open air celebrations in some places.

In the Roman Catholic, Lutheran, and many Anglican churches, the priest's vestments are violet during the season of Lent. On the fourth Sunday in Lent, rose-coloured vestments may be worn in lieu of violet. In some Anglican churches, a type of unbleached linen or muslin known as Lenten array is used during the first three weeks of Lent, and crimson during Passiontide. On holy days, the colour proper to the day is worn.

Inner Peace on Ash Wednesday

TODAY IS ASH WEDNESDAY, THE FIRST DAY OF LENT. WE'RE 40 DAYS AWAY FROM EASTER, SO ...

SOMETHING TO REMIND YOU OF YOUR OWN HUMANNESS:


If you can start the day without caffeine,

If you can always be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains,

If you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles,

If you can eat the same food every day and be grateful for it,

If you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you anytime,

If you can take criticism and blame without resentment ,

If you can conquer tension without medical help,

If you can relax without liquor,

If you can sleep without the aid of drugs,




... then you are probably The Family Dog!

STUFF FROM THE INTERNET THIS WEEK

The IVP Press blog reported on the bad use of analogies in sermons.

Creative Fusion Media did a post on using Social Media in ministry.

This is an Afrikaans news report on research showing a person can only have 150 or less meaningful friendships on Facebook.

Mashable, the Social Media Guide, reports on four trends in the future on the internet to take note of.

Finally, this guy, called Greg Rutter, compiled a list of 99 video clips that is actually quite funny.

VIDEO CLIP: AUDIENCE OF ONE

A Review of Brian McLaren's new book, "A New Kind of Christianity"

Brian McLaren's new book has hit the stores. It already started soliciting some response, positive and negative. I found this review through Scot McKnight's weekly posting of internet meanderings. Hope it helps you decide whether to buy the book or not. The review was written by Darryl Dash and can be read in its original place here.

In the middle of A New Kind of Christianity, Brian McLaren gives us a picture to describe how he thinks we need to change.

Before…we are like lawyers trying to save an old contract, adding more and more fine print on page after page, until the provisions are weightier than the original contract. (This is good work, I suppose, and must be done for a generation or two, but it is not the work to which I feel called.) At some point, though, more and more of us will finally decide that it would make more sense to go back and revise the contract from scratch. And that work has begun. It is nowhere near complete, but the cat is out of the bag…

And that cat is on a tear. McLaren attempts the impossible, essentially tossing out what you always thought was true, and starting again from scratch. The Fall of Genesis 3? That’s really a coming-of-age story. The storyline of the Bible? It’s really about the downside of progress, and about how good prevails in the end anyway. The Bible is a community library, and the violent, tribal God of the Genesis flood is “hardly worthy of belief, much less worship” – but those were early days, and our view of God is always changing. Jesus didn’t come to start a new religion, nor is Christianity the answer in itself. In short, almost everything you know about God, the Bible, and Christianity is wrong, according to McLaren.
Disagree? It’s probably because you have a Greco-Roman worldview, or worse. You may be someone who gets “authority and employment” from the old way of reading the Bible, which means you have a vested interest in keeping things the way they are. To go back to McLaren’s earlier image, you’re maybe a lawyer who loves fine print and who hates cats being let out of their bags. You’re probably like the theologians and pastors who:

…sew on a patch here, cover up that bit over there with some duct tape, put a nice coat of cheerful paint on that section over there, play really uplifting music to distract from that bit under there, move the furniture so that part doesn’t show, and so on.

You’re either misguided or have a vested interest in keeping things the way they are. Either way, it’s hard to disagree without looking pitiable.
What to make of all of this?
First, I want to say that McLaren does make some good points. He puts his finger on some real problems. This isn’t damning with faint praise. It’s important, because it’s what makes a book like this so compelling. Lots of people are going to buy what he says because they resonate with his critique.
Second, I’m grateful that McLaren has articulated his views. I suspect that there’s going to be less guessing about what McLaren believes in the future. I don’t think his views are a surprise to a lot of us, but they’re in print now, and it’s going to be a lot easier to talk about them.
Third, I’m going to predict that this book gets a lot of traction. I joined a conference call with McLaren last night and heard a number of people – including pastors – rave about the book. I think it’s going to be one of those books in which the fans and critics speak past each other. The early reviews seem overwhelmingly positive. They won’t be surprised if people like me don’t like it. He takes some swipes at Mark Driscoll and John MacArthur, and sometimes comes across in a belittling way to evangelicals in general. He takes swipes at his critics sometimes that leave me gasping – and the fact that he does it with a friendly smile doesn’t really help. This is going to be a polarizing book.
I really have to say that this is one of the most frustrating books I’ve read. I have a friend who says off-the-wall things. Half the time he’s profound; the rest of the time he’s just a bit random. I felt that way with this book. There are some potentially profound sections, but there’s lots in the book that left me baffled. I can’t remember reading any book that left me shaking my head so much. So much hinges on his assertion that we read the Scriptural storyline through a Platonic worldview, for instance, but I was far from convinced. His interpretation of Job, which he used to explain how we should read Scripture, left me scratching my head. His conclusions (or proposals) are so sweeping, and based on such baffling premises sometimes, that I hardly know where to begin.
Finally – and most importantly – this is not a minor tweak of Christianity. It is a repudiation of the church’s understanding of God and the gospel. It really is tearing up the contract and starting all over again. McLaren says we’ve got the whole Biblical storyline, as well as our ideas of God and Scripture, all wrong. He’d rather be an atheist, he says, than believe in the God that many of us think is found in the Bible. You don’t get any more basic. We are talking about two fundamentally different versions of Christianity and the gospel.
That’s what makes this book so hard to critique. Supporters of the book will say that I’m critiquing it from a Greco-Roman mindset, using the Bible as a constitution text rather than as a community library. So my criticisms will be expected. McLaren’s proposals go all the way back to the level of presuppositions, and unless you share his presuppositions it will be like complaining that the color red isn’t blue enough. Fine, they will say, but it wasn’t meant to be blue. He’s not only giving us a new version of the Christian story, but he’s making it very difficult to critique his new version using the resources of the old one. But I’m simply not convinced that he’s made the case that he thinks he has.
Like McLaren, I believe we need to honestly examine our beliefs and practices, making corrections even when it’s costly and uncomfortable. I believe that every generation needs to rediscover the gospel. But unlike McLaren, I’m not ready to toss the creation-fall-redemption storyline, or think that I’ve moved on from the God of Genesis 4-6. I’m simply not ready to say our old understanding of the gospel is wrong. We may need to rediscover it and be changed by it, and grow in our understanding of it. But that’s different than tearing up the contract and starting all over again.
A few years ago, I was struggling with some of the issues McLaren raises. But I found that some of the answers being proposed were less, not more, satisfying. I believe that our biggest need is not for a new Christianity, but instead to rediscover some of the contours of the gospel we may have forgotten. We don’t need a new contract; we need to “guard the good deposit” that’s been entrusted to us (2 Timothy 1:14).
We really don’t need a new kind of Christianity. We need to do a better job of rediscovering, and living in light of, the one we already have.