http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SolarCrash/~3/302959369/

Our faith community has rebranded our no-church-sundays to Be-the-Church-Sunday, which is closer to the heart of our intentions.

The Scriptures describe the church with living images - a body, a bride, a family, a living temple of living stones.  The church is not a building, nor is it simply a gathering within a building.  We can be the church wherever we are.

I was sharing with my wife about how the only fear of releasing and scattering our community like this, was how people might reduce it to do-nothing-sunday, and the possibility of zero relationships being forged.  Her response was - it’s not like meaningful relationships are developed during a ‘church gathering’ either.

Sometimes I feel deeply saddened that we’ve structured the life out of our church communities.  It’s astounding that in a group of people gathering to celebrate the Wounded Healer, people might leave without ever sharing their struggles, or their joys, or their dreams with another person.

The traditional worship service, at times, can be a complete disservice to Jesus and his followers.

What did I do yesterday?

- Played with my daughter and took her to Ikea for breakfast

- Had an early lunch with relatives as they wondered why we weren’t ‘at church’ today

- Headed downtown and shared life and stories with Alan and Liz

- Supported a friend who is launching an intercultural intergenerational church plant - talked to people who were not like myself

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SolarCrash/~3/303709956/

Random bookmarks of the past week

• Adobe Acrobat.com - Work. Together. Anywhere. -


• Funky Ways to Express Yourself - BeFunky -


• www.imitcanada.org - What is Online Fundraising? -


• Fundraising for Missions -


• Christian Missionary Fundraising resources, ideas, and tools for support raising and deputation -


• Online Fundraising and Nonprofit Marketing | Network for Good Learning Center -


• CanadaHelps - Home -


• Generous Giving : Experience the Joy -


• Change.org -


• Missionary Fundraiser - Raising Support for your Missions Works -


• Homepage - Workwithus.org -


• Justgiving - the easiest way to fundraise and donate to charity online -


• Ontario Summer Fun Guide 2008. Family Events & Attractions, ON Canada -


• Learnings @ Leadership Network: PD Summit and PEACE Plan -


• 7 big questions -


• In ‘Sex and the City,’ number of sex partners true to New York life -

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SolarCrash/~3/303730060/

btw, just a side rant. Why do Mom’s have the market on parenting? Going through parenting websites and flipping through parenting books, it’s always assumed that I’m a woman.

I get email updates from baby center, after registering that I was male, telling me about what’s going on with your breasts, or how to get your husband more involved.

And then there’s the awkwardness when I take Stellar to the children’s play area in Chapters Bookstore. There’s usually a crowd of random women laughing it up as they watch over their kids. I walk in and have a seat, and there’s a sudden silence. Shh.. there’s a male here.

Of course, as I walk about, more often than not, I usually overhear them ridiculing their husbands.

I know there’s nothing like a mother’s love, but plenty of dad’s got game too!

A few sites for just for dads

http://www.dadsanddaughters.org/

http://www.rebeldad.com/

http://www.daddaily.com/

http://www.athomedad.org/

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SolarCrash/~3/304568780/

A great photo of the Obamas watching Clinton’s speech.

What must be going through their minds?

I can’t believe she’s not conceding nor suspending her campaign.

Is she making her case for VP?

Is she putting an asterisk on the nomination to set her up for 2012?

Is she trying to transition her supporters to Obama in some odd way?

I can’t believe the drama still continues… I’m sure there’s something for all of us to learn from this whole saga…

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SolarCrash/~3/305340092/

They say we all lose 21 grams… at the exact moment of our death.

Everyone.

And how much fits into 21 grams? How much is lost?

When do we lose 21 grams? How much goes with them? How much is gained? How much is gained?

Twenty-one grams.

The weight of a stack of five nickels.

The weight of a hummingbird.

A chocolate bar.

How much did 21 grams weigh?

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SolarCrash/~3/306128581/

In addition to the current content on this blog, I’m hoping to introduce random reflections of people I know, as well as pastoral letters to people in my community.

They’re my words, but not exactly my life situation (Though I do believe in a common human experience we’re all connected by anyways). For me it’s an exercise in empathy as I process through the lives of others, that hopefully shapes a bit of my soul, and yours.

What is it, that I have done?

I should have known better.

Of all people, I should have known better.

In one moment, I broke the hearts of hundreds.

How can God let any one live with such a burden?

He set me up,

and for what?

so I might know his grace?

that his grace runs even deeper than my pain?

That’s really hard to believe right now.

And their tears for me, their cries and condolences,

just seems to widen the wounds

They blame themselves, when really the blame should be mine.

Yet I can’t help but wonder,

how they could have let this happen to me

It wasn’t suppose to go down like this

this isn’t the way the story’s suppose to end

I know there will be better days than this

But the days I feel better, I’m filled with guilt

the days I’m on the verge of redemption

I’m only reminded of my self-obsession

When did the deepest places of my soul

get so unhinged from everything I know?

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SolarCrash/~3/308048032/

It’s Monday morning, do you recall what you heard at church on Sunday?

I’ve been inspired by many great speakers and preachers, but I wonder how often we really engage God through the Scriptures during our church gatherings?

I’m sure I’ve heard Scripture, at least audibly, in every church that I’ve attended, but I wonder how often people truly encounter God through the Scriptures.

From what I can tell of what Scripture says of itself is that it was worth meditating upon day and night.  It was often engaged as a community.  The Scriptures led to revival and transformation.

Yet I wonder how often ‘preachers’ get in the way of allowing the Scriptures to speak?  How often do we deny people the opportunity to wrestle with God’s words personally, for themselves, with one another?  How often do we allow people to use their own imagination, to question and doubt, and to emotionally invest themselves into the Story of the Scriptures?

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SolarCrash/~3/308846869/

Solar Crash has finally just hit over a hundred subscribers according to feedburner (Subscribe here if you’d like to join the crowd or here if you’d like direct email updates).  Thanks so much folks!  Feel free to let me know anytime if there’s more of a specific type of content you’d like to see!

Noteworthy posts on Solar Crash from the month of May

Suburban Inferiority…

Watch this…

Explode…

Human Again

Conflicted…

Recent Dishes

Help Wanted

Random bookmarks of mine from the past week

• Habitat for Humanity - Toronto -


• CityGates -


• http://www.3isenough.org/ -


• Mind and Soul -


• King’s Church in Greater Manchester - Home -


• Welcome to Soul Survivor. Where do you want to go? -


• STOP THE TRAFFIK -


• Yale Environment 360: China’s Emerging Environmental Movement -


• Living Open Source » WordPress-Driven Church -


• Using WordPress to Run Church Websites | Church Brilliant -


• On Day of Last Primary, Obama’s Superdelegate Surge - Interactive Graphic - NYTimes.com -


• Gmail labs - new beta features -

btw, I don’t know of anyone who has a better on going stream of great links, that at least matter to me, than Jason at http://subvertingmediocrity.com/

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SolarCrash/~3/309630930/

Reggie McNeal addresses the Reformed Church in America’s One Thing leadership conference and speaks about the similarities between now and the beginnings of Christianity.

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SolarCrash/~3/310461139/

I just got tagged by Tony - I never do these tagging things, but here we go.

Off the top, my favorite films

- The Shawshank redemption - Best ending ever

- Forrest Gump - Forrest talking about his boy - He’s so smart Jenny…

- Braveheart

- The Transformers (original) - “One shall stand, one shall fall”

- The Joy Luck Club - Yes I confess - just about every scene makes me weep like a baby

- Crash - Way better intertwining plots and subtexts than pulp fiction

- Remember the Titans - “You’re crippling them for life”

- Requiem for a dream - An artistic gem - just about puked from the hollowness at the end

- The Matrix & Terminator 2 - both overplayed - but still epic

- The Lion King - the opening scene was so glorious I teared…

And I guess my five tag’s will be…

Ray

Marty

Brian & Ina

Obahsomah

Yu

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SolarCrash/~3/310532963/

Ordination.  I can’t say I think much of it.  I’m really not sure how biblical it is either.  I do however believe in the affirmation of a community in whatever role you’re in.  Of course, then we should be ordaining/commissioning our secretaries, engineers, and school teachers too, and not just church leaders.

Most would agree you’re not suppose to be acting any different after being ordained, like in baptism, it’s an extension of what you’re already doing.  But at least Baptism’s in the Scriptures.

I established for myself quite a while back that I couldn’t care less for the title.  And these days the idea of ordination further solidifies the divide between clergy and laity that I rail against.

But there is this tiny issue of working within the constructs of the culture we’re in and walking through life with people.  Being able to marry and bury people (I’m doing my first wedding in september).  Being able to affirm their citizenship and sign their passports.  Being able to get into restricted areas of hospitals to visit people.

So I got myself ordained online today just for kicks.  I doubt this is in anyway legitimate in Canada.  I believe laws are looser in the States.

Does anyone know of any quick and legal way of a seminary grad to get ordained in Canada?  Specifically in the province of Ontario?  The denominations I’m somewhat affiliated with will all take years.

Here’s my hokey ‘universal life church’ certificate’

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SolarCrash/~3/311170748/

On the front page of the Huffington Post this morning…

According to the article just about every country surveyed people around the world largely prefer Barack Obama as President. Yet the rare instance he’s tied with John McCain is in the United States.

Why is that?

Are people around the world just less informed? infatuated with terrorist fist jabs? too liberal? He’s no savior, but I like him. C’mon American’s get on board.

Here’s a new video some of you might appreciate - called ‘dumped for obama’

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SolarCrash/~3/313017791/

I just recently finished “The year of living biblically - one man’s humble quest to follow the Bible as literally as possible” by A.J. Jacobs.

(I listened to the audiobook from the local library over a weeks worth of dishwashing)

I’d recommend this particularly to those in ‘professional’ ministry of any kind. Jacobs is an agnostic, Iand literally wraps his life around the Scriptures for a year.

Some of it is absolutely hilarious, like when he tries to stone an adulterer with pebbles, and some of it is very insightful especially with his Jewish connections.

It’s not worth having as a reference on my bookshelf, but definitely an enjoyable read.

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SolarCrash/~3/313818157/

These are some random bookmarks for June 11th through June 17th:

• how to do English ministry in Chinese churches » EM » L2 -


• 7 Reasons Why the Church Needs Artists | TonyMorganLive.com -


• Catalyst Conference 2008 -


• 10 Theories on High Gas Prices and Church


• Red Room | Where the Writers Are -


• BookMooch: exchange books and trade them, like a book swap or book barter -


• 2008 Presidential Election Interactive Map and History of the Electoral College -


• FiveThirtyEight.com: Electoral Projections Done Right: 12th amendment -


• feedly: a more social and magazine-like start page -


• 57 Best WordPress Resources | Blog Themes Plus -


• Best Free Magazine Style WordPress Themes -


• Theme Playground − The Best WordPress Magazine Themes Available -


• Top 10 Wordpress Magazine Style Themes || Sooth Brush -


• SignOnSanDiego.com > News > Politics — Political patterns favor Obama, scholars say -


• Totlol - Video for Toddlers, Infants, Preschoolers and Parents -


• America Loves Lists - 10 Best Family Guy Newscasts -


• The Future of the Environment | Popular Science -


• Evangelical Politics: Three Generations [Speaking of Faith® from American Public Media] -


• TheStar.com | GTA | The man behind Luminato -


• Map of the World’s Religions at Ray Fowler .org -


• Drupal handbooks | drupal.org -


• 10 Reasons to Use Drupal CMS (A Comparison with Joomla, Plone and WordPress for SEO) -


• Joomla! -

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SolarCrash/~3/313968692/

Firefox version 3.0 was just released moments ago.  (They’re trying to set a world record for downloads today and looks like the servers are down, you can get direct download links here).

I’ve always been a productivity/tech junkie, besides firefox, here’s some random stuff I use to get stuff done.

- My Dual Core T60 thinkpad (200772U) - I bought this right before I left my job at IBM.  Not quite cutting edge anymore, but still like a rock.  The docking station makes it real convenient as well.

- at home and when my wife is not using it, I use a Dell Dimension e521 with vista

- Microsoft’s free sync-toy keeps my working files in sync on the two computers

- Documents, pictures, and videos are primarily backed up to a 500GB WD mybook

- gmail - emailing, documents archiving, contact info

- All notes are taken with Microsoft OneNote’s tabbed folder system

- Web clippings go to google notebook, and bookmarks are tagged with del.icio.us

- When offline and for free-form notes I use a 5×8 ruled moleskine notebook

- I’ve been using a crappy nokia 6015i with a dusty screen on virgin mobile for 8 bucks a month the past few years holding out for an overdue google phone

- For calendaring and to-do’s I use google calendar.  Microsoft Outlook is used as needed when offline.

- google deskop for quick file and document searches

- A Canon S80 point and shoot camera.  For photo management and touch-ups I use picasa.  with facebook and flickr plugins so I can upload directly as well.  I use irfanview for simple resizing and image editing.

- wordpress.org for blogging

- google reader for quick blog reading

- windows live messenger and googletalk primarily for IM

- twhirl for occasional twitter updates

- an esso speedpass - so I can pay for overpriced gas, even faster

I’ll list off some resources I feed off of later as well.

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SolarCrash/~3/314704011/

jesus did not come to buffy’s party empty-handed…

Originally uploaded by ! ten-forty-seven

Just testing out flickr’s blogging feature… and I thought this was a brilliant photo.

It’s amazing how often we find Jesus engaging people over a meal throughout the gospels. Who are you having your next meal with?

up next: some thoughts I’ve been mulling over on whether seminary was worth it all.

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SolarCrash/~3/315436474/

Before I begin, I need to say that I’ve never been a fan of any schooling system I’ve ever been a part of.

- In high school, I was a 90s student but on academic probation for missing too many classes.

- I scraped by university, passionless for my engineering degree, and was probably in the bottom five of my graduating class.

- I wasn’t at the very bottom of the barrel because after my third year I had decided to go to seminary, and realized they didn’t just let you in by grace.  I had to work my butt off in my final year just to raise my overall mark to a C+

So here’s the bottom line now that I’m done seminary

- 27 classes - not all of my choosing

- over a thousand hours in class

- at least two thousand hours spent reading and writing papers

- 440 hours of supervised ministry experience for the internship requirements

- $30,000 on tuition and books

- I left a corporate job I loved - Where I worked from home most of the time, had opportunities to travel, and interacted with people every single day.

- I made 60-70k+ a year depending on bonuses/commission - it’s been two years now so that’s $140,000… gone.  I don’t even want to think about what might have been over the course of a lifetime.

So was it worth it?

Is each lecture really worth $80 to (for the most part) passively listen to?  Is it worth the drive and the time away from family?  Is it worth the stress and uncertainty placed upon loved ones?

Could over a hundred thousand dollars be given elsewhere, that could have produced far greater kingdom impact?  Could I have used all that time to better engage the world rather than other seminarians?

There was a lot of assigned reading, but I probably read more and learned more from personal readings than class readings.  Could I have learned and grown to where I am today, without seminary?

I guess the other question is, would I have?

I really don’t know if I would have done something nobler with my time or money.  If you’re at a stage where you’re deeply engaging God, the Scriptures, His people, His mission, and His calling in your life, my goodness, don’t go to seminary.

At least I wouldn’t.  Not with where I am today.

Note that I am indebted and incredibly thankful that I had the opportunity to be in a seminary.  Who on earth has the luxury to sit around and contemplate the things of God?

I still feel like a noobie follower of Jesus, but I got an idea of where I’m going and where to go for help and what I need to get there.  But seminary, at least in its traditional sense, is definitely not a requirement on the journey going forward.

Seminary’s will always have their place.  Go if you feel God’s calling you in that direction (but realize it’s only a structure/form/place of learning, and typically God calls us to deeper things than that).

When I get some time I’ll probably compile a list of books, articles, experiences, resources that I think could just about replace the traditional seminary.

With all that being said, a price just cannot be placed upon time and space to grow, friendship, an environment that fosters learning, divine encounters, and wisdom from local prophets.

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SolarCrash/~3/318193639/

Yesterday was a preaching bomb.

Ever have everything prepared, really know your material, and still fail to deliver?

I wanted it over as soon as I got up… and I just pushed through it.

I love preaching, even though I question it’s role, I’m thrilled whenever I can engage hearts and minds with the Scriptures and the Spirit of God is working… but this was my most uncomfortable preaching moment by far.

I’m still processing through what happened.  I know I’ve been going through some spiritual unsteadiness.  There has been family-oriented strains and lots of mixed feelings lately.  I had not slept much and I woke up just feeling weak.

I was tasked with sharing about my own personal visions in life.  This is important stuff, for myself personally and our lives going forward of course.  But, I felt like I was talking more about me, than Jesus.  Something about that felt powerless.

I need to crawl somewhere and hide for awhile.

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SolarCrash/~3/322082145/

Some random noteworthy bookmarks from the past week

• Free Beverage w/Starbucks Card Registration -


• Barack Obama: More Popular Than Jesus, Angelina Jolie -


• Free online web templates generator -


• neue. - Rob Bell Q&A -


• 30+ Must-Have Updated Firefox 3 Extensions -


• House Church Resource.org -


• McCain and Obama on Patriotism - TIME -


• Greatest Man of Honor Speech EVER! Video -


• How to Find Motivation for the Things You Hate Doing -


• Big Ideas (don’t get any) on Vimeo -


• McCain vs. Obama: Ten Reasons Why Age Matters -


• Can You Live With Just 100 Things? -


• Put Things Off : Free, laid-back productivity advice -


• Google, @ 10 years, is looking for more | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press -


• James Dobson Doesn’t Speak For Me -


• Create a free website | Free Myspace layouts | Flash Myspace layouts -


• The Top 20 Firefox 3.0 Compatible Themes Worth Upgrading For -


• hoodeo – find neighborhood matches -


• Online Real Estate - Homes for Sale and Experienced Real Estate Agents | Redfin -

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SolarCrash/~3/322088178/

… I guess they still happen