Yesterday afternoon we stuffed our children into fleecy little Old Navy costumes and made our way over to a Halloween carnival sponsored by the neighborhood homeowner’s association. We are not ourselves homeowners, but we were invited by my sister and our good friends who are. It was a great little party set in the front… Continue reading Who is my neighbor?
Category: Culture
New Construction
I stumbled upon a great blog entry by Chris Spinks (via Tyler Watson) that contained what I found to be a provocative analogy. He likens churches to planned suburban developments: places where form and structure and character are all prescribed before anyone actually ever dwells there. Too often, as I see it, suburbs and suburban-like… Continue reading New Construction
Prime Time
Driving home yesterday afternoon, I came across the filming frenzy of blocked off streets, semis, and trailers a few blocks from our house. I had seen the little film placards with “CSI” on them, so I wasn’t surprised to see a bunch of fake Las Vegas police cars parked along the street where they were… Continue reading Prime Time
Yea, though we walk…
Last night we were scheduled to have our monthly block club meeting. Though I had just seen our Senior Lead officer days earlier, I knew that there were a number of updates he planned to give us on some different things going down in our neighborhood right now (things that he did not feel at… Continue reading Yea, though we walk…
To fight or not to fight
There is a very interesting post at Mark Galli’s blog this week discussing a NY Times piece on violence against women and the need for men to reclaim their role as protectors. I have enjoyed the thoughtful comments along with his original thoughts, and the most recent comment posted was from a young woman (college… Continue reading To fight or not to fight
Officer friendliest
I was mixing Aaron’s rice cereal for dinner last night when I heard a commotion in our driveway below. I walked closer to the windows to see who was making the noise and was surprised to spot our Senior Lead Officer coming quickly toward the back of our house. He saw me in the window… Continue reading Officer friendliest
Casualties
In the past week, three men have died within walking distance of our house. They have each died of gunshot wounds. They have died on streets and corners where I regularly walk with my kids. They have died in close proximity to the homes of people we love. They have died as a result of… Continue reading Casualties
Recommended Reading
I enjoyed reading this interview with Dick Staub at Relevant Magazine online. Dick has been a highly influential person in my life. He is an excellent conversation partner, a gifted writer, a provocative thinker, and a lover of Christ and the church. I look forward to the release of his upcoming book: The Culturally Savvy… Continue reading Recommended Reading
You are not welcome here
Last week Doug and I watched North Country. This is the movie where Charlize Theron portrays a woman who enters the mining industry in Northern Minnesota and wins a landmark sexual harassment case in 1984. It was a difficult movie to watch. As I sat and watched the portrayal of a large group of men… Continue reading You are not welcome here
Quotation of the Week
“It destroys the people in the big churches, because they are no longer dealing with community; they’re just part of a crowd. In the vaunted small-group movement—which certainly has some good things going for it (probably earlier on, more than now)—people say, ‘Well, we take care of community by having small groups.’ Well, those aren’t… Continue reading Quotation of the Week