the:shiverian

advent @ the story

2007-11-25T11:04:00.000-05:00

admiring the ladder?

2007-11-15T19:33:00.000-05:00

Consider Menand's observations concerning the moment when we find ourselves in new places..

He argues that when we find ourselves in this new space, we "build a ladder to explain how we got there." The pragmatist "is the person who asks whether this is a good place to be" while the nonpragmatist "is the person who admires the ladder."

Louis Menand, "Introduction," in Louis Menand, Pragmatism (New York: Vintage Books,) 1997, xxxiv.

the weekend

2007-11-15T19:09:00.000-05:00

the formerly most embraced pair of seven
stay away..stay away i say
for the sake of those who are lonely

for the sake of those who have only empty houses to look forward too
take a much needed vacation
and give them another tuesday, any other day of numbing normalcy..

God who held the sun in the sky to extend that day of war
let not this world turn away from the sun into empty darkness
today..today..today..save them all from the charging night!

surprise us..mix it up..be subversive..overturn the tables once more..
if the stars come out tonight she may lose her breath
and all her dreams and hopes and faith will pass away

how can the dead praise you? how can dusty bones be beacons of hope?
how can they be a light in the darkness when the beast has swallowed them up?
where is resurrection when sadness wont let him die?

shall she just be busy again? another job? another distraction?
another cul-de-sac often traveled to like a leech bleed the wound?
but the infection runs too deep! there is poison all the way down..

so as the sun sets and they all rush home for another weekend..
where god? where do they go? where shall they turn?
or will they sink another night into the hell of isolated seclusion?

prayer of listening

2007-11-14T16:50:00.000-05:00

R1: We have become a people without time to listen
R2: We have become a people without ears to hear

R3: Forgive us Lord for allowing thick layers of scales to grow around our hearts
R4: Forgive us Lord for not opening ourselves up, becoming vulnerable to hear another

R5: Forgive us Lord for not looking at my neighbor as a work of art
R6: Forgive us Lord for not looking to the stranger as a source of understanding

R1: We understand that really hearing is hard, scary and sometimes painful
R2: We understand that taking off our headphones takes away our excuses for ignoring another

R3: Thank you for listening. Thank you for hearing.
R4: Thank you for a life of listening that cost you your life.

Take the bread and break it.

R5: May this bread be Aslan's claw (the hand/body of God) that begins deeply ripping away the ugly and hard scales that have kept me from hearing others.
R6: May this bread be that substance which allows me to be fully human again, to be that which you created me to be.

Eat the bread. _ Take the wine/juice.

R1: May this wine be the blood of God that pumps through our calloused and bruised hearts.
R2: May this wine be the drink that we share with one another. May it be that we transforms us so that we hear as you hear.

Drink the wine.

R3: Let us listen. Let us hear. Let us speak to be heard.
R4: Let us value. Let us love.
R5: Let this be a place where there are no headphones worn.
R6: Let us be a people who passionately realize we need each other.
R1: Let this be a place where tears are welcome and not judged
R2: ..where laughter is celebrated and not mocked
R3: ..where pain can be shared with no worries of sharing too much
R4:..where encounters happen, God is present, and understanding is somehow gained

R5: In these next few weeks, let us hear one another
R6: In these next few weeks, let us be heard

Together: In the name of the one who even now vulnerably listens, Amen.

X & Black Friday

2007-11-12T17:26:00.000-05:00

sometimes i wish

2007-11-11T22:06:00.000-05:00

sometimes i wish i could play guitar like lee or nick
just so i could get it all out
find a rhythm and get lost in the flow
let the passion spill over into glossolalia

then others would put it in their ipods
and their pulse would find their lifebeat in my texture
girls would melt as they thought the words were for them
and guys would wish they had that touch

but i only have this keyboard
to try to articulate the inexpressible
and its so hard to lose yourself in passion
when the red-lines of spell-check always highlight the missed chords

so i am doomed to be the pseudo-virtuoso of religious words
and turned too only when fundamentalisms die
and while for these i am happy to perform with all my soul
i yearn to spin lyrics with the force of uncontainable hope

but will it ever be the thrill of stroking a chord
and having a delirious crowd use their voices to say your own words?
will i ever get stopped on the street by those who now only walk by
begging me to play them those words they cried too last night?

when people my age have death of relationships and egos and hearts
they turn to those who can play what they feel
who can lead them to those words that are behind the words we all say
who can take them to places we preachers have only dreamed

is this desire narcissistic lust or solipsist deviance?
of course it is. but it is much more.
it is that one day this keyboard will flow for me
in the same way it carries life for lee and nick

perhaps one day my words arising out of my instrument
will be mixed in under and over and in between the beats of those
who now so prophetically capture the time
of the broken and lonely and hallow and tired..

but you and me my friend. we have to learn again how to play.
we have to learn new scale charts and emerging ways of transposition.
for we are not even worthy of playing covers at the local tourist bars
much less of finding our ways into the headphones of our future

so play on nick..play on lee..
drift into the ecstatic realms of beauty i can only desire
lead them into the lands we have been scared to go
take us into worlds my keyboard only renders flat and cold

stil another ridge

2007-11-11T16:02:00.000-05:00

william james..

So I feel that there is a center in truth's forest where I have never been: to track it out and get there is the secret spring of all my poor life's philosophic efforts; at moments I almost strike into the final valley, there is a gleam of the end, a sense of certainty, but always there comes still another ridge, and so my blazes merely circle towards the true direction; and although now, if ever, would be the fit occasion, yet I cannot take you to the wondrous hidden spot to-day. To-morrow it must be, or to-morrow, or to-morrow; and pretty soon death will overtake me ere the promise is fulfilled.

Walter Brueggemann - Emergent Conversation - 2004

2007-11-10T10:29:00.000-05:00

Videos of the 2004 Emergent Conversation with Walter Brueggemann have now been uploaded to Google Video. I still had the original files and Steve Knight rightly suggested getting them up so people could share, link, embed, etc..

Walter Brueggemann - Emergent Conversation - 2004 - Day One Part One
Walter Brueggemann - Emergent Conversation - 2004 - Day One Part Two
Walter Brueggemann - Emergent Conversation - 2004 - Day Two Part One
Walter Brueggemann - Emergent Conversation - 2004 - Day Two Part Two

Emergent Roundtable Discussion at Columbia Theological Seminary - George Stroup, Mark Douglas, Brian McLaren, Tony Jones, etc.
http://www.theshiverian.com/emergent/panel1.mp3
http://www.theshiverian.com/emergent/panel2.mp3

more on wrestling/authenticity

2007-11-10T10:17:00.000-05:00

Sept 14, 1998 - The Greatest Night in Pro Wrestling History

After long backstage politics that sidelined Ric Flair, the internet and wrestling community (along with the almighty dollar) rose up to force WCW to bring back Flair and reform the infamous Four Horsemen. WCW chose to turn the "Real life" political struggles into an in front of the camera storyline, a postmodern mixing and matching of the real and illusion.

Notice that when Flair gets the mic, he appeals to the "Realness" of his emotions both on this night and on the night when Arn Anderson retired (in my home town of Columbia, SC). This "realness" trumps Bischoff's allegedly inability to understand these depth emotions due to obsession what can be "bought and sold." Ironically, of course, it is Flair's ability to be "bought and sold" (not any sense of justice) that secures his place in the ring even on this night.

As I watched this with tears on my eyes in dorm room in college, was their something more real, more authentic to this experience? Or was it just manipulation par excellence by WCW? The reality of the backstage politics gave fans such as myself a real sense of loss in Flair's absence. His return brought back the embodiment of what wrestling should be in many eyes, a return of the honored in a changing wrestling world driven by the emerging concept of "Crash TV."

Was it simply spectacle that we willingly bought into? Or did something deeply authentic occur that night? Something that pressed beyond layers of cynicism and connected on a deeply human level? My tears and emotional exhaustion after the show proved to me that something happened that night. Describing it in the language of authenticity, reality, etc., is difficult indeed..

wrestling..double binds..and those rare moments..

2007-11-09T18:54:00.000-05:00

Mark - The term can also be applied to a fan who idolizes a particular wrestler, promotion, or style of wrestling to a point some might consider excessive.

Smark - a portmanteau of "smart mark," a phrase coined by internet smart marks to describe a fan who enjoys pro wrestling despite or because they know that it is staged

Deep down all smarks desire those rare moments of second naivety, those few instances in which something actually surprising or unexpected happens. Perhaps one of the greatest situations in which a smark can "mark out" is when the majority of fans turn on the writers and resist the scripted reactions they are being manipulated into. Thus, we have those moments when the crowd goes "off script" and creates a converging of smark and mark interests. This is incredible but threatening to the actual product for although the powers that be in wrestling portray a hatred for the smark movement (internet wrestling fans), they know they need these loyal fans to sustain interest in the product. Further, although smarks are often critical of the given product and weak attempts at manipulation, they need the product to have a resistance community. And thus my friends we have a double-bind in the world of simulacra. Fascinating eh?

So..here's a instance of one of those rare moments in which smarks and marks converge..a moment of hyperreality to the third degree..level one: reality | level two: created reality | level three: crowd rejects level two and creates level three | ..

I remember sitting with Patrick in seminary watching this Wrestlemania. Both of us smarks totally marked out at this match. You will see that the scripted intention is for the Rock to be cheered (thus he is the 'face') and for Hogan to be booed (thus he is the 'heel")..[Interestingly enough, in Hogan's prime wrestling was a type of Manichean re-enactment..as culture changed but this dualistic community did not, Hogan (the ultimate hero) was turned on by fans. Ironically, the reverse happens here.] So, we must ask...why did the fans turn on the Rock?? Was it nostalgia to a return to the simpler times in which good/evil was clear, a desire for certainty even for one night? Was it because the Rock had betrayed wrestling with his entrance into a movie career?

You will see the fans go from cheering the Rock..to split..to heavily behind Hogan..even to the point where Patrick and I were out of seats calling for Hogan's signature moves all the knowing that the Rock would win. But we bought in, we reached that second naivety..

all hail alma mater

2007-11-09T12:41:00.000-05:00

you knew this was coming..

This is from a man who sent Dick Vitale cupcakes a few years ago after Vitale called out Colorado State's schedule for playing a "cupcake" like Gardner-Webb. Now, Vitale is scheduled to call a Gardner-Webb game next week at Madison Square Garden.

"I may bring him more cupcakes," Scruggs said. "He seemed to like them."

Sports information director Marc Rabb said this was easily the biggest win of any kind in Gardner-Webb's athletic history.

"This is our Michigan-Appalachian State in football terms," Rabb said.

Kentucky..you just don't show up and think you can run with the Bulldogs baby..We are talking about students from Boiling Springs, NC - Wooo!.. So Wildcats, whether you like or you dont like it, you better sit down a take a good look at like..because we just came into your backyard and worked it all night looong - Wooo!..

grad school

2007-11-05T21:17:00.000-05:00

facebook grad school group - Grad Students: they're Not Bad People, they Just Made Terrible Life Choices

You might be a Grad Student if..(a few of my favorites)

7.you have ever discussed academic matters at a sporting event.
9.you find the bibliographies of books more interesting than the actual text.
11.you look forward to taking some time off to do laundry.
16.you get irresistible urges to use in-text citations in casual e-mails.
24.you procrastinate on one project by working on another project.

33.You might be a grad student if you feel slightly sick whenever the thought occurs to you that the entirety of your thesis will be read by a maximum of five people: your advisor, an external examiner, a selfless friend editing the spelling mistakes and perhaps one or two nerds who - for some reason or another - are interested in the same stuff as you. The feeling of sickness is soon accompanied with the related question "Is it really worth all this???"

37.people (non-grad students) ask you "Are you going to be done soon?" and you laugh but inside a little part of you dies.
41.14 hours a day on campus is typical, even on an elusive day known as Saturday.
75. you understand jokes about Foucault.

The Top Lies Told by Graduate Students
6. Your latest article was so inspiring.
5. I turned down a lot of great job offers to come here.
4. I just have one more book to read and then I'll start writing.
1. No really, I'll be out of here in only two more years.

i want to be immature

2007-10-28T14:05:00.000-05:00

in the Deweyean sense of course..

Dewey seeks to reframe immaturity as a positive term that expresses the ability to develop and grow. While this may seem somewhat pedantic at first, Dewey convincingly argues that our common notion of immaturity often applied to youth carries a notion of lack or void. This lack is created when the youth is compared so some arbitrarily fixed notion of an adulthood that is "mature" and fully formed. This of course leads to one of the main heresies for the pragmatists, the setting up of a standard as an "ideal and..static end."

If we buy into this heresy, our only notion of growth is to evaluate how well one has lived into this static and ideal end. Further, when one reaches this point, there is no further possibility of growth. Thus, Dewey takes a step back and describes immaturity as the "power to grow." The "eager and impassioned activities" of a child point to the restless desire for development and possibility based on the two characteristics of dependence and plasticity. These two traits of immaturity form the basis for the creation of habits that are able to shape an ever changing reality that continuously reveals novelty.

from the man:

The primary condition of growth is immaturity. This may seem to be a mere truism _ saying that a being can develop only in some point in which he is undeveloped. But the prefix "im" of the word immaturity means something positive, not a mere void or lack. It is noteworthy that the terms "capacity" and "potentiality" have a double meaning, one sense being negative, the other positive. Capacity may denote mere receptivity, like the capacity of a quart measure. We may mean by potentiality a merely dormant or quiescent state _ a capacity to become something different under external influences. But we also mean by capacity an ability, a power; and by potentiality potency, force. Now when we say that immaturity means the possibility of growth, we are not referring to absence of powers which may exist at a later time; we express a force positively present _ the ability to develop.

speaking of grief

2007-10-21T10:38:00.001-05:00

Lewis - A Grief Observed

2007-10-21T10:15:00.000-05:00

Many times I think that C.S. Lewis's most read book should be "A Grief Observed." It is wonderful and haunting and desperate and beautiful. Lewis journaled about the death of his wife Joy after their short marriage and originally published it under another name. It is fascinating that he was sent many copies of his own book by those sympathetic to his loss. A record of honest and raw struggle, I will never forget reading the passage about being in the dentist chair.."It doesn't really matter whether you grip the arms of the dentist's chair or let your hands lie in your lap. The drill drills on." - a few quotes..

Part of every misery is, so to speak, the misery's shadow or
reflection: the fact that you don't merely suffer but have to
keep on thinking about the fact that you suffer. I not only
live each endless day in grief, but live each day thinking about
living each day in grief.

This is one of the things I'm afraid of. The agonies,
the mad moments, must, in the course of nature die
away. But what will follow? Just this apathy, this dead
flatness?

But go to Him when your need is desperable, when
all other help is vain, and what do you find? A door
slammed in your face, and a sound of bolting and dou-
ble-bolting on the inside. After that, silence.

When I lay these questions before God, I get no an-
swer. But rather, a special kind of 'no answer.' It is
not the locked door. It is more like a silent, certainly
not uncompassionate, gaze. As though He shook His
head not in refusal but waiving the question. Like,
'Peace, child; you don't understand.' . . . Can a mortal
ask questions which God finds unanswerable? Quite
easily, I should think. All nonsense questions are un-
answerable. How many hours are there in a mile? Is
yellow square or round? Probably half the questions
we ask_half our great theological and metaphysical
problems_are like that.

garth brooks on my blog?

2007-10-20T10:17:00.000-05:00

it was a little surreal last night to be with my friend Lee Brice as the debut of Garth Brooks' video "More than a Memory," a song that Lee co-wrote, debuted on TV. No one would accuse me of being a country music fan but I think they did a good job with this video as the rain just really nails that feeling..

cause when you're dialing her number just to hang up the phone
Driving cross town just to see if she's home
Waking a friend in the dead of the night
just to hear him say its going to be alright
When you're finding things to do, not to fall asleep
Cause you know she 's waiting in your dreams
that's when she's
more than a memory

and as for Lee as a writer, doesn't get much higher than that..
I still think song writers and poets are our closest allies as preachers and I enjoyed meeting Kyle Jacobs, another co-writer of the song, and look forward to more conversations around this topic..good stuff..

see Lee at the Grand Ol Opry or hear him sing more than a memory here

pluralism

2007-10-19T13:15:00.000-05:00

interesting issues for the emerging church..

Bernstein notes several different manifestations of pluralism; 1) fragmenting pluralism: where the centrifugal forces become so strong we only can communicate within small groups that share biases, 2) flabby pluralism: borrowings from others are attempts at glib poaching, 3) polemical pluralism: listen and learn from others but use learnings as ideological weapon, 4) defensive pluralism: pay lip service to others but "do your own thing." Bernstein suggests that we need an engaged fallibistic pluralism (rooted in "the" pragmatic tradition) that takes our own fallibility seriously while listening to others without denying their otherness. (397) This of course becomes even more imperative since there is neither an universal standard to fall back upon nor the reality of incommensurable "conceptual schemes" (Davidson) that are untranslatable and self-enclosed. Thus, we need an evaluative approach of "openness and real possibility." (Stuhr, 184)

how does the story end?

2007-10-19T02:09:00.000-05:00

God will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.

"Then Aslan turned to them and said, 'you are- as you used to call it in the Shadowlands- dead. The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream is ended: this is the morning."- C.S. Lewis, The Last Battle
---

I do not turn to the God of the philosophers tonight nor the great Ideal that in some way predetermines it all. That story has no interest or more importantly, no hope for me.

I turn to an intimate God, a God who walks with us, who is a part of our conversations, our joy, our sweat, our tears. A God who weeps and learns with us, who stays up on sleepless nights alongside us..But this is also a God who will fight for us, who will stand when we want only to fall.

David Paulsen puts it, "the biblical record describes the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as "the living God" who created man in his "own image and likeness" (Gen. 1:26), who spoke with Moses "face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend" (Exod. 33:11). He is the loving God who is profoundly "touched with the feeling of our infirmities" (Heb. 4:15) and salvifically involved in our individual and collective lives."

To this active, intimate, loving, embracing, weeping, heartbroken God I pray:

"How will the story end?" Will it end as they say it will with fire and murder and blood? Will I be brought before a screen and all my failures and pain played in HD? Will it end in reconciliation for all or is this all a joke and our bodies lay dead forever as Whitman so bravely wrote? Is broken love restored? Are wounded bodies made whole? Is hollowness filled in?

What say you God? Do you know? Or do you hope too? Is it up in the air and the battle still on? Is there a chance that despair can win the day?

Do we make a difference? Which side do tears give power too? What about smiles or bleeding hearts?

So if we are co-creators, co-participators with you God..I have a proposition for you: Let's co-create some peace in my heart. Let's co-participate in the healing of wounds and mending of brokenness. Let's co-get-some-of-that-overflowing-and-abundant-grace I've heard is stored up somewhere. Let's co-damn up the waves of sadness and co-block out the winds of insecurity. Let's co-dream up some re-re-re-imagined anything that stops the leaking of hope.

I'm up anyway and I sure can't read any phenomenology right now. So let's get the tools and I'll believe for a moment that the old revivalists were on to something when they said "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight..can be your moment of salvation." - Amen

Will you pray with me?

humans..books..

2007-10-18T21:00:00.000-05:00

"Here is the infallible test: Imagine yourself in a situation where you are alone, wholly alone on earth, and you are offered one of the two, books or men. I often hear men prizing their solitude but that is only because there are still men somewhere on earth even though in the far distance. I knew nothing of books when I came forth from the womb of my mother, and I shall die without books, with another human hand in my own. I do, indeed, close my door at times and surrender myself to a book, but only because I can open the door again and see a human being looking at me." - Buber

to my fellow students..

books will not touch you back
their pages will not bring comfort in pain
study carols are not the couches of friends
nor will the stacks give a life-saving embrace

you cant check out love and take it home
or get new friendships from InterLibrary Loan
old tables and sterile walls will bring only death
as you deposit your heart in the book return on the way in

blunt the psalmist

2007-10-18T20:55:00.000-05:00

Title: James Blunt - Goodbye My Lover

Did I disappoint you or let you down?
Should I be feeling guilty or let the judges frown?
'Cause I saw the end before we'd begun,
Yes I saw you were blinded and I knew I had won.

So I took what's mine by eternal right.
Took your soul out into the night.
It may be over but it won't stop there,
I am here for you if you'd only care.

You touched my heart you touched my soul.
You changed my life and all my goals.
And love is blind and that I knew when,
My heart was blinded by you.

I've kissed your lips and held your head.
Shared your dreams and shared your bed.
I know you well, I know your smell.
I've been addicted to you.

Goodbye my lover.
Goodbye my friend.
You have been the one.
You have been the one for me.(2x)

I am a dreamer but when I wake,
You can't break my spirit - it's my dreams you take.
And as you move on, remember me,
Remember us and all we used to be

I've seen you cry, I've seen you smile.
I've watched you sleeping for a while.
I'd be the father of your child.
I'd spend a lifetime with you.

I know your fears and you know mine.
We've had our doubts but now we're fine,
And I love you, I swear that's true.
I cannot live without you.

Goodbye my lover.
Goodbye my friend.
You have been the one.
You have been the one for me.(2x)

And I still hold your hand in mine.
In mine when I'm asleep.
And I will bear my soul in time,
When I'm kneeling at your feet.

I'm so hollow, baby, I'm so hollow.
I'm so, I'm so, I'm so hollow.

poem

2007-10-15T08:14:00.001-05:00

by Meister Eckhart

What keeps us alive, what allows us to endure?

I think it is the hope of loving,
or being loved.

one way to start a church

2007-10-08T07:31:00.000-05:00

wow..just go big to begin..

On Sunday morning at Horizon Christian Fellowship, a 15-member worship band cranks out praise songs and the pastor preaches with the aid of stadium lighting and jumbo-size screens. But the church, which is only eight months old, has an average attendance of just 28.

Instead of starting a church in some "depressing little storefront," Allen says he decided to rent the biggest space he could find.
"It reflects our confidence in where we’re headed," he says.

"God honors faith," he says. "He won’t leave this place empty."

jesus is my boyfriend songs

2007-10-03T13:09:00.000-05:00

There are a number of Jesus is my boyfriend praise songs out there. The one that gets me every time is "Your Love is Extravagant." Now, while there are important critiques of this type worship, it may be worthwhile to point out that the only problem some of the mystics would have had with it is that they didn't go far enough! For more info on that, see various books on mystics or check out Kenda Casey Dean's "Practicing Passion."

CCMPatrol (in their new redesigned web presence) gives a somewhat humorous rundown of this type music..including..

Jesus take me as I am,
I can come no other way.
Take me deeper into You,
Make my flesh melt away.
"Jesus, Take Me As I Am"
By Dave Bryant

Oh Lord, you put a tongue in my mouth.
"You Put A Tongue In My Mouth"
by Ian Smalle

I need Your loving arms again
I need the warmth of Your embrace
Look into my soul again and set my heart aflame.
"I Need You"
By James Choi

when dreams are busted - the answer= meth and then Xnty

2007-09-27T06:06:00.000-05:00

lately at the story, we've been exploring dreams, how to live into those dreams and perhaps a little on what happens when dreams are busted. here's an interesting take..dannah boyd writes:

When i was trying to unpack the role of crystal meth in domestic violence, i started realizing that the meth offered a panacea when the fantasy bubble burst. Needless to say, this resulted in a spiral into hell for many once-dreamers. The next step was even more nauseating. When i started seeing how people in rural America recovered from meth, i found one common solution: born-again Christianity. The fervor for fame which was suppressed by meth re-emerged in zealous religiosity. Christianity promised an even less visible salvation: God's grace. While blind faith is at the root of both fame-seeking and Christianity, Christianity offers a much more viable explanation for failures: God is teaching you a lesson... be patient, worship God, repent, and when you reach heaven you will understand.

While i have little issue with the core tenants of Christianity or religion in general, i am disgusted by the Christian Industrial Complex. In short, i believe that there is nothing Christian about the major institutions behind modern day organized American Christianity. Decades ago, the Salvation Army actively engaged in union-busting in order to maintain the status-quo. Today, the Christian Industrial Complex has risen into power in both politics and corporate life, but their underlying mission is the same: justify poor people's industrial slavery so that the rich and powerful can become more rich and powerful. Ah, the modernization of the Protestant Ethic.

Morgenthaler - Worship must become Centrifugal

2007-09-26T19:48:00.000-05:00

Morgenthaler brings it:

However, when I visited their congregations, it wasn't hard to see that the biggest barrier to reaching the unchurched had little to do with worship technique or style. It had to do with isolation and the faux-worship that isolation inevitably creates.

When I wrote Worship Evangelism, I'd had no intention of distracting people from the world outside. I only wanted to give them another way of connecting to it.

Nearly 72 percent of churches with average weekly attendance of at least 2,000 people are found in a swath from Georgia and Florida across Texas to California..roughly the Bible Belt and the most churchgoing sectors of the Sun Belt.5 It's hard not to see the correlation.

[on the movie 'Saved'] - Truth hurts. Here was a film that depicted the smug, self-absorption of an evangelical school culture_complete with narcissistic praise and worship. I wondered if the dozen or so who walked out on it were Christians who didn't want to face themselves on the screen. If it hadn't been for my colleague drawing me aside in 2000, I could have been one those.

No sad songs. No angry songs. Songs about desperation, but none about despair. Worship for the perfect. The already arrived. The good-looking, inoffensive, and nice. No wonder the unchurched aren't interested.

But as culture has become incessantly more spiritual and adamantly less religious, we at Sacramentis have become convinced that the primary meeting place with our unchurched friends is now outside the church building. Worship must finally become, as Paul reminds us, more life than event