Small Things Matter

Our Pastor preached a great sermon on the difference between happiness and success this past Sunday and used these funny clips as a way to help unpack the meaning of contentment and to illustrate the lessons of 1 Timothy 6:6 - "Godliness with contentment is great gain." Note: He did tactfully edit out the references to beer, because it kinda reduced the Godliness aspect. :)

Shift Happens

A MAGL student just showed us this presentation in class today. Very interesting. It gives a good portrayal of our changing world and poses a challenge for educators to ask new questions in how to think about the needs of students.

When I watch these videos, I am always impressed and left with a sense of awe at the increasingly complex and interconnected nature of our world. It is overwhelming to think about. Sometimes, I wonder if this rapid change of our world is a long term phenomena? Will it run out of gas at some point and level out? Or are we facing a new future that is hard to fathom with only unfathomable change to count on?

Part of the reason I love being in seminary is that I get to think about and learn about the church in this changing world. Working for the MAGL program and studying in the Intercultural Studies degree has been a fulfilling and enriching experience. The one introduces me to online education and the other teaches me to see the world through missiological eyes. This is what I try to remember when my brain starts to hurt after watching these kind of presentations.

Jesus Video

More exegetical satire!

Jesus Video

Friends of mine showed me these videos yesterday. I guess you could say this falls into the category of exegetical satire. Enjoy!

Talking About "The War"

This is a report from PBS's weekly news magazine, Now, called "Talking about war." The pitch:

How does a democracy decide to wage war? To commemorate December 7,1941—the very day Pearl Harbor was attacked by Japanese warplanes 66 years ago—David Brancaccio interviews filmmakers Ken Burns and Lynn Novick and the Rev. James Forbes Jr. The four discuss Burns and Novick's epic World War II documentary "The War." Looking to the past as a mirror to the present, the four discuss how the waging of war intersects with our notion of democracy.

I have seen parts of the "The War" and have been very impressed. Ken Burns has done a great job of bringing the consecrated bloodless image of WWII to a personal level, where the details of war are just as gritty as any other time in history. Check out this clip.

MCN on TV

Here is a ABC Dateline report about desertion in the US military during the Iraq War and it features Michael, introduced as a "Mennonite Christian," who is a good friend and a former colleague at the Military Counseling Network. The report shows several soldiers I worked with in Germany during my time with MCN. There is a particular tense moment in the course of the interview when Michael says, "take the highest number [of AWOL soldiers] the military gives you and double it. There is no reason for the military to give out that information." To which a Lt. Colonel responds by admitting that he is the only soldier left in the military and runs around to be in different places which makes it only appear that there are 500,000 soldiers in the military. First of all, that cannot be true. No way! I just don't believe him. Come to think of it this is a very smart response. Somehow this will confuse the terrorists. Good thinking, dude!

However, the MOST IMPORTANT point to this post is that you can see ME at the press conference standing behind the podium, off in the crowd, for the briefest of moments.

Talib Kweli "Too Late"

A short, jerky, far-off, out of focus, glimpse of Talib in concert. Check out Talib in the "Music Lounge" in my side bar.

A Vision of Students Today

This is a video that my friend JR (lifeasmission.com/blog) posted on his blog. It deals with similar questions that we ask at my work, Masters of Arts in Global Leadership, and our efforts in adapting seminary education to an online format. Thought ya'll would find it helpful to know a little more about what my work at MAGL is like.

The War of the News

I have been spending quality time with PBS Frontline's documentary called, "News Wars." The documentary gives an in-depth report on the state of the news industry and how it has dramatically changed since the start of the turn of the Century. From the Bush Administration, leaking (governmentally speaking), "Plame Gate," to new issues in source protection, politics have had dramatic impact on how the news is done. The medium of cable TV as well has had a huge impact from serious "hard" news to ever increasing allotment of "soft" news - entertainment, style, sports (Anna Nicole Smith, Tomcat - need I say more?) The best "hard" news program is the Daily Show, which says a lot about the disrepair of mainstream news. Additionally, the internet is significantly altering the way we access news, the specialization of news and how it is distributed. Newspapers, still the overwhelming producer of legwork, research and on the ground journalism are in an anxious scramble of how to adapt to the new business dynamics, how to counteract a diminished reputation, and how to maintain principles of serving the public trust.

Which brings me to my point and my link. The PBS documentary is a mere, "Lord of The Ringsish" 270 minutes long, hence I will cut to the chase with what I found was most fascinating and infuriating. There is a series of clips in a row that tells the wistful tale of the experience of the LA Times and how it sheds light on what is happening in the broader context of the news industry. In the role of "Sauron" is the Tribune Company, a media conglomerate that owns many media outlets based in Chicago (Mordor). The Los Angeles Times is "Frodo," burdened with the task of bearing the good news (journalistically speaking). If you have the time, have no girlfriend, or live as long as Elves, please check out three 10 min long clips (might not work for Firefox):

The Story of the LA Times and American Journalism

Chapter 21: The Story of the LA Times http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/newswar/view/21.html

Chapter 22: The Fight to Save the Paper

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/newswar/view/22.html?c=4wm

Chapter 23: "Hyperlocalism"

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/newswar/view/23.html?c=4wm

The development of "hyperlocal" news is indicative of the state of journalism in our time and the political-cultural context we live in. In the one bit, the Tribune "Sauramon" Representative basically said, we won't cover the news because there is no profit in it and we want to offer news that people find more palatable, a.k.a. fluffy. This financially based strategic plan of the Tribune Company for the LA Times is the embodiment of the debate of the shift of to local, soft news, and moving away from finding out and telling about the proverbial truth in American journalism.

At one point the NY Times editor sarcastically gives a comment of the common excuses to reduce to local news, "If you want to go find out about the war, buy the NY Times." WHAT!?! Isn't this journalistic institutionalization of denial or playing into the society to believe "If I shut my eyes tight enough I don't see anything bad?"

It used to be that businesses existed for a purpose - to publish a newspaper, to produce toilet paper, to manufacture gaskets, etc. Now the immense shift in purpose to making money for Wall Street, stockholders, and shares is at the center at the struggle for newspapers future. The current state of affairs in journalism is being dictated by the understanding that purpose becomes secondary or at least a means to an end of greater wealth. Having been around enough news folk with my work in Germany, that vibe was something that was easy to pick up on. Newspaper folk would say that this is hurting newspapers to be able to provide an important civic function and to be able to look out for the public trust. Ironically, the documentary points out that the most trusted source of news, according to polls, is NPR, which is a non-profit model.

Sheesh! I think I might need to go cleave some Orcs to feel better about myself, but that might just be another form of escapism. Instead, I will go, buy newspapers and listen to NPR, so Frodo will at least have a chance.