Dog vs. Balloons

Cartoon: Details

How much time do you waste on the details?
I'm not sure I even want to know. (Link)

Gloves Off

These two clips highlight the ridiculousness of our media. While news can probably never be purely objective, I think American news companies could learn a few things from BBC News.

The Race Card

While I think Stewart may have downplayed Clinton’s comment somewhat, his critique of the media’s exploitation and distortion of the comment is dead-on.

MLK & LBJ

Responding to Clinton’s comment about King’s dream, Bill Moyers and Jim Wallis shed some light on how that dream came to be realized. Video below. (Transcript)

“But it was King, not Johnson, who had painted a vivid picture for the world to see that changed the winds of public opinion and made a voting rights act now possible." (Jim Wallis)

Music: Yes We Can

This simple and repetitive song keeps inviting me to replay it.
Even if Obama wins, I'm sure there could be a "No We Didn't" remake someday.
Nevertheless, I'm optimistic and I'm hopeful--YES WE CAN!

Gaza's Supply Run

“The streets were packed, and people were bringing into Gaza everything from soap and cigarettes to goats, chickens, medicine, mattresses and car paint.” International Herald Tribune

As I read about the wall breaches into Egypt I couldn’t help but wonder how many of the persons coming to the US illegally are also doing supply runs for their families.

Gun Legislation

Despite strong support from many Virginia Tech survivors, a bill requiring background checks for buyers at gun shows failed to pass the state’s Senate.

ACT: Support the Brady Campaign’s efforts to close this loophole through Congress.

Letter to Martin

Reflecting on his annual “A Letter to Martin,” Bishop Woodie White told me that “We are not where we want to be, and we are not where what we should be, but thank God we are not where we used to be!”

As we push forward in all causes, I pray we'll never forget where we used to be.

Quote: Torture

Senator Ted Kennedy: "Would waterboarding be torture if it was done to you?"
US Attorney General Michael Mukasey: "I would feel it was."
(Yahoo News)

Events

United Methodist Day of Love and Justice
February 11, 10:00am-1:00pm @ GA Capital (Details)

More Jesus

I recently emailed a few people about my spiritually moving experience at the most recent PsalmWriters event. As I compared that experience of contemporary & traditional, personal piety & social justice, with my experiences at seminary--I found myself wanting more Jesus from Candler. The other night my cup was overflowing; at Candler my spiritual vitality is usually sucked out of me. It's not that extreme, but you know what I mean.

During the last couple of years I have tried to hold evangelism and social action together. I'm apart of the Candler Evangelical Society and the Social Concerns Network. But at Candler it seems like Jesus only represents why we should care about the poor and work for justice. When it comes to Jesus being someone who we should tell the world about and someone who is intimate with humanity, liberals cover their ears and cringe.

As evangelicals broaden their social agenda, I wonder if more liberal institutions might get left in the dust. Nicholas Kristof recently wrote, “Today, many evangelicals are powerful internationalists and humanitarians — and liberals haven’t awakened to the transformation.” (NY Times) In an article about his new book, Jim Wallis, one of the catalysts of this transformation, argues that “the evangelical community is changing dramatically to include issues such as poverty and pandemic diseases, environmental care and climate change, trafficking and human rights, genocide, war and peace.”

I realize Candler does do many things, after all we hosted Jim Wallis last year. And its students are making a difference in Atlanta and in the world; but isn’t there much more we could be doing? Might a greater evangelical witness, an emphasis on personal holiness, and more Jesus in our seminary result in more faithful Christians leading more faithful ministries?