Why #Steampunk? Why Now? #analysis of #fantasy #narrative…

If you have been long time follower of my blog, you might be aware that I have a theory that with the advent of recent Speculative Fiction including (but not limited to) Harry Potter and Urban Fantasy the old idea that technology will ultimately wipe out all magic (as proposed by such classics as The Lord of the Rings, Narnia, and Wizard of Oz) has since been changed to the idea that magic and technology are parallel and coexisting worlds instead (something that I think THEOLOGY needs to catch up on…see full theory here )

So Steampunk, is our re-writing of the collective narrative, showing that even if technology had been bigger and more present in the Victorian Era, no way in the world would it have done away with magic…or religion for that matter…

There also tends to be good narratives inserting women heroines, non-hetereo-normative romances as well as developing ethnically empowering narratives. Writing the novels in such a way that they broaden our understanding of history

Steampunk, now, because it is fairy tales and technology…and people in history…we can see it better now….
Steampunk is the next step on Speculative Fiction’s natural development as it narrates itself through the contemporary world as it is today
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What is in a name?

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In the Bible…humans are naming creatures…..

And let’s face it…

We love to name things.

Who wouldn’t love to name a dinosaur?

How about naming children?

What about when we tell a story, analyze it and figure out what is really going on so we can “name it”. Its important, its our job….its fun 🙂

Pretty much, we are learning creatures, and we love to name things.

So why do labels matter? Why does it matter what we call God? Why do we have so many names for God anyway…Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer. Light, Hope & Salt. And occasionally even refering to God as “She” you know for all the mothering, growing, birthing language

because we are naming creatures

So….when it comes to sexuality & gender which we suck at talking about in the church (to put it lightly)–this naming act is so important.

So…if you want to know why saying what your gender is, what pronoun you want to be referred to…and what kind of sexuality you express is so important…

(i.e. why this is so important)

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….its because we are naming creatures.

God made us fluid beings, full of creativity and the ability to love. The ability to find new ways of expression.

Since when is life so limited

Since when is God so limited

I bet a thousand years from now we will still be discovering new, fantastic ways of being and naming them right and left….

because we are, at heart, a people who love to name things

And when someone names themselves for us…we should listen carefully and give that name back to them–in the pastoral and psychological world we call it reflective listening…after all we have a lot of things to name ourselves

@amandapalmer #nextchurch #nonprofit #ministry…who wants to discuss #theartofasking #media

Pretty sure I’m going to devour this book in 5 secs. flat….so….

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Who in nonprofits/ministry wants to discuss Amanda Palmer’s book and what it means in terms of fundraising, media ..you know tiny issues like that which effect our daily existence? Plus this is a great window into the “sharing” culture that I so love today…

I’m planning on leading a twitter discussion on Sun Feb 8th at 7pm Eastern time. My handle is bookkats

If you need the book or want to give it to someone else check out https://massmosaic.com/groups/162/info

Let’s get the word out!

http://www.ted.com/talks/amanda_palmer_the_art_of_asking?language=en

Great Thanksgiving / #communion #prayer #breath #taste and #word of God

The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.

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It is truly right to give our thanks and praise
to our Lord God, who breathed life into us
Let us now breathe out praises
God, who spoke the Word to us, and that word is
Hope, Life, and Peace incarnate.
So that all might taste God in the breaking of Christ’s body,
and the spilling of Jesus’ blood.
So we might all taste and see that God is good

Holy Spirit, holy breath move once more among us
that the bread we break and the cup we bless
so this may be a kingdom meal
so we are nourished by Christ.
Unite and repair all brokenness
in communion
Grant this to be a communion celebration
among us
and within us
and throughout the world we pray in Christ’s Holy Name.

#MYOGHS a counter to #notmyOGHS, ideas for better theological #media

Presbyterians are awesome. I say this completely biased opinion, but I love, Love, LOVE our theology and integral to that is the community-connectional nature of our theology…We are one in Christ

We shoulder our burden together trying to connect smaller churches with bigger ones, trying to partner up those congregations that differ, trying to reach out into the community…sometimes our actions are not as effective as we like–but we base them on a solid theology.

Were I to run the campaign for One Great Hour of Sharing I would illustrate the following theological statements from 1 Cor 12

Because the Eye cannot say to the hand “I have no need of you” (Someone looking for things, Another person working with their hands)

The body is not made up of one part…but many…(I would make a body shape out of a diverse bunch of bodies)

If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be. (I’d have someone listening, and someone else smelling food)

On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable..(maybe share one of our stories of someone who was raised into ministry or service with low resources, or an illustration of the widow’s mite)

For we were all made to drink of one Spirit (water for all)

One Great Hour of Sharing: Because we need each other…