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I've been entrusted with the microphone at Koinonia for July 18th. As part of our message series on Joel's book, Become a Better You, I'll be giving a brief message on Chapter 15, "Being Nice to People," before turning things over to the small group leaders to discuss. So, between now and then, I'm going to just throw some of my notes on the blog.

One obvious starting point for what I expect to talk about is from the book of John (Message version) ...

John 13:34-35

^34-35 "Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples--when they see the love you have for each other."

The first part of this short passage is vaguely familiar since it resonates with Mark 12:29-31, "Love your neighbor as yourself." The last part of the line from John, I suspect, is less familiar.

Put another way, the only way people will recognize us as a disciple of Christ will be by the way we show love to others. That's something you can't fake with insincerity. It's something we will fail to show if you think any good deeds you do need to be a full public display. It is something we will struggle with. The following lines from John continue with Peter telling Jesus that he would lay down his life for Jesus. Jesus goes on to tell him that he will, in fact, deny Christ.

I think more than just being prophetic, what Jesus is really saying here is that the type of love we're called to bring into the world will not happen as easily as we may think. We can expect to struggle with this commandment. We can expect to practice it very clumsily. But it's all part of the path we're on.

More later on this series. I'm guessing that I'll end up having about 90-minutes worth of material that I'll need to whittle down to about 5 minutes for the sake of having an audience sit still for my part of the show. As always, your own response, reaction, and insights are more than welcome as I think up ways to condense so much material.

» NYT Magazine: G.M., Detroit and the Fall of the Black Middle Class

This week's cover story for the New York Times Sunday Magazine covers a lot of territory - everything from the downward socioeconomic trends of urban Detroit to the more lingering concerns of still-employed middle class African-Americans in the Detroit suburbs. But the main focus of the story is that of Marvin Powell, who's faith is a big part of how he's dealing with the uncertainty of working at General Motors these days.

Powell's positive outlook is largely a product of the life he leads outside the plant at the Greater Grace Temple, one of Detroit's largest, best-known churches. Among its claims to fame is that in the fall of 2005, more than 4,000 people, including former President Clinton, Aretha Franklin and an Illinois senator named Barack Obama, packed its pews for the funeral for the transplanted Detroiter Rosa Parks. (Parks came to Detroit in 1957, not long after famously refusing to vacate her bus seat, joining her brother, an auto-assembly-line worker who migrated North years earlier.)

...

Powell delivers the same message in his Bible class at the plant. Recently he has returned repeatedly to Isaiah 6:1, in which Isaiah recounts how the death of King Uzziah inspired him to join the prophetic ministry: "In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple." Powell tells his co-workers that G.M. is just like King Uzziah, an earthly entity whom people put their trust in but who ultimately failed them. "In the year King Uzziah died I saw the Lord -- my focus shifted to the Lord," Powell says. "In the year G.M. became a bankrupt company, my focus shifted to the Lord."

The church hasn't been a stranger to NY Times reporters, thanks to their attention-getting service with SUVs on the pulpit and prayers for a recovery in the local economy. The more defined focus on Powell and his extended family in this more recent story adds some interesting context.

Sunday's special ... music courtesy of MercyMe, rendition courtesy of Michael Mellett:

I hadn't known about this before, but one little tidbit in a Forbes interview with Joel Osteen notes that his next book is out on November 3.

Ironically ... that's my birthday. Even more ironically ... the title of the book is "It's Your Time."

The Stoning of Soraya M. opens today in theaters. I had the good fortune of catching a preview of the movie back on 5/21. There's decent odds that any church-going network of friends will have the movie title come up in conversation, possibly even that there will be church outings to the theater or a related message from the occasional pulpit.

I didn't leave convinced that the movie really fit the same market as Passion or even Amazing Grace. But it is definitely interesting to see the movie appeal to a far broader range of opinion than either of those. In the case of Stoning, there are political conservatives who view the movie as a means of casting Islam in a negative light; while from the politically liberal end of the spectrum, the movie strikes a chord for those desiring greater emphasis on women's rights. If you chose to do so, you could view this as an all-inclusive appeal. I'll argue here that it's a bit more of a cacophony of appeals.

First things first, however, there were many elements of the movie that I greatly enjoyed. As a geography nut, the scenery was wonderful. And, at times, I think the movie dealt with some of the complexity of attitudes toward Islam and shariah law very well. It's definitely a very well acted and well produced movie. And in an era where the production of "Christian movies" sometimes still relates to secular movies in a way that "Christian music" related to secular music in the '80s, there is a lot to be appreciated by the fact that this film is either at-par or better with anything else on the market. On the whole, I did like a lot about this movie and would probably recommend it with a bit of caution.

The question marks I left with in the preview, however, were as follows:

- Character-wise, it seemed as if Soraya's character was a bit too shoe-horned into a parallel of Jesus. I haven't read the book that movie is based on and it should be emphasized here that this is based on a true story. I'm not sure how stark the relatively sinful husband and somewhat pure Soraya contrast in that version, but it seemed overdone in the film. At times, this took away from the movie's otherwise great production - watch the husband do donuts in his car with prostitutes in a town square that seems made up of a 24-square-foot sound stage and tell me I'm wrong.

- The movie's depiction of Islam. The movie allows a viewer to make a conclusion of Islam and shariah law that don't entirely line up with reality. Wikipedia has a nickel version here on how the law is interpreted in Iran. Given that Christian audiences are a primary target for the movie, this is more than a little grating.

- Mimicking The Passion and Amazing Grace. True to this movie's title, there is a stoning scene. I hardly think this qualifies as a spoiler. If it is a spoiler, then I'm willing to bet you'll thank anyone who spoils it for you. Because the scene has gotten ample press for it's duration and perceived gratuitousness. That lends an obvious nod to The Passion. The fact that the movie is tied with a "call to action" is the homage to Amazing Grace. As one who's seen a number of "Class of Nuke 'em High" sequels, I can attest to the fact that there are worse formulas to abide by. Still, when you've got a good story to tell, a quality cast, good production value, etc ... it seems like a bit of a loss to end up copying another gameplan for marketing the movie.

- About that marketing plan. I've mentioned that the movie is being pitched to church groups. What I haven't mentioned is that you're in store for three moments of coarse language (not talking about a heck or a darn, either). The movie is rated R, primarily for the bloodiness of the final scene. The language is designed to show how the men in the film are viewing Soraya's character as inhuman - in and of itself a vital ingredient, I think. The nuns at the preview stuck around till the end and I'm hardly the biggest prude in the world. But I don't think the language they included was necessary and you should definitely evaluate the sensitivity of the group you're going to the movie with.

- About that call to action. Possibly the most confusing item for me. The film's website does call for online "signatures" to be sent to a variety of obvious organizations, plus a lengthy list of groups combating both the specific practice of stoning, or dealing with human rights in more general ways. I may be getting old and cynical, but an e-petition doesn't strike me as a particularly strong call to action. Then again, Facebook groups don't either. It isn't likely that you'll see an active call to send missionaries to the Middle East. And one more confusing element of the movie is that while such calls to action are aimed at national laws, the particular story of this stoning seems to involve a local instance (which may or may not have a connection to national law). While many nations where stoning takes place, the national governments are generally quick to point out the very low number of instances where the practice of stoning occurs. The real problem, it seems, is that the practice seems to occur more in rural, self-governed areas. While that doesn't absolve the allowability of the law on national books, it does raise a very serious question about what the best way to end the practice really is.

Despite all the positive that the movie has going for it, I'm not sure it really answers that. Reading through several of the interviews with those involved in the movie, however, it seems as if the intent is to suggest that we have that answer within us if we'll only be bold and brave enough to do .... um ... something.

Bottom line result, for my own taste is this: This is a good movie and could very well stand a test of time and look very good in 10-20 years ... well after the marketing of the movie fades away. Catch it on the big screen if you can, though. The scenery is good enough to warrant that. If you're as big a wuss as I am with bloody scenes, stare at the floor for that part.

Reviews & Inteviews: Houston Chronicle, NY Times, LA Times, A/V Club, Huffington Post, Beliefnet, Acton Institute

No time like the present to break the silence here ...

Apologies for all those looking for timely video highlights of a Sunday service or whatever two cents I decide to throw into the fountain that is this blog. For those that would like an accounting of time, it goes something like this: dayjob swamping my free time and the past weekend spent with a sore tooth from heck. The last was so bad that I ended up leaving church before service and after setting up video in the Loft. It also meant that I have no video recorded from the past weekend since I the sleep schedule was entirely out of whack.

Anyways, for now ... an overdue special performance from Da'Dra on the 14th ...

That's "Lord, You're Holy" ... of which, you can download a few different versions. This is another take at the song after Da'Dra's 2008 version - which you could probably watch if I had nagged tech support for my video provider a while ago. That's been taken care of today, also. So let's hear it for productivity!

More blogging to come ... I promise.

Houston's biggest Christian radio station, KSBJ, has disabled web-streaming of their broadcast. Wanna hear what they're playing? You'll now have to do it the old-fashioned way ... with a radio!

(via Mike McGuff)

» Out of Ur: Book Review: The Patriot's Bible (part 1) (Greg Boyd)

One of my favorites, Greg Boyd, finally unveiled his review of The American Patriot's Bible recently. This is only part one, but I think he pretty much nails the qualms I have with the concept here:

The Kingdom that Jesus' followers are to be committed to is one that expresses the "one new humanity" Jesus died to create, a humanity for which all dividing walls of nation and race have been abolished (Eph. 2:14). In Christ, we are no longer to relate to each other in terms of nationality, social class or gender (Gal. 3:28-29). The vision of the Kingdom we're to be working toward is one in which people from every nation and tribe come together to worship around the throne (Rev. 7:9-10). And the Kingdom we're to "seek first" is one that is centered on imitating Jesus' loving sacrifice for his enemies (Eph. 5:1-2; cf. Jn 13:5; 1 Pet 2:20-21; Jn 2:6). In this light, it's nothing short of tragic that we now find ourselves with a version of the Bible whose sole purpose is to reinforce the nationalism and celebrate the military victories of a particular country.

The point becomes even more important when we consider the long and sad history of "Christian" nationalism. Whenever the church failed to preserve the unique beauty of God's trans-national Kingdom and allowed itself to be co-opted by the spirit of nationalism, bloodshed "in Jesus' name" soon followed. Beginning in the late Middle Ages, this Christianized nationalism inspired Christians to wage war on other Christians in service to their respective countries. The numerous barbaric intra-Christian wars from the 14th to the 17th centuries significantly undermined the credibility of the Church and were the single greatest influence in the secularization of western culture.

Sadly, the Patriot's Bible is saturated with this nationalistic, "fight-for-God-and -country," mindset. For example, this Bible repeatedly celebrates God's supposed providential hand in the American Revolution, which is simply one of the more recent examples of Christians slaughtering other Christians for nationalistic purposes.

The publisher, Thomas Nelson Publishers, offered a response from the Bible's editor, Richard Lee.

I don't take particular delight in pointing to other aspects of minisitry as being insufficient or wrong. People do that to Joel and I know exactly how wrong they are to do it, so I make a pretty concerted effort to decline the favor even toward ministries that I do honestly have some serious questions about. In the end, I would hope that God uses them for good in ways that I don't necessarily have to understand.

But given my own previous challenges in finding a church home, I feel a bit differently toward this book. It really strikes me as everything that I've feared was wrong with a certain segment of Christianity (and in fairness, this segment is often visible within Lakewood). It just strikes me as a much clearer display of idolatry ... and hence wrong.

I just loved this part of Joel's sermon from the weekend ...

I can somewhat relate to the point.

Much overdue Aimee Beard ...

The number is "Footprints in the Sand" by Leona Lewis. You could download her version if you want, but I think I'd just rather listen to Aimee sing it a few hundred times over.

Come one, come all. Come for dinner only, or join us for movie and dinner combined. You're free to pick the movie if you want to fly solo or run with the herd. Naturally, I'm suggesting the latest from Pixar. That's where I'll be, anyway.

More fun from Sunday. This is the special, performed by the Kids Choir. The song is "Jubilee" by Tim Johnson if you like it enough to download a version of it.

Steve & Da'Dra pick up guitars for this week's highlight? Can't say I expected to see that. And it turns out that they made a nice, extended version out of "Holy Is the Lord" in the process ...

Look for the kid's special performance tomorrow.

So I had the pleasure of getting a free screening of "The Stoning of Soraya M" last night. For now, a trailer sneak-peek. Later on this weekend, I'll try and carve out some time for a recap of it. I thought there was a lot of good, a little bad, and a good bit of "challenging" in it, so there's likely to be a lot to say about this movie.

A short point to make for now is that this is probably a tough movie for church crowds, not just because of the topic but because of some moments of language in the film. I thought it more than timely that, with Derek Webb having issues over the release of his latest work because of a swear word, here's a movie with same.

The movie has a limited release (Houston's Angelika Theater among the locations) in June.

The latest update from Derek Webb ...

friends-

this is turning into a bigger deal than we expected. as a result, we're having to temporarily _pull everything online down (can't explain now). and to be on the s_afe side, i'm going to pe_rsonally go offline while we sort this out. i re_ally shouldn't use my twitter account for now either so _don't expect any updates there.

make no m_istake, our trouble with the label over content i_s very real, and not as simple as one word; we're back_ed into a corner. but we have applied all of our creative resources to th_is, working furiou_sly to create something that we believe not only subverts any leg_al issues but should also be a _pretty wild ride.

so this will be the l_ast email for a while. we'll t_ry to lea_k information via a new tw_itter account, @ssyndrome. you're o_n your own so start payin_g attention. i'l_l see you _on the o_ther side-

derek

The rumor from the previous update seems to have been some contention over the use of a dirty word in the new release - something that's been relatively taboo in Christian music. I'm not sure that this letter really negates that rumor, as much as it seems to indicate that things have escalated beyond that matter.

Either way, I'm metaphorically in line to get this latest release whenever it's released.

This weekend's special: Clayton Ring performing Matt Maher's "As It Is In Heaven" ...

I don't want to alarm anyone, but this may be the greatest thing ever:

Stryper ... Houston ... 11/5/09 ... House of Blues

Two days after my birthday. How sweet is that?

Derek Webb's email to fans about his next CD release ...

friends-

i haven't sent many personal emails to this email list but we're in a situation that has gotten a little out of control and it's time to fill you in. as some of you may know, i've been working for months on my new record, 'stockholm syndrome', which i've recently finished and turned in to the record label. they've been very supportive over the years, but this time we didn't get the response we expected. it seems i've finally found the line beyond which my label can support me, and apparently i've crossed it.

i consider this my most important record and am adamant about all of you hearing it. we had originally hoped to have 'stockholm syndrome' out this month (next week even), but at this point we're not sure when the record will come out and in what form. the majority of the controversy is surrounding one song, which i consider to be among the most important songs on the record. so we've decided it's an appropriate time to break the rules.

but because of various legal/publishing issues we're having to be rather careful with how we do what we're going to do next. that's really all i can say for now and i've probably said too much.

we have a plan and we're moving ahead, but we're not sure what kind of trouble we might be getting into. we'll let you know as soon as we know our next move-

derek

I gotta admit, this properly heightens my interest. Knowing what he HAS managed to get onto his CDs in the past ("Wedding Dress"), this seems to be pretty effective in terms of getting his fans amped up for a new cult favorite.

Very moving celebration of what it means for Lakewood to turn 50 years old. This weekend was a blast to celebrate the good things God does in the lives of people.

Two items to make your head spin today:

1. Samuel Wurzelbacher (aka "Joe the Plumber") is interviewed in Christianity Today. For the life of me, I have no idea why.

2. Apparently, Thomas Nelson Publishers will release "The Patriot's Bible." For the life of me, I have no idea why. At least in this instance, Greg Boyd looks ready to blog this one to death. Can't wait for the short version of his case in an upcoming Out of Ur posting.

Apparently my recording of Sunday is missing ... but I still have the Spanish service. Time for some video surgery.

Video from Sunday to be posted soon. I haven't totally disappeared ... just buried under a pile of work.

Friday ... Cannot! Wait!

Friday is actually a pretty packed day for events I wouldn't mind taking in. Jars of Clay is in town and the guys from Spinal Tap are playing Jones Hall just a few blocks from my office. Whatever ... I passed on seeing Over the Rhine last time they were in town and I'm not about to make that mistake twice.