|Mission & Peace Project(s)

I'm brainstorming about a project I need to do for a class on mission and peace. I have two ideas:

1. Conflict resolution in the church setting. How can we help the world find peace if we can't even solve our own problems?

Project ideas: Develop church-based seminar on conflict resolution/transformation. Design Sabbath School curriculum on conflict resolution. Outline program/procedures that can be implemented when various conflicts arise.

Possible resources:
--Peacemakers in Action: Profiles of Religion in Conflict Resolution (David Little)
--Hope in the Face of Conflict: Making Peace with Others the Way God Makes Peace with Us (Kenneth Newberger)
--The Peacemaker: A Biblical Guide to Resolving Personal Conflict (Ken Sande)
--Blessed Are the Peacemakers: Finding Peace With God, Yourself and Others (Neil T. Anderson and Charles Mylander)
--A Just Forgiveness: Responsible Healing Without Excusing Injustice (Everett L. Worthington Jr.)
--How To Manage Conflict In The Church, Dysfunctional Congregations, Volume III (Norman L. Shawchuck)
--Peacemaking: The Quiet Power : Conflict Resolution for Churches Through Mediation (Terje Hausken)
--Conflict Resolution in the Church (Brian Joseph Galloway)

2. New monasticism/Intentional Communities. How can the church be present in healing and peacemaking ways at the margins of the empire?

Project idea: Write a proposal for starting an intentional community in Benton Harbor. Our pastor has been talking about doing this. I could research how others are doing it, and write up a proposal (theology, logistics, funding, collaborating partners, operations, supervision, etc.).

I've appreciated learning about The Simple Way (site is currently down), New Monasticism, CCDA and the Community of Communities. The Irresistible Revolution was my introduction to this form of community and missions, but I've never really studied it or visited a community. Jesus for President also touched on this topic. Today 3 members of the Jubilee House spoke at a school forum, and it really sounds amazing.

Possible resources:
--Inhabiting the Church: Biblical Wisdom for a New Monasticism (Jon R. Stock, Tim Otto, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove)
--Living Faithfully in a Fragmented World: Lessons for the Church (Jonathan R. Wilson)
--School(s) for Conversion: 12 Marks of a New Monasticism (Rutba House)
--New Monasticism (Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove)
--Of Widows and Meals: Communal Meals in the Book of Acts (Reta Halteman Finger)
--Intimacy and Mission: Intentional Community as Crucible for Radical Discipleship (Luther E., Jr. Smith and Jim Wallis)
--Making Room: Recovering Hospitality As a Christian Tradition (Christine D. Pohl)
--all of these I posted on COR

UPDATE: Here are some Christianity Today articles about NM

• http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2005/september/16.38.html?start=1
• http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2005/september/17.12.html
• http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2006/september/19.100.html
• http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2007/march/32.79.html
• http://www.ctlibrary.com/ct/2008/february/23.28.html

|Adventist Activism

Lots of great new bits at Adventist Activism--post by Christine on community, Advent Conspiracy video, and links to some great articles.

|Sabbath Dinner

Have you seen this new website yet--Sabbath Dinner? Adventist Today highlighted it recently.

"If you need a place to eat this sabbath then you've come to the right place. Sabbath dinner.org allows you to search throughout the United State (and soon the World) to find out who is having sabbath dinner near you."

Here's another one for finding a new flatmate--Adventist Roommate.

Pretty soon we'll have an SDA version of Couch Surfing. Well, maybe not.

|Happiness, II

More research on happiness:

Study: Experiences make us happier than possessions (Elizabeth Landau, CNN.com, 10 Feb '09)

Psychological research suggests that, in the long run, experiences make people happier than possessions.

Four primary reasons are believed to contribute to this phenomenon. First, enduring memories:

...the initial joy of acquiring a new object, such as a new car, fades over time as people become accustomed to seeing it every day, experts said. Experiences, on the other hand, continue to provide happiness through memories long after the event occurred.

Second, social factors:

"When people spend money on life experiences, whether they also take someone with them or buy an extra ticket or whatever, most of our life experiences involve other individuals," Howell said. People were fulfilling their need for social bonding while having these experiences, he said.

Third, feelings of vitality:

Another reason for increased happiness in experiences, the researchers found, was that people felt a greater sense of vitality or "being alive" during the experience and in reflection, Howell said.

Fourth, fewer comparisons with others:

...people are less self-conscious when comparing experiences than they are about possessions. It will probably bother you more that your friend's home theater is better than yours than if your friend saw more sights on her South Seas vacation, Gilovich said.

Howell points out possible ways to apply these findings in the public sector as well as our private lives.

"If you create municipalities with more parks, bike trails, more hiking trails that make experiences easier, then I think you're going to have a happier population," he said.

[click here for previous post on happiness]

|Multi-media

Last week I was sick for a stretch. As I began to mend, I took some time to finish a book and watch a film.

The Book: More Ready Than You Realize: Evangelism as Dance in the Postmodern Matrix (Brian McLaren). Through email conversations that model "spiritual friendship," McLaren demonstrates that evangelism in a postmodern world can't continue as it did in the modern era. I genuinely appreciated this book and highly recommend it.

"OUT: Evangelism as sales pitch, as conquest, as warfare, as ultimatum, as threat, as proof, as argument, as entertainment, as show, as monologue, as something you have to do.

IN: Disciple-making as conversation, as friendship, as influence, as invitation, as companionship, as challenge, as opportunity, as conversation, as dance, as something you get to do."

The Film: Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove: Readings from Voices of A People's History of (2006). This two-hour long reading was informative and dull. I'm sure the book is better. Most of the speakers seemed to just be reading, not orating or acting. Since the opportunity to add archival photos or video was ignored, the recording would make a better CD for the road than a DVD. Why sit for 2 hours and listen to people read to you? Odd. I was bored. Skip it and check the book out at your library. Or read the original, A People's History of the United States.

BONUS FILM: Then last night I watched my December Netflix choice, The Real Dirt on Farmer John, when my lady friend went to bed early. What to say about this one? What is it?

A tribute to the farm culture.
A tribute to family.
A tribute to mothers.
A tribute to community.
A tribute to the Earth.
A tribute to creativity and innovation.
A tribute to life.
A tribute to the family farm.
A biographical tribute to John Peterson.

You have to see it to believe it. The archival footage puts this one notch above the poor cinematography of The Gleaners and I. It consistently gets higher ratings on Amazon than I feel are warranted, but that's how people feel. The bug video was one of my favorite parts (also on YouTube).

[Spoiler Alert] Regular Pack Light readers will know that I value Community Supported Agriculture, so I was glad to see the story head that direction in the end. Viva CSA!

If you want more information, look to The Future of Food, but if you like your documentary with more flash and flare than data, this could be for you. You will still have plenty to think about.

|Local Church/Community

I came across this great post on the church (i.e., a faith community) being present in its local geographic and social community--Location, Location, Location--while reading the International Justice Mission blog, which I jumped to from the page titled, "Churches on a Justice Journey--Engage."

Rutba House

I came across this article with a picture of the Rutba House today at Revolution in Jesusland--The unexpected monks. Beautiful.

I have a back-log of books to read right now, but the next two to be added at the bottom of the list are And You Call Yourself a Christian (Lupton) and School(s) for Conversion (Rutba House).

Right now I'm reading Jesus for President (Claiborne), and my in-laws gave me Everybody Wants to Change the World (Campolo) for my birthday. They also gave me the documentary, A Convenient Truth. Read that title carefully.