Monday, April 30, 2012

Everyone is talking about church/state

I just wrote a bit about the separation of church and state concerning a bit of a dust-up in Woonsocket, RI. Hopefully I didn't negate everything I said on the podcast.

Theosnob - I Was Young and Foolish

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

VBS = Very Boring Summer

How many have ever attended a Vacation Bible School? I did, once. That was all I needed.

Not really, but for some reason my parents did not send me back. I may have had something to do with the nature of the teaching and the emphasis on conversion.

As a pastor I have had the opportunity to lead a couple of VBS - a couple were a little heavy on the blood of Jesus stuff, but I wasn't in charge.

VBS used to be a major form of neighborhood evangelization, but not so much any more. It used to be a well attended program, but not at all any more.

So as I think about VBS (we will be doing an episode on that in a couple of weeks) I wonder if it is still alive and if so, should we allow it to die. Is there any current relevancy to VBS?

-Jonathan

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Take This Brother May It Serve You Well

It only seems fitting that on Maundy Thursday I refer our many, many readers to our podcast on ritual (the most recent podcast). It will obfuscate and bog down everything you thought you understood about ritual and church life. Happy Maundy Thursday?


Monday, April 2, 2012

We're a Social Butterfly

Written by Jonathan



Starting to consider and work on our next podcast - Social Medial. Obviously I am not against the use of social media (see: podcast, blog, facebook page, twitter feeds, etc.). I don't know if I ever stopped, stepped back, and took a look at what was happening.

One of the big reasons I am engaged in social media is to kill time. What better way to spend the afternoon then to browse facebook and read everyone else's status update? And it is ministry!

I tell myself that it is for the sake of ministry and spreading the gospel; I am sure there is some truth in that. Personally, I have been using various types and forms of social media for different types of discourse. My own blog is snarky and academic. My church facebook page is light and pastoral. Different discourse. Just like we are different with different people.

I have a little more to consider, but it is still nascent and I don't want to spill everything before we even record the podcast. I am looking at Foucault and his approach to institutions, power, education, and truth. Consider, if a church does not have a presence on facebook then does it exist on facebook?