myopic pilgrim

If you’re interested in helping the homeless situation in Reno-Sparks, you might be interested in what Family Promise is doing. Family Promise is building a Cardboard Box City to raise money and awareness. The idea is to have people buy a cardboard box from the organization by raising pledges or money. Then you spend the night, whatever the weather, in Wingfield Park, a “secured outdoor area.” They’ll also provide a light meal and, of course, live entertainment. We gotta have live entertainment.

Other cities and groups have held similar events, but this will be the first of its kind here in Reno (as far as I can tell). The Cardboard Box City will rise on September 30. Pledges of $100–$300 range will get you a television sized box. More than that will buy you a fancier crib of the refrigerator box variety and “special recognition.”

Besides raising money, the idea is to build some sort of solidarity with the homeless of our city, but there’s something about it that’s not working for me. I’m expecting participants to say how they understand plight of families with no home because they spent one night camping out while they were serenaded by live bands. What do you think of this? Clever idea? Subtle mockery?

The organization itself sounds like a benefit to the city. Family Promise assists homeless families with shelter and different programs while keeping the family together. In other support agencies, it may be required to have the mother and children in a separate facility than the father. They have Day Center available for day care, a mailing address, laundry, and showers. There’s also a social worker to assist. The backbone of Family Promise are a couple of dozen local congregations that provide volunteers and shelter (I couldn’t tell if these were private homes or what).

[tags]homeless, reno, carboard box city, Family Promise, fundraiser, interfaith[/tags]

I got a $15 gift card for iTunes for my birthday. Help me spend it by giving me your top five essential songs. The singles can be obscure or classics, mainstream or indie (plug your sister’s band), from established bands or up and comers. In fact, you get extra points for a well-rounded list.

Here’s mine (the song title links to iTunes; the artist name links to their website):

1. We Are in Love - Harry Connick, Jr.
2. Island of Souls - Sting
3. All She Said - Toad the Wet Sprocket
4. What’s Going On? - Marvin Gaye
5. I Need a Hero - Chris Rice

Whew! That was harder than I thought.

1. One book that changed your life
   Mere Christianity. I love this guy. He showed me I didn’t have to commit intellectual suicide to believe in God or Jesus.
2. One book you’ve read more than once
   The Story of the Stone. I read this periodically. An sagely detective and his young assistant, Number Ten Ox, solve a mystery involving a dead prince who’s back scaring the locals. It’s set in a medieval China that never was, but could have been if legend and myth reigned.
3. One book you’d want on a desert island
   The Complete C.S. Lewis Signature Classics. It plenty of Lewis for me to read, including some I haven’t read or don’t remember reading. Unless it’s cheating to use collections of other books in one book. In which case I choose The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses.
4. One book that made you laugh
5. One book that made you cry
   Perelandra .This book two of the Space Trilogy by C.S. Lewis. At the end when I caught a glimpse of what could have been, I was reminded of how broken things are.
6. One book you wish had been written
   This is a great question, but I can’t pin an answer down. Probably a how-to book of some sort. I’d like to know how to understand people. How to fix myself. Or a story that would make me hear new music in my head.
7. One book you wish had never been written
   Nothing comes to mind. Something full of hate or ignorance, right?
8. One book you’re currently reading
   Cloud Atlas. Is there a bandwagon that I just jumped on?
9. One book you’ve been meaning to read
   Worship His Majesty, I hear it’s great. Or For All God’s Worth, I’m curious to hear more from Wright. Or The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God, again I hear it’s great.
10. Tag five others
    Dave, Kenny, Dawson, Gobie, and… a woman somewhere.

[tags]books, meme[/tags]

Thomas Friedman on Fresh Air described this country’s present administration to have great “moral clarity, but no moral authority.” The administration lost moral authority, Friedman argues, when they stepped away from Kyoto or when they failed to adequately handle Abu Ghraib. Things that are important to other countries.

Are Christians in the same boat? Arguably, we have moral clarity because we have the very word of God, right? But if the Church fails to speak out against all kinds injustices (abortion and… what? You mean there’s more to morality than abortion?), how can it be seen as a consistent moral compass? We’re not just talking about those people wanting to get married. There’s disagreement about that, but what about slavery? I think most of us agree it’s good to free slaves.

This is important because we have the words to eternal life. We want to share this with everyone, but no one gives us the time of day because we don’t seem to care enough about this present life. I don’t think the Church will make the world completely whole before Jesus comes and I know the folks who say it’s all going to burn anyway (I hate the phrase). Does this mean we stop caring for the world and care for ourselves alone?

By the way, Friedman (who is a Foreign Affairs Correspondent for the New York Times) was on Fresh Air to talk about battle between Israel and Hezbollah and the interesting place Syria holds in this conflict. He wrote From Beirut to Jerusalem that attempts to get into the psyche of the people of Lebanon and Israel.

[tags]moral clarity, moral authority, moral compass, Lebanon, Israel, Hezbollah[/tags]

Great quote by Romanós about the line between the Kingdom and the world.

With us, the line between the world and the Kingdom is not so well defined socially as it is among some other Christians. For the Orthodox, we are more aware that the frontier between the world satan rules over and the Kingdom of God passes through each of us, more than between us.

This was in response to a post on Following the Rabbi about a new New Testament Bible with “Jesus Loves Porn Stars” emblazoned on the cover. There was some debate about how far Christians are to enter the world since the guys who got this Bible printed, xxxchurch, are known for renting a booth at an adult film convention. You can read more about it at Following the Rabbi.