weekend interesting

so wednesday came and went...twice. sorry. But now it's Pastor's Weekend (also known as Thursday night and Friday), so it's time to contemplate the stuff I've been reading but not writing about.

For that matter, I haven't been writing about much of anything. So it's not just you, dear neglected blog. It's also neglected 25% finished Camp NaNoWriMo novel. It's also every week's prayer prompt. It's also anything that should go on LiturgyLink. Don't feel lonely, blog--you're not the only one I'm not writing for.

But I am reading like a crazy person. I have about 5 books going right now, plus all this stuff:

"All those timesthat I thought I was using my time well -- 'Hey, I've got five minutes, let mecheck my email' -- I was actually using my bandwidth badly."

Mullainathan concluded by urging the audience to think back to Henry Ford.
The automaker famously discovered in the early 1900s that, by increasing his employees' schedules to 60 hours a week, he could squeeze more productivity out of them. But that burst of productivity lasted only about four weeks. Over time, the workers putting in 60 hours a week began producing less than their counterparts who worked 40 hours.
The people working overtime lacked "not just the ability to work hard, but the ability to actually think hard about the problem," Mullainathan said.
The lesson for professionals: Having precious little time doesn't matter. Spending quality time with it does.

David LaMotte brings both the word and beautiful music,every time…  The difficulty with trying to save the world through charity, and a response about the unglamorous reality of what itwould take to change this. (this is part of why Presbyterians talk about doing mission WITH, instead of FOR. of course, that's a similarly incomplete approach.)

speaking of which: the most important word in the bible and how it changes how most people think about the Christian life: 

And then this. (Yes, lots of related stuff this week. Either the universe sends things in clumps so we get the message, or once I see something then everything else is about that...) Interestingly, this particular question has emerged--in both this form and the reverse--in a lot of the things I've been doing and thinking and conversing about lately:

If we can't talk honestly with another human being, how could we talk honestly with God? 

I love Jamie. Her blog is full of the awesome right now as she shares her experiences learning about human trafficking. She's out being the real live church. Meanwhile, she also ponders what the rest of us assume church is, and how we do it all wrong. Or all right. Or something.

This sermon from Presbyterian Youth Triennium blew up twitter while it was being preached. There have been a number of blog posts about it. I think it's fascinating and prophetic and beautiful and right on. And I think everyone in the church should know what our kids are hearing at these conferences we send them to with our bake sales and car washes.

And while we're at this whole connectedness thing, there's this, exploring Ubuntufor Nelson Mandela’s birthday (which was last week). 

And also this, from one of my favorite researchers. I wish we could be real-life friends, seriously. We obviously would be besties.

While we're on the inspirational track: Malala speaks to the UN:

“they thought the bullets would silence us. but they failed. out of the silence came thousands of voices. … Weakness, fear, and hopelessness died. Strength, power, and courage was born.”

And this! I KNEW IT! napping is not just awesome, it’s good for you. (also, check out the fabulosity that is the photo at the end of the article…)

Last but not least: this is so incredibly cool. Beautiful, moving, amazing. All improv, too. WOW.

Happy weekend!

exactly

"it's a mistake to equate realism with cynicism, and it's an even bigger mistake to equate idealism with naivete. Idealism simply means that you have ideals, that you believe the world can be better. It gives you something to work toward." --David LaMotte, several times during the conference at Montreat.

That's it exactly, David. Thanks for putting it so well. It's possible to be idealistic without being naive. Just because we believe the world can be better, can be different, doesn't mean we're foolish or unrealistic. It just means we see that the world can be better and we want to work toward that betterment.

Totally unrelated: coming home I was finally on the plane in Detroit. We sat on the runway, waiting to be de-iced, longer than the flight from Detroit to O'Hare actually takes (and much longer than it would have taken our thoroughly iced-over plane to fall out of the sky had we taken off without the de-icing...). I don't recall ever being on a plane as it was de-iced on the runway (I think usually they do it at the gate at most airports I've been through?). It was totally cool--we were enveloped in a spray of hot anti-freeze. We couldn't see anything out the windows, but we could feel the plane get warmer. Bizarre. And good, because once de-iced there was no waiting around for take-off (otherwise we would have had to wait in the de-icing line again). I finally got home about 3 hours after I should have. oy.

montreat morsels

"courage and fear are not opposites. It's impossible to be courageous if you aren't afraid--courage necessitates fear." --David LaMotte

"proud to be maladjusted" (don't plan to adjust to segregation, injustice, lynching, etc...) --Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, in a speech at Montreat, 1965

"divine discontent" (with the way things are) --ditto

"paid church professionals get 10% off at the bookstore!" "do you have to show some kind of ID?" "it's a sad day if you pretend to be a paid church worker just to get a discount at a church retreat center bookstore."

"it's a wonder I didn't have dreams about being on a steam ship--it sounds like I'm sleeping in the engine room" --my roommate, discussing the strange noises the radiator makes at all hours of day and night.

"you tell me you can't change the world? you can't be in the world and not change it--you can't help it. Try not changing the oxygen-carbon dioxide ratio for ten minutes and let me know how that goes. tell me you can't change the world!" --David LaMotte

"if a stranger walked into your office and said "what do you guys believe at this church," what would you say?" --fellow conferee

"when were you saved?" "33AD, approximately. you?" --ditto

"if perfection is stagnation, heaven is a swamp." --David LaMotte, quoting someone else RE the myth of perfection being required before action.

"Moses had his firewall broken down. My firewalls make me slow and unresponsive--how can I break them down to hear the burning bush speaking to me?" --Dori Baker in a sermon.

Also, the food is good. and right now it's breakfast time....more later.

ugh

I don't know how much more of the "politicians saying ridiculous things" phenomenon I can handle. I know it's hardly a new phenomenon, but still. In the same week the President has said that we are trying to help the Middle East "join the civilized world" and the former Speaker of the House Mr. Gingrich has said that we should stop bilingual education in our schools because Spanish is the "language of living in the ghetto" and his so-called-apology says he really just meant that English is the language of prosperity. oh my, that's better.
I think that's quite enough for this week, don't you? I prefer the Week to be filled with words such as "love one another as I have loved you" and "on a night like this..." and "he is risen!" I would even rather hear "it is finished" than some of the things I've heard on television and radio this week.

It's Holy Week...the week when we remember, when we celebrate, when we mourn, when we share, when we live and love because someone else lived for us and loved us first. It's hard to reconcile the messages of this week...which may be because that's not what it's about. This week is about victory, about triumph. Not victory over other people, not triumph of our way of life or way of thinking over someone else's...triumph of life and love over sin and death. And that is good news, even in a world that seems...well...like a lot of things I probably shouldn't write in a public place.

Holy Friday to all...

postmodern

in a conversation in which I've said "I'm postmodern"--the response:
"well, yes and no."

do you get more postmodern than that?