New House Studio Webcast

I was lucky enough to write a chapter in the book Postmodern and Wesleyan.

The House Studio hosted a webcast with some of the authors. Enjoy, better yet, pick up the book.

Jay Akkerman (Postmodern Wesleyan) from The House Studio on Vimeo.

Mother Mother

Mother Mother is a local Vancouver BC band that I'm really enjoying right now. You may have heard them, if you have a radio station worth listening to. Here are three you may have heard, if not enjoy.

Blessed are....

Webcast with The House Studio on Social Justice and the Church

Jon Middendorf (The Church and Social Justice) from The House Studio on Vimeo.

I really enjoyed doing several webcasts while I was in Florida. Thanks to The House Studio!

More to come, I hope. Enjoy.

Day of Prayer for Children at Risk

It's pictures like these that I don't like to look at. Grief that we feel when we see children suffer only intensifies once you have a child of your own. It's an atrocity gone unmentioned, that as rich industrialized countries spend Billions bailing out greed and excess, millions of children suffer and die from debilitating but preventable diseases. And, as wars wars continue to be waged across the world we need to remember the innocent children caught in the middle. Even in my own city approximately 1000 teens are homeless, addicted, and exploited.

A story from my neighborhood...


The sadness and anger that wells up inside of us calls for justice. Yet, from where will this justice come from? Today we pray--Lord, how long?

I Am the One

I am the one pondering under the tree.
I am the one with salty-dog hands.
I am the one collecting the oppressor’s bounty.
I am the one sliding carefully through the night cover.
I am the one worried about dinner time.
I am the one chaffing at outsiders.
I am the one scared of the wind.
I am the one sinking in the sea.
I am the one asking, “Are we there yet.”
I am the one exulting self importance.
I am the one annoyed by the pitter patter of little feet.
I am the one indignant over spilled milk.
I am the one erecting buildings to score brownie points.
I am the son of Zebedee seeking a better seat.
I am the one with a better agenda.
I am the one asleep at the switch.
I am the one clutching the money.
I am the one with the cold dry lips on your cheek.
I am the one holding the bloody sword.
I am the one running away.
I am the one hiding in the darkness.
I am the one with a friend of convenience.
I am the one whose ears fret announcement of the rising sun.
I am the one weeping from a distance.

Hello, my name is Brian

The End of Christian America

The End of Christian America is the title of a Newsweek article out this today, written by the astute Jon Meacham. Meacham states clearly what many of us have been feeling in our bones the entirety of our adult lives.

Meacham, a Christian, narrates well the shift in cultural/political landscape--towards a Post-Christian America. He rightly observes that this subtle shift does not mean the end of religion or faith in politics, but a new aliment--or perhaps a new paradigm for religion in public life. Meacham doesn't try to prescribe this new reality. He merely points that something his happening.

Many of us who live in major North American urban centres, or have our feet firmly planted in emerging generations will feel no shock associated with "The End..." For most of us it already happened.

Ironically enough many of us feel like we are wired for the new era. Our way of life is submerged these new waters. The gospel of Jesus speaks as clearly and as powerfully as it has in any age. We are delighted to be on the journey. This new matrix does not scare us. We do not fear. In fact the possibilities and opportunities are expansive.

Jon, your article has been a long-time-coming.

The Kingdom of God is like...

Bono on the First Christmas--Good Stuff.

On Christmas Eve I went to St. Patrick’s Cathedral. ...It had dawned on me before, but it really sank in: the Christmas story. The idea that God, if there is a force of Love and Logic in the universe, that it would seek to explain itself is amazing enough. That it would seek to explain itself and describe itself by becoming a child born in straw poverty and manure... a child, I just thought: “Wow!” Just the poetry. Unknowable love, unknowable power, describes itself as the most vulnerable. There it was. I was sitting there, and ...tears came down my face, and I saw the genius of this, utter genius of picking a particular point in time and deciding to turn on this. Because that’s exactly what we were talking about earlier: love needs to find form, intimacy needs to be whispered. To me, it makes sense. It’s actually logical. It’s pure logic. Essence has to manifest itself. It’s inevitable. Love has to become an action or something concrete. It would have to happen.

New Mission Possible Video

Check out this new Mission Possible Video--dig the music
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