still wanting to live as an ordinary radical.

i just had a great reminder about the kind of person i want/hope to be.
yes, the person i hope to become. but also the person i hope to be today, even now. through sharing life with other people. no solo trek here.

loma invited shane claiborne to share (preach? speak? story-tell?) about some of his convictions and practices with the campus yesterday, and the audio file from that chapel is already posted online. some eunc (european nazarene college -- where i presently live) friends and i gathered just now to listen to it together. good, good stuff. always more to dialogue about. and live-out. so let me know if you were at that chapel (or the monday evening q&a!!), if you listen to the file linked below, if you're still wrestling/processing/continually trying to apply convictions and practices that were provoked/inspired by reading the irresistible revolution: living as an ordinary radical, or if you're just wondering, 'what the heck is this all about?'

let's share.
together.

to listen to the chapel audio file, go here: http://www.pointloma.edu/CampusLife/Chapel.htm

Instructions: Find the chapel date you would like to hear [November 9th, 2009 - Shane Claiborne] and simply click the title to start the player. To download a copy of the mp3, click the download button next to the chapel title or double-click the title and select "Save File".

To filter the list, select the year and semester you would like to view. To filter by a particular speaker, type that speaker's name in the box.

la posada.

While skyping it up with my sister last night, she reminded me of the beauty of La Posada ('The Inn'). Please read this short article.

As we begin to look towards the approaching Christian New Year, which begins with the season of Advent, may we also remember this annual gathering of brothers and sisters. May we too be sowers of peace... even, or maybe especially, in the face of messages that don't speak of love. And may we love there too... where it is perhaps most difficult to love.

amen and amen.

why go veggie?, dos.

vegetariantimes.com has a wonderful and compelling list that responds to the question, 'why go veg?' all good reasons; you should read the full list. but here are my main motivations:

• You’ll help reduce famine. About 70 percent of all grain produced in the United States is fed to animals raised for slaughter. The 7 billion livestock animals in the United States consume five times as much grain as is consumed directly by the American population. “If all the grain currently fed to livestock were consumed directly by people, the number of people who could be fed would be nearly 800 million,” says David Pimentel, professor of ecology at Cornell University. If the grain were exported, it would boost the US trade balance by $80 billion a year.

• You’ll save money. Meat accounts for 10 percent of Americans’ food spending. Eating vegetables, grains and fruits in place of the 200 pounds of beef, chicken and fish each nonvegetarian eats annually would cut individual food bills by an average of $4,000 a year.

• You’ll help reduce pollution. Some people become vegetarians after realizing the devastation that the meat industry is having on the environment. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), chemical and animal waste runoff from factory farms is responsible for more than 173,000 miles of polluted rivers and streams. Runoff from farmlands is one of the greatest threats to water quality today. Agricultural activities that cause pollution include confined animal facilities, plowing, pesticide spraying, irrigation, fertilizing and harvesting.

really it's about solidarity. and it's about not contributing to these systems. one happy veg at a time. : )

a time to love.

i think we could all benefit from takin' a look
at the times which presently surround us.
the u.s. news is chalk-full of stories about
so.much.name-calling.and.bickering.
and.finger-pointing.and.blame-gaming.
just all-around negativity goin' down.
my daily podcast reel (thank you AC360)
continues to show how divided people are.
on all fronts. on all issues. on all 'isms'.

but stevie is here to remind us (& ms. india.arie backs him up)
what time it really is.
please read. and ponder. and act.
let's.act.in.love.
it's the time.

We have time for racism
We have time for criticism
Held bondage by our ism's
When will there be a time to love

We make time to debate religion
Passing bills and building prisons
For building fortunes and passing judgments
When will there be a time to love

At this point in history we have a choice to make
To either walk a path of love
Or be crippled by our hate

We have time to cause pollution
We have time to cause confusion
All wrapped up in our own illusions
When will there be a time to love

We make time to conquer nations
Time for oil exploration
Hatred, violence and terrorism
When will there be a time to love

At this moment in time
We have a choice to make
Father God is watching
While we cause mother earth so much pain
It's such a shame

Not enough money for
The young, the old and the poor
But for war there is always more
When will there be a time to love

We make time for paying taxes
Or paying bills and buying status
But we will pay the consequences
If we don't make the time to love

Now's the time to pay attention
Yes now is the time... to Love...
A time to Love... Love...
A time to Love
Please, please won't you tell me
When will there be a time to Love...

-- Stevie Wonder, "A Time To Love"

why go veggie?

Taken from Eating for Peace by Thich Nhat Hanh
"Mindful eating can help maintain compassion within our heart..."

"...UNESCO tells us that every day, forty thousand children in the world die because of a lack of nutrition, of food. Every day, forty thousand children. And the amount of grain that we grow in the West is mostly used to feed our cattle. Eighty percent of the corn grown in this country is to feed the cattle to make meat. Ninety-five percent of the oats produced in this country is not for us to eat, but for the animals raised for food. According to this recent report that we received of all the agricultural land in the US, eighty-seven percent is used to raise animals for food. That is forty-five percent of the total land mass in the US.

More than half of all the water consumed in the US whole purpose is to raise animals for food. It takes 2500 gallons of water to produce a pound of meat, but only 25 gallons to produce a pound of wheat. A totally vegetarian diet requires 300 gallons of water per day, while a meat-eating diet requires more than 4000 gallons of water per day.

Raising animals for food causes more water pollution than any other industry in the US because animals raised for food produce one hundred thirty times the excrement of the entire human population. It means 87,000 pounds per second. Much of the waste from factory farms and slaughter houses flows into streams and rivers, contaminating water sources.

Each vegetarian can save one acre of trees per year. More than 260 million acres of US forests have been cleared to grow crops to feed animals raised for meat. And another acre of trees disappears every eight seconds. The tropical rain forests are also being destroyed to create grazing land for cattle.

In the US, animals raised for food are fed more than eighty percent of the corn we grow and more than ninety-five percent of the oats. We are eating our country, we are eating our earth..."

...while many go hungry.

go before us...

walk among us,

surprising God of Peace.

go before us

that we might encounter You in our travels.

sanctify our joys

and our sorrows;

turn our hearts to You.

at the name of Jesus,

we bow before You.

may Your name

be glorified

in and through

Your people,

now, and always.

amen.

puts it in perspective

While signing an on-line petition (Obama: End the Occupation of Iraq) today, I ran across the above statistic, and sadly, it was not at all hard to believe.  While we are in an economic crises, with global ramifications, it's impossible for me to ignore how much money has been spent on the war in Iraq.  It's actually disgusting.

Here's what the site had to say:

The first four years of the Iraq war cost American tax payers $1 trillion dollars -- the equivalent of $720 million each day or $500,000 per minute! At the same time, over half a million American and Iraqi lives were lost, and the education, health and economic infrastructure of the country was destroyed.

What Iraq needs is sustained peace-building and sustainable solutions to deal with the war's aftermath. For less than 1/5th of what the U.S. spends in one day in Iraq, we could be providing teachers and better education for over 150,000 school and college-age Iraqi refugees!

Not to mention all the other good that could be done with the money: affordable health care, green energy, helping those struggling in these harsh economic times and more.

Please sign this petition (as well as many more) by becoming a member of Care2.  It's one of my new favorite web-sites.  Take action; you never know what a petition, a peaceful means of engagement, could do.