Sunday, July 20, 2014

Hardcore Asthmatics and the Best Things You'll Read All Week

by Ben Howard and Sebastian Faust

Reads of the Week

1) The Evil at Our Borders: Migrants, Refugees, and the Spiritual Crisis of Immigration by David R. Henson

"For conservatives, it is an immigration crisis, demonstrating the failures of the U.S. immigration policy and the need for militarized borders. For liberals, it is a humanitarian crisis, demonstrating the failures of U.S. economic policy, the immediate need for aid, and the necessity of immigration reform. For me, while I agree with progressives here, it is also a profoundly spiritual crisis. It is a crisis of faith, and right now, we are not the bearers of liberty, hope, democracy, or good news. Rather, we are the bearers of evil."

2) Re-thinking Communion by Christena Cleveland

"It seems that the way we do communion in many churches is too easy, too convenient, too painless, too safe, too inorganic, too separate from actual reconciliation work, and too individualistic. I’m starting to think that the way we do communion is not scandalous enough to represent the cross."

3) Hebel, Grace and the Art of Andy Goldsworthy: Part 2, Living as a Sacrament by Richard Beck

"Here's what I mean. Today each of us will wander out into the world. And around us we'll find all sorts people and all sorts of situations. It's a fractal, messy, and chaotic world out there. And it's not all bad. There are beautiful things, like flowers, out there. But there is also sadness and brokenness, conflict and deadness. And what we'll try to do today (or what we should be doing today) is very similar to what Goldsworthy does. We will try, given what we find out there, to bring grace and beauty into the world."

4) Authentic Modesty: Compassion Over Shame by Saskia Wishart

"Imagine if we, as women who love, started talking about how we deal with harassment from men on the street instead of slut-shaming women for drawing the harassment. My hope is that we learn to look with compassion, not lust. That we can place value, rather than casting shame. My hope is that we understand that body parts are only the start of the story, and there is so much more to be known about an individual."

5) "Why I Use Birth Control": 11 Women Speak Up by Rachel Held Evans

"Opinions about the ruling aside, I’ve been stunned by some of the misinformation circulating around social media about contraception, the most unhelpful of which characterizes women who use contraception as 'entitled,' 'sluts,' 'moochers,' and 'whores.'  I’ve shared my own thoughts on contraception in a post entitled 'Privilege and the Pill,' but today I wanted to yield the floor to ten women whose stories challenge these unfair caricatures. I am incredibly grateful for their bravery and honesty in stepping forward to tell the truth of their experiences. Please, listen."

Honorable Mention

The Saddest - and Classiest - Soccer Fan by Jason Morehead

How Secrets Made Me Sick by J.

Gettin' on the Mat by Diana Trautwein

Tweets of the Week

"An exclamation point is like a tiny little crutch for your joke." - @bazecraze

"God was dead. But the show had to go on. His doppelgänger Göd stepped in, executed the Apocalypse to rapturous applause." - @VikramParalkar

"Crossfitters are the Boy Scouts of the adult world." - @chettarcheese


On Pop Theology Week in Review

Because I Know You: Friendship and Tom Cruise by Charity Erickson

"The other day, I went to see Edge of Tomorrow, the newest addition to Tom Cruise’s rather extensive sci-fi repertoire."

Elephants in the Room: Israel, Palestine, and the Nature of Oppression by David Creech

"My natural disposition is to side with those who are oppressed. I also prefer to hear people tell their own story rather than insert my opinions from the outside. Enter the Israel-Palestine conflict."

Song of the Week

"Lanterns" by Birds of Tokyo


Peace,
Ben

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