This text might change as I go through the story and continue to remember more and more details of what happened (last edit 2/12). The picture is of my hotel room two days after the earthquake.
It was Tuesday January 12, 2010 at 4:50pm. I stood in the Courtyard of Hotel Florita in Jacmel, Haiti and had just finished writing a response on my Facebook page. Continue reading The Story According to Halldor Elias
Various links to resources and researches about Religious life in US.
Young people today are probably more likely to be confronted by Christianity for the very first time through Ann Rice, Mel Gibson, or the Idiots Guide to the Bible then in a Church Pew, they decided one day to sit in.
The first thing to know is that we will not be able to grow more people like us. If we want to grow we must be prepared for something new, for our own change. (based on Dr. Doubleday)
This is what has to be taken care of, in order of importance:
Helping people in a disaster area is not all it is cracked up to be. This is an interesting article from New York Times posted on Michigan Chapter of the Red Cross website.
Another widely circulated blog post, “No One Needs Your Old Shoes: How Not to Help in Haiti,” was written shortly after the earthquake by Alanna Shaikh, an international relief and development expert working in Tajikistan. It suggested giving money, not goods; going to volunteer only if you have medical expertise and are vetted by a reputable organization; and supporting the far less immediate task of rebuilding Haiti.
via Teaching Americans What Haiti Needs: Money « Semtourofduty’s Blog.
Interesting statistics about college in America.
Idealist is a project of Action Without Borders, a nonprofit organization founded in 1995 with offices in the United States and Argentina. Idealist is an interactive site where people and organizations can exchange resources and ideas, locate opportunities and supporters, and take steps toward building a world where all people can lead free and dignified lives.
via idealist.org – Welcome to Idealist.org – Imagine. Connect. Act..
A Lutheran congregation in suburban Toledo has taken the first step toward leaving the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America over the denomination’s decision to ordain gay clergy members and support same-sex unions.
via Church at odds with denomination | The Columbus Dispatch.
Americans lead the world in charitable contributions, giving $300 billion a year to charities. Sounds like a lot right? But this is just a drop in the bucket compared to the over One Trillion Dollars needed to keep US charities in operation, more than the US government collects in taxes. The rest comes from their own assets, government support, and foreign investment.
via Charity: Who Cares? | MintLife Blog | Personal Finance News & Advice.
The existing icon of Panagia Soumela was iconographed by the Evangelist Luke who was both a physician and an iconographer. According to tradition, whenever Luke drew icons of Panagia, the Holy Mother was very pleased and blessed his works. Furthermore, she encouraged him to draw more icons. When Luke died, his disciple named Ananias, took the icon and transferred it to the Church in Athens dedicated to Panagia. The icon was venerated as Panagia Athiniotissa.
via The History of the icon of Panagia Soumela – Pontos World.
A website about sustainability and responsibility.
Cause-Effect thinking is a useful tool, or at least it can be. However it is usually automatic re-active thinking rather than pro-active. The world is unfortunately more complicated than cause-effect.
Being a reactive thinking it tends to call for bigger hammer, nicer packaging, or a new program instead of getting us to think about the whole.
Change is not an extreme makeover. Real change happens slowly and through time, when we learn to confront our loss.
Our task in Christian education is to claim we have been claimed.
Confirmation model
This should lead to transformation allowing us to go deeper, both personally and analytically.
The depth can lead to commitment change.
The church became an institution long before Constantine. The Pastoral letters, written early second century, are examples of structure.
Search Institute’s research on spiritual development is providing groundbreaking insights into the importance this understudied side of human development. Read more about this innovative research below.
It is interesting to think about alternative communities. One could claim that an interesting social experiment took place in Iceland from 930-1262, a community without a king. In 1Sam 8.9 and 8.17-18, we see another vision of community without a king.
Are the thoughts in 1Sam 8 relevant when we think about the situation in Israel today, “the slavery” and walls.
