(Re)Opening Day

St John the Divine, the NY Episcopal cathedral reopens today. It's been a long process of recovery from a 2001 fire. Congratulations! We're thrilled that this beautiful church is back in business. If you are in the New York area, go visit, it's worth the trip.

How The Other Half Worships

The opinion is oddly lacking in this LA Times opinion piece (and the link didn't work but that's par for the course with the LAT of late) but it did give us the heads up about Photographer Camilo Jose Vergara's book, "How The Other Half Worships." From Amazon and Publishers Weekly, "Vergara, who has been photographing 'ghetto' and 'storefront' churches in several major U.S. cities for the past 30 years, avoids any overarching academic thesis about the religiosity of the urban poor, in large part because their religious institutions are, more often than not, fascinatingly eclectic, idiosyncratic and not easily traced to one specific Christian tradition." This one is going on our Christmas wish list.

You Just Can't Make This Stuff Up

Drudge Retorts reports that a Texas man rammed his car into another car because the person "was not driving like a Christian and it was Jesus' will for him to punish the car." The dry wit award goes to Lt. Kyle Coleman when commenting that no one was hurt in the accident said, "God must have been with them."

Ordering the Red Letter Words

There's a man in Missouri who has spent the last dozen or so years working on a book that puts Jesus' words in chronological order! Why? "It just seemed that to me that, in my own experience, I had found it difficult to make the words of our Lord more important than the words of other writers of scripture..." says Keith Siddens of Words of Jesus. Huh? When asked about the version he used, Siddens said, "I used the King James because ... it is claimed that King James told the writers of the King James version that if he discovered that they had deliberately mistranslated something, he would take their head off. This seemed like a pretty good motivation to do it right. I hope it is not just prejudice because I was raised on the King James version, but I do feel that there is a lot of accuracy there." Again, huh? We can't wait to see what the NT scholars think about this one. It's like the reverse Q.

A Take on Quincy

Father Tom Ehrich sounds off at IndyStar.com on the recent vote by the Quincy diocese to break from the Episcopal Church. We agree with much of what Father Ehrich writes but that's no surprise given what some might perceive as the very liberal BC slant. We were really interested in the comments on his post. One person calls Episcopalians the "religious equivalent of socialists." For the record, as far as insults go, there are worse things to be called. The same person goes on to criticize Father E for owning a 350K house in North Carolina. So much for the socialist critique. Unless of course the good priest wants to share the NC house. Is it near the beach?

Fun and Games

A recent Facebook game came our way this week. Since it's a holiday weekend, we thought we'd share the game and the fun of our result.
1. Put your music on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS (you can try the next track if it is completely no fun at all... try not to go more than that and don't go through them until you find one that "fits"!)!
4. Tag 10 friends who might enjoy doing the activity as well as the person you got the idea from.
5. If your shuffle is as dumb as mine, you can skip over a repeated artist if you wish (We didn't do this)

IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OKAY" YOU SAY?
Watching Me

WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?
The Last Song

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
Fallin

HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?
Everything

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE??
Concerto grosso

WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
Always

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
Aida

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
Gimme the Car

WHAT IS 2+2?
Further on up the Road

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
If I Ain’t Got You

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
I Will Follow

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
Cello Suite #5 in C Minor

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
North and South of the River

WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Pray

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
De Doo Doo De Da Da Da Da

WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
Even Better than the Real Thing

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
Don Carlo Act III: Per me giunto

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
Guerilla Radio

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
Wake Up Little Susie

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
Marigold

WHAT'S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN?
Vertigo

HOW WILL YOU DIE?
Njalo

WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU REGRET?
Lose Yourself

WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?
Tomorrow Night

WHAT MAKES YOU CRY?
Corinthians Chapter 10

WILL YOU EVER GET MARRIED?
Change

WHAT SCARES YOU THE MOST?
Moses

DOES ANYONE LIKE YOU?
How Come You Don’t Call Me

IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE?
There is Power in the Blood

WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW?
How You Remind Me

WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?
Two Hearts Beat As One

Assault Rifles, Art and Jesus

An artist gets frustrated with an art dealer who suggests the artists work isn't penetrating enough. Toronto artist Viktor Mitic's response? "That same day I drove down to a gun range in Buffalo N.Y.; I rented an assault rifle and blasted a 'more penetrating' painting, a portrait of Christ named Hole Jesus." We've learned two things: Mr. Mitic has excellent aim and you can rent assault rifles.

Forgive Us Our Trespasses...

Death notwithstanding John Lennon has finally been forgiven for saying the Beatles were more popular than Jesus. In an age where the iPhone is commonly referred to as the Jesus phone (at least in the European press) and a recent Presidential campaign included charges of Messiahship, it's hard to imagine the days when that quip led to the mass burning of Beatles albums. It's a good thing the Vatican is finally over it. 42 years of the sun setting on that kind of anger is an awful lot of sunsets.

Zippy Not So Snippy Afterall

Continuing the copyright conversation, it looks likes all is well between Ryan at inside my head and Andy Stanley uber pastor extraordinaire. We're not surprised Andy picked up the phone. It's consistent with what we know about him. He's an earnest guy who values open and honest communication. A lesson to us all about the limitations of this medium, the lack of tonal range available in black and white font (or whatever pretty blog posts come in) can be problematic. We stand by our initial advice to Stanley. It'd be really helpful for all these guys to give some attention to the question of intellectual property and Christianity. It's an important topic for writers and readers. If any of the BC6 pastors want to chat with us about that or anything else, they should feel free to leave a comment - any tone will do.

Reader's Digest Rickifies

According to the New York Times, The Reader's Digest Association (parent company of the famous publication) is launching a new venture starring none other than the purpose driven pastor Rick 4.O Warren. The official announcement is planned for Monday. The tease in the NYT piques our interest, "Together, they are creating a Christian membership organization, The Purpose Driven Connection, built on Mr. Warren’s call to faith and charitable work. Paying members will receive a quarterly magazine edited by Mr. Warren, with DVDs and pull-out study guides in each issue, and access to a social networking Web site." Sounds ambitious.

Zippy Getting Snippy?

Got a Google Alert today about BC6 study subject Andy Stanley. It appears that he takes some blogger to task for posting copyrighted material from a recent Catalyst conference. The exact comment he posted on Ryan Crozier's inside my head reads "Ryan, Help me out. Why is it that bloggers feel the freedom to reprint copyrighted material on their blogs? You certainly aren't the only one. Craig and I have found our notes printed on several cites. It happens any time I speak from distributed notes. Quoting is one thing. But reprinting copyrighted material seems a bit much. Help me out. What makes that ok in your mind? Again, you aren’t alone, you’re just the guy I decided to ask. Thanks, Andy" Not too rough except if you consider that you are Andy Stanley super celebrity pastor revered by the youthful blogosphere. Setting aside the intense disappointment the kid probably felt from getting his hand smacked by one of the paragons of Christian leadership, does Andy have a point? It is his stuff, his work. But as we think more about it, we wonder. When you are in the business of evangelism, when your whole mission is about getting information and ideas out to people, what difference does copyright make? When one's job is doing the work of the kingdom of heaven, how do those tricky kingdom of the world laws factor in? We empathize with Andy but we also think that it's a little more complicated than his comment suggests. If he asked us to "help him out" we'd start by suggesting he decide what's in and what's out of bounds for sharing broadly and why. Is it good enough to credit him or does he really mean that he doesn't want things reproduced. Communicate clearly about the boundaries before asking people to respect them - that's our advice. Most of the bloggers that repost these things are only invested in getting the word out. It's what people like Andy Stanley and Craig Groeschel inspire them to do. Heck. They think that they're all on the same team.

Focus on the Fair

News of Focus on the Family layoffs made the Daily Beast Cheat Sheet. For the uninitiated, the Cheat Sheet is the daily top ten "must reads from all over." It's amazing that anyone other than the 202 people (and their families) losing their jobs would care. What's the agenda here? What's the real news? We're all for taking shots at James Dobson when it's deserved - as it so often is - but let's make them fair, put them in context. A quick story meant to juxtapose staff layoffs with a pro Prop 8 donation isn't worthy of this attention. We love the Daily Beast Cheat Sheet, let's hope it doesn't become the Cheap Sheet.

Ancient Church Remains

And we thought megachurches were an invention of modernity. Looks like big churches have been around from the beginning. Archeologists have found an early Christian church in the Syrian desert, "Christianity came to Palmyra in the year 312, at a time when Christians had begun to build churches," he said. "And this one is huge -- the biggest ever found in Syria. It dates to the fourth or fifth centuries after Jesus Christ." Stories like this always make us think. Did the folks in Palmrya run a multi-million dollar capital campaign to fund their building program the way big name churches here do? Just wondering.

Shop with a Christian at Wal-Mart

Even the overwhelming BC penchant for mocking religious cliches (and Wal-Mart) was stemmed by this story of a cop trying to get Christmas presents for kids in need. The program is called Shop with a Christian. "Our goal is to raise $150 for each child," said McDuffie County Sheriff's Deputy Al Reeves. "With that money, each child will get a chance to go shopping at Wal-Mart with a local Christian and buy maybe a couple of toys, a pair of new shoes and some clothes." We're cheering for you Officer Reeves. We may cringe a little at the Christian-ese but you are pure heart, living the love of Jesus in kids lives. That's our kind of Big Christianity. God Bless!

Jubliant Twittering

Just last week some BC friends were talking about Twitter, mostly trying to figure out what it was, why it was and who really uses it. BC pointed out that our first post mentioned Gospeler the Christian Twitter. We've been pretty skeptical of the value of "..a free service that lets you keep in touch with people through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?" since we really don't care to read about the sip of coffee or yummy doughnut just consumed. All that cynicism was quashed today with news that none other than Jubilant Joel Osteen is a Twitter-er. We can't wait to sign up so we can track J.JO's every move. Our single remaining jaundice fear is a Wizard of Oz like revelation that the tweets are written by some PR intern instead of Joel. For now, we're just excited to hear what Joel is doing and to see if he uses smiley faces.

Prayers for Mt Calvary Brothers

In very sad news, we report that the Mount Calvary Retreat House was destroyed in the Montecito wildfire. Thankfully, everyone was evacuated safely. Mt Calvary was an incredible place reflecting the true grace and hospitality of the brothers. We ask everyone to join us as we pray they and all the others affected by the fire find peace and grace tonight and in the days and weeks to come. Check out the Episcopal News for more information on how to help in the fire recovery efforts.

Rock Star Drummer Interviews Rock Star Pastor

Jimmy Eat World drummer Zach Lind vimeos with Mars Hill lead pastor Brother Rob Bell. We can't review it for you, the fidgety camera and dallying audio makes us batty. The conversation takes place in three parts, grab your Dramamine and load up one, two, three.

Apparently Ed Young Likes Sex, Too

We're not sure what's going on with these megachurch pastors, first Coach Craig with his wink and nod on Tony Morgan's blog and now Ed Young with his Seven Day Sex Challenge. That's right, the younger Young (his Dad is pastor of Houston's Second Baptist, the third largest American church) of Grapevine Fellowship has challenged his Texas congregation to have sex everyday for a week in conjunction with his new sermon series. There are some rules. The sex is only for the married, straight people - everyone else is forbidden from participating on the grounds that the other kinds of sex are sinful. The whole thing takes a very creepy turn with this line "It's time to put the bed back in church and church back in the bed." Thanks but no thanks. We're much more comfortable with pews in church and beds in bedrooms.

Jesus Searching for Enlightenment?

The king of new age spirituality just wrote a book about Jesus. Fear not, Deepak Chopra limited his musings about Jesus' early life to the realm of the fiction. Although his Newsweek interview throws some red meat in the evangelical direction including mention of Jesus doing yoga in India and this quote, "Fundamentalist Christians always quote Jesus in the Gospel of John saying 'I am the way. I am the life. Nobody comes into the kingdom of heaven except through me.' But what does Jesus mean by "I"?" In his language, Aramaic, the word is translated as "the I within the I." So he may be speaking about himself as a universal spirit. In that case he can't be squeezed into a body or the span of a lifetime." We're pretty sure a few people might take issue with that one.

Good Christian Bitches

It's a new novel although we think it makes a better band name. The book is about gossip and betrayal among some church going women. BC is taking a pass on this one. We've had enough nasty. Everywhere we turn - TV, magazines, newspapers, movies, books and real life - there is gossip and betrayal. We don't need one more book to remind us of the danger of the human mouth even if it's got a eye catching title.

Coach Craig Likes Sex

Somehow we missed blogger Tony Morgan's 5 Questions with Craig Groeschel when it first appeared. Thankfully (kinda) nothing goes away on the internet. The big man from Lifechurch.tv talks about his favorite subject,"IT." We've read plenty about the book already so we jumped right to the good stuff. Coach Craig is a "big blog reader." He names a bunch of ministry blogs - all men - he reads regularly. Sadly, BC doesn't make his list. He also talks about friends and mentors including fellow BC6 study subjects, Captain Bill Hybels, Andy "Zippy" Stanley and Rick 4-O Warren. The post ends with a risque question about Craig's six kids and if sex is the key to church growth. Since starting the BC6 study, we've developed a soft spot for this intense former football player. Here's a good example of why, "Not only is sex one key to church growth, but to a lot of other good things in life." There it is, Christian boys talking dirty on the internet.

Clooney versus Warren

While George Clooney and Rick Warren didn't engage each other directly - maybe someday - they both offer arguments about Prop 8 that put the issue in some historical context. In a Hannity and Colmes interview yesterday, Rick said "..I just am opposed to redefining marriage. For 5,000 years that term, marriage, has represented a man and a woman..." Previously, Pastor Rick made a similar argument and then went on to say,"We should not let 2 percent of the population change the definition of marriage."

At HuffPo, dreamy George offers a different angle on history, "At some point in our lifetime, gay marriage won't be an issue, and everyone who stood against this civil right will look as outdated as George Wallace standing on the school steps keeping James Hood from entering the University of Alabama because he was black."

BC sides with the celebrity movie star over the celebrity pastor on this one. According to Rick's own logic, our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters have been waiting for equal civil rights for 5000 years, we think they've been waiting long enough.

Enough with the Advertising

The American Humanist Association is spending 40K for a holiday ad campaign. Their slogan, "Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness' sake." Clever but not surprisingly, it lacks any true understanding of why people believe in God. Asked about the timing, the spokesman said "Our reason for doing it during the holidays is there are an awful lot of agnostics, atheists and other types of non-theists who feel a little alone during the holidays because of its association with traditional religion." We think the humanists are just trying to pick a fight with the Keep Christ in Christmas people. BC can do without all of them. There are genuinely lonely people around, they are not going to feel any less lonely from reading a slogan on a bus or getting a card that says Merry Christmas instead of Happy Holidays. Take the 40k and add it to whatever to wacky Christians spend on their campaigns and buy a bunch of presents for kids who don't have any or feed people or buy coats for the homeless people who sleep below the ads in the DC bus shelters. Whatever, just stop the bickering and the ads, for goodness sake.

1685 Jaggie Fox Way

That's where 300 God's Pantry Food Bank volunteers assembled 4000 Thanksgiving baskets for families in need. While Washington bails out big business, Fayette County Kentucky practices a different kind of economics. Everyone gives a little and somehow fewer people go to bed hungry. 4000 families fewer. Well done, God's Pantry.

Facebook Friends

The new Rob Bell Nooma video, Tomato, is available for free at Facebook until November 13th at noon. After that we assume you can buy it the regular way. Nooma videos aren't really our thing. We're more partial to Brother Bell sermons and books. Watching Rob wax eloquent about salsa at the beginning was fun for a minute but then we started wondering if he was actually standing in his own kitchen. The place seemed a little too perfectly styled to be real. The ultimate question is the half-empty wine rack on the top of the fridge. Who keeps red wine on top of the fridge? It's way too hot up there. Real kitchen or fake kitchen? That is the Tomato based question.

Driving for Jesus

Just when you thought there was nothing left to brand, someone in South Carolina (Florida is also working on this) decided it was time for sanctified license plates. The special plates feature a stained-glass window and a cross on one side with the slogan "I Believe" across the bottom. The move is not without controversy. The happy folks at Americans United for Separation of Church and State in DC filed a lawsuit. While we object on principle to the commoditization of faith and to the aesthetic of this product in particular, it's really none of our business if a bunch of people want to spend an extra $55 on their license plates. We just hope that everyone who buys them drives with the love of Jesus reflected in their every turn.

Brawling Monks

Rival monk factions at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (the site of Jesus' death and resurrection) in Jerusalem brawled again. This week a few of the holy men were carted off to the big house after a fight that had something to do with a procession commemorating finding something that some people believe is the cross used to crucify Jesus and somehow this was connected to the question of who owns Jesus' tomb. We didn't really follow this one. The latest fight comes just weeks after international attention about the dangerous condition of the roof in the hotly contested Ethiopian chapel. It's more sad than ironic that centuries of hostility surround the stuff and the place where Jesus - the guy who spent a good bit of time talking about the danger of attachments to places and stuff - was crucified.

JESUS Food Sighting!!!!!!!!!!

We LOVE these stories, the ones where people claim to see the face of Jesus in their food. It bodes well for this week that we start today with news from Sydney about Jesus' appearance in a cappuccino. We think it looks more like Caspar but here's the photo to judge for yourself.

Protest News

Today's LA Times covers reaction to yesterday's protest from some of the Saddleback community. There is a notable lack of empathy, the love that Pastor Rick preached about apparently hasn't been embraced by the entirety of the congregation. This quote is an especially striking example of the void of understanding on this issue, ""When we saw them out there, we thought, 'Why are they not over this? Do they think they're going to change anything, or are they just stirring up trouble at our church?' "

Protesting Pastor Rick

Prepare for protest Saddleback Lake Forest. On your way to church tomorrow morning you will have the opportunity to see the faces of the people whose civil rights were just stolen by 5.6 million Californian voters. One of those votes belonged to Saddleback's own Pastor Rick who offered his celebrity status endorsement to the Yes on 8 Campaign just before the election, encouraging Saddlebacker's in an email and video blog to vote in favor of the discriminatory proposition. We hope the OC demonstration is a big one. We hope that it is a chance for the Christians who just finished 40 Days of Love to come face-to-face with the people whose main association with Christianity is hate. If you are interested in joining the protest, there's more information here.

Happy 90th Billy!

It's Billy Graham's 90th birthday. Before Rick 4-O, Captain Bill, or Jubilant Joel, Graham was the face of modern Christianity. Like the message or not, the man is to be respected. BC says Happy Birthday, celebrate 90 but don't think for a minute that you are finished. We're waiting anxiously for your new book. Who better to tackle questions of ailing bodies, age and faith than a man who has faced every other challenge in life with integrity and compassion.

Today's Youth

Christianity Today recently did a compilation of quotes from around the Christian world. Our favorite came from UPenn student, Jordan Regan, a leader of Campus Crusade for Christ's chapter, "Crusade is a dramatic word, while 'Penn Students for Christ' leaves us to decide what we are about." Hmm...

24.5 Million Dollar Sorted Listing

Looking for a 7000-seat auditorium on a 100-acre campus all done in soaring neo-Gothic style? We've got the perfect property for you. The Cathedral at Chapel Hill, a once thriving Atlanta megachurch is on the market. The church founder has been subject to allegations of sexual misconduct. Last year the current lead pastor found out he was the son of the founding pastor, not his nephew. All of this lends a certain dark irony to the church slogan, "the trendiest.. friendliest..most radically inclusive worship experience in Atlanta."

GOD BLESS PRESIDENT-ELECT BARACK OBAMA

And this great country of ours. It's an historic day.

Starbucks + (RED) + You = Good!

Buying (RED) just got easier. The campaign to help save lives in Africa is hitting the corner Starbucks. We've been hoping for (RED) lattes since this interesting pro social partnership of commerce and charity started two years ago. Here is a great opportunity to exercise that generosity muscle. If we all do a little, together we can make a big difference. Granted Mother Theresa wasn't talking about $4 coffee drinks but the holy sister's words are spot on for the occasion, "We can do no great things, only small things with great love." Buy (RED) this holiday season, we know times are tight for everyone, we also know that the poor always get hit first. Small things added together make for great love.

A 1000 Words

Michael Shaw at HuffPo makes some interesting observations about images of Obama. We hope for plenty of opportunities over the next four years to see how he is portrayed. While we can do without the overt and covert deification overtones, we admit a certain fondness for some of the stunning photographs produced during the campaign. This one from Time ranks among our favorites.

If you're one of the many people heading out to church this morning and you do this regularly on Sundays and you are white, chances are you are not voting for Obama. Politico reports on the Gallup numbers that show no movement in the white weekly church going crowd despite Obama's outreach to them. The reason? “It’s abortion,” Land replied when the Gallup data was read to him. “I think pro-choice people in this culture have absolutely no idea of the depth and intensity of the moral outrage of the people who are pro-life,” Land said. “They think that conservatives use it only as a wedge issue.” BC agrees with Land but we think it's time for people who consider themselves Christians on both sides of this incredibly personal, sensitive, heart wrenching issue to stop shouting. The only God gap is the void that we create when our moral outrage - left and right - becomes more important than loving the neighbor on the other side of it.

The Week Just Ended

A Paramus (that's in New Jersey and has a big mall) boy was sent home from school for dressing up like Jesus for Halloween. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Not sure if this covers Halloween costumes.

Jesus is the theme of one of the 43 cars racing in the Sprint Cup Series. Nothing says Jesus like a green and yellow dodge with a purple cross and Day-Glo orange letters coming at you at 190 MPH.

While not officially the domain of Big Christianity, news of the Christian Science Monitor going digital is worthy of a mention.

More from the international bus advertising tug-of-war. It's nice to see the Christians and the atheists doing their part to bolster the advertising industry.

BC Says No on 8!

A whole lot of holy showed up today to speak out against Prop 8. The interfaith event held at St John's Cathedral in downtown Los Angeles is a good reminder that there are plenty of Christians saying NO on Prop 8.

Mega Spoofing

This is the guy who was banned from God Tube then won some kind of Emmy. He recently did a spoof on Rob Bell called Sexy God. It wasn't funny enough to make the BC cut but this one is pretty good.