THE TOP TEN REASONS TO KNOW CHRISTIAN HISTORY
Good little article from the Christianity Today website
Summary (quoted):

Reason 1 -- Christian history is everywhere in our culture. No matter what your religious background (or lack thereof), you just can't understand the modern, Western world—including its wars—unless you know your Christian history...If you live in America, or anywhere in the West, your whole environment is soaked in "leftover Christianity."

Reason 2 -- It liberates you from the tyranny of the present—and of the recent past.

Reason 3 -- Life is too short to learn by experience.

Reason 4 -- Whatever question is on your mind, someone smarter than you has already seen it clearer, thought about it longer, and expressed it better. Why reinvent the wheel? Also falling under this heading: There are no new heresies—only old ones in new clothes. And again, they've all been answered with more wisdom and erudition than we'll ever be able to muster.

Reason 5 -- Because the deeper our roots, the higher we grow. Believers are all part of a "Dead Christians Society." We have far more brothers and sisters in the faith who are no longer around than we do contemporary saints. Lets get to know them. And while we slog it out on earth as members of the Church Militant, the Church Triumphant is pulling for us from heaven.

Reason 6 -- Because reading Christian history is a great way to meet fascinating people and hear dramatic, colorful stories.

Reason 7 -- Because reading Christian history helps root out prejudice and foster sympathy and humility. It's so easy to think "The Church 'R' Us." It ain't. Most Christian believers look—and have looked, in past centuries—very different than we do. They've had different questions, different assumptions, different "lifestyles," different approaches to the Christian life, different strategies for evangelism, teaching, preaching, sacramental life, social action. . . .

...That's a good thing, because the church today is a body with a wide (and sometimes wild!) variety of members. Knowing more about the past, we gain insight into the practices and problems of other Christians in the present. We may become less critical of others—and even more aware of our own shortcomings and limited perspectives.

Reason 8 -- Because reading Christian history shows us how we got where we are today. Where did all those denominations come from? How did the distinctive beliefs and practices of my own church develop? What's the big deal over Calvinism and Arminianism?

Reason 9 -- Because . . . well, if reason 8 depresses you by reminding you of the disunity and dysfunction of the church, then consider this reason, too: We need to read Christian history to remind us of our mission.

Reason 10 -- We should read Christian history because Christianity is a historical religion, based on a historical person and the words of two "Testaments" full of historical accounts.

THE DAY -- THE WEEK
It was a beautiful day in Turlock -- 86 degrees (almost warm enough for me). The tomatoes look extremely happy and one of my zucchini seeds surfaced as a baby plant today.

Kirk's spring break ended today and he went back to UCSD.

I rode my bike back down to the office this afternoon to input some of my notes into the sermon archive. But I collected a really really big screw in the back tire on the way home. I think it punctured both sides of the tire.

Tomorrow I go to Mission Springs for a couple of days of meetings and then head down to Pasadena for the Evangelical/LDS dialogue at Fuller Seminary. I'm planning to take my bike with me and to find a new tube somewhere along the way (the old tube isn't worth repairing -- yes, the screw was that big).

SARS UPDATE FROM SINGAPORE
Blogs4God carries a personal letter from someone in Singapore describing the situation there. Apparently a pastor has died. He contracted the disease while visiting someone in the hospital. Link

NEWSONG LA
A couple of my colleagues, Adam Edgerly and Dave Gibbons, are teaming up to start a new church in the Crenshaw area of Los Angeles. Actually, it is a branch of NewSong in Irvine. They have a website. There is also a short story about it here.

MYSTERY DISEASE



If it weren't for the war we'd all be consumed with fear about severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). Italian Dr. Carlo Urbani, a World Health Organization expert on communicable diseases, died today after becoming infected with the disease. Dr. Urbani was the one who first identified the outbreak that has killed 55 people and sickened nearly 1,500. Link

CONGO'S UNENDING WAR
Still trying to figure out that quagmire? 3.5 million people have died and it just goes on and on. They don't even need weapons of mass destruction. They just kill each other the old fashioned way -- violence and starvation. Link to Economist article

NEW RADIO SHOW
My favorite Orthodox preacher, Fr. Jon Braun, now has a radio show called the Orthodox Christian Hour. They have a new website and will soon be available for online listening. You can listen to some of his past sermons at another site.

I love the Orthodox liturgy. Unfortunately, they don't broadcast the actual liturgy from St. Anthony's in San Diego. But I often listen to the liturgy from St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church in Fort Lauderdale on Sunday morning's as I'm getting ready to lead worship at Cornerstone (Yes, our evangelical worship is a lot different than Orthodox worship but I find that I can enter into both approaches). Fr. Christopher Metropulos has an incredible voice and knows how to make the liturgy (which is pretty much the same every week) fresh each time.

IRAQIS SURRENDER TO CANADIAN TROOPS JOURNALISTS
Who says the Canadians aren't in this war? "Two Iraqi soldiers surrendered Friday to CBC reporter Paul Workman and the Globe and Mail's Geoffrey York." Link

PRAYERS OF COMFORT?
Mark Galli asks "Are prayers in a time of war really about comfort?"

"...And on it goes in papers big and small, from The Washington Post to The Fresno Bee. Today's issue of The Winchester (Va.) Star reports that 'Ideally, [spiritual leaders] want to help quiet internal battles between war and peace, and between faith and politics.'

"Let me be fair: journalists are partly right. Prayer does, in fact, bring comfort to the fearful and anxious. But why are these journalists universally reporting that the whole scope of these prayer services is to bring comfort? Are the pastors telling them this? Are parishioners? Why are so many assuming that the primary purpose of prayer is to make us comfortable? Is anyone in these churches telling these journalists that they are missing the biggest story going on in these prayer meetings—that prayer actually changes things?..."

"...prayer isn't about getting us comfortable with the troubled world, but about changing it." Link to Mark Galli's article

THINGS WHICH AMAZE ME ABOUT THIS WAR
• We’re surprised that the Iraqis have little regard for the Geneva convention.

• We weren’t expecting so much guerilla warfare. We thought everyone would just give up and accept “liberation”. It makes me wonder about the sources of all our intelligence and how well this whole thing has been thought out.

• We seem so surprised that there are sandstorms in the desert.

• My friends who are ultra conservative – almost libertarian – questioning everything about the value of government – throw all those convictions out the window when it comes to the military action – and they become the biggest flag wavers.

• We think we’re getting semi-objective information from reporters who are "in bed" with the miliary unit they're reporting on.

• Before we started this thing all the experts (including those in the government) were making it out to be a cake-walk. Now they’re singing a different song which starts out “We didn’t say that...”

• Congress didn’t demand a solid estimate on the cost before committing.

• We failed to take the Turks and their relationship with the Kurds into serious account before opening this can of worms.

• Many of the people interviewed on TV or the radio seem think that this conflict is a response to the 9-11 terrorist attacks. But there does not appear to be any real connection between these groups. The radical Muslim groups responsible for the 9-11 attacks despise Saddam because he is too secularized.

Of course, you can’t know everything before you start out in an endeavor like this. But it seems to me that we’re missing some major cues.

Don’t get me wrong. I appreciate it that we have military people willing to put their lives on the line for principles. They do their job well (!!!). And they appear to be extremely sensitive about keeping non-combatants out of the middle. (The same can’t be said for the Iraqis which appear to be all too willing to use women and children as human shields. But in that culture individual life is relatively cheap -- we should have known that.)

I don’t think we can go back now. The war protestors are unrealistic at this point. But the longer we go at this, the more my initial sense that the whole idea is half-baked is confirmed. Saddam was a problem which needed some serious fixing. We’ve just chosen the wrong handyman strategy.

I hope I'm proven wrong.

WORSHIP IN TIMES OF WAR
Robert Webber has designed a worship service that can be used during war times. Link

The Evangelical Covenant Church has posted some war prayers and liturgical helps, along with the War Prayer by Mark Twain (written as a part of his war protest against American intervention in the Philippines).

MY NEW FAVORITE FOOTBALL TEAM
...and not just because they play in Arizona. "Emmitt Smith, the NFL's all-time leading rusher, has agreed to contract terms with the Cardinals." Link to Arizona Republic article

CHRISTIANITY IS NOT ON THE DECLINE...
it's just reshaping and relocating. Link to Times (London) article

THE CALL CALIFORNIA
Giant, youth-oriented prayer gathering that will take place at Candlestick Park (San Francisco), April 5th. This is not your ordinary prayer meeting. Among the objectives:

To release healing and reconciliation between God's people: Jews and Christians, diverse races, cultures, denominations and generations.

To pray and repent for the pornographic industry and the sexual immorality released out of California.

To pray and repent for the spirit of divorce, independence and rebellion.

To pray for the stronghold of witchcraft to be broken.

To have Southern California repent and reconcile with Northern California for defrauding them of their water rights...

Some of this stuff is really on the mark, but some has me scratching my head. How can a few thousand Christians repent on behalf of the entire state (especially if the state as a whole is unrepentant)? I know we've got witches but I didn't know this was an actual "stronghold." This gives too much credit to the enemy. And really, as a northern Californian, I didn't know I was defrauded of my water by the south. Apart from a few individuals I'm not sure there is any true animosity between the north and the south. They are different worlds and we tease each other about that but I didn't realize we were in need of reconciliation.

Check out The Call California site.

RELEVANT MAGAZINE
A three-year-old publishing venture to reach 20-somethings is nearing profitability. "Visitors to the magazine's Web site encounter a similar, eclectic blend of the temporal and spiritual, ranging from rapper DMX's decision to leave hip-hop and concentrate on his relationship with God to why McDonald's plans to offer wireless Internet access along with burgers and fries." Link to Orlando Sentinel article

CHURCH WHICH SADDAM HELPED PAY FOR
NOW PRAYING FOR HIS OVERTHROW
In 1980, Fr Jacob Yasso, of Detroit, flew to Baghdad and met with Saddam Hussein, who wanted to help Iraqi Christians who had come to America. Hussein sent them $1.5 million to cover Sacred Heart Chaleden Catholic Church's building debt and to construct a social hall and day-care center. "Last Friday night, 450 parishioners gathered at Sacred Heart for a service. They prayed for Mr. Hussein's overthrow. They also prayed for a miracle -- that loved ones who disappeared in Iraq during the dictator's reign would be found alive after the war." Link to Wall Street Journal article

The Chalden Catholic church in Turlock experienced a similar act of generosity in the 80's. It lead to incredible conflict in the church and, I understand, a shooting.

NEUROTHEOLOGY
"Dr Michael Persinger of Laurentian University, Canada, has devised a special helmet that uses electromagnetic fields to induce electrical changes in the brain's temporal lobes, which are linked with religious belief...Dr Persinger claims he can induce mystical feelings in a majority of those willing to don his Transcranial Magnetic Stimulator."

"Recent studies on identical and fraternal twin pairs raised apart suggest that 50 per cent of our religious interests are influenced by genes." Link

TODAY IS THE "DAY OF THE UNBORN"
In many countries, particularly in South America, March 25th is designated as the day recognizing the right to be born. Link

ONLY FIVE STATES LEFT
Now that Starbucks has come to Arkansas there are only five states left without the corporate symbol of pop postmodern culture -- Alaska, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and West Virginia. Link

END TIMES SENSATIONALISM
Ted Olson really blasts the San Francisco Chronicle for an article they ran last Saturday under the headline "War in Babylon has evangelicals seeing Earth's final days."

"Only one problem:" says Olson, religion writer Don Lattin "couldn't actually find any evangelicals who actually believe it."

On top of that, writes Olson, "...everyone seems to be missing the real story: there's actually much less apocalyptic talk about the war with Iraq than there was in 1991's Gulf War. And, in fact, failed end times hype over Saddam back then may be the cause of muted speculation today." Link to CT weblog

IRAQI INTERNET APPEARS TO BE BACK ONLINE
Link to Where is Raed?

THE CONVICTION OF THINGS NOT SEEN
I've added to my website my review of The Conviction of Things Not Seen, a festschrift for Robert Webber, edited by Todd Johnson. Link

POLICE USE PHONE SPAM TO STEM ILLEGAL ADS
Police in Hangzhou, the capital of China's Zhejiang province, have developed a system which bombards mobile phones with pre-recorded voice messages every 20 seconds. In paticular they are targeting businessmen who put up illegal advertisements which contain mobile numbers. Link

WAR TAKES TOLL ON CHRISTIAN UNITY
Pastor Steve Bilynskyj reports that at least one family has decided to leave his congregation because the church isn't taking the exact stand on the war that they'd like to see (anti-war). Steve has written a pastoral letter in response.

In our congregation, we're more likely to have the opposite problem. I occasionally catch flak because we're "not patriotic enough." We don't sing patriotic songs in worship. We don't parade the flag.

While patriotism is a good thing, it is not the church's mission to promote patriotism for any country. If anything our assignment is to be a "check" on patriotism -- to keep it from becoming an idol (Acts 4:19-20). There is almost a holy indifference in Jesus' ministry to the temporal governments. His eyes are set beyond the current political tensions. His answer to the political powers isn't to protest their abuses but to promote HIS kingdom. And one of the central values of his kingdom is the united fellowship of all his followers (e.g. John 17). In the long run that is going to speak more loudly and have more of an impact than anything else that we say or do.

Does this mean that we shouldn’t try to influence the direction of current affairs? No, not at all. Justice demands our participation. But we're not all going to agree on the best way to implement justice. So with our passion for justice and rightness we need to keep the issue of Christian unity on the front burner. For what do we gain if we manage to get our way but in the process lose the fellowship that is so fundamental to our unity with Christ himself?

IRAQI INTERNET DOWN?
We're hoping that's all it is because Salem Pax has stopped blogging from Baghdad. The blog pictures links, which were probably to an Iraqi server, have disappeared.

SPOTTED IN TURLOCK TODAY
...a car with a rather over-sized bumper sticker which says "God Loves Everyone". On the other side of the back window of the car is a white decal featuring a little boy peeing (you know which one I'm talking about) on some Middle-Eastern man (Saddam or Osama?).

O, WELL -- SO MUCH FOR OUR VACATION THIS YEAR
"A hotel on the Thai holiday island of Koh Samui has banned American tourists in a protest against the U.S.-led war in Iraq, its owner said on Friday." Link

THE PROBLEM WITH POSTMODERNISM
AS A MINISTRY FOUNDATION
In a nutshell, postmodernism is the ultimate expression of individualism -- design your own story, your own random system, your own approach to life. This is antithetical to following Jesus -- buy into my story/kingdom, do things my way, approach life from my heavenly perspective (to paraphrase Jesus).

Of course, this doesn't mean that there are no points of contact between postmodern thinking and Christianity.

People steeped in postmodernism long for community (although they never achieve it because true community involves giving up doing your own thing -- taking the individual out of the driver's seat). And Jesus called his followers to band together.

Postmodernism lives with ambiguity and mystery. Indeed, Jesus was always creating ambiguity -- deconstructing the social and religious values and institutions of his time. But he did so in order to replace them with his own radical yet very defined approach to connecting with God.

Yes, there is room for ministries with those operating from a postmodern perspective. But postmodernism, like modernism before it, makes for a very shaky ministry foundation. Why replace one faulty approach with another?

WHERE IS RAED?
The talk of the blog world today is a site which is allegedly from a blogger in Bagdad.

QUOTE OF THE DAY
"Individuals who are demonstrative about their religion do not share the same values, tenets, or practices, and thus do not represent a cross-section of society." -- Joseph F. Lisa, New Jersey appellate judge, ruling that overtly religious people can be barred from serving on juries. Link

GARDEN REPORT
The leaves are breaking forth on the cherry and apple trees in the backyard. I planted four types of tomatoes and some zucchini this afternoon. Tuesday I started thinning the apricots. Spring has arrived officially and in reality.

THE WILSONS SPEAK!
Jonathan Wilson, pastor of Cuyler Covenant Church in Chicago, writes about his disappointment with the Bush administration, the UN, and the Arab world in a new essay just posted on the Partial Observer. "As an American, I am feeling the acute paradox of living with a government that has pursued a thoroughly unjustified unilateralism since coming into office, and is now feeling the back-lash on an issue in which the American position is both legally and morally justified."

(Jonathan's article on Hawks, Doves, and Owls is also worth a look.)

In the meantime, Jonathan's father, Everett, pastor of Prairie Lake Evangelical Covenant Church in Chetek, Wisconsin, (a.k.a. Barnabas) writes in his Curmudgeonry column about the moment of humiliation. "To take your gun to town and lose is to lose everything. But winners may also lose big."

Both Wilsons are independent thinkers that don't fit very tightly into anyone's boxes. And no, they don't always agree with each other.

THE BEST WAR COVERAGE
Tonight C-SPAN is relaying the BBC morning television show Breakfast. It's a lot better than what I've seen with the American war coverage -- not so many "experts" speculating about what they don't know and Breakfast is still covering a lot of the local news, too (weather, traffic, fire brigade strike, etc.). On top of that you get to listen to a bunch of Brits talk. And where on American TV are you going to get broadcasters with great names like Dermot Murnaghan, Natasha Kaplinsky, Sian Williams, and Moira Stuart?

THIS IS CRAZY
Generally speaking I like the people who live around here. Usually they are pretty level headed. But last night someone vandalized a dry cleaner in town because it was named "French Cleaners". And they left anti-French graffiti to make their point.

But we weren't the only one's hit. The French Cleaner branch in Oakdale was also vandalized and the Modesto store was burned to the ground.

Contrary to some moron's understanding, these establishments are not owned by the French government. The real owner is an Assyrian, who I understand left the Middle East to escape predjudice against non-Muslims. Welcome to America! What we lack in intelligence we make up for in zeal. Link to the Modesto Bee article

ABOUT THE WAR
(This is from the Cornerstone Quick News e-letter that I sent out to our church a few hours ago)

It appears all but inevitable that war will breakout over the Iraqi situation -- perhaps as early as tonight. Here are some things that I think we need to be doing as a church:

a) Don't give up on praying for peace. Even if things get nasty we need to continue on with the task that is ours as followers of Christ. We will let God work out how that peace happens. But ours is to seek it.

b) Do remember to pray for the safety of soldiers and civilians. Nothing would make the American government more happy than to have this "war" without firing a shot -- how much more so the Lord.

c) Don't get too glued to the television. I expect that there will be 24/7 coverage of the war with unending commentary and looped footage of the latest battle. If we fixate on the details we will bog ourselves down emotionally and we'll lose perspective (to say nothing of all the chores that won't get done).

d) Become a supportive neighbor. We have a lot of people in our community who have relatives in Iraq and they are obviously concerned. On top of that there is concern that fanatics will target Americans of Middle Eastern descent for abuse and violence. (The irony, of course, is that many of these people have been victims of abuse at the hands of the very people the American government is trying to force out. That's why they left to come live here). Become a calming presence. Check on your neighbors to make sure they're doing alright. They may just want to talk. If you hear people making off-color comments about the "foreigners" in our community speak up on their behalf. Avoid inflammatory remarks yourself -- no matter how deeply you may feel about an issue or a group of people. Excercise wisdom. Become "salt" and "light".

War is never a good thing. But it does provide us with a unique opportunity to showcase the peace of Christ. "God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God." St. Matthew 5:9

We're all on active duty.

ALABAMA CHURCH FIRES PASTOR AFTER SUPER BOWL RIFT
An Alabama pastor was fired after he called a "mandatory meeting" concurrent with the Super Bowl. I strongly suspect that there is more to this story than what has been reported in the news -- not that I think a mandatory meeting during the Super Bowl is an especially smart move.

IRAQI DEPUTIES VOW TO DIE FOR IRAQ & SADAM
"Iraq's parliament held an emergency session on Wednesday with loyal deputies pledging to lay down their lives for President Saddam Hussein as a deadline for a U.S.-led attack neared." Link

Yeah, right. I'm sure that was of their own free will. Iraq is a part of a face-driven culture where what you say in public and what you actually do are two different things. And everyone agrees to function that way so it works. So I wouldn't take a legislative vote (even by the loyalists) as a bellwether of things to come. I am hoping that this will unfold more along the lines of what happened a couple of weeks ago when British troops, not yet in Iraq, were practicing with live fire, and nearby Iraqi soldiers crossed over the border with white flags. The Brits had to send them back telling them that the war hadn't really begun yet.

When this kind of thing happens it should not be seen as a sign of cowardice on the part of the Iraqis but more reflective of the fatalism that pervades their thinking. They are just going to go with whatever is inevitable.

Now, in regard to US relations with the other nations we’ve pressured to accept this route, it may not be so easy to patch things up. But even there they want to be on a winning side -- political realists. The French have softened their attitudes in the past couple of days and will probably get onboard at some point – unless they decide that we’re the one’s who have been tapping their phones.

WE'RE RUNNING A LITTLE SHORT OF CASH--BUT NOT VISION!
The Pacific Southwest Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church is going to have to take a special offering at its April 25th annual meeting in Walnut Creek. The problem is that we have four new churches ready to start but not enough cash to move things forward. Here's what's cookin':

Abundant Life Covenant Bible Church (Pasadena area) - vision that people are empowered to impact.

Generations Covenant Church (Torrance, CA) - Vision to become a church where people from all nationalities, cultures and age groups can intimately worship the Lord.

Project in Woodland, CA – Bringing a Covenant church to Woodland, CA.

Church of the Redeemer (South Central Los Angeles, CA) – A church to proclaim the gospel, develop disciples, meet practical needs, and promote justice.

MARRIAGE WON'T MAKE YOU HAPPY
"Most newlyweds experience a brief emotional bounce after their wedding, but they eventually return to the same outlook they had on life before they tied the knot, according to a study released Sunday." Link to Reuters story OR Link to the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 13 page article itself (.pdf file)

Marriage is wonderful (and in my experience more wonderful every year!) but you can't count on marriage to be the primary source of contentment and happiness in life. I suspect that this is a hard pill to swallow for a lot of 20-somethings who have an over-romanticized understanding of marriage and see it has the one thing that is really going to fulfill their lives. The problem, then, is that no one is "right enough" to live up to this kind of expectation, IMPO.

So what then is the source of life satisfaction, peace, and joy?

FIRST WOMAN ORDAINED
The Evangelical Covenant Church of Ecuador recently ordained Nancy Venegas making her their first ordained female pastor. Link

BEAUTIFUL DAY IN TURLOCK
...a bit brezzy but that blew out the haze and we could clearly see the snow on the Sierra. I did take a bike ride but ended up with a flat tire. And I got a lot of gardening done in the backyard. Full moon tonight with clear skies. Wonderful day off.

THE QUINTESSENTIAL POSTMODERN UNION
"For Jennifer Hoes, a Dutch student, May 28 will be a doubly exciting day. She'll turn 30, and she'll be a blushing bride -- plus her own groom. In the Trouwzaal, or wedding room, of the City Hall of Haarlem in the Netherlands, Jennifer will marry herself..." Link to the UPI religion editor Uwe Siemon-Netto's surprisingly sound response to the story.

YESTERDAY'S SERMON
For the past month or so I haven't had time to add my sermons to the SermonCentral.com database. But with all of the mail and phone calls demanding more I decided that I should bump it up on the priority list. So I've added yesterday's message from Mark 8:31-38. Link to the database

THEY FIND US STRANGE
An extremely secularized Washington correspondent for the BBC reflects about America's deep Christian faith. Link

HAPPY ST PATRICK'S DAY

I LOVE PYGMY OWLS BUT WOW THIS SEEMS INCREDIBLE...



"At last count, the greater Tucson area was home to about 900,000 people and 18 pygmy owls. Under federal law, that ratio is a mismatch.

"To protect the owls, an endangered species, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service proposed in November that 1.2 million acres in and around the city be set aside as 'critical habitat' for the birds, or about 67,000 acres per owl. The designation, issued under a court order, imposes obstacles to development, so developers in this fast-growing community are fighting back, calling it patently unfair." Link to complete NY Times story

ANOTHER FIRST
This morning, on the way into the office, I stopped to get gas at the cheapest spot in town. And for the first time ever in the US I paid over $2 per gallon -- $2.02.9.

CANADIANS ARE SOREY
Finally they've apologized for all the injustices they've perpetrated against us -- including the burning of the White House in 1812. View 22 Minutes reporter Anthony St. George (Colin Mochrie) offering a public apology to America on behalf of all Canadians. It's very nice -- right up there with the Joe Canadian Rant that was popular a few years ago.

ORTHODOX-EVANGELICAL HERMENEUTICS
Grant Osborne has a really fine discussion on the differences between the ways that Evangelical Christians and Orthodox Christians interpret and use authority. It's a revision of a paper that he gave at the meeting of the Society for the Study of Eastern Orthodoxy and Evangelicalism in 1993. But the OrthodoxToday.org site just put it up a few weeks ago. It was good to see it again. Link

SAUDIS': WAR IS NOT GOOD BUT
AT LEAST IT'S NOT A WAR AGAINST ISALM
The Saudi Arab News, which mirrors the official Saudi government policy, says in an editorial today that war on Bagdad is a mistake -- BUT...

"No matter how smart the bombs, no matter how determined the bombers to avoid civilian casualties, no matter how convinced Washington is that the war will be short, no matter how resolved it is to maintain Iraqi unity afterward, we fear death and destruction on a massive scale. We fear that, far from creating a peaceful and harmonious Iraq, the result will be continuing chaos and conflict, with dire consequences for the entire region — and perhaps the world beyond. But even if all these things happen, there is at least one crumb of comfort to be drawn from the inevitable slide toward war. There is a small but invaluable silver lining to the cloud that darks the region’s skies."

"...Whatever one might say about George Bush’s reasons for going to war against Baghdad, religion is the least of them. This is not a war against Islam. That it is a dangerous lie, and deeply corrupting to those who believe it because it makes them bigots. The other danger is that it has the potential to be a self-fulfilling lie if enough people believe it and respond accordingly." Link

FUNKY QUARTSITE
I just came across an article that ran in the NY Times on February 10th. It's about Quartsize, Arizona -- a pretty funky place. Every time we drive by there -- once or twice a year -- on the way to Phoenix, I am fascinated by the strange collection of snowbirds and traders who park their rv's out in the desert. It is a truly unique place. I'm still trying to figure out why Quartsite, though.

SISTER KAREN




They did a production featuring highlights from the Sound of Music at Covenant Village tonight. Karen Walker, from our church, played one of the nuns. It was a small role but she still had to wear the 15 pound costume which became a sweat suit -- or so she said. How do the women who wear such garb as a part of their vocation survive?

SAUDIS CONTINUE TO PROHIBIT CHURCHES
"On Thursday, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, an independent federal agency, complained that a new State Department list of countries that severely limit religious freedom omits several that deserve censure, including U.S. ally Saudi Arabia. The commission's annual reports say that religious freedom 'does not exist' in the Gulf Kingdom."

And apparently, anyone who complains to the Saudis is labeled a "fanatic".

"Those who talked (about churches in Saudi Arabia) are church people and they are, unfortunately, fanatics," Sultan said, according to Monday's Okaz daily newspaper. "We are not against religions at all ... but there are no churches — not in the past, the present or future." Link to AP story

ST PATRICK'S DAY
Not yet -- but it's coming on Monday. To get in the mood here is St. Patrick's Breastplate as translated from the Gaelic by Cecil Frances Humphreys Alexander in 1889.

I bind unto myself today
The strong Name of the Trinity,
By invocation of the same
The Three in One and One in Three.
I bind this today to me forever
By power of faith, Christ’s incarnation;
His baptism in Jordan river,
His death on Cross for my salvation;
His bursting from the spiced tomb,
His riding up the heavenly way,
His coming at the day of doom
I bind unto myself today.

I bind unto myself the power
Of the great love of cherubim;
The sweet ‘Well done’ in judgment hour,
The service of the seraphim,
Confessors’ faith, Apostles’ word,
The Patriarchs’ prayers, the prophets’ scrolls,
All good deeds done unto the Lord
And purity of virgin souls.

I bind unto myself today
The virtues of the star lit heaven,
The glorious sun’s life giving ray,
The whiteness of the moon at even,
The flashing of the lightning free,
The whirling wind’s tempestuous shocks,
The stable earth, the deep salt sea
Around the old eternal rocks.

I bind unto myself today
The power of God to hold and lead,
His eye to watch, His might to stay,
His ear to hearken to my need.
The wisdom of my God to teach,
His hand to guide, His shield to ward;
The word of God to give me speech,
His heavenly host to be my guard.

Against the demon snares of sin,
The vice that gives temptation force,
The natural lusts that war within,
The hostile men that mar my course;
Or few or many, far or nigh,
In every place and in all hours,
Against their fierce hostility
I bind to me these holy powers.

Against all Satan’s spells and wiles,
Against false words of heresy,
Against the knowledge that defiles,
Against the heart’s idolatry,
Against the wizard’s evil craft,
Against the death wound and the burning,
The choking wave, the poisoned shaft,
Protect me, Christ, till Thy returning.

Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me.
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

I bind unto myself the Name,
The strong Name of the Trinity,
By invocation of the same,
The Three in One and One in Three.
By Whom all nature hath creation,
Eternal Father, Spirit, Word:
Praise to the Lord of my salvation,
Salvation is of Christ the Lord.

STEVE SJOGREN BACK TO BLOGGING
Steve Sjogren (The "Conspiracy of Kindness" guy) is once again blogging. Link

EVANGELICAL-LDS DIALOGUE AT FULLER
Fuller Theological Seminary is hosting a conference called “Thinking Theologically about America: Evangelical and Mormon Perspectives in Dialogue”, April 2 – 4, 2003. Link

THE MOUNTIES ALWAYS GET THEIR MAN



This one was a carpool dummy. Link

PATRIOTS EAT FREEDOM FRIES
In the name of patriotism everyone seem to be changing French Toast into Freedom Toast and French Fries into Freedom Fries. Even Congress is getting into the act. But it seems to me that if we're really serious about expunging the French from our language that we ought to quit referring to ourselves as patriots. After all, patriot comes from the French word patriote.

Give it a rest.

THE WAR
It finally dawned on me (I'm a little slow) that the whole European resistance to the idea of fighting a war to get rid of Saddam really has little to do with the merits (or lack thereof!) for going to war. It's really about power -- not unlike that of the labor union which is organizing to protest the policies of management. In fact, the management policies may not be all that bad -- but the relatively powerless workers have to draw a line somewhere so that management treats them with respect.

It doesn't matter whether it's worth fighting a war or not. That's not at all the point. But it seems, from the perspective of a good many countries in the world, that the US has just gotten too big for its britches -- now that there is no other superpower to hold us in check. So they are all letting us know what they think. And as with striking workers the walkouts always seem to come at the most inopportune times. This is because the most inopportune times are when they can most forcefully make their point.

SPAM TALE
I have this email account with charter.net, which provides our access at home. I have never given out the address to anyone. And so I almost never check it. Tonight I got the bright idea that I should at least go in there to see if charter.net was sending me anything about the account. And before I could do anything about it I had downloaded 1,300 pieces of spam that had been accumulating in my mailbox. So just how is it that the spammers figured out about the address that I never gave to anyone? Sure some of it had to be of the random generated variety where they take a list of names and put them in front of @charter.net -- but really -- not all 1,300 would have been generated that way. And as far as I can tell Charter isn't doing anything to block the stuff. At least on my EarthLink account there is spaminator -- an inadequate but noble attempt.

MORE COMMON NONSENSE
How is it that a college teacher has given his students class credit for writing letters to the president opposing the war -- but those who wrote supporting a war received no credit?

He's been placed on administrative leave. Link

MCDONALD'S TO OFFER WIRELESS COMBO MEAL
"NEW YORK (AP) - Would you like super-sized Internet access with that burger and fries? In a further sign of the spread of wireless Internet technology, McDonald's 'restaurants in three U.S. cities will offer one hour of free high-speed access to anyone who buys a combination meal. Ten McDonald's in Manhattan will begin offering wireless WiFi, or 802.11b, Internet access on Wednesday, McDonald's spokeswoman Lisa Howard said.'

"By year's end, McDonald's will extend the access to 300 McDonald restaurants in New York City, Chicago and a yet-unannounced California town, Howard said."

I'm suspecting that the "yet-unannounced California town" will be Turlock -- the west coast hotbed of technology (When we moved here about 8 years ago the ONLY "local" public Internet access was two AOL phone numbers out of Modesto). If we start the rumor maybe it will come true.

Link to the whole AP article

THE NEW U.S. -- FROM AN AUSTRALIAN PERSPECTIVE
Link to "Wings clipped and living on a born again prayer in the US"

ENJOY THE DAY
Tuesday is our day off. We woke up to a rare coastal fog this morning (When we get fog it usually comes from the ground up -- "tule fog") and even after it burned off it felt like the coast with a gentle breeze. We're closing in on 80 degrees. For lunch Cheryl and explored another one of Turlock's authentic Mexican resturants -- Taqueria el Alazan (1668 Countryside Dr). Definitely a winner!

RALPH WINTER
Dr Winter, founder of the US Center for World Mission and one of the great missionary strategists of our time, spoke this evening at the Perspectives class that we're hosting at Cornerstone. He was wonderfully engaging -- definitely a man with ideas -- but also a fairly decent grasp of chaos theory! I was pleasantly surprised to hear him advocating a more holistic approach to missions than what I expected. And he spoke quite a bit about the need for intellectual development among Christians as a means of countering secularized western education.

Following the class three of us cornered him for 15 minutes or so and got to ask him all kinds of questions about educational development and its role in missions. As a sidebar, one of the interesting comments he made was in regard to intelligent design theorists. How come none of the intelligent design people see an evil design at work in creation?

CANADIAN-US TENSIONS MOUNT AFTER ATTACK ON CURLING
From today's Ottawa Citizen: "Those cutting remarks Canadian leaders have been making about their American counterparts seem to have taken their toll.

"After the prime minister's press secretary referred to George W. Bush as a moron and Liberal MP Carolyn Parrish referred to his entire electorate as 'those bastards,' Americans are fighting back.

"They have attacked curling."

Link to Ottawa Citizen article

Come, come, children you play nicely or you're both going to have to go to your rooms for time out.

WE'RE STILL A NATION OF IMMIGRANTS
U.S. foreign-born population reaches record high -- 32.5 million or 11.5 percent. Link to AP story

JONAH: A VEGGIETALES MOVIE
When I saw it in the theater I decided that I would pick up the DVD when it came out. It was released last week and Wal-Mart had it for less than $17 yesterday so I'm watching it again tonight. My favorite characters: Khalil the caterpillar and Reginald the camel. Link

IRAQIS ATTEMPT SURRENDER
"TERRIFIED Iraqi soldiers have crossed the Kuwait border and tried to surrender to British forces - because they thought the war had already started.

"The motley band of a dozen troops waved the white flag as British paratroopers tested their weapons during a routine exercise.

"The stunned Paras from 16 Air Assault Brigade were forced to tell the Iraqis they were not firing at them, and ordered them back to their home country telling them it was too early to surrender..."

Link to the complete story in today's Sunday Mirror

PROTESTORS HIT THE WRONG CHURCH
Rick Lindholtz reports that 8-10 protestors from the Fred Phelps group showed up this morning to picket in front of the Lutheran church where he is on staff. Rick says, "They had brightly colored signs that said 'Your Pastor is a liar', 'Fag Church', 'Thank God for Sept 11' and the like, and the objectionable 'logo' that appears in several places on their website. They didn't say anything to anyone, just stood out there with their signs. Four of them sang gospel quartet songs - I wondered if the disconnect between their songs and their signs was as totally unconscious as it seemed to be."

Then Rick adds, "Oh yeah, one of their signs made a contemptuous reference to the ELCA." The protestors didn't budge when they were told that the church isn't associated with the ELCA but is a part of the more conservative Missouri Synod.

Idiocy and hate often go together.

BLOGS: WAVE OF THE FUTURE?
"SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The online diaries known as Weblogs, or "blogs," seemed like a lot of inconsequential chatter when they surfaced a few years ago.

"But as more people have embraced the concept, what once seemed like a passing fancy has morphed into a cutting-edge phenomenon that may provide the platform for the Internet's next wave of innovation and moneymaking opportunities.

"'Just like the Internet was 10 years ago, blogging is popular with an underground culture that is doing it for the love and passion," said Tony Perkins, who edited the recently folded Red Herring technology magazine and last month launched a business blog called Always On Network."...

"'This is the 'eBayization' of the media,' (Tony) Perkins said. 'You create a compelling arena and then let the real entertainment come from the participants themselves.'" Read the whole story

.AF BACK IN THE MIX
"KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - 'Planting its flag in cyberspace,' Afghanistan will officially activate its .af Internet domain name on Monday for Afghan e-mail addresses and Web sites, officials and the United Nations said." Link

INTERNET SPEED RECORD
"SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Researchers at a Stanford University-affiliated research center said on Friday they had found a way to send data across the Internet more than 3,500 times faster than the typical broadband connection." Link

My laptop is plenty fast for what I do, but frankly speeding up the packets of info coming at me by 3,500 probably won't make a whole lot of difference. It's kind of like racing down the arterial so you can be the first to wait at the traffic light. But maybe in a few years...

I'M LOOKING FOR ECONOMIC MODELS
The church planter that I coach in Fresno is starting a congregation to reach Southest Asian refugees. He has about 75 people. Some have been in the US for as long as 20 years. But few of them have made the economic transition. They're still working multiple jobs at minimum or near minimum wage -- and barely making ends meet -- often not. They are good workers but in spite of years of trying to pick up English many are not skilled enough to move forward in work or education. They have a strong pastor who is also a community leader. He has adapted well and is working on a college degree. I'm looking for some economic development models that I can encourage him to examine. Suggestions?

SWEETHEART BANQUET
Last night our high school students from church put on a banquet for about 20 couples who paid at least $40 a pair. It was a fundraiser for the CHIC trip next summer and a way for "all the men who forgot Valentine's Day to redeem themselves." Our associate pastor, Dan Whitmarsh, coordinated the whole thing and his wife, Karina, a gourmet cook, whipped up the fancy appetizers, cordon bleu, and molten lava lover's cake. Dinner was served in "the special room," the Star Wars room, the 70's room, and best of all "the monastery" (my study). There were about 20 kids involved in preparation and serving. They also provided entertainment.

It was a remarkable event. The food was excellent. The kids were really "on" and at their best. Thanks Dan and Karina. Outstanding job!

CHURCH RELEVANCE
Frederica Mathewes-Green, author, NPR columnist, prolife spokesperson, and wife of an Orthodox priest was recently interviewed for Modern Reformation magazine. (Frederica and her husband were both non-believing hippy-types who were dramtically converted to Christ in the 70's. He eventually became an Episcopal priest but decided to leave the Episcopal Church in 1991 when their House of Bishops defeated a resolution stating, "Clergy should abstain from sex outside of marriage." They became Eastern Orthodox at that point.) The interview is not up on the magazine site but Frederica sent it out to a mailing list she has. And I think that the last section was particularly noteworthy for Christians of all backgrounds --

MR: As an Orthodox person, how do you respond to the obsession in
contemporary culture with relevance, being "postmodern," etc.?

FMG: I think it's entirely misguided. Even two old boomers like my husband and myself knew ten years ago that we didn't want to join any church that prioritized being relevant. The Gospel is already relevant, because it's timeless; hitching it to time-bound fashion only trivializes it. I think this insight is the wave of the future, ironically; I think that we will increasingly see it become fashionable to disdain passing fashion, a situation that makes Orthodox heads spin. For example, a friend recently told me that her Southern Baptist church has established a Celtic service, complete with chant, candles, and incense (at least until those with allergies complained). She said that boomers mostly go to the 9:30 "contemporary" service, where they can have all those middle-aged things like rock music and humor and skits. "But the older people wanted an earlier service, and the young people, of course, wanted something more traditional." Those words keep echoing in my mind: "The young people, of course, wanted something more traditional." If the church of the future wants to be up-to-the-minute, hip, and relevant, it had better look into tradition.

Link to the whole interview

MICAHEL CARD RECOVERING FROM CRASH INJURIES
Michael Card was the only person injured when his tour bus collided with a disabled semitrailer truck on February 26th in Colorado. A full recovery is expected and he is back on tour, performing this weekend in Minnesota, with the help of one of the greatest guitarists in the world -- Phil Keaggy (Michael's injuries prevent his from playing the piano or guitar). Link to the Star-Tribune article

NO SMALL CHANGE
"When Melvin Doyle told his priest that he'd like to donate his coin collection to St. Joseph's Catholic Church in New Hope/Plymouth [Minnesota], the Rev. Bob Hazel imagined a few glass cases and cardboard binders." But it turns out that Melvin, who will soon turn 90, has been squirreling his change in his basement -- something he started doing in 1918. The total estimated value of the three pick-up truck loads of coins (moved by 12 men) -- $75,000. As Doyle said, "The mint will be able to shut down for a couple days when we turn those in..." Link to the Star-Tribune article

WAS JESUS A PACIFIST?
Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite (Chicago Theological Seminary) and Darrell Bock (Dallas Theological Seminary) debate the topic in tomorrow's Dallas Morning News. Link

Kudos to the Dallas Morning News for their willingness to bring this kind of a debate to the masses. Once again they are outdoing everyone else in the mainstream media in covering the spiritual angle.

MALL DROPS CHARGES
"The owner of a shopping mall where a lawyer was arrested this week after refusing to take off a T-shirt advocating peace on Thursday opted to drop trespassing charges against him." Link

It took awhile but common sense finally had the last word. Or is it the last word? If you're going to maliciously have someone arrested you probably don't want that someone to be a high profile lawyer. Unless the attorney is exceptionally gracious I suspect that there is more coming on this one.

PHOENIX SUFFERING GAS SHORTAGE
Link to Arizona Republic article

WATER PROBLEMS
"Already about 40% of the world’s population has insufficient water for sanitation and hygiene, and 2.2m people die each year from diseases linked to inadequate sewerage or contaminated drinking water." And the situation is getting worse -- even in so-called developed countries. Link to the Economist

Officials in Mira Loma, California, have committed to building a desalter purification plant to meet the water needs in parts of western Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Link to the Press Enterprise (You may have to do the free registration bit for this article).

THE CONVICITON OF THINGS NOT SEEN
I'm in the middle of reading a The Conviction of Things Not Seen: Worship and Ministry in the 21st Century, edited by Todd E. Johnson. This is a festschrift in honor of Robert Webber. The collection really does honor Webber in an appropriate way, with numerous essays that stimulate serious thinking about how we do worship. It's loaded with chewable material. For now just one sample -- this from John Witvliet:

...A more important test, however -- which also needs to be recognized, celebrated, affirmed, and credentialed -- is to see how effectively, honestly, and knowingly a worship band or organist can get a congregation to sing well together. Music in worship is not primarily about individual choice, participation, or preferences, but about the entire congregation.

And many voices would extend this reasoning one step further to argue that music in worship is not about individual congregations but also about the whole body of Christ, the whole catholic church. In his description of liturgical worship, Dietrich Bonhöffer explores this catholic impulse:

"It is the voice of the Church that is heard in singing together. It is not you that sings, it is the Church that is singing, and you, as a member of the Church, may share in its song. Thus all singing together...serves to widen our spiritual horizon, make us see out little company as a member of the great Christian Church on earth, and help us willingly and gladly to join our singing, be it feeble or good, to the song of the Church."

In a culture that celebrates individual choices and preferences, this vision calls us to a new way of experiencing music. This vision invites us not to ask, "Did I like the music?" but rather, "Did that music give me a powerful sense of joining with Christians in other times and places?" (pp. 75-76)

HACKERS COMPROMISE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS INFO
"Hackers broke into a University of Texas database and stole the names, Social Security numbers and e-mail addresses of more than 55,000 students, former students and employees, officials said." Link

PAYPAL EMAIL SCAM
I got another html formatted email notice from PayPal informing me that "PayPal is currently performing regular maintenance of our security measures. Your account has been randomly selected for this maintenance, and placed on Limited Access status. Protecting the security of your PayPal account is our primary concern, and we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. To restore your account to its regular status, you must confirm your email address by logging in to your PayPal account using the form below."

On the form they not only ask for my email address and date-of-birth but they also want my credit card number, expiration date, AND bank account number.

Right! Dream on! I don't even have a PayPal account. Nor have I ever had such an account in the past.

Of course the return address on the email is info@paypal.com. And it actually looks like it could be from PayPal. But the button in the form sends the information to http://www.parom.org//cgi-sys/formmail.pl. The whois at nic.com says the domain belongs to:
Registrant ID:51-C
Registrant Name:CONTACT NOT AUTHORITATIVE
Registrant Street1:Whois Server:whois.rrpproxy.net
Registrant Street2:Referral URL:www.key-systems.net
Registrant City:N/A
Registrant Postal Code:N/A
Registrant Country:CA
Registrant Email:not@available.org
Admin ID:51-C

That's real helpful.

This isn't the first time someone has tried to pull this scam. Last fall the scammers sent out similar email except they directed people to a bogus website to fill out the form. This time they are more clever -- just sending out the form in html format.

I've reported this kind of stuff to various ISP's and companies in the past. But I've never gotten a response. So this time I decided I'd respond to the solicitation. I entered an email address: Can you say "Jail Time" Then I put in a password: "You're busted". I clicked the "update" button in the form and it sent my message off.

I wish I had the power to make my message come true. It only takes one or two people to fall for this kind of a scam to make it worth the while of the bad guys.

SIGNS OF SPRING
The blossoms on the apricot tree have given way to fresh and delicate kelly green leaves. The birds are all looking for nesting material. The windows are open. The thermometer reads 77 degrees. The backyard is a pleasant place to be.

I spent some time out there this afternoon trying to get some reading done. Unfortunately, my neighbor has this swimming pool filter that generates a shrill whine. And it seems like he runs it 24/7. It's got to be the cleanest little above-ground pool in the world. The joys of suburban life!

AMERICAN CULTURE: CONFLICT OR TRANSFORMATION
Mere Comments points to a manuscript of Prof. Albert J. Raboteau's Father Alexander Schmemann Lecture at Saint Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, "Orthodox Christianity and American Culture: Conflict or Transformation?" It's loaded with quoatable material -- a few samples:

+ "It is easy to criticize the vulgar consumerism of mass media advertising. There is a more subtle form, however, that can turn religion itself into just another form of ego gratification -- a kind of spiritual consumerism that focuses on having spiritual experiences to aggrandize the self -- spiritual hedonism, but hedonism none the less."

+ "African-American Christianity has continuously confronted the nation with troubling questions about American exceptionalism. Perhaps the most troubling was this: 'If Christ came as the Suffering Servant, who resembled Him more, the master or the slave?' Suffering slave Christianity stood as a prophetic condemnation of America's obsession with power, status, and possessions. African-American Christians perceived in American exceptionalism a dangerous tendency to turn the nation into an idol, and Christianity into a clan religion. Divine election brings not preeminence, elevation, and glory, but as black Christians knew all too well, humiliation, suffering, and rejection. Chosenness, as reflected in the life of Jesus, led to a cross. The lives of his disciples have been signed with that cross. To be chosen, in this perspective, means joining company not with the powerful and the rich, but with those who suffer, the outcast, the poor, and the despised."

+ "Contrary to common opinion, pluralism is not relativism, nor does it necessitate relativism. Pluralism means encountering the values and attitudes and beliefs of others with respect for those who hold them. Pluralism, when taken seriously as respect for difference, actually rejects relativism for avoiding the hard truth that we do indeed differ. Pluralism is not a denial of truth; it is the difficult road we walk to achieve a mature understanding of the truth and the opportunity to share that truth with others who are seeking it. Whereas relativism patronizes others by pretending that difference does not matter because everything is a matter of 'to each his own,' pluralism appreciates diversity precisely because it challenges one’s own values, assumptions, and beliefs, including one’s religion. Pluralism challenges us to experience religion as more than cultural identity. It challenges us to appropriate, internalize, and live out the religious identity passed to us by family and society. It creates an opportunity to discuss and to argue for one’s own position."

+ "Pluralism challenges us to put our lives where our mouths say we are. In addition, pluralism offers us the opportunity not only to understand more deeply our faith in distinction from that of others, it also presents before us a 'field ripe for the harvest'. In this time and place, no less than any other, the 'Great Commission' – 'go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you,' applies. And it becomes an urgent imperative for us, not simply to counteract dwindling or stagnant numbers of members, but because Christianity is by divine calling inescapably missionary..."

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO WATCH WHAT YOU EAT...
Gary Cole passed this along:

Here's the final word on nutrition and health. It's a relief to know the truth after all those conflicting medical studies:

1. The Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.

2. The Mexicans eat a lot of fat and also suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.

3. The Japanese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.

4. The Italians drink excessive amounts of red wine and also suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.

5. The Germans drink a lot of beer and eat lots of sausages and fats and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.

CONCLUSION: Eat and drink what you like. Speaking English is apparently what kills you.

PHILIP YANCEY ON LIFE IN RUSSIA
"Last fall I spent a day with church-going Christians in Sweden, a distinct minority these days.

"I mentioned that although many Swedes had abandoned the church, their society continued to live off the moral capital accumulated during centuries of faith. Honesty, peacefulness, generosity, prudence, justice -- the Vikings were not noted for such qualities before their conversion.

"'What would Sweden look like if we used up our moral capital?' one woman asked. I recommended she visit Russia, the next stop on my trip, for an answer..."

Link to the whole story

LENT RESOURCES
The Christian Resources Institute has good information on Lent (which starts tomorrow) written from an evangelical perspective. Link

COMMON SENSE & THE CONSTITUTION GO OUT THE WINDOW
"NEW YORK (Reuters) - A lawyer was arrested late Monday and charged with trespassing at a public mall in the state of New York after refusing to take off a T-shirt advocating peace that he had just purchased at the mall." Link to ABC / Link to AP

We're making decisions based not on principle, law, or even common sense -- but on raw unprocessed fear. It's happened before. Remember the Japanese interment camps in WWII and the McCarthyism of the 50's? With each episode of illogical fear acted out by an American it is evident that the terrorists have gained another notch on their belts -- a notch etched deeper than what could be cut with an actual act of terrorism. Relax. Stay calm. Don't arrest everyone who refuses to tow the party line. And we'll get through this with our nation not only intact -- but also stronger for it.

PYONGYANG IS CRAZIER THAN SADDAM
Literally. He appears to be intent on provoking the ire of the United States, which was very willing to ignore him until he started to ratchet up the pressure with his new North Korean nuclear enterprise. Now the US is responding by sending bombers to Guam ("just in case").

His people are starving; his army is ill-equipped; so he's pouring his energy into developing a nuclear time bomb. Go figure that one. At least we understand Saddam. He's a compulsive gambler who believes that he can beat the odds. But what gives with Pyongyang?

As much as we'd like to think it does, maybe the future doesn't lie in the hands of America. Even when we're acting nobly (We don't always -- e.g. the dirty tricks on UN security council members) it doesn't mean that we're always going to get to call all the shots. Sometimes I wish I were a dispensationalist so I could just sit back knowing that the whole thing is spiraling toward Armageddon anyway. Instead I'm stuck trying to figure out what's going on. It doesn't always add up.

Ecclesiastes 8:1 (NLT) -- "How wonderful to be wise, to be able to analyze and interpret things. Wisdom lights up a person's face, softening its hardness."

Ecclesiastes 8:12 (NLT) -- "But even though a person sins a hundred times and still lives a long time, I know that those who fear God will be better off."

INSIGHTFUL
Janet Street-Porter writes in her Editor-at-Large column about the eccentric inertia in the Church of England, futurists, and Libeskind's twin tower design. "The choice of Daniel Libeskind to rebuild the twin towers site is inspired. Here is an intellectual, a dreamer, an architect whose Jewish Museum in Berlin moves people to tears. Why then do I cringe at the news that it contains a spire 1,776ft tall, said to be a 'tribute' to the year of America's independence? Is this not evidence of the US's desire to be seen as the dominant culture? Skyscrapers were born in a previous age. The old US philosophy of consumerism provokes increasing hostility. I don't think Libeskind's design is the solution."

Not that I agree with her read on the situation but hers is probably a common perception of those outside the states. Link

GRODA'S ANNIVERSARY
It was two years ago yesterday that my children gave "Groda" to me for my birthday. He's the Swedish-speaking African frog that lives in a little aquarium on my desk. It's amazing that he's lasted so long. I guess he just enjoys watching me work -- or whatever it is that I do when I'm at my desk.

CHINA PLANS TO COLONIZE THE MOON
Plans to place unmanned base on the Moon by 2010. Link

03-03-03
Whether you're European or American -- at least today you abbreviate the same way.

MORE EUROPEAN - AMERICAN BANTERING
Economist article

"Self-assurance is often the difference. Americans do not define themselves in opposition to Europe, as Europeans sometimes do to the United States. American capitalism is not the alternative to the European social market. America, to its inhabitants at least, is just America, the city on the hill. Opinion polls show that Americans are more patriotic than most Europeans, and alongside that patriotism goes a sense of superiority. We're the best. Europeans are not so lucky, but neither are Canadians, Mexicans or anyone else. This self-confidence takes some of the edge off American hostility, just as it sharpens Europe's."

RECYCLING BAD FOR THE ENVIRONMENT
Some Swedes have decided that "The use of incineration to burn household waste - including packaging and food - 'is best for the environment, the economy and the management of natural resources...'" Link (Thanks InstaPundit)

FUTURISTIC ART



There is a fascinating online exhibit of the futuristic artwork of A.C. Radebaugh. Link (Thanks Boing Boing)

WORLDWIDE DAY OF PRAYER - MARCH 9, 2003
Turlock is one of three or four hubs of Assyrian cultural activity is the US. Our neighbors here are asking all of the churches to pray for their extended community of churches--particularly for the Christians who are still living in Iraq. See the ELCA background information on the Assyrian churches

The following is the AUA press release

The Assyrian Universal Alliance is sponsoring the Worldwide Day of Prayer for the Christians of Iraq.
The Churches representing the two (2) million Christians in Iraq are:
The Holy Apostolic Assyrian Church of the East
The Holy Ancient Apostolic Church of the East
The Chaldean Roman Catholic Church
The Syriac Orthodox and Syriac Catholic Churches
The Armenian Churches
The Protestant Churches

These Churches also serve an additional two (2) million Assyrian, Chaldean and Syriac Christians scattered in over forty countries around the world.

This special Day of Prayer on March 9, 2003 is for the Christians of Iraq. An urgent appeal is going out to the Worldwide Christian Community for a Day of Prayer during the Sunday Church Services and throughout the day for those Christians currently beleaguered in Iraq.

Urgent prayer is being requested for protection for this special Christian Community, the oldest Christian Nation in the world struggling for survival in a sea of turmoil in the land of their forefathers.

Please pray for the Assyrian Church of the East that this oldest Church in the world, will endure this trial experience and return to its roots as the largest missionary force in the world.

Urgent prayer is also being asked for opportunities through the media of Newspapers, TV, Radio, Magazines, etc., to get the word out to the world that this Christian Community in Iraq is on the verge of another survival situation. Between 1914 and 1918 and again in 1933 these Christians went through massacres in which over 2/3 of the nation was slaughtered.

Urgent prayer is also being requested for these indigenous Christian people of Iraq so that this time such an inhumane holocaust can never happen again.

With signs of war with Iraq increasing every day, lost amidst the fog of war are these Christians, once a proud and very influential nation.

The liturgy of the Assyrian, Chaldean and Syriac Churches is still today in Aramaic, the language spoken by Jesus Christ. Early in the first century the Assyrian Church sent missionaries to China, Central Asia, India, Mongolia, Japan, Siberia, Ethiopia and the rest of the known world.

Urgent prayers are asked for this nation that is remembered in prophecy (Isaiah 19 : 23 - 25).

It is their history that is little known. It was to them that Jonah came to bring the message of repentance and they repented. It was to them that the Apostle Thomas came and their King Abgar repented for his people and Assyria became the first Christian Nation. These Christians of Iraq, for whom we ask your prayers, today are the remnants of Assyria that was the creator of much of our present civilization.

The Christians of Iraq because of their Christian faith have suffered greatly in an area that is almost completely Muslim. In the past they have been oppressed by the Persians, Mongols, Turks, Kurds and Arabs. Today these Christians face another problem in Iraq. They are plagued by the Iraq Government program to "Arabize" all citizens. The Christians as other minorities in the region suffer under this Arabization program. Although they are not Arabs they have been forced to sign forms that require
them to renounce their ethnic ideates, religion and declare themselves to be Arabs.

Urgent prayer is being requested from the worldwide Christian community so that Almighty God will hear our prayers and protect His children, Assyria the work of His Hand.

Please let us know that you will join us in prayer on March 9, 2003. Please inform us by Fax, letter, e-mail or phone. Our organizing committee is in need of volunteers. We need your help.

Assyrian Universal Alliance
Tel: (773) 274-9262
Fax: (773) 274-5866
e-mail: auaf@aol.com

Organizing Committee information:

- Rev. Ken JosephJr. Chairperson email: info@keikyo.com
- Sen. John J. Nimrod email: JohnNimrod@aol.com
- Carlo Ganjeh email: ganjeh@aol.com
- Hon. Homer Ashurian email: libashur@aol.com

BLOG PUBLISHERS STEALING LIMELIGHT
Reuters: "Blogs feed other blogs, cross-referencing each other via hyperlinks. An endless series of underground gopher tunnels, the typical blog has 50 to 100 links to other sites... The phenomenon is changing the basic metaphors for how the Web works. Bloggers don't so much surf as clip excerpts from the Internet, then share these choice tidbits with friends, colleagues, and passers-by from other blogs." Link

LENT -- TIME TO "GET REAL"
Lent begins on Wednesday and the Dallas Morning News carries a good introduction to the meaning and pracitices of the season. Link