Random

~ All the Christmas 2007 catalogs arrived in the PO Box today -- a small stack of them.

~ Turning the classroom into a game show -- complete with audience response technology -- Link

~ Parag Khanna in the NY Times -- The US has become a global-has-been, the rapid decline occurring during the Bush administration. It was going to happen at some point, anyway. -- Link

~ Do bloggers have lives? -- Link

~ Darwin Day is coming up on February 12th. I hate it when these things fall in the middle of the week. I much prefer a three day weekend. Maybe we could lump it in with the presidents and get a whole week of paid holiday off. -- Link

~ Video: The Alan Hirsch introduction -- How does one speak after such an introduction? -- Link

~ "The head of the World Council of Churches, the Rev Dr Samuel Kobia, has expressed his support for full communion among all denominations by the middle of the 21st century." -- Link

The problem with this whole concept is that it's increasingly obsolete. The growing and emerging churches throughout the world generally do not see themselves as in any formal sense being "out of communion" with other churches -- especially the growing and emerging churches. This is one of the few upsides of living an ahistorical existence. They're just going to do an end-run around the structures defined by historical controversies.

Denominations are not going to disappear anytime soon (although many will) but how they are defined and function is changing rapidly. The things considered as distinctives will not define denominations in the same way. That is, they won't play such a prominent role. IOW, for the growing edge of the church the idea that there needs to be some formal process of communion seems moot. They'll just write MOUs if needed or hire each other's staff.

~ After liver transplant, Australian teen takes on the immune system and blood type of her donor! A first. How does that happen? -- Link