i am paradox

Cable vs. DSL

We just switched from verizon dsl that we have been using for about 3 years to road runner cable internet through Time Warner. Wow--what a difference. It's way faster--in case you wanted to know!

Teen Sex Stats: Wake-Up Call

Americans received a much need wake up call this past week when a new teen age sex study was released, the most comprehensive national survey of sexual behaviors ever released by the federal government. Included in it were the facts that slightly more than half of American teenagers ages 15 to 19 have engaged in oral sex, with females and males reporting similar levels of experience. The report released by the National Center for Health Statistics shows that the proportion increases with age to about 70 percent of all 18- and 19-year-olds. That figure is considerably higher for those who also have engaged in intercourse. Several leaders of organizations that study or work with youth expressed surprise at the level of girls' participation. "You assume that females are more likely to give, males more likely to receive," said Jennifer Manlove, who directs fertility research for the organization Child Trends. "We were surprised that the percentages were similar."

I think we can go to extremes with this personally. On one hand, some parents will think "not my kid'.  And then the other extreme is thinking that every teen they know is guilty of the above stats. As the church, we have got to come to grips with how society really is and not be afraid to talk about sex, both the good, the bad and the ugly.

Perhaps we have only discussed sex negatively, or only when a sexual topics course is given, instead of making it part of our community life together. How long will it take us to learn?

Teen Sex Study/Stats

Dad Defends Teen Drinking Party

"Consider a stunning statistic: Between 10 percent and 20 percent of all the alcohol consumed in this country is drunk by kids who are underage.

It’s an epidemic that leaves parents facing agonizing choices — parents like Bill and Pat Anderson in West Warwick, R.I. When their son Gregg asked to throw an after-prom party with alcohol at their home their first response was, "No way."

But then Gregg told them the party would be at a local beach instead — and that got them thinking. At the beach, there would be no supervision and everyone would have to drive home. At their house, they could lay down some rules.

Gregg Anderson was 18 years old at the time, the youngest of the Andersons' three sons. The Andersons say they’d seen too many kids in their town lost to drunk driving, so they decided that a party with rules was the safer way to go.

Bill Anderson says he sat at the front door: "I took a recliner, put it down at the front door, grabbed a good novel. I let them know as soon as they came in the door, the keys came over. So, if you needed to get anything out of your car, get it done before you came into the house — because once you come in the door, you don't leave."

He says he and his wife weren't going to let Gregg's friends drive, but they would let them drink as long as they got the alcohol themselves. That afternoon, Gregg and his friends carried a keg and a half out to their back deck.

Approximately 50 kids arrived that night around midnight. Bill Anderson was standing guard at the door at 3 a.m. when the police showed up on a noise complaint. The officers took names and addresses, and drove away with the kegs.

The Andersons thought that was the end of it until a week later when Bill Anderson was arrested. The story was big news on local TV and made the front page of the paper."

Read the rest of this fascinating story:

Dad Allows Teen Drinking Party

God of Justice song

I have a new friend named Jason, who is an amazing worship leader. I like him because he knows cool stuff and tells me. I would have never known that David Crowder Band released an early EP with 3 songs from their new cd coming out Tuesday on ITunes this past week. It actually made the top 10 downloaded albums on ITunes, which is very cool.

He also led an amazing worship song called God of Justice we must go. It's by Tim Hughes, and you can download the free mp3 of it here (Tim Hughes mp3) .  Posted below are the lyrics. It resonates with me a ton, b/c I think the American church has placed far too high of an emphasis on worship as only music and singing, and not enough on actually doing something outside of the church in your normal life as worship. This tune is definately headed in the right direction.

"

God of Justice, Saviour to all
Came to rescue the weak and the poor
Chose to serve and not be served

Jesus, You have called us
Freely we’ve received
Now freely we will give

We must go
Live to feed the hungry
Stand beside the broken
We must go

Stepping forward
Keep us from just singing
Move us into action
We must go

To act justly everyday
Loving mercy in everyway
Walking humbly before You God

You have shown us, what You require
Freely we’ve received
Now freely we will give

We must go
Live to feed the hungry
Stand beside the broken
We must go

Fill us up and send us out
Fill us up and send us out
Fill us up and send us out Lord"

Making Room for the Soul

" James Tennant starts the day with a prayer in his inner sanctum -- a former bedroom turned meditation retreat with altars in four directions, serene gray walls and postcards of spiritually inspiring sorts like Jesus, rapper Tupac Shakur and the Hindu god Shiva.

Then, the 32-year-old Lakeview man rises and faces east for a series of sun salutations and other yoga poses that stretch his spine (and soul) before sitting down for 20 minutes of chi-centering pranayama, or focused breathing.

It's a great antidote for stressors of new-millennium living. "I feel much more directed," says Tennant. "I can allow the day to unfold and take on tasks as they come."

Tennant's altared space is part of a small wave of reverent rooms increasingly occupying American homes -- there's a Zen meditation porch in the nation's capital, a Catholic retreat in a northern Michigan basement. A San Diego living room lost its TV and found a truer calling as a holy haven.

America's homes are finding religion.

Back in 1998, when author and architect Sarah Susanka first proposed writing about such sacred spaces,her publishers were "extremely leery" about it. Not so anymore, says Susanka.

Not only are regular folks carving out at-home sanctuaries, celebrities also are getting divine. Pop diva Britney Spears, who was raised Baptist and then introduced to the Kabbalah's teachings by Madonna, recently announced that she's toying with ideas for a prayer and meditation room in her Malibu, Calif., mansion. Lance Armstrong's home in Spain came equipped with an altar room.

Sacred spaces also are taking root in homes-away-from-home. Some workplaces offer space for daily prayers toward Mecca, while hospitals provide soundproofed, vented rooms for Native American drumming and sage-smudging rituals. The Hotel Monaco Chicago advertises secluded "meditation stations" in window nooks."

From the Chicago Tribune, Sept. 11 edition

(registration required for link)

Making Room for the Soul

21st century spiritual formation

One of the most important problems facing the church in America today is that people are more interested in spirituality than ever before, and we don't know what to do about it. More and more people are talking about and quoting stats about how many churches are closing, dying, etc. I think we will continue to see a paradox in the time that we live in: on one hand, we will see the largest churches in history and churches grow larger and larger.  And on the other hand, we will see churches close and die at a rapid pace.

Brian McLaren has a new article on the new kind of conversation website about spiritual formation in a postmodern context. This could be one of the keys we need in the time in which we are living.

21st century spiritual formation

And here is an interview with Dallas Willard and Richard Foster also on the same topic.

The Making of the Christian: Richard J. Foster and Dallas Willard on the difference between discipleship and spiritual formation

Apple did it again

"Introducing iTunes for your mobile phone. With iTunes on your Motorola ROKR E1, you can listen to music on your mobile phone, wherever, whenever you want.

With iTunes for your mobile phone, your songs live right alongside your contacts. Think of it as musical multitasking. Hear a selection of your favorite tunes while sending text messages, taking pictures or checking your email. Listen through the included headphones or out loud on the ROKR E1’s speakers. You can even pause the music when your phone rings, so you won’t miss incoming calls."

Make Me Dance