We’re in the process of changing over domain names, moving old content, & updating a few things on the site. We’ll be syncing-up the site with our new name, ACACIA, in the coming days. As such, we may not have posts up for a few days, so be patient. Looking forward to the switch…. coming soon!!
Archive for January, 2010
Two gripping photos captured for me the weight of the situation in Haiti. One, shows a woman mourning openly in the street with bodies layed out feet from her. The second, shows a different woman looking up at a destroyed church building… almost looking for any hope in the aftermath. These are pictures you can literally FEEL. Last, at the bottom, a quick video shows a mini-miracle in the rescue operations. A young boy and his sister were lifted out of the rubble yesterday after a FULL WEEK— alive & okay. The smile from the boy when he’s finally pulled out to ground level is amazing! Can you even imagine?
Community & the Great Commandment
Published 01/20/2010 What we are doing Leave a CommentTags: community, eberhard arnold, greatest commandment, the church
Religion and devout feelings are useless unless they are expressed in action and in truth, that is, in real community. (1 John 3:17–18) Jesus says, Love God! And the other command is exactly the same: Love your neighbor! There is no true love to God if it is not a true love to our fellow human being, and vice versa. (Matt. 22:36–39) This has been our experience: Community is possible through the Spirit that comes to us from God. It is when this Spirit fills us that there is true love or our neighbor and full community among us.” -EBERHARD ARNOLD / September 1935
Following Jesus’ call places us on a direct trajectory towards one another. This is the church– a people, called out & called together, in order to witness and realize God’s love together. But this isn’t a simple process. We return again and again to figure it out in the messiness of life together. We’ll gather as Acacia the next few weeks to explore this identity together. If you’re around, we meet @ 7PM in the GP Underground @ WBCC! Below, a reflection on some of the scriptures that speak on the church:
Different Responses to Haiti
Published 01/19/2010 In the News Leave a CommentTags: Devil, Donald Miller, haiti, Pat Robertson, shauna gauthier
A few interesting responses to the Haiti Earthquake…. If you didn’t hear about the unfortunate words of Pat Robertson (700 Club Host), he decided to speak out about how the earthquake in Haiti was likely a move by God due to the Haitian peoples pact with the devil. Yes, you read right. Citing an apocryphal story about the Haitian break from France, (in which the Haitian rebels made a pact with the spirit of the land and drank blood in exchange for freedom), the statement was poorly timed at best and a tragically gross representation of Christ-followers at worst. (more on the Robertson story here) Donald Miller (author of Blue Like Jazz & A Million Miles A Thousand Years) gave a thoughtful response to the Robertson comments on his blog.
It becomes apparent that offering opinion or insight into something like Haiti is an incredibly hard task. This is no different for people of faith. Shauna Gauthier described trying to engage the topic with her young girls on her blog. The bottom line: no easy task. At times, people of faith settle for oversimplification, prejudice, or just easy answers in order to remain “people with all the 
answers”. But in some ways, this kills the act of faith. And it also overcomes humility. Trusting God in Haiti is certainly a mystery. And anyone who hasn’t said, “Why God, why?” this week is simply fooling themselves.
Haiti: Aid, Poverty & Reaching Out
Published 01/18/2010 In the News Leave a CommentTags: david brooks, dwight friesen, haiti, matt mccormick, Nate Jerome, New York Times, NGO, relief work
My mind has been consistently on the news headlines in Haiti this last week. Its been hard to avoid both praying and shaking my head at the situation. We live in a very visual culture… so if you’ve only read or heard a the news there, I’d encourage you to look at this photo journal from cnn.com to gain a little perspective on the scope of the devastation. One of the more interesting things I read on the Haiti earthquake was written by David Brooks in the NY Times. He starts his article with this crazy fact: On Oct. 17, 1989, a major earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 struck the Bay Area in Northern California. Sixty-three people were killed. This week, a major earthquake, also measuring a magnitude of 7.0, struck near Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The Red Cross estimates that between 45,000 and 50,000 people have died. Continue reading ‘Haiti: Aid, Poverty & Reaching Out’
