parables of a prodigal world

I'm not a big fan of insurance companies. I'm not a big fan of TV commercials. I'm certainly not a big fan of TV commercials by insurance companies. But this one hits the nail on the head regarding the bright side of the current economic downturn. Hey, even a busted clock tells the correct time twice a day. Grace and Peace, Raffi

Still stuck in '08 reflection mode here. I know most of you have moved on. Bear with me. I'm a little slow these days. I can't get over the fact that we in the Emergent/Missional/Post-Evangelical community haven't been able to come up with some down-to-earth, man-on-the-street-level definitions for some key concepts. I mean, you can't ask every person curious about this whole movement to take a few months/years and catch up with the conversation to date. We're gonna have to come up with some one-liners, some attention grabbers, to get people at least into the ballpark...and maybe then they can take it from there, you know, if they feel "led" and all. So, just off the top of my head, here are some working suggestions for 10 of the biggies. 10. Postmodern: Everyone's in it for themselves...and I mean everyone! Criticize accordingly. 9. Post-Postmodern: The cat's outta the bag; everyone can see the elephant in the room; the emperor's butt-ne...

2008. I did the whole "reflections" thing with my Top 10 Emergent/Missional/Post-Evangelical Blog Posts of 2008 a few weeks back. Turned out to be wildly popular (HT: TSK ). (By the way, anyone who's getting tired of my mentioning/playing-off-of the success of that post, rest assured, this will be my last act of such blatant traffic-consciousness). Now it's time to look ahead. So here are my top 10 Emergent/Missional/Post-Evangelical predictions for 2009. As with the Top 10 Blog Posts, and in keeping with the permeable definitions inherent in our little movement, these predictions touch on various aspects/dimensions of E/M/P-E: some tech, some theology, some...well, you'll see. Also, in keeping with the theme of "looking ahead," this list offers something that the Top 10 Blog Posts didn't: INTERACTIVITY, BABY!!! That's right, we're getting high-tech here at Parables. Now, you can join in the fun by letting the world know what YOU think about...

"What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes." - James 4:14 I never liked that snippet of Scripture. Don't get me wrong, I get what James is trying to say in the larger context of verses 13-15 . It's just that I've heard the "mist" part taken out of context and used to imply that earthly life is trivial. I'm not sure how anyone can read the entire biblical narrative, Genesis, the Gospels, et al., and conclude that earthly life is trivial. Last night, I saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button , the new Brad Pitt movie based on the F. Scott Fitzgerald short story about a man who is born old and grows progressively younger (on the outside). This morning, I read that George Francis , the oldest man in the U.S., died on Saturday at the ripe old age of 112. In the larger scope of things, neither the fictitious life of Benjamin Buttons nor the very real life of George Francis were very significant. In fact, had it no...

"I’m bored with the emergent blogosphere and hungry for getting into the meat of this path. I don’t want to talk about how Christianity is changing, and who is happy about it and who is not. I want to sing about how wonderful he is, how grace is the most beautiful thing, how following him is what life is all about." - Angela Harms, from Where Does the Emergent Road Lead? at Epinoia Cafe (HT: EV )