parables of a prodigal world

This is a screenshot of a random search of a few terms tweeted on Eastern morning. It made me sad. Grace and Peace, Raffi

What say we flood Twitter with good news on Easter morning. Here's what I'm thinking... At exactly 6:00 A.M. GMT on Sunday, April 12th, we flood Twitter with the following, simple, three-word tweet: He is Risen OK, here's how we pull it off. 1. There's a site called Twuffer . It allows you to schedule tweets for future release. Sign up. 2. Next, convert 6:00 AM GMT to your local time zone. You can use a time zone converter, like this one (remember, you're converting 6:00 A.M. GMT to your local time , not the other way around). If you're in the continental U.S., I've done the math for you: Pacific: 4/12/09 6:00 A.M. GMT = 4/11/09 11:00 P.M. Mountain: 4/12/09 6:00 A.M. GMT = 4/12/09 12:00 A.M. Central: 4/12/09 6:00 A.M. GMT = 4/12/09 1:00 A.M. Eastern: 4/12/09 6:00 A.M. GMT = 4/12/09 2:00 A.M. 3. Then go back to Twuffer and schedule your tweet for the appropriate time. That's it. Oh, and... 4. Tweet this post. Quickest way is to click the little bl...

Two clips I've run across over the last few days have impacted me particularly powerfully, and a strange feature with both of them is that I can't really pinpoint why. I guess they collectively touch upon themes or traits that I've recently been considering at some length, one that has become marginalized of late while the other has taken center stage with little tempering. The human Jesus of Nazareth possessed an immeasurable number of virtuous characteristics, but two that stand out particularly, for me, were these: Boldness and Creativity. These were also central features of the early church, and of virtually every hero of the faith I've ever come across. But like I said, boldness has gotten a bad rap of late, while creativity has become a almost a virtue without boundary. I don't have much to say about the latter development, because I think it will play itself out as more and more people engage in empty creativity such that, eventually, the market will sort its...

As we begin our countdown to the celebration of the most important anniversary in all of human history, please, please take 30 minutes out of your day and listen to this. And, come Easter Sunday, CELEBRATE!!!!!!!!!!!! Celebrate like the whole world has been turned right-side-up. And may the celebration redefine your life...resurrect you, if you will. N.T. Wright on Easter (After a reading of Luke 15 and a lengthy introduction, the actual sermon begins at the 11:30 mark) Grace and Peace, Raffi

Part 6 of 7: Christmas, Easter, and the Usual Suspects. Have you ever seen the movie The Usual Suspects ? Remember how at the end, after we discover that Verbal was, in fact, Kaiser Soze, we get a series of snapshot-flashbacks of the various points in the narrative that suddenly make sense based on that startling revelation? You remember that feeling of “ah-hah!” you got right there at the end. I don’t know about you, but I went back and watched the story again after my newfound revelation. In fact, I’ve watched the movie about six or seven times, all told. I think Christmas is kind of like that. It comes from, and only in light of, the perspective of people who already know the secret of the shocking climax, who have reflected and lived for many years in light of it, and who then retell the story in light of that revelation. And the shocking climax, of course, is that the baby born on that day, a birth that caused quite a stir, would go on to be bodily raised from the dead, thereby i...