Seven whole days

Want to buy the right products when you’re in the grocery store? There’s an app for that! I’m not talking about buying the loudest or strongest or any other superlative. Fast Company writes about an iPhone app called GoodGuide that keeps a database of products so you can make informed choices about the ethical nature of the product and company. How cruel are they to animals? What is their environmental impact? And so on.

Best of all, it’s uses your iPhone’s camera to scan bar codes, so you can just point your iPhone at a product and get instant info. I know I sometimes dither at the grocery store, wanting to buy the “right” product. I’m not primarily driven by price, but by ethical concerns. It hasn’t always been easy to sort that out, however.

I’ll be interested to hear what people think about this database. It’s notoriously difficult to make sound ethical choices, given the number of things one can be concerned about. One group lobbies about packaging, another about worker’s rights, and another about animal cruelty. This app won’t turn you into Mother Teresa, but it can help us make some better (or at least better informed) choices.

Disclosure: I used to be the Director of Information Technology at Fast Company. Back in the day.

This is one of those times of year when lots of people are drawn to explore churches, looking for a spiritual home. We’ve had way more guests (notice I don’t say “visitors”) at Christ Church the last couple of weeks, and I expect that to continue up through Christmas. Like nearly every congregation, I’m sure we’re a little clueless about how we look to first-time guests. I try to guard against that by asking for feedback whenever I can get it. Sometimes I even ask a friend — who isn’t really looking for a new spiritual home — to stop by for a visit. Then I can ask some real questions: what drove you crazy? What did you like? Did anyone invite you to coffee hour? Did they offer to take you there? …and so on.

This work is essential, because without it, you’ll be living in denial. I can’t tell you how many churches I’ve been to where no one (and I mean no one) was really friendly, where the the preaching was awful, and the liturgy was laughably bad. And yet some of those same congregations will talk about their wonderful sermons, their warm welcome, and so on. Maybe that’s how they see it. If so, great. But it’s not how they look to most guests.

Church Marketing Sucks has a great list of of “25 Fair Warnings to Visitors” on their blog. You should read this, and see if any of them might ring true on your congregation. Here’s a sample (I picked the first seven):

• Our sermons run an hour plus and our pews aren’t padded: You do the math.
• We work our volunteers to death. Then grumble when they want a break.
• Drums are evil.
• Our Sunday morning service is a major production. Sit back and enjoy the show.
• Our people probably won’t talk to you until you volunteer for something and even then don’t hold your breath.
• We pay lip service to social justice.
• We stand up and sit down a lot, so try to keep up, OK?

Read more »

Things don’t look so good in the alphabet soup land of Anglican secessionists. Any number of people observed that these groups, united by their opposition to some decisions of the Episcopal Church, would disintegrate once their common foe was no longer a uniting focus. They don’t share much else in common, given their disagreements on the ordination of women, prayer book liturgies, ceremonial style, and more.

If you want to see the fissures, look no further than a recent interview between David Virtue and Bishop Jack Iker. Remember, this is the Jack Iker who took most of his diocese out of the Episcopal Church over dissatisfaction with his primate. Now he’s in impaired communion with his new primate! In the interview with Virture, Iker says “As long as the ordination of women continues, we will be in a state of impaired or broken communion”. Wow.

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About the time this appears on 7WD, we’ll be singing this (with gusto, I hope) at Christ Church. It’s our closing hymn this Advent Sunday. I love this hymn — the text and the tune — for lots of reasons. For one, it’s a good antidote to any desire to reduce Advent to a sentimental season in which we wait for Christmas. This grand hymn reminds us that we Christians are waiting for Christ’s return in glory. And what glory it will be, assuming it exceeds the grandeur of this sturdy tune!

This video comes from the excellent Advent calendar offered by the Church of England.

This pretty much encapsulates what has happened to Advent in most churches. Sure, you can tell me how pure your liturgy is, but ask people what they’re doing after church and it’s going to be shopping or Christmas parties — or “holiday” parties. As an aside, I never quite know how to respond when someone says to me, after a Christmas mass, while I’m still wearing my chasuble, “Happy Holidays!” What pops into my head isn’t fit for print. But, as usual, I have digressed. Here’s the reason for my post:

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This has nothing to do with the Geek Conspiracy. This one is real, and you can — and should — be a part of it. My friend Tim has written about this, and you’ll see it popping up all over the blogosphere and Facebook. Don’t let its ubiquity scare you off. Not everything that’s popular is bad. Another blogging friend, Laura Toepfer has written about this, and she quotes a bit from the [AC] blog:

I’m worried that people are being guilted into Advent Conspiracy. The last thing we want is for people to feel like they can’t shop because their church or family member or friend told them it’s not the [AC] way. Because that’s not true. So what is the [AC] way? Simply this: We want to encourage people to do Christmas differently by worshiping Jesus first before anything else….Here’s what’s not a beautiful thing: Getting all bent out of shape and stressed out because someone said “we” don’t want you to buy gifts. Kind of a silly thing, especially since one of [AC]’s intentions is to help people relax and enjoy the season. The point is, make it personal by making it about Jesus first. The rest is just details.

What are you waiting for? Join the Advent Conspiracy!

Lots of people are buying new computers this weekend (more on rampant consumerism and credit gluttony in a future post). Many of those new computer owners will be inexperienced computer users. They’ll want to explore the internets, having heard their friends talking about it. What happens when too many people start poking around the nets? Things slow down. Fortunately, some computer geeks are working to keep things flowing smoothly for those of us already online.

Here’s a recently obtained secret training video from Best Buy. If you enjoy surfing at high speed, send a thank you note to your nearest Geek Squad employee. They’re keeping the internet safe and fast!

Via gizmodo.

I never iron anything. Perhaps I need to change my habits. It appears that Our Lord appeared on an iron. The headline on a story from the Boston Globe says it all, “Methuen woman sees Jesus on bottom of her clothes iron”. Sure, cynics will say that it’s just a burn mark. And those same people refused to see the Virgin Mary on a grilled cheese sandwich, despite the vibrant faith displayed by a true believer who bought the precious sandwich for $28,000.

Why is it that Jesus and Mary always appear to Roman Catholics? Because there are so many of them? Because they are the true religion, the only ones worthy of these special revelations? Because they are the only ones who believe in this stuff? Why don’t Anglicans ever get these glimpses of the divine? I’m willing to give a prize for just that.

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A couple of musical treats for today, from J. S. Bach and Sigfrid Karg-Elert.

As we celebrate Thanksgiving, often called “Turkey Day”, it occurs to me that Americans are often clueless. Here are some important facts.

I was going to offer a roundup of inspiring and fun links, but my friend (and former Anglican pope), Tim has done the deed. Go visit his blog right away. Here’s a foretaste of the feast to come if you visit his blog.