Notes: spirituality of the cell phone

What does a Porsche salesman turned Mennonite pastor have to say about media and culture?

These are my notes from a relevant and important message from Shane Hipps at Mars Hill in Detroit.

Shane authored the book The Hidden Power of Electronic Culture: How Media Shapes Faith, the Gospel, and Church

buy the book at Amazon.com

shane hipps

mars hill church

2008/03/29

spirituality of the cell phone

http://marshill.org/teaching/index.php

the medium is the message.

it is how they are used that counts.

the content of any medium is the juicy piece of meat carried by the burgular to distract the watchdog of the mind

regardless of the content, the medium changes us

everything around us is media

electronic age: disorienting blindness in which it is increasingly difficult to discern reflection from reality

we are growing increasingly incapable of sustained face to face communication

hidden biases

the immense power of presence

how can you just be there in an email ? (ex. kathy)

location (being there) is anything but trivial

'the word became flesh' emmanuel

you are the message of the gospel

we are the body of christ

we are his media

This entry is part of Water Cooler Wednesday at randyelrod.typepad.com

inspired: Notes about my sabbath

Saturdays are my sabbath. Somebody came up with the idea that people should take a break from work and rest on Saturdays. I think it's a great idea too many of us overlook in this hustle-bustle society. Okay, I know this audience never worries themselves with busy-ness, but some people do *wink.

With the computer and TV turned off, I spent much of my day outside my apartment savoring the wysteria across the walk. The solitude was wonderful. Princess (my Lhasa Apso) and I listened to birds, watched bees, and visited neighbors who passed by.

The most amazing part of the day was that wysteria. Oh, to bottle up that fragrance and share it with you all. Its blossoms were a soft sweetness that complimented the delicate purple flowers. Insects hurried about enjoying the nectar, surely returning to the university nearby with its honeybee boxes.

I need a day of rest. It inspires me with the simpler things. I revert to pen and paper to write out ideas and paint the natural world around me. I listen to the songs of the birds and the breeze in the trees. I am revived and ready to face another week.

There's a lot more about creativity at Water Cooler Wednesdays. Join the conversation at http://randyelrod.typepad.com/ethos/2008/04/watercooler-wed.html.

My Favorite Books

I didn't grow up reading books. The closest I got was Choose Your Own Adventure books. I knew nothing of classic fiction until high school. Even then. most reading was a chore. Here and there a book caught my interest, but rarely did I read them.

After college I read The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. This book was the beginning of my journey of self-discovery in reading. From there I read several leadership and management books, but seldom fiction. I tried and tried, but these books never clicked, until I read Ted Dekker's Circle trilogy. I got it! His books were like Lord of the Rings meets Matrix. The series really helped me get my mind around ideas guys like Eldredge and other mystics were communicating.

You want favorites? That's hard to call. Ask me in thirty years. But these are the transitional books in my life.

Posted at Water Cooler Wednesday. Join the conversation at http://randyelrod.typepad.com.