Anne Marie Miller

Category: Current Events

  • ok, REALLY think outside the BOX for me!

    I was brainstorming on the phone yesterday with someone about what it would look like to “blog” the Catalyst Conference.

    Note: This does not mean only sitting in a chair making bullet point lists of what the speakers are saying.

    Note: This does not mean only talking with the speakers back stage.

    I NEED YOUR HELP! Think WAY outside of the box. What do you see happening as a blogging-behind-the-scenes-meeting-people AND incorporating this into the actual Catalyst event? Bringing Catalyst to the people who aren’t there…and bringing what isn’t at Catalyst to the people there.

    No dumb ideas. Forget about money and logistics for now. Just throw out some crazy ideas!!

  • one person makes a difference

    i will be the first to admit: i can be pretty self-absorbed. i don’t think about how many things i consume or throw away in a day, a month, or a year. after all, it doesn’t seem like very much. i’m just one person.

    artist chris jordan has some stunning pieces of art to represent production and consumption in america. (disclaimer: some of the photos could be considered graphic in nature, but not in a smutty way).

    here is an example of one of his prints. it represents the 410,000 paper coffee cups used in the USA every fifteen minutes. (39,360,000 per day, if you were wondering).

    Coffee Cups

    here it is in a detail view:

    Detail

    anyway, i thought his artwork was extremely worthy of passing on. click here to view his site.

  • jesus brand spirituality

    i recently got a copy of jesus brand spirituality, a book by ken wilson, which came out this week. anyone who knows me well knows i love reading, but i read so much, i really only skim books to find nuggets that will stick with me.

    this book, however, had me sucked in from the first couple of pages. technically, it had me sucked in from the title. last weekend, i read it in about three hours and highlighted/underlined so many things in it.

    i’m going to have to do another post just to share all the insights, but i thought i’d share the first chunk with you now.

    i should also say that nobody asked me to review this book…this is straight up out of my own felt need to share this book with you and express that i think it is one of the most important books any church leader or believer could read.

    with that said:

    • we can only hope jesus will continue to challenge every effort to hijack his brand, because he is, and always will be, the main attraction.
    • jesus invited curious onlookers to help him do what he was already doing so that his actions would have greater impact…there were no faith quizzes to pass before you could help out; all it took was the willingness to go somewhere with jesus because you liked what he was doing.
    • jesus was a mystic who prayed with his eyes open
    • the roman empire embraced christian faith as the state-sanctioned religion. this in turn gave birth to the monastic movement as devout individuals sought a more spiritually enlivened form of faith, removed from the trappings of the empire (*my thought: we are on the cusp of this again, with people getting worn out from “trappings of the empire” and are longing for a deeper, more Christ-like faith)
    • since religion can both illuminate and obscure jesus, sometimes we need to dig to find him. a good place to dig is the gospels. here, we find jesus on a mission from god to repair the world. in his glance, we catch an invitation for us to join him.
    • caring for the most vulnerable isn’t a matter of compassion alone; it’s a demand of justice and the true sign of religion.
    • as we engage with the realities that engaged jesus’ attention, we are more likely to encounter him.
    • the gospel is a message with personal, social, and global reach. if it’s not good news at all these levels, it’s not good enough.
    • have we front-loaded people with so many matters of belief that we are, in effect, asking them to swallow the whole package as a pre-requisite for a meaningful engagement with jesus?
    • as a result of our long and productive love affair with rationalism, we tend to suffer from an anemic view of what we call “spiritual experience.”

    anything resonate with you?

    if you’d like to get your own copy…you can get it right here! i seriously can’t tell you how much this book rocks.

  • thirty people died on easter sunday…

    so this post is all about prayer.

    i honestly don’t have a lot of creative writing power right now…so, instead of faking something, i’d rather we do something together as this blog community and pray.

    a few weeks ago, you all listed your requests…today, i have one of my own.

    i got a message from michael about some terrible violence in juarez, mexico. his church has partnered with that community and god has done great work through them. they actually had to cancel their mission trip due to the violence.

    michael requests:
    Pray for all the citizens of Juarez.
    Pray for any tourists that maybe trying to get out safely.
    Pray for the pastors of Juarez and their congregations.
    Pray for the city, state and Mexican national government officials.
    Pray for the police and military.
    Pray for the hearts and minds of the criminals.

    over 218 people have been killed since the new year, with over 30 being killed over easter weekend.

    this article says,

    “‘These types of events, which were isolated within the ranks of organized crime, are now seen by everyone, at any hour, in broad daylight, and worst of all, in 100 percent family places,’wrote Ciudad Juarez reporter Gamaliel Carrasco Arjon.”

    could you imagine your weekly family trip to the local super target and having your spouse and kids witness someone getting killed right there on the side of the road?

    please pray for this situation…


    (children in juarez)

  • when people die

    just another day in the office. designing random signs for our children’s ministry. a powerpoint slide for our skate church. returning phone calls.

    opening my browser of choice (firefox, if you were wondering), my google homepage greets me. i skim across my google reader, the weather, and the headlines. first on the list – AP: Ohio Congressman Dies.

    “it’s rainy outside, so why not play in the sad realm of death for a bit,” i wonder. i click on the link. the article doesn’t go into how he died…so, probably nothing too traumatic (read: gory). he was old…so maybe that’s why? leaves behind a wife and five kids. wow.

    as i started to click the little (x) to close out that window, i couldn’t help but stare at his picture a little bit longer.

    i looked in his eyes.

    this man is dead.

    being the internalizing person that i am, i begin to wonder…did he know love? did he love? was he happy? was he depressed? did he like jesus? the church? did some girl in starbucks ignore him while she was working on some freelance writing?

    lots of people die everyday. that’s life (so to speak). but staring at this completely unknown man’s face tugged at my heart and revitalized my desperation, to do what we are all ultimately called to do.

    here. look him in the eye. stare into his eyes.

    this man is dead.

    how do you feel?

  • the poverty of love

    what brings 30,000 people a weekend to a spiritual center in india?

    Mata Amritanandamayi is known as the “hugging guru.” Some days, she will sit for up to 20 hours straight as tens of thousands of devotees line up to feel her embrace and hear her whisper motherly advice.

    Mata Amritanandamayi, aka the “hugging guru,” embraces everyone she meets in an effort to spread love and healing.

    Followers come from all over the world to Amma’s ashram, or spiritual center, in Kerala, South India, to get a hug; many choose to stay.

    “There are two types of poverty in the world, financial poverty and the poverty of love; the second is more important,” says Amritanandamayi, who goes by Amma, which means “mother.”

    read more here at cnn.com…

    we read so much about what’s being done in the world; how much money is being given here — or there — and that is not a bad thing.

    but there is a poverty of love that is world-wide in its spread. even in our iPod loving, “TiVo LOST for me, I have to meet my coworkers for $12 martini-nite, but email me what happens-i’ll get it on my blackberry” kind of society…we are so emotionally and spiritually impoverished.

    how can you show love this week? how can you serve?

    more importantly,
    will you?

  • dead bodies

    from reuters.com

    MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – A woman in Mexico City kept the body of her dead husband by her bedside for a year until neighbors, disturbed by the smell, called the police.

    Police broke down Mercedes Velarde’s door on Tuesday and found the putrefied body of her husband Edmundo on the floor of her bedroom.

    Authorities said on Wednesday they were investigating Velarde’s claim her husband died of natural causes. They believe the man, in his early 60s, had mental problems that may have been linked to his death.

    Local media reported that Velarde’s son regularly helped remove worms infesting his father’s body.

    Police could not confirm the reports but said her two adult children knew their mother was keeping the body.

    The family is being examined by a psychiatrist. After an autopsy, the family could face criminal charges or be sent to a psychiatric hospital.

    Authorities said hiding a dead person, even a family member, is a crime.

    “Yes, these people have psychological problems, (but) they hid a corpse. Even if it is a family member, they committed a crime,” Veronica Sanchez at the Mexico City attorney general’s office told Reuters.

    how many things do we hang on to instead of properly burying them? i know for me, past relationships and mistakes easily haunt me. living and replaying moments i regret over and over again in my head do nothing but bring me down and take my eyes of the present.

    this is a really gross story, but so applicable to almost every area of our lives…don’t you think?

  • hipaa

    I guess H.I.P.A.A. doesn’t work on presidents. :)



    I think I’m going to skip dinner now and go throw up.

  • why i didn’t vote

    i know some of you are passionately patriotic, proud to be an american, and think that christians should rule the world. and for those of you who hold the previously mentioned beliefs up high and loud, i ask for you not to go on a blog-flaming rant. please express your opinions, but please be graceful and polite in doing so. responding in a moment of passion is never a good idea.

    i have read a few friends blogs this morning, and many of them were dreading going to the polls, or hated being there. even those who researched candidates were surprised by new names on the ballots who couldn’t afford thousands of dollars in tv ads, or weren’t considered legit enough to get into local or state-wide debates. the lines were long. some electronic voters had to vote the whole ballot for any of their vote to be counted. and generally speaking, it’s the same old kind of people and issues and promises that lead americans to believe their vote makes a difference.

    my problem isn’t solely with voting. if you’re really an american, i hate to break it to you, but you’re not fulfilling your “duty” as well as you can by simply going to the polls. sure, you are influencing the numbers on MSNBC, and you represent the popular vote for the presidential election. and even occasionally, there are a few surprises. let’s play a quick quiz. i say a state, you say a color.

    texas. california. kansas. washington.

    minus a few counties here and there, these states never change. and most of them don’t. at least not in the last 12 years of elections. (see here.) a sign that things aren’t working right? perhaps. i can’t speak for before then. i was only in my preteens and was kinda clueless.

    i have voted one time (under pressure, too) and that was in the last presidential election. i cast my vote for a candidate and one for a local government official who had some great ideas. and that is all. it’s not some Gen-X statement on nonconformity. it really is my way of saying, “if you want my vote, something’s got to change.”

    if you really want to make a difference in the way things are happening in america, find a cause. or two. or three. whatever. find something. discover who your senators and state reps are. get to know your local government. participate in public meetings. write letters. show up and support the little guys, which is where the change begins. have your friends sign petitions. and pray.

    i wrote my first letter to a state representative when i was 12, after watching the 92 presidential election unfold on tv. afterward, i went to my mom and said, “this doesn’t make any sense,” followed by a list of questions and problems i saw with the system. she said “write a letter” and i did. the last letter i wrote was maybe a year ago in kansas, to show my support on having the wright amendment lifted in dallas. a petition was sent out and i signed it, and emailed everyone i know to sign it. over the last few months, progress has been made and bush officially signed the bill october 13, 2006 for the amendment to be removed. my next issue of choice is healthcare reform. i start working on that in a variety of ways at the beginning of 2007. (which if this is a topic that also concerns you, let me know.)

    to conclude: yes. i believe your voice will be heard at the polls. whether you vote or not (otherwise, you wouldn’t hear about low voter turnout. so don’t tell me the non-voters aren’t being heard). i just so happened to exercise my right to vote by saying no thanks. you may have exercised yours via touch screen voting.

    but don’t stop there. if you really want your voice to be heard, go to the mattresses for what you really believe in.