being judgmental

Judge not lest you be judged

Take the plank out of your own eye first

People who live in glass houses…

Mind your own businesses

Don’t be so judgmental…

There are a lot of similar sayings, in all languages and cultures too, I’m guessing. Just as a thought, and I guess I have thought about these sayings a lot, I don’t think they are about not being judgmental or hypocritical or whatever word you want to use to convey the thought. I think the main idea is simply awareness. Say what? Yep, awareness. We all have planks in our eyes, live in glass houses and love throwing stones. Why? I have no idea. But my gut feeling is simply that it makes us feel better about ourselves. It gives us an arbitrary measuring mechanism by which to judge our own experience.

So is this wrong? I have no idea, probably, probably not, who knows. I think personally that it can be wrong. I think if we act on stereotypes/judgments and let them close us off from one another, then yes, that seems really wrong.

I think we do it so much though that you can’t really separate being judgmental from being human. Why? Dunno. I think it’s just that we like to know where we stand. So, we use all sorts of measurements. They are different in each culture/subculture. Whether it’s fashion, race, age, religion, annual salary or amount of possessions (included in possessions are academic degrees, certifications, trophy-partners etc.) we all have measurements for ourselves and others, in our minds, all the time.

We all recognize it when the judgments are blatant. Example: people who wear those kinds of hats are weirdoes. But, do we recognize it when we say things like, oh well they are old, they don’t get it, or, oh they are just young, they will realize what the world is really like? Or, how about, oh those people of that political party/religion/insert your own just don’t get it, how do they not see that they are wrong?

Judgment. It’s subtle, it’s weird, and it’s human. It’s there, so what do we do with it?

I think being aware is personally most helpful. So, I try to catch myself. If I find myself judging (which I do a lot) I try to ask myself why. I try to discover what it is I am trying to measure about my own experience that is making me so judging. I also assume. I know that sounds weird so I will explain. I assume that people who are really judgmental have themselves been judged and negatively impacted by judgment, a lot. Why? The later simply because it has been my personal experience that those most concerned with being judged are the most judgmental and are usually that way because they have been negatively impacted by some person or group or their own judgment. A lot. And my assumption is a judgment, a measurement I use to ask myself if I am being a decent, civil and loving person. And I try to be aware.

So…

a loose translation

Don’t let compassion and reality relinquish you;

Unite them around your neck,

Inscribe them on the pages of your heart,

Doing so rewards with goodwill in the sight of God and humanity.

Proverbs 3:3-4

we are monks

The beer these monks brew has been called the holy grail. I love their attitude, they say below that they brew beer so that they can be monks.

clipped from en.wikipedia.org As with all other Trappist breweries, the beer is only sold in order to financially support the monastery and other philanthropic causes. Whilst the brewery is a business by definition (its purpose is to make money), it does not exist for pure profit motives, and they do no advertising except for a small sign outside the abbey which indicates the daily availability of each beer. The monks have repeatedly stated that they only brew enough beer to run the monastery, and will make no more than they need to sell, regardless of demand. During World War II, the brewery stopped supplying wholesalers and since then they only sell to individual buyers in person at the brewery or the visitor’s centre opposite. These methods all go against modern business methods, however as stated by the Father Abbott on the opening of the new brewery, “We are no brewers. We are monks. We brew beer to be able to afford being monks.”. [2]

Just one compact fluorescent bulb

I recently heard that “If every household in America switched out one [regular light bulb for a] compact fluorescent bulb it would reduce energy consumption as much as taking a million cars off the road.” -Rob Bell 7/29/07 brackets mine.

A million cars off the road! Imagine that.

I was introduced to these bulbs by my European in laws. Not only do they reduce your energy usage, they last longer, which means more for your money. Now, perhaps you’re like me, when I hear the word fluorescent I think of those long tubes giving off the nastiest, most unforgiving light. Not the case here. These bulbs actually give off light similar to a regular light bulb. We have switched out almost all of our bulbs for these. It’s really probably the easiest thing you can do to be more mindful of the earth we live on/with.

think about it.

God is Green, huh.

I have been listening to the Mars Hill Bible Church, God is Green series. The series has been pretty interesting. A lot of it is stuff I have been trying to practice in my own life. The best part of the series came at the end, on July 29^th. The preeminent piece is all the practical information (in the form of a list of websites and books) on how to make simple life changes for a huge positive environmental impact. So, I thought would reproduce the list here below. You can download it directly from the Mars Hill Bible Church website here.

And now for the list:

1. energystar.gov

2. consumersenergy.com [green generation program]

3. dmaconsumers.org/cgi/offmailinglist

4. Habitat for Humanity ReStore [5701 S. Division] – habitat.org/env/restores.aspx

5. localharvest.com

6. eco-cell.org

7. thegreenoffice.com

8. rateitgreen.com

9. ecologicalmail.org

10. treehugger.com

11. grist.org

12. lime.com

13. eartheasy.com [cleaning supplies]

14. earth911.org

15. coopamerica.org

16. crsfairtrade.org

17. javaforjustice.com

18. ecocycle.org

19. gdiapers.com

20. restoringeden.org/about

21. creationcsp.org

22. creationcare.org

23. sustainablestyle.org

24. wmsbf.org

25. clothingmatters.net

26. floresta.org

Books:

• For the Beauty of the Earth by Steven Bouma Prediger

• Saving God’s Green Earth: Rediscovering the Church’s Responsibility to Environmental Stewardship by Tri Robinson

• Serve God, Save the Planet by J. Matthew Sleeth, MD

• Living the Good Life on God’s Good Earth by contributing authors, edited by David Koetje

Monsoon

There is something distinctly beautiful about the desert when it rains. It is always a little ironic. It’s kind of like financiers handing out balloons at an animal shelter. We expect it every year. It is the season that justifies the fact that we call desolate washes, rivers. And they really do become rivers, if only for a couple of days. It usually starts with a lot of humidity and heat. There is some meteorological juju that happens with that combination. And, before you know it, the sky becomes black. We sometimes see lightning, we sometimes hear thunder, and we usually get torrential rains from out of nowhere. The storms don’t usually last long, but while they last, they are vicious. Streets become streams, and as I said earlier, washes become rivers. It’s dangerous to drive. People inevitably try to cross washed out roads and often get trapped. In this situation the best case scenario is, needing to be rescued by the fire department. The worst case scenario is peril. It’s so bad that, we here in Arizona, have enacted the stupid motorist law.

Okay, so the point of all of this is, contrast. I was in Belfast this summer hanging out with some friends. When we arrived the weather was rather warm and balmy. They told us it had been like that for a few days, and that such weather was really odd. We were told that there was supposed to be a change the next day. Sure enough, the next day it began to rain. It continued to rain for the duration of our stay. It was that second day however, that was really remarkable. I guess because it had been so hot previously that when it began to rain, the ground wasn’t ready to receive it. Consequently, they had what we refer to as the great flood of Belfast. It was so bad that a friend of ours had to be rescued by firemen. I had left the windows open at the house we were staying, the house of our friend Jayne. I had met her the day before and thought for sure that I had destroyed her house. Rest assured that her house was not ruined.

This week we have been enjoying a pretty good monsoon season. Now, note that I am a native to Tucson. I have seen my share of monsoon storms. So when I say this year we have gotten some decent storms, it means something. Twice this week my street has become a river. It has been nice. So, at last we come to the anti climax of this narrative. I wanted to share some photos with you. Enjoy. All of these photos were taken outside of my home near the University of Arizona.

cook out

So I promised Ben that I would upload some photos of the cookout we had outside of his home. Don’t let him fool ya, he can cook a mean steak for a Finn! we also had grilled figs filled with chocolate, very interesting. Oh and notice that even in Finland weber is the only way to grill.

a question

if you were presented with the option of living a long but rather regular life or a shorter but more inspired life which would you choose?

(A/Poem…

Quiet, subtle and queer, the man like Jesus.
He wore eyes like emerald in their sparkle-
Much like a warriors’ arms, disarming hostility.
Blessed are the peace makers.

Landscappy, abstacty, and smiling eyes.
Cheers

Jerky, quick, generous and genius.
The philosopher is. And always laughing.
He’ll speak in tongues when no one is looking,
Buckdaft, nice one, take the piss, bang on, and cheers.

Oh and she knows pain, she’s so creative with it, that, and those liquid Caucasians’ she’s an artist-princess and he has such cool hair, he’ll rouse the crew for a drink or two.

I feel hope; it emanates from the wall of this new expression. Roxie’s a dreaklock dog that aint dreading so well.

Oh well, he’ll ramble us through and explain it better than any of us, with fire.

Add tunes and she’ll capture our faces landscaped in a dream.

They are… iconic, apocalyptic, heretical, emerging, failing…

and they are friends.

for lent

So this past lent season I gave up morality. What a ride. More to come…

How (Not) to speak of Pete Rollins

We spent the week with Pete Rollins, author of “How (Not) To Speak of God“, and a founder of ikon. What can I say except it was fun. Pete is a great guy and if you ever get the chance to hang out with him, do it. I say it is even better than reading his  book.

I thought that was a metaphore

A friend sent me this and I just couldn’t resist sharing.

Church Beer!

I don’t know why I haven’t posted on this before, but our church, or rather one of the communities that I am a part of, is brewing it’s own beer. Yep, it’s true, in the ancient tradition of Christianity, mostly monks, and Martin Luther, who, at one point in his life was a monk, we are brewing beer as a community. This generally gets a lot of responses when we tell people, especially since a lot of us come out of an evangelical background. And the word travels fast. In fact, I was at a conference recently and was approached by a Welsh guy, one of the speakers, and his first question was “You’re from Arizona right? You’re the guy with the church that brews beer?” -And he flashed a big smile. We became friends quickly and planned a pilgrimage to Ireland.

Okay, so some questions on this:

Why? Lots of reasons. We can talk about those in the comments section if you’d like. For the most part it is to create something as a community. And to offer a great product to others.

What? Well right now we are experimenting with various brews, learning the process and trying to settle on an initial recipe that we like.

What’s it called? We’re not sure yet. We are still thinking of names, do you have any ideas for us?

Will it be made available to the public? We hope so, eventually. We would like to offer it as gift, as hospitality, to the world. And we would love for a portion of the proceeds to go into our works of Social Justice.

An interesting link: This is what I got when I googled church beer.

These sites are especially interesting: www.churchbrew.com, www.beerchurch.com, www.thechurchofbeer.com

Cheers!

ikon website

f’n brilliant, I think. Have you seen Ikon’s website lately, the one that is modeled after wikipedia? It really says something, when a community allows their web-presence to be edited by the masses. But should we expect anything less from this group of createalogians. (I made that word up, let me know if you like it.) It is from this group that we get the fantastic book How Not to Speak of God.

update on the hole-ie bible

Of Course I am referring to the Western Bible, which apparently has sold quite a few copies in the short time that it has been out.  This is the bible that has literally cut out the harder parts of scripture, things like really loving your neighbor, living in simplicity, seeking true justice, without prejudice, for all people. So why, why would they do that? Because it’s funny! And perhaps it is the slap in the face a lot of us need.

see also this post…for more on this.  Oh and the bible is only avainalble in Dutch, so far.