Cambridge @ MindSay

here some more.

 

IF YOU HAD TO SEND 3 THINGS IN A PACKAGE TO A GROUP OF ISOLATED TRIBESPEOPLE

THAT WOULD IMMEDIATELY LET THEM KNOW WHAT IT MEANS TO BE 'FRENCH', WHAT WOULD

YOU CHOOSE? - MODERN & MEDIEVAL LANGUAGES, CAMBRIDGE

o TELL ME THE MOST INTERESTING THING ABOUT YOURSELF. - MODERN & MEDIEVAL

LANGUAGES, CAMBRIDGE

o WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE SENTENCE 'HERE COMES BOB'? - MODERN & MEDIEVAL

LANGUAGES, CAMBRIDGE

o WHY DO THINGS HAVE NAMES? - MODERN & MEDIEVAL LANGUAGES, CAMBRIDGE

o WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOURSELF AS A POST-MODERNIST? - MODERN & MEDIEVAL

LANGUAGES, CAMBRIDGE

o DESCRIBE A POTATO AND THEN COMPARE IT WITH AN ONION. - NATURAL SCIENCES,

CAMBRIDGE

o DO YOU THINK NEANDERTHALS UNDERSTOOD THE CONCEPT OF DEATH - NATURAL

SCIENCES, CAMBRIDGE

o IF YOU WERE A RAT WHAT WOULD BE THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO YOU? (I THINK HE

WANTED ME TO SAY FOOD!) - NATURAL SCIENCES, CAMBRIDGE

o IS IT AN ADVANTAGE FOR A VIRUS TO KILL ITS HOST? - NATURAL SCIENCES, CAMBRIDGE

o IS THERE BLOOD IN YOUR BRAIN - NATURAL SCIENCES, CAMBRIDGE

o IF I COULD PASS ANY PIECE OF LEGISLATION THROUGH PARLIAMENT, WHAT WOULD IT BE? -

PHILOSOPHY, CAMBRIDGE

o WHAT ABOUT FATALISM? - PHILOSOPHY, CAMBRIDGE

o IS IT BETTER TO BE A LEADER OR A FOLLOWER? - SOCIAL & POLITICAL SCIENCES,

CAMBRIDGE

o CAN YOU THINK OF A PIECE OF GOVERNMENTAL LEGISLATION THAT INCLUDES BOTH

COMPASSIONATE AND UTILITARIAN ASPECTS? - SOCIAL & POLITICAL SCIENCES,

CAMBRIDGE

o DO YOU LIKE BIRMINGHAM? - SOCIAL & POLITICAL SCIENCES, CAMBRIDGE

o HOW MAY WE INTRODUCE FEMENISM MORE EFFECTIVELY INTO BUSINESS SITUATIONS? -

SOCIAL & POLITICAL SCIENCES, CAMBRIDGE

o WHAT TV I HAD WATCHED RECENTLY - SOCIAL & POLITICAL SCIENCES, CAMBRIDGE

o WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU WERE IN CHARGE OF THE WORLD? - SOCIAL & POLITICAL

SCIENCES, CAMBRIDGE

Enjoy and think!

[The picture below speaks a thousand words.]

 

 

Iraqi Christians Brave Violence to Celebrate Easter

 

Iraqi Christians brave violence to celebrate Easter

I've been listening to a lot of sermons at work lately. The old
mainstays have fed me pretty well. Sermons from the U.K - All Souls
Anglican Church (http://www.allsouls.org) in London, England and Eden
Baptist Church (http://www.eden-cambridge.org) in Cambridge have given
me much to think about. Stateside, I have listened to most every
sermon by Father Liias at Christ Church Episcopal in Hamilton, MA.
Sometimes I really wish I were a charismatic Anglican...maybe I am. Also, I have
listened to a few from Bethel Baptist Church in North Wilkesboro, NC.
My advice: stay away, far away from this guy. If I recall, his name
is Donnie Shumate. He makes sure to remind his listeners that he is
not a theological giant. I concur with his self-assessment. And that
is fine I guess. If his members are not theologically astute and
don't care to learn about anything substantial, then everything works
out for him and to those he speaks. Problem is, he also purports to
be Biblical and gospel-centered, but you guessed it - he is anything
but Biblical or gospel-centered. He fails to take any text seriously.
Rather, he reads a verse or two and then rails on his fellow brothers
and sisters about their lack of convictions, their compromise, and
their weaknesses. He then gets on his soapbox and preaches on one of
his pet topics ("Biblical" separation, the preservation of the Word,
etc.) then throws on the "plan of salvation" (with a Pelagian twist)
at the end and calls it a Biblical sermon. An example: he preaches on
the axe head that floats. He calls it a Type – which represents a
sinner that is broken and separated from God. The river is a Type of
death. This is the antithesis of being biblical and faithful to the
text. Everything just becomes an example to follow, or a type that
points to something else (never Jesus, of course) I have emailed the
pastor with some questions regarding some stuff he has said; he was
pretty nasty in his response. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised.

I also have listened to a few sermons from my high-school alumni church
links.  Immanuel Baptist,
(http://www.immanuelbaptist.org) in Richmond, and another church,
Brick Presbyterian (http://www.brickchurch.org), in Manhattan both
have audio sermons. I wasn't particularly impressed with a sermon by
Rev. Sparky Pritchard of Immanuel. I can't remember the title, unfortunately. I
did learn an interesting fact about Paul's thorn in the flesh. Other
than that, it was merely a moralistic message instructing his
parishioners about arrogance, pride, and egotism. Also, I learned
that God does not bless the proud. That was pretty much it. I rate
this sermon a 2 out of 10. I also listened to a guest pastor (Don
Whitney of Spiritual Disciplines fame) preach a Christmas message from
Matthew 2. It was decent, but not particularly helpful. I rate it
about a 5 out of 10. The sermon from the Brick Presbyterian Church
was entitled Strictly Ballroom. Pretty good stuff. The minister said
much more (to me anyway) in sixteen minutes than Sparky and Don said
in about 90 minutes combined. A smart guy I can tell. It was a
warning against formulating, codifying, and creating strictly ballroom
religion. You would have to see the movie or at least have a sense of
a brief summary of the movie of the same title to really get what he
was driving toward. A brief summary - the irony is we try to be
precise, predictable, graceful, and controllable when dealing with the
Church - the exact opposite of the way the Holy Spirit actually
works…he blows where he wills. Our challenge is to ballroom dance in
the church fresh with passion – wow'em with good old-fashioned
ballroom dancing done with a new few steps. This is indeed the
challenge of the church - to contextualize the gospel. To dance the
old steps in a way that is so fresh and so spirited that a lot of
people want to clap along. We pray, come Holy Spirt come. But if He
should ever actually come, frightening things may come to us that we
aren't particularly ready for. If we dare to pray that God the Holy
Spirit will transform us and those prayers be answered, be prepared.
Sometimes you will want to come along, but sometimes you will be
tempted to pull the plug before he is finished working. I also
listened to the latest sermon from Falls Road Baptist on their website
(http://www.fallsroadbaptist.org) . It was titled "Calvanism: What is
it and am I One." How one could be a "calvanism" I'm not exactly
sure, but I presume most knew what he meant. There are many in my former hometown who are concerned with the new minister's theology on grace and the sovereignty of God.  In my opinion, they don't have to be (unless
they had hoped he was Reformed – which I did). Anyway, he's not a
Calvinist…As you probably noticed, it was not even spelled correctly
on the sermon title. That should tell us something about his
theological leanings.  I think a Calvinist would make sure to
spell his own label correctly.
The best I can tell; he is a moderate Calvinist. He also mentioned
a former pastor and current member who considers himself a moderate Calvinist so the congregation
wouldn't throw tomatoes at him while he was speaking. I do give him
props, however he may feel about me (another story), for letting it all hang out.
Anyway, to further bolster his position and not look too bad in front
of the crowd, Scot made sure to mention that the former pastor told him that his
father (also a former, former pastor, I think - tpd2100 would know for certain) was a stronger Calvinist than both of them combined. I had
heard this from someone about six or seven years ago. Guess it was
true. I'm glad it was. Anyway, he explained what he did believe
(which is essentially almost four out of five points of the system),
but then denied adhering to any of the rest of Reformed theology. So,
in my opinion, he's not really even close to Reformed/Calvinistic -
just a typical Dispensationlist Baptist with a little better (more
biblical) understanding of election than the average Baptist preacher.
I give the sermon a 7.5 for clarity and charity. Of course, I feel
his theology was a bit off, but I won't let that affect my rating.
I also listened to the sermon of an alumnus who has somehow found himself in the very conservative Presbyterian in America (PCA) denomination.  How he ended up there, I am not sure.  From private converstaions with him, I have gathered he is definitely much less evangelical than I.  Anyway, his sermon was entitled Is Jesus Politically Correct.
I listened to it I think about ten months ago and again last week. This was a very good
sermon. The sermon did
not just have just have Jesus in the title – it was about Jesus. As
he reiterated, the real call is to be Jesus. That's the call - we get
to tell the good news. We get to be the good guy. We are free not to
judge, we are free to point others to the Savior, Jesus. He has given
us everything to be his disciple.  I wish
Shelton Sandford, the senior pastor, would allow him to preach more, so I would have a good way to
spend time at work.   I have
listened to over a hundred sermons the past few months, and you would
not believe how many pastors and churches talk about how they preach
Christ. In reality, they leave him out. It runs the gamut from
Baptist to Presbyterian to Lutheran to Methodist to everything in between. On a
side note, I have heard more Biblical sermons from even a couple
"almost" orthodox Unitarian ministers than I have from the ones
(mostly Baptists) who regard almost all other Christians with
suspicion, superiority, and even distrust of their professed faith in
Jesus. These pastors claim to preach the Bible, but rather they read
a verse, maybe even two or three, and then get off on their favorite
topic of the day. I think that's why I like the Anglican church so
much. They claim to be Biblical and then back up the claim by
actually taking the Scriptures seriously. They - for some odd reason -
preach from the text. Even the liturgy. It's mostly just a reading
of Scripture. I read a few printed sermons by Barbara Brown-Taylor,
who was preaching a Good Friday sermon series. It was pretty awesome.
She brought out things I had never even thought of before.
Unfortunately, she has retired from the Episcopal priesthood in the
diocese of Atlanta, I think. Her former parish was too small to
accommodate the crowds.
Another treasure I have discovered is Holy Trinity Brompton Church
(another Anglican church in London). Check their site out at
http://www.htb.org.uk/ - it would be well worth your time to download
the Sunday talks as Nicky Gumbel refers to them. You may have heard
of Nicky Gumbel. He is the brainchild behind the successful outreach
program ALPHA. It is being used by churches worldwide. In fact,  E is on the ALPHA board at my church (http://www.fcchamilton.org)
and is getting ready to gear up for the spring session. She and the
rest of the ALPHA team have run into a few problems with the church
board of elders, but that's a topic for a post in the future. Oh, if interested in the Is Jesus Politically Correct sermon, the link to the church is Westminster Presbyterian, Rock Hill, SC (http://www.wpcgo.com)

The late afternoon sun was shining the day I arrived back in Boston.  The Charles River was anything but still with dozens of rowers gliding across its surface.  Basking in the good weather, people were out in droves.

Harvard Square was teeming with students donning running shorts or traipsing over the brick sidewalks, iced coffee in hand.  I typically love such days, but the whole scene seemed a bit bizarre.

I turned to my mom and said, unthinkingly, “Wow, Cambridge is so white.”  

In talking to my Senegalese family and friends, I had always taken a great deal of pride in relating that America is not defined by any one culture, skin color, language, or religion.  I tried to translate “melting pot” into French.  And even Wolof (I only got so far as “pot”). However, as we crawled through Harvard Square, not a single black person was to be found. Never before had skin color been so very important.  Or, perhaps it was the absence of color.

Last weekend, I wound up in New York City to visit friends, family, and interview for a job at a non-profit.  The non-profit’s offices were located on Wall Street.

I rode the six train downtown. An African American woman raised her voice over the subway’s roar; she announced that she was a published poet and a direct descendent of the Great Malcolm X.  She had some small booklets for sale.  Struggling to maintain her balance, she teetered up and down the car offering the booklets to anyone who extended a hand or didn’t avert their eyes.

I looked at her curiously and she pressed two booklets into my hand: Affirmations for the African American Child and A Brief History of Malcolm X.  

I flipped through the booklets, especially intrigued by the Affirmations for the African American child.  Afraid that I would have to step off the train before returning the booklets to their author, I glanced about the car.

I realized that I was one of two white passengers.  A grizzled old man being the other.  The car was not particularly full, but it contained an impressive range of ethnicities.  Elated by this discovery, I then spent the rest of the train ride employing the language of my ultra politically correct upbringing to convince myself that I was being ridiculous.  Why polarize, generalize, draw lines where they don’t exist, etc. etc?  

The train reached my stop and I emerged from the city’s damp depths to a blustery wind tunnel of skyscrapers.  I hurried past marbled lobbies with cathedral ceilings to the end of the block and stopped short, affixed to the sidewalk by a small panic attack.   Investment bankers clipped my shoulders, their trench coats billowing behind pressed suits. The hustle and bustle hardly disturbed me.  It was the massive buildings whose facades formed an inexorable gauntlet.  And it was the air, heavy not with rain, but money.    Money.  Money.  Money.  Time is money, I reminded myself as the foot soldiers of money swept by, indistinct.  

I stumbled into an Au Bon Pain and perched on a spindly chair facing a narrow counter along a wall of glass.  I briefly considered those I knew in the city and who could come downtown to coax me from my seat.  But, though I love to dwell in the domain of the worst-case scenario, I decided that a little personal pep talk was all that was needed.

While in Senegal, I had come to better understand how the US’s influence is truly ubiquitous and well, for lack of a better word, pernicious.  In politics, business, and culture, our lives are on display.  Those whose eyes registered money signs when they learned my nationality were not entirely mistaken in their beliefs.  

How fortunate I am to have been born in a country where such resources exist, where such wealth is possible. This country, reveling in its power, is certainly not without its flaws.  But I carry a US passport and an education, the only tools one supposedly needs to fully engage in our democracy, or capitalism, for that matter.  So why try to escape these truths, these privileges, when I could make the most of them?  Why allow the bad guys to hoard my country’s assets? Why not milk America for all its worth in an attempt to assure certain standards in health and legal protection for citizens worldwide?

And there I was, at the center of it all.  The emblem, as we know all too well, of America’s wealth.

I watched shiny black shoes smack sidewalk puddles and thought of my father in Yoff.  A policeman, he worked odd hours, oftentimes arriving home late at night.  While his dinner was being heated he would polish his shoes in front of the TV.  Every night.  I viewed this ritual as futile.  Never able to check my mental “why?”, I knew all too well the fate of those spotless shoes the minute they hit the sand streets.  

However, gazing out at the filled sidewalks, I reversed my position.  Why not?  Everyone is entitled to dignity, the choice of how to best display it is the choice of the individual.  I then remembered the shoeshine stand I had glimpsed in one of the many gilded lobbies.  

But that’s Wall Street, I thought.  

No, this is Wall Street, I corrected myself.