Restoring the Supremacy and Sovereignty of Jesus Christ

Full disclosure:  I received a free copy of Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola’s Jesus Manifesto and was asked to mention it in my blog. I haven’t read the whole book yet, but from what I’ve read so far, I can agree with the great reviews. If this book is on your reading list, move it up. If it’s not, add it. Here’s the promo:

“Thomas Nelson is releasing a new book called Jesus Manifesto: Restoring the Supremacy and Sovereignty of Jesus Christ by Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola. This book will be on special discount from Amazon.com on June 1^st, the date of the release. You can learn more by going to www.theJesusManifesto.com. Endorsements by Rowan Williams, Matt Chandler, Calvin Miller, Ed Young, Jack Hayford, Shane Claiborne, Ed Stetzer, Reggie McNeal, Mark Batterson, Gregory Boyd, David Fitch, Steve Brown, Dan Kimball, Margaret Feinberg, Mark Chironna, Francis Frangipane, Todd Hunter, Alan Hirsch, Chris Seay, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, Anne Jackson, Craig Keener, Ken Ulmer, Tommy Barnett, Sally Morgenthaler, and others.”

I’ll do a more complete review when I’ve finished the book.

Tuesday (Methodist) Tweets

I read the Methodist twitter stream so you don’t have to! (But I recommend it anyway.)

Methodist school brainwashed me. Till I was 10 I believed the Catholic school we played soccer against was called English Farters Junior.

Okay, who gave my kid The Methodist Coloring Book?  Time to fess up!

Karate Tournament

Just because we don’t spend enough time running all over the place, yesterday Robby and I decided to take a drive to Bowling Green, KY to check out the “Tournament of Champions,” organized by World Champion Karate Academy.  We had attended a familiar tournament in Benton, KY a few weeks ago and heard about this one so we went strictly as observers.

It was worth it.

In the night, weeping may tarry.

Though we don’t do it as often as I like, the United Methodist Church occasionally sings responses to the Psalms. A leader will read a portion of the psalm, the congregation will read a portion, and then we sing a brief response. The book of Psalms is the oldest book of hymns we have, and people have been singing these hymns for thousands of years. They were singing them before there was an English language, before the world as we know it was mapped, for generations and generations.

Local food-cajun style

One of the things that is important to me that I don’t blog about enough is supporting local business. It’s a big part of my belief in community and faith. That doesn’t mean that I think you should buy from a terrible store if it’s local, but that we owe it to one another to try and support good businesses and entrepreneurs (man that’s a hard word to type) in our area. If supporting local business means eating cajun food, that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.

Nonviolent resistance and Avatar

I have recommended Avatar to many friends, and will continue to do so based on the experience of watching this technologically game changing movie. As Debra Dean Murphy and many others have pointed out, however, the story of the film lacks imagination. Look no further than this comparison of Pocahontas and Avatar to see one way in which the story has already been done. When I saw the movie, I was reminded of the Calvin and Hobbes cartoon shown below. Cameron has made a great visual experience. He missed the chance to make something even better.

Pig Radio

When stumbling through the internet last week, I ran into a blog  called the Flypaper Theory that had an entry about a Memphis radio station called the Pig (sample music autoplays at the main site). I’ve had XM for a while, but I don’t pay for the online version, so my XM experience is for when I’m driving. When I listen to XM, one of my favorite stations is the Spectrum, which has an eclectic mix of newer “adult album alternative” music as well as older songs. It’s nowhere near as eclectic as the Pig, and “96oink1″ is online. Yes, there are commercials, but I can survive them, especially online when I’m sort of half tuned in anyway.

I have to criticize their social media person: no twitter posts since August and a private facebook page that’s set up like an individual rather than a fan page, but the music is fabulous. Listen here.

more Methodist Tweets

Some more of my favorite tweets that show up in my methodist, methodism, umc search.

I have been church hopping all morning. I’m drunk of course. The Catholics hated me, but the Methodists love me!

If golden retreivers were people, I  think they would be Methodists who shop at Lands End and vacation in New England.

You can live with me.  I live in a Methodist Church.  Yeh damn cool.

My mom explaining the methodist religion: methodists are kind of like relaxed catholics. lutherans are crazy. look at your aunt.

Just got a note from Jesus inviting me to join the local Methodist church. It was addressed ‘Hello darling’. Who knew Jesus was such a fruit

Tennessee Cigar & Brew Fest

Warning: this should only be read by people who are legal drinking age, and whatever mental age allows you to not judge people who enjoy good beer.

Feel Good Friday

My video for feelgoodfriday is the video duo of Rodrigo y Gabriela on Conan, though it hurts my hands to watch them.