caroling with the neighborhood

In the past eight days, two significant neighborhood encounters occurred. Both could easily have slipped by unnoticed, but I think the persistent focus on being the church outside the walls has sharpened my eyesight a little.

The second encounter (read the first here) came last night at our annual caroling event in the neighborhood.  We've been doing this for a number of years (eight?), usually going a different direction each year in the neighborhoods right around our church.

This year, something significant happened.  We had two different families from the neighborhood show up and join us for dinner and caroling.  I'm not sure how or where they heard about when we were going - in one case, a grandparent couple invited their out of town daughter and young grandkids to join us.  They said that the kids had never been a part of caroling and they wanted them to have the experience.  In another case a mom from down the street brought her two young daughters.  And they jumped in with us - part of the "Good Shepherd family" caroling to our (and their own) neighbors.

What stood out to me is their willingness to come do something as "out there" as walking in the dark with a big group of strangers, knocking on doors, and singing... again, I think that this was made possible, or at least easier, by the time we've spent out in these same neighborhoods.  We used to be relatively unknown to these neighbors.  Now we are not only safe to associate with, but desirable companions in carrying music (and Good News!) to our mutual neighbors.  As I said in the previous post, I'm not sure we even know all the significance of this encounter, but I'm pretty sure it is significant!

Here's a video clip of us singing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas!"

eating with the neighborhood

In the past eight days, two significant neighborhood encounters occurred.  Both could easily have slipped by unnoticed, but I think the persistent focus on being the church outside the walls has sharpened my eyesight a little.

The first encounter came eight days ago on a Wednesday.  That morning we got a call in the office from a neighbor who had seen on our church sign that we had a Wednesday night dinner and wondered if he could come get some food for himself and his sick wife, who was housebound.  I think he thought we were offering meals for sale - he asked a question along those lines.  But the person taking the call said it was a potluck, and neighbors visiting were not expected to bring food, and he should just come on and join us.  Well, sure enough, he came that night.  We invited him to sit and eat with us before taking the plate home to his wife, but he wanted to get back to her.  So we visited in a line for a few minutes.  He lived nearby and simply noticed our sign.

What stood out to me is that he would venture inside a church full of people he didn't know to accept food that was "family meal" style.  I don't think this would have happened even two or three years ago.  I think that we have been spending so much time out in our neighborhood, including HIS immediate neighborhood, that he perceived us as safe, friendly, and helpful - worth calling and visiting to help out his wife.  It was a subtle interaction, and I don't think we have yet grasped the significance of it; but I'm pretty sure it was significant in our growth as a church for the neighborhood.

the filter bubble: the invisible self-idolatry of the internet

This is a fascinating and disturbing TED Talk on the ways that Facebook, Google, Yahoo, and many other online sites sort and individualize our "personal internet experience" with the mostly invisible (to us) result of only showing us what we WANT to see rather than what we NEED to see.

Not only do we only see what is let INTO our "filter bubble"; we don't get to see what is filtered out.

On the video, the speaker shows two different friends' simultaneous Google search results on "Egypt" during the revolution there.  One friend's results were full of news and politics and revolution; the other got nothing related to it.

We used to have human editors serving as gatekeepers to public information.  Now we have programs (algorithms) that feed us back ourselves.  Additionally, these programs don't have the kind of embedded ethics that human editors did.

What are we missing when we can't see beyond our individual horizon?

We lose a sense of public life and civic responsibility - and we need some controls over what gets through and what doesn't

We need programming (algorithms) not just keyed to relevance, but to things that are uncomfortable, challenging, and important.

I challenge you to watch and comment about what you think we are missing or losing and how we can address these problems through changed habits, different programming, a rediscovery of ethics and public good, etc...   Share your thoughts! 



Update: on my FB post linking to this article, I received an excellent comment from Grant Sutphin, who is a Presbyterian pastor in Statesville, NC.  Here is a part of his post I'd like to share and then respond to:

I think you're principally promoting the presenting issue of this talk rather than its conclusions, but I feel I should point this out:

Internet companies are just that: companies. They are market-driven entities that will make whatever decisions maximize their market-determined value to their shareholders. Imploring corporations to be altruistic and have at their core a desire toward building a more perfect society is a distraction from what we as pastors know to be the real issue.

It is the individual who proves a steady disdain toward world events in their internet-behavior who determines how the Google algorithm will then lead them in the future away from news stories. Pariser's own newsfeed begins to weed out conservative opinion not randomly but after he's clicked exclusively on progressive articles for a period of time. He might want to read the conservative headlines, but it would seem he doesn't need to look any deeper by clicking the links. If he did, the algorithm would continue to promote them.

Sin will always draw the individual away from community, away from otherness, away from confrontation. The sin isn't in the corporation, it's in the people, and that's where you have to go (Christ before you and beside you) to get it out. Regulating internet companies so they more readily show content unrelated to previous searches won't solve the strong desire we have toward alienation. We should never believe that a more altruistic Google or Yahoo will cure us of this.

I responded:

I agree, which is probably why I focused more on the presenting issue than the speaker's solution. I don't think pleading with corporations to employ ethic-coding programmers is the solution (or reasonable in any way). The speaker also notes that while he holds up human newspaper editors up as capable of gate-keeping, they were historically no better - also serving the needs of their employers.

My intent was to note the problem - our tendency towards self-preoccupation, made significantly easier and more accessible by the Internet. It's not unlike what having Star Trek like food replicators in the home might do for the gluttonous among us. (Lord, help us!) We are all the more in trouble when we allow technology to feed and enable our sin.

You rightly point us towards what is needed - a spiritual remedy for sin and bent towards sinning.

online ministry tech - cloud storage

Though I wrote my "online ministry tech" series just over a year ago, the recent burst of free and ample cloud storage prompts me to add this topic as an entry to that series.

Cloud storage is digital file storage not on your computer hard drive or a memory stick or CD/DVD... it is figuratively "in the clouds."  (Actually, it is stored on a remote hard drive or storage device at Google, Amazon, or any number of places that specialize in storing data.)

In 2011, cloud storage went mainstream with Amazon, iTunes, Google, and others starting to offer free offsite storage simply for opening an account or using their products.  As of this posting date...

Amazon has offered cloud storage they refer to as the Amazon Cloud Drive.  They offer 5GB of storage free with an Amazon account, and much more with paid plans.  This will store mp3s, movies, Kindle books, or even your own computer files and is accessible from any computer using your user name and password.

iTunes has offered iCloud - also 5GB of free storage with a free Apple ID.  New i-devices default to backup data to the iCloud, but 5GB is only barely sufficient for core contacts and information; photos and music quickly over-run the space (when the smallest ipods now hold 8GB of music); but paid plans are available for more.  This is tempting, especially if one hasn't backed-up all that carefully accumulated music.  (I have about 30GB of music on my laptop and carry much of it on my iPod)  What if it's all lost in a fire?  Or my computer dies?  A year or two ago I backed up much of it to DVDs, but that was really tedious and not something I'd do with regularity.  And I've added a lot of music since then.  But I also couldn't bring myself to pay Apple to store music that I had already bought from them.

Well, there's Dropbox... but it only comes with 2GB of free storage, though with a student (.edu) account and lots of friend referrals, you can apparently build that up to a total of 18GB with no charge.  I'm up to 10.5GB, but also use much of that syncing all my files between three computers.  I do still think Dropbox is a standout among the cloud storage sites because of the local software that allows creation of the "dropbox" folder on one's computer.  But, for sheer storage space, read on...

So, when I last posted about Dropbox, someone mentioned Box.com (same as Box.net)... I checked them out and they give 5GB of free online storage, along with some nice collaboration and sharing features for those files.  So that matches up well with Amazon and iTunes.  But **here's the thing** - last week I ran across a special promo that Box.com is running.  If you download the free Box.net (yes, I know they are inconsistent with the name) app for iPhone, iPod, or iPad, and create a new account before Dec. 2, they will give you 50GB of free storage.  Clearly, competition for customers is ramping up! 

Right before I found that deal, I also found Adrive.com, which gives you 50GB free any time.  But it is clunky and has limitations on the size of files uploaded.  Once I found the Box.com deal, I left it behind.  But if you miss the window for the Box.com deal, it's worth checking out for that large storage space.

And finally, last week I also read about Google Music, which is offering online storage of music files (any type) for up to 20,000 songs (approx. 100GB!). These can be accessed from any computer or device, though it is initially geared to be an iTunes alternative for Android-based phones and devices.  (Having said that, there is an iPhone/iPad app for it, too).  Google provides a desktop program to help upload all your files to their cloud storage.  This is a good alternative backup for the music, though a small percentage of DRM-protected files won't copy (I haven't figured out which ones; it's not ALL my purchased music.).  This is a nice feature because I will be able to access 98% of my iTunes (and other) music from any computer or device, any time.  Google Music also allows a one-time sharing of an entire song... good for FB and other links.

So, how have I used this new-found online storage?  So far, here's the plan...

• Adrive (50GB on my e-mail) - backed up all my iTunes music and the movies we have purchased from iTunes; we've purchased movies from Amazon, but Amazon let's us re-download those any time (iTunes does not).
• Box.com (50GB): am backing up our digital family photos from the past six years
• Google Music (20,000 songs or approx. 100GB?): am backing up my iTunes, Windows Media Player, and other music files to this one location; I may then remove the backup on Adrive and use that space for something else.

The only real hiccup in this frenzy of online backing up... even the fastest Internet connections (like at my church) are generally only fast DOWNLOADING (we are about 10Mbps).  But the UPLOAD speed is .6Mbps, and that's what is being used to send my files to the clouds.  So backing up 30-50GB of information is a long process... I set it running overnight and pause it the next morning.  I seem to remember that the Charlotte airport has 11+Mbps up AND down, so I may save my laptop music backup (the big one) until my next travel venture.

Anything you'd add?  Please comment below!

consecration as distinctly holy

The word that describes behavior that is distinct from the world around us for the sake of honoring God is “consecrated” (also "holy"). It means set apart, but we often think of that as separated AWAY from the world rather than distinct WITHIN it. But the special use for which God sets us apart is to be used.

From the beginning God set apart His people – by laws, by covenant and sign, by behavior. The purpose was not to shelter them away and keep them pure and aloof, but that they would be a witness to the surrounding world of the character and nature of God.  In Christ, we continue to be set apart IN the world for God's glory (cf. 1 Peter 2:5-12).

Said another way, we are to be a reflection of the holiness of God. But God, as perfectly holy, does not hide away from humanity. Rather, in holiness God has come among us in Jesus Christ, to live and be one of us, but to do so with complete distinctness as the perfectly obedient one, to redeem and draw humanity unto Himself.

Whether we talk about consecrating gifts of money for the mission and work of this church or talk about consecrating our lives in service to God, we are talking about openly belonging to God for His public glory. So, the mission and ministry of the Church is not for ourselves, but for the world around us, to point to God. Our mission and ministry as Christians is not to get blessed by God, but to give ourselves in service to God for the blessing of others.

As Christians, we are God’s own possession, set apart as distinct for God’s public glory.