FlowerDust.net | Anne Jackson

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).

here it is in a detail view:

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

the financial impact of the gasoline-driven church

mike wrote an interesting post yesterday about how much gas is used to get people to and from church gatherings.

now, i am not a mathematician by any means so i didn’t double check the numbers, but he has made some very fascinating calculations (which only take into consideration one trip to church per week):

he says,

*Say 3000 people attend your church.

*Average family of four equals 750 vehicles.

* Average fuel economy: 26mpg…but we’ll assume 20mpg for in-town driving, SUV’s, idling, etc.

*Average miles to place of worship? We’ll assume 15 round trip. Conservative.

That’s 750 vehicles traveling 15 miles, divided by 20 mpg: 562.5 total gallons for fuel burned.

At 4 dollars per gallon, that’s $2,250 dollars per week. or $117,000 per year for the congregation.

puts a whole new spin on the “consumerist” mindset, huh?

based on those numbers, it seems like it would cost the average american church-going family $3/week or $156/year to drive to church.

i realize megachurches are the minority, so you here’s the math…(and yes, my head hurts from trying to figure this all out!)

church of 100: $3,900

church of 250: $9,750

church of 500: $19,500

church of 1000: $39,000

and for kicks, i thought i’d do lakewood church…since i have been on a joel osteen kick and all.

church of 40,000: $1,560,000

just to drive to church…

gas prices were something chris and i took into consideration for our move to nashville. we feel very fortunate we found a home that is within walking distance from my office (also the church family we will be a part of). that alone will save us at least $200/month in gas (and i drive a rather fuel-efficient compact car).

has the price of gas impacted your daily decisions? do you think it will shape the way we “do” church in america? is this being culturally responsible? for those of you in other countries where it has been high for a while, how does it affect your work/leisure/living?

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)

this will disturb you. [graphic image-don't click if you're bothered by death]

in less than 2 weeks, i’ll be in uganda. a generally peaceful country (considering some other areas of africa). i will be posting many more thoughts on our trip soon, but for now, i want you to see something.

this is a boy? a man? a life…that has been taken.

i am not a big shock value person. i don’t like sensationalism. but can i take a moment and be honest with you?

the violence in kenya right now is breaking my heart.

we do have a stop over in nairobi on the way to kampala, and some people have been asking me if the recent violence (800 deaths in a couple months) has me worried. after all, many kenyans are fleeing to uganda. people are going around with machetes and arrows and guns and fire and anger and hate.

am i afraid?

my answer, is surprisingly no.

i am not afraid.

it makes me so…so unbelievably sad.

there is no more room in my heart to be afraid.

as i sit on my fluffy carpet, wrapped in my fluffy blanket, typing on my amazing computer, not worrying if my apartment door is locked or not, tens of thousands of miles away, a spirit of evil and murder and destruction is destroying and taking lives.

beautiful lives.

beautiful minds.

beautiful souls.

i wish i could go now.

i don’t even know what i could do, but i wish i could go now.

WE ARE RICH.

whether you like it or not, we are rich.

WE HAVE THE POWER TO INFLUENCE THE CHILDREN AND YOUNG ADULTS IN THESE COUNTRIES TODAY…AND HOPEFULLY AND PRAYERFULLY CHANGE THE COURSE OF THE HISTORY OF AFRICA.

we could sacrifice so little and make such a huge impact.

it seems like it’s a world away…

but it’s not.

when you’re at work today, i want you to think about the people who are being brutally tortured all over the world.

when you’re eating lunch, i want you to pray for the fear they experience that we will never, EVER know.

WE CAN DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS…

will you??

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?