Faith/Theology

Introducing: Recommended Reads

January 5, 2012 · 0 comments

Next Tuesday, January 10, my friend Erik and I are launching a new e-newsletter called Recommended Reads:

Recommended Reads is a twice-monthly email that contains links to five articles you may have missed. We scour the depths of the web and hand-pick articles that spotlight creative voices with unique perspectives on religion, culture, and ministry.

Our hope is that the newsletter serves as a non-invasive (only two times a month) way of guiding people to great content from around the web. That's it.

Each email will contain links to and brief descriptions of five articles and/or blog posts, presented in a minimalist format without any editorial comments (don't worry, we'll never link to our own content):

F.A.Q.

Q: Why would someone subscribe to Recommended Reads?

A: We think Recommended Reads (R.R.) will appeal to at least two types of people. The first person is someone who doesn't do much content consumption online; he or she is interested in good content but doesn't actively seek it. R.R. delivers this content directly to their doorstep (er, email inbox) twice a month.

The second person is someone who spends a considerable amount of time consuming content online; he or she actively seeks out interesting content and follows links posted to Twitter, Facebook, etc. For this person, R.R. functions as an In-Case-You-Missed-It email, as well as pointing out articles that he or she may not have found elsewhere.

Really, though, we just enjoy reading and sharing great content, so we think R.R. will appeal to all sorts of people. And people are always free to unsubscribe if they feel that what were sharing doesn't have value, so it's a no-lose proposition.

Q: What type of articles are you guys looking for and sending out, in general?

A: Because both Erik and Jake work for churches, our collective interest is usually piqued by content relating to religion, theology, ministry, etc. But we're both also interested in a bunch of other things as well — pop culture, books, sports, technology, etc. That, combined with the fact that Jake has A.D.D., will undoubtedly lead to a few "wild card" links here and there.

Q: How is this different than subscribing to JakeBouma.com?

A: None of the links that we share on R.R. will be posted to JakeBouma.com, so even though the content we're sharing is publicly available, it is "exclusive" in that we will only share it via the R.R. email. Additionally, R.R. will always be sent out on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month, unlike blogs, some of which tend to be updated erratically.

Q: Can I make article suggestions for Recommended Reads?

A: We don't currently have an official article submission/recommendation process, but if you come across something you think is particularly awesome, feel free to let us know, preferably via Twitter by contacting either @JakeBouma or @ErikUllestad.

Q: How do I sign up?

A: Click here to go to the subscription form, where you'll fill in your info and become subscribed to R.R.

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Advent with Bonhoeffer

November 27, 2011 · 6 comments

In 2009 I wrote a series of blog posts called Advent Explorations both as a personal study of the first season of the liturgical calendar and as a way of sharing what I was learning.¹ I won't be doing that again this year; instead, I have something else in mind.

About a week ago, I received a lovely surprise in my mailbox at work. One of the parishioners who knows of my love for all things Bonhoeffer (and who is herself a Bonhoeffer enthusiast) left a copy of the book God Is in the Manger: Reflections on Advent and Christmas, an Advent devotional comprised of material compiled from Bonhoeffer's body of work. It's a simple little book (fitting for the season of Advent), with short excerpts from Bonhoeffer's writing accompanied by scripture texts.

As part of my personal practices, I will be reading the devotions daily and reflecting on the texts. Additionally, I've decided upon both creating and publicly sharing an artifact each day.

Enter The Amazing Type-Writer, an iOS app which mimics typewriters of old and facilitates the creation of cool-looking type-written cards. While I've had the app for a while and have played around with it here and there, from the beginning I've had the notion that doing some sort of a card-a-day type thing could be fun.

Besides the ability to make interesting, old fashioned-looking cards, the app has several unique features that make it stand out. First, like an actual typewriter, the "delete" key doesn't actually delete anything — it simply moves the cursor one space back, forcing you to either A) type another character over the original or B) start the entire card over. ² Second, you can move the cursor anywhere on the card, and it's difficult to ascertain where the character will actually end up until after you actually type it. That, coupled with the no-delete feature (not to mention the app's authentic typewriter sounds), make creating one of these cards an exercise in both patience and forethought — a discipline that, for me, neatly falls in line with the themes of Advent.

So this Advent, as I read through the devotions in the Bonhoeffer book, I'm going to select a sentence or two from each reading and use The Amazing Type-Writer (? iTunes link) to create a card every day, the first of which is at the top of this post. Unlike today, however, I won't be posting them on this blog; I will post each day's card on both my Twitter and Facebook accounts, and you're welcome to follow along throughout the next several weeks as I do so.

It is my hope that Bonhoeffer's words on Advent and Christmas, coupled with my commitment to the practice of creating and sharing these cards, not only heighten my own awareness of the hopeful and expectant nature of Advent, but may also be a blessing to others.

If you have no idea what Advent is and aren't particularly jazzed about the idea of reading a bunch of old blog posts about it, I recommend as a primer this short video: Advent in 2 minutes. [↩]
You can see the result of this on the word "As" on the second line of the card at the top of this post. I originally accidentally typed "Ad" and had to go back and hammer the "s" key over the "d" several times to compensate. [↩]

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The unnecessarily detailed account of my new, long-awaited, custom Paul Soupiset tattoo

May 30, 2011 · 27 comments

In October 2009, while attending the Christianity 21 conference in Minneapolis, my friend Mike Stavlund offhandedly composed and sent the above tweet.

First, a little bit of context: Christianity 21 was a gathering of emergent-type Christians (put on by JoPa Productions) exploring the Christian faith in the twenty-first century. The event featured twenty-one speakers presenting on different topics for twenty-one minutes each. Aside from the great speakers, there were a number of things that made the conference unique and engaging — two of which led directly to my latest tattoo.

The first is that before the event began, a dedicated Twitter hashtag (#c21) was set up so that those at the event could easily participate in real-time conversation. Anyone appending "#c21" to a tweet knew that those at the conference (and even those absent) would be able to see it. During nearly every session, I'd invariably multitask: Ears attuned to the presentation and eyes darting back and forth between the speaker and my laptop displaying the continual Twitter/#c21 conversation.

The second is that Christianity 21 featured artist Paul Soupiset as a live-sketcher during every single session. While the speakers were on stage, Paul took notes in his moleskine with marker and watercolor, and the whole process was projected on a large screen at the front of the room for all to see. During the event I made a crude time-lapse of his live-sketching, which you can see below:

So during one of the presentations, while Paul was sketching, Mike Stavlund sent out the tweet at the top of this post.

Now, I've followed Paul's work for quite some time. In 2007, he donated a custom watercolor sketch for my website redesign giveaway. And I've watched with joy as Paul's talents have been utilized by Sparkhouse's re:form curriculum. So it was with almost zero hesitation that I half-jokingly-half-seriously responded to Mike's tweet:

Turns out he was serious. After the session, the three of us gathered to hash out the details. I swallowed my pride and said that $500 was probably a bit high for my budget, but that I'd be able to swing $300 (this is just for the artwork, not including the cost of getting the actual tattoo). The arrangement was this: I would make a $300 donation to Compassion, send Paul the receipt, and the artwork design process would begin.

A few months later, I was able to make the donation and the design process began. I sent Paul a rambling email which included this line "I would like an icon of Christ bookended on the top and bottom by a greek phrase from John 1:16 - 'grace upon grace'" and a terrible mockup I had drawn on a whiteboard (click image for larger version):

A few months passed (hey, we're both busy guys) and I sent him another email.

Paul,

I realized a grave error in my previous emails. In icons of Christ, his hands look different than icons of the saints. Attached are two pictures that show you what I mean.

From an online source: "In his left hand He holds the Bible. His right hand is raised to bless in the manner of priests in the Byzantine tradition. The first two fingers of the right hand are joined, symbolising the two distinct natures of Christ. The other two fingers touch the thumb, symbolising the Trinity."

Jake

Attached was this image:

In March of 2010, I received an email from Paul containing not only the final design, but several of the preliminary sketches as well. I could hardly contain my excitement as I browsed through the artwork he sent me. It was — and is — perfect (click image for larger version):

Then, well, life happened. In May of 2010 I met Libby, promptly fell in love, and pretty much forgot about the tattoo for a while.

But soon after Libby and I got engaged and started planning the wedding, honeymoon, &c., we began talking about getting tattoos as "wedding gifts" for one another. I would of course get the Soupiset masterpiece tattooed on my right forearm¹ and Libby would get her maiden name, Lennon, on her wrist. So we scheduled our appointments for a week after our honeymoon: May 27, 2011.

The actual tattoo was done by a veteran artist named Jack at Skin Kitchen in Des Moines.

After about 2.5 hours, I stood up from the chair, walked over to the mirror, and marveled at my new, long-awaited, custom Paul Soupiset tattoo (click image for larger version):

To Mike and Paul: A hearty "thank you" for making this happen. I couldn't possibly be more happy with how it turned out.

It did take a little bit of convincing for Libby to be "on board" with getting the tattoo on my forearm — she originally thought my upper arm/bicep area would be a better choice. [↩]

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With Fear and Great Joy

April 21, 2011 · 10 comments

“So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples.” -- Matthew 28:8

The Revised Common Lectionary provides two options for the Gospel text this coming Sunday, the Resurrection of Our Lord (i.e., Easter Sunday): Matthew 28:1-10 and John 20:1-18. The Matthew 28 reading recounts Mary and Mary’s experience at Jesus’ tomb; the women are confronted by an angel, told that Jesus has been raised from the dead, sent to tell the disciples, confronted by Jesus himself, and then dispatched on their way.

Not your typical morning.

Since reading this story several weeks ago, I have been haunted by one particular phrase from the text. In verse eight, after having been instructed by the angel to tell the disciples of Jesus’ resurrection, we are told that Mary and Mary “left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy.” These two human emotions -- fear and great joy -- are usually conceived of as being mutually exclusive. That is, a person either experiences fear or she experiences great joy, but not both simultaneously. These women, however, confronted with the earth-shattering reality of Jesus’ resurrection do in fact experience a commingling of these seemingly disparate emotions. For me, this raises an interesting question. But first, a brief aside.

The “fear” Mary and Mary experience is fear as commonly understood: fright, terror, disquiet, & c. Although it is not uncommon to translate “fear” as “awe” or “reverence” in the biblical text, the context of the word in this verse leaves no doubt about the proper interpretation. The Greek word for fear used in verse eight, phobou, which can be translated as either “terror” or “reverence” is almost identical, etymologically speaking, to the word used three times in the surrounding text as an imperative verb: “Do not be afraid.” All this is to say that yes, Mary and Mary were actually scared. End of nerd section.

Back to my question: In what situations (or the anticipation thereof) have I experienced fear and great joy simultaneously? Last night I posed the question to the group of high school students gathered for youth group. Answers ranged from graduation (fear of the unknown and next steps, great joy at marking a significant life milestone), to traveling abroad this summer (fear of mishaps and unknowns, great joy at potential for unforgettable experiences).

For my part, the first thing that comes to mind is my upcoming wedding. To be honest, being married scares the snot out of me (what am I getting myself into?!) and at the same time it brings me deep, nearly unspeakable joy. The description of Mary and Mary’s emotional response to the resurrection is so blunt and concise that it’s almost hard to believe it can describe such a complex human emotion -- and yet it does.

This Sunday, among all the pomp and circumstance that an Easter celebration brings, I invite you to take stock of your emotions. Identify those things in your life that bring you fear and great joy. And then, whenever “He is risen indeed” escapes your lips, imagine not only great joy, but fear as well. The resurrection of Jesus Christ, as one student brilliantly quipped last night, is not a novelty. It is joyous, dreadful, magnificent, and terrifying all at once. So like Mary and Mary, may Jesus’ resurrection imprint our hearts with fear and great joy this Easter morning.

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Strange Bedfellows: A partial works cited from my Theological Foundation Statement for Ministry with Youth

February 10, 2011 · 15 comments

As part of my course work at Luther Seminary in the Children, Youth, and Family Ministry program, I was required to write a "Theological Foundation Statement for Ministry with Youth". The process of writing the paper provided the chance for me to codify many of the thoughts that have been rumbling around in my head for the last few years (years!).

Anyway, I realized that the authors and works cited in the paper is, well, interesting. These are some strange bedfellows, to be sure. Peruse the list and draw your own conclusions.

Jean Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulation

Gerald Bruns, Hermeneutics Ancient and Modern

Frederick Buechner, The Hungering Dark

John Caputo, What Would Jesus Deconstruct?: The Good News of Postmodernism for the Church

Philip Clayton, Transforming Christian Theology: For Church and Society

Kaiser Family Foundation, Daily Media Use Among Children and Teens Up Dramatically from Five Years Ago

Thomas Friedman, The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century

Douglas John Hall, The Reality of the Gospel and the Unreality of the Churches

David Lipsky, Although of Course You End up Becoming Yourself: A Road Trip with David Foster Wallace

David Lyon, Postmodernity: Second Edition

Lesslie Newbigin, Proper Confidence: Faith, Doubt, and Certainty in Christian Discipleship

Richard Rohr, The Naked Now: Learning to See as the Mystics See