Jonathan's blog

From an article of the same title by Neela Banerjee in the NY Times:

While churches have long provided meals, occasional shelter and indoor worship services for the urban homeless, a small but growing number of congregations now recognize that many homeless people will not attend traditional services indoors. So these congregations now go outdoors to bring church to the homeless and anyone else who happens along. "When you become homeless, you become very aware of how people treat you," said the Rev. Anne-Marie Jeffery, who runs Street Church. "It's hard to walk into a church, and it's even harder when you are homeless because you're worried about how you will be received, or if you smell bad. Some people never go inside at all, because they worry that they can lose all their stuff," as in shopping carts that must be left outside, "or be sent to a mental hospital or to jail."

Ms. Wyman, trying to introduce outdoor worship elsewhere as well, says she is working with churches and other groups, about half of them affiliated with the Episcopal Church, in 40 cities in the United States and abroad. Already some such worship is under way in cities including Asheville, N.C.; Atlanta; Cincinnati; Portland, Me.; and San Francisco.

The worship service lasts 15 to 20 minutes. People line up for Communion (expect grape juice, not wine) and then lunch on two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches each, along with chips, fruit and water. Office workers sometimes stop by. Street Church volunteers hand out bulletins as they would to congregants at a Sunday service, and stay afterward to eat and talk with whoever shows up.

I think this is a very good trend...churches venturing out to minister to the least of these rather than expecting them to come in.

This past weekend I watched Alexandra Pelosi's documentary "Friends of God" (wikipedia entry) on HBO. Though perhaps not openly ridiculing its subject, the film did seem to be a road-trip tour of the freakish elements of evangelical America with little or no reference to its mainstream. For what it is, it was enjoyable. Two segments stick out in my memory. First, the "Christian" professional wrestling. I had heard of this before, but its absurdity was crystal clear upon seeing it on film (which raises the question, shouldn't it have been just as obvious before? Yes, admittedly it should have). Secondly, at one point Ted Haggard (who has a prominent role in the film) is talking with a couple of his church members who brag that their wives, ahem, achieve full satisfaction every time they are intimate. Off camera, you hear the filmmaker say something like: "I've got to go to this church!" I give it four out of five.

Mike Cope points to a NY Times article of the same title that tells of the story of what some of his relatives are doing to help improve the lives of children around the world. This is something that's been on my mind a bunch lately. It's hard to imagine any better use of one's time and energy than giving mercy to a child.

• Forgotten Genius, PBS, Tue 8 PM
• They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, TCM, Tue 11 PM
• Futurecar, Discovery ,Wed 8 PM
• The List of Adrian Messenger, Sundance, Sun noon

From a NY Times article of the same title by Stuart Elliott about the Super Bowl ads:

More than a dozen spots celebrated violence in an exaggerated, cartoonlike vein that was intended to be humorous, but often came across as cruel or callous.

I don't know about a connection to Iraq, but I did notice this myself: an abundance of gratuitously violent commercials that left me wincing.