Not sure how many of you get Sojourners email updates, but I thought this worth to pass on. Thanks to the good people at BeanBooks.com I recently purchased Jim Wallis’ new book, God’s Politics. It’s pretty good, though I’ve only just begun. I didn’t get the email til this morning so I missed The Daily Show appearance (I don’t have cable anyway!), but hopefully I can catch it online.
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In other news….
Good discussion below re: Worship. I’ll probably jump in the comments to try to stir the pot a bit. Worship matters. It is foundational to what we do and how we are as Christians. And like Peter said “worship is simply living, going to work, paying the bills on time, loving the spouse and kids, starting a conversation with your neighbor, keeping your word. We have the opportunity to worship in all of the banal, normal, ordinary everyday things in life we somehow forget God is a part of. Worship is engaging life with every breath God gives us.” Which, btw, doesn’t lower the bar for worship (well, I suppose it does in a sense), but it raises the bar. If our daily mundanity (is that a word?) can be worship then that doesn’t make worship less essential but more…. our re-Storying, Allegiance-making, Body-building pervades every facet of our lives.
I would commend that this should also not prevent us from meeting together to intently worship (ala a gathering of the saints… the local church). Sarah and I were talking last night about how we live in a culture of disposable relationships. Yesterday I got a hair-cut…. I didn’t even get the persons name who cut my hair! I went to a place in Meijer and got a cheap, decent hair cut…. the person who did it might as well been a machine. I don’t know her name, will likely never see her again, and that doesn’t really bother me (actually it does, but I think you get my point). Dating, living-together, even marriage – can all be about disposable relationships. Church often becomes disposable relationships…. This is truly and deeply sad.
More on that later… for now, here’s the email from Sojourners:
Dear SojoMail reader,
We’re happy to announce that Jim Wallis’ new book, God’s Politics, launched today with a panel discussion on “Moral Values, Politics, and the Faith Factor” that was moderated by E.J. Dionne, Jr., a columnist for The Washington Post and co-editor of One Electorate Under God, at the Brookings Institution. Panelists included Jim Wallis, Marian Wright Edelman, president of the Children’s Defense Fund; Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission; and Bryan Hehir, professor at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. John Podesta, president and CEO of the Center for American Progress, gave an introduction before a standing-room-only audience. Read the transcript of the discussion.
Some of you may have seen Jim Wallis on The O’Reilly Factor last night or on C-SPAN this morning. You may also have read yesterday’s New York Times article, “Democrats Turn to Leader of Religious Left” . We also want to inform you of these confirmed media appearances this week:
- Tonight, January 18, Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, 11 p.m. EST
- January 19, XM Satellite Radio (XM Public Radio Channel 133, 8-8:30 a.m. EDT)
- January 19, NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross (check local listing)
- January 19, PBS’s Charlie Rose Show (check local listing)
- January 20, NBC’s Inauguration Coverage with Tim Russert (10:05-11:05 a.m. EDT)
- January 21, Air America’s Al Franken Show (check local listing)
- January 21, MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews, 7 and 11 p.m. EST
Jim Wallis’ book tour continues next week. Stops include New York City, Philadelphia, Boston, and Washington, D.C. Please visit www.sojo.net/godspolitics to find an event near you!
Finally, we wish to thank all of our loyal SojoMail readers who helped God’s Politics reach #2 on Amazon.com’s top-seller list! If you haven’t already done so, please join our grassroots campaign by visiting your local bookstore or ordering online. You’ll save 34% off the cover price, and a percentage of the sale will support the mission of Sojourners.
P.S. Don’t forget to watch Jim Wallis tonight at 11 p.m. on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart!
