In response to my earlier post on Ancient-Future worship a friend emailed me some links to some Youtube videos. This guy, Fr. Stan Fortuna seems to embody (and go way beyond) this kind of Ancient Future ethos. Ienjoyed his version of an 'instructed Eucharist.' Check out the video and look for others on Youtube. I can't get enough of this guy.

This LaserMonks link takes you to Cistercian Abbey whose source of income is a wonderful community service. They provide low cost toner and inkjet replacements via their online store. They use the profits not only to sustain their community but to build and support monasteries around the world. Cool stuff.

If you are anything like me (and I hope for your sake you are not) throughout the process of a busy productive day in the office (or at home) you may find that you need to punctuate with a few mindless distractions to give your noodle a little break. Well here is something to try if you have a spare minute to idly waste. How about improving your vocabulary while feeding the hungry? Someone emailed me this link: http://www.freerice.com/. At the site you can play a word game (basically a multiple choice test to see if you can identify the right synonym for each word they give you). For every word you get right 20 grains of rice are donated to a UN food program. Give it a shot. But I warn you - it is highly addictive.

Parenthetically I found I had a real edge because I am a Christian. I don't think words like acolyte, genuflect, and exegesis (which were all words I was given) are used much anymore outside the Church. It didn't hurt to have a knowledge of Greek either.

Last weekend it was our joy and privilege to participate in a very exciting project. My wife partnered with a former neighborhood friend of hers to host a Fair Trade purse party at our house.

This year some good friends of ours, a couple from our church launched a Fair Trade import company. Her brother and family are missionaries in Cambodia. In visiting them our friends identified a lot of first-rate artisans who produce high-quality products such as purses, bags, scarves and home decor type items. They simply lack a connection to a major market where they can get a decent return on their investment of time and materials. Enter Zezu (pronounced zee zoo) Inc., our friends' company. They have worked with these artisans over the course of several visits to guide them with design ideas etc. to produce materials they believe can be marketed here in the States. Our friends import and sell these products and all the profits are either returned to the artisans in the form of a fair trade wage or a donated to stimulate similar projects.

Let me tell you what excites me about this whole thing. There are three things actually. Three things that I see as "working" in the midst of this whole thing. First is the model of faithfulness exhibited by our friends in launching this business. The husband is a successful, entreprenuerial small business owner. As a Christian businessman he is always working at conducting his affairs in a Christian manner. And this endeavor is testimony to that. Neither he nor his wife profit from Zezu at all. They are donating their time (a lot of it) and business savvy to a worthy cause. That is exciting! This is the kind of thing Christians should be doing in their field of expertise.

Second, is the model of Christian community and ministry at work here. Some members of our church had this vision to start this company. But rather than simply looking for impersonal web-based or wholesale markets for distribution (both of which I know they are open to and I am sure they will explore in the future) they started by creating a ministry/community opportunity by launching their first sale in a home - someone else's home. It incorporated others from the church (in this case us) and created an opportunity for outsiders to connect through this common cause as well.

And that is the third exciting thing: by partnering with a woman who is not a member of our church my wife created a collaborative environment that ended up drawing a fascinating and exciting cross-section of people. The event in the end created what we call a "middle space" - a neutral environment where people from the Church could interact with people who have no particular faith background at all. It was exciting to watch as business associates of my wife's friend mingled with our parishioners. I don't know what they talked about. I doubt anyone dropped to their knees and came to faith in Jesus later that night. But I do know that the Kingdom of God drew near the other night; as those who do not know Christ made acquaintance with those who do and as everyone participated in a project that embodies Kingdom values and doing a little Christmas shopping that preaches practical good news to the poor, the widow and the orphan.

I took some pictures (okay I'll be honest, my wife took some pictures). I'll put them up as soon as I resolve some of these computer issues.