dark was the night

this compilation is great for a number of reasons:
first, its a good cause, proceeds will "benefit the Red Hot Organization – an international charity dedicated to raising money and awareness for HIV and AIDS through popular culture."
secondly it stands as an accurate snapshot of a particular segment of current music culture. the participants are somewhat iconic and representative an exciting season in music- check out the tracklist.
third- it's just damn good. [thanks johnathan for pointing it out!]

this year...

...mlk day bears unique significance.

if you have never taken the time to listen to the complete speech by rev/doc martin luther king jr, listen to it today- with fresh ears, given the current events.

artwork by ben heine.

Imagine if the world were 100 people:

In our global village... the resources are unevenly distributed. The richest person in the village has as much as the poorest 57 taken together. Fifty do not have a reliable source of food and are hungry some of the time, and 30 suffer malnutrition. Forty do not have access to adequate sanitation; 31 people live in substandard housing; 31 do not have electricity; 18 are unable to read; 15 do not have access to safe drinking water. Only 16 people have access to the Internet. Only 12 own an automobile. Three are migrating. And only two have a college education. Overall, 19 struggle to survive on one dollar per day or less; 48 struggle to live on two dollars a day or less. In brief, as the World Bank describes it, two thirds of the planet lives in poverty.

- in context: Daniel Groody, Globalization, Spirituality, and Justice, pg 3-4.

subversive

imagine a world that functions upon different principles, values and ideals than our own. imagine a world in which dogs do not eat dogs and the fittest need others to survive. imagine an upside-down economy in which the accumulation of wealth was seen as a means to bless others and power was in one's ability to give it away. imagine necks always sore from "turning the cheek" and love as our standard foreign policy. you've experienced it before- in the form of an unexpected gift, a gesture or a comment from someone so full of grace, you are left completely disarmed. you've glimpsed glory in such a way that your life was infused with Life. those moments make us believe... again. we need moments and events like those to be true, because if they are not then life is not. if this is as good as it gets... i'm out. but if the gospel is true, hope infuses every aspect of living... and the news which is truly good might surprise you today. it did me.

come

yesterday was a global awareness day for AIDS. tomorrow is the first Sunday of the Advent season which is a period marked by waiting, longing and hope for the Messiah. that they would be so near and that the one would come before the other is disruptive and seems theologically important.

bono

at the national prayer breakfast here.