DanSheffield

encountering new york city

last week was my first encounter with new york city -- or at least the midtown-Manhattan version. the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Santa Claus Parade had been on my wife's 'bucket list' for a long-time; i figured it was time to finally follow through on getting her there. in fact, we made this part of our 25th wedding anniversary celebrations. we travelled with our long-time friends, Carole & Steve (Kathy & Carole had been roommates before we married).

we had several challenging trips on a sight-seeing bus [I don't recommend this company!]. we went to see/hear the Jersey Boys show (the Frankie Valli story). we stood for 3.5 hours on Thursday morning waiting/watching the parade [I was 30 feet from Kanye West and Jessica Simpson :)]. we ate 'thanksgiving dinner' at the Istanbul Cafe -- we were offered traditional 'thanksgiving' fare -- turkey -- but opted for traditional Turkish food [highly recommended]. we went to the top of the city at the Rockefeller Centre, about 11:30pm. I went to the Met for 3 hours [I sat in front of a Cezanne, Van Gogh, Monet, Renoir, Pollock and many more :)], while the other 3 did a backstage tour at Radio City Music Hall. we window-gawked by all the Christmas-decorated shops on 5th Avenue. We had lunch at the 8th floor cafe in Macy's, right across the hall from where Santa Claus sits in the Miracle on 34th Street.

A great time with Kathy, our friends and briefly exploring this amazing city. a bit challenging for the introvert in me.

announcing that God redeems

missional, shalom-communities will, among other things, find innovative forms, times and places for communicating that God redeems. we are the 'called-out' people of God so that we may declare the praises of him who called us out of darkness (1 Peter 2:9). In my view, these folks are thinking in the right direction...

 

hirsch on discipleship

I've been participating in a conference organized EFC where, among others, Alan Hirsch gave two 30 minute talks today. The afternoon talk was on discipleship with ideas more fully explained in his new book, Untamed (which I haven't read yet).

He had some helpful reflections on the Shema, from Deut 6: "Hear O Israel: Yahweh our God, Yahweh is one." He draws on the understanding that in the ANE the nations around Israel had gods for everything; for the land, fertility, war, etc. and these gods were worshipped to gain their favour in all spheres of life. "Yahweh is one" breaks into this world suggesting that the God of Israel covers every sphere of life -- you don't need to turn to idols or other gods for anything.

Hirsch goes on to suggest that discipleship (becoming a Jesus-follower) amounts to bringing all those different spheres of our lives under the authority of the God who is one. "Is my work an idol/other god?" -- bring it under the authority of God. "Is family an idol/other god? -- bring it under the authority of God. "Is money an idol/other god?" -- bring it under the authority of God.

that was some new framing. thanks, Alan.

 

Haiti and the challenges of development aid

This article from DEVEX just confirms something I have been saying for more than a decade about Haiti...

There is a growing debate over the role of aid groups in Haiti’s development. Even as non-governmental organizations are credited for their lifesaving work, there is also a general observation that their presence has created a culture of dependence in the quake-ravaged nation.

Defenders of NGOs say the inefficiency and alleged corruption of the Haitian government leaves little choice but to implement initiatives through aid organizations. Critics, on the other hand, argue that aid groups have built a “parallel state” that is more powerful than the Caribbean nation’s government, a Wall Street Journal report says.  

 Aid groups have permanently “infantilized” Haiti, says Jean Palerme Mathurin, economic adviser to Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive, pointing to a vicious cycle, where the provision of social services by NGOs creates a disincentive for government to impove the delivery of these services.

 “The system as it is guarantees its failure,” according Laura Zenotti, a political scientist at Virginia Tech who has studied NGOs in Haiti.

[more article at the link above] thanks for the heads-up, Grant.

remembrance & symbols

There is an interesting debate going on in the public sphere in Canada this year about red & white poppies. We should not imagine that this is a new debate, or a particularly Canadian one. As early as 1926 Brits representing the No More War Movement were asking for adjustments to the fundraising campaign associated with the red poppies. The white poppy notion first emerged in 1933.

This British movement expresses itself this way:

"The White Poppy symbolises the belief that there are better ways to resolve conflicts than killing strangers. Our work, primarily educational, draws attention to many of our social values and habits which make continuing violence a likely outcome.

From economic reliance on arms sales (Britain is the world's second largest arms exporter) to maintaining manifestly useless nuclear weapons Britain contributes significantly to international instability. The outcome of the recent military adventures highlights their ineffectiveness in today's complex world.

Now 89 years after the end of the ‘war to end all wars’ we still have a long way to go to put an end to a social institution, which in the last decade alone killed over 10 million children."

I must admit that I have always been a bit ambivalent around this time of year, all of my 50 years. The memorial symbol notion is always coupled with the display of military gear and hardware, pride in our national accomplishments, as well as the repeated showings of Saving Private Ryan and We Were Soldiers -- bloody military movies, granted, with the stated intention of depicting the awful, often senseless deaths of young men and women at the whim, and often misdirection, of their governments. [when I was a teenager they were showing John Wayne's Green Beret and Clint Eastwood's Kelley's Heroes]

Then there is that bit about my own Anabaptist roots -- where one of my ancestors in Vaughan township was brought before the courts and fined for not providing his wagon and team, as a matter of conscience, for the use of the British in their defence of Canada in the War of 1812.

Not least the notion that as Christian I am first and foremost a citizen of a peaceable kingdom, in which we should all be uncomfortable with too close an identification with any given earthly kingdom. I am happy to sing 'O Canada' at my son's school program -- where of course no one sings it!! I am a bit more uncomfortable singing it in the gathering of 'called-out ones' on a Sunday morning -- where it is heartily sung...

That being said, I grieve deeply with anyone's loss of family or friend, whether lost in a car accident, to invasive disease, or in the midst of international conflict.

why is everyone running?

quote from a character in The Navigator of New York, on polar exploration and the building of New York City (ca.1900)...

Explorers set out in noble terms the importance to mankind of reaching the North and South poles as swiftly as possible. But most of them do not labour in the service of mankind.

I believe that I am one of the few who does. I look at the builders of the city as they run about, and I see not myself, but men like Peary.

Every man thinks there must be a goal, or why would everyone be running? So he runs too. Each man thinks the man beside him is the one who knows where he is headed, and who therefore must be followed.

I cannot, each man thinks to himself, I must not, I will not be left behind...