So I’ve been thinking about an Internet-related Lenten practice. I’m apparently not the only one—several friends are giving up Facebook for Lent. I wish them well but don’t feel called to that, personally. As Bruce Reyes Chow said last year (paraphrasing), I do a lot of pastoral care and authentive connecting with people via Facebook […]

So Relevant Magazine posted an article by Chris Haw containing some hand-wringing concern over the iPhone, some of which I am sympathetic with. (It’s in the July/August 2009 issue, p. 27.)
Read it for his whole argument, but he’s feeling pulled by the economic “simplicity” lifestyle of the anabaptists, the warnings by Wendell Berry (whom I […]

This is in response to Bruce Reyes-Chow’s thoughtful post. I started to comment but it got too long.
I’m not quite ready to say “thou shalt” or “thou shalt not” twitter in worship. Those decisions are very contextual. But I have been thinking about this question since the original “straw poll” took place… via Twitter, I […]

So my aunt sent several people this video of a TED talk on “5 dangerous things you should let your kids do.” Play with fire, own a pocket knife, take appliances apart, and the like. The idea seems to be gaining traction from a lot of quarters, that keeping kids in a hermetically sealed bubble […]

So I was driving around listening to Studio 360 today and came upon a story that R had already heard and told me about.
If you’re interested in matters of technology, community and the generation gap, listen to it here, under “Suffering for Sufjan.”
Sufjan Stevens had a contest in which the winner would receive an original, […]

So this morning R was ribbing me for my “facebook addiction.” I realized how much I love facebook and google reader as ways to keep me connected on days when I’m home with kids.
So then I posted this question and rumination on my facebook:
If housewives in the ’50s had had social networking and the internet […]

From this week’s New Yorker:
Obama is a star. So are many of the people around him. A lot of them, like him, rose to adulthood inside the upper reaches of the American meritocracy, which oriented them toward analytic brilliance and felicity of expression, and gave them experience in dealing with fast-moving, high-stakes transactions. Running poky […]

On to the next cultural milestone…
C is all ready for the Superbowl and is excited about her beloved Pittsburgh Steelers, which I talk about a little bit here.
She made this helmet for her teacher… if she ever gets well enough to go to school!

Go Steelers.
I guess.

Recently I took part in a roundtable discussion at the Alban Institute about secular and spiritual narrative. We were talking about technology as a means of telling one’s story and the conversation drifted to Facebook. A boomer-aged male said, “At least with blogs you do have some narrative element, but Facebook is for people who […]

If this doesn’t make you smile then you are dead inside and I pity you.

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.
If I were scheduled to preach on World Communion Sunday this year I would SO use this.

So I read a lot about simplicity and “living lightly” on the earth. It’s a topic that has financial, environmental and spiritual implications. I’ve pondered in this space the gift and curse that is the iPhone–having the means to organize my life and respond to people and issues as they arise, yet finding it difficult […]

Del Martin (L) and Phyllis Lyon (R), partners for 55 years, exchange rings as they are married by San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom in a private ceremony at San Francisco City Hall June 16, 2008 in San Francisco, California. Martin and Lyon were among the first couples to be married in San Francisco as same-sex […]

You know, several years ago, I was in New York City autographing the first book that I had written. And while sitting there autographing books, a demented black woman came up. The only question I heard from her was, “Are you Martin Luther King?” And I was looking down writing, and I said, “Yes.” And […]

Somebody’s five years old today…

Happy Birthday Iraq War!
My, how the time has flown. From the moment you were born you’ve been filling us with shock and awe. Why, it seems like just yesterday you were pulling down statues and toddling around on aircraft carriers. And look at you now!
Who knows? You may even live to […]

R has a new job as of several weeks ago. He closed his consulting business in order to go work for a former client who made him an offer he couldn’t refuse—namely, more money, paid vacation, and the chance to have his evenings back. I told him awhile back that he ought to do something […]

The story goes that my dad was taking me to school in 1978, the day after Nancy Kassebaum was elected to the United States Senate. There were two women who had just served out their late husbands’ unexpired terms, which brought the number of recent female senators to three. The commentator on the news was […]

Forget the baby monitor, sling, or bottle warmer. Here’s the techy stuff that a new mom really can use:

iPod. An obvious choice, perhaps, but indispensable for late-night nursing entertainment that doesn’t wake up wee bebe.
Bluetooth handsfree device for cell phone. Let’s face it, life is all about multitasking. Chat with a friend while putting away […]

As a child, I always loved Ernie, and found Bert to be rather bland and annoying.
As an adult, I find it’s the exact opposite.
I mean, Ernie is a pretty boorish roommate—playing his drums at all hours, interrupting Bert while he’s reading.
Meanwhile… Bert loves pigeons! And he collects bottle caps!
And need I even […]