pentecost project

My friend Eddy recently commented on the reduce page about Saturday’s Earth Hour. By the time most of you read this post, it will be Saturday. Consider taking part in the collective shutting off of lights for 1 hour at 8 p.m. As Eddy wrote,

besides the obvious, and largely symbolic, benefit of conservation, i think the experiment has a few other pluses.

it’s a good way to dip our finger in the water of sustainability to get a feel for the temperature. one day the levees are going to break and we’ll all be forced to swim.
another benefit related to this project: we, in developed countries, have no imagination for an economy of thrift. as the pentecost project points out, our economy is faltering and the solution is spending of a certain kind; not saving, not paying down debt, but buying. western economies are based on debt and consumption.

so, this earth hour could be seen as a kind of rite in which we rehearse a different, more Christian way of being in the world — a practice that seems all the more urgent as we consider trusting ourselves to handle our bush bucks wisely.

another plus: solidarity with the majority of people and communities who do without electricity.

Check out his comment here (never mind the flattery). Oh, and one last thought from Eddy:

interesting side note: tomorrow is the feast of St. Cyril of Heliopolis, martyred for opposing idolatry.

Great stuff, Eddy. Great stuff.

I’ve been debating how to list Shane Claiborne, Irresistible Revolution, The Simple Way, and/or Jesus for President in the Inspirations list at the bottom of the page. It seems redundant to list them all; but how do I choose? Maybe you all can leave your vote in the Comments of this post.

I am nearly finished reading Jesus for President (co-written by Chris Haw from the Camden Houses, another Inspiration I should add to the list; and beautifully designed by sharp7 design, othewise known as Ryan and Holly Sharp of the band The Cobalt Season), and of course Shane and company are pushing me to think creatively and boundlessly.

One of the biggest connections I’ve made to this experiment called the Pentecost Project comes on p. 330 in a section titled We Need New Holidays. According to Shane and Chris,

Every sturdy society has created its own calendar according to its own values. … Consumer culture always threatens to monopolize the feast days when the church remembers saints…turning them into little more than days to buy stuff in the name of cultural idols. … But if we in the church are going to take our citizenship in heaven seriously, we must reshape our minds by marking our calendars differently. We must remember the holidays of the biblical narrative rather than the festivals of the Caesars…Instead of thinking of our inception as July 4th, we would be best served to know that our inception as the church was at Pentecost.

There are many other ways to make connections between this little experiment and the ideas presented by Shane and Chris in their book. I anticipate noting some of those as the Project marches on, calling out ourselves and our brothers and sisters in Christ to mark the date of the inception of this pesky, mustard seed-like revolution known as the church.

If you’re interested in participating in the Jesus for President blog tour, follow this link: http://zondervan.typepad.com/zondervan/2008/03/jesus-for-pre-1.html.

More Jesus for President resources: a video interview of Shane about the new book on YouTube; Shane and Chris will be going on a physical tour starting in June.