Hacking.Church 06: End of Line
End of year drop of recent content.
Hello World
Welcome to the email subscription for HackingChristianity.net! I’m so glad you’ve subscribed. 400 subscribers to this email content now! While Hacking Christianity has over 8000 subscribers on social media, it’s okay that newsletters are more selective. Glad to be connected with you!
This email subscription provides a semi-weekly update (with…well, a few months interlude since the last one…sorry) with recent articles, curated articles, and special subscriber-only content at the end of the email. Thanks for subscribing and feel free to share!
Here’s what was published in our genres since our last newsletter, and the promised exclusive content at the bottom.
Church and Christianity articles:
Should sermons give answers or offer better questions? / This question almost derailed my ordination process, so it’s a helpful one to think about years later as I find my sermons continue to end with questions rather than answers.
Will the crucible of virtual ministry transform the church or be put aside? / Has COVID been a crucible for more digital and virtual engagement by churches? Or will that fade into memory once the pandemic no longer shapes our every expression?
Geek Gospel articles:
What happens when we apply a computer coding debate to Christian doctrine? / A fun mind exercise to think about whether doctrine or practice should shape the Christian community, as that debate of code or product shapes the computer world.
More content on The Matrix Resurrections and other geeky content coming in January 2022!
United Methodist articles:
The Epic Series has concluded:
State of the UMC in 1000 words, part 1: Power & Polity versus People & Places / The Ghost of Methodism Past points us to how the church has changed in the past 60 years and what two distinct movements and values have shaped the current conflict.
State of the UMC In 1000 words, part 2: In the meantime and the Mean Time / What the delay of the General Conference and the chosen inaction by the bishops hath wrought and revitalized an almost-lost WCA.
State of the UMC in 1000 words, part 3: Avoiding the Fundamentalist Future set before Both Sides / What choices traditionalists and progressives can make to avoid narrow, small futures for themselves.
Thanks for the award, Clifton UMC! / I was honored to be a part of the Bishop Melvin Talbert award ceremony and the lineage of amazing recipients of this local Reconciling Ministries group.
Would Election by Lottery help or hurt General Conference? / Some articles are written out of frustration that something is so broken, the only way to fix it is to remove human decision-making from it in order to reach representative decisions.
The future of the Global Methodist Church is in its past / A close review of our Methodist church history yields a rather convincing 1939 parallel of how a like-minded movement to today’s Global Methodist Church turned out. Spoiler alert: it’s not a great future!
Open Tabs:
Finally, as promised, email subscribers get exclusive content not available elsewhere. Right now, that is Open Tabs: these are the windows that are open RIGHT NOW on my computer that I just can’t stand to close yet:
Why every Dungeon Master needs to read Aristotle’s Poetics: A weird video but a good reminder that great storytelling has some form and formula to it, so for your next dungeon raid, step it up!
Intricate Systems by Seth Godin: This will be a future post examining how the tradition has a ton of value that new things can’t recreate, even if that value is hidden behind other factors.
3 in 10 US Adults are now religiously unaffiliated: People are freaking out and pointing fingers, but this is such an opportunity to work with people who don’t complain about changing the words to ancient hymns. If they don’t
Yes, I realize the above two are in conflict. I’m still working on it!
Glenn Knepp: Methodism, Democracy, and the End of Inclusion / Fascinating treatise on one of my favorite blogs (UM & Global) that names how we have been impacting democracy around the world—and how it has impacted The UMC too.
The case for a Four-Day work week / how would ministry rhythms be impacted if this takes form?
I never published my metaverse article. Augh! look in the next few days.
That’s it for now. Blessings to you and yours this season and look for an update in 2022!
~Rev. Jeremy