Simply Christian
Last week I started a new book called "Simply Christian" by one of my favorite author/theologians, N.T. Wright. Wright has challenged my thinking in so many ways and that has made me a huge fan. So While I was killing some time recently at our local B&N, I picked up this book. I have heard this book described as similar to C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity – which is a bold claim.
As I read the introduction, I became more excited than I have ever been to read a particular book. As Wright is explaining his purpose in this book, he explains that he has broken it into three parts. He starts by describing the first part. Here's the passage that hooked me:
"First, I have explored four areas which in today's world can be interpreted as "echoes of a voice": the longing for justice, the quest for spirituality, the hunger for relationships, and the delight in beauty. Each of these, I suggest, points beyond itself, though without in itself enabling us to deduce very much about the world except that it is a strange and exciting place."
Community/spirituality/beauty/justice are aspects of the Kingdom, but are also as Wright calls them, "echoes of a voice" that the world hears and longs for, but doesn't understand. To help them understand is what Kelli and I do. That is our profession; our calling.
This book is so exciting to me because we for over a year now have felt these exact things. Check back for updates on this book as I finish it this week.
So Starbucks and Ethos water (Starbuck’s owned bottled water) is supposed to be a major partner in world water day. I work at Starbucks and worked today – not one mention of World Water Day. At least other than my mentions of the special cause. I did sell one bottle of Ethos water to an unsuspecting individual who knew nothing of WWD. My manager on duty didn’t even have a clue about what WWD was really all about. It’s a bummer when you have high expectations for something that really matters and it gets lost somewhere in the busyness of making coffee. Once again Starbucks’ value for “recognizing that profitibility is essential to our future success” wins again.
