Hymns for the current week

Hymnsite.com is a wonderful place to read and sing along with hymns. One great feature is the Lectionary-based suggested hymns for the current week . You might want to bookmark that page!

Could you "Surrender all"?

C. Samuel Storms discusses materialism in the Discipleship Journal article, "Is Jesus really enough?".

"Surrender" is a word often associated with battle. But what does it mean for Christians to surrender in a spiritual sense? Princeton University's WordNet addresses some of the connotations of "surrender" that fit the Christian use:

• "Yield" (to Christ)
• "Deliver" (hand over ourselves and our lives to God. "We are thine, O Lord")
• "Relinquish control" (to our Savior)

Miriam's Well says "The Law of Surrender is that all Power comes from above."

Devotional radio music from BBC

The BBC World Service has several interesting radio shows. The Asia Network has a lot of devotional music. No, I don't know why the name -- the music is certainly not all oriental. Maybe the show is beamed toward Asia from England. Here are some of the BBC's offerings:

• Devotional Music. And hour of multi-faith, multi-lingual devotional music. (Tuesdays)
• Devotional Sounds. And hour of multi-faith, multi-lingual devotional music. (Mon., Wed., Thu., Fri.)
• Sunday Soundtrack
• Asian Network

UCC blog supports mainstream churches

The United Church of Christ has a new TV ad, one again rejected by the networks. The UCC says this is part of a pattern of catering to the religious Right by the TV networks. Read more and see the video of the ad at their blog, Accessible Airwaves.

Mission Moments

The United Methodist "Sharing God's Gifts" site has Mission Moments for newsletters and Sunday bulletins. They have an archive too!
umcgiving.org/

Comedic health

A study has shown that the effect of watching comedies is healthy -- the equivalent of starting a course of heart treatment drugs called statins.

Watching movies such as "Saving Private Ryan", with its intense war scenes, had the opposite effect, the Heart journal reported.

So, as Star Wars' Han Solo said, "Yuk it up, furball!"

Evolutionary errors

Evolution is the most-supported theory we know. Yet science itself is harmed by the casual use of poorly worded, inaccurate phrasings that many scientists, teachers, and reporters seem to prefer when discussing evolution. Take the article, " Global warming fuels speedy evolution", for example.

"Some species are attempting to adapt", the article says. Oh really? Not! The phrasing implies that a species can choose its genetic changes. That's not what evolution is all about. Evolution is about genetic variations occurring naturally in a species, with a few of those variations giving the individual members of the species a better chance of survival. It's "in the genes"; neither the individual members nor the species as a whole directs this in any fashion.

The article goes on, "... human-induced changes to climate and landscapes give species few other options". Arrgh! The use of the word "options" makes it sound, again, like the members of a species have some sort of control over their genes. Wrong. Because of human-induced changes to the environment, some of the variations in a species may be better suited to the new environment (let's not get into a Malthusian birth rate discussion here).

Adaptation in a species (not "by" a species) is really the end result -- what we see as a trend. It's not a being-induced or being-controlled process. Yet a University of Sydney professor says that species can "do three things ... go extinct, move, or adapt". This poorly phrased comment seems to imply that a species has a conscious choice in deciding to adapt somehow. If you pressed the prof, he'd probably agree that a species cannot by natural means choose to adapt nor choose what that adaptation might be. Neither do they choose to go extinct. Genetic manipulation by humans is not "by natural means".

This type of loose, inaccurate phrasing is all too common by scientists and teachers. Evolution is for real, but let's remember that evolution happens due to natural genetic variations, some of which benefit the "different" member of that species. More importantly, remember that those changes are not "chosen" by any species. It would really help if scientists, teachers, and reporters would clean up their act and stop implying otherwise.

Voices of The Congregation

PBS interviewed 80 people in 12 congregations across America. You can view the resulting show " The Congregation: Many Voices ". This requires that your computer have RealPlayer installed. RealPlayer is available free.

Credenda Agenda worth a read

An online magazine called Credenda Agenda is well worth reading. It's written from a classical Protestant perspective. Each issue is available as a separate web page for each article or one PDF.

The magazine isn't skimpy -- the issue current as of March 2006, with a cover theme of " Weather", is 36 pages long.

Spiritual practices for Lent

Lent need not be focused on doing without something. It can be a time to adopt a new spiritual practice -- adding a positive. The Upper Room site has a page with some ideas for new Spiritual Practices for Lent. They also have a Lenten Study online.

For further devling into Lent, you might want to check out the United Methodist General Board of Discipleship "Connecting Worship and Daily Living in Lent ".