The voter chooses not a position of principle but the less objectionable of two competing oligarchies. Understanding the franchise as a means of communicating to the bearers of political authority underlines how seriously the Christian witness is compromised by the fact that for most Christians the decision about how to vote is not the expression of any careful evaluation of what needs to be said to the authorities; the decision to abstain from voting is likewise seldom evaluated with a view to its communicating something.
The Christian Witness to the State, John Howard Yoder
Why I am NOT Voting In The 2008 Presidential Election
What Makes Student Ministry Successful?
(The following is a response for my high school youth pastor, Don Solin, who requested that I share my perspective of what I thought Fairhaven Student Ministries did well.)
In one of my more memorable meetings with Don I was caught by the following statement, the implications of which offer an excellent overview of what made Fairhaven Student Ministries successful.
If you really want to follow Jesus, then find the person sitting alone in the lunch room and offer to be their friend.
Marriage Advice—and how to Get the Undivided Attention of Guests at a Wedding Dinner
Last weekend I had the honor of emceeing at a wedding for one of my good friends . During the toast I offered the following advice which is a paraphrase of a lecture from one of my favorite theologians, Stanley Hauerwas, in which I boldly proclaimed:
Three years into a marriage you will discover that you married the wrong person.
mewithoutYou’s Catch For Us The Foxes added to the vinyl collection
I’m a huge fan of mewithoutYou. Like their music, their album packaging unique and beautiful, and so it seems fitting that they be one of the first additions to my meager vinyl collection. Read the rest of this entry »
Some Notes on the Design of scottlenger.com, Circa 2008
I’ve just released what will likely be the last comprehensive design update to this site. The design bug started earlier in the spring when I set out to make some usability improvements to the site based on data from Google Analytics. The weeks that followed, however, have also led to revisions to the typography, freshening of the color palate, updating to the latest version of Wordpress, re-architecting the templating system, clarifying and synchronizing tags, reordering the source code, adding microformats Read the rest of this entry »
