On the Line - Sept. 25, 2009
Posted September 25th, 2009 by Jesse Hair
* "Fight Nights and Reggae Pack Brazilian Churches": When was the last time your pastor pinned someone with an arm lock during a service? Or used a surfboard as an altar? Or ran a Christian tattoo parlour on the side? These are just a few of the ways that a new wave of youth-oriented evangelical churches are attracting, and reaching, the young people of Brazil.
* Leonard Cohen as Sunday Liturgy: If you've ever viewed listening to Leonard Cohen as a spiritual experience, this post from the Songs for the Journey blog might just be for you. Nick Coke, the blogger in question, shares an order of service built on the songs of Leonard Cohen, from processional hymn to recessional hymn. He calls it "The LEONARDiction."
* "Want to Love Your Neighbour? Pay Fair Wages": It's now well past Labour Day, but something you may not have heard about this Labour Day is the Bible's call to just employment, and the fact that many people in North America are being cheated of fair wages.
Click "Read More" below to see the full versions of these stories.
"Fight Nights and Reggae Pack Brazilian Churches"
When was the last time your pastor pinned someone with an arm lock during a service? Or used a surfboard as an altar? Or ran a Christian tattoo parlour on the side? These are just a few of the ways that a new wave of youth-oriented evangelical churches are attracting, and reaching, the young people of Brazil. Their reach extends across demographic lines too - touching poor slum dwellers and yuppies alike.
In a country where Roman Catholicism seems to be slowly losing its dominating role as the majority religious group, evangelical churches are reaping the benefits. Bola de Neve (Portuguese for "Snowball") is one such church. It has 100 chapters, mostly in Brazil, and one
chapter, in the Barra da Tijuca area of Rio de Janeiro was started three years ago by seven people and now has about 3,000 members. Many of the young people it is reaching are street-involved, growing up with crime and drugs.
To read more, check out the New York Times article on these churches here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/
Leonard Cohen as Sunday Liturgy
If you've ever viewed listening to Leonard Cohen as a spiritual experience, this post from the Songs for the Journey blog might just be for you. Nick Coke, the blogger in question, shares an order of service built on the songs of Leonard Cohen, from processional hymn to recessional hymn. He calls it "The LEONARDiction."
Having done the same for Bob Dylan ("DYLitANy") and Nick Cave ("CAVEspers"), Coke explains his tongue-in-cheek religious punnery thusly "the Benediction - or blessing - that usually accompanies the end of a church service or prayer time is somewhat appropriate for
Cohen. For some reason a benediction is always 'pronounced' - and in my experience that means the minister or priest delivers it with a sombre yet uplifting tone. And surely if such contradictory adjectives were ever to be attributed to a singer's voice - it has to be Cohen's."
Take a look at Coke's LEONARDiction "set list" here:
http://songsforthejourney.
"Want to Love Your Neighbour? Pay Fair Wages"
It's now well past Labour Day, but something you may not have heard about this Labour Day is the Bible's call to just employment, and the fact that many people in North America are being cheated of fair wages. Writing over on ReligionDispatches.org, Kim Bobo reminds us of
scripture's insistence on justice for workers, shares some alarming statistics, and suggests some ways you can love your neighbour, labour day style, and help promote fair employment practices where you live.
According to a study jointly issued by the National Employment Law Project, UCLA's Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, and the Center for Urban Economic Development at the University of Illinois-Chicago looking at workers in low wage industries in New York, Chicago and LA:
- 26 percent of workers were paid less than the legally-required minimum wage, and 60 percent of those underpaid were underpaid by more than $1 per hour.
- Nearly a quarter of the workers came in early or stayed late after their shift. Of these workers, 70 percent did not receive any or all the pay for this work.
- Among the tipped workers, 30 percent were not paid the tipped worker minimum wage and 12 percent had tips stolen by their employer or supervisor.
To check out the full article, go here:
http://www.religiondispatches.
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