First of all, we have Bishop Tom Wright (N.T.) writing in the Times of London. His essay, entitled The Church Must Stop Trivializing Easter is a nice companion to the ongoing conversation Tony Jones is having at his blog on why Jesus died and why Jesus rose from the dead. Bishop Wright and Tony have different approaches, but end up saying similar things about the implications of the resurrection (which is what matters more than arguments on which theory of the atonement is blessed by any of us). Wright points out that church has missed the point of the resurrection much of the time, seeing it as the Good Ending (Jesus raising from dead and going to heaven) to a Sad story (crucifixion) instead of seeing it as the event that changes everything.
Secondly, Tom Sine gives us the best practices of some churches which are proactively dealing with the recession, financial crisis and job loss of those in their surrounding community. Last month, in a profile of Drive By Truckers, I said that the blind spot of the emerging church could be the lower middle class, or working poor (the emerging church is responding to extreme poverty and rich intellectuals well enough). Tom is asking similar questions and giving us the ways some are answering them. If you are part of a church, consider some of these suggestions or practices as you help those caught in the middle of the recession.
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