Now I’m all for community service, but there’s a big part of me that still gets bitter when people co-opt the WTC tragedy.  9/11 was a huge red-letter date in my life – I was there when it happened and I spent a year working by the pile alongside the construction crews, the police, the USAR folks, the firemen, and all the volunteers.  For my 20-year-old self, it was both formative and traumatizing.

Now, nine years later, I’m kind of surprised to find that I still have resentment built up around that day.  I don’t want that chapter of my life to be co-opted for patriotism.  I don’t want it co-opted for ecumenism.  I don’t even want it co-opted for volunteerism – it just seems manipulative.  When perky activists start talking to me about the 9/11 legacy, I just want to say, “You weren’t there.  You didn’t smell it.  You didn’t see the bodies.  You weren’t even in New York.  You don’t have the right to appropriate that day.”

It doesn’t take a genius to recognize that this isn’t the healthiest of attitudes.  I don’t own 9/11 any more than any one else does, and 9/11 is as good a reason as any to get a bunch of people out volunteering in their communities; it’s certainly be better than everyone staying home and being mopey in their rooms, which is what I usually do.  So I’m going to go out and volunteer with everyone else.  If anyone wants to join me, I encourage you to.

I’m never, however, going to call it “Patriot Day.”

“Jesus is known to us today because he captured the hearts of first-century Galileans and the best way to the heart of a first-century Galilean was through his stomach,” Snodgrass told the group as they ate.

You can read the entire article here.

Food has always been an important part of Transmission – there’s something truly sacred about a group of people gathered around a table eat a home-cooked meal. I wonder if we could do a Transmission series on food in the bible and in our lives?

Watch the full episode. See more Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly.

“No way!”
“Yah-way!”

APARTMENT hunters always have a wish list of things that will help them call a new place home — doormen, laundry rooms, southern exposures.

But for some people, faith guides real estate choices. Instead of bay windows and an in-house gym, their must-have may be a kosher kitchen, a short walk to church, room to roll out a prayer mat or like-minded roommates.

Community mattered to Jason Storbakken, 33, and his wife, Vonetta, 36, who wanted to share their lives with other followers of Christ, and not just for an hour on Sunday morning. So the couple started Radical Living, a Christian collective, in 2007 in a Brooklyn brownstone they bought in 2001 for $180,000, first rehabbing it to the tune of $80,000. To find members, they began “targeted marketing,” Mr. Storbakken said, advertising for roommates on Christian Web sites.

Read the full article

I found it surprisingly beautiful and for more interesting than what I’m used to seeing in Sunday School curricula. Way to go, Lutherans.

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Here is our list of upcoming Transmission events for the summer. We meet at 7pm on the first and third Wednesday of each month. Please click on Contact to join our email list and receive announcements with addresses and directions for our events.

Wed July 7: host-Isaac, cook-Isaac, Patrick, Violet, ritual-Dan and Amber – we will be blessing Katie, Issac, and Patrick’s new apartment
Wed July 21: host-Dan, cook-Dan, ritual-Bowie
Sat July 31: planning meeting, location TBD

Wed Aug 4: host-Mabel, cook-Isaac, ritual-Patrick
Wed Aug 18: host-Johannes, cook-Violet, ritual-Isaac
Sat Aug 28: planning meeting, location TBD

Wed Sept 1: host-Patrick, COOK AND RITUAL NEEDED
Wed Sept 15: host-Sarah, cook-Mabel, ritual-Johannes
Sat Sept 25: planning meeting, location TBD

Transmission will be celebrating Good Friday this evening by remembering the seven last words of Jesus in seven different locations throughout lower Manhattan. All are welcome to join us. We will be meeting at 6pm at the Winter Garden and will begin the service shortly thereafter. If you would like to come, please bring headphones and, if possible, an mp3 player (such as an iPod, etc).