T.I.’s Defining Moment on the ‘Road to Redemption’
This Tuesday, March 31st will mark the season finale of MTV’s unique celeb-reality show “T.I.’s Road to Redemption” (9pm ET/PT). The show comes on the heels of the rapper’s Friday sentencing to one year and one day in prison for weapons charges. As expected, the federal government consented to a lighter sentence due to the Grammy-award winning rapper’s compliance with government officials and ongoing penitence in the form of 1000 hours of community service, a $100,000 fine, and house arrest.
While reality shows and celebrity flubs with the law are nothing new, it’s a shame T.I.’s story hasn’t received more attention. In a time when bankers, corporations, and politicians are daily shirking responsibility for their crimes, T.I. stands out from the crowd by owning the mistakes he’s made and proactively seeking ways to make amends. While awaiting sentencing, T.I. used his time to mentor troubled teens by radically intervening in their lives.
Though his sentence has shown how mistakes are not without consequences, his efforts to change have proven that no life is beyond restoration. And who doesn’t love a good redemption story? T.I., we’ll see you in a year and a day, hopefully back and better than ever.
To hear what T.I. had to say just following his sentencing, see the video below from his press conference.
Your Faith in 140 Characters or Less
My church has a Google group and my pastor times his sermons from his iPhone. It’s not uncommon for our leaders to invite us on Facebook to attend a fellow church member’s gig or to see someone update their “status” with a prayer request. But my church doesn’t Twitter; it’s an unspoken rule. We’re a community that loves doing life together in real time, but 140 characters or less is insufficient to share our spiritual struggles.
Mars Hill Church in Seattle, WA disagrees. On Sundays, the congregation is encouraged to leave Tweets during the service, as the pastor is speaking. The hope is that members will be able to connect with one another over common struggles or points of interest, reaching out to those unable to attend the service or those who perhaps gleaned a different lesson from the same content. 
While the interactivity of Twittering at church is commendable, the method of achieving this discussion is questionable. To provide an instant reaction to a sermon in the midst of the message not only removes the hearer from the spiritual experience by distraction, but it reinforces a filtered reception of what God might be teaching the individual in the moment. Rather than simply hearing, processing and eventually applying, the listener hears with the immediate intention of regurgitating a condensed and opinionated version of the message to someone else.
Though I could be wrong. Perhaps short communications of the Gospel have always been a part of the Christian story. If John had an iPhone or Blackberry, he might have written in verse 11:35 of his gospel, “@Xtians Jesus wept.”
What do you think? Is Twittering during church classy?
Finding a Place of Peace
Several celebrities shared stories of “life after the diagnosis” on the The Oprah Winfrey Show this week. Having been diagnosed with life-threatening illnesses including HIV, cancer, and multiple sclerosis, guests divulged how they have coped with the emotional pain of devastating news.
It appears many of them have found peace primarily through some form of spirituality. Figure skater Scott Hamilton explained how his wife and faith in God have helped him to remain positive while battling his brain tumor. “Where am I getting my strength? From her [his wife] and from God. It’s all in his hands. Whatever happens with this, it’s meant to be. [...] I go to bed every night thanking God for everything.”
In-studio guest Montel Williams has also turned his disease into an opportunity for gratitude. “This is what God gave me. So rather than look at it as a pain, it’s gotta be a gift. So let me work it as a gift. [...] I go to that place of gratitude; I go to that place of fulfillment.”
“Let me tell you one of the things I think is so important: we cannot achieve a level of happiness period, until we start getting right within here [points to chest]. It doesn’t matter what you label it. You know we have a hard time with religion and labeling in religion. Everybody has to understand this–psychiatry has proven this–those people who consider themselves spiritually attuned are happier. They will identify themselves as happier than people who are not.”
Finding a Progressive Church
Today there is an interesting post online from Natalie Nichols at Clutch Magazine on the dilemma of finding a place to worship in the evolving progressive church scene.
Though her thought process is cloudy at best–you never quite know what Nichols is getting at with her vague description of the problem at modern churches–she does touch on some interesting concepts.
For one, she recognizes how the authority of pastors has turned suspect in the age of collaborative knowledge. In a Facebook and Wikipedia era, spiritually-curious people are far more reliant on guidance from their peers. Nichols also notes how churches who cater to younger Christians have become kitsch in their efforts to be the anti-church.
“Progressive churches rarely require you be glammed up for God, come as you are, be it some jeans, a hoodie or your favorite kicks,” she writes. “In a society gone crazy for casual, this aspect of progressive churches is sometimes the greatest draw to new comers.”
Unfortunately, Nichols never offers much of a solution in how to find a church other than to turn inside oneself. ”If you still feel compelled to find a church home, be careful about where you settle your roots. Keep an open mind and recognize God resides in the ultimate temple, in you at all times.”
For the full article, visit Clutch.com.
The First Lady of Prayer
Everyone’s curious about the woman who has entranced President Barack Obama for nearly two decades. Whether praising her contemporary fashion sense (J.C. Crew is forever indebted to her for embracing their casual-chic design), investigating her workout routine (how’d she get those arms?), or circulating rumors of a possible pregnancy (for the record, she’s not), everyone’s talking about First Lady Michelle Obama.
In the April 2009 issue of O, The Oprah Magazine, Oprah Winfrey gets an exclusive peek behind the walls of the White House as she strolls the halls with America’s new First Lady Michelle Obama.
Though Oprah doesn’t delve too deeply into issues of faith in her interview (guess we still don’t know where the Obamas plan to settle in for church), she does ask Mrs. Obama what she prayed for the evening before that historic Inauguration in January. Her answer? Safety.
O: What was your prayer the night before you moved into the White House?
MO: That we stay whole as a family through this process. And when Barack and I talked, he said he wanted to get through the day with everyone intact, everyone who attended–he said he would feel good when every last visitor left safely. And fortunately that happened.
Alicia Keys: I See God in Everyone
Alicia Keys says, “For me God is everything and everywhere. Everything that’s alive and breathing and love–that’s God. I see God in everyone that I come across. [...] For me the most beautiful thing about spirituality is just being able to believe in something bigger and greater than what’s here on this Earth. To know that it’s greater than just you or I or our little trials and tribulations that we might go through. It’s bigger than that.”
For more on what she has to say about her faith, check out this video of Alicia Keys with The God Blog folks.
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