Saturday, January 31, 2009

A Violinist in the Metro

A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that thousand of people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

Three minutes went by and a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried up to meet his schedule.

A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping continued to walk.

A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work.

The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on.

In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written with a violin worth 3.5 million dollars.

Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston and the seats average $100.

This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of an social experiment about perception, taste and priorities of people. The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?

One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be:

If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Rick Warren's Prayer

Today was a historical day in the United States of America. No matter your political leanings, it is still a momentous occasion. Rick Warren, Pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, CA, prayed in the Inauguration. I'm including a portion of his prayer from today.

"Give to our new President, Barack Obama, the wisdom to lead us with humility, the courage to lead us with integrity, the compassion to lead us with generosity."

"Help us, O God, to remember that we are Americans, united not by race, or religion, or blood, but to our commitment to freedom and justice for all. When we focus on ourselves, when we fight each other, when we forget you, forgive us. When we presume that our greatness and our prosperity is ours alone, forgive us. When we fail to treat our fellow human beings and all the earth with the respect that they deserve, forgive us. And as we face these difficult days ahead, may we have a new birth of clarity in our aims, responsibility in our actions, humility in our approaches, and civility in our attitudes, even when we differ."

"I humbly ask this in the name of the one who changed my life, Yeshua, Isa, Jesus [Spanish pronunciation], Jesus, who taught us to pray:" (he then prayed what is called The Lord's Prayer, better known as The Model Prayer).

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

The Beliefs of Americans

The Barna Group has completed some research that will may blow your mind, but it doesn't come as a complete surprise either. While some will debate that America was once a "Christian nation," it is becoming increasingly clear; most Americans today see the Christian faith as one of many spiritual options.

The Barna Group research says: "The study discovered that half of all adults now contend that Christianity is just one of many options that Americans choose from and that a huge majority of adults pick and choose what they believe rather than adopt a church or denomination's slate of beliefs. Still, most people say their faith is becoming increasingly important as a source of personal moral guidance."

"Overall, 50% of the adults interviewed agreed that Christianity is no longer the faith that Americans automatically accept as their personal faith, while just 44% disagreed and 6% were not sure."

"By a three to one margin (71% to 26%) adults noted that they are personally more likely to develop their own set of religious beliefs than to accept a comprehensive set of beliefs taught by a particular church."

The article concludes with some insights from Barna's founder, George Barna. He says: "Faith, of whatever variety, is increasingly viral rather than pedagogical. With people spending less time reading the Bible, and becoming less engaged in activities that deepen their biblical literacy, faith views are more often adopted on the basis of dialogue, self-reflection, and observation than teaching. Feelings and emotions now play a significant role in the development of people's faith views - in many cases, much more significant than information - based exercises such as listening to preaching and participating in Bible study."

What does this mean for the church today? How should the church respond?
Do you agree with the findings? What are your thoughts?

Sunday, January 4, 2009

2 Degree Difference

Dr. John Trent has written a fascinating book "The 2 Degree Difference." He is primarily known for his books on marriage (along with Gary Smalley) and his book "The Blessing." I had the opportunity to hear Trent speak this past year at a marriage conference in Austin.
The premise of the book is "how small things can change everything." The 2 degree idea comes about from driving a car. A driver makes 2 degree changes with the steering wheel. It is the 2 degree changes that keep your car between the white lines.
He relates a story about Rudy Giuliani, former mayor of New York City. He served as mayor from 1994-2001. One of the things that faced Giuliani before he became mayor was the murder rate in the city. In 1990 the homicide rate was 2,245. In 1993, the year before Guiliani started as mayor, the murder rate was 1,946. His first year as mayor it went down to 1,561. During his last year as mayor the murder rate was 642. What brought about this change in the murder rate? Repairing broken windows.
Giuliani started making the minor changes of repairing broken windows around the city. He determined that "someone who wouldn't normally throw a rock at an intact building is less reluctant to break a second window in a building that already has one broken."
Trent's idea is we can begin to make positive changes in our lives and in our relationships by 2 degrees - in small changes. What would happen in 2009 if we made these small changes?