croatia for a week

quite a few years ago now (i can't exactly remember what year) i did a few training sessions at a european yfc conference with a friend richard on mission and postmodern culture. at the time it was new territory - i think it was the first time we had taught on it. hard to believe now. anway some friends from croatia were there and it ended up setting them off on a route of rethinking what they were up to. 7 years or so later i've been invited over to join them for their annual get together for leaders where we'll talk about culture, improvisation, mission, alternative worship, emerging church and all that... it's the first time they have had someone from outside croatia so i'm feeling honoured and really looking forward to it. i've no idea what the internet situation will be where we are so if the blog is quiet that's why.

i need to find a tv next tuesday evening to watch the second leg of chelsea v liverpool in the champions league semi final. chelsea won the first leg 1-0 tonight which is a great result especially not giving away an away goal so i strongly fancy our chances of making it to the final now. we should have put the tie out of sight in the first half but didn't. drogba was brilliant!

Comments

[John santic]

Tis the mother land you are visiting...nice. Enjoy!

[Thomas Willer]

Drogba is an unfair player. Yes he plays ok, but most of the time he is mr dirty tricks

[jon birch]

i think that's a bit harsh thomas... i'm an arsenal fan, but i'm still in awe of drogba... alright, i know he falls over alot and throws the toys from his pram, but maybe that highly strung temper is his strength when it comes to his abilities. all the best players seem flawed to me, but i wouldn't have it any other way. :-)

[si]

Croatia is indeed a great place. I've thoroughly enjoyed it when there and found that many Christians have the ability to think with theological depth.

Regarding Chelsea v Liverpool, y'all definitely had us on the ropes. We didn't come alive and I'm eagerly anticipating the arrival of the quality of a striker that only Chelsea could previously afford. So, unless Stevie G steps up, we're goosed on Tues. I'll buzz you commentary texts should you not find a TV ;-)
By the way, if you're in Osijek, you'll be at the seminary and you must drop in and say hey to Peter Kuzmic if he's there. Him and M.Volf are good buddies.

[jonny]

turns out there is wireless at the retreat place and i have arranged where to watch chelsea next tuesday. i am easily pleased :-)

si i won't be going to osijek thi time round - up in the north near rijeka...

[becky garrison]

The fact that you're discussing soccer more than spirituality has me wondering.

[Laura]

Psssst, Becky...it's FOOTBALL, not soccer. ;-)

[becky garrison]

Laura - as your probably know, football in the UK is translated in the US as soccer. I can't call it football. What we call football in the US is a major money making spectacle that in some parts of the country is more revered than God - go to any small town Texas town and the entire population is watching the Friday night football game.

The UK game I really enjoy is Gaelic Football - started covering the FDNY team post 9/11 for Sportsology.net as a way to promote their fundraisers and find the sport fascinating as all get out. They're a pretty good team until the Dublin team comes over to play. Then it's just sad to watch.

[Laura]

Becky - I lived in the UK for a couple years, until July, and they always told us that line "It's football not soccer" so I thought I'd just goof around with you about it.

No offense intended - just trying to have a laugh. Sorry.

[becky garrison]

Nah - you didn't offend me at all - thought it was pretty durn funny. Just forgot to put an emoticon on it. I write religious satire for a living - the stuff that offends me is when people use Jesus for their own personal gain but that's another post.

[becky garrison]

Nah - you didn't offend me at all - thought it was pretty durn funny. Just forgot to put an emoticon on it. I write religious satire for a living - the stuff that offends me is when people use Jesus for their own personal gain but that's another post.

[Laura]

Thanks Becky,

Glad you saw that I was just goofing around. It's hard to tell sometimes when people are being silly or sarcastic on a blog.

Writing religious satire sounds like an interesting gig!

Have you read the book "Kingdom Coming: Rise of Christian Nationalism"? I'm reading it now and find it pretty darn interesting. Just wondering what your take is if you've read it.

http://www.amazon.com/Kingdom-Coming-Rise-Christian-Nationalism/dp/0393329763/ref=sr_1_1/104-1305666-1002358?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1177994315&sr=1-1

[Laura]

Thanks Becky,

Glad you saw that I was just goofing around. It's hard to tell sometimes when people are being silly or sarcastic on a blog.

Writing religious satire sounds like an interesting gig!

Have you read the book "Kingdom Coming: Rise of Christian Nationalism"? I'm reading it now and find it pretty darn interesting. Just wondering what your take is if you've read it.

http://www.amazon.com/Kingdom-Coming-Rise-Christian-Nationalism/dp/0393329763/ref=sr_1_1/104-1305666-1002358?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1177994315&sr=1-1

[Laura]

oops. Sorry about the double post Jonny. Not sure what I did.

[Mark]

What gives it away... is that any game with the word "foot" in the name should therefore have the foot as the main tool for controlling and distributing the "ball"... hence "foot" and "ball" ;-) When I last watched your version, the only time anyone used their foot it was either for the kick-off, goal-kick or when they had run out of ideas and options and elected to punt! Anyway isn't Gridiron just Rugby for people who are too scared to play without armour! ;-) Mind you when I said that to my Texan friends I nearly got shot! :-D

... all in the spirit of transatlantic banter of course :-)

[becky garrison]

Laura - I tend to be a bit of a smarty pants. The Rev. Jonathan Swift is my hero. I do need to do a better job in postings of noting when I'm being goofy for those who don't know me .

Saw Michelle Goldman give a talk on Kingdom Coming and I've read excerpts. Michelle (like most American journalists) tends to focus on the extreme right and it's easy to get caught up in just how freaky they are that one can miss the bigger picture - check out God's Politics Blog and you can see we're not all like that. There's a sea change that's starting to happen as the war drags on. The 2008 election is going to be interesting for sure.

Football vs. soccer - good points - I am not about to defend American professional sports - the marketing, merchandising, obsession over Janet Jackson showing a bit of skin (meanwhile the cheerleaders are barely clothed) - suffice to say the whole enterprise has almost nothing to do anymore with the love of the game. As noted, my favorite amateur spectator sport is Gaelic football. I did a posting on Jonny's last Croatia posting re: a documentary on football that I just saw today that blew me out of the water.

[jonny]

i found a tv and it even had english commentary. but the depressing thing is that after all my confidence that chelsea would win they lost on penalties - that's 3 champions league finals in 5 years we have managed to lose...

[Laura]

Becky - cool! I tend to be a bit of a smarty pants too. People often don't know I'm just messing around. Glad we got that settled. Now, if we could just convince the rest of the world to call it soccer because that would easier for us, we'd have it made huh? ;-)

P.S. my favorite is Aussie Rules Football.

I read God's Politics pretty regularly. Just picked up Kingdom Coming and I agree with your take on how she does focus on those on the far right. They are the easiest targets I guess. The ones that are most stereotypical American Churchgoers. Like the book so far though.

Cheers,
L

[becky garrison]

The thing with smarty pants is the need to use emoticons. I stick with and cause I am a bit of a luddite in that area.

According to the documentary "The Power of the Game," the problem is that the US hasn't gotten with the rest of the world re: the power of soccer - then again the documentary is UK based. I am still blown away with what the South Africans were saying it meant for them to host the 2010 world cup. I went to a press conference hosted by the German Tourist Board for the 2006 World Cup and the enthusiasm was infectious. I don't get why the sport isn't bigger over here.

Never seen Aussie rules football - what's amazing about Gaelic football is watching how the rules of rugby and football intertwine to create a game that's fast as hell - though it does have the ruder elements of rugby such as leg hair pulling.

Michelle Goldman is a good read - I'm just tired of the constant beating up on the extreme right freak show as if the rest of American Christendom has it's act together. On the extreme left we have here in the NYC area former Governor of NJ Jim McGreevey, who now wants to become an Episcopal priest - I don't want to use Jonny's blog to get too much into American religion-politics (I feel I've done that enough already) but google the story - your'e called closed minded if you object to the ordination of anyone who recently became an Episcopalian, was forcibly outed by his former lover in a blackmail scheme that led to his resignation as governor, is currently going through a very messy divorce, wrote a tell all book about coming out and did a major book tour with his new lover (something I'm sure further traumatized his kids). DAnd we wonder why the US Episcopal church is in the toilet.

[becky garrison]

I tried to insert the silly emoticons that I use but the marks weren't recognized by this program. I am such a non-techno geek.

[Laura]

Just use the keyboard, for example. ;-) :-) :-o

[becky garrison]

Believe it or not, I don't use those I go for g for grin bg for big grin - like I said, I'm a complete techno non-geek.

[Nick Matyas]

very good posting. i liked it. thanks

http://www.webroyalty.com