Link List – February 2013 Synchroblog – Cross-Gender Friendships

Here is the Link List for the February Synchroblog: Cross Gender Friendships.   I will update it tomorrow morning with any additional links that come in and appreciate each of you adding it to the end of your posts.  Thanks for participating!

Chris Jefferies – Best of both

Jeremy Myers – Are Cross-Gender Friendships Possible

Lynne Tait – Little Boxes

Dan Brennan – Cross-Gender Friendship: Jesus and the Post-Romantic Age

Glenn Hager – Sluts and Horndogs

Jennifer Ellen – A Different Kind of Valentine

Alise Wright - What I get from my cross-gender friend

Liz Dyer – Cross-Gender Friendships and the Church

Paul Sims – Navigating the murky water of cross-gender friendships

Jonalyn Fincher – Why I Don’t Give out Sex like Gold Star Stickers

Amy Martin – Friendship: The most powerful force against patriarchy, sexism, and other misunderstands about people who happen to not be us, in this case, between men & women

Maria Kettleson Anderson - Myth and Reality: Cross-Gender Friendships

Bram Cools - Nothing More Natural Than Cross-Gender Friendships?

Hugo Schwyzer – Feelings Aren’t Facts: Living Out Friendship Between Men and Women

Marta Layton – True Friendship: Two Bodies, One Soul

Kathy Escobar – The Road To Equality Is Paved With Friendship

Karl Wheeler – Friends at First Sight

Doreen Mannion - Hetereosexual, Platonic Cross-Gender Friendships–Learning from Gay & Lesbian Christians

Jim Henderson – Jesus Had A Thing for Women and So Do I

Elizabeth Chapin – 50 Shades of Friendship

D. L. Webster – Expressing Love Outside of Romance

February 2013 Synchroblog: Cross Gender Friendships

 

 

Many still buy into the idea that men and women can’t be friends and married people can never have a close and authentic relationship with a member of the opposite sex.

Sexualization, fear, shame and power issues often stop men and women from loving each other as friends; and the divide is frequently perpetuated in the Christian community by keeping men in men’s groups and women in women’s groups.

However, there is a growing consensus that cross gender friendships are not only possible, but important, valuable and beneficial in helping us to overcome sexism in our communities, eliminate harmful stereotypes and promote understanding between men and women that can lead to greater justice and equality.

This month we invite you to blog about cross gender friendships.

Here are some questions to get your creative juices flowing:

Can cross-gender friendships diffuse power in gender relations? Must all friendships fit into heterosexual scripts with a romantic trajectory? Can men and women partner together in friendship to overcome patriarchy and sexism? Can deep friendships between men and women overcome objectification and inequality found in many heterosexual romantic relationships?

As always, post your link here by Tuesday, February 12. The link list will get posted on Wednesday, February 13.  After the link list is posted we ask that everyone add the list of links to the end of their post as this allows readers to move from one post to the next easily and it increases traffic for everyone’s blog.

We ask that all participants please add this short paragraph to the beginning of your synchroblog post:

This post is part of the February Synchroblog “Cross Gender Friendships”.  I will list the links to all the contributions at the end of this post as soon as they are available.

October 2012 Synchroblog – Politics and Faith … What do you think? Link List

This month we asked bloggers to sound off about what they think about Faith and Politics.  Here’s the list of links:

(if you are a contributor please add this list to the end of your post so that those who read your contribution can easily navigate to the other synchroblog posts)

We The People by Wendy McCaig

Pulpit Freedom, Public Faith by Carol Kuniholm

Plumbers and Politicians by Glenn Hager

Conflating Faith and Politics by Maurice Broaddus

You Cannot Serve Two Masters by Sonja Andrews

Would Jesus Vote by Jeremy Myers

A Kingdom Not Of This World by Jareth Caelum

I am a Christian and I am a Democrat by Liz Dyer

5 ways to make it through the election and still keep your friends by Kathy Escobar

Why There’s No Such Thing As The Christian Vote by Marta Layton

God’s Politics? by Andrew Carmichael

Faith and the Public Square by Leah Sophia

October 2012 Synchroblog: Faith and Politics … What do you think?

 

No matter what you believe or don’t believe “faith in the public square” is something you probably have an opinion about. Here’s your chance to sound off!  The subject is wide open but here are some questions if you need help getting started:

 

Should a person’s faith impact their vote? What place does faith have in the public square today? Is it possible to detect the fruit of the spirit in public figures? Does our theology help us decide what voices to give weight to and what voices to ignore or do we tweak our theology in order to support our political and/or social preferences? How can we be faithful to our own beliefs and convictions and still do what is best for everyone? Is our faith a good reason to create legislation? Should we be concerned about the faith of our leaders? Does connecting faith and politics do more harm or more good? Do you think there should be more or less religious talk coming from those who hold or are seeking to hold political positions?

 

Share your perspective about faith and politics on your blog this month.  Post your links in the comment section of this post by 6pm on Tuesday October 9th and a link list will be published on Wednesday October 10th.

 

A special thanks to K.W. Leslie and Carol Kuniholm for inspiring this theme through their input via our Synchroblog survey!

Synchroblog Themes For October, November & December 2012

It is hard to believe that another year of synchroblogging is about to pass.  We know that the end of the year can get very busy, so in an effort to help you plan ahead, and with the hope of finishing up the year with a bang, we have taken a little extra time to come up with the next three month’s of Synchroblog themes.

We will still post an individual announcement for each month here on the Synchroblog site and send out an individual invitation from Facebook.  But, in the meantime, we hope that it helps to know the themes ahead of time and to put the dates on your calendars now.

October:  Faith and Politics … What do you think?

No matter what you believe or don’t believe “faith in the public square” is something you probably have an opinion about.  Here’s your chance to sound off!  The subject is wide open but here are some questions if you need help getting started:

Should a person’s faith impact their vote? What place does faith have in the public square today? Is it possible to detect the fruit of the spirit in public figures? Does our theology help us decide what voices to give weight to and what voices to ignore or do we tweak our theology in order to support our political and/or social preferences? How can we be faithful to our own beliefs and convictions and still do what is best for everyone? Is our faith a good reason to create legislation? Should we be concerned about the faith of our leaders? Does connecting faith and politics do more harm or more good? Do you think there should be more or less religious talk coming from those who hold or are seeking to hold political positions?

Share your perspective about faith and politics on your blog this month.  Post your links in the comment section of the October announcement at www.synchroblog.wordpress.com  by 6pm on Tuesday October 9th and a link list will be published on Wednesday October 10th.

A special thanks to K.W. Leslie and Carol Kuniholm for inspiring the theme for October through their input via our Synchroblog survey!

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November:  The Spiritual Practice of Gratitude

It’s easy during the month of November to think about thankfulness. A lot of us will probably in some way, shape or form, say “I’m thankful for…” this month. But gratitude is much more than a feeling or something we talk about around the holidays.  Gratitude can also be a powerful spiritual practice that opens our hearts to the rhythm of giving and receiving that is the heartbeat of life itself.  Many believe the spiritual practice of gratitude not only has the ability to transform us as individuals but can also change the world we live in. However, like so many other spiritual practices, it takes intention and focus.

This month’s Synchroblog theme invites writers to share their thoughts on gratitude as a spiritual practice.  What do you think about gratitude as a spiritual practice? How would one go about practicing gratitude as a spiritual exercise? What are you learning about gratitude? What practices help draw you to gratitude? How is your experience with God deepening through gratitude?  What benefits does the spiritual practice of gratitude offer to you, others, the world?

Share your thoughts about the spiritual practice of gratitude on your blog this month so we can learn from each other. Post your links in the comment section of the November announcement at www.synchroblog.wordpress.com  by 6pm on Tuesday November 13th and a link list will be published on Wednesday November 14^th.

A special thanks to the many bloggers who filled out the Synchroblog survey and expressed an interest in the subject of “spiritual formation” for inspiring November’s theme!

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December:  Tell Me A Story

We find a lot of comfort in the story of Christmas, as we should.  Advent is that time each year when we slowly make our way through the journey of that wonderful birth so long ago.  Very often we, as the larger community of Christ, consider this season from the perspective of expectant waiting.  But Advent is about much, much more … it’s about the harbingers of Jesus’ ministry on earth … hope, and love, and joy, and peace.   What are your stories of hope, love, joy and peace?  How do you remember them and pass them on to your family or your neighbors?  Can you see the shadows of Jesus in them? Since it’s Christmas, won’t you please tell us all a story about Advent in your everyday life.

Share your story on your blog this month. Post your links in the comment section of the December announcement at www.synchroblog.wordpress.com  by 6pm on Tuesday December 11th and a link list will be published on Wednesday December 12^th.

A special thanks to Sonnie for answering the Synchroblog survey and inspiring the December synchroblog theme by reminding us that the best posts include people’s stories.

Link List – June Synchroblog: What’s In Your Invisible Knapsack

Here is the list of links for the June Synchroblog.  All participants should put this list at the end of their post.

Rebecca Trotter at The Upside Down World – The Real Reason the Term “White Privilege” Needs to Die

Carol Kuniholm at Words Half Heard – What Do You Have That You Didn’t Receive

Glenn Hager at Glenn Hager – Unjust Justice

K.W. Leslie at More Christ – Sharing From The Invisible Knapsack

Jeremy Myers at Till He Comes – My Black Privilege

Alan Knox at The Assembling Of the Church – Knowing Who You Are and How Others Identify You

Leah Sophia at desert spirit’s fire – backpack cargo

Liz Dyer at Grace Rules – Christian Privilege

Kathy Escobar at Kathy Escobar – privilege.

June Synchroblog – What’s In Your Invisible Knapsack?

The “Invisible Knapsack” is a term coined by Peggy McIntosh in her 1988 essay, “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack.” Her short essay reflected on the unearned privileges that whites could count on each day, but about which they remained oblivious.

“As a white person, I realized I had been taught about racism as something which puts others at a disadvantage, but had been taught not to see one of its corollary aspects, white privilege, which puts me at an advantage. I think whites are carefully taught not to recognize white privilege, as males are taught not to recognize male privilege. So I have begun in an untutored way to ask what it is like to have white privilege. I have come to see white privilege as an invisible package of unearned assets which I can count on cashing in each day, but about which I was ‘meant’ to remain oblivious. White privilege is like an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, maps, passports, codebooks, visas, clothes, tools and blank checks.”

(you can read the whole essay here) 

Whether it is white privilege, heterosexual privilege, male privilege, Christian privilege, able-bodied privilege or any other privilege that we enjoy through no effort of our own, we all have a tendency to be blind to our own position of privilege. We easily recognize the privilege in groups that we don’t belong to and ways in which we ourselves are oppressed, but we don’t tend to recognize our own unearned privilege that saves us from facing certain obstacles, gives us certain guarantees and benefits, and works to the disadvantage and oppression of others. We like to think that our success is something that we have worked for and earned when things may have turned out much differently if we were born with a disability or in a different place, if we were a different race, a different sex or of a different sexual orientation.

This month’s synchroblog asks us to peek inside our own invisible knapsacks and discover what’s inside.

Here are some questions to get your creative juices flowing:

Do we take our unearned privileges for granted? How does unearned privileges hurt/harm others? Should we try to dismantle systems built upon unearned privileges? If so, what are some practical solutions to dismantling such systems? Are unearned privileges an obstacle to us putting other people’s interest above our own? Is our position of privilege impairing our ability to love others? How does unearned privilege impact educational systems, faith communities, neighborhoods, work places?

To participate in this month’s synchroblog simply add your post link in the comments section of this post by 10:00 pm EST, Tuesday, June 12th to be included in this month’s Synchroblog which officially takes place on Wednesday, June 13. The link list will go up on Wednesday, June 13th so you can add it to the end of your post.

We hope you can participate!

Link List for February Synchroblog – Extreme Economic Inequality

Here’s the links for this month’s synchroblog. If you are a contributor please put this list at the end of your post.

Marta Layton - Fear Leads to Anger. Anger Leads to hate …

Kathy Escobar - Pawn Shops, Empty Refrigerators, The Long Hill Up

Carol Kuniholm - Wondering About Wealth

Glenn Hager - Shrinking The Gap

Jeremy Myers - Wealth Distribution

Liz Dyer - The First Step Is Admitting There Is A Problem

Ellen Haroutunian - Economic Inequality: Coming Back To Our Senses 

K.W. Leslie – Wealth, Christians, and Justice

Abbie Watters – My Confession

Steve Hayes – Obscenity

February 2012 Synchroblog – Extreme Economic Inequality

“Economic Inequality” is a hot topic in American politics at the moment but it is not just an American condition. 

A report released in May of 2011 by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development found that the gap between the rich and poor in O.E.C.D. countries has reached its highest level in over 30 years. 

In Italy, Japan, Korea and the United Kingdom the income gap between the richest 10% and the poorest 10% was reported to be 10 to 1. Israel, Turkey and the U.S. had a gap of 14 to 1.  And although the gaps in Chile and Mexico had declined the incomes of the richest are still more than 25 times that of the poorest.

This month we are inviting bloggers to ponder the impact these kinds of extreme conditions are having on the world we live in. Are extreme gaps between the rich and poor harmful to society? Does excessive inequalities of wealth create situations where the human dignity of people are threatened?  Does the kind of economic inequality that is being reported around the world undermine human solidarity and the common good?  

If you would like to join in the conversation, please plan to submit your name, name of blog, title of post and link in the comment section of this announcement by 6PM EST 2/7/2012.  The list of participants will be compiled and posted on 2/8/2012.

IMPORTANT REMINDER:  We ask that all synchroblog participants include the list of participants and links at the end of their post.  

2011, 2012, New Team Member, A Survey and Provoketive Magazine!

2011 was another great year for synchroblogging thanks to all of you who joined the conversations with your posts and comments.  We had 12 months of great ideas, we successfully partnered with others a couple of times throughout the year and ended up just shy of having 250 contributions for the year!!!

So we are back to do it again in 2012!

However, we decided that we could use some help.

So ….. we asked Jeremy Myers to join our team and (wait for it …. ) he said YES!  (in case you don’t know who else is on our team check out “The Team“ section of our blog).

Jeremy works as a prison chaplain, but that’s just a job to pay the bills so he can do what he really enjoys: spending time with his wife and three girls, reading, writing, and studying.  He blogs at Till He Comes,  has had several articles published in various theological journals, and is currently writing a book, which he hopes will get picked up for publication.  Jeremy will help us create monthly themes, write announcements, send out invites, organize link lists and perform other on-going duties.  Take a moment and welcome Jeremy to the team.

All the duties keep us busy but the most challenging thing that we are faced with is coming up with fresh ideas each month.  We need you to help us with that so we have created a survey that you can link to on our blog (bottom right side under the heading “IDEAS”).  It asks you to help us by sharing your ideas about monthly themes, focus and general feedback.  We hope you will take the time to share your ideas with us there. We really need your help.

We are glad to be on this adventure with you and look forward to the months ahead!

Happy New Year from Liz, Kathy, Sonja & Jeremy

PS   We are excited to announce that we are partnering with Provoketive Magazine for the January synchroblog. All the details and information will be out in a few days (probably Monday, 1/9/12) and will take place on 1/18/12.  So mark your calendars now.  This is one that you don’t want to miss out on.