greetings of peace,
thanks for the invitation to be a part of this dialogue...after reading through the first chapter i was struck that it's been a long time since i've engaged with a text of such intellectual substance. love me some don miller or rob bell, but their books don't come close to the vocabulary of this fine book. so while challenging, refreshing.

a few points that i've been sitting with...

one, is their description that empires are built from the systems of socioeconomic and military control. and how this was reflected in the events of september 11th. and from those events how we responded by utilizing the language of myth (pg 35). i remember all the talk about how people would stop buying, consuming in a time of war. how this would be a greater tragedy to let the terrorists impact our "lifestyles". and then how quickly there were films produced, books written, music composed to make sense of the attacks. have we made sense? did we have a time to absorb, reflect, process? or were we too quick to act? using our military power to initiate war, and our economic power to cover emotional wounds?

the second area of thought (and similar to jeanette's questions) deals with choice...our culture works with such fervor to create quicker, faster, lighter, easier means of living. but that doesn't involve simplicity. i am an indecisive person. i get overwhelmed when i walk down the cereal aisle. so the onslaught of convenience through choices sucks the life out of me. and yet i am an inpatient person as well. how quickly i can feel my stress rise when something takes a few extra minutes. and there seems little room for the idea of contentment...

so timely the lent season feels as i wrestle with the grip that the empires have on me.

first, a quick summary:
chapter 1 opens the book by talking about postmodern disquiet ("in the face of the betrayals and failures of past overarching metanarratives, culturewide suspicion and incredulity takes hold...final decisions based on rational analysis give way to the indecidability of keeping all options open and the spiritual promiscuity of pop religion." p.25)
and cybernetic global optimism ("[Globalization] is a religious movement of previously unheard of proportions. Progress is its underlying myth, unlimited economic growth its foundational faith, the shopping mall its place of worship, consumerism its overriding image, 'I'll have a Big Mac and fries' its ritual of initiation, and global domination its ultimate goal." p.30)

then, brian and sylvia give us thoughts on empires (see p.31) as they relate the 2 visions.
in short, we have choices and we are obsessed with consuming stuff.

so a question i will have throughout this book is where do i find myself in this story of my/our consumption of stuff?
i mean, i love new stuff: shoes, music, books, plastic and ziploc bags...
another question i have is how are the gods i serve like the stuff i buy? one side of that is i can buy things so conveniently (i love paypal) and quickly (i can buy something in a matter of seconds from amazon or half.com. and i love that speediness and am mad when it takes longer!) do i expect God to respond to my prayers in the same way, conveniently and quickly?

Read Chpt 1 by February 25. Once finished, begin commenting below, or make a new post.
I'm excited !! Its 10:25am here right now, so I have to go and finish some homework, but I'm excited to take this journey with you all.

Simon