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.