Maundy Thursday - 7p @ Keystone Church, Battson Hall
Good Friday - 7p @ Keystone Church, Learning Center
Holy Saturday Vigil - 7a-7p @ wherever you find yourself for the time slot you chose. Didn't choose a time slot? Contact Brandon for more info (brandon.duran@keystoneseattle.org)
Easter Sunday - 10:30a @ Keystone Church
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
The Mental Health Chaplaincy Presents: Companionship Workshop
Learn more at
www.mentalhealthchaplain.org
Sunday, March 21, 2010
New Logo!
We're pretty excited about the new logo designed by Kim Morgan.
Kim Morgan began her education at Brigham Young University. She is currently a senior in the graphic design program at The Art Institute of Seattle and will graduate in September of 2010. Kim wanted the logo to emphasize the inclusiveness and supportive character of the church.
Some interesting aspects to the logo:
-The image is comprised of various forms of the "keystone" shape. The individual shapes could symbolize the people of Keystone Church, who each bring their unique gifts to the community.
-The rough edges of the image could symbolize that our community is a work in progress. We are ever learning, growing, and being shaped.
-The open borders could symbolize the inclusive nature of the community
-The green could point to new life or reflect our "green goals"
What do you see?
You can view more of Kim Morgan's work at:
http://kimmorgangd.com/
Monday, March 15, 2010
Isn't There Another Way?
***CAUTION SEMI-SPOILER ALERT***
The good guys beat the bad guys.
That's about the extent of the spoiler.
Now, as far as the rest of the film goes I only have one thing to add to the continuing conversation on this record breaking production.
It's too bad the film wasn't more creative.
Avatar knocks you over with its wildly beautiful world of Pandora. From the flora to the fauna and all the little bugs in between, the film presents you with a delightful immersion into a colorful and believable world. The native humanoid species to Pandora, the Na'vi, portray a rich, harmonious culture. Pandora becomes not only a world but a world-view that seems so appealing, at least until conflict arises.
Then the creativity ceases.
The final act of the film boils down to all out war between the resource ravenous, heartless corporate baddies and the sensitive, balanced, life affirming (at least when it's not the life of a baddie) goodies.
And in the end the message is one we've heard before. Killing the bad guys makes everything alright. After nearly two hours of exploring the Na'vi culture which seemed to be offering something different, we're brought back to the same tired solution, the myth of redemptive violence.
I was thinking of this film this past week as 2 Corinthians 5:18 was bouncing around in my brain. "God gave us the ministry of reconciliation."
Avatar seems to pick up on the sense of disconnect we can all feel with its portrayal of the Na'vi who can effortlessly connect with each other, past loved ones, and all of creation. Just not with their enemies apparently.
The verse gave me hope that there can be another way to respond to conflict and the separation it brings. There can be another way beyond fight or flight.
Perhaps it was a bit much to hope that a Hollywood film could illustrate this third way. Fortunately, the church has plenty of examples. My most recent favorite is found in Shane Claiborne's book, "Jesus for President." (No, he is not actually advocating for Jesus to run for office). Enjoy it. May it inspire you as you seek to embody God's ministry of reconciliation.
"One time Kassim (age 11) and I (Shane) were walking to the post office...We were walking down a narrow side street and some teenage guys started to follow us. You could just feel the mischief brewing, and the group grew from two young men to four to eight, until there was a little mob of sorts. They started calling out some names, throwing rocks and sticks, trying to stir up trouble. It's always hard on the spot like that to know what Jesus would do. I told Kassim, 'Let's go say hi.' he looked at me skeptically. We turned back and walked toward them, knowing full well that if we had run, we probably would have made it to the post office. 'Hey, I'm Shane. And this is my friend Kassim. We live around the corner,' I said with my hand out. They weren't really sure what to do with that. A couple of them shook my hand and introduced themselves. Others snickered. One or two refused the handshake. We said, 'Nice to meet you guys,' and headed back on our walk.
With the wind taken out of their sails a bit, they regrouped and continued to build momentum toward a brawl. They ran after us, throwing some rocks and bottles, and I noticed two of them now carried broomsticks from the trash. We picked up the pace a bit, and then I looked at Kassim and said, 'No, don't run.' We turned back, and before we know it one of them had clocked Kassim on the side of the head with a stick. I said firmly, 'Why would you do that? We haven't done anything to hurt you.' They laughed. Then they started hitting me with a broomstick until it broke over my back. At this point I decided to bust out a can of holy anger. I looked them in the eyes and said as forcefully as I could, 'You are created in the image of God...every single one of you. And you are made for something better than this. Kassim and I are followers of Jesus, but we love you no matter what you do to us.' That wasn't exactly what they expected or hoped for. They looked at each other, startled a bit. For the first time they were quiet. And then they scurried off in every direction." (-Jesus for President, pages 264-265)
Posted by Brandon
Friday, March 12, 2010
Keystone Goes Nationwide
To those of you kind souls who listened to the radio show, thank you.
I wanted to share just one brief part of my experience. Mr. Medved was very pleasant personally. On the radio he repeated used the tactic of putting words in my mouth. What he said was so overblown that I found it kind of funny.
Something like, “We’ll be right back with Rev. Rich Gamble who believes that men with clubs should take the lunch money of school children to pay for pointless government programs.” (he never said that, that’s just my overblown version of his shtick). And then he would cut to commercial.
The problem was that some of the authors of the angry emails I received heard only Mr. Medved’s version of me and didn’t hear my words at all.
The biggest thing that seems to reverberate about the inner ears of the irate e-mailers is my desire to use force to take their money and give it to the government. Even though I thought was pretty clear that opposed all forms of domination (I used that word just for you guys)and violence.
When did tax policy become equated with force?
I would have loved to have had the time to delve into that issue more. Do these folks think that taxes should be voluntary? That brings to mind a very interesting world.
• Firemen collecting donations in their boots at street corners, not for hungry kids but for their salaries and health insurance payments. Or maybe they would just ask for payment in advance from people whose houses were blazing.
• The Marines could start baking cookies and go into competition with the girl scouts to pay for their uniforms and Humvees.
• Maybe we could get more donations using plaques, “this aircraft carrier was donated by your friends at Foxy News”
• Coin operated stop lights. It only goes green if you pay a dollar.
• We could have toll sidewalks, and streets.
• Policemen would have to hand out tickets and hope for tips to pay their salaries.
• Prisons could send you a picture each month of the prisoner you sponsored to help pay to keep behind bars.
The Christian Community in Acts voluntarily shared their possessions with those who had needs. They did not assess taxes. No force was needed because people freely gave. It was a model of compassion; not government, but it was a vision of what an alternative world not based on the me-and-mine-first thinking of the Domination System.
Certainly we should give all we can to set an example. But what happens when people do not freely give enough to ensure that there are homes enough and food enough and health care and education for all in a world ruled by the logic of domination? Should we as Christians advocate for taxes to support programs for the poor? Or should we shrug in the direction of great need wring our hands and say that we wouldn’t want anyone to be penalized for not paying a share to support people in need?
As I understand the call of our faith, the first mandate is deal with the needs of those in the greatest need first. Taxes should not be levied against people of very limited means (which is the problem with a sales tax) but for those in our nation who can afford it, taxes are a way to provide for the real needs of those who can't afford it. Another call of our faith then is to struggle with our elected officials to prioritize human needs in the budgets of our governments.
Taxes should also be used to save the wealthy from their addiction to wealth. The Bible has a lot to say about the wealthy being on the wrong side of God's justice. And the prophets have a lot to say about the coming destruction of nations which allow great wealth and great poverty to co-exist.
Concentrations of wealth eventually turn democracies into tyrannies. It is good social policy to tax wealthy people and corporations and share that wealth with those who are in need. Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis said: “We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both.”
Taxation will be a big issue in the next year or so, as our state wrestles with a regressive and revenue limiting tax structure.
Stay tuned.
I wanted to share just one brief part of my experience. Mr. Medved was very pleasant personally. On the radio he repeated used the tactic of putting words in my mouth. What he said was so overblown that I found it kind of funny.
Something like, “We’ll be right back with Rev. Rich Gamble who believes that men with clubs should take the lunch money of school children to pay for pointless government programs.” (he never said that, that’s just my overblown version of his shtick). And then he would cut to commercial.
The problem was that some of the authors of the angry emails I received heard only Mr. Medved’s version of me and didn’t hear my words at all.
The biggest thing that seems to reverberate about the inner ears of the irate e-mailers is my desire to use force to take their money and give it to the government. Even though I thought was pretty clear that opposed all forms of domination (I used that word just for you guys)and violence.
When did tax policy become equated with force?
I would have loved to have had the time to delve into that issue more. Do these folks think that taxes should be voluntary? That brings to mind a very interesting world.
• Firemen collecting donations in their boots at street corners, not for hungry kids but for their salaries and health insurance payments. Or maybe they would just ask for payment in advance from people whose houses were blazing.
• The Marines could start baking cookies and go into competition with the girl scouts to pay for their uniforms and Humvees.
• Maybe we could get more donations using plaques, “this aircraft carrier was donated by your friends at Foxy News”
• Coin operated stop lights. It only goes green if you pay a dollar.
• We could have toll sidewalks, and streets.
• Policemen would have to hand out tickets and hope for tips to pay their salaries.
• Prisons could send you a picture each month of the prisoner you sponsored to help pay to keep behind bars.
The Christian Community in Acts voluntarily shared their possessions with those who had needs. They did not assess taxes. No force was needed because people freely gave. It was a model of compassion; not government, but it was a vision of what an alternative world not based on the me-and-mine-first thinking of the Domination System.
Certainly we should give all we can to set an example. But what happens when people do not freely give enough to ensure that there are homes enough and food enough and health care and education for all in a world ruled by the logic of domination? Should we as Christians advocate for taxes to support programs for the poor? Or should we shrug in the direction of great need wring our hands and say that we wouldn’t want anyone to be penalized for not paying a share to support people in need?
As I understand the call of our faith, the first mandate is deal with the needs of those in the greatest need first. Taxes should not be levied against people of very limited means (which is the problem with a sales tax) but for those in our nation who can afford it, taxes are a way to provide for the real needs of those who can't afford it. Another call of our faith then is to struggle with our elected officials to prioritize human needs in the budgets of our governments.
Taxes should also be used to save the wealthy from their addiction to wealth. The Bible has a lot to say about the wealthy being on the wrong side of God's justice. And the prophets have a lot to say about the coming destruction of nations which allow great wealth and great poverty to co-exist.
Concentrations of wealth eventually turn democracies into tyrannies. It is good social policy to tax wealthy people and corporations and share that wealth with those who are in need. Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis said: “We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both.”
Taxation will be a big issue in the next year or so, as our state wrestles with a regressive and revenue limiting tax structure.
Stay tuned.
Rev. Gamble on the Michael Medved Show
In case you missed Thursday's broadcast here it is (sans commercials). Enjoy.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Keystone Goes Nationwide!
Listen in Thursday the 11th as Rev. Rich Gamble is a guest on the Michael Medved show (AM 770) in the 1p hour.
Rich has been invited in response to his op-ed piece about the WA budget. You can check out the article published last week in the Seattle Times through the link below.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2011248733_guest04gamble.html
While the budget is of great concern I'll be listening for a "Domination System" reference or two.
posted by Brandon
Rich has been invited in response to his op-ed piece about the WA budget. You can check out the article published last week in the Seattle Times through the link below.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2011248733_guest04gamble.html
While the budget is of great concern I'll be listening for a "Domination System" reference or two.
posted by Brandon
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