Communities of the Kingdom

N. T. Wright on the Gospel and Empire (read: "the man") in today's world:

Somehow, the gospel of Jesus has to be announced as the good news over against all the self-serving power-broking of our day. This won’t be easy. But the start for us, as it was for Paul, is without a doubt the creation of communities, cells of people under Caesar’s nose but loyal to Jesus as Lord and committed to living by faith, hope and love. The call to worship and prayer, to invoking the powerful name of Jesus and to applying his victory to the sometimes dehumanizing structures and power games of our day, remains at the top of the list of Christian priorities, of gospel priorities.

Irish Theological Quarterly
72 (2007) 131–146
Paul as Preacher: The Gospel Then and Now, p.145
N. T. Wright
© 2007 Irish Theological Quarterly

It's a strong vision for the creation of and building up of close-knit, deeply-impacting, far-reaching Christian communities, churches.

the 700+1 Club

Pat Robertson endorses Giuliani for president. Either the situation is desperate or the 700 Club has decided to broaden its membership. I guess you could see this a sign of hope for those on the far right that they will look at the big picture a bit more, or a sign of defeat and compromise. It will be interesting to see how this affects things.