Quote about end of the oil age
Thomas Freidman was asked questions by readers of Time magazine. At the end he quoted someone else as his response to the future of energy. I do not know the original person who said this nor do I know what the exact question was but I liked what was said.
“The stone Age did not end because we ran out of stones.”
There was more to the quote, but the point being, we may not run out of the oil age because we run out of fossil fuels. The oil age will end with innovation.
This holds true for all sorts of things as well. Things only will change with innovation and imagining something new. The mainline church will not end because we run out of people needing community. Rather the current expression of the mainline church will end because there is something new on the horizon.
There are several things in Thomas Freidman’s book “The World is Flat” which I was deeply influenced by. I did not mark up the book but I wish that I had because now I feel I need to re-read it just to mark up the sections which I want to remember for the rest of my life. Near the end of the book he makes note that when a country has more memories than dreams it is in decline. I just recalled that and wanted to make sure that I would remember that to put it into a sermon one day.
Do I have mostly memories or dreams? Am I looking backwards to the “great past” or looking toward the future of what could be?
“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.” Albert Einstein
What if the Church was flatter?
I am reading “The World is Flat” by Thomas Freidman. I get so inspired when I read this book thinking of all the ways in which the church could and should change in order to reach people who find church antiquated and irrelevant. The thought of AHUMC beginning a business which employs the homeless in order to give them a job and lift themselves out of poverty is something I wish I knew how to do. What if we gave out micoloans? What if we were like those restaurants we hear about which employ the homeless? How do you do this? I think this is why I am still very hopeful for the church. The church has so many resources, skill sets and abilities which I do not have. I wish I were better at pitching ideas and getting people on board with them. Is that the role of a pastor of a church community?
