Two Things That Made Me Think

Thing #1
Bishop N.T. Wright, from a presentation entitled "The Future of the People of God", has some thoughts on ecclesiology:

People have tended in the church to think that the first question is: "How can we get our act together within the church?" and if we have any time and energy left over, "How can we be God's people for the world?"

I've been convinced for many years that that's putting the cart before the horse and that...the question is, "Who are we supposed to be for the world; what is our mission and how do we do it?" and then to ask, "What sort of structures do we need in order to do that?"

Thing #2
Doug Pagitt has some thoughts on the National Day of Prayer.