Five for Friday: Vending Machine God, Homeless Jesus, That Funny NPR

By Stan Friedman

CHICAGO, IL (April 18, 2014) — Many Covenanters routinely share links to social media articles and videos with one another that Covenant News Service believes may be of interest to others. Each Friday we post five of them. Following is a sample of those submissions—their inclusion does not represent an endorsement of any views expressed.

Five Errors to Drop from Your Easter Sermon

For pastors, you still have time to make corrections before Sunday. For congregation members, if your pastor makes one of these mistakes, please don’t rush up and correct him or her. They’ve already had a long week.

Statue of a Homeless Jesus Startles a Wealthy Community

Why is it that statues of the Son of God being murdered for a crime he didn’t commit can cause no offense but one of him as a homeless person gets people so angry?

I Want a Vending Machine God

And when you’re done reading this one, scroll to her previous post, “Love > Fear. God sent me a sign. In the toilet.” The next thing you know, you will have scrolled further, it will be 1 a.m. and you won’t have watched a single YouTube video or taken a test to determine which Friends character you are.

NPR’s Brilliant April Fool’s Joke

This is OUTRAGEOUS! But not all that surprising.

Have Digital Devices Become Modern Fetishes?

Although most commonly used in reference to sex, fetishes also are inanimate objects to which people ascribe some religious or mystical power and impacts moral decisions and even the way society is organized. Our digital device serve the same function, which is having profound impacts on society, including our morality.

Picture of The Covenant Companion

The Covenant Companion

The Covenant Companion brings together stories and voices that connect, inform, and inspire. Subscribe to our print edition.
CONTINUE READING

Explore More Stories & News

Features

The Life of a PastorGirl

A pastor who was warned that ministry would “eat her up and spit her out” writes, twenty-five years later, about the God who was faithful throughout her journey.

Features

Show Up

For ten years, North Park University campus pastor Terence Gadsden has been building a culture of belonging—one 5 a.m. practice at a time. This spring, students noticed.

Features

Am I Called?

A church-conference altar call led to years of burnout before this editor found a different definition of calling.

Arts & Culture

Every Swollen Joint

Reading Lyndsey Medford’s account of a hurricane and an autoimmune flare, Eliza Stiles found the same grief in both—and a case for why our healing and the world’s are bound together.

Arts & Culture

Pearls, Arrows, and Grace

Amy Muia’s A Desert Between Two Seas traces the ripple of one boy’s drowning across generations of afflicted, often violent characters in post-mission Baja California.