Quotes & Sayings


We, and creation itself, actualize the possibilities of the God who sustains the world, towards becoming in the world in a fuller, more deeper way. - R.E. Slater

There is urgency in coming to see the world as a web of interrelated processes of which we are integral parts, so that all of our choices and actions have [consequential effects upon] the world around us. - Process Metaphysician Alfred North Whitehead

Kurt Gödel's Incompleteness Theorem says (i) all closed systems are unprovable within themselves and, that (ii) all open systems are rightly understood as incomplete. - R.E. Slater

The most true thing about you is what God has said to you in Christ, "You are My Beloved." - Tripp Fuller

The God among us is the God who refuses to be God without us, so great is God's Love. - Tripp Fuller

According to some Christian outlooks we were made for another world. Perhaps, rather, we were made for this world to recreate, reclaim, redeem, and renew unto God's future aspiration by the power of His Spirit. - R.E. Slater

Our eschatological ethos is to love. To stand with those who are oppressed. To stand against those who are oppressing. It is that simple. Love is our only calling and Christian Hope. - R.E. Slater

Secularization theory has been massively falsified. We don't live in an age of secularity. We live in an age of explosive, pervasive religiosity... an age of religious pluralism. - Peter L. Berger

Exploring the edge of life and faith in a post-everything world. - Todd Littleton

I don't need another reason to believe, your love is all around for me to see. – Anon

Thou art our need; and in giving us more of thyself thou givest us all. - Khalil Gibran, Prayer XXIII

Be careful what you pretend to be. You become what you pretend to be. - Kurt Vonnegut

Religious beliefs, far from being primary, are often shaped and adjusted by our social goals. - Jim Forest

We become who we are by what we believe and can justify. - R.E. Slater

People, even more than things, need to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anyone. – Anon

Certainly, God's love has made fools of us all. - R.E. Slater

An apocalyptic Christian faith doesn't wait for Jesus to come, but for Jesus to become in our midst. - R.E. Slater

Christian belief in God begins with the cross and resurrection of Jesus, not with rational apologetics. - Eberhard Jüngel, Jürgen Moltmann

Our knowledge of God is through the 'I-Thou' encounter, not in finding God at the end of a syllogism or argument. There is a grave danger in any Christian treatment of God as an object. The God of Jesus Christ and Scripture is irreducibly subject and never made as an object, a force, a power, or a principle that can be manipulated. - Emil Brunner

“Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh” means "I will be that who I have yet to become." - God (Ex 3.14) or, conversely, “I AM who I AM Becoming.”

Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy. - Thomas Merton

The church is God's world-changing social experiment of bringing unlikes and differents to the Eucharist/Communion table to share life with one another as a new kind of family. When this happens, we show to the world what love, justice, peace, reconciliation, and life together is designed by God to be. The church is God's show-and-tell for the world to see how God wants us to live as a blended, global, polypluralistic family united with one will, by one Lord, and baptized by one Spirit. – Anon

The cross that is planted at the heart of the history of the world cannot be uprooted. - Jacques Ellul

The Unity in whose loving presence the universe unfolds is inside each person as a call to welcome the stranger, protect animals and the earth, respect the dignity of each person, think new thoughts, and help bring about ecological civilizations. - John Cobb & Farhan A. Shah

If you board the wrong train it is of no use running along the corridors of the train in the other direction. - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

God's justice is restorative rather than punitive; His discipline is merciful rather than punishing; His power is made perfect in weakness; and His grace is sufficient for all. – Anon

Our little [biblical] systems have their day; they have their day and cease to be. They are but broken lights of Thee, and Thou, O God art more than they. - Alfred Lord Tennyson

We can’t control God; God is uncontrollable. God can’t control us; God’s love is uncontrolling! - Thomas Jay Oord

Life in perspective but always in process... as we are relational beings in process to one another, so life events are in process in relation to each event... as God is to Self, is to world, is to us... like Father, like sons and daughters, like events... life in process yet always in perspective. - R.E. Slater

To promote societal transition to sustainable ways of living and a global society founded on a shared ethical framework which includes respect and care for the community of life, ecological integrity, universal human rights, respect for diversity, economic justice, democracy, and a culture of peace. - The Earth Charter Mission Statement

Christian humanism is the belief that human freedom, individual conscience, and unencumbered rational inquiry are compatible with the practice of Christianity or even intrinsic in its doctrine. It represents a philosophical union of Christian faith and classical humanist principles. - Scott Postma

It is never wise to have a self-appointed religious institution determine a nation's moral code. The opportunities for moral compromise and failure are high; the moral codes and creeds assuredly racist, discriminatory, or subjectively and religiously defined; and the pronouncement of inhumanitarian political objectives quite predictable. - R.E. Slater

God's love must both center and define the Christian faith and all religious or human faiths seeking human and ecological balance in worlds of subtraction, harm, tragedy, and evil. - R.E. Slater

In Whitehead’s process ontology, we can think of the experiential ground of reality as an eternal pulse whereby what is objectively public in one moment becomes subjectively prehended in the next, and whereby the subject that emerges from its feelings then perishes into public expression as an object (or “superject”) aiming for novelty. There is a rhythm of Being between object and subject, not an ontological division. This rhythm powers the creative growth of the universe from one occasion of experience to the next. This is the Whiteheadian mantra: “The many become one and are increased by one.” - Matthew Segall

Without Love there is no Truth. And True Truth is always Loving. There is no dichotomy between these terms but only seamless integration. This is the premier centering focus of a Processual Theology of Love. - R.E. Slater

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Note: Generally I do not respond to commentary. I may read the comments but wish to reserve my time to write (or write from the comments I read). Instead, I'd like to see our community help one another and in the helping encourage and exhort each of us towards Christian love in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior. - re slater

Saturday, October 5, 2013

A Liter of Light and Hope

 
 
 
Brazilian mechanic creates light bulb using water, bleach and a bottle
 
By Carol Kuruvilla / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
 
Alfredo Moser’s cheap and environmentally friendly invention is picking up steam
in developing nations around the world. The 'Moser lamp' was picked up by the
Liter of Light campaign and is now brightening 140,000 homes in the Philippines.

 
A Liter of Light Tanay Rizal
 
 
Published on Jul 21, 2012
 
Seeding program goes to Tanay Rizal's My Shelter Foundation
in partnership with DSWD's Pang Tawid Pamilya program.
 
For more information email info@aliteroflight.org
 
 
All Photos courtesy of Aljazeera
 
Alfredo Moser was just looking for a way to light his workshop during a blackout. By early next year, the humble mechanic’s invention is expected to brighten about 1 million people’s lives.
 
A Brazilian mechanic is bringing light to the masses.
 
With just a plastic bottle, water, and bleach, Alfredo Moser has found a way to produce a light that is up to 40 or 60 watts — stronger than some light bulbs.
 
"It's a divine light,” the inventor told the BBC. “God gave the sun to everyone, and light is for everyone. Whoever wants it saves money. You can't get an electric shock from it, and it doesn't cost a penny."
 
Here’s his trick. Moser harnesses solar power by refracting sunlight through a clear two-liter plastic bottle that is filled with water.
 
Alfredo Moser lives in Uberaba, Brazil. He came up with the idea for his lamp
during one of his town’s frequent blackouts.
 
"Add two capfuls of bleach to protect the water so it doesn't turn green [with algae]. The cleaner the bottle, the better," he said.
 
He tops the bottle with a black cap, then pushes it through a hole in his roof.
 
"You fix the bottle in with polyester resin,” Moser said. “Even when it rains, the roof never leaks — not one drop."
 
BBC - The clear plastic bottle is filled with water and some capfuls of bleach.
 
In many parts of the developing world, electricity is still unreliable or too expensive for the poor. In rural areas or city slums, millions of families still drill tiny windows into their shacks to let a little bit of light peek in.
 
The idea for the lamp came to Moser in 2002, during one of the requent blackouts in his hometown, Uberaba, Brazil. The handyman needed a way to light his workshop.
 
Once he figured out the magic recipe, he placed the lamps in his neighbor’s homes and his town’s supermarket.
 
The bottle is placed on rooftops. Sunlight is refracted through the water and into the room below.
 
Although he charges a few dollars for installation, the invention was never meant to be a “get rich quick” scheme. Moser still drives a 1974 car and lives with his wife in a simple house. But he’s proud that his lamp has given others a little bit of hope.
 
"There was one man who installed the lights and within a month he had saved enough to pay for the essential things for his child, who was about to be born. Can you imagine?" he said.
 
By next year, the “Moser lamp” is expected to brighten the lives of at least one million people — at their homes, schools, or stores. It’s already made headway in at least 16 countries, including the Philippines, India, Bangladesh, Tanzania, Argentina, and Fiji, the BBC reports.
 
The Moser lamp gives out as much light as a 40-to-60-watt bulb.
 
The MyShelter Foundation in the Philippines creates houses using sustainable products. Moser’s invention caught the eye of Illac Angelo Diaz, the organization’s executive director. He started the Isang Litrong Liwanag (A Liter of Light) project, which has already helped install about 140,000 lamps in the Philippines.
 
Some people have used the indoor light to grow hydroponic vegetables. MyShelter also offers training for people who want to earn money by installing the lamps in their neighborhoods.
 
The bulb doesn’t work in the night and can’t store energy. Still, Diaz thinks the light has plenty of potential.
 
"Alfredo Moser has changed the lives of a tremendous number of people, I think forever," Diaz said.
 
 
 
How To Make a Liter of Light