GroshLink

It's quotes like the one below, from the archives of cultureisnotoptional, which remind me how much I miss living in the international mix of academic life 'da Burgh.  Furthermore, I am compelled to pray that the people of God in 'da Burgh will graciously extend hospitality to the stranger in their midst. Join me in prayer today for CMU and Pitt international students, which have orientation over the next several days.  They are the first to arrive and on the graduate level they all live off-campus.  Pray for them to become established before the fall term begins on Monday, August 25. 

Additional prayer request (posted 8/17):  Pray for many, both international and American, to become connected with the people of God through opportunities such as the CMU Student Services Resource Fair on Sunday, August 18.

So much of our Christian literature seems to be focused on the question of whether and how we can save our cities. It seems to me that we need to adjust this approach and begin to look for ways that our cities can save us. I mean save here not in the sense of salvation from sin--only Christ can do that--but rather save our souls from the damaging effects of uglification, standardization, privatization, and mass consumerism that have fueled this historically unprecedented appetite for sprawl in our country. But to receive the blessings that our cities (historic downtowns and traditional neighborhoods) can provide for us, we need to learn to see our cities once again.

We need to train our eyes to see the corner coffee shop and grocery in a neighborhood as the rare and beautiful species that they have become.... And we need to take advantage of the pedestrian-friendly setting of the grid pattern lay-out with ample sidewalks by walking (along or with our children), treating each corner as a fresh opportunity for exploration and adventure as we choose our route, instead of being directed from cul-de-sac to feeder road like some product on an assembly line. If we learn to see and even to love these urban features, we will begin to cheer when our cities and neighborhoods are preserved, and we will begin to weep when they are destroyed. We may even teach ourselves how to build and live in cities, as the rest of the world has been doing throughout history. -- Eric O. Jacobsen, Sidewalks in the Kingdom: New Urbanism and the Christian Faith

Note:  Sidewalks in the Kingdom: New Urbanism and the Christian Faith has much more of value than the above quote, I'd recommend you give it read.  I bet it would be great for a discussion group.