I’m riding a roller coaster of emotions. Feels like I have a sunburn on my feelings – I don’t know if its because they’re regenerating after being buried for eons, or if they’ve been injured in an accident & need to call a personal injury attorney to take the 1st step.
I’ve read CS Lewis & intellectually, believe that I have a grasp of what I’m facing. And feeling. And the beauty of it is, it doesn’t help to know that.
Here’s to Jesus.
Thanks to Dennis. Enjoy. And don’t get all butt-hurt. (which is worse than normal kind of hurt. Totally.)
If you’ve ever wondered how I’ve ended up like I have, take a look at this:
Steve Taylor shaped my thinking about Christ, Christianity, & living the life of a Christ-follower, often using irreverent, sarcastic lyric/music… stuff that made me think & ask, “Now why is it we do it that way again?” And, “Is that REALLY how we’re (aka: The Machine called church) coming off? And if so, why?”
Thanks to Pat D for sending this my way – you made my day.
Found these guys through my friend Tom – nice.
As usual, I’m probably late to the dance, but mejor tarde que nunca, si mon huey?
No, I’m not just quoting Billy Joel lyric… we’re moving out of our house. Kind of.
What we’re actually doing is taking a few days this week to pack up & move the downstairs, kitchen, & hopefully my room – to a storage unit the Brother has rented. Then, the hope is to take his stuff & put it in the downstairs, kitchen, & my soon-to-be-former room, so that the new home owners can begin the process of making this house their home.
Where do we go from here? What are we doing next? Where shall we be staying in the interim?
Stay tuned… hopefully we’ll get to that before the end of the week. Wish me joy.
No sooner do I get an AWESOME Star Wars poster/pic, a virtual ode to Brint, than it disappears. I was indignant. Couldn’t believe it. I was legitimately borrowing this link, & the owner of the link killed it.
So, I found it again. And reposted it. Who’s your daddy?
Other thoughts on an early Tuesday…
TTFN.
It’s dedicated to Brint, as I believe that he may be the one to most appreciate it. Howevuh, for those of us that need a little lift: here’s to you, sci-fi fans of the multiverse…
I’ve been doing a little research on Mother’s Day – origins, practices, etc. (HISTORY nerds unite…) in the hopes of discovering the basis for the overcommercialized, mass-marketed holiday that Mother’s Day is today. I found that a woman named Julia Ward Howe, peace activist & author of The Battle Hymn of the Republic was a post-Civil War voice motivating mothers of the world to unite: for peace, for family, for safety, against war, poor treatment of workers, poor sanitation, & abuse of alcohol.
Below is the “Mother’s Day Proclamation” written by Howe, a rallying cry for mothers – Enjoy.
Arise then Christian women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts, whether your baptism be that of water or of tears!
Say firmly:
“We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.”
From the voice of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with
Our own. It says: “Damn! Damn!
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice.”
Blood does not wipe out dishonor,
Nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil
At the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace, man as the brother of man,
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God –
In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.
Yesterday, I took a quiz I found on a blog I read – DISCLAIMER: this was a new thing for me, as I usually don’t spend my time filling out meaningless, time wasters (my own stereotype & feelings about ‘those things” inserted here.) This one, however, intrigued me, as it attempted to bring out & identify my “theological worldview” – I was intrigued because I see myself (& you) as a pretty sophisticated, complex, deep & often parodoxical person who can’t be accurately described with a label. This quiz told me that I could. It was a challenge, & I took it. Here are the results.
You scored as Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan. You are an evangelical in the Wesleyan tradition. You believe that God’s grace enables you to choose to believe in him, even though you yourself are totally depraved. The gift of the Holy Spirit gives you assurance of your salvation, and he also enables you to live the life of obedience to which God has called us. You are influenced heavly by John Wesley and the Methodists.
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What's your theological worldview?
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For the last several weeks, I’ve been prepping for a series on ‘being male & being female” – exploring how God’s has put us together & created us; to me, this means understanding what it means to be male/female, & also how our identity, role assumptions, life choices, & ultimately every one of our relationships are greatly affected by sin/our fallen nature. BTW: the symbol at left is historically the one used for male – (& Austin Powers, but I digress) & originated from identification w/the little ‘g’ god, Mars… which is why the arrow points to the NE, & is supposed to remind us of Mars’ shield & arrow.) The symbol at right is the historical symbol for female & originated from identification w/the little ‘g’ goddess, Venus – the little cross is supposed to represent Venus’ hand mirror… (so, no, John Gray & Barbara DeAngelis didn’t come up with this Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus idea…)
In some ways, this study has been like descending a spiral stair case that seems like it couldn’t REALLY go any farther down, only to find that every ‘floor’ that is descended exposes yet another flight of descending stair. It would be easy to get lost in this topic. Some of the things that I’ve been sorting through:
-God’s intended role for Adam/Eve in Eden.
-what it means to live as a godly man/woman, & how much of who we are/what we become is unique, often not fitting too well with preconceived stereotypes
-how people w/infomation & education (often men) have used their info/education to exploit others
-how role expectations affect our behavior; whether it be how we embrace certain behaviors as “things men/women do” & conversely then, “don’t do” & how we can intentionally choose an opposite role of what we “should do” in order to protest/rebel/avoid not measuring up to an expected role we’re ‘supposed’ to fill.
-men & women: equal but different
-using/misusing the Bible for selfish purposes; in many ways, this has meant justifying sexist (or at least anti-woman) practices ideas, esp. when it comes to spiritual leadership.
-the emasculation of men as an overcorrection to the above behavior
-the effect of the curse on our lives, choices, actions, & behaviors – esp. in our relationships (see Genesis 3 – on the serpent, Eve & Adam)
I’m hoping to see great freedom, wholeness, restoration, & truth in our personal lives & interpersonal relationships as a result of where we’re heading… & at the same time, feel as though I’m heading into a minefield.