Month: June 2008

God Bless the Gargoyles

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MJCIV posted this prayer on Street Prophets. This prayer in in M’s daughter’s book god bless the gargoyles by Dav Pilkey.

God bless the rain and the stormclouds that bring it

God bless the music, and the voices that sing it.

God bless the ones who sing everything wrong.

God bless all creatures who do not belong.

God bless the hearts and the souls who are grieving

For those who have left, and for those who are leaving.

God bless each perishing body and mind,

God bless all creatures remaining behind.

God bless the dreamers whose dreams have awoken.

God bless the lovers whose hearts have been broken.

God bless each soul that is tortured and taunted,

God bless all creatures alone and unwanted.

RevGals Friday Five: Summer Reading

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Singing Owl said: Back in the day, before I went to seminary, I worked in the Children’s Room at the Public Library, and every year we geared up for Summer Reading. Children would come in and record the books read over the summer, and the season included numerous special and celebratory events. As a lifelong book lover and enthusiastic summer reader, I find I still accumulate a pile of books for the summer.

This week, then, a Summer Reading Friday Five.

1) Do you think of summer as a particularly good season for reading? Why or why not?

Yes, I think it’s because I was in school for so long, and summer was when I could read whatever I want.

2) Have you ever fallen asleep reading on the beach?

No, but I’m willing to give it a try.

3) Can you recall a favorite childhood book read in the summertime?

Anything by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

4) Do you have a favorite genre for light or relaxing reading?

Urban fantasy. Last weekend I read Jim Butcher’s White Night (The Dresden Files, Book 9) and Francis Clark’s Waking Brigid. I stayed up until 3:00 in the morning reading, and read both books in two days. I love doing that! Although it doesn’t happen as often as it used to. But there’s nothing better than being curled up in bed lost in a book as the wee hours tick tock by.

5) What is the next book on your reading list?

A book my friend Jen wrote. I’m eagerly awaiting for her to finish the second draft.

I swiped the picture from Singing Owl. 🙂

What I'm Reading (or soon will be)

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After watching the Food Network in PJs all morning, I went to the library. It’s been a good day. 🙂 Here’s what I checked out:

Fiction
White Night (The Dresden Files, Book 9) by Jim Butcher (I need a Bob fix)
Waking Brigid by Francis Clark

Feminist books for Career Women of the Bible
Sex and Destiny: The Politics of Human Fertility and The Whole Woman by Germaine Greer

Thinking and Creativity
Serious Creativity Using the Power of La and De Bono’s Thinking Course, Revised Edition by Edward De Bono

When I came out of the library, I heard music and walked a block to the park by the library, and there was a Cool Jazz Festival going on, so I enjoyed that for awhile. It’s a gorgeous day here in Chi-town. It’s sunny with big, fluffy white clouds gliding by, in the 70s with a great breeze. Perfect weather for the pizza party that will be happening on the roof of our building this evening.

What are you doing this weekend? What are reading?

A Daughter of Eve

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From Kimberly Roth at Jesus Manifesto:

I am a daughter of Eve.

I am a daughter of the woman who plucked fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, because it seemed good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom (and was also kind enough to share with her husband).

I am a daughter of the curse.

I am a son of God.

Through faith, I have been clothed with Christ Jesus and am neither male nor female but Christ, Abraham’s seed, living in me through the Spirit.

I am a son of the promise.

<snip>

Why is it that women in vocational ministry seems to be Christianity’s final frontier?

Ok, God, we can accept those Gentile believers, and we can even give up our slaves… but you can not be serious about that female thing?! Surely you’re not going to let Eve off the hook that easily. Did Jesus put you up to this? Do you have any idea how long it took us to live down that whole Deborah thing (and don’t even get me started on her friend Jael…)?

There seems to be a lot of fear surrounding what would happen if women were released to run amok in ministry, at least down here in the Bible belt. Children would be abandoned, meals would go unprepared, men would be disrespected in their own homes and left to pick up their own dirty underwear. Chaos would ensue. Theology would be twisted beyond recognition. Salvation as we know it would cease. Sunday school is one thing, but the entire Body of Christ… that’s just too much to consider.

I grew up with this attitude. It took God a long time to convice me that yes God could call me into leadership positions, and that it was okay that I DID NOT want to be a traditional wife, and do not want to have children. God used women like Deborah and Jael who were not typical wives, and the Bible does not even mention if they have children. God also used women like Mary Magdalene and Lydia–single women who were not linked to men, other than Jesus. God also used Priscilla and Aquilla who worked side by side making tents and pastoring churches. It’s been a long, and at times hard, road. I know I need to write about it. I have said that I would. I guess I need to start writing. I always put off telling my story. I guess I don’t think it’s that important. But may be it is important. May be I need to tell my story, so I can tell other women’s stories. I know that is far past time for Eve and her daughters to be redeemed.

How do you feel about telling your story?

7 Things Top Chef Taught Me

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1. Don’t be mean. It makes you hard to work with, and is that how you really want to be remembered?

2. Don’t be afraid to experiment and explore. Yes, you might have the occasional mess, but you will also eat a lot of exquisite meals.

3. Live (and cook) from both the head and heart.

4. Be passionate and in love with what you do.

5. Taste your food before you serve it.

6. Admit when you’re wrong.

7. Chicago girls rule! (Yes, I was cheering for Stephanie!)

What Can I Do with My Body?

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I’m still trying to figure out what to do with my body. You’d think that wouldn’t be a problem at 38. You’d think wrong. Of course Christianity really hasn’t known what to do with bodies. It’s not something we’ve ever been good at it. We’re good with the don’ts: Don’t drink, don’t smoke, and don’t have sex. But we’re never told what to do. As Barry Taylor told John Morehead:

A problem a lot of people have with Christianity is that it externalizes the spiritual experience that basically de-emphasizes the importance of this life but the real importance is where you go after this life. So you want to be ready for heaven. But there is very little advice about what to do with your body while you’re waiting for that experience: don’t do anything wrong, don’t be bad, accept the decay.

Barry goes on to say that this is strange considering that Christianity is “one of the most material spiritualities out there where we celebrate that God puts on flesh and lived as one of us.” Not only is it “a problem a lot of people have with Christianity,” it’s a problem a lot of Christians have with our own religion. Including me.

It doesn’t help that I grew up with a contradictory view of the body. On the one had i heard my body was the temple of the Holy Spirit. God lived in me. But I heard things like this a lot more: “The body is sinful flesh.” “The flesh is evil, and the Spirit is good.” “The body is the devil’s playground (or the mind depending on the preacher). And then there was “one day we’ll shed these evil, sinful bodies and go to heaven.” I don’t think I’ve ever quite believed the body was a temple, let alone my body. After all how can the flesh (i. e. the body) be evil, and the Spirit good, and my body be the temple of the Spirit?

But I am coming to see and believe that my body is good, Spirit-filled, and even holy. I am coming to believe that my body is the temple of the living God. Here are some of do’s:

Do be nice to your body.

Do tell your body it’s beautiful just the way it is.

Do get enough sleep.

Do yoga.

Do walk.

Do eat when you’re hungry.

Do rest when you’re tired.

How do you see your body? How has your relationship with your body changed? What are some of your do’s?

7 Things Tim Russert Taught Me

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1. Family is always more important than work.

2. You can have strong faith, a strong family, and a strong career (and so can your spouse).

3. It’s okay to ask hard questions.

4. It’s okay to push people to answer hard questions.

5. Play hookie and go do something you love with someone you love.

6. Do what you love in all of life.

7. At the end of the day (or the end of the primary), smile, laugh, and talk about baseball.

The picture is from MSNBC.com.

Tim Russert dead at 58

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Tim Russert died today of a heart attack. I didn’t always agree with him, but I always loved watching him back politicians against the wall and not letting them off with easy outs. And good for Tim for playing hookie at work to take his son to baseball games. Rest in peace Tim.

Almighty God, we remember before you today your faithful servant Tim Russert; and we pray that, having opened to him the gates of larger life, you will receive him more and more into your joyful service, that, with all who have faithfully served you in the past, he may share in the eternal victory of Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (From The Book of Common Prayer)

Russ, Maureen and Luke, may the God of all comforts, comfort you now. May you feel God’s love and peace and know the hope you have: that you will be reunited in God’s kingdom.

RevGals Friday Five: Beach Trip

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Mother Junia writes: In honor of summer, please share your own beachy memories, plans, and dreams with a “Beach Trip” Friday Five.

1. Ocean rocks, lake limps? Vice versa? Or “it’s all beautiful in its own way”? I love the ocean–the waves, the buoyant water, everything. But I live right next to Lake Michigan, and a really big freshwater lake is fine by me too.

2. Year round beach living: Heaven…or the Other Place? During warm weather heaven, but during the winter when the wind in coming off the lake brrrrr. Really can’t call it hell: too cold. 😉 Barcelona was the same way.

3. Any beach plans for this summer? Yep, there’s beach nearby, and I plan on getting to it.

4. Best beach memory ever? Swimming in the Mediterranean.

5. Fantasy beach trip? The Great Barrier Reef in Australia.

Bonus: Share a piece of music/poetry/film/book that expresses something about what the beach means to you.

Here’s a poem I wrote about the Mediterranean when I lived in Barcelona.

“Wading in the Sea”

I waded in the Mediterranean as the tide was rising
The blue-green, aquamarine jewels invited me
Off came my shoes and socks as the wind blew from the sea.
As the sun-lit diamonds twinkled very bewitching
Out I waded into the sea.

The cold waters made my feet zing
As I walked on the shore slowly, breathing deeply
The sea air which made my cheeks pink and rosy.
The sheer beauty of the moment made my heart sing
As I waded in the sea.

 

The sun’s rays brought warmth to my face
A stark contrast to the cold which nipped my toes
I looked out to where the sea ended and the horizon rose.
The snow-capped waves created an endless maze
As I waded in the sea.

 

My heart was light and I felt care-free
For a few minutes I had no worries
For a moment lost in time there is no hurry
I felt as if the world was at my feet
As I waded in the sea.

 

© 1997 Shawna Renee Bound

Why Theology Is Not a 4-Letter Word

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What do you mean: “Theology Is Not a 4-Letter Word”? Of course it isn’t. But a lot of people in the Christian tradition treat theology that way. You hear a lot about it, but it’s not something one should talk about in polite company. Theology is seen as a scholary discipline that has very little (if anything) to do with our everyday life. But theology has everything to do with our daily life.

Theology is our relationship with God, and how we talk about our relationship with God. Theology talks about who God is, how God acts in our world, and God’s relationship with God’s creation. Theology is our relationship with God–both our personal relationships and our corporate relationship as a community of faith and the universal church. Theology is where we see God at work in our homes, neighborhoods, and our world.

All of life is theology because all of life is from God.