Beautiful Art

Sally introduced me to a new artist: Farid De La Ossa. Here are my two favorite paintings he has done along with his inspiration for painting them.

The Eucharist, represented by the Host held by the male and female hands that appears in the middle, is a way of solidarity with the poor. Justice that they seek is represented by the scales that appear within the host. The painting depicts a way of action to achieve justice for the oppressed and those wronged in the past (right-hand side) This is represented by the people wearing garments from the Earliest Christianity gathering for worship within the catacombs. The present and future generations (wearing contemporary clothes) are represented on the left side of the picture while the whole artwork, made with color pencils, color pastels, water paint and black ink, is represented by the Mandala of hope which the Eucharist, daily prayer, the cycles of time (represented by the plants and the sky), and the range of Sacramental Life can bring.

All these elements are gathered in the central circle, which is illuminated by the light (yellow color) in spite of darkness and opposition (black color) that confronts the whole Earth (brown color).

Jesus is on the Cross but will resurrect through the power of God’s light. Jesus’ body is presented as a compound of triangles (symbols of the Trinity). The Cross is connected to the Earth, the Universe and to Nature itself, showing the inter-connection that there is between the cross and all Creation. These elements are included in the main circle of this mandala held by a hand of a person which symbolizing the Eucharist which is given to the people. The host is eradiating grace (represented as light rays) to all Creation – a symbol of God’s presence in the Eucharistic Consecration.

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RevGals Friday Five: Renewal

In my office the other day, two church members asked about the boat on my table. I told them it was a gift from a seminary classmate, a reminder of the work and teaching of our professor, Kirk Jones, author of Rest in the Storm: Self-Care Strategies for Clergy and other Caregivers. He always reminded us that Jesus went to the back of the boat and took a nap.

Not surprisingly, I could not find an image of Jesus resting. Preaching from the boat, yes. Calming the storm, yes. Walking on water? Oh, my, yes! But no one seems to want to picture Jesus taking his rest.

In this week that looks unlikely to hold a complete day off, I am pondering renewal. List four ways you like to relax or give yourself a break. Then name a fifth, something you’ve never been able to do, a self-care dream.

1. Take a long, hot bath with bath salts.

2. Read a novel.

3. A retreat at a Benedictine monastary. Benedictine nuns are so cool!

4. Cook or crochet.

5. Go to a spa and be pampered the entire day.

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A Little Humor

Scsours had this incredible list of the next 50 bestsellers up on her blog, and I had to copy it and post it here. It is so good and so funny!

If you’ve always wanted to write a bestseller for the Christian Inspiration market, but don’t know where to start, maybe these titles will inspire you.

1. Your Best Life Now Book of Martyrs
2. I’m Totally Depraved, You’re Totally Depraved
3. 40 or so Days more-or-less of Purpose
4. Bowel Thou Art Loosed – A Christian Guide to Regularity
5. Good Morning Holy Mackerel – Spirit Filled Sport Fishing With Benny Hinn
6. Baldness, True Humility – The Saga of C.J. Mahaney’s Failed Hair Transplant
7. Prayer of Jabez Guide to Bankruptcy
8. The Ergun Caner Coffee Table Book of Ergun Caner
9. The Power of a Praying Mantis
10. Steal This Book- Then Repent, Bring it Back, and Confess
11. Desiring Gold – Meditations on Things I Would Buy if I were Rich
12. Pretty Good People in the Hands of an Ambivalent God
13. Y3K – Countdown to Armageddon
14. The Tax Code – Secret Messages from God Hidden in Your 1040 Long Form
15. Wicked at Heart – Discovering the Not-So-Secret Secret of Everyone’s Soul
16. Raptured By Mistake – Book I of the I Should Have Been Left Behind series
17. James White’s Guide to Weasel Hunting on the Campus of Liberty University
18. The Maker’s Diet II- What God Ate and How It Kept Him Healthy and Feeling Good Forever.
19. Holy Blood, Holy Grail, Holy Cow – Harry Carey’s Secret Membership in Opus Dei
20. The Canadian Prophecies : Ancient Scriptures Reveal Our Neighbor to the North’s Future
21. 90 Minutes in Hell – A True Story of Death and How Hell was Really Scary and How I Wanted to Get Out of There
22. Purple Like Barney – Non-Religious Thoughts on Obnoxious PBS Children’s Programming
23. 12 Extraordinary Little Women – An Inspirational Look at 12 Godly Midgets’ Lives
24. Velour Pelagius – Repainting the Emerging Faith
25. The Sixth Love Language – When Heartfelt Commitment Isn’t Enough, Christian Techniques to Get You Out of the Dog House
26. Boise Countdown – How The Capitol of Idaho Will Play A Pivotal Roll in the Unfolding of the Millennium
27. Battlefield of the Lower Intestine – Claim Victory Over Satan and His Relentless Attacks on Your Digestive System
28. Discernment and How to Know A Good Book on it When You See One – Tim Challies
29. Veggie Tales Systematic Theology
30. For Men and Women Only – A Straightforward Guide to Stuff You Already Know
31. I Kissed Bundling Goodbye
32. The Message: Shaken-not-Stirred
33. Total Truth II: Electric Boogaloo
34. Found Again – The Baxter family reunites to extract more dollars from the Christian book-buying public
35. Noing God: Tales from the Bible on How to Refuse God and Live to Tell About it
36. Outhouse – Vacationing couples are pursued by a maniac killer who lures them to a vacant outhouse which won’t let them leave. The outhouse mirrors their own heart and souls and they must defeat the evil within
37. What’s So Amazing About Grace Kelly?
38. If You Want to Walk on Water Then You Have to Be Jesus? or maybe that David Blaine guy
39. What on Earth Am I Here For and Why On Earth Do I Keep Asking Myself These Questions?
40. Having a Mary Heart in a Paul Body
41. It’s Not About Me Too – Further Self-Reflections Not About Me.
42. More Secret Power Within: Chuck Norri’s Guide To Kickin’ the Crap out of Badguys for Christ
43. Misquoting Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed Misquoting Jesus and Why
44. The Openness of God: How 5 Theologians Go to Heaven only to find it “Closed for the Season”
45. Reimagining Jesus Until I Like What I See
46. A Generous Orthodontics – Why I Think My Fillings Will Be in Heaven
47. Even Newer Strong’s Exhausting Concordance – Heavier than Ever
48. Where Would Jesus Eat and How Much Did He Tip?
49. The Way Down Diet – Lose Weight and Your Salvation
50. Capitulating: Unveiling the Mystery of Keeping Your Wife from Getting Mad at You When You Want to Run Around and Do Wild at Heart Kind of Guy Stuff

Here’s my addition: The Celebration of Laziness: How to do as little as possible and still call yourself a Christian.

What are your additions?

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What should the church look like?

Chuck Warner of Confessions of a Small Town Pastor had this wonderful quote from The Great Giveaway.

I imagine our congregations becoming smaller, not bigger, yet teeming with the life of his body. And I hope there are more of them, so many of them in fact, that they become the alternative to the Starbucks of our day. I hope our churches become known for servanthood in the neighborhoods and warm hospitality that invites strangers into our homes. I pray that the home of every evangelical person becomes an incubator of evangelism, inviting strangers to the gospel out of their lostness and into the love and grace of life in our Lord Jesus Christ. I imagine real fellowship in our congregations, the kind that shares joys and suffering and potluck meals. I pray our leaders take on the form of humble servants who sit, listen, and suffer with real people through many years of leading them through this life in Jesus Christ. I hope we leave behind the CEO models of leadership. I look for our worship services to become liturgical places that form our people into faithful participants in the life of God.

The line about small churches becoming an alternative to Starbucks reminded me of a really good article that Leadership Journal has too: Coffeehouse Connections. In this article a pastor decides to be a barista one night a week at the coffeehouse where his wife works. This article is what the coffeehouse is teaching him about pastoring and doing church. Here’s one of his observations:

One night while working a couple months ago, I introduced one of our regulars to a friend from church. For the next two hours these new friends, one a twenty-something artist and the other a single mom of two college-age kids, sat at a table listening to each other’s stories.

Where else do soccer moms mingle with Goth kids dressed for the Friday night show? Or young, upwardly mobile commuters interact with a homeless man? Or a local pastor (me) interact regularly with anyone outside the church?

And I think: isn’t this what the church is supposed to look like?

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Our Iraqi Brothers and Sisters

They have been in Iraq for 2,000 years. At the turn of the 20th century they made up 20 percent of the population. In 2000 their numbers had sunk to two percent. For the past three years they have been leaving in droves because of violent persecution from Muslims. They are Iraqi Christians, and it is estimated that 200-300,000 Christians have fled from Iraq since the war began. According to Radio Free Europe:

When Saddam Hussein was still in power, the country’s estimated 1.2 million Christians lived peacefully side by side with Sunnis and Shi’ites, but after Hussein was arrested, they became a target of violence. In some quarters, they are associated with the majority Christian armies of the United States and Britain, who many Muslims believe are waging a modern-day crusade against Islam.

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RevGals Friday Five: Badda Bing Badda Boom

The questions are simple, the answers unlimited. Go!

Who: Professor Plum

What: With the candlestick

When: In the wee hours

Where: In the library

Why: No Emily Dickinson first edition should be treated that way.

Bonus: How: A solid thwack to the back of the head.

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The Image of God and Sexuality

There is a very disturbing thing going on to encourage abstinence among Christian teenagers and children. It started with Purity Balls “a memorable ceremony for daughters to pledge commitments to purity and their fathers to pledge commitments to protect their girls.” I could not find the pledge the daughters make on their website, but here is the pledge the fathers make:

I, [daughter’s name]’s father, choose before God to cover my daughter as her authority and protection in the area of purity. I will be pure in my own life as a man, husband and father. I will be a man of integrity and accountability as I lead, guide and pray over my daughter and as the high priest in my home. This covering will be used by God to influence generations to come.

This year the same organization put on an Integrity Ball for mothers and sons. There was no mention of the mothers making a pledge to their sons, but here is the pledge the sons take:

I, _________________________, choose before God to remain pure in my lifestyle, as I grow toward the goal of manhood, and until such a time that I marry.

I will be a young man of integrity and accountability as I strive to be an example to those around me. I will be bold and courageous, no matter what.

Today, I choose to seek after the high calling of God in every area of my life.

During the Purity Balls girls and teenagers are told to keep themselves pure for their future husbands, and as seen in the pledge, fathers pledge to “cover” their daughters and protect their virginity. During the Integrity Balls boys are told that the every girl they will date is someone else’s daughter and potentially someone else’s future husband. Would these young men want another man messing around with their future wife? Boys pledge to take charge of their lives and body; fathers pledge that they will protect their daughter’s virginity. Exactly how does Generations of Light (the organization behind the balls) view women?

Generations of Light view women as objects to be managed by men: first by fathers then by husbands. Instead children and teenagers should be taught that they are created in the image of God, and for that reason alone they need to respect each other. Boys should have been told that every girl they date is made in the image of God, and he needs to respect her and treat her accordingly, and girls need to hear the same thing. Christian teenagers also need to realize that first and foremost they are brothers and sisters in Christ. They might date, and they might break up. They will eventually get married, but through all those transient relationships, they are still brothers and sisters in Christ.

Another thing that needs to be addressed is that girls and women have sexual drives and needs as well as boys and men. This assumption that men are aggressively sexual and women are to be passive resistors of temptation is a horrible patriarchal myth that needs to end. Both men and women have sex drives, and both men and women have access to the fruit of self-control that the Spirit gives us. We should be teaching our teenagers how to cultivate self-control and set boundaries that will help them keep these pledges they make. It goes with saying that girls should be making their own pledges to take control of their lives and bodies as do the boys.

When men and women view each other as made in the image of God, and as brothers and sisters in Christ, we can respect each other and cultivate the self-control that is necessary to resist sexual (and all other) temptations. When a woman is a person in her own right and a man respects that, then they can set biblical guidelines and boundaries to their relationships.

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Poetry: Everyday's Most Quiet Need

“I love thee to the level of everyday’s
Most quiet need” (Elizabeth Barrett Browning)

“Everyday’s Most Quiet Need”

All the things I’ve wanted
Longed for
Dreamed of–
I found in you.
A best friend who
Let’s me be me–
Quirks and all.
I yearned for someone
Who would believe in me;
Share my dreams;
Support my vocation.
And when you said
I’m “intellectually sexy”
I lost my breath
And my heart sang.
I can’t believe I wait
For the phone to ring.
But I do–
Because I long to–
Hear your voice–
Hear you laugh–
Hear you say…
“Hey beautiful.”

©2006 Shawna Renee Bound

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Career Women of the Bible: Sisters Who Served

In Luke 10:38-42 we meet Martha and Mary who are apparently two single sisters living together; Luke makes no mention of Lazarus, their brother. When Jesus and the twelve come into their village Martha welcomes them into her home. At his point, normally sister is pitted against sister to elevate “being” with the Lord above “doing” for the Lord. This interpretation misses what Luke is doing in this narrative. As Fred Craddock points out the “radicality” of this story should not be overlooked: “Jesus is received into a woman’s home (no mention is made of a brother) and he teaches a woman” (Craddock, 152).

For the first century Jew sitting at someone’s feet did not bring to mind children sitting at the feet of adults listening to stories; sitting at someone’s feet meant higher, formal education. Jesus was known as a rabbi, a teacher; to sit at his feet meant that one was being trained as a disciple. Mary was not quietly sitting contemplating all Jesus said. She was in active training with the other disciples (Grenz, 75). This was not a usual activity for women. Martha was doing what women were supposed to do: be good homemakers.

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Reflections from others

Jendi Reiter has a beautiful excerpt from Walt Wangerin Jr.’s reflections on his cancer that is very different from how we normally look at diseases like cancer.

This beautiful prayer is the Sunday prayer from RevGalBlogPals:

If today’s church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning. –Martin Luther King Jr., “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”

Life-giving God, we give you thanks and praise for your abundant grace. With a mighty hand you parted the waters and provided a band of Israelite slaves with the gift of exodus—a way out. In the same way, O God, grant safe passage to all who need it today—passage through the turmoil of illness, grief, and despair; passage through poverty and oppression; passage, perhaps, through toils and snares of our own devising. Where chaos swirls around us like mighty waters, lead us by your Spirit. Let us find solid ground in our walk with Jesus Christ, our guide and friend. On this weekend of remembrance we give thanks for the life of Martin Luther King Jr., his prophetic witness, his courage, and his faithfulness to the gospel. May we be so prophetic, so courageous, and so faithful.

Powerful God, in the desert you smashed apart dry stones and made waters to spill out, enough for everyone. Forgive the times we do not trust you, when we demand miracles on our own timetable. You provided water in the desert, and manna sufficient for all; forgive us when we hoard and store up your abundant gifts for our own use. Give us the courage and faith to speak out for those in need of liberation and justice. Give us the words also to witness to your life-changing gospel in a thirsty world.

We thank you, resurrected God, that you rolled away the stone of the tomb, and a new creation poured forth. Justice and mercy roll down now and forever; peace and hope reign always. Help us to claim this new reality, in our lives and for this world. We pray in the name of Jesus, the risen Christ. Amen.

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