Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Renee's LiveJournal:

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Friday, May 28th, 2004
2:02 pm	I've been on a little Googling expedition for prayer and meditation online. Thought I would share the results with you, my readers. Please feel free to share with me any sites you know of that help you create a sacred or peaceful space for yourself, at your desk. World Wide Online Meditation Center Online Finger Meditation Tool Melanie Online - Meditation Room The Mandala Project online meditation center Ave Maria Spring Rain A 10-minute mindfulness guided meditation -- Beliefnet.com The Lord Is My Shepherd, a guided devotional of the 23rd Psalm -- Beliefnet.com Guided meditations on mindfulness, peace, the 23rd Psalm, the way of the cross, a breathing exercise and more -- Beliefnet.com Intuitive Flash: Meditation Room World Prayers (Comment on this)
Wednesday, May 26th, 2004
8:19 pm	Since the beginning of May, I have meant to post something about Mary, the Mother of Jesus--this is, after all, considered to be her month. I haven't yet been inspired to write anything, but I thought I would share some words from Kathleen Norris. I really appreciate her example as someone reclaiming Mary from the dogma built up around her, that I often felt was intended to keep women "in their place. Norris has a different insight about the meaning of Mary... The Serene Contradiction of the Mother of Jesus Why I reclaimed the virgin mother as a significant figure in my faith. I think that many Protestants, if they think about Mary at all, get hung up on what they are supposed to believe about her. And she doesn't make it easy. It's as if her calm visage belies our seeking after labels. Is Mary a cultural artifact or a religious symbol? A literary device or a theological tool? A valuable resource for biblical exegetes or the matrix of an extrabiblical piety that we, as Protestants, must avoid at all costs? The point about Mary is that she is all these things, and more, always more. She is poor yet gloriously rich. She is blessed among women yet condemned to witness her son's execution. She is human yet God-bearer, and the Word that she willingly bears is destined to pierce her soul. Had we a more elastic imagination, we might be less troubled by Mary's air of serene contradiction. But ours is a skeptical and divisive age. We are more comfortable with appraisal than with praise, more adept at cogent analysis than meaningful synthesis. Mary is useful to us as a corrective to our ordinary state of mind, the epitome of "both/and" passion over "either/or" reasoning. She has a disarming way of challenging the polarities that so often bring human endeavors to impasse: the subjective and objective, the expansive and the parochial, the affective and the intellectual. Mary's designation as both virgin and mother, for example, no longer seems to be an impossible "model" for women that justifies their continued oppression within church and society. Instead, Mary constitutes a challenge as to what is possible for me, as a married, childless, Christian woman: to what extent can I remain "virgin," one-in-myself, able to come to things with newness of heart, and in what sense must I become "mother," losing myself in the nurture and service of others and embracing life's circumstances with the ripeness of maturity? This Mary is a gender-bender; she asks the same question of any Christian man. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, May 12th, 2004
3:20 pm	Just heard about a new organization/web site and thought I should pass it along... FaithfulAmerica.org aspires to be an online wing of powerful, new progressive faith movement, like the ones that fought for independence, abolition and civil rights. (Comment on this)
3:20 pm	Those wacky "Fools"... From the "Oddly Enough" news section on Yahoo (which currently also has articles about Australians being encouraged by their government to have more children, and prostitutes in the Czech Republic seeing a drop in business): 3D Church Opened to Woo Internet Faithful Christians in Britain opened a zany 3D Internet church on Tuesday, billed as a first chance for believers to log on and worship interactively. Bishop of London Richard Chartres gave the inaugural sermon -- via a speech-bubble from his cartoon persona -- at the first service on the "Church of Fools" at www.shipoffools.com. "No one has ever before created a stand-alone church where you can log on as a worshipper and join in however you like -- to kneel, cross yourself, sing hymns or shout 'Hallelujah,'" Web site deputy editor Stephen Goddard told Reuters. Whoops--in the article above the forgot the hypens in http://ship-of-fools.com Click here to visit the virtual church. For anyone who missed it, the Ship of Fools people recently did an internet reality game show based on Noah's Ark. (Comment on this)
3:19 pm	I don't know how many of my readers are Douglas Adams fans...he wrote the Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy, among other things. Demetrius and I have the old BBC tv series on video, and probably have the whole radio show on tape somewhere, as well as the original three books in the trilogy (later there was a fourth, and a fifth book to the trilogy.) We know entire passages from the book and the radio show by heart. You know how some couples have a song that they consider "their song"? Well, we don't really have a song, but the Hitchhiker's Guide has always been "ours" in a way. Expressions from Adams' books have worked their way into our everyday vocabulary. Douglas Adams died suddenly on May 11, 2001. He was at the gym, and it was apparently a heart attack. Completely sudden and unexpected. Although after that it seemed like we started hearing of more cases of people who were not that old and in reasonably good shape dying suddenly. I'm thinking more recently of John Ritter, but there were at least a couple of others, I'm pretty sure. I remember reading the headline on Yahoo that day and just feeling completely stunned. Right away, I wanted to tell Demetrius. He was at a meeting of the central Ohio humanists group. I told him, and he shared it with the rest of the group. Adams was an outspoken atheist, so I think there was a "kindred spirit" connection for the group--a "He was one of us" sort of thing. Plus, a number of them were fans as well. After that I started Googling for stories about what happened--it was later said to be a heart attack, but we were pretty much hearing "collapsed at the gym" that day. (Isn't going to the gym supposed to be a healthy thing to do? We were struck by the morbid irony of this for a while: "Gee, I should go to the gym today and keep up that healthy exercise habit--except that I might die suddenly if I do!" In the process of searching for stories, I found out about his more recent projects, including internet projects, that I had never heard of. I discovered that he was a huge Macintosh fan and couldn't stand Microsoft Windows. I found that he was a founding director of h2g2, formerly The Digital Village, a digital media and Internet company with which he created the 1998 CD-ROM Starship Titanic. And I found this video he made of his 5 year old daughter Polly. That was when the tears came for me--watching this video that a doting dad made of his little girl. Click here to read about the video (John Cleese did a cameo in it) and to watch it. (Comment on this)
Monday, May 10th, 2004
3:18 pm	I just checked the comments in the Dean blog and saw this update from Katie Thomsen on our voting machine situation in Ohio. At the April Meetup we were told that this lawsuit was a possibility, if all else failed to stop the purchase of Diebold machines: A message from DFA Columbus: Many of you are already aware of the very dire situation we’re in regarding the purchase of electronic voting machines for 31 Ohio counties. Right now, the only way to stop the purchase is to file a lawsuit to halt the purchase of these machines in time for the ’04 election. CASE (Citizens Alliance for Secure Elections) needs donations in order to cover legal fees. They’ve been working with The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a non-profit, non-partisan organization based in California, to set up a fund for Ohio litigation on the electronic voting issue. You can pay two ways: 1. Go to the EFF website http://www.eff.org and pay by credit card online. IMPORTANT: Indicate in the "notes" section that your donation is for "Ohio E-Voting Litigation." 2. Send a check payable to Electronic Frontier Foundation and mail it to: Electronic Frontier Foundation 454 Shotwell Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415-436-9333 IMPORTANT: Be sure to write on your check that your donation is for the "Ohio E-Voting Litigation." EFF is a 501(c)(3) organization and donations to EFF are tax deductible, to the extent permissible by law. Please do this today. Give $100 if you can. If you can’t, give $20 and find 4 other people to do the same. We all are working very hard to get Bush out of office. That’s not going to happen if these machine purchases are not stopped. It’s as simple as that. Thanks to everyone! And please spread the word! Some Background on the Voting Situation: Ohio is about to making a huge mistake. In spite of all you may be hearing from the media about boards of election having second thoughts regarding the purchase of new machines, many counties are poised to purchase these flawed DRE machines for 2004. These DREs will not offer a Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) meaning voters will have no way of knowing if their vote has been recorded correctly. Also, there is no mechanism for a recount. These machines have recently been decertified in California but Ohio is moving ahead to purchase them anyway. For more, please visit http://www.verifiedvoting.org http://www.ohiovoters.org Also, check out Democrats for Ohio for updates. (Comment on this)
3:17 pm	A Tribute to Mothers A day late because my internet connection was down all day yesterday. I hadn't even been thinking about doing a Mother's Day post, until I heard a variation on this joke: Thomas Edison's mother: "Of course I'm proud that you invented the electric light bulb, Thomas. Now turn off that light and get to bed!" Hearing mention of Thomas Edison's mother, albeit in the context of a joke, reminded me of what a hero that woman was, though many people probably do no know it... Edison's mother, Nancy Elliott, was originally from New York until her family moved to Vienna, Canada, where she met Sam Edison, Jr., whom she later married. When Sam became involved in an unsuccessful insurrection in Ontario in the 1830s, he was forced to flee to the United States and in 1839 they made their home in Milan, Ohio. Edison was a poor student. When a schoolmaster called Edison "addled," his furious mother took him out of the school and proceeded to teach him at home. Edison said many years later, "My mother was the making of me. She was so true, so sure of me, and I felt I had some one to live for, some one I must not disappoint." At an early age, he showed a fascination for mechanical things and for chemical experiments. Temple Grandin, Ph.D. Temple Grandin is an adult with autism who parlayed her different way of thinking into a successful international career designing livestock equipment. She also designed and built the so-called "squeeze machine," which helps many people with autism relieve the anxiety commonly associated with disorder. The author of several books- including Thinking in Pictures, about her life with autism- Grandin attributes some of her success to early intervention. ... Temple Grandin's mother was recently a speaker at an autism conference: Eustacia Cutler - Temple Grandin's Mother Speaks Out - Ms. Cutler will address Temple's childhood and the challenges that she faced. Accused of "over-reacting", Eustacia proceeded on her own to where the doctors declared she had done a job that put the entire staff of The Children's Hospital to shame. "It is as rare as if Temple recovered spontaneously from leukemia." A graduate of Harvard University, with TV documentaries on retarded and emotionally disquieted children to her credit, Ms. Cutler will also explore the effect of autism on the identity of siblings and parents. Temple Grandin dedicated her book, Thinking in Pictures, to her mother. In a time when children with autism were often institutionalized, Eustacia worked tirelessly to provide Temple with what she needed to become a healthy, high functioning member of society. How many other mothers, whose names we will never know, work just as tirelessly every day, with and on behalf of their special needs children? Most of these children will not grow up to dedicate a book to their mothers. Some may never even capable of thanking their mothers for their years of sacrifice, dedication, and advocacy. Let us all, as a society, remember to thank the mothers of challenging children. Let us do all we can to help them in their struggle in any way we can--instead of blaming them for their children's behavior. What if, every time we saw a child having a tantrum in public, rather than trying to figure out what mom did wrong, we imagined what it must be like to be in her position, at this moment in time. In other words, could we train ourselves so that empathy becomes a more natural response than judgement? And, depending on the situation, we could offer a sympathetic smile, or even a kind word. Maybe something like, "Parenting is really hard work, isn't it? Often our children don't thank us for our efforts, so I'd like to say thank you so that you hear those words from someone--because you really do deserve it!" (Comment on this)
Saturday, May 8th, 2004
3:16 pm	The following is from Network's (a Catholic social justice lobby) response to Bush's State of the Union address. NETWORK's Legislative HotNews The President addressed the nation with his assessment of the state of the union and his initiatives for the final year of his term in office. NETWORK wished that the nation had heard an articulation of policies and possibilities that are based in the principles we find in the Catholic social justice tradition. The overarching Gospel principle is the obligation to attend to the poor. The moral fabric of a nation is determined by how well it provides for those who are poor in its midst. Have the President’s policies shown a special concern for the 35 million people in this nation who are poor and vulnerable? Amid the list of the proposals, nothing was outlined which would address the growing number of homeless families with children who seek safe and decent housing; the 14 million children of low-income working parents who cannot get affordable child care; or the cost of health care for the 44 million people without health insurance. Where will people who are struggling to move off welfare to pursue the elusive American dream find jobs that pay a livable wage, given that real wages have fallen and 2 million jobs have been lost since 2001. “Peace is not just the absence of war. It involves mutual respect and confidence between peoples and nations. It involves collaboration and binding agreements.” (Pope John Paul II) Peace is the fruit of justice. Has this Administration demonstrated mutual respect and collaboration in international affairs? Has the principle of justice for all been upheld? Has our nation brought about greater peace and justice by waging a pre-emptive war based on faulty reasons? Does the building of new nuclear weapons make us or the world more secure? If the United States rejects diplomacy as a way to work with other nations how will peace be waged? We are one human family and we wished that we heard how we are called to work globally for peace with justice. Government is an instrument to promote human dignity and build the common good. All people have a right and a responsibility to participate in political institutions so that government can achieve its proper goals. We wanted to hear that there is room and a need for open debate in our political process and that democracy is healthier when common ground is sought. How is it that “you are either with us or against us” became a way to deal with our neighbors? How is it that our politicians have become so polarized that differing opinions make an enemy of the other? Wouldn’t true leadership work to bring us together for the sake of the common good? The goods of the earth are gifts from God, and intended for the benefit of everyone. There is a "social mortgage" that guides our use of the world's goods, and we have a responsibility to care for these goods as stewards and trustees, not as mere consumers and users. How we treat the environment is a measure of our stewardship. If this were our guiding principle would we seek to conquer and militarize space? How does the proposed energy policy match the care of creation called for by our teachings? Click here to read the rest. And go here to see their list of priority issues. Wonder if Catholics Against Kerry is familiar with these priorities, which are organized under the broad categories of economic equity, global peace and security, and reordering budget priorities. It makes their focus on Kerry's abortion stance seem rather narrow and counter to the values emphasized by Jesus. (Comment on this)
3:16 pm	So, today I'm exploring interfaith religion/spirituality links. You know, tolerance, mutual understanding and respect, what connects us type sites. Actually this started from an effort to put together a home page for my kids. It has a mix of fun and educational links--some things they chose, and some that I chose, available for them to "discover" on their own. I realized that what is missing at this point is some sites that deal with religion or spirituality. But, especially with a son who seems downright allergic to all things religious, I figured I would need to find just the right angle. So I'm trying to find some reasonably unbiased (e.g. not promoting one particular faith tradition) sites that are designed to help kids learn about the different ways people worship and believe. As usual, this foray of hunter-gathering on the web has led me to discover things other than what I was looking for. So, I'll share the links I've discovered here. And, if you know of any sites that fit what I started out looking for, could you let me know? Thanks. Pluralism Project Homepage Adherents.com a growing collection of over 41,000 adherent statistics and religious geography citations -- references to published membership/adherent statistics and congregation statistics for over 4,200 religions, churches, denominations, religious bodies, faith groups, tribes, cultures, movements, ultimate concerns, etc. Religious and Sacred Texts The Joy of Sects "The earth's spiritual traditions are a rich repository of wisdom, practical advice, and healing knowledge, as well as art, music, and mystery. This site is a place to explore all those dimensions, ask questions, and engage in dialogue. " Earth Renewal "Whether or not they know it, most of the world's religions and philosophies start from the same point. Like spokes emanating from a wheel's hub, they converge upon and diverge from a common center." Peace Seed "This site is dedicated to the concept that when one studies different religious traditions, one is struck by the repeated similarities of basic truths." The Cauldron and the Cross "This place is for those who have found or wish to find common ground between the Cauldron and the Cross, away from theology and dogma, perhaps try to eliminate misconceptions, break down barriers, maybe learn something." Fellowship of the Earth "congregation of the Universal Life Church. Dedicated to those who follow Earth Spirituality. Proud of our cultural and spiritual diversity. Educating against religious intolerance. Providing a community network of those with similar beliefs. Celebrating the Earth and Her seasons. Promoting kinship and respect for all. An Ark Called Earth "We hope to capture and preserve a glimpse of how members of all faiths and nationalities, all ages and cultures viewed their own spirituality, our planet and humanity's future at the turn of the latest millennium." Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance International Association for Religious Freedom For the Common Good: "A web site to inform about ethical, spiritual and global issues and to seek humane solutions to the challenges of globalisation." Interfaith Studies: This website will bring you into touch with issues, organisations and initiatives for inter-religious understanding and co-operation. (Comment on this)
Friday, May 7th, 2004
3:15 pm	Anyone who is not familiar with this blog, or hasn't read it for a while, I hope you will check it out and bookmark it. Too often the war is just an abstract concept for us. It became more concrete when we were forced to look at actual pictures of the torture that has gone on. It seems like we don't face the genuine, unedited horror if we can at all avoid it. I fear that many may soon retreat into the abstract, theoretical way of thinking and talking about what our government and military are doing in Iraq. But right now, while we are paying attention, I think it is important to actually hear the voices of the people who are living this reality thousands of miles away. Baghdad Burning Just Go... People are seething with anger- the pictures of Abu Ghraib and the Brits in Basrah are everywhere. Every newspaper you pick up in Baghdad has pictures of some American or British atrocity or another. It's like a nightmare that has come to life. Everyone knew this was happening in Abu Ghraib and other places… seeing the pictures simply made it all more real and tangible somehow. American and British politicians have the audacity to come on television with words like, "True the people in Abu Ghraib are criminals, but…" Everyone here in Iraq knows that there are thousands of innocent people detained. Some were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, while others were detained 'under suspicion'. In the New Iraq, it's "guilty until proven innocent by some miracle of God". People are so angry. There’s no way to explain the reactions- even pro-occupation Iraqis find themselves silenced by this latest horror. I can’t explain how people feel- or even how I personally feel. Somehow, pictures of dead Iraqis are easier to bear than this grotesque show of American military technique. People would rather be dead than sexually abused and degraded by the animals running Abu Ghraib prison. ... I'm avoiding the internet because it feels like the pictures are somehow available on every site I visit. I'm torn between wishing they weren't there and feeling, somehow, that it's important that the whole world sees them. The thing, I guess, that bothers me most is that the children can see it all. How do you explain the face of the American soldier, leering over the faceless, naked bodies to a child? How do you explain the sick, twisted minds? How do you explain what is happening to a seven-year-old? ... I sometimes get emails asking me to propose solutions or make suggestions. Fine. Today's lesson: don't rape, don't torture, don't kill and get out while you can- while it still looks like you have a choice... Chaos? Civil war? Bloodshed? We’ll take our chances- just take your Puppets, your tanks, your smart weapons, your dumb politicians, your lies, your empty promises, your rapists, your sadistic torturers and go. (Comment on this)
3:14 pm	Arianna Huffington has a petition to Kerry on her site. I think the letter is quite good. I was disappointed, but not surprised, that we never got any acknowledgement of the letter and questions I sent from myself and some fellow Dean supporters. But since this is from someone higher profile and therefore has the opportunity to attract the kind of media attention that would pressure Kerry to respond, I am more optimistic that Kerry will at least "hear" it and respond in some way. Dear Senator Kerry, We all want to send George Bush home to Crawford, Texas, in November. He seems convinced that the way to win is by playing on our fears. You can prove that the answer lies in appealing to the 'better angels of our nature.' Let Bush own September 11th and the politics of fear. You should own September 12th - the spirit of generosity and community that poured forth in the aftermath of the attacks - and the politics of hope. Offer voters a bold moral vision of what America can be. A vision that is bigger than the things that divide us. A vision that brings hope and soul back to our politics and appeals to more than voters' narrow self-interests. A vision that makes America once again a respected force for good in the world. Instead of adopting the familiar - and failed - Republican-lite swing voter strategy, you can reach out to and inspire the fifty percent of eligible voters who have given up on voting. If you do, you will win not in a toss-up but a landslide. Senator Kerry, I'm ready to vote my hopes and not my fears. So please: Go Big, Ask More! " Click here to sign the petition. (Comment on this)
Saturday, April 24th, 2004
4:01 pm	An important discussion at The Village Gate I hope you will check out. How Can We Defuse the Anger and Bitterness? | The Village Gate Allen writes: Did I ever sleep through some excitement! Last night, Atrios at Eschaton blasted Melanie and me--of course, without mentioning us by name or giving us a link. He complains about discrimination against atheists and the bogus claims of persecution coming from White Christian Males. ... One has to admire Atrios and Kos. They've built the left side of the blogosphere into a more-than-equal counter to Reynolds and company. But if they continue to dominate conversation in the progressive blogosphere while holding to the attitudes that both have toward religion and specifically, Christianity, the potential of this medium to mobilize the Left and counter the corporate-controlled media will never be realized. It's not their being atheists or agnostics that's the problem. It's not that they bash the Christian Right. It's that they express and/or countenance such an intense hatred of religiosity in any form so that their sites will offend the overwhelming majority of the public and ultimately be an embarrassment to politicians who must seek votes from those 90% of Americans who consider themselves religious. I wish I knew how to defuse all that anger. From the feedback I receive on this site, it seems that those who actually spend time here, even if they came full of justified anger and bitterness against Christianity and Christians, usually find something at The Village Gate/The Right Christians that counters their previous negative experiences. But one must take the risk of being exposed to the feared and the hated "Other" in order to be freed from stereotypes." To add your own comments at The Village Gate, you need to register. You can register for free and comment, or you can join as a contributor or subscriber for additional privileges, such as submitting articles and maintaining your own blog at The Village Gate. (Comment on this)
Sunday, April 18th, 2004
5:47 pm	I'd never heard of Randall Sullivan before hearing him interviewed Friday night on the Majority Report radio program. He wrote a book called The Miracle Detective, in which he told of his investigation into the reports of the visions of the Virgin Mary in Medjugorje. I first heard about these visions in Medjugorje when I read the book Looking for Mary Or, the Blessed Mother and Me a couple years ago. I admit it, I am intrigued by these things. Not sure if I believe, but definitely intrigued. The following comes from a review on the Religion News Service web site: What Sullivan didn't know was that his own investigation would lead from Vatican City in Rome to the tiny village of Medjugorje in the former Yugoslavia, where the Virgin Mary reportedly first appeared to six young people in 1981. "The more I learned about the controversy surrounding Medjugorje within the Church," says Sullivan, "the more remarkable it seemed to me that an event considered to be on par with Lourdes and Fatima was happening right now in a country that was being torn apart by the bloodiest European civil war in fifty years. I had to go there." Sullivan's harrowing search for an explanation of the miraculous, specifically in Bosnia-Herzegovina, occurred at the very same time that the country was being torn apart by the worst of humanity's evils: war, ethnic cleansing and mass graves. "The war in Bosnia-Herzegovina and all its attendant horrors was an essential aspect of my experience and of this book," says Sullivan. "This was the first time I had ever seen the effects of war in person, and I doubt anyone is not changed by the direct and visceral engagement of humanity's capacity for savagery. In that place, at that time, it was difficult to doubt that evil exists. Equally impressive, though, was the human capacity for heroism, for charity and for sacrifice. I sensed almost immediately that the events in Medjugorje were somehow inseparable from the war, and I wanted to understand how that could be. What I learned about this was disturbing and inspiring in equal measures." It was in Medjugorje that Sullivan encountered an unexpected turn in his investigation -- a personal religious experience in which a mysterious young woman came to his aid as he made a pilgrimage up the mountain of Krizevac. "What happened to me in Medjugorje was a kind of conversion experience," says Sullivan. "I was raised by a pair of atheists who took the Jesse Ventura view of religion -- that it is a crutch for the weak-minded. Both my siblings are avowed atheists. I was never really comfortable with this; even as a child I sensed that there was a divine source. Yet I had an experience of God's mercy and of Christ's sacrifice that was unprecedented in my life, and that I found myself unable to deny and unwilling to disavow even after I returned to my secular reality in the United States." Sullivan interviewed dozens of theologians, believers, skeptics, and apostates in an attempt to make sense of what he found in Medjugorje, from the compassionate Father Slavko Barbaric, an intellectual priest known as the Medjugorje seers' "spiritual director," to the legendary Father Benedict Groeschel, who is continually called upon to investigate supernatural -- or at least strange -- phenomena across America, culminating an eight-year investigation of predictions of apocalyptic events, false claims of revelation, and the search for a genuine theophony, that is, the ultimate interface between man and God. (Comment on this)
Sunday, April 11th, 2004
12:55 pm	Happy Easter! In a little while we will leave for Easter potluck brunch at church. I have been to Mass already and heard my daughter sing in the children's choir. We found out that the new associate rector is coming soon, and saw a letter of introduction from her. We are both happy that the new priest is a woman--I was thankful that my daughter got to experience something I never did, seeing Mother Astrid say Mass. When Mother Astrid was called to a church in New England, we hoped that her successor would also be a "Mother" rather than a "Father"--even if she didn't actually call herself that. After church, there was an Easter egg hunt in the cemetery--now there's some symbolism for you! Daffodils and headstones. Joyful discovery among reminders of our own mortality. Life, death, life, and hope. Spring again--finally. On the way home, we were pleased to find that the local grocery store does sell butter in the shape of a lamb . I told my daughter that it was a Polish tradition, swieconka and how I used to celebrate it with my grandmother (for whom my daughter is named). She said, "I know somebody who's part Polish!" and told me about one of her friends from school. I told her that I was mostly Polish, so that she also part Polish. She was truly amazed, and said she didn't know that. I'm sure I told her before at some point, but maybe it just hadn't been the right "teachable moment". I was really hungry, and she gave me one of the ears of the big bunny cookie she received from her choir director. I said, "Thank you for sharing" and she responded, "Thank you for having me born!" I'm not making that up--she actually said that! Fortunately, she was also in enough of a giving mood to share some of her loot with her brother when she got home. They still both struggle with the idea of what is "fair" and invariably every time one of them gets some treat and the other doesn't, unhappiness ensues. Last night she found the evidence of his trip to McDonald's--a Happy Meal toy--and marched into the office presenting it to us-- "I know where he went today!" But today, she got to go on an Easter egg hunt and he didn't. As a Radical Secular Humanist (a term my husband and I made up for him), he doesn't have to sit through church, but he also misses the occasional treat. It all balances out, more or less. But in a few minutes we will head back to church--this time all four of us--bringing my husband's fresh baked bread, the butter lamb, and a banana cream pie (Grandma's recipe--the kind I used to make when I stayed over at her house and helped with the Easter preparations.) Some words about Easter before I go... Thoughts on Easter from Andrew Greeley As Jews, the early followers of Jesus had no doubt that the environment was good. Yahweh had made it and that was that. Yet their law prohibited many material things, often for reasons that were socially functional when the laws were created–meat that was easily spoiled and poisoned, for example. But many of the sects among them were obsessed with the fear that they might be rendered "impure" by the corruption of the world around them. Hence these sectaries spent considerable amounts of time in ritual hand-washings and baths. Furthermore, Jews were suspicious of the pagan tendency to worship the forces of nature superstitiously (despite the vestiges of nature rites in their own religion). Finally, the Jewish intellectuals of their time–particularly outside of Palestine–could not help but be influenced by Platonic philosophy and its religious descendent, Gnosticism, both of which were strongly antimaterial and antibody. But in the Christ event at Easter the followers Of Jesus learned that the material world was saved too. God gave his supreme gift of himself, his ultimate revelation of himself, not in the form of a Gnostic angel but in the form of a man who eats, drinks, grows weary, and falls asleep like all other men. God had entered the cosmos, not as pure spirit but as very much part of the material world. Therefore, that world was holy. The body of Jesus shared in the resurrection, and that settled the matter once and for all. The world was good. It was both the object and the means of salvation. It was the recipient of grace. It revealed God's gift to us. Indeed it was part of the gift. The world is grace. Further thoughts from Greeley on the meaning of the Easter experience: There are different names to describe this Something Else: the Sacred, the Ultimate, the Transcendent, the Other, and, in a marvelous burst of German existentialist redundancy, the Totally Other. But whatever we call that phenomenon which flits across our preoccupied, mundane consciousness, religion is that kind of human activity which attempts to relate our life to the Something Else which may be at work in the universe. The most basic of religious questions–maybe the only one that really matters–is whether we can accept the claim to graciousness and loving care which the Something Else seems to be making in our occasional encounter with it. There have been some extraordinarily powerful and intense experiences of the Something Else down through human history. From these special events come the great religious traditions, which attempt to share these very special experiences with those who "were not there." A wandering collection of desert nomads became aware of their common peoplehood at the foot of a mountain, and in that awareness experienced the graciousness of the God who, on his own initiative, entered into a covenant with them that constituted them a people. The rest of Jewish religious history consists of efforts to keep alive the memory of the Sinai experience so that those who were not there could encounter the love and goodness of the gracious Lord of Sinai. Similarly, a group of Galilean peasants, fishermen, and tradesmen developed an extraordinary relationship with a very special kind of popular preacher. Much to their sorrow, he did not establish the temporal kingdom everyone expected. He was arrested and executed by the soldiers of the occupying power. But to their complete astonishment, his followers did experience him as supremely alive after he died. In the power of that Easter experience of the risen Lord they came to understand, as they never had done previously, what he was talking about when he preached. They perceived him as a special messenger of God who preached, more strongly than anyone ever had before, the great intensity and intimacy of the Something Else's love for humankind. Indeed, they saw that the Something Else–God–was present in Jesus in a unique and special way so that he was God's son in a way others were not. They saw that life did matter, that God did love his creatures, that death was not the end, and that with the coming of Jesus a new era in human history had begun. Humankind was getting a second chance, a fresh new start. Filled with enthusiasm and excitement over this experience –which ran contrary to the fears and insecurities of their own personalities–they immediately went forth to share the Good News of their experience with the rest of humankind. And finally, thoughts from Marcus Borg on Revisioning Chrstianity: If we take what we see in Jesus seriously, as a "disclosure of what a life full of God looks like," what does that life look like? I will describe that life with two pairs of words, and the two pairs are spirit – wisdom on the one hand, and compassion – justice on the other hand. I begin with the first pair. It will be a life centered in spirit and wisdom, and I will now talk about spirit and wisdom separately. When I speak about a life centered in the spirit of God, I am referring, of course, to my strong sense that Jesus, historically speaking, was a Jewish mystic. Now a mystic, very simply, is a person for whom God, or the Spirit or the sacred, are an experiential reality. Mystics are people who have vivid, and typically frequent, experiences of the sacred. I think, contrary to what some of my colleagues would say, the evidence that Jesus was a Jewish mystic is early, widespread, and persuasive. Thus for Jesus as a historical person, his relationship to the Spirit was utterly central, or foundational, to everything else he was. Jesus, I am convinced, knew the immediacy of the sacred in his own experience. He knew the reality of an unbordered relationship with God in his own experience. And, very importantly, he invited his followers into a relationship with the same Spirit that he knew in his own experience. At the risk of repeating myself, and to put it as simply as I know how, a life full of God is a life centered in the Spirit of God. If we take this seriously, it means that spirituality will be one of the two focal points of the Christian life. The other focal point will be compassion in the world of the everyday. That’s what I’ll talk about under compassion and justice, of course, but it means that spirituality will be one of the two focal points of the Christian life. I define spirituality myself very simply as: becoming conscious of, and intentional about, a deepening relationship with God. Let me expand that briefly by commenting upon three words. Conscious. What I have in mind there is that we are all already in a relationship with God and have been from the very beginning. Spirituality is about becoming conscious of that relationship that already exists. Intentional. Intentional means paying attention to that relationship. There is nothing terribly mysterious about the relationship with God. It is analogous to human relationships. The more you pay attention to it, the more it deepens. Relationship. When I speak about the third term I want to unpack, it’s about a deepening relationship with God. Spirituality is not very much about believing, at all. You don’t have to believe a thing to begin the practice of spirituality. Some people say, "Well, don’t you have to believe in God before you can start doing this?" No! Of course you don’t. Sometimes belief precedes. Sometimes belief follows. It’s about a relationship with that Mystery (capital "M") within which we live, and move, and have our being. Now, if we take spirituality seriously as one of the two focal points of the Christian life, this leads immediately to a way of thinking about one of the major purposes of our life together as "church." I say one, because I don’t want to say it’s the only one. I try to speak about one of the major purposes of our life together as ‘church’ with the twin metaphor, the double metaphor, of open hearts and thin places. That spirituality, or the Christian life, is ultimately about the opening of the heart, the opening of the self at its deepest level, to the reality of God. To be even more metaphorical about that, Allen Jones of Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, in one of his books, speaks of spirituality as for the hatching of the heart. It’s a wonderful image, because it suggests that our hearts, ourselves at the deepest level, typically have a shell around them. If the life that is within is to come into full life, that shell must open. Christianity, the spiritual life in Christian form, is about the opening of itself at the deepest level to God. (Comment on this)
Saturday, April 10th, 2004
5:47 pm	I remember how impressed I was when I heard that William Sloane Coffin had endorsed Howard Dean. I wish I'd had the chance to meet him--he has been such a source of wisdom and insight to me. Coffin ready: "Having spent his life raging against bigotry, nuclear arms and economic excess, the Rev. William Sloane Coffin says he intends to die gently, without fuss, without fury. 'We should cooperate gracefully with the inevitable,' he says pragmatically, acknowledging with some amusement that, while he's had a fiery public life, he is a man who picks his battles. 'If you don't come to grips with death early on, but know you'll die, it will make you insecure. And that's the worst thing that humans can do, try to secure themselves against insecurity. With money. Or power. Pretending that life will go on forever. And it makes others pay a gruesome price. 'You see, you can't get rich without making someone else poor. You can't get power without disempowering somebody else. All of these things are forms of pride ... and are essentially corrupt.'" -- Since he suffered a stroke, Coffin's speech is slightly slurred; he sometimes must repeat a word or two. His voice doesn't boom like it used to, but he can still rant against what he finds intolerable - lately the duo of Bush and Cheney, men he believes are muddied by deception and are putting U.S. soldiers' lives at risk in a war with Iraq that shouldn't even be. -- Death may be inevitable, he says, but atrocities and injustices are not. Mention the war in Iraq, and he says that he wishes the military brass had quit in protest. "Bush, Cheney, Pearl ... (they're) intellectually in a bunker. They're lacking in imagination, and have misled the country, including the military. I feel sympathy for those who are in Iraq." Coffin says the churches have grown too conservative, like the whole country, forgetting that the devil tempted Jesus with wealth and power. He thinks his thesis in a book published in the 1980s by Westminster/John Knox, A Passion for the Possible, still holds up - that the world the churches ought to be working to create is one without violent conflict, without pollution, and without "a yawning chasm" between rich and poor. Some churches are "irrelevant(ly) righteous," he says, and others are "more concerned with free love than free hate." He says the answer to bad religion isn't no religion - it's good religion. He laments that much about church life is "management and therapy. There is so little prophetic fire." "Anger has a very important spiritual benefit," Coffin says. "If you don't have anger, you end up tolerating the intolerable - and that's intolerable. I still have plenty of anger that is ready to be used at a moment's notice." He pauses, then adds: "When you get older, you find that you don't miss as much as you thought you would. I was a damn good tennis player. Now, I can hardly walk ... I don't grieve that. I was a serious pianist. But I no longer have the energy to keep up my digital dexterity. So, I listen to music; I don't play it. If you adapt in this way, it is a positive thing. You're not in control anymore, less and less. And that's very nice. ... "As I think I have said other places, it's a very good thing we don't live forever. ... If life were endless, we'd be bored to death. ... The fact that we're going to die gives meaning to life, gives meaning to our days. And that is a good thing." (Comment on this)
Friday, April 9th, 2004
8:27 pm	John Dominic Crossan on Jesus' Kingdom Program -- Beliefnet.com After centuries of subjugation to various empires, the Jews of Jesus’ time wanted to know: if God is just, and the world belongs to God, why is the world so unjust? One stream of Jewish tradition answered that question with this mantra: God will overcome, someday. At some point in the future, God would not only clean up the mess but also create a perfect world. We sometimes mistakenly call that expected Utopia the “end of the world,” but for ancient Jews or Christians that would have been impossible. They believed that only God could destroy the world and that, having created it and declared it to be all-good in Genesis 1, he would never annul that creation. (We, of course, can easily imagine the “end of the world” since we ourselves can now do it atomically, biologically, chemically, demographically, or ecologically-and we are only up to the letter E.) What ancient people waited for with eager faith was an end not to earth or world, but to evil, violence, and oppression. What they expected was not a transfer from earth to heaven, but a transfer of heaven to earth. -- Jesus arose from this stream of Jewish tradition--but he also made three rather stunning mutations within it. Jesus did not create an innovation against Judaism but a transformation within Judaism. Here are Jesus’ ideas: First, he claimed that the Kingdom of God, a standard term for the Great Divine Clean-Up of Earth, was not just imminent but already here, was not just coming soon but had already started. And that, by the way, was a difficult claim to make. What may have been expected as an instant of blinding divine transformation was now proclaimed to be a process in time, an event with a beginning, a continuation, and an end. More about why the power structure of the day perceived Jesus as a threat: This kingdom is about God, not Jesus himself, and is on earth. It addresses two main concerns of peasants: bread and death. "They have too much of the second and too little of the first," quips Crossan. Jesus is a Jew, and the early kingdom movement'-the expectation of God's earthly rule and Israel's liberation from foreign oppression-is not the founding of a religion called Christianity but a thoroughly Jewish phenomenon. Unfortunately, we know relatively little of the Judaism of the first century, and much of what we do know derives from the New Testament. (Comment on this)
8:06 pm	From Frontline: from jesus to christ: jesus many faces: arrest and execution The plaque which names him as Jesus, the king of the Jews, suggests that the charge on which he was executed was one of political insurrection. A threat to the Pax Romana but he's also now a victim of the Pax Romana. Allen D. Callahan: Associate Professor of New Testament, Harvard Divinity School [Why was Jesus killed?] The Roman answer is good enough for me. He was causing trouble. He constituted a security risk and he was dealt with the way the Romans always deal with security risks in the provinces. This was a matter of not even so much politics, as policy. This is how the Romans handled trouble-makers, even if they didn't intend to make trouble. One of the questions that runs like a leitmotif in modern New Testament studies is whether Jesus was fomenting revolution, ...[whether] Jesus' self-concept had to do with being a revolutionary or being someone who was overturning the Roman establishment. For the moment anyway, I'm probably willing to leave that question unanswered. I think the Roman answer is the one that's important, and that is, whatever he was doing, it was considered dangerous enough that he'd be crucified for it. And, that's exactly what they did. Paula Fredriksen: William Goodwin Aurelio Professor of the Appreciation of Scripture, Boston University Would Jesus have stood out as being special and unique in the eyes of Pilate?Pilate was not a happy choice as Prefect of Judea. He had a reputation as a man who had sticky fingers. In a period where graft and corruption was the prerogative of a provincial official, he still had a high profile as somebody who was corrupt. He had a reputation for executing untried prisoners, for venality and theft.... He's not somebody you'd want to get on the wrong side of. Pilate occasioned riots in Jerusalem. He would get nervous when there were crowds of Jews. And of course he was legally responsible to be up in Jerusalem when it was the most crowded of all. He would leave this very nice, plush, seaside town in Caesarea, which was, you know, a nice pagan city. Plenty of pagan altars. All the stuff he wanted. And had to go up to Jerusalem where all these Jews were congregating and stay there for crowd control until the holiday was over. He was in a bad mood already by the time he got to town. And Passover would fray anybody's nerves. [And] remember in this period, government depends on spies. It's particularly [important] if you're an occupying power. You need to have spies to know what's going on. People reporting came back, "Lookit, there's somebody who's really getting people excited and agitated talking about a Kingdom of God." Pilate doesn't care about theological niceties. Pilate doesn't even care about legal niceties. This is why ... ultimately, he's fired for his corruption and incompetence. Hearing that somebody is a trouble maker would be enough. Boom. He's dead. I think that's probably what happened with Jesus.... (Comment on this)
Thursday, April 8th, 2004
10:19 pm	From The Center for Progressive Christianity At his last supper with his disciples, Jesus invited all twelve to share in the bread and wine, although not one of them had yet developed any faith in him. Of the twelve - one betrayed him, one denied him, and the rest ran away. Following the example of Jesus, we think that all people present should be offered bread and wine whenever the church celebrates the Lord's Supper. As they share the ritual meal, they participate in the vision of a just world where all people live at peace. The "banquet" that always begins with the bread and wine has been a symbol of inclusiveness and reconciliation throughout the Jewish and Christian traditions. How ironic it seems that the church for centuries has used communion as the symbol and tool for divisiveness, often creating complicated rules, laws and policies about who can receive the communion elements and who cannot. And yet many of our favorite stories of Jesus's life are about his open table, his table of fellowship, and the wonderfully strange and unique people with whom we find him "breaking bread" and dining. It is probably no coincidence that many scholars today believe the stories about Jesus's open table are considered some of the most authentic historical passages in the gospels, in part because they are so unique for the times. Marcus J. Borg wrote in Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time, "one of his (Jesus's) most characteristic activities was an open and inclusive table." (p.55) Later he notes that, "The inclusive vision incarnated in Jesus's table fellowship is reflected in the shape of the Jesus movement itself." (p. 56) John Dominic Crossan writes that Jesus's open table fellowship is a core teaching component and symbol of his life. He notes that Jesus's practice of "open commensality (rules of tabling and eating) is the symbol and embodiment of radical egalitarianism, of an absolute equality of people that denies the validity of any discrimination between them and negates the necessity of any hierarchy among them." (Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography, p.27, 1994) Most modern scholars believe that this unique table fellowship was the precursor of what became the Lord's Supper, or the Eucharist. Borg writes, "ultimately, the meals of Jesus are the ancestor of the Christian Eucharist." (p.56) Progressive Christians then assume that we are following the instructions and model of Jesus when we practice open communion. We are acting out of a long tradition and a fundamental expression of God's love, the heart of the original Jesus movement. More on open commensality: Jesus told a parable which summed up his views on the matter. It was about a man giving a feast for his friends all of whom, when the time came, found excuses not to come. Undaunted by this, the rich man sent out his servants to invite in any they could find - Luke's version talks about "the poor and maimed and blind and lame", and when they have been found and there is still room at table, the servants get sent out again. The host replaces the absent guests with anyone off the streets. Now, as soon as you start inviting people off the streets, normal commensality breaks down. If taken literally, in such a situation one could have classes, sexes, ranks and religious status all mixed up together. Anyone could be reclining next to anyone else, female next to male, slave next to free, socially high next to socially low, ritually pure next to ritually impure. An absolute social nightmare. That, it seems, is not only how Jesus thought, it is how he lived. His parable advocates, and his practice was, open commensality, a sharing of bread and cup together without using the table as a miniature map of society's discriminations and separations. The almost predictable accusation against him was that he was a man without morals, or as the socially and politically correct of the day expressed it, a glutton, a drunkard, and a friend of tax collectors and sinners. He makes no appropriate distinctions and discriminations about those with whom, in the strict commensality of first century Judaism, open and free association should be avoided. And why did he do this? Quite simply, Jesus' radical vision of the equality of people under God. Or, one might say, Jesus' vision of the radical equality of people under God. It is difficult in the relative egalitarianism of our democratic New Zealand society to stress how disturbing in a highly structured society were Jesus' convictions and actions. Society was rigidly divided socially, politically, economically, and religiously. And within the first century Jewish framework of thinking, where you stood within the social, economic and religious distinctions, represented where you stood in relation to acceptability with God. Being male put you closer to God than being female. Being rich put you closer to God than being poor (because clearly you were blessed by God). Being of priestly descent (because priesthood was hereditary not something you felt called to) put you closer to God than ordinary people. Being healthy put you closer to God than being ill or disabled. Your occupation put you closer to or further from God - so being a shepherd, for instance, despite all the lovely imagery of the Hebrew scriptures such as psalm 23, put you about as far away from God as you could get. Unless, of course, you weren't a Jew, in which case God wasn't in the least interested in you. Jesus, the subversive sage, the indiscriminate healer, the social prophet, would have none of this. His primary thrust was to break down definitions of acceptable and unacceptable, to remove all socially- and religiously-imposed barriers between people and God, and to express the compassion of God, the caring of God, regardless of who people were. Indiscriminate caring and loving was demonstrated by meals in people's homes and meals in open places, where no one was considered inappropriate. It was, scholars like John Dominic Crossan assert, in this open commensality, this indiscriminate table fellowship of sharing and caring, that the holy communion found its roots, despite later developments linking bread and wine to Jesus' own body and blood and impending death and the so-called Last Supper. And, if that is so, it means that each service of Holy Communion is not just a time to be religious, spiritually fed; it is at heart a political, economic and social action. "When we come together to break bread, we must break it to the hungry, to God himself in his poor members," wrote Henry L'Estrange in the mid-seventeenth century. John A T Robinson, writing in the mid-twentieth century, wrote, "The sharing of bread, concluded now sacramentally, must be continued socially - and thence economically and politically." (Comment on this)
4:10 pm	What did the Apostles experience at the Last Supper in the washing of the feet? What does it mean for us? And during supper Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. It would have been different if he had greeted them with this; or had taken the slaves' ladel as well as the bowl. Or had waited 'til the end of the meal. There were many ways he could have done this differently. But this is what he did. During the meal, while they all ate and talked, he rose from the couch he reclined on with his friends and followers. He took off his outer robe. [The garment worn for decency in public, for covering nakedness, for keeping some things private.] And tied a towel around himself. [Think of it this way, you have your dress shirt on, only it has an even hem and comes down to between mid-thigh and the knees. No boxers. No socks. You take an extra long dish cloth and wrap one end of it round your hips. Tuck the other end in at the waist for the moment or throw it over your shoulder.] Then he poured water in a basin [More like a bird bath than a mixing bowl. Large and shallow, not really designed for carrying about.] and began to wash the disciples' feet. [They are reclining at table, heads in, feet out. And the Master of all comes round, like a slave to wash them, and not their hands that they use for eating, but their feet. Their feet covered with the dust of the world. The dust of past travel. Of past action.] And He made them clean. As with the love that lays down life for friendship, so is this. That lays down pride and postion, image and doing-the-right-things. That is seen talking to the homeless on a main street. Cleaning the toilets at church. Taking the single mothers children to the beach so she can have a free day. The endless round of servant tasks that make this world closer to the Kingdom. Indeed, loving the other enough to make the Kingdom appear in their life. Yes, there is risk. But the world has never been comfortable with those who serve rather than be served, who give rather than take. 'Thy kingdom come, thy will be done,' and He told us his will. 'Love God [] and love your neighbour as yourself.' But let us go back again to what He did. This person participating in a meal with a group of his friends and students, wearing the power suit of the day, gets up and takes off his jacket. Puts a towel over his arm, fills a bowl with water, and attends to their comfort. Assuming the tasks and appearance of a servant. Changing roles freely, joyously? for love of those who he served. He proclaims in word and deed, 'I am your servant, this is how I lead you, how I love you, how I wish you to love me.' There are other examples if you look for them. Those who are healed when they are listened to, when they, with all their faults, are accepted and declared whole. Those also, who are healed because they believe. That are ready to accept the grace, the service, of God. But this is all immediate, hands on, one to one service offered and received between people long ago and in another context and culture. Is it not? MSBC Dateline Special: The Last days of Jesus Dateline seeks out some of the world's most respected scholars -- believers and non-believers -- to find out what they think happened almost 2,000 years ago. NBC's Stone Phillips reports. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, April 7th, 2004
4:05 pm	Passover By Lynn Ungar They thought they were safe that spring night; when they daubed the doorways with sacrificial blood. To be sure, the angel of death passed them over, but for what? Forty years in the desert without a home, without a bed, following new laws to an unknown land. Easier to have died in Egypt or stayed there a slave, pretending there was safety in the old familiar. But the promise, from those first naked days outside the garden, is that there is no safety, only the terrible blessing of the journey. You were born through a doorway marked in blood. We are, all of us, passed over, brushed in the night by terrible wings. Ask that fierce presence, whose imagination you hold. God did not promise that we shall live, but that we might, at last, glimpse the stars, brilliant in the desert sky. (Comment on this)