tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12105158224065246622024-03-13T09:05:26.081-04:00Thoughts on DirtEssays and reflections in the midst of a very messy life.Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12432159319572695410noreply@blogger.comBlogger338125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1210515822406524662.post-89110107879848967702016-08-26T06:06:00.001-04:002016-08-26T07:16:53.640-04:00New BlogI am blogging again (whew...the universe is so relieved), but I have a new address. If you are interested in reading more about me (and who wouldn't), click through <a href="http://www.andrealingle.com/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
<br />
I have three blogs housed at <a href="http://www.andrealingle.com/">www.andrealingle.com</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.andrealingle.com/spirited-words" target="_blank">Spirited Words</a>...a blog about theology, parenting, and life.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.andrealingle.com/favorite-few" target="_blank">Favorite Few</a>...a blog about my favorite words.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.andrealingle.com/exploring-why" target="_blank">Exploring Why</a>...a blog about why I homeschool.Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12432159319572695410noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1210515822406524662.post-9136809029476003182015-08-17T09:53:00.000-04:002015-08-17T09:53:33.799-04:00The time I failed a testWhen I went to college at Furman University (Go, Paladins!), I approached my class selection like a starving polar bear at a zoo buffet. I wanted to take everything. Once, while wandering down the hall in the humanities building, I stopped in the doorway of Dr. Fehler's Renaissance and Reformation class, in which I was not enrolled (yet), and listened to the entire class because there were things I didn't know.<br />
<br />
In high school I took chemistry without lab because bunsen burners and CuSO4 were not normal kitchen staples, so when I got to college, fall of my sophomore year, I took Chemistry 11 with lab. It was the chemistry class for science majors and I was a music major, but I really really really wanted to take lab. And then I took Chemistry 12 with lab the next semester because I was not wrong: lab was fun.<br />
<br />
Titration, pipets, goggles!<br />
<br />
And Chemistry 12 is where I made my D+. On the test about electron valence clouds, I made a D+. Technically, my grade was the second highest in the class (lest your opinion of my intellect darken) and the professor fixed the test, but I, apparently, never forgot looking down at my paper and seeing D+. It bothered me that a professor was capable of writing a test that was so hard I didn't know the necessary information to complete that test successfully. Nerd. I know.<br />
<br />
This week I have been buying clothes for my children for the fall season. Non sequitur? Nope.<br />
<br />
The website, <a href="http://www.free2work.org/" target="_blank">Free2Work</a>, is dedicated to stopping industrial slavery. One of the main weapons it uses is information. And I am so grateful. I gives me the right to use my consumption like slavery fighting nun chucks.<br />
<br />
I spend a lot of time with little boys.<br />
<br />
Free2Work gives companies in various industries grades for their efforts in four different areas pertaining to ethical employment including Workers' Rights. My favorite clothing store, which used to get a C, now gets a D+. I'm officially pointing my finger at you, <a href="http://widgets.free2work.org/frontend_ratings/public_view/1201" target="_blank">GAP</a>.<br />
<br />
While I am disappointed that I do not fully understand electron valence cloud shapes, my failure was just a paper transaction. My consumption of goods is a matter of life and death, dignity and abuse, freedom and slavery.<br />
<br />
We are the Samaritan with gold in our purse wondering if we are going to load the broken stranger onto our donkey or walk on by. I certainly don't spend my days sweeping my excess cash into corners, but I do buy things and when I do, I can choose places like <a href="http://widgets.free2work.org/frontend_ratings/public_view/832" target="_blank">H&M</a> and be the ninja warrior I really am.<br />
<br />
Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12432159319572695410noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1210515822406524662.post-42827315829394386182015-08-04T15:26:00.000-04:002015-08-04T15:26:06.641-04:00This post is a race<i>I have a story. It's a great story. But I am racing the baby nap.</i><br />
<br />
<i>So.</i><br />
<br />
Part 1<br />
<br />
If you have never had children, try to imagine tying a gallon and a half of milk around your neck, eliminating most of your muscle tone in your abdominal area, setting your alarm to go off every two hours during the day and (in my rare and ever blessed case) once or twice at night and you have life with a two month old nursing child.<br />
<br />
Oh, and you are sticky. Just, everywhere. Mostly under your boobs.<br />
<br />
This was the story when Luke and I went out. I put on my fancy new heels, my skinny (haha) jeans and ate Thai food for the first time in my life with about 20 friends. Some were new, some were not, but they all were crammed together in an overwhelmed and steamy but cheerful restaurant on the Main Street of Waynesville, NC. We all took turns passing my happy, drooly baby around and sweating freely while we made friends and chatted.<br />
<br />
<i>Warning...baby is waking up...</i><br />
<br />
Then we bundled off to a very hot version of Annual Conference. If you don't know what Annual Conference is, ask your favorite Methodist. After they wake you back up, you will know that Annual Conference is an Annual meeting of all the clergy of the United Methodist Church of a certain area. Ours is held at Lake Junaluska at a picturesque and under air-conditioned venue.<br />
<br />
<i>Ok...she's quiet again...</i><br />
<br />
Part 2<br />
<br />
Next up was the reconciling worship service held in the small chapel at 8:00 pm on Friday. Attendance was not expected. There was a baby on my chest. She was as warm as the air. Half way <br />
<a name='more'></a>through the rain blew in the open windows and no one moved out of the way. The refrains repeated until everyone sang without hymnals. The testimonies shared stories of hope, fear, shame, and love. We shared communion. We were community. We shared the humanity of reaching out and touching your neighbor with trust born of walking through fear and confusion and choosing to grab that hand anyway.<br />
<br />
The reconciling movement in the Methodist Church is the group of people who have been hoping and praying for inclusion for LGBTQ persons. For decades that group has met in that chapel at that time and clung together knowing that their souls contained the divine spark breathed into them at the beginning of time, but standing together to ask each other, right?<br />
<br />
Right?<br />
<br />
Me too, right?<br />
<br />
That night, there were people standing in the aisles because the chapel was full. Tears washed our faces. Maybe now the twilight will break into dawn.<br />
<br />
Even though it didn't. We voted to not say anything. Our conference decided that we would not voice our support at the meeting of the larger church. It was a close thing. But we are still afraid of the other. We are still afraid to trust that when God created and called God's creation good, there wasn't an asterisk.<br />
<br />
Part 3<br />
<br />
This is actually the story that was in my mind to tell when I sat down.<br />
<br />
<i>More baby squeaks...I'm typing so fast!</i><br />
<br />
We lingered outside the chapel, reluctant to leave those stones drenched in sweat and tears and Spirit. But soon the conversations lulled and my heels were cuter than comfortable, so we left. We were just going to run by a friend's house to pick up Luke's car and "play a quick game of corn hole. I promise it will be quick."<br />
<br />
Sigh<br />
<br />
I was tired. (See reference to gallon and a half of milk around your neck)<br />
<br />
As we walked up the gravel drive we could hear the sounds of tuning instruments over the crunch of our feet. A blue grass band that had been playing at a local venue had found their way to the back porch and found that they hadn't finished playing for the night.<br />
<br />
The bean bags thunked and the music floated up into the black sky with the lightning bugs not caring about the acoustics. My baby slept in my arms and my feet hurt, but we were encountering beauty. So much beauty. Someone held the baby while I danced a waltz with my lawfully wedded husband, and it was sweet. My feet still hurt, but there was music playing and someone sang high and tender and the rain had dampened the air until you could forget that there was anywhere else to be.<br />
<br />
<i>Faster, faster!! Baby squeaks...baby squeaks!</i><br />
<br />
Someday, during another nap, I will have to add the bit where I used an old tee shirt as a diaper.<br />
<br />
It was one of the full nights when Spirit needs to let go just a bit and fly. When the singer in the band asked if I wanted to two-step, I said sure and we giggled and tried to figure out who would lead. Her arm on my elbow and mine on her shoulder and we twirled and tripped and Mama got to dance under the stars on the back porch in super awesome shoes.<br />
<br />
<i>Made it! Oops...there's the dryer.</i><br />
<br />
<br />Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12432159319572695410noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1210515822406524662.post-15589240189019358472015-07-28T08:49:00.002-04:002015-07-28T08:54:03.357-04:00Tattooed <div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">He had sleeve tattoos on both arms. It felt like a dozen stories crowded together between shoulder and wrist. There was a orange and goldenrod koi swimming down one forearm and a starlight sky interrupted by the cuff of his short sleeved uniform. There was an icon of a woman: Mary, St. Theresa, St. Catherine? I don’t remember all of them because I am grown up and have been told not to stare. He was an employee working at the store where we were shopping for a vacuum cleaner. It was a toss away moment. An errand when nothing more magical or mystical than getting my floors good and clean could possibly happen. He was a great salesman. He said, “No, the cheaper model won’t be able to handle the load of a full household,” and, “let me do a price check.” The things that make you feel decent about spending $299 on a device to extract dirt from your floor. Why, yes, we do have a full house hold. Why, yes, I <i>am</i> a hard working mother who needs great tools. Why, yes, we <i>are </i>being responsible and getting the best price. I shop around.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">During the price check, (which did save us 20%, honest) my daughter climbed up on a conveniently located chair and began brushing the orange and red and blue and green swirls on his arms. They were tanned and lightly haired and the pictures looked smooth.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“What doze pic-sures?” her lispy voice asked.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“They are for lots of things. But I’m sure your mom don’t want you to get tattoos. They’re bad.”</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“They not bad. They pwetty.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">They not bad; they pwetty. Her soul connected with that young man’s and he blushed as deeply as she will when she hears this story.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">One of the epic stories in the beginning of the Old Testament tells of a group of slaves who were freed through a very dramatic wizard’s duel. After the snakes and the blood and the frogs and boils, there came a moment that would mark Jewish tradition forever. The Passover. The angel of death came and the first born male of every home not protected by the blood of a lamb over the door died. (Small aside: angels probably aren’t chubby or feathery, and you might not enjoy Christmas dinner with one sitting on your tree.) Later, out of their captor’s reach, Moses, their reluctant, staff-wielding, wizard leader, began the great tradition of remembrance called the Festival of Unleavened Bread, or Passover. During this holy time, this story was to be passed to the children and kept like “a reminder on your forehead.” </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">No, I don’t think tattoos are bad. I probably won’t get one on my forehead, but that’s not the point. The point is, we have a story that is important enough to stab it into the deep layers of our flesh. Like a thousand stings. Our stories are not bad.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">They pwetty. </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Beautiful even.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">The story of the church has reached a bit of a crisis point. My house is littered with Legos. We have knights in blue and silver riding white horses, and fiends in black and red riding black horses. The world explained in black and white molded plasitc. Throughout our history as a church, our livery has been strikingly unclear. Do the good guys kill for their cause? Jesus gave clear instructions that did not include a dress code or a taboo on ink. Jesus sighed and said again and again and again, “Quit worrying about the rules and love each other. Listen to each other. Tell your stories. Tell my story. Do this, whenever you meet eat.” He didn’t even say you needed to have a pipe organ. Or not. </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Our instructions were to go out and tell people Jesus’s story and teach them to follow and remember and tell. He didn’t even suggest that eleven o’clock on a Sunday morning was a particularly good time for this. He assumed we would have the decency to keep eating and, when we did, to remember his words of love and forgiveness. Now we sit in our wooden pews and listen to words and say words and sing words and promise words and pray words and we don’t remember. We have crafted a world for members only where we can sit uncomfortably and talk about all the things we were asked to do. Worship isn’t what we do as the church. Worship is where we come when we are so exhausted from telling and hearing and eating and remembering that we need to sit and take a breather. Worship is a space for those who need a minute to rest. It’s the time we aren’t out on our great commission. It’s the moment that the music and the prayers and the words can refresh you so you can go out and be the church again. </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">It isn’t hard.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Simple even.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Rape, slavery, epidemic, hunger, war, hatred, injustice, devastation, death, chaos. The danger and the brokenness seem too big. Jesus would have come up with a different strategy if he could see what we are dealing with now. There are wheat allergies for goodness sake. What is eating with people going to do? What is remembering going to do? Children are sold for sex. People are dying from water born illness while I flush my toilet with clean water. Our food is littered with chocolate that babies are picking until they die of it. What can the breaking of bread ever hope to do against all this?</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">It is hopeless.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Evil even. </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">And yet, I have seen the joy and pride on the face of a homeless, addicted man when he brought his puppy with him to church. We prayed blessings on that puppy. I have seen the eyes of a wheel chair bound woman who’s body bulged out through the back and arms of her metal universe shimmer with tears under the weight of a boy’s embrace. A boy who forgot to notice the brown smell of urine and unwashed body. A boy who could see the person and hear the story the world had forgotten. I have heard the voice of my son thank God, sincerely, for the gift of his dead sister—“not because she died, but because she is.”</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">And I see hope.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Joy even.</span></div>
Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12432159319572695410noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1210515822406524662.post-16550155721464044412015-07-15T23:38:00.003-04:002015-07-15T23:38:28.941-04:00Never Mind<div class="Body" style="tab-stops: .5in;">
I am a child of the 80<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’</span>s.
The nineteen eighties, to be clear. America<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’</span>s grunge music movement came
of age about the same time I did. Bands like Weezer, Jane<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’</span>s
Addiction, Smashing Pumpkins, and Nirvana pounded through new <span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“</span>alternative<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman";">”</span>
radio stations. I remember sitting in my peachy floral bedroom with puffed
curtains and twice draped side tables listening to Nirvana<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’</span>s
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Smells Like Teen Spirit</i> with the
volume so low only I could hear. Music like that was forbidden in my house. Of
course it was. I am not sure how you could listen to alternative music with
your parents<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’</span> consent and it remain what it was. On this side of
things, considering how loud kids are, I am not surprised that my mother would
ban angry, loud, riotous music. For those of you unfamiliar with Cobain<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’</span>s
garbled teen anthem, it was everything that a teenager, whose skin suddenly
doesn<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’</span>t
fit, wanted: angst, head banging, and a probable hidden meaning.<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="Body" style="tab-stops: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body" style="tab-stops: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">With the lights out, it</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’</span>s
less dangerous.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="Body" style="tab-stops: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Here we are now, entertain us.</i> <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="Body" style="tab-stops: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body" style="tab-stops: .5in;">
There we were, a whole generation of
odorous teenagers sitting in the dark waiting for something to make life worth
living. We sat glued to the images of the blonde warrior fighting our fight in
a high school gym while we read the lyrics on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Say What?</i> There was some serious stuff there, or was there? There
must have been. Was it me, or did that basketball goal look an awful lot like a
gibbet? And the cheerleader, so blonde and popular, the feminine, so recently
liberated, plastered with a scarlet <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A.</i>
There must have been subtext there. There must have been meaning. If we could
have understood the words, the pieces would have dropped into place. There must
be meaning.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="Body" style="tab-stops: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body" style="tab-stops: .5in;">
Never mind.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="Body" style="tab-stops: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body" style="tab-stops: .5in;">
That niggling worry over meaning would
fade. Like high school. Like arch rivals. Never mind. It wasn<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’</span>t
important. Our music was grungy and angry. We were lost. We needed for life to
matter. Kurt Cobain needed for life to matter. He was terrified that there was
no meaning. Life was just a vapid extension of high school.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="Body" style="tab-stops: .5in;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But
surely, faith gives life meaning. Surely the fight for the greater good
remains. Surely we can rouse ourselves to care. The church of my adolescence
tried. They made godstuff more entertaining. They made t-shirts and W.W.J.D?
bracelets. They made our music cooler and turned the lights down. We raised our
hands and smelled like Holy Spirit. But when they turned the lights off, we
could no longer see well enough to pass the plate and the cup. We became
faceless spectators. Things got lost in the dark. Doubts crept in. The God of
eons and mystery was reduced to sound bytes and hyped emotions. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="Body" style="tab-stops: .5in;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></div>
<div class="Body" style="tab-stops: .5in;">
<i> I feel stupid and contagious.</i></div>
<div class="Body" style="tab-stops: .5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Here we are now, entertain us.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="Body" style="tab-stops: .5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><br /></i></div>
<div class="Body" style="tab-stops: .5in;">
And Christianity of the <span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman";">‘</span>90<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’</span>s
became a contagious childhood virus. A rite of passage that was, once gotten
over, no longer a threat. Like chicken pox.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="BlockQuote">
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>I must study Politicks and War
that my sons may have liberty to study Mathematicks and Philosophy. My
sons ought to study Mathematicks and Philosophy, Geography, natural History,
Naval Architecture, navigation, Commerce, and Agriculture, in order to give
their Children a right to study Painting, Poetry, Musick, Architecture,
Statuary, Tapestry, and Porcelaine.</i> John Adams in a letter to Abigail Adams, May 12, 1780 </blockquote>
<div class="BlockQuote">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="Body">
<br /></div>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>JA</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/>
<w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/>
<w:OverrideTableStyleHps/>
<w:UseFELayout/>
</w:Compatibility>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="276">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
border:none;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<div class="Body">
Our ancestors fought, bled, and died; planted, studied, and
philosophized; painted, wrote, and created, and we gaze, amazed and pacified at
the works of their hands hemmed in by our 2.64 by 5.44 inch worlds, searching
for meaning in: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">a mulatto, an albino, a
mosquito, my libido. </i></div>
<div class="Body">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
Lost and bored by freedom. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12432159319572695410noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1210515822406524662.post-51828257524990687522015-06-29T12:32:00.001-04:002015-06-29T12:32:33.939-04:00Offended<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal">
<i>A Christian is totally fearless, constantly cheerful and always in trouble.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: start;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: start;">
My first instinct is to disagree. I am not sure why. It seems like a decent statement, but I want it to be wrong. Probably because I am not fearless. Probably because I am often sad. Probably because I do not get into trouble.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: start;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: start;">
Nothing makes me more uneasy than when someone offers a definition of what it means to follow and live Divine mystery. Often our definitions become privacy fences around our church gardens. When Jesus was asked what the kingdom of God was his only reply was a collection of similes so confusing and vague that his followers have been wrestling with them for 2000 years. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: start;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: start;">
The Kingdom of God is like: seed, yeast, treasure...</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: start;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: start;">
But we need our definitions, creeds, doctrines, pages and pages of laws, all to define and explain an inexplicable God. It is all really a defense mechanism against the uncertainty of dealing with a wild wind of a God. We name and define ourselves to ensure that we are tallied in the right column.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: start;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: start;">
Hey, Mom, am I doing it? Am I safe? Do you love me? Hey, God, do I matter?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: start;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: start;">
And if our definitions fence someone out, we put in our own narrow gate welcoming in anyone who fits. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: start;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: start;">
My Western Civilization class in college, taught by one of my favorite professors ever, who incidentally came to the first day of class with a broken fly, described this in terms of history. Roughly, he said, if one side of a discussion or ideology names their cause something Positive (aka good guys) then the opposing view must deal with being the Anti-Positive-Side (aka bad guys). <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: start;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: start;">
Any positive image implies a corresponding negative. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: start;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: start;">
The Light Side implies The Dark Side</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: start;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: start;">
Language is powerful. Every word, spoken or written carries the weight of its thesis and its antitheses. Sometimes language is truthful and revealing and sometimes it is not. Sometimes it serves to expose injustice. Fair Trade implies that there is unfair trade. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: start;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: start;">
Side note: if we were to label all items accordingly, it might temper our buying choices. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: start;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: start;">
But sometimes our language just introduces exclusion and hurt. For every fearless, cheerful, mischievous Christian out there, there is a sad, coward sitting in the pew whose deepest need is probably not excommunication. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: start;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: start;">
A friend recently said she had heard a discussion about the gross amount of energy consumed by “taking offense” and the zen lives we could all have if only we could learn to stop taking offense. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: start;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: start;">
And I was offended by that. Winky face.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: start;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: start;">
Taking offense is over done. We all spend way too much energy combing over our lives looking for places where we have been offended. Maligned. Our childhood cries of, "Not fair," simply reach a wider audience in their adult form. And now it is so easy. We have become a society of virtual protesters. All willing to join in taking offense as long as all it requires from us is a thumb tap. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: start;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: start;">
But if we don’t take offense, then we become passive to the language defining us.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: start;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: start;">
The happy, brave, trouble-maker who offended me to begin with did not seek to exclude me from the Kingdom of God. He just developed his language in a vacuum of offense. No one questioned him. No one with indelible tear stains asked, "What about me?" </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: start;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: start;">
Sometimes the regular old thing needs to offend us. Deeply. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: start;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: start;">
After a truly remarkable week, I feel like our first response to the lives of others needs to be love and the second, and a very close second, is to watch our language. If all life is sacred, then we need to scour our language for what we are really saying, because no matter what our opinions are, the greatest commandment remains: love. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>JA</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/>
<w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/>
<w:OverrideTableStyleHps/>
<w:UseFELayout/>
</w:Compatibility>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="276">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12432159319572695410noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1210515822406524662.post-34208244064079612412015-02-03T23:49:00.000-05:002015-02-03T23:49:19.391-05:00Super bowl commercials and "Vaxxing"For those of you unable to access the internet, social media, and therefore not reading this, nothing...<br />
<br />
To the rest of you, I WANNA GO BACK TO FUNNY SUPER BOWL COMMERCIALS.<br />
<br />
Also, I was in charge of the food stuffs during the Super Bowl, and I am officially firing myself. We had pretzels and soup. Not even a decent chili. It was like if taco soup and brunswick stew got married and had a really boring kid who only wore pressed khakis and never spilled his drink. I mean, it was nice, but not really Super.<br />
<br />
Also, there was no dessert.<br />
<br />
And then the Nationwide commercial came on.<br />
<br />
Obviously I was already feeling tender in my near junk-food-less state, and then the beautiful curly, mop-headed boy FREAKING DIED.<br />
<br />
Can I just make a bid here for some Bud-WISE-errrrr frogs or something?<br />
<br />
Would that be too hard?<br />
<br />
But here is where this Public-Health-Minded, Duke RN, preacher's wife, crazy foolish writer person has to say something Inflammatory and (for some mysterious and insane reason) Controversial.<br />
<br />
Accidental death is the number one killer of children under age six in the US (thanks Nationwide).<br />
<br />
Do you know why?<br />
<br />
Because childhood diseases <strike>have</strike> had been nearly eradicated by vaccinations. We live in an era when children won't die of diphtheria or measles or be deformed by polio. Our children will most likely never have worms or rickets. Their teeth won't rot. In this light, public health has performed a miracle in the past one hundred years.<br />
<br />
So, yes, accidental death is the number one killer of children in America--because childhood diseases aren't. For now.<br />
<br />
<br />Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12432159319572695410noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1210515822406524662.post-4460655776149831872015-01-31T21:47:00.001-05:002015-01-31T21:47:40.681-05:00SuspenseBall game tied. Two minutes left. <div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Rusty haired child standing elbows on knees, peeking through a veil of suspense. His game was this morning. He knows the rush of success and the hollowness of misstep. He watches, tongue pinioned, fingers splayed on the floor. The bumps of his child frame show through his own game shirt, smeared with dirt from an afternoon in the yard. His breath hisses and squeaks in time with the squeaks of the blue shoes. He is held safely between the knees and arms of his dad who leans over him in paired tension. Two strings tuned to different octaves. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
He is safe now--his world bounded by the shot clock and a tied score. We can keep him safe tonight. <a name='more'></a>We can hold him, and after the horn sounds he will climb the ladder to his bed and dream of basketball and knights. Right now I can't bear to look farther.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Someone else's boy reaches up and, impossibly, the ball zips through the net with a satisfying thwip.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Three points.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Elastic body unfolds in an arc of triumph, both hands fisted in the air. A moment of connection. A moment of boyhood. A moment I want to remember. </div>
Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12432159319572695410noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1210515822406524662.post-84919403487715262392015-01-28T21:20:00.001-05:002015-01-28T21:20:26.748-05:00ThunderstruckHow in brunch did I not know that a portmanteau was a mash up of two words and not a suitcase?<br />
<br />
In light of this I have decided that I can no longer in good faith call myself a burgeoning word-smith and I will now take up French origami.<br />
<br />
Thank you.<br />
<br />
<br />Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12432159319572695410noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1210515822406524662.post-62569439782285971752015-01-28T18:58:00.000-05:002015-01-28T18:58:10.436-05:00Why do we like things?There are things we like.<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
We.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The larger collective. Things that last. Classics. Things that Last. Books you want people to notice you are reading. But why?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Why do we like things?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Why this one and not that one?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I used to sit in halls of the music building talking with my friends. We would learn something on Monday and Tuesday it would be our most ardent passion. Bach's Goldberg Variations? the complexity! Bartok's work in ethnomusicology? seminal! I dream of doing similar work with the folk <a name='more'></a>songs in our area! We would sit in those halls, eating bag lunches and trying out the language we were learning. We knew we wanted to play the big pieces for the same reasons that four year olds want to wear high heels. We were playing musical dress up. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
We were learning what to say. If we ran up against something we were pretty sure we should have known, but didn't (Brahms was in love with Clara Schumann...yeah, scandalous!!), we would try very hard to make sure no one ever found out. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But even through all the bluster, there are things that stick because you feel them in your bones. The ones that you know will haunt you deliciously for the rest of your life. Like a meal so good you will go through the pointless and frustrating act of telling someone about it. It won't bring it back and now they want it too. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I was a freshman, sitting in a room meant for singing, scribbling down notes on 20th century music. Our professor was telling us we would be watching a performance of <i>Sunday in the Park with George</i>, a musical by Stephen Sondheim on Thursday night at 9:00. Or maybe Friday. Or Sunday. Let's say Sunday; it's more poetic. I had no idea who Sondheim was and I was pretty ambivalent about musical theater but I was absolutely fanatical about extra credit. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I have never forgotten sitting in that room meant for singing, watching a movie of a play. It is embarrassing how much I loved it. But the hat! Look! He made a hat.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I just started reading <i>Mrs. Dalloway</i> by Virginia Woolf. The people. She makes people! They speak and struggle and wonder and think. She made a man. Where there never was a man! And I know. This one will stay.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Why do these things stay? I don't know. I don't care, but they are part of a more beautiful life.</div>
Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12432159319572695410noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1210515822406524662.post-56670662224827022092015-01-07T22:21:00.001-05:002015-01-07T22:21:34.236-05:00A very messy life...My life is pretty messy. I have decided that while my Twitter feed will alert me to all volcanic activity all over the world (thank you @VolcanoAlert) and, helpfully, make sure I never run short of horse eye candy (wink wink @DonastheHorse), I am probably a little too ignorant of the larger news items. Therefore, I have begun seriously <strike>looking into the news</strike> reading a few headlines. Unfortunately, the news is depressing and boring (the new Congress just isn't interesting, ever), so here are the news updates from our house.<br />
<br />
There has been a terrible Lego revolution. It has been very French. So. Many. Beheadings. One <br />
<a name='more'></a>terrifying head is solid black. A featureless, horrifying burn victim. AND...there are several heads with faces on both sides. One scowly face and one fierce face. I am concerned re: Voldemort.<br />
<br />
The entire cast of "Planes: Fire and Rescue" has been putting out tiny wildfires all over my house. They routinely swoop into any given room with the following dialogue complete with accents and a three year old lisp:<br />
<br />
"Drop the needle!"<br />
"Wode up!"<br />
"I will never understand why you smokejumpers want to jump out of a perfectly good airplane."<br />
"We're not! We're jumping outta you!"<br />
<br />
As a side note, these same vehicles hurt worse than childbirth when stepped on.<br />
<br />
It is Duke basketball season. Laine has now decided to abandon his dream of going to engineering school in favor of becoming a collegiate basketball player. This worries me a bit.<br />
<br />
Also, we began first grade in August, moved in October to a larger home outside of Asheville, got the flu over Christmas and will be setting up the nursery soon for a baby girl due in April.<br />
<br />
A messy life, but a good one.Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12432159319572695410noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1210515822406524662.post-68371355954182151702015-01-05T21:23:00.002-05:002015-01-05T21:23:40.767-05:00A New YearThe white light of a full moon is rising, all film noir, behind my window blinds. I have no idea what moon it is. January's moon. I will probably Google it.<br />
<br />
I did.<br />
<br />
It's the wolf moon. The first full moon of the year. The first cycle of light in the darkness of the year. The quiet season full of night and frost.<br />
<br />
And hope. I guess. We, as a people, hope that this year we will accomplish the secret dreams we ordinarily keep swathed under grave clothes of reality. We join the gym, challenge ourselves to read forty books this year (true story), promise to drink more water and eat less of whatever is evil this <br />
<a name='more'></a>year (is bread still out or should I swear off milkshakes...cheese isn't an option). In January we are giddy with hope. We forget for a week or two that is takes more that hope to still be at the gym in July. We forget last summer's rain-split tomatoes and make enthusiastic annotations to our favorite seed catalogs. Our past failures seem artifacts of thin resolve or unavoidable distraction. During the winter dark is safe to dream until the lengthening days reveal the dust in the corners of our plans.<br />
<br />
<i>But Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them, for it to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs."</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
Perhaps we should allow our hearts to hope because that is what children do. Four year olds hope foolishly. They cross a crowded room to hug someone because they can't imagine a world where someone might not want a hug. They haven't been scorned enough...yet.<br />
<br />
I want to be a writer. I want to be fit. I want to be just. I want to be happy again.<br />
<br />
But I am howling at a wolf moon, hungry and thin from a midwinter's famine. My faith and hope have been stretched by grief and laundry. It is too hard to have faith sometimes, but the Christ candle burned on Christmas day. I spent more than one moment staring hard at that candle. It hurt to celebrate the birth of a baby who was so special that he escapeed the slaughter of the innocents. The hero escaped.<br />
<br />
The tears of the mothers of the ordinary innocents filled my head this Christmastide. Why were our babies too ordinary to escape to Egypt? I lit the white pillar candle, not in giddy birthday celebration, but as a deliberate statement of hopeless faith.<br />
<br />
Perhaps some of you haven't read Patrick Rothfuss's fantastic (unfinished) trilogy, the Kingkiller Chronicles, but, if you have, you are familiar with the game of tak. Tak is a game of elegance. Brutal logic and strategies could never build a whole game of tak. One must strive to play a beautiful game. He builds that up more satisfyingly, but, heck, it's his world, not mine.<br />
<br />
I admit that there are days I can't find enough faith to line my dryer's lint screen. The Coventry Carol seems more relevant than Joy to the World. Epidemic poverty and disease make the whole Biblical story seem illogical and brutal.<br />
<br />
It might seem very unlikely that an apparently chaotic system is the product of loving design, but following a man who's teachings plead with us to protect the innocents once slaughtered seems a more elegant and noble life. A wolf moon will light the way, an unblinking orb of cold, wild light, and a candle.<br />
<br />
A deliberate choice.<br />
<br />
A beautiful game.Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12432159319572695410noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1210515822406524662.post-10038097623063088112014-09-03T21:20:00.002-04:002014-09-03T21:20:16.455-04:00Bouncy houseWe had a church wide picnic tonight. It was fun. There was bluegrass music, barbecue and a bouncy house. My children lived through the day for that bouncy house. They knew it was coming and every hour they wanted to know if that hour were the appointed hour for the bouncy house.<br />
<br />
"No, just ____ more hours." I repeated 47 times.<br />
<br />
Then we parked and unsnapped the car seats and clambered into the evening and we could hear the twang of banjo music. Around a hydrangea corner, and there it was--a giant red <br />
<a name='more'></a>bubble of air and joy and sweat. They bounced and ate red popsicles and bounced and drank pink lemonade and bounced and bounced and bounced.<br />
<br />
And I realized one thing: I am an adult.<br />
<br />
I don't want to do a bouncy house. Not even a little bit.Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12432159319572695410noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1210515822406524662.post-41561096881434909602014-09-02T21:14:00.001-04:002014-09-02T21:14:18.816-04:00LoveyI brought a potato into my bed tonight because I wanted to write about it. I wanted to write about the crusted soil and the mica flecks and the warm sun on the necks of my children as we harvested it. I even drought the paper bag, torn flat and made doubly useful to cure my precious potatoes. But the basket, trying to contain laundry all needing to be folded but put off and forgotten so now it ought to be ironed, stares primly from the foot of the bed. I know what it's thinking: tasks put off multiply.<br />
<br />
Cliche.<br />
<br />
My knee is being corrugated by coloring books. We have stacks of coloring books. Pre-formed imaginings. I had planned to put them in the basket with the rest, but we have so many my oversight doesn't matter.<br />
<br />
A butterflies and bubbles blanket, lies on the corner of my bed almost covering my first outfit of the <br />
<a name='more'></a>day. An energized pocketed sheath dress I discarded it for an extra large t-shirt that reads, "Hey, Let's Go Do Fun Stuff." I should have. Done fun stuff, or at least less stuff, because my four-year old wanted that blanket when I hustled her into bed, and I was too played out and weary to care.<br />
<br />
"I want my soft blanket." She howled in a voice that would curdle milk.<br />
"Ok, Annabel. If I see it, I'll bring it up." I snapped--just like curdled milk.<br />
<br />
I didn't look for it. I was anxious to be done so I could craft elegance about my snotty, home-grown #homeschool potato.<br />
<br />
My grandma made the blanket. It's flannel and horribly mint and mauve. Well, it was. Now it's fading to the color of a thousand nights of reassurance. The short seam Grandma hand sewed after she turned the "right-sides together" out to face the world came loose a couple years ago. Probably before her funeral.<br />
<br />
Turns out, I can't really write about the potato, smelling of our fill-dirt life or describe the rollicking joke it was to find the huddled potatoes hiding under the tangles of tired, yellowing leaves, because I really must take this bubble gum pink monster-shield up to my tiny girl. She's asleep already, but I'll whisper my sorry to her and maybe tomorrow we will find time to remember the garden snake that made us giggle and dance around the second potato plant. Just us girls.Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12432159319572695410noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1210515822406524662.post-28851987832257815102014-08-28T22:10:00.002-04:002014-08-28T22:11:19.926-04:00Lemon Chicken OrzoI used to love to cook. I used to use leafy things with fruity things. I used to make herbed syrups.<br />
<br />
Then I had kids.<br />
<br />
A sweet lady at my church, fishing for conversational fodder with my four year old daughter, asked what Annabel's favorite food was.<br />
<br />
"Fingernails and cardboard."<br />
<br />
We have since coached her to say, "cake."<br />
<br />
This is better. Much more acceptable for my pink frilly daughter to love cake.<br />
<br />
Also, she has, on more than one occasion, eaten an entire stick of sidewalk chalk. I think she really likes the neutral colors best. I never thought I would have to tell my kids not to eat chalk. I thought, <br />
<a name='more'></a>in the way that first time expectant parents do, I will simply allow my children to do non-harmful things and learn by experience. After two of three entire sticks of sidewalk chalk ended up in two year old Annabel's diaper, I decided to do what any reasonable parent would do: I tasted it. Maybe chalk is ok. Tasteless and more of a texture thing; like crunchies in sushi. Nope. Chalk is terrible.<br />
<br />
And Annabel refuses to eat most of what I cook.<br />
<br />
Apparently my cooking is worse than chalk.<br />
<br />
Which is why I am giving you all this recipe. I realize that it is a simple chicken soup, but it is made of entirely edible ingredients and Annabel finished her bowl. We will probably eat it three nights a week.<br />
<br />
<div class="hrecipe">
<div style="border: none; float: right;">
<a href="http://www.plantoeat.com/recipes/2061508/print" title="Print Recipe"><img alt="Print Recipe" src="http://www.plantoeat.com/images/v2/button-print.png" height="28" width="81" /></a></div>
<h2 class="fn">
<a href="http://www.plantoeat.com/recipes/2061508/lemon-chicken-orzo-soup">Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup</a></h2>
<img class="photo" src="https://plantoeat.s3.amazonaws.com/recipes/2061508/1ac506e4816719d7eb13e7eae97900724cdd4fd1-large.jpg?1392606128" /><br />
<div class="source">
<strong>Source:</strong> <a href="http://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/lemon-chicken-orzo-soup/#_a5y_p=1278593">www.twopeasandtheirpod.com</a></div>
<div class="course">
<strong>Course:</strong> Soup</div>
<div class="all_time">
</div>
<div class="servings">
<strong>Serves:</strong> <span class="yield">8</span></div>
<h3 class="ingredients_heading">
Ingredients</h3>
<ul data-yield="">
<li class="ingredient pantry" itemprop="ingredients"><span class="amount">1 tablespoon</span> <strong class="name">olive oil</strong></li>
<li class="ingredient pantry" itemprop="ingredients"><span class="amount">1 medium</span> <strong class="name">onion</strong> <em> diced</em></li>
<li class="ingredient pantry" itemprop="ingredients"><span class="amount">2 cloves</span> <strong class="name">garlic</strong> <em> minced</em></li>
<li class="ingredient pantry" itemprop="ingredients"><span class="amount">2 </span> <strong class="name">carrots</strong> <em> peeled and sliced into 1/4 inch thick</em></li>
<li class="ingredient pantry" itemprop="ingredients"><span class="amount">1 </span> <strong class="name">celery stalk</strong> <em> thinly sliced</em></li>
<li class="ingredient pantry" itemprop="ingredients"><span class="amount">8 cups</span> <strong class="name">chicken broth</strong></li>
<li class="ingredient pantry" itemprop="ingredients"><span class="amount"> Zest</span> <strong class="name">2 lemons</strong></li>
<li class="ingredient pantry" itemprop="ingredients"><span class="amount">2 </span> <strong class="name">lemons</strong> <em> Juice of - (about 1/3 cup)</em></li>
<li class="ingredient pantry" itemprop="ingredients"><span class="amount">1 </span> <strong class="name">bay leaf</strong></li>
<li class="ingredient pantry" itemprop="ingredients"><span class="amount">1 1/2 cups</span> <strong class="name">orzo pasta</strong></li>
<li class="ingredient pantry" itemprop="ingredients"><span class="amount">2 cups</span> <strong class="name">cooked shredded chicken</strong></li>
<li class="ingredient " itemprop="ingredients"><span class="amount">1/4 cup</span> <strong class="name">chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves</strong></li>
<li class="ingredient pantry" itemprop="ingredients"><strong class="name">Salt and pepper</strong> <em> to taste</em></li>
</ul>
<h3 class="instructions_heading">
Directions</h3>
<ol class="instructions">
<li>1. In a large stockpot, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Sauté the onion, garlic, carrots, and celery until tender, about 5 minutes.</li>
<li>2. Add the chicken broth, lemon zest, lemon juice bay leaf and bring to a boil. Add the orzo and cook, stirring occasionally, for 6 to 8 minutes, or until orzo is tender. Add the chicken and heat for about 5 minutes.</li>
<li>3. Remove the pot from the heat. Discard the bay leaf and stir in the parsley. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Ladle the soup into bowls and serve warm.</li>
<li>Note-You can use shredded rotisserie chicken in this soup.</li>
</ol>
<div style="border: none; color: #6e97a9;">
<br />
Powered by<br />
<a href="http://www.plantoeat.com/recipes/2061508/lemon-chicken-orzo-soup"><img alt="Plan To Eat" src="http://www.plantoeat.com/images/v2/plantoeat-logo-wide-white-type-36h.png" height="36" width="147" /></a></div>
<script src="http://www.plantoeat.com/javascripts/planit.js" type="text/javascript"></script><script>var plantoeatRef = 't02fzjdiai'</script></div>
Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12432159319572695410noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1210515822406524662.post-72044717148619500972014-08-26T21:41:00.002-04:002014-08-26T21:44:27.503-04:00Lay your burdens downYou know what?<br />
<br />
I dried a load of clothes in the ELECTRIC dryer today.<br />
<br />
It was perfectly sunny and breezy outside where my clothes line is. Perfect line drying weather. Like God woke up this morning and stretched and pronounced that today, blessed would be the line dryers, for they would receive freshness.<br />
<br />
Of course I felt guilty.<br />
<br />
Why?<br />
<br />
Why, because life is one big huge competition and if I don't do everything that every other successful, <br />
<a name='more'></a>trendy, popular SAHM (stay at home mom) out there does I am losing! And SOMEONE SOMEWHERE SAID LINE DRYING CLOTHES IS EASY and better for the environment and frugal and makes you thinner and smarter and also your kids will sleep better, so I line dry my clothes, skeemarmit! And if you scan the blogosphere you can find 10 super good reasons you should too.<br />
<br />
Because line drying is fun and fun is good.<br />
<br />
But I overslept and Luke is out of undershirts and we are back in school and there were three loads of unfolded, electrically dried clothes sitting in baskets waiting to be folded, so I threw those electrically washed clothes in the dryer and shut the door and dried them.<br />
<br />
I love line dried clothes, but I couldn't get to it today. So I decided to fail. Because sometimes failing and being gentle with yourself is better than winning. I hope I am gentle with myself tomorrow when I face my tiny crop of half rotten tomatoes that need canning.Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12432159319572695410noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1210515822406524662.post-80704133365633586922014-07-27T21:46:00.002-04:002014-07-27T21:46:11.414-04:00Favorite Words<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 18px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>They agree with the Sermon, but they have less enthusiasm for the offertory, i.e., in expending energy or making sacrifices in the line of their convictions. --J. Arthur Thomson</i></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 18px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 18px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Isn't that just the truth!</span></span>Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12432159319572695410noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1210515822406524662.post-90886662527809035802014-06-27T06:00:00.000-04:002014-06-27T06:00:00.801-04:00Day Five CUMC DevotionalsLast <a href="http://www.centralumc.org/daily_devotional/article394180c7163657.htm" target="_blank">one</a> for this week.<br />
<br />Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12432159319572695410noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1210515822406524662.post-81959049086619221812014-06-26T06:00:00.001-04:002014-06-26T06:00:04.416-04:00Day Four CUMC Devotionals<a href="http://www.centralumc.org/daily_devotional/article394178c7163656.htm" target="_blank">Day Four</a>Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12432159319572695410noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1210515822406524662.post-72488096105501916412014-06-25T06:00:00.000-04:002014-06-25T06:00:05.173-04:00Day Three CUMC DevotionalsA third offering from my five part series.<br />
<br />
<div class="p1" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span class="s2">What do we know of baptism?</span></div>
<div class="p1" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span class="s2"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span class="s2">A child, brought to the waters to be marked, a man drawn by thirst so deep that his bones crack with it, a woman burning with passion for justice, all standing on the edge of the water. We watch Jesus descend, humbly, into the water to be blessed by his kinsman, and we hear the words, “Repent and be baptized.” The water is there, holy and elemental, strange...</span></div>
<div class="p1" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span class="s2"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span class="s2"><a href="http://www.centralumc.org/daily_devotional/article394177c7163655.htm" target="_blank">Click for more.</a></span></div>
Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12432159319572695410noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1210515822406524662.post-24160816990290078082014-06-24T14:51:00.002-04:002014-06-24T14:51:39.643-04:00Central UMC Devotionals<a href="http://www.centralumc.org/daily_devotional/article394176c7163654.htm" target="_blank">Here</a> is another devotional from the daily emailed devotional from Central UMC.Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12432159319572695410noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1210515822406524662.post-12257872016418007172014-06-23T14:49:00.000-04:002014-06-24T14:49:51.091-04:00Central UMC DevotionalsThis week I am supplying the <a href="http://www.centralumc.org/daily_devotional/article394175c7163653.htm" target="_blank">devotionals</a> for Central UMC, Asheville. Thanks for reading!Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12432159319572695410noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1210515822406524662.post-90947005013835184502014-06-06T08:58:00.003-04:002014-06-06T09:02:46.231-04:00A snippet from a project<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Rocks, smooth and brilliant nestle, decades old, in the elbows and knees of the river. Water, cold and so clear it is invisible until a water skate walks, impossibly, on its surface, slides by. </span></span><br />
<div style="min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Low and quiet today. </span></span><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Today it is enough simply to glide silently by. </span></span><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Maybe tomorrow it will roar, gorged with rain. </span></span><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Confused and wild. </span></span><br />
<div style="min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The green branches of trees bend over in a protective embrace. Today, the water is content to be here, passing gently through this wood, but water is ancient. It has cycled through ages and seasons, alternately ascending in the exhalation of evaporation, and descending in a free fall of rain. It has known the splash of children’s fingers, the cleaving of the explorer's prow, the joy of the thirsty wanderers, and it remembers the shadow of the Devine breath in the darkness before there was light. When it too knew the darkness and safety of a womb.</span></span><br />
<div>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12432159319572695410noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1210515822406524662.post-51273153430113780782014-06-02T13:03:00.001-04:002014-06-06T08:59:05.951-04:00BabyBaby you are there in your bed. Quiet but frustrated.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
"I no sleepy,"</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
You insisted, until, arms folded in somnolent prayer, you slept, unsleepily.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Outside child-grown babies run and shout, knowing that if they chase the fairies in the garden they will outrun their lessons. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
For what mother</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Would trouble peaceful play with lessons?</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-G6bUyVHgaBs/U4yudvWnYcI/AAAAAAAACHw/fWHb0HhSz1A/s640/blogger-image-476862817.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-G6bUyVHgaBs/U4yudvWnYcI/AAAAAAAACHw/fWHb0HhSz1A/s640/blogger-image-476862817.jpg" /></a></div>
Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12432159319572695410noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1210515822406524662.post-85722363330135087872014-05-21T06:16:00.004-04:002014-05-21T06:17:22.625-04:00WordsThe sunrise brings the day-words<br />
In a basket of brightly burning flame.<br />
Possibilities all jumbled inside,<br />
and, if we are not careful, we will draw<br />
Them out upside-backwards--sharp side outwards.<br />
<br />
Words tumbling full of possibility.<br />
Questioning, soothing, correcting, laughing.<br />
Showers of words scattered like wild flowers.<br />
Useful words ordering day by subject.<br />
Sharp words wormy with malice and regret.<br />
<br />
The sunset gathers the detritus and,<br />
Recklessly denying another day,<br />
Burns them on an honorable pyre.<br />
We are left to ponder our selections<br />
And vow to choose more wisely tomorrow.<br />
<br />Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12432159319572695410noreply@blogger.com0