under the sun

Japan; the final days

2009-07-11T20:39:00.003-04:00

It's here, it's finally here! After a month of suspense, i now give you the LAST DAYS of Japan. don't worry. it's not as bad as it seems. the very last day in Japan, we were all so beat, we took very few pictures. i promise.

Now, this is not the case for the penultimate day... there were a LOT of pictures that day. two of my Favorite Things We Did In Japan happened that day: visiting Ryoanji temple, with it's quintessential rock garden; and walking the Philosopher's Walk in the hills above Kyoto. i apologize now. pictures are here.

Our final day was spent, as i mentioned, in relative exhaustion. we did go through what is probably the weirdest district in Tokyo, but pictures of that adventure are woefully lacking. and they are here.

BUT WAIT! there's more! as an added bonus, if you click right now, you'll see Engrish! i collected photos of failed attempts at english. and they are amusing!

Japan, Day 3

2009-05-26T19:17:00.005-04:00

okay, i gave you all a nice, long rest before putting up the next, extensive batch of pictures. my love for all things ancient, door-related, and lovely compels me to take lots and lots and lots of pictures. lots.

We started off our day by meeting up with Matt's old roommate from CA and his brother (living in Japan) and sister. they were our tourguides for the day, and did a phenominal job of it! Our first stop was the temple Sanjusangendo, rebuilt in 1266. It's famous for it's huge main hall, containing statues of 1000 buddhas, carved of wood and guilded with gold. photos were not allowed, but i cheated.

Next we went up to Kiyomizu, which is in the hills above Kyoto. this place is hundreds of years old as well, and is built right into the side of the hill, with amazing skill and workmanship. we stopped for lunch at an udon place on our way to our next stop, my favorite of the day; Nijo castle.

Nijo is remarkable for its clever security system. the flooring was constructed in such a way that it squeaks whenever pressure is put on it - no matter how hard or soft. no big deal, right? wood squeaks. except this floor sounds like nightengales when it squeaks! it is magical. i got audio of it, but i'm having an impossible time converting it to a shareable format.

after the castle, we headed closer to the center of town to eat some conveyorbelt sushi and stop in at a tiny wood block print shop. it was a good, long day.

pictures on picassa.

Japan day 2: traveling again

2009-05-13T17:42:00.005-04:00

Our second day in Japan was divided between Tokyo, Train, and Kyoto. In the morning, we locked up our luggage and made our way to Akihabara - the famed electronics district of Tokyo. a right turn from the subway ushered us into street upon street lined with stores, booths, neon signs, markets - filled to the brim with every imaginable piece of electronic equipment. i nearly convinced my husband to take advantage of the incredibly advanced technology and incredibly low prices and buy a new camera. alas, you will have to continue to deal with viewing pictures taken with Old Faithful. but we were all pleased to walk through the stores - my brother being pleased above all, shaking with the giddiness of his situation.

after our electronics overload, we boarded a comfortable fast train that took us to Kyoto. a moment to talk about the awesomeness of Japan - they have attendants with a concession cart go through each car on a regular basis. snacks on a train - much better than snakes on a plane.

Tracking down our hotel in Kyoto was relatively easy, and we had a fastastic view of the hills and mountains that surround the historic city. quick aside - when planning this trip, i requested that we spend a good amount of time in Kyoto. it's one of the few cities in Japan that wasn't thoroughly bombed out in one war or another; thus, it still boasts countless temples, shrines, castles and palaces - some of which are older than most of what we can come across in western Europe. and it is, if you know where to go, a beautiful city. the pictures illustrating this won't appear until the next installment of this blog series, though.

By the time we got ourselves settled in the hotel, we were ravenous, and ventured back into town to eat. the map we had was woefully inaccurate regarding the distance between things, so we ended up skipping our original choice for a restaurant we found along the way - and it was marvelous. we sat on mats on the floor, ate absolutely delicious food, and felt much, much better after. my brother did get leg cramps periodically and nearly flipped the table over with his manuvering once. after dinner, we walked around central Kyoto, scouting out post offices (best places to exchange money, strangely enough) and pharmacies so we could find them again when they opened the next day. then we slept, a lot, in preparation for the Day Of Touring Cool Places that was ahead of us.

pictures on picasa

Last day of Korea/First Day of Japan

2009-05-11T08:22:00.003-04:00

Our last day in Korea was spent, for the most part, relaxing and doing laundry. i don't take pictures of relaxing/laundry. we did incorporate some Korean pizza into the mix, and after relax/laundry time, we did go to the 60th floor of a huge skyscraper to watch the sun set. the floor we went to to do this also had a pseudo-interactive-art gallery. huh. then we went on a boat cruise. the boat itself was cute-ified, but the cruise was awesome.

we woke up the next morning bright and early to get to the airport to catch our plane to Japan. once we were in Japan, i think the better part of our time was spent in the airport, getting train tickets, storing luggage, proving we had no swine flu bits on us. i fell in love with Japanese efficiency from the moment we landed. security did not take long to get through, and once we were through, our luggage was off the carousel and lined up neatly, waiting for us. the trains were fast and clean and very, VERY much on time. our first hotel was posh and fabulous. though, ironically, the area we stayed in had very limited and expensive choices if we wanted to eat Japanese, so we had to get Italian.

pictures on picasa.

Korea - day 3

2009-05-08T14:48:00.004-04:00

Day 3 in Korea was our see-lots-of-traditional-things-and-shop day. Linda served as tour guide and did a fantastic job of it. we started off at a traditional Korean village - Namsan-gol. "village" is a bit of a misnomer. while it replicates village life, most of the buildings there now did not start off there. it's become sort of a no-kill shelter for historic buildings from all over Korea. they move the buildings over to this spot, and arrange them in a village-like setup, and there you go.

We had lunch at a newly-opened nice restaurant in-between site visits. the restaurant specialized in "american" food. american remixed through Korea was an interesting (good, but different) taste sensation.

our next stop was Gyeongbokgung Palace. quite a bit of this palace is rebuilt post: several fires. but it's still spectacular. and you will find that i go on and on about how awesome traditional asian architecture is. the open-to-the-outside door concept would not work with Charles City summers, but one can imagine.

post-palace, we stopped off for a coffee break at a lovely coffee/book shop, and then headed to the markets, where we dropped some Won. we had indian for dinner, found another bunch of markets, and then collapsed for the day.

far too many pictures on picasa

Korea, day 2

2009-05-07T09:03:00.005-04:00

Our second day in Korea worked out to be quite spectacular. we started the day at Matt's (and now our) friend, Linda's, church. After that we ate what was, i think, the best meal i had in Asia. Then we squished ourselves into Matt's Broken Little Tiny Car and toured the base and hangar Matt spent most of his military life in. we were even permitted to climb aboard one of the blackhawks he flies. we were not, however, permitted to gain access to the knowledge of what, exactly, the disco ball on top of the blackhawks is. "that's classified," was the repeated response.

After our stint at Camp Humphreys, we headed back to Seoul to catch the Lantern Festival in honor of Buddha's birthday. this was a particularly exciting treat for me, as i originally thought we would miss it.

the plethora of photos and videos are extensive enough to show just how excited i was. Seoul hosts this festival every year, and the main street overflows with thousands of participants, carrying a near-unending supply of lanterns and floats, all made and painted by hand. simply beautiful. as an added bonus, justin decided to experiment with local cuisine at the parade, and ate silk worm larvae. i think the pictures speak for themselves regarding his preference.

pictures on picasa here and here

i don't expect anyone to get through them all. i am a notoriously generous picture-taker.

Korea, day 1

2009-05-05T23:28:00.003-04:00

we've arrived back safely from our epic Asian adventure. i'm slowly putting together far too many pictures. first installment: Korea day 1.

after an extremely long plane ride, Justin, Liz and i met my brother and our friend, Linda, at the airport in Incheon. from there, we found some food and went to sleep. the next day, we got up early and went to an open market, where we found all sorts of fantastically inexpensive treasures, as well as some local foods that were, uh, fishy.

then we took a sobering tour of the Demilitarized Zone that lies between North and South Korea. learning about some of the ridiculous antics n. korea has been up to sent shivers down my spine. yet South Korea is not in a constant state of panic. most folks get on with their daily lives, work, eat, play - all without giving thought to the threat that is miles from them doing who-knows-what.

pictures of this adventure are on Picasa.

When to Clean What

2009-04-04T13:44:00.003-04:00

I dislike cleaning, except in occasional bursts. But I dislike living in filth more, so I clean. Regularly, I wonder if there is a good rhythm or schedule I could follow for cleaning – particularly regarding the neglected areas of cleaning walls, windows, etc. So I went about searching for answers and found the following list on Yahoo Answers, posted by “Teri”… whoever she is, she’s fantastically organized. While I don’t know that I can maintain as rigorous of a schedule as she has, and have yet to see the point in making beds, I still think this is marvelously helpful and figured I should share with y’all.

As further helpful advice, she said, “I keep a calendar so that the 2x and 1x per year stuff does not slide and we don't end up doing it all on the same day.”

DAILY:
- Make beds
- Pick up and put things away
- Vacuum (may only need to do 1-2x per week if you do not have childen or animals)
- Clean kitchen after dinner
(mel's note - i would add sweep to this list, because we have a sheddy dog and a kitchen that doesn't take well to vacuuming)

ONCE A WEEK:
- Laundry
- Dusting- Clean Bathrooms
- Deep cleaning of one room every weekend (i.e. kitchen deep clean means I clean out refrigerator, cabinets, oven; a bedroom deep clean involves cleaning out drawers and closets and getting rid of stuff we don't use, etc.) (mel's note - yeah... that's going to be more like once-a-month for me, if i'm lucky)
- Polish/clean wood and tile floors
- Grocery shopping
- Clean/upkeep of swimming pool if you have one and it's in season
- Mow lawn
- Landscaping upkeep (trim bushes, pull weeds)

2x PER YER:
- Do a thorough spring-cleaning. Wash walls and windows, shampoo and vacuum carpeting, polish floors, etc.
- Paint/repaint any rooms that need touch-ups.
- Clean or replace the filter in your air conditioning system
- Deep clean swimming pools, ponds and/or fountains. Do repairs as needed.
- Repair or replace damaged window screens and weather-stripping.
- Caulk open joints around windows and doors.
- Inspect rain gutters for rusted and damaged areas.
- Repair or replace faulty gates, fence posts, landscape borders, etc.
- Clean decks, gazebos, fences and patio furniture. If your furniture or deck is made of wood, pour water on the surface; if it doesn't bead up, it needs to be refinished.
- Replace batteries in safety appliances, such as smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.
- Lanscaping (plant flowers, etc.)

1x PER YEAR:
- Check the exterior walls of your home for cracks, peeling paint or other damage.
- Cut and remove branches around the roofline to keep squirrels and other pests away.
- Check outdoor faucets.
- Clean the water heater and check that it is functioning correctly.
- Inspect and clean the fireplace before lighting your first fire in the winter.
- Check the furnace filter and replace if necessary. (mel's note - what furnace filter?? do i even have a furnace??)
- Rid rain gutters of leaves and other debris that may get in the way of drainage and promote rusting.
- Inspect crawl space beneath the house (mel's note -yeah, that's going to be NOT my job)
- Inspect grout and caulking around sinks, tubs and showers.
- Remove and clean the drain plugs from sinks and tubs.
- Remove accumulated mineral deposits from showerheads by soaking or scrubbing them with white vinegar.
- Inspect your roof from the ground with binoculars. Look for loose, missing or damaged roofing materials.
- Clean the underside of range hood and clean or replace the filter.
- Inspect your washing machine and dryer. Remove lint that's accumulated from the dryer drum to where the air is vented outside.
- Inspect and clean kitchen appliances, including the stove, dishwasher, garbage disposal, exhaust fans, etc.

mel's note - what would you add/take away?

The Tyranny has Ended

2009-03-17T13:12:00.003-04:00

My pet frog died last month. Before you get all warm-and-fuzzily schmoopy about your condolences, let me say this: i am not sad about it. and lest you think me a calloused, uncaring, jerk of a pet owner, keep reading. it will make sense, i promise.

When I was in high school, a friend of mine gave me a little froglet from her pond for my birthday. i've always been fond of frogs - i think they're cute with their little arms and legs and all their swimming around and whatnot. i gladly accepted the gift, named him Bob and got a tank for him. i figured he'd be a good pet for a few years and would have run the course of his happy little life before i had to leave for college.

that was 17 years ago. Let me say that again: SEVENTEEN YEARS. Frogs like him are supposed to live three to five years in the wild. But Bob... he lived for SEVENTEEN years. That's exponentially longer than he was supposed to live.

how did Bob do this, you ask? exercise routine? eat well? stay away from smoking? no. not at all. he lived this long because he was fueled by the pure evil that pulsed through him.

for years, i thought Bob was lonely - he'd sing his mating song in the spring, floating back and forth in the tank. i got him some frog companions. he ATE them. ATE THEM! then i tried fish. nope, he ate them as well. so i started sticking plastic toys in the tank. well, just look at the picture to see what he did to Freud! He bit me regularly, he beat himself along the walls of the tank just to defy me... he was horrible. This frog managed to survive 10 moves and destroy three tanks and countless water filter pumps with the gunk he produced. he was, as i have already stated, evil.

so no, i wasn't sad when he died. i was glad to get his crusty tank out of the house. my only sadness is for the long line of victims he left in his wake. evil, evil frog. did i mention that he was evil? because he was.

Prone to Wander

2009-03-09T13:08:00.005-04:00

Come Thou Fount is, perhaps, my favorite hymn. and now, it has physical representation. my dear friend and The-Best-Artist-In-The-Whole-Wide-World made this:

oh, my soul. it's perfect; absolutely perfect.

in times of economic trouble, it may seem wise not to invest in art, but this is actually the best time to do it if you can - the value will only ever go up. so you should check out her website and see if you can snag a breath-taking piece or two. however, if you buy the painting shown above, i will find out where you live and steal it from you, eighth commandment or no eighth commandment...

Update on The Year of Traveling

2009-02-16T20:52:00.003-05:00

that would make a good book title.

howdy, folks. if you'll recall, i stated that my 30th year will be my year of traveling. my established rule was to announce new locations only after purchasing tickets. well, drum roll for the latest ticket purchase (SQUEEE!!!):

South Korea

and Japan!!!

Justin and i will head over in late april, to help my brother pack up to move back to the states and then wander around Korea and Japan for a few days. bonus: a friend of my brother's is joining us and my friend Liz is joining us. essentially, it will be fabulous.

i'll keep you posted, of course.

Haikus of Corporate Injustice

2009-01-29T11:15:00.002-05:00

insurance people
farm out eye coverage
it's a secret, shhh!

hello, billing dept.?
i told you this before
don't blame deja vu

"health insurance co."
this is an oxymoron
... sick from billing stress!

country living

2009-01-27T10:55:00.002-05:00

i so very much wish i had a picture to show you what it looked like...

last night, as we pulled up to the house after having a fabulous day with some friends, we saw two giant objects standing in the dark mist of our yard, eating grass. the neighbor's horses had escaped. they looked so enormous without a fence. fortunately, our friend is skilled in all things horse and had them tied up and following her in a matter of minutes. we got them back in their pasture and all was well.

i love living in the country :)

couldn't have said it better if i tried

2009-01-16T12:36:00.003-05:00

i don't generally blog about my path to pastoring. frankly, it's a pretty painful experience, and it's an intensly personal one - one from which i'm still smarting. putting my personal and theological journey out there for folks who are fellow believers to deride and scorn and scrutinize... well, i'm often simply not strong enough to bear up under that. in my sinfulness, i'm likely to get snarky or self-righteous or down-right blubbery in response.

my husband pointed me to this blog post yesterday. for now, this will be the closest i'll come to talking about my own experience. this post (right down to the title) perfectly captures my experience and, i would imagine, the experience of a shockingly large percentage of women in the church.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

2009-01-12T10:48:00.005-05:00

i wonder how many blog posts in the world have that title... anyway, some random bits of information for those who are interested.

The Good:

The Husband and saw a documentary on Saturday called Pray the Devil Back to Hell. This film follows a group of Liberian women who; after enduring years of war, rape, bloodshed, and watching their boys turned into criminals; band together to demand peace in their ravaged country. Christian and Muslim women pushed aside their religious differences to fight the evil that surrounded them. as one woman put it - a bullet does not care if you are a Christian or a Muslim.

It is amazing what God can do through a bunch of women who reach the end of their patience. Go see this movie. i remember hearing little to nothing at all about these ladies while the Liberian civil war was going on, so i am glad to see that their faith, hope, and forbearance has been recorded.

The Bad:

I thought i was done with this, but here is yet-another post about Westminster Theological Seminary. in the wake of last year's fiasco, WTS Board and some of the faculty have now drawn up a list of 52 affirmations and 52 denials that each faculty member must subscribe to - in addition to subscribing to the Westminster Confession of Faith (pdf of the list, if the link works).

Now i know that the board and administration has every right to take WTS in whatever direction they deem fit, but i'm still saddened by this. Also, i don't really think they accomplish their stated purpose:

a. They [the affirmations and denials] clarify theological and hermeneutical misunderstandings that have occurred in the recent theological controversies that have impacted the Seminary.
b. They refine core commitments of the Seminary by clarifying foundational theological boundaries established by Scripture and the Standards for the teaching of our faculty and potential faculty hires in these controverted matters.

it seems to me that the affirmations don't clarify much. they are vague when they should be specific, and specific where they should be vague. examples:

We affirm that the truths affirmed in the Standards are true for all times, all places, all languages, and all cultures.

this seems a bit, er, too specific. to take the obvious argument: there were some revisions of the standards, see, after America started to rebel against England, that made it okay for America to do that. so, that part of the Stanards wasn't true for all times, places, etc. also, of course, the part about the Pope being the anti-christ. they got rid of that. but then, perhaps it's the revised Standards that are true for all times, places, etc. in that case, well, let's hope no one accidentally subscribes to the original Standards.

also, this is a bit vague:

We deny that Genesis 1 merely teaches that God made everything.

... glad we cleared that up.

and

We affirm that Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were real people who went through the experiences that Genesis describes them as going through. (WCF 1.4; 2.1; 14.2; WLC 160.)

why those three? is Joseph off the hook? Esau? Rachel? etc. etc. This may seem like nit-picking, but it isn't. once they introduce this kind of specificity, they need to take it to its logical end or not be surprised when folks find loopholes in it.

and then there's this:

We affirm doctrinal continuity and harmony between the original historical and
human meaning of an Old Testament text and the meaning a New Testament writer
attributes to that text. (WCF 1.5; 1.9.)
We deny that there is any doctrinal divergence or disparity between the original historical and human meaning of an Old Testament text and its use in the New Testament.

so, Isaiah says a lady is going to give birth to a kid, and that is going to signal the end of the war in which Israel, 2800 years ago, was involved. but Matthew picks this up and makes it about a virgin and Jesus and the beginning of the arrival of the Kingdom of God. and Isaiah (not God, but Isaiah - the guy with the visions) knew this? uh, i'm going to have to disagree with that.

WTS's understanding of the ultimate and final course of this world and of God's people is built on a foundation of Spiritual surprise - the things spelled out in black and white in the Old Testament, things that were fulfilled then and there, will have a different, deeper look and meaning when Christ gets hold of them. Hosea's relationship with Ghomer isn't just about God physically returning rebellious Israel to their land. It's about Him restoring the souls of all His children, through Christ's death and resurrection. Don't tell me Hosea saw that coming. Frankly, we're going to have to take on a gramatical-historical exegesis to swallow this.

other things i find interesting:

We deny that any verse or passage can be given its full and proper interpretation by taking it in isolation from the book to which it belongs, or from the Scripture as a whole.

and

We affirm that when interpreting any passage, the true meaning must be found by comparing the one passage with the rest of Scripture (WCF 1.9.)

and yet, the whole of the women's roles argument hinges on two or three verses taken out of context...

to press on, my favorite contradiction:

We affirm that the Westminster Standards are fallible, that is, that it is possible in principle that they may err, and, further, that they are open to revision. (WCF 31.4)

but

We deny that there are truths found in Scripture but not in the Standards that overthrow or undermine any element in the system of doctrine expounded in the
Standards.

so, the Standards aren't fallible? wait, i think i've got it: it could have grammatical or spelling errors, but by way of doctrine, it's perfect. so no need for a Bible department, fellas. we've got all we need in the WCF.

For more on this, check out the discussion going on at Art Boulet's blog. initial comments are snarky, but press on for good discussion from both sides of the debate.

and finally, The Ugly:

some gallows humor from our venison party...

Guatemala, the final installment

2008-12-31T09:44:00.004-05:00

Our last full day in Guatemala was Christmas Day. The Moore family (well, really, Mom) has a tradition of waking up before the sun to eat an epic breakfast and tear through presents. why should it be any different in Guatemala?

unbeknownst to us, there is a very good reason for it to be different: Noche Buena. In Guatemala, the important day/night of celebration is Christmas Eve, not Christmas. So at Midnight (when Christmas Eve became Christmas Day), we were awoken from our must-sleep-so-we-can-wake-up-early states by blasts and flashing lights that seemed war-like in volume and length. it took several minutes for us to realize that it was just people partying with fireworks. i wish i had been able to get out the camera and record the noises, but i was too tired. i kept thinking, oh, it will stop as soon as i crawl out of bed; but it went on for the better part of two hours.

so Christmas morning in the Moore/Otto house was, well, a bit more zombie-like than normal. but that's okay; it was still fabulous (particularly with our movie-making skills: ShamWow!).

in the afternoon, while the kids crashed from their sugar overload and the grandparents recovered from their lack of sleep, Steve, Jess, Justin and I went in to downtown Antigua to walk around. Everyone was out and about. all the stores were opened. it was bright and sunny out and it was the perfect way to spend Christmas afternoon.

we thoroughly enjoyed our time in Guatemala, and wish we could have stayed even longer. i loved getting to know my brother- and sister-in-law so much better, and hanging out with my niece and nephews. i loved seeing what the Ottos are up to way down in Central America, and i loved sharing a bit of their life with them for a while. Thanks, guys, for hosting us so graciously. we can't wait to see you again!

pictures, of course, on picasa

Guatemala Part 6 - the other side

2008-12-28T22:03:00.004-05:00

Christmas Eve was a difficult day in Guatemala. While this is the main celebration day for Guatemalans (lots of fireworks and partying into the night), the Moore/Otto clan did something a bit different. Justin and I went with Steve, Nate and a member of their church to a struggling malnutrition center way up in the mountains, about an hour drive from Antigua.

This center has been around for some time, and has the capacity to hold up to 200 children who would not be fed otherwise. however, the organization that is committed to sponsor them has drastically cut back funding over the years, leaving the center without money, staff, food and even power (sometimes for extended periods). There are only 35 children in care now, and the staff struggle to feed even that small number. but, almost more painful than the lack of supplies is the lack of staff. those who work there are dedicated, to be sure, but there are too few to give the children the attention they need - at the most critical stages of development. so while these kids are being fed (often by some miracle), they are not being touched, held, played with. there are simply not enough people to go around.

and now, the center has heard that they will not have the money to even pay the staff they have. it's easy for me to rage at the funding organization, whose actions are criminal. but my rage does not feed and love these children.

Steve and Jessica's church is working with the center, to find out what exactly they need and get them the supplies that the funding organization will not. if you are interested in contributing funds to the malnutrition center, contact Steve and Jessica through this site: http://www.ottofamilyadventure.info/pb/wp_d666a0cf/wp_d666a0cf.html

pictures on picasa

Guatemala Part 5 - COFFEE

2008-12-25T20:06:00.002-05:00

wonderful, wonderful things happened on tuesday. wonderful things. wonderful.

i just... i don't have the words for it. all i can say is: coffee plantation + armadillos hanging from the ceiling + creepy dog = fantasticness.

pictures on picasa

Guatemala part 4 - mayan villages and chicken buses

2008-12-25T13:00:00.002-05:00

Monday was filled with All Things Wonderful. in the morning, he Ottos took us to a Mayan community. A group of women got together here to pool their resources, teach visitors about Mayan culture, and sell their textiles.

we ground coffee, got married, ate incredible food (also incredibly spicy... my lips have not yet recovered) and bought lots of beautiful pieces.

in the afternoon, Jess, mom and i went into Antigua to do some food shopping. i didn't take any pictures of the Bodagona (one of the bigger grocery stores) because i was too busy not freaking out because people were touching me... too much touching!

i did manage to find some more pictures of ruins. Antigua used to be the capital of Guatemala (and central America in general)... until the bazillions of earth quakes that happen regularly pretty much turned the town into rubble. the powers that be moved the capital to Guatemala city, thinking that might be a more stable location. and who can blame them? antigua is surrounded by at least 3 active volcanoes. fun!

pictures on picasa

Guatemala Part 3: How paint fumes lead to partying

2008-12-22T15:13:00.004-05:00

It's the latest installment of Guatemala 2008! Inside, find:

Paint Thinner!

Make-Shift Ladders!

Doors! Doors! Doors!

Live Music!

Food!

Dancing!

More Doors!

Pirate-Talking!

Fireworks!

we spent Saturday and Sunday keeping a relatively low profile - Justin, Steve, Nate and I helped prepare their church's new building for the move-in, which will happen in two weeks.

a neighbor hosted a Christmas party on Saturday night. it involved a white elephant game and i think it is safe to say that the Moore-Otto clan DOMINATED (i mean, DOMINATED). our spoils include a purse, a walet, and a variety of chocolate. unfortunately, we also managed to acquire a hideous flower arangment. we left it on our host's windows as a sign of gratitude.

Sunday we went to church and then went out to eat for Mom and Dad Moores' 39th anniversary. Steve and Jessica took us to a restaurant in which the owner plays live music with his band. i think you can figure out which one he is from the pictures - think Margaritaville.

pictures on picasa

Guatemala - day two

2008-12-19T20:24:00.004-05:00

Today we drove up to Iximche to explore the Mayan ruins there. Though the site had its heyday in the late 1400's, it is still an active worship location today. We managed to time our visit during a grain offering.

after exploring the ruins, we lunched at a beautiful and delicious restaurant. the weather was perfect; we were high up in the mountains and enjoyed a wonderfully sunny and breezy day.

pictures on picasa

Guatemala!

2008-12-18T20:43:00.005-05:00

we arrived in Guatemala yesterday, and arrived safely at my siblings-in-law's house after braving the streets of Guatemala City.

the apartment complex has two dogs who bop around freely. I've made their acquaintance a few times already. the massive German Shepherd (Fritz) leans on me when i pet him. i nearly fell over twice.

Yesterday evening, we attended a Bible study/pot luck at Steve and Jessica's church. the demographic of this church is split between locals and folks who are wandering through, doing language studies or missions work or some other thing. we met two students who were planning on hiking up one of the volcanoes (you can roast marshmellows on it!) today. i intend to follow in their footsteps.

Today, we explored Antigua - the market, some ruins, a restaurant or two...

purchasing items from a market vendor here is a taxing experience. haggling is a must. i don't haggle well, particularly when the haggling is supposed to occur in a foreign language. i managed, though, with the assistance of The Rest of The Family - all capable of managing at least the Spanish basics. by lunch time, we were so spent that we had to head home with the spoils and refuel.

pictures are up on picasa

autumn, travel, and The Year Of Thirty

2008-12-08T13:16:00.010-05:00

i don't know why, but i'm finding that maintaining a blog is becoming increasingly impossible as life is becoming increasingly enjoyable. let's face it, blogging trouble is easier for me than blogging happiness. really, this blog has essentially turned into an update blog... and guess what- here's another update.

I mentioned last post that i had some potential travel plans in the works for The Year of Thirty - and it's true. If all works out, i will have been on four continents in one year, with most of these opportunities funded by someone-other-than-me. These facts combine to make 30 The Best Year Ever in recorded mel-history.

first up: in mid-late october, i was able to join Susan for a trip to Oxford and London where she was being interviewed for her latest book (The Art of the Public Grovel; you should read it. you should buy it for your friends and family for Christmas so they can read it. seriously. it's worth it.)

contemplating various torture techniques used in the Tower of London

----

Sunset at Christ's Church College in Oxford

----

wandering in the gardens of Lady Margaret Hall College

------

nerding it up with Susan and Meredith on the wall at Exeter, in front of The Greatest Library Ever.

i adored England, and surprised myself by liking Oxford more than i liked London (don't get me wrong, London was fabulous in its own right). It helped that i was reading Gaudy Night while there, and that Oxford has the sort of aesthetic that generates awe and coziness and a deep desire to crack open a book and discuss it with whomever happens to be around. i would absolutely love to go back, particularly if i could manage another trip with Susan. it is rare to come across a traveling companion who matches pace, style, and interest - but she did.

next on the list - Guatemala. The husband and i are going there for Christmas, with his parents, to visit his sister and family, who are doing some pretty great work down there. Now, Justin and i have been debating back and forth as to whether lower Central America is part of North America or South America. i don't care what professional geographers say, i count it as South America, which means that i've now been in North America, Europe, and, as of next Wednesday, South America. There's one more continent to reveal, but my rule is it doesn't get said until the tickets are bought.

For more England photos, check out my Picasa: day 1, day 2, day 3, day 4, and day 5.

UPDATE: It's all captioned and semi-organized now. the next sentence is a lie. i haven't captioned anything yet, because i already spend half of my life in front of my computer for work, so it's hard to spend any more time in front of it when i have trails to walk, dogs to play with, and husbands to hang out with... well, really, only one husband and one dog...

tid-bits

2008-08-12T21:31:00.006-04:00

lots of little things going on this week:

my church just finished a discussion group on Inspiration and Incarnation today and i think it went really well and allowed for me to get to know (and feed!) folks with whom i might not have otherwise connected. apparently, it was good timing, because Pete Enns is being interviewed regarding the book on Radio Times tomorrow. You can listen in at 11:00 am EDT at http://www.whyy.org/91FM/radiotimes.html, or find the program archived at that web address for the next week or so.

the garden is at full explosion right now. we have tomatoes covering EVERY surface of our kitchen (with cucumbers, peppers, beans and other sundry items vying for space as well) and i was able to put good use to one of the mortar and pestles my mom (in-law) bought me by grinding up some herbs to knead into our home-made pizza crust. so very, very good.

our dog, who was commanded to lose weight by various veterinarians post-surgery, has lost a couple of pounds and is now in "normal" range. AND he doesn't flop on the ground in protest anymore when i take him jogging.

i've been working on the next installment of the Philippians series i'm preaching through, and i'm pretty excited about the upcoming passage. it's gotten me thinking quite a bit about unity and how we as Christians are called to bond together for the sake of the Gospel - a concept that runs absolutely opposite of the very fiber of our beings as humans. we want so desperately to be autonomous and beholden to no one. but the Kingdom of God is not like this world, and through the Spirit, we are to be answerable to each other, and committed so deeply to each other that the only thing that could break that bond is the breaking of fellowship with Christ Himself. tall orders, but God calls us to do that which He strengthens us to do.

as Justin and i consider housing options for our future, we are glad (elated, dumbfounded, awed by generosity, etc. etc.) to know that our finances continue to stabilize more and more and, as an added bonus, we now (basically) know how to lay bamboo floors. so we'll be ready should the time come for us. bonus: power tools are involved!

and though my birthday is months away (30 this year!), the celebration starts early and goes throughout the year: next week Justin and i are going to a Bruce Springsteen concert with friends. furthermore, if all goes as we hope it will, I will be able to call my 30th year The Year Of Traveling. but i don't want to build up anything that may crumble, so more on that as the destinations and dates lock in place.

speaking of birthdays, we celebrated a good friend's birthday this week. she cooked for a small group of us and it was heavenly!

while i don't usually do life-summary posts, i thought one was in order. i can't remember the last time when life felt like this. right now, i can't turn around without being bombarded by God's many blessings, even while being surrounded by brokenness and suffering. i feel like each day, i understand a bit more what we mean when we say, God is good.

The "Enns" of an era

2008-07-23T10:17:00.005-04:00

i couldn't help myself... if the pun fits, wear it or something like that.

anyway, as i stop masking sad news with humor, let me direct you to this announcement from WTS and Peter Enns.

from my read-through, i've learned that Pete Enns is leaving WTS, and that very carefully-worded statements of "acknowledgment" are present throughout the announcement, avoiding anything that may be overly-informative or controversial.

i'm not surprised. I pray that God directs Dr. Enns to a place where he will be able to minister freely to his students in the name of Christ.

Blessings to you, Pete.

odds and ends

2008-07-16T10:29:00.002-04:00

as i wandered around The Internets this week, i found a couple of things that are hard to pass up.

first, if you have not done so already, you must watch this video. it certainly recharges my wanderlust. also, i love the song in it.

on theo opposite end of the spectrum, check out this article. Apparently, the environment committee of the Spanish Parliament voted to extend certain human rights to the great apes. the rights extended, for the most part, are reasonable - not torturing the animals, for instance. but the problem comes when we call them human rights.

there's a quote in the article from a PETA spokes person, who states that humans are often viewed as god-like in relation to animals. to her, this is a major problem. but this is, essentially, what we are. We were made to be the care-takers of this world. such a role cannot and should not be used as a weapon, something we hide behind as we mistreat and destroy this world and the creatures on it. but there is a fundamental difference between people and animals. cheifly, we have souls. we can actively choose whether to follow or rebel against God. animals do not have this option. and they are dependant on us to care for them in a way that honors the One who made them in the first place. yes, we should not torture apes. but we should not call it a "human right" when we pass a law saying it is illegal to torture apes.

A year of faithfulness

2008-07-03T11:39:00.011-04:00

This week marks the one-year anniversary of Justin and me moving to VA. God has been good to us in this transition, giving us a great home, an exploding garden, The Best Dog In The World, and a church filled to the brim with people who love God and love each other. we are blessed beyond words! in honor of this milestone, i dug up some pictures that, for the most part, describe our life here:

Justin and me, sitting down on the job while PA friends who were helping us pack up the moving truck were less than pleased.

Peace Hill Christian Fellowship's church building, built by the church.

Justin and Tohu walking across the field next to our house

The view from the pier; this habitat changes dramatically from season to season. this was taken in early spring.

the view from our back yard; goats not pictured

A sunset, as viewed from our front yard

the exploding garden. the lettuce is going to seed. i'm hoping i can harvest it and grow future lettuce from that seed.

... and our garden has expanded. these are all non-hybrid tomato an pepper plants that i plan to bring inside for the fall and encourage them to keep producing. then i want to harvest their seeds as well.

... and here's MORE expansion - the herb garden

My rattlesnake beans with their pretty purple flowers.

Moore on Frame on Enns

2008-06-18T10:38:00.007-04:00

More Enns related stuff, I know...

Now, I'm not generally one to comment on the theological side of the WTS controversy, as there are dozens of people out there already doing a much better job of it than I could. But I recently came across a review of Inspiration and Incarnation, written by John Frame, that struck me enough to actually comment on it (for more responses, you can check out the Conn-versation blog). First, there are several points where i agree with Frame - regarding terminology usage, mostly. But I cannot agree with him regarding the main theme of his review.

One of Dr. Frame's central criticisms of Dr. Enns' book is, essentially, that it is addressing a phantom problem - one that does not actually exist in the broader evangelical mind. Some quotations from Frame:

I have heard and read a lot of reflection about the parallels between Israel’s laws and narratives to those outside Israel. Israel’s laws are somewhat like those of the Code of Hammurabi; non-Israelite nations have their own creation stories and flood stories, their own wisdom literatures, which are both like and unlike those in the Bible. Perhaps there have been some evangelicals who have found these parallels problematic, but I think not very many.

Most everyone in the Reformed camp confesses organic inspiration, the view that divine inspiration makes use of both human and divine causes to bring about the biblical text. Why would anybody imagine that God cannot use the influence of other cultures to do this, along with all the other historical causes that brought the Scriptures into being? ...
My conclusion is that in this first section of the book, Enns fails to present any thesis distinct from the traditional evangelical view of organic inspiration, though he seems to think he has done so.

Regarding Enns' section on Wisdom Literature:

This is diversity in the sense of perspective. It raises no questions about the traditional doctrine of inspiration.

My response to Frame, quite basically is, who have you been talking to?? Whomever these traditional evangelicals are, I haven't come across many of them myself. While there is a standard view regarding "organic inspiration" within the evangelical church, most lay people I've come across, particularly young lay people, have no clue what "organic inspiration" is or that they, as evangelicals, are supposed to believe it.

I grew up in a baptist church. I went to a Bible college. But the things I learned about inspiration I learned at WTS and not before. I was taught by my church and many of my college professors the very things that Dr. Enns refutes in his book:

in order for the Bible to be inspired, it must look very different from everything around it

if other cultures had the same laws and proverbs BEFORE the Old Testament did, that means we've all believed in a sham; that the Bible isn't special and that we've all been tricked

if the historical records are inacurate and, at times, down-right contradictory, the Bible is no longer trustworthy

if the Bible isn't internally coherent, it's not inspired. there can't be contradictions in the Poverbs or in how laws are explained

For the average non-seminary educated evangelical, who, for whatever reason does not have the time or inclination to read volumes of theology regarding inspiration and Scripture, and who is not blessed with a pastor who regularly speaks on the subject, the concerns Enns raises are VERY real concerns. Learning that other cultures referenced Israel does not pose a problem for most Christians. That is simply proof that Israel really was. But when the Bible starts sounding like pre-existing cultures and, if read in certain ways, contradicts itself... well, THAT is a BIG problem.

In fact, many students struggle through seminary and even walk away from the faith as a result of being unable to resolve these tensions regarding diversity within Scripture and similarities between Scripture and the surrounding cultural documents. Their faith was based on a skewed, though popular, understanding of inspiration and it fell apart in the face of modern research. Bart Erhman comes to mind. Furthermore, on a popular level, there has been a significant increase recently in interest in Gnostic gospels and other things that "seem" to "prove" that the NT was not unique and hence, should not be authoritative.

Frame's review read, to me, as though he were accusing Enns of being out of touch regarding the average evangelical 's view of Scripture. But I believe Enns is not the one who is out of touch.

It would be funny if it weren't true

2008-06-07T10:40:00.003-04:00

Worried about those loved ones left behind after you've been taken up into the glories of heaven just before the destruction of the world-as-we-know-it? no worries! for just $40 a year, you can subscribe to this service, which will send out an email to 62 people of your choice, 6 days after you've been raptured.

seriously.

i'm not kidding.

no, i'm not.

really, seriously.

HT: marc

Enns on Enns

2008-06-03T10:54:00.003-04:00

Peter Enns announced yesterday that he will be writing on his blog a series of posts in which he intends to clear up some misconceptions regarding Inspiration and Incarnation.

If you have been confused or frustrated by the debates going back and forth, and have been struggling to find the heart of the issue-at-hand, I imagine reading straight from the horse's mouth will help.

Only we can prevent forest fires...

2008-05-31T18:10:00.006-04:00

in the sins-of-the-fathers category, i just read an informative article that summarized a recent report in which the U.S. Climate Change Science Program announced that the effects of global warming are not in the distant future, but are here now. yikes.

the paper "highlights how human-generated carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels have already translated into more frequent forest fires, reduced snowpack and increased drought, especially in the West."

it doesn't sound like it's going to get any better, either:

"Climate change is currently impacting the nation's ecosystems and services in significant ways, and those alterations are very likely to accelerate in the future, in some cases dramatically," the report says. "Even under the most optimistic CO2 emission scenarios, important changes in sea level, regional and super-regional temperatures and precipitation patterns will have profound effects."

meanwhile, thousands of perfectly good and working electric cars are tucked away, never to be used, in some remote location.

i fear for the next generation.

continuing our series of "things that don't add up"...

2008-05-22T15:53:00.009-04:00

on a scale of One to sucker-punched-in-the-face-and-then-told-you-asked-for-it, the latest shady dealing from WTS's president is an 11.

I have one question for Dr. Lilback:

How is submitting for publication an overly-aggressive and straw-men-filled article attacking a professor from the school I am president of, in a book that is honoring another professor from the same school at his retirement the same thing as not getting involved or taking sides in faculty debates until the very last minute, when I was asked by the Board to counsel them regarding internal faculty debates?

This article (as it appeared on the WTS website a couple of weeks ago) has a finished publication date of February of this year. It's in a book that is now available for purchase. It takes months for a book to be produced and printed, even after its final draft is approved by editors. Even assuming a very quick writing process, Dr. Lilback would have had to have been working on this article long before February; i.e. - long before the Board (as he described the situation in April) insisted that he get his hands dirty in the debates that he allegedly had stayed above. It would also mean that Dr. Lillback was involved in these debates not only by making private recommendations to the Board on the matter, but also by publicly and blatantly standing against Dr. Enns, in a publicized and marketed book.

This is not the action of the "uniter" Dr. Lillback claims to be.

WTS and Enns: official documents

2008-04-25T14:48:00.007-04:00

The documents prepared by the Historical and Theological Field Committee (HTFC) (Mostly guys from Systematics and Church History dept.s) against Peter Enns’ book Inspiration and Incarnation as well as the response to the report by the Hermeneutics Field Committee (HFC) (Biblical Studies dept.) (in favor of Enns) were released on Westminster’s website. Along with these reports are also the Edgar-Kelly Motion, the Faculty Minority Report, and an essay by Dr. Peter Lillback.

I have no intention of doing an in-depth analysis of the contents of these documents. it's being done elsewhere. i suggest that those who are interested read through these sites:

Joel Garver's post, in which he says about Dr. Lillback's essay, "Frankly, I think the essay is an embarrassment. I realize that presidents of academic institutions are often selected more for their vision or administrative skills (or even willingness to take on an unforgiving job) than necessarily their scholarship or academic rigor. Still, in my opinion, Lillback's essay is a disservice to the integrity and reputation of WTS."
Ben Myers' post, in which he says, "But the [HTFC] Report only gets worse. It’s sadly revealing to see the way objections against Enns are simply piled up, willy-nilly, without any modesty or sense of proportion. On a number of occasions, the authors complain that Enns’ book is “unclear.” For example, they complain that his description of scripture as “ultimately from God” and “God’s gift to the church” is “fuzzy at best in that it can accrue to an almost infinite number of things. In that sense, it is not an affirmation of the church’s historic understanding of inspiration.” Fuzzy? Theologians can now be suspended for fuzziness? In any case, the sheer irrelevance of such complaints is precisely the point: when you’ve already made up your mind in advance, any old criticism will do."
Ben Byerly's outline of Lillback's paper
Ben Byerly's summary of the positions in the inerrancy debate.
Ben Byerly's highlights of the documents themselves.
The Conn-versation blog has already weighed in, and will continue to do so. check it periodically.

Already, in my initial perusal, I have been deeply troubled by the HTFC's gross error in misquoting Dr. Enns' statement,

Can Christians speak of a unity to the Bible? Yes, but it is not a superficial unity based on the surface content of the words of the passages taken in isolation. The unity of the Bible is more subtle but at the same time deeper. It is a unity that should ultimately be sought in Christ himself, the living word. (p 110, I&I, emphasis mine)

saying instead:

“..the unity of the Bible is sought in the living Christ. It comes together in Christ" (Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics, Vol 1, part 2)

which, of course, is not Dr. Enns, but Karl Barth, who is the bogeyman of the conservative Presbyterian world. It is the theological equivalent putting Ralph Nader's words in a relatively conservative politician's mouth. The HTFC links Dr. Enns to Barth through this misquotation, then goes on to argue against the theological implications of the misquotation for several pages. While the HTFC acknowledges this misquotation in their preface, they do little to acknowledge the implications this mistake has on their argument from that point forward.

Dr Lillback's paper is also quite troubling. His footnotes are particularly disturbing and at two different points (footnote 87 and pg 30 of his article), he chastises Dr. Enns for not capitalizing "word" in "word of God," claiming him to display a low view of Scripture. I must assume he wrote this footnote before reading the HTFC report, where they fail to capitalize "word" in "word of God" on two separate occasions (PDF pages 9 and 11), one of which when they were quoting directly from the Scriptures. huh. so i guess the Scriptures must not have a high view of themselves.

The HFC response is solid and compelling, please read all the documents for yourself.

I still encourage those who are troubled by the direction WTS is taking to sign the petition and write to the Board and administration expressing your concern before the May 26th Board meeting.
________________________________________________________

The Simplified Life

2008-04-22T13:43:00.004-04:00

Taking a break from WTS posts, I happily bring you something useful!

A couple of my friends and neighbors have developed a fabulous, easy-to-use online budgeting site called PearBudget. I strongly suggest you check it out, particularly if you:

claim you have a budget, but have no idea whether or not you actually stick to it

want to save up for something (house, vacation, pet surgery...)

need to pay off debt, but don't know what you can put to it monthly

don't like fiddling around with complicated programs and want something that's quick and easy to use

aren't super-organized and want something that organizes your budget and spending for you

are capable of getting receipts when you buy things and shoving them in a jar or your wallet or something so you can pull them out to reference later

are relatively new to the whole concept of budgeting, and need something that will help you along in the process

like things that offer free 30-day trials

are willing to pay 3$ a month for somehing super-helpful

seriously. stop reading this and go try PearBudget!

Due Process?

2008-04-03T16:15:00.006-04:00

There is plenty of theological data on both sides of the Enns debate floating around the blogosphere, but what I haven't yet seen is data regarding the Administration's questionable job of following the rules regarding Enns' case. So I got a copy of the By-Laws, Charter, Constitution and Faculty Manual (these are all public documents, to my understanding) to see what grounds the seminary has for handling this situation the way they have.

I originally intended to ask the questions below at the special chapel meeting on Tuesday, but we ran out of time and I am not aware of any future date when the Chairman of the Board will be available for another public question and answer session. And the questions I raise go beyond the board to the WTS community at large - are we aware of this? are we comfortable with this?

As a brief summary, if I understand this correctly, the Board has called for Pete Enns' suspension, effective May 23rd of this year and continuing indefinitely, until a decision regarding his status is reached. Now, May is also when the Institutional Personnel Committee is required to make a recommendation on Dr. Enns' status, after having completed an investigation (the Board meeting is even the same day as the start of Dr. Enns' suspension, i believe).

But, though I have no legal background, it seems obvious to me that the documents which are supposed to dictate how suspensions and terminations of professors are to proceed are being massaged at best and ignored at worst. If even I can figure this out in one evening, I can only imagine what legal implications await WTS. I will now quote from the Board letter to students, the Constitution, the By-Laws, and the Faculty Manual. I will pose my questions after the quotations.

In a letter to the students on March 27, Jack White, on behalf of the Board, stated [emphasis mine]:

That for the good of the Seminary (Faculty Manual II.4.C.4) Professor Peter Enns be suspended at the close of this school year, that is May 23, 2008 (Constitution Article III, Section 15), and that the Institutional Personnel Committee (IPC) recommend the appropriate process for the Board to consider whether Professor Enns should be terminated from his employment at the Seminary [NOTE - this is different from formal termination proceedings, right? this is deciding whether or not to begin formal termination proceedings. If this is the beginning of formal termination proceedings, the Board must write more clearly regarding this]. Further that the IPC present their recommendations to the Board at its meeting in May 2008.

Constitution Article III, Section 15 states this [emphasis mine]:

The Board shall have power, by the affirmative vote of a majority of its total membership, to remove the President, or any member of the teaching staff when according to its mature judgment, it has become convinced that such removal is necessary for the best interests of the Seminary. Before such removal is effected, however, the person in question shall have the right to receive a full investigation, and shall be granted abundant opportunity to defend his conduct of his office. Removal of a Faculty member shall be governed by the statement of procedures in Chapter II of the Faculty Manual, entitled "Appointments, Promotions, Tenure and Removal." Preliminary to and pending such investigation, he may be suspended temporarily. (Amended 5/94)

(Faculty Manual II.4.C.4) [Section C. is titled (emphasis mine); "Termination of a Tenured Faculty Member." Section C.4 is titled "For the good of the Seminary."]:

This article may be invoked only under the extraordinary circumstances that the survival of the Seminary is in jeopardy; under no circumstances may it be invoked without full and complete documentation of the precise ways in which the actions of the faculty member bring in jeopardy the survival of the Seminary. Implementation of this article must entail as much careful and deliberate attention to the rights of the individual(s) as would be entailed for the preceding reasons. [emphasis mine]

Just so we know, the By-laws 6.j. states this regarding the Institutional Personnel Committee (IPC)]:

In the event of any consideration of the termination of the employment of either the President or any Faculty member, this committee shall review such possibilities in detail and shall make a written recommendation to the Board. The President, the Executive Vice President, and a Faculty member shall be present for these discussions except that no individual shall be present when the possibility of the termination of his or her own employment is being discussed.

And here is some more specific information on how Formal dismissal proceedings are supposed to, well, proceed (from Section II.4.D of the Faculty Handbook, Titled "Procedures Governing Termination of a Faculty Member;" again, emphasis mine.)

II.4.D.3. If informal inquiry has failed to achieve a satisfactory disposition, members of the Board or Faculty may initiate formal dismissal proceedings. Formal dismissal proceedings are inaugurated when members of the Faculty or Board bring formal written charges and specifications to the President who shall have the responsibility to notify the Board, Faculty, and the individual concerned. A hearing committee shall be erected, composed of the President (convener), three members elected by the Board or appointed by the Executive Committee at that committee's discretion, and three members elected by the Faculty.

II.4.D.3.a. The Board, or the Executive Committee at its discretion, may suspend the faculty member during formal dismissal proceedings, only if in its judgment his or her continuance threatens immediate harm to the Seminary. The advice of the
Faculty shall be sought concerning the propriety, the length and other conditions of a suspension before it is effected. Salary and benefits will continue during the period of the suspension.

II.4.D.4 The Board's review will be based on the record of the committee hearing, and it will provide opportunity for argument, oral or written or both, by the principals at the hearings or by their representatives. The decision of the hearing committee will either be sustained, or the proceeding returned to the committee with specific objections. The committee will then reconsider, taking into account the stated objections and receiving new evidence if necessary. The Board will make a final decision only after study of the committee's reconsideration.

My questions to the Board:

"For the good of the Seminary" is invoked when a professor is officially entering termination proceedings. I thought Dr. Enns was being suspended in order to allow for time to investigate whether or not formal termination proceedings are necessary. How is it that the Board is invoking something tied to termination, which they are not yet pursuing in Dr. Enns' case? Or is Dr. Enns being formally considered for termination?

The Constitution states that Dr. Enns should be suspended PRIOR to and DURING investigations. Why is his suspension effective the same day as the IPC's recommendations are presented to the Board (ie - neither prior to nor during the IPC investigations)? Aren't these recommendations the fruit of the very investigations that Dr. Enns is supposed to be suspended during? In other words, according to the faculty manual and constitution, shouldn't Dr. Enns be suspended effective immediately, with a review of that suspension occurring at the May Board meeting?

Is the hearing committee the same committee as the IPC? His suspension under the "For the good of the Seminary" clause dictates that he is in the midst of formal termination proceedings. So, if the formal proceedings require a hearing committee to present their case before the Board, is the Board creating two committees - the IPC and another hearing committee? The two committees look distinct based on their description; they have different compositions. If these are two distinct committees, what is the point of the IPC? If not, the question again becomes, why is Dr. Enns' being suspended AFTER the IPC makes its recommendation?

What is the immediate harm that Dr. Enns presents that constitutes his suspension? If it is immediate harm, why is he being permitted to continue teaching until the end of the term?

The board invokes the "for the good of the seminary" clause as rationale for Dr. Enns' suspension and termination investigation. The clause itself states that it is to be used when the survival of the seminary is at stake. Is this the case? The students have been told by the Board and by the President in a recorded meeting that the issue at hand is disunity surrounding I&I, not the survival of the seminary. In fact, the term, "survival" was never used. Is this really an appropriate case for invoking the "for the good of the seminary" clause?
Was this section of the handbook followed: "advice of the Faculty shall be sought concerning the propriety, the length and other conditions of a suspension before it is effected"? Though Pete Enns has not entered his suspension time yet, the decision has been made, correct? So was faculty advice sought at the Mar 23 Board meeting in which the Board suspended Enns? Furthermore "advice of the Faculty" implies more than one member, perhaps even all the faculty. How many people were approached for advice?

Professor Dan McCartney on Servant Leadership

2008-04-03T12:26:00.006-04:00

Yesterday, Dr. Dan McCartney spoke at Westminster's chapel on the subject of servant leadership. I encourage everyone who can to listen to what he says. He offers a powerful challenge to all of us who are in positions of leadership in the church.

But his sermon is particularly timely with where WTS finds itself right now. As he drew distinctions between how the world leads and how Christ calls us to lead, he spoke very frankly about what Christian leadership should and should not look like.

At one point, McCartney told the story of his band director friend who was dealing with a couple of people in the band who were stirring up controversy. McCartney said that [his friend could have gotten] “those trouble makers removed. Or … he could have leveraged his position with the Board of Directors to get it to solve the problem by force.” He goes on to say that his friend chose, instead, the path of servant leadership. And while the problems weren’t fixed instantaneously, his friend chose the direction of “serving those people rather than simply forcing them to serve his goals.” [emphasis mine]

McCartney then summarized his challenge, “Jesus tells us that leadership in his church isn’t a matter of pursuing your goals … or getting people to do what you want or even what you think would be good for them to do. It’s not a matter of sacrificing others to achieve your ends or advance your career or even secure your survival. Indeed, [it’s] just the opposite.” [emphasis mine]

considering the current atmosphere surrounding the controversial situation at WTS, these are prophetic words. The Board and administration are in a delicate place right now as servant leaders who are attempting to address disunity. I do not envy them their positions. But I hope they (and all who are involved) begin to heed Dr. McCartney's call.

Thank you, Dr. McCartney, for your challenge.

WTS Chapel - Questions and Minority Report

2008-04-01T11:48:00.006-04:00

WTS hosted a special chapel today to allow students to ask questions and gather information regarding Peter Enns' suspension.

The question and answer time was given just over 30 minutes. For full audio, go here.

The President, the President of the Board and the Secretary of the Board offered answers to questions that were raised. They were patient and relatively forth-coming, but time simply did not allow for all the questions to be addressed. A group of students and alumni composed the following list of questions, which we intended on asking at the meeting. These questions include the official Board minority report, reprinted with permission.

Questions for the Board and Administration

The nine board members who voted against the motion passed by the Board of Trustees have provided you with a minority report regarding their reasoning for voting against the motion. Will you please present it to us now? Copies are available to students and attached to this document.

The Institutional Personnel Committee (IPC) will be making further recommendations on Professor Enns’s status at WTS at the board meeting in May. Are both the majority and minority from last Wednesday’s vote represented on this committee?

In a letter to the student body dated 25 March 2008 signed by Dr. Lillback and Dr. Trueman, it was made public that “The Edgar-Kelly motions [sic!] states [sic, again?!] that no-one on Faculty is accusing anyone else of heterodoxy. This was not true at the time that the motion was passed by Faculty and it is not true in the present time.”

What exactly is meant here by "accusations of heterodoxy"? Were formal accusations involving heterodoxy against Dr. Enns ever submitted? If so, what was the content of these charges?

Were all the faculty members notified that such accusations of heterodoxy against Dr. Enns were made - whether formal or informal? If such accusations were formally submitted, were the faculty notified?

If Dr. Lillback was presented with the charges [note: according to the chapel meeting, he was], but did not go forward with the process, then why did Dr. Lillback hide these accusations from the faculty during the entire process of the faculty meetings, and even to this day, and yet still feel the need to hold the faculty responsible for knowing about these accusations? If Dr. Lillback buried the accusations, how is anyone else supposed to know about them?

The Board of Trustees published a message dated 29 March 2008 on the Westminster website in which they said one of the reasons for Dr. Enns’s suspension was because of “the desire to ensure Professor Enns be given due process.”

What is meant here by "due process" and why wasn't this initiated prior to suspending Dr. Enns in absentia?

What precedent is there for suspending a tenured professor without any formal accusations made against him?

Has Professor Enns been presented with any formal accusations and/or charges? If so, has he had a chance to defend himself? If not, why is he being suspended?

Why did the board grant full-professor status to Dr. Enns in the Fall of 2005, and permit him to deliver his inaugural address in March 2006, after the publication of I&I on July 1, 2005, and the appearance of critical reviews? What makes the Board’s decision today, of suspending Dr. Enns, better than the Board’s decision two years ago, of granting Dr. Enns tenure?

The Board of Trustees published a message dated 29 March 2008 on the Westminster website in which they said “On March 26, 2008, the WTS Board of Trustees assembled for a special meeting to address theological issues related to Old Testament Professor Peter Enns’s book, Inspiration and Incarnation: Evangelicals and the Problem of the Old Testament.”

This is inconsistent with the motion passed on 5 December 2007 by the Board, which states the purpose of the 26 March meeting “to establish a course for resolving the persistent faculty disunity, because several years of faculty discussions had produced an evident impasse.” Why this inconsistency?

Was the issue faculty disunity, which was the stated purpose of the Board on 5 December 2007? Or was it Inspiration and Incarnation, as stated by the message from the Board dated 29 March 2008? When, and why, did the expressed purposes of the Board change?

If, as the WTS website announcement states, the problem is “faculty disunity,” how will the suspension or removal of Dr. Enns solve this problem, especially since several of the faculty seem to find his views acceptable?

How are we, as students, supposed to sit in classes with Dr. Enns and the twelve professors who voted in favor of his orthodoxy, when the Board of Trustees seem to imply that Dr. Enns is heterodox?

Why did the administration find it necessary to keep the students of the seminary in the dark concerning the theological issues surrounding Inspiration and Incarnation and those who objected to it?

Why did the Board of Trustees overturn the vote of the majority of the faculty?

Why did Dr. Lillback continue to press the issue of Dr. Enns’s work and orthodoxy in his presentation to the Board of Trustees when the issue was already settled by the faculty? [a quick note - according to the chapel meeting, Dr. Lillback was asked by the board to conduct an investigation and make recommendations. So the question then becomes, Why did the Board continue to press the issue of Dr. Enns' work and orthodoxy when it was already settled by the faculty?]

Why did Dr. Lillback propose a motion to suspend Dr. Enns without giving Dr. Enns a chance to defend himself from “threatened, but never produced or seen” accusations and/or charges?

The content of the proposal was proposed by Dr. Lillback. The only work done on the proposal was editing and addition of exact dates and cross-references to both the Faculty Manual and the Constitution, which was done by Dr. Ryken.

If WTS is here to serve the church, and some of the faculty believe that Dr. Enns is heterodox, why are they not pursuing discipline in the ecclesiastical courts of the PCA of which he is an ordained ruling elder?

A half of an hour seems like a paltry amount of time to devote to helping the students understand why a professor most of them have been blessed and encouraged by is being suspended. Why is such a short amount of time being devoted to "provide the entire Westminster community with a more complete understanding of the Board’s decision and to offer an opportunity for questions and dialogue?"

And I'm adding an excellent question raised by a student - Will there be a forum for majority-vote faculty to defend their views? We have heard from the faculty minority; what about the faculty majority?-----

Here is the Board Minority Report [dissenting from last Wednesday's vote to suspend Dr. Enns] and an excerpt from the President's Report to the Board.

westminster and the dog

2008-03-28T11:41:00.006-04:00

I haven't the stamina to post an update here on the situation at WTS. tons of bloggers have beaten me to it anyway. so, to find out more behind Pete Enns' suspension, go here or here or here or here.

What I will say is this: http://www.saveourseminary.com/ is still collecting signatures. We will continue this at least through the May Board meeting.

In other, somewhat less depressing news, our dog (bit of irony here - we named him 'Tohu' partly because of what a great impact Professor Doug Green's class on the Pentateuch was on us. and now we are facing a likely reality in which his teachings will be attacked as heterodox, since they are very similar to Enns') has been playing too much basketball or something. He's torn his doggy version of the ACL and needs major surgery. Justin and I have been wrestling quite a bit with whether to make such an expensive investment in what is, after all, an animal.

But he's an amazing animal. He is walking happiness. and we've been given a responsibility to care for him to the best of our abilities. frankly, it's our (global, human 'our') fault that he's hurt in the first place. If we hadn't fallen and brought the curse into this world, my dog would be fine. there would be no such thing as torn ligaments. and he's an innocent bystander in this after-the-fall cursed world. he didn't do the sinning; we did.

so it comes down to this for me and my husband - we love our dog more than we love going to movies and going out to eat. we think he's more important than that. so we're going to help him be able to stand on all four feet again.

Here he is giving his patented "Elvis Lip Curl":

the day has come

2008-03-25T20:48:00.003-04:00

Apologies to those who don't actually know what Westminster Theological Seminary is and are sick of hearing about this situation, but tomorrow (or today, depending on when you are reading this... to make it easier - Wednesday, Mar 26th) is the WTS Board meeting in which the Board will be presented with specific requests regarding the future of WTS and of Professor Pete Enns.

I ask all who can do so to pray for wisdom and unity for the Board and for the seminary as a whole during this turbulent time.

A Call to Those in the Westminster Area

2008-03-18T16:45:00.004-04:00

Drew Matter passed this my way. Obviously, I didn't write it, but I do support it and wish I could be there to stand together with those who gather:

The Orthodoxy of Dr. Peter Enns: A Public Student Demonstration Recognizing the 12-8 Majority Faculty Vote in Favor of the Orthodoxy of Dr. Enns’ Teaching and of His Book, Inspiration and Incarnation.

Date: Tuesday, March 25th, 2008
Location: The Campus of Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia
Time: 10am
Invited: All Students, Alumni and Friends of Westminster who agree with the 12-8 faculty vote in favor of Dr. Peter Enns’ orthodoxy and can participate in a show of solidarity for this decision.
The Event: A Public Presence and Proclamation of Dr. Enns’ Recognized Orthodoxy
The Purpose: To inform any students or others not aware of this faculty decision of its existence and attest to its importance by means of a personal, public testimony.

Background, Call and Responsible Parties:
Drew Matter and Allen Drew are fourth year MDiv students at Westminster Theological Seminary. The following call that we are issuing has not been solicited by any member of the faculty, staff, or board of Westminster. It is being pursued after months of deliberation, prayer, and seeking the wisdom of our elders in the faith. Behind us stand an unknown number of students and alumni, and it is with them and for them, and the classes of students who will follow us, that we make this statement.

It is our conviction that on both sides of the current debate at Westminster Theological Seminary stand godly men who, despite their differences, deeply desire to honor both the Lord Jesus and the students for whom they have taken vows to train for service in his church. These men are our beloved professors, and from our experience in their classes we know that they hold their convictions with great depth of study and much prayer. They are men who do not ultimately desire division at Westminster, but whose convictions at the moment run deeper than their desire for unity. As students, we acknowledge that those tensions run deeper than we understand, but they have had a tangible effect on us as students. By gathering together, we do not desire to further conflict between faculty, nor between them and us as students.

The administration and faculty of Westminster have assured students with great patience and understanding that there is no desire to silence students, nor to keep us uninformed concerning this division. This we must trust. Nonetheless, students are at times inhibited for many reasons from knowing what would actually be helpful for us as developing pastors, counselors, and academics. It is our conviction that the fact that the teaching and writings of Dr. Enns was approved of in December 2007 by a 12-8 majority of our faculty is crucial to our theological development. For by this vote, the faculty, as a whole, have affirmed that the current tensions at our seminary are not simply the result of his teaching.

Our fellow students, we need to know this and we need to make this known, both for ourselves and for all who consider the future of our seminary. We are therefore gathering on Tuesday, March 25th at 10am on Westminster’s campus to hear this motion read and to recognize it. This gathering will be surrounded by scripture and prayer.

We are fully aware of the limited knowledge of students at the seminary, as well as the tendency to ungodly speculation and emotionalism that threatens any onlookers who attempt to make sense of the current divisions. Speculations and personal preferences have only distorted our convictions and forced us to inappropriately dissociate what should be a melding of theological concepts. Practically, such guess work has led only to the working out of wisdom that James 3:15 tells us is “earthly, unspiritual, demonic (ESV).”

Therefore, the following are required of anyone desiring to participate in this demonstration:

1/. There will be no statements made concerning information that has not been made public by the seminary.
2/. There will be no statements made that could be easily construed as slanderous or retributive toward any person.
3/. There will be no actions taken on seminary grounds that could be easily construed as outside of the bounds of a normal, civic presence conducted coram deo.
4/. The statements to be made will concern the 12-8 vote of the faculty (with moderator abstaining) on the motion which affirmed that Dr. Enns’ book Inspiration & Incarnation is consistent with the Confessional stance of the seminary, that it is in line with the historical trajectory of the seminary, and that an “incarnational analogy” is one that has been used by a long line of orthodox, Reformed scholars to describe the essence of Scripture.
5/. Anyone desiring specifics concerning the motion should not rely on hearsay but request this public document from any member of the Westminster faculty either by email or in person. The faculty have been authorized to provide this document to anyone who requests it, and we encourage you to read it.

If you can subscribe to these stipulations, we eagerly urge you, whether student, alumnus, or friend of Westminster, to join us for this presence. Many of us are aware and ashamed of ungodly caricatures that have defiled Westminster’s name recently. If you cannot refrain from such expression, we ask—and will ask—you not to join us. We will be gathering to speak in the middle of Westminster’s campus, for all to see; may they witness a gathering conducted in a manner worthy of our Lord.

It was Geerhardus Vos’ conviction that "…the ultimate is in a very important sense the normative, that to which every preceding stage will have to conform itself to prove the genuineness of its Christian character” (The Pauline Eschatology, 42). We agree with Vos here to our very core. Accordingly, this demonstration is out of the desire to conform the difficulties of Westminster in this broken, sinful age to the completeness of the Kingdom of God that has come, and is coming. Our cautious hope is that our Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward Westminster as He alone sees fit.

-------

even if you are not available to attend this event, please consider signing the Save Our Seminary petition at www.saveourseminary.com. We are sending the petition to the Board very soon, so don't wait.

Update on the Situation at Westminster

2008-03-10T21:43:00.018-04:00

I've heard concerns from quite a few people who thought that saveourseminary.com was all a bunch of histrionics, hearsay, and over exaggeration. Well, here's an update. Feel free to confirm it with the powers-that-be at Westminster:

Over the weekend, President Lillback of Westminster Theological Seminary sent a 200-page document to faculty at WTS. This is coming just before a board meeting wherein which Lillback will attempt to persuade the board to ignore what the faculty have already voted on (read on for more information on that) and fire Pete Enns. This document includes only negative reviews of Enns' book (positive reviews from respected scholars such as Tremper Longman III, M. Daniel Carroll Rodas, Joel Garver, Christopher Heard and John Armstrong [the list goes on] were noticeably absent), as well as a journal article by Lillback himself in which he attempts to prove that Enns' book is outside of the bounds of the Westminster Confession of Faith and that Enns and Enns alone is the source of disunity at WTS.

Lillback presented this document after the faculty voted last year 12-8 that Pete's book was inside his confessional vows. One faculty member abstained from voting, because he is the faculty moderator.

In other words, this disagreement had already been settled in faculty votes, with the majority of faculty concluding that Pete is orthodox and his book is NOT outside the bounds of WCF.

Having sat in Enns' classes and developed a friendship with him, I can safely say Pete Enns does not teach heresy. The wolf in sheep's clothing is not the one who has taught students that God works through human circumstances to bring about His divine will. Enns continually pushed us towards worship of the glorious God who is willing to condescend and work in means we can understand, rather than stand far off. 1 John 4:2 says, "By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God" and, in his classes, Pete Enns never fails to confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh.

So again, i draw your attention to http://www.saveourseminary.com/. sign the petition as soon as possible, as we have to send it to the board before the March 26th board meeting.

San Francisco

2008-03-06T14:06:00.004-05:00

Justin and i spent the last couple of days of our Christmas visit with family in San Francisco. naturally, two months later, i have pictures. you want to see? click here, but remember that you need an account. but remember that said account is free and whatnot.

Penelope and Self Esteem

2008-03-04T11:41:00.008-05:00

SPOILER ALERT!!!!

first, i must make it clear that i really enjoyed Penelope, and no, not just because James McAvoy was in it.

but i lately have this thing with movies; it's similar to buyer's remorse, but, obviously, as it would apply to the cinema. the further away i get from having watched something, the more i find it to be trite or simplistic or unrealistic or implausible or ...

this, of course, is true for Penelope. five minutes out from the movie, i loved it. ten minutes out i was asking Justin why such movies existed and whether or not this story line is any better than any other romantic comedy story line that has already been played out hundreds of times before.

Penelope is a pretty standard beauty-and-the-beast romantic comedy, but with a significant twist. most b&theb movies complete their dramatic story arc when the beauty finds inherent beauty in the beast. then the enchantment on the beast ends, his/her inner beauty shines through and the ugly exterior melts away.

in the case of Penelope, *REMEMBER, SPOILER ALERT* it's Penelope's own acceptance of herself as she is and acknowledgement that she is beautiful in her own way that sets her free from the pig-nosed curse she spent her life under. the 21st century worldly western hipster in me rejoices in this, she doesn't need another person to tell her she's alright. she needs to find this out for herself.

but then the theologian in me starts jumping up and down and waiving her hands trying to get some attention. see, there are a few inherent problems in this world view. first, we aren't under any spells here in this world that groans under the curse. the problem is, our hearts, not our noses, are piggy. this piggy-ness isn't something that was forced upon us from some malevolent being outside of us. we come this way. and no amount of finding the good in ourselves is going to change our hearts by naming and claiming all the seemingly beautiful and lovely and worthy things about us.

so that brings me to the closely related second problem. since we are under no spells, there also isn't a magic kernel of good deep inside each of us just waiting for us or some other person to invest the time and grace in us to discover it and allow it to blossom. rather, we become beautiful because someone (or One, really), loves us even though we are pigs. In the words of the Cowboy Junkies: The beautiful are not chosen. The chosen become beautiful.

there is a lot of appeal in this alternate reality where most people are pretty nice, and our exterior will reflect our lovely interior if only someone would invest the energy in making it happen. and having someone handsome or gorgeous be the one to make that investment, well, that is precisely the stuff romance is made out of. and no wonder romantic comedies do so well. we all want other people to find value in us, to want us because we are worth wanting, to coax out our inner beauty and lead us into the happily ever after. and we want to believe we have that inner beauty, that we are uniquely desirable, that people should accept us as easily and completely as we (when we listen to the books and programs and billboards and movies that tell us to do so) accept ourselves.

in reality, we are mostly white-washed tombs, as Jesus puts it. there are a lot of pretty people in the world, and by God's grace, our exteriors aren't always pictures of our dark hearts. and the truth is that God is the Beautiful One who actively pursues us even though we have no sparkling personality, no good quality to offer in return. He is the Hosea to our Gomer. but a movie wherein which the hero loves the flawed, broken, adulterous, sickly and wicked heroine is no romantic comedy and i doubt it would pull in a lot of viewers.

all this to say, i think movies that go from putting the responsibility of our worth on other people to putting that responsibility on ourselves are moving, be it ever so small of a move, toward the right direction. we aren't worthwhile because other people say so. and we are giving other people far more power than they really possess (and ourselves far less power than we really possess) when we say that others are exclusively the ones who make us beautiful or ugly. we, ourselves, have more ability to create lasting and positive change to our lives than any other person does. but the problem comes when we realize that our own efforts towards change do not make us more beautiful, just better at survival.

we are worthwhile not because our friends or family say so. we are worthwhile not because we say so to ourselves. we are worthwhile because the One who made us says so. when He made us, He created us beautiful not in-and-of ourselves, but in that we reflect His own beauty. and He keeps making us more beautiful as He transforms our piggy hearts.

other people's thoughts on suffering

2008-02-07T09:17:00.000-05:00

A friend of mine directed me to an excellent article on suffering. i encourage anyone who possibly can to read it. i think one of the bigger challenges for the Church today is learning how to lament, rather than fix or fake our way through sorrow and grief. i know it's a constant struggle with me.

anyway, here are some excerpts that particularly struck me (don't try to read the whole thing as a unit. each paragraph is a separate quote):

Job needed friends to engage the pain, not interpret the pain. Job needed friends who would join in the chorus of lament, not offer the secret prayer to a life of blessing. Job needed what Henri Nouwen calls "wounded healers" to enter into the pain with him, but he had friends who were "healed wounders." Blinded by their own comfort, security, and sense of well-being, they arrogantly jabbed at Job, attempting to come up with a rational explanation for the mess at hand. Job lamented before God, not only because he had been subjected to terrible trouble, but because his friends had failed him. "A despairing man should have the devotion of his friends," Job cried, "but they're as undependable as intermittent streams." In the end, Job is commended for his honesty. His theologically correct buddies are scolded for their insensitivity.

To the contrary, biblical lament has a beginning and an end. While the middle may be messy, while it may seem to go on and on without relief, lament, properly understood, rests finally in the sovereign hand of God.

Lament requires reality, and reality invites tears.

However, the grave danger is this: in denying the opportunity for an embrace of lament, we miss a Christ-formed life of pain-sharing, compassion, incarnation, and gospel-healing. We miss the opportunity, in other words, to become more like Jesus.

Instead, lament contains in itself the possibility of extraordinary hope, restored desire, and a changed heart. ... Lament is, at its core, a search for God. It is not a search for answers. It is not an invitation to fix an ailment. Rather, lament enters the agony with the recognition that it might not go away for days, months, even years. And yet, the lament carries with it the hope that God will eventually show up.

The biblical model for lament, whether in the Psalms, Lamentations, Job, or from Jesus, Paul, or the saints in heaven, reflects a rugged heart born for a risky, but incredibly rewarding, journey home.

However, we speak with the confidence that our complaints will be heard, contained, validated, listened to, and ultimately bring about a change in our circumstances. Like Jacob, our wrestling leads to surrender, deeper relationship, greater trust, and a heart made soft by its honesty before God.

God is not in the business of quenching hope. His way, however, often is the longer, harder road through rough wilderness terrain.

The glory of the gospel is that our lives, our worship, and our relationships need not end in a minor key. The Kingdom hope is the dominant tune, albeit thrown off key by our trials and tribulations. The minor key of lament is an important reminder that we’re not home yet. It is also an invitation to sing songs that reflect our deep hearts and truest struggles, knowing always that our long-suffering Savior will win the day.

and, as an aside, check out the petition if you haven't already

turning over a new list

2008-02-02T23:40:00.000-05:00

Greetings all. This is just a note to say, "hey world, i made a new blog." yes, even though i've slacked off miserably on this one, i thought i should add another to my repitoire.

But this one is a themed blog. those who know me know i like lists. the new blog will be entirely devoted to lists. check it out and add some items as you think of them!

in other news, we are still collecting signatures over at saveourseminary.com, so check it out if you are interested.

two other people's thoughts

2008-01-27T22:17:00.001-05:00

Where in the New Testament, the Church of the Fathers, or the history of the saints from Paul to Thomas More were the genuinely thoughtful promised any other lot, whether at the hands of the world or at the hands of their uncomprehending brethren, than contradiction and constant testing?" ~Bishop John Wright

I stumbled upon this quote while paging through an old issue of First Things. I take comfort in it, particularly with my current involvements. But I also find that we Christians sure do a lot better at tearing and biting at each other than the world does. or maybe my expectations are raised for those of us indwelt by the Holy Spirit (and before i get charged with my own acts of cruelty, for those who might wish to do so, please go here first and consider the course that brought us to this point).

My second thought - my Pastor talked about union with Christ versus union with selfish actions today. in the midst of it, he said that we have never known natural, and he's got a point on that one. i haven't thought about it in these terms before, but since the Fall, we haven't been able to trust our own emotions and urges. We've been surrounded by death and suffering from without and sin from within. and the only taste of natural we get is through union with Christ. i'm so used to this sub-natural state that i often buck against the natural i taste and see in God. yet He has been faithful, always, even in my 'natural' rebellion.

Save Westminster Theological Seminary

2008-01-17T17:16:00.000-05:00

I apologize to those of you who have no affiliation with Westminster Theological Seminary. I particularly emphasize my apology because this post is but the first of many posts designed to spur my readership on to signing a petition prior to the WTS board meeting in March. This petition expresses the concerns of many regarding the trajectory of Westminster. So, for those who do not care, bare with me. i'll go back to regular posts eventually.

But for anyone who has any level of affection for WTS and the godly, careful scholarship done there by the Bible department, please read and consider signing this petition. and along with that, please pass that link on to anyone you know who loves WTS.

over the next few weeks, i will be posting memories i have of professors in the Bible department. i hope those who read this will be able to conjure up fond memories of their own.

remember: http://saveourseminary.com/

on the bookshelf

2008-01-14T13:22:00.000-05:00

I am currently reading Running Scared: Fear, Worry, and the God of Rest by Ed Welch. this is the sort of book that a person might pick up thinking it will help so-and-so friend or such-and-such relative. but then you start paging through it and realize that Dr. Welch has somehow found a way to tap into your internal monologue of insanely detailed disaster scenarios and worst-possible-situation expectations. what's more, he manages to respond to this unrelenting cycle of anxiety and worry with grace, gentleness, and a story - no, the Story - that is able to silence the cacophony in light of God's perfect and loving faithfulness.

you should read it. because you are human and all humans have fear and anxiety, you should read it. and as you are reading it, you should find someone else who is reading it and talk to that person about it, because this is the sort of book that needs to be talked through, not just read in isolation. it stands best when read in community.

just a couple of excerpts:

In the death and resurrection of Jesus, the hinge of history turned. Captives were freed. The poor were made rich. Invalids were made whole. And there was no longer any condemnation for those who followed King Jesus and put their trust in him rather than themselves.

The real deliverance was not the manna in the wilderness, but the Bread of Life given for us. The ultimate deliverance was not our rescue from the jaws of death, because any temporal deliverance from death meant only that death was postponed. The real deliverance was the “death of death” secured by the death of Jesus Christ. (p 88)

and

We tend to judge God’s words by our own feelings and sensory observations. If we feel orphaned, we believe we are orphaned. If we feel a sense of impending doom, the worst will in fact happen. If we are told that God reigns, but everything seems to be in chaos, we twist God’s revelation about himself to fit our understanding of the data. Scripture, however, reveals the things we can’t see with the naked eye, and God’s self-revelation is a higher authority than our feelings. When our feelings conflict with God’s communication, we must side with God’s interpretation. (p 68)

but i want to trust my feelings. when i stand back and consider this, though, i can't. they've deceived me pretty consistently. but God has never deceived me. it's in the midst of anxiety that i need to remember this.

I KNEW IT!

2008-01-11T10:24:00.000-05:00

I have suspected for some time now that the second half of Proverbs 31 has got to be a joke or something (or maybe even a metaphor for wisdom, rather than a description of the ideal woman ... but i digress). Now i have proof!

HA!

weather woes

2008-01-10T12:17:00.000-05:00

yes, the forecast for friday boasts a 32-degree change. that. is. insane. i didn't even know that could happen! i think my immune system might hold my lungs hostage if this continues.

CHICAGO

2008-01-02T11:57:00.000-05:00

finally, at last, they're here! pictures from the ladies' trip to chicago '07.

Gretchen, sadly, didn't pull through:

see it live on snapfish. create an account, it's free.

the country life

2007-12-10T15:40:00.001-05:00

well, the country life adjustment has been, for the most part, a smooth one. life is good when i have a) a dog b) miles of fields to walk around in c) miles of river to canoe in d) friends in walking distance. the picture above is evidence of our backsliding since we've gone southern. also, it's evidence that we went to Yorktown with our friend, Andrea.

there is one thing, though, that has taken me by surprise. living in suburbia, i hadn't witnessed the affect humans have on animals quite so much. yes, there was the random squirrel-falling-out-of-the-tree-dead incident and the occasional roadkill, but most of the carnage was generally distant and removed.

in the country, well, there are three ways animals die in the country (or anywhere, for that matter): from other animals, from "natural" causes (freezing, old age, etc), or from humans/things humans own. and when animals die near homes in the country, it tends to be because of option 1 or 3. and since i am pathetically soft-hearted, i have:

1. called church leaders at 9:30 at night to off a deer who was struggling on the side of the road because a car hit her. as my husband approached the animal, we quickly learned that she was just stunned. good thing for her the leader wasn't available to finish a job that, as it turns out, didn't need to be finished.

2. stood in shock as my husband physically removed the very dead rabbit, who had killed itself attempting to fit through our rabbit-proof fencing. poor guy; i just hope he died quickly. the great irony for that animal is that he could have easily fit under the gate that was 10 feet to his left. it's like a peter rabbit story gone horribly, horribly wrong.

these are ways i see the affects of the fall anew living in the country. i see how impossible it is for us to be the stewards we are supposed to be. there are always casualties in the process of development. it's unavoidable. so we do the best we can to strike a balance between being cruel and being Luddites and we thank God when our gardens don't get ravaged and our dogs don't get attacked, but we mourn the maimings and death that point to the curse and ache for the day when we won't need fences and death will be a distant memory. we'll look at each other, trying to remember what that thing, that death thing was. and then we will see Christ, and we will be so caught up in his beauty and life that we will think of nothing else.

but are they unique?

2007-12-08T14:36:00.000-05:00

No joke. found this on the back of my wheat thins box:

"Wheat Thins are a wholesome snack unique for entertaining because they have a unique shape for decorating a party tray and unique taste and texture."

Well, i'm sold.

'tis the season

2007-11-29T14:49:00.000-05:00

i really, really, really don't want to be *that* person - you know, the one who makes you feel guilty at christmas because she's talking about giving to charity and working at homeless shelters while you are excited about the fantastic presents you just bought.

i promise, i am not trying to be that person. seriously.

that said, for those who are maybe perhaps sortof interested in buying some particularly hippie-ish person in their life the gift that gives back, may i suggest World Vision's gift catalogue? you'll find all sorts of gift ideas in there, ranging from $15 to $i'll-never-make-that-much. and there are so many options to choose from that you can tailor gifts accordingly. have a teacher friend? buy a child a bookbag of school supplies in his/her name. know someone obsessed with chickens? get a couple of fowl for a poor family who needs food and eggs to sell.

but no pressure. really. believe me, i like getting stuff. stuff is fun. but this is another alternative should you know someone who'd appreciate it.

just a thought.

mad counseling skills

2007-11-21T11:04:00.000-05:00

well, this has been a rough week for me. i spent a decade getting trained as a counselor, and then i find this:

all that time wasted... it hurts.

back it up

2007-11-09T15:16:00.000-05:00

No one likes to have all of their work disappear into oblivion randomly. at least, that's what i've heard. today, i got a fake-out blue screen of death and decided it was time to do something about it. i do not want to have to re-read and summarize Captivating, frankly. so i followed the suggestion of a friend and set up a back up system.

wanna be like me and automatically back up your work to a secure, off-site server? you know you do. Try Mozy. furthermore, if you follow my link, i get more free storage space (everyone starts out with 2GB - free!!)

HT: Mark

Don't shoot! Jesus loves me!

2007-10-29T16:58:00.000-04:00

particularly apt in my neighborhood (during hunting season, that is)

Bible's mysteries unlocked in 5 easy steps

2007-10-29T10:25:00.000-04:00

HILARIOUS

work woes

2007-10-02T12:09:00.000-04:00

from a manual i am reading:

Throughout the system, look-up tables are used as fields on forms to present the
user with a list of choices. Based on varying conditions, the same table or view
could be used to present different sets of values from the list of available
table values. All look-up tables that you see and use in the system are defined
here.

sometimes i don't love my job. i'm going to go play with spreadsheets and make it all better.

Jesus is not my Jack Dawson

2007-09-22T16:00:00.000-04:00

i've never been a big fan of worship songs that involve singing about how in love i am with Christ. over the past few months, i've come across plenty of literature that says i'm a bad person for not wanting to declare Jesus my boyfriend/fiance/husband. the current chief frustration is John and Stasi Eldredge's book, Captivating. in my own defense, i read this book in order to engage some of the college students at my church, who have read it and either loved or hated it.

while Captivating has some good things to say, i really disliked the chapter called "Romanced", wherein which the eldredges told me that:

i should consider my favorite romantic comedy and insert Jesus in the leading male role and me in the leading female role (the example they gave: Titanic)

it is perfectly OK for me to take love songs (including Phantom of the Opera's "All I ask of you" - yes, sung by a madman to his semi-willing servant/student/victim/idol) and sing them to my lover, Jesus.

i thoroughly, completely, and totally disagree with these propositions. a lot. boundless is the depth of my disagreement. and no, not because i'm stodgy and i don't like being loved by God or loving God. i do love God. and Jesus does love me. but the bride of Christ is the church collective, not the individual, and i think there is something worth considering in that fact. furthermore, i just don't see a lot of grounds in the Psalms (or other parts of Scripture) for sexualizing our love for God/God's love for us. Even if you read the Song of Songs as an allegory for Christ and the church, it's still the church - corporate. And the book of Revelation, with its description of worship in heaven, describes the marriage feast of the lamb, not the wedding night of the lamb, as the much anticipated celebration at the end of time.

i'm still in the early stages of figuring out why exactly telling Jesus that i'm in love with him makes me feel squigy, but in the mean time Prof. John Stackhouse has articulated my concern better than I can.

this is reason #57 why i am glad to be part of peace hill - the worship service is well thought out and beautifully put together. it's rightly emotional without being histrionic. it focuses on our love and worship of God and His love and grace for us without blurring the lines between savior and boyfriend.

looks like i need to go back to school

2007-09-18T12:54:00.000-04:00

Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary has created a new undergraduate degree program.

in light of this, i must sort out a very complex problem:
which is more unnerving - that SBTS made this degree exclusive to women or that it created a degree that is purposely designed to keep women in the home, yet it cannot guarantee that these ladies that they will find themselves in that situation post-graduation?

this is not to say that homemaking is a bad career. i know several phenomenal moms who have made their homes welcoming and warm and have raised their children to know and love God. i hope that i can be half as generous and gracious and hospitable as they are.

but creating a degree in homemaking that teaches child-rearing skills and basic nutrition to women only? what is that saying?

proclaiming beauty in a world gone mad

2007-09-07T10:03:00.000-04:00

my friend erica is a remarkable artist. when i lived in philadelphia, i used to go to every art show of hers, happily engaging those around in demonstrations of the sturdiness of the encaustic medium. for the second time in our friendship, i've had to miss one of her openings. this particular show is pretty big - she's in a gallery and is legitimately creating quite a buzz in the west chester/philadelphia area.

another friend served as my eyes for the show, taking lots of pictures of her breath-taking work.

erica's pieces regularly call me to consider how God daily enters into our mucky, murky world and makes his creation beautiful. he has gifted her beyond measure and every time i think she can't possibly get any better at what she does, she blows me away with her talent.

please take a look at her show, and if you are interested in any of her works, go here.

gardening in a swamp

2007-09-06T10:30:00.000-04:00

the fall garden is well underway, though i am waiting still for the arrival of carrot and cabbage seeds. if you squint just right and stand on your head, you can see little broccoli and lettuce and turnip and radish and kale buds. yum!

However, since we live in a swamp i find that we are already experiencing a hostile take-over by various garden pests who have not only taken up residence next to the seedlings, but have also begun copulating. in plain sight. on my garden veggies. seriously! bugs have no shame, i tell you. the husband and i managed to catch a glimpse of one coming out of its chrysalis:

in a word: ewwwwwwww. after this picture, we promptly smashed it. i know, i know; it sounds cruel and unusual, but i want to eat broccoli this fall and i am willing to take out a few plant-predators along the way. besides, the dog is lying down on the job.

In other news, we are t-minus three days from the official ordination service at Peace Hill. the marriage ceremony parallels are hard to wrap my mind around. when i read through the vows we are taking and the vows the church is taking, it became clear that this is a long-term covenant. there's no til-death-do-we-part language, but this is the real deal. to summarize: eep!

three things that have been incredibly helpful in my journey to this point:

knowing i am not the only pastor who has doubted their call/abilities to serve in this capacity. i stand in a long tradition of people who are thoroughly inadequate for the job they have been given.
knowing that i am not the one who can change people - that's God's job and He is more than able and willing to do it
knowing that i am, just as the people i am serving are, a sinner - loved beyond measure by God, who had no obligation or need to love me, but does so because that's just who He is. and knowing that i am forgiven and loved allows me to, when the Spirit is successful in squashing my selfish heart, forgive and love others.

and with these things in mind, i will take my vows to serve this little church - to cultivate and tend to it; and will act as a flawed instrument in God's gentle hands, as he weeds and prunes and squashes the enemies and predators that want to destroy His family.

crazydog: haiku

2007-08-25T22:54:00.000-04:00

tohu, wonder dog
we traipse through the woods in search
"what? i was swimming."

tohu phobias:
suitcases, computer bags,
dresses, doors, big men.

track that rabbit's scent
defender of the garden
if you win, lettuce.

Tohu and the blessings of creation

2007-08-09T09:56:00.000-04:00

recently, we brought home a dog. correction, we brought home the best dog in the world. he's a border collie mix and he is the most pleasant, gentle creature i've been around in a long time. he's also a big baby and doesn't like to have his eyes poked. his name is Tohu, which is a Hebrew word. you've heard it translated; you just might not realize that you have. it comes from Genesis 1 and is most widely known as the "formless" part of "formless and void". a more accurate understanding of it might be "wild" or "uninhabited" - basically untamed and unable to be tamed.

but then God tamed it with just a word. and out of tohu He made boundless beauty. a few weeks ago, i got to hike around in a slice of creation beauty with a friend of mine. we camped in Shenandoah national park and hiked on through forests and near waterfalls. we may or may not have even seen a bear.

as always, it was refreshing to be reminded that God is capable of and willing to and regularly does make the wild, untamed things of this world beautiful.

so go here if you want to see some of that creation-beauty. standard snap-fish disclaimer applies.

Eat this bread

2007-08-08T11:42:00.000-04:00

for most of my life, i have had the blessing of being able to partake the Eucharist - the bread and wine that are the body and blood of Christ, given for me. i find such comfort, joy and mercy when i come before the table and drink and eat. i am reminded again and again of how desperately and completely i need Christ.

last Sunday, i stood on the other side of the table for a brief moment. not only did i consume the sacrament, but i distributed it as well. and in doing so, i experienced the grace of God in a way that i had not before in my 27 years. there is something so beautiful and powerful and redemptive about being able to look a brother or sister in the eye, place the bread and wine before that person, and saying in truth, "this is the body of Christ, broken for you" and " this is the blood of Christ, spilt for your sin."

i thought i understood the sacrament of communion before. i thought i understood what made it a sacrament and how it allowed us to taste grace in a unique way. but i never considered before how those who administer the sacrament are affected by it. i am shown such great mercy when i am able to stand before those i know and love and live beside and hand them Christ.

crushing My people

2007-07-24T22:29:00.000-04:00

i have been wondering what it would take to awaken me from this recent silence in the blogging realm. and now, the question has been answered in such a disappointing and revolting way. to give context: we've moved to the rural community of Charles City, VA to minister at a church down here. we've been welcomed with open arms and encouraged to become involved in working with the local community and the student population of the College of William and Mary.

but every place has a dark side, and Charles City is no different. we recently learned about what was an exciting and hopeful project - a group of trained and experienced men wanted to open up transitional housing for homeless men who were sober and did not have records of sexual offenses. it sounded like a wonderful plan.

on a trip to the county dump, we learned that some people in the county did not want this group here. there was a petition in circulation to stop development of the camp. so we met with the camp directors and learned that the rumors being spread about the impending danger involved in this venture were, indeed, lies.

so my husband and some others from the church went to the county meeting where the fate of this camp would be decided. the thing is, the issue never even made it to the floor. finagling of agendas and manipulation of zoning laws made it so that the camp was prohibited before there was even a discussion. and what's worse, the new zoning laws make it impossible for any transitional structure to exist in Charles City. and what's even worse, most of the people in attendance were angry, white, relatively wealthy people who explicitly stated that they did not want anything to threaten their property values or idyllic lifestyle. mutterings and curses echoed through the meeting hall when anyone who remotely supported the project attempted to speak. and what's even worse, most of these people were church-attenders (not our church).

so there will be no transitional housing; there will be no helping the poor and homeless of this world in this way in this county.

for the first time since i've moved, i wonder what we've gotten ourselves into. i'm reminded anew how deeply sin saturates people and turns us into selfish monsters who defy God's will like we take out the trash. i think of the curses God called down on people in the Bible for treading underfoot the marginalized and i am, frankly, scared for Charles City.

please pray for us as we learn how to minister in the dark places and to the broken people - both those without homes and those who keep shelter from the shelterless.

Isaiah 3:13-15
The LORD takes his place in court;
he rises to judge the people.

The LORD enters into judgment
against the elders and leaders of his people:
"It is you who have ruined my vineyard;
the plunder from the poor is in your houses.

What do you mean by crushing my people
and grinding the faces of the poor?"
declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty.

tomato slaves

2007-06-15T11:16:00.001-04:00

"Listen! The wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts." (James 5:4)

The information below came from Sojourners. as a Christian, i cannot accept situations where human beings are no longer treated as the images of God that they are. if this enrages you as well go here to send a letter to legislators.

Farm workers who pick tomatoes for Burger King's sandwiches earn 40 to 50 cents for every 32-pound bucket of tomatoes they pick, a rate that has not risen significantly in nearly 30 years. Workers who toil from dawn to dusk must pick two tons of tomatoes to earn $50 in one day.

Worse yet, modern-day slavery has reemerged in Florida's fields; since 1997, the U.S. Department of Justice has prosecuted five slavery rings, freeing more than 1,000 workers. As a major buyer of Florida tomatoes, Burger King's purchasing practices place downward pressure on farm worker wages and put corporate profits before human dignity.

McDonald's and other fast-food chains have committed to guaranteeing improved wages and enforcing a code of conduct for conditions in the fields. But Burger King -- the second-largest hamburger chain in the world -- has so far refused to work with farm workers and heed the call of the faith community to improve wages and working conditions for those who pick their tomatoes.

HIStory

2007-05-21T15:45:00.000-04:00

some friends and i gathered 'round the television last night to watch The History Boys. The movie itself was painful to watch at parts, but i thoroughly enjoyed one particular scene in which the history teacher, Mrs. Lintott, waxes eloquent regarding the plight of women historians:

"History is not such a frolic for women as it is for men. Can you, for a moment, imagine how dispiriting it is to teach five centuries of masculine ineptitude? . . . History is a commentary on the various and continuing incapabilities of men. What is history? History is women following behind with the bucket. "

i think, perhaps, this perspective has given me permission to zone out when the husband and various male friends of ours start wandering down the twisty path of historical conversation. ok, not really, but it does provide me a pretty fabulous quip i can pull out whenever i might find it to be necessary.

and, while it is simplistic and un-nuanced, i think this quotation has some substance behind it. yes, women have been able to break into the history texts more recently; and yes, there are shining examples of influential women throughout history. but there is a general theme of women working in the background, providing stable environments and sustenance and fantastic parenting so the men could change the world. that's not necessarily a horrid thing; but it is a bit frustrating for women who are wired like i am and find traditional roles stifling if they aren't accompanied by some sort of blatantly world-altering passion/career/someotherthing.

and it's further dispiriting for me, as a christian, to find that the church often falls behind the rest of the culture when it comes to encouraging women to exercise the gifts they have been given. there was a time when christians were the trail-blazers regarding justice and protection of the marginalized and defenseless. i don't see that happening so much anymore, particularly in the relatively conservative circles of the church. it is quite difficult to watch, and even more complicated to try to change - but, praise God, it is not cause for despair. Christ is actively preparing his church for glory - he breaks down the barriers, he unites us all through himself and in him there is no longer Jew, Gentile; slave, free; male, female. now that is one sphere of history by which i am unceasingly encouraged.

the countdown

2007-05-18T16:38:00.000-04:00

June 30th (the official move-to-a-totally-different-state day) is fast approaching; and as it looms ever-closer, our office in the appartment takes another step in the direction of crapification (yes, that is a word). it's become the catch-all room for stuff we don't want to think about unless we have to.

packing has not started yet, unless you count the dreams, yes, dreams i've had in which i am packing, packing, always packing and yet nothing seems to get organized. right now, our focus is on getting through next week; for this is the time in which family members from across america will converge and unite to smile and point as the husband grabs for his MDiv degree.

after that, we pack

we are officially at the five-week mark and that, in all honesty, is a hard thing to register. i've been blessed to not have to say goodbye to people and places for a long time. i've sort of forgotten how to do that. i've got 11 years worth of memories floating all over southeastern PA. i have no idea how to begin going about leaving here; leaving the first friends i've ever had for more than two years at a time. any ideas?

furthermore, five weeks is an awkward measure of time when one is moving. we are close enough to start being a bit concerned about the hows and whats of things, but not close enough to do much about any of it. so instead, we are stocking up on books and materials that we won't be able to easily access from rural VA. that's right, we are purchasing more books to move.

this is a strange place for me to be right now. i do not know how to conceptualize what is about to happen to me and my husband and to the world we will leave behind. but for everything i do not know, there is one thing i know well. God holds us tightly in his perfect, loving hands and he is far wiser and more capable than we will ever be. so while changing location and lifestyle is daunting, i have no reason to be affraid.

it's been a rough week

2007-05-03T12:23:00.000-04:00

i just got the news - she adopted my first case in June of 2006. Now, she is no longer here and i don't know what will happen to him. please join me in praying for the little boy she left behind.

DEATH be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not so,
For, those, whom thou think'st, thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee,
Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee doe goe,
Rest of their bones, and soules deliverie.
Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell,
And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well,
And better then thy stroake; why swell'st thou then;
One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.

~ John Donne

one more poetry month gone

2007-04-30T15:09:00.000-04:00

Poetry Month Ends
But not without Ogden Nash
Why? Well, he's funny

The Centipede:
I objurgate the centipede,
A bug we do not really need.
At sleepy-time he beats a path
Straight to the bedroom or the bath.
You always wallop where he’s not,
Or, if he is, he makes a spot.

Common Cold:
Go hang yourself, you old M.D,!
You shall not sneer at me.
Pick up your hat and stethoscope,
Go wash your mouth with laundry soap;
I contemplate a joy exquisite
In not paying you for your visit.
I did not call you to be told
My malady is a common cold.

By pounding brow and swollen lip;
By fever's hot and scaly grip;
By those two red redundant eyes
That weep like woeful April skies;
By racking snuffle, snort, and sniff;
By handkerchief after handkerchief;
This cold you wave away as naught
Is the damnedest cold man ever caught!

Give ear, you scientific fossil!
Here is the genuine Cold Colossal;
The Cold of which researchers dream,
The Perfect Cold, the Cold Supreme.
This honored system humbly holds
The Super-cold to end all colds;
The Cold Crusading for Democracy;
The Führer of the Streptococcracy.

Bacilli swarm within my portals
Such as were ne'er conceived by mortals,
But bred by scientists wise and hoary
In some Olympic laboratory;
Bacteria as large as mice,
With feet of fire and heads of ice
Who never interrupt for slumber
Their stamping elephantine rumba.

A common cold, gadzooks, forsooth!
Ah, yes. And Lincoln was jostled by Booth;
Don Juan was a budding gallant,
And Shakespeare's plays show signs of talent;
The Arctic winter is fairly coolish,
And your diagnosis is fairly foolish.
Oh what a derision history holds
For the man who belittled the Cold of Colds!

Earth Day - Crappy or Happy?

2007-04-23T15:46:00.000-04:00

Send in your votes, folks. here's the raw data:

Happy:

saw one of my favorite professors
he was on his way to an Earth Day party
took a walk in Pennypack
ate seasonally appropriate meal
tended plants
talked about environmental responsibility in our Sunday School class

Crappy:

professor had a major tragedy occur that morning
no single reference/nod/acknowledgement of Earth Day in church
direct quote from the officer when we realized what happened while we were on our Pennypack walk: "i'd rather be shot than have my identity stolen."
drove three times as far as we normally do on a Sunday, spewing more noxious fumes into the atmosphere
did not get to perform "operation-take-over-hymn-request-time" because of chaos

National Poetry Month

2007-04-20T15:33:00.000-04:00

Well, if The Husband can post poetry, then surely i can as well. Here's a little gem i present with a winkish, tongue-in-cheek sort of attitude. Part one is basically annonymous, with part two attributed to Ralph Erksine, circa early1700somethingoranother.

PART I.
THIS Indian weed, now withered quite,
Though green at noon, cut down at night,
Shows thy decay;
All flesh is hay:
Thus think, and smoke tobacco.

The pipe so lily-like and weak,
Does thus thy mortal state bespeak;
Thou art e'en such,
- Gone with a touch:
Thus think, and smoke tobacco.

And when the smoke ascends on high,
Then thou behold'st the vanity
Of worldly stuff,
Gone with a puff:
Thus think, and smoke tobacco.

And when the pipe grows foul within,
Think on thy soul defiled with sin;
For then the fire
It does require:
Thus think, and smoke tobacco.

And seest the ashes cast away,
Then to thyself thou mayest say,
That to the dust
Return thou must.
Thus think, and smoke tobacco.

PART II.
Was this small plant for thee cut down?
So was the plant of great renown,
Which Mercy sends
For nobler ends.
Thus think, and smoke tobacco.

Doth juice medicinal proceed
From such a naughty foreign weed?
Then what's the power
Of Jesse's flower?
Thus think, and smoke tobacco.

The promise, like the pipe, inlays,
And by the mouth of faith conveys,
What virtue flows
From Sharon's rose.
Thus think, and smoke tobacco.

In vain the unlighted pipe you blow,
Your pains in outward means are so,
Till heavenly fire
Your heart inspire.
Thus think, and smoke tobacco.

The smoke, like burning incense, towers,
So should a praying heart of yours,
With ardent cries,
Surmount the skies.
Thus think, and smoke tobacco.

NPR on Christian Lit, or why NPR hates me.

2007-04-18T18:33:00.000-04:00

once again i found myself frustrated at NPR. This time, a radio program was running a story on evangelicals and literature (linked in the title). They were talking about how evangelical pop-lit has finally crossed over to the mainstream market thanks to the literary (AKA "marketing") genius of Jenkins and LeHaye, the writers of the Left Behind series (AKA "books that send those who take them a bit too seriously into mass end-times hysteria").

While that certainly was enough to enrage me; I became more frustrated when they interviewed a representative from a Christian publishing house who claimed that because Christians cannot use sex and violence and foul language to sell their novels, they have to have compelling and well-crafted story lines. After spitting out my coffee in surprise, i thought about this for a minute. See, if this person is referring to the literature her publishing house produces, I'm not sure that "compelling" and "well-crafted" are words I would choose to describe these books.

Now if she is talking about good literature, written by Christians, then I would direct her to various books that are, indeed, well-written. and some of them have sex and violence and foul language because they are not affraid to accurately portray the human condition. this, in fact, is one of the reasons why they are well-written. (don't get me wrong here; i read silly fiction myself, but i'm not about to claim that the story line is compelling or well-crafted)

so i know it's nitt-picky and all, but i would love to hear NPR qualify their statements a bit and say something like, "books sold by publishing companies that print only materials with blatantly stereotypical fundamentialist/evangelical (or "fundagelical," as i call it) Christian themes are breaking into the B&N market and that's cool; but, hey, let me also point out that such-and-such authors, who are Christians, have produced materials that are being discussed in Lit classes throughout the world because their stuff is so amazing." that would please me.

i think part of it is that i'm just frustrated that, more often than not, Christianity is represented to the media world-at-large by extremes - either Pat Robertsons or John Shelby Spongs. And there doesn't seem to be much discussion around those of us who like Graham Greene and Dorothy Sayers, yet still believe Jesus really did die and rise again. Not that Left Behind is quite on the level of Pat Robertson, but i do think there is an assumed Christian consensus regarding books like those when, in fact, there is not such an agreement.

and, as my frustration mounts, I remind NPR once again that the book of the Bible (mispronounced a while back on Fresh Air) that the Left Behind series is loosely based upon is Revelation, NOT Revelations. It is bothersome to know that these news casters spend a good amount of time practicing the pronunciations of countless books and names and countries, but cannot seem to drop that pesky "s" from the end of the final book of the Bible.

Next thing you know, they'll start saying "Valentime's Day."

Walmart's getting better

2007-04-05T12:48:00.000-04:00

Check out this article in the NY Times. It seems that Walmart is continuing to reverse its once reprehensible track record regarding employees and the environment. reading through it, i almost wanted to work there! if Walmart is serious about these changes, it could effect personal health, family relations, and environmental concerns globally. i get goose bumps just thinking about it.

there will always be problems with big-business models, but it pleases me to see Walmart stepping into a positive leadership role. a company that size has an obscene amount of influence, and it's good to see them using it for good.

Christian fired for sharing God??

2007-03-30T13:50:00.000-04:00

I heard a few days ago that a person in CA was fired from her internship for speaking about her faith to co-workers after hours. When I did a net search for information I found only the article linked in the title, so I don't really know if this is an accurate assessment of what occurred or not (and, frankly, the site that hosts it seems a bit, errr, biased); but if it is, it has me scared.

When I first heard about this incident, I realized that I work for a pretty amazing company. While the company was founded by and is currently run by a Christian, it does not hire based on religious affiliation. We have no rigid policies regarding faith and what we can and cannot talk about, but are encouraged to handle problems in this area within the agency before firing anyone for being belligerent.

Sometimes, I walk past supervisors' offices to hear them discussing the latest N. T. Wright book. Sometimes, I hear them sharing Passover stories. The conversation i hear most often, though, is the one where social worker and supervisor are working together to figure out the best way to meet the needs of this family/child/foster home. And this, quite simply, makes me smile.

While I do not think it appropriate (or helpful) to beat the Gospel over a co-worker's head; I do think that organizations that create an atmosphere of true tolerance - one that allows for discussion and debate - are generally the sorts of places that work hard at meeting the needs of employees and clients. because they understand that, while people are different in so many ways, we all have dignity and should be related to in light of this fact.

moving

2007-03-22T12:51:00.000-04:00

as the time fast approaches for us to make our trek down south, tasks and to-dos and other such things have begun to pile up on the master list.

and of course, there is the daunting process of saying goodbye... but more on that later. i've decided, for the sake of levity and memory, to chronicle all of the advice given as the husband and i prepare to move.

keep they eyebrow ring - it'll help with the college students
get rid of the eyebrow ring; no pastor's wife should have an eyebrow ring
go for foster parenting - it will be a great way to reach out to the community and you're already trained in all of the classes
don't be a foster parent; you will never see the light of day again

have some advice? add it in the comments. check back for updates!

SPAMALOT

2007-02-13T13:53:00.000-05:00

my brother is here visiting from Korea for a little while. in his brilliance, he brought me a chicken hat. i am currently trying to convince him to take me skiing so i can wear it on the slopes. in the mean time; he, justin, liz and i went to NYC to see SPAMALOT (which, by the way, i highly recommend).

now, i recognize that my blog is fast becoming a photo album of sorts, and i apologize for this, promising more substance in the not-too-distant future. Liz, of course, does not believe this is true:

whatever; anyway here are some pictures of our adventures in the city. Usual snapfish caveats of needing a login and it being spam-free and what-not.

A homecoming

2007-02-06T11:24:00.000-05:00

Yesterday evening, this world lost an amazing man - one who showed Christ to his students with each interaction. as i describe my professor, i use the present tense knowing that he is alive and free from suffering in heaven, awaiting the resurrection and restoration of all things.

Al Groves is unparalleled in his grace and compassion and gentleness he has towards those around him. though the past year of his life involved quite a bit of pain and suffering, he is now rejoicing in the presence of his Savior. while i am grieved that i will not see him again until i am on the other side, i celebrate his homecoming and look forward to the time when, at last, no more tears will come.

Groundhog day pix

2007-02-05T13:41:00.000-05:00

Let's take a break from the more serious posts to show off pictures of GROUNDHOG DAY!!!!

normal photo caveat:
blah blah blah, it's snapfish, blah blah, need a username, blah blah no spam.

Phil's official forecast as read 2/2/07 at 7:28 a.m. at Gobbler's Knob:

El Nino has caused high winds, heavy snow, ice and freezing temperatures in the west.
Here in the East with much mild winter weather we have been blessed.
Global warming has caused a great debate.
This mild winter makes it seem just great.
On this Groundhog Day we think of one thing.
Will we have winter or will we have spring?
On Gobbler's Knob I see no shadow today.
I predict that early spring is on the way.

Susan Wise Bauer guest post

2007-01-29T11:17:00.000-05:00

If you scroll down one post, you will see my link to Susan Wise Bauer's recent essay. Today, she's asked me to post her response to troubling review she received regarding this piece. Though she has a blog of her own, it is primarily meant to connect her with the readers of the books published by her secular publisher, W. W. Norton. It's not the ideal forum for this sort of discussion. In light of that, I am pleased to host her response to Rick Phillips of Reformation21.com. Here are her words:

I read Rick Phillips' Reformation21.com post responding to my essay on John Stackhouse’s Finally Feminist (Books & Culture, Jan/Feb. 2007) with dismay--not because of Mr. Phillips’s theological position, but because of his rhetoric.

Before I explain why I find his rhetoric so troubling, let me issue a couple of disclaimers. I do not expect Mr. Phillips to agree with the egalitarian cause, and I don’t intend to continue the debate with him over this topic; John Stackhouse’s book and my essay have already laid out the argument. Furthermore, I have been undecided about responding at all because I don’t want to invite further attacks. I have no intention of involving myself in an ongoing Internet debate with Mr. Phillips; he and I have both had our say. Instead, my hope is that a discussion will continue among the wider Christian community about the ways in which we should talk to each other, when contentious issues are on the table. I invite all of you to read my essay, read Mr. Phillips’s response, and join in this conversation: a conversation which should not be about gender, but about the words we use to each other.

Now for the rhetoric.

Mr. Phillips’s zeal for the complementarian cause is admirable; convictions should be held with fervency. But in his zeal, he uses misrepresentation, condescension, and condemnation to refute the arguments I present.

This is not the way Christians should talk to each other.

Let me offer several examples of misrepresentation. Right at the beginning of his post, Mr. Phillips writes, “Stackhouse [argues]…that the Bible’s teaching on gender relations is so complicated and even contradictory that we cannot take its prohibitions at face value.” In fact, Stackhouse’s entire book is an attempt to demonstrate that the Bible’s teachings are not contradictory. I encourage readers to read the book, before relying on Mr. Phillips’s inaccurate summary.

Mr. Phillips misrepresents my position in an even more fundamental way. He writes, “[Bauer] asserts that conservatives are warranted in crying foul only ‘when a church moves from egalitarianism to an open rejection of the biblical teachings on sexuality’….Note also that only “open” rejection of Bible teachings should be condemned. Presumably this means that when people say that they are not rejecting the Bible, they should be immune from criticism even if in fact they are rejecting the Bible.” This is rhetorical demagoguery of the very worst kind. Mr. Phillips is accusing me, very plainly, of not caring about the truth of Biblical teachings.

Mr. Phillips goes on to caricature my argument. He writes, “The argument is that we must rethink traditional Bible teachings in light of changing cultural norms. Bauer may object to this assertion – and I am not in a position to judge her particular motives – but I do not hesitate to say that this is the prevailing impulse behind evangelical feminism in general.” Mr. Phillips is right; I do object. Stackhouse’s book and my essay both suggest that the traditional interpretations of several key passages have been colored by the assumptions of fallen cultural norms, and that these interpretations should be rethought in order to be faithful to the Scriptures.

Furthermore, Mr. Phillips’ disclaimer (that he is not in a position to judge my motives) rings hollow, given an even more dubious conclusion later in his post.

In my essay, I wrote: “The slippery slope argument has an uglier aspect as well. If gay rights borrowed language from the women’s rights movement, and the women’s rights movement borrowed principles from the civil rights movement, and we are indeed on a slippery slope, shouldn’t we trace the church’s slide into decadence right back to the liberation of African-Americans? Let me say right now that I am not accusing all complementarians of being racists; I am criticizing the slippery slope argument itself, not the motivations of those who make it.”

I think this is very clear. Mr. Phillips, however, says, “Bauer may be oblivious to this, but this argument is nothing short of a smear….Bauer charitably adds, “Let me be clear: I am not accusing complementarians of being racists.” How kind of her, her argument having had no other point than to insinuate that very thing. I take it as a settled rule that if you have to write, “I didn’t mean to suggest that my opponent is a pervert/racist/serial killer/fascist…” you probably have in fact suggested that very thing.”

Since Mr. Phillips just pursued this very same rhetorical strategy to impugn my motives, I am puzzled as to why he finds it so offensive here. I am willing to accept that he does not intend to judge my motives; he needs to extend similar grace to me.

Misrepresentation is not the only over-the-top rhetorical strategy at work here. Mr. Phillips uses condescending stereotypes to further explore my motives: “I do see charged emotions clouding the reason of the feminists,” he writes. “We see this, for instance, in the logical fallacy so weightily employed by Bauer in her article: that between the abolition of slavery and gender equality….Bauer’s fervent use of this false analogy does indeed suggest…an emotionally charged argument that is not aware of its implications.”

This is amazingly offensive; Mr. Phillips is implying that while my point of view is “clouded” by “charged emotions,” his is emotion-free and thus to be trusted.

In any discussion of gender, emotions run high on both sides. To accuse your opponent of “fervent charged emotions” is rhetorical misdirection. And consider this: The slavery analogy I so “weightly employ” isn’t mine. John Stackhouse made it; and, as I should have made more clear in the review, he gives full credit to William J. Webb’s book Women, Slaves, and Homosexuals. Are both of these men also led astray by charged emotions? Or just me? (I should add that I have no wish to be ordained whatsoever. I’m a pastor’s wife with a full-time writing job and four children; my usual strategy is to resist being given positions of authority at church as strenuously as possible).

In the end, Mr. Phillips’s strongest rhetorical stance is also the most lacking in grace. He condemns me by putting me directly in line with those who wish to destroy the most central beliefs of the Christian faith. “[T]he arguments feminists use to prevail on gender egalitarianism,” he concludes, “(including the ones made by Stackhouse and Bauer in her article) will end up making a shipwreck of our entire faith…. [S]uch arguments will have the effect of dismantling the entire doctrinal structure of the Christian faith.”

The entire doctrinal structure of the Christian faith. This, over an issue that many, many faithful Christian scholars have disagreed about for decades.

Is Mr. Phillips really placing all of us inside the Trojan horse of heresy, ready to leap out and destroy God’s work in the world? This is the sort of accusation which should only be made in the face of long-standing and intractable rebellion against the entire Gospel message. It is not a sentence to throw at me as the culmination of a reaction to a book review.

This is not the way Christians talk to each other. And it is not the way that an ordained pastor should discuss the issue of ordination with another believer.

Like many who have studied this issue, I believe that complementarians are wrong in their interpretation of certain Biblical passages. But I also believe that Mr. Phillips is a sincere and zealous believer. Because of this, I do not choose to accuse Mr. Philips of charged emotions, of clouded judgment, of seeking a stick to bludgeon egalitarians with, or of attempting to dismantle the entire doctrinal structure of the Christian faith.

The words that we use to speak to each other matter. Our rhetoric is important. Graceful speech allows us to seek the truth through argument and counter-argument.

In contrast to Mr. Phillips’s response was an email I received from another complementarian. Eric Redmond, pastor of Hillcrest Baptist Church in Maryland and a trustee at Southwestern Baptist Seminary, remains unconvinced by my argument for egalitarianism. He wrote a long response to me, which ran in part (I’m quoting this with his full permission), “I still think that there is a solid argument for a complementarian concept of home and church leadership that gives due weight to the ANE and First Century contexts of Scriptures, accounts for all of the relevant materials, and avoids the slippery-slope fallacy. I think that such an argument, however, must be made differently than has been made by the great majority of evangelical complementarians....However, if being open-minded toward the ideas of others is an intellectual virtue, as James Sire says, then you are helping me to become intellectually virtuous. While reading your article, I found myself repeatedly saying, 'I never considered that.'"

This encouraged me no end—in fact, more than if Pastor Redmond had written to tell me that he was now convinced to become an egalitarian. While maintaining a position he finds theologically important, he is willing to forego accusations and predictions of doom.

In contrast, Mr. Phillips chooses his words so that I appear guilty of hypocrisy, disregard for the truth, and apostasy. This is rhetorically effective. It is also wrong.

If this kind of rhetoric continues to be central to the gender debate (or any other contentious issue), discussion will cease. I almost didn’t respond to Mr. Phillips at all, because after skimming quickly through his post, I realized that exposing myself to the violence of his rhetoric would not be good for me. In the end, though, I also realized that if those of us who dislike fights (and Internet fights in particular) keep backing away from violent rhetoric, theological debates will eventually be carried on only by those who relish a good battle. I cannot imagine that this will be good for complementarians, for egalitarians, for the larger Reformed community, or for anyone else in the kingdom.

Slaves, Women and Homosexuals

2007-01-25T15:09:00.000-05:00

My good friend wrote a review (linked in the title) of John Stackhouse's new book: Finally Feminist for Christianity Today.

there are plenty of Christians who will read Susan's review and decide that she is a flaming heretic sent straight from the enemy. i think these people are wrong. i also think they are getting doctrinal issues that fall on the non-essential side of the scale confused with, say, the doctrine of the Trinity. Susan has already endured quite a bit of abuse from fellow believers because of this article, but i hope that in the midst of all the bickering and mis-representing, someone will follow this link and be encouraged. i was.

Haikus of service distress

2007-01-23T10:56:00.000-05:00

some friends and i went out to grab dinner last week. it didn't go so well:

We enter hungry
time passes; hours later
we are still hungry

Winter settles in
outside: oppressive coldness
Inside: it's the help

Darkness steals the light
hope abandoned in its wake
When will my food come?

Fresh Air frustrations

2007-01-19T16:07:00.000-05:00

perhaps this is very anti-philadelphia of me, but i'm not a big fan of the NPR show "Fresh Air". I don't really like the host. she tends to ask very leading questions and say "like" a lot. yesterday's program was no exception.

Ms. Gross interviewed Zev Chafets, an Israeli Jew who wrote a book on Christian Zionism. but this time around, it was the interviewee who carried the weight of my frustration with the show.

first, he made a sweeping generalization in saying, "if you happen to be a literalist, a Bible literalist; [i.e.] you believe in the inerrancy of the Bible as Christian Evangelicals do; you see it [Gen 12:3] as a commandment to support Israel."

OK, look. i need to get this out right now. inerrancy and literal interpretation is best seen as a venn diagram. Not everyone who takes the Bible literally believe it to be innerant, and not everyone who believes the Bible to be inerrant believes that this means that the Bible must always be interpreted literally. i believe in the inerrancy of Scripture, but i also believe that God worked through means and people and used different genres to pass on the redemptive story to mankind. in other words, there are parts of the bible that are not intended to be taken literally. for example, though the book of Revelation describes a beast coming out of the ocean with the whore of Babylon on its back, it is poetry, and not intended to be read literally.

i am, technically, an evangelical. yet i do not believe in a literal 7-year tribulation dependent on the nation of Israel. and i'm not unusual in this belief; a significant population of the evangelical community would stand with me on this one, and not place a high emphasis on the literal restoration of a literal nation literally named Israel. quite honestly, i don't like being thrown into a big ol' pile with other forms of Christianity that have a different way of reading the Bible than my form does; particularly when that generalization happens on national radio and does not allow for any response that might correct the misconception. i would think that someone who spend so long researching Christian Zionism would know that there are evangelicals who are not strict literalists, and that literal and inerrant are not synonymous.

further more, i would expect someone who has spent so much time attempting to understand the premillennial interpretation of the book of Revelation to know that it is, indeed, 'Revelation' and not 'Revelations'. Yet Mr. Chafets opted for the non-literal pronunciation of this book.

i'm done with my rant now.

Winter's theme

2007-01-12T14:14:00.000-05:00

Winter, as a destination, is great. Winter, as a state of being, stinks royally. In the world of Foster Care, winter means chaos. it means children going absolutely insane in the midst of sugar, lack of schedules, missed family time, and presents. it also means we get less sunlight.

i think i was intended to be a bear and i am actually supposed to be hybernating for the winter. since i have no cave, i shall embrace my destiny by sleeping at my desk and growling at anyone who touches my chocolate.

but in the midst of my grouchy winter slump i have much to be thankful about. for those who have been biting their nails as they hit "refresh" repeatedly - nay! obsessively- and furrow their brows with angst-ridden anticipation that yes, mel has posted something useful - well, this one's for you, even if you exist merely in my dillusional little mind:

i am now 5 months into my internship at CCEF. i have two counselees who have been blessings to me. my job, every week, is to speak God's love to these people. i get to watch them take it and chew on it and swallow it and let it nourish them and respond to it. and sometimes, they challenge me and force me to re-think beliefs that were formed more out of tradition than out of truth.

i recently told my husband this - this is the first time in my career-oriented life that i really love going to work. i like foster care, for the most part. i love the kids. i love working towards successful goals for them. but there's a lot of it i don't like. i can't say that with counseling. i look forward to it. i think about and pray about my counselees all week. i am eager and excited to see them comprehend grace while they are surrounded by sorrow and fallenness and, like all of us, sin from within and without.

I've been in Ephesians lately. I think i'm starting to understand the promise of 5:14:

Awake, sleeper,

And arise from the dead,

And Christ will shine on you.

where has all the blogging gone?

2007-01-10T11:43:00.000-05:00

yes, i am well aware that my recent posts have been less-than-poignant. what can i say? look: i'm going through a dry spell. bear with me.

in the mean time, i'm transferring over posts from my old blog. so rather than hassle me about how i never write anything anymore, dip into the archives and check out what i wrote back when i was actually productive...

Also, i should mention now that i've inadvertently impressed a friend of mine, the posts of 2000 are not legitimate. they are just random pictures i'm storing. 2002 is when the real action begins.

PS - i was not nearly as impressed with The Life of Pi as i was supposed to be. does that make me evil? or a literary idiot? did i miss something?

The Anti-Store has arrived

2006-12-06T12:47:00.000-05:00

UPDATE: i took the store down a while ago - financial constraints. i may re-institute it with better hearts in the coming months. we shall see.

For a dozen years (not an exaggeration), i've been passing out black hearts - AKA BitterValentines - to loved ones in dis-honor of Valentine's Day. In fact, if you go back a few months in the ol' blog, you will find a rant post regarding the pink-filled holiday.

I've taken it to the next level and am now selling anti-valentine's-day merchandize online. It's just buttons and magnets right now, but it's a great way to say, "hey, i hate valentine's day, but i love you."

i must warn the more faint-hearted of my readers - some of the hearts contain rather bold sayings. i tell you now: enter at your own risk.

Ezekiel Bread...

2006-11-02T11:40:00.000-05:00

a co-worker of mine just showed me this bread:

my disclaimer regarding this is that it looks like a pretty healthy bread, and i might be willing to try it myself.

still, i find the whole concept rather amusing. taking a bread recipe from the midst of a passage whereinwhich the prophet Ezekiel is asked by God to model the destruction of Jerusalem by lying on his side for 390 days while eating nothing but bread made of spelt and whatnot just seems like an iffy idea to me. if nothing else, Ezekiel's protein intake doesn't seem top on God's to-do list in this particular exchange.

i have but one question, in their making of this bread, do the people at foods for life take the passage as a unit and obey the command of Ezekiel 4:12 - "Eat the food as you would a barley cake; bake it in the sight of the people, using human excrement for fuel"?

because if so, i'm not trying it.

autumn up north

2006-10-23T12:22:00.000-04:00

The husband and i had the chance to go up to the finger lakes region of NY last weekend. we had a fabulous time with our friends and i got to play with fire. life doesn't get much better than that. take a looky, if you want. remember, snapfish means you have to register, but it's free and spam-free!

being stalked by my past

2006-09-28T12:48:00.001-04:00

i'm getting to be a little concerned here. the past few months or so, i've come into contact with several ghosts of my former (educationally oriented) lives. well, not ghosts but people, really. granted, the HS 10 year reunion (which i refuse to attend) is in just over a month, but that's no excuse.

it was famine on this front for five years. i graduated college, and focused on cultivating the friendships of people who were around and responsive. so the friends from college started dropping away as they moved away and/or got married and/or the friendship fizzled as we both grew into our adult selves. for five years, this went on, 10 if you count high school.

then 2006 hit and people started coming out of the woodwork. i couldn't go to a barnes and noble without running into a former classmate. don't get me wrong. this has been, overall, a good thing. there're some people out there i miss and don't even know it.

but what happened today has just blown this whole thing out of proportion. it used to be cute. oh, haha, yes, i remember you! so funny bumping into you here/getting an email from you/finding that you've tracked me down through one internet site or another...

then last night, for no reason i can think of, i had a nightmare and someone i knew from college was in it. i have not spoken to/heard from/thought about/known of this person's existence for over four years. and last night i have a bad dream about the kid. then i woke up today to find that he emailed me out of the blue. after four years of zero contact. what is going on here? seriously! ... OK, so maybe i'm not as creeped out about being contacted by old friends as i am about pseudo-predicting it in my sleep. that's weird. how does that stuff happen, anyway?

Good Monsters - the first in a series of recommendations

2006-09-22T12:29:00.000-04:00

those who know me well know that i have been a Jars of Clay fan since before their first label release. sometimes i wear that title with pride, and sometimes i shrink back or hide in the kitchen when new friends walk towards the "J" section of the CD rack. that's because i have this irrational tendency to decide someone or something is good and then defend that belief even if reality clearly says otherwise and even if, deep down inside, i know that reality is smarter than me.

this happened for many years with Jars. i suppose it would be called the "sophmore" period of their musical career - post Much Affraid and pre Who We Are Instead, where Jars waffled around a bit; and produced some relatively mediocre (in my opinion, obviously) albums. i nearly gave up hope that the band of "Frail" and "Weighed Down" and "Worlds Apart" still existed in there somewhere.

then i saw a friend's website and read through substantive, profound, and well-crafted lyrics and discovered that they are from Jars' newest album, Good Monsters. immediately, i started poking around further and found more songs off of the album and they are stunningly good music. i mean, good music. i'm talking Paste Magazine-approved Good with a capital "G". these songs are such high quality that they surpass all of the former albums. to put a theological metaphor to it, the best of Jars of Clay in the past was but a type and shadow of the Jars that now is. Buy This Album. if you have even an inkling of potentially liking it, follow that feeling and Buy This Album. if you need to hear it for yourself, follow one of my numerous links to their website and music video. when you are done, Buy This Album.

stay tuned. next on my recommendation list: Jason Harrod

YARRRRRRRRRR

2006-09-19T10:56:00.000-04:00

Ahoy, maties! This be international-talk-like-a-pirate day. All you land-lubbers need be talking piratese, lest we make ye walk the plank! ARRRRRR!

psalm 25

2006-09-15T11:55:00.000-04:00

i think i am experiencing growing pains.

as i fumble my way through this world, i am thankful for passages like this:

Psalm 25 -
1To you, O LORD, i lift up my soul ...

4Make me to know your ways, O LORD; teach me your paths. 5Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long.

6Remember your mercy, O LORD, and your steadfast love, for they have been from of old. 7Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for the sake of your goodness, O LORD!

8Good and upright is the LORD; therefore he instructs sinners in the way. 9He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way. 10All the paths of the LORD are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.

11For your name's sake, O LORD, pardon my guilt, for it is great. 12Who is the man who fears the LORD? Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose. 13His soul shall abide in well-being, and his offspring shall inherit the land. 14The friendship of the LORD is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant. 15My eyes are ever toward the LORD, for he will pluck my feet out of the net.

16Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. 17The troubles of my heart are enlarged; bring me out of my distresses. 18Consider my affliction and my trouble, and forgive all my sins.

clinging on for dear life

2006-08-24T16:32:00.000-04:00

For some more than others, there is a struggle to understand what we are to do as Christians. christian bookstores and websites teem with literature about how we need to be better evangelists, better friends, better couples, better sons and daughters and parents and parishoners and and and...

for every book on the amazing grace of God, there are another twenty that break our backs with the burdens of everything we are not but should be.

when i see these books, i want to become a lutheran. luther understood one thing well - we are hopeless when we are left to our own devices. that is the beauty of the gospel; that we need so desperately what we are given so freely.

Christ comes to the sick, not the healthy. through the Spirit, he unites to the broken and sinful and transforms us. he absorbs our sin through his sacrifice and replaces it with his perfect goodness.

yet there is still the process. there is still the lingering falleness that once defined us. what is sanctification? is it purely checking off more and more righteous deeds as we grow? or is it coming to know more deeply each day just how lost we would be without the forgiveness we receive in Christ?

i know the gospel reforms, recreates. i need to be renewed and God promises that he does this day by day through his Son. what good there is is Christ. what bad there is is covered by Christ. hold on to this. God does not beat his children over the head with our failings. he does not keep record of our wrongs. he is love, and so he rejoices in his children, carries us, is patient with us, coaxes us along his path. when he sees us, he sees Christ, the one who stands in our place against the acuser.

i think of the very first chapter of Ephesians when i think of what it looks like to be a christian. it looks like grace, lavished - poured out in excess - upon us as we are united to the only one who can offer such an abundant gift. that grace is what changes us; not our own efforts, not our lists, not our attempts.

when we wade through the slog of pseudo-spiritual literature and programs and workbooks and find our way back to the Word of God, we are reminded that the Gospel is meant to take away the burden of these laws we cannot keep. and it replaces it with a new burden - the burden of the mercy found in Christ. any theology that forgets this is a half-truth at best. at worst, these theologies forget the "in love" part of speaking the truth in love - they accuse rather than admonish. admonishing requires remembering that we need Christ. accusing simply points the finger at all we fail to do, without considering the necessity of the gospel.

do not listen to those who accuse. cling to Christ and the rest will come. take his grace and it will transform. unite with him and as you come closer, you will taste the love of God anew. how can we but respond to that by loving others with the love of God? Romans 7 gives us the answer to this question - when we do what we do not want to do, when we do not do what we want to, the one who saves us from this body of death is Jesus Christ. let no one condemn what God has redeemed through his Son. do not get so blinded by your own sin that you forget the gospel. remember whose you are and cling to Christ.

cling.

the meme

2006-08-21T12:37:00.000-04:00

Many moons ago, i was tagged by random mind and requested to post pictures that captured what i think of when i think of the joy of life.

sadly, my digital library is sorely lacking. had i the photo evidence uploaded, you all could have been seeing pictures of me and the former roomies atop Mt. Monadnok or the CDG women at the shore in october OR even a younger version of me, fresh out of surgery and holding a gi-normous boquet of balloons. instead, i have narrowed it down to these:

the crazy:

and the beautiful:

and this story that i wrote after a memorable evening with a dear friend.

O Rapture! O Joy!

2006-08-09T15:07:00.000-04:00

The Northern Ireland pictures are here

there are a lot of them, so be patient. and some of them may not be facing the right way... and you need to create an account to log on if you don't already have one, but they are free to create

shankill/falls

2006-08-07T16:41:00.000-04:00

i hadn't really considered what it must have been like to live in Northern Ireland 15 or 20 years ago until i went there for a visit. i've met several people from Northern Ireland through my school, but i've somehow managed to avoid the topic of the "troubles" with them. you know the "troubles" - the years when the catholics (wanting a free ireland) and the protestants (wanting a UK ireland) fought violently with each other, and the IRA was terrorizing people, and the protestants terrorized back in response. it was a little piece of hell in the middle of one of the most beautiful places i've ever seen.

my husband and i took a bus tour of Belfast. we got off the bus on the Shankill road and walked up and down it. this is a protestant neighborhood, and one can find a mural on every corner. when i think of murals, i think of the ones in philadelphia - all about unity and embracing our heritage and working together.

these murals were different. they were about pain, and war, and hatred, and brokenness.
and my husband and i kept walking. we turned 90 degrees and walked towards a massive concrete wall that was covered in barbed wire. it is the "peace wall." it was/is designed to keep the catholic neighborhood separated from the rest of belfast. we crossed through the wall and turned 90 degrees again and walked up and down Falls road - the catholic road. we found the same sorts of murals, except these were targeted against the protestants. and catholics had martyrs that they upheld as heroes of their cause.

these two neighborhoods are literally yards apart. but we couldn't find our way back out. there was really only one way out; one way to cross out of the Falls.

i really had no idea. there is still so much anger and fear and frustration and abuse.

i loved that we were able to relax and explore on our trip to northern ireland, but i found that it also helped me further appreciate living in the US. i never feared a bomb coming through my window, or being beaten by an angry mob because i wanted a different path for my country than they did. having seen some of the after affects (and current grumblings that continue), i realize just how small my world is, and how little i know of the pains of fellow humans.

another comparison post

2006-08-07T13:11:00.000-04:00

I have returned from northern ireland and will, naturally, be posting pictures soon.

in the mean time, i have a friend (yes, it's true) named Jeff. He used to have crazy long hair. he let me cut it. i cut it so well, that he now looks like the lead singer of the Flaming Lips. observe:

uncanny.

The Pinnacle

2006-07-24T16:27:00.000-04:00

The husband and i recently went on a hike with some friends from church....

but first we had to make a pit-stop.

enjoy the pictures. remember - you have to create an account, but it's free and safe.