We watched these videos last night, sent from a former parishioner. Our prayers and thoughts have been with the people of our former home for days now. My grandmother is in Grand Forks, an hour or so north...once they thaw, the waters will head that direction. Parishioners, family friends, and other family all live here. Over the course of my life Fargo was my home for about six years.
As we watched we were in awe. The engineer next to me expressed amazement over the feat they were accomplishing. "It is pretty amazing." he exclaimed at one point. He was referring to the engineering, the sheer physical labor, the organization...and the attitudes. We expressed what we already knew....these are amazing people. Strong work ethic. Positive hope in the face of anything. Stoic determination..."this is just what we need to do." Our admiration would be too much for them...bordering on arrogance and being prideful. And we wouldn't want to brag...but man, flood waters and all, we were a little homesick last night.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
I want to go...
http://www.christianity21.com/
Anyone coming with me?
Two of the speakers are the author's of blogs I follow...never met either one of them. Well, I kinda met Nadia in WA but she doesn't know it. I also enjoy Diana Butler Bass' books.
Seriously. Let's go!
Anyone coming with me?
Two of the speakers are the author's of blogs I follow...never met either one of them. Well, I kinda met Nadia in WA but she doesn't know it. I also enjoy Diana Butler Bass' books.
Seriously. Let's go!
Monday, March 23, 2009
Friday, March 20, 2009
One
For nearly an hour and a half this morning I had to bite my tongue and sit on my hands to keep from jumping up and shouting this verse or others like it....
"There is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus." Galatians 3:28
Sexism was alive and well today as I listened to a talk. It was, I believe, meant to be a talk aimed at helping us create a hedge around our marriages. To be mindful of the subtle ways we can erode the spiritual, intellectual, emotional (and physical) intimacy with our spouse. This is all fine. It is a good reminder in the face of life, and all the chaos that pulls us away from the very one we committed to creating this life with in the first place.
But what it turned into was a lesson on how to please a man lest he be driven towards pornography or "those pretty women at the office." After opening with statistics on pornography and then sharing the revelation that men are "visual," the rest of the talk was geared at the ways in which we, the wives, are responsible for ministering to our husbands needs, lest they fall victim to scantily clad women or those pesky pop-ups on our computers. We were left pretty much with a 1950's "hand him his pipe at the door" view of our role...with the 2009 update...a recipe for chocolate sauce to spice things up.
Chocolate sauce aside, my mind is overloaded with what I heard today. Curious if the instruction to, enjoy sex and honor the fact God created it, is a reflection of the messages these young women get from their particular church or a hang over from the generation of the women speaking. (an odd comment in this particular group where three children is the average and most are willing to have more...from what I can tell, we've got sex down.) Pained for those women who view their created role as one of submission and obedience. Mindful of the many women who pay the price each day for saying 'no' to men. Concerned by the chasm in theology amongst my fellow sisters in Christ.
And so the gospel keeps coming to me...that radical message that I believe killed Christ...one that continued to crucify him to this very day. Freedom. Oneness. Grace.
And bubbling out of me is the need to proclaim this: that I was created by God to be servant to all and slave to no one. I was baptized into a body that counts my unique contrbution no more, and no less imporant than those of my neighbor. In marriage, we are meant to model God's love...honoring the gifts both people bring, honestly naming the sins both parties carry, respecting the desires and needs of each...
After all, my husband and I both took these vows...
I promise before God and these witnesses to be your faithful spouse, to share with you in plenty and in want, in joy and in sorow, in sickness and in health, to forgive and strengthen you, and to join with you so that together we may serve God and others as long as we both shall live.
Now on to the sermon for Sunday...good to get that out.
"There is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus." Galatians 3:28
Sexism was alive and well today as I listened to a talk. It was, I believe, meant to be a talk aimed at helping us create a hedge around our marriages. To be mindful of the subtle ways we can erode the spiritual, intellectual, emotional (and physical) intimacy with our spouse. This is all fine. It is a good reminder in the face of life, and all the chaos that pulls us away from the very one we committed to creating this life with in the first place.
But what it turned into was a lesson on how to please a man lest he be driven towards pornography or "those pretty women at the office." After opening with statistics on pornography and then sharing the revelation that men are "visual," the rest of the talk was geared at the ways in which we, the wives, are responsible for ministering to our husbands needs, lest they fall victim to scantily clad women or those pesky pop-ups on our computers. We were left pretty much with a 1950's "hand him his pipe at the door" view of our role...with the 2009 update...a recipe for chocolate sauce to spice things up.
Chocolate sauce aside, my mind is overloaded with what I heard today. Curious if the instruction to, enjoy sex and honor the fact God created it, is a reflection of the messages these young women get from their particular church or a hang over from the generation of the women speaking. (an odd comment in this particular group where three children is the average and most are willing to have more...from what I can tell, we've got sex down.) Pained for those women who view their created role as one of submission and obedience. Mindful of the many women who pay the price each day for saying 'no' to men. Concerned by the chasm in theology amongst my fellow sisters in Christ.
And so the gospel keeps coming to me...that radical message that I believe killed Christ...one that continued to crucify him to this very day. Freedom. Oneness. Grace.
And bubbling out of me is the need to proclaim this: that I was created by God to be servant to all and slave to no one. I was baptized into a body that counts my unique contrbution no more, and no less imporant than those of my neighbor. In marriage, we are meant to model God's love...honoring the gifts both people bring, honestly naming the sins both parties carry, respecting the desires and needs of each...
After all, my husband and I both took these vows...
I promise before God and these witnesses to be your faithful spouse, to share with you in plenty and in want, in joy and in sorow, in sickness and in health, to forgive and strengthen you, and to join with you so that together we may serve God and others as long as we both shall live.
Now on to the sermon for Sunday...good to get that out.
Monday, March 09, 2009
Two Kids, Two Moms
Last Wednesday, I celebrated the second most amazing thing I have accomplished thus far. The second and first, 'most amazing' accomplishments are similar. I managed to keep EG alive, with some help, for 12 whole months. She made it. I made it. We all made it.
She is alive and thriving, with smiles and giggles to share. She is joy incarnate and I love her more than she will ever know. One specific, 'amazing things for me' about EG's 12 month life is that I breastfed her the entire time. I made it 7 months with BB and that is a generous accounting. In reflecting upon this difference in my time with them, I realized they really had different mothers.
BB's mom was overwhelmed and suffocated by the enormous amount of attention he needed in those first months. She felt like she was in post traumatic shock syndrome for the first few months. She felt like the new kid in school among other mom's. She was sure she wasn't accomplishing anything with her time and talents. She felt like she was faking it most days...waiting for it to feel real. She was in a hurry to get back to normal...her schedule, her emotions, her body, her mind...she wanted it back and was often frantic in her search for it.
EG's mom knows more. She is no longer adjusting to her identity as 'mom,' she just is one. For better or worse, most days better, it is part of who she is now. If this mom has learned nothing else it is that 'normal' will never return. It was really an illusion to begin with. No, this mom knows that what she had...with herself, her body, her mind, her husband, her friends, her job...will never be again. And most days she is ok to wait to see what will be.
I like EG's mom better. This isn't her first crack at keeping a baby alive for 12 months so she relaxes a bit more. She's more tired, and so she looks upon the times she has to sit with EG not as, interruptions in her hunt for "what was" but as chances to pause to see "what is."
It is time for EG to take up cow's milk...for us to part ways a bit. But I won't let her get too far away just yet...and I'll keep her brother close too, together they are introducing me to myself in ways no one else can.
She is alive and thriving, with smiles and giggles to share. She is joy incarnate and I love her more than she will ever know. One specific, 'amazing things for me' about EG's 12 month life is that I breastfed her the entire time. I made it 7 months with BB and that is a generous accounting. In reflecting upon this difference in my time with them, I realized they really had different mothers.
BB's mom was overwhelmed and suffocated by the enormous amount of attention he needed in those first months. She felt like she was in post traumatic shock syndrome for the first few months. She felt like the new kid in school among other mom's. She was sure she wasn't accomplishing anything with her time and talents. She felt like she was faking it most days...waiting for it to feel real. She was in a hurry to get back to normal...her schedule, her emotions, her body, her mind...she wanted it back and was often frantic in her search for it.
EG's mom knows more. She is no longer adjusting to her identity as 'mom,' she just is one. For better or worse, most days better, it is part of who she is now. If this mom has learned nothing else it is that 'normal' will never return. It was really an illusion to begin with. No, this mom knows that what she had...with herself, her body, her mind, her husband, her friends, her job...will never be again. And most days she is ok to wait to see what will be.
I like EG's mom better. This isn't her first crack at keeping a baby alive for 12 months so she relaxes a bit more. She's more tired, and so she looks upon the times she has to sit with EG not as, interruptions in her hunt for "what was" but as chances to pause to see "what is."
It is time for EG to take up cow's milk...for us to part ways a bit. But I won't let her get too far away just yet...and I'll keep her brother close too, together they are introducing me to myself in ways no one else can.
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