Jesus Is a Liberal Democrat

There is SO much truth in this...

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A Goat!

Christmas Gift Idea: A Goat!

Give a goat. Goats nourish hungry children and families with healthy milk, cheese, and yogurt. Goats also give a much-needed income boost by providing offspring and extra dairy products for sale at the market.

A healthy dairy goat can give up to 16 cups of milk a day. Goat milk is easier to digest than cow’s milk and is an excellent source of calcium, protein, and other essential nutrients that growing children need. Goats are practical animals — flourishing in harsh climates while producing valuable manure to fertilize crops and vegetable gardens.

This is amazing!

to read more, go to http://blog.ekklesiaraleigh.org/

843 pages!!!

in case you cannot make it out in the photo, this is an 843 page behemoth!! Albeit a week late (so much for pre-ordering from Amazon!), the highly anticipated next volume of the Wheel of Time epic is finally here!  I cannot wait to get started!!! We miss you Moiraine!!!

Native Americans' Day

Maybe the traditional Columbus Day is a good time to consider what Columbus' arrival meant to North America and the people whose native home it was and is. Here is something I wrote Sept 2, 2005...

Haiti's first contact with Europeans

I found it very interesting and distressing to read about the first contact between Europeans and the natives (Arawaks) of the island on which Haiti is located. I was reading part of my daughter's AP US History assignment, from a book which tells about the U.S. history that MY generation was never allowed to study.

The island was referred to as Hispaniola when Columbus first arrived there. Out of the timbers of the Santa Maria, which had run aground, he built a fort, the first European military presence in the "new" world. His report to the Court in Madrid included:

"Hispaniola is a miracle. Mountains and hills, plains and pastures, are both fertile and beautiful... the harbours are unbelievably good and there are many wide rivers of which the majority contains gold .... There are many spices, and great mines of gold and other metals..."

Columbus report of the natives:

"[the natives] are so naive and so free with their possessions that no one who has not witnessed them would believe it. When you ask for something they have, they never say no. To the contrary, they offer to share with anyone..."

He promised the Court in Madrid that he would bring them back "as much gold as they need... and as many slaves as they ask." He promised this in the name of "God": "Thus the eternal God, our Lord, gives victory to those who follow His way over apparent impossibilities."

His 2nd expedition returned with 17 ships with the clear goal to bring back slaves and gold. His expedition in Haiti found almost no gold. In 1495, he collected 1500 Arawaks and put them in pens. They picked the 500 "best" slaves and put them on ships for Spain. 200 died enroute. The rest were sold as slaves. Columbus later wrote "Let us in the name of the Holy Trinity go on sending all the slaves that can be sold."

In time however, most of the slaves died in captivity. So instead, Columbus enslaved them on the Island of Haiti and forced them to collect gold for him. He found, however, that the "fields of gold" did not exist. Each slave was given 3 months to collect a certain quantity of gold. If they failed, as most did, since the gold was not as plentiful as they imagined, their hands were cut off and they were allowed to bleed to death.

There are more horrific facts, too many for me to type here. My point is this... after reading these horrible things that OUR ancestors committed, I thought about how the Grace of God is allowing us to pay back just a small amount of the incredible injustice and evil our ancenstors did to the ancestors of our Haitian brothers and sisters. Thank God for his Grace, and for the privilege to do his work and help undo the evil of the past and of this world.

that's my 2 cents, altho probably closer to a dollar :-)

(source: "A People's History of the United States: 1492-Present" By Howard Zinn)

C.S. Lewis: "On the Reading of Old Books"

Check out C.S. Lewis' "On the Reading of Old Books", the introduction to a translation of Athanasius: "On the Incarnation" (De Incarnatione Verbi Dei). I read it a few years ago and forgot just how good it is!

There is a strange idea abroad that in every subject the ancient books should be read only by the professionals, and that the amateur should content himself with the modern books. Thus I have found as a tutor in English Literature that if the average student wants to find out something about Platonism, the very last thing he thinks of doing is to take a translation of Plato off the library shelf and read the Symposium. He would rather read some dreary modern book ten times as long, all about "isms" and influences and only once in twelve pages telling him what Plato actually said. The error is rather an amiable one, for it springs from humility. The student is half afraid to meet one of the great philosophers face to face. He feels himself inadequate and thinks he will not understand him. But if he only knew, the great man, just because of his greatness, is much more intelligible than his modern commentator. The simplest student will be able to understand, if not all, yet a very great deal of what Plato said; but hardly anyone can understand some modern books on Platonism. It has always therefore been one of my main endeavours as a teacher to persuade the young that firsthand knowledge is not only more worth acquiring than secondhand knowledge, but is usually much easier and more delightful to acquire. 

(read complete piece...)

Towers of Midnight Trailer

magic JUST at the edge of believability

Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really liked Under Heaven. To me, it conveyed this sense of magic JUST at the edge of believability. If you have seen the film Crouching Tiger, it is a similar feeling of magic. It really resonated with me Looking forward to the sequel River of Stars.

Some quotes:

• "but if you couldn't do everything, did that mean you did nothing?" - p.7
• "The world could bring you poison in a jeweled cup, or surprising gifts. Sometimes you didn't know which of them it was." - p.130
• "Duty, assuming all tasks, can betray arrogance. The idea we can know what must be done, and do it properly. We cannot know the future, my friend. It claims so much to imagine we can. And the world is not broken any more than it always, always is." - p.298
• "Only wind, and endless grass, and a sky so much farther away than any she's known. It is difficult to feel that your life means anything under this sky. Are the heavens more removed from humankind here? Do prayers and souls have a greater distance to travel?" - p.375
• "We will pick our way through the shards of broken objects that folly leaves behind. And some of what breaks will be very beautiful." - p.456
• "Sometimes the one life we are allowed is enough." - p.561

View all my reviews

Trip of a lifetime with my Dad...

Trip of a lifetime with my Dad. Thank you Dad, I miss you!
John Muir Trail trip Kings Canyon National Park
July 14-19, 1968

1968-07-14_19_John_Muir_trip

looking forward to new book...

I'm looking forward to Kester Brewin's new book "Other: Loving Self, God and Neighbour in a World of Fractures", to be released in UK this week. Hope it makes it to the US soon.

peace

This picture of our new kitty Caterina looking at our gerbil Henry reminds me of the famous painting by Edward Hicks of the "Peaceable Kingdom". It is notable that in this situation,  peace is maintained by a sturdy layer of glass between them. Someday, the glass will be removed and they will be the best of buddies!

The wolf will romp with the lamb,
the leopard sleep with the kid.
Calf and lion will eat from the same trough,
and a little child will tend them.
Cow and bear will graze the same pasture,
their calves and cubs grow up together,
and the lion eat straw like the ox.
The nursing child will crawl over rattlesnake dens,
the toddler stick his hand down the hole of a serpent.
Neither animal nor human will hurt or kill
on my holy mountain.

Isaiah 11:6-9 (The Message)

some great finds

I love the library book sale! We found some really great books this afternoon.... and at $1 each... what a deal! BTW, the sale continues Saturday 10am-5pm in case you want to drop in.

One of the books I was excited to find, one for which I have been searching for a while, is "The Prophets" by Abraham Joshua Heschel. I have read other author's quotes of this book over and over, speaking of need for prophetic vision and message in our times. I'm anxious to look anew at the prophets of the Hebrew scripture, and consider what they have to say to us today, to all peoples of all times.

Spring Book Sale!

You can find great bargains on gently used books at the Friends of the Durham Library book sale. Held in spring and fall, book sales at Main Library offer thousands of used books categorized for easy shopping, as well as audiobooks, CDs and DVDs.  

Paperbacks begin at 50 cents and hardbacks at $1.

Friday, April 9, 4 – 7 p.m. Friends members only—join at the door!
Saturday, April 10, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Everyone welcome.
Sunday, April 11, 2 – 5 p.m. Everyone welcome. $7 Bag Sale.

a Vision of the Kingdom

I have a rule. It's really more of a guideline than a rule, but I still try to follow it. My rule is this:

Whenever I go to a place at which I think I'll have to wait, I bring a book along, to read while waiting.

Here are some examples: going to the DMV, mailing a package at the Post Office, or going to a doctor's appointment. You get the picture. It's really a brilliant idea (not my own, I stole it from a minister's wife I once knew), an idea which has enabled me to read untold hundreds of pages over the years. It's a really, really good rule... most of the time.

The other day, I broke the rule. Well, not exactly, because I wasn't expecting to have to wait. Silly me. Anyway, in I went, sans-book. I had stopped by the eye doctor to get the nose piece replaced on a pair of glasses. It was a small repair, so I thought I'd be in and out in no time. Again, silly me. It was late afternoon, the office was short staffed, and more than a few folks were already there, at various stages in the fitting of their glasses.

So I sat down to wait. There was a really nice looking iMac computer on the counter (maybe to entertain kids while waiting), so I fiddled with it a bit. But it was not connected to the internet, so my interest quickly waned. "Drat" I thought. What WAS I thinking, not bringing a book in?!?! As I quickly surveyed the other patients waiting ahead of me in the queue, contemplating a trip out to the truck to retrieve my book, my eyes rested on a young dad and his little son, perhaps 7-8 years of age. I watched the optician cleaning a pair of glasses as the man, already wearing glasses, and boy watch. The little boy's eyes were growing wide with excitement and anticipation. It was at this point that the Spirit snuck up behind me and peeled back my Eyelids so that I could See, really See, the wonder and holiness just across the room from me.

The boy was getting his first pair of glasses. His dad wore glasses, and now the son was getting some of his very own. As the optician finished cleaning them and gently fit them on the boy's nose and over his ears, I was overcome by the holiness of the moment. The circumstances that had foiled my obeying my "rule" had provided me an opportunity to be Still and See. I was given a priceless Gift, I was given a Moment of Stillness and Silence in my heart to set aside my agenda, my schedule, my "rule", in order to view something priceless... a proud child taking a step in his father's footsteps and beaming in the Joy of the Moment. It was a moment of Enlightenment for me.

As I sat across the room from this Holy scene, I prayed a prayer of thanks for being given such an undeserved gift. My agenda was to read some pages in a book about God. But instead, I was given a Glimpse of God Himself, and his Holiness. Thank You. I go forward from that day with the determination to open my eyes and ears more to those around me, hoping to catch another Glimpse of the Kingdom right in front of my face!

Grace and Peace

Happy Pi Day!

Wishing all you fellow Pi fans a happy Pi Day 2010! (see Google's tribute at right) Pi was the first irrational number I met in my mathematical life, and has proven to be a faithful friend and extremely useful. At those times when, try as I may, I cannot maintain a rational mood or worldview, my friend Pi reminds me that rationality is not a prerequisite for success in our beautifully mathematical world. Sometimes one has to walk on the wild side of irrationality to fully describe the circle of life in which we find ourselves. We do not have a perfect circle without the irrationality of my friend Pi. We need to embrace the irrationality in our lives that make us perfectly rounded (if that is not too corny to say). Here's to irrationality! Here's to my friend Pi.

interesting thoughts...

I really like this guy Kester Brewin. I loved his book "Signs of Emergence". Check out some of his recent postings...

• I(con) of the Month: Apple | Selling Us Our Desires
• Theological ‘Lock In’ | I Am Not A Gadget | Bad Faith [1]
• Theological ‘Lock In’ | I Am Not A Gadget | Bad Faith [2]
• Theological ‘Lock In’ | I Am Not A Gadget | Bad Faith [3]

Good stuff!

epidemic of Good?

The following is taken from a book I'm reading during Lent entitled "Power and Passion - Six Characters in Search of Resurrection". It is written by Samuel Wells, the Dean of Duke University Chapel. This selection describes how Christ turns things upside-down as He brings His Kingdom among us:

"I have claimed that Jesus was a real revolutionary in a way that Barabbas and the Zealots were not. I want now to explain that claim under three headings, the first of which is purity. As I have demonstrated, purity lay at the heart of Jewish objection to Roman rule and at the heart of the way different parties responded to it. The high priests were content as long as their own purity and that of their sacrifices were not compromised. The Pharisees saw the land as polluted by Roman occupation and sought to develop an inner purity. The Essenes believed purity was possible only in a secluded community. The Zealots believed no purity really counted as long as the Romans were still present.
- - -
The transformation in purity Jesus brings is most vividly displayed in his encounter with the woman who had been bleeding for twelve years (Mark 5.25—34). The woman, whose sickness made her permanently unclean, came up behind Jesus and touched the ritual fringes on the hem of his cloak. Immediately she was healed. The significance of this story is the way it shows that, for Jesus, infection works contrary to the expectations of Pharisees or Zealots. It is not that the woman’s disease makes Jesus unclean; on the contrary, it is Jesus’ holiness that cleanses the woman. Jesus’ holiness is highly infectious — the woman only touches the hem of his cloak and she is transformed. No longer is life lived in perpetual anxiety about becoming defiled; with Jesus, life is lived in perpetual anticipation of being transformed.
- - -
So to say Jesus brought a revolution whereas the Zealots did not is to refer to the way Jesus transformed the notion of purity. Holiness is not an achievement secured by keeping oneself unsullied by the world. It is an infectious disease caught by keeping close to Jesus and to the people with whom he spent his time."

This reminded me at once of the "Good Infection" that C.S. Lewis described in his classic work "Mere Christianity".

"Now the whole offer which Christianity makes is this: that we can, if we let God have His way, come to share in the life of Christ. If we do, we shall then be sharing a life which was begotten, not made, which always has existed and always will exist. Christ is the Son of God. If we share in this kind of life we also shall be sons of God. We shall love the Father as He does and the Holy Ghost will arise in us. He came to this world and became a man in order to spread to other men the kind of life He has - by what I call 'good infection'. Every Christian is to become a little Christ. The whole purpose of becoming a Christian is simply nothing else."

My hope is that I can be a part of this infectious movement, this revolution of Good, and that all of us who are smitten by this bug will band together to form an epidemic of Good that cannot be stopped, for which there is no cure, and that transforms our world and our reality.

no ordinary people...

I long for my eyes always to be open to this Truth:

"There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilization these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit immortal horrors or everlasting splendours. This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption. And our charity must be a real and costly love, with deep feeling for the sins in spite of which we love the sinner no mere tolerance or indulgence which parodies love as flippancy parodies merriment. Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbour is the holiest object presented to your senses. If he is your Christian neighbour he is holy in almost the same way, for in him also Christ vere latitat - the glorifier and the glorified, Glory Himself, is truly hidden."

C. S. Lewis
"The Weight of Glory"
June 8, 1941

lets make a difference!!!

good question!

read this post entitled "After The Rapture: Who’s Looking After Your Pets?" by Kester Brewin, the author of the excellent book "Signs of Emergence"

working together!

The latest issue of Durham Magazine has a great cover story of friendship and working together for the Kingdom: in Durham, as it is in Heaven...

In the Current Issue - February/March 2010

From camps to three faithful friends to one awkward opera audition, we've got an eclectic mix of fare in the latest Durham Magazine.

The three gents who grace our cover – Bishop Elroy Lewis, Rabbi John Friedman and The Rev. Joe Harvard – have built a great friendship over decades of putting aside theological differences to be an active force for good.

clever picture

this is a clever picture that I got from my daughter...

Donald Miller's Response to Pat Robertson’s Comments about Haiti

Author Donald Miller's response... worth reading.

http://donmilleris.com/2010/01/13/1513/ 

echos of The Screwtape Letters

this letter was published in the Minneapolis Star Tribune...

Dear Pat Robertson,

I know that you know that all press is good press, so I appreciate the shout-out. And you make God look like a big mean bully who kicks people when they are down, so I'm all over that action. But when you say that Haiti has made a pact with me, it is totally humiliating. I may be evil incarnate, but I'm no welcher.

The way you put it, making a deal with me leaves folks desperate and impoverished. Sure, in the afterlife, but when I strike bargains with people, they first get something here on earth -- glamour, beauty, talent, wealth, fame, glory, a golden fiddle. Those Haitians have nothing, and I mean nothing. And that was before the earthquake.

Haven't you seen "Crossroads"? Or "Damn Yankees"? If I had a thing going with Haiti, there'd be lots of banks, skyscrapers, SUVs, exclusive night clubs, Botox -- that kind of thing. An 80 percent poverty rate is so not my style. Nothing against it -- I'm just saying: Not how I roll.

You're doing great work, Pat, and I don't want to clip your wings -- just, come on, you're making me look bad. And not the good kind of bad. Keep blaming God. That's working. But leave me out of it, please. Or we may need to renegotiate your own contract.

Best, Satan

LILY COYLE, MINNEAPOLIS

quote

It is not bigotry to be certain we are right; but it is bigotry to be unable to imagine how we might possibly have gone wrong.

  - G. K. Chesterton

The Gathering Storm

At the end of time,
when the many become one,
the last storm shall gather its angry winds
to destroy a land already dying.
And at its center,
the blind man shall stand
upon his own grave.
There he shall see again,
and weep for what has been wrought.

- from The Prophecies of the Dragon, Essanik Cycle.
Malhavish's Official Translation,
Imperial Record House of Seandar,
Fourth Circle of Elevation.

from "The Gathering Storm"