study break out of context

"I'm going to kill you sometime....I'm going to find something to kill you with."

-Jen Grabarczyk

evil, suffering, God

studying for a modern philosophy final, when i stopped by the mars hill webpage, it seemed appropriate for me to click the link for "evil, suffering, God." surely, studying modern philosophy is evil and suffering...and i like God so...

anyway, i was met with a picture of myself. in the immediate split seconds following, i asked myself, "does mars hill think i'm evil, suffering or God?" then i realized, it was my article. so, click away, read, comment etc.

rest and compassion - friends or foes?

where do compassion and rest meet?
where do doing and being intersect?
where does kindness to self turn to seeking the kingdom and where does seeking the kingdom bring kindness to self?

mark 6:33ff makes me yearn for some approximation of an answer to these question

I used to read it and say, "see, God tells you when to rest. the disciples thought they were tired, but there was work to be done. there is always work to be done in the kingdom."

hmm...is God an American-style workaholic? Does God want to feed my workaholism, my doing for rather than being with? Do I believe that God is a God of rest? He healed on the Sabbath. Does this mean that there is no more rest with Christ? Did we recieve the Holy Spirit so that we could work over-time?

The disciples, though, didn't ask for rest - Jesus invited them to it.

Then, compassion came. The Greek word means to be moved to the guts. Jesus' heart was stirred and broken and the result was teaching, feeding, and healing - beautiful, but exhausting - nothing near the retreat he had teased his disciples with.

So, holding to a God who gives rest, and loving a God of compassion, I'm left truly asking and wondering, where do compassion and rest meet?

sunday bloody sunday rx2008

i saw this and thought it would be funny. then, as i saw and heard these compassionate words from the president's mouth, i began to wonder...what if we had a president who says "many lost but tell me who has won?" and "i won't heed the battle call."

so if arnold can campaign, can bono?

how would the world change? dare we hope, in 2008, for a president who spends more time fighting global AIDS and loving orphans than relaxing on a ranch in texas?

amos of tekoa, a prophet to the american mindset I

how do we make scriptures something more than beautiful language? how can the words of the prophets bite us as they would have the original hearers? how can the word become living? translation.

here's a translation of Amos' message...for the israelites, it was too late. is it too late for us? is it ever too late after Christ? even if there is no pending destruction, can we mourn how american wealth at the cost of the global poor as tarnished the Lord's name? can we mourn that the holiness of Yahweh's is washed with the blood of the oppressed? more to come when my paper is turned in...

anyway, here's the translation/introduction:

I had a dream of you, reader. You were living the American Dream. I saw you lounging in a over-stuffed IKEA couch, feeling lush fabric beneath you and drinking an ice-cold Coca-Cola on an unusually hot Seattle summer day, whose temperature and skin-toning UV rays were brought to you by way of your Hummer, sitting in your garage with better accommodations than the homes of the people who made that couch on which you perched. You were watching American Idol, and feeling quite confident that American Idol means Global Idol, since America is number one.

Then, the haunting music preceding a FOX special report interrupted Simon’s reaming of the latest reject. As you heard the sound, terror gripped your heart, like the roar of a lion in an ancient near eastern village. The voice of a right-slanted FOX news anchor followed the foreboding music and your lackadaisical evening came to a halt as he brought this message: God is going to destroy American Christianity. For you, there is no hope. Christ’s cross and resurrection are no longer applicable to your transgressions. Your businesses will be laid waste. The stock market will crash. America will no longer be number one, but will be destroyed. The lush lives you have gained at the expense of global poor will be wiped like a tear from the face of the Earth. The end has come and Jesus, the Lord God of hosts will uphold his name through your destruction.

lost

where did you go my friend?
you left to travel the country
to meet strangers
and possibly to meet yourself
i miss you
and pine for the day you meet me

where did you go my friend?
you left to find employment
to save children
and possibly to save yourself
i miss you
and pine for the day you save me

where did you go my friend?
you exit more ambiguous
will you meet yourself the stranger?
will you save yourself the child?
will you kill me in your search?
did you find war?
i miss you
and pine for the day you called me friend

and where have i gone?
my exit most ambiguous
has pacifism been
ripped
out
of
my
cold
dead
hands?
has the resurrected child been so easily slain?
has the once-lost soul wandered so quickly?
i pine
for peace
for quiet
for play
for love
for the day i am found in your willingness to see

more prayer please

now i have an impacted wisdom tooth and swollen gland and no dental insurance and no money to be able to take time off work and a major paper due....

prayer request

so, my ankle is really not healing - a month later. i woke up this morning and it hurt as bad as it did two weeks ago. if you could pray for it to heal, it would be greatly appreciated.