All Saints Day

We remember

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses. . . . .(Heb. 12:1)

And from The Message:
Do you see what this means--all those pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we'd better get on with it! Strip down, start running--and never quit! No extra spiritual fat. . . .

Grandmere Mimi has a beautiful post about Feast Of All Saints today, with prayers, links, and descriptions.

Diane has also posted about All Saints Day and here's a wonderful quote she found about those saints we've heard of and known ourselves:

"The wonderful thing about saints is that they were human. They lost their tempers, got hungry, scolded God, were egotistical or testy, made mistakes and regretted them. Still they went on doggedly blundering toward heaven."

P. McGinley, Saint Watching

Stop by and visit these lovely ladies!

Happy Halloween!

I skipped Greek class tonight.

ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος. οὗτος ἦν ἐν ἀρχῇ πρὸς τὸν θεόν. πάντα δι᾿ αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο, καὶ χωρὶς αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο οὐδὲ ἓν ὃ γέγονεν. ἐν αὐτῷ ζωὴ ἦν, καὶ ἡ ζωὴ ἦν τὸ φῶς τῶν ἀνθρώπων̣· καὶ τὸ φῶς ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ φαίνει, καὶ ἡ σκοτία αὐτὸ οὐ κατέλαβεν.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shone in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not."


After having the morning Wisdom Class (book study) and afternoon EFM class, I didn't feel like going to the beginning Greek class taught by Fr. Frank at a different Episcopal Church here. This is the first time I've skipped, and I know it was partly because I wanted to finish reading The Golden Compass, which I just did. I will write about my impressions of it tomorrow. You'll be glad to know that I did not turn into an atheist by reading it!

Virgin of Vladimir

When I first saw the Virgin of Vladimir icon at a regional Shalem retreat, I was mysteriously drawn to her. I kept being pulled to sit in front of her. I was captured by the pain and love for the world seen in her eyes. She was prayed into being at the beginning of the 12th century in Russia.

Icons Explained writes this:

Treasure of Russia, the miraculous icon of the Mother of God of Vladimir is among the best known in the Western World. It's one of the oldest icons of the type Eleousa (Virgin of Tenderness, Tender Mercy, Merciful Love, LovingKindness). The icon can be recognized by the arm of the Child around the neck of the mother. The face of the Virgin that is looking towards us is full of warmth and human comprehension, but also with deep sadness.

The icon of the Virgin of Vladimir is known in Russia since 1131 when she was taken from Constantinople to Kiev. In 1155, prince Andrei Bogolioubski took off to the North to found a new capital. That was Vladimir. He took with him the icon from Kiev. He was captivated by its splendor. It was in that period that the icon started to work miracles and attracted large numbers of faithful. In 1395, the icon was transported to Moscow. Up to three times when threatened by an invasion from the East, Moscow was saved by a miraculous intervention involving the icon.

Halloween Fun

Go play Halloween Hangman!

The Golden Compass

So far this week, I have received four e-mails about the danger of this book series and the upcoming movie. They even cite Snopes.com that has a report on the claim that "The 2007 film The Golden Compass is based on a series of books with anti-religious claims." This report states that the author is an atheist and various groups, including the Catholic League, have condemned the book for "selling atheism to kids."

Three of my children have read the entire series and enjoyed all three of the books. Almost 18 year old MJ is telling me (as I write this) that it's a fiction book taking place in another world with corrupt adults connected with a church too concerned with "original sin." MJ says it reminds her of stories she's heard of the Church in medieval ages. She also says it is a Dark vs Light story.

I remember getting flaming e-mails about the Harry Potter books in years past. I read those books and found nothing wrong with them. So I am reserving judgment about these books until I read them. I trust my children's opinions. (They are 25, 22, and almost 18 years old). Two adult friends have recommended these books to me, too. So I have started reading The Golden Compass (as if I have nothing else to read right now!).

Have you read any of His Dark Materials Trilogy (The Golden Compass; The Subtle Knife; The Amber Spyglass)? What is your opinion?

Snail Mail

I'm thinking of mailing addresses today, because I wrote new ones in my address book for my two sons. The pages in that category have many crossed out addresses, because of the numerous moves they have made since being in college. That also goes for my daughter in Seattle. I remember when CB and I moved a lot, even after getting married, and so we had various addresses. I always assumed my "permanent" address or connection would be that of my parents' in Bellingham, WA, but they died and so that address is not a way to reach me anymore.

I wonder how many people actually have paper address books now. Perhaps snail mail is a thing of the past and the way to stay connected is through e-mail addresses. The internet is much faster than snail mail, but the receiving of a paper envelope, holding it, seeing the handwriting, and opening it is a much more sensuous process than looking at an e-mail. Identifying someone's handwriting can bring their presence to mind vividly--that's what still happens to me when I happen to see either of my parents' handwriting on something long-forgotten.

I love receiving "real" letters and cards that I find in my mailbox attached to my house. However, I notice that both my husband CB and son BJ will leave a handwritten envelope lying around without opening it for days. They don't seem to value handwritten items as I do.

Maybe that's because I grew up moving around in the 1950's and 1960's as my dad was transferred to different military bases. It was cost prohibitive then to make long distance phone calls, and so letter writing was the way to stay in touch with friends and family. I remember my dad would sit at his black typewriter every Sunday and type a letter to his mother. After my mother died, I found a notebook of the letters that she had written home during WWII to her parents that her mother had saved. (Both my parents were Marines in WWII)

I guess I won't change and will continue to mail cards and letters to people, so I need my paper address book! (In fact, that's what I wrote about in a long ago standardized test for a TX teaching certificate--The question was what would I miss the most if I lost it, and I wrote about my address book!)

Peacemaking: Day by Day

Peacemaking Day by Day, Volumes I and II
Both volumes of daily quotes--$10.00.

If you have never seen the booklets published by Pax Christi USA, I hope you will consider buying them. I learned about them when I was taking classes at Oblate School of Theology and a professor would often read a very short meditation from these at the beginning of class.

Here is one day's thought from Volume I:

If there is righteousness in the heart, there will be beauty in the character;
If there is beauty in the character, there will be harmony in the home;
If there is harmony in the home, there will be order in the nation;
If there is order in the nation, there will be peace in the world.
~Confucius

Here is another day's thought from Volume II:

O God, help us not to despise or oppose what we do not understand.
~William Penn

These little booklets, with a quotation or Bible verse for each day of the year, have been sitting ignored on my bookshelf for quite awhile. It's time to begin reading them again!

Thanks to Ellie at Child of Illusion for this cartoon.

Desmond Tutu: God is Not a Christian

Ann Rodgers of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wrote an article about Desmond Tutu's words when he received an unprecedented dual honorary doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University today: "A Grand Reception for Archbishop Tutu." Various opinions about his words are being circulated on the internet, both for and against his belief that God is bigger than the Christian idea of God.

Rodgers writes:

"In his sermon, he poked fun at the belief that only those who accept Jesus as their savior can enter heaven.

"Can you imagine that there are those who think God is a Christian?" he said to laughter from a mostly appreciative audience. "Can you tell us what God was before he was a Christian?"

As Ken Wilber writes in his book Up from Eden, New Edition: A Transpersonal View of Human Evolution, as do others such as Joseph Campbell, those in early humanity worshipped Nature and the Great Mother. It took growth in physical and mental development and development in consciousness for humanity to come to fuller and fuller understandings of God. "Who can understand the mind of God?" How can we even now? It seems like we each have glimpses of the Divine, which we share to know more and learn to love more.


Tutu also asked, "Can anyone say to the Dalai Lama, 'You are a good guy. What a shame you are not a Christian'?"


Read the entire article A Grand Reception for Archbishop Tutu.

Thanks to Susan Russell at An Inch at a Time for directing me to this article. Go to her blog and read her reflections, too.

Fun: Carve a Pumpkin!

Purpletologicall... Speaking for the Friday Five/Six suggested the easiest and most fun way to carve a jack-o-lantern, with no messy pulp to dig out!

Go to Carve Your Pumpkin! Thanks, PS!

Friday Five/Six: Pumpkin or Apple Friday

From RevGals, here's another Friday Five, thanks to Singing Owl:

1. How did you celebrate this time of year when you were a child?

I would go trick-or-treating in a costume my mother had made for me. I remember being a pink ballerina and an American colonial woman best of all.

2. Do you and/or your family “celebrate” Halloween? Why or why not? And if you do, has it changed from what you used to do?
We celebrated more when we had younger children who dressed up. Now we don’t do much except hand out candy to kids who come to our front door.

I like to send friends and family Halloween cards!

3. Candy apples: Do you prefer red cinnamon or caramel covered? Or something else?

Caramel covered apples.

4. Pumpkins: Do you make Jack O’ Lanterns? Any ideas of what else to do with them?
We usually make jack-o-lanterns, but haven’t done that yet this year. My daughter and her partner made one: Almost Halloween

5. Do you decorate your home for fall or Halloween? If so, what do you do? Bonus points for pictures.

No.

6. Do you like pretending to be something different? Does a costume bring our an alternate personality?

I’m pretty boring and stay the same.

Bonus: Share your favorite recipe for an autumn food, particularly apple or pumpkin ones.

I just made apple muffins for MJ a few days ago, when the cold front got here. They’re not fancy, but are good.

Apple Cider Muffins

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray muffin pan with non-stick spray or use paper liners. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine:

1 ¾ cups flour (or 1 c. flour and ¾ cup whole wheat flour)

1 ½ tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

1 ½ tsp. cinnamon

¼ tsp. ground cloves

¼ tsp. ground allspice

1 medium apple, peeled, cored, and finely chopped

(optional ½ cup raisins)

In a large bowl, beat 1 egg lightly

Stir in:

¼ cup oil

¾ cup unsweetened apple cider

¾ cup firmly packed brown sugar

Blend well.

Add flour mixture and gently fold together until dry ingredients are moistened.

Fill 12 muffin cups. Bake 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Celebration!

I am celebrating this day with friends and family, near and far. (Thank you!) The sun is shining and it's beautiful and in the 70s F. in south Texas. Two friends took me out to lunch, and MT gave me a new book I Heard God Laughing: Renderings of Hafiz by Daniel Ladinsky. Here is a poem from there:

A Golden Compass

Forget every idea of right and wrong
Any classroom ever taught you

Because
An empty heart, a tormented mind,
Unkindness, jealousy and fear

Are always the testimony
You have been completely fooled!

Turn your back on those
Who would imprison your wondrous spirit
With deceit and lies.

Come, join the honest company
Of the King's beggars--
Those gamblers, scoundrels and divine clowns
And those astonishing fair courtesans
Who need Divine Love every night.

Come, join the courageous
Who have no choice
But to bet their entire world
That indeed,
Indeed, God is Real.

I will lead you into the Circle
Of the Beloved's cunning thieves,
Those playful royal rogues--
The ones you can trust for true guidance--
Who can aid you
In this Blessed Calamity of life.

Why Those Who Love America Are Feeling Brokenhearted

by Andrew Greeley

I am ashamed for America. Note carefully that I do not say I am ashamed of America. Despite all its inherent flaws and all its tragic mistakes, the United States stands, however incompletely and with whatever imperfections, for the highest standards of freedom and democracy that the world has yet known.

I am ashamed for America because all the evil done in the nation’s name in recent years is turning off the light on the mountaintop.

1. The president urges Congress in effect to accept the Turkish protest against the attribution of Armenian genocide because it might interfere with Turkish logistic cooperation in the ill-starred and foolish Iraq war. That’s like silencing all congressional action on the Holocaust because we need Germany on our side. If Turks expect to become part of Europe and the West, they must acknowledge what their ancestors did. They could pass a resolution of their own accusing us of genocide against Native Americans if it would make them happy. How humiliating that the president wants us to ignore what happened to the Armenians so we can be victorious in the “global war on terror” (the current replacement for “weapons of mass destruction”). That’s called appeasement, and it was appeasement when President Bill Clinton did the same thing.

2. The government kidnaps, tortures and murders the way the Gestapo did in Nazi Germany. The president blithely dismisses these charges. The United States, he says, does not torture. But that deception is based on a memo from Attorney General Alberto Gonzales defining torture, which the White House won’t let anyone else look at.

3. The government pays large salaries to 148,000 “individual contractors” in Iraq — more than the total American military there. A third of these are toting guns. They are mercenaries — often, it would seem, with very quick trigger fingers. Ironically, the most recent victims were two Armenian Christian women. These contractors are a kind of American Foreign Legion, like the notorious French and Spanish foreign legions. They may well be very brave people who do very tough jobs. They also compensate for Mr. Rumsfeld’s criminal underestimate of the number of troops required. If, however, the country is going to have a Legion Etranger, it should make sure that it works under tight control. An unrestrained security force quickly becomes a mafia. Humphrey Bogart, where are you when we really need you?

4. At a remarkably frank meeting of middle-range officers (majors and colonels) at Fort Leavenworth, the soldiers debated not whether there should have been a war in Iraq, but who was to blame for losing it. Was it the senior officers or the joint chiefs or the civilian leaders? The war is not even over yet, and already the officers who fought it and will have to fight its continuation have already given up hope. Too bad for them, because the president has made up his mind that we are still going to win the war and the Democratic presidential candidates speak about a 10-year presence in Iraq. Whatever the political leadership is or will be in 2009, no candidate seems capable of saying, “We’re getting out now!” And the rest of the world laughs at us because both parties are led by fools.

Anyone who cares about the United States and its legacies has to be brokenhearted at what has been done to our beloved country by the crazy people who are running it — people who have become so skilled at deception they don’t even realize anymore that they are deceiving. Just like the Democrats don’t realize they are again stealing defeat out of the jaws of victory.

Andrew Greeley is a priest in good standing of the Archdiocese of Chicago. for 52 years, a columnist for 40 years, a sociologist for 45 years, a novelist for 28 years, distinguished lecturer at the University of Arizona for 28 , research associate at National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago for 46 years.

Published on Wednesday, October 24, 2007 by the Chicago Sun-Times

Oct. 25, 2001

The last birthday I had before my dad died in 2002, he sent me an email telling me about my birth. I treasure it and was afraid I would not find it in old folders, but did. I saw a man driving a truck while smoking a pipe today and thought of my father. He smoked a pipe until he had growths in his mouth when I was newly married and stopped. I guess I'm remembering my parents as I face another birthday. (My mother died in 1992) I still miss them at times, odd moments like this. Maybe I miss them more because I have no siblings, but I do have my dear CB and four wonderful children.
Here's my dad's email from his webtv:

Hope this is one of your best ones and you have many more.
I can remember October 25, l950, very clearly and will tell you again a little about it. Your mother and I were living on Ohio Street in Bremerton, Wa., while I was an out patient at the USNH recuperating from a wound I recd in Korea. It was approx thiis time of day when there was a ripping sound from your mother's stomach. She then said I had better take her to the USNH. We arrived at the hospital and could not find a parking place. So your mother said she would go in and see the Doctor and be right out so I could double park. After waiting a few minutes in the car,a Navy Corpsman ran out to me and said your wife is having a baby. What a suprise because you were not due for a month or so. Your were born premature a few minutes later and had to remain in the hospital where we visited you daily for several weeks. When they let us bring you home they gave us boxes of food etc for you but did not tell us until we found out later that the nurses were playing with you all night and you would be sleeping all day thus you would be doing the same after we got you home.
At any rate it was one of the most wonderful things that could happened to your mother and I. I know she would be just as proud of you as I am. Just wish she could be with us today.

~~~~~~~~~~This was the only time I ever remember my dad telling me about my birth. I'm very glad he did before he died.

How could depression lead to a richer spiritual life?

I can answer this question only after the fact, because in the midst of severe clinical depression I have never felt anything redeeming about it, spiritually or otherwise. But when I emerge back into life, several things become clear. One is that the darkness did not kill me, which makes all
darknesses more bearable—and since darkness is an inevitable part of the cycle of spiritual life (as it is in the cycle of natural life) this is valuable knowledge. Two, depression has taught me that there is something in me far deeper and stronger and truer than my ego, my emotions, my intellect, or my will. All of these faculties have failed me in depression, and if they were all I had, I do not believe I would still be here to talk about the experience. Deeper down there is a soul, or true self, or "that of God in every person" that helps explain (for me, at least) where the real power of life resides. Three, the experience of emerging from a living hell makes the rest of one's life more precious, no matter how "ordinary" it may be. To know that life is a gift, and to be grateful for that gift, are keys to a spiritual life, keys that one is handed as depression yields to new life.

--Parker Palmer, Ph.D.

Possible Advent Reflection

I haven't even seen this in its physical form yet, but I am thinking of ordering copies, sight unseen. The Advent of the God of Peace can be found at the Pax Christi site. I learned about it from Fr. John Dear's latest post at NCRcafe.org for his "On the Road to Peace" column, which is entitled "Women, Peacemaking and the Church."

Fr. John writes in that article:

"I hope and pray that women will not give up, not give in, and not walk away, that they will celebrate their calling to follow the peacemaking Christ, and that they will keep on working for justice and peace. Few men are interested in creative nonviolence; most of us men cling to old patterns of control, domination, and violent power, the methods that have brought us racism, war on Iraq, executions, violence against women and children and nuclear weapons. I hope peacemaking women will wear us men down with their creative, Gospel nonviolence so that one day soon we will together abolish war, poverty, racism, patriarchy, nuclear weapons and violence for good."

And then he lists several new books by women about non-violence.

Soup

Even though we have leftover spaghetti from last night, I decided to make a pot of soup today, with the cool wind blowing in through the windows. From the good old La Leche League cookbook Whole Foods for the Whole Family, I made hamburger soup, with lots and lots of vegetables. It's simmering on the stove right now.

I love making soup. I remember when we lived in RI and NJ, the kids got tired of having soup so often for dinner. One of the last times my mother ever visited me (in RI), she and I took a cooking class in a kitchen store in little, charming Wickford and learned to make a peanut butter squash soup. The reaction of my children about that was not complimentary; they still talk about that "awful" soup I made back when DC was in 7th grade, AE was in 4th, and BJ was in 1st. (MJ was only 2 and doesn't remember it at all.) It's become a funny story in our family.

Cold Front!!

A cold front is blowing through south Texas! For the first time in a very long time, we have our windows open! Yay! It is in the 60s F. outside. Finally, autumn has arrived.

Plumpy'nut and Malnutrition in Africa

Ever since I was in Zambia in June 2006, my heart has been aching for the starving and suffering children I saw there. Tonight I watched "60 Minutes" on CBS and found a news story about Doctors Without Borders feeding malnourished children plumpy'nut, which is either called "ready-to-use food" (RUF) or "ready to use therapeutic food" (RUTF). More scientific or "official" news articles use these acronyms for "plumpy'nut."

There is a news release from October 10, 2007 from Doctors Without Borders (MSF for its French initials) that cites the news program on CBS and gives much information about the use and effectiveness of plumpy'nut in Africa for malnutrition that is definitely worth your time and attention to look at.

"Project Peanut Butter was launched as a new approach to the treatment of malnutrition among Malawian children. The project has since been proven as an effective method with success rates reaching average recovery rates of 89.9% and even higher among some regions. The treatment centers on a peanut based paste rich in protein and fats with a complete complement of vitamins and minerals. This Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) can be manufactured locally with importation of only the additional vitamins and minerals. The paste is resistant to bacterial contamination under all climatic conditions due to its low water content and does not require cooking. This is a tremendous advantage because it removes the burden of having to collect firewood and provides an easy way to produce nutritious food. "

Again from Doctors Without Borders:

"Severe acute malnutrition in early childhood is common in large areas of the Horn of Africa, the Sahel, and South Asia -- the world's "malnutrition hotspots." The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that there are 20 million young children suffering from severe acute malnutrition at any given moment and MSF estimates that only three percent of them will receive RUF in 2007.

"Therapeutic RUF for only severely malnourished children, as current WHO, World Food Program, and UNICEF guidelines recommend, is too restrictive. Given its nutritional benefits, RUF has the potential to address malnutrition at earlier stages and is far more effective than fortified blended flour, which is normally distributed. MSF is piloting a program using a modified RUF as a supplement to prevent children from becoming acutely malnourished.

"Instead of waiting for kids to get gravely ill we decided to act earlier," said Dr. Susan Shepherd, MSF medical coordinator, Maradi, Niger. "We are piloting a program that gives RUF to all children under three in at-risk communities so that they get the nutrients that are missing in their normal diet."

This is hopeful, but something we all need to be supporting. So far away, I can continue to pray. But we can also participate in activities to alieve hunger like the CROP Walk and making donations to the organizations listed above and others that you research yourselves.

Remember:
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that there are 20 million young children suffering from severe acute malnutrition at any given moment and MSF estimates that only three percent of them will receive RUF in 2007.

Unexpected Grace

Symbol of Divine Grace: Falcon in the eye of Udiet

Above is a picture of the Symbol of Divine Grace: Falcon in the eye of Udiet from "Cruising on the Nile from Aswan to Luxor."


Since presenting my spiritual autobiography at EFM last week, I have been newly aware of a grace in my life. Although I have written various spiritual autobiographies in my life (even at this blog under "Faith Story"), I was surprised at the insight I gained from this simple exercise.To do this differently, I thought I would look at unexpected guideposts to God.

One of the people I chose to consider was my paternal grandmother, Brunie. In the early part of the 20th century she was orphaned and forced to lived with her married sister in poor, rural Arkansas. To get away from that rigorous life, she married John K. when she was only 14. Soon after she had my dad, her only child. She had a difficult, impoverished life in a very tiny Arkansas town with its Baptist church. Her husband beat her until my dad was big enough to tell him to stop. I can see how hard her life was now, but as I grew up and periodically saw her every few years, I remember her as a bitter, complaining woman.

My father wrote to her every week on a typewriter. He was a good son, but one who was always angry when he was with her. They were better apart. In retrospect, I can understand that, too, as she ran around in that little town, while his dad drunk. How hard it was for him to grow up there.

My grandmother is an example of the adage my mother told me: Until you're in your 40s, you have the face you inherited. After that, you have the face you made. My grandmother had a pursed up mouth and looked unhappy much of the time, even though she lived comfortably in her old age (after my parents bought her a little house). She complained until she died. She "made" her face through self-pity and critical judging.

That unsavory picture of my grandmother was what I had stored in my memory, pushed to the back to be hidden from view. But looking at her again, I remember all the beautiful and elaborate cards she would send me, especially for Valentine's Day. They always came, and I loved getting mail. And even now, I am known for sending cards and notes (formerly letters) to people. I like to do that, and that's a gift from my grandmother--a gift of love.

That sounds like very little, but it's a part of me that I enjoy, and it is nice to appreciate my grandmother in some way. But I am feeling like I am grateful for her in a larger way, because I am feeling unforeseen love for her. It is a healing love that is reaching into the past to connect us.

What is surprising about all this is that I have not been seeking for healing or praying for such inner work. The grace of healing is just HERE. This is a perfect example to me of God's grace-- totally unearned. Divine Grace was working within me, without me knowing it, healing me in unknown ways. This is God, who is working in each one of us, loving us into the people he wants us to be.

I cannot take credit at all for this healing in a little part of my life; all I can do is thank God. This brings a new awareness of the Divine indwelling and as Julian of Norwich wrote, "Sin is necessary, but
all will be well, and all will be well, and every kind of thing will be well."

Gay Dumbledore

Harry Potter author JK Rowling has revealed a big secret about Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore's past - he was in love with another wizard.

During her American book tour JK was asked if Dumbledore found true love.

"Dumbledore is gay," she replied, before adding that he'd fallen in love with his rival Gellert Grindelwald.

But she said Dumbledore was "terribly let down" when Grindelwald became more interested in the dark arts than good, and so he went on to destroy him.

Fans at New York's Carnegie Hall were initially stunned into silence by the announcement, but soon started clapping and cheering.

JK said: "I would have told you earlier if I knew it would make you so happy."

The news should help to clear up lots of rumours about Dumbledore's mysterious past once and for all.

October 20, 2007

CBBC Newsround

And for Hillel Italie's AP article on "J. K. Rowling Outs Hogwarts Character" go here.

The American Inquisition?

This week's post by Joan Chittister at her column From Where I Stand at the National Catholic Reporter website is entitled "The American Inquisition?" She writes about the torture that has been conducted in the name of "national security," which President Bush called "enhanced questioning."

"The government says it's about "keeping the American people safe." But from what? From decency, from humanity, from morality, from law? Because by now, the stories of official U.S. atrocities are pouring out from all over the world. Just surf over to this page, skim the headlines. Surely that ought to be enough to tell us that we are up to our necks in tactics too close to sadism to overlook. Tactics that break the minds of innocents and decay the soul of those who call themselves victors."

This fear of safety goes along with John Cory's writing in the post below this: America, Land of Fear?

Chittister compares the way the U.S. has used torture with the way the Church used it during the Inquistion, citing the inquisition and heresy trial of the Knights Templar in 1307 and the maneuverings of PopeClement V and King Philip VI of France. There is an October 13, 2007 newspaper article about this: Vatican to tell true knights' tale.

The article is concluded with:

"But therein lies the lesson: Material gained under torture is simply not credible, a conclusion reached by Eyemeric, the Grand Inquisitor of Aragon himself in 1357, who said, information gained under torture "is deceptive and ineffectual." Which means that the torturer isn't credible either. Or, to put it another way, how can we ever hope to stop the school shootings and gang warfare we abhor while we're doing it ourselves? How do we tell our children that their violence is bad but our violence is good?

"From where I stand, torture is too unreliable an item to build the morality, the credibility, the integrity of a church -- or a nation -- on it. After all, we can't have it both ways. Either the Inquisition was good -- or it wasn't."

I always like the way Joan Chittister expresses herself. Go to her original article and read it!

America, Land of Fear?

By John Cory t r u t h o u t | Perspective Wednesday 17 October 2007 "We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven into an age of unreason if we dig deep into our history and remember we are not descended from fearful men." - Edward R. Murrow They have presented us with their sinister box gift-wrapped in a thobe and ghutra tied in a bow with a chapan and pakol. And when the package loses its luster, they light the ribbon-fuse and toss the sparkling box into the air for all to see and remember and shudder. Such a lovely parcel, this box of fear; carefully packaged and marketed with shiny toys of death inside and extra coupons on the back to order more. Don't be the only kid on the block without one. When did America change from "the land of the free" to the land of fear? When did we become a nation afraid of tubes of toothpaste and shampoo and water bottles? Who taught us to fear brown people in all their shades? What is it that makes us fear and despise oral sex more than torture? How is it that a nation founded on revolution and free speech now cowers in "free speech zones" and trembles at every utterance of its citizens? How in the heck did we come to dread the truth from 12-year-old children? We were a nation inspired by thought and words. Patrick Henry, "Give me liberty or give me death." Dr. King, "I have a dream." The hymns of the heart like, "We Shall Overcome." Suddenly we say "Give me less liberty so I don't worry about death." Standing on the mountaintop, we exclaim, "I have no dream." Overwhelmed by paranoia and despair, we lament, "We cannot overcome." In the film, "Seven Days in May," a revolution is underway to overthrow the president of the United States. Behind it are members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, led by Gen. James Mattoon Scott. When fingers are pointed and the presidential adviser says it is time to face the enemy, President Jordan Lyman responds, "He's not the enemy. Scott, the Joint Chiefs, even the emotional, very illogical lunatic fringe: They're not the enemy. The enemy's an age - a nuclear age. It happens to have killed man's faith in his ability to influence what happens to him. And out of this comes a sickness, and out of sickness a frustration, a feeling of impotence, helplessness, weakness. And from this, this desperation, we look for a champion in red, white, and blue. Every now and then a man on a white horse rides by, and we appoint him to be our personal god for the duration. For some men it was a Senator McCarthy, for others it was a General Walker, and now it's a General Scott." There have always been those who capitalize on our fears for their own power-starved greed; who gave us Manzanar, and "restricted" clubs and hotels, the Red-baiting scare and blacklists; those willing to violate the sanctity of freedom by spying on their own citizens while loudly proclaiming the need for "the right kind" of thought and expression to save the cherished American dream - who count lapel pins as patriotism. How long ago did we lose the ability to meet and greet our friends and loved ones at the arrival gate in the airport? Do you remember? And no, it was long before 9/11. And that, my friend, is the seditious subtlety of the politics of fear. It is never sudden, but creeps slowly into the mainstream. Small steps and small fears that acclimate us to the need for protection - from what or whom doesn't matter. It is enough to be afraid and sit quietly in the dark and wait for "them" to identify the danger and offer their warped protection. America has always been more myth than reality, but it was that magical mix of fiction and fact that made the dream of America larger than life. We were a cross between Paul Bunyan and Paul Revere, and that was our charm. Tall tales and brash "can-do" Americanism lifted us on the swells of rising dreams all around the world. The greatness of America was never its armies or corporate empires - it was its citizens, the everyday John Doe on the street. It was and should always be "we the people." Immigrants came to America to be part of "we the people." They came to work, no matter how menial; it was all just a stepping-stone to the new frontier of being American. They believed in the myth and the magic despite the posted signs, "Irish need not apply" or drinking fountains labeled "Whites Only." America was Little Italy, Chinatown, Harlem and Little Saigon. Now we have become a nation besieged by desperation. Politicians running for office sneer at us, holding themselves up as "leaders" rather than "representatives" of we the people. Demographics and demagoguery pass for political discussion, and the rubber stamp echoes through the halls of Congress. One party clutches frantically to power, while the other is smug in the knowledge that we the people want change so badly we'll probably vote for anyone but the current regime. They do not fight or stand, but choose to nod weakly while democracy passes by. In the play "Inherit the Wind," an allegory for the McCarthy Era, Henry Drummond speaks about wicked laws and fanaticism: "I say that you cannot administer a wicked law impartially. You can only destroy, you can only punish. And I warn you, that a wicked law, like cholera, destroys every one it touches. Its upholders as well as its defiers. Can't you understand?.... And soon you may ban books and newspapers. And then you may turn Catholic against Protestant, and Protestant against Protestant. If you can do one, you can do the other. Because fanaticism and ignorance is forever busy, and needs feeding." I disagree with President Lyman above - it is not a nuclear age or terrorism, but rather the men and women of the age who determine whether the disease of dictatorship and fascism continues to infect or is killed in the sunlight of pure democracy. America deserves better. We the people deserve better. This will be my America and my vote: (Are you listening, Democrats?) An end to the war in Iraq and an end to its funding. An end to the lies that kill. A Sunday morning bathed in autumn sunlight, presidential candidates and members of Congress standing on the tarmac at Dover AFB, ready and willing to serve as pallbearers for the caskets that cradle our American pride and joy now stilled by this senseless war. A mosque in Detroit surrounded by Christian and Muslim Americans embracing their love of GOD and rejecting the fear of GOP. A border town bulldozing chain-link fences and reciting Robert Frost. A multinational corporation showing up at a veterans' hospital with building materials and employment counselors and funding for those for whom duty and honor are not political marketing slogans. A child, born in the security of never going without health care, and parents never having to choose to which of their children they can afford to give medical treatment or where they will all live after selling off house and home to pay hospital bills. Impossible, you say? Impractical and unreal? My friend, this is America. We have danced on the moon and scuffed the dust of Mars. We once put pen to paper and ignited a revolution heard round the world. We are not descended from fearful men. John Cory is a Vietnam veteran. He received the Purple Heart and Bronze Star with V device, 1969 - 1970.

Friday Five: Homage to Top Chef

RevHRod brought forth this week's Friday Five for RevGalsBlogPals:

This Fall my family has been energetically watching Top Chef on the Bravo channel. My teenage daughter watches with the dream of some day being a chef. My husband watches because he loves reality shows and I mean, really loves them. Plus the whole competition thing really works for him. Me, I love cooking and good food. Every so often I get an idea from this group of talented young chefs who are competing for big money and honors galore.

The winner for this season was Hung. Not the fan favorite, but he won fair and square. In his bio, he says if he were a food "I would be spicy chili - it takes a while to get used to, but once you eat it you always come back for more!" With that in mind, here is this week’s Friday Five.

1. If you were a food, what would you be?

Kiwi fruit—looking somewhat boring from the outside, but surprisingly interesting inside.

2. What is one of the most memorable meals you ever had? And where?

When my new husband CB went on our honeymoon to San Francisco, we went to a fancy restaurant before seeing “The Nutcracker Suite.” We were (only) 21. I don’t remember the meal so much as the elegant place and having Baked Alaska for dessert. I’d always heard about that from my mother and had wanted it. It looked much more gratifying than it tasted.

3. What is your favorite comfort food from childhood?

Baking and eating Christmas cookies. I remember fondly those cut-out cookies that we iced. My mother was so patient! It always intrigued me when all were iced that when you put all the remaining colors of icing together, a grayish-purple frosting would be created.

4. When going to a church potluck, what one recipe from your kitchen is sure to be a hit?

Sorta-lasagne from the La Leche League cookbook, Whole Foods for the Whole Family.

5. What’s the strangest thing you ever willingly ate?

I probably had some strange things when we lived in Japan when I was in junior high, but I don’t remember. The only thing I can think of is “rape” (a greenish root leafy mush), which was always accompanied by nshima when I was in Zambia in June 2006. Nshima is made from ground maize (cornmeal) flour that is known locally as mielie-meal.

Nshima (top right corner) with three relishes

Bonus question: What’s your favorite drink to order when looking forward to a great meal?
Boring though it is, water.

From Ellie at Meditation Matters:

It's not them, it's you.
It's not there, it's here.
It's not then, it's now.

~ Author Unknown ~

Poem

Waking

Get up from your bed,
go out from your house,
follow the path you know so well,
so well that you now see nothing
and hear nothing
unless something can cry loudly to you,
and for you it seems
even then
no cry is louder than yours
and in your own darkness
cries have gone unheard
as long as you can remember.

These are hard paths we tread
but they are green
and lined with leaf mould
and we must love their contours
as we love the body branching
with its veins and tunnels of dark earth.

I know that sometimes
your body is hard like a stone
on a path that storms break over,
embedded deeply
into that something that you think is you,
and you will not move
while the voice all around
tears the air
and fills the sky with jagged light.

But sometimes unawares
those sounds seem to descend
as if kneeling down into you
and you listen strangely caught
as the terrible voice moving closer
halts,
and in the silence
now arriving
whispers

Get up, I depend
on you utterly.
Everything you need
you had
the moment before
you were born.

~ David Whyte ~

(Where Many Rivers Meet)

Dorothy Day on the defeatist attitude

As mentioned in the Kinky Boots! post, it is sometimes easy to fall into a defeatist attitude. Dorothy Day from readings out of The Class of Nonviolence writes about futility in the essay entitled The Scandal of the Works of Mercy:

"One of the greatest evils of the day is the sense of futility. Young people say, 'What can one person do? What is the sense of our small effort?" They cannot see that we can only lay one brick at a time, take one step at a time; we can be responsible only for the one action of the present moment. But we can beg for an increase of love in our hearts that will vitalize and transform these actions, and know that God will take them and multiply them, as Jesus multiplied the loaves and fishes."

I once had a friend who loved to point out moments of "synchronicity," which always irritated me. However, finding this quote of Dorothy Day's right after I wrote about an aspect of futility that was overcome in "Kinky Boots" seems to fit that Jungian word. My friend Judy D. must be chuckling at me off in the Divine Beyond.

Kinky Boots!

Husband CB and I watched this movie this past weekend. It sat around our house for several weeks, because the title "Kinky Boots" did not sound inviting to him. Watch the preview!

It is a wonderfully funny and heartwarming movie! And it gives a terrific message to the defeatist question, "What can I do?" Sometimes I have felt that way, and I'll have to remember, at such times, that uppity girl telling Charlie that it's pointless to ask a question like that, instead to find his place ("niche market"). Hearts are opened in the oddest and seemingly minor characters in the movie.

Since it was made in 2005 in Britain, probably you in Great Britain have already seen it or heard of it. But CB and I never had, but thanks to Netflix's quirky recommendations on past rentals, we got it. We're both glad.

At least, watch the watch the preview!

Personality Test

I saw this over at Wyld's Q & A, though he ended up with prettier colors than I did.
It's at Your Personal DNA.

Pieces of the Puzzle

"There must have been a time when you entered a room and met someone and after awhile you understood that unknown to either of you there was a reason you had met. You had changed the other and he had changed you. By some word or deed or just by your presence the errand had been completed. Then perhaps you were a little bewildered or humbled and grateful. And it was over."

Each lifetime is the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.
For some there are more pieces.
For others the puzzle is more difficult to assemble.

Some seem to be born with a nearly completed puzzle.
And so it goes.
Souls going this way and that.
Trying to assemble the myriad parts.

But know this. No one has within themselves
All the pieces to their puzzle.
Like before the days when they used to seal
Jigsaw puzzles in cellophane. Insuring that
All the pieces were there.

Everyone carries with them at least one and probably
Many pieces to someone else's puzzle.
Sometimes they know it.
Sometimes they don't.

And when you present your piece
Which is worthless to you,
To another, whether you know it or not,
Whether they know it or not,
You are a messenger from the Most High.

~Lawrence Kushner
Honey from the Rock: An Introduction to Jewish Mysticism

What Kind of Reader Are You? Your Result: Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm You're probably in the final stages of a Ph.D. or otherwise finding a way to make your living out of reading. You are one of the literati. Other people's grammatical mistakes make you insane.
Dedicated Reader
Book Snob
Literate Good Citizen
Fad Reader
Non-Reader
What Kind of Reader Are You? Create Your Own Quiz

Thanks to Mike at The Mercy Blog.

I was mostly Dedicated Reader, with some Book Snob and Literate Good Citizen thrown in. Reading the Harry Potter books got me into a smidgen of Fad Reader.

From Fran in her post

Blog Action Day - Plastic Water Bottles & The Environment


Fran really hit me with all her info and passion about this subject. Although I am almost fanatical about recycling, I see that re-using a water bottle (NOT a plastic one though!) would be more beneficial. Thanks to Fran's link to My Sigg water bottles, I've actually acted and ordered one for me. I am even thinking this would be a good Christmas present for each member of my family--if they'd choose their own design! I couldn't resist getting one for myself that has leaves on it, which was the same price as a plain one.

A Zulu John Wesley?

From the Gratefulness post right below, there is this quote by a Zulu child:

Do all you can with what you have, in the time you have, in the place you are.
– Nkosi Johnson, twelve-year-old Zulu boy

Doesn't that remind you of the beloved saying of John Wesley?

Do all the good you can.
By all the means you can.
In all the ways you can.
At all the times you can.
To all the people you can.
As long as ever you can.

How Universal is Gratefulness?

Give thanks for a little and you will find a lot.
– Hausa proverb from Nigeria

The happy heart gives away the best. To know how to receive is also a most important gift, which cultivates generosity in others and keeps strong the cycle of life.
– Venerable Dhyani Ywahoo, speaker, author, musician and spiritual leader in the Eastern Tsalagi (Cherokee) tradition

Whenever feeling downcast, each person should vitally remember, "For my sake, the entire world was created."
– Rabbi Yisroel ben Eliezer, Baal Shem Tov,
founder of Hasidic Judaism

Under affliction in the very depths, stop and contemplate what you have to be grateful for.
– Mary Baker Eddy, founder of Christian Science

A thankful person is thankful under all circumstances. A complaining soul complains even in paradise.
– Baha'u'llah, founder of the Baha'i Faith

There's a self-expansive aspect of gratitude. Very possibly it's a little known law of nature: the more gratitude you have, the more you have to be grateful for.
– Elaine St. James, author, leader of the simplicity movement

Do all you can with what you have, in the time you have, in the place you are.
– Nkosi Johnson, twelve-year-old Zulu boy, living with AIDS

Spring passes and one remembers one's innocence. Summer passes and one remembers one's exuberance. Autumn passes and one remembers one's reverence. Winter passes and one remembers one's perseverance.
– Yoko Ono, Japanese-American artist and musician

Nothing is more honorable than a grateful heart.
– Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Roman stoic

As life becomes harder and more threatening, it also
becomes richer, because the fewer expectations we have,
the more good things of life become unexpected gifts
that we accept with gratitude.
– Etty Hillesum, Dutch Jewish writer known for her diaries and correspondence from Westerbork concentration camp

Grateful living: an alchemic operation
of converting "disgraceful" things into grateful events.
– Raimundo Panikkar, Roman Catholic priest from Spain specializing in comparative philosophy of religion

Give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.
– Native American prayer

Gratitude for the gift of life is the primary wellspring of all religions, the hallmark of the mystic, the source of all true art....It is a privilege to be alive in this time when we can choose to take part in the self-healing of our world.
– Joanna Macy, eco-philosopher and scholar of Buddhism

Gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.
– G.K. Chesterton, writer and Christian apologist

I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable...but through it all I still know quite certainly
that just to be alive is a grand thing.
– Agatha Christi, crime-fiction writer

Gratitude is the most exquisite form of courtesy.
– Jacques Maritain, French philosopher and political thinker

Thankfulness brings you to the place where the Beloved lives.
– Jalaluddin Rumi, Persian Sufi poet, from Camille and Kabir Helminski's Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance

Gratitude is so close to the bone of life, pure and true, that it instantly stops the rational mind, and all its planning and plotting. That kind of let go is fiercely threatening. I mean, where might such gratitude end?
– Regina Sara Ryan, former Roman Catholic nun now aligned with the Bauls of Bengal, India

How Universal is Gratefulness? found at Gratefulness.org.

Amazon.com

Everyone who knows me knows that I am a very regular buyer at Amazon.com. With the few books in the libraries around here, I had to order books to get all the theology books I've been directed to by bibliographies, footnotes, and lecturers. My husband CB likes to tease me that the brown truck has to stop in front of our house every weekday (not true). Anyway, that's why I found this cartoon so funny:

Thank you to Miss Cellania.

Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip - Letter from God

This is from Magdalene's Musings. Thank you!

I love trees.

Tea

19th century cartoon linking tea and health
when plumpness was considered healthy

I never learned to drink coffee, though I like it if it is half cream with sugar! But why waste the calories? I like hot tea, but not in hot Texas. People here drink iced tea, but I don't too often. If it was cooler in the mornings, I would drink tea. I drank more tea when I lived up north. I also drank it when visiting in Korea and Zambia! I remember going to Murchie's in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada with my mother and buying tea--loose tea called Earl Grey and English Breakfast and Darjeeling. My local supermarket (the HEB monopoly in Corpus Christi) stopped stocking Twinings tea, so I ordered it from Amazon! Maybe I should learn to drink green tea? It's supposed to be healthier.

Friday Five: B-I-B-L-E

Mother Laura at RevGalsBlogPals wrote:

I have been working on an expansive language version of the Psalms and the Liturgy of the Hours/Divine Office/Breviary. (For you non-liturgical gals and pals, that's a set of prayers for morning, noon, evening, etc., mostly consisting of Psalms and other biblical texts).

So I have been thinking a lot about the Bible recently, and how we encounter it as God's Word--or don't--in our lives, prayer, and ministry. (Great minds think somewhat alike this week, as yesterday's Ask The Matriarch post dealt with ways to help as many people in a community as possible engage with a scriptural text in preparation for Sunday worship).

So, in that spirit, I offer my first Friday Five. I'm looking forward to hearing everyone's experience and reflection on these B-I-B-L-E questions:

1. What is your earliest memory of encountering a biblical text?

My first introduction to the Bible was at the Camp Pendleton, CA base chapel Sunday School. The teacher in third grade did Bible drills, so I had to have a Bible! I don’t remember seeing a Bible or hearing anything from the Bible before this. My mother or my father would drop me off for Sunday School and then come back when it was over to get me, neither of them ever attending church.

2. What is your favorite biblical translation, and why? (You might have a few for different purposes).
My favorite translation always ends up being NRSV, probably because of the classes I took in seminary. Still, I love reading my parallel Bible with both NIV and The Message. That’s more for myself. However, every week in the lectio divina group I facilitate, I choose scriptures from the coming Sunday’s lectionary in the NRSV translation.

3. What is your favorite book of the Bible? Your favorite verse/passage?
My favorite book is Mark. I like its honesty, simplicity, and early composition. Seeing the disciples in a more authentic light always helps me.

In Mark, I especially like the story of the Gentile Syrophoenician woman’s faith (Mark 24-30) and how Jesus starts out by rejecting her, and she argues that “even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” He relents and heals her daughter from the demon possession. I like Jesus’ full humanity and identification with his Jewish life and that he changed his mind!

4. Which book of the Bible do you consider, in Luther's famous words about James, to be "an epistle of straw?" Which verse(s) make you want to scream?
Luther didn’t want to include Revelation, and I feel that way when people use it to predict Apocalypse, interpreting each disaster as something fulfilling Revelation. Those Left Behind books drive me crazy, with their popularity, fundamental interpretation of Revelation, and poor writing.

5. Inclusive language in biblical translation and liturgical proclamation: for, against, or neutral?
I’m pretty neutral.

Bonus: Back to the Psalms--which one best speaks the prayer of your heart?

I love Psalm 131 with the image of the weaned child held by his/her mother. Maybe that’s because I nursed all my children and can relate to holding that weaned child. I still remember when I was newly brought back to Christianity at the Methodist Church, a minister talked about an SMU professor telling her to read this every day to promote one’s humility. I find it comforting.

O Lord, my heart is not lifted up,

my eyes are not raised too high;

I do not occupy myself with things

too great and too marvelous for me.

But I have calmed and quieted my soul,

like a weaned child with its mother;

my soul is like the weaned child that is with me.