Play Every Day for Rice!!

As I worried about world hunger today in my post The No Food Diet, I have learned how the "FreeRice internet game emerges as a web phenomenon." This is sponsored by the World Food Programme. You can see a place to click on the game on my sidebar underneath my Profile, where you can see that 7,200 grains of rice equal a cup. When I play the game, each correctly chosen word earns 20 grains of rice. It is an addicting game, and I usually earn 1/3 cup of rice each time I play.

The article says:

Rome, 7 March 2008 - The award-winning Internet word game has revealed a surprising staying power as a web phenomenon and six months after its birth has now generated 21 billion grains of rice for the world's hungry.

"I never imagined that things would move this fast or that it would be such a success," said FreeRice creator John Breen, who says between 300,000 and 500,000 people are currently playing the game every day.

Read the rest of the article here.

And here is a video about the FreeRice Internet game:

Books

I prefer Thomas Jefferson's words to John Adams in an 1815 letter:

"I cannot live without books."

The No Food Diet

I need to lose weight. I struggle to lose weight as I live in overabundant USA. There is always a food crisis in the world, which is getting worse as prices rapidly rise. Last week the head of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) called for urgent action to tackle the “silent tsunami” of rising food prices which threatens to push more than 100 million people worldwide into hunger. The UN article is here.

Also Quaker Dave posted about The New Economics of Hunger.

How Texan?

I've lived in Texas longer than anywhere else in my life (about 24 years total), so I thought I'd see if I've grown "Texan":

You Are 24% Texas

You're as welcome in Texas as a skunk at a lawn party.

How Texas Are You?

Presbyterian Gal scored 48%, and she doesn't even live in Texas! (Could there be some similarities to TX and CA? I wish TX could be more liberal.) About my 24%, all I can think is that each year another percent was added onto my Texan profile!

The Small Bible

This was written by a Presbyterian minister after the last Presidential election; the issues for this election seem much the same to me.

by Rick Brand

12-01-04

I have got to get me one of those new small Bibles. I haven’t seen one yet, but I know they must be out there. From what I hear, lots and lots of people have them. It certainly sounds like these new small Bibles make life a whole lot simpler. They are smaller and they cover less material.

These small Bibles must be what so many of the Christian fundamentalists have been reading and studying.

The reports from all the exit polls after the election last Nov. 2 indicate that the No. 1 issue mentioned by voters was morality. Of course, lots of things were mentioned in those polls, but the item that got mentioned the most was moral issues, which is exciting. People care about the quality and the morality of society. The polling data went on to claim that “moral issues” were defined as abortion, gay rights, and same-sex unions by the Christian fundamentalist who voted.

Those are important moral issues. Society has been engaged in a very long and heated debate over the issue of abortion. The questions of gay rights and same-sex unions have come to the top of the list in the last few years. They are issues that every church in the country is talking about and they will be in front of us for a very long time to come. They are very significant moral challenges for our society. I am glad so many people take them seriously.

But if the Christian fundamentalists only have these three issues as a part of their moral agenda, then I need to get the small Bible they are reading. If abortion, gay rights and same-sex unions are the only moral issues they find in their Bible, then I need to get a copy of that small Bible. My Bible has a host of other moral issues that keep me up at night.

My Bible has a whole host of pages in which Jesus is talking about how to treat the poor. In my bigger Bible, Jesus tells his disciples that entrance into the kingdom of heaven depends on how one cares for the sick, the thirsty and those in prison. So for me in my Bible, the whole issue of how to care for the poor and the troubled is a moral issue.

My large Bible has lots of pages about how the people of God are supposed to welcome and care for the aliens in their midst. Be kind to strangers for thereby you may entertain angels. So the whole issue of immigration is a moral issue in my thick Bible.

This new small Bible talks about three moral problems: abortion, gay rights and same-sex unions. My big black Bible has stuff in it that makes me think that prisons and the death penalty have to be called moral issues. There are passages in my Bible that say we are supposed to be stewards of creation and that means environmental issues are moral issues.

There is even this one line that says, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” To me, this seems to make the national debt a moral issue because we are sticking the grandchildren with a pretty big problem. In fact that line about loving our neighbors means the question of taxation has to be seen as a moral issue. And I am not sure that going to war is a good way to love my neighbors.

See! My big black Bible has too much in it. It makes too many things moral issues. I need to get me one of those small, shorter, easier Bibles where the only moral issues are abortion, gay rights and same-sex unions. Those aren’t easy issues, but it is easier than having so many moral issues.

If you see a copy of that new Bible, I hope you will let me know.

Rick Brand is pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Henderson, N.C.

Last Request

From April 28 NEW YORKER, page 138:

"America, America"

KESTER--Rose Rothstein, of North Andover, MA, formerly of East Norwich, NY, March 1, 2008. Widow of Harold E. Kester. Survived by Linda and William Cotter of Concord, MA; Marjorie and Peter Smith of Durham, NH; five loving grandchildren; five great-grandchildren and her sister Anne Gerber. In her memory, please vote Democratic in November.

Maybe this is what I need!

It's almost Monday

I cannot go to sleep. I'm tired, but I wiggle in bed. I wonder if my knee is hurting. I try praying, but lose track. What will I do if I cannot sleep? So I'm at the computer and the cat, locked in the bathroom, keeps banging on the door to be let out. Can't do that as I'll never catch her and she'll scratch and bang on all the bedroom doors if she's not put into "her" bathroom at night. I tried to journal, but not much came up. It's easier to ramble on the computer. . . .so where's the ramble mumble jumble? Not much inspiration in the wee minutes of Monday morning. Hope your Monday is happy wherever you are!

Ours will be cooler than usual, because we've been surprised by another COLD front! Yay! It's supposed to be in the 50s in the morning, which will be a time to enjoy. Soon it'll always be in the 70s in the mornings, never cooler until October. I hate it when the "low" temperature is 78 degrees F. day after day after day.

Seeing God in all Things

"Words can become idols, as believers have always known – even the word ‘God’. They are much more likely to be mistaken for the reality than a statue or a picture. “If one knows anything in God,” said Meister Eckhart, “and affixes any name to it, that is not God. God is above names.”

How then do we see God in all things? We search for God all our lives; but God is not lost. We are lost. God is always present, and when we become present God is present in that awareness. As long as we are present – to anything, even to a tree – we are present to God.

-- Donagh O’Shea OP

Thank you to Ellie at Does Not Wisdom Call?

Seeking, Longing, and Finding the Lord

During the sermon today, our interim priest connected today's Gospel reading (John 14:15-21) with the prayer on a prayer card that she uses for a bookmark that she loses in half-read books and finds again over and over. I liked it so much that I had to find it, and good old Google came to the rescue:

Lord, teach me to seek You,
and reveal Yourself to me when I seek You.
For I cannot seek You unless
You first teach me,
nor find You,
unless You first reveal Yourself to me.

Let me seek You in longing,
and long for You in seeking.
Let me find You in love,
and love You in finding.
Amen.

~~St. Ambrose (338-397)

A Telephone Call!

I was thrilled to have a phone call this morning from the Episcopal priest who baptized, confirmed, and married me in Bellingham, WA! Fr. Winn has been retired for 12 years, although I did not know that.

I've been thinking of writing to him for a long time and finally did this past week. I'd previously gotten his address by emailing the secretary at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Bellingham.

With my return to the Episcopal Church and how much it means to me, I wanted to tell him of my life since 1971 and about the dramatic changes in my spiritual life since then. So I sent him a copy of the talk I gave last year at All Saints to the women of the church about My Faith Story, some of which is recorded on this blog.

It was wonderful to talk with him, and he read me a Rilke poem, which he promised to send me. He also suggested quantum theology books by Diarmuid O'Murchu to me.

Fr. Winn still introduced himself to me on the phone as "Father Winn," which is how I continue to think of him. He showed me how much a phone call means to someone, which is a big message for someone like me who rarely calls anyone. Also, I realize that following that nudge was the right thing in writing to him. I felt connected and cared about by his call and amazed that he would search to find my phone number and call me after 37 years!

Be Thankful

Let us rise up and be thankful,

for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little,

and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick,

and if we got sick, at least we didn't die; so,

let us all be thankful.

~~

Buddha

Hanging Out

I like to hang clothes out on the line; in fact, I did that today. So, of course, I liked this cartoon that Miss Cellania posted today:

Feelings?

Where would I find "blah"--"apathy"--"ennui"--"acedia"?

When I was in therapy a decade and more ago, I was told that I needed to identify my feelings with the acronym JPFLAGS--joy, pain, fear, loneliness, anger, grief, and shame. That was a good way for me to learn to ascertain them, but today I am blah.

Waiting

Life is painful
because of the ones who have died.

Joy is painful
because of the ones who are crying.

Love is painful
because of the ones who hate.

And while I am loving, laughing and crying,
I am waiting for you, my Lord.

Julia Esquivel

Today is my mother's birthday, only she died 16 years ago. She would have been 89 today. I wish she had lived longer than she did. Here she is with baby MJ. (MJ is now 18.)

A Must See!

Morningstar Chronicles posted this, which brought back memories of seeing so many orphans when I was in Zambia two summers ago. Please watch this short, short video:

Some people are gay. Get over it!

At the end of our weekly lectio divina group today at my former Methodist church, the conversation turned to the United Methodist Church General Conference beginning today in Fort Worth, TX. The website masthead is:

Nice saying, but not lived out when people condemn homosexuality as a sin. And that's where the conversation went this morning. Love the sinner but not the sin. I find that condescending and holier-than-thou self-righteousness.

We had a smaller group than usual today, and two of the five women hoped that the homosexuals would not disrupt the proceedings of the meetings. Of course, one brought up that the Bible declares it a sin, which is when I stepped in to say that not everything in the Bible can be taken literally and that the culture of the time and translations should be considered in trying to understand those scriptural references, so we disagreed on the literal reading of the Bible. More was said until I told them that I preferred not to talk about this as I am very emotionally involved because my daughter is gay and that she was born this way. Even after this, one wondered why "they" didn't just stop practicing it and then everything would all be fine.

I felt pained and hurt, especially by one person, whom I've known a long time and did not realize she felt this way. I ache for my daughter and her partner, as well as other LGBT individuals who are condemned both silently and vocally more often than I will ever know.

The United Methodist Church agreed at the last General Conference:
"Homosexual persons no less than heterosexual persons are individuals of sacred worth. All persons need the ministry and guidance of the church in their struggles for human fulfillment, as well as the spiritual and emotional care of a fellowship that enables reconciling relationships with God, with others, and with self. Although we do not condone the practice of homosexuality and consider this practice incompatible with Christian teaching, we affirm that God's grace is available to all. We commit ourselves to be in ministry for and with all persons." (From "The Nurturing Community," a section of the church's Social Principles, Par. 65G).

What else is "incompatible with Christian teaching" that we participate in? Rev. Russ Whaley wrote:

"If I toss out gay people because of their unrepentant attitude, there are a number of unrepentant persons who, in all fairness, I should also excommunicate. For instance: members who gamble or won’t stand against gambling, though they know full well the United Methodist position on the practice. Also, members who use tobacco (our Book of Discipline says that use of tobacco is not a morally indifferent issue) or alcohol (after all, we did start Prohibition)."

This is an issue that is dividing churches and communities. What about the Golden Rule and loving your neighbor as yourself? What about opening our hearts, our minds, and our doors to others?

I am glad I returned to the Episcopal Church.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And thanks to Grandmere Mimi, I found this excellent post about homosexuality and the Anglican Church at Mark Harris' Preludium and here's a small section:

"I believe Christians are ill equipped to condemn persons of the same sex who are in love with one another for acting on that love in physical ways or for seeking ways to establish and maintain commitment to one another and for seeking blessing from God and the community. Moreover, given the realities of past Christian willingness to condone a wide variety of moral behavior that we would now consider reprehensible and the tendency to resist change from that behavior, the Church carries a beam in its own eye and has no business demanding that others remove the speck (if there is one) in their own."

To read the rest, go here.

Earth Day

Ellie at Does Not Wisdom Call? writes about an Earth Day sermon given by Joseph C. Hough, Jr., President of Union Theological Seminary in New York that is excellent. Go here to read it.

Going Beyond Our Wants

"Sometimes we behave like children in a toy shop. We want this, and that, and then something else. The many options confuse us and create an enormous restlessness in us. When someone says, "Well, what do you want? You can have one thing. Make up your mind," we do not know what to choose.

"As long as our hearts keep vacillating among these many wants, we cannot move forward in life with inner peace and joy. That is why we need inner and outer disciplines, to go beyond these wants and discover our mission in life."
~~Henri Nouwen

From the free daily message found at the Henri Nouwen webpage. Subscribe.

This is what I needed to read this morning!

junk, junk, junk

MJ has spent the evening cleaning out old clothes from her chest of drawers.

I have so much to clean out that I feel defeated before I even get started. I have clothes that fit me 13 years ago when I was 50 pounds thinner and as I grew fatter over the ensuing years until now. I have been stuck for years about cleaning out and getting rid of these old clothes. Look at what I wrote three months ago:

For a long time, I have been feeling stuck in many areas of my life: prayer, weight, papers, closets! The list could go on and on. . . .

With the realization that I'm stuck, Sunday's quotation from Simone Weil returned to me many times with the thought that "every separation is a link" to God. My link is my resistance, which I am now offering to God.

I certainly need to remember that "every separation is a link" to God. And oddly, I just wrote a letter to the Episcopal priest who baptized and confirmed me in high school and then married CB and me in college. Having returned to the Episcopal Church, I wanted to share with him how the seeds he'd helped to plant have grown. My faith story shows that the separation away from the Episcopal Church no longer exists and that I am linked through it to God.

MJ acts today, while I only ponder. I have felt dissatisfied in my dithering today; am offering this to God. . . awareness, acceptance, ACTION!

This reminds me of Trevor Hudson writing that experience (or revelation) without reflection amounts to nothing. Mere "awareness" counts as nothing, too.

~~~~~~
And I was just helped by a gorgeous picture of pussy willows and a story of hope at Cheesehead's blog.