So my bags still haven't arrived. The airline (repeat after me: NEVER use Spirit Airlines. They CHARGE YOU to check your bags, then they lose them!) In order to not completely ruin my trip, I'm heading off to Panama tomorrow. I'm doing it on the cheap: we'll take a long bus trip to Sixaiola, then cross the border to Panama, then take a taxi to the ferry to Bocas. In Bocas, we'll try to find cheap lodging. That's Wednesday. Thursday the plan is to do a snorkeling and dolphin tour. The cost was supposed to be $15.00. We'll just figure it out as we go. If I can get a zipline in as well, I'll do that.
So Thursday we'll do Bocas, then on Friday we'll head back towards CR, perhaps spending some time in Punto Viejo. We should get back to CR late Friday night, and then head out Saturday morning to Quepos, where we'll hang on the beach, see monkeys, and get to do the ziplines.
And then it will be time to come home, and to face the horror that is Spirit Air. I'm spozed to get home on Tuesday. There's a Liberty game on Wednesday morning. I'm taking bets on whether or not I'm back in the US for it. If not, I'm sure as h3!! gonna add that charge to the bill I send Spirit.
I forgot to mention that Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny were in the airport in Ft. Lauderdale. Not sure why, but it's Florida. Who knows, who cares? I got pics. And then today (or yesterday, they're starting to blur) I got pics of the undeveloped property Danny has here in Escazu. This evening his daughter Daniela and ex Sylvia took me up to a region north of Escazu called San Antonio. Daniela went to school there, and there's a beautiful church, La Iglesia de San Antonio, up there. I took pics, got some pics of the skyline, and stopped to pray and thank God for the journey so far. I'm sure there's a sermon in all this; as for me, yes, I'm annoyed that Spirit lost my stuff, but Danny loaned me a coupla pairs of shorts and some T-shirts, I bought some underwear, he is just as OCD as me and also saves the little hotel shampoos and soaps so he gave me a bunch of those, he loaned me a pair of his Tevas that, while a little large on my feet, can be strapped securely to them and so will avoid my having to put my sneaks and orthotics in the water.
It's a vacation. It's Central America. It's all good.
If the page ever loads, the link to the pics will be here
Going to bed now. Got to get up at 4am to head to Panama.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Monday, May 16, 2011
Coming to Costa Rica
So I was scheduled to leave LGA on Sunday night, May 15. I didn't go to church that day because they had several baptisms, and it was Missionary Day. With an 8 pm international flight, I was supposed to be at the airport at 5 and taking public transpo on Sunday meant I had to leave home about 3:30.
So I procrastinated all day, and around 2:45 started to pack. When you're going to Costa Rica, all you need is shorts, T-shirts, a swimsuit, underwear, and sandals. So that's what I packed, along with whatever personal hygienic products were over the 3 oz onboard limit, and maybe some cords for the computer.
The only thing I couldn't find was my underwater point and shoot. Which I know I had, and which should properly have been with my camera products. But I couldn't find it, and by the time I left for the airport, I was ok with that.
I go to the airport. I get through security, with an hour or so to go. Long story short, the flight was delayed because of a storm and I wasn't going to be able to make my connection to San Jose that night. They gave me the choice of going back home and returning the following day or going on to Ft. Lauderdale and spending the night there. I'm not a fan of doubling back and didn't want to have to get up early and get to the airport, so I went on to Ft. Lauderdale.
Did a shout out on FB asking if anyone was in Ft. Lauderdale. Lo and Behold, Denny Freeman, Luis' old friend, had moved from the ATL to the FLL. He let me know and offered to come pick me up. Turns out Denny has been blessed to have been in FLL for a month, living for free and with all the work he could do. He decided to share the blessing.
So we talked til 3 in the morning, then took naps and he took me to the airport. We'd noticed he couldn't find his phone, and I kept calling it. He thought it was in the car, but on the way to the airport, we realized it wasn't in the car. He dropped me at the airport. While I was waiting in line at Nathan's (wanted a yogurt, got hash browns, coffee, bacon egg and cheese sandwich, and two individual humuses, and dropped over $17.00.) While I was waiting in line, I got a call from Denny's cellphone. Turns out he'd dropped it in the house and his neighbor across the hall found it. Fortunately I remembered his house number, so by the time Denny got home, his cellphone was propped up against his front door waiting for him! At FLL, I continued on to the gate and sat there for two hours, posting and playing games.
About 10 minutes before the flight was due to leave, they called a gate change. (Don't bother to fly Spirit air. The cheaper fare isn't worth the incompetence and the continual sales pitches. They even have advertising on the overhead bins!!!). I go to the new gate, but there's a flight to NYC there. Some woman, African America, clearly a New Yorker, was giving the ticketing agent a hard time. "You sitting there laughing like it's funny we had to wait for three hours. It's not funny! " (As if a plane delay was anyone's fault.) Everyone starts to quietly groan. It's as if we were collectively thinking, "please. we're all delayed. just shut up and get on the plane." Sad to say, but when people want to go home, they can pretty much be coerced into compliance.
But not this woman. I don't know what happened next. I saw another ticket agent run over as the loud woman went down the jetway. Then a guy I had been talking to said the Broward County Sheriff was there. Next thing I see is the loud lady coming off the plane in handcuffs. She was a lot more composed this time. "She said I pushed her. I didn't push her."
My flight to CR was supposed to leave from the gate where this flight was. But now this flight was delayed because they had to go through all the luggage and get hers off. So they delayed two whole planeloads of people to make sure a jerk in handcuffs got here luggage. Put your finger on that thought.
The gate changes, since our plane couldn't wait for that plane, and finally we were allowed to board. The flight was pretty uneventful. I sat beside a guy who gave me info on how to switch sim cards in your iphone 4 even if you've used the traditional upgrades. We both agreed that we wouldn't buy iphones again, mostly because of Apple's repressive habit of trying to control product utility and usage past the point of end user purchase. So I'll use that. And I made a new personal high in Bejeweled 2.
Get off the plane in CR. We were late, so we had to stand in line with another plane. Got through CR immigration just fine. Since I hadn't picked up a gift for Danny, I got a bottle of Jim Beam and two bottles of Bacardi Gold or something other than plain Bacardi. I paid a total of $24.00 US for all three bottles. In and out in probably under 5 minutes, right in front of the baggage carousel. And then I went maybe 15 yards and changed some dollars to Colones. Not sure why, since everyone in CR uses dollars, but I did. I was still in front of the baggage carousel, but since it just said oversize bags and since I didn't see a lot, I kept looking.
After asking two different people and verifying that yes, all the bags were gone, I went to the baggage assistance desk. There was only one guy assisting people; the other guy was chatting with a friend on his cellphone (Did I say don't bother with Spirit Air because it's cheap but you get what you pay for?). It wasn't looking good that another guy on my flight had the exact same issue, except that he also had a bag someone had returned because they'd picked up the wrong bag. I'm not sure why they make you have baggage check tickets if you can just take any bag you want. Remember how they held up the plane to make sure the jerk got her bag? But if you're just a normal person doing what they tell you to do, well -- you might get your bag and you might not. The guy behind the desk, 30 minutes later, when he finally got to me, did say that the bags usually turn up.
So here I am in Costa Rica. I have the clothes on my back, a coupla pairs of underwear and something to sleep in that I bought at Walmart (it's not Hypermas any more; it's straight up Walmart now). I'm hoping and assuming they'll get my bag to me tomorrow. If not, I'll probably be walking around either in my underwear or in shorts Danny lends me. It is very nice to be able to have yor friend lend you his clothes, though. It's nice to be relatively normal-sized.
So i'm still planning trips to Bocas del Toro, Panama and to Puerto Viejo (both on the Caribbean coast); and then to Quepos, which is on the rainy part of the Pacific Coast. Danny might even go with us. Not having luggage is not ogoing to significantly affect my trip at all. I'm in Costa Rica. PURA VIDA!!!
So I procrastinated all day, and around 2:45 started to pack. When you're going to Costa Rica, all you need is shorts, T-shirts, a swimsuit, underwear, and sandals. So that's what I packed, along with whatever personal hygienic products were over the 3 oz onboard limit, and maybe some cords for the computer.
The only thing I couldn't find was my underwater point and shoot. Which I know I had, and which should properly have been with my camera products. But I couldn't find it, and by the time I left for the airport, I was ok with that.
I go to the airport. I get through security, with an hour or so to go. Long story short, the flight was delayed because of a storm and I wasn't going to be able to make my connection to San Jose that night. They gave me the choice of going back home and returning the following day or going on to Ft. Lauderdale and spending the night there. I'm not a fan of doubling back and didn't want to have to get up early and get to the airport, so I went on to Ft. Lauderdale.
Did a shout out on FB asking if anyone was in Ft. Lauderdale. Lo and Behold, Denny Freeman, Luis' old friend, had moved from the ATL to the FLL. He let me know and offered to come pick me up. Turns out Denny has been blessed to have been in FLL for a month, living for free and with all the work he could do. He decided to share the blessing.
So we talked til 3 in the morning, then took naps and he took me to the airport. We'd noticed he couldn't find his phone, and I kept calling it. He thought it was in the car, but on the way to the airport, we realized it wasn't in the car. He dropped me at the airport. While I was waiting in line at Nathan's (wanted a yogurt, got hash browns, coffee, bacon egg and cheese sandwich, and two individual humuses, and dropped over $17.00.) While I was waiting in line, I got a call from Denny's cellphone. Turns out he'd dropped it in the house and his neighbor across the hall found it. Fortunately I remembered his house number, so by the time Denny got home, his cellphone was propped up against his front door waiting for him! At FLL, I continued on to the gate and sat there for two hours, posting and playing games.
About 10 minutes before the flight was due to leave, they called a gate change. (Don't bother to fly Spirit air. The cheaper fare isn't worth the incompetence and the continual sales pitches. They even have advertising on the overhead bins!!!). I go to the new gate, but there's a flight to NYC there. Some woman, African America, clearly a New Yorker, was giving the ticketing agent a hard time. "You sitting there laughing like it's funny we had to wait for three hours. It's not funny! " (As if a plane delay was anyone's fault.) Everyone starts to quietly groan. It's as if we were collectively thinking, "please. we're all delayed. just shut up and get on the plane." Sad to say, but when people want to go home, they can pretty much be coerced into compliance.
But not this woman. I don't know what happened next. I saw another ticket agent run over as the loud woman went down the jetway. Then a guy I had been talking to said the Broward County Sheriff was there. Next thing I see is the loud lady coming off the plane in handcuffs. She was a lot more composed this time. "She said I pushed her. I didn't push her."
My flight to CR was supposed to leave from the gate where this flight was. But now this flight was delayed because they had to go through all the luggage and get hers off. So they delayed two whole planeloads of people to make sure a jerk in handcuffs got here luggage. Put your finger on that thought.
The gate changes, since our plane couldn't wait for that plane, and finally we were allowed to board. The flight was pretty uneventful. I sat beside a guy who gave me info on how to switch sim cards in your iphone 4 even if you've used the traditional upgrades. We both agreed that we wouldn't buy iphones again, mostly because of Apple's repressive habit of trying to control product utility and usage past the point of end user purchase. So I'll use that. And I made a new personal high in Bejeweled 2.
Get off the plane in CR. We were late, so we had to stand in line with another plane. Got through CR immigration just fine. Since I hadn't picked up a gift for Danny, I got a bottle of Jim Beam and two bottles of Bacardi Gold or something other than plain Bacardi. I paid a total of $24.00 US for all three bottles. In and out in probably under 5 minutes, right in front of the baggage carousel. And then I went maybe 15 yards and changed some dollars to Colones. Not sure why, since everyone in CR uses dollars, but I did. I was still in front of the baggage carousel, but since it just said oversize bags and since I didn't see a lot, I kept looking.
After asking two different people and verifying that yes, all the bags were gone, I went to the baggage assistance desk. There was only one guy assisting people; the other guy was chatting with a friend on his cellphone (Did I say don't bother with Spirit Air because it's cheap but you get what you pay for?). It wasn't looking good that another guy on my flight had the exact same issue, except that he also had a bag someone had returned because they'd picked up the wrong bag. I'm not sure why they make you have baggage check tickets if you can just take any bag you want. Remember how they held up the plane to make sure the jerk got her bag? But if you're just a normal person doing what they tell you to do, well -- you might get your bag and you might not. The guy behind the desk, 30 minutes later, when he finally got to me, did say that the bags usually turn up.
So here I am in Costa Rica. I have the clothes on my back, a coupla pairs of underwear and something to sleep in that I bought at Walmart (it's not Hypermas any more; it's straight up Walmart now). I'm hoping and assuming they'll get my bag to me tomorrow. If not, I'll probably be walking around either in my underwear or in shorts Danny lends me. It is very nice to be able to have yor friend lend you his clothes, though. It's nice to be relatively normal-sized.
So i'm still planning trips to Bocas del Toro, Panama and to Puerto Viejo (both on the Caribbean coast); and then to Quepos, which is on the rainy part of the Pacific Coast. Danny might even go with us. Not having luggage is not ogoing to significantly affect my trip at all. I'm in Costa Rica. PURA VIDA!!!
Saturday, May 14, 2011
So there's a thread going on my church's forum about what seem to be recent developments in the PCUSA. I think PCUSA has finally agreed to accept gay and lesbian clergy (which is sort of anticlimactic, since I graduated with a guy who got ordained in PCUSA and during his ordination said yes, he would obey everything except the rule about gays and lesbians. This was back in '03 or '04, and it was news for a minute, but his congregation was cool with him, and that was the end of it.)
Someone brought the issue to our church forum. This opened up an old wound in our church. The Church, while it doesn't really have any stated policy on homosexuality, does recognize marriage as existing between a man and a woman. There's no room in current church policy for out gay behavior. Which highlights a certain disconnect when a sitting member of our College of Bishops has, when being sued for sexual harassment of a male, offered an affirmative defense. That, it appears to me, is what's wounding the church. Not so much the affirmative defense, but the apparent disconnect between beliefs and behavior.
I am not homophobic. On the contrary, I differ from my church in that I am gay-affirming. I understand the Levitical prohibition against homosexuality, but also understand the Levitical prohibitions against eating pork, against cutting one's hair, and against wearing clothes made of more than one fabric, the same Levitical codes that call for death for adultery and banishment of a woman for having sex during her menstrual cycle. Those are the same Levitical codes that prohibit blind or lame people from going to the altar of God, and call for burning a priest's daughter at the stake if she has sex outside marriage. All those are part of the Holiness Codes, which were designed to help preserve the identity of the Israelites when they lived among other people. I happen to believe that no human is capable of living under and keeping every law (613 contained in the Torah, 300+ of them possible without a temple, and NONE of them were intended for people who were not Jews). We Christians are not Jews, but have been grafted onto the tree of Judaic lineage through the Miracle of Jesus Christ. This is a spiritual inheritance, not a physical one. That is why we live not under the Law, but Through the power of Amazing Grace and can avail ourselves of the Grace that was so freely offered by Jesus' sacrificial death on the cross.
It never ceases to amaze me that we can explain away those parts of the Holiness codes that affect behaviors we want to engage in (like shaving or eating pork or blind or lame people coming to the altar), but we hang on to the prohibition against homosexuality. In my mind, the Word is the Word. Either you take it all literally or you dig in and try to understand it. I do the latter, and just don't think homosexuality is that big a deal. I know this is contrary to the teaching of my church, but this is where I am in my faith walk.
What I do think is a big deal is not holding a church official accountable for engaging in behaviors contrary to church doctrine. I think that hurts the congregation and I think it demeans the validity of the church (though not of the Sacraments. There is no power in Sacraments; they are merely outward signs of a Relationship with Our Creator). But the Church has specific rules on who is allowed to administer those sacraments. And I'm in a church where preachers with expired licenses freely administer Sacraments, mostly because the majority of people in the church don't understand the structure or all the rules. It's as if we as a church either don't know or don't care about being accountable to the structures we've created. Maybe that's why people feel so strongly that this sitting Bishop should, through public actions, make some sort of show of repentance or confession. Maybe they don't understand that he can only confess to and be forgiven by God. Maybe they don't understand that they should be looking to God for direction and guidance and not to another human being.
And maybe that's a sign that our complex and antiquated church structures no longer have any meaning. Maybe that's a sign it's time for a change in this church.
To start the change, I would ask the following: WHY, people? Why do so many folks care so passionately about this issue of sexuality? I mean, as an unmarried preacher in God's church, I ain't gettin' none. And I don't really care about what someone else is getting, and I CERTAINLY don't care about the details of HOW they're getting it. I don't understand why this issue of homosexuality elicits such passion in people. Why do grown men spend so much time having feelings about where another grown man puts their dingaling? What's up with that?
...unless....
Nah. But the anti-gay people ARE awfully loud and awfully passionate. I remember when an ancestor who will remain unnamed used to talk to me about sex, she asked what I thought about "those men that get down there and mess with each other." I told her I didn't think anything about it. Because I didn't. I didn't have an opinion on it one way or the other. It wasn't something that impacted me, my understanding of sex or the sexual experience, so it wasn't really something I cared about. It's sorta like my opinion on how turtles have sex. Don't know, don't care. Not a factor in my world; no reason to give it real estate in my head.
And it's why I just don't understand (supposedly straight) people getting so fired up over homosexuality. I understand gay people getting fired up over it -- it directly affects them. But straights? Why do you care? I'm not talking about the obvious civil rights violations of gay people. We all should care about that and labor tirelessly to see that ALL Americans are treated equally under the law.
But I'm still left wondering why straight people have such an issue with what they perceive to be gay people's living in violation of God's law. If that is the case, if you really believe they're committing an abomination against God, don't you trust and believe God enough to think that God will take care of it? Doesn't the Lord say Vengeance belongs to Him? Doesn't the Lord tell us to obey the law of the land by giving Caesar what belongs to Caesar? If Caesar demands equality for gay people, why aren't straight Christian people treating gays equally and without malice? Wouldn't this be an opportunity to exercise the love of Jesus in your behavior towards this, your fellow human being?
I just don't understand why people get so bent out of shape over gay people. The New Testament spends more time talking about social and economic inequality, yet we can distort the Gospel teachings into having a "prosperity Gospel" based on accumulating wealth. And we want to pick on gays?
Sorry, it's not clicking for me.
Someone brought the issue to our church forum. This opened up an old wound in our church. The Church, while it doesn't really have any stated policy on homosexuality, does recognize marriage as existing between a man and a woman. There's no room in current church policy for out gay behavior. Which highlights a certain disconnect when a sitting member of our College of Bishops has, when being sued for sexual harassment of a male, offered an affirmative defense. That, it appears to me, is what's wounding the church. Not so much the affirmative defense, but the apparent disconnect between beliefs and behavior.
I am not homophobic. On the contrary, I differ from my church in that I am gay-affirming. I understand the Levitical prohibition against homosexuality, but also understand the Levitical prohibitions against eating pork, against cutting one's hair, and against wearing clothes made of more than one fabric, the same Levitical codes that call for death for adultery and banishment of a woman for having sex during her menstrual cycle. Those are the same Levitical codes that prohibit blind or lame people from going to the altar of God, and call for burning a priest's daughter at the stake if she has sex outside marriage. All those are part of the Holiness Codes, which were designed to help preserve the identity of the Israelites when they lived among other people. I happen to believe that no human is capable of living under and keeping every law (613 contained in the Torah, 300+ of them possible without a temple, and NONE of them were intended for people who were not Jews). We Christians are not Jews, but have been grafted onto the tree of Judaic lineage through the Miracle of Jesus Christ. This is a spiritual inheritance, not a physical one. That is why we live not under the Law, but Through the power of Amazing Grace and can avail ourselves of the Grace that was so freely offered by Jesus' sacrificial death on the cross.
It never ceases to amaze me that we can explain away those parts of the Holiness codes that affect behaviors we want to engage in (like shaving or eating pork or blind or lame people coming to the altar), but we hang on to the prohibition against homosexuality. In my mind, the Word is the Word. Either you take it all literally or you dig in and try to understand it. I do the latter, and just don't think homosexuality is that big a deal. I know this is contrary to the teaching of my church, but this is where I am in my faith walk.
What I do think is a big deal is not holding a church official accountable for engaging in behaviors contrary to church doctrine. I think that hurts the congregation and I think it demeans the validity of the church (though not of the Sacraments. There is no power in Sacraments; they are merely outward signs of a Relationship with Our Creator). But the Church has specific rules on who is allowed to administer those sacraments. And I'm in a church where preachers with expired licenses freely administer Sacraments, mostly because the majority of people in the church don't understand the structure or all the rules. It's as if we as a church either don't know or don't care about being accountable to the structures we've created. Maybe that's why people feel so strongly that this sitting Bishop should, through public actions, make some sort of show of repentance or confession. Maybe they don't understand that he can only confess to and be forgiven by God. Maybe they don't understand that they should be looking to God for direction and guidance and not to another human being.
And maybe that's a sign that our complex and antiquated church structures no longer have any meaning. Maybe that's a sign it's time for a change in this church.
To start the change, I would ask the following: WHY, people? Why do so many folks care so passionately about this issue of sexuality? I mean, as an unmarried preacher in God's church, I ain't gettin' none. And I don't really care about what someone else is getting, and I CERTAINLY don't care about the details of HOW they're getting it. I don't understand why this issue of homosexuality elicits such passion in people. Why do grown men spend so much time having feelings about where another grown man puts their dingaling? What's up with that?
...unless....
Nah. But the anti-gay people ARE awfully loud and awfully passionate. I remember when an ancestor who will remain unnamed used to talk to me about sex, she asked what I thought about "those men that get down there and mess with each other." I told her I didn't think anything about it. Because I didn't. I didn't have an opinion on it one way or the other. It wasn't something that impacted me, my understanding of sex or the sexual experience, so it wasn't really something I cared about. It's sorta like my opinion on how turtles have sex. Don't know, don't care. Not a factor in my world; no reason to give it real estate in my head.
And it's why I just don't understand (supposedly straight) people getting so fired up over homosexuality. I understand gay people getting fired up over it -- it directly affects them. But straights? Why do you care? I'm not talking about the obvious civil rights violations of gay people. We all should care about that and labor tirelessly to see that ALL Americans are treated equally under the law.
But I'm still left wondering why straight people have such an issue with what they perceive to be gay people's living in violation of God's law. If that is the case, if you really believe they're committing an abomination against God, don't you trust and believe God enough to think that God will take care of it? Doesn't the Lord say Vengeance belongs to Him? Doesn't the Lord tell us to obey the law of the land by giving Caesar what belongs to Caesar? If Caesar demands equality for gay people, why aren't straight Christian people treating gays equally and without malice? Wouldn't this be an opportunity to exercise the love of Jesus in your behavior towards this, your fellow human being?
I just don't understand why people get so bent out of shape over gay people. The New Testament spends more time talking about social and economic inequality, yet we can distort the Gospel teachings into having a "prosperity Gospel" based on accumulating wealth. And we want to pick on gays?
Sorry, it's not clicking for me.
Friday, May 13, 2011
(From last night when blogger was down): Has the world gone mad?
I don't get it, folks. The ACLU wants to stop a community in Ocean Grove, NJ from having their high school graduation in a church. Mind you, no one in the community is complaining; it's people from outside the community who have issues with the separation of church and state. I wonder if it's possible for Christians to come together and sue the ACLU for a systematic pattern of abuse and discrimination? They hide harassment of Christians -- and anything associated with Christians -- under the guise of "separation of church and state." Think about it. If someone who was not Jewish were to complain about a high school graduation being held in a building because that building had stars of David on it, they'd instantly be branded anti-semitic. If someone who was not Muslim were to complain about a high school graduation being held in a building with the star and crescent on it, demanding that those symbols be covered, that person would be branded an Islamophobe.
(My eyes went over to the news. There's a story on about gay pride in Atlantic City. All I see is some guy who's shaped like a pig shaking his stomach. Revolting. Not the homosexuality; the fat. And the gay dancers they have look like robots.)
Meanwhile, I just saw two stories back to back. One was about how the City overturned a judgement against it. Seems a man was unfairly convicted of rape and served time. He was exonerated, sued the City and won an 18 million dollar judgement. But it was thrown out because the City "didn't intend to violate his civil rights." Or else he had an attorney who was on the City's payroll. Really. With a systematic history of oppression of men of color, how can the argument be made that the City didn't intend to violate his civil rights? If you have three unrelated incidents, lawyers will tell you there's a pattern. How in the world did the City get off with this judgement? How, indeed. Either the atty was still in law school, or they were on the take.
The second story was of a 91-year old man being evicted from his senior citizen center. The reason was .... does it really matter? The guy's 91 years old. How long is he going to live to be able to be a pain in anyone's behind? Who does it serve to evict a 91 year old man from the place he's called home for 24 years?
And on to a familiar rant: I'm sorry, folks. I love God's people Israel. I enjoy visiting the region that is presently referred to as Israel and that which is not acknowledged as Palestine. But I have absolutely no use for the politics of the modern nation of Israel. I believe they hide behind the horrors of history to propagate those same horrors upon others. I know my opinion is unpopular, but I've been in Israel, a passenger in a taxi driven by a Palestinian. I've been stopped and grilled by Israeli security for no apparent reason except that I was riding in a Palestinian's cab. I've seen the concentration camps. I despise the wall. And I don't understand how we can talk about separation of church and state in our own home, yet give billions of dollars a year to a country that not only espouses a religion, but espouses a religion that effectively results in an apartheid state. Perhaps that statement is a bit harsh -- it's not, of course, the rich tradition of Judaism that promotes the apartheid state; it's people who are fanatic in their interpretation of that rich tradition.
We find fanatics in all the Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. It's just interesting to me that a zealous Jewish person is a Freedom Fighter, a zealous Christian is a Crusader, but a zealous Muslim is a terrorist.
Wow. Not sure where that came from. It's just really frustrating to see oppression all around, and to see the concept of religion, or of The Divine, or of God -- to see those concepts bastardized and demeaned rather than clarified and elevated in the minds of the people. This happens because so many people are so willing to misuse relationships, both with the Divine and with one another. The result is a skewed world where the bizarre is increasingly presented as normal.
It's a world gone mad.
(My eyes went over to the news. There's a story on about gay pride in Atlantic City. All I see is some guy who's shaped like a pig shaking his stomach. Revolting. Not the homosexuality; the fat. And the gay dancers they have look like robots.)
Meanwhile, I just saw two stories back to back. One was about how the City overturned a judgement against it. Seems a man was unfairly convicted of rape and served time. He was exonerated, sued the City and won an 18 million dollar judgement. But it was thrown out because the City "didn't intend to violate his civil rights." Or else he had an attorney who was on the City's payroll. Really. With a systematic history of oppression of men of color, how can the argument be made that the City didn't intend to violate his civil rights? If you have three unrelated incidents, lawyers will tell you there's a pattern. How in the world did the City get off with this judgement? How, indeed. Either the atty was still in law school, or they were on the take.
The second story was of a 91-year old man being evicted from his senior citizen center. The reason was .... does it really matter? The guy's 91 years old. How long is he going to live to be able to be a pain in anyone's behind? Who does it serve to evict a 91 year old man from the place he's called home for 24 years?
And on to a familiar rant: I'm sorry, folks. I love God's people Israel. I enjoy visiting the region that is presently referred to as Israel and that which is not acknowledged as Palestine. But I have absolutely no use for the politics of the modern nation of Israel. I believe they hide behind the horrors of history to propagate those same horrors upon others. I know my opinion is unpopular, but I've been in Israel, a passenger in a taxi driven by a Palestinian. I've been stopped and grilled by Israeli security for no apparent reason except that I was riding in a Palestinian's cab. I've seen the concentration camps. I despise the wall. And I don't understand how we can talk about separation of church and state in our own home, yet give billions of dollars a year to a country that not only espouses a religion, but espouses a religion that effectively results in an apartheid state. Perhaps that statement is a bit harsh -- it's not, of course, the rich tradition of Judaism that promotes the apartheid state; it's people who are fanatic in their interpretation of that rich tradition.
We find fanatics in all the Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. It's just interesting to me that a zealous Jewish person is a Freedom Fighter, a zealous Christian is a Crusader, but a zealous Muslim is a terrorist.
Wow. Not sure where that came from. It's just really frustrating to see oppression all around, and to see the concept of religion, or of The Divine, or of God -- to see those concepts bastardized and demeaned rather than clarified and elevated in the minds of the people. This happens because so many people are so willing to misuse relationships, both with the Divine and with one another. The result is a skewed world where the bizarre is increasingly presented as normal.
It's a world gone mad.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Kettlebell class
Oh, my goodness. I love it! I thought I was in pretty good shape: I can do 6+ miles on the elliptical, I can pump weights to rival most normal-sized men, I can do the four basic strokes -- not terribly gracefully, but well enough that I have a goal of being certified as a lifeguard by 40. So I thought I was in pretty good shape until I took a kettlebell class.
The thing about the kettlebell is that its weight is not symmetrical, so when you use it, it forces you to use more of your core. And whenever you're using it, it's in motion, so you have to use many more muscle groups. Add to that the fact that it's like solid lead, and you have increased utiltiy with the kettlebell. Monday night I had a 15-pounder. While I wasn't sore and achey, I could certainly feel it. Today I got there early so I could use the 10-pounder. It makes quite a difference, even though my arthritic knee won't allow me to do the lunges and squats (and burpees) the way I'd like to. Still, it's great cardio conditioning and strength training. I think I have a keeper here!
I'm so tired now, though, that I've forgotten what I was going to write. I leave in a couple of days for Costa Rica! Maybe I'll write more while I'm there....
The thing about the kettlebell is that its weight is not symmetrical, so when you use it, it forces you to use more of your core. And whenever you're using it, it's in motion, so you have to use many more muscle groups. Add to that the fact that it's like solid lead, and you have increased utiltiy with the kettlebell. Monday night I had a 15-pounder. While I wasn't sore and achey, I could certainly feel it. Today I got there early so I could use the 10-pounder. It makes quite a difference, even though my arthritic knee won't allow me to do the lunges and squats (and burpees) the way I'd like to. Still, it's great cardio conditioning and strength training. I think I have a keeper here!
I'm so tired now, though, that I've forgotten what I was going to write. I leave in a couple of days for Costa Rica! Maybe I'll write more while I'm there....
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Presents, Plants, Pets, Partners
So tonight was the last class session of our Church History II class. Students never cease to amaze me. For an entire year I've pushed and prodded them, all the while having to manage my own feelings when my comments clashed with their own sense of their abilities. But as the year went on, I began to see the development of their historical and scholarly voices, which, of course, was my objective.
So this evening, I was asked to close the class in prayer. Before we could do that, the class wanted to interrupt. They presented the professor (who's also the President of the Seminary) with a gorgeous plaque and a card. They gave me a plant, a card, and a keychain, and gave a card and keychain to the other TA.
I was reminded of my old plant, Fred, who died when I got cancer. I now have a new plant, but haven't named it. The plant I have is so big there's no room in the window to put the new plant; the upside is that I have pots in all different sizes for when it starts to grow up.
The present for teaching is the gift of seeing your students learn. The plant and card were completely unexpected, and sheer gravy. It gives me indescribable joy to watch my students work and learn. It's just wonderful. It sorta reminds me of the rocks my staff gave me at our retreat (they were labeled Peace, Hope, Wisdom, and Joy). But they're from my staff, and there are different dynamics going on there.
But as they students gave me the plant and I thought of my current and former plants, I realized that my motto used to be "Plant, pet, partner," meaning that once I could successfully care for a plant, I'd think of graduating to a pet, and after that I'd be ready to consider a partner (Jay Leno has had on a cheetah, some owls, the world's longest lizard, and some otters. Cute animals). As I thought about that declaration, (simultaneously trying to figure out what pot to put the new plant into, and where to put it so it can get enough light, and "I wonder what kind of plant this is and how do I really need to care for it?") As I thought about all that, I realized I've successfully cared for a plant, and, according to my declaration, could now move on to "pet."
Except that I'm so not ready for a pet. I can commit to plants because they don't really do anything (and while it's sorta trained me, pretty much all I have to do with this plant is water and feed it occasionally). But I played with my neighbor's puppy for an hour on Sunday, and don't think I'm ready for a pet. I love dogs, but you sorta have to have a consistent schedule. I think it's inhumane to keep a "pet" locked up in a house all day and only walk them when you're home. I just think it's wrong. And I don't think my apartment is big enough for a dog to have fun in, unless I wanted to put the Animal Channel on all day and let them watch it.
Nah, I'm not yet ready for a pet. And I have no idea why people are attracted to partners. I like people well enough -- I love people, actually -- as long as they get the heck outta my house after about an hour. Even when I'm ape$#!+ crazy over someone, the idea of being around themm all the time doesn't appeal to me. Maybe I'm weird, but I think there's a certain attraction brought on by distance. And it's hard enough for me to clean up after myself. There is no way in God's world I could clean up after another human being. And when I want people to clean up after me, I pay them to do so. They don't have to live with me.
Some people seem to crave companionship, and seem unable to function without it. I don't get that. It's like the people who say to their mates "you complete me." Um, so you weren't complete by yourself?
Even as a kid, when I used to design houses in the shape of my initials (no room for taking on a man's surname there; and I never even thought about it until right now) -- even when I used to design houses as a big C circling a G with a P coming off the lip of the G -- even then, I had three marital bedrooms: one for me, one for my husband, and one for us to share. I must have been eight or ten, with no idea about sex or sexuality, but even at that age, I couldn't conceive of sleeping with the same person every night. Also at that age, I figured it didn't make sense to marry before age 35. I figured that if the average lifespan was 70 (and that's what I thought it was when I was young. I just checked: it was 69.7 when I was four, and 70.8 when I was fourteen) -- I figured if the average lifespan was 70, then why in the world would anyone want to get married before at least 35? In my young eyes, marriage was a voluntary, lifelong commitment people decided to make. Divorce was not an option.
But in the last half decade, things have changed immensely. My parents are but two of the people I have known who are divorced. I have successfully cared for one plant, and will now start on a second one. I no longer have pets, and have decided I'm ready for neither a pet nor a partner, though the thought of a pet is much more appealing than the thought of a partner.
And I still love presents! I love the ones that are nicely gift-wrapped, but am increasingly aware that every day I wake up is a gift, every movement or breath I take is a gift, the ability to know and love my Creator is a wonderful gift, and everything else is gravy.
I started a kettlebell class the other night. Now, I thought I was in decent shape: I lift, I did the elliptical for as long as my knees allowed, I swim and do some sort of aqua-cardio-aerobics class. But that kettlebell class had me feeling like an out of shape sixth grader. When I got to class, there were no more 10 lb bells, so I took a 15 lb one. BIG mistake. Before the class was over, my shirt was soaked with sweat, I could barely move, and I had a bruise on my wrist from where the bell flipped over and hit my Tiffany bracelet, which (the action) caused an ugly bruise on my arm.
Tomorrow night, I'll try to take off the bracelet and maybe go to Modell's and get some sort of pad for the back of my wrist. Because it's a gift to be able to swing a kettlebell around and not lose the grip or not have it flip over and break my arm. Yup, it's all a gift, one for which I am eternally grateful!!!
So this evening, I was asked to close the class in prayer. Before we could do that, the class wanted to interrupt. They presented the professor (who's also the President of the Seminary) with a gorgeous plaque and a card. They gave me a plant, a card, and a keychain, and gave a card and keychain to the other TA.
I was reminded of my old plant, Fred, who died when I got cancer. I now have a new plant, but haven't named it. The plant I have is so big there's no room in the window to put the new plant; the upside is that I have pots in all different sizes for when it starts to grow up.
The present for teaching is the gift of seeing your students learn. The plant and card were completely unexpected, and sheer gravy. It gives me indescribable joy to watch my students work and learn. It's just wonderful. It sorta reminds me of the rocks my staff gave me at our retreat (they were labeled Peace, Hope, Wisdom, and Joy). But they're from my staff, and there are different dynamics going on there.
But as they students gave me the plant and I thought of my current and former plants, I realized that my motto used to be "Plant, pet, partner," meaning that once I could successfully care for a plant, I'd think of graduating to a pet, and after that I'd be ready to consider a partner (Jay Leno has had on a cheetah, some owls, the world's longest lizard, and some otters. Cute animals). As I thought about that declaration, (simultaneously trying to figure out what pot to put the new plant into, and where to put it so it can get enough light, and "I wonder what kind of plant this is and how do I really need to care for it?") As I thought about all that, I realized I've successfully cared for a plant, and, according to my declaration, could now move on to "pet."
Except that I'm so not ready for a pet. I can commit to plants because they don't really do anything (and while it's sorta trained me, pretty much all I have to do with this plant is water and feed it occasionally). But I played with my neighbor's puppy for an hour on Sunday, and don't think I'm ready for a pet. I love dogs, but you sorta have to have a consistent schedule. I think it's inhumane to keep a "pet" locked up in a house all day and only walk them when you're home. I just think it's wrong. And I don't think my apartment is big enough for a dog to have fun in, unless I wanted to put the Animal Channel on all day and let them watch it.
Nah, I'm not yet ready for a pet. And I have no idea why people are attracted to partners. I like people well enough -- I love people, actually -- as long as they get the heck outta my house after about an hour. Even when I'm ape$#!+ crazy over someone, the idea of being around themm all the time doesn't appeal to me. Maybe I'm weird, but I think there's a certain attraction brought on by distance. And it's hard enough for me to clean up after myself. There is no way in God's world I could clean up after another human being. And when I want people to clean up after me, I pay them to do so. They don't have to live with me.
Some people seem to crave companionship, and seem unable to function without it. I don't get that. It's like the people who say to their mates "you complete me." Um, so you weren't complete by yourself?
Even as a kid, when I used to design houses in the shape of my initials (no room for taking on a man's surname there; and I never even thought about it until right now) -- even when I used to design houses as a big C circling a G with a P coming off the lip of the G -- even then, I had three marital bedrooms: one for me, one for my husband, and one for us to share. I must have been eight or ten, with no idea about sex or sexuality, but even at that age, I couldn't conceive of sleeping with the same person every night. Also at that age, I figured it didn't make sense to marry before age 35. I figured that if the average lifespan was 70 (and that's what I thought it was when I was young. I just checked: it was 69.7 when I was four, and 70.8 when I was fourteen) -- I figured if the average lifespan was 70, then why in the world would anyone want to get married before at least 35? In my young eyes, marriage was a voluntary, lifelong commitment people decided to make. Divorce was not an option.
But in the last half decade, things have changed immensely. My parents are but two of the people I have known who are divorced. I have successfully cared for one plant, and will now start on a second one. I no longer have pets, and have decided I'm ready for neither a pet nor a partner, though the thought of a pet is much more appealing than the thought of a partner.
And I still love presents! I love the ones that are nicely gift-wrapped, but am increasingly aware that every day I wake up is a gift, every movement or breath I take is a gift, the ability to know and love my Creator is a wonderful gift, and everything else is gravy.
I started a kettlebell class the other night. Now, I thought I was in decent shape: I lift, I did the elliptical for as long as my knees allowed, I swim and do some sort of aqua-cardio-aerobics class. But that kettlebell class had me feeling like an out of shape sixth grader. When I got to class, there were no more 10 lb bells, so I took a 15 lb one. BIG mistake. Before the class was over, my shirt was soaked with sweat, I could barely move, and I had a bruise on my wrist from where the bell flipped over and hit my Tiffany bracelet, which (the action) caused an ugly bruise on my arm.
Tomorrow night, I'll try to take off the bracelet and maybe go to Modell's and get some sort of pad for the back of my wrist. Because it's a gift to be able to swing a kettlebell around and not lose the grip or not have it flip over and break my arm. Yup, it's all a gift, one for which I am eternally grateful!!!
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Viola Mae Stroud Fearrington
My grandmother was born on May 9, 1906. So if she'd lived, she would have been 105 on May 9, but she passed away at age 69. Still, because I associate Mother's Day with her and still, after 30+ years, miss her more than I ever thought possible, I will share here the lyrics to a song that always makes me think of her and of my mother, Malissa Minor.
In a world like today
Its a rare occasion to be able
To see young mothers like the ones
That were around when I grew up
But they live on in memory
To quite a few of us
And this song is dedicated
To those who cherish that memory
Early one Sunday morning
Breakfast was on the table
There was no time to eat
She said to me, Boy, hurry to Sunday school
Filled with the Lord of Glory
We learned the Holy story
She'll always have her dreams
Despite the things this troubled world can bring
Oh, Sadie
Dont you know we love you
Sweet Sadie
Place no one above you
Sweet Sadie (Well, well, well)
Living in the past
Some times it seems so funny
But no money will turn your life around
Sweeter than cotton candy
Stronger than papas old brandy
Always that needed smile
Once in awhile she would break down and cry
Some times she'd be so happy
(Just) Being with us and daddy
Standing the worst of times
Breaking the binds with just a simple song
Oh, Sadie (Oh, Sadie Mae)
Dont you know we love you (She'll love us all in a special way)
Sweet Sadie (Well, well, well)
Place no one above you
Sweet Sadie (Sweet Sadie livin in the past)
Living in the past
Oh, she's never sinnin
In love she's always winnin, yeah
Sadie (My, my, my, my, my)
Dont you know we love you (I love you, mama)
Sweet Sadie
Place no one above you (I just can't forget)
Sweet Sadie (How you gave me love, oh, Lord)
Living in the past
If there's a heaven up above
I know she's teaching angels how to love
Sadie (Its a mean world without you)
Dont you know we love you
Sweet Sadie (All the love you showed)
Place no one above you
How could anyone ever doubt you...
And you can listen to it here:
In a world like today
Its a rare occasion to be able
To see young mothers like the ones
That were around when I grew up
But they live on in memory
To quite a few of us
And this song is dedicated
To those who cherish that memory
Early one Sunday morning
Breakfast was on the table
There was no time to eat
She said to me, Boy, hurry to Sunday school
Filled with the Lord of Glory
We learned the Holy story
She'll always have her dreams
Despite the things this troubled world can bring
Oh, Sadie
Dont you know we love you
Sweet Sadie
Place no one above you
Sweet Sadie (Well, well, well)
Living in the past
Some times it seems so funny
But no money will turn your life around
Sweeter than cotton candy
Stronger than papas old brandy
Always that needed smile
Once in awhile she would break down and cry
Some times she'd be so happy
(Just) Being with us and daddy
Standing the worst of times
Breaking the binds with just a simple song
Oh, Sadie (Oh, Sadie Mae)
Dont you know we love you (She'll love us all in a special way)
Sweet Sadie (Well, well, well)
Place no one above you
Sweet Sadie (Sweet Sadie livin in the past)
Living in the past
Oh, she's never sinnin
In love she's always winnin, yeah
Sadie (My, my, my, my, my)
Dont you know we love you (I love you, mama)
Sweet Sadie
Place no one above you (I just can't forget)
Sweet Sadie (How you gave me love, oh, Lord)
Living in the past
If there's a heaven up above
I know she's teaching angels how to love
Sadie (Its a mean world without you)
Dont you know we love you
Sweet Sadie (All the love you showed)
Place no one above you
How could anyone ever doubt you...
And you can listen to it here:
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Two Worlds
I'm watching Grey's Anatomy, listening to the gay marriage drama. I happen to believe in equal rights for all citizens, and that the rights of citizens are not abrogated because of their marital status or sexual identity. I also happen to agree with Baily who says that when two people stand before God and declare to love, honor, and cherish one another til death do them part, that the marriage holds in God's eyes (and to my friends who think that's an abomination, I'm ok with letting God sort it -- and the couples -- out.). I even noticed that Derek and Meredith, wanting to adopt, finally went to a court and, we presume, are about to make their relationship (which was codified by them with Post-It Notes) legal in the eyes of the State of Washington.
What I'm having an issue with in the whole gay marriage thing, is people who somehow feel they're getting shorted because they can't have a same-sex wedding in a church. First of all, you need to understand that marriage exists for the convenience of the State. While Jesus did perform His first miracle at a wedding, and while Jesus did consider marriage between man and woman normative, Jesus also spent a lot of time with people who were sexually diverse, and we have no evidence that Jesus spoke against homosexuality.
(Meredith and Derek are getting married in a cut and dried civil ceremony, while Callie and Arizona are getting married in an over-the-top wedding ceremony that's not legal. The point I'm seeing is that a legal wedding is a business relationship, and a wedding is also a celebration.)
Which is where I was going with this post. Marriage is a relationship that wasn't a Christian ritual until the Christians asked their priests to perform wedding rituals for them like the pagans were performing. Ancient Greeks and Romans celebrated marriages informally (a little more formal than "shacking up", and the Greeks at least also acknowledged same-sex unions); and it wasn't until Bishop Ignatius in the second century that we see written Christian records (similar to the writings of Paul, a few decades earlier) suggesting that marriage was preferable to lusting. Christian religious marriages didn't become normative for centuries, and it was only in the 15th century, around the time of Martin Luther, that we start to see religious marriage tied up with affairs of the state.
Weddings exist as a function of and for the good of the state, which has an interest in maintaining marriages and families and the status quo. Christianity, being an imperial religion, has simply codified and sanctified the interests of the state.
All of which is fine in my book. But given that Christian practice is what it is, I don't think it's right or fair for same-sex couples to feel at a disadvantage because they can't celebrate a Christian marriage. I can't be a Catholic priest, either. It doesn't mean it's right; it means that's the dogma associated with that religious group. Why would someone want their union to be sanctioned by an entity that doesn't honor who they are? I guess that's my question. A church isn't a public organization; it's a body of believers. If you don't share the beliefs of that body, why would you want that body to sanctify or otherwise put its stamp of approval on your relationship? And that goes for heterosexual couples, as well. I don't understand how people live a life apart from God and then want to have a big, fancy church wedding. The church isn't a good-luck charm, it's not a salon, it's a sacred place. How can you intellectually or otherwise acknowledge its sanctity without acknowledging it with your actions? Every day, not just when you want to get married.
So I was talking about two worlds, the world of religious homophobes, and the world of, for lack of a better term, anti-religious "homophiles." But that's actually a tangent. I was out of the South Bronx today, downtown at a training. I was actually in the building just outside the heliport where President Obama landed. I got pictures of the snipers on the roof, and I got pictures of the heliport, but I missed him.
The training had a free breakfast: bagels, granola, boiled eggs, peanut butter, assorted danish, muffins, scones, coffee, tea -- all just laid out, all you could eat. Lunch was catered as well: sandwiches, green and pasta salads, a cookie assortment, and we sat in comfy couches on the 31st floor and looked out over the East River and the Statue of Liberty and Ells Island and New Jersey.
After the training, I walked through the FiDi, up the east side to Wall Street and then across Wall Street to the Broadway line. Two things struck me: how much stress and tension I saw in people, and how incredibly blessed my life has been. (PS: I want "Love Never Dies" by Patti Labelle to be the recessional at my funeral.) I went up through the greenmarket at Bowling Green, but didn't need anything. I wanted to go to Sym's but had purposely left the wallet with credit cards at home (I have something if there's ever a real emergency. I have to stop carrying and using credit cards). So I just walked the streets. I saw a woman selling magnets. She had a sign that said she was diabetic and needed insulin. I don't know whether it was true or not; I know that I no longer have diabetes, even when I eat junk, and even when I had diabetes I had to shoot up twice a day but it wasn't insulin. It's a blessing not to have the disease any more. So I bought a magnet, with gratitude.
But I thought about how incredibly different the world of polished marble and mahogany is from the peeling paint and sheetrock of my South Bronx world. I took pictures of the food because my staff would get a kick out of it. On Wall Street, I see business suits and tourists; in the South Bronx, I see sagging pants and hoodies. Once upon a time, I used to be self-conscious around the Wall Street suit types -- I always wondered if my bargain-basement suits were of a good enough quality, or (since I've never been a fashion victim) I always wondered if "they" somehow "knew" I was "different." Today, as I strolled along in jeans, shirt and jacket (covered by my delightful leather bomber jacket), I only thought about how cool it was that I could be me in that environment, and not have to worry about having the right wardrobe. Today, I knew my wardrobe was right because it was on my back. And I was grateful I wasn't one of the stressed-out "suits." And while we're speaking of two worlds, I came in from two hours of working out tonight and got a call from a student. There's this world I live in with my South Bronx and Harlem charges and congregants. That's distinct from, but related to, the world(s) of my students. And those worlds are both very different from the corporate / Wall Street world for which I spent so much time preparing and in which I spent so many years of my life.
That world has lots more perks. I ain't gonna lie; I like the polished marble and mahogany. I like coming home in cars. I like having people clean my bathroom and my office and my house. I like the pissing contests. I like the ostentatious displays of wealth. God forgive me, I even like the excess. It's nice, comforting even, to know that you've got "stuff" and plenty of it, and that you know where and how to get more "stuff."
But all that stuff isn't what life's about. All that stuff is from another world. Today I can easily navigate between the two worlds, mostly because I know who I am, and I know Whose I am.
Or maybe it's just because I realize they are two worlds, and each of them only has the meaning I give to it.....
What I'm having an issue with in the whole gay marriage thing, is people who somehow feel they're getting shorted because they can't have a same-sex wedding in a church. First of all, you need to understand that marriage exists for the convenience of the State. While Jesus did perform His first miracle at a wedding, and while Jesus did consider marriage between man and woman normative, Jesus also spent a lot of time with people who were sexually diverse, and we have no evidence that Jesus spoke against homosexuality.
(Meredith and Derek are getting married in a cut and dried civil ceremony, while Callie and Arizona are getting married in an over-the-top wedding ceremony that's not legal. The point I'm seeing is that a legal wedding is a business relationship, and a wedding is also a celebration.)
Which is where I was going with this post. Marriage is a relationship that wasn't a Christian ritual until the Christians asked their priests to perform wedding rituals for them like the pagans were performing. Ancient Greeks and Romans celebrated marriages informally (a little more formal than "shacking up", and the Greeks at least also acknowledged same-sex unions); and it wasn't until Bishop Ignatius in the second century that we see written Christian records (similar to the writings of Paul, a few decades earlier) suggesting that marriage was preferable to lusting. Christian religious marriages didn't become normative for centuries, and it was only in the 15th century, around the time of Martin Luther, that we start to see religious marriage tied up with affairs of the state.
Weddings exist as a function of and for the good of the state, which has an interest in maintaining marriages and families and the status quo. Christianity, being an imperial religion, has simply codified and sanctified the interests of the state.
All of which is fine in my book. But given that Christian practice is what it is, I don't think it's right or fair for same-sex couples to feel at a disadvantage because they can't celebrate a Christian marriage. I can't be a Catholic priest, either. It doesn't mean it's right; it means that's the dogma associated with that religious group. Why would someone want their union to be sanctioned by an entity that doesn't honor who they are? I guess that's my question. A church isn't a public organization; it's a body of believers. If you don't share the beliefs of that body, why would you want that body to sanctify or otherwise put its stamp of approval on your relationship? And that goes for heterosexual couples, as well. I don't understand how people live a life apart from God and then want to have a big, fancy church wedding. The church isn't a good-luck charm, it's not a salon, it's a sacred place. How can you intellectually or otherwise acknowledge its sanctity without acknowledging it with your actions? Every day, not just when you want to get married.
So I was talking about two worlds, the world of religious homophobes, and the world of, for lack of a better term, anti-religious "homophiles." But that's actually a tangent. I was out of the South Bronx today, downtown at a training. I was actually in the building just outside the heliport where President Obama landed. I got pictures of the snipers on the roof, and I got pictures of the heliport, but I missed him.
The training had a free breakfast: bagels, granola, boiled eggs, peanut butter, assorted danish, muffins, scones, coffee, tea -- all just laid out, all you could eat. Lunch was catered as well: sandwiches, green and pasta salads, a cookie assortment, and we sat in comfy couches on the 31st floor and looked out over the East River and the Statue of Liberty and Ells Island and New Jersey.
After the training, I walked through the FiDi, up the east side to Wall Street and then across Wall Street to the Broadway line. Two things struck me: how much stress and tension I saw in people, and how incredibly blessed my life has been. (PS: I want "Love Never Dies" by Patti Labelle to be the recessional at my funeral.) I went up through the greenmarket at Bowling Green, but didn't need anything. I wanted to go to Sym's but had purposely left the wallet with credit cards at home (I have something if there's ever a real emergency. I have to stop carrying and using credit cards). So I just walked the streets. I saw a woman selling magnets. She had a sign that said she was diabetic and needed insulin. I don't know whether it was true or not; I know that I no longer have diabetes, even when I eat junk, and even when I had diabetes I had to shoot up twice a day but it wasn't insulin. It's a blessing not to have the disease any more. So I bought a magnet, with gratitude.
But I thought about how incredibly different the world of polished marble and mahogany is from the peeling paint and sheetrock of my South Bronx world. I took pictures of the food because my staff would get a kick out of it. On Wall Street, I see business suits and tourists; in the South Bronx, I see sagging pants and hoodies. Once upon a time, I used to be self-conscious around the Wall Street suit types -- I always wondered if my bargain-basement suits were of a good enough quality, or (since I've never been a fashion victim) I always wondered if "they" somehow "knew" I was "different." Today, as I strolled along in jeans, shirt and jacket (covered by my delightful leather bomber jacket), I only thought about how cool it was that I could be me in that environment, and not have to worry about having the right wardrobe. Today, I knew my wardrobe was right because it was on my back. And I was grateful I wasn't one of the stressed-out "suits." And while we're speaking of two worlds, I came in from two hours of working out tonight and got a call from a student. There's this world I live in with my South Bronx and Harlem charges and congregants. That's distinct from, but related to, the world(s) of my students. And those worlds are both very different from the corporate / Wall Street world for which I spent so much time preparing and in which I spent so many years of my life.
That world has lots more perks. I ain't gonna lie; I like the polished marble and mahogany. I like coming home in cars. I like having people clean my bathroom and my office and my house. I like the pissing contests. I like the ostentatious displays of wealth. God forgive me, I even like the excess. It's nice, comforting even, to know that you've got "stuff" and plenty of it, and that you know where and how to get more "stuff."
But all that stuff isn't what life's about. All that stuff is from another world. Today I can easily navigate between the two worlds, mostly because I know who I am, and I know Whose I am.
Or maybe it's just because I realize they are two worlds, and each of them only has the meaning I give to it.....
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
More Twisted
As much as I love the People Israel, I'm not a big fan of the modern Nation of Israel. How twisted is it, then, that GoogleAds has analyzed the words in my blogs and decided that an ad for the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews is appropriate for my site.
And it IS appropriate, of course. I'm just not a proponent of the "who will protect Jerusalem from the forces that would harm her" sort of propaganda that's fed in the ad. In my opinion (to which, I would remind my dissenting friends, I am entitled) -- in my opinion, the forces that would harm Jerusalem are there, busily trying to lay claim to her. The forces that would harm Jerusalem are the ones who advocate racial superiority through some twisted religious interpretation. The ones who would harm Jerusalem are the ones who continually instigate and incite people to tear down instead of building up the tenuous yet calm coexistence that blankets the Holy City.
I opened this post to write about something else twisted. I'm watching L&O SVU and heard them say that multiple impregnators should be criminalized and that getting a woman pregnant without her consent should be considered rape.
Which brings me to my January 17 post on Standards.
Which leads me to think how very twisted we really are.
Says Cassandra, who just ate two pieces of Ezekiel bread with Canadian bacon, mango butter and cinnamon even though I wasn't sleepy (but it was delicious!)
Have a very early training in the morning, followed by a new class called aqua insanity, with maybe a little strength and cardio thrown in first. Should be an interesting day.
I'm kinda falling asleep right now, but in my work life feel like I'm just waking up. The affable, pleasant lady is gone; the warrior with Standards who upholds those Standards and for whom falling short of those standards is not acceptable -- that's who I'm becoming. Of course, I probably need to become that way at home first. I feel like the people I work with are so in need of focus and direction that they would gladly be fatally distracted if they had any access to their Boss's personal life. Well, fatally distracted is a stretch. They';d be fatally bored, but, gossipmongers that they are, would find a way to become fatally distracted. I've seen folk lie to me, bat their eyes and assure me there's been a misunderstanding; I have reason to believe that some folk are actually stealing from my office. Maybe I can create a little surprise before I go....
Anyway. I'm fading and it's almost 11. God bless y'all. just don't let the haters get you all twisted. Haters hate. Winners WIN!! I'm a winner!!!!!! WE ARE CONQUERORS!
You know what's hard, though? What's hard is when you open up your PDA and forget why you opened it up, That's harder. But I'f found tht if I take a minute, things will be alright.
OK, the guitar and Jesus doll in the corner have turned into a hulking monster. Either I'm completely faded or it's past my bedtime. See ya later!
And it IS appropriate, of course. I'm just not a proponent of the "who will protect Jerusalem from the forces that would harm her" sort of propaganda that's fed in the ad. In my opinion (to which, I would remind my dissenting friends, I am entitled) -- in my opinion, the forces that would harm Jerusalem are there, busily trying to lay claim to her. The forces that would harm Jerusalem are the ones who advocate racial superiority through some twisted religious interpretation. The ones who would harm Jerusalem are the ones who continually instigate and incite people to tear down instead of building up the tenuous yet calm coexistence that blankets the Holy City.
I opened this post to write about something else twisted. I'm watching L&O SVU and heard them say that multiple impregnators should be criminalized and that getting a woman pregnant without her consent should be considered rape.
Which brings me to my January 17 post on Standards.
Which leads me to think how very twisted we really are.
Says Cassandra, who just ate two pieces of Ezekiel bread with Canadian bacon, mango butter and cinnamon even though I wasn't sleepy (but it was delicious!)
Have a very early training in the morning, followed by a new class called aqua insanity, with maybe a little strength and cardio thrown in first. Should be an interesting day.
I'm kinda falling asleep right now, but in my work life feel like I'm just waking up. The affable, pleasant lady is gone; the warrior with Standards who upholds those Standards and for whom falling short of those standards is not acceptable -- that's who I'm becoming. Of course, I probably need to become that way at home first. I feel like the people I work with are so in need of focus and direction that they would gladly be fatally distracted if they had any access to their Boss's personal life. Well, fatally distracted is a stretch. They';d be fatally bored, but, gossipmongers that they are, would find a way to become fatally distracted. I've seen folk lie to me, bat their eyes and assure me there's been a misunderstanding; I have reason to believe that some folk are actually stealing from my office. Maybe I can create a little surprise before I go....
Anyway. I'm fading and it's almost 11. God bless y'all. just don't let the haters get you all twisted. Haters hate. Winners WIN!! I'm a winner!!!!!! WE ARE CONQUERORS!
You know what's hard, though? What's hard is when you open up your PDA and forget why you opened it up, That's harder. But I'f found tht if I take a minute, things will be alright.
OK, the guitar and Jesus doll in the corner have turned into a hulking monster. Either I'm completely faded or it's past my bedtime. See ya later!
Twisted
It's funny how life works. For every glass that's half full, there's a glass that's half empty. It just depends on how you look at it.
And where you are changes your perspective. It's taken me some time to realize that. When I have my collar on, it constantly reminds me that my position is different than that of my flock -- the bar has been raised, the standards are higher. I get that and, for the most part, have been able to honor it.
But in the secular world -- despite all the disrespect of those in authority that I see around me -- in the secular world, I somehow maintain the naive notion that people will rise to their highest levels and that everything will work together for the greater good. Well, everyTHING will work together for the greater good, but not everyONE will join in the working together.
People will blow smoke up your butt and tell you they're trying to revive you. The reality is that people blow smoke up your butt because they're testing you, trying to see what you've got, trying to see if you're dead or alive. I'm slowly realizing that, while many of my employees are talented, lovely, and delightful individuals, there are some who are dishonest, deceitful, and conniving individuals, ones who would blow smoke up my butt to see if I'm still alive, all the while telling me they're trying to revive me.
Which is really unfortunate. It's just so twisted. And I hate walking around being that witch that everyone fears. I hate walking around with that big stick. But I'm in a place that's gotten very twisted. It's going to take some twists to get out of the twisted environment and into one that is whole. I think we're going to twist and shout.
I guess I started this thinking about how twisted it is for us as Americans to celebrate in the streets that another human has been killed. No, I'm no fan of Bin Laden, but I'm no fan of murder either, and I'm certainly no fan of celebrating because someone's been murdered. When we do that, when I see the pictures of Americans dancing with flags and celebrating Bin Laden's death, I'm immediately reminded of the people who were pictured burning American flags and celebrating the fall of the Towers. We think one is ok and one is not ok, but, IMHO, to think that shows some twist in our own value system. It's twisted to actually dance on someone's grave. It's twisted to rejoice in anyone's suffering. It's twisted for us to think it's ok to engage in these behaviors because our cause is "just" or "right," while simultaneously condemning others for engaging in the exact same behaviors for the exact same reasons.
God, have mercy on us.
And where you are changes your perspective. It's taken me some time to realize that. When I have my collar on, it constantly reminds me that my position is different than that of my flock -- the bar has been raised, the standards are higher. I get that and, for the most part, have been able to honor it.
But in the secular world -- despite all the disrespect of those in authority that I see around me -- in the secular world, I somehow maintain the naive notion that people will rise to their highest levels and that everything will work together for the greater good. Well, everyTHING will work together for the greater good, but not everyONE will join in the working together.
People will blow smoke up your butt and tell you they're trying to revive you. The reality is that people blow smoke up your butt because they're testing you, trying to see what you've got, trying to see if you're dead or alive. I'm slowly realizing that, while many of my employees are talented, lovely, and delightful individuals, there are some who are dishonest, deceitful, and conniving individuals, ones who would blow smoke up my butt to see if I'm still alive, all the while telling me they're trying to revive me.
Which is really unfortunate. It's just so twisted. And I hate walking around being that witch that everyone fears. I hate walking around with that big stick. But I'm in a place that's gotten very twisted. It's going to take some twists to get out of the twisted environment and into one that is whole. I think we're going to twist and shout.
I guess I started this thinking about how twisted it is for us as Americans to celebrate in the streets that another human has been killed. No, I'm no fan of Bin Laden, but I'm no fan of murder either, and I'm certainly no fan of celebrating because someone's been murdered. When we do that, when I see the pictures of Americans dancing with flags and celebrating Bin Laden's death, I'm immediately reminded of the people who were pictured burning American flags and celebrating the fall of the Towers. We think one is ok and one is not ok, but, IMHO, to think that shows some twist in our own value system. It's twisted to actually dance on someone's grave. It's twisted to rejoice in anyone's suffering. It's twisted for us to think it's ok to engage in these behaviors because our cause is "just" or "right," while simultaneously condemning others for engaging in the exact same behaviors for the exact same reasons.
God, have mercy on us.