In his press conference yesterday in Dublin, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, condemned the actions of the Ugandan rag "Rolling Stone" (not to be confused with the US magazine) for calling for the hanging of "homos". He pointed out that words matter ..... when uttered by what he called "this rotten, disgraceful Ugandan publication" and they have serious consequences. Responsibility needs to be taken, he said.
The same goes for the Archbishop. Words matter. In the same press conference he defended Ugandan Archbishop Henry Orombi's anti-gay stance. The Irish Times put it this way: "Defending Bishop Orombi, Archbishop Williams, head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, emphasised that, as with other relevant Anglican primates, Bishop Orombi’s position concerned “exclusion from ministry on grounds of behaviour, not orientation”.
Those words uttered by the Archbishop, supporting the institutionalized homophobia in the Church of Uganda, matter. They send a dangerous mixed message that does nothing but perpetuate an atmosphere of fear and discrimination. An atmosphere that could lead to violence and death. He needs to take responsibility for muddy-ing the waters.
Here is the Church of Uganda's position on homosexuality:
From a plain reading of Scripture, from a careful reading of Scripture, and from a critical reading of Scripture, homosexual practice has no place in God’s design of creation, the continuation of the human race through procreation, or His plan of redemption. Even natural law reveals that the very act of sexual intercourse is an experience of embracing the sexual “other”. The Church of Uganda, therefore, believes that “Homosexual practice is incompatible with Scripture” (Resolution 1.10, 1998 Lambeth Conference). At the same time, the Church of Uganda is committed at all levels to offer counseling, healing and prayer for people with homosexual disorientation, especially in our schools and other institutions of learning. The Church is a safe place for individuals, who are confused about their sexuality or struggling with sexual brokenness, to seek help and healing.
The Archbishop supports Orambi's exclusion of homosexuals. How does excluding people for who they are even pretend to be Christian?
Word matter. Our words matter as well. We need to continue to urge the Archbishop of Canterbury and all faith leaders to step up and speak out against homophobia. We need to ask the Archbishop to stop speaking out of both sides of his mouth. He needs to hear words that say: Supporting those who support homophobia is no different than supporting homophobia yourself.
Yesterday the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, Katharine Jefferts-Schori, called upon us all to "heal the world". A giant step toward healing is ending homophobia. A good start would be for the Archbishop of Canterbury to recognize his words matter. No more mixed messages. Please!!!!!!
Twenty years ago, I was on a Pastoral Search Committee, and one of the questions we asked the ten candidates we interviewed in the first round was to tell us their three favorite passages of scripture.I loved hearing the variety of verses quoted and even learned some that I didn't know, such as the last line of one of this week's lectionary passages:
He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8)
For today's Friday Five, list your five favorite passages/verses from the Bible and tell us something about why you love them.
1) The Micah passage above is special to me. When I was a teenager my mother cross-stitched a motto for me to have in my room:
Do justly,
love mercy,
Walk humbly with thy God
I don't remember the conversation or circumstance that brought that up, why it was something that was special to me, except that it really encapsulates all the "instructions," in case we should wake up and feel that we can't quite remember them.
2) Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.
I made my Cursillo in the early 90's, in the Diocese of Texas (Episcopal). Each Cursillo has a theme drawn from scripture, and ours was the Cursillo of the Great Cloud of Witnesses. Each decuria (table) had a witness/saint as our patron. My group was named for Saint Maximilian Kolbe, who was a Polish friar who offered to die in the place of a stranger while they were both held in the Auschwitz concentration camp. According to the Jewish Virtual Library, where I also found this picture, "He is the patron saint of drug addicts, political prisoners, families, journalists, prisoners and the pro-life movement. Pope John Paul II declared him the “The Patron Saint of Our Difficult Century.” (we still need one in this century...)
Two things about the passage greatly appeal to me. The Great Cloud of Witnesses, to me, includes the people who surround and support me, but also those who have gone before. My Gramma Beth, Aunt Etta Jane, Janet, Tennyson, you've heard the list before. So there is a huge, HUGE cushion of support. And given that, I love the idea of throwing off the things that trouble or hinder us. The image in my mind is of a marathon, where runners stop and get water from cheering volunteers, or those silver reflective thermal blankets. Then they run on! My "volunteers" are the people I mentioned...and the people I love in daily life...and you who read these words.
We put no stumbling block in anyone’s path, so that our ministry will not be discredited. Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.
I have never been a lover of Paul (I'm in recovery for this). And I'm not about glorification or enjoyment of suffering. But I tell you, this passage has schooled me. It has pwned me. Because there are those of you out there, and you know who you are, who have been through the fire and borne the Words of Christ all the way, sometimes not knowing how. One friend in particular brought home this passage to me; through an impossibly long and difficult time she continued to pursue the call God had made to her. At a time when I was wondering if there WAS a God, her continued adherence to that call, despite the rotten things that had happened to her on the way, made me believe. There had to be a God, because that God was CALLING my friend.
There are a lot of you out there who have been through this fire, and how you witness to me. I will say that Paul's "always rejoicing" seems a little bit manic for me...if we are not also sometimes grieving, swearing, crying, hitting the bed with a baseball bat...it's hard to get to rejoicing. Maybe Paul didn't have time to write about that stuff in this verse.
4) Psalm 46, vs. 1-6
1 God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, 3 though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.
4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. 5 God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. 6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts.
Much of my favorite scripture comes to me from songs. There's a lovely, soaring tune I have in my head and these are the words:
There is a river, whose streams make glad
The City of God, the City of God
The Holy Habitation of the Most High,
The City of God, the City of God
God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved
The Lord of Hosts is with her.
Somehow, as a little girl hearing this song, I got the idea that God was in the midst of ME. Because I was a HER. (Who says gender doesn't make a difference to how we experience scripture!) So the image in my mind is a river flowing through me, that is God. That's a powerful image to create and live in.
5) Psalm 130
1Out of the depths I have cried to You, O LORD. 2Lord, hear my voice! Let Your ears be attentive To the voice of my supplications. 3If You, GOD, should mark iniquities, O God, who could stand? 4But there is forgiveness with You, That You may be feared. 5I wait for the LORD, my soul does wait, And in God's word do I hope. 6My soul waits for the Lord More than the watchmen for the morning; Indeed, more than the watchmen for the morning. 7O Israel, hope in the LORD; For with the LORD there is loving-kindness, And with God is abundant redemption. 8And God will redeem Israel From all her iniquities.
(MB version)
I love this one because it is the text for "Out of the Deep" for the Rutter Requiem, which I love.
Also, because when I need to cry out of the depths...I know I am not the only one. No, no, no.
And perhaps most for the line, "My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, Indeed, more than watchmen for the morning."
I have a memory of weekday scripture sharing at Canterbury House with Fr. Jeff, Mary Lenn, and Shirley, when that passage jumped out at me for the first time. Watchmen (watchpersons?) have NO DOUBT that the morning will come. Just like me, as I sat at a desk below a west-facing window to type this. It was black, pitch black outside. But the morning has come, as I knew it would
I can see the reflection of the sun rising over the roof of the house next door, and when I drive to work (soon!) I will have to be very careful as I turn at the intersection of Fry and Hickory streets, where the rising sun POURS over the roofs of the Pita Pit, because you cannot.see.anything. And kids going to the University, they jump out into the road, it seems.
I know this will happen. Even if it is raining and there seems to be NO sun, it is there. And it's so good to have a baseline for life. The sun will rise every day. God will be there. In the midst of us.
So, here's a whole new thing: Vlogging. Like, video blogging.
I found this at Other Pieces of Me, and was very amused. So I made one of my own. After a good bit of trial and error, and moving from Youtube to Vimeo, I've managed to make my mouth match up with my voice. Whew, that's a relief!
Questions to answer: •What is it called when you throw toilet paper on a house? •What is the bug that when you touch it, it curls into a ball? •What is the bubbly carbonated drink called? •What do you call gym shoes? •What do you say to address a group of people? •What do you call the kind of spider that has an oval-shaped •body and extremely long legs? •What do you call your grandparents? •What do you call the wheeled contraption in which you carry •groceries at the supermarket? •What do you call it when rain falls while the sun is shining? •What is the thing you change the TV channel with?
Jan says at RevGals: I hope some of you received books for Christmas presents; I did and have been reading ever since. Then I discovered a new author from those recommendations that pop up on Amazon.com. Instead of buying those books, I've been checking them out at the library, which will not help Amazon's future recommendations for me at all.
So tell us what you're reading, what you would and would not recommend--five books or authors! And if you don't want to do that freestyle, here are some questions:
1. What books have you recently read? Tell us your opinion of them. Thanks to Jan, I am devouring the Maisie Dobbs books. My library had all but the first of them (argh) but I'll catch that up! Also, Naomi Levy's Hope Will Find You, which I'll be reviewing at RevGals on Monday (check it out). Love all of these.
3. Have any books been recently recommended? Well, Maisie Dobbs, as I say. Can't think of another.
4. What genre of books are your favorite, along with some titles and/or authors you like best? I like generational books that follow a family or group of people over time (Diana Gabaldon). I like good mysteries and I really like to browse the non-fiction New Books at the library. Never know what you will find.
5. What have you read lately that you have a strong urge to recommend? (or to condemn?) I just finished My Lie: A True Story of a False Memory by Meredith Maran. I put this in this category because it is such a tense book...oh, my God...and it paints a picture of the rise and fall of an hysteria. It gives the long view of many false memories and errant accusations (of course there are real ones, I'm not saying there aren't), and that shows me that the current hysteria we are living through with political rhetoric can and will rise and fall as well. I recommend it. It's a gripping and important read.
My cousin's youngest son was married last night (to a girl named Mary Beth!) and many of the Butler family turned out for the wedding held in Dallas.
The night before, my cousin Paul hosted the rehearsal dinner at his home. It's a wonderful little Spanish bungalow in an old Dallas neighborhood. Paul is my favorite cousin...he is just a few years older than me and he and Nancy and I used to play together a lot when we were little. He's always had the ability to make me laugh hysterically.
He's a designer and his home is amazing. One bedroom has at least 10 paintings of the Last Supper and several Sacred Heart and Guadalupe depictions. It's so...Paul. :) He also has a great portrait of our grandfather, in his bathroom. The entire effect is amazing and sort of like an art car home.
The wedding reception was in the Old Red Courthouse in Dallas, overlooking Dealy Plaza. Everything was lovely and a great time was had by all.
The best part, for me, was the family who were there. My Dad's sisters, aunts Betty and Emily, at 90 and 84, and my Uncle Oliver, at 93. There were five children in my Dad's family, four of whom had children. It turns out to be very complicated to explain to spouses. :) I'm not sure Ken will ever get it, but I never tire of telling him about the connections.
Because, my motto is: "It's all about the relationships you build." The essence of life is connecting. And my relationships to these people are more precious than I can say.
I wish I had pictures, to share them with you. But the only photo I took turned out terribly.
I have pictures in my mind, though. Uncle Oliver and his five great-grandchildren running around. My cousin George and his wife and two girls (who are young women now!) My sister Barbara and her husband. I could go on and give you all the names...but the point is the love and joy that I feel having been surrounded for two evenings by people who have known and loved me all my life.
Where I am it is dark, and it is cold, and it is snowing. I really wanted to stay in bed with the electric blanket cranked this morning. Share five things that made getting out of bed worthwhile for you today!
1) coffee, which was actually delivered to me in bed by my spouse. How wonderful is that!
2) the Domestic Goddess came yesterday; she and a friend worked like fiends for 3 hours. My house is...a new house. I'm so grateful and I'm wandering around marveling at it all!
3) It's Friday, and that's nice. I am wearing jeans. And, oh, there is heat in our offices for the first time this week! So that's pretty awesome. I admit to several bitter moments when I left my warm house to come to a cold office and type wearing fingerless gloves. Argh.
4) I got to see some squirrels! Any day when I am able to look a squirrel in the eye, is a good day.
5) There is a family wedding in Dallas this week, and I will get to see many of my extended family that I haven't seen for a long time. Greatly looking forward to it!
Bonus: (made up by me) It snowed on Sunday, and there is STILL snow on the ground from that. It's stayed that cold for that long. I know this is utterly insignificant to many of you, including SO, but it's been a big, cold deal here. I can see it receding. Temps in the 40's are coming! Maybe even rain on Sunday. :)
Hmm. As this is a family blog, I'll tell you about being at the Wildflower Fiber Retreat and Wildflower Knitting Camps. Indeed, there was much laughing, but that is not the focus of the event; it is about craft and creativity and womanhood and sustainability.
I can't figure out how to capture the photos, but if you go to this site and scroll through, the first few pictures are of a drop spindling class at last year's Fiber Retreat, and Mom and I are in photos 2, 3, and 4. Intently watching the workshop leader...we are wearing turquoise shirts.
Both events are held at Camp Tyler, which is gorgeous. It's in the Texas Piney Woods, looking over Lake Tyler.
Fiber Retreat is in the very early spring, and Knitting Camp in the late summer. Mom and I took niece Mallory to the latter twice. What a joy to introduce her to knitting...she has a great background in basic skills now, and if she decides to move ahead with it, she is ready. (Right now she is a cheerleader, clarinetist in band, basketball player, Beta Club member, UIL contests, showing rabbits...oh, and designing and making clever gifts for her friends like these flower hair pins:)
But I digress, due to my pride in Mallory's creativity.
As I look back, there was really a good bit of laughing: but that wasn't the reason we were there. It was a warm, solid, intensive experience of creativity. And that is a deeply fun thing. Especially with my mom.
Kant said that we require three things by which to measure happiness: someone to love, something we like to do, and somethingto look forward to. Who do you love, what do you like to do, and what are you looking forward to this year?
Obviously I'm not going to be doing these every day, and the one for today makes no sense to me:
"Find a quote that fits your intention for today and tell us both of them." Huh?
So I'm going with Kant, which was the prompt from Thursday.
I love a number of people. I will list first my partner, husband, funny person: Ken. Also my siblings and their offspring, my parents, and a number of friends.
I like to read. I am the local library's greatest supporter! I love to get books from the library: it makes me ridiculously happy. I would be sad to live in 100 years (or so) when there were no libraries. I'm sure by then I'd be used to whatever the tech was...but I prefer it as it is now. Thanks.
I am looking forward to getting into better shape. To my knees not hurting. To my shoulder getting better (which shall surely be a result of the exercise and the spinal decompression therapy I'm getting). To the best year EVAH. To being 46.
Yes, I know it's January and yes, I know some of us are still on a cool sprint after only a brief respite (if that) from Advent and Christmas BUT... before we move too far along into The Next, I wanted to give us a chance to reflect on What Was.
A couple of staff members and I sat down today and wrote down what worked and didn't work during the Advent and Christmas season. There are quite a few things bearing down on us at the moment so it was a discipline to do it, but ten and a half months from now Future Me is going to LOVE that we made the effort.
And so partly to give us all a record and partly to give us all a chance to reflect on the 2010 Holiday Season now that we are out of it, I ask you this:
1) What food item was one of your favorites this year - a definite keeper? Great big organic candy canes (?) that I got at Whole Foods. Fat free and they lasted a long, long, long time.
2) Was there a meal or party or a gathering that stands out in your mind from this most recent holiday season? The Lasagna. Ken asked for lasagna for Christmas dinner. So I looked and looked for my mother's recipe (I don't make lasagna that often!) and couldn't find the book it is in. So I used the recipe off of the lasagna noodle box...A mistake! It was watery, undercooked, and tasted like a collection of all the items in lasagna, without being it. I baked it for 1.5 hours more, and THEN all the ingredients got to know each other and it was a real lasagna. And it lasted for days!
3) Were you involved in a jaw-dropper gift? Were you the giver or recipient or an on-looker? Not so much...but I did get a big bottle of perfume (Philosophy's Grace) that I had asked for months before. I was surprised that Ken actually remembered and ordered it! :) I also was delighted that he remembered to replace the reindeer antlers and nose that go on my car at Christmas...he borrowed them last year for a motorcycle toy run and one of the antlers blew away. :) He had asked for Bill O'Reilly's new book (yeah, I know, but you give the people what they want) and I surprised him by having a personalized message and autograph in it.
4) Was there at least one moment where you experienced true worship? Christmas Eve midnight mass. I was the Vestry person responsible, and it was my first time to sit in the pews instead of being in the choir loft. I missed being part of the music-making, but I enjoyed being one of the congregation. The service started in dimness, as usual, but somehow the lights (which are usually turned up when the lector reads about The Word coming into the world) never got turned up. It was just a dim service. And that was very sweet and worshipful, especially seeing people dear to me go up for Communion in that dim and tender light. 5) What is at least one thing you want to make sure you do next year? Have a Christmas party. Yeah, I said it. Now I have to do it. :) BONUS: What is something you absolutely must remember to do differently... or not at all!
NaBloPoMo asks: Tell us about the day you were born.
I was born on April 5, 1965 in Houston, Texas. According to The Old Farmer's Almanac, it was approximately 74.5 degrees and may have rained that day.
That sounds like April in Houston. Actually, it was in Sharpstown, which was the neighborhood where we lived when I was born. According to teh Wiki: "(Sharpstown) was one of the first communities to be built as a master-planned, automobile centered community and the first in Houston. Frank Sharp, the developer of the subdivision, made provisions not only for homes but also for schools, shopping and recreation areas. While this model has been duplicated countless times in the past fifty years, at the time it was quite revolutionary, attracting national media attention."
Oh, I'm so cutting edge!
Actually, I only lived there 18 months, and then we moved westward, to the Spring Branch area of the city.
On the day I was born, my older brothers and sisters (two of each) were concerned and interested. In my baby book, I have a card that Bill's (3rd grade?) class made for me that says, "Welcome to the World!" and has all their signatures.
My baby nurse was Heather Marshall, the wife of my mom's cousin Frank Marshall. Frank is really the person (indirectly) responsible for my being here:
Originally from Tallahassee, Frank worked with my dad in Houston and told him, "I have a cousin you might like to meet." Both my parents were divorced and interested in a serious relationship. So they wrote lots of letters. Then my mom came from Florida to visit my dad (trip thinly disguised as attendance at a conference). The rest is history.
And Heather was my nurse in the nursery. So that's pretty cool.
Oh, and my uncle Jimmy came to visit in the hospital, and the nurse said, "Well! That's where she gets her red hair!" Whoops, he is an uncle by marriage. The red hair (now brown) is all me.
When we went home to our house on Neff Street, I have no idea what happened. I'm certain that it didn't happen the day I was born, though. Mom was knocked out for the birth. This was before it was like In and Out Burger to have a baby. :)
One last thing: I am pretty sure that there were bluebonnets blooming on the day I was born. That's the great advantage of an April 5 birthday: the Texas State Flower is everywhere to celebrate with me.
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