I attended my first Muslim worship gathering today. It was about as I thought it might be (see: college student faith outreach center). I didn’t stop to consider how much I’d wish I knew Arabic… evidently understanding what’s said in worship is a deeply-embedded custom for me. ** By the time I made it back […]
“How do we protect the vulnerable, and fight for the common good without turning on ourselves? How do we do the right thing and speak the truth?” —Nadia Boltz-Weber, known on Twitter as @Sarcasticluther Today in my World Religions discussion section we tried to talk about violence and Islam. And violence and the US, and […]
…so instead I’m reading. But what do we mean by identity? The missiologist-theologians Vinay Samuel and Chris Sugden, who have studied identity and dignity, nuance the differences between the two as those of substance and value, suggesting, “Identity answers the question ‘Who am I?’, while dignity answers the question, ‘What am I worth?’” […] Within […]
אכלתי מקום אננ (I ate at Ann’s place. While studying Hebrew with my group, but I don’t know those words yet. Also, I’m using “know” very loosely, because I looked up aleph-kaf-lamed (the root for “eat”) in my vocab list yet again. It’s coming together.)
Nick Young: We’re… comfortable. Rachel Chu: “Comfortable” is what rich people say!! — Crazy Rich Asians (film) I’m unlikely to make it to my guided workout today because I’m waiting for the plumber. Yesterday our hot-water heater refused — it’s tankless, so it’s an all-or-nothing proposition — and hot water’s a priority. (I’ve been holding […]
The new iPhone, the surprise delightful note, the six hours of sleep, the rabbit trail of PC(USA) ordination standards reviewed for to follow because it’s easier to walk to a bureaucratic end and say, hmm, perhaps not than to do the opposite. All these, plus a piece of work that grabbed me by the nape […]
I’m at a friend’s child’s wedding (!). I am verrryy sleepy — it’s been another long week — and I’m pretty sure that’s not what Jack Johnson sang. But I like it anyway.
Words for/from anyone under siege, really. My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain! Oh, the walls of my heart! My heart is beating wildly; I cannot keep silent; for I hear the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. Disaster overtakes disaster, the whole land is laid waste. Suddenly my [house, garage, and […]
The most destructive forms of speech in community, Benedict understood, are those that involve judgments against the other. Benedict calls this form of speech “murmuring,” included all forms of griping, gossiping, and nagging. He forbids it absolutely. When I was a monk, I thought that the rule of silence was mainly in service of contemplation. […]
Y’know, seminary has some heavy intellectual lifting to it, but it’s the physical load of my laptop and books that’s knotting my shoulders and increasing the girth of my thighs! As I’m wrapping up for the day and packing my briefcase for tonight/tomorrow morning, I’m prioritizing my classes by text-weight! Thank heavens I don’t have […]
