We are the lucky ones....

A preamble to this entry. An amazing opportunity to give to something greater than oursleves is here. This group is doing powerful things. Donations will be matched.
I volunteer with the Red Cross, going to schools giving talks on either a)Poverty/Disease Cycle or b)Children in War. Often at the conclusion of the Poverty/Disease Cycle I read this little piece.

We are the Lucky Ones

If You Can Read........
....then you are luckier than over one billion people who cannot read at all.

If You Woke Up This Morning With More Health Than Illness......
....then you are luckier than the more than
one million people who'll not survive this week...and even luckier if you have accessible care.

If You Have Never Experienced the Danger of Battle, The Loneliness of Imprisonment, The Agony of Torture, Or The Pangs of Starvation......

....then you are ahead of 300 million people in the world.

If You Can Attend Any Meeting You Want -Political, Religious, Social......

.....then you are luckier than 3 billion people in the world.

If You Have Food In the fridge, Cloths On Your Back, A Roof Overhead And A Place To Sleep ......

...then you are richer than 75% of this world.

If You Have Money In the Bank, In Your Wallet, And Spare Change In A dish Someplace......

....then you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy.

Joseph Stalin once said "One death is a tragedy; a million is a statistic." I do not throw these numbers out to numb the mind or take away from the individual tragedy each represents, but as a reminder to myself. How blessed am I.... What am I doing with that blessing? In the face of God justice kisses the lips of mercy. As a follower of Christ I believe I am called to work against injustice and practice mercy. May I always remember the individual God breathed lives that these numbers represent, may I never become "comfortably numb".

Orange farm

Seeing Eleanor Rigby in the Mirror

on the pavement

A friend recently used the word "Shibboleth" in a blog entry and somehow this locution resonated with me and brought order to some of the cacophony of thoughts and ideas that have been moiling about my mind and soul lately.
What is my search for community about? Is it about finding a way to serve others? Or a way to meet one's own needs. Am I looking to affirm or to be affirmed?
Shibboleth is a term from the Hebrew which represents a linguistic password. It's a way of acknowledging those who are a part of the in group and those who are not. A form of inclusion that is meant to exclude. Those who speak correctly are allowed to live. Those who mispronounce, misunderstand, miss the boat; they are put to the sword. How true in today's disconnected, individualistic, consumer driven, in-group seeking world. People desperately searching for a way in which to belong to something, anything, just so they won't be left alone. Alone to face themselves. Alone to face God, naked, without the comfort of slogans or mantras or inner-ring conceits. C.S. Lewis wrote that the desire to be a part of an "Inner Ring" is one of the most powerful driving forces of human behaviour and thought. In his words "The quest of the Inner Ring will break your hearts unless you break it." (The Weight of Glory) To Lewis both "pining and moping outside Rings that you can never enter" and "passing triumphantly further and further in" are dangerous states of being. In each of those possibilities the rings tighten and strangle the soul that seeks to cleave and find true relationship. Rings like this dictate that you sacrifice your true self on the alter of conformity and that you demand others do the same. A false offering that cannot heal. the smoke does not rise.
Relationship is a good and natural desire. We, created in the very image of a God who is relationship personified, must have connection in order to live. But, fallen and broken we turn what is a thing of beauty and freedom into yet another weapon. One that we believe we are using in self defense, not realizing that those who live by this sword, die by it. How do we take the blade and beat in into a plowshare? In the words of Edward Markham
He drew a circle that shut me out,
heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.
But love and I had the wit to win;
We drew a circle that took him in.
Love, being a receptical of the enduring never ending eternally inclusionary love of God can turn us from seeking an inner ring to seekers of circles in which the centre is eternal and the circumference nowhere. (apologies to Timaeus of Locris)

Satan Seen at Cinema

random picture-no real relation to this entry

I read a little piece today about a 19 year old man who was forced to leave a theatre amidst cat calls and thrown food. The reason? He was at a showing of Mel Gibson's "The Passion" wearing a bright red devil's costume. Faithful evangelicals upset by his presence demanded his removal and pelted him with food and wrappers (let he without sin throw the kernel?). The theatre owners are now instituting a rule that no one will be given admittance if wearing costumes of evil entities. (I wonder how will they handle Star Wars fans dressing as Vador for Episode 3?) The reason for his attire? He wore it in order to "prove there was no God." If there was a God, surely this God would strike him down for what he was doing. Besides the twisted humour I see in this it did bring up some interesting thoughts.

1) What sort of petty small view of God are we giving the world? A petulant being who is so concerned with self image that he will smite anyone who tries to defy him by wearing a culturally derived costume of Belezabub? A god who does not seem to mind being mocked by those who hate and destroy in his name, but cannot take insolence shown towards a movie? I don't believe in any such god either. God is so much bigger and more than that. However; I fear many Christians project the petty god as the true nature of God. When we decry purple telletubies, when we focus all our energy on hating the sin and none on loving our neighbour, when we become rule bound, legislation living, humourless beings, we paint the picture that the world sees. I imagine the fact that this view of a small god is so prevalent is more an affront to the true God than that red costume ever could be.

2) How much do we worship media and image? In thinking that mocking this movie could be the same as mocking God this young man is a metaphor for the way in which we view our symbols and idols. In thinking that they were defending "God Himself" by defending this movie the Christians in the audience were linking the Represented with the representation. Attempting to ridicule a work of art, is not the same as defiling the Sacred. Mel Gibson made a movie that represented his vision of a portion of the story of God. But it is not, in face, a manifestation of God. This is not a case of touching the Ark of the Covenent or entering the Holy of Holy's. Again, God is being made far to small.
If you decide that wearing a devil's costume is appealing, here is a website for you.

Recanting Resolution Rejection

Earlier in the New Year I thought about not wanting to make resolutions this year; but I've decided to reconsider. I meant every word of my statement of revolution, every breath, every fibre, every heart beat confirms their veracity. However; that said, I think I was a little all-too-serious in tossing aside the notion of resolutions. Life needs a little whimsy (and I love whimsy)and setting goals for the New Year can provide that and give motivation and encouragement to find new paths. So, in the spirit of beginnings I'm going to mix up a New Years Goals List with items on my "Things To Do Before I Die List."
The road to be taken.......

Picking random selections to accomplish by the end of 2005.

1) Read:
The Brothers Karamazov: Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Slaughterhouse Five: Kurt Vonnegut
Krapp's Last Tape: Samuel Beckett
The Glass Bead Game: Hermann Hesse
Phenomenology of Spirit: GWF. Hegel

2) Watch:
A clockwork orange: Movie
A live version of Le' Boheme: Opera
The sun rise and set over the ocean sunset at the same place on the
same day: Life

3) Do:
Organize time better, less procrastination more intentionality (ongoing
goal)
Give "I love knowing you" gifts anonymously, make sure they never find
out ......
Volunteer with the Salvation Army

Learn the names of the "street people" I come in contact with.....
Visit a country I haven't yet set foot upon

Find & purchase a piece of art that I love; in a flea market
Dance like nobody's watching, even when they are

Go camping(yes even though I've spent much of my life in beautiful BC,I've never camped)
Spend a day in silence at the abbey

Do a wine sampling tour
Begin learning Latin

All in all, this looks like the beginnings of an interesting year....but someone out there really got this resolution list right. I am so going to steal this idea

Exceedingly Random Thoughts in the Wee hours of the Morning.....

KFC%20copy
Originally uploaded by wabi6.

I see a new KFC is going up near campus, ach, I hates the friggin KFC, which puts an addictive chemical in theirr chicken that makes you crrave it forrtnightly. Acht! I hate the Colonel, wi' his wee beady eyes.

(props to those who recognize the source quote)

Now for people who REALLY hate KFC.....