I had an interesting conversation the other day; question under review "Does concentrating on fighting injustice act as a red herring keeping us from the greater good of showing grace?" I've always thought I wanted to dedicate time and energy to fighting injustice, but perhaps it is time to rethink the perspective from which I come. Does the idea of fighting injustice make it more about me and what I'm doing? Emphasize my own strengths? While grace is more about the other?
My first thought of objection to that argument was the Civil Rights movement in the USA. All those who stood up and resisted segregation and opposed those who would subject's people on the basis of their skin colour. But....The more I thought about it the more it seemed that this example could be about showing grace and standing with the oppressed. Perhaps the difference lies in deciding whether you are going to stand against something or with someone. They may even lead to the same action, but a different starting point, a different attitude and a different perspective. Standing with the oppressed, taking on their burdens as our own, living sacrificially, are these things more about grace or justice? Is it possible that the best way to see justice is to show grace? Finding creative ways of standing in solidarity with those who struggle. The more examples I think of, the more I see it is about the standing with, not the fighting against.
Justice is mine said the Lord. "I desire Mercy not sacrifice" are further words on the subject. Sacrifice had more to do with justice and atonement...Mercy about the sacrifice of the self. Christ said that we need to practice faithfulness without neglecting justice. The emphasis seems to be on the former...
I don't have answers to all these quandaries, but as I contemplate doing some overseas volunteer work in the next few months, I'm glad to have the questions.
Thursday, June 30, 2005
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
Meme Moment
I've been tagged by Andy of Vermont to Continue a Meme.....Apparently the rules are that I am to cut and paste a list of sentence beginnings "If I were a...." and then complete the sentence for three of them. I then tag another person to continue the game...
So, without further ado
If I could be a piece of furniture I'd be...one of those big round balls you sit on at the computer desk...mixing work, ergonomic correctness, and a sense of the zany (bounce! bounce! bounce!).
If I could be a professor...... I'd be the beatnik cool professor who would sit on the desk cross legged and wear funky cloths and be sardonically amusing. My class would adore me and I wouldn't let any of them know my secret favourite student. I'd bake cookies on exam day and encourage discussion and come up with cool ideas for class assignments. I'd also be a loquacious one that doesn't stick to the one sentence rule.
If I could be a super-evil-genius...well who says I'm not. Now that you know though, I may have to kill you. (picture me holding up my little pinkie, twirling my mustache, patting my cat, and laughing manically --> and yes I can cover all these cliches at once because I'm an evil GENIUS)
And just because I don't like following rules, I'll throw in number 4.
If I could be an annoying catch phrase.... I'd be a nerdy one, but in a slyly ironic sense so you'd never be sure if I was in on the joke or oblivious to it....
So, without further ado
If I could be a piece of furniture I'd be...one of those big round balls you sit on at the computer desk...mixing work, ergonomic correctness, and a sense of the zany (bounce! bounce! bounce!).
If I could be a professor...... I'd be the beatnik cool professor who would sit on the desk cross legged and wear funky cloths and be sardonically amusing. My class would adore me and I wouldn't let any of them know my secret favourite student. I'd bake cookies on exam day and encourage discussion and come up with cool ideas for class assignments. I'd also be a loquacious one that doesn't stick to the one sentence rule.
If I could be a super-evil-genius...well who says I'm not. Now that you know though, I may have to kill you. (picture me holding up my little pinkie, twirling my mustache, patting my cat, and laughing manically --> and yes I can cover all these cliches at once because I'm an evil GENIUS)
And just because I don't like following rules, I'll throw in number 4.
If I could be an annoying catch phrase.... I'd be a nerdy one, but in a slyly ironic sense so you'd never be sure if I was in on the joke or oblivious to it....
Sunday, May 15, 2005
Water
In Madeleine L'Engle's study of Genesis, "A Stone for a Pillow" she speaks to the vulnerability inherent in free will. This vulnerability is seen both in the risk God took when He called us to write the story of humanity with Him and in the risks we frail beings take when we act on God's calling. L'Engle writes that
"If we refuse to take the risk of being vulnerable we are already half dead. If we are half dead we don't have to starve with the people of Ethiopia. We don't have to share the terrible living conditions of old people struggling to exist on dwindling social security payments...We don't' have to smell the stench of filth, and disease, and hunger in the favelas and barrios." (pg 313).
I believe that our refusal to step out into radical love pains God, not only for the sake of His children who we leave to misery, but also for the offer of abundant life that we refuse for ourselves. By living in passive mediocrity and succumbing to comfortable numbness we throw the gifts of life and free will back in the face of God. We live as though God was "out there" and not Emmanuel, longing to act with us, in us, through us.
Small actions we take may have huge ramifications, pebbles on the pond so to speak. Or to use a once-trendy analogy- "A butterfly flapping it's wings in Costa Rica sets in motion an earthquake in Japan." By choosing to use our free will to follow the voice of El and go where we may not wish to be led, we can choose to be a "universe disturber" (in the words of L'Engle). A moment of self-sacrifice on the part of one human being can set in motion an earthquake in the soul of another. Surely the risk is worth it?
Thursday, May 12, 2005
Personality Profiles
Your #1 Match: INFP |
| The Idealist You are creative with a great imagination, living in your own inner world.Open minded and accepting, you strive for harmony in your important relationships.It takes a long time for people to get to know you. You are hesitant to let people get close.But once you care for someone, you do everything you can to help them grow and develop. You would make an excellent writer, psychologist, or artist. |
Your #2 Match: INTP |
| The Thinker You are analytical and logical - and on a quest to learn everything you can.Smart and complex, you always love a new intellectual challenge.Your biggest pet peeve is people who slow you down with trivial chit chat.A quiet maverick, you tend to ignore rules and authority whenever you feel like it. You would make an excellent mathematician, programmer, or professor. |
Your #3 Match: ENFP |
| The Inspirer You love being around people, and you are deeply committed to your friends.You are also unconventional, irreverant, and unimpressed by authority and rules.Incredibly perceptive, you can usually sense if someone has hidden motives.You use lots of colorful language and expressions. You're qutie the storyteller! You would make an excellent entrepreneur, politician, or journalist. |
Your #4 Match: ENTP |
| The Visionary You are charming, outgoing, friendly. You make a good first impression.You possess good negotiating skills and can convince anyone of anything.Happy to be the center of attention, you love to tell stories and show off.You're very clever, but not disciplined enough to do well in structured environments. You would make a great entrpreneur, marketing executive, or actor. |
Your #5 Match: INFJ |
| The Protector You live your life with integrity, originality, vision, and creativity.Independent and stubborn, you rarely stray from your vision - no matter what it is.You are an excellent listener, with almost infinite patience.You have complex, deep feelings, and you take great care to express them. You would make a great photographer, alternative medicine guru, or teacher. |
Thursday, May 05, 2005
Bridges
bridge from Washington to Oregon
Never really thought before on how often bridges are used as metaphors. We speak of bridging the gap between thou and I. We conceptualize the Cross as a bridge between death and life, sin and holiness, God and humanity. We warn against burning bridges. We worry about whether or not a difference of opinion is unbridgable. Mothers wonder if we'd really jump off of bridges just becuase Jane/John did.
So, why this random potpuri of bridge comments? Can't really say. Just food for thought I guess. Which parts of my life need a bridge? After all, bridges allow us to pass over the unpassable. What in my life can I not get over or through that is holding me back? I need to discern which oceans I'm afraid of drowning in, before I can figure out how to build a passage over them. I guess this means I'll just have to cross that bridge when it's right to come to it.
Interestingly, as I was writing this I opened MSN explorer in another window-my home page generates a quote each time and the quote I recieved was "I demolish my bridges behind me...then there is no choice but to move forward." -Firdtj of Nansen
Monday, May 02, 2005
Monday, April 25, 2005
Friday, March 25, 2005
Crocus beau
I've been thinking a lot lately about comfortable numbness, and living a dangerous sort of safety. I'd like to be a paradox, but if honest right now I'm more often a contradiciton. I want to be free...as Nicolas Berdyaev so eloquently puts it "it is God who demands that man should be free, and not man himself. Man himself loves servitude and easily comes to terms with it. Freedom is not a right of man but a duty of man before God." I want to live up fully and joyously to that responsibility.
Thursday, March 10, 2005
Questions?
flags
Alright, continuing yesterdays train of thought/blog....Here's a couple from "The Book of Questions"
What was the last song you sang to yourself? Stevie Wonder's "I Love You More Today Than Yesterday"
What would you do if you weren't too inhibited or scared too? Try out for a Broadway musical. Now, those who know me are on the floor laughing at this because they know my complete (as in total. as in full. as in 100%) lack of skills in the singing and dancing arenas....but that's the whole point! To totally give myself over to fun and the loosing of inhibitions and doing something that I know "I can't"...to be willing to be a fool...
Do you feel ill at ease going to a movie, dinner or vacation by yourself? Hmmmm...I rent movies by myself all the time, and if there's some foreign arty flick I can't persuade any one else to go to, I'll go on my own and enjoy it. I wouldn't want to eat dinner in a restaurant on my own, though I often go to coffee houses for work or reading time alone. Vacations, I'm ok with going alone because you meet people along the way, but I prefer to go with someone-in part so you have someone to share the memories with later. However, my life's' biggest regret is not taking an amazing sailing trip I could have because my friend I was supposed to go with backed out....so never again will I turn down a travel opportunity because I'd have to do it on my own.
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