Sermon of the Week

Well, this church sure is on a roll. This is the same one that brought us A.S.A.P. last week:

"Our Church is Prayer Conditioned."

I'm so tempted to go just to get a look at this guy, and hear what he has to say. And it is a guy. The church is Southern Baptist. Women aren't allowed to have thoughts or opinions, let alone lead a flock.

Footnote:
It wasn't always that way. In fact, the SBC amended its bylaws to exclude women from ordination in just the last couple of years. But nearly a hundred years ago a great aunt of mine was a Southern Baptist preacher. This church, like religion in general the world over, seems to be regressing. This is a common phenomenon in times of uncertainty, and that is a shame. Because a woman's voice might be just the thing we need...

Quotables

Shades of Liberation Theology nearly a century before Bonhoeffer

Having thus acknowledged what I owe those who have aided and approved me, I turn to another class, a small one, so far as I know, but not, therefore, to be overlooked. I mean the timorous or carping few who doubt the tendency of such books as "Jane Eyre": in whose eyes whatever is unusual is wrong; whose ears detect in each protest against bigotry - that parent of crime - an insult to piety, that regent of God on earth. I would suggest to such doubters certain obvious distinctions; I would remind them of certain simple truths.

Conventionality is not morality. Self-righteousness is not religion. To attack the first is not to assail the last. To pluck the mask from the face of the Pharisee, is not to lift an impious hand to the Crown of Thorns.

These things and deeds are diametrically opposed: they are as distinct as is vice from virtue. Men too often confound them; they should not be confounded: appearance should not be mistaken for truth; narrow human doctrines, that only tend to elate and magnify a few, should not be substituted for the world-redeeming creed of Christ. There is - I repeat - a difference; and it is a good, and not a bad action to mark broadly and clearly the line of separation between them.

The world may not like to see these ideas dissevered, for it has been accustomed to blend them; finding it convenient to make external show pass for sterling worth - to let white-washed walls vouch for clean shrines. It may hate him who dares to scrutinise and expose - to rase the gilding, and show base metal under it - to penetrate the sepulchre, and reveal charnel relics: but, hate as it will, is indebted to him.

Ahab did not like Micaiah, because he never prophesied good concerning him, but evil: probably he liked the sycophant son of Chenaanah better; yet might Ahab have escaped a bloody death, had he but stopped his ears to flattery, and opened them to faithful counsel.

--Charlotte Bronte, excerpt from "Author's Preface" to the second edition of Jane Eyre, 21 December 1847

Sermon of the Week

"Heaven, don't miss it for the world!"

O.K. Here's what I know. I know the world exists and that I am a part of it. Heaven...not a freakin' clue and I have some serious doubts. So I will continue to live my life in this world as I see fit and not deny myself any pleasures regarded as "sinful" on the off-chance there will be a great reward AFTER I'M DEAD.


And as if that weren't bad enough, this one appeared just a few miles down the road:

"A.S.A.P. - Always Say A Prayer"

No comment.

I'm baaaaack!!

Wow, I've been gone a long time. Summer break has been lovely. I've been keeping myself busy with the usual summer vacation stuff: family trips, minor home repairs, catching up on non-mandatory reading. But I realized I never posted an end-of-semester message. Sorry about that. I meant to, but the days just slipped by. I have less than a month to go before classes start again, and I'll be back in full force, I'm sure, with lots of hilarity, insanity, and the further exploits of Jane and John Godley. I hope they haven't graduated. I think they were second year MDivs which means they'll still have one more year. Which also means I'll be graduating with them, and I'll get a good look at their families. Yes, of course I will share that with you! If they have graduated, this blog will truly suck. I'll need to find some replacements quickly. Somehow I don't think that will be a problem, though...

Last week, I even endured an hour of a Presbyterian minister yelling at me (well, not just me) for the sake of my nephew's baptism. Poor boy. He did well, though. He has this downright mean look he can pull, and he loves to do it, but he did fine with the water. I was amazed. I thought he would scream in a Linda Blair-like fit as if it were burning him or something. But he laughed. And then he wanted to splash in the baptismal font. Go figure. What was really funny was watching my in-laws (who are Catholic) endure the Presbyterian service. Especially my husband's grandmother, who was raised in Poland long before Vatican II and probably still believes, as she was taught as a little girl, that even entering a Protestant church guarantees a direct flight to Hell. I was sitting in the pew behind her and could feel the tension radiating off her. It was all I could do to keep a straight face.

Well, I guess that's all the news that's fit to print for now. I'm just gearing up for the semester, and getting ready for my book-buying spree. I don't even have one inch to spare on any bookshelf in this house. And I have no room in this house for another bookcase. I need to do some reshuffling. I think some fiction and other non-essentials will have to be exiled to the storage unit for the duration. Yes, it's climate controlled. I will not commit bibliocide. I promise. I think I'll go back-to-school shopping today. I need some new clothes. All my stuff from last year is soooo....well, last year. I don't want to look like a dork. All the other girls will laugh at me! Ugh...there is not enough money in the world to convince me to go back to a time and a place (like high school) where any of that shit would matter. I'm really liking my 30's. It's a good time to be a woman. Definitely.