A Ministry for Voices: Conversations at the Intersection of Faith and Life

Putting a period at the end of the sentence...

2007-09-02T11:57:00.000-04:00

This morning I created a new blog, Faith Seeks Understanding. The new site explains itself, so I won't do it again here, other than to say it is a site for a group of women, not for only me.

I was dismayed to learn halfway through the creation of the new site that my blogger account only allows me one user profile. I had already changed many items in the profile to fit the new blog when I realized that all my changes had also been put into effect on A Ministry for Voices. It seems that it can't be fixed. Sophia Manana is gone forever, and I mean really gone. I can't get her back.

Also, the new site is going to have to keep the profile items from A Ministry for Voices that had not yet been changed, because I can't stand for them to be gone. It is one thing to accept bad things that have happened. It is another thing altogether to let them rob you of everything you have worked to create.

Diana Fuentes celebrates 30 years

2007-07-16T23:44:00.000-04:00

Today, UTHSCSA celebrated the 30th anniversary of Diana Fuentes' employment with the UT System. Of course it wasn't just Diana. The foyer of the medical school auditorium was filled with people who have July birthdays and service anniversaries, including Jorge and Luke, and Dr. Littlefield and probably 30 or 50 other people. There were mariachis, and a chocolate fountain, and chocolate and carrot cakes, and lots of people. Dr. Cigarroa, the president of the Health Science Center, welcomed everyone. He spoke in Spanish to the mariachis, who played the Spanish Happy Birthday song. About half the room joined in. Then there was a little musical segue into the English version, and everyone sang. It almost made me cry, and it's not even my birthday! Diana has been with the UT System since she was 17 years old.

...a random view of "some obscure town"...

2007-07-15T08:35:00.000-04:00

I especially like this passage Stephen Cox wrote about a picture of Bellevue Street in Leslie, and the feelings it evoked in him. This is the problem I have. What seems like nothing to others... the time I spent as pastor of the Congregational Church in Leslie, is "alive for me with great messages of existence..." I feel like I have lost my path, or at the very least lost a great and precious part of my life.

The picture that you regard as nothing more than a random view of "some obscure town" may be alive for someone else with the great messages of existence. The electronic marketplace — logical but miraculous — invites us all to begin our own odysseys, into whatever worlds have meaning for us individually. Every journey of this kind is a journey into one's memories and curiosities, aversions and attractions. Every picture that grips your imagination is in some sense a picture of yourself. You don't need to argue. You don't even need to buy. All you need to do is look.

Postcards from Leslie and Jackson, Michigan, found on E-Bay

2007-07-15T08:20:00.000-04:00

I found this website this morning. I enjoyed reading Stephen Cox's reflections on a place he knew when he was a child. He now teaches literature at UC San Diego.

Leslie, Michigan is a little town ten miles north of the house I grew up in. As a very small child, I was in awe of the size and intricacy of the place. As a teenager, riding my bike there, I was impressed by its absolute deadness and plainness. I remember a movie house with a tin roof, playing hits like "Snow White and the Three Stooges." I remember an elderly gentleman who called himself the Leslie Observer and published a mimeographed newspaper in which he argued that capitalism was the Whore of Babylon, as prophesied by St. John the Divine. Those were the village high points.

Much later, researching the history of anti-state ideas, I discovered that Leslie was the birthplace of Voltairine de Cleyre (1866–1912), a leader of American anarchism. Writing about her, Emma Goldman, a more famous anarchist, called Leslie "some obscure town in the state of Michigan." Right, Emma. Leslie was like a fruit that had dropped off the vine and was lying in the fields, returning to its elements.

If there really was such a vine, it was the interurban railway that once connected Jackson with the capital of Lansing, passing through Leslie. Picture 4 (1910) shows the opening of that former agency of mass transit. I like the sturdy, self-confident people in this picture, standing proudly in front of their sturdy, self-confident iron cars. I like seeing the ocean of mud that their machines have conquered. I like seeing the way in which the train, although it is called "light rail," humbles the buildings around it. (It is stopped in front of the post office, the center of the town's affairs.) I like the train's generic name: "Capitol City Limited." It is archetypically American. Which Capitol? Any capitol! This scene of progress could have been enacted anywhere in America, in the world before the wars. I even like the unconsciously humorous effect of "Limited": if the train stops at Leslie and Rives Junction, as the sign on its prow says it does, where doesn't it stop?

From the NYTimes: A Hipper Crowd of Shushers

2007-07-10T07:09:00.000-04:00

Thanks to Amber Galea for sending me this link, from the Fashion and Style section of the New York Times, about young librarians. Amber, along with my former boss Vanessa Morris, director of River Rouge Public Library, is among the very coolest of the cool.

Hell in the Digital Age: Sprint Nextel gets rid of pesky customers

2007-07-10T06:42:00.001-04:00

I found this story today about how Sprint Nextel has decided to just get rid of customers who make too many customer service calls.

"The nation's third-largest wireless provider sent letters to about 1,000 subscribers June 29, saying the company's records showed they had made frequent calls for help with questions about billing and other account information. "

This reminds me of something that happened at the River Rouge Public Library. In River Rouge, there are a lot of people who are living below the poverty level, but who have found they can't get by without phones. One day a woman came in for help. She had a new Sprint account, and on the day her first bill arrived, she was dismayed to see that the bill was for more than $700. This was the result of the fact that her two sons had realized they could download music on the phone. I don't think the woman had even realized that this was a feature on the phones she purchased. I'm sure she didn't understand the budget busting financial implications. She had tried to call Sprint to ask that the settings on her account be changed. Somehow, she had gotten the message that she would have to go online and change the settings herself. Sprint doesn't like to provide customer service representatives who actually talk to people, it seems.

I am pretty sure this woman had never used a computer before. At the time, I did not have a cell phone, having terminated my account with two previous providers because I found their billing procedures less than honest. Sprint was one of my previous providers.

I tried to help the woman through the online customer service process. This is a big part of what librarians do these days: help people figure out how to navigate the online environment, which is a wilderness for many people. Because I didn't have a cell phone myself, and because I am not a big downloader of music, I found that I did not have the skill to help the woman resolve the problem. The web interface was not user friendly, or even librarian friendly.

How frightening it is to have someone saying you owe them $700+ dollars, and not even be able to have a conversation with them. How frightening to not be able to get your account changed so that you are only provided with the services you are interested in having.

Another example: Many people in River Rouge came for help with resumes. It is almost impossible to get a job today without applying online, which means typing a resume, then using one of several different available technologies for posting things via web interfaces. People who clean rooms in hospitals, or who drive trucks or provide home health care, or who are welders, as an example, frequently do not have these skills. For librarians, the fact that so many people need help with computers might be job security. It might... Then again, the assistance of librarians with issues like this could be considered just another form of welfare, a cost taxpayers should not have to pay.

I'm hoping that there will be a huge backlash against Sprint Nextel. Maybe all of their customers will start a campaign of calling 3 times a day, every day, and asking for assistance. Demanding it. Crying out for justice. This is now the easiest way to get out of a Sprint Nextel account!

Sheesh. This is a ministry for voices...

Sunday afternoon

2007-07-08T14:23:00.000-04:00

It has been a while since I have posted, and those who have been on my mailing list for a long time may have noticed that I am hardly posting to A Ministry for Voices at all anymore.

I started this blog shortly after I was hired for my first full time library position, as children's librarian in River Rouge, Michigan. I was two years out of my last pastoral position, at the Congregational U.C.C in Leslie, Michigan. While I was thankful to have found a full time position (because truly my life would be unsustainable without full time work) I was still struggling with spiritual confusion about the sudden turn my life had taken, a few months after September 11, 2001, when a very few members of the Leslie church made the decision that they were no longer in need of my services.

Crying out for justice is a difficult thing to do, especially in a faith community like the U.C.C. that prides itself on being such a just and caring community. While my parting with the Leslie church was traumatic, I know that I have never left my path. I know that if God had allowed it, I would still be the pastor of the Leslie church. I would have been there for Myra Gross, and Jennett Wood, both of whom I loved, when they needed me. We would have continued with the LOGOS curriculum, and with our stewardship efforts, and if God had allowed it, no one would have been hurt. We would have been much stronger today than we were in 2002. I would still enjoy the friendship of people I was happy to serve.

I started my blog because I wanted a place to share what I was thinking and feeling, as best I could, with the people of the Leslie church, and also with new librarian friends. A Ministry for Voices is one small way of remaining faithful to my calling.

A few weeks ago I noticed that the Leslie church has finally, after 5 years, begun to search for a new minister. Five years is a lot of time to lose. A lot has happened in five years. I find that I still love the people of Leslie and still long for genuine healing and reconciliation in our relationship. Because if that is not possible, what is church for, anyway?

This is the question I desperately press on Kent Ulery, leader of the Michigan Conference of the U.C.C., who once had pastoral oversight of my relationship with the Leslie church and who, if he had kept his word, would have done much better by both of us.

I have been three months here in my new position as assistant to the director of the the library at the health sciences center. Last week the director I am supposed to be assisting announced her retirement. At the same time, she announced that she has accepted a position as director of a medical school library in Florida. So here I am-- a librarian/ assistant-- with no one to assist. I must say this is mildly disconcerting. The field of librarianship, like the field of ministry, is being rocked by deep changes in our culture. I think my boss was feeling beaten up in her leadership position, and looking for a new beginning. This is certainly something I can understand. It may even have been the reason she chose to call me. Why did I use that word, call? Because she did call me. She called me to be her assistant, and I said yes. That is why I am here.

I just want to go on record as saying in my prayers and out loud to anyone who will listen that I am confused, but still trusting in the love of God. I continue to find good people and interesting things to do, worthwhile things to care about. I continue to fascinated by books, and libraries, and communities of learning like churches and universities. I continue to want to be with people who "love God with their minds," and their neighbors as themselves, whatever faith they may profess.

I think we live in kairos time. What that means to me is, we live in a time when our choices really matter. Of course, maybe all time is kairos time. But somehow I don't think so. I think there are moments when good choices can save the life of the world, and when not making them can lead to losses that make life unsustainable.

Ram Lopez, my minister in San Antonio, said in his sermon this morning that God keeps God's word. As I sat listening, I thought: "I on the other hand, have become a keeper of words." There is a difference, and there is a relationship. The difference fascinates me, while the relationship sustains me where I am.

I have posted below a few good links about keeping words, and keeping one's word, just to let you know I am able to think on both sides of the street.

Recommended Review: Google and the Myth of Universal Knowledge

2007-07-08T14:09:00.000-04:00

In the slim volume 'Google and the Myth of Universal Knowledge', Jean-Noel Jeanneney - himself the president of the Bibliotheque nationale de France - frames a cogent, if oftentimes overtly and overly political, argument that entrusting the literary treasures of the world to an American for- profit corporation has a number of pitfalls and could be considered a dereliction of duty by the world's libraries charged with the preservation of books...

This ought to get some conversation going!

My space in DSpace

2007-06-21T07:57:00.000-04:00

This is a link t0 the catalog record for the full text of my M.A. thesis, Jesus' Parables, Language, and the Common World. Jesus was a storyteller.

Pastor Amy tells a story

2007-06-21T07:55:00.001-04:00

I have Pastor Amy's blog as a tab on my google homepage. This post reminds me of something that happened at Central Congregational Church in Houston in 1993.

Lesson Plan

2007-05-25T07:25:00.001-04:00

I would love to plan a class using the Little Mermaid as the launching device for a discussion. I know it would be good, even for grownups.

Getting Creative about Copyright

2007-05-24T07:49:00.000-04:00

You have to scroll way down to see the video clip. Rajia, another librarian, sent this yesterday. The Chronicle of Higher Education website posted an article about Eric Faden, an English professor who enlisted students to help him create an educational film about copyright. It is composed entirely of tiny clips from Disney films.

A few of the clips are from The Little Mermaid, in which Ariel begs the evil Ursula to give her a human body, so she can be with the human man she loves. Ursula's price? Ariel must give up her very beautiful voice. The words to Ursula's song truly are priceless, and oh so relevant to the whole conversation about copyright. From the beginning of time, people have talked, told stories, dreamed out loud for free, while the language of whole communities has been enriched. The possibility of "owning words" or "owning a story" is a totally technological innovation that should cause us to think more deeply about what language is in the first place. Newness always takes shape out of what already exists. If you lock up the keys to the kingdom, as too-stringent-copyright seeks to do, it is language that ends up being impoverished.

http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/classicdisney/poorunfortunatesouls.htm

Come on you poor unfortunate soul

Go ahead!

Make your choice!

I'm a very busy woman and I haven't got all day

It won't cost much

Just your voice!

A fruitful day already...

2007-05-23T07:09:00.000-04:00

I have a dentist appointment at 9 a.m. I don't have to be anywhere until 9 a.m. O happy day! What follows are bits and pieces of things that have crossed my mind and my desk lately. I especially recommend the two pieces on libraries, from the Urban Libraries Council and the On the Commons blog. Links are just below.

How people learn...

2007-05-23T07:02:00.000-04:00

There are only three ways in which human beings learn. They learn from experience and have been doing so since the emergence of the very first human beings. They learn by interaction with people who are wiser and more knowledgeable than they—teachers, rabbis, shamans, etc.—and have been doing so since human beings first started to communicate in words. Lastly but by no means least, they learn from interaction with the human record—those aggregations of texts, images, and symbols that are the collective memory of humankind.

--Michael Gorman

The Value of Libraries: From "On the Commons"

2007-05-23T06:52:00.000-04:00

Urban Libraries Council: Libraries are Key to Building Local Economic Base

2007-05-23T06:51:00.000-04:00

Desk Duty

2007-05-23T06:43:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I was working at the Information Desk with Brian, another mid-lifer like me, who made a career change four years ago. Brian and I have had a few good conversations. Earlier, also at the desk, Linda went over my practice searches in OVID, a database for finding medical information. The search tools in OVID are more complex that those in the Thomson Gale databases I have the most experience with. I am finally beginning to feel like I understand how OVID works.

A few minor complaints

2007-05-23T06:00:00.000-04:00

Work in an academic/ health sciences library has turned out to be a very big change for me. There are some obvious good things to enjoy, like the nice paycheck and working in an environment that has a budget for custodial services. Herlinda, the office manager, was telling me yesterday that if I ever called the UTHSCSA police, 10 of them would be there within 5 minutes. Things like this make it easier to accept the fact that my office is sometimes stuffy.

But I miss my friends and co-workers in River Rouge. I miss the banter. (Hey Justin, hey Harriet, hey Sonya, hey Carolyne, hey Vanessa! Hey James K, and Brittany, and Shawn and Shane... Hey Eugene...) I used to spend almost the whole day working on the desk, because I enjoyed the conversation. Now, even when I am scheduled to work on the information desk, it will only be for 2-4 hours/ week. This is standard for Briscoe librarians: 2-4 hours/ week on the desk. Most of the time I am in my own office working on projects like web page updates, or the orientation schedule for a new librarian, or creating a bibliography, or writing up the minutes for a library committee meeting.

Yesterday Chris, another new librarian, came by my office to tell me the time I requested for a meeting with her and another librarian was good. "I thought about emailing you, but decided I wanted to come by," she said. I had also told her my job was cramping my style, and she wanted to know what I meant.

What I meant is that I am losing my early morning hours, the hours between 4:30 a.m. and 9:30 a.m., which are the best hours of my day. I used these hours for a lot of freelance writing when I was working at the River Rouge Public Library afternoons and evenings. Now, I mostly spend them getting ready for work, getting to work, and getting started on work. All important things, but these are my BEST hours, and I am spending most of them in the shower, making sandwiches and fighting traffic! When I get home in the evening, I am definitely not interested in writing anything.

In our office culture, it seems odd for people to go seeking each other out to get business done. Microsoft Outlook as a social environment leaves a lot to be desired. Email is just not that satisfying as a form of interaction. I told Chris, "come talk to me anytime."

Now Departing: Airline Careers

2007-05-16T06:24:00.000-04:00

I found this article on the Google homepage today. It is about a whole family of airline mechanics who have had to come to terms with the loss of a perfectly good career, work they loved, because something, somewhere, got unsustainable.

It is the most powerless feeling in the world, not being able to save a life you love. If there were prophetic voices today, they would be talking about what has happened to this family, and so many others like them.

This article has a nice spin, in that it focuses on how the Schalk family has been able to put their lives back together. This is good news to others who are going through the same thing. But just because you have the power to change your life, and to avoid certain financial ruin, it doesn't mean there is not something wrong with relationships in which this kind of thing happens. The Schalk brothers were only trying to make a good life for themselves and the people they care about. They did their jobs. When this kind of thing starts happening to a whole nation of hard working people, they have a right to ask: Who has not been doing their job?

"Tech Support": A Very funny YouTube Clip

2007-05-08T19:12:00.000-04:00

Thanks to Aaron Konstam, who first sent me this video clip a couple of weeks ago. It seems to be finding its way around the Internet. Last Thursday, it was emailed to me by Steve, a library assistant. Monday, I used it in a presentation to librarians I work with, as an illustration of...

what IS this an illustration of, anyway?

It is so easy to think that things can't be done any other way. What would the world be like if that kind of thinking always won?

Anne, a librarian I work with, pointed out how patient and gentle the "tech support" guy is. I was too focused on what seemed to be going on in the mind of the reader guy to see this.

Graceful change. Everyone I know gets to struggle with this problem almost every day. I love this clip, because you can see the fear of the change and the promise of the change in almost the same moment. And, it makes you smile! I would love to hear what you think.

The Riverside Church is Looking for a New Minister

2007-05-05T07:12:00.000-04:00

This article is from the New York Times.

Since being founded by John D. Rockefeller in 1930, Riverside has often and justifiably been likened to the Vatican for America’s mainstream Protestants, the theologically and politically liberal segment of the faith. The church’s first minister, Harry Emerson Fosdick, and successors like William Sloane Coffin, used Riverside as a national pulpit from which to preach social justice, civil rights and opposition to the Vietnam War, among other causes...

Riverside’s most recent senior minister, the Rev. James A. Forbes, smashed the church’s color barrier by becoming its first African-American pastor...Like several of his renowned forebears, however, Mr. Forbes ran into opposition on administrative issues from factions of the highly educated, highly involved congregation.

Dr. Jones said that Mr. Forbes’s successor must be “someone who fits with the congregation’s religious and spiritual philosophy, serving God through social justice.” Geoffrey Martin, also nominated to the search committee, said the congregation itself must “face up to the fact that Riverside has had a fairly public reputation of irritating our last two senior ministers to the point they got exasperated.”

Mallory Miller's lectio divina

2007-04-22T08:50:00.000-04:00

The lesson last Sunday was from the Gospel According to John, chapter 20, verses 19-31.

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 20After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 22When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” 24But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

26A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” 28Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” 30Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. 31But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

Lectio divina, continued

2007-04-22T08:28:00.000-04:00

Going back to beginnings... I have noticed it is a big part of my return to San Antonio. I rented an apartment less than a mile from the house I grew up in, and down the street from Churchill High School, where I graduated in 1973. I have been attending St. George's Episcopal Church, which was my church during highschool, and where my mother was a member.

Mallory Miller, together with the priest, Ram Lopez, teaches a class in lectio divina, or divine readings. A group of people reads a passage through three times, each time asking different questions about the text and about their own lives. When I became the minister of the Congregational Church in Leslie, Michigan, the woman's fellowship group had dwindled to only two adult members. This might be a controversial number, but the fact is that only two women and one child attended the Fellowship Christmas party in 1998. Shortly after I became the pastor of the church in 1999, Joan Bracy, who was the president of the fellowship group, told me she thought the fellowship group should be disbanded. I asked her to give me three months, to plan the program for the group. We had a lot of new and enthusiastic visitors, as well as people who were already members of the church who were looking for ways to get involved.

I planned the three meetings to begin with lectio divina, followed by breakfast. The process of doing lectio divina puts scripture at the center of the group's life. Reading each lesson three times and taking time to talk about the lesson and the lives of the participants opens up the whole group to creative possibilities for learning, and also for relationship. I had a hard time keeping the lectio divina on the agenda, because once people started talking, the energy was so good it took on a life of its own. After the third meeting, the fellowship group decided to drop the lectio divina. Three years later, the group had grown to twelve regular participants. They had remodeled the kitchen, and provided financial backing for the building of a new pavilion behind the church. The group-- mostly composed of women in their early thirties through forties, voted to continue the rummage sale, and candy making at Christmas, two projects that were very meaningful to older group members, who had been having difficulty doing these things on their own.

I think the lectio divina that took place on those three Saturdays in the spring of 1999 was directly responsible for the birth of creative energy that took hold of the church in the three years following. Bonds of friendship, mutual love and support were formed which laid the groundwork for every good thing that followed.

My best credential as a minister is that I am a person who realizes how important bonds of friendship and support are within a church community, and that I know how to help people to make them.

The lectio divina is important too. I think if that group had kept the scripture at the center of its life, it would have done a better job of leading the church into a good future.

Lectio Divina in Leslie, Michigan and San Antonio, Texas

2007-04-17T07:10:00.001-04:00

Click on the title link to go to fuller version of the following two posts

2007-04-17T07:08:00.001-04:00

Excerpt from: Clergy Women: An Uphill Calling

2007-04-17T06:56:00.000-04:00

What Ordination Means to Women

Another chapter examines the understanding of ordination in contemporary Protestantism and the ways in women and men respond to the "call." As one clergy women lamented, "it seems that God calls and the church stalls." Because of the difficulties experienced by women we find that they are often very creative in developing options and choosing non-parish ministries instead of parish work. Clergy women are not doing things "the same old way."

Yet, clergy women are earning less than similar clergy men. Clergy women continue to have more difficulty finding a job, because denominational leadership deployment procedures consistently place women at a disadvantage. Even recent changes in denominational practices designed to develop more gender neutral systems, advocates and appointment patterns, have not eliminated discrimination. Clergy women are unwittingly "tracked" into positions with less occupational status and promise (at least by past standards of measurement). And although family responsibilities and children are often given as reasons for career differences between women and men, it turns out that children are not a major factor in the inequities experienced by clergy women.

Ordained ministry is not "just another job." Clergy women and clergy men seek ordination because they have a sense of call and a conviction that God has a plan for their lives. They accept their ministry as a gift from God, believing that God and the church have called them to serve.

For clergy women this spiritual or Divine dimension to their profession is extremely important. It sustains them in the face of difficulties and discrimination. It informs their understanding of ministry and the world. And it is transforming common expectations of all ordained ministry. Yet, clergy women continue to have difficulties, even when they are within institutional structures that ought to offer them opportunities for advancement.

Excerpt from Catholic website on the ordination of women

2007-04-17T06:47:00.000-04:00

Even with the best of attitudes, however, a woman minister may expect to encounter some opposition. One respondent reported that a woman in her congregation “said that it made her physically ill to see and hear a woman in the pulpit”! Another commented, “I also work with youth, and I find that many of the mothers wanted a 'good-looking male' minister for their kids.” Other women in the church may deliberately cause trouble: “Some of the women in the power structure of our church's women's auxiliary are very negative and even hostile. This is changing a little bit, but it will continue to be a difficult area.” When opposition is voiced, it should be given a fair hearing: “We cannot deny that women in the ministry is new—our human nature is to find security in the old. It is important to respect and hear reluctance when it is voiced.” At the same time, some felt that church leaders should not shy away from exposing attitudes that fall short of the Christian ideal. A need was expressed for “bishops willing to point out bigotry and discrimination for the ugly thing it is. We are often slow to point out to Christians how unChristian their behavior can be—till they no longer can see right from wrong.”

Ruby's Cake: You'll know that God loves you

2007-03-18T11:20:00.000-04:00

When Joey was a baby, we were members of a babysitting coop. This recipe was given to me by Ruth Zeger, who played violin for the Houston Symphony. The Zegers were Jewish, but they had a Christmas tree. For Hannukah, Ruth gave her kids little presents like Chiclets gum. She got the recipe for this cake from a friend named Ruby, hence then name, Ruby's cake.

This recipe became a part of our family tradition at a very difficult time. This morning, Loretta showed me on the Golden Cake Mix box a recipe for Sock-It-To-Me Cake, that is very much like the recipe for Ruby's cake. I think it is the same recipe, and that Ruby must have "kicked it up a notch!". I highly recommend this cake for anyone who is going through any kind of difficult time. Eating it, you will know that God loves you. Knowing that God loves you truly is the most important thing.

Recipes are a lot like oral traditions. Even when they are written down, they are always changing.

Here is the recipe for Sock-It-To-Me-Up-a-Notch Cake. The only difference is that Ruby's cake has half a bag of chocolate chips added to the batter. Of course!:

Cake batter:

1 package Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe Butter Recipe Golden Cake mix

1 package instant vanilla pudding

1/2 cup oil

4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 small carton sour cream

Mix this all together, then throw in half a bag of chocolate chips.

In a separate bowl, mix 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon and 1 bag nuts. (I realize one bag of nuts is a little vague. I am passing on the tradition as I received it from Ruth Zeger.)

Layer in a bundt pan: batter, sugar cinnamon nut mixture, batter, sugar cinnamon nut mixture, batter. That's three layers of batter with sugar cinnamon nuts in between.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 50 to sixty minutes.

Travelogue Royal Oak to San Antonio: March 12 to 18, 2007

2007-03-18T10:36:00.000-04:00

This has been an amazing week, starting in Michigan and finishing up in San Antonio. I started on Tuesday, when I met the movers in Mason, Michigan, to pick up my household goods, which have been stored in a 10 x 20 ' unit since 2003. Half of my stuff I gave away to Goodwill in Jackson last week, and after opening a lot of boxes, looking inside and retaping them on Tuesday, I am sure that another half will be given away once it arrives in Texas. Nothing like four years of storage to loosen the bonds of materialism! Some things though, I was so happy to see again. I find that the things I most want to save are family photos, books, and memorabilia... Like the recipe in the next post.

I thought I would start my trip to Texas on Tuesday, but the movers arrived late, and I had to follow them back to the Detroit area for my stuff to be weighed. Luckily, after jettisoning all that stuff, my load was only 60 pounds more than the estimate. I'm trying to control the cost of moving a lot of stuff that I will eventually get rid of. There have been times when I have seriously considered jettisoning all of it, and having a completely fresh start. But, there are little family treasures scattered throughout all those boxes. I am buying myself the opportunity to be thoughtful about what I get rid of. After the weighing of the load, I was back at my friend June's house for another evening, so tired I could barely move. June cooked steaks for us, and we enjoyed dinner together on the day after we thought we would be parted.

The next morning, I was hours late waking up. June was standing in the dark, peering into the room where I was sleeping. "Are you still there?" she asked. Yes I was. It was 7:30 when I got on the road, which is not bad for "normal people," but was pretty late for me.

I drove all the way from Detroit to Montgomery, Alabama on Wednesday. On Friday I drove all the way from Montgomery to San Antonio. (I don't recommend this much driving in one day, but I won't go into that.) In between I stayed with my friends Mac and Rosine, who were closing on a new house, and had as much going on as I do. I went to church with them Thursday night at Holy Comforter Episcopal Church, where they were doing the stations of the cross. After that, I feasted on champagne and chips with Mac, Rosine, and friends, in the den of their new home which overlooks a whole forest and really does look exactly like a place they would live. There were rueful comments about deer, which are nice from a distance but hard to deal with if you are trying to grow a garden. Previous residents of Mac and Rosine's new house have seen deer walking on the deck. Those are some inquisitive deer!

At 5 on Friday morning, I was on the road again. I arrived in San Antonio after 8 in the evening. Since arriving, I have decided I don't like the apartment I tried to lease long distance. So now I am desperately looking for a new home. Luckily, my movers informed me on Tuesday that they will need every bit of the time they allowed themselves to get my stuff here. I am trying to chill, but feeling really antsy. I am so longing to be in my own place, with my own stuff, and to feel like my feet are truly back on the ground.

Johanna's grandmother Loretta is hosting a birthday party for her this evening, and I am making the cake. It is a special cake, recipe to follow... Johanna and I love this cake, and we haven't had it in more than four years, since it disappeared into storage in Michigan.

This morning while I was stirring the batter, Loretta showed me two books, Fried Chicken: An American Story, and Southern Cooking, that I sent for her birthday last year. She said she really enjoyed the Fried Chicken book. "It's full of stories," she said. We talked about how those are the best kind of cookbooks.

Food and stories are the glue that holds people together. After my crisis of faith of the past four years, this is what I have come to: as long as people remember how to cook and set the table, and as long as they remember how to tell good stories, everything is going to be ok.

When my stuff finally arrives from Michigan, I might give away all my theology books to the Friends of the San Antonio Public Library, and only keep the cookbooks. Every now and then, at the table with my friends, I might throw out a parable and see what happens... At least, that's my plan.

Darwin's God: Article from Sunday's New York Times

2007-03-05T06:30:00.000-05:00

This looks like a fascinating article, though I haven't had time to read it all yet. 19 pages! What really amazes me, though, is this note at the bottom of the first web page: "To find reference information about the words used in this article, double-click on any word, phrase or name. A new window will open with a dictionary definition or encyclopedia entry. " It really works! I double clicked on the word "supernatural," and got a page of dictionary content that seemed relatively on-target. When I double clicked on the word "hope," the search engine selected the entire phrase "belief in hope beyond reason." I never got a result, as I did with "supernatural." I think the entire phrase just overwhelmed the capacity of the technology. "Belief in hope beyond reason" is a quality that is found consistently in dogs, and sometimes in human beings. Computers, they don't hope. Search engines can only find what is already there.

The Revenge of Randall Radic

2007-02-13T13:00:00.000-05:00

Today I found this story about a Congregational minister in California who got so angry at his congregation, he sold the church right out from under them.

I know he must be a seriously evil guy. But seriously, where were they while he was doing this? I bet the trustees hadn't met for six months. Click on the title link to read the story.

2006-11-08T09:28:00.000-05:00

Jesus said, "There's trouble ahead when you live only for the approval of others, saying what flatters them, doing what indulges them. Popularity contests are not truth contests-- look how many scoundrel preachers were approved by your ancestors! Your task is to be true, not popular.

Jesus quoted a proverb: "Can a blind man guide a blind man?" Wouldn't they both end up in the ditch? *(Luke 6, from The Message)

To access Friedman's article in the NYTimes, you will need to register. It is free.

2006-11-08T09:27:00.000-05:00

Thomas Friedman gets parabolic about insults to the troops

2006-11-08T08:16:00.000-05:00

I am posting this column, which I found in NYTimes online. When I say Friedman gets parabolic, I mean it in the Christian, gospel- sense of the word. It is like in the parable of the Good Samaritan. When the priest and the Levite fail to do the compassionate thing, the man in the ditch still has hope because a Samaritan is in the neighborhood, and he does know how to care for a person who has been hurt. He is not morally confused, or morally compromised by his position, as the priest and the Levite are. (Why did the priest and the Levite just walk by? That is a good reference question! You can find the story in the Gospel According to Luke, Chapter 10.)

New Testament scholars and structuralist literary critics call this kind of think a reversal, and it happens all the time in Jesus' parables. The first are last and the last are first, over and over again. It is a radicalizing kind of speech, and the only real question is, why would Jesus have talked like that?

Friedman writes about all the mileage Bush, Cheney et al tried to get out of John Kerry's botched joke. As Friedman points out, Kerry actually is the one who did not cut and run when it was his turn to serve. It is an upside down world we live in when the most dishonorable people paint themselvs with the most virtuous brush, and simultaneously malign those who actually do show up to serve.

When Dominic Crossan wrote his series of studies on the parables, he argued that the purpose of reversals (which can be found throughout literature and spoken language) is to make the hearers aware of the relativity of culturally imposed categories, so that they could experience the creativity of God who is always "outside the lines". That might be one way of looking at it. But I think Jesus was just naming the truth about a world that had in fact become upside down. It is as important to articulate the truth as it is to know it. It is the act of articulation that creates the possibility of community, and of right action.

Often, appearances can be deceiving. People can use words to paint themselves good and others bad, and if the people with the words have enough power in a situation, others will go along with it. But the truth can be completely otherwise. And, you will not be free until you are able to name the truth about a situation. Like Jesus did in the story about the Samaritan. Someone, maybe Jesus himself, had actually lived this story, and lived to tell about it.

Well, back to this column by Thomas Friedman. It is a masterful piece of writing. It is truly parabolic in the prophetic and Christian sense of the word.

Language can be a great trap. But it is also our greatest means of grace.

I believe that all true ministries must be ministries for voices. The words we speak, and the words in which we put our trust will create the world in which we live. Sometimes, parabolic voices are the only way through.

It's all about language and relationships

2006-11-06T06:10:00.000-05:00

I am posting a little bit of a conversation I had with Johanna on Sunday morning. Mother-daughter dynamics in full play here! I had to ask her about Jane Fernandez, who recently stepped down as president of Gallaudet University, after realizing that the students were not going to quiet down. Students at Gallaudet University do not think that Jane Fernandez is really deaf, because she did not learn to sign until she was an adult. As a mother, I have a different point of view.

The transcript is long! I spent a lot of time editing the format to make it more readable.

Johanna and I talk about her dogs, and the former president of Gallaudet University, and I get really close to one of my biggest issues

2006-11-06T05:16:00.000-05:00

SCHunnicut: hey

HoneyWest: Hey mom

HoneyWest: What's up?

SCHunnicut: slow morning, still in pjs

SCHunnicut: what about you?

HoneyWest: Yeah I'm still in bed

HoneyWest: Lol

SCHunnicut: lol

SCHunnicut: that's nice

HoneyWest: Its the only day this week no alarm

HoneyWest: Feels good

SCHunnicut: yeah, i know what you mean

SCHunnicut: must be REALLY hard for you!

HoneyWest: Nah its ok

SCHunnicut: so where are your dogs living???

HoneyWest: They come back and forth

SCHunnicut: that seems so hard!

HoneyWest: When I'm not home much of the time I take them to gma

HoneyWest: And when I'm home on weekend they come here

HoneyWest: What's hard?

SCHunnicut: moving dogs around

HoneyWest: Nah

SCHunnicut: two dogs

HoneyWest: They like to ride

HoneyWest: They don't mind

SCHunnicut: yeah, Dodi loved the car

HoneyWest: Yeah

SCHunnicut: always stuck his nose out the window

HoneyWest: He did

HoneyWest: Lol

HoneyWest: Buddy do that

HoneyWest: Hope like to sit in the middle

HoneyWest: Middle

SCHunnicut: sat in front and stuck his nose out the window

SCHunnicut: in back?

HoneyWest: Yes

SCHunnicut: that is interesting

SCHunnicut: hope is a timid dog

SCHunnicut: fraidy cat

HoneyWest: She's get uptights when she doesn't like the noise

HoneyWest: Lol

HoneyWest: She like to ride but away from the windows lol

HoneyWest: Likes

SCHunnicut: I talked to Vanessa the other day, her baby Aiden likes the car too

HoneyWest: When I took buddy out for a walk

SCHunnicut: always falls asleep in car

HoneyWest: A firetruck came by with a siren he was scared

HoneyWest: And howls like a siren

HoneyWest: Yeah I'm sure

SCHunnicut: buddy howled?

HoneyWest: Yes

SCHunnicut: he thought it was another dog!

HoneyWest: Lol

HoneyWest: It was funny hearing him

SCHunnicut: hey jo, what do you think about Gallaudet, I didn't realize all that was going on until a week or so ago

HoneyWest: Really?

HoneyWest: Its been on since May

HoneyWest: Yeah I'm glad Jane has been terminated

SCHunnicut: Well i knew it was happening in summer, but about demonstrations, and 130 people arrested, did that happen?

HoneyWest: Yeah it did

SCHunnicut: i still don't really understand why they thought she was so wrong

HoneyWest: It was wrong for King Jordan to arrest his own students

HoneyWest: Bc she don't have a lot of leadership skills to the deaf community

HoneyWest: No one was happy with her bc of her lack of social deaf community

SCHunnicut: what?

SCHunnicut: i mean, her lack of what?

HoneyWest: Social skill with the deaf community

HoneyWest: Remember daniel?

HoneyWest: From Lahser

SCHunnicut: no

HoneyWest: She think she's a hearing phoney

SCHunnicut: danielle

SCHunnicut: yes

SCHunnicut: but jane fernandez really is deaf

SCHunnicut: she just had a different life experience, became deaf at a different time, but she is still deaf

SCHunnicut: danielle was hearing

HoneyWest: But she didn't learn sign til she was in her 20s

SCHunnicut: you could have been like that

SCHunnicut: if I had not changed your school

HoneyWest: never mind

HoneyWest: U don't get the point

SCHunnicut: i'm sorry!

SCHunnicut: its just that every deaf person is different

SCHunnicut: i don't like to see anyone treated like they are worthless

SCHunnicut: and i just don't understand what it was that made students dislike her so much

HoneyWest: They simply don't like her attitude

SCHunnicut: ok

SCHunnicut: the president of Gallaudet student council was on the radio yesterday through an interpreter

SCHunnicut: it was a good interview

HoneyWest: Yeah

HoneyWest: Cameron said he heard the news on the radio too

SCHunnicut: oh, ok

SCHunnicut: are there deaf people on Gallaudet board of trustees?

HoneyWest: Yeah

HoneyWest: I think so

SCHunnicut: you know, I am very proud of you

SCHunnicut: there is something I want to explain to you about your education

SCHunnicut: ok?

HoneyWest: Why?

SCHunnicut: just because i want you to know what happened

SCHunnicut: and why

HoneyWest: Ok

SCHunnicut: you had very good speech skills

HoneyWest: Yeah

SCHunnicut: the only reason i put you in total communication program was because there was a woman there, Madeleine Tom, who thought she could help you with reading, which was very hard for you

SCHunnicut: And Mrs. Eastham, she taught you to read phonetically, which deaf people are not supposed to be able to do

SCHunnicut: she taught you to read by connecting letters to sounds

SCHunnicut: that you could hear

HoneyWest: Yeah I remember

SCHunnicut: and most deaf-- total communication-- people would have said it was wrong for me to try to do that,

SCHunnicut: it is always important to "think out side the box"

SCHunnicut: important to treat each person as a unique individual

SCHunnicut: not part of a group

SCHunnicut: that's all

SCHunnicut: i think Jane Fernandez story upsets me because she is not a hearing person

HoneyWest: Yeah

SCHunnicut: and she is not a deaf person

SCHunnicut: I just feel sad for her because she must have wanted to do a good job, and believed that she could

HoneyWest: Yeah

HoneyWest: But I want Gallaudet to get influence by a really good deaf president SCHunnicut: Yes, i hope that will happen too

HoneyWest: If I had a deaf child that decided to go to Gallaudent I want to make sure he or she goes to a safe school and have a better influence

HoneyWest: By the deaf role model

SCHunnicut: But, one of your greatest strengths is that you can communicate with everyone

SCHunnicut: directly

HoneyWest: Yes mom

SCHunnicut: i think that is an important ability

HoneyWest: I knew that

SCHunnicut: ok, I will stop, I am sorry

HoneyWest: But what if he or she is profound like adam?

HoneyWest: He had hearing aids when he was young

HoneyWest: Still can't hear a thing

SCHunnicut: i know

HoneyWest: Signing is a beautiful thing

HoneyWest: Hearing should learn sign language

HoneyWest: Why working hard on a deaf person to talk?

HoneyWest: Too much pressure on them

HoneyWest: Hearing can learn as well

SCHunnicut: well, if you are a hearing person, and your mom and dad are hearing, and your sisters and brothers, and everyone you know, and you have a child, and very slowly you realize that they cannot hear

SCHunnicut: it is devastating

SCHunnicut: it is like the end of the world

HoneyWest: That dramatic

SCHunnicut: it makes you hurt for your child, because you feel they are left out of all these relationships that are important to you

SCHunnicut: and you want to fix that

HoneyWest: Ok why can't they sign

HoneyWest: U don't really see it do u

SCHunnicut: well, i do

HoneyWest: never mind u dont

SCHunnicut: i do, but it makes me feel stupid

SCHunnicut: if i had lived in a deaf family, and had deaf friends, and people everyday I needed to sign with to communicate, maybe I would have learned

SCHunnicut: but language only gets strong when it is used

SCHunnicut: you have to use it over and over to learn it really well, and if you don't have the opportunity to use it with other people, it is really impossible to learn

SCHunnicut: that is why it takes YEARS to become a certified interpreter

HoneyWest: About 3 yrs

SCHunnicut: full time

HoneyWest: Yep

SCHunnicut: if you had needed me to sign, like adam needed his mom to sign, i would have learned

SCHunnicut: because communicating with you was the most important thing

HoneyWest: His family signs

SCHunnicut: but you can talk back pretty good, you know!

SCHunnicut: i mean, you learned to sing "I will always love you," and play the violin

SCHunnicut: that is only semi-deaf

SCHunnicut: you are not in a deaf box or a hearing box, you are just yourself

HoneyWest: Yeah

SCHunnicut: maybe we should talk about the dogs?

HoneyWest: Lol

SCHunnicut: lol

No Cookies in the Library!

2006-11-01T06:24:00.000-05:00

My friend Heidi sent this YouTube clip about a stressed out librarian.

Nothing like this ever happens at the River Rouge Public Library. If someone asks for a cookie, usually we just give it to them.

You will need speakers and a really fast connection to watch this clip.

The Bible is not a single book, it is a whole library, many voices

2006-10-25T08:42:00.000-04:00

What Jesus knew about faith: A story from the 10th chapter of The Gospel According to Luke

2006-10-25T08:01:00.000-04:00

“A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. 31Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. 34He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.’ 36Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” 37He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

Linda Wertheimer's NPR interview with David Kuo, author of Tempting Faith

2006-10-25T07:49:00.000-04:00

Link to Amazon's page for David Kuo's book, Tempting Faith

2006-10-25T07:43:00.000-04:00

Review of David Kuo's book, Tempting Faith, on MSNBC

2006-10-25T07:23:00.000-04:00

Godless Republicans revisited

2006-10-25T07:21:00.000-04:00

I went back to this article today and discovered that about a gazillion people got excited enough to respond to what Heather MacDonald wrote. It is a good piece of writing.

USA Today Blog: Conservatism doesn't need God

2006-10-23T08:39:00.000-04:00

It's gotten to the point where you have to remind yourself that all Republicans are not fundamentalist, millenialist Christians. This article by Heather MacDonald might shock you out of that point of view, and get you thinking about a different but possible world. http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2006/10/post_33.html

For me, this is the most interesting quote:

"Invoking God in the political realm is a conversation stopper, not an invitation to robust debate. America's rules of religious etiquette demand that we acquiesce silently in a believer's claim of revelation."

I believe that God can be revealed to us in our conversations with one another. In fact, I think that is the meaning of Christ's incarnation, that God entered into our conversation, and transformed it, and is perhaps still transforming it, if we are open to something like that happening. Real Christians believe that Christ, or the Spirit of holiness, or the divine spirit, or whatever, is present in every relationship. Believing this changes conversation, and fills it with potentialities we cannot imagine.

To use the name of God to stop a conversation that needs to take place is... well, I can't really think of the right word. But I know it is wrong. So, I guess I agree with Heather MacDonald. Our politics is screwed up by the personal piety of politicians who stand on street corners practicing their religion before the rest of us. They should do what Jesus did: If you want to preach, then preach. If you want to serve, then serve. But don't ever use your faith, separated from your works, to slander another person's reputation or stop discussion of important issues. That is not faith.

More than you probably want to know... about Superheroes

2006-10-10T07:33:00.000-04:00

For ordinary people: Book Club News

2006-10-10T07:17:00.000-04:00

I decided to post information about the next Democracy for America book club meeting, in Birmingham later this month. We will be talking about American Theocracy, by Kevin Phillips.

D4A Book Club selection for October

2006-10-10T07:01:00.000-04:00

This is an excerpt from American Theocracy: The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21st Century. Also, the title for this post links to more information about the book.

...in early 2004... the New York-based Global Policy Forum published calculations of how much the U.S. and U.K. oil giants stood to make from control over Iraqi oil reserves estimated at close to four hundred billion barrels: "In order to understand the magnitude of these profits, it is useful to know that the worldwide profits from the world's five largest [private] oil companies in 2002 were $35 billion. Our estimate of the 'most probable' annual profits in Iraq are $95 billion, three times this sum!"

Homepage for the Democracy for American Book Club/ Next meeting is October 23

2006-10-10T06:58:00.000-04:00

A little bit about the Detroit Tiger's pitching staff

2006-10-08T11:26:00.000-04:00

I just love this story!

An excerpt from Robert Lipsyte's article on superheroes

2006-10-08T11:02:00.000-04:00

The three durable heroes of my time — Jesus, Albert Einstein and Babe Ruth — were all cartoonized beyond recognition.

From USA Today, July 5, 2006, posted online at http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2006/07/superheroes_in_.html

Superheroes in our own image

2006-10-08T10:07:00.000-04:00

On the plane to meet Johanna in Palm Springs last July, Superman was in the news. The magazine in seatback storage on my plane trip out west had an article on the newest Superman movie. And, USA Today for July 5, 2006, ran this article, entitled Superheroes in our own image. (Click on the title link to this post.) All this Superman attention brought back memories.

Back in 1985, when Johanna was 3, she made friends with Patrick, who was also 3, and who lived across the street from us. Patrick's family was Episcopalian, like we were, and his mom Rosine and I soon discovered that although we had never met, we had a lot of friends and acquaintances in common. Patrick's mom was a graduate student in ecology and evolutionary biology at Rice University, where I was also a student, and she and Patrick's dad Mac had been involved in Autry House, the Episcopal student center at Rice Univeristy. Patrick had a Colombian housekeeper named Olga, whose adult daughter was also deaf. Since Johanna had just been diagnosed, Olga and I had a lot to talk about. There was a time when Jo and Patrick were fast friends. But then Patrick got really verbal, and things got more difficult. Rosine and I have stayed fast friends. She has supported me through many bumpy moments in my career as a minister, and is still one of my most faithful sounding boards and encouragers. Sometimes, she responds to my blog.

Anyway, Patrick at three was totally enthralled with Superman. He had Superman Underalls, which could double as a Superman costume, and a little red and blue cape. Almost every day, Patrick was dressed as Superman. The little cotton string tie at the neck of his cape had been sewed back on multiple times, by Olga. This was the clearest sign, at least to me, that Olga was a wonderful nanny to Patrick: She kept him in his cape.

Now Patrick is in seminary to become an Episcopal priest. Just last year he got married. He lives in Arlington, Virginia. Already in his ministerial career, he has encountered a few bumps of his own, like all of us do. I never thought that Patrick would grow up to be a priest. I thought it more likely that he would be president, because by the time he was twelve years old he had already read Profiles in Courage, and every other book about John F. Kennedy that had ever been written.

I don't really know which career is safer-- politics or pastoral ministry. People who head in either direction often start out as vision-driven people, the kind I like best. Yet often, they find themselves accused of not living up to their high callings. Sometimes the accusations are true, and sometimes not. Frequently, the attention they get because of their work turns out to be a mixed blessing. Yet where would the world be if there were no leaders?

After carrying this article, Superheroes in our own image around for several months, I decided to post it with a question. It is the same question I am posing to my teen book group at the library this month: Is your favorite character a superhero, or is your favorite character an ordinary person?

I'm going to stick with this topic, superheroes and ordinary people, for a while. So what do you think? Is your favorite character (could be from a movie, a book, a song, the Bible) a superhero, or is your favorite character an ordinary person?

The Deep Logic of "Cookies and Milk" Evangelism

2006-09-29T09:38:00.000-04:00

Does it make sense to bribe people with food? Is it fiscally responsible? Everyone knows that human beings have a weakness for good things to eat, and there are reasons why stories about Winnie the Pooh and his honey pot are among the most popular stories adults select to share with children. The shared enjoyment of goodness is a guaranteed relationship builder that extends across all cultural boundaries.

But sometimes we feel guilty about our love affair with food, and about the effectiveness of food for solving human problems. Sometimes we lose touch with the spiritual power of sharing, and the deep connections between faith and generosity and strength in communities.

For example, in the early 1990s, I was the minister of education at Central Congregational Church, in the mid-town area of Houston, half way between downtown Houston and the Texas Medical Center. An aging and much diminished congregation occupied a beautiful, and historic building located in what was at the time a "distressed" area of the city. The church, with its beautiful bell tower, its cloister walk, and its 100 year old magnolia tree, had been designed by the same architect who designed many of the buildings on the Rice University campus. The sanctuary could seat 400 people. Usually, though, only about 30- 40 were present. A collection of the aged and infirm who travelled from widely dispersed suburbs to worship together, they would arrive at church on Sunday mornings and spread themselves evenly throughout the cavernous worship space. Many Sundays the choir would actually outnumber the congregation, so that the preacher would have to preach the sermon with more than half the congregation sitting BEHIND him or her. It was a pretty sad experience. No one in the congregation would sing, because mostly all they could hear was the sound of their own voices.

A small group of very committed women held this church together, by their insistence on being together weekly. They had friendships that extended back 40 and 60 and 80 years and they were not about to let their friendships go as long as their husbands could still fit behind the wheel of the Olds 88 and drive into town without any major incidents. The women also came on Thursday mornings, to do quilting together.

The church kitchen was the site of the midtown Meals on Wheels program, of which they were very proud. Twice a year, at Thanksgiving and Easter, they would plan a community meal for after church on Sundays.

The women confessed to me that these two occasions-- Thanksgiving and Easter-- were the only times most members of the church would come to church. They were acutely guilty about this. It did seem that they considered it a barometer of the spiritual life of the congregation that people would only come to church when there was food. But I found myself asking them, "why don't you have food more often?". If they had shared food more often, and more people had come to church, I think the singing would have been better. If the singing had been better, church would have been a happier, more uplifting experience.

This was a thoroughly biblical suggestion. I once read that in the gospel according to Luke (and this is only one example) Jesus is always on the way to or from a dining occasion. Jesus' major activities, besides preaching and healing, are travelling and eating.

The women were not impressed by this observation. In fact, in the context of another discussion, about providing food as a draw for the 1000s of college students who attended school across the street at the main campus of the Houston Community College, they would speak ruefully of "rice Christians." Somehow if a person got fed in church, it wasn't quite as good as if they had come to church for "something else."

So much for the feeding of the 4000, or the 5000. I have good reason to believe this church is no longer in existence.

***

All this is on my mind because of the success of my children's reading program "Hang Out and Read at the Library." In the past two weeks, approximately 40 new library visits have occurred by mothers and pre-school children. I do bribe them with a snack if they read together for 20 minutes. In addition, I have received 500 children's books from the Skillman Foundation, 200 coupons for free french fries from McDonald's, and 100 canvas book bags from Michigan Friends of Education, all of which go into the "loot bag" they will receive if they come to the library and read together six times.

I took six bags of loot to the teachers at River Rouge Head Start on Friday two weeks ago, and told the kids they had to bring their moms to the library and read together if they wanted to win. So far I have given away two bags (each representing six completed library visits), so I have about 98 to go. But like I said, we have had more than 40 new library visits in the past two weeks. Mothers are coming to the library with their own children, and the children of friends as well. Think: one mom in her early 20s, and five or six three and four years olds. Many of them are African American, and their have very cute hairstyles, and sweet smiles, and they always say thank you when they get their snacks. How long has it been since you have seen that? The bag is a good deal. In addition to the free french fries they get a little blue bookmark with the library hours on it. I am expecting more moms to show up when they figure out that they have to come if they want to get the bag.

Last month, the United Way built a puppet stage in our library as part of their "Week of Caring." It is very cool, purple, with curtains and bean bag chairs, and the kids love it. The timing could not have been better.

But I will get back to my question, about "bribing" people with food. I find that many people are deeply conflicted about the spirituality and the ethics of sharing. The Christian-- and secular-- virtues of compassion and generosity, which are guaranteed community builders, are in conflict with our fear of giving something away to a person who we all to easily believe is not deserving. This fear lives in the dark side of our nature, and is responsible for the destruction of much life and community. Whole churches have lost their lives because they did not understand the power of compassion and generosity to build community. I think it is possible our democratic way of life, and our safety in the world, is endangered by the same fears.

But I am fighting this battle. The Skillman Foundation gave me 100 copies of that story about Winnie the Pooh and his honey pots. It is one of the baby board books that I included in the bag of loot, along with the coupons for french fries from McDonalds.

2006-09-22T17:14:00.000-04:00

"I truly think we're at one of those turning points where the future's looking so ugly nobody wants to face it," said Matthew Simmons, an energy investment banker in Houston who has advised the Bush administration on oil policy. -- Excerpted from article A Tank of Gas, A World of Trouble.

The Nature of Oil

2006-09-22T16:35:00.000-04:00

This (click on the title link) is a fascinating short piece on oil that was a sidebar to the article A Tank of Gas a World of Trouble.

A Tank of Gas, a World of Trouble

2006-09-22T15:54:00.000-04:00

Lately, for reasons I can't quite explain, I have been very curious about the future of oil and gas. What I mean is, I am curious about the oil and gas business, including perspectives on its future, and how it impacts current political events. Today I found this article, A Tank of Gas, a World of Trouble, which was published recently in the Chicago Tribune. (Click on the title link.)

The author starts by volunteering at a rural service station outside of Chicago ("where the McMansions meet the cornfields"). He gets to know the people who stop weekly at the gas station to fill their tanks, and explores the uses of gas in their everyday lives. Then, he attempts to analyze the gas that is pumped there. He seeks (not always successfully) oil company information about where the oil came from and what kinds of political considerations surrounded its removal from the ground. He asks about the human lives that lie at the other end of our relationship will crude oil.

This is a long article. Actually, it is a series of articles. But if you are watching Al Gore's film, An Inconvenient Truth (like the church I go to will be doing on October 8) this article might make a good follow-up discussion piece. It is not about the impact of petroleum addiction on the environment. Instead, it focuses on human relationships, and the impact of our dependence on oil on the lives of other people.

This is the flip-side of the Woodward Dream Cruise. This really is the real life that is roaring down our road today...

"In poll, GOP slips as friend of religion"

2006-08-27T07:06:00.000-04:00

Real Life, Roaring Down the Road

2006-08-19T20:07:00.000-04:00

If you want to see your life pass before your eyes, the corner of Woodward Avenue and 13 Mile Road is a good place to park your behind this weekend. It's the Woodward Dream Cruise, which if you've never seen it, could truly make you feel your big heart. The older you are, the better the cruise can be.

I have wispy childhood memories of a green passenger sedan parked in the shade behind my grandmother's house in Tampa, Florida in 1963. Because I am a girl, I can't tell you what kind of car it was. I have wracked my brain trying to remember, because now it seems important to me than it did back then. All I know is that the air inside the car was hot, and it smelled liked baked dust, clean and dry, and that the car had scratchy woven plastic on the seats that stuck to the backs of your legs.

That Car, along with that House, defined the contours of my life, which I loved. It was how we got to the other Houses: to Nina Clark's House, and Bonnie Corral's House, and to Robert and Jeanne's House, and to the Colonnade on Bayshore Boulevard, where we could park in another shady spot, this time near the water, and order drippy cheeseburgers and cokes from a woman who came out to our car to take our order.

The car made my grandmother, Susie Mae Gruetzmacher, seem to me like the most powerful person in the world.

Then, later, I remember how my father got a ticket for speeding in his new black Thunderbird. Maybe this was 1967. My dad was on a fishing trip from Chicago to the north woods of Wisconsin, and I don't think he had ever gotten a ticket before. He complained that they caught him from a helicopter, which seemed unfair. I think it was the black Thunderbird that caused the ticket to happen. Just looking at it made you think a little faster. The Thunderbird turned out to be rich for the family budget, and not too practical for long trips up north, and before long it was gone, traded in on a station wagon.

From the corner of Woodward and 13 Mile road, none of the other cars in my family's life seems to be quite as archetypal as these two cars. The first was a holdover from the 1950s, practical, family oriented, almost one with the tree under which it was parked, part of the landscape of my grandmother's life. The second was all 1960s, sleek, and fast and eager to show off for the neighbors. Every other car we had was just a car, but these two seem bigger than life to me.

The Woodward Dream Cruise makes me think about these things. Last night on Woodward Avenue we passed a powder blue Gremlin (1973) wedged between a yellow Barracuda (1970) and a green Barracuda (date unknown). I only know the dates of the cars if they are still sporting their original license plates, which many of the cars on Woodward this weekend are.

You only have to experience the Woodward Dream Cruise once to get its message, which is much bigger than words. I think it is poignant, though that this is the week when Ford has announced cut backs in production levels for the 4th quarter. Three local plants will be shut down temporarily, and it won't be long before more people lose their jobs for good. Motor City is feeling a lot of pain right now. Driving down Woodward what you feel, along with everything else you feel, is the transitoriness of life. The need to keep on moving. The cost of not moving like a dancer through this life. It's all pretty complicated, pretty rich.

Seeing certain cars is just like hearing certain music. In fact, it is very easy for certain cars to be linked with certain tunes. Now that I think about it there was that green 1968 Ford Mustang my boyfriend David drove in the early 1970s. David loved to listen to Don MacLean's American Pie. He had an 8-track in the car. In my mind, that car will always have music playing in it. "Everybody loves me baby, what's the matter with you? Won't you tell me what did I do to offend you..." That is a lesser known song from American Pie, but one David was particularly fond of listening to. I liked Vincent. And of course I liked American Pie. American Pie goes with a 1968 green Ford Mustang with a tan top. Jim Croce singing 40,000 Pounds of Bananas goes too. Gordon Lightfoot singing, If You Could Read My Mind. All of it goes. All of it was a very, very long time ago.

This is what the Woodward Dream Cruise does. It's worth a million dollars because it brings back the memories. Even though it happens in Detroit, it is the most truly American thing I have ever seen. Wherever you have been, the Woodward Dream Cruise can help you remember your America.

Here are some links to Dream Cruise web sites you might like to visit:

The Detroit News today

Woodward Dream Cruise presented by Eaton

The Dream Cruise in the Wikipedia

Classic hymns are still sung in the library

2006-08-11T08:05:00.000-04:00

I had another gracious moment in the library yesterday when our page, Justin, broke into song. He was singing Martin Luther's hymn, A Mighty Fortress is Our God. Justin's singing made me feel my big heart, and I asked him to sing it again. I especially like this part:

And though this world with devils filled

Should threaten to undo us

We will not fear for God has willed

His truth to triumph through us.

The Prince of Darkness Grim

We tremble not for him.

His rage we can endure,

for Lo, his doom is sure.

one little word shall fell him.

Justin told me that his dad, another minister in exile, taught him to sing that song when he was little, so that he would not be afraid of the dark. Cindy, our AARP volunteer, agreed with me that it is sometimes easier to believe in devils than it is to have hope in the power and the goodness of God. This has always been the problem.

Better information might lead to better choices

2006-08-11T07:40:00.000-04:00

Yesterday when I woke up, terrorism was in the news again. The president says the reason they want to kill us is that they hate our freedom. The news media never seems to question that this is why they hate us, or to explore alternative explanations for the anger of the people who strike out to hurt us.

I think the president's explanation is overly simplistic. Frances Moore Lappe has suggested that one of the healthiest ways to fight anger and fear is to get curious, and I think this is good advice. We should all be reading books, and talking to other people, and using our freedoms and our communication skills in any way possible, to come up with more precise, more realistic explanations for why the world has become such a scary place.

Other library millages fared better, but the numbers are sad

2006-08-11T07:30:00.000-04:00

Oakland Township renewed a .1241 millage for 20 years. The vote was 2055 yes, 785 no.

Superior Township approved 1.6 mills in perpetuity to become a part of the Ypsilanti District Library. The vote was 506 yes, 471 no.

Independence Township approved a renewal of the library millage 2737 to 1446.

Lapeer voters reject library millage

2006-08-11T06:54:00.000-04:00

The Lapeer (Michigan) District Library will lose 80% of its funding if the defeat of the library's millage this week is allowed to stand.

Of the 90,000 people who live in Lapeer County, 34,000 are library users. The millage was defeated 6,649-6,412.

I think the Lapeer District Library needed to do a better job of getting information to its users.

Seeds grow if you plant them

2006-08-01T08:21:00.000-04:00

At River Rouge Public Library we planted a vegetable garden in beds that have gone empty for years. About ten tomato plants, four or five peppers of the banana and bell varieties, cucumbers, corn, eggplant, and a variety of herbs. Kids come in every day and ask if they can water the plants. They are amazed by what is growing, and they feel like personal owners of the garden, which after all they are.

Lately we have been picking green beans and hungarian peppers. The tomato plants are loaded with little green tomatoes. We have several cucumbers, three stunted ears of corn, even an eggplant. And the butterfly garden Cindy planted is in full bloom. We are still waiting for butterflies. Probably they have been around and we missed them, but the flowers are beautiful in their own right.

Yesterday we found end rot on some of the tomatoes. And Dellon pointed out that little bugs are feasting on our mint. Ah, the dark side. I'm not sure I'm really prepared for a garden that has to be aggressively defended! And of course we have weeds.

All in all, though, I think we are going to realize enough good from this project to fill quite a few of us with hope and a sense of possibility. Along with a little salad party later in August, this is what we are after.

My favorite book about the Bible

2006-08-01T06:49:00.000-04:00

I am posting this link to Walter Brueggemann's Prophetic Imagination. (You'll have to click on the title to this post, the Amazon.com URL is too long for me to type.) I was glad to discover that it is still in print, since my copy is buried in a storage unit somewhere south of Lansing, Michigan.

I notice that there is ONE copy of this book in The Library Network. It is at the public library in Hamtramck. And that is pretty much it.

This is a very important book. It is well researched, easy to read, and emotionally and spiritually it has the power to reach many people where they are.

Lately I have become very disheartened about the possibility that Christian churches having the answer for anything. At the very least, though, good teaching about the Bible could help us not to screw things up even worse than they already are.

Patrick Buchanan on Israel and Lebanon

2006-08-01T06:27:00.000-04:00

My friend Don sent me this article, The Moral Culpability for Qana, which I think is very good.

Patrick Buchanan is interesting to me. He has for years talked about the failure of U.S. legislators to protect the interests of U.S. workers. It's like he saw globalization coming two decades ago, along with everything it meant for our form of government. Of course he had bad attitudes about a lot of other things. But with the perspective that time gives, I think it is fair to say that he hasn't been bought by anyone. He is not a Joe Leiberman, George Bush, Hilary Clinton kind of person. He seems to me to be a person whose mind and heart are still running on all cylinders. I have never voted for a Republican for anything. But PB has gotten my attention a few times for saying things-- important things-- that no one else was saying.

I don't know why it is so hard for people in the U.S. to separate their faith in God from their judgment about the Arab-Israeli conflict. In the Bible God does not rubber stamp everything Israel does. I think religious leaders in the U.S. bear a great deal of responsibility for the uncritical embrace of everything Israeli; for not doing a much better job of teaching about the prophets, and the prophetic vision of life, the world and the future.

For example, I am thinking about Isaiah. And Jesus. Would either one of them have sanctioned the killing of international peacekeepers and Lebanese children just because two soldiers got kidnapped?

What would Jesus have said about this? What would Jesus be hoping for and working for? Come on.

The fortune cookie my friend June gave me today

2006-07-30T14:40:00.000-04:00

It says you miss 100% of the shots you never take.

A Woman's Guide to Salary Negotiations

2006-07-30T14:03:00.000-04:00

I found this article on salary negotiations on aol.com today. What a valuable piece of information!

If there was one thing I could change about my twelve year career in ministry it is that I would research and negotiate my salary better. When I came up against something that was simply wrong (this happened on two negotiations, and pretty much did in an entire decade of my life), I would have the courage to walk away sooner. I would not have walked away from being a minister, but I would have run at the speed of light from ignorance, and irresponsibility, and the unsustainable relationships they create.

Our lives in the physical world are the experiential ground of everything that is spiritual and emotional. There is a lot of spiritual sickness in our lives today (war, injustice, disease in relationships) because we are not more realistic, and more honest with ourselves and other people, about our lives in the physical world. That is what salary negotiations are always about: Creating a physical space where Spirit and heart and community can flourish.

A couple of years ago I turned down the first full time library job that was offered to me because I knew the salary would never allow me to meet my personal goals. It was a difficult thing to do, but a few months later I got an offer for a job that paid $6000/ year more. Today, I have more happiness in my life, and a greater feeling of satisfaction with the compensation I am receiving for the work I do. And because this battle is in my past, it is not in my future!

The importance of good information

2006-07-25T06:50:00.000-04:00

An interesting moment in Al Gore's movie was when he counted up the number of academic journal articles that have appeared in the last 30 years on the subject of global warming. In college, he was a student of one of the first scientists who measured increased CO2 levels in the atmosphere, and he has been following this story for a long time.

Of more than 300 articles published in academic journals, none questioned that global warming was a fact. But in the popular press during the same period, the situation was very different. Articles that questioned the science behind global warming had a slight lead. If my memory serves me, Gore claims that 56% of the articles in the popular press during the same period of time questioned the science behind global warming and went on to argue against any policy changes, against increased fuel economy standards, against Kyoto, etc. etc. etc. Glaciers have melted, coral reefs have bleached, , the Gulf Coast has been battered, thousands left homeless, polar ice has disappeared, entire ecosystems have been disrupted. But in the popular press, until very recently, people have gotten the message that there might not be a problem after all.

Similarly, the popular press has done almost nothing to really educate the public about the issues that are at stake in genetic engineering. Corporations are now allowed to hold patents on genetic material. In agriculture, the genetic modifications that have been selected by corporations like Monsanto are modifications that pit farmers against one another and put Monsanto in the position to skim the cream off the profit of every farmer's income. The benefits to consumers are nil. Benefits to farmers are not the REAL issue. If farmers don't buy Monsanto's products they simply can't compete. It works like drug addiction.

Do we get to talk about whether this is a healthy state of affairs not only for farmers, but for everyone who eats? No we don't. In fact, the whole economy of agricultural genetic engineering has been carefully hidden from the people who have the most at stake.

The quality of information-- truthfulness-- is the most important moral issue for people who live in a democracy. If you don't know the truth of a situation, you cannot possibly make a good choice. Without good information, you are deprived of any REAL choices at all.

Seeds are in the news...

2006-07-25T06:37:00.000-04:00

This article, aptly titled "Monsanto's Stealth Buys", is about Monsanto Corporation's purchase of many many small foundation seed companies. It ran in yesterday's Detroit Free Press. But you will notice that the article was actually posted on the Internet more than a month ago. Why does it take so long for people in Michigan-- including farmers-- to get this news?

Monsanto's acquisitions of foundation seed companies have been going on for years. The only reason Monsanto buys seed companies is so it can turn seeds into its intellectual property, effectively establishing a monopoly control on the stuff that life is made of.

Pretty soon we will be having to choose between food and gasoline, and Monsanto will be reaping the benefits of that unholy choice. It's not that I oppose alternative energy sources because I actually support them. But do we really want one company to have this kind of strangle hold on our lives? Do we want Monsanto to be that company?

If there were any real prophets in the world today, they would be talking about this. But prophets just can't hold their own this profit driven world.

Most quotable quote from An Inconvenient Truth

2006-07-24T09:06:00.000-04:00

"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it." Upton Sinclair

An Inconvenient Truth

2006-07-24T08:45:00.000-04:00

This is a link to Climatecrisis.org, the companion web site for Al Gore's movie on global warming.

I went to see An Inconvenient Truth last night with two librarian friends. The Main Art Theater in Royal Oak was perhaps 75% filled, which surprised me.

The most interesting part of the movie from where I was sitting was when Gore compared the profits of auto manufacturers that have focused on increased fuel economy with the profits of Ford and GM. It was not a pretty picture.

The theater seemed to be filled with Ford and GM retirees-- I would surmise this based on the demographics of Royal Oak, where almost everyone is connected in some way to the auto industry. Also, the audience was decidedly gray.

The success of this movie will be driven by word of mouth. So I hope you (whoever you are) will go and see it. If it speaks to you, I hope you will use your own voice, and encourage others to go. Then, try to make some good conversation happen. Good conversation is the only way the world ever has or ever will change for the better. In every area of life, good conversation is the necessary presupposition of real hope. This is a spiritual truth of great practical significance, since the Word of God (i.e. the word of hope) can only be known to us as a human word.

This movie is just Al Gore, doing his work the best he can. The man has had some hard knocks. I am sure he wonders sometimes about the path his life has taken. What is clear though, is that he endured the hard knocks for a reason, a vision, a hope and a goal to which he still clings. This is enough to make him a hero for me.

Link to pictures of Harriett Berg and Madame Cadillac Dance Theater

2006-07-21T00:15:00.000-04:00

These are pictures from a performance at a school in northern Michigan.

The baby likes the fiddle music too!

2006-07-20T23:57:00.000-04:00

Well, Vanessa is pregnant, and that baby will be born in September. While Madame Cadillac and a voyageur named Pierre were teaching almost 30 kids (including a handful of homeboys with moves of their own) how to contra dance in the library, Vanessa's baby was dancing too. They were all moving to a very happy sounding French melody.

The Madame Cadillac Dance Theatre is one of my favorite programs. The Michigan Humanities Council provides funding that makes the program affordable for us. Harriet Berg has a whole troup of actors and musicians who travel with her. They tell the story about the French settlement of Detroit in the early 1700s, and teach kids to dance, row a canoe, sing Frere Jacque and flirt with fans.

Culture clash at the library? Reference interview veers off track...

2006-07-20T23:25:00.000-04:00

A black girl, a teenager, came to the library today and asked for a book about drama. I did a keyword search on IBistro-- the online catalog-- for "theatre" and "kids", and for some reason this combination of keywords generated hundreds of pages of hits. It was like looking for a needle in a mountain of haystacks. I had a certain book in mind, and I just couldn't find the call number. (I won't give up the name of my cataloging instructor, but clearly she did not require that we memorize anything...) In my mind I could see the book I was looking for on the shelf in two different locations, but it wasn't actually in either one.

I tried keywords "drama" and "kids" with pretty much the same, not very helpful results. These words must be connected, somehow, with half of everything in the catalog!

It happened that the Madame Cadillac Dance Theatre was getting ready to perform a wonderful program on the French history of Detroit at the very moment I was performing this search. I was really needed somewhere else, so I explained the problem I was having to Vanessa, my director, and went off to get the program going. I left Vanessa looking for those books about drama.

When the performance was over, Vanessa told me she found the book I had been looking for, plus several others on kids and theatre. But when the girl saw the books Vanessa found, she said, "These books are about putting on plays. I want books about drama." The conversation stumbled along for quite a while longer, "who's on first" style, until somehow Vanessa figured out that the girl was looking for gangsta fiction.

You know, drama.

We have a lot of drama in the library. We just never knew what to call it before.

Thank yous needed

2006-07-16T08:14:00.000-04:00

I want to say thank you to Laura Hill, the Texas pageant director, and Sara Filippone, Johanna's chaperone in Palm Springs. Also to Margie Friant, who created our family's booster ad for Johanna. And all those Texas people, including John Cage, who provided such generous support for Johanna. And Paula who masterminded the whole thing.

Our Palm Springs Vacation

2006-07-16T08:04:00.000-04:00

Jo did not place in the finals, but she did very well. After the pageant was over, we had a fun week, although it was very warm. We were staying not very many miles from the place in Southern California where the Sawtooth wildfire is burning.

In Palm Springs it was sometimes 114 in the shade, and it was VERY dry. One day Johanna said, "I like that potato chip feeling." I think what she meant was that if you stand out in that heat for very long, you will TURN INTO a potato chip. We stayed in a Marriott hotel and spa, lay by the pool and drank colorful drinks, and drove around in a Pontiac Grand Prix, which I enjoyed but don't need to do every day.

We ate some great Mexican food with Miss Deaf Ohio, who is also a dancer, and her mom. It was wonderful to get to share notes with another mom of a deaf baby, now that it is so easy to see that the place we were going all along is such a good place.

One day Johanna and I rode an aerial tram up San Jacinto mountain, several thousand feet, from where we could see the San Andreas fault, it really was a green line cutting through the landscape. It was good to know we were on the side that will probably stay attached to the rest of the country. All those huge cracked rocks balanced on their ends on the sides of the mountain could make you a little anxious though!

If you search Google Images for San Jacinto Mountain, you will find some amazing pictures.

San Antonio Express-News Article about Miss Deaf Texas

2006-07-16T07:30:00.000-04:00

The San Antonio Express- News ran a nice piece about Johanna in the paper on July 3, the day of the pageant finals. (Click on the link.)

Blog for the National Association of the Deaf

2006-07-01T12:48:00.000-04:00

If you scroll down on this web page, you can see a picture of Johanna dancing. You have to scroll down quite a bit. The picture was posted on June 30, and quite a few things have been posted since then.

Hope and her friend Buddy

2006-07-01T08:28:00.000-04:00

Hope is the dog in black. Buddy is the other guy.

2006-07-01T08:26:00.000-04:00

More email from Palm Springs

2006-06-30T21:36:00.000-04:00

She won Best Talent in preliminary!!!!Laura Hill

Email from Palm Springs

2006-06-30T21:26:00.000-04:00

Johanna just did her talent performance for the preliminary and she did FABULOUS!! She had the audience in tears!!! Laura Hill

1 Peter 5:6-7 "Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him for He cares for you."

I received this in email tonight from the Miss Deaf America pageant in Palm Springs, California, from the Miss Deaf Texas pageant director. Johanna's program is a contemporary dance interpretation of God Bless America.

I will be going to Palm Springs on Monday. I hope it's not all over before I get there...

2006-06-30T21:21:00.000-04:00

The paradox of lonely people in a well-connected world

2006-06-27T08:22:00.000-04:00

This morning I spent almost an hour exchanging instant messages with my old friend Rosine, who lives in Alabama. It had been months since the last time we did this, and as often happens in my relationship with her, it was a great conversation for me-- even though it wasn't really a CONVERSATION. It got me to thinking about friendship, which seems to me when it is real to always have a miraculous quality to it.

Also, it reminded me of a story about friendship that I saw in the newspaper, while sitting in the Nashville airport last week. The title of this post links to another version of the same story. Some of the highlights/ interesting points for me:

...Almost a quarter of the 1,500 American adults participating in the survey indicated that they had "zero" close friends to share their personal issues with, while more than half of the people surveyed said that they could name two close friends or less. Most often these close companions included immediate family members. The survey has been ongoing since 1972...

...In-person interactions have become somewhat unsettling to many who have come to see instant message boxes and e-mail inboxes as the normal way to communicate. Sharing personal struggles and circumstances online requires the typing of words and the use of a few smilies, where 20 years ago they would require a phone call that would allow both parties to hear each others' voices, or a face-to-face meeting...

Yes, it is true that I would have preferred to hear Rosine's voice. Damn, I would have preferred to drink a margarita with her! A margarita is always better than an instant message...

I am interested in what others are thinking and feeling about this friendship crisis...

On the perils of mimesis, the DaVinci Code, Mahatma Gandhi's cloud, etc...

2006-05-21T08:33:00.000-04:00

I guess I will always be back for something. I can't resist posting this great column by Mitch Albom, which appeared in today's Detroit Free Press.

Wisdom@RiverRougePublicLibrary

2006-04-25T07:10:00.000-04:00

Human beings have mastery of the spoken word; theirs, then, is the responsibility to direct the life force. From Origins: African Wisdom for Every Day

About a ministry for voices, and my blog

2006-04-25T06:48:00.000-04:00

I have had a few emails recently from people who noticed that I have not been posting to my blog. It is true that right in the middle of Lent, and in the middle of a plan to talk about the Gospel According to Mark, and voices, I lost my heart for the work. I'm not really sure who I am trying to communicate with anymore, or why.

This morning Johanna sent me the link to this article from The Ranger, about her crowning as Miss Deaf Texas earlier this month. I would have given anything to be there! I am so proud.

From being Johanna's mom I learned that it is wrong, so wrong, to take our voices for granted. This is, I think, the most important spiritual issue in American life today: That free people kid themselves that they have no power. We count our personal voices at worth nothing. In doing this, we squander God's greatest gift, and our most sacred trust.

Libraries are full of voices, and I (the librarian) am just a metaphor. "Ask" and you will be given. "Listen" with your eyes and with your ears. Learn what you need to know. If you get into the conversation, you can change the world.

Johanna, I am proud of how gracefully you are doing your work!

Love,

Mom

A silent Miss Congeniality with a big voice

2006-04-25T06:36:00.000-04:00

This article is from The Ranger, the newsletter of San Antonio College, where Johanna goes to school. I like the title, and I think Vanessa Castaneda did a beautiful job of writing this story.

Ash Wednesday in Michigan and in Texas

2006-03-01T21:45:00.000-05:00

One of the lessons read in services in Royal Oak this evening:

Is not this the fast that I choose: To loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin? Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly...

Isaiah 58, selected verses

Johanna's AIM away message later in the evening:

"You may say I'm a dreamer, But I'm not the only one. I hope some day you'll join us, And the world will live as one." She and her grandmother didn't go to church. They went to hear Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. speak at San Antonio College last night.

Today I'm reading Dog Heaven, by Cynthia Rylant

2006-03-01T06:42:00.000-05:00

Today is Read Across America. I'm going to Ann Visger School at 8:30 a.m. to read Dog Heaven (click on the title link) to a class of second graders.

I discovered Dog Heaven a couple of years ago when I was substituting in a second grade class in Bloomfield Hills. It is a beautiful book. On the Amazon.com website, it has 99 customer reviews, and an average 5 star rating. If you love dogs, Dog Heaven will make you feel your big heart.

"When dogs go to Heaven, they don't need wings because God knows that dogs love running best. He gives them fields. Fields and fields and fields..."

I know the dog in this story.

A little bit of the Rouge

2006-03-01T06:35:00.000-05:00

Last week I bought a Subway sandwich and went to Elizabeth Park, where Southfield Road ends at Jefferson Avenue and the Detroit River. Canada is right across the water, and actually this is Ecorse, not River Rouge.

I can't remember what was on the radio while I ate. But while I was listening, I saw four white swans and a blue heron out on the water, not very far from the place where U.S. Steel dumps radiant truckloads of molten slag onto the banks of the river. I'm not sure what kind of ecological factoid this is. A few people in the Rouge still have jobs at the U.S. Steel plant, which is saying something. Also, there was ice floating in the river. Probably the water by the steel mill is a little bit warmer than other places on the river.

If I was a swan, I know its where I would be. It comforts me to know that wild life is so durable.

What is a faith issue? Would you know one if you had one?

2006-02-25T06:52:00.000-05:00

For me, faith issues are those places in our lives where we know that something good and holy, something that we cannot live without, is broken, and where we know we do not have the strength, in ourselves, to do anything about it. A faith issue is a place in life where we turn to a "higher power" for strength, wisdom, and courage, because we have come to understand that this is our only hope.

In the Gospel According to Mark, every time someone in Galilee(the wilderness) comes to Jesus asking for a healing (for self or someone else) what you are seeing is a person, very in touch with her or his spiritual life, reaching out. It is an act of trust. It takes a lot of courage. It is the essence of faith.

If there was "a house of prayer for all nations," I think it would be full of all of our faith issues, laid in the presence of God. We, our embodied selves, would be there with them. Our faith issues would be embodied in us. Also, we would be listening one to another, aware. We would be able to hear. In the words of the gospel, we would have compassion. But, I don't know if God needs this house as much as we do.

"What is it with evangelical Christians?" by Cal Thomas

2006-02-24T20:18:00.000-05:00

See what I mean??? Sheesh.

I don't think Cal Thomas has never studied theology. But in this media environment, a lot of people might just think he is some kind of authority. This is the reason why the story of the Gospel According to Mark needs to be taught as literature. It would be helpful to be able to talk about the faith issues in the Gospel. It would help people to be able to identify the faith issues in their own lives.

2006-02-23T06:32:00.000-05:00

Sometimes when I read the story about Jesus in the temple, it makes me wonder if he had an "anger problem." But I don't think he did. I think he was just angry.

In another place (Mark 6:34), it says that Jesus had compassion on the people, "because they were like sheep without a shepherd." This happened when they are all in the wilderness together.

In this story, many things are not working they way they are supposed to.

A house of prayer for all the nations

2006-02-22T07:01:00.000-05:00

This is what Jesus, a Jewish man, was looking for when he visited the temple in Jerusalem. You can read about it in Mark 11: 12-25, a passage that ends with a saying about forgiveness, "...if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses..." The fig tree story frames the story about Jesus' disappointment with the temple, so I left it in.

The Oral and the Written Gospel

2006-02-21T07:19:00.000-05:00

I can't find my copy of The Oral and the Written Gospel, but here is a link to information about one way you can find it. I know it is around here somewhere.

Suffering, and compassionate response to suffering, at the heart of the gospel

2006-02-21T06:42:00.000-05:00

Spoken words, like live music, are inseparable from life itself. There is a sense in which spoken words actually create our lives; a sense in which they create us. They certainly do create our relationships with one another. If you hear someone calling your name, what you really know from the sound of their voice is that you are alive in a world together. The sound of the voice of a person you love is the most reassuring thing in the world.

Because spoken words are living things, it is very difficult for human beings to tell—that is to put into speech-- stories about death. (Part of the horror of New Orleans was that we had to put into words what was happening. You can feel defiled just telling some stories.) But the early church was all about proclamation. This is the reason why Dr. Kelber argued in The Oral and the Written Gospel that the passion narrative—the extended story of Jesus’ suffering and death—came very late in the gospel traditioning process.

The letters of the apostle Paul all pre-date the first gospel. In them, you get little formulas about the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. But in the Gospel According to Mark, you get close attention to physicial, social and emotional details of what he experienced. There is an implied witness to the details, which gives the story an historical quality. But in fact, the passion narrative is composed of bits of scripture, mostly prophetic, which allude to the suffering of God's chosen one.

Dr. Kelber believes it was the suffering of Jerusalem, when it was invaded by Roman armies in 70 a.d., which evoked the telling of story of Jesus’ passion. The destruction of the temple which is narrated in the gospel (Mark 13:1-2, 14ff) was, he believes, a real event in the life of the storyteller's community at the time when the story of the passion was first written. Also, when the story of the passion finally came to be told, it was written first, not spoken. Dr. Kelber argues that the physical act of writing would have provided social and emotional distance from life that made it safer, and easier, to put a story about suffering and death into words.

The story of Jesus' passion was evoked by the suffering of the people in the Markan community. The story was told to help them to find their way, at a moment when it seemed that everything they had ever hoped for was being lost.

Jerusalem is the city of peace.

If you read the gospel with an eye to suffering that happens in it, you will see that there are three general instances of suffering in the gospel:

The suffering people in Galilee, who are healed by Jesus and his disciples. (See Mark 1:26, 30, 32, 40, 2:3ff, 3:1ff, 10, 5:1ff, 23ff, 25ff, 6:26ff, 31…)

The suffering of Jesus on the cross. (Mark 15:25ff)

The suffering of the city of Jerusalem. (Mark 13:1-23)

Detroit News today: Making Peace with War

2006-02-19T09:31:00.000-05:00

"You can't explain it to someone who hasn't been there," said (Amber) Kier, a 22-year-old Holly native who spent 20 months in Iraq with the Michigan National Guard. "You spend all your time over there dreaming of being home, and you get home and find you don't belong here anymore."

Choosing between fast food religion and the whole grain/ whole gospel story

2006-02-19T05:29:00.000-05:00

When I posted my plan for talking about The Gospel According to Mark on February 16, James Eaton responded:

It's interesting to me how threatening this understanding remains. A few months ago I wrote an article in The Congregationalist in which I said that I heard no come to Jesus call; instead, a call to a radical kindness. I meant to make the same point: Jesus' preaching points to something more than simply himself. This idea has not only been the cause of great controversy, it is now the platform for a move to get the Executive Committee of the NACCC (National Association of Congregational Christian Churches) to fire me.

James Eaton's struggle to be faithful in the place to which he has been called... this is one of the reasons why I think a sustained engagement with the Gospel According to Mark is important, and could be a chastening and healing thing. Martin Luther said sola scriptura, but he didn't really focus only on scripture. He focused on a few verses of scripture. Luther's slimmed down idea of salvation (justification) by faith alone has been transformed by American churches into a kind of "fast food nation religion." One stop, touching one base, repeating the right words, mindlessly, as if they were magic, will get you all the way to heaven. Supposedly, this can happen completely apart from any understanding of who Jesus was, any examination of what his own faith looked like, any examination what kind of choices he made. It can happen completely apart from the necessity of good choices (other than the choice not to be gay or to have an abortion) on the part of contemporary Christians.

But in life, we have choices. This is the meaning of incarnation, that we get to make choices, and that they have an impact on the world around us. In a democracy, we supposedly have a lot of choices, and a lot of responsibility to make good choices. Fast food nation religion is failing us, and we are failing in our responsibilities. We are squandering our freedoms and losing life.

No one is really addressing the fact that people who mindlessly repeat the name of Jesus can still be out of shape spiritually; that they can in fact be unbelievably ignorant about the world around them, selfish and self-centered, materialistic, short-sighted, mean-spirited, and lacking in wisdom and compassion. No one is really addressing the fact that we are a nation whose whole domestic economy and foreign policy depends on predatory debt, in spite of the fact that we have leaders who claim to be Christians. (So are they Christians, or are they the mafia, or are they both? Is this one of those times when we REALLY need to love the sinner but hate the sin?) No one is really addressing the fact that even though we know our political leaders have lost their way, and no longer understand the meaning of public service, we have no ground to stand on in pointing this out to them, because we have no ground to stand on.

When Jim Eaton says "Jesus' teaching points to something other than simply himself," this is an entree to talking about many choices we make, every day of our lives. It is an entree to talking about faithfulness in all kinds of relationships. Which could of course be kind of scary for all of us.

Nevertheless, it is important for Christians to be able to tell the whole story of Jesus' life. It is important for us to know what real faith looks like before any of us starts claiming to have it, or that it is going to save us. That's why I think this would be a great year for ministers to throw out the lectionary, and pull out the whole gospel story, just as it was told the first time, in its entirety, in another moment when it really mattered.

A Ministry for Voices: Conversations at the Intersection of Faith and Life

Putting a period at the end of the sentence...

Diana Fuentes celebrates 30 years

...a random view of "some obscure town"...

Postcards from Leslie and Jackson, Michigan, found on E-Bay

From the NYTimes: A Hipper Crowd of Shushers

Hell in the Digital Age: Sprint Nextel gets rid of pesky customers

Sunday afternoon

Recommended Review: Google and the Myth of Universal Knowledge

Recommended Link: The Economist explains why books are still useful to people

Recommended link: Lawrence Lessig explains why he is refocusing his work

My space in DSpace

Pastor Amy tells a story

Lesson Plan

Getting Creative about Copyright

A fruitful day already...

How people learn...

The Value of Libraries: From "On the Commons"

Urban Libraries Council: Libraries are Key to Building Local Economic Base

Desk Duty

A few minor complaints

Now Departing: Airline Careers

"Tech Support": A Very funny YouTube Clip

The Riverside Church is Looking for a New Minister

Mallory Miller's lectio divina

Lectio divina, continued

Lectio Divina in Leslie, Michigan and San Antonio, Texas

Click on the title link to go to fuller version of the following two posts

Excerpt from: Clergy Women: An Uphill Calling

Excerpt from Catholic website on the ordination of women

Ruby's Cake: You'll know that God loves you

Travelogue Royal Oak to San Antonio: March 12 to 18, 2007

Darwin's God: Article from Sunday's New York Times

The Revenge of Randall Radic

To access Friedman's article in the NYTimes, you will need to register. It is free.

Thomas Friedman gets parabolic about insults to the troops

It's all about language and relationships

Johanna and I talk about her dogs, and the former president of Gallaudet University, and I get really close to one of my biggest issues

No Cookies in the Library!

The Bible is not a single book, it is a whole library, many voices

What Jesus knew about faith: A story from the 10th chapter of The Gospel According to Luke

Linda Wertheimer's NPR interview with David Kuo, author of Tempting Faith

Link to Amazon's page for David Kuo's book, Tempting Faith

Review of David Kuo's book, Tempting Faith, on MSNBC

Godless Republicans revisited

USA Today Blog: Conservatism doesn't need God

More than you probably want to know... about Superheroes

For ordinary people: Book Club News

D4A Book Club selection for October

Homepage for the Democracy for American Book Club/ Next meeting is October 23

A little bit about the Detroit Tiger's pitching staff

An excerpt from Robert Lipsyte's article on superheroes

Superheroes in our own image

The Deep Logic of "Cookies and Milk" Evangelism

The Nature of Oil

A Tank of Gas, a World of Trouble

"In poll, GOP slips as friend of religion"

Real Life, Roaring Down the Road

Classic hymns are still sung in the library

Better information might lead to better choices

Other library millages fared better, but the numbers are sad

Lapeer voters reject library millage

Seeds grow if you plant them

My favorite book about the Bible

Patrick Buchanan on Israel and Lebanon

The fortune cookie my friend June gave me today

A Woman's Guide to Salary Negotiations

The importance of good information

Seeds are in the news...

Most quotable quote from An Inconvenient Truth

An Inconvenient Truth

Link to pictures of Harriett Berg and Madame Cadillac Dance Theater

The baby likes the fiddle music too!

Culture clash at the library? Reference interview veers off track...

Thank yous needed

Our Palm Springs Vacation

San Antonio Express-News Article about Miss Deaf Texas

Blog for the National Association of the Deaf

Hope and her friend Buddy

More email from Palm Springs