Noon on the Gaza Road

Inside a Book

2011-08-03T18:38:00.003-04:00

I've always thought it'd be interesting to be able to step into the world of many of the books I've read. When I was young and people read to me, I often imagined doing so. By the time I'd gotten older and was reading to my own children there were books build around entering other times-- Choose Your Own Adventure books and then the Magic Treehouse series. I think I probably enjoyed reading

A Favorite Author?

2011-08-02T10:07:00.000-04:00

On Monday morning we headed to the port of Athens to board the Louis Majesty cruiseship along with about 1800 other passengers. Our room was on deck eight and consisted of two small single beds, a dresser, a half closet, a desk, and a shower/toilet—all small but comfortable—and it had a great window looking out on the water. It took several hours for

Athens

2011-06-15T10:56:00.000-04:00

In the morning of May 20th we arrived in Athens. Now that the Athens airport has been moved away from the city, we got a bit of a look at parts of Athens and the nearby countryside on the way to the Park Hotel on Alexandras Street. We passed the Olympic Park, the Botanical Gardens, the Archaeological Museum and a few other sites. For me the best site was the

March 20th service

2011-03-31T13:08:00.001-04:00

For a month and a half, I worked with two other women from South Church to design an experimental worship service focused on reconciliation. The goal of the service was to begin to expose people to ways of doing worship that might move beyond the traditional Presbyterian model. To do that we used various "experience stations" with different types of hands on activities. Because I had to leave

Environmental Shopping

2011-01-01T12:36:00.000-05:00

There must be some better way to discover what would be an ecologically sound decision to make. We’ve spent a lot of time recently trying to find healthy, environmentally friendly personal care products and still haven’t gotten something that both works well, doesn’t have to be shipped from a long distance, and doesn’t cost a fortune. Today I wanted to get a

Books Read in 2010

2011-01-01T12:20:00.000-05:00

1. Zadie Smith's Changing My Mind: Occasional Essays2. Sara Maitland's A Book of Silence.3. James Swallow's Synthesis4. Michael Pollan's Food Rules5. Guillermo Del Toro's The Strain6. Mark Bittman's Food Matters7. Lonnie Edwards' Spiritual Laws that Govern Humanity and the Universe8. Robert Charles Wilson's Darwinia9. Wendell Berry's Leavings:Poems10. Gail Godwin's Unfinished Desires11. Stieg

Gift

2010-12-30T11:40:00.001-05:00

This month, gifts and gift-giving can seem inescapable. What's the most memorable gift, tangible or emotional, you received this year?  While I’ve had several great gifts this December (a leaf shredder and a worm farm stand out as ones I really, really loved), the most memorable gift was my ring. When Kathy and I were first together we’d gone to Santa Fe for a conference

Achieve and Defining Moment

2010-12-29T09:01:00.000-05:00

What’s the thing you most want to achieve next year? How do you imagine you’ll feel when you get it? Free? Happy? Complete? Blissful? Write that feeling down. Then, brainstorm 10 things you can do, or 10 new thoughts you can think, in order to experience that feeling today. I feel like I’ve already answered this question in several of the other Reverb10 questions: the one

Ordinary Joy

2010-12-27T13:19:00.002-05:00

Our most profound joy is often experienced during ordinary moments. What was one of your most joyful ordinary moments this year? There were so many joyful ordinary moments this year that picking out one as standing out wouldn’t do justice to the year. I’ve tried this year to stay focused on the idea in the following quote by Wu-men: “Ten thousand flowers in

Soul Food

2010-12-26T11:26:00.000-05:00

What did you eat this year that you will never forget? What went into your mouth & touched your soul? Food that stood out for me this year were of two very different types. The first was a meal at Per Se in New York City. The restaurant itself with a view of Central Park and Columbus Circle, where there were two or three waiters for each table, was in and of

Photo

2010-12-25T01:57:00.000-05:00

Sift through all the photos of you from the past year. Choose one that best captures you; either who you are, or who you strive to be. Find the shot of you that is worth a thousand words. Share the image, who shot it, where, and what it best reveals about you. The picture was taken on a beach in Dennis Massachusetts in early September, when Kathy and I were spending a few

New Name

2010-12-23T11:01:00.002-05:00

Let's meet again, for the first time. If you could introduce yourself to strangers by another name for just one day, what would it be and why? My first reaction is to say I don’t want to meet by another name. I’m not trying to become someone else. I’m trying to become more uniquely me and part of who I am is the name I’ve had since birth- Susan. I

Travel

2010-12-22T04:25:00.002-05:00

How did you travel in 2010? How and/or where would you like to travel next year? Aside from a trip to London and a trip to Minneapolis, my travel was by foot and (mainly) by car. When weather and time allowed for it, I went to the college, to my office at the church, and on nearby errands by foot. Most of the time, though, I’d be splitting my day between

Future Self

2010-12-21T13:29:00.002-05:00

Imagine yourself five years from now. What advice would you give your current self for the year ahead? While I can hope that in the future I’ll live a simpler, more ecologically sound life (ideally in an area where we can grow more vegetables and perhaps have a goat and some chickens and bees), be in good health, and be feeling a sense of accomplishment in the

Beyond avoidance

2010-12-20T12:07:00.000-05:00

What should you have done this year but didn't because you were too scared, worried, unsure, busy or otherwise deterred from doing? Short, easy answer: I should have found one full-time job rather than all the part-time jobs I currently have. I didn’t for several reasons: First I’m sort of caught in this area of the country for a while longer than I thought I’d be and so

Try

2010-12-18T11:01:00.003-05:00

What do you want to try next year? Is there something you wanted to try in 2010? What happened when you did / didn't go for it? In 2011 I want to try lots of things. I could spend the full day just writing them up, but here are three: First, I want to can more of the food that we grow ourselves. This year we canned tomatoes and catsup, things that were acidic enough that we could do

Lesson Learned

2010-12-17T15:16:00.002-05:00

What was the best thing you learned about yourself this past year? And how will you apply that lesson going forward? What I learned this year is to have less expectations for what the future will be like, because life hands us lots of completely unpredictable things. All we can do is do the best with the situation presented to us. As the sign I have on the bookcase

Friday Five: Christmases Past

2010-12-17T14:54:00.000-05:00

At RevGalBlogPals Jan writes: “Tell us about five Christmas memories you have.” 1. 1. Almost every year that I can remember from the time I was four or five, we’d have either Christmas Eve dinner, Christmas afternoon dinner or both up in Tarrytown at my Aunt Eleanor and Uncle Harry’s home. My mother, my grandmother and I (and once I was married, Max) would gather there

Friendship

2010-12-16T10:47:00.003-05:00

How has a friend changed you or your perspective on the world this year? Was this change gradual, or a sudden burst? I’m not sure there’s been “a friend” who has changed my perspective on the world. Instead there have been a stream of conversations with friends that have gradually done this. One friend, for example, told me how energized he was with permaculture and that led me to

Five Minutes

2010-12-15T10:41:00.000-05:00

If I were to lose my memory of the year, then short phrases about the year would mean nothing to me. It’s reliving and refeeling the various activities that mainly matter. But if I were to list the things that most stand out, they’d be: · The February trip to London, Oxford, and the Cotswolds with Kathy, Dan, and Becca · Concerts and theater—Mr. and Mrs. Fitch,

Appreciate

2010-12-14T09:54:00.002-05:00

What's the one thing you have come to appreciate most in the past year? How do you express gratitude for it? If intangible things count as answers to this question, my answer would be my relationship with Kathy. It’s been a tough year for us in a whole series of ways. Her job has been up for grabs because of budget cutbacks. My work schedule has meant that

Action

2010-12-13T16:58:00.002-05:00

When it comes to aspirations, it’s not about ideas. It's about making ideas happen. What's your next step? The way I make my way from ideas to concrete results is through checklists and deadlines. If I can see how an idea can become reality step-by-step and list out those steps and when each has to be done, I’m fine with making it happen. On the other hand, if I’m given a

Body Integration

2010-12-13T10:53:00.000-05:00

This year, when did you feel the most integrated with your body? Did you have a moment where there wasn't mind and body, but simply a cohesive YOU, alive and present? These days I’m making a conscious effort to STOP thinking of myself as mind and body and START thinking of myself as my SELF, an integrated being. I want to eliminate all Cartesian thinking from my way of

11 Things-- Or 1?

2010-12-13T10:46:00.001-05:00

What are 11 things your life doesn't need in 2011? How will you go about eliminating them? How will getting rid of these 11 things change your life? 11 things? I’d barely be able to keep up with one or two major changes in my life. If I took on 11, I’d end up not being able to do any of them. SO—In 2011 I’m aiming to get rid of using products that are unhealthy or toxic

Wisdom

2010-12-10T09:50:00.000-05:00

What was the wisest decision you made this year, and how did it play out? Wisdom isn’t something that I feel I have. One of the hardest parts of writing a sermon for me, for example, is coming up with something the least bit original to hand over to people who are listening. Stories I’ve got, biblical and theological points I’ve got, but my own wisdom to hand over

Party

2010-12-09T11:50:00.003-05:00

What social gathering rocked your socks off in 2010? Describe the people, music, food, drink, clothes, shenanigans.There are three or four (non-work-related) social gatherings that stand out from the past year, though I’m not sure any of them “rocked my socks off.” There were the gathering for Becca’s graduation celebration, the gathering for Jon and Ilona’s wedding, the

Beautifully Different

2010-12-09T11:36:00.001-05:00

Think about what makes you different and what you do that lights people up. Reflect on all the things that make you different – you’ll find they’re what make you beautiful.Somehow yesterday’s email with the question for the day didn’t come through, so I’ve only a minute to reflect on this question. I don’t really think of myself as beautifully different. I’ve begun, as I’

Community

2010-12-07T09:34:00.000-05:00

Where have you discovered community, online or otherwise, in 2010? What community would you like to join, create or more deeply connect with in 2011? Finding community remains a challenge for me. I’ve always hoped to be part of a small intentional community that worships together, studies together, is involved in social justice work together, and plays together.

Making Things

2010-12-06T12:40:00.002-05:00

Make. What was the last thing you made? What materials did you use? Is there something you want to make, but you need to clear some time for it? Over the last several years I’ve moved toward making more and more of the things we regularly use. We now grow our own vegetables – this year using a cold frame outdoors and a small “greenhouse” bookcase indoors in the

Letting Go

2010-12-06T12:26:00.000-05:00

Let Go. What (or whom) did you let go of this year? Why? The first thing I let go of this year was the idea of trying to do the best job I could at preparing for each class I taught, each sermon I gave, or each project I worked on. Toward the end of this year, as I added a sixth part-time job to the five I already had, it became clear that, even if I gave up

Wonder

2010-12-04T11:27:00.000-05:00

Wonder. How did you cultivate a sense of wonder in your life this year? Cultivating a sense of wonder isn’t a problem for me and, as far back as I can remember, has never been. It doesn't seem to be something I need to cultivate. It just grows in me on its own. I am in awe of nature and the universe around me day in and day out, even on my most depressed or difficult days

Reverb 10- the Beginning

2010-12-03T14:03:00.002-05:00

I’m going to try to do Reverb10 for a while in December to see if I can find some time to write –about anything—rather than just doing work. I’m three days behind so this post is my catch-up. December 1st Encapsulate the year 2010 in one word. Explain why you’re choosing that word. Now, imagine it’s one year from today, what would you like the word to be that captures

Absence of Mind

2010-08-04T13:13:00.000-04:00

Because I loved the way she wrote about the inward, spiritual life in Gilead and especially Home, I snuck Marilynne Robinson’s latest book, Absence of Mind, in between the volumes of reading I have to get through for work this summer. The published version of the 2009 Terry lectures “in religion, in the light of science and philosophy” that Robinson gave at

Same Gender Marriage

2010-07-19T16:44:00.000-04:00

Eight of us did a 28 minute presentation on why the church should support same-gender marriage at the Presbyterian Church's General Assembly earlier this month. Here's a video showing what four of the eight of us said.

This Makes Me Proud to be an Alum!

2010-07-19T15:06:00.000-04:00

Union responds to Glenn Beck's outlandish criticism of liberation theology and its connections to Jeremiah Wright and, through him, Barack Obama

The Past Few Months

2010-07-01T10:13:00.003-04:00

The last two and a half months have been so busy that I haven't had any free time to breathe, much less blog. Now I'm heading off to Minneapolis and General Assembly for a week, but here are just a few visuals of what's been going on:

A Brave New World-Wide-Web

2010-04-14T13:32:00.000-04:00

Friday Five: On the Road Again

2010-04-09T15:00:00.000-04:00

On RevGalBlogPals, Sophia asks: 1. When was your last, or will be your next, out of town travel? It will probably be to Minneapolis for the PCUSA’s General Assembly in early July, but we’ll be flying, not driving. 2. Long car trips: love or loathe? Love seeing the places, but hate being in the car while we’re getting there. 3. Do you prefer to be driver or

Good Friday, Friday Five

2010-04-02T11:45:00.001-04:00

On RevGalBlogPals, Sally asks: 1. Of all the gospel accounts of the crucifixion, which one stands out for you, and why? Over the years this has changed. In my teen years—perhaps because of Jesus Christ Superstar—it was John, with all its wondrous symbolism. In seminary it was Matthew, especially for its Gethsemane scene and its Peter. When I was first in a pastorate it was Luke that I

London Days 5 and 6

2010-03-16T12:24:00.000-04:00

Wednesday morning was very cold but sunny. Since the kids planned to sleep late, Kathy and I headed out on our own, figuring we’d go to see Buckingham Palace. When we got to the Green Park tube stop, though, we saw a bus for the “Big Bus” sightseeing tour and decided to hop on it instead of going from place to place on our own. We headed up to the open topped upper level

London Day 4

2010-03-15T15:21:00.005-04:00

When we first arrived in London and looked at the weather forecast, we discovered that rain (and snow showers) were predicted for every day of the week except Tuesday. Using that as the main criteria, we decided that Tuesday would be the day when we would leave London to go to see the Cotswolds. We’d priced doing a tour, but the driver who brought us to the flat from the airport

London Day 3

2010-02-25T11:31:00.000-05:00

On Monday afternoon, though it was very cold and foggy, we decided to go by bus to see some of the sights down by the Thames. From Egerton Gardens, where we were staying, it was only a two block walk to the nearest bus stop. We got on the 14 bus and rode to Piccadilly Circus. From there we walked to Covent Gardens, stopping to buy theater tickets for Thursday

London Days 1 and 2

2010-02-18T10:05:00.001-05:00

After dropping our luggage in the flat in Egerton Gardens that we were renting (and giving Becca time to get onto the computer and IM her boyfriend), we headed out to Portobello Street Market for the first of two days of shopping. (Back to back shopping was necessitated by the fact that both of these markets are really only in true existence on weekends.) We walked to the So. Kensington tube

Trains, Planes, and Automobiles

2010-01-22T15:16:00.005-05:00

On RevGalBlogPals, Songbird writes “By the time you're reading this, I'll be en route to a Great Big City to see my son in a play. I'll go by car and bus and train and no doubt cab and maybe even subway. Thus, our Friday Five.”1) What was the mode of transit for your last trip? We drove the Prius through parts of Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland and

If

2010-01-15T12:04:00.007-05:00

Not much time in my schedule today, so here are my brief honest but anything-but-creative answers for this week’s Friday Five . On RevGalBlogPals, Jan asks:1. If you were a color, what would you be? I think I’d either be lavender or beige, fairly neutral colors that fit in easily next to other colors.2. If you were a flower (or plant), what would you be?A hyacinth—probably a blue one—or a

Mary Daly

2010-01-07T14:21:00.002-05:00

Mary Daly, the creative feminist theologian, died yesterday at 81. During my college years and early days in seminary, her books, especially Beyond God the Father and Gyn/Ecology, were a huge influence on my thought. I haven't read them in recent years; I finally got rid of my beat up copy of Gyn/Ecology in October when we sorted and gave away a huge number of our books. When I saw the video

Movie Week

2010-01-06T16:56:00.007-05:00

This year we decided to make the week between Christmas and New Year’s “Movie Week”, catching up on as many of the good movies that had come out as possible. While it was impossible to get to all those we wanted to see – we missed Invictus, Precious, and Up in the Air—I did see six movies during the week. Two of them were very good, three were okay, and one was absolutely awful. The first

Christmas Tree

2010-01-04T16:19:00.003-05:00

One of the nicest things about the last week and a half has been having the Christmas tree stay up in the living room. For the last several years, because we've gone away a day or so after Christmas, we've usually taken the tree down on December 26th. This year, though, because we spend the week "vacationing" at home, the tree stayed up and the pine smell that has filled the house because of it

2009 in Books

2009-12-23T11:07:00.006-05:00

Here's a list of the books I've read in 2009. At a quick glance, it looks like it works out to be about 1/3 for classroom preparation, 1/3 for pastoral and church stuff, and 1/3 for fun, though I'm sure there's a lot of overlap there. 1. Lawrence Lessig's Remix 2. Charles Stross' Accelerando 3. Peter Senge's Presence 4. David Burrell's Deconstructing Theodicy 5.

Fake Thanksgiving

2009-11-26T11:09:00.010-05:00

On November 22nd we did our sixth annual "Fake Thanksgiving" meal, though each year it gets a little less fake.

Friday Five; What's New?

2009-11-06T16:42:00.007-05:00

At RevGalBlogPals, Songbird writes: “There's a new baby on my street, a double PK whose Mom and Dad are Methodist pastors and church planters. I'm hoping to go over and meet her today. I love new babies, the way they smell and their sweet little fingers and toes. Little K has me thinking about all the new things that please us with their shiny freshness. Please share

Two Memoirs

2009-10-28T11:21:00.005-04:00

In the last several weeks I’ve had the chance to read two recently published memoirs. The first was Ted Kennedy’s True Compass. Though Robert Kennedy was a hero of mine in my high school years and though I’d grown up on stories that my mother told of her years employed by JFK and Joseph Kennedy Sr., my interest over the years in Ted Kennedy had remained fairly minimal. I’

Emperor Jones

2009-10-26T12:39:00.004-04:00

Saturday evening, we went to the Irish Repertory Theater to see Eugene O’Neill’s The Emperor Jones. I’d read the play for the first time in college in a course called Themes of Liberation in Contemporary Drama and have reread it several times since, but I’ve never seen it staged before. Part of what has always puzzled me as I’ve read O’Neill’s directions is how anyone

Wild Things?

2009-10-22T11:31:00.004-04:00

Over the past few weeks I’ve seen a few bad movies (Bright Star, for example, which I thought would never end) and a few mediocre ones (Whip It and Coco Before Chanel), but the movie to which I’d been looking forward was Where the Wild Things Are.The book was one I’d read to my kids when they were little and I’d actually even enjoyed the video of it (made using pictures from

Let Me Down Easy

2009-10-21T09:40:00.003-04:00

Friday evening I went to see Anna Deavere Smith’s one woman play, Let Me Down Easy. I’ve always been drawn to Smith’s previous work. I’ve enjoyed the clips I’ve seen of both Twilight and Fires in the Mirror, read the scripts of both, worked with congregations on staging excerpts from each, and had detailed discussions around the topics each raised. I’ve listened to Smith reading her book

Thursday Evening Worship at Giant Stadium

2009-10-02T10:20:00.009-04:00

Last Thursday, I was lucky enough to go to hear U2 play its 360 tour at Giant Stadium. It was a long afternoon/evening getting into the stadium and waiting for them to take the stage --Muse, the opening group, started late and then there was a long break between bands-- but the night was clear, the temperature was in the 70s and, up where our seats were, there was a nice breeze so the waiting

Touching Holiness Friday Five

2009-10-02T09:59:00.003-04:00

At RevGalBlogPals, Sally writes: Yesterday I was privileged to join the thousands of pilgrims who had flocked to York Minster to see the casket containing the bones of St Therese of Lisieux. People came from miles around, some with deep faith came to venerate the Saint, others with none came out of curiosity. The Christians who came represented a mix of denominations, I went because I have read

Affirmations

2009-08-28T13:32:00.003-04:00

At RevGalsBlogPals, Singing Owl writes: “Lately I seem to be encountering many people who have a very difficult time finding anything good to say about themselves. They are able to extend grace and forgiveness's to others but find it difficult to extend that same grace to themselves. With that in mind, let's share some healthy affirmation today! Tell us five things you like about yourself!” 1

Vegetables

2009-08-25T09:28:00.010-04:00

While our hydrangeas came out in a myriad of colors this summer, our vegetable garden has had strange results, perhaps because of the inordinate amounts of rain. The peppers that usually do amazingly have barely produced anything, many of our lettuces were soggy and tasted bitter, and our tomato plants look awful--especially the lower parts of them-- despite the fact that we had ripe, wonderful

Outer Banks

2009-08-06T15:52:00.011-04:00

Tuesday we headed out to mosey our way down toward Ocracoke. We’d originally thought we’d spend the afternoon in Williamsburg, but after the two presidential homes the day before, we decided a break from historical sites would be a good idea. Kathy wanted to see Virginia Beach, so we drove in that direction, getting there in the early afternoon. We drove into town and decided that there was

Monticello and Montpelier

2009-08-03T16:05:00.004-04:00

On Monday (July 13th) we decided to see both Monticello and Montpelier since friends had said not to miss either of them. We started out by visiting Monticello. We arrived at the new visitors center, which is gorgeous, and quickly got on a bus to head to Jefferson's home for a tour that would start in 15 minutes. I'm not big on organized tours of locations. The guides always spend longer in

Shenandoah

2009-07-23T17:59:00.007-04:00

On Sunday, we headed down to Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia, having been urged by a former colleague of mine, Frank McClusky, not to miss the area since it was celebrating the 150th anniversary of John Brown’s raid. What I remembered about that raid was from my West Point days when Max had been assigned Stephen Vincent Benet’s “John Brown’s Body” as part of his plebe year English class. I knew

On the Way to Virginia

2009-07-21T12:46:00.006-04:00

On Saturday, July 11th we set out for Virginia and North Carolina. We decided to head in the direction of Gettysburg, hoping to see the monuments there either late on Saturday or early on Sunday. When we got to Lancester County, it seemed wise to take a break so we decided to stop for a while and see the Ephrata Cloister, one of the U.S.’s earliest religious communes, set up in 1732 by Georg

Friday Five: Games

2009-07-17T16:36:00.002-04:00

On RevGalsBlogPals today, Jan explains that this week’s Friday Five isSo this Friday Five is about games, so play on ahead. . .1. Childhood games?Kickball, Spud, mumblypeg, Horse, and Red Light-Green Light were the big ones.2. Favorite and/or most hated board games?Favorites as a child would be Candyland, Clue, and Go to the Head of the Class; my least favorite was Parchesi. As an adult, I

Friday Five: Exercise

2009-07-10T08:36:00.002-04:00

At RevGalBlogPals, Sophia writes: I just got back from an 8 mile bike ride down the beach boardwalk near our home, and was struck with the number of people out enjoying physical activity. Runners, other cyclists, surfers, swimmers, dogwalkers, little kids on scooters.... She asks: 1. What was your favorite sport or outdoor activity as a child? Swimming. As I got older

Storm King

2009-07-06T10:27:00.008-04:00

Saturday, on one of the first sunny weekend days in what seems like months, we went over to Storm King to see the new “Wavefield” work by Maya Lin. We rode the tram around to see all the other sculpture quickly before getting off and walking near the Wavefield. The pieces that grabbed me the most were Alexalder Calder’s “The Arch” (which I loved approaching from several different angles)

Friday Five: Life is a Verb

2009-06-19T10:46:00.005-04:00

At RevGalBlogPals, Jan writes: Jennifer recommended this book, which I got because I always value Jennifer's reading suggestions. The author of Life is a Verb, Patti Digh worked her book around these topics concerning life as a verb:Say yes.Be generous.Speak up.Love more.Trust yourself.Slow down. As I read and pondered about living more intentionally, I also

Buddakan

2009-06-09T15:19:00.011-04:00

Friday evening we ate at Buddakan, 16th St and 9th Ave, to celebrate Dan’s 25th birthday. Dan had asked us to pick some place to eat that he and his friends would remember afterwards. We’d gone through Zagat’s and come up with a few places but none of them seemed right. Then Kathy emailed Jon and he suggested Buddakan, an Asian fusion restaurant, saying it was hard to get a reservation for

Socrates Once Again

2009-05-28T16:43:00.003-04:00

Next Monday is the first day of my summer session Introduction to Philosophy course. One of the texts I used for years for that course is Robin Waterfield’s translation of Plato’s The Republic. I’m not sure that Waterfield’s translation is the best in every way—its “chapter” divisions that differ from the traditional “book” divisions has been a confusing issues for many of

Angels and Demons

2009-05-26T15:05:00.003-04:00

The Friday it opened I went with some of my friends from Drew to see the film Angels and Demons. It’s a movie in which I had a lot of interest since I’d used the book as a “text” for several years as part of a unit on science and religion. I’d had the students sort out truth from fiction in the story and then debunk the parts that weren’t true, discovering what the real truths

Next to Normal

2009-05-19T14:48:00.002-04:00

Sunday evening we went with a group of friends from out of town to see the play Next to Normal that’s currently at the Booth Theater and is one of the nominations for Best Musical of 2009. The play is by no means your typical musical but, or perhaps because of that, I think it deserves the award. The basic story and song lines revolve around Diana, a bipolar mother who lives with the memory of

D.Min. Graduation from Drew -May 17, 2009

2009-05-18T10:10:00.006-04:00

How the World is Changing

2009-05-18T09:57:00.002-04:00

There were a lot of nonmemorable college graduation speeches made this weekend (including one I had to sit through at Drew University), but this speech by Eric Schmidt (CEO of Google) is worth listening to. Schmidt does a great job of describing how the world has changed from the time when Boomers were in college to the current world of graduating Millenials/NetGeners and where it might go in

Vegetable Garden

2009-05-09T18:05:00.014-04:00

This year we decided to double our vegetable garden. In early April we got the beds ready and planted seeds. Today we finished putting in most of the rest of what we'll be raising. We've got tomatoes, peppers, eggplant,herbs, and onions. The seeds we put in in early April have begun to come up. They include carrots,broccoli,beets,and pole beans.The strawberries and blueberries in our

Theology Today?

2009-05-07T12:30:00.003-04:00

I’ve just finished the last class in Union Theological Seminary’s Systematic Theology course Christianity and the U.S. Crisis and I’m still pondering what to make of it. The course had listed its goals as describing the “various edges and contours of the deepening U.S. crisis and to chart various Christian responses to it.” Among the topics it

On the Back of a Car

2009-04-21T10:47:00.004-04:00

On the way back from New Hampshire Saturday evening, we passed a car with the words 'Where is John Galt?' written on its back window and '1773' on its side window. While I'd guess that it was someone pushing for tax changes using the conservative "tax party" lobbying approach, it nevertheless made me very, very happy that a character from one of my favorite books of all time is being involved

Music and Copyright law

2009-04-06T16:25:00.005-04:00

I just read a great piece by Fred von Lohmann of the Electronic Frontier Foundation on the issue of copyright law as it pertains to music downloads, mp3s, etc. Its immediate context was President Obama's giving the queen of England an iPod with showtunes on it. The link to the piece is here.

The U.S. Crisis and Christianity

2009-04-02T16:06:00.003-04:00

Since early mid-February I’ve been doing the systematic theology course “Christianity and the Current U.S. Crisis” through video podcasts provided by Union Theological Seminary. The three professors in the course are Serene Jones (the president of Union who is by training a feminist theologian concentrating in gender studies and Reformed theology), Gary Dorrien (a social

Hair

2009-03-30T14:17:00.005-04:00

Last night we went to see Hair in previews at the Al Hirschfeld Theater. The place was packed with folks of almost all ages—some sporting 1960’s type tie-dyed T-shirts and beads. I hadn’t seen the musical when it played in 1967-8—I was too young—so this was my first chance to see it in live performance with a professional cast. The staging made great use of aisles and doors as ways to involve

Anthem

2009-03-25T18:16:00.004-04:00

I spent part of this past weekend reading Ayn Rand’s novella Anthem. It’s not one of her books that I’d heard of, much less read, until recently, but it sounded like a short science fiction story that I’d loved as a teen (more of that later) so I decided to give it a try. Anthem is a dystopia of the future presented through the secret journal of

Mo's

2009-03-23T13:55:00.002-04:00

In between soccer games at Becca’s March Madness tournament in Baltimore this weekend, we managed to join another couple and sneak away from the team dinner on Saturday evening to go to the inner harbor for a meal. For all of us it was the first time we’d been in the inner harbor since the entire inner harbor has been renovated. Most of the feel of the old harbor seemed gone except in little

The Real Easter?

2009-03-20T09:56:00.005-04:00

For me, each Jesus and Mo comic falls into one of two extremes--either extremely lame or extremely funny. Here's today's:

Orchid Show

2009-03-16T11:09:00.002-04:00

As we begin to transition each year from winter to spring, one thing that always helps is heading down to the Orchid Show at the New York Botanical Garden. Last year we’d gone on the last weekend of the show and a lot of the orchids were past their peak, so we decided to go earlier this year. On Saturday morning we headed out so that we could be at the gardens as soon as

The Big Bang Theory

2009-03-16T10:25:00.003-04:00

I don't watch a lot of TV, but about six months ago I ran across The Big Bang Theory and have been hooked on it ever since. Almost every episode has something in it that I find extremely funny (and I LOVE many of Sheldon's T-shirts to boot)! Here's a clip from one of the earliest episodes I saw:

From This Week's Sanskrit Class

2009-03-03T15:19:00.005-05:00

I've been fascinated with the connections between vibratory sounds and the sacred as well as their effects on the physical for some time now. It led me to an interest with chanting, especially kirtan. I've never much liked the idea, however, of chanting lines from the Gita or Vedas that sound beautiful but that I don't understand, so learning Sanskrit seemed like a wonderful "to do someday"

Friday Five: Taking a Break

2009-02-20T11:23:00.005-05:00

On RevGalBlogPals, Songbird writes: Where we live, it's February School Vacation Week!Yes, that's an odd thing, a vacation extending President's Day. But it's part of our lives here. Some people go South or go skiing, but we always stay home and find more humble amusements.In that spirit, I offer this Taking a Break Friday Five. Tell us how you would spend:1. a 15 minute break2. an afternoon off3

Understanding Islam Through Virtual Worlds

2009-02-03T15:11:00.002-05:00

Here's a great video that shows how Second Life can help us teach people about different religions and cultures:

Belize- Heading South

2009-01-30T15:46:00.003-05:00

The third trip we took while in Belize was going south. We had a hotel room at the BellaMaya Resort in Placencia that we’d tried unsuccessfully to cancel so we decided to use it for a few of the days we were away. In Belize in order to go south, you have to first go west (along the Western Highway) to Belmopan then double back by driving the 56 mile Hummingbird Highway in order to finally head

Belize- Western Highway Trip

2009-01-27T21:48:00.010-05:00

The next day we got back in the truck and headed west along the second of the paved roads in Belize, the western highway. Our plan for the day was to drive the 78 miles through the Cayo District almost to within a few miles of the border of Guatemala, stopping somewhere along the way for lunch but returning back to Belize City before dark. The initial part of the Western Highway

Belize - Northern Highway Trip

2009-01-06T12:34:00.013-05:00

On our first full day in Belize, we set out to rent a small car to see some of the countryside. When we got to the rental place, they explained that, given the conditions of the roads we’d be driving if we planned to leave Belize City, we’d need to be driving an SUV (which they didn’t have available) or a small truck (which they did have). Kathy quickly became comfortable with the latter and so

Two For the Show

2009-01-05T17:34:00.005-05:00

Over the past few weeks, I’ve had a chance to see three new movies. One was well done, one was superb, and one was drawn out and depressing.I can’t objectively critique the film Doubt since as I watched it I constantly compared it to the Broadway play. While most of the major lines seemed the same, the movie was able to “fill out” a lot of the scenes in a way that plays can’t, providing

The Book I Wish I’d Read Three Years Ago

2008-12-23T16:39:00.001-05:00

Back in 2005 I was spending a lot of time reading authors like Len Sweet and Rex Miller, trying to understand the changes I was seeing in the spiritual lives of both those I met in parishes and those I met in classrooms. I began to get a sense of postmodernism, the need for experiential worship and learning in congregations, and the ways in which the internet and other technologies of

Serving Using a Social Network?

2008-12-16T12:58:00.004-05:00

The BBC reported the following use of Facebook as part of a legal proceeding. If law has begun to use social networks as part of its litigation, can the other two wuperconservative institutions (education and religion) be far behind? Legal papers served via FacebookAn Australian couple have been served with legal documents via the popular social networking site Facebook.Mark McCormack, a lawyer

Defining Moment

2008-12-11T15:37:00.001-05:00

Over the past three months, I’ve spent what little reading time I could grab making my way through Jonathan Alter’s The Defining Moment. I began the book just as the presidential debates got underway and have just finished it as president-elect Obama announced his planned public works program as part of his solution to the present economic crisis and have found the overlaps between

Ha-Sodot

2008-12-08T10:39:00.003-05:00

Friday evenings we went to see Ha-Sodot. It’s a film set in Safed, Israel, which Avi Nesher has used to give it lots of shots of beautiful scenery for the background to the story. The story itself focuses on a midrasha where the young Orthodox students live and study Talmud. while in many cases also searching for prospective husbands. We meet several of the students attending and learn a