Everyone collects a certain amount of emotional baggage growing up, and for me that baggage is predominantly religious. And the emotional baggage I’m working on now has to do with the notion of “calling.” Frankly, I’m having a hell of a time getting rid of it.
But why would I want to?
The biblical background starts with the prophets. Elisha is called by Elijah and scolded when he turns to go tell his parents he’s leaving. God tells Jeremiah he’s chosen him for the task since before he was born. Ezekiel is command to eat a honey-sweet scroll, which then causes soul heartburn whenever he refuses to speak the painful words god gives to him.
In evangelical circles, calling is something which once received can never be refused. A calling haunts you. It condemns to a hellish existence if you avoid it. Jonah? Swallowed by the whale because he ran from his calling. In this vein, to be called is to be cursed, the spiritual equivalent of the bus (in that Keanu Reeves movie) that couldn’t go under 50mph without igniting the bomb. Click to continue reading “Beyond calling”
The end of the semester crunch is over. It’s now time to settle into the slow pace of learning Typo3. If I can get the hang of it, I’ll be using it for my work site, and maybe here for an emergent UU worship resource collection. (Any interest?)
But that’s not why you came here, is it? In the spirit of Chrismahanukwanzaakkah, I offer the following two special shares:
1) Driving from store to store doing some holiday shopping the other night, my wife turned to me and asked, “How about I just give you a gift certificate for $75 of sex this year instead of a present?” To which I replied, “And where exactly would I be cashing this in?” (Thank you, I’ll be here all week.)
2) I recently heard of a children’s book called The Christmas Menorah. I’m told it is intended to be a very sweet story of interfaith something or other. But, really, isn’t killing millions of Jews these last two millennia enough? Do Christians have to take their symbols too? Can’t Jews be allowed to keep the menorah? What’s next, the Easter Mezzuzah? (More about non-Jews celebrating Hanukkah at Philocrites.)
UPDATE: After reading this post, my wife has reduced the value of said gift certificate to 75 cents. Ouch!
A while back I made a case for doing “indie theology.”
Now Christian Century has posted (temporarily?) a feature article on the “emergent church” movement, a loose-knit conversation of GenXers and Millennials trying to get beyond both liberalism and evangelicalism. (Thanks to Philocrites for the link.) Here’s an excerpt on worship from the article: Click to continue reading “Emergent UU worship?”
On my car I proudly sport a unique bumper sticker. It has a photo of Bush with his goofy grin on one side. On the other, it reads, “DARN GOOD LIAR.”
The bumper sticker (and my car) escaped the election season without any harm. But the other night, out eating with my wife, I came back to the car to find the bumper sticker covered in tobacco spit. I guess the spittoon was full.
Perhaps the choice of spittle was intended to be ironic? For some reason I doubt it.
I’m reminded of Leaves a Mark’s frustration with his wife’s ob-gyn as they await the birth of their first son, but on a feline level.
My cat Buddy is a middle-aged tabby. About a month after I adopted him in grad school, Buddy’s inner ear ruptured from an ear mite infestation the agency had told me was solved and done with. A seizure and vet visit later, Buddy the kitten was fine and well, aside from his now trademark head tilt which has won him fame an renown.
Since then Buddy has needed a dose of antibiotics every couple of years when his ear starts acting up again. A week or so later, all is well.
Yet this time our cat vet and pet sitter have a sense of urgency about his regular ear infection. Click to continue reading “Now who is this supposed to be for?”
Leaves a Mark reports that Dutch doctors are deciding whether and when to kill infants born with certain conditions. For the sake of clarity, I’ll blockquote from the NYT article Mark cites:
The Groningen Protocol, as the hospital’s guidelines have come to be known, would create a legal framework for permitting doctors to actively end the life of newborns deemed to be in similar pain from incurable disease or extreme deformities.
The guideline says euthanasia is acceptable when the child’s medical team and independent doctors agree the pain cannot be eased and there is no prospect for improvement, and when parents think it’s best.
Examples include extremely premature births, where children suffer brain damage from bleeding and convulsions; and diseases where a child could only survive on life support for the rest of its life, such as severe cases of spina bifida and epidermosis bullosa, a rare blistering illness.
While working with ethicists these past four years I have been keen to avoid issues of medical ethics, especially end-of-life issues—I simply don’t know enough about it. But I’m going to risk danger today and venture a few thoughts. Click to continue reading “Youth in Asia”
