hermionesviolin: an image of 2 people hugging, in the background is a yellow wall that says "Beloved Community" at the top (only it's cropped so you only see "loved Community") (love one another as i have loved you)
At Molly's Diesel office hours yesterday morning, Tara asked me, "What were you up to last night?" [I had attended a Boston Smith College Club event instead of going to Rest and re/New.]

She said it has taken her "a shockingly long time" to realize that I wasn't there -- because I'm ALWAYS there, so of course I had to be there somewhere even though she hadn't seen me. :)

***

In other news, Molly says FCS is doing a series this summer on Rob Bell's Love Wins (a la Barbara Brown Taylor's An Altar in the World last summer).

***

In other other news, I have mixed feelings about this talk (and there's a moment around 20:44 that makes me seize up -- though I know the blogger is conservative, so I wasn't all that surprised; a comment he makes around 23:35 makes me think, "Maybe you're wrong about this gay thing..."), but I do like the idea about the Call of the Church to be family in a really deep, authentic way. I also like his idea of starting from the Indicative (that God's grace and love is for All, right now) rather than the Imperative (the rules God desires us to live by).
hermionesviolin: image of Ainsley Hayes from The West Wing with text "the righteous shall walk by faith" (righteous shall walk by faith)
[livejournal.com profile] eponis posted about the statement from the 76th General Convention [of the Episcopal Church] on gay and lesbian members.

***

So, I still haven't watched the lectures on Hinduism, Buddhism, and Confucianism, but I started attending World Religions class again tonight because we were beginning the Judaism/Christianity/Islam section of the course.  I actually read the Judaism chapter (and have started the Christianity chapter) in An Anthology of Living Religions (2nd Edition) and realized I'm actually almost all the way through Subverting Hatred (I'd been reading chapters out of order).

I spoke in class a whole bunch -- primarily to point out that we really shouldn't be pronouncing the Tetragrammaton when we're talking about it in a Jewish context -- and during the break I pointed out to the prof that in the Sodom and Gomorrah prelude, it's Abraham who ends the bargaining session not God, but while I had assorted quibbles with presentation, there wasn't anything that really rankled me (save the aforementioned "Can we please not say Yahweh or Jehovah, especially when we're talking about the Hebrews/Israelites/Jews?").

The prof read some portions from the Old Testament, and a couple of them I felt like: these resonate in my bones -- which throws me a little because a lot of the resonances are relatively recent (like post-college).
Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go from your country, your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you.  And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, and him who curses you I will curse; and by you all the families of the earth shall bless themselves." (Genesis 12:1-3)

"You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt." (Exodus 22:21)
He also mentioned that Israel means one who wrestled/struggled with God and survived, and Peniel always hits me hard these days.  I think it was Andrew at CAUMC small group who posited that doubt is a good thing because it means that you're engaging ... something like that, I don't even remember exactly; what I remember was how powerful an affirmation it was that "wrestling with faith" is a really good thing -- and I've hung tight to that assurance ever since (my facebook Religious Views are "wrestling with faith [low church Protestant]").  And my mother about made me cry when she told me some months ago, "I love that you struggle with Christianity fiercely and faithfully and I trust the Angel will not let you go without a blessing."

More generally, I just felt so vibrantly alive and engaged throughout class; apparently these texts really are where I live.
hermionesviolin: black and white photo of Emma Watson as Hermione, with text "hermionesviolin" (hermione by oatmilk)
Yesterday felt like Friday, so today felt kind of like a fake day -- especially since it was so quiet at my end of the hall.  When I was wrapping up at the end of the day I literally almost forgot to turn off my computer, forgetting that no I was not coming back into the office the next day.
Teaching's over in exactly one week.  I look forward to the faculty reemerging from having been swallowed whole by the course.

***

Expandgym )

***

On one of the tv screens at the gym this morning I saw "and baby makes 20: the return of the Duggans" (TODAY).  I cringed, of course, but I also thought about how sk8eeyore's been posting excerpts from Amy Laura Hall and such about being open to God's gift of life and not trying to control it.  ExpandRead more... )

I love this bit from the end of that last-linked interview with Amy Laura Hall (in which she's talking about the banquet passage in Luke -- my response was of course, "which banquet passage in Luke?" but I assume she means Luke 14: 7-24):
This is something that my students get more riled up about than any other topic that I bring up. I swear, in some ways, abortion and homosexuality are less contentious among my students than the issue of what kind of wedding to have, what kind of wedding banquet to plan. The way that young Protestant couples plan their weddings bodes very ill for the kind of family they are hoping to become. You watch what a wedding is often about these days -- it is about displaying one's wealth to those one is eager to impress. If you think instead about the scriptural wedding itself, about being the open banquet that one hopes one's marriage will be, I think weddings would look a lot different than they do. I think they would be on a Sunday morning service where everyone is invited. I think they would look more like a potluck than the kind of catered extravagances toward which even the middle class is climbing. I think the image of the banquet where the blind and the lame are invited, and those who cannot repay us, that image would be one in which to start a marriage.
***

I was browsing Christianity Today [which I hadn't realized until today is "a magazine of evangelical conviction"] online ('cause I remembered that someone on Sunday had mentioned that Will got quoted) and I saw a a link to a blogpost about evangelicals and the GLBT Day of Silence.  It included:
In addition to boycott, protest, and the creation of an alternative, the Day of Silence saw another response from evangelical Christians--participation. The Golden Rule Pledge is promoted by Grove City College Psychology Professor Warren Throckmorton as an option for "straight Christian and conservative students [who] are conflicted about this day. They do not affirm homosexual behavior but they also loathe disrespect, harrassment or violence toward any one, including their GLBT peers." ExpandRead more... )
hermionesviolin: (self)
I did ~20min in the weight room this morning, but I think I worked more than I often do.

I was pleasantly surprised by food at lunch today.  The Global Vegetarian was Japanese; I got two spring rolls, two slabs of tofu, and some peanut noodles.  Plus a small container of lentil soup.  I was hesitant about all of them, but they all turned out to be fine.

Cailin's in town for a bit, which is nice.  She ran down the hall late this morning, and hugged me from behind 'cause I was on the phone (to Nicole).

I had agreed to lead group tonight and also provide dinner, so I figured I'd just pick stuff up at Shaw's (Porter Square) on the way rather than go home and back (since it eats up like 15-20min each way), plus I was hoping they would have Prince shells and cheese.  They didn't, but I ended up picking up a whole bunch of food for myself.  I'm really low maintenance (or perhaps more accurately, have really low standards), so the FoodMaster is fine for me, but the big Shaw's really does make the FoodMaster look ghetto.  Being around so much "real" food makes me yet again think about trying to eat like a real person.

As I walked up Elm, SarahG biked past me and called out hi to me.  And then as I got into Davis Square, I saw Layna with her Korean tutor.

I got 9 hours of sleep Tuesday night and 6 hours of sleep last night, and this evening I was definitely fading  I'm v. glad I'll get to sleep in on Saturday.

***

I checked RMN's GC site last night before I went to bed, but I wasn't up for sifting through all the vote results.

Today, I saw Will's post (posted after I went to bed, I think).  I didn't even really register his slam at GC until I got into the comments, which is unusual for me 'cause I'm usually defensive about that sort of stuff even when I disagree with the side being slammed.  I was really wrapped up in Will's pain, though. ExpandRead more... )
hermionesviolin: (moon house)
"Human love, which gives existence its viability and purpose -- both our love of God and our love of neighbor -- is spontaneous, fragile and fleeting." -R. Goetz

Welcome

The service was designed by Linda, and she and the girls made the Communion bread during service.

ExpandRead more... )

Communion
    We had the Bread and the Cup, but on the altar were containers of heavy cream (and soy cream) and honey.  Yes, "milk and honey."  Warm bread with honey (and milk) is DELICIOUS.  I still need an "abundance" icon.  Any sweet soul want to make me an icon of bread with honey dripping?

Expandand the rest of the service )

***

After dinner, we watched For the Bible Tells Me So.

I didn't feel like viewers not already sympathetic to GLBT issues would have felt enough of a personal connection with any of the families in the film to be swayed like Gee maybe it's not really a sinful choice after all.  But the violence and hatred directed at GLBT persons and their allies is really depressing.  It sort of reminded me that like this is part of why GLBTA persons often have such difficulty sitting down with or listening to people who are all "love the sinner, hate the sin" -- because so often what they have encountered is "hate the sinner."  (Some of the hate mail Gene Robinson got when he was first up for bishop...  Apparently he wore a bullet-proof vest at his consecration.  That's frightening.)

The film also mentioned various times some of the various "rules" Biblical literalists don't seem to feel compelled to abide by -- the usual list of the other Levitical abominations (which they pointed out are ritual transgressions, not things inherently wrong -- and they said that when Paul says "un/natural" he means "not/customary") as well as the rules against usury ... gee, all those wealthy Christian fundamentalist leaders, should you really have any of your money invested?

They talked about how Sodom was a wealthy city and was worried that if travelers came through and saw all that they had, maybe they would want to take some of it, so they canceled the law about welcoming the stranger -- and then were upset that Lot had broken that custom and welcomed the stranger anyway (and anal rape was a common humiliation tactic in the ancient world -- cf. the treatment of defeated military opponents, for example -- so the Sodomites' intentions toward the strangers really wasn't about sex per se).  One African-American lesbian said that there are many cities today where she is not welcome because she is an African-American, a woman, a lesbian ... and that those are the places where she thinks of Sodom.
hermionesviolin: (that which IT has not [fox1013])
Tiffany posted the second of her series of posts on "Homosexuality and the United Methodist Church," and on the 7Villages page Trelawney made an intriguing suggestion:
This is what I propose, and I know it will be unpopular... it is certainly risky:
I propose that we take the approach to interfaith dialogue used by the United Church of Canada: We take all the reconciling groups and all the confessing groups, and put them together on some projects that have nothing to do with the issue of homosexuality. We declare a moratorium on talking about the issue of homosexuality for a period of around ten years, but we keep the reconciling and confessing groups in constant contact and cooperation on these joint projects (about, let's say, poverty - something they can agree on). In the meantime, we do not expel any clergy for their sexual orientation/activity, but nor do we attempt to change the discipline. (Thus, the confessing movement must halt their attempts to remove clergy, but the reconciling movement must halt their attempts to get clergy accepted or even bring up the issue at GC. VERY hard for both sides, I imagine.)
Then, after ten years of working together closely and intimately, we get the reconciling groups and confessing groups together to begin a dialogue about the issue of homosexuality. By this time, they will have built relationships of trust, and perhaps even Christian love. They will no longer be talking across a great divide, but discussing something as friends, who care about each other.
[GC = General Conference]

I'm not sure I support this suggestion, but I'm very intrigued.

***

In other news, her opening paragraph made me think of [livejournal.com profile] glacierscout talking about Episcopalianism: ExpandRead more... )
hermionesviolin: ((hidden) wisdom)
[I started this entry during work today, and it took far too long to finish it tonight.  Sleepytime.]

Because I spend a lot of time hanging out with Methodists nowadays, I'm made particularly aware of what's going on in that denomination.  The newest issue is Drew Phoenix, formerly Ann Gordon, pastor of a Baltimore church.  Tiffany pointed out that across the board, Methodist churches in urban centers are failing, while this pastor has significantly increased both attendance and giving in this Baltimore church.  However, the fact that the pastor transitioned (complete with surgery) ftm is what's getting attention.

Recently Tiffany linked to a sermon on "Marriage, Divorce and Homosexuality."  This pastor has since posted about Drew Phoenix as well (as has Tiffany).

Tiffany's also been crossposting at 7Villages (which I am given to understand is specifically United Methodist), where a lot of more theologically conservative folk have been leaving blog comments.

There's a lot of hostility on both sides, and it makes me uncomfortable.

When I first became aware of transgender issues in college, my immediate reaction was to feel a disconnect between the God of love I believed and the idea that the body one was born with was truly wrong for one.  Though this of course begged the question as to where one draws the line on body modification; plus bodies are in fact often born "wrong" -- e.g., babies with holes in their hearts, cleft palates (which are sometimes "merely" cosmetic but can also be so severe as to interfere with eating).

Stuff like Toby's GenderQueer Monologues helped me grok trans issues a lot better [I also find myself returning to Amy Bloom's Kafka analogy in her book Normal], and I'm a libertarian at heart so on a secular level I definitely endorse people being able to do whatever they want to their own bodies.

However, it's still a very different issue than sexual orientation (though some of the activism legitimately overlaps) so it's troubling to see it all lumped under one umbrella (i.e. "GLBT").  I find this even more troubling in a Christian context where I think one has to do a lot more work (at the very least, different work) to reconcile it.

And while I'm sure a lot of the people who are opposed to Christian churches affirming GLBT folk have a lot of problematic baggage, I do believe that for the most part their opposition is rooted in a sincere belief that theirs is the correct understanding of God's intention for the world -- which is where the liberals are coming from, too, so it makes me sad (and frustrated) that a lot of the reaction from "my side" is along the lines of "You are mean and exclusionary."  Okay, I know I'm being unfair to the current discussion, and my take on this is so tainted by my history with left-right disagreements.  But I'm really sympathetic to the conservatives on this issue, am even sympathetic to the sometimes hostile presentation of those views (though I don't think it's a presentation conducive to dialogue or even of encouraging the other side to even listen to you).  And I'm definitely starting to sound insulting myself (I started to write a sentence about the "self-righteousness" of the left and realized there was no way that was going to end well.), so I'm shutting up and going to bed.

[Sidenote: [livejournal.com profile] xanphibian posted a reminder that if you post a link to something, that can be tracked back to you.  I do understand not wanting trolls on one's journal, and I admit to being weirded out when someone I wasn't expecting to read an entry leaves a comment, but it makes me sad that the world is such that we are so concerned about this, that the default isn't that people engage you in discussion.]

Other interesting thoughts (from my sexual ethics readings):
    A new anthropophagism does not desire God outside of our bodies.  The desire of God is not a spiritual longing, if what we call spiritual has no body.  This desire has to do with concrete bodies with emptied stomachs, with illnesses that are not controlled or cannot be healed, with bodies discarded by government programmes, with bodies abused and battered, enslaved bodies, disfigured bodies, bodies not fully observed, bodies that burn in desire.  Moreover, the desire of God has to do with lack, with the emptiness of our skin, with our search for other bodies, transgressing the norms of what is allowed or permitted as we construe fragmentary notions of love.  Our desire for God has to do with the rubbing of our skin, with the kisses we give, the caresses we receive, with the orgasms we have.
-from "Oh, Que Sera, Que Sera . . . A Limping A/Theological Thought in Brazil" by Claudio Carvalhaes in Liberation Theology and Sexuality, ed. Marcella Althaus-Reid (p. 60)
In his book Body Theology, James B. Nelson posits the statement: "We do not just have bodies, we are bodies" (p. 43).

***

Oy, a quick skim of the flist tells me that the recent murmured worries which were written off as a hoax have resurfaced with a different twist and apparent legitimacy.  I will examine further after some sleep.

Edit: Thank you, [livejournal.com profile] cofax7. "You are not entitled to absolute freedom of speech on the internet."
hermionesviolin: (like salt water)
Last night and today I made good progress on my Ulysses response paper.

Today I also edited my CAUMC (unconditional) love post with additional thought from fandom.

This morning I dreamt that someone hooked me up with a girl.  Was somewhat bizarre but mmm, making out.

I went to biversity brunch with Layna at Johnny D's.  Must ask Nicole if she and Laura have done brunch there.  I got multigrain pancakes with banana compote (and a virgin mimosa).  One of the women was a '99 Smith grad :)

Layna was talking recently about how God is good and wants us to be happy (contra the anti-gay stance of some Christians).  Reflecting on this, I kept thinking about how it seems to me entirely consistent for God to say, "I know you want this thing, and you think it'll make you happy, but really I have better things in store for you, believe me."  Personally I think the spectrum of sexual orientation is a gift from God (and even more than that, that the Bible does not in fact condemn consensual mutual same-sex romantic/sexual relationships), but I think that people can with integrity believe that God wants us to be happy and also that certain things certain people want (in this case, non-heterosexual relationships) are not really good for them in the long-run.  I think I'm just particularly pinged by the "God wants us to be happy" tack because it seems so easy to use it to justify doing whatever one wants, molding God to our own comfort zone.

I went to Arlington Street Church (UU) for "The Greater Boston PFLAG chapter and the Religious Coalition for the Freedom to Marry present Homosexuality and the Bible. The forum seeks to re-examine the biblical evidence on same-sex relationships."

I just wasn't impressed.  The two speakers (Jeff Miner and John Tyler Connoley) presented passages they read as affirming gay people (rather than dealing with the "clobber passages," since there are a million books etc. dealing with those -- including their own -- and the affirming passages are less talked about. [I found myself a little annoyed at the phrasing "clobber passages," though.  I understand that that's how lots of queer people experience them, but it elides the fact that lots of people -- queer and no -- struggle with those passages.] )  I was really glad that during the Q&A someone suggested that they're oversexualizing emotional intimacy, that we're looking at stories like that of Ruth and Naomi and saying they have to have a romantic/sexual component to them.  I just also wasn't that convinced by some of their queer readings of Biblical stories.  Both men come from evangelical backgrounds and say they have great respect for the Bible (and I believe them) but hey, people of intelligence and integrity have been disagreeing about texts (religious and otherwise) since time immemorial.

Expanddetails )

I went to the reception and had some food, but didn't stick around.  There were some women about my age, but the obvious conversation starter would be the talk, and I just wasn't feeling up for that.
hermionesviolin: an image of Alyson Hannigan (who plays Willow Rosenberg) with animated text "you think you know / what you are / what's to come / you haven't even / BEGUN" (Default)
So my brother comes home from work around 5:15 yesterday. (He works at Puddingstone, the used bookstore downtown where Joe and i met -- because we were both working there -- and which Joe loves way more than i do.) “Joe says Hi” he tells me. “Joe [last name withheld because i feel like it]?” “Yeah, he’s down at the store now.” So of course i had to call him on his cell. We had chatted on AIM a bit the night before, but we were basically, “Yeah, I’ve been really busy,” without really saying anything. So i called him and he said he’d just gotten home, hadn’t really expected to come home and was going to call me but then he saw my brother and figured i’d call him. 0:-) Anyway, he was still at the store, talking to Diane (the proprietor), so he said he’d call me back. I even kept people offline and was annoyed when he never called. So i called him this afternoon and he said he’d called around 7 last night and it had just rung and rung. Why is our phone messed up sometimes? So we were both sad about that, but i was happy that he really had called. He was gonna have family dinner, though, (that afternoon Sunday dinner thing) and then head back to school ‘cause he has work and class tomorrow, so he couldn’t really talk, but he said he’d call me this week. Yay! I’m honestly not crushing, but i am fond of this boy and would like to stay in touch with him.

Dragged myself to church today. This guy talked about the weekly men’s fellowship group at our church and said, “Come three times, and if you don’t feel blessed, don’t come back.” If that were true of my church i would be so gone so long ago. It made me think of a conversation i had with a couple of my high school teachers a year or two ago, though. I said i would send kids down to the office much more often than they do, and they said that part of it is a belief that if the kids are in the classroom there is at least the chance that they’ll learn something, whereas they can’t if they’re down at the dean’s office. I thought that was interesting.

There was this teenage boy at church today. Short spiked black hair with two long blue strips and a nose ring. Definitely looks a bit out of place in my church. I was definitely intrigued, though. I wanna talk to him. My mom said she’s seen him with Rebecca, the mother of the baby who was baptized last week. She said maybe he’s the father. She said his hair was orange last time.

Read Are Gay Rights Right?: A Controversy, a 1990 book by Roger J. Magnuson yesterday. Made me furious. Misperceptions and exaggerations galore, though even more annoyingly there were some good points made as well. I think i need to do some fiction reading. Getting sucked into research/political reading can be depressing.

Somehow i got on the Traditional Values Coalition mailing list, which is interesting. I get to hear about cool stuff like Nickelodeon’s My Family Is Different program (scheduled to air June 18) and interesting stuff like a new “Gender-Neutral” Bible and “the first transgendered pastor assigned to a Christian church in America.” The only problem is that in making me aware of all these news stories it means lots more research for me to do because i’ve inherited from my dad a need to do thorough research on issues before making up my mind on them. Semi-relatedly, i really need to get better about writing letters to people about stuff i care about, applauding or criticizing broadcasters, legislators, etc.

I’ve changed my default icon. It’s an icon i made with Angelfire GifWorks. Not great, but i like it. You can still vote for my new Tara icon, though. Eventually i’m going to give in to temptation and icon lust and get a paid account.

Yay for being able to continue being a Buffy addict even in my non-FX household. Last Sunday i got sucked into watching King of the Hill at 11:30 because there was this vegetarian girl and i thought it sounded like she was being voiced by Sarah Michelle Gellar (she was). After it was over my brother reminded me that Buffy reruns at midnight on Sundays. It turned out to be “This Year’s Girl,” which comes right after “Goodbye Iowa” which was the last FX rerun i saw. I’m not super excited about “Who Are You?” (tonight’s episode), but the rest of Season 4 (Superstar, Where The Wild Things Are, New Moon Rising, The Yoko Factor, Primeval, Restless) is great. Gonna have to tape some of them when we’re away in July. Then today my brother starts to channel surf and hits Buffy. “Beauty and the Beasts.” Good ep. The end reminded me of why B/A soulmate shipperdom runs so deep. I’d forgotten about Scott. He’s so sweet. And normal. (Is there Buffy/Scott fic anywhere?) 'Course that probably means he would be too normal, unable to cope with the whole Slayer thing. Riley had issues, but Buffy didn’t have to hide Slayer stuff from him. She didn’t even have to protect him from it, much, which seems to be a recurrent theme in her relationships (with everyone, not just dating), the problem of having to protect people from the hazards of Slayerness. Yes, i am an addict. So this summer will be almost all of Season 3, then most of Season 4 Sundays at 6, and the rest of Season 4, then Season 5 Sundays at midnight.
hermionesviolin: an image of Alyson Hannigan (who plays Willow Rosenberg) with animated text "you think you know / what you are / what's to come / you haven't even / BEGUN" (Default)
So i thought i wasn't going to be busy this week, and then i was. I was out for much of Monday (doing things which included visiting the high school and junior high for the last time this school year and finally getting a new battery for my watch) and when i came home i had 2 messages waiting for me. One asking me to work that night, and one asking me to work on Wednesday, though when i called back the Monday night slot was already filled. Before i went to work on Tuesday (already scheduled) i called my grandmother and made plans to spend the day with her on Thursday. And now here i am. Where did my week go?

I have few stories, so mostly you're gonna get copious quotage.

I walked to the high school Monday morning,and passed the house of this nice older woman (Helen Wohler). She asked if i'd graduated. I said i just finished my first year at college. She said she watched me go through (to?) high school. She said she remembered seeing my dad pushing me in the carriage. She asked what i was majoring in. I said English. She said, "Oh, I'll have to watch what I say around you," or something like that, implying that i'd be a writer who would draw heavily on real life. Which, of course, i am. I was giddy and grinning all the way up the street to the high school.

Mrs. Berger (my former art teacher) asked what i was majoring in, and when i said English she said there's so much you can do with that -- publishing, writing, teaching.

Oh how i love people who get it.

I stapled my thumb at work on Tuesday. The stapler was jammed, and as i tried to fix it i accidentally stapled my thumb. Only one leg of the staple went into my thumb, and it didn't go in very far, but still. It hurt like a bitch to try to get out. I wished i had wire cutters or something so i could just cut off the rest of the staple and let the bit in my thumb work itself out because it only hurt when i tried to remove it. Fran suggested running it under cold water, and i was actually able to remove it painlessly while running it under cold water. Woot. I am now much more cautious of staplers.

My dad showed me this from an article ("Suicide syndrome?" by Thomas Farragher) in the April 20, 2002 Boston Globe Magazine:

It is commonly held local wisdom that Norwood, more than any other town in the United States, is a place where local boys marry local girls and settle down in their hometown. Many residents actually believe it is enshrined in the Guinness Book of Records or, alternately, as an answer to an arcane question on a Trivial Pursuit game card.

It isn't true. But it doesn't matter. That belief, familiar to reference librarians at Morrill Memorial Library who have often been asked to confirm it, speaks volumes about the town's self-image.
That upset me, because i was certain i had actually seen the Trivial Pursuit card and have told many people the story. It upsets me to think that i've been spreading inaccurate information.

Reading Marion L. Soards' Scripture & Homosexuality: Biblical Authority and the Church Today, this really hit me:

While Jesus is not reported to have spoken on homosexuality or homosexual behavior, his one recorded statement about human sexuality [referring to his speaking on divorce, Matthew 19:3-8 or Mark 10:2-9] reveals that he understood males and females to be created by God for mutual relations that unite and fulfill both male and female in a (permanent) complementary union.
I looked up the appropriate passage to be sure.

"Haven't you read," he [Jesus] replied, "that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female,' [Genesis 1:27] and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two shall be as one flesh' [Genesis 2:24]? So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate."
-Matthew 19:4-6 (NIV)
Earlier, Soards had stated, "At the heart of Christian faith is the word of God, God's self-revelation. As Christians we believe God's Word incarnate is Jesus Christ." If you say that Jesus was just a product of his time and what he said doesn't really apply to us now is to say that he's not really the incarnation of God's word for all time. You can't just pick and choose what you believe from the Bible without destroying the integrity of the Bible.

This made me sad and really dampened my enthusiasm for researching how the Bible doesn't necessarily condemn homosexuality. If i have to choose between believing in the Bible as God's Word and believing that homosexuality/bisexuality is natural and not a choice or a sin i will discard my faith in the Bible. It makes me sad to think that i would have to do that.

Near the end of the book, he says, "The critic who reads the Bible and rejects its teaching---its view of God, the world, and human existence in the world in relation to God---is a better friend of those who seek to recognize the authoroty of Scripture than are those false friends who claim to love the Bible but labor assiduously to redefine its perspectives." I thought that was interesting.

This makes less sense now that i'm typing it all up, though. Jesus was talking about heterosexual marriage, and divorce. Obviously statements about homosexuality would have no relevance in that context. Just as if i were asking someone about California it would make no sense for that person to to start telling me about New York. In Matthew 19:11-12 (NIV), still talking about divorce, it is written:

Jesus replied, "Not everyone can accept this teaching, but only those to whom it is given. For some are eunuchs because they were born that way; others were made that way by men; and others have renounced marriage because of the kindgom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it."
I remember reading something which talks about eunuchs as homosexuals. I must look that up.

My mom showed me an article ("Why the U.S. Will Always Be Rich" by David Brooks) from the June 9, 2002 New York Times Magazine. It had the usual statistics. ("The average household in America now pulls in about $42,000 a year. The average household headed by someone with a college degree makes $71,400 a year. A professional degree pushes average household income to more than $100,000. If you are, say a member of one of those college-grad households with a family income of around $75,000, you probably make more than 95 percent of the people on this planet.") It also had this statement: "One-sixth of the American population is part of the working poor, earning between $17,000 and $34,000 a year." My mom (the real breadwinner in my family) makes about $34,000 a year. So i'm on the edge of being part of the working poor. Who knew? Granted, we rent and don't have a car, so that cuts down on our expenses, but still. People complain about jobs starting at only $30,000 a year and i think, "I've lived comfortably in a family of four on that much. Supporting only myself on that much money would rock."

My mom also showed me an article ("The Bad News About Barney" by Chava Willig Levy) from the February, 1994 Parents Magazine. The author says that the main problem with Barney is that it encourages denial. I found it a really interesting article.

This (from a Cinescape article) gives me hope for Firefly:

“I love spaceships,” Whedon said. “I love sci-fi. I love hard-science sci-fi. I wanted to do a show without latex. I wanted to come back down to Earth and do a western. I wanted to make STAGECOACH really bad and that was the impetus. [I don’t think] there will be aliens three or four hundred years from now [when FIREFLY is set]. There would just be people, and that’s the point. They’re not smarter, they’re not better. War hasn’t been abolished. Some of them are decent, some of them aren’t. Some are just trying to scrape by after being trodden on by history. … It’s a very low-tech show. It’s a sort of immigrant story, taking from all the cultures we already have and imagining them spread out over a galaxy.”
Skimming yesterday's Bulletin i hit page 4.

More things that make you go hmmm...
For Your Consideration.../ David J. Tuttle
* Did anyone expect that six months after establishing a policy that allowed for the crèche to be placed on the Town Common a display for gay pride would appear? And is it right for the display to have the words 'Norwood Celebrates Gay Pride?' This wording may appear to the casual observer that this is a Town-endorsed display. You have to get very close to read the sign stating that this is a private display.
Oh, things that make me want to spit. I really doubt that the crèches will have big disclaimers. So it's okay to create the impression that Norwood is a Christian town, but not that Norwood supports and affirms its gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered citizens?

And at the bottom of the same page:

Letters To The Editor
Thanks for Gay Pride Week support
To the Editor
The Norwood-Walpole Citizens for All Families is grateful for the opportunity to have presented our Gay Pride 2002 display on Norwood Common during Pride Week.

We are grateful to the many who have expressed their appreciation for the display.

Our intent through this display has been to affirm and support the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered members of our community and their families and friends. We will continue to seek ways to do that.

For the Norwood-Walpole Citizens for All Families.
Kevin Devine
Nichols Street

Beth Goldman
Marion Avenue

Leah O'Leary
Devon Road

Paul Plato
Devon Road

Daniel D.P. Smith
Mountain Avenue

Russell Tanner
Winter Street

At dinner last night my mom told me that for graduation they're gonna get me the complete Buffy on DVD. Squee! That means i can even stop drooling over the Buffy musical DVD from the Tuesday, May 28, 2002, Daily Variety on eBay. Hey, doesn't the library get Variety? Oh, that's a weekly magazine, though; that's different. Damn.

My mom showed us this from the Spring, 2002 issue of Natural New England Magazine:

Don't forget the Madison Boulder!


A visit to the Conway area of New Hampshire can't be complete without taking a look at the Madison Boulder, arguably one of the largest so-called erratic boulders in the U.S.

This is likely the largest rock you've ever seen. It weighs thousands of pounds, extends deep into the ground and it's been there for something like 15,000 years since it dropped out of a fast-metling wall of ice at the end of what is called the Wisconsin Glacial Period. Its surroundings, a rural area just north of Madison which is just south of Conway, have changed considerably over the ages. But the rock has not.

The Madison boulder sits entirely by itself with a single explanatory sign posted by the State of New Hampshire about 100 feet away. The site is a 17-acre property on a small residential road off Route 113 owned by the statue and listed as a "National Natural Landmark." It is marked on most maps including DeLorme's Maine Map page 41, B-9.

The boulder's official statistics are 83 feet long, by 37 feet wide. It rises 23 feet above the ground and projects at least 12 feet below ground. No one has ever been able to weight it accurately, but it is believed to weigh more than 7,500 tons. It consists of what is called Conway granite.

The rock's well-rounded shape and smooth sides indicated that it likely spent many a millennia buried in the ice, constantly subjected to milling and sculpting during movements, according to geologists. Most geologists believe the Madison boulder was transported by the great glaciers down from some point of origin in the White Mountains and then left in a solitary repose what would eventually become known as the town of Madison.
We've been there. My mom's boss has a cottage near Conway and we stay there for a weekend or a week or whatever every summer, and one summer we went to see the boulder. It always makes me think of Spike's line in "Becoming, Part 1": "It's a big rock. I can't wait to tell my friends. They don't have a rock this big." Now i want to find the photograph of all of us in front of the rock and scan it and get someone to make an LJ icon out of it with the Spike quote on it.

I was telling my mom that i've seen most of the Staurt Little movie baby-sitting and it's so not like how i remember the book. I remember the book as being more adult, dark and scary at times, and the movie is very fun and little kiddish, bright primary colors and all. I said i had to reread the book to make sure i was right, which annoyed me because i didn't really like the book when i read it the first time. And then i said i really should watch the movie in its entirety so i can make a full and complete critique. She said i definitely am my father's daughter.

Allison had a sticker saying "I Poke Badgers With Spoons" on her door, and i recently saw an LJ icon with that phrase on it. Something last night made me think of it randomly, and my dad wondered where it had come from. I had Googlesearched a while back but had only come up with personal sites which quoted it and suchlike. That was last night. This morning my dad sent me an e-mail titled I found out whence comes "I poke badgers with spoons." in which he wrote:

Several times I got referred to eddie izzard web sites. He turns out to be an English comedian, I gather edgy, androgynous, and with quite a following. I posted the question on an eddie izzard bulletin board and got a number of responses in no time. The best:

It's part of a routine Eddie does about the Catholic Church and the concept of original sin. (This is in the Show Dress to Kill, which shows up on HBO occasionally.) How hard it must be to go into the confessional and be *original*!

"Forgive me Father for I have sinned, I slept with my neighbor's wife."

"Heard it!" the priest says.

But if you went in there and said "I poked a badger with a spoon," well, the priest probably has not heard that one before! So say 10 Hail Marys and 3 Hello Dollys and off you go...
Oh yes.
hermionesviolin: (self)
I got mail today. My name and address was printed on the envelope from a computer and there was no return address. I opened it up and found three pieces of paper.

The first page is a photocopy from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible. I know this because it says "Revised Standard Version" in blue pen, block letters in the upper lefthand corner. 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 is bracketed with red pencil and parts of it are underlined.

Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither the immoral, nor idolators, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God.

The next piece of paper is the same thing, but from the "New King James Version."

Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolators, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covertous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.

And the final piece of paper is short typed document:

Homosexuality and the Bible




Gen. 1:27 & Gen. 2:24


Matt. 19:4-6


I Cor. 7:2


Gen. 19:4,5


I. Cor. 6:9




God creates and blesses the institution of marriage specifically as the union of a man and a woman.


Jesus directly quotes the above verses.


Paul reemphasizes that marriage is to be between man and wife.


God destroys Sodom because their men desired to have sex with men.


Paul clearly states that homosexuals will not inherit the Kingdom of God.




I couldn't help laughing.

Totally anonymous. I mean, heaven forbid we open ourselves up for debate.

As i was typing up these up, i noticed a footnote after "homosexuals" in both versions. The RSV says "Two Greek words are rendered by this expression." What kind of footnote is that? Lengthy book chapters have been written about those "two Greek words" (malakoi and arsenokoitai). The NKJV footnote says "That is, catamites." Yeah, because we all know what those are. (The American Heritage Dictionary, 3rd ed., defines "catamite" as "A boy who has a sexual relationship with a man.") I told my dad, and he made an extended joke about the fleas that cats have and that's why he doesn't like cats, but it's a free country and who is he to dictate what people do behind closed doors and so on. I was so punchy.

And then that last page. The whole "God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve" argument is so weak that i always forget about it. Other than that it's such an incomplete listing, though. There's a verse in 1 Timothy (1 Timothy 1:10) much along the same lines as the 1 Corinthians one, and of course there's the classic Leviticus (one of the most definitive, but also one of the most easily shot down). Oh and how can we forget Paul's Letter to the Romans. That's the only time the Bible ever mentions lesbians.


Anyone who's interested in my arguments can read the essay i wrote a couple years ago. I'm sure it could use editing, and i need to do some more reading and add some information to it, but it's still fairly good.

hermionesviolin: (self)
Worked on Wednesday. I came in with Anna Hargreaves, this older woman whom i don't know but who knows me because i work at the library and seems quite fond of me and talks to me every time she sees me. Then Joe Gallant (who, for those who don't know, is a bit off) came in and was talking to me. He was wearing sunglasses and said that yes there was a bit of sun out and i probably wish i had a pair of prescription sunglasses or just a large pair i could put over my regular glasses but i probably have a boyfriend (he has said all this to me before, and i still wince inside at the hetero assumptions) who could buy me a pair so i could look even more gorgeous than i already am. (What is up with older guys thinking i'm hot shit?) Then Lillian Eagles, whom i know because we both volunteered at the Norwood Food Pantry, checked some books out and asked about my grandma (who had broken both her shoulders about 8weeks ago and is now in rehab). Then Valerie Dwyer (family friend) came in to get some books for Dee and we talked a bit. Then Ana Puzey, whom i know from church, was in with her kids and took out lots of stuff and we chatted. After she left Kelly said i was like the mayor of the library; everyone knows me. "Comes with being a townie," i said sheepishly. She said everyone comes in and says things like, "Oh, it must be summer; Elizabeth's back at the library."

I worked 1-9 and then went to see Diane at Puddingstone, leaving around 11:20.

My dad had A Few Good Men out for the night, cued up to the "You can't handle the truth" part so i could see that. I decided to watch the whole thing. Yeah, nevermind that i had to be at work at 9 in the morning. It was surprisingly good. I actually cried at the end. What is up?

Went to visit my grandma for nearly 2 or 3 hours today. We talked about various things, including Olive's funeral. Lots of people were upset because Marilyn Cote listed herself as Olive's "longtime friend" in the obituary, even though she had only known Olive for about 10 years and lots of people had known Olive for 30, 60 years. My grandma told this to Linnea, a former minister of ours who couldn't make it to the service, and Linnea laughed because "longtime friend" is often the phrase used by lesbian or gay couples. I hadn't realized that (and i'm sure Marilyn hadn't either) and had to laugh.

After work i hung out for about an hour and a half. One of the things i did was to read today's Norwood Bulletin (one of the local papers, which comes out every Thursday). Page 4 and i got so angry.

Letters to the Editor
Gay display a disgrace
To the Editor:
It is a shame and a disgrace that the Norwood Board of Selectmen have allowed a 'Gay Pride' display to be placed on the Town Common. Only Gary Lee made any inquiry as to the display and his inquiry was weak at best. God calls homosexuals (sodomites) an abomination! It is an evil and wicked perversion! The Roman Catholic church is facing a major disaster specifically because she has allowed this perversion to exist within her ranks. In the name of 'diversity' our children are corrupted, family morals belittled and honest God fearing people attacked. Where are the churches in Norwood that will speak out against this perversion? Will no one in Norwood stand up against this perversion?
Edward J. Campisano
Alden Street
Dedham

(The letter writer was born and raised in Norwood, went to school in Norwood, enlisted in the Marines and Navy in Norwood, goes to church in Norwood, and works in Norwood.)


There are just so many things wrong with that letter.

I walked all around the Town Common and saw nothing, so i assume it's something which will be going up in the future. Given that this is Norwood, i am both impressed that this is happening (the display) and sure that it will be something fairly inoffensive. I want to contact the Board of Selectmen to find out what the display is going to be.

Okay, here is where i type up my attempt so far at a response Letter to the Editor.

Whether Christianity disapproves of homosexuality or not should have no bearing on whether a Gay Pride display is allowed on town property. We had a lot of discussion regarding the separation of church and town during the long debate about allowing the creches to remain on town property.

I will argue with anyone from parishioner to pope that the Bible does not in fact condemn homosexuality, but that is not the issue here.

To bring in the Catholic Church scandal is foolish. Do we condemn heterosexuality because some men molest little girls? No. We condemn child molestation. The people this display affirms are not child molesters. They are good and upstanding citizens just like yourself who just happen to find emotional and sexual fulfilment with partners of the same sex.

[My queer self of course winces at the end of that because of course gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgendered people run the gamut from Republican to anarchist, from polyamorous to celibate, etc. I'm also a bit disturbed at the idea of "Gay Pride," which excludes not only transgendered persons but even bisexuals. I need to look into this more. I also need to polish this letter because it sucks. I have to drag myself out of bed fairly early again tomorrow, though, and although i was mostly okay today i did have a headache for much of the day, so as Aly says, "niters."]

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hermionesviolin: an image of Alyson Hannigan (who plays Willow Rosenberg) with animated text "you think you know / what you are / what's to come / you haven't even / BEGUN" (Default)
Elizabeth (the delinquent, ecumenical)

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