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| I should be the last person to poo-poo modern life. Far from being a naturalist, I’m a man of the great indoors. I enjoy a comfortable bed, functional indoor plumbing, a fast computer, and being to travel what used to be considered long distances because of cars. But today, I feel the oppression of modern living. Although, as Christians, we call this Friday ‘good’, it is only good because we have seen the ending. It is only good because we have been given the privilege of seeing behind the curtain to what God saw. And so, on this Good Friday, I think the most meaningful response–before all the truly worthwhile celebration–is to pause. To pause to remember the pain, to remember the abandonment, to remember the sacrifice. And to let that pausing be our gratitude. To let that pausing be our worship. To let that pausing be our response to this mind-boggling act of love. And the oppression I feel isn’t so much the evil that surrounds me, although that is always there. It is the unrelenting pace of this world. It is the constant demand to go-go-go. It is the whip of this world. But it is also an impulse that has been internalized into the very rhythm of our souls. The brand of modernity, seared into our insides. Who has time to reflect when there’s so much work to be done? Who has time to pray when we have video games, TV shows, and Facebook walls to occupy our time? Who has time to remember when there never seems to be a convenient time anyways? Oh the oppression! And if you think I’m poo-pooing others. Think again, because I am speaking about myself. But today isn’t a day of self-flagellation–I’m not into that anyways. It’s a day to pause to think about my Lord, who for the joy set before him, endured the cross and all the shame therein. To pause with all creation, to remember when all the world dimmed to its darkest at the murder of it’s Creator, even if few people noticed. | | |
| In light of the recent CA Supreme Court decision to overturn the state
ban on gay marriage, I thought it'd be worthwhile to post this
interview response by Stanley Hauerwas, the liberal ethicist and law
professor from Duke, on the issue of gay marriage in the church.
Talking about the unity
of the church, how might that apply to the current debates concerning
homosexuality in the United Methodist Church, in the Presbyterian
USA church, and the Reconciling Congregations movement within the
United Methodist Church?
The problem with debates about homosexuality is they have been
devoid of any linguistic discipline that might give you some indication
what is at stake. Methodism, for example, is more concerned with
being inclusive than being the church. We do not have the slightest
idea what we mean by being inclusive other than some vague idea
that inclusivity has something to do with being accepting and loving.
Inclusivity is, of course, a necessary strategy for survival in
what is religiously a buyers' market. Even worse, the inclusive
church is captured by romantic notions of marriage. Combine inclusivity
and romanticism and you have no reason to deny marriage between
gay people.
When couples come to ministers to talk about their marriage ceremonies,
ministers think it's interesting to ask if they love one another.
What a stupid question! How would they know? A Christian marriage
isn't about whether you're in love. Christian marriage is giving
you the practice of fidelity over a lifetime in which you can look
back upon the marriage and call it love. It is a hard discipline
over many years.
The difficulty, therefore, is that Christians, when they approach
this issue, no longer know what marriage is. For centuries, Christians
married people who didn't know one another until the marriage ceremony,
and we knew they were going to have sex that night. They didn't
know one another. Where does all this love stuff come from? They
could have sex because they were married.
Now, when marriage becomes a mutually enhancing arrangement until
something goes wrong, then it makes no sense at all to oppose homosexual
marriages. If marriage is a calling that makes promises of lifelong
monogamous fidelity in which children are welcomed, then we've got
a problem. But we can't even get to a discussion there, because
Christians no longer practice Christian marriage.
What has made it particularly hard is that the divorce culture
has made it impossible for us to talk about these matters--and many
of you know, I'm divorced and remarried. It has made it impossible
for us to talk about these matters with an honesty and candor that
is required if you are not to indulge in self-deceptive, sentimental
lies.
For gay Christians who I know and love, I wish we as Christians
could come up with some way to help them, like we need to help one
another, to avoid the sexual wilderness in which we live. That's
a worthy task. I probably sound like a conservative on these matters,
not because I've got some deep animosity toward gay people, but
because I don't know how to go forward given the current marriage
practices of our culture. (from http://www.dukemagazine.duke.edu/dukemag/issues/050602/depfor.html)
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| I don't remember what the average price for a 14" laptop was back in 2000. But would you believe that a standard 34" tube TV was selling for $400? Now, whenever you walk into any store, it's hard to feel like you're not a cheapo unless you fork out at least $700 for a similar size LCD. Sure, it's flatter and it's HD -- it's way better. But what's considered standard technology now is almost double what it was a decade ago. And, more realistically, since 42" -- which is over $1200 -- is the new standard we're now paying three times as much for a television as we used to. I don't know why I found this blog-worthy.
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/18/hdtvs-shrink/index.html
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| Now that my culture has been absorbed into the smorgasborg of American cuisine, I've been seeing more ginger being used on more cooking shows than ever before. I laugh when they shrink their shoulders, close their eyes, smile
dreamily, and stick a giant piece of ginger up their nose as they try
to convince all of us how amazing ginger is. I laugh every time the cooks go all orgasmic over the "scintillating, spicy-sweet, pungent, exotic" taste of ginger (obviously, they've never bitten into that gigantic chicken-looking piece on accident before). I laugh whenever they try to show off their cultural awareness by bragging about how "the Chinese" have used ginger in their cooking and medicines for "thousands of years", etc., etc., etc. It's all very funny because I don't really know any Chinese (outside of Chinese newspapers) who speak of ginger in this way -- it's something we grew up with, accidentally bit into.
But the laughing stops at this: peeled ginger. Never...NEVER have I once seen my mom, my grandmothers, my aunts, my friend's mom's, nor their grandmothers -- not even Mr. Yan Can Cook peel ginger. Never have I seen them pull out a paring knife and skillfully shave off the "tough fibrous exterior" of ginger as if it were an apple pear. Never. Then again, I've never seen any Chinese person use water chestnuts in their cooking either, so so much for anecdotal evidence...
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| It's past midnight. Feeling a bit tired right now. Not feeling particularly encouraged as of late. Yet, tomorrow, I will become a godparent (for the first time) to my cousin JC's baby boy. And in two months time, I will be officiating (for the first time) my cousin CC's wedding. These things puzzle me but also make me pause in thanksgiving, that God could be so present in my family in ways that I didn't think he would be. And that I get to be a part of it.
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