Confessions of a Pagan Nun was very good. Much, much, much better than Black Elk in Paris.
A woman who became a Druid scribe who became a Nun scribe who was drowned in a well as a pagan. Cool stuff. Lots of women’s wisdom there.
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I finally finished Misquoting Jesus and I learned something very important. Two things actually.
First, reading a book that feels like a sixth grade text book can be incredibly boring. And no matter how interested you are in the subject, a book like that is almost impossible to keep focused on.
Second, The New Testament – it’s not accurate. No kidding, right? Right. I’m not sure what I expected to find in this book, but whatever it was I did not find it. Obviously The New Testament isn’t accurate. We don’t have the original writings or anything close to the original writings. All versions have flaws. No kidding.
I didn’t hate the book, don’t get me wrong. It was ok. It was just sixth grade textbook like, boring and unenlightening. I probably would have enjoyed it more if I’d been reading it with a bunch of sixth graders and we could have discussed each section or something. But I don’t have any sixth graders around who would indulge me in such painful textbook-like reading. So, I was bored.
Onto Robinson Crusoe!
Misquoting Jesus – No Kidding Read More »
TW took the kids to church today. I stayed home and tripped over the dog. I guess some god or another was trying to tell me something. It sounds like a good sermon and a good learning experience was had by all. From the picture of E, you can just tell you missed out on something good, can’t you?
For the adults, it was a Christian sermon – that’s a big deal, people. Our little UU has had a shortage of Christian spirituality over the last year or so. For the kids, it was Albert Schweitzer – a UU – thus the bandages. They talked about his trip to Africa and his compassion toward the African people. And, they acted out the doctor/patient relationship.
Darn, I should have gone to church.
Daily Dose of Religion Read More »
The very first UU Carnival is live! Peacebang’s “God Talk” posts were terrific, the comments very good and now I can go and track down the responses a lot more quickly and easily because they’re right here in the Carnival! (Insert Deity) Bless the Carnival! Heh.
I am interested in this:
“Unitarian Universalism is my faith community†but not his religion. He makes a distinction between the two and explains the nuances of his position in more depth. Go check it out along with the commentarial “amens!†following the post.
I missed that somehow, and it makes an awful lot of sense to me. I don’t usually say “Amen!” but I’m tempted this morning.
Go read through the carnival yourself, and consider submitting to CC for the next one – umm submitting to CC? You know what I meant, right?
Daily Dose of Carnival – UU Style Read More »
Pitching My Tent by Anita Diamont was what you would expect from the author of The Red Tent. Easy to read, lots of religious topics but the easy religion you’d expect a woman of the Jewish Reform faith. At least that I would expect – none Jew that I am.
This one won’t change your life but it was a nice read for a late Saturday night/early Sunday morning,. These stories were pulled from her newspaper and magazine columns. They feel like they were meant to be read over a cup of coffee (or tea) and chatted about with your partner or your friend.
Technorati Tags: anitadiamont, pitchingmytent, redtent
Nuthinfancy is on vacation so I may be the only one posting "What is this doing in my house, Monday" but that’s ok because my entry is good. And she’ll be sorry she went on vacation before seeing it… but first, some background so you understand why my entry is so "good…
Monday night I had some really odd dreams. One of them was about, well, it was about Jesus. I won’t go into the gory details but I will tell you that throughout the dream E and her rabbit sang "Jesus Loves Me". I don’t think I’ve ever dreamt about Jesus before. (have you?) I have attributed the odd dream to the reading of Whale Season on Sunday (I finished it on Monday). No, I’m not heading toward some spiritual crisis or finding my religion or anything else so don’t bother suggesting it. Anyway, it was just weird enough that I didn’t really want to talk about it. I did, however, find myself singing "Jesus loves me" off and on for a couple of days. Also weird since that hasn’t happened since E was gifted with her Jesus loves me singing rabbit a year ago, at Easter of course.
Anyway, I was coming off of that weird dream and the weirder fixation on the song on Wednesday when today’s What’s this doing in my house Monday item popped onto my radar. I headed to the backyard with the dogs, for some fresh air and to water the garden in hopes of keeping myself from saying a lot of things I didn’t really want or need to say. Sounds like a good idea, right? Right. As I went out the back door and stepped over Chanel’s dog food bowl I noticed something IN Chanel’s bowl. Odd. Jakey has never allowed a trace of food to be leftover in either his bowl or hers so I looked more closely. What the… What the heck is JOSEPH doing in Chanel’s bowl??
Yes, it’s Joseph. From a nativity. It looks a little familiar but most Joseph’s from the nativity look alike to me, so I’m really not 100% sure this Joseph did come from one of our nativities. I mean it must have, otherwise how would it have gotten into Chanel’s bowl? But then again, how did it get there in the first place? Four months after Christmas? When TW insists all decorations (shhh she’s troubled about last week’s Christmas tree photos) are put away before New Years?
OK maybe the dogs dug into one of the decoration boxes without me noticing it. That could happen because they are stored in the garage and the garage is a mess. Let’s assume that happened. Why just this one piece? Jake is a very thorough dog. When he gets into something, he REALLY gets into it. So why aren’t more decorations floating around the house? Let’s pretend this was just "found" by one of the dogs and we somehow didn’t manage to get it put away to start with… so why no chew marks? teeth marks? drool? on it? I know you can’t tell from the picture but it’s really in ok shape considering it has definitely been removed from a nativity where it was once "glued" to the manger.
It’s in my house and probably belongs here because TW has a fondness for the nativity. But it’s weird that it appeared, out of nowhere, last week, in a dog food bowl.
What weirdness is in your house?
Technorati Tags: whatisthisdoinginmyhousemonday, stuff, meme, joseph, nativity
Daily Dose of Stuff – Monday Read More »
I am difficult to predict. I’m one small contradiction after another. I’m nuts. Ask anyone around here, they will tell you this is true. Oh don’t bother asking them, I’ll give you two Easter examples and you’ll see for yourself.
I am really not into the whole Christian Easter thing. Oh sure, I wake up ever Easter morning and say "He is risen" or post it on my private message board and I expect the children to know the proper response and to give it simply because it is Easter. But I’m not a Christian so I don’t really believe all of that crucifixion/resurrection thing except as a cool story that’s evolved from some really basic facts. That’s pretty much how I feel about all holidays.
Knowing this, you’d think I’d be comfortable attending the UU Fellowship on Easter. Instead, I really hate the UU on Easter. I hate it on Christmas too. But mostly on Easter. I hate it because I think it is ridiculous that UU ministers talk about how difficult this sermon is for them to preach. I hate it because I think it is ridiculous that a UU congregation that prides itself on its open-mindedness and its ability to embrace all beliefs would feel uncomfortable with the preaching of the Easter story in a more traditional sense. What exactly are UUs afraid of that they can’t handle sitting through an hour service with a minister telling the Easter story as Christians around the world are hearing it? Sheesh.
See – a contradiction. I’m not a Christian but I would rather hear a Christian Easter service than the tripe tossed out by UU ministers. (I will say that the Reverend Louise, who I generally dislike, made a good attempt at it today – and her sniffling through the sermon was sort of touching. She should have gone all out and given a good solid telling of Easter instead, though.)
Fast forward several hours to Easter dinner… TW asked the children what they thought my favorite part of Easter might be. E said "eggs benedict". Ha! no! TW explained that I do not eat eggs benedict as I stood in the kitchen giggling. (this revelation was just more fuel to the Denise is evil fire that we like to feed them) RJ suggested candy would be my favorite thing. Umm no, more giggling from me in the kitchen. TW said "Denise’s favorite part of Easter is the ham". Prince J said "Denise doesn’t eat ham, she’s a vegetarian"… I stepped around the corner with my plate… which did include ham. I showed it to Prince J and he just stared. RJ said "HUH?"
I explained that I do, in fact, eat ham on Easter. I can’t help it. Just like I can’t help eating a bit of turkey at Thanksgiving, the occasional horrible cheeseburger from McDonald’s and a Beef n Cheddar once in awhile on a road trip. Another contradiction.
I do love keeping people guessing but then I have been known to rant about how little people really know about me… (ack, a third contradiction I wasn’t going to share right now. Oh well, consider it a bonus.)
He is risen… and ham is good.
Technorati Tags: easter, ham, unitarianuniversalist, vegetarian, contradictions
Daily Dose of Contradictions – Easter Read More »
I finished Jesus Land last night and put off blogging about it because I wasn’t sure what to say, exactly. I’m still not sure of what to say so let’s go with a list. (Good blogging rule, if in doubt just make a list!)
People who should not read Jesus Land
*If you have a history of abuse or neglect and are triggered by stories of such, do not read this book.
*If you are an ANTI ORGANIZED RELIGION FANATIC, do not read this book.
People who should read Jesus Land
*Anyone who is not easily triggered by descriptions of abuse or neglect.
*Anyone who is not an ANTI ORGANIZED RELIGION FANATIC or on the verge of becoming an ANTI ORGANIZED RELIGION FANATIC
Technorati Tags: memoir, racism, christianity, reformschool, 70s, childabuse
Jesus Land Trigger Trigger TRIGGER Read More »
And yet… that’s a good phrase, I like it. I think I’ve always liked it but never used it much. After last night it’s likely “And yet…” will become one of those family phrases, like the ones I blogged about last month.
This entry about Elie Wiesel is difficult. I could talk about Oprah. I could talk about Night. I could talk about disinterest. I could talk about hate. I could talk about education. But where to start, how to start? It’s difficult, and yet, it isn’t.
When Oprah announced Night would be her next book club choice and would also be her High School Essay selection I changed Michelle’s reading schedule and I did the thing I always gripe about people doing – I bought the book. Because Oprah said to. And I hated doing it but I really was impressed with the selection, for the essay contest in particular. Even if homeschoolers were not eligible to enter, I felt like it was a good valid selection and important for Michelle to read – because of the book itself and because hundreds of thousands of high schoolers would be reading it. They would have this experience and I think it will be important that Michelle have some of the same types of experiences. So, I bought an Oprah book because Oprah said to do it. Blah.
Michelle started reading it. She got about halfway through it before TW and I had even made it to the German occupation of Sighet, on audio. Michelle’s birthday weekend in Atlanta arrived and we all started over at the beginning and listened to the first 3 hours on audio. iRiver malfunction left us wondering what happens next…. Michelle finished reading, I finished listening and TW has not yet finished (my fault for listening without her).
Oprah is right, everyone should read Night. Actually let me change that. I think everyone should listen to it on audio. The voice was not Elie Wiesel’s voice, but it could have been. I don’t generally feel that way about audio books, I enjoy them but I enjoy reading the actual words myself more. I think in this cause, the audio made the story stronger, maybe stronger isn’t the right word. It’s already a strong book, how could it not be? The voice reading the book, made it harder to detach.
Seeing Elie Wiesel last night at UF did so as well.
He didn’t talk about Night, the writing of it or his experience in the Holocaust in any real detail. But as he spoke about hatred, about politics, about religious history and religious differences it seemed impossible to put Night or the Holocaust away. When I looked at Elie Wiesel or listened to him (because the nonstop flashes from the cameras made it difficult to look at him) his history is there. It’s difficult to describe.
Things that stuck with me after last night’s talk… Disinterest is the opposite of just about everything… Fanaticism could be the biggest issue we face in this century… Education isn’t just in the classroom. Education is reading everything – books, magazines, internet. It’s talking to friends and coworkers and acquaintances and listening to them. It’s sharing of ideas and experiences. It’s watching television and movies and not just the news. Education is sensitizing yourself so you are better able to understand other people, other ideas, other feelings… Elie didn’t tell his publisher he was being interviewed by Oprah 10 years ago and his publisher was mad. He didn’t understand. This year, Oprah told people to read his book and it sold millions, he understands now…
Technorati Tags: Night, eliewiesel, holocaust, oprah, nonfiction
The Peabody Sisters was one heck of a long church sermon! That’s how it felt to me, Unitarian Universalist that I am. Imagine sitting in church nonstop for a week… you non UU people will probably not understand it but the UUs will.
And then, once you UUs have imagined that – imagine not that you’re listening to a really great minister like Reverand Barbara (who is no longer with our congregation, unfortunately) or even Reverand Jack (also no longer with our congregation) but instead some really dry and might I say boring interim minister. That is what The Peabody Sisters felt like, to me.
Of course I did learn that the mighty Elizabeth Peabody is almost solely responsible for Unitarianism and Transcendentalism and all that is right with education. And if folks had only listened to her, folks like Hawthorne and Emerson and Channing and Mann and most especially Bronson Alcott, they would have done far better in their lives. To read this book, Elizabeth Peabody was the founder of it all – at least all that took place in the 1800’s.
That is the only thing that made the book worth sitting for – how often do we hear that a woman was responsible for all the great things (and yes some not so great things too). It got to be a little much, and I kept expecting Elizabeth to have invented the lighbulb and walked on the moon, but I still smiled everytime Elizabeth was the force behind the man or her ideas were used by some man to achieve great things. Oh and Mary and Sophia (the other women that make up the “sisters” weren’t so bad either. Not as great as Elizabeth of course but what can you expect). Woman Power! Go Girl! Hear Me Roar!
OK on to something that I am sure will sound nothing like a church sermon, boring or otherwise. Gosh I miss Reverand Barbara!
Technorati Tags: peabodysisters, unitarian, transcendentalist, 1800s, women, elizabethpeabody
It felt like church to me… Read More »