Stone of Witness: Friday Five: Randomness

Friday, June 8, 2012

Friday Five: Randomness

Happy Friday, Gals and Pals...
Our FF today is in honor of spontaneous thinking!
So...
1. What religion/faith besides yours captures your curiousity and why?

Hmmmm. Judaism has always caught my fancy and I consider myself as an adopted Jew as a Christian. Judaism's strong connection to family and home has always been a drawing card. But I am not culturally Jewish and I knew that would always be a hindrance to me. I am somewhat drawn to Buddhism because of the place of meditation in that faith. But Shinto has appealed to me because of seeing the sacred in nature is a place where I could go to find the Holy.
2. What is the first or most memorable pop song you ever learned as a kid?

White sports coat and a pink carnation. Don't remember who sang it, but my brother has a white sports coat for his prom when I was about 5 and that was a popular song at the time.
3. If God were a color.....(finish this sentence creatively) Probably Blue-Green. But the Holy changes color at every moment.

4. If you were going to make a sandwich right now for lunch, and you magically had all the items you need for it, what would that sandwich be? I love BLT's and I do have the makes for it. But even more, I love Italian Hoagies with no peppers unless they are sweet reds.

5. How are you doing? Really, how are you? I am not in a good place this morning. J. just came home from hospital yesterday. I am headachy and tired and because J. is up, I need to be up. I am beginning to wonder if it isn't time for us to move to a retirement center. More and more of the home duties are falling to me and I have always hated to do 'domestic' stuff. I love the cooking but not the clean up. I can't do the yard work anymore and it is getting expensive to have it done. J would benefit in a retirement center. It would help her get out more often and free me from having to wait on her. But waiting on her is part of the deal of love. I AM really happy to wait on her and to see after her. But I am not ready to get into retirement mode because I know I am going to have a parish again.

Bonus: What are you enjoying/loving right now?
Until this recent hospitalization of J, I would have said, the redevelopment of the diocese. I went to a clergy meeting yesterday and am energized by the people there and the vision for the diocese. At the same time, I know that my duties require me to be at home rather than in a parish. I do not look forward to moving to at retirement center. I would like a smaller apartment but I am already claustrophobic.

4 comments:

Mary Beth said...: Sorry for the grumps. My parents moved to a retirement village (in a duplex-type house) and it's been a really great thing for them. There are lots of activities planned...in which they almost never participate, because church is their social life. And that is fine. They don't have to do the appliance maintenance, light-bulb changing, LAWN MOWING stuff that is seriously not what they need to be doing now.

Sending love and blessings to you and J., and praying for transitions to come.; June 8, 2012 at 11:30 AM
river song said...: I love your header picture and as Krister Stendahl insisted, we are "honorary Jews." Sending prayers for your health and well-being; peace!; June 8, 2012 at 11:37 AM
Elaine (aka...Purple) said...: Hope J is feeling better...and you as well. I so get the yardwork etc etc etc...; June 8, 2012 at 2:05 PM
revkjarla said...: Sending you more love and energy along with MB. It's a sucky place to be...
Am happy to hear about the redevelopment of the diocese...I am sure you have been part of the leadership!

BLT sandwiches are popular among the RevGals today...

love, hope, healing, and blessings....; June 8, 2012 at 2:24 PM

Quotes

"Faith is different from theology because theology is reasoned, systematic, and orderly, whereas faith is disorderly, intermittent, and full of surprises.... Faith is homesickness. Faith is a lump in the throat. Faith is less a position on than a movement toward, less a sure thing than a hunch. Faith is waiting." Frederick Buechner “I realized that an oyster is an organism that defends itself by excreting a substance to protect itself against the sand of its spawning bed. The more sand in the oyster, the more chemical the oyster produces until finally, after layer upon layer of gel, the sand turns into a pearl. And the oyster itself becomes more valuable in the process. At that moment,” I said, I discovered the ministry of irritation.” Joan Chittister

Quotes

So keep fightin' for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don't you forget to have fun doin' it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce. And when you get through kickin' ass and celebratin' the sheer joy of a good fight, be sure to tell those who come after how much fun it was.(Molly Ivins 1944-2007)

Dorothy Sayers (Creed or Chaos?)

Let us,

In Heaven's name,

drag out the Divine Drama

from under the dreadful accumulation

of slipshod thinking

and trashy sentiment heaped upon it,

and set it on an open stage

to startle the world

into some sort of vigorous reaction.

If the pious are the first to be shocked,

so much the worse for the pious

--others will enter the Kingdom of Heaven before them.

If all men are offended because of Christ,

let them be offended;

but where is the sense

of their being offended at something

that is not Christ

and is nothing like Him?

We do Him

singularly little honor by watering down

'til it could not offend a fly.

Surely it is not the

business of the Church

to adapt Christ to man,

but to adapt man to Christ.

Just Something to Think About...

"The Bible contains six admonishments to homosexuals and 362 admonishments to heterosexuals. That doesn't mean that God doesn't love heterosexuals. It's just that they need more supervision." (Lynn Lavner, an American comedian and musician from Brooklyn, NY). and...none of the six came from Jesus

"Religion isn’t about believing things. It's ethical alchemy. It’s about behaving in a way that changes you, that gives you intimations of holiness and sacredness." - Karen Armstrong

"A church that doesn't provoke any crises, a gospel that doesn't unsettle, a word of God that doesn't get under anyone's skin, a word of God that doesn't touch the real sin of the society in which it is being proclaimed — what gospel is that?"

-Archbishop Oscar Romero

"If the truth be told, my attitude towards all gatherings of bishops is to avoid them. I have never seen a good outcome to any synod, or asynod which produced deliverance from evils rather than the additionto them … rivalries and manoeuvres always prevail over reason … and intrying to decide between others it is easier to get accused ofwickedness itself than to deal with their wickedness. Consequently Ihave withdrawn to myself. I consider retirement to be the only meansof saving my soul." Gregory of Naziansus (bishop, 4th century)

The Bible contains six admonishments to homosexuals and 362 admonishments to heterosexuals. That doesn't mean that God doesn't love heterosexuals. It's just that they need more supervision." (Lynn Lavner, an American comedian and musician from Brooklyn, NY).