And now, a word from our sponsor

Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other.

(John 13:34-35 - The Message)

We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

[Yeah, I know, if you just want to read the Bible, you probably own one, and I just did this a few posts ago. Sorry; just didn't have anything to add, at least not until I've spent quite a bit more time meditating on this one myself. Shalom...]

Events of the "upcoming" variety

A couple of things to put on your calendar, if you're so moved:

The Washington, DC Emergent Cohort is meeting on Monday evening, 16 July, 7pm, at a new place: The Front Page, right across from the Dupont Circle metro. Easier to get to than the Irish pub in Bethesda where we used to gather, blessed as it was with delicious Harp, Guinness, and fish and chips, but cursed as it was by Quiz Night loudness and, well, being in Bethesda. I don't think we're going to have an impressive guest speaker, but please come anyway - it's never been about the guest speakers (though we've had some fine ones) - it's about connecting with folks trying to make their way following Jesus in different area communities. More info on the Cohort blog.

Also, the little community called "mesh" is going to meet on Thursday the 19th at Tequila Grande in Vienna, also at 7pm. This month, we're giving up any pretense of being "about" anything - no book or movie to discuss; we're just going to have some margaritas and chips and salsa together and share what's going on in our lives. Again, it's all about the connecting. There's a theory that says this group is for "young adults", but I don't know what that means, nor am I certain that either word applies to me personally. If you're old enough to drink a margarita, and young enough to not disapprove of margaritas, you're invited. :-) More info on the mesh blog, including the fact that Susan and I are buying the first round of 'ritas.

Let me know if you want further info on either gathering. Peace!

He is watching you

I wish I'd said that...

Well, I don't seem to be very bloggy-creative myself lately, but I just read a really nice little essay that seems like it wouldn't be out-of-place (or inappropriate, in terms of message) as a sermonette preached in just about any church I'm aware of in this postmodern age. Check it out:

So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life - your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life - and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

I'm speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it's important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.

In this way we are like the various parts of a human body. Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around. The body we're talking about is Christ's body of chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body. But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn't amount to much, would we? So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvelously functioning parts in Christ's body, let's just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren't.

If you preach, just preach God's Message, nothing else; if you help, just help, don't take over; if you teach, stick to your teaching; if you give encouraging guidance, be careful that you don't get bossy; if you're put in charge, don't manipulate; if you're called to give aid to people in distress, keep your eyes open and be quick to respond; if you work with the disadvantaged, don't let yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them. Keep a smile on your face.

Love from the center of who you are; don't fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.

Don't burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don't quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality.

Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath. Laugh with your happy friends when they're happy; share tears when they're down. Get along with each other; don't be stuckup. Make friends with nobodies; don't be the great somebody.

Don't hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you've got it in you, get along with everybody. Don't insist on getting even; that's not for you to do. "I'll do the judging," says God. "I'll take care of it."

Our Scriptures tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he's thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness. Don't let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good.

It was written by this itinerant Palestinian church planter, but it was adapted for this language and culture by a seventysomething Presbyterian pastor/professor guy. Good stuff.

(Yes, you've probably read it before.) ;-)

Me me me me me! Meme.

So here I am, minding my own business, and Gallycat tags me with a meme. What did I ever do to deserve this? ;-)

Honestly, this seems like a pretty lame and generic meme, but it also seems to be sweeping the blogosphere, so who am I to argue with a force of nature?

So here goes.

First, the rules. Then, the meme.

1. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.

2. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.

3. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.

4. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

So here's my randumb facts:

1. I am a Leo.
2. When I was a Tibetan Buddhist, the name I was given at my Refuge Ordination by Lama Garchen Rinpoche was "Konchok Choseng", which means "Dharma Lion of the Triple Gem".
3. Note the common "lion" theme in #1 and #2. Coincidence? I think not. I'm not sure this counts as a fact or habit, so...I have a habit of perceiving patterns where there are none. :-)
   
4. I took many vows as a Tibetan Buddhist, including Refuge, Self-Liberation, Bodhisattva, and Tantric vows, and I was ordained as a Nagpa, or lay practitioner. (In Buddhism, "lay" is typically not the opposite of "ordained" but rather of "monk or nun".) I've "given those vows back", which means I no longer go out of my way to keep them, although many of them would be kept by any moral and ethical person.
5. I have a tattoo on my left ankle of the mantra of Green Tara, a female Bodhisattva/Buddha in Tibetan Buddhism.
6. The reason I have a mantra tattooed on my ankle is that I spent the summer of 1999 both a) a new Buddhist and b) manic. I have bipolar disorder.
7. I spent some time trying to be a Unitarian/Universalist, and Tina and I were married in a UU church.
8. I've now been a Christian for about five years, which is longer than I was a UU or a Buddhist. I think this one will stick. :-)

I guess those facts weren't exactly random. There was something of a theme to my meme. Oh well - sue me.

Now to tag some folks. Let's see - who don't I like? :-)

Let's try: Israel, ErinPoetChica, TooSaucyForTheNunnery, SusanClericChica, Chrystalguy, MarandaZooChica, Derrick, and MichelleOtherZooChica.

I respect George W. Bush

Of all the rude things I've ever put on this rude blog, I suspect the title of this post might be the most offensive to some of my throngs ;-) of readers.

But it's true - I do have a certain measure of respect for our commander-in-chief. Now, don't get me wrong - I wouldn't vote for him to be the facilitator of a yearbook committee, much less any public office. I would probably disqualify him right off the bat due to the extreme black-and-white, nuance-free way he seems to view much of the world, but add in the fact that he and I disagree strongly on a whole lot of major issues - war and peace, the environment, poverty issues, you name it - and I ought to be clear that I'm not exactly a bush supporter. And it's not even hard for me to come up with a list of white, male, powerful, conservative Republican politicians that I respect more than GWB: Bob Dole, John McCain, Bush's dad.

But I do respect Bush, and the reason that I respect him is that as far as I can tell, he's not, primarily, a mere political animal. He's a man of conviction, who frequently acts according to what he genuinely believes to be the right thing, despite the political consequences. You can see this in things on which I strongly disagree with him, such as Middle East / war policy or global warming (though he may be coming around on that a little), but I also see it in areas where he and I are much more in agreement (immigration reform) or where I am ambivalent (stem-cell research). I may not be happy with the thinking behind his convictions - I may think them shallow, simplistic, or just horribly wrong - but I generally have to say that my impression is that his convictions are heartfelt, and that he tends to act on them - not just according to the political winds.

So in the case of immigration reform, it seems to me that his years in Texas spending time around immigrants - legal and otherwise - has led him to an understanding of the realities of the situation that is informed by both experience and compassion, and that he is determined to support a right course, as he sees it - his conservative "kick 'em all out" base be damned.

And in the case of stem cell research, it is my impression is that he is acting out of genuine moral concern that we not go somersaulting down the slippery slope toward the mass production of human embryos for medical purposes. Honestly, I'm not sure where I'd draw the line on this stuff, but I respect his desire to be cautious in this area, despite the tide of public opinion and political pressure from all directions.

I'm not saying Bush is a good leader, or what our country needs. I don't think either of those are true. All I'm saying is that I must admit that I think he's remarkably authentic for a politician - a man of convictions in a town full of professional sellouts. So while I have never been a Bush supporter, and likely never will be, I also try to avoid making him the butt of jokes. My best hope for Bush is that his relative success as a President might inspire someone whose convictions I actually agree with to stand their guns in Washington and lead strongly and authentically.

Not quite sure I'm seeing that on the horizon, though. Obama? Gore? Beuller? :-)

"mesh" gathering at my house Thursday evening

Another reminder (or very possibly, new information!): we're doing the next gathering of the little community called "mesh" at my (new) house in Herndon this coming Thursday evening, the 14th. We'll be noshing, quaffing, and socializing a bit starting at 7pm, and then watching the movie Jesus Camp and discussing it starting at 7:30. You are most welcome!

More info is on the official "mesh" blog; please don't hesitate to email me if you need directions or more info or to arrange a ride or something.

DC Emergent Cohort meeting tonight

Quick reminder: The Washngton, DC Emergent Cohort is meeting tonight. I'll steal Sara's words from the official DC Cohort Blog:

June 11th will bring us Wes White, an American theologican who lives in Glasgow, Scotland and is spearheading the TREK (Theological Resoursing for an Emerging Kultur) across Europe. We are grateful that Wes was able to stay an extra day on his journey across the pond to spend an evening with us. TREK springs from the concept of sharing around the local table and in healthy mission.

White writes, "TREK is premised on the conviction that there is good and bad theology, and that the distance between the two is best measured by mission. Furthermore, we, the TREK Team, beleive that good theology includes facts (history, geography, personages, events, ect.) , but so much more. Healthy theology fancies the narrative, the nuance, the give and take, the mystery, the passion, and the imagination. In short, it personifies the freedom that inheres in God himself who is relationship in community (trinity) and who, in love (1John 4:8) invites the whole of creation into the ever expanding community of himself (mission)".

Please join us for a lively conversation this night.

More information about TREK can be found here http://www.localtable.org

We can be found at the Harp and Fiddle, 4844 Cordell Avenue, Bethesda, MD 20814

on the 2nd Monday of the month in the back room at 7pm.

I'm planning on going, so if you want to Metro in together, let me know.

Thanks

All's not right in the world - the world, my world, the world(s) of those I love, whatever. Never gonna happen, I think, in this world. It's not that sort of place.

But much is right, and a great deal is good - very good. And I am richly blessed.

So thanks. Thanks, God - and thanks, all you accomplices, aiders, and abetters to the good stuff God's doing in all of our lives.

Ahh. The tubes.

Yay. I have internet at home again. Verizon finally installed FiOS at my house today. It works, and it's fast. Me like. Me happy.

I promise, I aspire to blogging about something that somebody else might actually find interesting once again. One day. :-)

In the mean time,

BUFFYSEASONEIGHTINCOMICSYAYYYYY!

Issue five came out yesterday. Yum.

Moved. Dammit.

That was the most grueling 5-day "weekend" EVAH. :-) Unpacking at the new house; minor renovations, yard work, and LOTS of cleaning at the old house in what will probably prove to be a vain effort to get much of our security deposit back; a heap of move-related errands; and some small amount of sleep. But we're DONE, for some definition of done. Done with round one of unpacking, where almost everything is out of boxes and roughly where it belongs. (Round 2, where everything is more precisely where it belongs and everything is clean, needed to wait until our cleaning supplies made it over from the old place, anyway.) Done, done, and done with the falling-apart rental house in Vienna. Done with the oven where the knobs have no labels and are falling off. Done with the fridge with pieces peeling off it. Done with the doors that won't close. Done with mowing the big, unused lawn. Done with the landlord and property manager doing nothing with the place, ever, ever, ever, no matter how many times we call, even if the roof leaks whenever it rains or it's impossible to lock the deadbolt in the front door. Done. Tired, sore, and contented. And done.

BTW, I tried to email everybody I could think of with our new address, but if I missed you, please chalk it up to fatigue and email me for the scoop. Also, note that our home phone number won't work for a while as we're transferring over the old landline number to Tina's new cell phone. So the best way to reach us by voice is to call my cell. (Email me if you need the number.) Finally...we won't get internet hooked up at the new place until next Thursday (the 7th), so apologies if I'm a little less responsive than usual.

Peace!

Chumbawamba

This may seem odd, following as it does my big insight ;-) about guilt, but think of it as something I'm holding in tension. I was listening to Chumbawamba's seminal album Tubthumper over the weekend. Their song "The Big Issue" begins like this:

There are those
Spend the night under bridges
Over by the river
Down in the park through the winter
But there's a house that I know
Safe and warm
And no-one ever goes there
Down where the priests bless the wine

It made me think: we (by which I mean the Church) suck.

That's not the whole story, of course. Sometimes we manage to not completely suck.

Something I wrote during this morning's service

(By the way, the image at left is of a painting by my unbelievably talented artist friend Becky. If you like it, check out her online gallery.)

I'm not sure this (below) counts as a poem. It was sort of meant as a response to Ken's excellent homily in today's service within our Easter Season series. (Series word/image: "blooms".) We did a kind of extemporaneous poetry slam in response to Ken's content this morning. I'm hoping some of the other folks will send their stuff in to be posted on the church services blog that doesn't quite exist yet, but will soon. I'm not that impressed with my own effort, but some of my homeys' words were so sharp and fresh as to elicit gasps, as well as finger snaps. (That's a beat poet thing, or so I understand from my friends Mark and Mike, not to mention So I Married an Ax Murderer.) Anyway, here's my...whatever it is:

~~~

Open, fragile, full of potential - ?

...

God helps those who help themselves
I am the master of my destiny
The future I see - the future I WANT
For myself, my family, my community, my world
Will only happen if I MAKE it happen
It's on me to takethe bull by the horns
And steer my future toward
Well, toward something better
Fuller, richer...
Right?

We know this...right?
It's just common sense.

Right?

...

Openness...fragility...vulnerability...

Faith...

That's just crazy...right?

Guilt and calling

OK, so I sort of feel like the combination of a conversation I had last night, and a magazine article I read this morning, crystallized something I've been hearing buzzing in conversations for a little while now. It's a matter of opinion, not some prophetic insight, but here it is:


I'm not saying that a genuine calling to some kind of service might not be peppered with a dose of healthily convicted motivation - I can certainly predict with confidence that nothing I do will ever be free of that sort of thing. And certainly it's sometimes appropriate to enter into some relatively short-term service role that we don't relish but feel obligated to do, if it's a real need and there's nobody else to do it. (I would advise entering into these with a defined limited time-frame and only after much prayer.) And I'm certainly not saying that, in a life of following Jesus, we won't find ourselves in situations that suck mightily, and that we should follow our natural impulse to run away from situations like that - sorry to say, but I'm learning that extreme suckitude is part and parcel of following Jesus. Probably could have intuited that from a careful reading of the Gospels or Acts, but some things you need to learn for yourself, I guess.

But I am saying this: if you're in some kind of ongoing role that you might call ministry - service to God and/or your fellow talking monkeys (that is, beloved children of God made in God's image and likeness) - and you're doing it primarily out of a sense of guilt or obligation, then I humbly submit that now might be a good time to start being on the lookout for something else to do. That goes double if you're considering a new ministry, and have reason to suspect that this may be your chief motivation. Again, just my opinion, FWIW.

Note to CT folks: don't read too much into this. ;-)

You are now reading the blog of a homeowner

Great googly moogly! :-D Settlement was extremely smooth and amicable. All is well, though we don't get to move in until the seller's kids get her moved down to GA in mid-to-late May. She's a really sweet elder lady. She and everybody we've worked with has been a complete pleasure! E-mail me (or call me) if you want to know more, and especially if you live in the NoVA/DC area and would like a recommendation of an OUTSTANDING realtor and/or mortgage broker.

Invisible Children: Displace Me

I don't have a lot of space in my life right now to personally be a big part of this event, but I figure I can at least help spread the word.

---

Please follow the below directions to help us spread the word about the Washington DC Displace Me event to identify with and protest the suffering of 1.5 million people in displacement camps in Uganda. Please see http://www.invisiblechildren.com/displaceMe/ for more information.

1) Please go here: http://www.invisiblechildren-dc.com.

2) Please copy the HTML and video code onto your personal or organizational web sites to help bring relief to 1.5 million displaced people.

3) Please sign up for and attend the April 28, 2007 Displace Me event in solidarity with our brothers and sisters suffering in displacement camps in Uganda. To sign up, please go here: http://www.invisiblechildren.com/displaceMe

4) Please distribute this email and the HTML code to every web site and media outlet you have access to. Let's stop this suffering!


INVISIBLE CHILDREN DISPLACE ME 2007 VIDEO (You Tube)


INVISIBLE CHILDREN DISPLACE ME 2007 VIDEO (Myspace)

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World Tour 2007: Displace Me Cities V.2

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He is risen! He is risen indeed!

In liturgical churches (like, say, Anglican ones), it's common practice to avoid the use of "Hallelujah" (Praise the Lord!), at least liturgically, during Lent. I'm not sure if I followed that practice myself this year or not, but it's probably safe to say that God didn't receive an overflowing of Hallelujahs from me this Lenten season.

Well, Lent is over.

Hallelujah! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!

Praise our amazing God for the amazing, unanticipated, impossible yet real reversal of Resurrection! Praise God for this day - the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it!

Another "liturgical church" thing is that Easter isn't just a day - it's a season. The 50 days from now until Pentecost is Easter Season. So let's keep on living in joyous celebration of Resurrection through this season - and beyond. Maybe it's cliche, but we're Easter people. He is risen. He is risen indeed! Hallelujah!

Trying again!

Here's a terrible picture of the house on which, as of this morning, we have a ratified contract! Yay! E-mail me if you want to check out the full listing, but it's in Herndon. Inspection is on Monday, and if that doesn't scare us away, we close on 27 April! The seller needs to live there for a few weeks after settlement, so we'll be moving the last week or two in May. We're actually a lot more hopeful and excited about this one than we were about the one that we backed out of in January.

:-D !!!

MONDO-formidable!

OK, I admit that this is not a very profound way to get back in the saddle after a month of blog fasting. (The correspondence with Lent is purely coincidental - except maybe I don't believe in coincidence.) However, this has gotta be said:

BUFFYSEASONEIGHTINCOMICS!!!
BUFFYSEASONEIGHTINCOMICS!!!
BUFFYSEASONEIGHTINCOMICS!!!
BUFFYSEASONEIGHTINCOMICS!!!
YAAAYYYY!!!! OMG!!! YAYYY!!! SQUEEE!!! YAAYY!!! :-D

Second issue came out this week. It is SOOOOOO good! Only Joss Whedon could write such ridiculous dialogue for such beloved characters and totally, thoroughly, unquestionably pull it off. And the FX budget is unlimited! :-D

With the Easter season of new Life and renewal only three dark days away, this is one little early gift of resurrection I'm thoroughly thankful for.

Next "mesh" gathering - 19 April

So last fall, my friends Susan and Will and I attempted to start a faith-based discussion / fellowship group in Northern Virginia for the young (20's/30's) and young at heart, called "mesh". Since Will moved to the Left Coast to take a cool job with Grace Cathedral, and as Susan and I have gotten frightfully busy, we've had mixed results drumming up interest for folks to read a book and come chat about it. So this time, we're leaving out the book. If you're in Northern Virginia or the DC area, and interested in getting together and hanging and praying with a bunch of faithful folks from the area, please drop by on 19 April. (I should warn you that it's probably gonna be mostly Episcopalians and maybe some folks from my nondenominational church, The Common Table, because, uh, that's who we know.) :-) Anyway, here's the post Susan put on the mesh blog, verbatim. I can't improve on it. BTW, to get directions, you gotta join our "meshcommunity" Yahoo! Group, 'cause Susan's too smart to post her home address on a blog.

It's about time for Mesh to meet again, except for one thing: our brains are tired. Or, more accurately, our capacity to read any more books at this point is totally maxed out. So we're going to meet with no intellectual aspirations at all--just socializing and evening prayer. Oh, and food, of course. Come and celebrate Easter with no brainwork required.
Hence:

Join us on Thursday, April 19th
at 7:30pm
in Sterling, VA
(location given upon email request)

FOOD. DRINK. TALK. COMPLINE.

Bring a friend, food, or drink to share if you feel so inclined. And let us know if you have serious dog allergies. Mesh is geared toward people in their 20's and 30's who are interested in discussions about faith, but all are absolutely welcome.