January 2011
48 posts
2 tags
Jan 1st
December 2010
66 posts
Google Reader thought I might like this. And they...
TPM Editors Blog Gays Out of the Military Apropos of our earlier post on whether there are gays in the SEALs and special forces generally, TPM Reader MT sends in the following … My wife had a friend in college who was ex-Navy, but was generally pretty vague about what he did in the service. He was also pretty vague about the circumstances of his leaving the service (was he just done, or...
Dec 30th
Dec 29th
3 tags
“You see, there is no shame in unbelief. In fact, if you are struggling with...”
– Pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber, sermon for Advent 3.
Dec 29th
2 tags
“For Exmas and the Rush distract the minds even of the few from sacred things....”
– C. S. Lewis, in “A Lost Chapter from Herodotus”
Dec 28th
1 tag
“Many of those people would be in their late-forties to late-sixties (as are...”
– From a blog post suggested by my Google Reader, written by Beth, an ELCA pastor.  The post addresses the demands and critiques by a certain member in her congregation, and the changing meaning of “evangelism”
Dec 28th
Dec 27th
1 note
2 tags
Dec 27th
2 tags
“God did not wait till we as the human race got our collective crap together...”
– Pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber’s sermon on the Slaughter of the Innocents.
Dec 27th
1 tag
Sermon for the Slaughter of the Innocents.
Texts here. Well, good morning! Merry Christmas! I hope you had a nice, relaxing day - one full of joy and celebration - time with family and friends and loved ones - a day of abundance, of loving-kindness. I hope you had that - because today’s reading yanks us out of our reverence and abundance into darkness and terror. So the child Immanuel, G-d-with-us, is here. He has come! Angels announce...
Dec 26th
2 tags
WatchWatch
Two questions:  A) An obvious one - how are these kids all sending their letters to the same address? B) Is anyone else super excited that Santa turns out to be two gay guys?
Dec 26th
2 tags
“People keep asking me this question: “So, are you ready for...”
– Pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber.
Dec 24th
“We must ask ourselves what we can do to repair as much as possible the...”
– Pope Benedict, on the sexual abuse scandal.
Dec 24th
1 note
2 tags
Dec 22nd
2 tags
“I have always argued that churches are best to not be goal-oriented, that they...”
– David Hayward, “Church as Pointless”
Dec 22nd
1 tag
“We burned our old tapes (which is what we listened to back in those days) and...”
– Shane Claiborne, The Christian Industrial Complex
Dec 22nd
3 tags
reblog: Tools for Social Change
1. Practice noticing who’s in the room at meetings – how many men, how many women, how many white people, how many people of color, is it majority heterosexual, are there out queers, what are people’s class backgrounds. Don’t assume to know people, but also work at being more aware. 2a. Count how many times you speak and keep track of how long you speak. 2b. Count how many times other people...
Dec 21st
2 notes
“There are many of you in this congregation who think to yourselves: “If only I...”
– Martin Luther, Sermon on the Nativity.   (via my dear friend Jamie’s Dec. 19th sermon)
Dec 20th
1 note
1 tag
Dec 20th
1 tag
“Kings in purple curtains with crowns from last years crackers Proud kings, shy...”
– journalling: Crowns and palaces
Dec 20th
6 tags
What a queer blessing I have.
Kristi’s choir had a gig at the Guthrie, singing carols in the lobby before A Christmas Carol and 39 Steps started.  Afterwards we went out to Spill the Wine, and I met her director and his wife.  His wife’s an Ole, a music education major, and an Ole Choir graduate.  It was pretty much impossible for us not to get along.  We did a little reminiscing about choir, and Dr. Armstrong, and...
Dec 20th
1 note
1 tag
Dec 20th
3,485 notes
Inventing a Planet » Coffee Shop Integrity on the... →
swirlspice: practicalopacity: Herein lies an interesting filter through which to pass every status update/post/tweet/submission: “If I was sitting and having coffee with these friends right now, would we actually bother talking about this? Does it matter?” If it doesn’t matter enough to warrant thoughtful, reflective conversation, then what value does it hold, exactly? Typically wonderful...
Dec 20th
9 notes
“With no marketing, no push, and no fanfare, somehow hundreds of willing donors...”
– Check it out.  It is beyond words.
Dec 19th
1 tag
Dec 18th
5 tags
My first semester of seminary is over.
Hebrew final cancelled.  Paper on ministry with queer youth submitted.  Mark final emailed.  Systematic theology essay sitting on my hard drive, to be printed and turned in tomorrow. And suddenly my first semester of seminary is over. It’s a little anticlimactic; I finished the very final paper alone in my apartment, with Kristi at work and Oliver asleep in his cat cube.  I’ll...
Dec 18th
2 tags
WatchWatch
Everything in this is YES, YES, YES.
Dec 17th
3 notes
Today's email exchange with my pastor (and boss)
Pastor Mary: I'd like a LARGER copy of an Advent picture. Jake and Molly making their wreath. Actually for our Lord's Prayer hoozit. Thanks.
Me: I think I sent you the largest one I have. Took it with phone instead of real camera like a grownup. That's what happens when you let millennials run things... Sorry.
Pastor Mary: I love it when Millennials run things. [Sent from my iPhone]
Dec 17th
2 tags
Study Confirms: FOX Makes You Stupid
Here is a list of what Fox News viewers believe that just ain’t so: 91 percent believe the stimulus legislation lost jobs 72 percent believe the health reform law will increase the deficit 72 percent believe the economy is getting worse 60 percent believe climate change is not occurring 49 percent believe income taxes have gone up 63 percent believe the stimulus legislation did not...
Dec 16th
2 notes
Dec 16th
20 notes
“We work and goof off, we love and dream, we have wonderful times and awful...”
– Frederick Buechner, Telling Secrets
Dec 15th
Geek in...Geek out: Why Aren't YOU Angry? →
fuckyeahdepressingfacts: First off, this post should be automatically reblogged by followers. I don’t care if you read it before you reblog it or after you do so, just start off by reblogging it. I also encourage you to suggest to your followers to reblog this post also. [snip] The UN vote to take sexual orientation off of the list of discriminatory grounds for execution has passed. You want...
Dec 15th
1,047 notes
If you meet the Buddha in the road....
There is a Buddhist saying that goes, “If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him.” I ran across this as the title to a book on an old index-file card in the Rolvaag Library at Olaf.  I was in the middle of turning said index cards into notecards for class, but I took this particular card, tucked it into my Oxford Annotated NRSV, and decided to come back to it later. Four years or more...
Dec 15th
“Above all we must turn our eyes to the image of Jesus Christ’s own body - the...”
– From Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Ethics page 67 (CAPS are mine to add emphasis) We read a couple of chapters of Bonhoeffer’s Ethics for Guillermo Hansen’s Systematic Theology course. Today was our last class… I am grateful for the class and Professor Hansen today. Advent is breaking in on me a bit this...
Dec 15th
2 notes
“They rebel against the chirpy optimism of abstinence-based programs: Try harder....”
– Alcoholics at St. Anthony Residence, a hospice for alcoholics, in St. Paul, Minn.
Dec 15th
“It’s OK if it’s impossible; it’s OK! Now I’m going to speak to you as...”
– Bill Moyers, quoting Baldema Valesquez, in his speech delivered October 29, 2010 as part of the Howard Zinn Lecture Series at Boston University.
Dec 14th
“One time on Hollywood Boulevard I saw a young girl with a baby. It was a crisp...”
– Purple Madonna from Story People. Christ is coming! (via andrewtwiton)
Dec 14th
2 notes
Dec 14th
1 note
1 tag
Dec 13th
I’ve written a page.  Of ten. Not because I have nothing to say, but because it hurts my heart to think about it. G-d give me strength.
Dec 13th
1 tag
My theological foundations statement on queer...
“God’s kind of a jerk, isn’t he? I mean, he makes me gay, then has his followers going around telling me it’s something I chose, as if someone would choose to be mocked every single day of their life.” - Kurt Hummel, “Grilled Cheesus,” Glee Justin Aaberg, age 15.1 Billy Lucas, age 15.2 Cody Barker, age 17.3 Tyler Clementi, age 18.4  Asher Brown, age 13.5 Seth Walsh, age 13.6 Raymond...
Dec 13th
1 note
4 tags
“Queer people know what it’s like to be slaves in Egypt. We know what...”
– Bishop Gene Robinson, October 11, 2004, in “Gay Bishop Dismisses Anglican Report,” Washington Times.  Quoted in Ministry Among [G-d]’s Queer Folk:  LGBT Pastoral Care, by David Kundtz and Bernard Schlager, from the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry.  The...
Dec 12th
Dec 11th
5 notes
Dec 10th
1 tag
“The Republican minority on Thursday prevented a vote to allow gay and lesbian...”
– Editorial, “The Senate Stands for Injustice,” The New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/10/opinion/10fri1.html?_r=3&hp) Attempt:  The Democrats try to get the repeal of DADT through the Senate by linking it with an aid increase for soldiers and 9-11 workers.   Result:  The...
Dec 10th
Dec 10th
“Repetition is very important in contemporary Christian music. We repeat:...”
– “Your Guide to Contemporary Christian Music” http://www.wittenburgdoor.com/your-guide-contemporary-christian-music
Dec 10th
2 tags
“CORE gave birth to its own denomination, the North American Lutheran Church...”
– Olbie Holmen,  ”December figures of ELCA departing congregations,” Spirit of a Liberal, at http://www.theliberalspirit.com/?p=3015 Holmen speaks harshly, but I think his criticism has some merit.
Dec 10th
“Fundajelicals think they read the Bible literally. WE are reading the Bible...”
– Dr. Throntveit
Dec 10th
1 tag
Dec 10th
3 notes