Did you hear obesity is caused by a virus?

When my friend Music Girl told me this, I waited for the punch line. But there is no punch line. And I really wonder who I caught the virus from? It's been much harder to get rid of than this cold I have!

http://archives.cnn.com/2000/HEALTH/07/28/fat.virus.ap/index.html

Rev Gal Pal Friday Five - Cultural Questions

I haven't played the Friday Five in months, but here are today's answers to the question: what unusual engagements with popular culture have helped/challenged you on your spiritual journey?

Book: This is a tough one. I LOVE books. And some of the most significant ones are in that catagory of sort of spiritual. One that really made me think and laugh was Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore. I read it while on retreat at Holden Village. It's irreverent and strange and really funny. But it did make me think about issues of culture, faith and ecumenism.

Piece of Music: The Seeger Sessions by Bruce Springsteen. His covers of some of the old spiritual songs have really warmed my heart over the last several months.

Artwork: I have a copy of a painting in my living room that I bought in Geneva over twenty years ago. It is of a rabbi and a Hebrew student. It was painted by Mane-Katz and it is called The Rabbi. The copy of it here is a little darker than the true piece, but you get the idea. The framed print has hung in every home I've lived in since I finished seminary. I just love it.

Film: Movies are a wonderful thing. I think there are several that have informed my faith. Babette's Feast, To Kill a Mockingbird and The Last Temptation of Christ are three oldies. Recently I watched I am David on the Independent Film Channel. IMDB.com has this to say about it.

I Am David is adapted from Anne Holm's internationally acclaimed novel North to Freedom. It is the story of a 12-year-old boy, David, who escapes a Communist concentration camp with little more than a compass, a sealed letter, a loaf of bread, and instructions to carry the letter to Copenhagen, Denmark. David is thrust into the free world for the first time in his young life as he travels across Europe. It is a spiritual voyage of discovery, where David slowly loses his instinctual mistrust of humanity and begins to smile, share, trust and ultimately, love. I Am David addresses the cruelties, politics, and suffering of warfare while celebrating the resilience of youth and the unbreakable spirit of a child.

It's a hauntingly beautiful film that came out in 2003. Joan Plowright and James Caviezel are two of the players. If you see it in the listings, watch it!

I Have a Purple Brain?

Your Brain is Purple

Of all the brain types, yours is the most idealistic. You tend to think wild, amazing thoughts. Your dreams and fantasies are intense.Your thoughts are creative, inventive, and without boundaries. You tend to spend a lot of time thinking of fictional people and places - or a very different life for yourself.

According to this particular blog quiz, www.blogthings.com/whatcolorisyourbrainquiz, I have a purple brain. Now if the truth be known, the same set of quiz questions have probably been used to determine what Simpsons character I am, what flavor ice cream I would be and my similarity to certain aquatic creatures. In other words, this quiz has nothing to do with the color of my brain. I knew it going in. And yet I took the quiz anyhow.

Why? Why do we take these little quizzes? Do we learn anything new? Does it make us feel good about ourselves? Apparently my purple brain is an indication that either I am a genius or my cold medication is really not doing its job!

The whole thing about spending a lot of time thinking about make believe people and places sounds kind of creepy. But again, it could be the bronchitis. Maybe my brain really isn't purple. Maybe I just need a nap and some antibiotics.

The Sabbath

I have a preaching gig on Sunday and I'm a little stuck. Just a little. And I think I'll get over it soon enough. But in the meantime, I keep thinking about our Orthodox neighbors walking in the street. More than once, the Husband has been out working on a Saturday when he has to carefully drive around someone walking to or from Sabbath worship at a local temple. It happens too often to be a coincidence. Being basically a Midwestern girl, this is a new thing for me. I feel a bit stupid, but I am also wildly curious. I have tried googling the whole thing with no luck. Could it have something to do with the Eruv chatzerot? (The art to the left is Eruv for the area where we live.)

Wikipedia, the source of all partial investigations says...

The eruv chatzerot, or "mixed [ownership of] courtyards/domains", operates so that all the residents treat the entire area as their common "home". In other words, it is a religious-legal mechanism that transforms an enclosed shared living area (e.g. a courtyard) into a common one. In order to be enclosed, the area must be surrounded by a wall, fence, or tzurot ha-petah, "doorframes".

In many cases — for example, within a hospital, nursing home, school campus, apartment complex, or a walled city, the demarcation of the shared area consists of real walls or fences.

These fences can also be made symbolically, using stakes and a rope or wire to demarcate doorframes. When an eruv is made to demarcate a contemporary Jewish neighborhood, a symbolic fence is typically constructed in this fashion, using utility poles and wires as well as any solid walls available. Thus, a modern eruv is commonly composed of a series of "doorframes," with the poles forming the doorposts (lechi, pl. lechai'in)and the wire forming the lintel (korah). A natural wall such as a river bank or steep hill can also be used as part of the eruv, as can an actual wall of a building.

I'm mostly just curious about all of this. And as I move past the stickiness of curiosity to writing a sermon, I keep thinking of how hard some folks strive to keep the Sabbath while others see it as just another day. Personally, I think my Sabbath keeping has been less than satisfactory of late. I think God would like me to do more than catch a nap and make a nice supper. Hmmm.....

Hello Pink Shoes!

It's been almost a year since I last blogged. A couple of weeks ago, while hanging out at the ELCA Churchwide Assembly, I met a blogging pal face to face. There she was... Pink Shoes! She said that she missed reading my blog. I said I missed hers and then I started to wonder what had happened to me. Where have I been when I haven't been here?

Well.... I know I helped Soda Chicky with a lot of homework. I know the Husband has been using the computer a lot more now that he has access to MLB.com. (I've been asked to finish this up soon as the Cardinal's game starts soon.) I know I developed a strange love for my imaginary Sims people. But gee whiz! None of those is a good reason not to talk to or listen to Pink Shoes! So, here I am. Don't know if I'll have anything interesting to say, but I'm going to give it a shot.

At age 46, I am the mother of a 13 year old daughter. Readers, don't panic, I am not becoming a grandmother! I'm just old enough.

My staff is all at least 20 years my junior and when the generational gap has been visible I am reminded that "You are old enough to be my mother without having been a child bride." It's true. I don't feel that old, but it's true.

Two of the staff are a married couple expecting their first baby. Today we looked at the first ultrasound picture and while not as fancy as the picture here- the baby was about the same age.

I am not ready to be a grandparent mostly because my daughter is not ready to be a mother. But it is fun to watch these two expectant parents and share in their joy at what is to come. Not from the perspective of peer, but from the perspective of one who's "been there and done that." There's a sadness in knowing you won't go there again, but a joy that comes from watching the next generation come into the world.

So, I'm old enough but not quite ready to be a grandma. So I think I will just practice on this sweet young thing and wait for the adventure that lies ahead.

Long time, no blog...

I have been negligent in my blogging. But as I drive my car up and down Lincoln Drive (an experience akin to go carting) I think of things I could blog. Now if I could just get them into the computer. Well here are a few...

1) My daughter and I saw a group of high school kids walking down the street. Four boys and a girl all dressed in black. "That's an interesting group," I said. "They're goths," responded Soda Chick. I agreed that the boys had that gothic look. But the girl was dressed head to toe in a muslim jilbab. This caused me to wonder, are there Muslim goths? Or gothic Muslims? What do their parents think!?!

2) We are moving into a 162 year old house owned by the same church that owns the parsonage we've rented for the last 15 months. The house is smaller and sits right on the edge of the cemetary. The previous tenants were evicted and for good reason. A note was found by the cleaning crew, "This is not a crack house. It's a crack home." Happily, the place has been cleaned, painted and looks great! A friend asked me, "Are you still going to call it the crack house after you move in?"

3) If something has been in the basement in a sealed box for more than a year, do you still need it? Some say, NO. I say, "I will be glad to find all of my glass measuring cups!"

Things are happening in Mt. Airy!

From the "Philadelphia Inquirer"...

Eileen DiFranco sang the hymns, prayed and took Communion as she had done at countless other Catholic Masses.

But yesterday, for the first time, she led the service as an ordained priest - and received a warm reception from hundreds of Catholics and others.

"Nothing is impossible with our God," she told a congregation at the First United Methodist Church of Germantown. "Not even a woman priest."

It has been my pleasure to have conversations with Eileen DiFranco over the past year and she is a delightful woman. How sad it was to blog her name and find some really nasty blogged comments in another site.

The content of the blog included name calling, slander and petty childishness. I understand that the Catholic church does not approve of these actions and that's their right I suppose. But for faithful people to post comments referring to her as a fruitcake granny just made me mad!

Why can't we have civil dialog about these issues?

Frozen Fab Five from the RevGalPals

This week it's all about ice cream!

1. Ice cream: for warm weather only or a year-round food? Is this a joke? Ice cream could never be considered a seasonal food. It's the manna of my people!

2. Favorite flavor? B&R Chocolate andPeanut Butter or Ben & Jerry's Chubby Hubby.

3. Cake cone, sugar cone, waffle cone, cup? I could care less about the cone. I want the ice cream. Plus while you're goofing with the cone, your ice cream is in danger of melting or falling off. Who needs that kind of anxiety?

4. Childhood ice-cream memory? Going to B&R and having bubble gum ice cream and spitting out all the gum so that I could chew it all at once. Also, my parents got engaged at the Dairy Queen. I'm telling you, ice cream is key to my heritage!

5. Banana splits: discuss. Bananas should mind their own business and stay on the cereal where they belong. Or they should quietly turn brown before being made into banana bread. I do not need them in my ice cream.

Bonus from the RevGal List Maker: Baskin-Robbins used to make ice-cream sodas. During the 18 months I worked there, I think I made about 3 tops. They're no longer on the menu, but you can still order them. Question: What are the ingredients/steps for making an ice cream soda? Tall glass, pour in syrup, add ice cream followed by seltzer.

Cruciform shapes

I was reading P. Softly's blog and she's been looking for cruciform shapes in nature. As an alternate, she posted a lovely photo of a jack-in-the-pulpit trinitarian photo.

It got me to thinking and then surfing for photos. Here are two for her....

The first was a file from an English seed catalog site with info describing the shapes of blossoms... "Cruciform" had this photo as an example.

The second is a "Cruxifix Fish." My old colleague in Illinois had one on his credenza that someone had given him years ago. If you like it, go to Ebay, baby! You can get anything on Ebay!

CPE... glad that's over!

I have some friends doing CPE this summer and all I can say is "Been there! Done that! Donated the shirt to a worthy cause!"

CPE is an important part of the seminary process, but I'm not sure if anyone ever really understands how difficult it really is. For some, the congenitally shy, it means forcing yourself to "bother the sick and dying" when you're pretty sure that they'd rather see "a real pastor" or no pastor at all. For others, the trouble comes with the therapy. They've never been in therapy before and now they aren't sure why anyone would pay $150 an hour for that kind of torture.

I didn't mind the therapy, but I did find it hard to walk into rooms unannounced and unrequested. But it got better with time. And it was great training for the future.

Personally, one of the things that made CPE the hardest for me was a member of my small group who, unbeknownst to any of us, was trying to kick a heroin addiction while doing CPE. Needless to say, he was very moody! He confessed all of this to me on our last day together. Talk about your pastoral dilemmas! Do you share this kind of info with the supervisor? Or take it to the grave as a confidence?

Any great CPE survival stories are most welcome for my friend KS who, when she isn't tapping on hospital doors, finds a few moments to read this blog.

Bearing False Witness

Years ago, my mother made the snappy retort that "It's not bearing false witness, if it's true." We laughed and moved on, but the comment has stayed with me for years.

Luther's Small Catechism says this about the eighth commandment:
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. What does this mean?--Answer. We should fear and love God that we may not deceitfully belie, betray, slander, or defame our neighbor, but defend him (sic), [think and] speak well of him, and put the best construction on everything.

I'm struggling this week. When someone bears false witness against us, what do we do? I try to put the best construction on things. I really do, but this week it's been tough. On the commute home I prayed for forgiveness. Forgiveness for not being more forgiving. For being angry. For feeling slighted.

Don't know what more to say. Just needed to vent, I suppose.

God's Grandeur

The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
And wears man's smudge and shares man's smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

And for all this, nature is never spent;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
And though the last lights off the black West went
Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs --
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.

-Gerard Manley Hopkins

Friday Five Zzzzzzz....

This week the Rev Gal Pals are thinking about sleep. God knows I could use some!

1. In what kind of environment do you sleep best? I like to have a cold nose and warm toes. I cannot sleep if my feet are cold. I like a pillow under my head and one to hold. (My husband will only snuggle when he's awake. So pillow it is!) I like it fairly dark, but I'm flexible. Pajamas? That's a personal question

2. How much sleep do you need to feel consistently well-rested? 8 to 9 hours How much can you get by on? 7 What are the consequences when you don't get enough? If I go too long with too little I am bound to get first slap happy then cranky followed by weepy.

3. Night owl or morning person? My father is a classic morning person. Totally chipper and checking his email at 6:00am. My mother is a classic night owl watching old movies until 2:00am. Me? I'm a nap person.

I'm probably more my mother's child, I suppose. But I really like getting plenty of sleep. I hate being tired. So by 11:00pm, it's off to bed for me.

4. Favorite cure for insomnia Prescription drugs or sex.

5. To snooze or not to snooze? Why or why not? Snooze when you can! Sleep when the baby sleeps! Naps are a gift from God!

Personal or Professional?

I had to make a difficult decision this week at work. It was a professional decision, but like most difficult professional choices, it has personal ramifications. I prayed about my choices. I consulted my superiors and ultimately I made what I think was the best decision.

But it was painful.

Working for the church means that people often think that we must make our professional decisions with a different set of rules. But really, that doesn't make sense to me. If I were a banker or a lawyer or a carpenter- I would make my decisions in the same way I do now. My choices are influenced greatly by my faith, but so are the decisions of millions of other faithful people. Just because the church doesn't sign their paychecks doesn't mean that they aren't using the same guidelines that I use.

If church institutions are going to remain viable, we have to make wise choices. Good professional choices.

There will be an ache inside me for quite a while, I know. But I pray that I made the right choice and if I was wrong, that forgiveness is not an elusive thing.

Bishop and Lady!

Today I spent an inordinate amount of time driving from Philadelphia to Worcester, Mass. Somewhere along the way- I can't tell you where- I saw a huge billboard that said, "The Cathedral is Coming!" Even at 65 miles an hour, it caught my attention. I can't tell you the denomination or when the cathedral is coming, but I can tell you that it is being run by Bishop... and his wife Lady... I was fascinated! I never thought of a Bishop's spouse having such an interesting title. Clearly this was not a Lutheran billboard. There's no message in all of this. Just found it interesting. By the way, Lady "Fill in the Blank" had big hair, a healthy dose of make up and quite a bit of shiny stuff in her wardrobe. Hmmm.....

Barbie Doll Pink

I got tired of my blog template. So, in honor of summer and painting your toenails- here's to Barbie Doll Pink!

Personally, I never had a Barbie doll. I had her younger cousin Francie. Francie unlike Skipper did not have completely flat feet. Francie was able to wear a low heel. Nothing too stiletto, though. After all, that was Barb's area! Francie also had less make up and brown hair. She was more demure, less sexy. A basic B cup kind of babe.

I have wondered on occasion about why I had Francie instead of Barbie. There's probably no real reason. And Francie got to date GI Joe as often as the next girl. She had plenty of swinging clothes to wear and she had more than enough fun! But she wasn't the star that Barbie was!

Oh well, it could have worked out worse- she could have been named Midge!

Frivay Five: Summer Blockbuster Edition

Reverendmother from the RevGalPals offered up this week's inspired by the various summer films currently in the theaters or soon to be released.

1. If you were a mutant, what ability would you like to have? Instant transport. More like I Dream of Jeannie than a member of the Xmen.

2. Tell us about a memorable road trip you've experienced. On the way back from my parents' 25th anniversary celebration, my college roomie and I had the trip from Hell. First, she totally froze up the engine on a side trip to Minneapolis. The whole block had to be replaced. Mechanics did not put a rebuilt engine in- just a spare one that happened to be lying around. Second, after picking me up in Chicago we headed west. In Dubuque the "new" engine died and we were stranged on a Sunday afternoon. My cousin drove up from the quad cities we had the car towed to a dealership in Dubuque and we waited. The timing belt was shot. Threee, we got as far as Omaha. The next morning we started up the car and the engine caught on fire. Gas leaking from the various little tubes that had dried up in Minnesota and had not been replaced. With no money we finagled another night in the motel and roomie's brother drove out from Denver to fix the car. We had to get money wired to us from roomie's parents who were on vacation at the time. And this is the short version of the story.

3. Do you enjoy solving riddles and working on puzzles? I love crosswords!

4. Take two of your phobias and combine them to make a campy horror/disaster flick. Falling and undercooked pork. What would it be called? Trychanosis at 10,000 Feet

5. Just how batsh*t crazy is Tom Cruise, anyway? He is totally nuts. I used to really like Katie Holmes, but I am worried about the girl. Tom may be somewhat babe-a-licious, but his elevator buttons are jammed on the fifth floor.

The Empty Tomb by He Qi

My new wallpaper on my work pc. Ooh I love this picture!

Hi Mom!

My mother is reading my blog! And she is totally erudite, so I really think she should make comments when the spirit moves her. So Mom, it's really easy. Even Little Sister #1 has made comments, don't you know! You just click on the "comments" button and follow the directions. It's all quite anonymous and you can be wickedly funny. So this is your personalized challenge. ;-)