Yearly Archives: 2008

God, Church & Stuff

You’re Living in a Small Way

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A portion of the reading from last night’s Ash Wednesday service stuck in my head. It smacked me a bit and rattled around in my head. I came back to it this morning and it had more to say.

But before I get to that, an aside. I don’t often like to quote the Bible or put these kind of devotional thoughts here. I don’t like to do that so publicly because no matter what I say it feels like I’m trying to be some holy-roller. And it should be clear I’m not. The fact that I do this infrequently speaks more to how infrequently I do it privately.

I also recognize not everyone reading this agrees with the words. Quoting the Bible can be a turnoff. I understand that (and have felt that way when blogs I read do it). Sometimes it’s just uncomfortable. And sometimes that’s exactly the point.

But I’m doing it because sometimes we need something uncomfortable. Sometimes the words of the Bible get so old and stale that we need to hear them with fresh ears. And whenever that happens to me I get excited and feel a desperate urge to share it. So here’s to being uncomfortable and excited (after the jump, so can stay comfy if you like).

Continue reading You’re Living in a Small Way →

God, Church & Stuff

Lent as a Kick in the Teeth

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Yesterday I made a side comment about how we tend to retain the fun part of holidays (i.e., the splurge of Fat Tuesday) and let slide the sacrificial part (i.e., the 40 days of prayer and fasting called Lent). So it made me realize I should think a bit more deeply about Lent and what it means.

Tonight’s Ash Wednesday service was a good reminder. The mark of the cross is made on our forehead with literal ash (side note: the ash usually comes from the palms used at last year’s Palm Sunday service) to remind us that “you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

The 40 days of Lent is kind of like a reality check. It’s a season when the church slows down, strips things away, and realizes that we are mere mortals. It’s a time of self-examination, repentance, prayer, fasting and self-denial. The fact that it all seems very at odds with our busy world makes it all the more necessary.

Continue reading Lent as a Kick in the Teeth →

Politics

Crazy Caucus

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Just Voted on Super TuesdayAfter the pancake supper at church tonight (those Episcopalians aren’t very good at potlucks, but they do pancakes right) we went to vote in the Minnesota Caucus. Traffic was backed up about a mile, cops were directing traffic and we had to park in a cul de sac and walk.

Once we got inside it was crazy. We had to find the room for our specific precinct, but I think half the county was there so there were a few dozen rooms. We finally found which room we needed to be in and set off down a random hall to find it. We eventually found a packed room in the midst of caucusing.

The volunteer at the door asked me to sign in (name, address, phone number, e-mail, signature–no ID required) then handed me a scrap of paper to vote in the presidential preference poll. He pointed to a chalk board with a list of a dozen names and told me to write down my candidate and stick it in the envelope. He pointed to an crammed #10 envelope sitting on a desk.

“That’s it?” I asked.

“That’s as official as we get,” he said with a shrug.

Politics

Let’s Have a Voting Party

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Today is Super Duper Fat Tuesday, so if you live in one of the 20+ states holding primaries or caucuses today, you should go vote. If not, well, it’s still Fat Tuesday. So find a pancake supper or some paczkis and live it up. (Like many of our holidays, we’ve completely lost the meaning of Fat Tuesday and its connection with Lent–i.e., using up all the remaining sweets/eggs/fruit in the house in preparation for fasting during Lent. Instead we just retain the fun part and forget about the sacrifice part. Of course, this is all from a former Baptist who knows nothing about this sort of thing.)

Where was I? Oh yeah, politics.

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Internet

Bloggers to Uganda

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Compassion International is taking a bunch of bloggers to Uganda from Feb. 10-18 to experience what it is Compassion does. A couple of the bloggers are folks I read (occasionally), including Anne Jackson and Shaun Groves. Should make for some interesting reading (and watching).

Seems like Africa keeps coming up lately, from rebels invading Chad to violence in Kenya to continuing trouble in Darfur. But there’s also missionary friends traveling to Sudan and another missionary friend heading to Botswana, this group heading to Uganda–and of course our (eventual) adoption from Ethiopia. The differences between here and there are kind of staggering, but I’m grateful for anything that can help bridge the divide and bring us closer.

Children, Technology

Lexi is a Photographer

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Daddy & DogsLexi’s grandparents gave her a digital camera for her birthday, so we set her up with a Flickr account. She’s now a photographer. She loves to “take-ah pictures.”

While some pictures are complete blurs, others seem oddly artistic. She’s also got lots of shots of the floor. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

I’m also trying not to think too deeply about what it means for a two-year-old to be taking pictures. It’s kind of wild. I was probably 7 or 8 when I started taking pictures using a camera with 110 film. But with the disposability of digital, why not let Lexi take a dozen pictures of the floor?

Society

Sign Your Name, Stop Human Trafficking

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Stop the Traffik, an organization that fights human trafficking across the world, is collecting signatures to present to the UN in February urging them to do more to stop human trafficking. If they can collect one million signatures then they can get matching funds from outside donors and set up a fund to fight human trafficking.

It’s pretty simple. You don’t have to donate. You just have to give your voice and say that human trafficking is something that should have ended hundreds of years ago with the slave trade.

So visit their site and sign your name. (It’s a bit goofy, but a blue screen will come up on top of their web page where you can sign up.)

Art, Company News, Twin Cities

Busy Week at Start Seeing Art

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Salon Stella Detail..Last week I was all excited to announce that Start Seeing Art had mapped 100 works of public art across the Twin Cities (if ‘across’ means primarily in St. Paul). But in the past week alone we’ve added 25 more works of art. Along the way we’ve identified some previously unknown artwork, explored local history and started branching out into Minneapolis (including work by John Grider, one of City Pages 2007 Artists of the Year).

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Domicile

Furnace Out in January

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Our furnace went out last night. It was two degrees outside and 60 degrees in our living room when I went to bed. We brought Lexi upstairs to sleep with us.

This morning it’s one degree above zero outside and 50 degrees in our living room. The repair man can’t come until after 6:00 p.m.

Currently wearing three layers (Lexi has four) and eating breakfast with the heat of nine candles and the laptop. Trying to decide if we should build a fire, bake things, dance to They Might Be Giants, burn more candles and maybe run in place; Or if we should just pack it in and go somewhere.

Pros of leaving: While not all coffee shops have wifi, they all usually have heat.

Cons of leaving: Popsicle puppies.

Update: The heat is back on. 63 degrees never felt so good.