Extra Insight

I went to Ray's funeral today. It was a "good" one, by my standards. I thought the priest's homily was excellent, a good reminder about forgiveness. And helpful for me in my continuing struggle with another friend's death.

Anyways, I was reading my horoscope from Rob Brezsny for this week, and thought I'd share, it's very appropriate for me right now:

I hope you won't merely wander around the frontier. I hope you'll undertake a meticulous yet expansive exploration of that virgin territory. Here are some tips on how to proceed: 1. Formulate specific questions about what you're looking for. 2. Develop a hypothesis for the experiments you want to carry out. 3. Ignore what doesn't interest you and pounce only on what stirs your fascination. Halloween costume suggestion: an alien anthropologist visiting Earth from another planet; a time-traveler from the future who's doing a documentary on this historical moment; a religious pilgrim who's keeping a detailed journal.

I am listening to "Personal Jesus" right now as I type..... synchronicity??

P.S. Don't forget it's Daylight Savings time this weekend - Fall Back!

This Weekend, Folks

I was just wondering when it was time to reset the clocks, and now I know. h/t Jennifer. :)

Moxie's post for Ray

Moxie's post today really moved me, so I'm going to quote some of it here:

Someone I loved and lost once told me, "It's no trick for God to work through someone perfect. The more broken you are, the more God shows his glory by shining through you." Whether you believe in a guiding force or not, the universe creates imperfection. You in all your weakness are exactly what we need.

Please stay. Even if you don't know how. Just keep getting up in the morning. Eat what you can. Drink water. Go to bed, even if you can't sleep. Go outside and turn your face to the sun. If you can, do this with Teresa for 3 minutes a few times a day. And tell someone how you feel. A friend. A stranger. Leave it in the comments here.

Don't go.

This post is for my friend Ray, who went.

My friend Moxie posted the above about our mutual friend Ray. Moxie is a fabulous woman, and fierce friend. What I love most about her blog posts is that she is thoughtful AND includes CONCRETE advice for how to get through the rough patches (see above).

At my college we had this comment board at the dining halls where you could put up suggestions or comments or whatever on napkins - often the closest piece of paper to hand while in the dining hall. I don't remember when I started doing this, but after reading many awful and negative flame wars on the napkin notes, I decided to ONLY post positive napkin notes. Like, "thanks for the yummy vegan chocolate cake, who knew it could be so delicious!?" I'm all about the positive feedback - life's too short not to tell people when they're doing a good job, or even "just" keepin' on keepin' on. I feel like I'm continuing the "napkin notes of life."

One of the things that sucks about death is that no matter what: you never know if people read the positive napkin notes, or whether they believed they were about them. But Moxie's quotation above is wonderful:

"It's no trick for God to work through someone perfect. The more broken you are, the more God shows his glory by shining through you."

Hang in there Moxie, and all who grieve for Ray. And all who struggle just to make it through.

Cool Grannies & Fifinella

"During World War II, a select group of young women pilots became pioneers, heroes, and role models...They were the Women Airforce Service Pilots, WASP, the first women in history trained to fly American military aircraft."

My friend's grandmother was one of these women.

"This official mascot was designed by Walt Disney for a proposed film (from Roahl Dahl's book, "The Gremlins". During WWII, the WASP asked for permission to use her as the official mascot and the Disney Company generously agreed. Official Fifinella 'went to war' and was worn in the form of patches. Some were leather, some were cloth...worn on WASP flight jackets."

She recently got a "Fifinella" tattoo. I'm not a tattoo gal, myslef, but this is SO awesome. I'm going to tell my daughters this story.

Blog Action Day [350.org]

350.org is the first large-scale grassroots global campaign against climate change. Its supporters include leading scientists, the governments of 92 countries, and a huge variety of environmental, health, development and religious NGOs. All
agree that current atmospheric levels of CO2 -- 390 parts per million -- are causing damage to the planet and to its most vulnerable people, and that government action at the United Nations Copenhagen climate conference is required to bring the earth's carbon level swiftly down to 350 ppm.

What is 350? 350 is the number that leading scientists say is the safe upper limit for carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. Scientists measure carbon dioxide in "parts per million" (ppm), so 350 ppm is the number humanity needs to get below as soon as possible to avoid runaway climate change. To get there, we need a different kind of PPM -- a "people powered movement" that is made of of people like you in every corner of the planet.

Go to 350.org for more info.

Autumn Meme etc.

I found this meme on the blog The Kitchen Door [thanks Charlotte for the link!] I love her "Prayer Request Wednesday" feature - check it out! Anyways, to the meme:

1. Share a Fall memory.
Of course jumping in a pile of leaves that my dad raked. Walking outside in the crisp air. Beautiful blue skies, orange leaves blowing in the breeze. Apple picking and eating. Waking up warm and cozy in bed.

2. Your favorite Fall clothes--(past or present)?
Warm sweaters. A gift from a friend of hand-me-down oxblood leather boots that go great with all my plaid skirts. Woolly tights.

3. Share a campfire story, song, experience...etc.
Not really a campfire song, but my college has a tradition of singing Greek hymns outside in candlelight in November. It's beautiful and haunting and amazing.

4. What is your favorite thing about this time of year?
I used to hate this time of year because I would always catch a cold that would last all winter. And I hated being cold all winter, with the snow and dreariness and all. But I have come to really appreciate fall for the beautiful season that it is. The colors and crispness of it all is overwhelming some days. In my household, everyone but me has their birthday in the fall, so it makes it a time of celebration. Plus we host Thanksgiving, and who doesn't love Halloween? I also think All Soul's Day is one of the most beautiful ideas out there, and so I try to create a WASPified Dia de los Muertos, if you can picture that. I plan to take the photos of the family members that have died and put them on the dining room table w/candles and then cook a big Mexican feast. Yummy.

5. What changes are you anticipating in your life, your church, family...whatever...as the season changes and winter approaches?
I am considering what becoming a chaplain would mean for me. How I would do it, how much schooling I would need, how I would do it w/my current life situation, etc. While I remember that my daughters are growing each and every day. I don't want to let that slip by in a cloud of busyness - where I don't recognize their awesomeness. [I didn't sign up for Moxie's Release the Yelling class, but hope to when I have more time/less insanity in my schedule.....]


Bonus: What food says "AUTUMN" at your house? Recipes always appreciated.
Pumpkin pie. I use the recipe on the Libby's can. It's the best.

* 3/4 cup granulated sugar
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
* 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
* 2 large eggs
* 1 can (15 oz.) LIBBY'S® 100% Pure Pumpkin
* 1 can (12 fl. oz.) NESTLÉ® CARNATION® Evaporated Milk
* 1 unbaked 9-inch (4-cup volume) deep-dish pie shell
* Whipped cream (optional)

For the Weekend

True Faith by New Order

WOW: That Rob Brezsny!

"Tenderness and rot / share a border," writes the U.S. Poet Laureate Kay Ryan in one of her poems. "And rot is an / aggressive neighbor / whose iridescence / keeps creeping over." Your job in the coming week, Pisces, is to reinforce that border -- with a triple-thick wall, if necessary -- so that the rot cannot possibly ooze over and infect tenderness. It is especially important right now that the sweet, deep intimacy you dole out and stimulate will not get corrupted by falseness or sentimentality. I urge you to stir up the smartest affection you have ever created.

That's my horoscope for this week. Whew.

Have a good weekend, All!

Religious Art in the News

BREAKING:

Religious art in the news! I read about this first on the Huffington Post, which got the news from Mother Jones. The artist Jon McNaughton and his painting, "One Nation Under God" was "above the fold" on the Huffington Post this morning.

I finally got to the artist's website to take a look but wasn't able to use the roll-over feature to identify the people in the painting - I think it's overwhelmed by hits.

I don't agree with McNaughton's politics, and I'm always a little suspicious when artists try to conflate religion and politics - but it happens a lot. He's chosen a scene which he is hoping will visually spread his beliefs. That's what I like about religious art - the use of symbols to get ideas across.

He's heavy handed in this case, and McNaughton uses words to describe the message of the image, which also waters it down (imo). The painting feels pedantic to me. I don't think it's as successful as other political uses of the image of Jesus because of all his explication.

But, it's exciting to see religious art make news!

Klimt for a beautiful Fall day

What a beautiful image. Just perfect for a gorgeous fall day.

As many of you know, I am truly inspired by Terry's blog Idle Speculations (where this image is from). You gotta check it out if you like Christian religious art. Lots of research goes into each post. As ever, keep up the great work, Terry!

Cool Architectural Idea

I don't know if this really counts as religious art, but it certainly is a cool idea. bldgblog featured the work of Yousef Al-Mehdari, an architecture student as part of an upcoming exhibition at the dreamspace gallery in London.


The work reminds me of the Alhambra, in Spain - gorgeous. And, since I've seen the "anatomy" exhibit of Dr. Gunther Von Haagens' "Bodyworlds," I can appreciate the link bldgblog is making. As ever, keep up the great work!


The inscription reads - "There is no other help than the help that comes from God, the clement and merciful One."

Synchronicity

OK, people, bear with me here - I am sort of rocked by the synchronicity of the universe right now.

So this past Sunday at church, we heard readings from James (The Prayer of Faith 5:13-20) and the Gospel of Mark (9:38-50), and our Rector, Jim, spoke about the "main ideas" he took away from the readings and how to incorporate them into our lives. I am going to try to paraphrase. Because I feel like "it all makes sense"and I'm having an "aha" moment. Fr. Jim spends a lot of his sermons talking about how God loves us, and wants us to do God's work in the world to bring us closer to God.

13Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. 14Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. 16Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. [James 5]

Fr Jim talked at length about how important prayer is, and how it really can help the sick and suffering among us. At our church we have a lay person (a massage therapist in the workaday world) who offers unction each week. This is a pretty unique aspect to this church and something I have come to really respect and admire. Many members of the congregation go to her each week and have "laying on of hands" to feel better.

And then he related the reading from James to the Gospel [Mark 9]:

38"Teacher," said John, "we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us." 39"Do not stop him," Jesus said. "No one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, 40for whoever is not against us is for us. 41I tell you the truth, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to Christ will certainly not lose his reward. 42"And if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around his neck. 43If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out.[c] 45And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell.[d] 47And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, 48where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.'[e] 49Everyone will be salted with fire. 50"Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with each other."

He admitted, as will I, that this message in the Gospel is not an easy one for many liberal Christians to hear because many of us do not believe in a hell full of fire and brimstone. We think (or I'll say I) I think hell is when we remove ourselves from God's presence, and engage in destructive (bad) behavior that hurts ourselves and others. That by NOT participating in prayer and by putting oneself away from God's love, that is sin. And that THOSE are the flames that eat at us. He talked about us being salted with fire.

I was sitting next to Josiah, who suffers from arthritis, and as Fr. Jim was speaking, I got a sense of Josiah's "inflammation" in his body, like his body is "salted with fire." And I prayed for him.

[I sometimes feel awkward about prayer - like me "just talking with God" doesn't really cut it. That I need to find someone else's words to "make it count."] So, I went online and I looked up St James the Greater (who is the one who wrote the letter above) and found this prayer:

Prayer to Saint James the Greater*

O Glorious Saint James, because of your fervor and generosity Jesus chose you to witness his glory on the Mount and his agony in the Garden. Obtain for us strength and consolation in the unending struggles of this life. Help us to follow Christ constantly and generously, to be victors over all our difficulties, and to receive the crown of glory in heaven. Amen.

That's beautiful. All of us struggle from time to time.

And then I found out that St James is the "patron saint of rheumatoid sufferers." Holy Synchronicity, Batman!

"Help us to follow Christ constantly and generously, to be victors over all our difficulties, and to receive the crown of glory in heaven. Amen."

* I'm not sure I believe fully in the idea that one should pray to saints as intermediaries. I was raised to believe that Jesus is the sole intermediary for us, that he is the one to pray to. BUT, the idea of the saints is appealing to me, and it "makes sense" to me too. And the idea that in their human lives, these saintly people understood people with similar concerns and could advocate for them, I love that! I still want to make the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, now more than ever.

St John's Bible - I saw it!

So, Everybody, I got to see the St John's Bible at Old St George's Church in Philly today. It was AWESOME. This Bible version contains the 4 Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Lukle & John) plus Acts (the Acts of the Apostles, which people believe was written by the same writer as the author of Luke). All of the calligraphy was done by hand - by 5 writers. The artwork was done by 18 artists.

It's funny - it's a big red book, much like what I imagine Carl Jung's, Liber Novus, would look like. The images are so beautiful. There are several botanical or Audubon-esque figures of birds and insects. But some of my favorites were icons. Other favorites were very modern images - amalgams of symbols from the gospel stories in gold leaf and strong colors. I urge you to try to see the book if you can - it was free here in Philadelphia.

You can also see reproductions of the art, and buy note cards, etc. of some of the more striking artwork within. Some of my favorites from today were some of the Hymns from Luke, and the icons. The volunteer who was turning pages for me and La Prima as we looked at the book, agreed with me that one of the characters represented in one of the most striking icons (I think it was of the Last Supper*) was Rumi. I love that thought. Beautiful work.

* UPDATE: Upon further reflection, I think the image was of "The Great Commission" of Pentecost. An even more beautiful thought!

Carl Jung

I have been a fan of Carl Jung's since high school. I am so psyched to see this book! It looks amazing. The NYT article is pretty good. The quotation below is from the article, and is a quote from Jung who was speaking to a patient of his:

“I should advise you to put it all down as beautifully as you can — in some beautifully bound book,” Jung instructed. “It will seem as if you were making the visions banal — but then you need to do that — then you are freed from the power of them. . . . Then when these things are in some precious book you can go to the book & turn over the pages & for you it will be your church — your cathedral — the silent places of your spirit where you will find renewal. If anyone tells you that it is morbid or neurotic and you listen to them — then you will lose your soul — for in that book is your soul.”

Last Night on TV

On my friend Marie's suggestion I watched "Lewis" last night. I was only impressed by the last 15 seconds of the show. She also rated last night's episode a "B-/C+". Much more to her liking is the episode, "Life Born of Fire", which I will hold out for before I pass judgement on the series as a whole.

Anyway, after that there was a brief food/travelogue show on called, "Gourmet's Diary of a Foodie" which was featuring Turkish food, and the breaking of the fast, or Iftar, in Istanbul ["Turkey: Iftar in Istanbul"]. WOW! Now, I LOVE Turkish food. And watching this show was like a dream. The food looked amazing. And seeing Istanbul on TV, in all its glory - being able to show Josiah what I've been talking about all these years - was a real treat! It made us vow to get there as soon as physically possible. Yummy food too!

Here's the blurbage from the website:

Travel to Istanbul, an ancient Turkish city with a culinary past that weaves its way through the Byzantine, Roman, and Ottoman empires. During the holy month of Ramadan, locals fast from sunrise to sunset. Join a food author for the Iftar meal, the traditional feast when the fast is broken. Visit the famed 150-year-old bakery that makes Turkish flatbread pide, a mainstay of the Iftar, in a time-consuming, authentically traditional way. Discover the beauty of güllaç, a multilayered dessert studded with pistachios and pomegranates, and meet a family that has perfected the art of making Turkish delight, an early ancestor of the jellybean. In the Gourmet test kitchen, executive editor John “Doc” Willoughby prepares spicy grilled köfte, a Turkish street-food favorite that gets its irresistible flavor from a unique blend of spices.

George Krause's Work - Haunting

I just found out about George Krause on Morbid Anatomy. These are exactly the kinds of statues that I responded to SO much during my trip to Mexico.

He responds to the emotional-ness of the works as much as I do, read below:

More about the series, from his website:

"Saints and Martyrs pays homage to the anonymous artisans who fashioned the statues...These sculptures transcend most folk art," (Krause) says. 'They are not conceptually motivated. The sculptor felt the suffering, and it allowed him to create something beyond himself and beyond the repetitive forms usually handed down among folk artists. I am responding to the artisan's passion and his unique vision."
George Krause, A Retrospective, Anne W. Tucker

It's great, and more than a little creepy. Beautifully emotional.