I call "radical middle"

As I have been looking over many "Church Information Forms" (CIFs) recently, it has become exceedingly clear that we, human creatures, do like to choose sides. Some of us will end up choosing "the left", some "the right"...and as far as I can tell, such decisions DO make life easier...like using a template to aid in some work. (Easier doesn't necessarily mean better.)

Now, If I say that I am slightly left, or slightly right--then I become easily categorized, labeled, filed away, and pigeon-holed. But, through baptism (in death and rebirth), I claim option three... drawing on the best of "both" sides.

At the center of our true identity, we find the sacraments...which continually call us to Christ. It is in this invitation to Christ that we crash into God's good news.

Below you will find links to the web pages of several "movements" within the church. I invite you to be familiar with these templates...but know that these feel, to me, to be mirages in the desert.

Chicken Soup

I have been fighting a sinus infection for days. Although I am on antibiotics and codeine laced cough syrup, I hardly feel any better. I had to walk out of a Sunday school lecture this morning because I was coughing uncontrollably. Soup or warm tea seem to have greatest affect.

What is it in chicken soup that makes us feel better? (A question for the ages!)

Only slightly related: I feel another kind of sick. It may be difficult to describe, understand, or respond to... but I have had this sinking feeling for the past semester or so. This feeling is attached to my relationship with my cohorts (students at the seminary) and especially within my entering class. Over the past year, as we have taken more electives and less of the core curriculum classes--we have seen less of each other. We seem to be a less cohesive group. We are following our individual calls more (as it should be) and preparing to leave the seminary for parts unknown. There is anxiety entering into this secluded seminary environment... who will find a call, who won't, who will keep in touch, who will abandon the ministry, who will burn out, who will bloom, who will be spirit led and spirit fed?

I don't know. I hope that the coming chapters of our lives will be as interesting as these recent ones. I hope to retain those bonds we have formed over the past two years, nurture them, and help them to continue to grow. But, what about this growing anxiety about the uncertainty of the future? My plan: I know that I can't do much, but I can be more intentional in my prayer life. And so, my plan is to start praying for my classmates on a more regular basis. By name. Everyday. I hope that this new structure to my daily life will help to put some things back into their proper perspective. This is a practice I picked up as a chaplain this summer. (Once you have a good practice, you really shouldn't give it up.)

What differentiates us?

Just a quick question for you... as I have been brushing up on some of my marketing skills, the question emerged... What makes us different?

My answer will be: education. Therefore, education is what we should push. Any thoughts?

What if?

{The beginning of the semester...and I am already running behind. Is that just the natural state of things? Too much has gone on in the past couple of weeks to post--so I won't. Instead, I look ahead. Look to the creative process, alive in the world, radiating from inside/outside/from beyond...Have to change the world (with God's help, I will)...so tomorrow, pick up 1 piece of trash=1 less spam attack. It is a matter of using time wisely, being trained visibly and covertly.}

New time: God recreated my world in the breaking of bread...in the tasting of wine. What I remember before that moment is fuzzy history...circle circle dot dot

Hofstadter's trees

What do we know? How do we know it? Today we went to a semi-private catholic baptism. The whole time I was thinking about how we communicate. In "live" human communication, body language and tone carry much of the message. The words we speak play a small part of the message. Much of the time, I process "what someone says" through "who the person is". Things said, that seem out of sorts, are colored by the body language and tone of the speaker. What does this mean for the printed page? scripture? poetry? theology? It means something.