New Expectations

I was expecting the worst this Christmas. I don't really know why. I just was. I was expecting loneliness, depression, and a side of angst. Instead I suffered through good times with my extended family, great conversation with my parents , and healthy banter with my baby brother. I think that since last year's holiday I may have even learned a thing or two about myself and where I'm supposed to be going. Last year I was excedingly sick, and in the middle of a painful argument. This year, health has returned. Relationships are restored. Optimism is peeking its head out. I suspect this blog will be taking a particular turn in the coming weeks and months. You'll see what I mean. I can already feel its direction changing, looking back on the past months' journeys. This all started as an exercise to keep in touch while away to India for several months, and has now become a part of me. It got me writing again after quite the dry spell, and that is worth its weight in gold. It feels good to write. To relate. But my thoughts for this blog and in life are tending towards a particular topic, and a particular set of issues I see affecting the people, the culture around me. This city. This great city is suffering, whether it knows it or not. I wonder what we can do to restore it to health. To cure its sicknesses. To restore its relationships. I'm watching news of violence in her city streets. I'm feeling the seduction of the latest trends. The perpetual desire to fit in. The need to find myself (and if I can't do that, to buy myself something shiny). All around me, this city is deluding herself with self-perpetuated lies, and all the politicians do is yammer back and forth with more concern for airtime than their constituents. Tell us what we want to hear, Paul. Stephen. Jack. Hell. We don't even expect you to keep your promises. You stopped dealing with real issues years ago, more concerned with image than substance. Backroom strategy sessions dominated by ways of appearing to improve the nation. There's a good idea - if it appears so, it must be so. Right? So if the politicos aren't doing it, who will? Well shit, I guess that implicates me. And you too, if you're reading this. Gospel truth. Looks like the new year means sleeves rolled, grimy hands, and a new sort of education. Maybe if we're actually loving this city, it'll also appear as though we're loving this city. I don't mean to put the cart before the egg, but maybe it's time we stop preaching change we're unwilling to bring ourselves. God forbid we stand on guard for the Creation with which He's entrusted us.

Belly of the Beast

I stepped inside once again today, working a gig for yet another pharmaceutical company. The principalities and powers employ rather pleasant folk, it turns out.

New Profile Pic

Tom took this picture the other night at the bus shelter after Rachel's good-bye party. I can't guarantee, however, that i was wearing the floating ipod at the time. Looks like Banksy got his hands on it.

Dark, Mysterious and Pissed Off

Not really at all. Amazing what a little eyeliner can do to darken the mood.

Happy Birthday

Sew What?

Just fixed up some curtains for the kitchen this afternoon. I haven't touched a sewing machine in years, but it all came back pretty quickly. Next stop - making something a bit more creative, like a vest out of placemats. Seriously. Why do people still make those nasty nasty nasty things?

Just Wondering

Is it possible for the Bible to become an Idol? Seriously. I've been ruminating on my last (re)post for awhile, and it was hit home to me earlier today in class. Because you've read the book, does it mean you have the corner on the truth, or does it simply mean that you're pointing more in the right direction? I wonder if the Bible hasn't become an idol for many of us. If it doesn't point beyond itself, to the very person of Jesus Christ, to the Creator God of Israel, then we're over-emphasising and over-sanctifying bound paper with ink spilled on it for its own sake. Should the stories and the truths contained therein point us further back, to the supreme cause of all of these things? Or should they be used to bash people over the head with a book that conveniently tells us that everyone else is a complete moron?

Something About the Way...

There’s something about the way you use the bible, something about the way you use it as a tool, as a weapon, as a fulcrum, as a means, as an end, as a trump card. There’s something about the way you see the bible as a thing to be used at all. There’s something about your intensity and your urgency and the way you have your eyes locked on some distant prize. There’s something about the energy you are putting into this. It’s making you frantic and in a hurry. You will not be present in a sacred moment. You will not wait. You will not keep silence. You will not admit that you are weak. You will not let things unfold. You cannot abide, so you will not abide. You will not abide the journey. Arriving is all you want, and the bible is some kind of shortcut for you. You seem to be cutting corners and covering your tracks with memorized verses. You enter every room with a blast of pretty Jesus words and a lot of fast talking. Somehow you have come to think that the bible is like everything else in your life. You think it is something to master and something you can own. The more you know about the bible, the more power you hope to gain. The more verses you can quote, the closer to God you hope to be. The bible is your prop and your flag. You wave it around and make sure that it is seen. You highlight it and talk about it and make wild claims about its truth and fight over it and win with it and boast about how you believe every word of it. It is your way and your truth and your life. Behold, your sacred battle cry: “The Word of the Lord is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart." But that verse isn’t about the bible. It’s about Christ, whom you serve, and whose spirit you are called to carry in your heart. It is only He who is your way and your truth and your life. That old man that you brushed aside? The one you called a liberal and a wishy-washy Christian? He spent the last fifty years with his hands and his heart in the pages of that sacred book. He has wept over it and searched for truth in its stories. His unanswered questions have increased every year until finally he knows nothing at all but the love of God and neighbor. He knows something that you do not know. (You can read the rest of it here)

Andrew's Knit Blog

This is definitely too crazy to pass up. Shaun of the Dead is back - in knitted form. I'm sure Lisa could do it just as good, but to date I haven't seen the evidence. Maybe I'll ask her at breakfast tomorrow in Brian's office.

Christmas Hair

Thanks to Udoy for this picture of me and my arm-candy from the Wycliffe College Christmas party on November 25th.

Nice and Simple

Now that everyone (and I do mean everyone) is getting married, I find my thoughts drawn to what my wedding might look like. Not really a standard thought pattern of mine, but I guess when you're surrounded by the whole thing, it rubs off. I think it's pretty much like this: Small traditional ceremony in the mid-afternoon. Sunlight pours through the ancient building's windows, bathing the assembled crowd of friends and family in a soft, warm glow. But I still can't decide - St. Paul's or Hagia Sophia?

Sure Sign of the Apocalypse #847

My baby brother and his darling wife purchased a house on Friday. Congrats, kids. Now you have a nice place to start making babies!