Three Things I Thought About Today
Funny Things
First of all, last night we had a combined board/pastoral staff meeting at my house for the three congregations that make up the Seattle Vineyard. We have a great board, and I love them. But I hate board meetings because they are always about the budget. I took a test once, once of those “what is your money personality test” and I am a “money monk.’ This means that even though I have money, I don’t want to touch it or think about it or manage it or anything because I don’t want it to corrupt me. (What’s especially hilarious about this, is that at one point I was the treasurer of the board. Seriously. I can’t even read the financial spreadsheets without our administrator’s help and a set of color coded highlighter markers!) This particular meeting was supposed to be next Tuesday, but they changed it while I was on vacation. And because I’m fresh from vacation and all gung-hoe about having better boundaries around my work life, I didn’t check my email until my first workday back – which was Tuesday morning. Yep, the morning of the newly minted board/staff meeting. So I found out at 11am Tuesday morning that 10 people were coming to my house for a financials meeting that night from 7-10pm. No one’s fault or anything, but still, ugh. Here’s the thing I’m thinking about today though…My friend-and-overseer Ed, made the whole night better because as we were leaving he dropped this little gem of a one liner….
“Can we go home now? My butt fell asleep.”
Cracks. Me. Up.
Not so Funny Things
I saw an ad on TV late at night for some “last stand on the hill” thing that a bunch of local churches are doing. I think it’s called “May Day for Marriage” and no doubt it will be wildly popular. In the ad, the mega church pastors came on one after the other and urged people to come out to Safeco Field to protest against gay marriage and one of the guys-in-suits actually said, “This is the biggest issue of our time.”
Really? Because I’m pretty sure 6,500 people died of AIDS today in Sub Sahara Africa. You know….for instance.
Things that Make You Go “Hmmmm.”
While we were in Hawaii I spent a lot of time watching the ocean. I grew up on the ocean and my dad is a sailor. The tides are in my blood. I’m fair skinned and pear shaped, so the whole California beach scene was pretty much torture for me as a teenager. But my family spent a lot of time on the shore in the Fall, which I loved. I can remember sitting on a rock all bundled up and writing poems in the sand. I would try to hold them in my head until I could reach paper and pen. This was when I was, like, ten. The sound of the waves, the rhythm of the tides is the one thing I miss about living in California. So for the last two weeks, it was good for me to be perched on our second floor balcony right over the ocean.
I’m not one of those “I totally feel God in nature” types. Maybe it’s because my parents took us camping and hiking so often that I’ve come to take beautiful views and the hulk of the mountains for granted or something. It’s just never been a big part of my spirituality. But this time, as the ocean pounded the rocky Kona coast, she talked to me about something. I’m not sure what it was, exactly, but it was something about constancy and strength and wearing on each other, even struggling with each other without destroying each other – us and God. The Muse was murmuring to me in the waves and the lava rock. Her message was faint, but steady and I liked its crash and pull.
When I got home I had this funny little scene that played on the projector screen of my brain. It was one of those half dreams, half I-made-it-up things that you have when you are awake, but not ready to open your eyes. In it, I was sitting with my friend T on a rock wall, watching the waves. We were smoking and chatting, and both of us had our boards propped up behind us. (Two things that neither of us actually do – smoke and surf, although the latter is a major life goal of mine.) I was telling T about my little cheesy God moment with the waves and how they make me think of God’s tremendous love. “Really, you know, he loves us so much it could pretty much kill us. His love is so grand it overpowers us. It beats us up, like the waves on those rocks. How can they keep getting beat up like that and not get turned into gravel? But they are still there, you know? Still facing the waves and saying ‘bring it on!’ And they’re meant to be together like that you know? It doesn’t work any other way. Sometimes it seems twisted and destructive, and sometimes it seems like perfect ying and yang– but either way, there’s no other way to do it, so what are you going to do, you know?” Then, in my sorta-dream, T who was wearing these really cool longish shorts that were red but had faded to a kind of orangish tone, was sitting next to me with her legs crossed and her arms draped over her legs and her cigarette kind of flopping between her fingers, and she just looks at me incredulously and says, “That makes no fuckin’ sense.” And I say, “Yeah. But it’s gotta be true, so what are you gonna do?” Pause. Take a couple drags. Then she says, “Well, I’m going go surfing, that’s what I’m gonna do.” And then she stubs out her cigarette on the black lava rock and we just grab our boards and go surf. And that’s was enough, you know, that we were out there surfing in God.
To quote my friend April, “sometimes I am so idealistic.”
I love it. Thanks.
Great to hear your thoughts after a while away. Always great stuff here.
I wish our paths had opportunity to cross.
Jennifer
I miss your blogs!
Glad you’re back blogging away again.
i used to do that in the sand too- the poems. makes me think of the ani difranco phrase “urgent napkin poems”
Interesting…I note that nobody is gathering in Safeco Field to stand in solidarity to figure out how to house the nearly 8,000 homeless people in King County. Now if someone would get on the warpath about _that_ issue, I’d join right in.
Now if they were gathering to do something about the 24,000 people who will die of hunger tomorrow, I might just fly out there…err…no I wouldn’t, I’d donate the plane fare maybe? Anyway…
“…it was something about constancy and strength and wearing on each other, even struggling with each other without destroying each other – us and God.”
Not sure this is the same thing, but it brought this to mind;
Batter my heart, three person’d God; for, you
As yet but knocke, breathe, shine, and seeke to mend;
That I may rise, and stand, o’erthrow mee,’and bend
Your force, to breake, blowe, burn and make me new.
I, like an usurpt towne, to’another due,
Labour to’admit you, but Oh, to no end,
Reason your viceroy in mee, mee should defend,
But is captiv’d, and proves weake or untrue.
Yet dearely’I love you,’and would be loved faine,
But am betroth’d unto your enemie:
Divorce mee,’untie, or breake that knot againe;
Take mee to you, imprison mee, for I
Except you’enthrall mee, never shall be free,
Nor ever chast, except you ravish mee.
- John Donne (1573–1631)
Hi Rachelle
I think we need to be careful trying to decide what is ‘biggest issue of our time’ - as Jesus said himself, the poor we will have with us always. Feeding the poor is not optional, but I would also suggest that neither is advocating immorality.
Did you know that there is already a push for polyamory occuring? If we re-define marriage to be about a committed relationship, and not about a man and woman, then where does it stop? Why not let three people get married - if they all really love each other and want to be with each other forever?
Marriage is designed to be a reflection of Christ and the church. If the church simply allows this to be debased, then we have failed our world.
Let’s be really careful about denigrating those in the church who are speaking out about issues of righteousness. For all you know, that guy-in-suit may well feed the poor as well! There are enough people outside the church trying to pull us down - let’s not do it inside the church too.
Have a great day
I’m not sure one man one woman plus kids is the perfect Biblical image of family. (There were a lot of different ‘formats’ for family in the Old and New Testaments and God seemed to manage to work with all of them.)
I’m not sure that it’s the only healthy way for a family to exisit. (’Cuz I’m watching friends do some pretty amazing things — raising children with grandparent-kids-grandkids in tandem, raising the children of departed siblings, raising adopted children. It may not be perfect — but who gets to define perfect? And when did you meet a man-wife-kid combo that was perfect anyway?)
I’m not sure that “traditional” marriage is as much Biblical as it is cultural.
I’m not sure that children, men, and women can’t thrive in other models of marriage and family — haven’t they done so in other cultures and time throughout the world and history?
But I am sure that the evangelical church in Seattle was very myopic on May Day. I am sure that they were very very afraid of the future, and very interested in making sure their turf was protected. I am sure that there was no way that the gay community could have understood 25,000 Christians standing in one spot and saying “everything about your hearth home and love is wrong” as loving.
I am sure that starvation, death, and sleeping in the streets are worse than watching to people of the same sex be in love for a life time. I am just as sure that you will never see 25,000 Christians in one spot because they want to legislate ending AIDS in Africa (6,500 dead each day); or homelessness in King County (8,000 people); or hunger worldwide (24,000 deaths daily.
You can be afraid that polygamy is the next step. You can be afraid that the family unit will distingrate. Fine. Perhaps those fears are legitmate — those fall into the “things I’m not sure about category.” But to make the fear of the unknown more important than the present suffering of those around us. I cannot sanction that in any way. And that is what the church communicated to the larger community this weekend.
IMO,.
R
Could it be that the reason we don’t see 25,000 Christians standing in one place to ends AIDS in Africa, or homelessness or hunger is because no-one disagrees that we should end these?
It’s interesting that you say it’s about watching two people of the same sex being in love for a life time. That’s not what I consider it is about. There is no problem with anyone loving (agape and phileo) people of any gender. We would all be remiss if we didn’t do this - it’s a commandment anyway.
What it is about is two people of the same sex having a sexual relationship, which is outside of the boundaries God placed around sexual activity.
I don’t fear sexual immorality, but I do not have to accept that it is right, and if very loud voices in our pluralistic society want to proclaim that is it, why should other voices not be able to say that it is wrong?
It is not unloving in and of itself to say something is wrong. In fact, one could argue that it is ultimately extremely unloving to not do this. If the ‘gay marriage’ activists are taking their message to the public, why can’t those who oppose gay marriage also express their view publicly?
Hey Rachelle, love your views always have. Read your blog RELIGOUSLY. Shortage of posts have left me feeling dry lately, but I won’t blame you TOO much, and I will celebrate you being on vacation.
Anyways, I had a question, and maybe this isn’t the place to ask it but what the hell, I’m past caring.
I have heard a number of times in the last week or so, (surrounding the Gay/Christian battle over marraige) that Christians should love because they are commanded to. It’s a biblical commandment, therefore, I must love you.
Here’s what I feel/think about that statement:
Fuck off. I don’t want anyone’s love if they only love me because they are commanded to. I don’t need charities, and I don’t need anyone’s hand outs. I don’t want anyones pity, and I don’t want anyones judgements on what I need in my life to be fulfilled.
What I want is to be respected. To be given the same place, and the same opportunities as anyone else. I want the opportunity to live my life the best way that I can. If you want to help me because you care, GREAT! I’ll be grateful for your kindness, but don’t love me because your commanded to. Cuz that’s cheap.
I realize that these mayday rally christains are just trying to fight for what they believe is right. I respect that.
What I don’t respect is these christians using God’s name to abuse other people. While homosexuals are the latest victim of this tirade, they are certainly not the first. And it makes me angry. These people just want to live their lives and have the same respect and opportunities as everyone else in the world. Why shouldn’t they be able to chase happiness just like the rest of us? Who are we, and who is anyone to try and stop that? Why can’t we just live, and love those we are in contact with? Why do we have to try to disrupt the lives of people we don’t understand?
I just don’t get it. It changes my life not at all whom gets married to whom. But there might be a few happier people in the world. And in a world such as ours, happiness is a treasure to be sought after.