January 22, 2012 • 3:30 pm 1
“The Word was made flesh, he lived among us… (John 1). In the bright darkness of faith, he heard Jesus say: ’Yes, the Word was made flesh, I chose to enter your broken world and limp through life with you.’
On the last day, when we arrive at the Great Cabin in the Sky, many of us will be bloodied, battered, bruised, and limping. But, by God and by Christ, there will be a light in the window and a ‘welcome home’ sign on the door.”
-Brennan Manning
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January 3, 2012 • 2:17 pm 0
frolicked. aggressively.
celebrated. weddings. birthdays. anniversaries. so much joy. so much triumph.
traveled. tasted new foods. explored new places.
learned. a lot. so many tears. so thankful.
rediscovered my love for writing.
started graduate school. i love being a student.
worked. hard. learned more about discipline.
got the opportunity to teach. i love being a teacher.
ended the year how i started it: reading isaiah 55. it’s amazing how things come full circle.
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December 27, 2011 • 6:59 pm 0
“Violent Passion Surrogate. Regularly once a month. We flood the whole system with adrenin. It’s the complete physiological equivalent of fear and rage. All the tonic effects of murdering Desdemona and being murdered by Othello, without any of the inconveniences.”
“But I like the inconveniences.”
“We don’t,” said the Controller. “We prefer to do things comfortably.”
“But I don’t want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin.”
“In fact,” said Mustapha Mond, “you’re claiming the right to be unhappy.”
“All right then,” said the Savage defiantly, “I’m claiming the right to be unhappy.”
“Not to mention the right to grow old and ugly and impotent; the right to have syphilis and cancer; the right to have too little to eat; the right to be lousy; the right to live in constant apprehension of what may happen tomorrow; the right to catch typhoid; the right to be tortured by unspeakable pains of every kind.” There was a long silence.
“I claim them all,” said the Savage at last.
Mustapha Mond shrugged his shoulders. “You’re welcome,” he said.
— from Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World
reposted from http://www.mtbaileyonline.com.
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December 17, 2011 • 3:33 pm 0
Advent Reflections.
And to those who need freedom from shame:
Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! The LORD has taken away the judgments against you; he has cleared away your enemies. The King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst; you shall never again fear evil. On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: “Fear not, O Zion; let not your hands grow weak.
The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. I will gather those of you who mourn for the festival, so that you will no longer suffer reproach.
Behold, at that time I will deal with all your oppressors. And I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth. At that time I will bring you in, at the time when I gather you together; for I will make you renowned and praised among all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes before your eyes,” says the LORD.
ZEPHANIAH 3:14-20
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December 10, 2011 • 12:51 pm 0
| I had grieved. I had wept for a night and a day over my loss, ripped the cloth I was married in from my breasts, howled, shrieked, clawed at the burial stones until my hands bled, retched his name over and over again, dead, dead.Gone home. Gutted the place. Slept in a single cot, widow, one empty glove, white femur in the dust, half. Stuffed dark suits into black bags, shuffled in a dead man’s shoes, noosed the double knot of a tie around my bare neck, gaunt nun in the mirror, touching herself. I learnt going. Till his name was no longer a certain spell Then he was gone. Then he was legend, language; So I could stand that evening in the field behind them the women and children, barking dogs, He lived. I saw the horror on his face. -Carol Ann Duffy wow. |
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November 12, 2011 • 11:02 pm 0
October 8, 2011 • 2:53 pm 0
“It was only for a second that my eyes locked with yours, only one moment, but I will never forget you. It was a beautiful day, but by the look on your face, I’m sure you never noticed. I had been told about these things before — I hoped they were not true. But when I saw you locked tightly in the arm of that old white man, held like a trophy, imprisoned like a slave, I knew it was real. Undeniably, painfully, real. Here an injustice stared me in the face.
A child, maybe 14 years of age, your value and worth cheapened by the man who held you, your eyes a heartbreaking reflection of experiences you should never have had.
Lust. Objectification. Selfish desire.
You are nothing but a tourist attraction to him.
I am sickened by the thought that some people believe you could be purchased so simply, just like a toy. Why must your experience of the word love be so distorted, so crude?
Why are we, lovers of justice, not flying across nations and oceans to be with you? Do those men value you more, because they are willing to spend their time and money?
Shouldn’t we have more of a passion to pursue you?”
-Sex + Money, A Global Search for Human Worth
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October 2, 2011 • 12:19 pm 0
“Do not seek approval in the mirror or in the eyes of other people. In My Presence you have infinite approval.”
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