Monday, January 26, 2004
i'm home
I'm home now. it's cold here, but I have hot showers. good times. I'm not sure I was ready to come home--there were a lot of things I loved about Jamaica and about UTC, and as usual there are a lot of things I don't like about the US and the way I fall so easily back into the individualistic culture and all that. anyway, the trip was GREAT, but had its hard moments. for more details, email me. :-) for now, I'm tired and going to bed.
Thursday, January 15, 2004
elastic toilet paper and cold showers
Well, here I am in Jamaica. Kingston, Jamaica. A big city (over 1.2 million people--half the population of Jamaica, actually), one with lots of issues. basically a third world city. i'm living at the theological college. we have toilet paper that is very stretchy. we take cold showers. we go to lectures, we visit places (lots of schools and churches, plus other organizations). i have eaten more rice with a few red beans than ever before. also fried plantains, which are very good. I recommend them to all.
we are half way through the trip...it's sunny and warm, the people are nice, and tomorrow we are taking a trip to the beach for the weekend. Thank goodness for a mini-vacation in the midst of a very busy trip!
our group is getting along pretty well. we have cottages with four bedrooms, and there are just three of us in our cottage. i live in a mosquito net and a constant perfume of insect repellent. I love insect repellent! it's the trendy new scent, obviously!
hmm....what else? our bus driver is fab. the country is beautiful, the city is full of poverty and wealth--a very great disparity. We live in one of the poorer areas, and today I visited one of the many poor inner city neighborhoods. quite interesting!
that's all for now, because the internet is quite slow and we don't have a lot of time. other people want to use the 'puter in their own library! I think I might read some more Jamaican short stories. hopefully they will stop being so depressing! (the first 11 of the 22 in the book were mainly depressing, with sad endings involving people getting shot, losing their families, or being unhappy in some way.)
The end....perhaps i'll blog again when we return from the coast next week, or perhaps not until I get back. do watch this space for more fabulous insights on living in the big jamaican ghetto city! :-)
peace and love, man! ;-)
we are half way through the trip...it's sunny and warm, the people are nice, and tomorrow we are taking a trip to the beach for the weekend. Thank goodness for a mini-vacation in the midst of a very busy trip!
our group is getting along pretty well. we have cottages with four bedrooms, and there are just three of us in our cottage. i live in a mosquito net and a constant perfume of insect repellent. I love insect repellent! it's the trendy new scent, obviously!
hmm....what else? our bus driver is fab. the country is beautiful, the city is full of poverty and wealth--a very great disparity. We live in one of the poorer areas, and today I visited one of the many poor inner city neighborhoods. quite interesting!
that's all for now, because the internet is quite slow and we don't have a lot of time. other people want to use the 'puter in their own library! I think I might read some more Jamaican short stories. hopefully they will stop being so depressing! (the first 11 of the 22 in the book were mainly depressing, with sad endings involving people getting shot, losing their families, or being unhappy in some way.)
The end....perhaps i'll blog again when we return from the coast next week, or perhaps not until I get back. do watch this space for more fabulous insights on living in the big jamaican ghetto city! :-)
peace and love, man! ;-)
Monday, December 29, 2003
top ten fab things about christmas 2003
10. learning to play the star wars XBox game with a five year old boy, at a frightfully lame adult Christmas party.
9. a new stuffed panda. name still TBD.
8. mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, mom's enchiladas and homemade refried beans.
7. David Lamotte CD's, good movies, and the threat of stealing my cousin's Legolas poster.
6. Grandma's butterscotch brownies. Oh, those are so good.
5. FIVE GOOOLLLLLLDEEENNNN RINNNGSSS>......oh, wait, no. umm...five flavors of jelly bellys.
4. not telling the secret of mom's HUGE present for more than a week!
3. nearly telling my aunt that I hated her dog. Except I never even came close to saying that--she just wanted me to, of course, so she'd have a reason to be irritated. Except that once she asked me if I'd said it, I was like "no"...but in my head I thought "but yes!"
2. the look on my brother's face when he opened a gift full of scripture from major world religions.
1. A new preaching robe! By far the best present. beautiful. Everyone loves it. If they weren't so hot I'd wear it all the time, except around animals that might drool on it (aka dogs).
9. a new stuffed panda. name still TBD.
8. mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, mom's enchiladas and homemade refried beans.
7. David Lamotte CD's, good movies, and the threat of stealing my cousin's Legolas poster.
6. Grandma's butterscotch brownies. Oh, those are so good.
5. FIVE GOOOLLLLLLDEEENNNN RINNNGSSS>......oh, wait, no. umm...five flavors of jelly bellys.
4. not telling the secret of mom's HUGE present for more than a week!
3. nearly telling my aunt that I hated her dog. Except I never even came close to saying that--she just wanted me to, of course, so she'd have a reason to be irritated. Except that once she asked me if I'd said it, I was like "no"...but in my head I thought "but yes!"
2. the look on my brother's face when he opened a gift full of scripture from major world religions.
1. A new preaching robe! By far the best present. beautiful. Everyone loves it. If they weren't so hot I'd wear it all the time, except around animals that might drool on it (aka dogs).
Sunday, December 28, 2003
Sing, Sing, Sing
Sing, Sing, Sing
Colossians 3.12-17
CNCP
December 28, 2003
As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
When World War I erupted in 1914, launching the first great European war of the 20th century, soldiers on both sides were assured they would be home by Christmas to celebrate victory. Unfortunately, that was not to be the case.
The men on the fronts did not get home that Christmas…or the next Christmas, or the next, as the war dragged on for four years. During that time 8.5 million men were killed, with hundreds of thousands more injured. The "war to end all wars" took a horrific human toll and transformed Europe.
However, on Christmas Eve in 1914 one of the most unusual events in military history took place on the Western front. It was a very cold night. Looking over the trench, the British soldiers saw German soldiers holding up lanterns and Christmas trees. Within moments of that sighting, the British began hearing a few German soldiers singing a Christmas carol. It was soon picked up all along the German line as other soldiers joined in, harmonizing.
British troops immediately recognized the melody as "Silent Night" and began to sing along. One by one, British and German soldiers began laying down their weapons to venture into no-man's-land, the small patch of bombed-out earth between the two sides. There was an undeclared truce and peace had broken out.
Frank Richards was an eyewitness of this unofficial truce. In his wartime diary he wrote: "We stuck up a board with 'Merry Christmas' on it. The enemy stuck up a similar one. Two of our men threw off their equipment and jumped on the parapet with their hands above their heads as two of the Germans did the same, our two going to meet them. They shook hands and then we all got out of the trench and so did the Germans."
That night, former enemy soldiers sat around a common campfire. They exchanged small gifts from their meager belongings - chocolate bars, buttons, badges and small tins of processed beef. Men who only hours earlier had been shooting to kill were now sharing Christmas festivities, showing each other family snapshots, and singing Christmas carols together.
This amazing story is one that is well known to many, particularly after the history channel’s program about it last week. How awesome it must have been—a welcome silence from guns and shouting, from death all around, this singing of carols, joining of enemies as friends.
Singing is also one of the things that joins together our whole culture during the Christmas season. I really think that, as a society, we do more singing at Christmastime than any other time of year. Carols are playing in every store, elevator, and phone hold system. Songs sung in church are hummed and sung together by friends and families, by groups of carolers in our neighborhoods and hospitals. There are churches that host a “Sing-Along Messiah” where everyone can join in on Handel’s glorious work.
Singing brings us together—as a society, as friends, and as family. It breaks right through traditional religious lines. Christmas carols are sung together by church goers and atheists alike—especially in my family. Many in my family are atheist or agnostic, but they sing with gusto when it comes to “Joy to the World”, “Angels we have heard on high”, and even “Good Christian Friends”! We always sing carols at this time of year. Mom and I hunt for the most singable CD, then bake and cook (and eat more than we should)—all the while singing along with “Little Drummer Boy”, “O Come All Ye Faithful”, and dozens of other songs playing on the kitchen CD player.
This year, some of my family watched hours of Christmas Eve television shows of Christmas carol singing and playing—a handbell concert, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, even the Presbyterian Church’s televised service of Lessons and Carols. Much of the time we sang along (sometimes aloud and sometimes whispered) and we were all pretty happy. We forgot briefly about each other’s annoying traits. We truly loved, and we forgave funny voices, bad attempts at harmony, and thwarted jokes about the Hallelujah Chorus. Singing drew us together. It didn’t matter that members of my family had celebrated four weeks of shopping and wrapping while I observed four weeks of hopeful and expectant waiting for God. It didn’t matter that some of us believe the holiday commemorates God’s breaking in on our world, and some think there might not even be a God. It doesn’t matter that some of us celebrate church Christmas and some cultural Christmas. The sacred and secular approaches to Christmas are brought together in song.
Singing is also a crucial part of the biblical story (and the lectionary!) for this holy day. The angels in Luke are singing. The psalms for the Christmas season all begin with “Sing to the Lord a new song!” The Prophets tend to talk about new things God is doing and is going to do, and how the people sing of them. And here we have Paul telling us—quite directly!—“With gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God.” This is definitely one thing we can all do together.
I nearly did an experiment at the airport on Friday morning. I wasn’t entirely sure what would happen to me if I tried this, so I kind of wimped out, but I was severely tempted. I thought I would just randomly begin to sing a Christmas carol while I was waiting in the gate area for two hours. You know, just strike up something relatively harmless like “Deck the Halls” and see if people would join in. Then maybe move on to a more overtly Christian song like “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” and see where that got me. I did hum quite loudly but couldn’t get up the courage to actually sing words out loud in the airport. It’s a good thing that’s not what the soldiers did on the battle field on the first Christmas Eve of World War I. Instead they had the courage to lift their voices, to walk out on the battle field, and exchange gifts with their enemies. That’s what I call clothing yourself in compassion, humility, kindness, patience, meekness, and love. Singing drew them together as human beings, as the chosen people of God.
It’s hard work to clothe oneself in compassion, humility, kindness, patience, and meekness. More often I think we cloak ourselves in these things—kindness and patience in particular. Now, I say “cloak” because—at least some of the time—it really is just a disguise. For example, some members of my extended family don’t really like each other—to say the least. Nonetheless, at holiday time we all get together and pretend that we like to spend time together. We cloak ourselves in kindness and patience, but that patience wears thin and the kindness tends to disappear as soon as the irritating ones are out of earshot.
Now, I know that not all families are like this, but I would be willing to bet that many families have at least one person or one sector that is less than enjoyable. How often do we cloak ourselves in kindness, humility, and patience and claim we are clothing ourselves? I cannot even number the times that is true for me. But the good news is that we are forgiven, and we forgive, and we do in fact love one another—for love is deeper than simply liking each other or being able to get along for an extended period in close quarters. Love is no substitute for kindness or patience, but it sure does help us forgive those things that get in the way of kindness and patience!
Love also helps us to sing. God has given us the ability to cross all kinds of lines with a simple melody. And in the midst of all the hustle and bustle of the holidays, in the middle of all the frustration, the travel, the chatter, and the tearing of gift wrap, comes God. God has broken out into our world as a small child, and the angels are singing. The Word has come to dwell among us, and may it dwell in us richly. The very Spirit of God has come and is here and will always be, for the simple melody is one of love—and love binds all things together in perfect harmony. It doesn’t matter if your harmonizing skills are a little out of practice. It doesn’t matter if you think you can’t sing. Everyone can sing, because God has given us voices and songs.
These voices are given for singing of God’s glory and our amazement. The very first question of the Heidelberg catechism states that the chief end of human beings is to glorify God. In Luke’s story, glory and amazement abound. The glory of the Lord shone around, the angels were surrounded by the whole heavenly host, and the shepherds were amazed. Those shepherds went to find the child and they were amazed, for all was just as it had been told them. And on their way home, the shepherds glorified and praised the Lord, and who knows?...maybe they sang of the amazing experience for the whole journey. It probably didn’t matter whether they all had similar opinions before they went, or even when they were returning. It probably didn’t matter how they were dressed, whether they went to the synagogue as often as they should, whether they offered as many sacrifices as they ought, or how many gifts their children got at Hanukkah. What mattered was that they had an encounter with God and they lived to sing about it. Singing drew the shepherds and angels together in the presence of God, who was right in their midst.
It’s hard to see how this can work for us—in our divided world, where some eat plenty and some starve, some fight and others protest, some sleep peacefully while others lie awake wondering what new horror tomorrow will bring How are we supposed to sing together in the midst of all the talking and the suffering? Perhaps we ought to do what the soldiers in did in 1914 and what I wanted to do on Friday—just start singing and see where that gets us. That’s what the Taizé community has done—they just started singing short memorable songs and using them for prayer and praise. Now more than 100,000 people from over 100 countries visit the community in France every year, and hundreds of thousands more join in sung prayer services all around the world. The Taizé community’s one word for its ministry is “reconciliation”—and they seem to be doing a great job. People from all over the world are singing with one voice, and God’s chosen people—the holy and beloved ones of God—are singing and praying. Truly the Word is dwelling among us, the light is shining in the darkness, and many are trying to be the one body we are called to be.
The story of Christmas is an amazing one, one we have the privilege of replaying every year, of remembering, of celebrating. God in all God’s glory has come to earth and makes a home among mortals. And God has done it as a baby, not as a full grown king, not as an angel, not as some unseen force. A small child—a miracle in and of himself, not to mention that this baby is the incarnate Word of God. And there’s more good news from Paul: The Word dwells in us now—for God has come and is with us always—even to the end of the world. Paul prays that the Word will dwell in us richly, and that everything we do will be in the name of the Lord Jesus, who has come into the world to be its light—a light the darkness of the world cannot overcome. And so we sing. We sing of God’s love, we sing God’s glory, we sing all together as the chosen people of God. Indeed, we join our voices together with people of all times and places, with angels, and with the whole choir of heaven: Glory to God in the highest! Amen.
Colossians 3.12-17
CNCP
December 28, 2003
As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
When World War I erupted in 1914, launching the first great European war of the 20th century, soldiers on both sides were assured they would be home by Christmas to celebrate victory. Unfortunately, that was not to be the case.
The men on the fronts did not get home that Christmas…or the next Christmas, or the next, as the war dragged on for four years. During that time 8.5 million men were killed, with hundreds of thousands more injured. The "war to end all wars" took a horrific human toll and transformed Europe.
However, on Christmas Eve in 1914 one of the most unusual events in military history took place on the Western front. It was a very cold night. Looking over the trench, the British soldiers saw German soldiers holding up lanterns and Christmas trees. Within moments of that sighting, the British began hearing a few German soldiers singing a Christmas carol. It was soon picked up all along the German line as other soldiers joined in, harmonizing.
British troops immediately recognized the melody as "Silent Night" and began to sing along. One by one, British and German soldiers began laying down their weapons to venture into no-man's-land, the small patch of bombed-out earth between the two sides. There was an undeclared truce and peace had broken out.
Frank Richards was an eyewitness of this unofficial truce. In his wartime diary he wrote: "We stuck up a board with 'Merry Christmas' on it. The enemy stuck up a similar one. Two of our men threw off their equipment and jumped on the parapet with their hands above their heads as two of the Germans did the same, our two going to meet them. They shook hands and then we all got out of the trench and so did the Germans."
That night, former enemy soldiers sat around a common campfire. They exchanged small gifts from their meager belongings - chocolate bars, buttons, badges and small tins of processed beef. Men who only hours earlier had been shooting to kill were now sharing Christmas festivities, showing each other family snapshots, and singing Christmas carols together.
This amazing story is one that is well known to many, particularly after the history channel’s program about it last week. How awesome it must have been—a welcome silence from guns and shouting, from death all around, this singing of carols, joining of enemies as friends.
Singing is also one of the things that joins together our whole culture during the Christmas season. I really think that, as a society, we do more singing at Christmastime than any other time of year. Carols are playing in every store, elevator, and phone hold system. Songs sung in church are hummed and sung together by friends and families, by groups of carolers in our neighborhoods and hospitals. There are churches that host a “Sing-Along Messiah” where everyone can join in on Handel’s glorious work.
Singing brings us together—as a society, as friends, and as family. It breaks right through traditional religious lines. Christmas carols are sung together by church goers and atheists alike—especially in my family. Many in my family are atheist or agnostic, but they sing with gusto when it comes to “Joy to the World”, “Angels we have heard on high”, and even “Good Christian Friends”! We always sing carols at this time of year. Mom and I hunt for the most singable CD, then bake and cook (and eat more than we should)—all the while singing along with “Little Drummer Boy”, “O Come All Ye Faithful”, and dozens of other songs playing on the kitchen CD player.
This year, some of my family watched hours of Christmas Eve television shows of Christmas carol singing and playing—a handbell concert, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, even the Presbyterian Church’s televised service of Lessons and Carols. Much of the time we sang along (sometimes aloud and sometimes whispered) and we were all pretty happy. We forgot briefly about each other’s annoying traits. We truly loved, and we forgave funny voices, bad attempts at harmony, and thwarted jokes about the Hallelujah Chorus. Singing drew us together. It didn’t matter that members of my family had celebrated four weeks of shopping and wrapping while I observed four weeks of hopeful and expectant waiting for God. It didn’t matter that some of us believe the holiday commemorates God’s breaking in on our world, and some think there might not even be a God. It doesn’t matter that some of us celebrate church Christmas and some cultural Christmas. The sacred and secular approaches to Christmas are brought together in song.
Singing is also a crucial part of the biblical story (and the lectionary!) for this holy day. The angels in Luke are singing. The psalms for the Christmas season all begin with “Sing to the Lord a new song!” The Prophets tend to talk about new things God is doing and is going to do, and how the people sing of them. And here we have Paul telling us—quite directly!—“With gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God.” This is definitely one thing we can all do together.
I nearly did an experiment at the airport on Friday morning. I wasn’t entirely sure what would happen to me if I tried this, so I kind of wimped out, but I was severely tempted. I thought I would just randomly begin to sing a Christmas carol while I was waiting in the gate area for two hours. You know, just strike up something relatively harmless like “Deck the Halls” and see if people would join in. Then maybe move on to a more overtly Christian song like “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” and see where that got me. I did hum quite loudly but couldn’t get up the courage to actually sing words out loud in the airport. It’s a good thing that’s not what the soldiers did on the battle field on the first Christmas Eve of World War I. Instead they had the courage to lift their voices, to walk out on the battle field, and exchange gifts with their enemies. That’s what I call clothing yourself in compassion, humility, kindness, patience, meekness, and love. Singing drew them together as human beings, as the chosen people of God.
It’s hard work to clothe oneself in compassion, humility, kindness, patience, and meekness. More often I think we cloak ourselves in these things—kindness and patience in particular. Now, I say “cloak” because—at least some of the time—it really is just a disguise. For example, some members of my extended family don’t really like each other—to say the least. Nonetheless, at holiday time we all get together and pretend that we like to spend time together. We cloak ourselves in kindness and patience, but that patience wears thin and the kindness tends to disappear as soon as the irritating ones are out of earshot.
Now, I know that not all families are like this, but I would be willing to bet that many families have at least one person or one sector that is less than enjoyable. How often do we cloak ourselves in kindness, humility, and patience and claim we are clothing ourselves? I cannot even number the times that is true for me. But the good news is that we are forgiven, and we forgive, and we do in fact love one another—for love is deeper than simply liking each other or being able to get along for an extended period in close quarters. Love is no substitute for kindness or patience, but it sure does help us forgive those things that get in the way of kindness and patience!
Love also helps us to sing. God has given us the ability to cross all kinds of lines with a simple melody. And in the midst of all the hustle and bustle of the holidays, in the middle of all the frustration, the travel, the chatter, and the tearing of gift wrap, comes God. God has broken out into our world as a small child, and the angels are singing. The Word has come to dwell among us, and may it dwell in us richly. The very Spirit of God has come and is here and will always be, for the simple melody is one of love—and love binds all things together in perfect harmony. It doesn’t matter if your harmonizing skills are a little out of practice. It doesn’t matter if you think you can’t sing. Everyone can sing, because God has given us voices and songs.
These voices are given for singing of God’s glory and our amazement. The very first question of the Heidelberg catechism states that the chief end of human beings is to glorify God. In Luke’s story, glory and amazement abound. The glory of the Lord shone around, the angels were surrounded by the whole heavenly host, and the shepherds were amazed. Those shepherds went to find the child and they were amazed, for all was just as it had been told them. And on their way home, the shepherds glorified and praised the Lord, and who knows?...maybe they sang of the amazing experience for the whole journey. It probably didn’t matter whether they all had similar opinions before they went, or even when they were returning. It probably didn’t matter how they were dressed, whether they went to the synagogue as often as they should, whether they offered as many sacrifices as they ought, or how many gifts their children got at Hanukkah. What mattered was that they had an encounter with God and they lived to sing about it. Singing drew the shepherds and angels together in the presence of God, who was right in their midst.
It’s hard to see how this can work for us—in our divided world, where some eat plenty and some starve, some fight and others protest, some sleep peacefully while others lie awake wondering what new horror tomorrow will bring How are we supposed to sing together in the midst of all the talking and the suffering? Perhaps we ought to do what the soldiers in did in 1914 and what I wanted to do on Friday—just start singing and see where that gets us. That’s what the Taizé community has done—they just started singing short memorable songs and using them for prayer and praise. Now more than 100,000 people from over 100 countries visit the community in France every year, and hundreds of thousands more join in sung prayer services all around the world. The Taizé community’s one word for its ministry is “reconciliation”—and they seem to be doing a great job. People from all over the world are singing with one voice, and God’s chosen people—the holy and beloved ones of God—are singing and praying. Truly the Word is dwelling among us, the light is shining in the darkness, and many are trying to be the one body we are called to be.
The story of Christmas is an amazing one, one we have the privilege of replaying every year, of remembering, of celebrating. God in all God’s glory has come to earth and makes a home among mortals. And God has done it as a baby, not as a full grown king, not as an angel, not as some unseen force. A small child—a miracle in and of himself, not to mention that this baby is the incarnate Word of God. And there’s more good news from Paul: The Word dwells in us now—for God has come and is with us always—even to the end of the world. Paul prays that the Word will dwell in us richly, and that everything we do will be in the name of the Lord Jesus, who has come into the world to be its light—a light the darkness of the world cannot overcome. And so we sing. We sing of God’s love, we sing God’s glory, we sing all together as the chosen people of God. Indeed, we join our voices together with people of all times and places, with angels, and with the whole choir of heaven: Glory to God in the highest! Amen.
Tuesday, December 23, 2003
rudolph the red nosed reindeer
...had a very shiny nose...blah blah blah...."you'll go down in history!" then kids interject.... what?
What is it you stick into that spot?
you know...."shouted out with glee (yippee!!)...rudolph the red nosed reindeer, you'll got down in history (like______!)."
I'm very curious. apparently different people say different things there.
We always said "like Lincoln!" don't ask why....apparently lincoln is the most famous person we could come up with, i don't know. but my dad does it too. maybe it's a northwest thing. so now i'm asking: what do you say there?
What is it you stick into that spot?
you know...."shouted out with glee (yippee!!)...rudolph the red nosed reindeer, you'll got down in history (like______!)."
I'm very curious. apparently different people say different things there.
We always said "like Lincoln!" don't ask why....apparently lincoln is the most famous person we could come up with, i don't know. but my dad does it too. maybe it's a northwest thing. so now i'm asking: what do you say there?
Saturday, December 20, 2003
home
well, i'm "home" with my fam for the holidays. there's snow on the ground (some), it's kind of chilly, and i'm three time zones away from where i was this morning. the flight was LOOOOOOONNNNNNNNGGGGGG. on the bright side, we ate lunch at Georgio's, my fave sub place, and guess who was there?
you'll never guess.
Jay Buhner.
That's right. mariner's outfielder Jay Buhner. he was just sitting in a booth, eating a sub. i wish i had asked what kind it was. anyway...it was cool. Very Cool.
Just a note re: the post below.
I like church. I really do. Leading worship is one of the coolest and most energizing things i do.
but the fact remains that when one is tired and facing the prospect of going to bed late and getting up early, it doesn't matter what's going on "tomorrow", all that matters is that it's too early and you want to sleep.
Just saying.
and, for the record, i got sick on Sunday and spent the week sniffling, coughing, and being generally miserable. Because apparently my body was tired of being pushed to its limits every single day and just wanted a break. too bad it wanted the break during finals week. bleah.
anyways, i'm safely home and am now seeking the recipe noell uses for balsamic vinegared-stuffed with something-portobello mushrooms. so i must go. ta.
you'll never guess.
Jay Buhner.
That's right. mariner's outfielder Jay Buhner. he was just sitting in a booth, eating a sub. i wish i had asked what kind it was. anyway...it was cool. Very Cool.
Just a note re: the post below.
I like church. I really do. Leading worship is one of the coolest and most energizing things i do.
but the fact remains that when one is tired and facing the prospect of going to bed late and getting up early, it doesn't matter what's going on "tomorrow", all that matters is that it's too early and you want to sleep.
Just saying.
and, for the record, i got sick on Sunday and spent the week sniffling, coughing, and being generally miserable. Because apparently my body was tired of being pushed to its limits every single day and just wanted a break. too bad it wanted the break during finals week. bleah.
anyways, i'm safely home and am now seeking the recipe noell uses for balsamic vinegared-stuffed with something-portobello mushrooms. so i must go. ta.
Sunday, December 07, 2003
Monday, December 01, 2003
ice water
well, apparently drinking ice water burns more calories than drinking warm water. but isn't this the same theory that birthed the pizza-and-pop-and-ice cream-diet?
Unfortunately I can find no evidence that ice water isn't good for you. Except that if you've been exercising, you should drink room temperature water....something about shocking your body when your own body temp is high, or something. this is currently unconfirmed info.
I just found out that i have to do a ton of greek translation by tuesday, so i can't spend time looking this up anymore. if anyone knows, by all means share! :-)
happy monday. well, sunday night.
:-)
Unfortunately I can find no evidence that ice water isn't good for you. Except that if you've been exercising, you should drink room temperature water....something about shocking your body when your own body temp is high, or something. this is currently unconfirmed info.
I just found out that i have to do a ton of greek translation by tuesday, so i can't spend time looking this up anymore. if anyone knows, by all means share! :-)
happy monday. well, sunday night.
:-)
Wednesday, November 26, 2003
the first thanksgiving?
**The folklore taught in schools has it that the Pilgrims originated the Thanksgiving festival and that they provided the Native Americans with a feast they had never seen. In fact, the opposite is true. In November 1621, one year after the Pilgrims arrived in Plymouth, the Pilgrims celebrated harvest festival jointly with the Native Americans-a harvest festival that the native inhabitants had been celebrating for hundreds, perhaps thousands of years. Most of the food at this festival was supplied by Native Americans. It was a meal that the Pilgrims had never witnessed, consisting of native American foodstuffs. The main meal was a sort of corn meal mush along with nuts and fruits such as gooseberries, strawberries, plums, cherries, cranberries and a groundnut known as the bogg bean. Popcorn and popcorn balls made by the Indians with maple syrup were served as a sweet. There was a variety of breadstuffs such as cornpone, ashcakes, and hoe cakes, made by Native Americans from their own recipes. It is also possible that other native foods such as pumpkin and squash were served. In his Food Encyclopedia, James Trager tells us that there is a live possibility that turkey wasn't even served. It's true that the Indians provided some deer meat, and game birds, but they were side dishes and not the focus of the meal. So the 1620 Thanksgiving dinner proper in 1620 was probably a totally vegetarian one, because the Pilgrims were unable to find animal flesh. The second Thanksgiving in 1621 was also catered by the Native Americans. Not only was it probably turkeyless, but it was mainly vegetarian. Doesn't it make more sense, therefore, that instead of celebrating Thanksgiving as an orgy of Turkey slaughter, Americans should celebrate a vegetarian harvest festival? **
(from this great page)
(from this great page)
conclusions from previous two posts
1. turkeys are dumb but killing them is probably still wrong, especially the way it's done, and who wants to eat dead animal? think about the live turkey while you're chowing down. Whose mother did you kill for your own pleasure?
2. it probably isn't good for you, but it sure does taste good. this is not different from anything else you could eat, including pie. except pumpkin, which doesn't even taste good.
3. tradition isn't a valid reason to do anything else, so really this isn't it either. Besides, the tradition is most likely wrong.
4. everyone should go to one of those vegetarian thanksgiving parties where they have a live turkey running around, because that's kind of cool.
5. just eat mashed potatoes, people. :-)
2. it probably isn't good for you, but it sure does taste good. this is not different from anything else you could eat, including pie. except pumpkin, which doesn't even taste good.
3. tradition isn't a valid reason to do anything else, so really this isn't it either. Besides, the tradition is most likely wrong.
4. everyone should go to one of those vegetarian thanksgiving parties where they have a live turkey running around, because that's kind of cool.
5. just eat mashed potatoes, people. :-)
top reasons to go ahead and eat turkey (from the vegetarian)
1. turkeys are stupid and possibly deserve to die.
2. it tastes good. well, dark meat does. it might be the ONLY meat that tastes good, actually.
3. tradition.
2. it tastes good. well, dark meat does. it might be the ONLY meat that tastes good, actually.
3. tradition.
top reasons not to eat turkey
1. it's dead. gobble gobble.
2. only the dark meat is worth eating and it's apparently bad for you.
3. it will make you sleepy.
4. you have to clean up after you cook it and that's just gross.
5. The turkeys have been treated horribly, may have been boiled alive, and were raised standing in their own poo. that's just awful.
6. 90% of all turkey meat is contaminated with some kind of bacteria. (peta brochure)
2. only the dark meat is worth eating and it's apparently bad for you.
3. it will make you sleepy.
4. you have to clean up after you cook it and that's just gross.
5. The turkeys have been treated horribly, may have been boiled alive, and were raised standing in their own poo. that's just awful.
6. 90% of all turkey meat is contaminated with some kind of bacteria. (peta brochure)
Sunday, November 23, 2003
uses of ice besides beverages, where it shouldn't be anyway
Well, there are the obvious:
*ice packs
*freezing ice cream (in a homemade-ice-cream-maker)
*keeping in ice chests, lunch boxes, etc, to keep things cold while you get ready to use them.
*putting in plants, to water them slowly for a while rather than drowning them with a hose
*putting down your friend's shirts when they are hot. or when they are cold.
*melting, then filtering, for drinking water
*freezing your credit cards so you won't use them (theoretically)
*chilling wine (in one of those buckets designed to do this...not just in a pitcher you fill with ice then stick the wine bottle in. I mean, that does work, but it's much less efficient and much less easy than the wine bucket.)
*rubbing on your lips after you've played a wind instrument for too long. Popsicles are better, but ice works in a pinch. However, see below on nasty unfiltered water ice. bleah.
*put ice in front of a small fan to cool the air that is blowing through your room.
*put in pet's water bowl in the summer to keep water cool. Pets don't care about filtered water.
*cleaning gum off of fabric. or hair. peanut butter also often works for this.
*cleaning candle wax off just about anything. I haven't tried this on hair but it would probably work. However, if you have candle wax in your hair you need to rethink your habit of standing underneath dripping candles.
*getting paper wet. if you wanted to do this very slowly, you could...just put an ice cube on some paper. soon it will be wet.
*breaking things. ie: computers, printers, toasters, books, windows, etc. you can either throw ice cubes, thus shattering whatever it is you wish to break, or put the ice cube in it and wait for it to melt, thus disabling whatever you are breaking. I don't recommend this necessarily, I'm just saying you could.
*melting. i don't know why you would want to do this--you obviously already have water. and i already said this about 8 lines up.
*holding. i mean, if you were really hot, just holding an ice cube might help cool you down.
*put them in your bath. a cold bath is probably good for your skin somehow. maybe. but this means you can't have a hot bath, because the ice will melt. really this thought is only ideal if you are the person in one of those urban legends...who's had a kidney removed and wakes up in a bathtub full of ice. you know the ones. they aren't true.
*testing the strength of paper towels. how many ice cubes can your paper towel hold? I bet Bounty or Brawny or one of those B-brands can hold a lot. at least their commercials claim they can.
*preserving bugs. your ice maker probably does this for you already. look carefully when you get ice out of it, otherwise you might drink a fruit fly. eew.
ok, i'm tired now and need a nap, but first i have to plan some youth group. which starts in 55 minutes. hmm......maybe no nap. sad.
happy sunday. stay away from ice in your beverages. :-)
*ice packs
*freezing ice cream (in a homemade-ice-cream-maker)
*keeping in ice chests, lunch boxes, etc, to keep things cold while you get ready to use them.
*putting in plants, to water them slowly for a while rather than drowning them with a hose
*putting down your friend's shirts when they are hot. or when they are cold.
*melting, then filtering, for drinking water
*freezing your credit cards so you won't use them (theoretically)
*chilling wine (in one of those buckets designed to do this...not just in a pitcher you fill with ice then stick the wine bottle in. I mean, that does work, but it's much less efficient and much less easy than the wine bucket.)
*rubbing on your lips after you've played a wind instrument for too long. Popsicles are better, but ice works in a pinch. However, see below on nasty unfiltered water ice. bleah.
*put ice in front of a small fan to cool the air that is blowing through your room.
*put in pet's water bowl in the summer to keep water cool. Pets don't care about filtered water.
*cleaning gum off of fabric. or hair. peanut butter also often works for this.
*cleaning candle wax off just about anything. I haven't tried this on hair but it would probably work. However, if you have candle wax in your hair you need to rethink your habit of standing underneath dripping candles.
*getting paper wet. if you wanted to do this very slowly, you could...just put an ice cube on some paper. soon it will be wet.
*breaking things. ie: computers, printers, toasters, books, windows, etc. you can either throw ice cubes, thus shattering whatever it is you wish to break, or put the ice cube in it and wait for it to melt, thus disabling whatever you are breaking. I don't recommend this necessarily, I'm just saying you could.
*melting. i don't know why you would want to do this--you obviously already have water. and i already said this about 8 lines up.
*holding. i mean, if you were really hot, just holding an ice cube might help cool you down.
*put them in your bath. a cold bath is probably good for your skin somehow. maybe. but this means you can't have a hot bath, because the ice will melt. really this thought is only ideal if you are the person in one of those urban legends...who's had a kidney removed and wakes up in a bathtub full of ice. you know the ones. they aren't true.
*testing the strength of paper towels. how many ice cubes can your paper towel hold? I bet Bounty or Brawny or one of those B-brands can hold a lot. at least their commercials claim they can.
*preserving bugs. your ice maker probably does this for you already. look carefully when you get ice out of it, otherwise you might drink a fruit fly. eew.
ok, i'm tired now and need a nap, but first i have to plan some youth group. which starts in 55 minutes. hmm......maybe no nap. sad.
happy sunday. stay away from ice in your beverages. :-)
sadness
today i had to eat ice cream from my freezer because i couldn't get to Jake's (car still dead).
In other news, yes, I realize that ice put into ramen noodles would still be unfiltered, but you see, one wouldn't notice the nasty taste because of the obscene amount of salt in the flavoring for ramen noodles. With a little luck, that same obscene amount of salt might just kill off any nastiness in your unfiltered ice cube.
alternatively, you could just wait until it was cool enough to eat. That takes about what, a minute and a half?
church tomorrow. as usual. i might be typing that here every saturday night from now until i die. i wonder if I can keep that up, or if i'll forget at some point, and someone will ask "hey, Teri, didn't you go to church on sunday? because you didn't tell us you were going to. yes, i know you're a minister...so?"
In other news, yes, I realize that ice put into ramen noodles would still be unfiltered, but you see, one wouldn't notice the nasty taste because of the obscene amount of salt in the flavoring for ramen noodles. With a little luck, that same obscene amount of salt might just kill off any nastiness in your unfiltered ice cube.
alternatively, you could just wait until it was cool enough to eat. That takes about what, a minute and a half?
church tomorrow. as usual. i might be typing that here every saturday night from now until i die. i wonder if I can keep that up, or if i'll forget at some point, and someone will ask "hey, Teri, didn't you go to church on sunday? because you didn't tell us you were going to. yes, i know you're a minister...so?"
Friday, November 21, 2003
Friday, Friday...
well, some homework done, but not enough to count. Crap.
Now it's friday so I'm just going to try to get it done at some point. before the end of the weekend.
in the meantime, we're talking about Thanksgiving in the youth group this week. How is that going to go, you ask? Well, that is the question, isn't it.
Today we had communion like an actual meal--we had people sit around tables we brought into the chapel, and share bread and grape juice. It was cool and everyone loves us for our experimental chapel. Brilliant!
I think that ice is not good. in fact, ice might be satanic somehow. think about it. not only is it super cold, in fact colder than you probably really need it to be, but it also falls out of the glass on you when it decides to move randomly. then you spill on yourself and look like a dumbass. and really, who wants that? and what if you're wearing white and you spill coke? or cranberry juice? or grape juice? or coffee? i mean, really. why, people, why?
or, at the very least, why not use a straw?
also, ice tends to be made from unfiltered water, which means it makes your drink taste bad and probably infects it with all kinds of impurities.
i think the europeans have it right. they don't even make ice for drinks usually.
maybe this weekend i'll post a list of uses of ice that are not beverage related.
for example, it can be used to cool ramen soup that is too hot.
it can be used to put down people's shirts when they are very hot. except my experience is that people don't actually appreciate that.
hmm...yes. watch this space.
In the meantime, I'll be going for a much better form of ice: the kind followed with cream. that's right, Jake's, here I come!
Now it's friday so I'm just going to try to get it done at some point. before the end of the weekend.
in the meantime, we're talking about Thanksgiving in the youth group this week. How is that going to go, you ask? Well, that is the question, isn't it.
Today we had communion like an actual meal--we had people sit around tables we brought into the chapel, and share bread and grape juice. It was cool and everyone loves us for our experimental chapel. Brilliant!
I think that ice is not good. in fact, ice might be satanic somehow. think about it. not only is it super cold, in fact colder than you probably really need it to be, but it also falls out of the glass on you when it decides to move randomly. then you spill on yourself and look like a dumbass. and really, who wants that? and what if you're wearing white and you spill coke? or cranberry juice? or grape juice? or coffee? i mean, really. why, people, why?
or, at the very least, why not use a straw?
also, ice tends to be made from unfiltered water, which means it makes your drink taste bad and probably infects it with all kinds of impurities.
i think the europeans have it right. they don't even make ice for drinks usually.
maybe this weekend i'll post a list of uses of ice that are not beverage related.
for example, it can be used to cool ramen soup that is too hot.
it can be used to put down people's shirts when they are very hot. except my experience is that people don't actually appreciate that.
hmm...yes. watch this space.
In the meantime, I'll be going for a much better form of ice: the kind followed with cream. that's right, Jake's, here I come!
Thursday, November 20, 2003
bulletin, check.
homework, not check.
come to think of it, maybe the bulletin is not yet a check.
because, you see, it doesn't have any music in it. the music needs to be reduced on the copy machine.
then i can check off the bulletin.
but not the homework.
crap.
come to think of it, maybe the bulletin is not yet a check.
because, you see, it doesn't have any music in it. the music needs to be reduced on the copy machine.
then i can check off the bulletin.
but not the homework.
crap.
Tuesday, November 18, 2003
if all of the raindrops were lemon drops and gum drops
then we'd all be fat, and our tongues would tingle from so much sugar and hard candy, and someone would likely have an eye poked out by a lemon drop.
but it would be kind of fun.
just saying.
but it would be kind of fun.
just saying.
Monday, November 17, 2003
naturally...
I'm brilliant. i mean, obviously.
I preached well today--or maybe I'm supposed to say something like "God used me to speak today" or some such thing, but I was up until 4 in the morning rewriting/finishing the sermon, so you know what? I did a good job. And I'm brilliant.
Don't worry, I'm not at a loss for self esteem. Humility, maybe. Self esteem, no.
In other news, 8th grade girls talk a lot. And so do I. But really, what parent truly expects that a room full of middle school girls is going to finish anything on time? And what parent asks a church group to hurry up and finish praying? honestly. it's church people, we run over. and we pray. just saying.
amy's chili is good.
noell's black bean soup is good.
mrs. dryman's spaghetti sauce (portobella mushroom) was good.
jake's ice cream is the best place ever. except happy mart. well, on the other hand, happy mart is 6 hours away in a very sketchy small appalachian town, and jake's is about a mile from home. so really it's a question of convenience as to who wins the best-place-ever award.
apparently the car is fixable after all. as in, if there's a new engine put in, it will work again. so it has gone to the doctor again, this time a far-away doctor, a specialist if you will, and it will be gone for about a month. but it will come back and be like new. this is very exciting. Very.
now, while i wait for a ride, i'm going to work on the mission trip.
goodnight, all...
I preached well today--or maybe I'm supposed to say something like "God used me to speak today" or some such thing, but I was up until 4 in the morning rewriting/finishing the sermon, so you know what? I did a good job. And I'm brilliant.
Don't worry, I'm not at a loss for self esteem. Humility, maybe. Self esteem, no.
In other news, 8th grade girls talk a lot. And so do I. But really, what parent truly expects that a room full of middle school girls is going to finish anything on time? And what parent asks a church group to hurry up and finish praying? honestly. it's church people, we run over. and we pray. just saying.
amy's chili is good.
noell's black bean soup is good.
mrs. dryman's spaghetti sauce (portobella mushroom) was good.
jake's ice cream is the best place ever. except happy mart. well, on the other hand, happy mart is 6 hours away in a very sketchy small appalachian town, and jake's is about a mile from home. so really it's a question of convenience as to who wins the best-place-ever award.
apparently the car is fixable after all. as in, if there's a new engine put in, it will work again. so it has gone to the doctor again, this time a far-away doctor, a specialist if you will, and it will be gone for about a month. but it will come back and be like new. this is very exciting. Very.
now, while i wait for a ride, i'm going to work on the mission trip.
goodnight, all...
Sunday, November 16, 2003
Speak Up
Speak Up!
1 Samuel 1.1-2.10
CNCP
November 16 2003
God seems to have a history of closing wombs and forgetting about women, then miraculously remembering them. First we had Sarah, then Rebekah, and Rachel, and now Hannah. Except this time it seems God had some help in remembering—maybe God got a remembrel—you know, in Harry Potter they’re those glass orbs that get red smoke in them when you’ve forgotten something…and God finally remembered what it was God was forgetting—Hannah!
Who sent this remembrel? Hannah, of course….but why? Why was it so important that Hannah not be forgotten? Well, for starters, her husband’s other wife, Peninnah, was mean. Can’t you just hear her calling Hannah names and mocking her—“o barren one” , “dry well” , “worthless wife…” , “hey, Hannah, your oven is off” …. She was irritating, she was mean, and she caused some serious depression. It doesn’t take long for this kind of verbal abuse to become a part of you—something you believe, something that you won’t talk back to or stand up against because you secretly wonder if it’s right and you don’t deserve to be called a person. That’s what Peninnah was doing—in this story she represents the whole ancient society, telling Hannah that she is worthless, that she is not a whole person (or even a person at all) because she isn’t like everyone else, her experience is different, she’s not useful to her husband…for she has borne no children. In this story, Hannah never talked back to Peninnah—perhaps she didn’t have the strength or the will, perhaps she didn’t have the heart, perhaps she didn’t have the self-esteem. In any case, Peninnah continued her abuse year after year.
Hannah’s husband, Elkanah, doesn’t seem to be much better. Sure, he loves her in spite of her barrenness, he even gives her a double portion at the time of the yearly sacrifice—but he isn’t terribly sensitive. If he has to ask why Hannah is sad, why she cries, and why she won’t eat, then he’s not paying a lot of attention to his family dynamics. Then he asks the problematic question: “Am I not more to you than ten sons?” Translation for modern readers: “Can’t I be enough for you?” Hannah can’t answer this question.
Maybe people read this as a loving question—Elkanah loved Hannah even though she didn’t have any children. Others, however, might point out that perhaps it is one of those moments—you know the ones, when you think you’re saying the right thing but you really, aren’t—insinuating that he alone could change the eyes of society and give her personhood, as if he alone could simply remove all the expectations and judgments of the community from her. A barren woman in those days was of no worth, and everyone knew it. Besides, it would be easy for him to say, since he already has children to be his heirs. It’s not like he needs Hannah’s children to carry on his family line, and her children wouldn’t be among his firstborn anyway, because Peninnah’s several children have snatched up the biggest portions of any inheritance.
But Hannah doesn’t answer her husband’s question. She remains completely silent. She is depressed, she has lost her appetite and her voice. So she does the only thing she can—she goes into the house of the LORD and prays. She makes a deal: “God, if you’ll remember me and give me a son, I’ll give him right back to you.” She doesn’t seem to want the child for herself or her husband—she doesn’t want him to have around the house or the farm, to be a comfort or help, or to carry on the family line. The most important thing for Hannah is not to have the child with her, it’s to have the child. So she bargains, and she is fervent in her prayer. Only the most desperate woman in the most desperate situation could make this prayer, with this promise to God that she’d give up the child she so longed for. That kind of desperation led her to a make a desperate deal.
However, as she made this prayer, Hannah wasn’t speaking out loud. She was just property, she wasn’t worth much, and she had probably so internalized Peninnah’s abuse that she didn’t have a voice to speak with anymore—she had been silenced by her community, as so many people still are. Unfortunately Eli, the priest, thought she was drunk because she was moving her lips without making a sound. He confronted her about making a spectacle of herself there, in the Temple of the LORD. He essentially confirmed her worthlessness and demanded that she leave behind her sinfulness. But Hannah has finally had the last straw: she finds her voice and defends herself to this priest, to this man of God who is supposed to see everyone as God’s child and servant, this one person who shouldn’t think the worst of her but apparently does anyway. “Do not consider me a worthless woman!!!” she says. She has at long last stood up for herself and contradicted what everyone has been thinking. She has been continuously silenced by a community that considers her worthless, by Peninnah who abuses and insults her, and now the priest is impugning her integrity too! Hannah does NOT stand for this. “Do not consider me a worthless woman. I have been praying this whole time, in great anxiety and distress.” Hannah is silent no more.
Eli was probably shocked that this woman, this worthless woman, had talked back to him. How dare she? He was also, hopefully, upset with himself for not being able to tell the difference between prayer and drunken stupor. But he doesn’t show any of this…instead he takes his words back. He then assures her that God will hear her prayer and grant her request, and Hannah goes away, she eats again, she drinks again, and, most importantly, her “countenance was sad no longer.”
Hannah has now talked to God silently, and to Eli out loud, and now she has all kinds of self-esteem growing in her. God remembers her at long last, and she has a baby. While the boy is still unweaned, it’s time for the yearly trip to Shiloh. The whole family is going, but Hannah speaks to her husband for the first time in this whole story and says, “no, I’m not going. I’ll come later, and guess what? I have to leave the boy there.” Not only has Hannah found her voice, but she’s found her willpower and her spunk, too!
Now, at this point, you would expect that Elkanah would say, “umm, excuse me, but technically, according to socio-political family system rules of our age, that child is mine and I get to make the decisions. I already let you choose his silly name….what do you mean you’re going to leave a boy, someone who could be really useful on the farm, at the temple? I don’t think so, and if you do I’ll get rid of you AND bring the boy home.” But he doesn’t. Instead he says, “do what seems good to you. May the LORD establish his word.” Umm…this isn’t exactly normal. Men of this time period are supposed to be in charge. Men of this time period are the heads of households and the women are property, not the decision makers. Men are strong and women follow. But apparently not in this case, for Elkanah, the one who only a year ago asked “am I not more to you than ten sons,” finally understands Hannah, and what she needs. So, Elkanah and the whole family pile into the minivan and leave, and Hannah and Samuel stay behind.
Once the two of them do go up to Shiloh, Hannah sees Eli and rushes over to him to tell him the news… “I was the one here a year ago, and this was what I prayed for (she says, pointing at the child in her arms), and look, I got it! So now I’m giving him to the LORD, which means you get to take care of him here. Have fun, and be nice to him, and may he be God’s servant forever. Bye!” Is this really the woman whose lips were moving but whose voice was silent just one year ago? What happened? Her newfound voice is startling and amazing. Well, she did have the baby she asked for. And not only that, but this baby is not just like any other baby. This child is Samuel, who will become one of Israel’s greatest prophets, the prophet who speaks directly with God and anoints kings. God has not only given Hannah a child, but has placed her in the line of Israel’s matriarchs. She is essential to Israel’s life and continued story. She is God’s chosen one, who brings a bearer of God’s message into the world.
And so she goes into the temple and prays. Last time Hannah was fervent but silent. Now she still prays fervently, but she prays to God out loud, she praises in a loud voice, and she goes on for quite some time. The song she sings as her prayer is remarkably similar to a psalm that is used at the time of the Passover festival, and extols God for God’s amazing power and justice. God has lifted up the lowly and brought down the mighty….God has lifted up Hannah from her despair and depression, and has thwarted the insults and abuse of Peninnah, society, and the priest. God has opened Hannah’s eyes to her full humanity—and now (in the eyes of the world) Hannah is as worthy as any other woman. There is no ground for the community’s view of her any longer, and that has turned the world on its head….God is the only Rock, and God is the one who gives, and God is the one who judges, for the whole earth, and indeed the pillars on which the earth rests, are Gods. Peninnah doesn’t have anyone to make fun of anymore…indeed Hannah nearly addresses her directly: “talk no more so very proudly, let not arrogance come from your mouth….” Because no longer is Peninnah able to consider herself better than Hannah. No longer is Hannah the utter bottom of the food chain in the family, a non-person. The society has no more mean names to call Hannah. Eli can’t say she’s a worthless drunken woman anymore. God has made her aware of her wholeness. She is not only a mother, but the mother of a prophet, and thus a crucial character in Israel’s story. No wonder, thousands of years later, Mary used the same words to praise the God who made her a central figure in the same story. And now not only is Hannah lifted up, but Hannah’s voice is lifted up. In the beginning of the story, she was silent, but now she raises her voice for the heavens and the earth to hear—she speaks up at long last. And she uses her voice to say “this child isn’t what’s important—and I’m going to give the boy back to God, who is The Holy One who breaks molds, does new things, and reverses injustice in the world.”
It seems that Hannah’s is an early story of women’s rights, of women’s voices and authority in the home and out of it too. This is a story voiceless women, and indeed all people, can plug in to, a part of the story of God’s community that we can all find our voices in.
Some of you may be wondering “how can I find my voice in a story about a woman who can’t have children?” Our society today doesn’t place such a strong emphasis on children as anyone’s only path to worthiness, thankfully. Hannah’s story is not just about the child, though. It’s also about judgment and worth. Yes, the ancient community judged women by their child-bearing ability. Later, the medieval community judged people on their piety. And now our modern community often judges us on our education, our car, the church we belong to, the clothes we wear. We, like Hannah, may not be able to find our own voices to speak up against these judgments. But, also like Hannah, God shows us our full humanity, and opens our eyes to our worth as God’s children. Our worthiness lies, not in the expectations of society, but in our identity as God’s beloved, God’s chosen people. And so, like Hannah, we must raise our voices for earth and heaven to hear, speaking up for ourselves and others, and exulting in the Holy One, beside whom there is no other.
1 Samuel 1.1-2.10
CNCP
November 16 2003
God seems to have a history of closing wombs and forgetting about women, then miraculously remembering them. First we had Sarah, then Rebekah, and Rachel, and now Hannah. Except this time it seems God had some help in remembering—maybe God got a remembrel—you know, in Harry Potter they’re those glass orbs that get red smoke in them when you’ve forgotten something…and God finally remembered what it was God was forgetting—Hannah!
Who sent this remembrel? Hannah, of course….but why? Why was it so important that Hannah not be forgotten? Well, for starters, her husband’s other wife, Peninnah, was mean. Can’t you just hear her calling Hannah names and mocking her—“o barren one” , “dry well” , “worthless wife…” , “hey, Hannah, your oven is off” …. She was irritating, she was mean, and she caused some serious depression. It doesn’t take long for this kind of verbal abuse to become a part of you—something you believe, something that you won’t talk back to or stand up against because you secretly wonder if it’s right and you don’t deserve to be called a person. That’s what Peninnah was doing—in this story she represents the whole ancient society, telling Hannah that she is worthless, that she is not a whole person (or even a person at all) because she isn’t like everyone else, her experience is different, she’s not useful to her husband…for she has borne no children. In this story, Hannah never talked back to Peninnah—perhaps she didn’t have the strength or the will, perhaps she didn’t have the heart, perhaps she didn’t have the self-esteem. In any case, Peninnah continued her abuse year after year.
Hannah’s husband, Elkanah, doesn’t seem to be much better. Sure, he loves her in spite of her barrenness, he even gives her a double portion at the time of the yearly sacrifice—but he isn’t terribly sensitive. If he has to ask why Hannah is sad, why she cries, and why she won’t eat, then he’s not paying a lot of attention to his family dynamics. Then he asks the problematic question: “Am I not more to you than ten sons?” Translation for modern readers: “Can’t I be enough for you?” Hannah can’t answer this question.
Maybe people read this as a loving question—Elkanah loved Hannah even though she didn’t have any children. Others, however, might point out that perhaps it is one of those moments—you know the ones, when you think you’re saying the right thing but you really, aren’t—insinuating that he alone could change the eyes of society and give her personhood, as if he alone could simply remove all the expectations and judgments of the community from her. A barren woman in those days was of no worth, and everyone knew it. Besides, it would be easy for him to say, since he already has children to be his heirs. It’s not like he needs Hannah’s children to carry on his family line, and her children wouldn’t be among his firstborn anyway, because Peninnah’s several children have snatched up the biggest portions of any inheritance.
But Hannah doesn’t answer her husband’s question. She remains completely silent. She is depressed, she has lost her appetite and her voice. So she does the only thing she can—she goes into the house of the LORD and prays. She makes a deal: “God, if you’ll remember me and give me a son, I’ll give him right back to you.” She doesn’t seem to want the child for herself or her husband—she doesn’t want him to have around the house or the farm, to be a comfort or help, or to carry on the family line. The most important thing for Hannah is not to have the child with her, it’s to have the child. So she bargains, and she is fervent in her prayer. Only the most desperate woman in the most desperate situation could make this prayer, with this promise to God that she’d give up the child she so longed for. That kind of desperation led her to a make a desperate deal.
However, as she made this prayer, Hannah wasn’t speaking out loud. She was just property, she wasn’t worth much, and she had probably so internalized Peninnah’s abuse that she didn’t have a voice to speak with anymore—she had been silenced by her community, as so many people still are. Unfortunately Eli, the priest, thought she was drunk because she was moving her lips without making a sound. He confronted her about making a spectacle of herself there, in the Temple of the LORD. He essentially confirmed her worthlessness and demanded that she leave behind her sinfulness. But Hannah has finally had the last straw: she finds her voice and defends herself to this priest, to this man of God who is supposed to see everyone as God’s child and servant, this one person who shouldn’t think the worst of her but apparently does anyway. “Do not consider me a worthless woman!!!” she says. She has at long last stood up for herself and contradicted what everyone has been thinking. She has been continuously silenced by a community that considers her worthless, by Peninnah who abuses and insults her, and now the priest is impugning her integrity too! Hannah does NOT stand for this. “Do not consider me a worthless woman. I have been praying this whole time, in great anxiety and distress.” Hannah is silent no more.
Eli was probably shocked that this woman, this worthless woman, had talked back to him. How dare she? He was also, hopefully, upset with himself for not being able to tell the difference between prayer and drunken stupor. But he doesn’t show any of this…instead he takes his words back. He then assures her that God will hear her prayer and grant her request, and Hannah goes away, she eats again, she drinks again, and, most importantly, her “countenance was sad no longer.”
Hannah has now talked to God silently, and to Eli out loud, and now she has all kinds of self-esteem growing in her. God remembers her at long last, and she has a baby. While the boy is still unweaned, it’s time for the yearly trip to Shiloh. The whole family is going, but Hannah speaks to her husband for the first time in this whole story and says, “no, I’m not going. I’ll come later, and guess what? I have to leave the boy there.” Not only has Hannah found her voice, but she’s found her willpower and her spunk, too!
Now, at this point, you would expect that Elkanah would say, “umm, excuse me, but technically, according to socio-political family system rules of our age, that child is mine and I get to make the decisions. I already let you choose his silly name….what do you mean you’re going to leave a boy, someone who could be really useful on the farm, at the temple? I don’t think so, and if you do I’ll get rid of you AND bring the boy home.” But he doesn’t. Instead he says, “do what seems good to you. May the LORD establish his word.” Umm…this isn’t exactly normal. Men of this time period are supposed to be in charge. Men of this time period are the heads of households and the women are property, not the decision makers. Men are strong and women follow. But apparently not in this case, for Elkanah, the one who only a year ago asked “am I not more to you than ten sons,” finally understands Hannah, and what she needs. So, Elkanah and the whole family pile into the minivan and leave, and Hannah and Samuel stay behind.
Once the two of them do go up to Shiloh, Hannah sees Eli and rushes over to him to tell him the news… “I was the one here a year ago, and this was what I prayed for (she says, pointing at the child in her arms), and look, I got it! So now I’m giving him to the LORD, which means you get to take care of him here. Have fun, and be nice to him, and may he be God’s servant forever. Bye!” Is this really the woman whose lips were moving but whose voice was silent just one year ago? What happened? Her newfound voice is startling and amazing. Well, she did have the baby she asked for. And not only that, but this baby is not just like any other baby. This child is Samuel, who will become one of Israel’s greatest prophets, the prophet who speaks directly with God and anoints kings. God has not only given Hannah a child, but has placed her in the line of Israel’s matriarchs. She is essential to Israel’s life and continued story. She is God’s chosen one, who brings a bearer of God’s message into the world.
And so she goes into the temple and prays. Last time Hannah was fervent but silent. Now she still prays fervently, but she prays to God out loud, she praises in a loud voice, and she goes on for quite some time. The song she sings as her prayer is remarkably similar to a psalm that is used at the time of the Passover festival, and extols God for God’s amazing power and justice. God has lifted up the lowly and brought down the mighty….God has lifted up Hannah from her despair and depression, and has thwarted the insults and abuse of Peninnah, society, and the priest. God has opened Hannah’s eyes to her full humanity—and now (in the eyes of the world) Hannah is as worthy as any other woman. There is no ground for the community’s view of her any longer, and that has turned the world on its head….God is the only Rock, and God is the one who gives, and God is the one who judges, for the whole earth, and indeed the pillars on which the earth rests, are Gods. Peninnah doesn’t have anyone to make fun of anymore…indeed Hannah nearly addresses her directly: “talk no more so very proudly, let not arrogance come from your mouth….” Because no longer is Peninnah able to consider herself better than Hannah. No longer is Hannah the utter bottom of the food chain in the family, a non-person. The society has no more mean names to call Hannah. Eli can’t say she’s a worthless drunken woman anymore. God has made her aware of her wholeness. She is not only a mother, but the mother of a prophet, and thus a crucial character in Israel’s story. No wonder, thousands of years later, Mary used the same words to praise the God who made her a central figure in the same story. And now not only is Hannah lifted up, but Hannah’s voice is lifted up. In the beginning of the story, she was silent, but now she raises her voice for the heavens and the earth to hear—she speaks up at long last. And she uses her voice to say “this child isn’t what’s important—and I’m going to give the boy back to God, who is The Holy One who breaks molds, does new things, and reverses injustice in the world.”
It seems that Hannah’s is an early story of women’s rights, of women’s voices and authority in the home and out of it too. This is a story voiceless women, and indeed all people, can plug in to, a part of the story of God’s community that we can all find our voices in.
Some of you may be wondering “how can I find my voice in a story about a woman who can’t have children?” Our society today doesn’t place such a strong emphasis on children as anyone’s only path to worthiness, thankfully. Hannah’s story is not just about the child, though. It’s also about judgment and worth. Yes, the ancient community judged women by their child-bearing ability. Later, the medieval community judged people on their piety. And now our modern community often judges us on our education, our car, the church we belong to, the clothes we wear. We, like Hannah, may not be able to find our own voices to speak up against these judgments. But, also like Hannah, God shows us our full humanity, and opens our eyes to our worth as God’s children. Our worthiness lies, not in the expectations of society, but in our identity as God’s beloved, God’s chosen people. And so, like Hannah, we must raise our voices for earth and heaven to hear, speaking up for ourselves and others, and exulting in the Holy One, beside whom there is no other.
Wednesday, November 12, 2003
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