Past, Present & Future

I've had a good weekend so far, which also means I've done pretty much no work. I joined in the celebrations for Trish's 30th birthday, and had a wondeful time. Her play,Heartbreak Waltz, was beautiful and wonderful. Trish was, of course, absolutely amazing. She is truly talented. If you didn't go see the show last Friday, you should go soon. Then, we were off to Tripp's to enjoy Jeff's gumbo and great conversation with great friends. Saturday invovled more friends and fun: walking in the morning with Catherine, Anna, and Jolene, and then grabbing Stephanie to go to the Long Grove Chocolate Festival. Mmmm... chocolate fondue. The festival was actually less about chocolate than I was expecting, but we still had a blast. Luke & I had dinner with Dave and Stephanie too. Stephanie is a really good cook. Yummy day.
I've re-connected (in the online sort of way) with a few friends of mine from home, three women who are finishing their first year of college right about now. Their livejournals have involved some reminiscing and some looking ahead, and a note of frustration at being caught inbetween two worlds. In short, their conversations are really echoing with me. Seminary is quite the liminal place... this crucible of formation means that we are always stuck inbetween something: we're aspirants waiting for postulancy, postulants waiting for candidacy, people away from home, but we may never really go back home. We're not clergy, but we're not longer exactly lay people either. Even today's weather is inbetween: please either rain, or let the sun come out!! Geez. Its always nice to know that I have several friends on the other side of this ordination journey. And, in case they read this, there are plenty of folks on the other side of "college/camp" journey too. Holler if you need us!
But practical things first... I need to go to the store and get milk. Yum, I love milk.

My Night-time Verses

So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everthing has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the minsitry of reconciliation - 2 Corinthians 5:17-18


the thin horizon of a plan is almost clear
my friends and i have had a tough time
bruising our brains hard up against change
all the old dogs and the magician
now i see we're in the boat in two by twos
only the heart that we have for a tool we could use
and the very close quarters are hard to get used to
love weighs the hull down with its weight

but the wood is tired and the wood is old
and we'll make it fine if the weather holds
but if the weather holds we'll have missed the point
that's where i need to go

no way construction of this tricky plan
was built by other than a greater hand
with a love that passes all out understanding
watching closely over the journey
yeah but what it takes to cross the great divide
seems more than all the courage i can muster up inside
although we get to have some answers when we reach the other side
the prize is always worth the rocky ride

but the wood is tired and the wood is old
and we'll make it fine if the weather holds
but if the weather holds we'll have missed the point
that's where i need to go

sometimes i ask to sneak a closer look
skip to the final chapter of the book
and then maybe steer us clear from some of the pain it took
to get us where we are this far yeah
but the question drowns in it's futility
and even i have got to laugh at me
no one gets to miss the storm of what will be
just holding on for the ride

the wood is tired and the wood is old
we'll make it fine if the weather holds
but if the weather holds we'll have missed the point
that's where i need to go
-Indigo Girls, The Wood Song

Rain, Rain, Go Away

It has been raining all day here in Evanston. As I mentioned to Trevor yesterday, my moods tend to run in sync with the weather report. So, it has been a bit of a long day, and the edge-iness of being in seminary is wearing on me and my classmates. Thankfully, David has replied in words that I was too tired to think of. Maybe that is what community is for - when you are too tired, annoyed, or confused to find hope in brokeness, someone else is there to remind you how. Thanks David.
On another (hopefully more cheery note), I was thinking in class today about how I got hooked into this blogging thing. At my old job, I was on the "tech innovations" committee, and part of my being in that group meant investigating blogs. I had a few that I read regularly for a while, although I don't seem to remember any of them anymore. So I came to Seabury a bit primed for this whole blogging thing. And then, to find that my new neighbor (Jeff) and some of his friends (Tripp) did this... how could I not get involved? And now, I have been hooked. I wonder how everyone else around here got hooked. Was it an immediate conversion experience? Or were y'all slowly converted as you learned and tried it out? Yup, I'm trying to make not-so-subtle connections between the blogging world and evangelism. But hey, that is where my mind wandered this morning in my sullen, rainy mood. I guess rain ain't all bad.

By the way, I've added some links to my sidebar- they are other Seabury juniors in Ethics class with me. Smart ones, all of them, with some very different backgrounds and ideas. Just more fuel for the procrastination fire, in case anyone needs it!

RENT!

Okay, so I was checking out a friend's livejournal, and there is a quiz for what RENT! character you are... Sort of like the Monty Python quiz that Tripp and Juliet had posted the other day.
Here's mine:

Joanne - the lawyer. You care about life, and
freedom. You also care about beautiful women
who steal your heart and your time. Don't let
it get to you.


Which RENT Character Are YOU?
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No Guarantees- An Ethics Posting

In a recent Ethics entry, John Hickey puts forth the family as an obvious place where narrative ethic is lived out – traditions are lived out and handed down, family stories are shared. He then concludes that : anyone who has already experienced bright little faces turning into snarling teenagers and then suddenly transformed into those strange creatures known as independent adult children knows that there is no guarantee whatsoever of any shared virtues, practices, or telos.
At the end of chapter 5 of Truth is Stranger, I think this is exactly the point Middleton and Walsh are making. At the end of this chapter on the Biblical metanarrative, they state that the Scriptures contain “the resources to shatter totalizing readings, to convert the reader, to align us with God’s purposes of shalom, compassion and justice.”(p.107) At the same time, they conclude that this conversion is not automatic, and is not guaranteed. It requires response from the reader, and constant engagement. As Christians, any guarantees we have do not lie in other humans. Our hope does not depend on humanity’s ability to get the story right. So no, this ethical framework is not a guarantee that those who follow us will do any better than we did. What it hopefully does is raise our awareness of who we are, who we have been, and who we are called to be – and to keep on trying to be those people. Without guarantees, but always with hope.

As a side note... Luke was watching a Sunday am news show before we went to church this week. I just caught the conclusion, but the host was ending the show by noting how we have lost the language of ethics. Sound familiar, anyone?