List of Awesome

Liz’s List of Awesome

1. I have new neighbors that I just talked to tonight, they are so cool. Seriously. We talked about community, theology, Margaret Atwood, St Thomas Aquinas, and of course Canada… since they are both Canadian. Ah, I love Canadians.

2. I am sharing the Temp’s music on Simplify media. Amidst the Jars of Clay and Rob Bell sermons, he actually has some decent stuff. I’m appreciating it mucho.

3. These are a few highlights from the weekend of birthday, I got to hang out with some friends I haven’t spent lots of time with in a while. It was so fun!

I love these people. Me, Will, Janny, Mai, Beth, Ange

Me and pretty Angi

Ange

SHANTS with Keith!

Having some conversation that was probably scandalous. Joey, Me, & Mai.

4. I got in a conversation with a guy at my bus stop. This was our conversation:

Him: “You headed to work?”
Me: “Yeah, you?”
Him: “Nope, I’m headed to assessment. I’m on parole.”
Me: “Ok, gotcha… so… how long were you in prison?”
Him: “A year…. And I’m not trying to go back neither!”

We talked about the halfway house that is half a block from mine (news to me!)- it’s cold and people steal stuff from each other. We talked about my job as a green lady “They must hate to see you coming, huh?” We talked about prison, and what he is going to do now that he has to leave the halfway house. Then we got on the bus…

“Good luck at work!”
“Thanks! Good luck at your assessment.”

Thanks.

Wow, read this. It’s in my top five face-ripping off blog posts of all time, and made me think more than any post since this one.

I’ve read some amazing work on your blogs- those that I have and haven’t linked on here- keep posting please! (Or in Ericka’s case, start posting again!)

You are beautiful, I’m humbled to be your friend.

If I Had to Write It…

I have a theory… all those book reflections we have to write for the 20+ WMF book list? Yeah, I don’t think anyone actually reads them on the Family Forum. So, since many of you (Amanda, ahem) read my blog, I figure that if I have to take the time to write one… you have to take the time to read it. If you’ve never read this book, I’m sorry it may be boring. Ah well, try it out anyway.

Announcing the Reign of God by Mortimer Arias
Book Reflection

“Do we really expect that the world will be won for Christ just by cheap evangelism?” (98)

Mortimer Arias in one sentence decries the conventional view of missions and conversion by denying that this conversion should be or even can be a merely spiritual choice involving only one aspect of the human person. To announce the Kingdom means to proclaim a gospel that is holistic in every sense of the word. It is a message that changes people, redeems relationships, brings justice for the oppressed, sets the lonely in families, heals brokenness and does not allow us to look at our selves as individuals but rather self-in-relationship. This message, of the Kingdom, when proclaimed as the Kingdom is to be proclaimed, through forgiveness and Eucharist, is healing and speaks to every level of the person- spiritual, physical, and intellectual. (3)

This sort of proclamation that gives all also requires all. Costly evangelization brings total liberation and unconditional forgiveness (21) but it requires the cross. (25) As Arias says “There is no Kingdom without a cross.” (53) The Kingdom is the Prince of Peace but it is also a confrontational Kingdom. (45) The confrontational in-breaking of the Kingdom calls us to make a choice. There can be no indecision, one finds the Kingdom all around, but is not pushed into the Kingdom (44), it requires a complete repentance and total trust in God which leads to conversion lived in action. (48-49)

“Paradox is the language of religion.” (Gary Eberle) To Announce the Reign of God is to speak in paradox. It is to speak of a current reality, (Luke 4: 18-19) but to live as a people of hope. (27) This hope is also a paradox, as we pray for a spiritual renewal, and for a healed, redeemed, amended Creation (31) but recognize the Kingdom as the subversion of all established human order. We pray for visions and utopias (93) but denounce false hope and illusion in human ability to achieve those visions. (92) The truth of the Kingdom resounds as universal and absolute, yet to share this truth is to minister to each in their own needs, to contextualize the gospel. (117) This is a paradox that is especially challenging in a church where the word “Post-Modern” is an insult of the highest degree, and to contextualize the gospel means to ‘water it down.’ As a community of the oppressed, WMF is familiar with the paradox of hope in suffering. Yet, to a West that continually blinds its eyes to the needs of the Majority World, this is one of the greatest paradoxes of all. The Kingdom is one of rebirth through the cross, where the Kingdom comes through and with those who suffer the greatest; the poor and sinned-against.

The incarnational ministry of Christ, who is the Kingdom (42), was lived in the form of unconditional forgiveness. Thus, to forgive is to announce the Kingdom. (72- 73) Our sin is a choice against Christ, and against the Kingdom. It builds a barrier between our relationship with Jesus and our relationships with each other. To forgive is to go beyond crossing these barriers as if sin were the Grand Canyon and we build a bridge across it with the words “It’s okay.” Rather it’s as if the two sides of the Grand Canyon were to slam loudly against each other, the sin is no more, there is no longer any separation. The noise that resounds is the sound of the world saying “We are accepted!” This type of radical forgiveness is the first sign and announcement of the coming and living Kingdom of Christ. (75)

The announcement and in-breaking of the Kingdom is further found in the celebration of the Eucharist. When we eat and drink the bread and wine, we are proclaiming the death of Christ, proclaiming the hope of His return, and our faith in His sacrifice to redeem us. (81) We are announcing the Kingdom! We are brought to the alter, and just as the elements become the body and blood of Jesus, the community gathered, by the power of the Holy Spirit also becomes the Real Presence of Jesus. We who announce the Kingdom through the Eucharist, by its reception then become the Kingdom, to be poured out and broken for the world. (ref: “Liturgy and Justice for All”)

This holistic language of the Kingdom is a difficult teaching. (John 6:60) It is a language that has been lost in a satiated church and culture of “me, me, me!” focused on personal salvation and conversion. Yet, the great Subverter, the Holy Spirit, will not fail to bring to mind the message of Jesus; the message of faith, love, and hope (67) In proclaiming and living the Kingdom, we live by these three things. We have faith in redemption of the Cross, hope of a future Kingdom, and love for our present relationships. (65) This Kingdom is a paradox; it is a hope and struggle, and above all else it is a life that is changed in every way by the mystery of Christ.

My Lifelong Fling.

Drinking Bloody Mary’s.

“The last time I saw Jesus, I was drinking Bloody Mary’s in the South…” (Over the Rhine)

I know someone who met Jesus on a bus. A man came on the bus, sat next to him, told him about Jesus, and began his journey to the Lord. I meet Jesus on the bus everyday… today He was a teenage girl who just found out she is pregnant, a guy who has an Uncle living in Oaxaca, a five year-old son, and a partially completed degree in Criminal Justice who wants to move home to Texas away from the snow.

Yesterday Jesus was the pretty blonde, homeless woman sitting on a seat in three coats with a push cart, kitty corner to another woman and her daughter. The daughter had a grocery bag on the seat, and the homeless woman was sitting next to it, with her back turned completely and her legs in the aisle. Loudly the mother said “put your hands through that bag, you watch that bag!” The woman with blonde hair just stared at the aisle for the rest of the trip.

First lesson of Maggie Free life… Jesus is on the bus.

Maggie Free also means “Goodbye control.” Everything changes when you are no longer in control of your schedule. It’s a freedom, it’s a gift, it’s a painful loss of illusion. (Especially for someone who loves control.)

Goodbye clock time. The bus is supposed to be here at 5:42? Well… it’s 5:50 and I’m still standing in the sleet. Goodbye rigid scheduling and double-booking my friends.

Final lesson, for today at least… a good pair of handknit gloves cannot be underrated. Nor can a good pair of hand warmers for that matter. Too bad I’m short either of those.

This Week’s Commitment.

It was recently brought to my attention that I am a serious Pack Rat. I’ve long held this title as a badge of honor. In fact people commonly tell me that they’ve never seen someone cram so much stuff into such small spaces. I was proud of that, no one else I knew could neatly and in an organized way keep so much pointless stuff. Let’s take a little journey into the depths…

- I have every letter or card I’ve received since Valentine’s Day in 1st grade. This amounts to four tupperware containers crammed full of letters. (This includes the prolific note-passing I engaged in during my one year attending high school, when I was supposed to be doing algebra.)

- Every notebook or piece of paper used during four years of undergrad, neatly organized into completely useless binders of things like Physical Science for Non-Majors. This amounts to two full-size tubs of papers and binders.

- A bunch of wine corks for a friend of the family I babysit for who is collecting them for a wine board. I see her about once every eight months, so those are really coming in handy.

- Every glass jar or plastic container I’ve ever used. If I made every dish I know how to make, in a size big enough for 5 people, I’d still have more leftover containers than leftovers.

- A leopard print miniskirt I bought three years as a joke for a friend and have never worn.

-Post-it notes from my freshman roommate, who I am not really friends with anymore… random bits of paper (bus tickets from Kolkata, newspaper comics, fortunes, movie stubs, etc, etc) get me every time, they are filling journals, and bulletin boards, planners, notebooks, and taped on my walls.

- A broken mask my brother got in Mexico when he went there in middle school, and I had vague intentions of making ’something crafty’ out of… it broke in high school, and I’ve been carting it around for years now.

- Mis-matched earrings and socks.

- A giant bag of jolly rancher candy from 18 months ago when I went through a jolly rancher phase, and have carted from fridge to fridge, but I haven’t actually had a jolly rancher since before March.

- A duffel bag with a broken zipper, the same size as another duffel bag I have that has a perfectly functioning zipper.

- At least 15 scarves, of which I wear 4-5.

- Empty film containers and chargers/accessories/manuals for two lost cameras.

- I have an entire toiletries bag full of sampler shampoos and conditioners that I’ve gotten in Back-To-School kits, hotel rooms, and as gifts. I mean an ENTIRE bag full of those things.

So anyway… this is just a small sample of some of the goodies I have in my apartment, all neatly organized and stowed away so as to take up space that would otherwise be empty or perhaps filled with something I could use. I came home from my Servant Team with a commitment by Lisa, Esther, and myself to stop filling up our lives with useless stuff that took away from our relationships. Somewhere between then and now I’ve become even worse than I was when I left. It’s not like I go out and buy expensive things, I’ve just stopped getting rid of things. It was traumatic for me to throw away 12 boxes that some jewelry I was given had come in, for example. I still remember that moment, even though it happened in May!

I have some deep reflections on how and why I intend to simplify. But for now I’ll just leave you with this, um, confession of a Professed Pack Rat. It’s gonna be rough, but it’s time to say goodbye…

Fashion Show.

“No wonder you lost the Revolutionary War! You’re wearing MAN-PRIS!”
-My Dad in reference to the British man we met at Disney

What do you think?

Man-pris, yes or no?

Dreams Come True?

Daphne and Caleb are engaged! I’d like to offer my skills as maid of honor/best man. This is a dream come true, you lovebirds, I’m a professional and perennial “Main Feature” in my friends’ weddings… just think about it.

When I was barely two years old, my family went to Disney World. There is a ride in Epcot, located in Norwary, where you experience the “Spirit of Norway” by riding a yacht past a big oil rig, a mural painted in the late 1980’s, and a three headed troll. In my impressionable youth, this troll rising out of the water shouting “You must go baaaack!” scared me so badly, I spat out my pacifier, and screamed through the rest of the ride. They say you can’t have memories before you are three… well, I had nightmares about this ride for years. My Dad credits this incident for the major portion of my personal dysfunction. So, twenty years later they brought me back to Disney, yesterday we went as a family to this ride. Bottom line- I’ve been healed.

They say that Disney is the place “Where Dreams Come True.” This is a lie, because the one celebrity I wanted to see/have children with was not here… probably because he was spending this vacation at his parents’ house in Martha’s Vineyard… or something like that.

In all seriousness, I love vacations. I love my family. I love seeing Disney again. I love that my entire seven person family has been spending literally hours waiting in line together and talking. I love getting a chance to read and drinking German beer with Keith and my Dad.