~ advent ~

Burt and Elvis in the Red Room
my daughter's dancing in the next one
there's a poem in every turn

there's a baby in our bedroom
and he's crying like a small bird
I am praying he will sleep soon

Oh, am I not tired?

there's another world in this one
and it's spinning like my dancer
something tells me that this is so

and I can feel the turning
like every woman waiting
for the life inside of her

we cry, "oh, are we not tired?”

now the bathroom is a temple
for existential mothers
crying when no words will come

on floors across the big world
they are knelt upon by grown girls
wondering if they've done enough

And they cry,
"Love, when are you coming?"

~ Sarah Masen, Burt and Elvis
(from the album Women's Work is Alchemy)

(image attribution)

~ sweetness and light ~

'Tis the season of anticipation and hope, of joy and light, of home and hearth, of cookies and cocoa...

The joy of baking, from preparation to sharing with others, is all wound up in the delight of the Advent season.

Two years ago, I found a favorite cookie recipe that I thought was forever lost. Together with a bunch of girls, we baked and decorated trays full of fluffy confections as we watched Little Women and A Little Princess.

Last year, I prepared a special batch of those cookies as a gift for the wedding of two friends, who in turn were able to present the cookies as gifts to their guests.

Saturday, it's time to whip up a big batch of dough to last me through this month of merry parties and Christmas gift giving.

It never ceases to amaze me how simple pleasures (sugar, flour, lemons, vanilla...) add up to such tasty treats!


(Image Attribution)

You're going to eat that?!

Claire: Can I eat?
Bender: I don't know... give it a try...

(The Breakfast Club)

Yeah, so I'm back to trying Weight Watchers (again). I had a very successful effort the first time I tried several years ago (lost almost 50lbs), until I went back to my old habits and any "success" went out the window. I had a couple more unsuccessful attempts, and tried a few different ways to change my habits, but nothing has worked. But when I stared my ballooning weight in the face in September, I decided to give it one more go (with the intention of building new habits and awareness, and understanding that those must become permanent rather than temporary fixes I can slack off from once the weight comes off).

When I weighed in October 1, I was at 226.5 (apparently, morbidly obese for my 5'2" frame) and I am fairly confident that by my next weigh in Sunday I will have achieved my first goal of a 5% loss (215.2).

One thing I have been very intentional about this time around is experimenting with new recipes rather than relying on pre-packaged foods. Rather than relying on the recipes from the WW website, I have chosen to adapt recipes from popular recipe sharing sites & calculate the points values on my own using WW's recipe builder web tool. I plan to post the recipes for two of the tastier options I've concocted, pumpkin chili & cheese tortellini soup, so be on the lookout!

All this planning and cooking reminded me of a website some friends had shown me last year of absolutely horrific WW recipe cards from the 70's, and I thought I would share the joy of the disgusting foods with all of my readers. Rest assured, I am not partaking in any of these culinary disasters! I actually have a set of my mom's old Betty Crocker recipe cards that are equally tacky - I should really scan those in sometime...

~ porch swing theology ~

Philip Clayton and Harvey Cox are taking their new books on a blog tour, and Barefoot Bohemian is one of the stops! Philip's new book is Transforming Christian Theology for Church & Society and Harvey's is The Future of Faith. I will be soaking up The Future of Faith and sharing my thoughts with you, but you can check out perspectives on both books by visiting the participating blogs listed below.

The discussion will continue over the next month and wrap up in Montreal at the American Academy of Religion's annual meeting. There they will be joined by an illustrious panel including Eric Gregory, Bruce Sanguin, Serene Jones, Frank Tupper, and Andrew Sung Park to share a 'Big Idea' for the future of the Church. These 'Big Ideas' will be video tapped and shared, so be on the look out for live footage from the last night of the tour.

And you don't even have to wait for the blog discussions to get rolling - you can listen to them interview each other now! Be sure to check out these sites and join in the conversation:

Joseph Weethee , Jonathan Bartlett, The Church Geek, Jacob’s Cafe, Reverend Mommy, Steve Knight, Todd Littleton, Christina Accornero, John David Ryan, LeAnn Gunter Johns, Chase Andre, Matt Moorman, Gideon Addington, Ryan Dueck, Rachel Marszalek, Amy Moffitt, Josh Wallace, Jonathan Dodson, Stephen Barkley, Monty Galloway, Colin McEnroe, Tad DeLay, David Mullens, Kimberly Roth, Tripp Hudgins, Tripp Fuller, Greg Horton, Andrew Tatum, Drew Tatusko, Sam Andress, Susan Barnes, Jared Enyart, Jake Bouma, Eliacin Rosario-Cruz, Blake Huggins, Lance Green, Scott Lenger, Dan Rose, Thomas Turner, Les Chatwin, Joseph Carson, Brian Brandsmeier, J. D. Allen, Greg Bolt, Tim Snyder, Matthew L. Kelley, Carl McLendon, Carter McNeese, David R. Gillespie, Arthur Stewart, Tim Thompson, Joe Bumbulis, Bob Cornwall

This Tour is Sponsored by Transforming Theology DOT org!

(Image Attribution)

Maybe the earth isn't flat...

I'll be the first person to tell you that science is neither my strength nor my passion. However, I am quite intrigued by theology, and it seems science is all the rage on some of my favorite blogs right now. It's not so much the science itself, but the interaction between and mutual compatibility of faith and science. I don't really have anything to add to what has been said, but just thought there was enough chatter to bring the links together in one spot:

Rachel Held Evans - Six Evangelical Sterotypes

Jonathan Brink - The Evolution of Theory

iMonk - Choices, Roots, Understanding

~ swallowed up by life ~

When we are lost in Carlisle,
When we are birdless,
Flowerless in the spring
And we cannot sing.

Where are we going tomorrow,
Where are we going?
Oh I can only say we will be found.

~ The Innocence Mission (Birdless)



2 Corinthians 4:16-5:10

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened - not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.

So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

(image attribution)

~ go your own way ~

I read a post at therunamuck.com yesterday, on the frantic pace at which our families move. Naturally, I carried what was being said into another significant relational body that seems to occupy so much of my thoughts: the Church.

One thing really stood out to me in the discussion of Ann Kroeker’s Not So Fast: Slow Down Solutions for Frenzied Families:

Even within the Christian subculture, families are zooming, accelerating to stay neck and neck with their neighbors without much thought as to how the pace is affecting their souls.

And with this thesis, Ann examines what life can look like when the Joneses are allowed to go their own way, and we are allowed to go ours.

About a year and a half ago, the Spirit was actively speaking to my soul on two themes: quietness and fruitfulness.

Two books by Margaret Feinberg, The Sacred Echo and God Whispers, really helped me to recognize this theme pattern in my prayers, in my reading of scripture, in my writing, in what others were speaking to me, and even in opposition I was experiencing.

I was struck by the opposing effects of an abiding life (one that rests, trusts, dwells in Christ and bears the fruit of that relationship) and an anxious life (one that seeks to control, manipulate, and exhaust relationships and circumstances).

As I saw the anxiousness playing out in my congregational life, I began to recognize it all the more in my own life - and to seek to learn how to practice abiding, instead.

I wonder if perhaps 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 is speaking to the Church as a whole:

Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.

I think we as the Church can get so caught up in movements, in growth, in the next great model or the newest cool idea that we run ourselves ragged just trying to keep up with the Joneses.

What would life look like if the Joneses were allowed to go their own way, and we were allowed to go ours?

I would love to see every congregation celebrate the permission to stop and breathe.

To commune.

To dwell.

To move as the Spirit speaks to them.

To move at a pace that enriches the soul, that trusts that as we move in obedience (not in frenzy) that the Lord will move in His way and in His time.

To build relationships, to disciple, to care for one another, to listen and observe and recognize the lives that are around us that we can speak into, to send disciples out to other locations and support them as they seek to be fully present there.

To love one another.

To adjust the pace of our personal lives so that we are better able to participate in the corporate life of the Church.

Not in programs.

In relationships.

The Church may meet in different locations, use different methods to teach and to serve and to spread the message and to disciple believers, may have different priorities.

That’s ok.

We can learn from one another, but we don’t have to rush to imitate (or surpass) one another.

May we rest in the presence of the Lord, listen to how he is speaking among our local body, and respond without anxiousness and in full assurance that the One whose kingdom we seek is glorified as we practice his love among each other.

(image attribution)