Week of the 3rd Sunday after the Epiphany

Highlight(s) of the week: Yesterday I joined a seminar that our philosophy department has offered on the works of St. Thomas Aquinas. It has a few really thoughtful students in it, so it's going to be fun. I have very little background on medieval philosophy or theology, so it's entirely new ground for me.

Ministry update: This is our second week back for this semester, so we're getting back into the pattern of daily Vespers on campus, along with a weekly longer service of Evening Prayer. The EP service is my platform for teaching about Christian discipleship and particular spiritual disciplines in a group setting.

Stuff at work: I finished an inventory of our media holdings before the students returned; we only lost 1.5% of our popular film collection to theft. For better or worse, this is within acceptable parameters. Now comes the database clean-up - not gripping work at all. I'm looking forward to teaching bibliographic instruction sessions next month, so I've been reviewing notes for those.

Book(s) I'm Reading: Flannery, an autobiography of Flannery O'Connor by Brad Gooch. It's well-written, and I'm enjoying learning more about a woman whose work has influenced me so much.

Media I'm Enjoying: Every day when I return to the empty house, the cat is sitting alone in the middle of the living room floor, nodding his head as a Lady Gaga album plays. I shiver and scurry on to my room. I don't ask questions, and the cat tells no lies. (In case you didn't know, Lady Gaga is a robot invented to approximate a woman.)

Lately I've been watching really creepy movies on the Netflix while punishing myself on the exercise bike. I saw Perfume: Story of a Murderer. I don't recommend it. I saw Spiral. It was neat - the creepy worked. Book of Eli (in theatres): neat (and triumphalist) religious story, but our consensus was that it got really heavy-handed by the end.

Something that blew my mind: I made a really nice chicken soup last week, using nothing but two chickens, a pile of veggies, and the spice rack. From scratch, children, that's what that means. I own you.

Something I've been chewing on: You know, the more I think about it, the more convinced I am that credit cards are evil. I think they're a source of serious spiritual and fiscal bondage, and it amazes me that this has never been obvious to me, and that it doesn't seem obvious to other people.

Looking Forward To: A Robert Burns party deferred to the weekend, and two birthday outings.

Friday Update

Highlight(s) of the week: James and I spent a few hours with Lee and Jessica, for which occasion I made a stellar meatloaf. Adam came to stay with us at the end of last week, so we all got to spend some nice down time, eat nice meals, pray the Office - all the good stuff.

Ministry update: I finalized my end-of-year report, and after due consultation with my students and fellow pastors, created an outline for next year for the Community of the Resurrection at Georgetown College. Worship, meals, prayer. Love people well. Not really complicated, but the challenge always seems to be sticking with those things. I've had a great time keeping in touch with some of the students via the telephone device, but for the most part I've been trying to take it easy and spend my time on prayer, penance, and writing.

Stuff at work: I've been tinkering with my research guides, and preparing to give a small faculty demonstration on electronic research tools.

Book(s) I'm Reading: Sexual Authenticity, by Melinda Selmys (Publisher); Spirit of the Disciplines, by Dallas Willard (for Schola - Publisher / Library).

Media I'm Enjoying: True Blood and Malcolm in the Middle. Yah, I know.

Something that blew my mind: Presumption.

Something I've been chewing on: How do I talk to people about their sins against others when they're decades older than me?

Looking Forward To: Having a few people over this weekend to formally welcome James to our household with a house blessing and a party.

Monday Brief: 07/20/09

Highlight(s) of the week: Jeff Asher joined us for our Schola (Saint Patrick's ministry reading group) to discuss a book on Ritual studies and early Christianity. We were joined by Lee and two Adams, and intermittent visits from James. Also, I spent part of the day Saturday shoveling compost with Amy for the garden, and had the Looses and McLeods for grilling and bad horror films (what else?) for the evening.

Ministry update: I've been trying to spend most of my extra-curricular energies on formation this summer, so ministry work has been limited to a few lunches and coffees with students, and some reading. I've been chatting with the other Catechists, my students, and the Religious Life folks at the College about my plans for the Fall. Like Jesus and the Cylons, I do have a plan...

Stuff at work: Media inventory. 'Nuff said.

Book(s) I'm Reading: I just finished Tribes by Seth Godin, The New Testament in its Ritual World by Richard DeMaris, and The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene.

Media I'm Enjoying: Our household started watching HBO's True Blood. I'm not really into vampirism (outside of the Mass, of course) but I knew anything by Alan Ball would be worthwhile. And it is.

Something that blew my mind: I was really surprised at the relative lack of obfuscation in the Episcopalians' legislation at GenCon09 last week.

Something I've been chewing on: I'm thinking about going to library school in a year.

Looking Forward To: A week with very few plans. We have a new housemate, so we're all being purposeful about building up the home monastery.

I stole this format from Dean and Alex.

Twenty-five Fascinating Facts...

Fifth Week after the Epiphany

... about me. Yep, finally did it.

1. I cook a mean lasagna, but I hardly ever do it because I want to make three at a time, and decide that lasagna is somehow too expensive.
   
   
2. Except for the two month period that I lost it in my backpack, I wear my name tag at work all the time. You think it’s because I want to be helpful, but it’s really because I’m terribly narcissistic and think everybody should know my name.
   
   
3. One of my most surreal moments working at the bookstore was explaining to management that middle-aged Baptist women buy Beth Moore books, and that therefore we should stock them. Also, emo kids buy eyeliner, gamers have minty green skin, and the Pope is Catholic.
   
   
4. I take that back – the most surreal moments probably involved the ugly guy who was angry we didn’t have more/any books on “tantric sex” (sir, I don’t know what either of those things are, frankly), or the woman who demanded that Chris draw her a map to Barnes and Noble.
   
   
5. I really enjoy Science Fiction. Can’t stand Star Wars. I fell asleep in the cinema when I tried to watch the big re-releases in high school. I did watch a pirated copy of Episode I when I was in Kosovo, however. Couldn’t really follow it.
   
   
6. I love horror novels, especially short stories. I can’t stand anything in the Fantasy genre.
   
   
7. I’m an introvert, specifically an INTJ: the “jerk” type in the Myers-Briggs. I know what I know, and I know what I don’t know. I also know what you don’t know, which can make it really bad.
   
   
8. If I like a particular food, I could eat it for at least 7 meals in a particular week. I also chew each bite 32 times.
   
   
9. I once threatened to physically fight a roommate over a hygiene concern (no, not my hygiene). He moved out the next day.
   
   
10. I reject much of institutionalized Christianity, but sadly, I usually accept the really unpopular bits, and condemn the parts that most people really like. That’s okay, though. It’s really bad for them.
    
    
11. I have no independent taste in music or films. I watch, listen to, and generally enjoy whatever my friends tell me.
    
    
12. I get really nervous that I might end a sentence with a preposition… in public.
    
    
13. I’m rarely capable of hiding my emotional state. Especially when I think I’m playing things cool, people can read me like a book. It took me forever to discover this; Jim just told me one day, “I would love to play poker with you. You don’t have any unexpressed emotions.”
    
    
14. There are a few people in my life, that regardless of their faults, I would defend them in almost any situation: “Really? He buried a guy in cement after knocking over a liquor store? Hm. He must have had a good reason.”
    
    
15. My housemates and I rescued an old cat from the Humane Society in Summer 2007. The cat follows me around constantly and cries if I come home late. He meows constantly and annoys the piss out of all of us, but I can’t help but delight in a little critter that thinks about me all the time – could you? So much for my tough guy image. Ahem.
    
    
16. Every few months, somebody sits me down to (re)explain the concept of “tact,” and explains how it might be useful in a particular situation – sometimes with diagrams. I always respond with wide eyes and a smile, and vigorous nods of my head, but never have a clue what they’re talking about.
    
    
17. I was in a college play.
    
    
18. No man ever loved a dead woman like I love Flannery O’Connor.
    
    
19. I believe that much of the grave error in American religion stems from asking the wrong questions.
    
    
20. The broader I smile at you when you talk, the wronger you must be.
    
    
21. The people I trust the least are the people I never hear say “I’m sorry” to anyone.
    
    
22. I have no problems beginning twenty-five sentences in a row with the word “I.” I could have a problem, I think.
    
    
23. I was within a week of buying an engagement ring, once.
    
    
24. I broke my neck and my back during my senior year of college.
    
    
25. Sometimes I think my primary “ministry” to some people is to be an enacted parable of judgment. Demonstration to follow, so stay tuned.

"After all, you have a degree in God-bothering."

Today, I shall return to thinking and writing about life with the Christian God. The other stuff was very boring for me.

Saint Patrick's Church made a retreat in southern Kentucky this weekend. I was able to spend a little time with some of the people that I usually don't see apart from Sunday mass, and of course several folks that I see very often. I really enjoyed the opportunity to "get with nature" and just relax with friends.

I took the opportunity to think on some difficult things, that I'll be ruminating over for some time. I've come to the slow realization over the past few months that much of my spiritual life has been characterized by a certain degree of self-pity. About two years ago, I was deliberately sabotaged by a friend who decided his role as a Christian leader and God's self-appointed representative (a protestant layman!) was to expunge me from the life of God's Church.* It grieved me tremendously that I had somehow turned this individual's dedication and camaraderie into hatred over a very very short span of time. I say "sabotage," because it worked. It got to the point where my friends in Oxford asked me not to correspond with anybody in the United States. I learned over time that the reason this hit me so hard was that both I and my friends already struggled deeply with the evil that this fellow thought he'd so doggedly uncovered in me - it was like telling a drowning man that he shouldn't have gotten so close to the tide.

The reason I was so vulnerable - aside from distance, culture shock, and the stress of my studies - is that someone I had trusted decided to speak God's condemnation into an aspect of my life where I was already desperate to receive God's healing. My problem - the real one, I think - is that I took it as a word of condemnation from God, even as my theological mind rebelled against it. Over a period of many months, I gave into the temptation to abandon myself, as I was no longer certain that God had not. Many of my decisions were colored by self-pity, and ambivalence toward this Christian God, whom I had believed up until this point to be saving me.

I had bought into the evil things that others had spoken into my life - not just this one Christian leader, but the evil things that several people had prophesied over me. I faltered severely in my discipleship, and struggled for quite some time over whether and how I would pick up the pieces. At some point, I changed my mind. As I continued in the life of the Church and in encouraging friendships, I gradually changed my mind. If I have hope, and if I have a future, it's with the Christian God. Over the course of the last several months, I've finally been able to articulate some of the things I'm learning in this.

1. It's really difficult to think of oneself as being self-pitying. I couldn't deny it, however, when all of my rationalizations for sin and sloth sounded just the same, and I realized how totally self-centered and coddling of myself I had become. Poooor Kyle. When self-pity offers a story, it sounds like The Sordid Tale of that Awful Thing Someone Else Did. I found that much sin in my life that, serendipitously, could be traced back to The Sordid Tale of that Awful Thing Someone Else Did. Why am I skipping evening prayers tonight? Really, when it comes down to it, I'm justified/excused/allowed because we remember back in the Sordid Tale of That Awful Thing Someone Else Did, much greater evils were perpetrated, so really there's no big deal at all.

It was in our Lenten reading of the Orthodox Christian penitential text, the Canon of Saint Andrew, that God invited me to take full responsibility for my own actions - all of them - and to really think about what that means. This is when I realized that all my actions seemed to hinge upon That Story. When I got up, when I laid down - I might have put it down on a scroll and put it on my forehead like the Pharisees of old. I realized that I had to quit recounting The Sordid Tale of that Awful Thing Someone Else Did. Yes it was awful. No, they weren't sorry. No, I don't imagine that I've been vindicated just yet. It's not that it wasn't evil, and it's not that it wasn't an injustice - rather, I had given That Story power as an explanatory narrative.

2. The other Important Lesson clicked into place for me this weekend. Lots of people in this world will claim to represent God. Some people are even supposed to. Many people will call themselves "fathers," and for some, their fatherhood will be derivative of the fatherhood of the Christian God. For many, it will be derivative of the Evil One. Here's the rub: any representation or interpretation of a "god" that doesn't look like the man Jesus nailed to a cross in suffering love for broken people is a lie. The saints and martyrs stand with the Christian God in judgment against any explanatory story that depicts God as any other than a God who loves sinners with deep and passionate love. Our priest pointed out to us yesterday as well that any faithful proclamation of this God will be Eucharistic - men and women allowing themselves to be broken like the bread and poured out like the wine in gratitude to God, and for the sake of the world.

More will follow, but that's enough for today.

*Don't try to guess who, because you won't. I've never mentioned him on the blog, and only about 8 people know the details of the situation.

What's Next?

A few friends and kind readers have asked me about my plans now that I've finished my M.Th. I've been thinking about a lot of different things, but here's the outline...

I really enjoy what I do at the bookstore, and the people with whom I work. While I didn't get the marketing position I wanted, I have been given leave to plan and execute at least one author event that I've been pushing for.

The work that I do with the people of Saint Patrick's Church is very important to me, and I'm working on two long term projects in Christian education and formation.

The first project is to design a standard program of Anglican catechesis and introduction to Saint Patrick's Church. St Pat's receives a lot of interest from folks who have come from evangelical protestant denominations, and while they might have been away from the life of any church for months or years, there's still an element of "culture shock" when people are introduced to our liturgy and philosophies of ministry. While we can't make the life of our parish less weird (because we are convinced that it's weird in a good way) we can take people aside to welcome them, answer questions, and provide a basic introduction to Anglican Christianity and its peculiar grammar so that folks will have the theological tools to "read" and therefore better understand what's going on in the life of our parish. We'd like this to be a four week, informal class that we provide 3-4 times a year, as needed. I hope that after a year or two of this, we'll have some well-formed Anglo-Catholics running around the place. Ahem.

The second project is going to be less work but a lot harder: our household is getting together with some other folks in the parish to learn what it's like to share life and a common Rule together with people of different interests and demographics, but who are interested in friendship, monastic practices, and learning to love our Lord better. I'll write on that as it progresses.

Would you believe that it sounds to some folks like I'm a drifter, since I don't have a salary, a title, or an ordination planned?

I won't have a fancy title (unless Father Matthews deigns to give me one) and it's not going to be lucrative. I still have a closet full of fancy dress clothes that I'm not using at the moment. This will not put me on the fast track to the priesthood. But here's the thing: I'm not looking to be a CEO in the Kingdom of God. This is not a matter of "climbing the corporate ladder" - I'm a layman of the Church of Rwanda, so there is no bloody ladder. A friend reminded me this week that there are plenty of people in plenty of churches who have heard a call to ordained ministry, and want to get themselves put into that ontological category ASAP so they can go about the "real ministry" that they're called to do. Right here and now, however, this is the very real ministry that I'm called to do: help build the life of the Church, learn to be a better penitent, and to call other sinners to turn to Jesus and engage fully in the life of God's new Community, and participate now in the life of the world to come. I don't need to be ordained simply to do that. I'm still thinking about priesthood, but any formal process for that really needs to be on the back burners right now, because more important than any institutional process is the question of my own formation in holiness and the life of Christ's Church. Our God has much to do in and with me, and I want to bend my body such that by the time somebody lays hands on me to make me a priest, I have already been formed into the kind of man who should be a priest.

Forming character is like preparing a roast - if you try to do it fast, you end up with something other than you were hoping for.

I am pleased to announce...

I have just received the official word from the University that I have passed the degree program. My dissertation, "Encountering the Christian Colony: An Evaluation of Hospitality as Proclamation" scored in the "Very Good" range.

I am grateful for the friendship, care and support that my friends have given me as I've undertaken the program.

Yours,

Kyle D Potter, MTh (Oxon)

Heh.

Leaving

24th week after Pentecost
6th week of Michaelmas term
Days left in Lexington: 5

Life is good. I got to spend time with a lot of great people this weekend, and just enjoy myself. I've got just under a week left in the States. It's going to be low key; other than a trip down to Asbury to see Bishop Tom on Wednesday, I'll just be working and spending time with my friends before leaving.

I'm pretty excited about seeing Oxford folks again. I really wanted to spend an entire term there this past year, but I couldn't work out the logistics. I'll probably get a little teary-eyed at the airport. *sniff* It's going to be a great three weeks.

Heh.

I've been brainstorming ways to advance the Anglo-Catholic insurgency around here. I think when/if I get some money saved up, I'll start stacking some small kneeling pillows by the entrance to the worship space, so folks can pick them up if they'd like. ... with the Rector's kind permission, of course...

I've started to notice that our Eucharistic piety on the whole seems to be increasing by way of quiet liturgical peer pressure - in the same way that all those evangelicals started raising their arms in the 80s (or whenever), these evangelicals are learning to reverence cross and altar. Lord, form your Church.

What now?

I've joked to my friends that I hardly know what to do with myself, because I've not thought about my life beyond finishing the dissertation. After sending the documents to the printer in Oxford, I've spent the week getting caught up on some basic things around the house, like cleaning it.

I got to spend a little time with med school buddies for the first time in several weeks, and I've still not seen my sister in awhile; she's been working on the CPA exam. I'm traveling today to visit a friend in Northern Kentucky who's been injured; we'll swap broken back anecdotes. (He's going to be fine, but the recovery time is pretty difficult.) I'm printing up copies of the dissertation to share with some friends who will be helping me criticize it in anticipation of my viva voce exam. I'll be returning to Oxford in two months to defend my work in person (to the death!) and to vacation a little and spend time with the folks of the hOME Community.

In the meantime, I'm balancing the checkbook, paying bills, sorting and filing, selling books I want rid of, getting some auto maintenance, keeping an eye on what I hope will prove to be the resurgence of North American Anglicanism, and probably taking the cat to the vet to make sure his ear infection is all better.

Oh yeah, I'm going back to selling book really soon, as well.

Autumn Memories

I once got a lecture from a family member about how things would be different once I was out of school and in "the real world" and had to look after myself.

(I don't know who she thought paid my tuition bill.)

The funny thing was, at the time, I was in a wheelchair because I'd just broken my neck/back/ribs/sternum, and my mother was feeding me soup because I couldn't do it myself. Or chew very well. Or go to the bathroom myself. Or lie down. Or sleep.

And I thought to myself, "Man, I'm glad I'm not out there in the real world. Things must be pretty fucking tough out there."

I'd have been angry if it wasn't so ludicrous.

PASSways, Day 3: Rules for Youth Ministry

If a kid is getting on everybody's nerves because he doesn't know the difference between good and bad attention, the best course of action is to completely ignore him.

Kids respect you more if you're aloof, so it's best not to smile around them, or laugh.

It's important that praise mean something, so it's best to use it sparingly. (Ecumenical note: Baptists often use the same logic for Holy Communion.)

Believe it or not, kids actually do a pretty good job of policing themselves. Allowing the bigger kids to lock the irritating little ones in closets is a really effective way of calming everybody down.

PASSways, Day Two

Okay, so it's not really fat camp. I'm glad nobody chose to comment on that one.

It's an ecumenical Christian camp (but primarily consisting of CBF-type baptists) that's a spin-off from the Passport camps that many of my fellow Georgetown College alums will remember. This is the first time I've worked in a ministry project with Baptists since that ill-fated Kosovo trip in 2002. (I have snarky things to say, but I'll hold back.)

I've been quite pleased with the liturgies so far: meditating on scripture, responsive readings, Ignatian meditation, and centering prayer. Yes, I know. I'm really getting on well with the students, and it's wonderful to spend time with Josh and Jessica. We've been talking about the "monastic future" and Josh and I have been working on "Christian-baiting," wherein I invite Josh to lead the kids in the Pledge of Allegiance, and he invites me to explain to them my "snack-pak" theology. The bumper sticker version: "If Jesus can't smell himself on your breath, he's not letting you into heaven."

I will probably murder him in due course.

My afternoon ministry project is to visit an assisted living facility to make crafts and sing hymns with the residents. There was a little bit of unpleasantness this afternoon when in spite of being warned previously about racist jokes (never mind that today's camp theme is acceptance and inclusion) a couple of the students stepped in front of me and sought to amuse me with certain behaviors that would have been right at home in a WWII propaganda film. I didn't expect to become so angry, so quickly. I addressed all the students in a very loud voice and told them that racist jokes were not funny and would absolutely not be tolerated. The kid quickly apologized. I spoke briefly with him later and apologized for being so harsh, and felt better about it. That kind of behavior cannot be tolerated to any degree or in any fashion, but I didn't mean to publicly humiliate the kid, either. It doesn't make much sense to talk to the students about treating other people with respect and as brothers and sisters in Christ if I can't treat a student with respect even while chastising him.

Today an older black woman requested a couple of songs that weren't included in the 1975 Baptist Hymnal, so she was kind enough to sing them for us. It was a blessing - I was reminded that we weren't just being "charitable" toward these folks, they are (many of them) our brothers and sisters in Christ, and they were welcoming us into their home to share in common worship.

Thanks be to God.

Friendships and the Gospel

Or, "The One Roger's Been Waiting For."

I wrote:

I have for a long time believed that it is anti-gospel to jettison non-reciprocal friendships. I no longer believe this.

I attended Georgetown College. It's a small school, and a very large percentage of the student body is involved in a social organization, i.e. fraternities and sororities. Many who are not, are athletes or heavily involved with the "campus ministries" clique - though these groups are not mutually exclusive.

I made the mistake of remaining independent.

When I began my relationship with the school, I saw a lot of Greeks being fake with freshmen. These men and women were only interesting if they would make charismatic additions to the organization. That happens. What I didn't understand is that at Georgetown College, many, many of the people who remain independent never learn how to make friends, and never learn how to sustain friendships. After a few years of reflection, I have realized that my friends in the fraternities learned something that many of us don't learn in families or churches: that sometimes, we make decisions on what kind of people we're going to be, and that means we are stuck in a particular social situation with particular people, and that we must learn to fight things out and make up with one another like adults. If we don't do that, we never really become adults in meaningful ways.

In the past few years, I made the mistake of trying to maintain friendships with people I knew in college who don't have friends. I invested myself with these folks, caring about them and praying for them and spending time with them even though my other friends kept explaining to me, that there's a reason they don't have friends already, everybody thinks they're weird, etc.

It seemed to me that the way of Jesus is to keep being emotionally available for people who had no interest in supporting me. I being to realize over time, that I really felt used (this was not a recent decision). I realized there were several people in my life that I might see every few weeks, but I really cared about them more than I should have. Over Lent 2007 I decided to stop. I decided that I would stop reaching out to people who lied or me or only dealt with me through intermediaries or gossip. I decided with my friends, especially the ones with whom I gather at table, that I would quit trying to reach out. I would accept repentance, but I decided that it was silly and counterproductive to invite to repentance persons who weren't actually in the covenant community with me.

And I feel free. When I think of the people who used to be my friends, I say a prayer for them. And then I move on to something else. I wasn't sure anymore if I was trying to be like Christ - who pours himself out for the healing of friends and enemies alike - or if I was trying to be liked, or just trying to think of myself as Christlike. It's a dangerous uncertainty, that.

I don't know if this makes sense to any of you, but I imagine my usual readers and wise interlocutors will have some insightful things to say. Writing it makes me feel a little more bitter than I thought I was, so we'll see.

"Out of the Closet" Meme

That's pretty funny. Anyway, Rob has tagged me for Ben Myer's new meme. Sigh. I'm going to take the opportunity to say some potentially argumentative things. I'm tired and cranky, what do you want?

So these are 10 confessions: some things that you may or may not know about me, and stances that may or may not be defensible.

I confess the following...

1. I don't have an opinion about the ordination of women.


2. I once turned my hair orange, and that I might do it again.


3. I would break or avoid fellowship with other Christians on the issue of Eucharistic practice before I would on matters of doctrine, theology, or morals.


4. The reason I am not an Episcopalian has very little to do with the current controversies over the blessing of same-sex unions or the consecration of Gene Robinson.


5. I have for a long time believed that it is anti-gospel to jettison non-reciprocal friendships. I no longer believe this.


6. I confess that I have a strong prejudice against Christians who are teetotalers out of alleged conviction rather than any sense of propriety. I usually believe them to be prideful and arrogant, and it takes time for me to become convinced otherwise. If it really weren't a matter of pride, I wouldn't know they're teetotalers...


7. I believe that people who get upset and angry about the English speaking-abilities of Hispanic immigrants are racists.


8. I would be perfectly happy to never hear a "relevant" sermon again.


9. I have long since decided that if I were to visit a church but no one there cared to learn my name or engage me in conversation for at least 3 minutes, I would never return. And then I would talk about them.


10. If I had to look at an American flag during Mass, it would be really hard for me to concentrate on anything else.
    

I thought Kim Fabricus' contribution was fun.

Today I am...

Working out details of the upcoming Anglican Catechesis program
Cleaning the house
Reading and writing on monasticism
Meeting with someone to discuss her church's hospitality
Making a simple dinner
Sucking down more coffee than could ever be healthy

Kitty Update, Etc.

Eastertide

Kitty continues to wander the house, meowing and making that odd chirping noise. It's mostly chirping, which I think is an indicating that he's happy. He loves to sit on laps or curl up next to us on the sofa.

I decided that while he's really cute curled up on my bed sleeping while I work, I don't want a cat on my bed. I started moving him to the floor, or clapping my hands when he jumps up. He hates that, and goes to hide under the bed. After that, he spent the entire afternoon sleeping at my feet under the desk, and most of the evening after I moved on. I think I won - I didn't expect it to happen so quickly.

Jay and Kyle 3 came to dinner last night, and we discussed politics at our table for what might have been the first time ever. We reached two important conclusions: the Republicans are screwed, and so are the Dems.

I made a meatloaf, I thought it was pretty nice.

Oh, and yes. (HT: Addison Road)

Kitty Day, part II

Eastertide

Like many good monasteries, we now have a kitty.

Yah, that's not gonna be a habit.

Kitty, whose formal name shall be "Thunder," came from a questionable background. He's 8 years old, and was delivered to the humane society three weeks ago by an owner who declared him too old and too sick, and they couldn't afford to take him to the vet.

He had various kinds of worms, including a tapeworm, an upper respiratory infection, and was pretty malnourished. He's still pretty gaunt and his coat's a bit thin.

When we went to the humane society, he stared us down as long as we could be seen, chirping and mewing all the while. He got our attention. When we took him to the "get acquainted" room, he switched off between exploring the place and nuzzling us. He crawled into our laps, because he was (and is) too weak to jump very well. Yah, I know. Awww.

So of course we took him home. He has a place on a blanket at the end of the sofa, and likes to hide under the coffee table and chirp when he's not under our feet or curled up beside us. He'll be a good study cat, I think. I didn't know cats could be so affectionate.

"If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine."

He even played well with Paul Calvin, as opposed to scratching or running. Hopefully (the other) Kyle will have the same good pleasure...!

Kitty Day, Part I

Eastertide

We stopped by PetSmart for a "Kitty Day Eve" visit and picked up some necessities like a little carry box, a litter box, and some catnip scented toys. Because I am a novice in the weird and wild world of pet ownership (I note here that I neither intend to give the cat a name, or refer to it as other than an "it"), I didn't expect that some Humane Society refugees would already be there.

We encountered a little calico that we had previously admired on the Internets, but soon discovered that she was a little nuts. I don't know if kitty was loopy, or if it was too many hands and too many peoples or what, but suddenly it lunged at Kyle, tore off his face, and skinned and bit the arm of a humane society worker before escaping into a pile of dog food bags.

Okay, it didn't tear his face off, but he did get a scratch on his lip.

The nice people told us that that particular kitty was about to be "taken away" anyway - just a little worrisome.

So today after lunch Jesse and I are going to the Humane Society to check out the bigger collection of floor models.

Kyle declined to go with us.

Friday is Kitty Day

That is all.

Your Church Marketing Sucks

Eastertide

Any account of the Christian story that begins with the issue of my own individual, personal salvation can never speak prophetically to the fact that I remain a selfish bastard. Such a religion cannot reform my consumerist, self-interested mindset, because it is a religion grounded in self-interest. It teaches us to worry about our own "souls" and to consider how the religion can make our lives better - to help us be better versions of the kind of people we think we should be.

If we are saved by that kind of religion, we are yet damned.

Every new church start-up that sends out postcards or rents these billboards that proclaim, "Church was never meant to be boring," or make some claim to fulfill our middle class aspirations as they are, might really be serving as instruments of God's judgment by compounding those selfish tendencies. How about, "Get on board with what God's doing in the world?"

And yes, there is a billboard on New Circle Road right now that depicts someone leaping into the air with the caption, "church was never meant to be boring."

Christ have mercy.