21.3.06

laughing babies

you guys have to visit:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=9125208079228405100

it is the cutest, funniest baby video you will ever see!!!!

SPRING is on it's way.... and I can barely wait!!! Can't wait til I can get back into the garden and clean it all up.... hope the boys are taking care of it all right now!!!

12.3.06

hey you.
i thought about you just now... wondering.... where you are, what you are doing, if you are happy.... i hope so. i miss talking to you.
me

9.3.06

baby oduchi



got to spend part of the afternoon with beautiful baby oduchi.... 6 days old!!! he slept in my arms for a whole hour while his momma was out practicing her driving!!! my nigerian friend had him just last week... and it's been so fun to be part of the community that has come around her to help her with everything as her family is back home..... oduchi is precious, precious, precious.... (though i still can't imagine having a baby right now... yikes!!!) :)

4.3.06

donut cushion, anyone??

sigh.... my latest adventure has definitely slowed me down... i am now a (not-so) proud member of the 'bruised-tailbone-club'..... yes... that is right... i have a bruised tailbone.....

let's just say that selecting a steep enough hill for speed to allow you to become airborn via a snow bank is not such a hot idea when there is a frozen gravel parking lot right after the snowbank. my friend, yaser, an "expert" sledder (i think it was his first time sledding) decided that he would steer us down the hill on the pretty red plastic sled..... the dull 'thud' that we got after soaring through the air does not give justice to the pain i am now feeling.....

.... no, i have not resorted to the donut cushion, though that is what the good doc recommends.... guess i'm banned from further sledding this season.... :(

1.3.06

Defense of the Sacred

Defense of the Sacred
by Daniel Steinhelper (SojoMail 3-01-2006)

The use of political cartoons to satirize Islam is a cause of great concern for all people of faith. These acts revisit the controversy of American and British artists' use of Christian imagery in ways that offend faith sensibilities - submerging a crucifix in urine, covering a Madonna in feces. Regardless of any intended political or religious critique, the cartoons' overwhelming effect was to deeply offend and provoke, to penetrate to the very core of people's hearts by affronting their belief in the sacred.

A serious and engaged criticism of particular aspects of the Muslim world would demonstrate a significant awareness of and sensitivity to the teachings of Islam. But the cartoons instead had an effect comparable to that of what's known as the desolating sacrilege, a pagan altar that the Seleucid ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes set up in the temple in Jerusalem - an incident alluded to in the book of Daniel and in the New Testament gospels. This was an act of violence against Jewish beliefs; it defiled a profoundly sacred space. The intent was perhaps to ensure the political allegiance of the Judeans, but the effect was to cut off communication between believers and God. While this example of an affront to the sacred is as extreme as any, Muslims' pain in seeing the cartoons of Muhammad is no different.

The cartoons were intended to express social and political points, but for many Muslims these were lost in the newspapers' disregard for the significance of depictions of Muhammad, who gave the command to never create images of him. In the repeated reprinting of the cartoons, any legitimate statements were further eclipsed by this apparent lack of respect for belief in the sacred.

Roger Koppel, editor of the German newspaper Die Welt, defended his decision to reprint the cartoons, saying, according to the BBC, "[W]e think we are living in a secular society where even religion can be subjected to criticism and satire. It's not acceptable in a Western country, if you publish a cartoon like this, that the newspaper has to apologize, or even the prime minister has to apologize." Koppel's statement confirms that he does not seek an engaged critique of and conversation with Muslims. Instead, he retreats to his own convictions and refuses to take seriously the ways in which his decision to reprint the cartoons affected Muslims. Koppel's expression of his rights reflects his theoretical and professional commitments, but it does not display the strength of character that might compel him to value others' commitments and beliefs alongside his own.

While Christians' understanding of the sacred differs from that of Muslims, we are called to thoughtfully engage others in our communities and our world and to stand with them when they are hurt. If we make efforts to understand Muslims and their conceptions of the sacred, we can then empathize with them when someone offends them so deeply - because we understand what it is like to feel the pain of sacrilege.
People with very different views - including those who place the highest value on faith and those who assign this to reason - should be able to come together in the spirit of mutual respect. Free expression can find meaningful alternatives to the offensive desolating sacrilege; it can create space in which people of diverse perspectives can engage each other. We must stand up for others when their ultimate values are insulted and invalidated. Freedom relies on the higher law of love, which respects all human beings and their expressions of what is sacred. This law of love can lead to a more genuine and civil society.

Daniel Steinhelper, a Wheaton College graduate, is a master's student in the divinity and social service administration schools at the University of Chicago and an intern at Interfaith Youth Core, a Chicago-based organization building inter-religious understanding.

Biking as a Lenten practice

~an excerpt from "Biking as a Lenten practice" (SojoMail 3-01-2006 )
for full text: http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=news.display_article&mode=C&NewsID=5266

"So I guess, as spiritual disciplines go, this one certainly fits the bill. But, while riding is considered "morally correct" and financially wise for Oregonians, many of us who are Christians ride for different reasons. Rising gas prices posted on placards on many corners are consistent reminders of the world at war, a war fueled by oil. As a Christian I have a responsibility to respond to the imitation of Christ not only with my interior life but with the ways I use the resources of God's creation and in how I think about war. There is no simpler gesture of Christ's peace than to stop purchasing from the gas station.

We are coming upon a new Lenten season, a time when the guilt of my failed spiritual disciplines will once again be edging in on my psyche. If you feel the same way, this season, when we prepare our hearts for the great mystery of Christ's death and resurrection, you might try on a different hat. Instead of ditching sweets, maybe try riding the bus, though it might tack 30 minutes onto your daily commute. That time can be used for prayer and reflection. Feeling ambitious? Think about setting your coffee money aside every day to invest in biodiesel or straight vegetable oil conversion. You might commit to 40 days of bicycle commuting, walking to the grocery store, or not driving all together.

Lent is the time when we have the opportunity to release convenience and ease for a life of dependence, community, and sacrifice. May this season in particular help us each remember our commitments to the church worldwide, the MCC workers and Christians in Iraq - including the Christian Peacemaker Team members still held hostage - and, ultimately, to the kingdom come."

Melissa Bixler is part of the L'Arche Nehalem community in Portland, Oregon, working as an assistant to developmentally disabled adults.