All posts tagged love
I'm not always wearing my full habit...
Our simmering anger needs but a nudge to flame up and scald everyone around us. Yet when our thoughts are pure, we become a light by which others learn to read.
Of life, death, family, love, and the meaning of it all
This is an absolutely, breathtakingly beautiful story. If it doesn’t make you cry, it will at least make the tears well up in your eyes. I would include some of it here in a blockquote, but I couldn’t bear to lift any piece of it on its own.
As I read, I was reminded of my time in late November, at my grandmother’s bedside in the hospital and in the hospice. Nana was unable to really respond to us, but she heard us and I believe she could understand some of what we were talking about. When the conversation became agitated, because my sister got screwed over by the airline, Nana became restless and made sounds of pain. But when we sat around sharing memories and family stories, laughing about Nana’s foibles and our own, she was peaceful. Her brow would un-furrow, and she would lie still and quiet.
Not only do people talk about family when they are dying, but that’s what the people around them talk about. Our lives are made up of stories, and our relationships are made up of shared stories. When you peel away all the trappings of our lives, that’s what we have left: our selves, our families, our stories. This is how we know just the slightest bit about God’s love, God’s forgiveness, God’s grace.
Go read the story. You’ll be glad you did.
Of wilderness, two-by-fours, and the gospel
I’ve noticed a few things that seem to keenly affect me. One is how I feel when I need some form of being taken care of, and the person I ask for it and/or expect it from doesn’t come through. I realize that people can’t read my mind, so it takes me a little time to sort out my feelings in the latter case. Either way, though, I feel frustrated and betrayed. I do a lot of taking care of people. I enjoy it, and it blesses me. But everybody needs to be taken care of, at some point, even the caretakers.
Another is when I can tell I’ve disappointed somebody, let somebody down. It’s worst, of course, when that somebody is a person I really care about or a person I want to think well of me; I feel like the world’s biggest heel. The problem with this one is that I don’t always understand that I’ve disappointed someone until they are very clear about this. I can be good at reading people, and I can also be totally oblivious.
There’s something about the period between about 2:30 and 4:30 am. If there were a time of day that is the desert wilderness — as opposed to the times of day that are growing fields or orchards ready for harvest — then it would fall in that range of hours. The neighborhood is quiet. The home is silent, holding only those little creaks and clicks and hums that the house makes. You’re too tired to do anything, and too awake to stay in bed and sleep. These wilderness hours, they are the time of existential crisis, the time when we are stripped bare, vulnerable to thoughts, ideas, and feelings of the worst kind.
When I lie awake during these hours, I become aware of all the people I’ve let down ever, and I feel like a poop. Not just any poop, but the poop of the creatures that eat poop: the lowest of the low. And I fear that nobody is really taking care of me, not as me; everyone’s just doing their own thing, and when it happens to help me, well, then good for me. Or maybe I come to the stunning realization that they only take care of me because they feel sorry for me, this worthless poop. I begin to wonder if I’m wrong about everything and everybody. Is love actually real? Is it only really self-interest after all? And if love mightn’t be real, then family doesn’t matter and friendship doesn’t matter, and we’re all just terribly and terrifyingly alone. And worst of all, if all of this is true, then what does it say about God? Is God real, or have we just made God up? Is everything just hopeless and pointless, and then we disappear into oblivion?
Wilderness sucks. There’s no other way to say it. When we’re in the times or places or life-situations of desert wilderness, it just sucks. Thankfully, God’s been pretty handy with the Great Cosmic Two-by-Four (aka, “Clue-by-Four”), with which God can whack me upside the head when I start circling the drain with these thoughts. It doesn’t always take a whack upside the head; sometimes it’s more of a poke with the Little Cosmic Twig or even a whisper from the Cosmic Rustling Leaves.
And that’s the Good News: even in the driest desert, in the darkest night, the furthest reaches of the wilderness, God is there. Nothing can separate us from God’s love. Not us, not any other person, not any substance, not any accident of birth or illness or anything else, not any being that has ever been created: nothing whatsoever can separate us from God’s love.
Not even letting God down.
The great souls are not the popular, the domineering, the authoritative. They are the transparent souls: the people through whom we are able to see some glimpses of the love which does not fail and the truth which makes us free.
(Source: uuquotes, via soullikeaspider)
Rick Santorum: The Antithesis of Everything Jesus Taught
Every politician eventually gets stuck with a label from their opponents and supporters that is not always completely accurate. Often, it is best to let the politician’s record speak to whether or not they are, for example, Liberal or conservative and in this technological age, it is relatively simple to gather up-to-the-minute press releases and candidate statements to discern where a politician or candidate stands to attribute the appropriate label. It is problematic, though, for a political candidate to label themselves unless they have integrity to their cause and own a record that verifies their self-description perfectly. Rick Santorum describes himself as a compassionate conservative and although there is absolutely no doubt the man is a conservative of the first order, there is certainly nothing compassionate about him. … A more apropos label for Santorum is a hateful conservative that aligns him with the rest of the Republicans; except the former Pennsylvania senator says in public what other Republicans keep under their hats. …
Go read the whole piece: it’s a doozy, even if the author used inferred when the correct word is implied. While I’m praying for Mr. Santorum’s immortal soul, I’ll pray for the author’s as well.
"A 14-year-old openly bisexual girl collared Texas Gov. Rick Perry after his town hall here and challenged him to explain the reasoning behind his belief that gays should not serve openly in the military."
Asked what he thought of the governor’s explanation that he “hates the sin” but “loves the sinner,” Todd Green said, “I have always hated that phrase. I think it’s impossible and you show it by action. If you love the sinner, whatever that means, your policy should reflect that I think, but in the end, I don’t understand the logic behind that at all.”
“Hate the sin, but love the sinner” is one of the worst thoughts to come out of Christianity, not only useless but harmful as well.
There is no room in a Christian for hate. Hate is not a virtue. Hate is not a Christian value. Hate is not a family value. Hate harms the hated, and it harms the hater even more. Hate is based on fear, which is not only the opposite of faith, but the rejection of faith.
One of the only two new things that Jesus said was this:
I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.
He even repeats it: Love one another as I have loved you.
Did Jesus hate sin? No. Sin frustrated Jesus, made Jesus feel pity or sadness. But hate? No way. The love Jesus showed was so complete, so merciful, so infinite and scandalous that it had no room in it for hate. To love one another as Jesus loves us is to try to see each person we encounter as God’s beloved child, to give anything — even our freedom, our bodies, our lives — so that other persons can have life.
This is the yardstick by which Christians should be measured. We are not called to hate sin; rather, we are commanded to love all persons, to love as Jesus loves us, to pray for our enemies, to love those who hate us, to forgive infinitely. You cannot do these things and still have room in your heart for hatred.
So stop hiding behind this deceitful language: it is impossible to hate the sin but love the sinner. Drop the hate. Just love.
(Source: ryking)
Femmes and Family: Truths for Fat People
written by a fat person.
- You are beautiful. Not always and not to everyone, but we are all beautiful and deserving of love.
- You do not have justify your body to anyone. Not to your family, your friends, your doctor, your partners. It is your body. No one else’s.
- You are allowed to take up space. Use the world around you to your advantage. Be present in the world in as much space as you need to feel comfortable and safe.
- You are more than your body. You have emotional, spiritual, and mental worth. People might see your body first, but everything else about you matters just as much.
- You are allowed to change your body if you want to. You can gain or lose weight if it is your choice to do so. No one should shame you for either choice. You are also allowed to keep your body exactly the way it is right now, in this moment.
- You are allowed to be angry over fatphobia. You do not have to sit quietly and let those around you make you feel bad for your size. You can be angry, resentful, hurt, sad. You can speak out against fatphobia. You can reject diet and weight loss talk if you do not want to hear it.
- You can use the word fat. If you feel fat, you can use the word fat. You can reclaim it as a positive. You can use fat as a descriptor. No one can tell you that you are too small to use it. If it is part of who you are, do what’s best for you.
- You can love other fat people. You can make fat and fat ally communities. You can surround yourself with positive forces. You can make fat love. You can fat love yourself.
- You can wear what you want. Crop tops and short shorts. Mumus. Tutus and ties. It is up to you. Don’t let societal pressures like ‘flattering’ dictate your outfits.
- You can be fat. That is good. That is ok. That is a celebration.
I think Jesus said something about this once… *scratches head*
(via cabbylicious)
Is Santa Claus Christian?
Some thoughts for you on Santa Claus:
In the time leading up to Christmas — during and before the season of Advent — we often hear debates about Santa Claus. We may even participate in the debates: explaining why we think teaching our kids about Santa is a bad idea or how we could never bear to take the “magic of Christmas” away from them. We encounter people who tell us that the Santa tradition is satanic, as if everything not explicitly made sacred is satanic and not merely secular. And we encounter people who seem to celebrate Santa far beyond their celebration of Jesus. If you’re a clergyperson or a leader in your church, you probably get asked about this. Is is okay for Christians to believe in Santa Claus? Can Christian parents keep the Santa tradition alive for their children without compromising their faith? Where did all this Santa Claus stuff come from, anyway?
The primary answer to all of these questions is: It depends; you are responsible for listening for the still, small voice and acting on what you’ve heard. Seriously, you expected a definitive, absolute answer from an Episcopalian?!? I do have some answers for you below the fold…
- Wait, Saint Nicholas is real?!
- How could the Santa tradition possibly be bad?
- How could the Santa tradition possibly be good?
Tebow’s success has commentators, fans discussing God's role in football
Dear Everyone (I’m looking at you, awful football commentators),
I’m 99% sure God doesn’t care about the NFL.
Love,
PW
Me too. 99% sure God doesn’t care about the NFL. Also, I’m 100% sure that God loves each player in the NFL perfectly, scandalously, and without limit. Just like how God loves you and me and everyone else.
