Stuff

I was listening to Rick Steves today on NPR. Great inspiration for travel. I mentioned I wanted to do some traveling to my husband and he said I didn't want it bad enough. First I was offended. What! That is one of my favorite things. Then I took a moment and thought about it and realized he was right. I could be doing things to make it more possible for us to travel.

The first thing I thought of was to pare down our stuff. Ok, may not seem directly related, but I think it is. I'm living in a house that is too big for our current needs, and filling it with stuff. I think we need to pare down the stuff and think more about what we need for the life we want to live.

I think I'm going to start by selling and giving away a good portion of my books. I really enjoyed many of them, but there is no reason to keep them for that sometime in the future when I want to read them again. That is what the library is for. And if I want to share these great stories with my daughter, again, the library. This won't make a ton of money, but every little bit helps and it may lead to something else. Meanwhile I'll be reducing clutter from my life.

Santa #2

Ok, I totally intended to have a bunch of posts on Santa, but I failed. Now it is the New Year and I'm feeling less like talking about Santa. My husband and I are still negotiating what we will do for our daughter. She just had her first Christmas, but at 7months she is too young to really understand that she got lots of stuff. So, I'm letting go of my Santa issues for now. He's a little creepy, but also a little fun.

Merry Christmas

Reason 1 Santa bothers me

This is intended to be the first of a series about that annoying fat elf that isn't really jolly he's actually a little crazy. Seriously, who laughs like that? Maybe it's all the cookies.

We confuse kids and ourselves with saying this is a season of giving when we treat it as a season of getting. We have them makes lists and write letters for all the stuff they want. We are focusing on what they are going to get. Then, maybe, give them just a little money or some craft supplies to make a few gifts. It is almost an after thought. The season is really about what they are going to get from Santa if they are good enough that is.

If you want it to be a season of giving focus on the giving not the getting. Make a list of who you are giving gifts to. Brainstorm together what special thing someone might like. Help them think about people who may need a little extra who may not have much at all. Refocus your list to reflect your values.

I guess if you value debt and stuff, then by all means make a long list for Santa.

Happy Advent

Bored

Do you ever get bored with the bible?I I know we aren't suppose to say it, but sometimes I find the bible rather dull. The thing that gets me is I know it isn't suppose to be dull. I know these stories are interesting and exciting. Perhaps it is they way they are presented. Reading the Psalms responsively is not how to bring alive these works of powerful poetry. I can rarely pay attention to any of the readings at church. Perhaps we should bring in a forensics coach to teach people how to read. How can I make those stories come alive again?

Relative Belief

Will I raise my child to be able to choose whatever religion fits her best? No. I could do that if I didn't believe my beliefs are true, but then they wouldn't be my beliefs. I don't believe they are true just for me and for someone else there is another reality any more than I believe gravity is different for different people. Now the way people approach their faith practices may be different. Completely open to lots of different ways to connect to God. And I don't think that our little minds have God figured out. I also don't think we have physics figured out. We are doing the best we can with both mysteries. So, I will teach my child that there is a God who is big and mysterious and loving and people have been trying to understand what that means and have even written down some of that figuring out and we can read about their stories in the bible and writings from theologians and stories from different people. I look forward to continuing to unpack the mystery with her.

New Life

My daughter is just over 16 weeks old, and in the past 3 1/2 months I have read more books on parenting and education than on theology, so I haven't been posting. But when I think back I have thought about theology, just in a different way. Having a new baby in my arms is so hard to describe. I feel like I have participated with God in creating a new life in a very real way. I feel vulnerable because I never thought I could love anyone this much. I feel like I'm looking at myself and getting a picture into a part of my life in which I have no memory. As I watch her grow I wonder who she is and feel privileged to be able to participate in the unfolding of her life. Wow. She is developing right before me. I am truly blessed. I am truly scared. I am truly exciting.

More to come.

Did we replace God with the Bible?

This is a thought I had the other day. It isn't well thought out yet, but I wanted to ask the question. We can get really hung up on what does the bible say exactly, even as we understand that it was written by people and from their perspective. I'm not saying it isn't important or other people's stories are not important, but what I wonder about as we dissect words and phrases they may not have ever meant to be taken apart are we loosing track of the big picture. In other words, does God get replaced by the bible. Do we end up worshiping the book?

This being said, I will continue to dissect what I read, mostly to get to the story behind my cultural lenses written by someone else through their cultural lens. But the point is that it points to God. Perhaps we shouldn't hold on too strongly to the parts that just don't makes sense.

God is too big to be contained in a book.