1. Let's get these QTs off on a good foot, shall we? Because I feel the grotesque need to share my abject horror with you: last night I had a dream about a centipede that was crawling all around my basement that looked exactly like this:
...EXCEPT IT WAS THE LENGTH AND WIDTH OF MY ARM. Deep breath. Meanwhile, as this god-forsaken monster slithered all over everything, I flailed about in hysterics calling for my mommy, as you would expect. Seriously - worst nightmare. I think my brain is trying to torture me.
2. And now if you need something to counterbalance that horrifying image in your mind, how about an oldie but a goodie?
Would you look at those chub thighs? *sigh* I have been revisiting Josiah's baby pictures lately, and it almost causes me physical pain to see and remember him as a baby, and then to realize that baby is gone forever. Motherhood is heartbreaking, y'all.
3. Recommended Reading: Mark Driscoll Isn't My Pastor - a very fine article over at Deeper Church written by Lore Ferguson. Basically she writes about why she doesn't spend time publicly calling out Christian pastors whom she disagrees with. Of course there is a place for speaking out against wrongs and injustices....but she makes an excellent case for minding your own house. Wise words.
4. Recommended Reading #2: When You Say to Me Pro-Life - a blog post written by Preston Yancey a few months back, but I only just stumbled across it this week. I am not sure I endorse 100% of everything he says, but I agree with so so much of it, and find it to be so beautifully expressed, that I wish I had written it.
5. I have decided for the umpteenth time to give doing a daily office of prayer another try. Even if I am distracted half the time, I think starting and ending my day with a rhythm of Scripture-prayer (not study) is obviously a good thing. This time I am trying the shorter version of Phyllis Tickle's The Divine Hours, which I downloaded on my Kindle. I didn't want to invest in anything more costly before being sure if it is something I can stick with. Very doubtful, but I am going to be foolishly optimistic and try anyway. In keeping with my word for the year - I need some kind of daily check-in with God that is more substantive than "hey, God!"
6. Have I mentioned on this blog yet that we are currently obsessed with Friday Night Lights? No? Well, WE ARE CURRENTLY OBSESSED WITH FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS. I know, only a few years behind on this one. Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose, amirite?!
7. Thanks to the generosity of a friend, I am going to be getting professional maternity photos done again for this pregnancy. I was definitely not planning on paying for any myself, so I am very grateful and will probably be even more grateful to have them in the future. But I am not feeling as super cute this pregnancy as I was last time, and I fear any photographic documentation beyond the occasional, hazy, Instagram selfie.
Have a great, centipede-free weekend, my lovelies! xoxo
5 comments:
I'm not sure I agree with the "Mark Driscoll isn't My Pastor" post. Let me caveat that with a couple of things first:]
I do tire of people on both right and left who spend virtually ALL their online time refuting or speaking out against public figures with whom they disagree but with whom they have no other interaction.
At a gut level I definitely resonate with the idea of "taking care of your own house" first.
And yet . . . the Mark Driscolls or John Pipers of the world (or for that matter, the Brian McLarens or Rachel Held Evans's) aren't just speaking to THEIR local congregations, either. Their intent is to reach as broad an audience as possible with their message and they use blogs, podcasts, twitter, facebook and other social networking to do so as well as writing books that they hope will have a wide readership outside the bounds of their congregation or their own city or personal, non-virtual, IRL circle of influence.
So . . . that being the case, when a public figure with a public ministry who is followed and looked up to and emulated by many who have never met him/her, who aren't a part of his/her congregation and who don't even live in his/her state, speaks or writes or tweets or blogs something that I think is dangerous or harmful to the body of Christ, then if I had a blog (still don't, but if I did) then I would think it fair game to speak to that dangerous or harmful idea, teaching, or attitude on my own blog. Because Mark Driscoll would LIKE TO BE my pastor, in the sense that he would like for me (and as many others as possible like me) to buy his books, read his tweets, listen to his podcasts and follow his teachings.
It would be a very different case if the reformed pastor down the street who doesn't have a widely-read blog, isn't an author, doesn't hold himself out as a mentor and teacher to others outside his own flock, says something virtually identical to Mark Driscoll. HE isn't my pastor, nor (unlike Mark) does he hold himself out to be. I'd be much more inclined to leave him alone in agreement with the sentiments of the "he's not my pastor" post, unless he became embroiled in a public controversy that put him and his teaching in the public eye by his own choice.
I think your counterpoint is totally legit - and as I said, I do think sometimes there is sufficient reason to speak out. I guess I appreciate her article because I think it is an important counterbalance to the current climate I see online, which is one where it seems like either everyone is making themselves a target, or aiming at someone else as though they were a target.
I don't think I am expressing myself well - maybe what I am trying to say is that I think I am both troubled by the fact that Mark Driscoll "wants" to be my pastor, and I am troubled by the flip side of everyone feeling like they have the right to be a critic and a judge. Perhaps this is a hypocritical scruple for someone who spends so much time online, but as much as I use and delight in the brave new world of communication and information we live in, I remain concerned and ambivalent about all the implications and consequences of this world. I feel like any reminder that brings our focus back to our own localized spheres is a good thing. But yes, it can be taken too far and we can't turn a blind eye to things that are truly objectionable and that ought to be condemned.
I am just so puzzled both by why Mark Driscoll (or anyone on any point of the theological/political spectrum) can create such a following, as well as by why people who don't like him get so het up about it. I guess I am just bothered by and confused by celebrity culture in all its forms. I can honestly say there is not a single person whose views or ideas or actions are THAT influential on me, and I guess I am glad for that.
Have I explained myself well?
Youve definitely expressed yourself well, and I get where you are coming from. I guess I would say that given the existence of the phenomenon - celebrity pastors/teachers who wield great influence with people all over the country such that if their teachings are followed and listened to (and oh how they are) they will have an impact on the body of Christ in Virginia even though they pastor in Minnesota, Chicago, New York or Seattle - then, I think it's not just ok but probably even necessary that other voices engage with their teachings and critique where appropriate. And those voices can come from anywhere in the "footprint" that is reached by those celebrity pastors/teachers/writers/bloggers. Which is at least nationwide, if not wider.
That said, I love your " I feel like any reminder that brings our focus back to our own localized spheres is a good thing. " Because I totally resonate with that, too. You sound like Wendell Berry, one of my favorites of all time.
So maybe the better thing for me, personally to do is to opt out of the online maelstrom and focus locally? Yet . . . there are so few people locally with whom I can have the kind of conversations, exchange the types of views, express the same kind of frustrations or doubts, as I can on the internet. If you don't fit neatly into one of the prefab ready-mix "boxes" in your local-church grocery store, it can be such an encouragement to go online and realize you aren't alone and maybe aren't crazy b/c there are other people out there like you even if they don't live in your little corner of the world. It can be edifying and sharpening to read what others think about some of these issues. So it would be hard (and maybe not good for me) to totally give up the internet. But yeah Wendell Berry - bring it back to the local sphere. That's where most (all?) of life really happens. Now I feel like I am thinking and typing in circles. Good thought provoking comments by you.
We had fore-arm length centipedes in Papua. For serious. But just in the jungle, not really the kind of thing that would venture into houses. Feel better? Lol.
NO I DON'T FEEL BETTER. Just knowing they exist in the world makes me afraid. You are a brave, brave woman.
Post a Comment