Ginger_Sister’s blog

It got me to dance at a wedding reception.

Mind you it was an Indian wedding reception, so everyone was dancing.

I'm pretty sure I looked like a dork.

I was sweaty, and tired, but it was fun.

(cue Hindi hip hop)

            Every time a celebrity falls from grace, either by the whims of the populace or by stupid actions on their part, there is someone waiting to condemn them in no uncertain terms.  More often than not this condemning  person is a believer.  No where has this been more evident than in the recent and sudden death of Michael Jackson.

 

            Granted, this isn’t an easy issue to face.  At best the man was troubled, had a horrid childhood, numerous oddities, and lived an uncomfortable life in the spotlight. What were worse were the pedophilic allegations, and his fixation with remaining young.  The question becomes how do we, as disciples of Jesus, navigate the waters of opinion surrounding this mysterious and yet gifted man?

 

            Now I’m as opinionated as the next person, o.k. probably more so, but that only means that I have to really watch my motives, actions, and words, especially as it pertains to people I see.  As a Christian (really hesitate to use this word as it means so many things to as many people) I have to walk a very fine line between having good judgment of situations, and standing in judgment.  The former helps me be wise about the situations I face and how to handle them, and the later, well…we’ve all got examples of this, and mostly from the lips of other Christians.  This is ironic, and sadly, sin.

 

            I ran into an example of this today that angered me, and more importantly, made me sad, as it means somewhere along the way, we who claim to follow Jesus have not taught each other Jesus’ words and ways.

 

            Here’s the conversation I witnessed between three believers:

 

Host: Who will Michael Jackson be remembered: Pedophile Legend or Pedophile Wacko? Let your voice be heard? VOTE HERE!

Girl 1: I think he could have been a disciple of Jesus

Host: Even Judas was a disciple

Boy 1: If God had wanted him to be a disciple, he’d have been there. nuff [sic] said.

           

            The less gracious, more judgmental side of me wants to just yell “Well two out of the three of you are demonstrating that God doesn’t want you for disciples either!” but that would be me falling into the same snare that plagues so many of us.  We forget that, literally, there but for the grace of God go us!  The Apostle Paul gave the church in Corinth a good talking to on the same subject.  He reviewed the mistakes made by the early Israelites.  God miraculously led them out of Egypt, and saved them many times, yet how quickly they forgot and turned away from him, while still on the journey away from Egypt. His admonition to the church was just this: What happened to them are examples to us.  We’re no better, even though we have a fuller revelation of God’s heart through his son Jesus, so if you think you’re standing firm, pay attention, you’re just as capable of falling as they were. 

           

            We all are capable of failure. We all are capable of screwing things up royally.  We all have the capacity to deeply hurt and wound others.  And yet we all have the capacity to become like Christ and infect our world with the Grace and Truth of Jesus. It’s said in scripture that God desires that none should perish, but all come to salvation and partnership with him and his kingdom.  The thing of it is, it comes down to us. We get the choice.  We can choose to follow Christ, and partner with him, or we can choose to go our own way.  The reason the exchange I shared bothers me so much is because it makes it seem like if Michael Jackson had been a better man (oh say like us-please read in an extremely sarcastic tone) then God would have sought him out, and there would have been no way he could have not been God’s disciple.  This makes it seem like we, who are Christians, are better people then those who are not.  And this is judgment.  And this is sin.

 

            Paul, in a letter to the early Roman church says the following: ”For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.”. We should pay attention to this.  Being Christian makes us no better or no worse than anyone else. Our actions for the sake of Christ should reflect him, and not the belief that we’re superior in any way.  As my good friend Josh reminded me today “there's such a strong desire in Christians to declare who's in, who's out, who's wrong and who's right, rather than being willing to just be involved in people's lives and to realize we all have a long way to go toward being Christlike”

 

            This does not negate the damage that Jackson may have done with his life.  It is only right for us to acknowledge that his behavior was often shady, and even wrong, in the way he related to children.  However, our response shouldn’t stop there.  Like the ancient prophet Isaiah said, all of us have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God.  All of us.  So while we should stand up and stop things that hurt others (i.e. child abuse) we should also remember that we are capable of evil too.

 

            Oh, and that God demonstrated his love for all of us like this: “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

So I thought that my change in lifestyle and eating habits hadn't caused any weight loss.

Then I went brassiere shopping.

I was wrong.

I lost the one thing I didn't want to. 

(highlight below if you really want to read on)
A cup size.

GRRRRR

Read this quote today:

Charity is commendable; everyone should be charitable. But justice aims to create a social order in which, if individuals choose not to be charitable, people still don’t go hungry, unschooled, or sick without care.

- Bill Moyers,
television journalist and social commentator

Like it a lot.
Tend to agree.
What do you think?

Last minute panic.

This is my day
(was glad to not have to work after all, and got shift covered, still though that does not diminish total amount of stuff I have to do today)

8-10 Momentum (church) Planning Mtg.
10-11 errands-random email checking-fingernail biting
11-2 CARMEN!!!!! YAY!!!! (the fact that we're meeting at El Camino's has absolutely no bearing on how excited I am.  None.  Sushi wouldn't have affected it either.  LOL)
2-4 Make Garlic bread, get stuff together for play, call members of worship team about tomorrow.
4:30 make appearance at Wedding reception (The wedding was in India a couple months ago)
5:15 Final read through and eat
7:45 Freak out
8 Perform
11 fall on bed, rehash mistakes (trust me it will happen), bask in glow
2am.  Sleep

7am...GRRR. must I get up?

So Saturday I'm going to be a part of the dramatic reading of a play by a local playwright.

I'm all kinds of excited.

I'm reading the part of an 18yr old girl, fresh out of High School, who is a nurses aid at a Nursing Home.  She is struggling with the changes of life, and in trying to figure out her destiny.  She's also perpetually late.

She has this great soliloquy where she just erupts with all that is in her.  She hates her great potential, and her lack of purpose, and her perpetual lateness. To quote Emily "...I cant get somewhere on time, and I'm afraid...my time will run out on this earth two minutes before I figure out why I was here in the first place."

I'm very excited about doing this.  I've missed the stage.

And yet I feel way to closely bonded with the naive little Emily.  I understand her pain, a little too well.

Potential
Direction

Yes
Even the lateness.

Well, maybe we share things, but I'm glad I get to take her off when all is said and done.

I recently blogged on the book that made captivated me so much I read it in one sitting at Borders without realizing it.I also have blogged recently on the fact that the little bro has been stealing my mojo.
I talked to my little brother and told him that this book was for him, and he needed to read it.  He kind of shrugged it off, but did promise to look into it. 

Tonight I received proof that I still have the Big Sister "I know you better than you know yourself" chops.

Text received from Big Dave:

I am not happy with you.   I can't put T. S. Spivit Down. And it is 1am

Yeah that's right.
I still got it.

PS It is a most excellent and unique book.

At the end of May I read two interesting books at the same time:
It was incredibly fascinating to read two different takes on Sherlock Holmes simultaneously: Vintage Holmes,

The Hound of the Baskervilles, via audio in the car and the latest in the Holmes/Russel Series The Language of Bees. I had never read Sir Arthur Conan Doyles original creation of Holmes, and I did enjoy it greatly.  I did find, however, that I couldn't stand his opions that the lower classes lacked inteligence, and the way in which he related to women.  What is so fascinating is that I felt incredibly familiar with Holmes, from the King novels, and felt that they, in every way jived with Conan Doyle's original detective, except his misogyny.  This, of course, makes Kings version of Sherlock vastly superior...IMHO!
Both stories were very interesting.  Conan-Doyle spun a tale that made the detective delve into spiritual superstitions in order to rid a family of a curse.  Without wanting to spoil the plot let me just say that Scooby Doo learned a lot from Conan-Doyle :) 
King's tale was more interesting.  Her books focus both on Sherlock and his young wife, the superb Mary Russell. The two of them are embarking on the search for Holmes's son's wife and daughter.  This book is one of the best I've read in this series (of which I own most all) and I loved, again, the relationship between the two of them.  I highly recommend this series.  A faithful recreation of Holmes in all his splendor (without the misogyny) and Mary who is the only woman who is intelligent enough to match wits with him.  It was lovely to read them at the same time, comparing and contrasting and delighting in the stories.  I also think that Sherlock and Mycroft would be two great Dog names.   Might have to remember that.

Hey.

You are a grown man.

If you can't make it into the toilet without hitting the seat

SIT DOWN TO PEE!

Or have the common decency to wipe up after yourself.

Your mother doesn't work here.

(Shouldn't be her job anyway. You haven't been 12 in years. Grow UP!)

I really (surprisingly) like these guys.