Liar

y'all know that i can't stop posting! with so much going on, i gots to keep y'all up on the happenings (crappy movie i hear) here in L-caster.

I give my first sermon at Trinity UCC here this sunday, a little nervous about it.. it's on Jonah and the title is "Eeyore goes to Tehran." It will be sucessful if 1. my voice doesn't crack like a 13 year old, 2. i keep the "umms" and "uhhhs" under 200 and 3. they don't stone me for heresy at the end. keep your fingers crossed ;-)

Katie, Brian, and Daniel, friends from college who lived in the DC area with us, came out this past weekend. great to catch up with them! I need to check out Poi Dog Pondering, they're fav. band. Also that weekend i glimpsed heaven. Heaven is sitting on the porch on a clear night, having a few suds and talking about camping tents and their merits, whether or not the Mars Rover wrote "We have ICE!!!!! Yes, ICE, *WATER ICE* on Mars! w00t!!! Best day ever!!" when it detected ice, and how racism is a biological holdover from our tribal past.

I gave a speech as an Ally at the Lancaster PRIDE interfaith service.. it went something like this:
Being raised Catholic you’re told that sex is only for procreation. Any sex that does not result in a child is immoral. So when BIRTH CONTROL is a hot topic in a society, the topic of same-sex partnerships are LIGHTYEARS beyond our comprehension. I was told that it was unnatural and immoral, end of story, that's all i need to know, period.

I never considered the plight of the LGBT community until my best friend in college came out. That was a transformative experience for the both of us. Neither she nor I knew how I would respond, but when the rubber hit the road, I knew that I
loved her unconditionally.

So here I stand, a straight protestant man doing his best to help where needed, to stand up and speak out when someone thinks they can tear down my friends. you can do a lot more damage from the inside of a majority, than from the outside ;-) I also recognize the need to stand aside. You can't give someone freedom, they must earn it for themselves and claim ownership.

I stand on the side of love."

and I think that's about it... oh, the Bonsai tree hasn't grown at all... with that thing would hurry up.. (wait.. why am i doing this again?) so i will post up the sermon later and let you know how awful it went! RAWK OUT GIRL SCOUT!

BONSAI!

I'd like to think that patience and me go together about as well as an NRA sticker on a Prius. Which is to say we get along about as well as a peanut butter and plutonium sandwich and your digestive tract.

That's what i'd like to think.

Truth is i'm patient with some things and not others. I realized this when playing with my nieces and nephews two weekends ago. I just LOVE spending time with them and I don't worry about the time or how many times they ask questions. I love it! I do lose my patience when they keep jumping on me or hitting me with stuff, but they usually stop after asking them to stop.

I love following my youngest niece around and watching what she pays attention to. You can learn a lot about the world from a two-year-old's persepective. you notice the small things.

most of you know about our condo. we tried to sell it and couldn't. the bottom has fallen out of the market. we are trying to rent it, yet that was delayed. it's enough to make me think the condo is cursed. but that's superstitious. i need patiences here... or do i? somethings are good to be impatient with.

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel states, "to be religious is to be impatient with injustices, a breathless impatience with injustice, a hysteria about injustices." The commentator Dresner states that "We ourselves witness continually acts of injustice... but we rarely get indignant or overly excited. To the prophets a minor, commonplace sort of injustice assumes almost cosmic proportions." (unless it's against women adds Kate, but that's another post.)

I do need to be more patient with people and esp. with my wife. Take time to communicate properly and fully. take time to listen to what they're saying.

So as a symbol of this, I've decided to grow a bonsai tree. So stay tuned for pix and more descriptions of the process. Right now the seeds are germinating in the refrigerator for 7 days. i can't say it's better than watching the NBA finals, but it's different.