The Corner

A New Year's Resolution I Can Follow

As 2007 ends, it seems useful to resolve to not use any of Lake Superior State University's Words to be Banished , at least for 1 day. 

We are in the Bay Area, seeing friends & celebrating our 24th anniversary.

24 years ago, we stood before a community and said we'd walk together - best bit of luck I've ever had !

fav 2007 movies

1. Michael Clayton
2. I'm Not There
3. Waitress
4. No End in Sight
5. Ratatouille
6. Bourne Ultimatum
7. TBD *
8. Lars and the Real Girl
9. Hairspray
10. TBD *

 
* i have yet to see Persepolis,  The Savages, Starting Out in the Evening, Sweeney Todd, There Will Be Blood or No Country for Old Men (or Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, for that matter)

Here's the Christas Eve Sermon I Wish I had Heard: A Crack down the Middle

On Christmas Eve, we heard a sermon that...um...ah...it was the kind of stuff you find on the floor of a manger.

I wish I could have heard this sermon from Christy:

Dry Bones Dance: A Crack down the Middle via kwout

Here's something I can believe in:

Dry Bones Dance: A Crack down the Middle via kwout

fav 2007 music

fav sets

Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha
Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
Amiina - Kurr
Bruce Springsteen – Magic
Cobalt Season - In Search of a Unified Theory
M.I.A. — Kala
Patty Griffin – Children Running Through
Radiohead — In Rainbows
Robert Plant/Alison Krauss - Raising Sand
St. Vincent – Marry Me

fav singles

image from Andy

I have felt a great deal of joy, comfort and kin-ship in the 6 months since we moved back to Texas.

This reminds me of the shame that comes with calling such a violent place home:

60% of all executions this year were in Texas

my fav books of 2007

fav non-fiction

The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science by Natalie Angier
The Shock Doctrine by  Naomi Klein
The Stillborn God by  Mark Lilla 
Everything Must Change by Brian D. McLaren
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

fav fiction

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
BOOMSDAY by Christopher Buckley
THEN WE CAME TO THE END by  Joshua Ferris
Heartsick by Chelsea Cain
Body of Lies by  David Ignatius

from the brilliant Jessica Hagy

      

          

              

Well, not too early on Sunday morning.

emergencemarketing.com » Blog Archive » The 5 most over(ab)used marketing words in 2007

SPEAKING OF FAITH: Jean Vanier ~ The Wisdom of Tenderness

image from arkworld

In the next week, churches around the world will swell with people as they come to re-member themselves to the story of Jesus, of Emmanuel come to ransom us, of a Lord who transforms Empire.  There will be singing of songs that we seem to know in our souls, Scripture will be read, nice clothes will be worn and families reassembled.

In the midst of all the pomp & pageantry, Jean Vanier reminds us of most basic, paradoxical teachings of Christianity — notions about power in humility, strength in weakness, and light in the darkness of human existence.  This week, Vanier is profiled on Speaking of Faith with Krista Tippett in a segment called The Wisdom of Tenderness.

Take an hour out of the busy-ness that ramps up to Christmas and listen to this truly special voice and the message he reminds us of.  Vanier captures some of the truly extraordinary nature of Jesus:

Jesus was coming to change the whole order of things.  And at the heart of that order was the poor, the blind, the lame, and the sick.  And so these people would come rushing, all those who were marginal would come rushing to him, seeking strength, seeking compassion, seeking healing.  One moment Jesus describes this vision, when he talks about a king giving a wedding feast for the son, and he sends out invitations, and all the table is beautifully laid, and all the people, the worthy citizens, they all refuse. I cannot come, I haven't time, I bought land and I must go and tend it, I bought a pair of oxen and I must work on them, my daughter is getting married and I have to be there--frequently those who are rich, who are in power, they haven't time. So the king gets angry and he sends the servants into the highways and the byways--Bring in the poor, the lame, the sick, the blind, and of course they come rushing in.  So we find that in the whole vision of humanity, God is feared, God is not wanted, and on the other side, God is desperately needed.

I pray that I - that we - can stretch to embody what Vanier speaks of when he says:

To be a friend to the poor is demanding. The anchor us in the reality of pain; they make it impossible for us to escape into ideas or dreams. Their cry for solidarity obliges us to make choices, deepen our spiritual lives and put love at the heart of our daily lives. It transforms us.