I made deep fried Oreos for Beer & Theology today. I know it might sound gross, but trust me, they're amazing! In a weird quirk of culinary magic, throwing battering Oreos and tossing them into hot grease actually make them taste better! I could go so far as to say that frying them makes them taste like a fancy dessert.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Day 257 (Deep Fried Oreos)
I made deep fried Oreos for Beer & Theology today. I know it might sound gross, but trust me, they're amazing! In a weird quirk of culinary magic, throwing battering Oreos and tossing them into hot grease actually make them taste better! I could go so far as to say that frying them makes them taste like a fancy dessert.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Day 256 (Caller ID)
Nothing too deep today; just gotta say: God bless the person who invented caller ID!
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Day 255 (LGBT Welcome)
Day 254 (Rise of the Eldrazi)
Epic gaming today! Doug bought a box of the new Magic: The Gathering set that came out a few days ago, Rise of the Eldrazi, and six of us split the cost of the box and did a weird sealed/draft/tournament thing. Click here for more info: Magic: The Gathering.com.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Day 253 (Me vs The Cold)
The cold is winning...
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Day 252 (General Assembly)
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Day 251 (The Shack)
I started reading The Shack last night, and felt compelled to finish reading it this morning. It is the story of a man who experiences a terrible loss in his life and God reaches out to him in the form of a note asking the man to come visit God in a shack. When the man goes there, he is greeted by a large African woman, a Hebrew man and an Asian woman. The result is an intense emotional journey that transforms him to the core of his being.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Day 250 (Lawn Dogs)
I finally got around to sharing my favorite movie with some people today, although to be fair I did already show it to Terra during the Christmas break. Please don't judge this movie by it's cover art or the description on the back. Whoever designed the DVD cover created an epic fail!
Lawn Dogs is a modern day fairy tale centering around 10-year-old Devon and Trent, a professional lawn mower in his early twenties. The two loaners discover in each other a kindred spirit and their friendship seems inevitable, however the community does not take to this. The movie is haunting in its imagery and sound, lingering with you long after you have seen it, and the symbolism run as deep as any story you can possibly encounter.
If you have not seen this movie, I beg you to please give it a chance. As an Indy Film, its quirkiness will not appeal to all, but its message is one that needs to be heard by all. And, although this message may not be immediately apparent at first, but it sinks deep into the psyche, to help grow and change all that see it. And, this is what all good movies should do.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Day 249 (Magic Extravaganza)
The Marshmallow finally asked to play Magic today. Usually, when I teach someone, they're pretty much done for a while after the first 2 or 3 games. Marshmallow took to the game rather quickly, he is a gamer after all, and we proceeded to play for 8 hours. Yes, you saw that right, 8 hours. Now I have to admit that when many people play Magic, they tend to lose track of time. But, this doesn't usually happen with first time players. It was really fun though, cuz I got to play a bunch of my decks that don't normally see the light of day.
Afterwards, I also got to teach Terra how to play! It's a good thing that I built those beginner teaching decks! I'm gonna go to bed now and see if I can get up at 5:00 am to watch the meteor shower later, but I don't know how wise that would be as I am still sick. But, I love meteor showers!
What to do, what to do...
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Day 248 (Full Inclusion)
San Francisco Theological Seminary, as a seminary of the PC(USA), as an academic institution preparing faithful followers of Christ for enacting God's will on earth as it is in heaven, and as a community of committed Christians to the radical inclusivity exemplified in the life and teaching of our Redeemer Jesus Christ stand firmly and in solidarity with our lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender sisters and brothers in our community of SFTS, state of California, nation of the United States, denomination of Christianity, and world of our Creator in, with, and through the power of the Holy Spirit which has firmly convicted us with righteousness and holiness in this endeavor.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Day 247 (My Mother's Eyes)
My Mother's Eyes
I am beautiful in my Mother's eyes,
Made by her plan, made by her will,
Whether you measure by wit or elation,
Or by faith or by station,
I am unique in all of creation.
I am beautiful in my Mother's eyes,
For she is the wisdom that created the world,
She created all in heaven and Earth,
And she was there with me on the day of my birth,
The water, the fountain from which I draw worth.
I am beautiful in my Mother's eyes,
She looks right to the core of me,
She sees the truth that resides there,
The love and the warmth, the compassionate care,
The insecure heart with its own cross to bear.
I am beautiful in my Mother's eyes,
And she forgives what I’ve done,
No sin is too big for her,
No trespass too much for her,
No wrongdoing or evil too bad in this world,
For she is my mother.
I am beautiful in my Mother's eyes,
A glorious spirit of mercy and grace,
With her as my center and her as my base,
I will journey on ‘til we meet face to face.
Because I am beautiful in my Mother's eyes.
Day 246 (A Sudden Rain)
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Day 245 (Stargazing)
Abby, one of my classmates up here at SFTS, graciously took us outside to do some stargazing tonight for a short study break. We went out to the graduation field, which was unfortunately lit by by a huge floodlight, but was one of the darker places on the campus to look up at the stars. Still, she showed us Mars, Leo, Gemini, Canis Minor, Virgo and Auriga. Not sure what that last one is supposed to look like, never heard of it before. It was really fun learning about the stars and the constellations and some of the mythology surrounding them. We even saw a big shooting star!
Day 244 (Notes From a Wingman)
Ian, Gavin, Ryan and I went with Chris to a club called Temple last night to celebrate Chris' birthday. It was a pretty neat club, but, and this is weird coming from a gay guy, it was a bit too much of a sausage fest, because Heather bailed on us. Gavin and I finally managed at one point to get everyone on the dance floor, but it was a little awkward dancing with 5 straight guys. We really needed a girl there to get everyone into it, or I could have used another gay guy to dance with. I danced by myself quite a bit last night, but it's just not the same as dancing with another person.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Day 243 (Party Day)
Oh, seminary is just too much fun sometimes.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Day 242 (Back Pain)
I haven't written about this yet because there have been more important things to write about, but I totally tweaked out my back on Monday. When I was getting out of the van at the GTU, I was bent over like an "L" because I was sitting in the back seat, and when I got out and straightened up, there was an explosion of pain in my lower back. You know how sometimes pain can take your breath away, especially when it's unexpected? It was like that. And, I had nothing to compare it to, because I've never had back pain before, so I was worried that I might have done something really bad to it.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Day 241 (Negative Spaces)
I've been learning a lot about the apaphatic aspects of theology this term. That is, saying what God is not like as opposed to was God is like. So you can say God is like a mother, but to be completely accurate, you have to also say that God is not like a mother. God is like a father, but God is not like a father. God is like (insert analogy here). The apaphatic statement that must accompany that would be the opposite of that statement.
We come across this idea a lot in centering prayer. For those of you who have never done this, you spend the whole time emptying your mind in an attempt to deepen your relationship with or grow closer to God. Actually, you can never truly empty your mind, the human brain just doesn't work that way, but you are supposed to let the thoughts roam freely through your mind without really paying attention to them. It's hard and it takes practice, but it is possible to do it for small amounts of time (think 20 or 30 seconds) after a while.
So, centering prayer is the spiritual practice that we're doing in my Spiritual Leadership class right now. Take the stuff that I'm learning in there, mix it up with Theology and all the crazy stuff that Annette's been teaching us and you've got some pretty weird stuff going on in my brain right now.
Today, we were discussing our thoughts on how we think centering prayer may have changed us and the discussion leader talked about how when we were using icons in Lectio Divina last term, it was just as important to pay attention to the negative spaces as it was to look at the shapes of the images themselves. This lead my friend Mary to make the comment that the pauses between words and notes in music were just as important as the notes and the lyrics. Without the pauses, you wouldn't have music; it would just be noise.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Day 240 (Gender Issues)
Since this is my blog and I can post whatever I want here, I will share My Father's Eyes with all of you, my blog audience. Please take no offense to the masculine references to God, it's simply a result of the limitations of the English language, my upbringing and the point of my life that I was at when I wrote it. Meanwhile, I will mourn the loss of the freedom to express myself that I had thought I had found when first coming to seminary.
My Father's Eyes
I am glorious in my Father's eyes,
Made by his hand, by his design,
I'm the only one that can be me,
And I can be no one else but me,
Because that is what he made me to be.
I am glorious in my Father's eyes,
I answer to no one but him because he is my creator,
He is my maker and maker of all things,
And in my ear his truth rings,
And in my ear his voice sings.
I am glorious in my Father's eyes,
No matter what anyone says,
Not my mom or my dad of my siblings or friends,
Because at the end of the road, or when a relationship ends,
It is He who steps forward or his Son that he sends.
I am glorious in my Father's eyes,
And he forgives my transgressions,
Whether I know what I've done, or through no fault of my own,
He will stand by my side, in my flesh and my bone,
Seal my heart and my soul so no evil is sown.
I am glorious in my Father's eyes,
A beautiful spirit of mercy and light,
And because of his love it's his fight that I fight,
And I will stand by his side because I know that it's right.
Because I am glorious in my Father's eyes.
* Addendum: I had the date wrong, poetry night is next week
Day 239 (McDonald's)
Yes, it is true. To my shame, I have broken my 6 year McDonald's fast and had McDonald's for dinner tonight. (I'm not really sure how long it was, but it was a long time, probably longer that 6 years. On the off chance that my guess was too long, I didn't want to make it look like I was exaggerating.)
I got the supposed Angus Swiss Mushroom burger. As you might have guessed, I was not impressed by this meal, nor the wimpy things that were passed off as fries. The reason I stopped eating fast food so long ago was that it just started to make me feel weird. Nothing really bad happened, but I noticed a funny sensation the last two times I ate fast food before I gave it up, and I decided that fast food just was not good for me. (Hello Mr. Obvious!)
So, I ate McDonald's tonight because I was hungry, pressed for time, and was already going through the drive through for a friend of mine. I knew this before, but I obviously wasn't missing anything. I just hope I don't have any negative consequences as a result of tonight's experiment.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Day 238 (More Technological Issues)
Read Theology. I'll figure this out later...
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Day 237 (Technology)
So, before whatever it is that happens to mess up this intricate dance of technology, I am going to do today's blog entry.
Dammit! I think a mosquito just bit me! ARGH! >_<
Also on the technology front is the new Verizon mobile Internet data card that I got to replace the one I had from AT&T. (Cuz AT&T's customer service sucks!) I got the thing yesterday and have yet been able to get on-line with it. I can't even tell you how many times I've tried to get the damn thing to work! Apparently I still need to activate it, but every time I try, I get an "unknown error: 31" I guess it can't be that unknown if it can be assigned a number. As part of the deal, I had to agree to a 2-year contract. This thing better get fixed!
Why does this always happen to me?
Friday, April 9, 2010
Day 236 (Gay Lifestyle)
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Day 235 (Psychiatric Evaluation)
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Day 234 (Theology Reading)
Day 233 (Infant Baptism)
Monday, April 5, 2010
Day 232 (The List)
I've been talking to Tom a lot lately about relationships. While the thought is not new to me, these conversations have brought to light once again that I would like to not be single anymore. 30 years is long enough. So, I the hopes that "just putting it out there" might have some effect on the universe/God/karma/social networks/whatever, here is my list of criteria that I am looking for in an ideal mate. Yes, I understand that we are not supposed to make lists, but I most of these are "deal-breakers" and the rest I figure I just need if I'm going to be happy in the relationship. I tried to order these from most important to least, but really, I think a guy would have to qualify in every area for a relationship to work. So, without further ado, The List!
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Day 231 (Happy Easter!)
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Day 230 (Peepshi)
One of my facebook buddies posted a hilarious link for "peepshi" the other day, and I thought this would be a wonderful activity for Easter. Peepshi is, of course, sushi made with peeps. Because the flavor profiles of seaweed, soy sauce and wasabi does not really go very well with peeps, the instructions call for Rice Krispies Treats instead of rice and Fruit Roll-Ups instead of sheets of seaweed. It goes on to say that peeps are "sassy enough on their own," and do not require substitutes for wasabi and/or ginger. I think pre-packaged Rice Krispies Treats are foul, so I made some from scratch. I don't really understand the concept of buying something prepackaged that takes literally 5 minutes to make and tastes much, much, much better when homemade.
Day 229 (Spring Break)
Friday, April 2, 2010
Day 228 (The Marien Revelation)
I was contacted a few weeks ago about doing a book review on my blog. I was quite flattered that someone thought my blog was significant enough to warrant doing a book review, and I was intrigued by what I was told about the premise of the book. Apparently, the book was about the possibility of Jesus being gay. This bothered me a little bit, because my Puritan-influenced “American” upbringing had always portrayed Jesus as a sexless being. I’m not sure why Americans are so prude, but for the most part, we don’t want to think about Jesus having sex, gay or otherwise.
Still, I like to think that I know better than to judge a book by its cover, so I agreed to do it. That, and like I said, I was quite flattered to be asked to do such a thing. That book review was supposed to be done by today. I’ve been reading the book slowly over the past few weeks, and to be completely honest, I did not like it. For several reasons that I will explain later, it was not an easy book to read, and my only motivation for finishing it was the aforementioned book review.
My first issue with the book was the multitude of explicitly described sex acts. (Remember, American = Prude.) The first time it happened, I was quite surprised at the author’s boldness and seemingly shamelessness in writing what he described. I didn’t think too much of it at first because I did not expect to have to read such things every five or so pages. It just wasn’t something I was expecting to have to read about in a book about Jesus. Oh, and it wasn’t necessarily Jesus having the sex, which to be honest was surprising given the angle with which the book was presented to me.
My second problem with the book was the seeming disregard of biblical scholarship when it came to the historicity of the Jesus story. I understand that the main tool we have in understand who and what Jesus was is the Bible, which is obviously a heavily biased document, but this HAS to be more accurate than just making up some crazy story willy nilly about what MIGHT have happened. The author seems to think that the Jews of the time were pluralistic people that lied and murdered to perpetuate the myths surrounding their supposed faith. I go to a very liberal school and to think that anything of what happened in the book could have actually happened in history is completely absurd to me. The only people who will think that anything described in the book with regards to the historical Jesus is even remotely possible are people who already don’t care about Biblical scholarship in the first place. This book will not be taken seriously by anyone who actually cares about facts or is SERIOUSLY interested in Christian theology. Anyone trying to debunk Christianity or who has no serious interest in Christianity will likely have no problem with this book, but as they say, this book preaches to the choir.
My third problem with the book is strictly literary. The author jumps back and forth in time, which I normally appreciate because I’m not a huge fan of strictly linear story-telling, but the time jumps as frantic and unclear and the reader is often left wondering where on the timeline he or she actually is. Obviously, this makes it difficult to follow the storyline, much less keep up with the author’s twisted theology. There are also frequent jumps between the third person, second person and first person. These jumps in viewpoint seemed to be the author’s attempt to get the reader to sympathize with the various characters, but as with the jumps in time, only served to confuse what was actually happening.
Would I recommend this book to anyone? No, but it is a curiosity indeed, and if anyone is curious about what an alternate-world Christianity might look like, then this book certainly presents that. Will it convince anyone of it’s premises that isn’t already on that bent? I doubt it, but if you want to be able to understand where such a person is coming from, then this may be the book for you. The Marien Revelation was a strange and perverted ride, and while I’m usually a fan of roller coasters, this is certainly a ride where I’ll be covering my mouth with one hand and raising the other.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Day 227 (Rude People)
I read this and it just made me sick. Some people have decided to picket at any military funeral that they can get to holding signs with anti-gay slogans, claiming that soldiers' deaths are God's way of punishing us for accepting gay people. It is truly disturbing how evil some people can be.