Day 226 (Anglican Rosary)

We did an interesting thing in Christian Education today. I didn't realize that Episcopalians use a rosary, but apparently some of them do. The person in my small group that was leading the group today taught us how to make knotted Anglican rosaries today. Of course, the ones that we made look nothing like the beautiful one in the picture above. It was hard tying those little knots and getting them into the right position! My hand was even starting to get raw from pulling the knots tight. The only part I have left to do is the cross, so it shouldn't take too long. She also gave us a little pamphlet of prayers to go with the rosary, and we prayed one of them together as a group. It seemed like a very nice discipline, but as I am not really a disciplined person, I could say that I was going to start doing this, but it would never happen. I'm totally gonna finish the cross though and put it on my altar. My altar is getting a little cluttered now...gonna have to start paring down...

Day 225 (Science versus (as) Religion)

I've decided to be lazy today and direct you to my friend David's blog. He spends much more time writing his than I do, so it would be better for you to read what he wrote rather than what would end up being a slipshod summary or his carefully constructed essay. That, and he's a really good writer. Here is his dissertation on science vs (as) religion, along with some links to some videos. I started watching the videos, but I haven't finished yet 'cuz they're kind of long. Some really interesting and thought-provoking stuff here. Enjoy!

Seek Higher Ground: Science versus (as) Religion

Day 224 (We're Baaa-aaack...)

The ride back to campus was mostly uneventful. Everything was nice and green from the recent rains instead of the typical golds, browns and grays. We passed two big groups of people on motorcycles and I wondered if Pastor Ronnie was with them. I drove over a life-jacket on the freeway. We got into an argument with a waitress that was severely math impaired. I almost merged into this guy who could not make up his mind about what lane he wanted to be in. Now studying for the Prophets and Hebrew exams O_o

Day 223 (Tattoo)

It has finally happened. I almost can't believe it, but yes, I got my first tattoo today. My brother James and two friends from seminary, Ian and Ryan, went down to my friend Phillip's house and al got tattoos together. It hurt more than I was expecting, but it probably took him less than ten minutes to do it, so it wasn't really that bad.

You can see some of Phillip's work here: TLK Tattoos

I've wanted this tattoo for years, but I was waiting for my friend Stacey to figure out where she wanted to get her tiny 1" tattoo of a cross so that we could get our tattoos together. Since I was back for spring break and some of my friends wanted to get tattoos, I decided I could no longer wait for Stacey and that I needed to make new "tattoo buddies." Hopefully one day, when she finally decides where she wants to get her tattoo, I may be ready for another one.

Here's a group shot of the four of us:

Day 222 (Dianetics)

I went to the Newbury Park thrift store and they had 2 copies of Dianetics there. From what I understand, this is the "sacred text" of the "Church of Scientology." I previously bought this book from a thrift store in San Rafael up North. Both thrift stores were run by the Salvation Army, which as I understand it, is a Christian denomination. How these book slipped through their sorting process is beyond me.

What I'm about to write next might sound horrible, but I did it more for the laugh than anything else. I bought the first copy because I want to read the sacred texts of any major religions that I can get my hands on. There as so many people involved in Scientology that I feel it is important that I read the texts that they read.

I bought the second book to burn it.

There were actually two copies at the thrift store, and I almost bought both of them to burn, but I thought that would be going a bit too far. As everyone sat around the fire, I stood up with the book, announced what I was doing, and said that we were offering up the book as a burnt offering to God for the sake of everyone that has been sucked into the cult of Scientology.

We laughed. The book burned. We continued eating and drinking and enjoying each other's company (including John Lee).

I'm not really one for book burning, but it just felt like something I needed to do.

Was that wrong?

Day 221 (Hollywood)

Christina and I picked up Ian and Chris from the airport this morning, and we proceeded to explore Los Angeles in what I like to call a "touristy" fashion.

We started with the Watts Towers, this crazy sculpture thing that this man made with stuff he found around his neighborhood. They're pretty interesting, but you kind of have to admire them from afar, so there isn't really that much to do once you get there.

Then we went to the Santa Monica Pier. It was my first time there, and much smaller than I imagined it would be.

After that, it was off to Pink's Hot Dogs, where we ate enough food to satisfy us for the whole day. Literally. Great hot dogs though! Gotta love the natural casings!

Next was the walk of fame and the Chinese Theater and then the Hollywood sign. We ended our day at The Grove, where we discovered that we were still too full to eat dinner because of Pink's.

So, we came home on the 1, because rush hour was starting, and we didn't want to take the 405 or the 101. It was a really nice drive, and we got to see some people filming a movie, which was kind of cool, even if they were holding up traffic.

We ended the day sitting around the fire pit, just talking and laughing with each other. I can now say that I've done the whole "L.A. thing." Was it worth it? Yes. Will I do it again? Only if I need to show the city to someone that's never been there. Honestly, I think we would have had more fun in Ventura and/or Santa Barbara.

The best part of the day? The fire pit for sure!

Day 220 (Us vs. Them)

I went to lunch with Cesar today, the person that the Session assigned to help me through the ordination process. We had a really good discussion about school, and the ordination process and what my experience has been been like so far. Of course, the fact of me being gay came up, which is totally what I expected. It was a good thing though, because as of this point, the only other person that I've really talked to about this is the senior pastor. He explained the Session's position better, which is something that I needed to hear. He told me that the general feeling of the Session is that being gay is not a sin, but to act on those impulses would be.

I don't want to sound like I am belittling their opinion, but it just seems to me that it's a really easy thing to say when you yourself are not gay and do not have to live under the restrictions imposed on you by the ruling party. Believe it or not, I actually understand why they would come to that conclusion. Being gay is not something that you can ever understand outside of actually being gay. Even if you were conceptually aware of the existence of homosexuality and even if you were sympathetic to the plight of gay people, you would never understand exactly what it is like to live as a gay person in a largely heterosexual and widely homophobic culture. Women and ethnic people can understand some of it, but not exactly what it is like, just like I will never fully comprehend what it is like to be a woman. The difference being that women currently do not have to fight for legal protections that way that gay people do. I'm not saying that women are treated fairly; I'm not saying that at all, but the laws are at least on the books. Gay people don't even have that, and you have to start somewhere.

I just want the same things that most other people want. To get married, have a family, a stable job, and to be able to live my life without being persecuted for who I am or what I believe. Society currently threatens every aspect of my life, and at the risk of whining, it's just not fair.

I firmly believe this is a result of the un-Godly propensity of people to separate themselves into separate camps of us vs. them based on mostly superficial differences. I believe that God wants all of humankind to come together as one family, not to be constantly bickering amongst ourselves as we splinter off into smaller and smaller factions. The sad part is that Christians almost more than anybody are guilty of this type of activity. How many different denominations are there now anyway? There are literally thousands of different denominations, all because people had supposedly irreconcilable differences in what they believe. You know what I say to that? I say it's crap! It's people not willing to put their differences aside and coming together in Christian love despite their differences.

Where is it written that we all have to believe that same thing? I know I've written about this before, but I think this is the fundamental flaw of the human race. If we could all just stop fighting with each other and actually listen to what other people are saying, how much could we accomplish? Could we end world hunger? Could we stop global warming? Could we stop the spread of AIDS? Imagine the possibilities.