our democratic republic

It’s not enough to vote. A voter needs to educate herself. Checking out the candidate’s websites does not suffice, she needs to find out the candidate’s biography, Voting Record, Issue Positions, Interest Group Ratings, Speeches and Public Statements, Endorsements, Additional Biographical Information and Campaign Finances. This sounds a bit overwhelming.

Voila.

A nonpartisan website has compiled all this information. It’s called Vote Smart.

Are there other websites like this or that complement it well?

The Pope’s Earth Day

In lieu of planting pines on Earth Day I went to a discussion about international I don’t know what. The conversation made me realize how much I miss the world-wide communion of the Anglican church. I was in awe of the people sitting around me but not connected. (I need a church that I belong to… maybe that would help.) My church home in Vancouver just voted to go under the African diocese– that’s international with profound implication. And, the Pope’s presence in the US makes me think that my view of church, faith and God is too puny and apolitical. The Pope demonstrated concern for the immigrants in the US– that didn’t get mentioned once at our lil tete-a-tete. In praying this prayer, I’m connecting with the communion of saints. Here’s a link to Pope Benedict XVI’s homily at Yankee’s Stadium; it’s moving and worth a read. Here’s an excerpt of him discussing the “Lord’s Prayer”:

“Each day, throughout this land, you and so many of your neighbors pray to the Father in the Lord’s own words: “Thy Kingdom come”. This prayer needs to shape the mind and heart of every Christian in this nation. It needs to bear fruit in the way you lead your lives and in the way you build up your families and your communities. It needs to create new “settings of hope” (cf. Spe Salvi, 32ff.) where God’s Kingdom becomes present in all its saving power.

“Praying fervently for the coming of the Kingdom also means being constantly alert for the signs of its presence, and working for its growth in every sector of society. It means facing the challenges of present and future with confidence in Christ’s victory and a commitment to extending his reign. It means not losing heart in the face of resistance, adversity and scandal. It means overcoming every separation between faith and life, and countering false gospels of freedom and happiness. It also means rejecting a false dichotomy between faith and political life, since, as the Second Vatican Council put it, “there is no human activity – even in secular affairs – which can be withdrawn from God’s dominion” (Lumen Gentium, 36). It means working to enrich American society and culture with the beauty and truth of the Gospel, and never losing sight of that great hope which gives meaning and value to all the other hopes which inspire our lives.”

Benedict’s homily in St. Patrick’s Cathedral on the 19th was inspiring as well. This section is what moved me the most, self-centeredness chokes out grace:

“In this morning’s second reading, Saint Paul reminds us that spiritual unity – the unity which reconciles and enriches diversity – has its origin and supreme model in the life of the triune God. As a communion of pure love and infinite freedom, the Blessed Trinity constantly brings forth new life in the work of creation and redemption. The Church, as “a people made one by the unity of the Father, the Son and the Spirit” (cf. Lumen Gentium, 4), is called to proclaim the gift of life, to serve life, and to promote a culture of life. Here in this cathedral, our thoughts turn naturally to the heroic witness to the Gospel of life borne by the late Cardinals Cooke and O’Connor. The proclamation of life, life in abundance, must be the heart of the new evangelization. For true life – our salvation – can only be found in the reconciliation, freedom and love which are God’s gracious gift.

“This is the message of hope we are called to proclaim and embody in a world where self-centeredness, greed, violence, and cynicism so often seem to choke the fragile growth of grace in people’s hearts. Saint Irenaeus, with great insight, understood that the command which Moses enjoined upon the people of Israel: “Choose life!” (Dt 30:19) was the ultimate reason for our obedience to all God’s commandments (cf. Adv. Haer. IV, 16, 2-5). Perhaps we have lost sight of this: in a society where the Church seems legalistic and “institutional” to many people, our most urgent challenge is to communicate the joy born of faith and the experience of God’s love.”

All this makes me feel so small: I rarely choose obedience and life. The only true response is “Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.”

[Lord, King and Father unbegotten, True Essence of the Godhead, have mercy on us.
Lord, Fount of light and Creator of all things, have mercy on us.
Lord, Thou who hast signed us with the seal of Thine image, have mercy on us.
Christ, True God and True Man, have mercy on us.
Christ, Rising Sun, through whom are all things, have mercy on us.
Christ, Perfection of Wisdom, have mercy on us.
Lord, vivifying Spirit and power of life, have mercy on us.
Lord, Breath of the Father and the Son, in Whom are all things, have mercy on us.
Lord, Purger of sin and Almoner of grace, we beseech Thee abandon us not because of our Sins, O Consoler of the sorrowing soul, have mercy on us.]

my ecclesiology

My Miss List:

1. Call me crazy, but I miss Anglican liturgy. Especially the prayer of confession:

ALMIGHTY and most merciful Father; We have erred, and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep. We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts. We have offended against thy holy laws. We have left undone those things which we ought to have done; And we have done those things which we ought not to have done; And there is no health in us. But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us, miserable offenders. Spare thou them, O God, who confess their faults. Restore thou them that are penitent; According to thy promises declared unto mankind in Christ Jesu our Lord. And grant, O most merciful Father, for his sake; That we may hereafter live a godly, righteous, and sober life, To the glory of thy holy Name. Amen.

I miss feeling the words in my mouth while listening to everybody around me confess the same. I was awed by the mystery of grace, and the humility and hope that confession brings. I miss the ritual. I miss the physicality of kneeling.

2. I long for expository preaching– coming in contact with God’s Word and not some guys thoughts (as interesting as they are). God’s word unsettle me.

3. I miss sanctuary and sacredness. I miss an organ and piano. I miss sitting in a pew, which somehow wakes up a certain part of me, a memory of a large reality far beyond what I see.

4. I miss old people, weathered bodies and gentle wisdom, that one slows down for and chats with. From dust you came and to dust you shall return.

5. I miss reciting the Lord’s Prayer and the Nicene or Apostle’s Creed every week. I need these words every week to combat all the words and belief contrary that is everywhere.

6. I miss the space of the Bach prelude– the simple beauty that opens.

Most of what I miss are speaking words in unison, words that remind me that my faith is not mine and far bigger and richer than my own words. These words tell me that I am not alone. Last week, a girl did her version of the Lord’s Prayer. She substituted “I” and “me” for the original “we” and “us”. At one level, I understood what she was doing, but, nonetheless, I was horrified. Faith is not private or internal; orthodoxy cannot be divorced from orthopraxy. The “we” is central to both right belief and right action, and “we” includes the “I”. So her prayer narrowed the faith considerably.

My friend contends that churches have collective personalities, talents, gifts on the macro level that mirror individuals’ personalities, talents and gifts. So, the church we went to in Vancouver was a teaching church, which I loved. A lot of my friends went to a social justice church. There are praying churches too.The church I go to now is a hybrid: artsy and communal. It offers some really good teaching, but it feels kind of on the margin compared to art and small, intentional community. My writing group and friends are cool, but I think I need expository preaching and intentional spiritual formation. Maybe I should look into a spiritual director and go to an expository and liturgical church one sunday a month. There’s got to be a way to balance. And, following my friend’s analogy, one church cannot serve all your needs, but maybe it’s how I can serve. How novel a concept for me! The Church is actually the local church, the small communities that can be so concrete and irritating.

“The Audacity of Rhetoric”

Here’s a link to Thomas Sowell’s article, “The Audacity of Rhetoric”. Here’s a link to wikipedia’s page on Thomas Sowell that has a great list of Sowell’s quotations at the bottom. Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institute at Stanford; he’s a native of Gastonia, but grew up in Harlem. Sowell is an academic economist. My favorite quotation of his is “the soft bigotry of lowered expectations.”

feminism: prostitution and theological debate

On the news tonight, Sen. Debbie Stabanow’s husband, Thomas Athans, got caught in an internet prostitution sting. Here’s a link to the Detroit News. What’s infuriating is that the 20 year old woman was arrested, and he walked away… embarrassed. Elliott Spitzer lost his political career but was not charged with prostitution. Everybody condemns the double standard, but nobody seeks to change it. If prostitution is illegal, either both or neither party should be charged with prostitution. As it stands, prostitution is illegal for poor women and condoned in the men who play golf with the prosecutors. It’s not only unjust but poor logic.

Not only are women faced with inequality in the justice system, women’s equality is still debated in theological circles. The Duke Socratic Club and the Women of the Divinity School are sponsoring a debate, No Male or Female? A Conversation on St. Paul and Women.

In an ideal world, feminisms shouldn’t have to exist. After women’s success in academics and professions coupled with Affirmative Action, Title IX and other moral legislation, women’s equality seems like it should be a given. But, women are not equal in view of the law nor have they ever been. Rape is a form of genocide and a crime against humanity; only recently, it has been declared a war crime.

Yet, what upsets me the most is women who criticize feminisms and feminists. I had a female roommate who only said negative things about feminism. As a feminist raised and educated by feminists, I finally confronted her on it. Here we were studying theology at the master’s level, which is unprecedented throughout millenia of history, and she was unwilling to acknowledge the women who earned us that privilege. It amazes me that my brother has more feminist leanings than some of my girl friends, especially the ones I meet in church. Perhaps, I should take notes from them; apathy is far more comfortable than outrage.

march madness

Sometimes I wish I didn’t get sucked into March Madness. Sheepishly, I admitted to my uncle that if UNC lost, I could get on with my life. The NCAA Tournament is so much fun, but I can’t justify the time I spend watching the games. Except for the fact, you can talk to everybody else that’s gotten sucked in with you. And, it’s a bonding experience with whomever you’re watching it with. I expend far too much energy and emotion for something that has absolutely nothing to do with me. A Canadian friend asked me, “Why do Americans say ‘we’ when they refer to sports teams they don’t belong to?” I think she was commenting on my “we” in reference to the Tar Heels. Speaking from my experience, I told her I say we because when I’m talking about the basketball team as an extension of UNC, where I’m an alum and a lot of my family and friends are alum. But, she has a point.

My uncle, who I’m watching the Carolina games with, commented on being too wrapped up in the games. Really, when I’m being rational, what does it matter? But, it does. In our jaded culture, millions of people care about these games and 20 year old guys. Our team allegiance is fun and provides conversation and comraderie. Some of these boys are going to have a game of a lifetime; David will best Goliath at least once every tournament. Only curmudgeons weren’t pulling for Davidson. Anything goes. This tournament provides an excitement professional sports can’t; professional sports are a bunch of Hessian soldiers– it’s hard to get passionate about mercenaries.

March Madness is a time to reconnect with college friends: TAR and C-A-R-O-L-I-N-A are in emails and Facebook pages. And a friend who went to Washington State wrote me after the game. Duke winning by one point the first game and losing the second one. Ha. It’s crazy, but it’s fun. And, the bracket pools.

What’s not to love?

Go Heels!!

May 6th: NC Democratic Primary

Who knew North Carolina’s primary would be important? NC is second only to Pennsylvania in number of delegates. Here’s an interesting article on the subject and the history and contours of NC voting.

salve for the bleeding soul

There are two nearby trail races:

A 10k on April 12th.

And, a half marathon on a trail on May 3rd.

Anybody in my vast readership game?

lil nibbles

Rob Sheffield’s love is a mix tape is an entertaining read: well-crafted, hilarious and, at times, profound.

Here are some nibbles:

On “Whatever doesn’t kill you…”:

“It’s the same with people who say, ‘Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.’ Even people who say this must realize that the exact opposite is true. What doesn’t kill you maims you, cripples you, leaves you weak, makes you whiny and full of yourself at the same time. The more pain, the more pompous you get. Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you incredibly annoying (190).”

On kindness:

I was helpless in trying to return people’s kindness, but also helpless to resist it. Kindness is a scarier force than cruelty, that’s for sure. Cruelty isn’t that hard to understand. I had no trouble comprehending why the phone company wanted to screw me over; they wanted to steal some money, nothing personal. That’s the way of the world. It made me mad, but it didn’t make me feel stupid. If anything it flattered my intelligence. Accepting all that kindness, though, made me feel stupid.

Human benevolence is totally unfair. We don’t live in a kind or generous world, yet we are kind and generous. We know the universe is out to burn us, and it gets us all the way it got Renee, but we don’t burn each other, not always. We are kind people in an unkind world, to paraphrase Wallace Stevens. How do you pretend you don’t know about it, after you see it? How do you go back to acting like you don’t need it? How do you even the score and walk off a free man? You can’t. I found myself forced to let go of all kinds of independence I had spent years trying to cultivate. That world was all gone, and now I was a supplicant, dependent on the mercy of other people’s psychic hearts (166-7).

On having a loud, embarrassing family:

…. At any wedding we attend, my family is the problem table, the one everybody gradually drifts away from out of self-preservation. It’s a proud family tradition. Now this was our wedding, and nobody could stop us. Giving us a crate of champagne and a dance floor was like handing a madman the keys to a 747 and saying, “Now, seriously, dude, don’t crash it. Promise? (84)

Even if he weren’t as funny as David Sedaris, his use of commas is praise worthy.

living locally: politics

The presidential campaign monopolizes political conversation, or at least all the ones I’ve had. National politics are far more sexy than local. There’s more money, more press, more people, more pundits, more opinions, more fireworks involved on the national level. National politics are sexy but vague. Or, maybe, they’re sexy because they’re vague. They’re vague and abstract. The buzz words are Change, Experience, The War, Health Care, Social Security and more exciting words that mean nothing outside of context.

No politician is asking the questions I am let alone answering them. For instance, I don’t want socialized medicine, especially after living in Canada. I want reform in the medical and insurance industries; the pricing has gotten out of control. Itemized billing replacing paying by visit was financial genius for the industry, but it sealed medicine’s fate as industry. People tend to forget that medicine and insurance industries have huge lobbying funds. The presidential candidates care more about any of the corporations than about me out of necessity. However, the reform I long for will not happen because there is too much money protecting the status quo. I dream of self-regulation, but that is optimism gone wild. So, I’m left with my cynicism and wondering which corporations are funding my vote.

Though not immune to corruption and abstraction, local politics offer a level of political engagement with concrete issues. The presidential campaign feels about on par with watching celebrity news, but instead of Nicole, Paris and Brittany bashing each other it is Barrack, Hillary and John. Instead of East Timor and rehab it’s Iraq and voting records.

I recognize that my interest’s shift from global to local is intellectually en vogue. There is a move to discussing the local reality in eccesiology and history (I presume in the humanities as a whole), a shift from abstract theorizing to local study. They took a lot of data and detected themes and birthed -isms.

Local politics make me feel human rather than a demographic. My vote might mean more than a lobbyist’s handout. Yet, I’m not even sure how to dive into local politics. Perhaps I should decide on a cause then ferret out others who share my passion.