Equality in Christ

"Do any walls bisect your world? There you stand on one side. And on the other? The person you've learned to disregard, perhaps even disdain. The teen with the tats. The boss with the bucks. The immigrant with the hard-to-understand accent. The person on the opposite side of your political fence. The beggar who sits outside your church every week." (Max Lucado Outlive Your Life, p. 125)

We could certainly come up with a longer list. What walls exist in your world? Whom do you build up walls toward because of different styles of worship (or even different religions...yes, we are called to relationship with them), different tastes, different tongues and different traditions?

Jesus spent His time breaking down the barriers and walls that people built, and still build, up (whether they be physical or societal). Countless times, He spent time with people society disrespected or discarded. The stories about people He spent time with and reached out to (or reached back to when they reached out to Him) teach us how He feels about the person on the other side of the walls we have built up.

"The Cross of Christ creates a new people, a people unhindered by skin color or family feud. A new citizenry, based not on common ancestry or geography but on a common Savior." (Lucado, 128)

It's time we get past our biases. I would argue with Max in that he talks about us hindering God's work because of these stereotypes. I don't believe that we can hinder God's work...but we can hinder our participation in this work.

We are ALL welcomed to His table and we are ALL equal at the foot of His Cross.

There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are ALL one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:28)

Therefore, accept each other just as Christ has accepted you, so that God will be given glory. (Romans 15:7)

Who are you or I to consider ourselves MORE worthy than someone else of the Love of Jesus Christ? To teach anyone that they are unacceptable to Him just as they ARE is not only an insult to these persons who are made in the image of God. It is also an insult to Jesus Christ and blatant distortion of and assault on His teaching.

Prayer (from Max Lucado p. 130): "Lord, in how many ways does my foolish heart make false distinctions among Your people? Reveal them to me. How often do I judge someone as unworthy of You by the way I treat him or her? Rebuke me in Your love. Where can I blast a wall or remove a barrier that keeps Your children apart from one another? Give me some dynamite and the skill and courage to use it for your glory. What can I do in my sphere of influence to bring the love of Christ to someone who may feel ostracized or estranged from You? Lend me divine insight, and bless me with the resolve to be Your hands and feet. May I be a bridge and not a wall. In Jesus' name I pray, amen."

"Disabled" relationships with "Typical" People?

While doing research for my Systematic Theology paper on the image of God and "differability", I looked at a book by two professors/counselors. There is a section in one of the chapters on "Accepting Relationships" about the sociological perspective on "how individuals and groups commonly referred to as deviant come to be accepted into a society or a community." An accepting relationship is defined as: "a relationship between a person with a deviant attribute...and a 'non-disabled' person, which is long-standing and characterized by closeness and affection and in which the deviant attribute, or 'disability', does not have a stigmatizing, or morally discrediting, character in the eyes of the 'non-disabled' person." Accepting relationships are not based on a denial of the 'disability' or difference, but on the absence of impugning the 'disabled' person's moral character because of the 'disability'.

In this book, people are defined as either "typical" or "people with severe disabilities". The authors question what draws "typical" people into relationships with "disabled people" and what motivates them to form close relationships. These relationships are then broken down into categories:

1. families who decide to keep their children at home or foster and adoptive families
2. volunteers and citizen advocates who become involved in the lives of people with 'disabilities' long-term
3. staff members who go beyond their role to form personal relationships with the people they serve

The authors claim that "four major orientations can be distinguished" based on the sentiments held by the "typical" person towards the person with the "disability". These sentiments were determined by expressions/reactions to questioning and interviewers seeming to assume that the relationship is abnormal.

Why are sentiments the other way around not considered? As if the 'typical' person somehow has more to say about the relationship or their opinion of the relationship is of more value?

The four categories that emerged included: family relationships binding people together; religious commitment or "calling" as underlying motivation for forming relationship...with the "disability" being the reason for forming the relationship; humanitarian concern, particularly staff with clients; and feelings of friendship.

In regards to the religious commitment, the relationship is said to not always be an expression of charity, but a commitment to those who have suffered or been wounded. As if there are not others who have suffered or been wounded? As if we, the "disabled", need YOU, the "typical", because you assume we are suffering and wounded?

My "favorite" part was "feelings of friendship". "Here the relationship is described not in terms of abstract values --- family, religious, humanitarian --- but in terms of liking and enjoying the company of the person with a 'disability'."

They claim that friendships between 'disabled' and 'non disabled' people are typically rooted in other kinds of relationships. The other relationships described above, they claim, often turn into friendship. It is never assumed, however, that the relationship just starts at friendship.

"Becoming friends with a ('disabled') person is a process in which the person essentially becomes 'delabeled'. While the 'disability' or label may be prominent in the eyes of the other person during the initial stages of the relationship, that aspect of the 'disabled person' becomes less salient over time." Apparently only those 'typical' people who fit the other categories above are capable of engaging in this process.

They also say that "people who describe themselves as friends of ('disabled') people often point to what they have in common" and "focus on their positive qualities". Excuse my mouth for a second, but no s*** Sherlock. Why should that be any different than other friendships? We, the 'disabled' also become friends with you, the so-called 'typical' person based on what we have in common and your positive qualities. Why would we become friends with you otherwise?

I will have to give some thought to what categories would emerge if a "disabled" person defined all this....

Do not worry...

Tonight in worship/prayer at GCTS, this passage was read. After the passage both from Matthew and Luke, I have posted my thoughts from tonight.

Matthew 6

Do Not Worry
25"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life[b]?

28"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Luke 12

Do Not Worry
22Then Jesus said to his disciples: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. 23Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. 24Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! 25Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life[b]? 26Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?

27"Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 28If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! 29And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. 30For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

32"Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. 33Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.


What I wrote during worship after this was read:

Do not worry! Your life is SAFE in My hands.

How many times does God have to say "Do not worry!" before you will listen?

Worry makes evident a lack of trust in God.

If you know how much He loves and cares for you, why would you not trust Him? What better thing do you have to trust in? How are the other things you're trusting working for you? (Against you?)

From worry/frustration and sorrow to peace and joy...

Here at GC we're in the middle of finals weeks. I have a test coming up in Greek. This is the class I am struggling with the most...the class I'm doing pretty much on my own (semlink). In your first semester, with four other classes, this is a REALLY bad idea. It is getting better and I am learning it slowly, there is just SO MUCH...and it's overwhelming.

Though it's helpful being on a campus where everyone else is studying SOMETHING, add into that wanting to be able to connect with people and care for your SOUL (these two things are very connected for me, though I also need my "alone time" every day), and it's just CRAZY. It feels impossible. It seems like one area of my life is always being sacrificed to work on another one (in this case, minus some time with friends, everything has been on hold to study Greek).

I know, for those who have seen me on campus lately, that I HAVE been insane...but without you, I would be TOTALLY losing it. Luckily we are all here to encourage each other and pray for each other etc. Hopefully I have been able to be encouraging to you all as you have been to me...you have certainly been lifted up in prayer.

Last night I was REALLY stressed out and discouraged...and to my breaking point. Really...I cried (I have witnesses). (Thank God for the right people being around at the right time with hugs and words of encouragement!)

When I was back in my room, I studied more and spent some time with God. We recently had a prayer conference on campus. During that time I had read Galatians, Ephesians, and Philippians. When I looked back at it last night, I realized that I had underlined things like:

Galatians 4:15 ~ What has happened to all your joy?

Ephesians He Himself is our peace...(2:14) (I underlined the word peace a lot)

"in Christ Jesus"...I underlined wherever this shows up. THIS is where my joy and peace etc. come from...and when I HAVE no joy/peace/etc., the first thing I question is whether or not I have been cultivating my relationship with Him.

"Be imitators of God...live a life of love...Be very careful.then, how you live---not as the unwise but as wise..." (Ephesians 5:1-2, 15) Do I/we imitate Him even when we feel like we have lost our joy/peace/etc.? YIKES.

Armor of God in Ephesians 6...maybe something I need to be focused (in thought) on putting on daily.

Philippians - more peace...

"Through your prayers and the help given by the Spirit of Jesus Christ." (1:19) Boy have I been SO grateful for both of these things!!

"Whatever happens, conduct yourself in a manner worthy of the Gospel of Christ." (1:27) "Do everything without complaining or arguing." (2:14) Again, how do I/we act when things get stressful?

I also made note of what Paul said of Timothy in 2:20...Timothy took a GENUINE INTEREST in these people's welfare. Having people in my life who have taken a genuine interest in me and I with them has been PRICELESS to me.

Be content whatever the circumstances...be content in every situation. (4:11-12) Yikes...content is certainly not a word I would use to describe times of anxiety and frustration.

I can do everything through HIM who gives me strength. (4:13)

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thansgiving, present your requests to God. And the PEACE of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (4:6-7)...then in 8-9 what to focus your thoughts on and things to put into practice in order to have the God of peace with you.

OOH and...are you ready for THIS? "And my God will meet all your NEEDS according to His glorious riches IN CHRIST JESUS." (4:19)

Did you catch that? God already KNOWS what's going on with Greek...HE KNOWS. He has ALWAYS known where I needed to be and when...and has ALWAYS worked it out FOR HIS GLORY IN HIS TIMING!

So why do I/we allow distress/worry/frustration and sorrow to creep in when GOD means for us to have PEACE and JOY?! I for one know I am cheating myself by allowing ANYTHING to, even for a moment, steal my peace and my joy. No, that doesn't mean I have figured out how to NOT allow it (obviously...), but God is certainly working on me!

Continuously this semester, His big question for me has seemed to be: Do you trust Me? Do I? Do you trust Him? If not, why not? God has never HAD to prove Himself to me, but does anyway...CONTINUALLY...so why do I lean toward the negative feelings/thoughts rather than relying on and trusting in Him? There is no better place to go than to HIM!

Love is...

True love is loving your neighbor as yourself (ex. Lev. 19:18) and loving your enemies (ex. Matthew 5:43-44) (These commandments are found in MANY other places...).

True love is husbands who love their wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her (Ephesians 5:25-26) and not being harsh with them (Colossians 3:19).

Love for God is obeying His commands (1 John 5:3, 2 John 1:6).

True love is patient and kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. (1 Corinthians 13)

Those who do not love do not know God, because God is love (1 John 4:8, see also v. 16)..."This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." (1 John 4:10, see also v. 16)

If this is love, how can we ever dare claim to love? How dare we throw the word around so much when our words and actions and thoughts are proof that we more often do not love at all? But then, if we do not love, how can we claim to know God?

OUCH!

Let's HONESTLY chew on this one a while...(from one of my books for a class)

"It has become very popular to join the Church in our day. Many people have recently joined the Church in our country. But are there any fewer cheats than there used to be? Are there less frauds committed? Do we find morality more extensive? Do we find vice coming to an end?" ~ Charles Spurgeon

Eventually, maybe I'll expand on HIS answers...

Relentless Love...

Today was a Soul Sabbath event through GCTS. I did it for one of my classes this time, but would do it EVERY time it's offered!

Basically, it was 5 hours of just me and God. Some time to listen to worship music, some time reading my Bible, some time just sitting and listening (while watching it snow) and remembering God's RELENTLESS love for me and the up and down (all because I move, not because God has) journey we have been on since...forever. God reminded me of all the things I have been through: sometimes where God has taken me and other times when I have moved away from God into places I shouldn't have gone. Through all of this, He has been there carrying me, holding my hand or doing whatever He needed to to get me to turn back to Him.

I looked up the word "relentless" during the day and found: "continual", "stubborn", "not letting up" and "persistent". These are great ways to describe what God's love for me has been...and what His love is for you. My prayer is that we would not forget it if we know this Love (even when we don't feel it, I pray that we would know His love has not changed and is not based on what we feel or our emotions etc.)...and that you would feel and know this Love if you don't yet.

OOH one other note... This all started happening before, during and after Valentine's Day...remembering Jeremiah 31:3 ~ The LORD appeared to us in the past, [a] saying: "I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness." (New International Version)

I know we live in a world that puts a lot of weight on finding "the one" and not being single etc., but whether we are single or not single...I pray that we would put MORE weight on finding THE One...the ONLY one who can truly love us unconditionally and constantly. I pray that we would all want to pursue Him as much as HE does us. That I would pursue Him as much as He has pursued me. But on that last part, I am sure I could never come close.

What God's been doing in my life...and how you can be a part of it.

Dear Friends and Family:

Hi! How are you? I hope that God is doing many wonderful things in your life as He is in mine. There are many exciting things going on in my life that I hope you will allow me to share with you.

First I will share a little background for those of you who might not be aware of what I have been up to. In the summer of 2008, I participated in my first unit of a Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) program. These programs are interfaith, professional education for ministry. This program provided classroom training with a supervisor and peers, as well as practicing skills through working in a pastoral setting and then being involved in personal reflection on my experience. That summer I had no idea what I was getting into going into the program, but it helped me to realize my own personal past needs for a chaplain as a child and helped me to continue discerning a call toward youth ministry that I have always felt, specifically chaplaincy in a children’s hospital or hospice.

During the classroom training part of my experience, I heard about Hartford Seminary from a number of past students and felt the push to apply there for the upcoming semester. About a year and a half before, I went to another school for a degree in pastoral counseling. I left that program and pursued my first CPE unit. In the midst of doing CPE, I applied to another school for a different degree, but I withdrew from there when I felt the call towards chaplaincy and applied to Hartford Seminary. I got in for the upcoming semester and started my journey toward a Master in Divinity degree.

As students cannot receive the whole Master in Divinity degree through Hartford Seminary, I started looking into schools to transfer to. I visited Gordon Conwell this year for their “Discover Gordon Conwell” experience, and know current students there whom I have spoken with about the program and my decision to apply. I previously visited one other school that I liked, but for many reasons, Gordon Conwell feels like the right place for me. After I visited, I applied and got accepted. I will start during the upcoming spring semester.

One of the opportunities I have at Gordon Conwell is The Partnership Program. This is a scholarship program that will enable me to have a community of prayer and/or financial support during my time in seminary. This scholarship provides me with continued opportunities to strengthen my relationships with my church, family and friends, even as I am away at school.

As a recipient of this scholarship, I will gain an education and experience in ministry and fund raising, as well as practical skills and experience in applying Biblical Stewardship values while participating in educational opportunities emphasizing the Biblical principles of calling, stewardship and discipleship.

The amount for this scholarship is $9,000. My goal is to raise $5540 of that amount per year. All financial support for this scholarship is given to a scholarship fund for the Partnership Program. Scholars do not receive financial support directly, enabling donors to give on a tax-deductible basis and allowing participants of the program to receive assistance in the form of an academic scholarship.

This scholarship also allows for the opportunity for people to pray with and for me about what's going on while I'm at school. The school will send out a newsletter to my prayer partners throughout the year written by me to let you know what I have been up to and how you can best be praying for me.

I would love for you to be a part of my seminary experience in this capacity. Would you consider partnering with me through prayer and/or financial support, supporting my vision for ministry, the scholarship fund and ultimately assisting me to pursue that vision? I would be honored and humbled to have your support and partnership.

Pledge form: http://www.gordonconwell.edu/sites/default/files/Part%20Pledge%20form%20for%20web.pdf

Electronic Fund Transfer form:
http://www.gordonconwell.edu/sites/default/files/Partnership%20EFT.pdf

Completed scanned forms can be emailed to: partnership@GCTS.edu

Or mailed to: Partnership Program, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, 130 Essex Street, South Hamilton, MA 01982

Checks can be written to “Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary”. I can be reached here or by email or on my cell phone at any time: EEP54@comcast.net or 860-416-6773 if you have questions.

If anyone wants hard a hard copy of this letter and/or the forms, I will be glad to send those to you.

Thank you for your prayerful consideration in partnering with me on this journey.

Love in Him always,

Emily

Hartford Seminary - Women's Leadership Institute

I AM OFFICIALLY A GRADUATE OF THE WOMEN'S LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE at Hartford Seminary!

I will write more about it at some point...if I don't, yell at me...but for now, I just had to say that!

Good night! :-)

Prayer

At church we've been going through Habakkuk, looking at his relationship with God and talking about/thinking about our own. At first I kept thinking back to undergrad...the time when my prayer life/time with God was intense and constant. When I'd wrestle with things in bathroom stalls or pray for people as they'd walk by. Prayer became something constant and automatic for me...something I could do as I went about other things during the day. Don't get me wrong, there were times that I consciously sat and journaled etc., too, but it was way more than that.

As we've gone through the series and talked through Habakkuk, one of my prayers has been that I would get that CONSTANT, deep relationship back. I'm not even sure I realized it, but it was something in my thoughts and in my heart constantly. And God answered. I realized that I have that connection back where even if I'm not journaling (which I have started again...not consistently, but started!) or I am doing other things and my mind may not even be focused on Christ, my HEART is and I can FEEL it. I'm not even sure it's even something that can be described for someone who hasn't felt that...but does ANYONE know what I'm talking about? SO AWESOME.

Boy, what have I not "dumped out" since my last entry?

I am not good at keeping this thing up! 4 classes this semester...planning for the "Day of Respect" on campus March 16 (also the day I was baptized, confirmed and took my first communion 12 years ago). I'm doing my presentation on physical access that day. Using the presentation I did for my worship class last semester with a couple minor changes.

Did I ever write about my thoughts on the Living Word after my friends and I from school went to synagogue? I don't think so. It was really cool to hear about and see in action beliefs about the Torah.

http://www.jewfaq.org/torah.htm This probably would explain way better than me
http://www.beliefnet.com/News/2005/10/Christian-Gives-Ruined-Torah-Scrolls-Jewish-Burial.aspx Cool related story

It made me think of my own conversations within Christian circles about our interpretation of the Word of God. Some believe you shouldn't write in your Bible because it's the Word of God. For someone like me, writing in it helps it "stick"...and it helps to go back and see thoughts I've had when I've read it or things I have been taught that I thought were important enough to write down and remember in relation to the passage. Some believe the Word is literal, some believe it is something up for interpretation...others believe it's both (I tend to be in the "both" camp). For me, I rarely look at it the same way when I open it. I see something new every time. That's what makes it LIVING for me. Some of it seems historical, and other things are like getting a peak into someone's diary/prayer journal etc. Whether it's one or the other or both...it's all something to learn from and to help me grow closer to the LIVING GOD.

What is YOUR interpretation of The Living Word? I was going to write about one other thing, but leaving things on a question note might be a good idea. :-) That will leave more to come!

"Disability" and the Bible

My papers in my New Testament class this semester all had to do with "disability" and the Bible.

What came out of it for me is that more often, "disability" is used to explain something spiritual. What we understand is physicality, so it's used to help our understanding.

But I'm wondering if, for the pharisees and for people in our day, it really backfired and people look at it as physicality and exclude themselves from passages.

And there are passages where I'm wondering if Jesus was feeding into the way society looked at "disability". (There was a part in Luke 7 last night where my version used the word "wretched" while other versions use poor. Some think that that's another group of people, but if it's looked at as the people with "disabilities" in those days WERE part of the poor/oppressed/wretched, couldn't that just be explaining each group talked about before (it was verse 22).

I get that a lot of healing etc. was also used to show who God was, and is still used today. But why does it matter? Is it important because YOU need it to really see and believe in God or because you think I do? If it's the latter, you don't know me very well.

The one thing that I will say is that I used to beg God for it if it meant that someone I loved would come to know God. I know I don't need it for myself, but if someone else does, I hope that God will use me in that way. But I get to see how God uses me the way I am every day. Those who can't or don't allow themselves to see it, I think, are those who are truly blind. Isn't spiritual sight etc. way more important than physical? Look at the blind men in the Bible who knew Jesus and what He could do even before they could see with their physical eyes.

I could go on...I just wrote a 20 page paper about it all... :-)

Muslims and terrorism

One of my friends in a class recently commented on the stereotype of "terrorist" that's connected with Muslims. She asked if we think of terrorism when we see her. That's not at all what I see when I see her...but it was interesting to think about. Especially considering all the fear and stereotypes surrounding Muslims since 9/11/01.

She gave me permission to share that and pose the question to you. So, what do you see when you see someone who is Muslim or hear about the Islamic faith? Do you connect Muslims with terrorism? If so, did you before 9/11?

The semester is winding down...

I couldn't believe that blog entry title even as I typed it. All I have left is a few weeks full of BIG papers. I rocked 2 presentations recently (so I've heard) and handed in papers that I hopefully rocked, too. Now time to ROCK those big papers!!

I can really say now that I LOVE where I am and what I'm doing. I get to worship EVERY week with awesome people, hear different perspectives and share my own. I have found the ability to be who I have always been...out loud! I am finding my voice for myself rather than pretending another voice is also my own...and really am HEARD by those around me. Some have wondered if this school has changed me...and they don't seem to mean it in a good way. But if it's changed me, it's in an AWESOME way. It's helping me share more of who I've always been and the God I have always known (and letting me get to know It more) and letting me get to know people I would probably NEVER know otherwise.

Islam/Christianity/Judaism

Last night I went to a presentation at school, mostly on Islam...but they talked a lot about the relations between Christianity/Judaism/Islam, too. I've thought a lot about the interrelations between Christian denominations and all the problems there, but this summer MIGHT be one of the first times that I've really thought about problems with interfaith relations.

And something interesting happened that I can't help sharing. One of the speakers was reading something from the Koran about "running the race". I really thought he was reading from Philippians. It's amazing how similar we are...and yet we can't get over ourselves and move past fighting about who is right and who "needs" to convert to which organized religion.

Maybe if we started looking at how similar we are instead of looking at our differences, we could all get over ourselves and stop fighting about it. Yes, we still will have a lot that's not the same...but looking at where we're NOT different is a start, right? After all, aren't WE oftentimes the reason that people DON'T see the God we claim to know? Maybe this would be the difference in us seeing God through each other. If that makes sense?...

Imagine if we put a LOT of things in God's hands and just admitted that we don't know...and that we're glad that God has control. We know how to hate, but are we willing to learn how to love and meet people where they're at? Man, the world would be a lot different. Thoughts?

I have really been able to see the negative effects of churches and of intolerance and hatred in a real way lately, just to put this all in perspective of where it's coming from. (Thank you to all who are curing my ignorance and making these things REALLY real to me!) It's reminding me of past examples of hatred I've seen because of religious intolerance. It's very real...and NO group is innocent. Where do we start to fix it? Hopefully being able to be in peaceful relationship and dialogue with each other is a start. I am really blessed to be able to be in an environment where that happens. Even if that environment is just a very small piece of the world. Hopefully we can take it out into the world.

As I'm editing this, I looked over and saw my copy of Bill Hybels' "Just Walk Across the Room". That title alone (and the book) get at where I'm going with this. Isn't being willing to "walk across the room" and get to know each other a good start?

Quick update

This week is the 175th anniversary celebration of Hartford Seminary. We have events on/off campus all week http://hartsem.edu/events/175_Years.html I'm sure I will be on/around campus every day all week...starting tomorrow for the Great Awakening Tour!

Putting together my presentation on Accessibility in Worship and my Prayer/Worship Walk activity have both come together well. If anybody wants to see, I can let you in on it. (Unless you're in my class...then you just have to wait!)

And I THINK I found a verse to use for my first paper in Studying the New Testament Through the Eyes of the Oppressed. I have been reading the Gospels in preparation and found something that struck me. We'll see if I can use it. We have to use 2 different groups that we've studied in class, so we'll see. I've been doing research on all sorts of theology related to "disability" for that class, too. It's really interesting and something I've found is easier to embrace than the theologies that have always sounded very HUMAN to me. Some of the theology I've looked at is MUCH more like the God I have always known and loved.

Oh, and the LAST bizarre dream I had? Could very well come true. A lot of us on campus are interested in going to each others' places of worship and someone asked about where I go to church. I have no problem with anyone, WHOEVER they are, coming to church with me...I think it would actually be pretty awesome!

Some of us are going to a synagogue together on Dec. 5. That should be interesting...I've never been.

This weekend is WLI and the interfaith worship for the 175th. It'll be a full weekend! I'm interested to hear what people's experiences were like at the Women's prison in Niantic. In case I hadn't mentioned this yet, God is alive and well in prison (maybe even more than out in the rest of the world).

We're trying to see if we can start having lunches on Thursdays on campus rather than going out every week. That way whoever wants to just come to campus or happens to already be there can participate. And we can work it potluck style so that hopefully everyone has what they need as far as dietary needs etc. go. And the conversations we've had OFF campus have been really interesting...it'll be nice if we can open that up to other people we are at school with!

EDIT: We got a room! YAY!

OOH and here's a little preview of something that I'll be excited to see when it comes out! http://www.thecalling.tv/hartford/trailer.asp

I think that's all...I'm sure I'll have a LOT to post after this 175th week is over!

Yet another weird dream

Recently I had another weird dream that I forgot to post about. I was at church and one of my friends who happens to be Muslim came with me. (First off, I have no idea why she would have wanted to, as awesome as it would be to be able to have anyone I know come to churches with me!) The reaction from the congregation was pretty mixed. Some, though not a lot, were welcoming and open and friendly. Others whispered and were generally rude.

Not a response that I'm surprised by...just a dream I thought was incredibly odd all around!

Differability and heaven

This is something I've been thinking a lot about lately...and I found an AWESOME blog on it here: http://gillikin.blogspot.com/2007/07/will-there-be-disability-in-heaven.html

One of my comments on heaven is now there, too.

I used to make a list of all the things I'd do in heaven because then my body would be "perfect" and I'd do all the things I didn't "get" to do here on earth (I've broken those boundaries since then and done things I didn't think I would do!).

But how sad would heaven be if we all looked the same? I hope heaven has just as much diversity as we have here...without the stereotypes and discrimination and hatred...or that there's just no physicality at all.

People will quote verses like Revelation 21:4 in talking about how my body will look like theirs in heaven and not be "broken"...but the thing a lot of people miss is that a lot of my tears and sorrow and pain comes from the way people view me...their crappy stereotypes and judgments etc. THAT is what's more important to be wiped away in heaven! My "brokenness" comes from things deeper than my legs. And when you look at my real brokenness, you'll realize that you're just as broken as me. I get that we'll all be made "whole", but maybe our definition of whole is too limited.

In looking at healing and THIS life, one trend I've noticed is that the faith of the people AROUND the person who was healed was increased. The people who were healed already seemed to have the faith. I do wish, however, that there were more stories in the Bible about God using someone the way they are (with a differability). If there are those stories, they don't seem to be emphasized enough, if at all!

Food for thought: Is everyone made in the image of God or is God capable of "messing up"?

And a bit of a side note: It's awesome to be at a school that has people who will use words like "able-bodied" and CORRECT themselves when they realize that they've used language that excludes me. I know some people aren't comfortable with the language changes I've used since I've found the "updated" and more inclusive words...but I'm now in a place where they are being used and taught and embraced! It's more the way the world should be! ;-)

God in a box?

As I'm reading through things for Looking at the NT Through the Eyes of the Oppressed, and thinking back to the weekend of WLI, I have been thinking about all the nice, neat little boxes that we try to put God into...and think He actually fits!

In my background, for example, God, in the form of Jesus, is a skinny, white guy with a beard and brown hair...and He can walk. The walking part I won't harp on in relation to the image of Jesus since the Bible says "walk"...but where do we get the skinny, white guy with a beard from? Do we have actual scripture to back it up? (If you have some, post it please! ;-))

OOH but I will say that just because JESUS had a physical form and walked etc., does that mean God does? Is there anywhere in the Bible that says anything about God's physicality? Would one go as far as saying that because the Trinity is 3 in 1, that means each part has physicality? And if each part does, is it all the same?

*Because I already know my answer to the above here, especially because of the Holy Spirit and the fact that both men and women are made in God's image...these feel like really dumb questions...but I thought I would throw them out there for you to think about, dumb or not! And no question here is dumb, so feel free to dump your own in comments! ;-)*


If that's not the box that your view of God comes from, what is yours? Even within Christianity, I wonder how many different boxes we'd find if we put them together. Is yours a God in Whose image you and all of those around you have been created? Or is yours a god (lower case there done on purpose) in whom has been made in YOUR image...excluding all or at least some of those around you?

Something I just found...

Some may remember that I mentioned a dream I had a while back and my also mentioning a Jacob's Ladder sermon at church? (I believe they were 2 separate entries...but I could be wrong.)

WELL, look what I just found! How awesome! Focus on the very last part! :-)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/ouch/2007/09/jacobs_ramp.html