A Culture of False Entitlement

This is the second post of the thread of "A Culture of Dilution". I was driving to school this morning in the pouring rain and was cut off by a small Toyota. This in nothing new on I285, as I continued to watch this car it cut off 6 other people before it sped off down the interstate. A few years back there was a movement for slavery reparations, Ben Folds says,"he's blasting me with Hate because my great great great great grandad made someones great great great great grandad his slave, it wasn't my idea?!?! The debate still rages, Its my body! I have the choice if I want to keep the baby or not! If you go the a High School Football game in Alabama, against State and Federal Law you will still hear a Christian prayer over the PA system. When a court order came to stop those prayers, the christians persevered through the persecution and led massive rallies to protest for their rights.
We live in a culture of False Entitlement. We too often mistake what we deserve, which are our rights, for the things we want and feel we are entitled to. The driver feels as though they are entitled to have a spot infront of everyone else and at the risk of everyone elses safety, these "important people" are who cause the wrecks on our highways. I believe we should fight systems that oppress, that calls us to look forward and be prophetic, not pay for something we had no control over. If we want to be really technical, most everyone's relatives were at somepoint slaves, I'm Irish, I know my people slaves at somepoints in Americas history. Yes lady it is your body, it is your body to be responsible for, if you do not want to get pregnant then either do not have sex or be prepared to face the realities if you do, its called responsibility. Backwoods Betty and Bible Thumping Bobby, I hate to tell you, but you have no right to impose your 10 commandments, PA prayers and religion on anyone, I consider myself a Christian and I do not want to hear a prayer for a good game and may the best team win, God doesn't give a shit which team wins, so dont bother him with it. This is my rant, I have the right to rant it, I however am not entitled to make you read it, but thanks for doing so.
Pax
Stephen

Mary Clare Share

This is my version of Doug Pagitt's Picture Share. I was giving her a bath this morning and she gave me a great pose. Man she is cute!

Pax
Stephen

Something keeps me silent

I still don't have much to say. It's like Kyle's death put my life on pause and for whatever reason I can't get things moving again. I do just enough to get by at church and have basically ignored school for three weeks now.

I have started to read the Bible and pray again. Often though after reading I just hold a posture of prayer, head bowed, eyes closed, sometimes laying prostrate on the floor, and just listen to my breathing. Crowder wrote recently on his blog, "for now there is just enough grace to keep breathing." I know what he means. But he and the DCB have found the strength to go back on tour, so why does the routine work of my life suddenly feel so difficult? Is this part of the grieving process? At what point am I just being lazy?

The stuff Crowder and Craig Nash have been writing has been helpful in making sense of it all. I highly recommend you check out their writings.

A Cathedral of Worship

This past Saturday Night my friends Brad, Paul, Robin, Bill and I had tickets to the U2 concert here in Atlanta. You go to one of these concerts expecting alot, I could not have expected how amazing it would actually be. From the beginning of the concert with the song "City of Blinding Lights" to Bono's head band with a crecent "is" a cross "is" and a star of David, the concert was a real experience of worship for me. Bono's passion coupled with U2's amazing music made this a very special night. There was one more point in the concert that I have to write about. Apparently Corretta Scott King was in the crowd with her family. After the song "One" Bono and Edge played a song he said they had written earler that day for Martin. It was a beautiful sleepy lullabye called "In Dreams" It was difficult going to church on Sunday because of the amazing experience only a few hours earlier, it almost seemed silly all of our pomp and ritual and how hollow it all seemed after such a raw and refresing experience with God.

Pax
Stephen

The Attackers Become the Attacked?

I still occasionally sample the Emergent No blogsite when I am feeling bad about myself or when I feel my blood pressure is dropping to an unhealthy level, this morning was one of those mornings. To my surprise the Emergent No folks were on the defensive instead of on the attack. The attack dogs at emergent no have been bitten by a new site, emergentno.com. I do not know what I think about the new site but it is funny to see how defensive they are about this guys copying their posts. This is going to be a good morning after all!

Sarcastically
Stephen

A Really Beautiful Story

This is a two pronged post. The first is to tell you a story I heard from Religion and Ethics Newsweekly about the Israeli Palestinian situation. A twelve year old boy was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers. The little boy was just walking down the street, the soldiers said he looked suspicious and took him out. The boys father took the body to a Israeli hospital and donated his organs. The organs went on to save the life of 6 Israelis. The father said he did it as a offering of peace. I just thought this was a beautiful story of grace and peace. The second prong is actually how I heard this story. Religion and Ethics Newsweekly is now doing their show in podcast form. It can be subscribed to from the Podcast site on I Tunes. I encourage you all do subscribe to it for free and support such a great moderate religion program.
Pax
Stephen

Someone stop this man

This is the most asinine Pat Robertson has ever said. He and the rest of the Christian Right usually just amuse me but this is way over the line. If the God of Pat Robertson give us on people and communities so easily, we are all doomed.

A blissful silence

I love me some college football. Unfortunately I live SEC country. Now, the SEC is a great football conference, maybe the best in the country this year. The problem is SEC fans. They have no concept that there may be better football teams somewhere else in the county. Thus far, Texas and USC clearly look like the best teams in the country. USC hasn't lost in over two years people! But you'll never hear an SEC fan acknowledge this. So I say thank you, LSU, for knocking off Alabama, thus at least pausing all the grandstanding about how Alabama (dare I say, "We") is the best team in the nation. Thank you, Notre Dame, for showing the SEC that a good offense can light up the scoreboard against a vaunted SEC defense. Alabama and LSU are definitely still in the national title picture, but even their fans now have to concede that Texas and USC are playing some great football. Suddenly the volume of all SEC fans is a lot lower, even on mute. Life is good.

If I Only Had a Boob

In the Wizard of Oz the characters go on their journey looking for that thing they lack in order to feel fulfilled. The scarecrow sings a song,"If I only had a brain...". At this point in my life I feel I should join the delegation on the Yellowbrick Road to fulfillment, I need a boob. Ok I have two boobs so more specifically I need a Mammary gland or as on Meet the Fockers a "Mannary Gland" I am afraid that my daughter will only associate me with things like the cold misreable feeling of changing her diaper, or the pain of burping or the simple daily task of seeing my ugly mug. My wife on the other hand will be associated with the warmth of warm milk, sustinance, and the peaceful feeling of a warm full tummy. I need a BOOB!!! This might seem like a silly rant to many of you but I mean what I say if there is such a thing as a Mannary gland let me know I am in the market.
Pax
Stephen

On Saturdays...

...We Wear Our Crimson!!! Roll Tide Roll!!!
Pax
Stephen

Picture of a family

This is Kyle with his family at the Baylor Homecoming parade the day before he died. Even before this, anytime I thought of Kyle he had that easygoing smile on his face.

Im Back... I Think.

I have taken a few days off blogging on this site because of the birth of our first Daughter Mary Clare. She is beautiful and I could not be more proud of she and her mother. One day I am going to blog about several of the experiences of Labor and birth but right now they are too close and vivid to have to recount and reflect on. I did vomit 10 times in the 24 hours of Labor, I did not do this during any of the "Gross" times, I only became sick when I saw my wife in such deep pain. It amazed me how much her phisiology directly affects my own. It convinces me even more that we are all connected on so many more deeper levels. If you would like to see updated pictures of my beautiful little girl I have set her up her own blog site. Mary Clare's Blog

Pax
Stephen