Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Happy Reformation Day, I Guess

I've never made much of Reformation Day (why should I?), but today feels a lot more like Reformation Day than like Halloween. Class at the Methodist seminary in the morning, class on the English Reformation(s) in the evening, class on the creeds in between. Admittedly, there's been a lot of high fructose corn syrup floating around today, but not much in the way of costumes and parties, for me.

In other news, I'm thinking of taking up the NaBloPoMo challenge. (Yeah, I know I need to decide soon.) NaBloPoMo, for those who haven't run across it, is National Blog Posting Month, a spin-off of National Novel Writing Month. The challenge is to write a quality post every day in the month of November.

"But you haven't even managed to post crap on a regular basis lately!" I hear readers protesting. True. There's been a lot in my personal life that hasn't been bloggable this month. But I'm hoping that a public commitment on a limited term basis might spur me to get back to things here, and certainly NaBloPoMo reminds me that the point of my blog is not in fact to make a daily report on what I ate for lunch or who I called on the phone. Yes, part of the point is to keep people updated on my life, but equally important is the discipline of writing for public consumption on a regular basis. (If I did that, perhaps I'd learn not to use so many prepositions in one sentence.) I've got a couple of thoughts scribbled from back in September that I can start out with.

What the heck - I've convinced myself. I'll give it a try.

Here's to a month of posting something other than dribble!

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Or not

So, I was thinking about GOEs, and I got to thinking about how odd it was that only I seemed to have the letter to candidates yet. Also that the exam schedule for this year was a LOT like last year's. Exactly alike, in fact. So, I looked at a calendar, and realized that the dates listed don't occur this year. There's no Tuesday, Jan. 3 at all. Apparently "Letter to Candidates" meant "for last year" not "for this year" - but in my initial process of finding my way around the site, I read only the parts that looked important - things like titles and charts. I neglected the fine print that included a year. This obviously clears up a lot about why only I had the schedule, though nothing at all about why only I among my colleagues here have access to the website. I apologize for the ruckus, and will try in future to slow down and use my brain earlier in the process. (Though, I do think it would be helpful if the website made these things a little more obvious.) Sorry!

Monday, October 23, 2006

Friday, October 20, 2006

Citing my sources

Fellow GOE-takers who hadn't seen the previous info yet: It comes from an email I got from the General Board of Examining Chaplains announcing the fact of my registration. I assume I got this email before you because a) my diocese is faster and nicer than yours (probably true either way) or b) my diocese put my email on the registration and yours didn't giv yours out (also possible). I have faith that you too will receive this information in (over)due time.

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Peace offering?

I've been mostly silent on here in recent days, and still don't have much to say here. So in lieu of my usual posts, here's the sermon I preached in Seabury's chapel yesterday - more or less as I actually preached it:


Last week after Matriculation, a few of us ended up in the chapel looking at the space, and talking about it. And one of the things that came up for me as we talked was the importance of where I sit in this chapel. I need to be able to see things to give them my full attention a lot of the time, and it turns out there are only about five seats in this chapel where I can reliably see the pulpit, the crossing, the presider’s seat, and the altar. So I sit in one of those. But it would actually be important for me to sit on that side of the chapel even if sight lines weren’t such a problem for me, because it matters to me that I sit on the side of the theologians.

Now, that’s partly a positive statement, in that I think of myself much more readily as a theologian than as a missionary, something I’m sure is shocking to many of you. But it’s the flip side, the negative of that statement, that really makes it so important to me. It’s less a matter of needing to sit with the theologians than it is of needing to sit facing the missionaries. I’m in very little danger of forgetting about the theologians, or of forgetting that doing theology is part of my call. If I’m going to forget something, I’m going to forget that I’m also called to mission. Even when I remember, I often feel as though when Jesus says “You also are to testify,” he can’t possibly mean me - he means you all. So as I worship in this chapel, I need to look up and remember both how much the church needs its missionaries, and that I too have a part in God’s mission. I may be theological in my reasons for why mission is so important, but my theology becomes incomplete, maybe even false, when I neglect the missional elements.

I think this is part of the church’s message to all of us on this particular feast, the feast of Latimer, Ridley, and Cranmer. By lumping these three bishops together, the church reminds us not only that they knew each other, but that we don’t get one without the others. Cranmer was a scholar and theologian who more or less had to be pulled into the public life. Latimer railed against clergy who stayed safely in their studies and universities and never preached the gospel. The whole calendar of saints operates this way, to a certain extent. The Church put Ridley on the calendar for his reforming zeal in tearing out images and altars – but in only a few weeks, we’ll celebrate the feast of John of Damascus, whose Defense of Holy Images helped ensure that icons and liturgical art would have a place in the Church. And the church tells us that they’re a package deal. Not Cranmer, or Latimer, or Ridley; not liturgy or preaching or theology; but all of these together, all at once.

Friday, October 13, 2006

Friday Five: Comforts

It's a good day for this one.

Comfort beverage: Hot. If I'm home, usually tea. If I'm out, usually coffee/latte. Hot cider (no caramel!) is very good when it's in season.

Comfort chair: Usually not so much a chair as a couch. Up here I like my green loveseat with my throw blanket to curl up in.

Comfort read: Little Women. Occasionally a Madeleine L'Engle novel for a change, but mostly Little Women.

Comfort television/DVD/music: TV: West Wing. DVD: Kissing Jessica Stein. Music: I keep a sad songs playlist for just such occasions - mostly composed of Indigo Girls, Dar Williams, etc.

Comfort companion(s): I have no lovers or pets (ok, I have a fish, but that hardly counts here). I guess my comfort companions would be certain friends who know me well and who don't mind when I need to be silent and/or sad for a while. Or, in a pinch, my Care Bears.


Interesting that comfort food is not listed.

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Five Things Feminism Has Done For Me

The Happy Feminist has tagged everyone, so here goes:

1. Feminism has paved the way for me to sit in a graduate course.

2. Feminism has made it possible for me to speak and write my mind - not only in private, but in public, and even in opposition to men.

3. Feminism has put before me women writers who demonstrate that the way is (at least partly) open to me to try publishing.

4. Feminism has created environments (Girl Scouts, Smith College) in which I can learn to flourish specifically as a woman - environments that have taught me what it means still to be marked for gender in this world, and how to be hopeful but not naive about that.

5. Feminism allows me to believe that I'll be ordained a deacon in eight months and a priest in two years. Thanks be to God!

For my part, I tag Susie, Marisa, Jane, Micah, and AKMA (who I don't expect will actually take it up, but whose response I'd love to hear).

Sunday, October 01, 2006

Weather wonders

It's a bit strange to be pulling on flannel pajamas while planning shorts, skirts, tank tops, and t-shirts for next weekend, especially when I'm not actually even leaving Province V.