Three Things Tuesday

Here are three things that I wanted to share with you this week:

Homebrewed Christianity is running a new series by a fellow named Michael Camp.  The series is called “I Survived The Christian Right” The first post of the series is about legalism and the second is about Bible abuse.  I could relate to a lot of what he had to say and am looking forward to the rest of the series.

Cindy McCain, the wife of former Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain, has posed to demonstrate her support of marriage equality.  (If you aren’t familiar with the NOH8 campaign you can check them out here.)

Cindy joins her daughter, Meghan, in posing for the NOH8 campaign.

Cindy’s husband, John, is still against legalizing same sex marriage (and against doing away with DADT).

I don’t know if it makes a difference but I am glad that there are some Republicans finally “coming out” with their support of marriage equality.

Stay on the lookout for a new podcast that will be up and running in the near future:

HCX – HardCore Xianity.  A podcast for the outcast & apostate. An outcast is someone who has been rejected by society or a social group. An apostate is a person who renounces a religious or political belief or principle.

The HCX team is made up of Adele Sakler,  Drew Tatusko,  Meridith White-Zeager and Ryan Kemp-Pappan

You can follow them on twitter @hcxianity and on facebook.

Good News/Bad News

I saw this on someone’s facebook status update recently:

Open your eyes to all the possibilities around you…. Never give in, trust in God and you will always WIN!!!! the power of ACHIEVING is BELIEVING!!!!!

I restrained from commenting but what I wanted to say is “this is baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad theology”!!

If you check out scripture it seems like the most faithful “good guys and gals” had a lot of troubles – some had to constantly flee for their lives, others were beaten, stoned or flogged, many were ridiculed and rejected, some were homeless and poor … these are not experiences that are usually associated with “winners”!

Yeah, yeah, I know, you (or someone) will be tempted to make an excuse and say that being a winner doesn’t necessarily equal a comfortable life … I agree with that statement, BUT we all know that the status update WAS referring to comfort and happiness and prosperity.  Which brings me to my point …

When we send out messages which basically say “if you trust God your troubles will all be resolved to your liking” we are preaching a prosperity gospel and imo that is a false gospel and baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad theology.

I’m not saying that following in the way of Jesus is always painful – there are blessings – but the longer I live and the more I learn I would say “it’s no picnic”.   The kind of individualistic gospel message that so many churches proclaim distorts the message of scripture.  People begin to think that everything that happens is all about themselves when it is obviously about everything but self.  In many ways, it’s a hard pill to swallow, but once you look at the big picture the suffering to be endured is tempered (somewhat) by the purpose and hope that is embedded in the story.

I think a more accurate status update would be something like this:

The good news is that the kingdom of God is at hand.  The bad news is that you probably will have to sacrifice and suffer in order to take hold of it.

Prayer For The Week – Send Me Some Light

I don’t know much about his theology but those closest to him say that Elvis Presley was a deeply religious person.  It is said that he continuously asked for God’s help throughout his career, searched for answers in his spiritual quest and before performances he would find a quiet spot off stage, think about his upcoming performance, and offer this one-line prayer:

Send me some light – I need it.

I don’t know if that story is true but I like the prayer and the simplicity and honesty of it.

Three Things Tuesday

Here are three things that I ran across recently that piqued my interest:

1. I ran across this over at AdamWC.me and thought it was really good.

2. While I was surfing the web for stories about the situation in Haiti I ran across “The Livesay (Haiti) Weblog” In their own words they are “A big family from Minnesota living and serving in Haiti.”  Troy and Tara Livesay, and their five children (which I think has grown to “seven” now) moved to Haiti in 2006 because they had a heart for the people there and wanted to serve them.  They live in Port au Prince, were at home when the earthquake hit, have set up a hospital of sorts in their home and have posted every day since the earthquake. The first hand, personal stories have been informative and moving.  Be sure and check out the blog.

3. Out of Ur has started a new series on eternal damnation with the following video.  Check it out and join the conversation.

Mail From Hell

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune published a letter from Satan to evangelist Pat Robertson, responding to his comment that Haiti’s ongoing troubles, including the earthquake, are due to a pact the nation made with Satan hundreds of years ago.

The letter was actually sent to the newspaper by Lilly Coyle of Minneapolis.  IMO this is the best response to Pat’s hateful rhetoric yet.

Dear Pat Robertson,

I know that you know that all press is good press, so I appreciate the shout-out. And you make God look like a big mean bully who kicks people when they are down, so I’m all over that action.

But when you say that Haiti has made a pact with me, it is totally humiliating. I may be evil incarnate, but I’m no welcher. The way you put it, making a deal with me leaves folks desperate and impoverished.

Sure, in the afterlife, but when I strike bargains with people, they first get something here on earth — glamour, beauty, talent, wealth, fame, glory, a golden fiddle. Those Haitians have nothing, and I mean nothing. And that was before the earthquake. Haven’t you seen “Crossroads”? Or “Damn Yankees”?

If I had a thing going with Haiti, there’d be lots of banks, skyscrapers, SUVs, exclusive night clubs, Botox — that kind of thing. An 80 percent poverty rate is so not my style. Nothing against it — I’m just saying: Not how I roll.

You’re doing great work, Pat, and I don’t want to clip your wings — just, come on, you’re making me look bad. And not the good kind of bad. Keep blaming God. That’s working. But leave me out of it, please. Or we may need to renegotiate your own contract.

Best, Satan

LILY COYLE, MINNEAPOLIS

Year In Review: Because I Knew You

The holidays are over and another year has flown by.  As I look back on 2009 I am reminded of videos, blogs, articles, poems, music, and books that have touched my life – in response I’ve laughed, cried, ranted, been silent, learned, struggled, loved, given, received, hoped, tried, been fearful, inspired, courageous, challenged and changed.

Behind all of the blogs, music, books, poems etc are people, mostly people I don’t know personally, but who, never the less, are having a significant impact on my life. It’s really pretty amazing to think about and I am very grateful for these people.  Like the song “For Good” (from Wicked) says …I’M WHO I AM TODAY BECAUSE I KNEW YOU.  

So, in honor of these people and 2009 let me say some “thank yous” with a few shout outs.  Feel free to share your own 2009 memories and shout outs in the comments.

I thoroughly enjoyed the blog Stuff Christians Like.   The posts make me laugh and teach me lessons about myself and others.  If you aren’t familiar with this blog check out Lady Gaga, Rum and Thinking Your Naked which lists the top posts for 2009.  Thanks Jonathan Acuff – for the laughter AND the lessons!

They were on ABC News, written about in The New York Times and tweeted about by Ashton Kutcher.  If you haven’t heard of them you are missing a real treasure … “they” are the PS22 Chorus, a childrens choir from a Staten Island elementary school … their secret: Gregg Breinberg, their music teacher.  Mr. B (as his students call him) has a heart for helping kids learn to love music.  One of Mr. B’s students said this:  “At first, when I sang, I had no emotion,” she says. “I didn’t move. But Mr. B taught me to sing with feeling. With feeling and heart.”  Watching these kids brings tears of joy to my eyes – for some reason their collective voices and moves to the beat give me hope.  Thanks, Mr. B and PS22 Chorus, for the joy and the hope!  Here’s  just one of the many videos on youtube of the PS22 Chorus:

Adele Sakler (author of the blog Existential Punk and one of the few people in my blogging community that I have met F2F) started Queermergent in Jan 2009 as a safe place for those who identify as LGBTQ to engage in mature discussions regarding the LGBTQ community of faith.  It was through Adele’s acceptance and encouragement that I did my own coming out as an ally of the LGBTQ community by telling my story through a post  that Adele published on her site Queermergent.  Thanks for the encouragement and acceptance, Adele! 

I discovered Spoken Word poetry in 2009.  It inspired me to write my own spoken word poem  (a fun, creative experience) and eventually led to me discovering poet and activist, Andrea Gibson.  She’s a pretty amazing artist.  Be sure and check her stuff out – two of my favorites are Ashes and I Do.  Thanks Andrea, for your brave, inspirational poetry!  You have me thinking about things I never knew.

Synchroblogging (a group of folks blog on one topic on the same day) was still close to my heart in 2009.  There hasn’t been much going on with it in the last part of the year but it still could rise again.  I like it because it pushes me out of my comfort zone and gets me to reading, writing and posting about stuff that I might not think of on my own, like quantum physics.  And I like it because the people who participate are great thinkers who are kind but not wimpy. My synchroblog post, Mary and Martha: A Story About God’s Radical Hospitality, which was associated with International Women’s Day (initiated by uber-blogger Julie Clawson), still gets more traffic than any other post I have written.  And my post for the Bridging The Gap synchroblog  tops the charts on my blog for the most comments and best conversation.  I even received the Bridge Builder Award because of it.  So thanks to all the synchrobloggers out there, you know who you are – I am learning a lot because of you! 

I want to give a shout out to Eugene Cho, author of the blog beauty and depravity.  I love reading his blog because Eugene is so transparent and open.  He is a courageous and compassionate person who is an inspiration to me.  I have to admit that I sometimes feel bad about myself after reading his stuff as he is one of the most altruistic people I have run across…but he is so full of love and grace that I never feel that he is pointing a finger at me.  I really admire his endurance and gumption when it comes to the charity he started, One Day’s Wages, and on top of everything else, he has a great sense of humor.  I don’t know if he and I agree on everything theologically but it really doesn’t matter to me, because I like him as a person!  Thanks Eugene for challenging and inspiring me.  (for more great blogs check out my blogroll)

I love to read books as well as blogs so I can’t reflect on the last year without thinking about the books I read. I usually choose books because of someone’s recommendation or review.  Some great books I read because I heard about them through blogs and social media this year (many were published before 2009 but I read them last year) include Pete Rollins new book, The Orthodox Heretic and Other Impossible Tales; Samir Selmanovic’s book It’s Really All About God; Don Miller’s book A Million Miles In A Thousand Years; Drops Like Stars by Rob Bell (I even went to the tour); The New Christians: Dispatches From The Emergent Frontier by Tony Jones, The Help (a novel) by Kathryn Stockett; The Twilight Series  by Stephanie Meyer, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, and a children’s book by Douglas Wood called The Old Turtle and The Broken Truth (which prompted a post from me).  So…thanks Pete, Samir, Tony, Rob, Don, Kathryn, Stephanie, Khaled and Douglas for making my life richer!

I can’t reflect on 2009 without thinking about Twitter.  I actually joined Twitter in 2007 (I’m so cutting edge:>) but it took a couple of years for enough others to jump on the bandwagon to make it fun and worthwhile.  I’ve met so many amazing people through Twitter and discovered an online community that is fluid, diverse and for the most part, friendly.  It was December of 2009 before I realized just how real this community was.  A fellow twitterer, @Gideony, who was prominent among a particular group of peeps that I follow and interact with, took his own life.  Several hundred of us were shook to the core over the loss of our friend.  As we shared our grief we realized that through our tweets, replies, DMs and retweeting we had begun to know and care about one another.  The virtual had become real for us.  So I say to my fellow twitterers – thanks for the community that you have helped form and for allowing me to be a part of it…and to @Gideony: I miss you and remember you with fondness and love.  (P.S.  I’m on twitter @lizdyer if you want to connect)

Of course I could go on and on but I think that is a good sampling of 2009 so I will stop here and wish you a Happy New Year to you and yours.

May Y☺ū have Peace ♥ ¸.•*¨*•♫♪ Health ♪♫•*¨*•. Wealth .•*¨*• Success ♥¸.•*¨*•♫♪  Love  ♥ ♥ ♥   and  A Happy New Year! ♪♫•*¨*•.¸♥

Favorite Holiday Movies

When the holidays roll around there are certain movies that I want to watch. The list changes from time to time. For the last several years one of my favorites is the movie “Love Actually”. It’s one of those movies that tickle all the emotions…laughter, sadness, joy. If you aren’t familiar with it you really should give it a try. It follows the lives of eight very different couples who are dealing with their love lives in various loosely and interrelated tales all set during a frantic month before Christmas in London. The writing, editing and acting are superb.

Another movie that has become a holiday favorite of mine in the last few years is the movie “The Holiday” with Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law and Jack Black. Two women with guy problems swap homes for the holidays and each meet someone they fall in love with. It’s funny and touching and has a great monologue by Kate Winslet near the end of the movie.

What are your favorite holiday movies?

Merry Christmas

Celebrity Siting (sort of)

When I was in my twenties I lived in Los Angeles, CA for three years.  It was fun.  Besides enjoying the beach and the weather I also got a kick out of celebrity sitings (sometimes that meant just seeing them, sometimes it included an autograph and sometimes it was an actual conversation).  To name just a few of the biggies … Barbra Streisand, George Burns, Shelley Winters, Elvis Presley, Doris Day, John Travolta (actually the whole Welcome Back, Kotter cast) and Burt Reynolds were some of the most memorable celebrity sitings during my time in L.A. 

Since moving back to Texas my celebrity sitings are far and few between.  I did have the opportunity to meet most of the Dallas TV show cast back in the 1980s at the Southfork ranch where they filmed a lot of the show.  And when I went to New York a couple of summers ago I saw Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan and Colin Firth up close and got some autographs.  Oh, and I almost forgot, I had the privilege of meeting the author, Nicholas Sparks last year, at a special screening of a movie that was made from one of his books.  But, it is unusual for me to see someone famous these days. 

Anyway, today I saw a celebrity (sort of) at lunch…I ran up to the Subway near my office to grab a chicken/bacon ranch sandwich and there was Jared, the subway guy.  He was making a sandwich behind the counter and joking around with everyone.  There were some camera crews there – maybe they were filming a Subway commercial or maybe it was something to do with Jared’s foundation – I’m not sure what was going on. 

I took the opportunity to snap a pic with my blackberry (don’t know the two women in the picture – they were just some customers getting their picture taken with Jared) and I got to thinking how much I like celebrity sitings.

Does that make me shallow?

What Are We Waiting For This Advent Season?

HOLY

WAITING

This post is part of the series:

What Are We Waiting For This Advent Season?

at Christine Sine’s blog “Godspace“

Holy Waiting

by Liz Dyer

Waiting

Watching

Together

For the dawn

Of light full blown

To grow inside us

A rebirth of love

Beginning again and again

Life anew

With a promise in our heart

Of coming celebration

What am I waiting for this Advent season?  The same things I wait for all year – love, kindness, mercy, compassion, justice, and the joy and celebration that those things bring.

Sometimes I wait for it in myself as I struggle to forgive someone who has wronged me or those I love…or when my caring seems to be turned back on myself and I am miserable because I am looking in the wrong direction…or when my humility slips away and I become a know-it-all defending my beliefs with prideful certainty.

Sometimes I wait for it in others as I watch innocent people suffer because of power and greed – as I hear hateful words spewed with careless abandon – as lives are lost due to war, disease, hunger, prejudice, disaster – as the oppressed, the disenfranchised, the outcasts are rejected or, worse, ignored.

Sometimes I wait for it in the church as I see exclusion, hate, division, and apathy going unnoticed while some less significant issue seems to be at the forefront – as I see numbers and programs and rules matter more than individual people – as I see the church turning in on itself, protecting itself, nurturing itself.

Sometimes I wait for it in God – when my prayers seem to go unheard and unanswered – when I am overwhelmed with all the injustice and suffering going on in the world – when it seems like the promise might not be kept after all.

Sometimes, I want to give up, to quit hoping, to quit believing, to quit waiting – but then I get some glimpse of the love that is being reborn, I see a flicker of the light that will some day be full blown …

In the man who leaves his successful, highly paid, glamorous job to start a charity for people who need clean drinking water.

In the church that goes to a nearby neighborhood and does extreme home makeovers for those in need.

In the small group of Christ followers who help those in need get their clothes washed and dried and call it Laundry Love.

In the football team who cheers  for the other side.

In the mom (me) who learns lessons of love and grace from her gay son.

In the God who became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood.

Yes, I wait all year but the Advent season is a special time of waiting.  It is a time to practice and train – a time to learn how to wait hopefully and joyfully – a time to be reminded of and reflect on the glimpses and the flickers of the past and the present – it is a time of Holy Waiting.