The Mosher Pit

I’m dealing with tennis elbow in my right arm, borne of knitting and mouse-abuse (the computer kind, really). So I’m having to use the mouse with my left hand. Everything feels backwards, in a way that I can only explain feels like my body adjusting to me forcing myself into a different hand dominance. I usually don’t have to think about typing at all, and today it’s more of a struggle, not because I can’t use my right hand to type (although i’m pretty much not allowed to use it for anything else, but if a kaibosh the typing i might as well file for disability), but because I’m more aware of my left hand and what it’s doing.

Now would be a good time for me to relearn how to play piano. I never could do much with my left hand on a keyboard.

Everything I do right now feels like it’s being done in a mirror. Heaven forbid I break this arm–but now I understand better why it was so traumatic for my mother when she did.

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I'm beginning to think that all attempts we have ever made at compromise have done nothing but hold us back. It doesn't matter what we do–if it doesn't go party, line and slate toward the Minns and Ikers and Duncans of the world, if they can't have it absolutely their way, they are going to leave anyway, right?

I'm sorry if this is inflammatory. I just don't understand this. Bishop Lee is an amazing spiritual leader, to my mind… why must we go over his head when he's one of the ones doing the most to holding us to a via media?

http://www.anglican-nig.org/bshpelects_jun2006.htm

And–just as an addendum, what of those who get left behind when their pastors leave in good conscience? People who love the Episcopal church and all its tensions…

sigh. I don't mean anything on those parishes, just.. I see them sowing discord, and I worry. I see it on the left, too.

For Immediate Release: ELECTION OF BISHOPS

The Primate of All Nigeria (Anglican Communion), the Most Rev Peter Akinola has announced the election of new Bishops in the Church of Nigeria.

The election was conducted at the Episcopal Synod of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), which met on Wednesday, June 28 2006, at All Saints Church Wuse Abuja.

The Bishops-elect are:

Ø The Rev Canon Christian Ideh, of Igbudu Christian Centre, Emevor, for the Diocese of Warri.

Ø The Venerable Musa Tula, of St Stephen’s Anglican Church Wange-Tula, Gombe State, for the Diocese of Bauchi.

Ø The Very Rev Adebayo Akinde, of the Cathedral of St Peter Ake, Abeokuta, Ogun State, for the newly created Diocese of Lagos Mainland. The inauguration of the diocese will come up in August.

Ø The Rev Canon Martyn Minns of Truro Parish in Virginia, USA was also elected Bishop in the Church of Nigeria for the missionary initiative of the Church of Nigeria called Convocation of Anglican Churches in North America (CANA).

The Episcopal Synod also decided to elect the Rt. Rev Simon Mutum of the Diocese of Jalingo as Bishop for non-geographic nomadic mission.

The consecration of the Bishops-elect will be announced later.

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So I’ve been thinking.. we should have a community for DC-area folks who share:
–interest in ministry to the marginalized, poor and forgotten
–Christian faith, regardless of denomination
–being progressive in a nonpolitical way — that is, social justice, peace, integrity, compassion, environmental stewardship and the like should be our *values,* not our *platform*
–desire to go to nifty events around town
–etc.

And I’ve been thinking, now that I’m getting settled, finally, that I’d like to take this on. I’m very good at web-enabled communications–in fact, that’s what I want to do for a living in the faith-based sphere–and I’ve identified the following areas where we might be able to get this off the ground:
1. A community-run, editorially sound website, such as DCist, providing images and commentary from around the blogosphere
2. A list-serv, where community members can participate in group discussion
3. A public calendar, which would allow us to keep each other up-to-date on interesting events of note
4. A web-ring, as many of us have blogs–I love the revgalblogpals model wherein several moderators do periodic roundups
5. A resource page, possibly a wiki but more likely a links clearinghouse page pointing people to national resources such as the Center for Progressive Christianity, CrossLeft, and the Christian Alliance for Progress. I am also becoming increasingly aware of progressive organizations within various denominations as well as several that are faith-based but nondenominational.
6. A periodic podcast: Would local clergy be willing to let us record their sermons? Or other?
7. Social networking: Use of livejournal, myspace, friendster and other social networking sites to help people find each other

What do those of you who are local think?

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I helped sponsor an event tonight but we booked it on Thursday and that very day I had to turn in my laptop for significant hardware upgrades–and I haven’t been online since. So here I am at the end of the workday, updating about this event at Busboys and Poets in Washington DC tonight:

8:30-10:30 PM (Langston Room) Join the nationwide community of CrossLeft, for a Summer of Hope Meet-Up-Party from 8:30 to 10:30 for drinks, networking and idea-sharing. CrossLeft is a growing movement, barnstorming around the country and building a movement to counter the extremism of the Christian right. This special meet up party is part of the Summer of Hope initiative, bringing progressive Christians together across the country, to build a strategic action agenda for political change. We depend on your energy and activism, and are looking to identify a base of Progressive Christians in the area to help us work towards the inauguration of a CrossLeft project, the Institute for Progressive Christianity, being planned for this September 9th at the National Cathedral. The Institute for Progressive Christianity is a research institute committed to producing work firmly rooted in scripture and the diverse Christian values represented in Progressive Christianity.

CrossLeft is a strategy clearing-house and central hub for grassroots activism among progressive Christians. Minimum donation of $10 to CrossLeft is requested, but not required for this event. Please make checks out to CrossLeft or go to our website to donate here. CrossLeft is a 501c4 organization. Contributions are not tax deductible. Thank you in advance for your kind support!

…and having sponsored it on behalf of CrossLeft, I find that 8 inches of rain have fallen in the area in the past three days, most of which was last night. And as such, it’s going to be tough for me to make it, and with my not being able to post it until now, I’m worried that people won’t hear about it.

I hope to book another event at this venue toward the end of the summer for Progressive Christians in the DC area, and it would be supercool if I could do something like this as well as DJing the event. And I’ll be more hands-on with the planning than I could be this time around. Please let me know if you’d like to be included on the mailing list that announces these events. I had started a blog for these things, but I think an email list might work better.

And if you have an extra Ark, I need to get home. Good thing I’m a good swimmer.

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According to my e-lists, Katharine Jefferts Schori has been elected
Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church of the USA.

How far we've come in the 30 years since we started ordaining women to
the priesthood.

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Welcome to Voices of Witness, a Claiming the Blessing production to
provide the church our witness as Christians, and as gay, lesbian,
bisexual, and transgendered people of great faith. We witness to the
message of God's inclusive love in the world, and as a testament to
the power of living lives in service and love to all of God's
creation.

http://claimingtheblessing.org/GC06/VoicesofWitness.html

(the video on that page is people bearing witness to being or loving
or supporting GLBT people of faith, with particular respect to the
Episcopal church. worth a look.)

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I just read the job description for the Digital Communications Director for The General Board of Church and Society of The United Methodist Church, and given my qualifications and strong desire to *work* out my vocation using my God-given talents, I’m tempted, Episcopalian though I am.

The “travel required” part throws me a bit, though. I can do it now, but only because of our custody arrangement at the moment. What if it changes, as I suspect (and secretly hope) it will?

God, is that you knocking? I can’t hear, I can’t hear!

I want so much to move into a communications position in the wider church. But I’m so bloody Anglican at times. (No, really, I don’t know how I feel about all that.)

At any rate, someone pinged my resume on that service in the past 48 hours. I hope it was the UMC. Because I have made a commitment to my current employer and I wouldn’t describe myself as anxious to leave, I am not actively seeking other employment. But I have gotten several hints that if it is time to flex my wings and grow, I should not hold myself back.

God, is that you?

God?

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Today during EFM my brain got a bit sidetracked during a couple of conversations.

One, on the Shia/Suni conflict in Iraq: DS is showing signs of liking church (see livejournal for details) and we had an interesting conversation this week about what would happen if he was pulled off a bus for being secular, or for being Episcopalian, and killed.

Two, on the nature of the Trinity: Fr. Jim was talking about how the trinity is a thing in motion and suddenly I was struck by the notion that if you are having difficulty of the three-one-one-three concept, imagine a pinwheel with three spokes. While stopped, it’s three spokes: and let’s say they are three colors, red, blue and yellow. But what happens when you set it in motion?

I know that may be oversimplified and I’m sure it’s not original, but it came unbidden to me today and is well timed.

(Update: Googling pinwheel/trinity, I didn’t find much–but I did find this totally awesome cool trinity fractal)

The other thing I mentioned in EFM is that having read Genesis very closely these past four months, I’m struck by how different it is from what i remember it being. For me, that’s a very good thing, but I understand that for some it can be kind of faith-shattering. Whatever the case, I find myself awed. I’ve started on the Exodus material, which put me ahead, and we’re about to break for the summer. I don’t want a break!

DFH and I went on a _bike ride_ today!! aside from a couple of very wobbly trips on beach cruisers, this is my first time on a bike since I was 18. Given that I’ve almost flipped the weight odometer to its highest EVER (and yes, it involves multiple zeros), it’s going to take a lot of determination on my part to get in shape. On the way back I found my sea bike legs, so to speak, and had a couple of bursts that propelled me way faster than I ever remember going, but there’s still a lot of fears and balance issues to overcome. But overcome I will. At first I was horribly wobbly. They say you never forget, but that’s only the whole “I can move forward without falling over” bit.

But you know, that’s kind of how faith works, too–I was away from that for even longer, and look at me now.

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http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2006/123/12.0.html

“That space is waiting to be filled by a plaque honoring the life and
sacrifice of 34-year-old Sgt. Patrick Stewart, who was killed in
action on September 25, 2005, when his helicopter was struck with a
rocket-propelled grenade as it flew over Afghanistan. But it may be
some time before Sgt. Stewart is remembered with a memorial plaque.
That's because his war widow and the Department of Veterans Affairs
are at odds over the Stewart family's request to have the Wiccan
pentacle, a five-pointed star surrounded by a circle, placed on the
plaque. As of May 31, 2006, government officials have refused to allow
the Wiccan symbol to be placed on Stewart's plaque.”

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crossposted from elsewhere, with a little edit:

Took my son to see X-men. Part of the deal was that to get to the movie, K had to come to church with me. he always drags his feet but has a great time once he's there. He took communion, which was vaguely subversive since he's not baptised. He's self conscious at church for not being baptised; while everyone else is talking about confirmation, he's feeling kinda left out. Ok, my bad for not having him baptised as an infant, but what do I do? I'm thinking perhaps I should put him in confirmation class and then let him be privately baptised if he chooses it then have the confirmation with everyone.

But anyway, the real hoot was during the post-communion prayer, where he thumped his chest and gave a shout-out to his Homey on high. Very hard to keep straight face on that one. So of course he did it six more times before the recessional, totally bankrupting it of its funniness. Need to coach him on resting on the laurels, not abusing them.

Good sermon from Jackie on the holy spirit being the thing that protects you, using the feminine to describe it. The real howler was on the way home K and I discussed a Halloween costume idea that involved cutting too many eyeholes in a sheet for a Charlie-Brown-esque “Holey Ghost.”

Yeah, we're punkypiscopalians…

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