One bread, One Body

I just got back from a mission trip to Choctaw, Mississippi, USA.  My team and I ministered to (not with) the Choctaw people by putting on a Vacation Bible School at Great Spirit UMC.  I helped teach first and second grade.  Oh my Lord.  I knew it would be a challenge, but I never expected THAT MUCH of a challenge.  I have a deep respect for anyone who works with children on a regular basis.

Children's ministers, elementary school teachers/workers, daycare providers...my hat is off to you.  Cheers!

On this mission trip, i was struck by how very "white" the Bible school materials were, and how little effort the team made to be in ministry with the people rather than to them.  We had very few Choctaw assistants, and it felt like we were the white people once again trying to force our religion and culture onto the Native American people.

Then I saw the kids.

The kids come from unspeakable homes.  Homes of abuse of all kinds, poverty, and despair.  These same kids came running to the vans so they could go to bible school for a two hour break where they could learn about Jesus and be kids.  They care about stickball (a Choctaw sport), basketball, and each other.

I am white, but before I am white, I am human.  The kids are Choctaw, but before they are Choctaw, they are human.  God has made of one blood all nations of the earth.

This is imago dei.  There is a hymn in the United Methodist Hymnal that says it much better than I can.  "One bread, one body, one Lord of all.  One cup of blessing which we bless.  And we, though many throughout the earth, we are one body in this one Lord."

Psalm: Two Haikus

Save me, God of All
waters will drown me
"remember your baptism"

Dreams turn to ashes
Poured like wax, add baptism
"Can still use this." --God

Robert Frost

Nature's first green is gold, according to Frost; its hardest hue to hold.  Nothing gold can stay.  That's certainly true.  I have moved around a lot in my life, and it's weird how nothing ever lasts forever--not even goodbye.  People, places, things have a way of coming back to you when you least expect it.  It sounds trite, and probably is, but its true.

The only constant in life is change, but that's alright.  Leaf subsides to leaf.  Change does not always mean death.  The beauty of a sunrise is transient, too.  It matures to bright noon.  Even the night has its share of beauty.  Without the night, the beauty of the milky way would never be seen, now would it?

We are having to say "see ya later" to a good friend.  She's graduating and moving far away.  We'll miss her deeply.  However, I know that she's going on to bigger and better things.  :-)  I wouldn't want to keep her cooped in the nest forever, and am honored to have known her.

Fly free, Melissa.  We'll always be here for you.

Song of Songs

The Song of Songs is in the Bible.  It is some of the raciest poetry in existence, and I encourage anyone who likes smut to read it.  If you don't like smut, then I still encourage you to read it, because this is BIBLICAL smut, and some of the oldest Hebrew love poetry in existence.

Now, that being said, why does the Christian church idolize virginity?  I, personally, blame Paul.  And patriarcy.  And the fact that getting pregnant out of wedlock can make it damn difficult to tell who the father of the child is.  And then there's the whole "blessed Mary ever-virgin" thing.  Don't get me started on that one.

So what does it mean to be pure and holy without idolizing virginity?

Welcome to the journey

I don't even really know what a blog is or is supposed to do or be or become.  For that matter, I don't know any of that about myself, so I guess that's somehow apropos.  I am 24 years old, with no idea what to do with the rest of my life, currently in pursuit of a Master's degree in Divinity of all things.  I have absolutely no desire to be a pastor.  What does that leave?  Not much.

You, dear reader, are free to journey with me as I figure this stuff out.  Expect randomness.  Expect weirdness.  Expect talk of God, music, science-fiction, and the wonders of a well-brewed cup of tea.  If any of the above is not okay with you, then there are other blogs you can waste your time reading.

Welcome to the journey.