You are currently browsing the monthly archive for November, 2008.
This is part of an email I sent to a friend recently, describing one church-shopping experience that Luke and I went through:
“Luke and I are trying out churches, looking for one that works with our very different backgrounds. We went to a Methodist church this Sunday, and liked it, except that it was Consecration Sunday and they had a guest preacher there to exhort the congregation to tithe–Luke and I both have tithing as a personal financial goal, but the way this priest went about it made us both very uncomfortable, and not just because his sermon was easily 40 minutes long! (Though that is a black mark in my book any day.) He repeated the necessity of putting God first over and over, which is something I think both of us can get behind, but didn’t really discuss the WAYS in which the church did God’s work. Obviously the first goal is to keep the electricity on and the salaries paid, and a lot of the time this is a hard enough goal as it is, but I don’t think you can really separate tithing from outreach–if the money you’re giving is only going back into things that directly benefit you, well, that’s not really giving it to God, is it? It’s hard to articulate–but his sermon made me feel pretty icky. Also, did I mention that he talked for far too long?”
Yeah, I’m a big fan of the 10 minute sermon. 20 minutes had better be fairly spectacular.
Another thing I’ve been struggling with since arriving at Notre Dame: What does it mean to be a Christian institution? And what does it mean to be a part of an institution whose denomination/religion you don’t share? People (meaning myself) will joke about Episcopalians being “Catholic Lite”, but both Catholics and Episcopalians know it’s not actually a good analogy. And, while I wouldn’t call myself a die-hard Episcopalian, I’m comfortable in an Episcopal institution. I’ve cozied up to our differences, so to speak. Whereas now I am finding my life impacted in very real ways by religious beliefs and decisions that I don’t subscribe to. And it’s making me touchy, which is a bad thing. A friend recently made a comment that could be interpreted to mean that since I wasn’t Catholic, my spiritual journey was incomplete. I’m still pissed off about that–and the thing is, I’m pretty sure that wasn’t what he meant to say.
The best analogy I can think of is the summer I spent in Israel, where I discovered that many of the clothes I had brought–namely, tank tops and shorts–were not commonly worn. It wasn’t like they were banned; it wasn’t like Egypt, where I got hissed at for not wearing a head scarf, but it was just…awkward. I could see in other people’s minds, “This girl is dressed inappropriately,” and it made me uncomfortable…so I just didn’t wear the shorts. (I still wore the tank tops. It was ridiculously hot.)
I think it’s probably good for me to be in the minority somewhere. And I like that Notre Dame is unapologetic about being a non-secular institution. But most of my peers came here to deepen their Christian faith and knowledge. I came here to be an academic. And that makes me feel a little like a fraud.
The good news is that I am finally starting to feel confident and optimistic about my Jubilees research paper. I have an idea that I think doesn’t suck, and other than the fact that I have to assimilate an enormous amount of scholarship in order to bring myself up to date on the topic, which I don’t know very much about because I am a noob at this, things are going well. I feel like I belong here again.
The bad news is that I am once again actually doing work, and as a result am not writing blog posts. All of my time-wasting goes to watching 30 Rock online (through Netflix, which is totally worth the $9/month), because I can knit at the same time.
The good news is that I finished the sweater I have been working on today! And it actually kind of looks cute, at least compared to my past sweater-making experiences. Maybe that’s because I used a real pattern this time instead of making it up as I went along. Also, now that I am done, I can cast on for the giant enormous Christmas present that comes next.
The bad news is that it is SO COLD outside that I spend most of my walks to and from class planning new warm things to knit for myself, and then remembering that by the time I finish knitting Christmas presents it will be, in all likelihood, February. Then I curse on the inside and wrap my scarf around my neck more tightly.
The good news is that the new James Bond movie is coming out this weekend!
The bad news is that there is no possible way it will be as good as Casino Royale.
The good news is that I don’t care. Nothing can ruin Daniel Craig for me, him and his fine, fine…acting. (Okay in all seriousness that is about 55% of the appeal.) The other good news is that my boyfriend is not fazed by my crushes on inappropriate people. Also, we may dress up and go out for martinis beforehand or afterwards.
The bad news is that I have been trying to come up with a graceful way to end this post, and failing miserably at it. Enough of this frivolity.
“I urge all Americans who supported me to join me in not just congratulating [Obama], but offering our next president our good will and earnest effort to find ways to come together to find the necessary compromises to bridge our differences and help restore our prosperity, defend our security in a dangerous world, and leave our children and grandchildren a stronger, better country than we inherited.”
-Senator McCain, 11/4/08
“In this country, we rise or fall as one nation, as one people. Let’s resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long.”
-President-elect Obama, 11/4/08
Okay, that’s all.
