Easy Silence

I was listening to this song this morning. It's evocative of returning to a "safe space", be it the sanctuary of a trusted friend or lover's presence or the safety of a home you've made for yourself...

When the calls & conversations Accidents & accusations Messages & misperceptions Paralyze my mind Buses, cars, & airplanes leaving Burning fumes of gasoline and Everyone is running and I Come to find a refuge in the
chorus:	Easy silence that you make for me It's ok when there's nothing more to say to me And the peaceful quiet you create for me And the way you keep the world at bay for me The way you keep the world at bay
Anger plays on every station Answers only make more questions I need something to believe in Breathe in sanctuary in the
"Easy Silence" by Emily Robison, Martie Maguire, Natalie Maines and Dan Wilson from Taking The Long Way. You can listen to a clip on Amazon.

I'm very glad for jw1776, skydancer, dianthus, cyberangel_, and others who are my safe spaces...

lunchtime reading

A review of the movie Wordplay mentions the Election Day 1996 puzzle that

featured as clue 39-Across "Lead story in tomorrow's newspaper." Creator Jeremiah Farrell had constructed the puzzle so that either "BOB DOLE ELECTED" or "CLINTON ELECTED" would fit. This meant crafting clues that could have two correct answers; i.e. 39-Down, "Black Halloween animal," could be either "BAT" or "CAT."

More info is here - and yes, it's cool :) Meanwhile in the WSJ,

Low-hanging baggy pants have been a fashion statement for young men for more than a decade, inspired by the advent of beltless prison jeans, says Andy Gilchrist, a California fashion consultant who has written a book on men's clothes. Over time, the tough-guy image associated with oversized trousers helped make the look standard for hip-hop performers, alternative music bands, skateboarders and snowboarders as it migrated from mostly black city streets to affluent white suburbs.

Just about every other week, Jim Matheny, a 41-year-old police lieutenant in Stamford, Conn., says he gets into foot chases with youths. He says it's getting easier to capture them because they can't run fast or far in those loose jeans.

"When I catch them, I tell them they'd do much better if they had pants that fit," says Lt. Matheny, who says he has had to help hold up the pants of his suspects while patting them down to search for drugs or weapons. "It's like: 'Hey dude, buy a belt and save yourself some trouble.' "

The story cites 5 specific incidents of baggy pants causing problems, including one man who caught his pants on a fence he was trying to climb. "He was found dangling upside down, his pants at his ankles and tangled in the fence." And from today's Crickler (24 handicap):

McDonald's and China Petroleum and Chemical, or Sinopec, announced an alliance to build drive-through McDonald's at service stations throughout China.

So, which is tastier: 7-11 burgers or McD's?

Something on the Spirit I wanted to share...

"I don’t know if the Holy Spirit will answer Martin’s prayers for clarity. In my experience, s/he rarely traffics in that arena. Indeed, chaos is her natural, preferred home – bringing something new into being as she has done since the beginning of creation when she brooded over the chaos which brought forth the earth.
I’m quite certain that I don’t know what the Holy Spirit is up to in this time and place for The Episcopal Church or the Anglican Communion. I only know that the Presiding Bishop is absolutely right:

“It is dangerous to invoke the Holy Spirit.”

And, we have.

In the words of the third verse of the hymn we sang this morning (to the tune of Abbot’s Leigh):

Loving God, who birthed creation from the nothingness of space,
kindling life where all was empty,
turning chaos into grace:
When we feel confused and fruitless, draw upon our restless night;
give us faith’s imagination
hope’s renewing, love’s delight.
Words: Carl P. Daw, Jr. (B. 1944)"


- From Rev Elizabeth Kaeton posting on legislative day 1 of the episcopal triannual general convention

Bonus link: Mother Elizabeth's Anglican Communion 101

On conflicts within Christian Scripture

This is from To Set Our Hope On Christ (PDF), the Episcopal Church's explanation of "how a person living in a same gender union may be considered eligible to lead the flock of Christ."

From the beginning, Scripture was seen as complex and contested: two creation stories; two rival accounts of how Israel got its first king; the argument of the Deuteronomist that the good are always rewarded and the bad always punished countered by Job; the argument against taking foreign wives in Ezra and Nehemiah countered by Ruth; the argument for exclusivism countered by traditions of inclusion in Second Isaiah and Jonah. Scripture itself corrected and amended earlier versions of scripture in some cases; in other cases, rival arguments were allowed to stand side by side unresolved. The idea that there is only one correct way to read or interpret scripture is a rather modern idea. ( ... )

We confess that at times we have acted as though the Church has never argued about its doctrines and practices, has never changed its mind; as if “the Scriptures are perfectly clear and do not need interpretation” or that “all reasonable people will agree” with us. We confess that even though we know this is untrue, and even though the quickest glance at the history of biblical interpretation of ethical issues demonstrates its falsity, we persist in acting as if all Christians could agree on complex matters. We mention, for examples, such issues as the right use of creation, whether Christians can lend money at interest to other Christians (usury), whether slavery is justified or not, the use of force and violence, abortion, the death penalty, war, contraception, the nature of marriage, the property rights of women, child labor laws, prison systems, how many languages should be taught in schools, whether evolution should be taught in schools, and many other questions in which the Church’s appropriation of Scripture has been complex and in many cases even at odds with the most obvious sense of the biblical text.
- from paragraphs 2.4 & 2.12

Amen.