Friday Five The Bible (is a Book Written by People)

When I read this Friday Five, I thought, Oh no, because, although I've read the bible, I've not studied it, and it's been a long time. Most recently I've been in closer contact with the Torah or the Old Testament, so... rather than just skip it, I'll show my extreme ignorence

1. What is your earliest memory of encountering a biblical text?
In my 12 years of Catholic School where we mostly learned from text books and the Baltimore Cathechism. (OK, I just remembered. At confirmation, which in my day was quite young, like 2nd grade, we got a missal-In my case a St. Joseph Missal, which had bible readings for the time of year, so I guess that was the Catholic way of parceling out the bible.)

2. What is your favorite biblical translation, and why? (You might have a few for different purposes). No favorite, although we always used the Catholic Bible whichever that was at the time. The Torah used by Congregation Bethe Simchat Torah has seemed awfully nice.

3. What is your favorite book of the Bible? Your favorite verse/passage? Would Ruth be appropriate?

4. Which book of the Bible do you consider, in Luther's famous words about James, to be "an epistle of straw?" Which verse(s) make you want to scream? n/a

5. Inclusive language in biblical translation and liturgical proclamation: for, against, or neutral? Absolutley for it!

Bonus: Back to the Psalms--which one best speaks the prayer of your heart? Not a psalm but a fragment "For whither thou goest, I will go, and where thou dwellest, there I will dwell: thy people are my people, and thy God is my God." which appears in our Ketubah or marriage contract (from my beloved and I.)

T.R. Knight - National Coming Out Day - PSA

And I love T.R. Knight for being brave enough to fight back!

Kitt Cherry on coming out

I love this video. It expresses my feelings, too!

Alive Day Portraits

From Simi Linton
"An exhibit of portraits of the disabled soldiers interviewed for HBO’s Alive Day Memories: Back from Iraq may be coming to a gallery near you.

The portraits - shot by photographer Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, best known for his portriats of artists and other celebrities - capture each soldier featured in Alive Day Memories against a simple black backdrop and are intended to focus on the individual, not the injury.

Greenfield-Sanders’ Alive Day Portraits have been used in HBO adversiting, can be viewed at the Donnell Library across from the Museum of Modern Art, and are scheduled to be shown in November at the Tisch School of the Arts and at exhibitions in Stockholm and Miami.

Additionaly, Alive Day Memories will be screened on November 8th as part of the Tisch Days of Community."

Editors note: The focus I have seen has been on attractibe soldiers who have lost limbs. They don't show the soldiers who have traumatic brain injury, who are in veteran's hospitals or extended care facilities, who can't live in the community because they can't find their way around or find their way home if the have one. I'ts terrible to loose your limb. It's terrible to loose part of your brain.

Movie to See

Can the love between two people ever be an abomination? Is the chasm separating gays and lesbians and Christianity too wide to cross? Is the Bible an excuse to hate?

Winner of the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the Seattle International Film Festival, Dan Karslake's provocative, entertaining documentary brilliantly reconciles homosexuality and Biblical scripture, and in the process reveals that Church-sanctioned anti-gay bias is based almost solely upon a significant (and often malicious) misinterpretation of the Bible. As the film notes, most Christians live their lives today without feeling obliged to kill anyone who works on the Sabbath or eats shrimp (as a literal reading of scripture dictates).

Through the experiences of five very normal, very Christian, very American families -- including those of former House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt and Episcopalian Bishop Gene Robinson -- we discover how insightful people of faith handle the realization of having a gay child. Informed by such respected voices as Bishop Desmond Tutu, Harvard's Peter Gomes, Orthodox Rabbi Steve Greenberg and Reverend Jimmy Creech, FOR THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO offers healing, clarity and understanding to anyone caught in the crosshairs of scripture and sexual identity.
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Maybe I'll go today

Women's Liturgy

I attended a Women's Catholic Liturgy this morning. It touched me deeply and once again made me feel at home in the church of my heritage (and the church where I rarely attend services.) There were about 20 women, mostly nuns-it seemed. The site was a convent of the Sister's of Charity and it was right on Washington Square North in one of those beautiful buildings. I imangined I was Auntie Mame (who lived there for a short period.)

Here is a prayer from the service:

O God, whose name is Love, we stand in the midst of a word that would give you other names, a world that would name you "violence"and "national pride" and "money. Teach us the deep power of the Love which you would have us claim as Yourself. Help us to know this Love and to embrace it so that we may stand as one with all persons and with creation in truth and in Spirit. We ask this in the name of Jesus, who even now show us the Path. Amen.
(if you look to the right of the arch, you can see the building where the service was held. I took the photo last fall from a window in NYU.)