Tag: News

Honoring the Sabbath

One of the requirements for my Christian education class this semester was that we memorize the 10 commandments. It might sound a little silly, but try this little test: can *you* recite all 10 of them? Ask a couple of friends if *they* know all 10 of them. I’ve already said that content is the essential part of catechesis, and I’m pretty sure my professor agrees with me. And what did you think that essential content was supposed to look like? Few things are more basic than the 10 commandments, and hardly anybody knows them.

But here’s the odd thing: reading through the commandments, I find that here are a set of rules so basic that almost everybody can agree to them: don’t lie; don’t steal; don’t murder; honor your parents. Some of them, obviously, you have to be a montheist to get behind: no other gods before me; no graven images to worship. But there’s only one that I ,and most people I know, break regularly and with vigour. Number 4: Do no work on the Sabbath. Continue reading “Honoring the Sabbath”

Morning Dilemma

I am a newlywed. One-half partner in a newlywed couple. And we are definitely in the honeymoon stage.

I had no idea of the vast, incalculable advantages of marriage. Continence alone is so much easier since you can stay chaste by being married. But even beyond those most primal urges, just the sheer happiness of being nearly constantly in the presence of someone you like so much is nearly overwhelming. The pleasure of having near constant access to someone who genuinely likes you and is genuinely interested in what you have to say… lonliness is banished! (Even for someone like me who does. not. get. lonely., the difference is marked.) Oh the joy of discovering complimentary tastes – in food! in decorating! in preferred housework! (Let me tell you, there is something quite satisfying, almost a relief in discovering that one of you hates to wash the dishes, and the other hates to dry.)

I am told that this near frenzy of appreciation will soon wear off. I am already bracing my self and searching desperately for a way to make it continue. “Catch for us the little foxes,” the scripture says, and I am riddling my life with foxtraps. If there is a way to make the honeymoon last, I for one am desperate to find it. (All advice continues to be graciously accepted.)

But the one most noticeable advantage for me in marriage has been my productivity. Continue reading “Morning Dilemma”

Nor’easter on the Way

Here’s a bit of news from the Boston Globe that I found interesting since that’s just about the time that I would be going into school tomorrow.

High winds created by Wilma heading to Massachusetts

October 24, 2005

TAUNTON, Mass. –A Nor’easter fueled by energy from Hurricane Wilma could bring sustained winds of nearly 40 mph to the Massachusetts coast Tuesday, the National Weather Service said.

The Weather Service’s Taunton office said Monday that a high wind warning will be in effect from 4 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday, with scattered gusts of 60-65 mph possible for several hours.

The strongest winds are expected along the state’s southern coastline early Tuesday, with conditions there easing in the afternoon. High winds are expected to reach the Boston metropolitan area and the North Shore at midday Tuesday and linger into the evening.

The winds could down trees and power lines and cause property damage, the Weather Service said.

A coastal flood watch has also been issued for Massachusetts. The storm may produce 20 foot seas and a 3 foot storm surge, leading to minor or moderate coastal flooding during a high tide late Tuesday.

The storm is expected to intensify as it passes near Cape Cod on Tuesday, but Wilma herself is expected to track far to the east of New England.

After slowly meandering through the Caribbean to Mexico, Hurricane Wilma crashed ashore early Monday as a strong Category 3 storm, battering southwest Florida with 125 mph winds and pounding waves as it began a frantic dash across the peninsula.

I’ll let you know what happens.

Baby face….

“He’s got the cutest little baby face…”

Well, he did it, no more face scruff and my does he look different. I tend to forget how young he looks without facial hair; I don’t think I’ll let him sleep in the bed tonight since he looks like a stranger.

Here’s a couple of pictures.

He says that he’ll keep it clean for a couple of days and then start growing out the full beard again for the winter.

Ahhh, Books!

The single most important factor for me in moving to the Boston area to go to seminary full-time was the prospect of, once again, having nothing else to do but go to school. I had tried every other way I could think of and it simply couldn’t be done. What is that saying? “No one can serve two masters.” In the same way, I couldn’t serve both work and school: I was constantly loving the one and despising the other. I needed a situation where I could confidently focus most of my attention on learning, or focus it on something else.

Actually, focusing on learning has always been much easier for me than focusing on anything else. Even at work, the only time I’ve been able to keep my focus on the task at hand was when it was pressingly urgent that I *learn*, and fast! The minute it was that I could confidently say that I *knew* my job, I could also confidently say that my job had lost all interest for me. In other words, the only way for me to *keep* my job was for me to find ways to make my job utterly *fascinating*, and so I consequently had little time or attention for school. (This also may explain for why I was found at school so frequently staring absently into space.)

Now, here it is. Finally, I am at a school whose sole purpose is to dedicate as much of its resources as possible to the study of the things I’m most likely to sit around thinking about anyway. Sigh… Continue reading “Ahhh, Books!”

Honeymoon: the trip

I haeb a coud.

It’s particularly frustrating right now, because I went to bed (like a good boy) at a very decent hour last night, carefully propped up on one side to let all the fluids drain to the other side of my head. I woke up this morning at 4:00 from one of those awful dreams where you discover you have to cram for an exam in a class you didn’t know you were registered for, and which you have skipped for almost an entire semester. (My recurring nightmares are always so much more detailed and resonant than they’re supposed to be. This one was the third or fourth chapter in the same missed class. If I bothered, I could relate to you the entire imaginary school layout, describe the faces and personality of my teacher and fellow students, and the incidents of the *last* time I had to explain to this particular professor why I had missed a complete month of class.) This cold is a particularly nasty cold which has affected not only my ability to maintain good hygiene in public, but has also given me vertigo, queasiness, and a general feeling of unwellness. It has also, no doubt, affected my lucidity, which you can probably clearly see. Just last year, I was well for a full 11 months without interruption. I had a cold sometime in July, and another one the next June. Since then, I think I’ve had three or four colds. As you can see, marriage is already starting to affect my health.

Needless to say, I wasn’t able to go immediately back to sleep, and by the time it occurred to me to take some Nyquil, it was 6:00 in the morning, and I had been catching up on my blog reading for over 2 hours. The sun was on; my cause was hopeless. So now I’m blogging. Continue reading “Honeymoon: the trip”