News of Late
Things have been a bit hectic lately and I feel kind of out of touch since I haven't been able to blog about it. So anywhere here's the latest news.
Sunday was a great day. It was Easter Sunday so at
church we had a special service where instead of having a sermon, we instead had members of the congregation share what was on their hearts... some folks read poems, some just gave some thoughts... for myself I shared what my friend Rachel thought was important about the story of the resurrection of Christ... that the story shows us that the "truth can't be stopped." --- If you think about it this is true. When the Roman and Jewish authorities decided to kill Jesus (and both were complicit in his murder) they thought they were going to silence a troublemaker... instead though it backfired. His message exploded and before long many, many people not only believed in Jesus' message but were living it. Look at this passage from
Acts 2:42-47.
They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.
The truth that Jesus taught now has not only spread but has now took root and is being acted upon. The desire of the authorities to silence Jesus was completely thwarted.
Anyway though after we had the sharing time (and lots of singing and prayers), we moved into a different part of the service where myself and another person (a dear sister in the Lord) were welcomed into membership in the church. During this time the pastor made commitments on behalf of the church to us and then they prayed over us with the laying on of hands. (everyone is gathered around and puts their hand on your shoulder or back). Also both of us who were accepted into membership got to share a little about why we had decided to join the church.
So anyway I guess I'm now a bonafied Mennonite. :-) I feel good about becoming a commited member of that church and about entering a tradition of people over the centuries who have committed themselves to God's work of bringing peace and justice to this world through the work of humankind.
Well after church I got to spend some time with my family and do bit of gardening which was nice.
Then on Monday the big news was that US Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor came to OCU. (I'll post a seperate post about this later with some pictures and notes from her presentation.) It was fantastic to get to hear her at OCU (if nothing else to put a voice and a personality behind the decisions we read in class), but her remarks (especially the cold and calloused way she spoke of the rights of prisoners and those condemned to death) has confirmed what I already believed about the criminal injustice system . . . it is neither just or righteous.
Other than that I've been taking it easy this week. I have been reading quite a bit (mostly Emerson, but also started reading A Peace Reader) and I watched some good movies on tape (that I'll review later) . . .
Gandhi (oh my word, one of the best movies I've seen in some time... highly recommend it),
L' Auberge espagnole (The Spanish Apartment) (a clever French movie),
Under the Tuscan Sun (an innoculous feel good movie that makes me want to pack up and move to Italia), and
The Animatrix (a giant disappointment).
