"new year's project" further seems forever

happy father's day! i spent my father's day at a mini golf course in valparaiso, indiana. i drove up to my sister's place in chicago then the three of us (including my 2 year old niece iris) drove to valpo to meet dad and chris. my father's day present to dad was a six stroke defeat! oops! after that we went to red robin and had some great food and then to target. at target i ran into newlyweds mike and jessica denny! small world, haha! all in all, a great great day filled with fun and laughter.

the best part of days like these are spending them with my two year old niece iris. i will miss her oh so much when i move to kansas city. here are a few highlights:






spending time with iris inevitably brings my mind to that happy day that will come in the future when i can look into the eyes of my own child. i have many goals in life, personal and professional, but in the end i believe that if i am so fortunate and if God so decides to richly bless me, it will all be worth it if i can come home at the end of the day to a wonderful loving family. oh how i long for that day to come!

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one of the things I enjoy most about visiting my sister is stopping at trader joe's on the way back home. for those who have not encountered trader joe's, you are definitely missing out. it is a grocery store that stocks all organic and wholesome foods (for the most part!). everything is fairly priced and is of the very utmost quality. well, i didn't get a chance to stop there this time (too late heading back), but i did find a new stop that i will have to make: half price books. I found out recently that there is a half price books shop just beyond a certain exit i take to get to my sister's. i was first introduced to half price books in kansas city and am SO GLAD there is one near here. on this stop, i picked up seven books for a total of $25 (yes you read that right!). my haul:

"the inner life" thomas a kempis
"Jesus - god and man" pannenburg
"the return of the prodigal son" nouwen
"let me tell you a story" tony campolo
"Lord, teach us: the Lord's prayer and Christian life" willimon & hauerwas
"confessions" st. augustine (yes, i didn't have a copy before)
"the secular journal of thomas merton"

you should be able to sense a common theme in this trip to half price books. i'm trying to gather more theology for my personal library. i'm so excited to get these books at such a steal. i especially loved getting pannenburg's work at six dollars, the cover price is $30! as always in my blog, i will report my thoughts and findings as i delve into the stack.

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well, left over from my previous hauli have some thoughts and reflections on the lauren winner book i am currently reading. the book is entitled Real Sex and the main thesis is the idea that the church has cast aside the virtue of chastity in its teachings. i especially want to rest upon chapter three of the book tonight, "communal sex." in this chapter, winner dissects the rather recent overarching cultural opinion on sex: "one person's sexual behavior is not anyone's concern." Winner outright proclaims this as a lie. she contends that this is a result of the relatively recent advent of birth control which privatised everyone's sex lives. instead, our sex lives should absolutely be of public concern. "Because sex forms us, sex is a community matter" (51). this way of living out your sex life publicly is just an additional way that the christian community should be at its core countercultural. the privatization of man is a modern artifact brought about by the advent of the printing press specifically (borrowing from shane hipps here). that privatization of man has moved from secular culture into the very understanding of christian culture now. we ask for personal commitments to Christ yet we never (or almost never) emphasize a communal faith that requires particiaption in the greater christian community (now borrowing from rodney clapp and stanley hauerwas). anyways, back to winner: she herself borrows from wendell berry in saying that households are the foundations of communities, thus the things that directly contribute (or take away from ) the health of the household (namely, marital sex) should absolutely be the concern of the community. to end the chapter, winner says:

"To say that sex is communal is to... encourage married Christians to speak to one another - not just about sexual sin, but about all the complicated emotional and physical thickets one can find oneself in when one is having sex. It is to urge Christians to speak frankly to one another about the realities of chastity, about the thrills and tediums of married sex, about the rich meanings inherent in being sexual persons who live in bodies. It is to ask the church to serve as narrator, reminding ourselves who we are, and why we do what we do" (59-60).

i especially resonate with the final sentence of that quote. i do realize that next to nobody reads this, but if you do happen to come upon this blog, i would LOVE to hear your input on this. winner is speaking about a type of community that i, frankly, have never encountered or seen on this earth. not saying it doesn't exist, but it must definitely be rare. should sex be communal?

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in lieu of posting another old poem, i want to do something different tonight. the poems will return in my next entry. i know you're all worried...

don't look ahead, just run to me. each step will find the next one recklessly. we'll find ourselves on the safest ledge... well pardon me, i couldn't help myself. fall into your life here. if only for a while, i'm here. could you be happy to fall like a stone if you'd land right here safe in my arms? it's fine, lock all your doors thorugh the night... keep it all right here safe in my arms. it's fine.

you felt alone before you ever really knew how alone you were. an empty house, a lonely room... the TV talks the fear right out of you. you feel like someone's standing by... but you'll never know... could you be happy to fall like a stone if you'd land right here safe in my arms? it's fine, lock all your doors through the night... keep it all right here safe in my arms. it's fine.

the sun burns a hole straight through your old flaws, if you look toward the sky even on your grayest night. could you be happy now with the wind in your hair, your eyes open wide and your feet going nowhere? could you be happy to fall like a stone if you'd land right here safe in my arms? it's fine, lock all your doors through the night... keep it all right here safe in my arms.

it's fine.

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"what am i supposed to say? my talent's an acquired taste..."