Spidergirl

I'm the champion of the Asbury Seminary Intramural game called Spiderweb. When you sign up for the game you get a watergun in your mailbox as well as a card with someone's picture on it. That person becomes your target. Your goal is to find your target and squirt them outdoors while avoiding being caught and squirted by the person who is after you. When you squirt someone they have to hand over their cards and you assume their target. And thus you end up racking up cards throughout the week.

So pretty much I was a creepy stalker this week. I knew where my targets lived and I made that work to my advantage. I even hid behind the bushes across the street from one guy's apartment and waited for him to leave. I knew when and where my targets went to class and I made that work to my advantage. I even knew where some of my targets went to hang out and I used that to my advantage. This included driving to Nicholasville to squirt someone in the Applebee's parking lot. All in all, I ended up with nine cards. I got my vindication for last year when I got squirted within 24 hours of the game starting. This was much more fun than that. But now I am not so sure that being known as the best "creepy stalker" on campus is a good thing. I think I'll have to work over the next few weeks to regain my sweet and innocent reputation in the eyes of some people.

Oh yeah, it doesn't help that I really, really, really want to see the movie Caché. (It's a French stalker movie). hehehe....

Vision Problems

I'm still really enjoying reading God's Politics by Jim Wallis. Here's a quote I came across today about the underlying problems with politics in our country and some solutions for those problems, as idealistic as they may be:

Today [our country faces] two vision problems. One is lack of vision in public life...But the other is when political leaders have a clear vision- but the wrong one. When politics is being shaped by visions that defend wealth and power, rather than opening up more opportunity; that are more exclusive than inclusive; that pursue policies that destabilize families and communities; that exalt private interests rather than the common good; that simply leave too many people behind; that seek national or coorporate interest over international peace and justice; or that increase conflict rather than reducing it- then such political vision can be as destructive as having no vision at all. It seems that we are afflicted by no vision, on the one hand, and narrow vision on the other. Neither will suffice, neither has the capacity to meet the challenges of our time. And neither is faithful to the compelling public visions contained in both our best religious and democratic traditions...

I am convinced that we can make key "wind-changing" or paradigm shifts on a wide range of issues. We can create new ways of looking at and talking about crucial questions that could significantly alter the framework and spirit of the current debates, which have deadlocked the public discussion and blocked solutions to some of our most serious problems. In many cases, it means a commitment to stop making false choices and inviting the critical insights from diverse political traditions- many of which are necessary to move us forward beyond more blaming and posturing. And new ways of thinking lead to new ways of acting.

Jim Wallis, will you run for president??

Running the Good Race

I'm not really sure what I was thinking when I thought it would fun to run in the annual ATS 5K fun run. While it felt somewhat healthy to be waking up at dawn on a Saturday morning in order to warm up enough for a 8:30 race time, I would have rather been in bed. They suckered me in by saying it was for a good cause. Health and Wellness sponsored the event along with Mercy and Justice, so the entry fee went toward helping hungry people in Wilmore. They also collected food and toilet paper at the race to be donated to the Wilmore Community Center. And while I was doubting myself and my decision to run in the race while I was huffing and puffing up the hilly streets of Wilmore, I found myself blessed by being a part of a community coming together for such a good cause. Plenty of people will now have food on their tables now that we all came out and stretched ourselves a little bit.

It was also kind of fun to cross the finish line with people cheering and clapping. That was the best part of the race! There were also encouragers all along the way. People sitting on their porches shouting encouragement as we ran past. It motivated me to hear people yelling, "Go Jackie, you're doing great!" as I was feeling too tired to keep going. And I lived to tell the story...even though I am still coughing like a person with emphazema.

Responsible Christian Citizenship

The other day a very strange thing happened to me. I was vaccuming the floor and thoughts of politics popped into my head. And anyone who knows me knows that this really isn't a very common thought to be in my head. (yes...this post is political in nature...if you think you might become offended in the course of reading this post I apologize....it's not my intention to offend. And really I am not taking sides. I am simply hoping to encourage thought). So I started thinking about Republicans and Democrats and the belief among many Christians that being a Republican is the only right and "Godly" choice. Why is this so??

Why has the word "liberal" become equal to "the devil" in our Christian circles? I have always been puzzled with this question. Aren't democrats concerned with issues such as the poor, the environment, the sanctity of life (at least when it comes to things like the death penalty and war), and many other things that line up with what I would consider to be Christian values? The word "liberal" means things such as "tending to give freely" and "favoring proposals for reform." Jesus gave liberally (his whole life) and served liberally. He sought change and gave freely and generously. Why would someone who loves Jesus be afraid of this word?? To me, it has more positive connotations than "conservative." I have always disliked the word "conservative" in the first place because it kind of implies selfishness. It means "of a restrained style" and "tending to oppose change." Is that how we view Jesus? As someone who was happy with the way things were? A person who withheld things from those who needed them? Just some questions to chew on...I think I may have gotten off-track a bit.

Oh yes, back to my point. I think that everyone--but most of all Christians--need to be making informed choices about political candidates. There are any number of things a follower of Jesus should be concerned with when deciding who to support. I think it's pretty sad the way in which the Republican leaders of this country and their campaigners have manipulated conservative Christians into believing that the only two issues that should be of relevance to Christians are abortion and family values. What ever happened to the poor and the orphaned and people dying of AIDS? Aren't they of our concern too? Aren't they the very people that Jesus came to serve and welcome into His Kingdom? They seem to be at the heart of the gospel so I am not so sure we can write them off so quickly.

Politics for a Christian is much bigger and more complex than these two issues. I shudder to think of what other people in the world think when they turn on Pat Robertson and the 700 club talking about how anyone who votes for a democrat is in dangers of the fires of hell. While abortion and family values are important to consider, there are other issues like capital punishment, war and peace, honesty, helping the poor, loving our enemies, giving aid to the sick, taking care of the environment, etc. etc.

I want to be careful of painting Republicans out to be my enemy here. I'm not saying there is a wrong and a right party to vote for. I think our obligation as Christians living in this country goes way beyond party lines. Our obligation lies in knowing what is important to our Saviour and picking leaders that encompass as many of those values and policies as possible. And it will never be a perfect-or easy-choice. The republicans have their own wonderful strengths as well as those areas that they could grow in. The democrats have theirs too. It's imperative that Christians in America be able to make informed decisions without societal and religious pressures or stereotypes. Decisions based on either of these are not good decisions at all.

How does one go about voting responsibly? I'm the first to admit that I am clueless when it comes to knowing what's really going on in our country. I'm clueless when it comes to what political candidates believe and support. With you all as my witnesses I am going to try to work on that because I feel firmly convicted about the need to be responsibly engaged with politics in this country. If I am going to live here I want to be able to make decisions that may help our country be a place where the highest good triumphs.

I started reading God's Politics by Jim Wallis today. I am liking it so far. He is raising these very issues I've been talking about and thinking about. He works for Sojourner's magazine who published an advertisement around election time 2004 urging Christian voters to vote responsibly:

The Leaders of the Religious Right mistakenly claim that God has taken a side in this election, and that Christians should only vote for George W. Bush.
We believe that claims of divine appointment for the President, uncritical affirmation of his policies, and assertions that all Christians must vote for his re-election constitute bad theology and dangerous religion.

We believe that sincere Christians and other people of faith can choose to vote for President Bush or Senator Kerry--for reasons deeply rooted in their faith.

We believe all candidates should be examined by measuring their policies against the complete range of Christian ethics and values.

We will measure the candidates by whether they enhance human life, human dignity, and human rights; whether they strengthen family life and protect children; whether they promote racial reconciliation and suuport gender equality; whether they serve peace and social justice; whether theyadvance the common good rather than only individual, national, and special interests.

• We are not single issue voters
• We believe that povery-caring for the poor and vulnerable-is a religious issue.
• We believe that the environment-caring for God's earth-is a religious issue.
• We believe that war-and our call to be peacemakers-is a religious issue
• We believe that truth-telling is a religious issue
• We believe that human rights-respecting the image of God in every person-is a religious issue.
• We believe that our response to terrorism is a religious issue
• We believe that a consistent ethic of human life is a religious issue

I don't think I could say it any better myself. Amen.

Took a train downtown

Spring break or reading week (whatever you wanna call it) is at its close. Life in Wilmore went back to normal today. Peter and I spent break with my parents who live near Chicago. We took the commuter train into the city one day. It was great! The only way it might have been more complete is if we would have run into Jeff Tweedy randomly on the street. I just posted a bunch of pictures on my flickr account. You can see them here.

I don't have much to say right now because it's late and Jackie needs to sleep, but I will say that I got kind of weirded out walking across Wilmore this afternoon. It seemed so quiet in contrast to the city and suburbs of Chicago. I mean, I walked half way across town down the middle of the street and not a single car. Only two people I think. Craziness. I found myself almost praying for a car to pass by so I wouldn't feel so freaked out.

I am gonna live in civilization again sometime soon! Whoohoo!