To the Best Siblings Ever

Thank you for your words of comfort, Ben and Elizabeth. Others have been able to offer up encouragement lately, but it seems to be falling flat. One can only hear, "It will be okay," or, "God has a plan for you," so many time before it begins to sound like Charlie Brown's teacher.

Waa waa waa, waa waa WA-waaaa.

Ben called to say he understands because he's going through the same thing. No consolation offered. We just shared our funk. Strange to say, but it helped.

Elizabeth wrote about our situation on her Live Journal. She just let her readers know what's going on and asked for thought and prayers for the lot of us.

Now there have been many well-wishers, I won't deny it. There's just something about my younger brother and sister acting pastorally toward me that gets to me. Moms and mom-in-laws are expected to do it. (It's still appreciated, R and H.)

Ben and Elizabeth, you've brought tears of joy to my eyes this last week.

Jerks. ;)

My Exclamation Point

It may seem strange that I take comfort from a podcast with the above logo. When has Cthulhu ever offered comfort? The truth of it is that I found my shred of hope while standing outside for morning bus duty and listening to the latest episode of Pseudopod.

Pseudopod is a weekly horror story podcast. Listen for free and are actually encouraged to share the audio files as long as you don't mess with them and you give proper credit. It is actually considered a professional market as they pay their authors. In an era of collapsing print venues, it's great to hear the short story isn't going the way of the dinosaur.

"Come to My Arms, My Beamish Boy," by Douglas F. Warrick is a horror story for sure, but there's a truth to it lifted my spirits. After listening to this, I am happy to refer to Monkey-Girl as my exclamation point. If you can stomach it, I recommend you take the half hour to listen.

If horror isn't your thing, I can also recommend Pseudopod's sister podcasts: Escape Pod and PodCastle. Science fiction is handled by Escape Pod while PodCastle takes on fantasy. All three try to stick to a 30 to 40 minute run time so that a listener can enjoy a story during his or her commute.

The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

I've borrowed tonight's entry title from a novel by the late Douglas Adams. It's a play on St. John of the Cross' Dark Night of the Soul. In summary, the Dark Night refers to a period of spiritual growth when one feels an absence of God. It can be very difficult to get through, but most find it to be a great blessing. A recent reporting of this phenomenon involves Mother Theresa of Calcutta. Her journals, made public after her death in 2007, report the longest Dark Night on record. There is one reference to Jesus as the Absent One.

Now, Douglas Adams was satirizing this phenomenon, but I'm going to chose to use his title as similar but lesser crisis. As I listen to the rain and look to our future, I have to admit it's hard to hear God's voice or see His hand in all of this. After stepping out in faith, returning to school, going further into debt, getting licenced to teach, moving to Tennessee, and supporting Monkey-Girl through three years of seminary we're stuck without a job for her. She's been told many times that it's not about finding a job, it's discernment. The places we've felt most called to have rejected her out of hand. My suspicion is they don't want to hire someone right out of seminary. The rejections come too quickly for any real consideration to have taken place. At this point, we'd take a job anywhere from anyone willing to "take a chance" on hiring a thirty-year-old, female as a priest. Where's the discernment there?

I've listened to Chris Rice's Amusing while writing this. The storm is over. From the living room, I hear Monkey-Girl playing We Love Katamari. I see my Jesus action figure out of the corner of my eye. I know we'll be fine. It's just between here and fine that's . . . well, you know.

Thanks Harriet.

The Future Was Then

From March 28, 1999 to August 10, 2003, the Fox network treated us to a vision of the 31^st century. Like most television I've enjoyed, it's off the air.

It lives on in reruns on basic cable stations like Cartoon Network, and now, Comedy Central. Due to the continued popularity of this show that was, both figuratively and literally, ahead of its time Fox ordered a batch of direct to DVD movies. The fourth and final DVD, Into the Wild Green Yonder, was recently released. I have yet to see it, but if it's like the previous three it will be a worthy addition to the cannon.

It's actually a little bittersweet. I'm looking forward to new Futurama, but after this there won't be anymore.

Dave Arneson: Rest in Peace

After a two-year battle with cancer, Dave Arneson co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons passed away on Tuesday, April 7th. He was 61.

Last year the other half of D&D's creative team passed.

The two had been out of the company that owns D&D for more than twenty years. TSR, the company created to distribute the game had forced them out by the mid 1980s. TSR was purchased in the late 1990s by Wizards of the Coast, the owners of a little game called Magic: The Gathering. Wizards was then purchased by Hasbro.

So, the game created by a couple of upper mid-western boys hosting gaming conventions in a basement is now owned by a faceless corporation.

At least we still have treasures like this lurking in a used book store just waiting to be dusted off and let loose on our imagination.

Did St. Peter Moisturize?

Tomorrow is Maundy Thursday. This is what I think of as the beginning of the whole Easter thing. The service points to the servanthood of Christ and reminds we Christians that we are called to servanthood as well. The service ends with the stripping and washing of the altar followed by the congregation exiting the church all in complete silence.

For myself, it's one of the most powerful services the Episcopal church has.

On the night of Christ's betrayal, he gathered with his followers for a final meal. Following the custom of the day, the guests feet were to be washed. This would have been the job of a slave. Jesus took it upon himself. That's huge!

Peter's reaction adds to the complexity of the message . At first he refuses to let Jesus near his feet. (How scandalous for a rabbi to wash his disciples' feet!) Jesus tells Peter that if he wants to be in on the whole Jesus movement he needs to have his feet washed. Peter, missing the point, asks to have his hands and face washed as well. Jesus, demonstrating more patience then I'll ever have, explains that Peter's feet will do just fine.

As we remember this final, meaning-filled evening of Christ's life. We have the opportunity to wash one another's feet. Now, I'm fine washing, but when it comes to having my feet washed there's an entire boatload of issues that come up. Among them are my discomfort with putting others into a position of servitude and the condition of my feet. The former is just some psychological baggage I have to work through.

The latter brings me to my only recurring springtime tradition. Beginning Palm Sunday I start my annual moisturizing ritual. Because of the low quality carpet installed in our apartment my feet get dry, cracked, and generally gross. A post-shower application of Burt's Bees Foot Creme every morning takes care of the worst of the "eww" by showtime.

I don't think this counts as a Lenten discipline.