Saturday, July 12, 2008
To another blog site and beyond!
Hey friends. Please find me at http://heatherbixler.wordpress.com/. I'm trying Wordpress for a change.
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
Time for a change....
It's that time again, folks. My time as an assistant in l'Arche has ended (though, they say you can take the assistant out of l'Arche, but you can't take l'Arche out of the assistant). Therefore, my blawg title is obsolete, sadly. Time for a change. Naming a blog is no easy-to-acquire skill. These are, presumably, the things I'm trying to avoid:
1) Exclusiveness: Unless I really wanted to post entries about some esoteric interests of mine, I would need to avoid such titles as "Havarti Heaven: A Cheese Blog" or "Stuff Young White Mainline-Evangelical Women Who Are Politically Liberal and Theologically Orthodox Like"
2) Self-Absorbtion: Yes, I'm from the Facebook generation, where I assume everyone cares about my highly-nuanced political and religious beliefs, the number of countries I've visited in the last year, and the books I've read that have 'changed my life.' Blogs are an opportunity for my generation, already completely obsessed with Self, to further bolster the illusion that our ideas are actually new, unique, and deserving of other's attention. Of course, the mere fact that I have access to a personal computer and wireless Internet, as well as having ample leisure time to type away in subtly-hip coffeehouse as I sip delicious, pricey coffee, shows that my ideas are really the ideas of the privileged few. The single mother on government assistance? The migrant farm worker? The immigrant day-laborer? They remain voiceless in the blogosphere where, supposedly, everyone deserves to be heard.
3) Pretentiousness: There is a temptation in the blogworld to elevate the status (i.e. # of hits per day) of your blogged ideas and musings by referencing an obscure (dead) philosopher or theologian as your blog title, "Inside Foucault's Panopticon" or "The Aquinas Tales." Better (or worse) yet is a blog title written in a dead language.
Don't get me wrong. I enjoy reading blogs and have many friends who update regularly. I so enjoy hearing their thoughts and ideas. And I enjoy putting my thoughts and ideas out there, as well. My project here is to create a blog that is not exclusive, doesn't lend itself to self-absorption, and doesn't try to convince others that my thoughts are particularly special. Maybe the project is impossible and I am willing to concede that it is (could my attempt at this be, in fact, a project in self-righteousness??). But if anyone has any fabulous ideas regarding a blog that does not fall into the above three categories, I will delight in them!
1) Exclusiveness: Unless I really wanted to post entries about some esoteric interests of mine, I would need to avoid such titles as "Havarti Heaven: A Cheese Blog" or "Stuff Young White Mainline-Evangelical Women Who Are Politically Liberal and Theologically Orthodox Like"
2) Self-Absorbtion: Yes, I'm from the Facebook generation, where I assume everyone cares about my highly-nuanced political and religious beliefs, the number of countries I've visited in the last year, and the books I've read that have 'changed my life.' Blogs are an opportunity for my generation, already completely obsessed with Self, to further bolster the illusion that our ideas are actually new, unique, and deserving of other's attention. Of course, the mere fact that I have access to a personal computer and wireless Internet, as well as having ample leisure time to type away in subtly-hip coffeehouse as I sip delicious, pricey coffee, shows that my ideas are really the ideas of the privileged few. The single mother on government assistance? The migrant farm worker? The immigrant day-laborer? They remain voiceless in the blogosphere where, supposedly, everyone deserves to be heard.
3) Pretentiousness: There is a temptation in the blogworld to elevate the status (i.e. # of hits per day) of your blogged ideas and musings by referencing an obscure (dead) philosopher or theologian as your blog title, "Inside Foucault's Panopticon" or "The Aquinas Tales." Better (or worse) yet is a blog title written in a dead language.
Don't get me wrong. I enjoy reading blogs and have many friends who update regularly. I so enjoy hearing their thoughts and ideas. And I enjoy putting my thoughts and ideas out there, as well. My project here is to create a blog that is not exclusive, doesn't lend itself to self-absorption, and doesn't try to convince others that my thoughts are particularly special. Maybe the project is impossible and I am willing to concede that it is (could my attempt at this be, in fact, a project in self-righteousness??). But if anyone has any fabulous ideas regarding a blog that does not fall into the above three categories, I will delight in them!
Friday, May 23, 2008
For those amused/alarmed by Christian sub-culture...
Thanks to the Internets, there are a lot of back alleys where Christians can go to snicker about the ridiculous nature of Christian sub-culture, consumerism, "relevance," and the like. For those that simultaneously delight in and disdain all things Christian, Inc., check these out. If you have any more to offer, please do share:
Lark News - Think of this as an "Evangelical Onion."
Stuff Christians Like - I really like #203 & #208. Similar to SWPL.
How Evangelical Are You? - An important test (your salvation hinges on it) from Lark News.
Oriental Trading Company - No, not a joke, I'm afraid. Those near and dear to me know how much enjoyment I get out of this mass produced Christian kitsch for VBS programs.
Ship of Fools - Go-to site for Christian sub-culture sludge.
Crummy Church Signs - There are a few on here from my area, thanks to my friend Matt.
Church Sign Generator - Make your own crummy church sign! This is mine:
Lark News - Think of this as an "Evangelical Onion."
Stuff Christians Like - I really like #203 & #208. Similar to SWPL.
How Evangelical Are You? - An important test (your salvation hinges on it) from Lark News.
Oriental Trading Company - No, not a joke, I'm afraid. Those near and dear to me know how much enjoyment I get out of this mass produced Christian kitsch for VBS programs.
Ship of Fools - Go-to site for Christian sub-culture sludge.
Crummy Church Signs - There are a few on here from my area, thanks to my friend Matt.
Church Sign Generator - Make your own crummy church sign! This is mine:
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Things I'm going to miss...
-Eating dinner with a crowd of people each night.
-$1.00 movie nights at the Arlington Cinema Draft House
-Linda's impersonation of me impersonating her ("Geoooorge....).
-The opportunity to share memories and blessings with people during their celebrations.
-"Beer Accompaniment" with Terrence.
-Hazel laughing at my jokes and competing in staring contests in the van.
-Linda rubbing her hands together in delight when she accomplishes a task.
-Long, interesting conversations with Mandy on our many road trips or walks around the block.
-Drinking wine with Dottie in the living room after routine is done.
-Finding the most clandestine way to scoop ice cream in the kitchen.
-Lois - her calming presence, her care, her consistency and commitment to our community.
-Dancing like crazy at our l'Arche holiday parties.
-The spontaneous moments where I find Fritz in the kitchen cleaning, putting away the dishes, and laughing to himself.
-Having ample time to read and rest in my room.
-Happy hour with l'Arche DC folks.
-Helping Linda with her exercises and always being impressed with her perseverance.
-Hearing Alan's movie reviews and sports news.
-Going grocery shopping with Fritz.
-Hazel always seeming to know where exactly I left my keys or my shoes or my purse.
-Having Fritz go through the calendar and tell me about the holidays and happenings of each month, complete with sound effects and hand motions.
-Talking politics with my housemates.
-Fritz's long after-dinner prayer, and the fact that I have it memorized.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
16 days and counting...
My time in l'Arche is coming to a close. Two communities (Portland & DC), three roles (respite, assistant, and home life coordinator), and 23 months later, I am finishing up my time -- at least for now. Since graduating from college in 2006, this has been my way of life: preparing massive nightly meals, flossing teeth, playing silly games, administering meds, watching Oprah on the couch, filling out droves of paper work, baking cookies, attending multiple weekly meetings, singing songs, shoveling snow off the driveway, dropping people off at work, praying after dinner, sweeping the floor, buying a ton of groceries, leading prayer nights, going on retreats. The day-to-day changes, the various challenges and opportunities, the multiple avenues of growth have proven to be really good fit for my personality. I thrive on change, on each day being different. Monotony tends to deaden my soul.
This life has been a strange mixture of stay-at-home parent, social worker, pastor, and event coordinator. Good, practical life skills earned, for sure, not to mention learning how to posture myself towards the vulnerable and how to identify/come to terms me with my own vulnerabilities. There was a time where this sort of work was frightening and foreign. Though I felt I embodied certain abstract notions of kindness and positivity before coming to l'Arche, I never understood myself as the type of person who could love others in practical, physical ways. Nor could I have ever described myself as a patient person, a listener, a selfless caregiver, a gentle presence. In fact, I think most people who come into l'Arche wouldn't immediately characterize themselves in these ways. And those that do will find that they've never had opportunity to practice patience, forgiveness, generosity. We just don't live in a society where these virtues can naturally be practiced. They have to be conjured up, dusted off, put to good use, else they will atrophy and dissolve.
L'Arche is a place where we can be more fully human. It is a place where we can practice the long-forgotten disciples of simplicity, peace-making, and presence. And it is a place where we can express our hopes, fears, joys, and pains in real, tangible ways. L'Arche provides us, core members and assistants alike, with the opportunity to live righteously in a way that our larger society cannot. We cannot expect the woman in front of us at the post office to treat us with dignity and respect, because this is not the culture of bureaucracy. There, efficiency is paramount, as well as detachment, isolation, and autonomy. We cannot expect the driver behind us on the Beltway to practice selflessness, because this is not the culture of the Beltway. In these places, we have no common culture that informs our behavior or tells us how to love one another. We may have basic common courtesy, but it's a politeness rooted in Kant's Social Contract, not in the theological narrative of the Church.
In a more broader sense, we need the Church to be our common culture, the Body that informs our way of being and doing, of buying and voting. Just as l'Arche has established a way of life for its community members (based on the Beattitudes), the Church must provide a place for us to act out the tenants of our faith. This is why disputes within parishes or dioceses that are settled in a secular court provide no witness for the Church as an alternative culture. This is why parishes that are more comfortable modeling themselves off of the social and fiscal policies of the Republican or Democratic parties have lost their prophetic voice.
L'Arche's uniqueness to the surrounding culture, as well as to any other organization that cares for the developmentally disabled, is so telling. People come to l'Arche and are changed because they've never experienced anything like it before - not in their places of work, their families, or even their churches. Guests who come to dinner talk of their experiences as "brief encounters with Jesus." Core members enter l'Arche after years of living at home or in institutions, and finally, finally they become fully alive. Assistants come to serve and find that they, too, are experiencing healing and growth as they never have before. L'Arche is a different place, an alternative way of being. And it's appeal is wide-spread.
Yes, yes, my time in l'Arche has taught me about myself, about relationships, and community, and loving in tangible ways. But most profoundly, l'Arche has provided me with a vision of what the Church Universal ought to be. It's said that l'Arche is not a solution but a sign to the world, pointing to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. More often than not, the Church believes that She Herself is the solution, when in fact She is called to be the vessel of God's Good News, pointing others towards that which is greater than Herself. If the Church was less concerned about solving problems and more concerned about faithful witness, orthodox theology, and communal identity as a people bound up in the narrative of the Christian faith, perhaps our experience of church would be more transforming, life-changing, challenging, and disciplining, just as l'Arche is. Perhaps the Church would finally start acting like the Church.
This life has been a strange mixture of stay-at-home parent, social worker, pastor, and event coordinator. Good, practical life skills earned, for sure, not to mention learning how to posture myself towards the vulnerable and how to identify/come to terms me with my own vulnerabilities. There was a time where this sort of work was frightening and foreign. Though I felt I embodied certain abstract notions of kindness and positivity before coming to l'Arche, I never understood myself as the type of person who could love others in practical, physical ways. Nor could I have ever described myself as a patient person, a listener, a selfless caregiver, a gentle presence. In fact, I think most people who come into l'Arche wouldn't immediately characterize themselves in these ways. And those that do will find that they've never had opportunity to practice patience, forgiveness, generosity. We just don't live in a society where these virtues can naturally be practiced. They have to be conjured up, dusted off, put to good use, else they will atrophy and dissolve.
L'Arche is a place where we can be more fully human. It is a place where we can practice the long-forgotten disciples of simplicity, peace-making, and presence. And it is a place where we can express our hopes, fears, joys, and pains in real, tangible ways. L'Arche provides us, core members and assistants alike, with the opportunity to live righteously in a way that our larger society cannot. We cannot expect the woman in front of us at the post office to treat us with dignity and respect, because this is not the culture of bureaucracy. There, efficiency is paramount, as well as detachment, isolation, and autonomy. We cannot expect the driver behind us on the Beltway to practice selflessness, because this is not the culture of the Beltway. In these places, we have no common culture that informs our behavior or tells us how to love one another. We may have basic common courtesy, but it's a politeness rooted in Kant's Social Contract, not in the theological narrative of the Church.
In a more broader sense, we need the Church to be our common culture, the Body that informs our way of being and doing, of buying and voting. Just as l'Arche has established a way of life for its community members (based on the Beattitudes), the Church must provide a place for us to act out the tenants of our faith. This is why disputes within parishes or dioceses that are settled in a secular court provide no witness for the Church as an alternative culture. This is why parishes that are more comfortable modeling themselves off of the social and fiscal policies of the Republican or Democratic parties have lost their prophetic voice.
L'Arche's uniqueness to the surrounding culture, as well as to any other organization that cares for the developmentally disabled, is so telling. People come to l'Arche and are changed because they've never experienced anything like it before - not in their places of work, their families, or even their churches. Guests who come to dinner talk of their experiences as "brief encounters with Jesus." Core members enter l'Arche after years of living at home or in institutions, and finally, finally they become fully alive. Assistants come to serve and find that they, too, are experiencing healing and growth as they never have before. L'Arche is a different place, an alternative way of being. And it's appeal is wide-spread.
Yes, yes, my time in l'Arche has taught me about myself, about relationships, and community, and loving in tangible ways. But most profoundly, l'Arche has provided me with a vision of what the Church Universal ought to be. It's said that l'Arche is not a solution but a sign to the world, pointing to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. More often than not, the Church believes that She Herself is the solution, when in fact She is called to be the vessel of God's Good News, pointing others towards that which is greater than Herself. If the Church was less concerned about solving problems and more concerned about faithful witness, orthodox theology, and communal identity as a people bound up in the narrative of the Christian faith, perhaps our experience of church would be more transforming, life-changing, challenging, and disciplining, just as l'Arche is. Perhaps the Church would finally start acting like the Church.
Friday, April 18, 2008
Will Willimon
I'm no United Methodist, but I'm dating one, and I'm about to attend a UM seminary. On top of those things, I've found myself particularly enamored with Will Willimon, former dean of Duke Chapel and bishop of the North Alabama Conference. I didn't know much about Willimon (or Methodism, really) before I started to listen to and read some of his sermons, essays, and interviews. I only knew that he was good friends with Stanley Hauerwas and co-authored the book, Resident Aliens. But, thank you Itunes, I've had the opportunity to hear the wise, gruff, no-nonsense voice of Willimon piped directly into my basement room at l'Arche via his podcasts. As I said, I'm not a United Methodist (and very often Willimon preaches directly to or about the UM church), but I am an ecumenist, and can appreciate the unique gifts and strengths and struggles of other church traditions.
I appreciate Willimon for the same reasons that I appreciate Hauerwas -- neither are willing to bend the knee to the liberal Protestant deism that's profoundly shaping many mainline churches today. Willimon refuses to believe that the Enlightenment is the greatest thing to happen to the Church, nor does he tolerate the idea that theology steeped in individual experience (a liberal AND conservative epidemic) has anything to do with the Gospel. Instead, Willimon believes that the Triune God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - is present in our lives, shaping us into disciples, and calling us into relationship. Mainly, Willimon just speaks the truth to conservatives and liberals who've attempted (and often succeeded) at founding their churches on the values of the Republican or Democratic party, rather than the Christian story. Needless to say, what he has to say is extremely refreshing, especially for Christian who can't seem to find a church that speaks out against war and greed AND takes Scripture and church tradition seriously.
As I was searching around for some Willimon gems, I came across a keynote address given at Christ College at Oxford University. It's entitled, "What if Wesley Was Right?" I realize that I know very little about the essence of Wesley's theology, which is why I found this piece particularly interesting, especially in light of the changes and fractures occurring in my own church (the Anglican Communion) and the repercussions those changes have on the Church catholic. It's long, and worth the read; though I can't really do justice summarizing the entire address, here are some parts that made me shout "Amen!"
I appreciate Willimon for the same reasons that I appreciate Hauerwas -- neither are willing to bend the knee to the liberal Protestant deism that's profoundly shaping many mainline churches today. Willimon refuses to believe that the Enlightenment is the greatest thing to happen to the Church, nor does he tolerate the idea that theology steeped in individual experience (a liberal AND conservative epidemic) has anything to do with the Gospel. Instead, Willimon believes that the Triune God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - is present in our lives, shaping us into disciples, and calling us into relationship. Mainly, Willimon just speaks the truth to conservatives and liberals who've attempted (and often succeeded) at founding their churches on the values of the Republican or Democratic party, rather than the Christian story. Needless to say, what he has to say is extremely refreshing, especially for Christian who can't seem to find a church that speaks out against war and greed AND takes Scripture and church tradition seriously.
As I was searching around for some Willimon gems, I came across a keynote address given at Christ College at Oxford University. It's entitled, "What if Wesley Was Right?" I realize that I know very little about the essence of Wesley's theology, which is why I found this piece particularly interesting, especially in light of the changes and fractures occurring in my own church (the Anglican Communion) and the repercussions those changes have on the Church catholic. It's long, and worth the read; though I can't really do justice summarizing the entire address, here are some parts that made me shout "Amen!"
- To ask, 'What if Wesley was right?' is to allow ourselves to be challenged by Wesley’s grasp of reality. And if we should be so engaged by him, interrogated by him, and if we find ourselves thinking about God with him, why, we might again become theologians ourselves.
- Rather than assume that the task of the interpreter is to make the text more meaningful to sophisticated, modern people who drive Volvos, Wesley seems to assume that the task of the text is to make the interpreters’ lives more difficult."
- Too troubled by our expectations of what our audience could and could not hear, we reduced the gospel to a set of sappy platitudes anybody could accept and no sensitive, thinking person could resist. “Open minds, Open hearts, Open doors.” Our testimony got reduced to whatever the market could bear.
- Spent Calvinism, sliding into a renovated Deism, has triumphed... God is all distant concept, abstraction, and essence (Marcus Borg’s The Heart of Christianity) and never speaking, revealing, troubling subject. We’ve got just enough God to give our lives a kind of spiritual tint without so much God as to interfere with our running the world as we damn well please.
- Of course, most congregations that I know love such moralistic Deism. The subtext is always, You are gods unto yourselves. Through this insight, this set of principles, this well applied idea you can save yourselves by yourselves. Whether preached by an alleged theological conservative or would be liberal, we’re all Schliermachians now. Theology is reduced to anthropology because unlike Wesley, we’re obsessed with ourselves rather than God. God is humanity spoken in a resonate, upbeat voice backed up with power-point presentation. Our noble Arminianism really does degenerate into Pelagianism when the divine gift of divine-human synergism loses its divine initiation. My image of us United Methodists on Sunday morning is that we come to church with pencil and pad ready to get our assignments for the week, not from God but from the preacher: “This week church, work on your sexism, racism, and be nice to sales clerks. Come back next week and I’ll give you another assignment.” God thus becomes the patron of politics of the right (IRD) or the left (NCC) in a last ditch effort to give God something useful to do.
- Today the Methodist movement, at least in it North American and European vestiges, suffers from the debilitating effects of a truncated theology. We are attempting to revive a church on a too thin description of God.
- When asked, “What qualities do you most desire in pastors who are employed to start new congregations?” Borden replied, “They must be joyfully Trinitarian and orthodox in their theology, stressing the redeeming work of God in Jesus Christ.” I thought I was hearing Wesley.
- On the cross, Jesus didn’t just do something about our guilt; Jesus defeated the kingdom of Satan and established the Kingdom of God; Jesus recreated the world and us, making us into a new people who had a fresh start in life.
- It’s not radical for us to think that we save ourselves by ourselves. What’s radical is to assert a God who is able to work signs and wonders... The Enlightenment still holds our imaginations captive and that captivity is killing us.
Friday, April 04, 2008
Help Save Manassas from "Help Save Manassas"
Those that have been following the despicable, anti-immigrant happenings of Prince William County as of late will appreciate this. The Washington Post just ran a story in today's Metro section about a Prince William County "blog wars" between the hyper-conservative blogger, Greg Letiecq, and left-of-xenophobic blogger, Alanna Almeda. Apparently, Letiecq is one of the more influential residents of PWC, and according to the article, he has "helped elect political allies, punish opponents, and shape local public policy" through his blog (totally frightening, I know - blog culture is so weird). The blog subtitle actually reads, "Driving liberals, dhimmis and illegal alien apologists absolutely insane since 2005..." It receives 1,400 hits a day. I'm feeling a little sick.
Well, Alemda was a contributor to Letiecq's blog for some time until she was removed from the site. Subsequently, she began her own blog (or an "anti-blog," apparently) to counter the xenophobia rampant in Manassas and other parts of PWC. She isn't a liberal, by any means (are there any in this county?), but she thinks the recent immigration policies are totally out of line. Nice that there is an alternative voice out there in the blogosphere, a place where everyone has a voice...or something like that.
Well, Alemda was a contributor to Letiecq's blog for some time until she was removed from the site. Subsequently, she began her own blog (or an "anti-blog," apparently) to counter the xenophobia rampant in Manassas and other parts of PWC. She isn't a liberal, by any means (are there any in this county?), but she thinks the recent immigration policies are totally out of line. Nice that there is an alternative voice out there in the blogosphere, a place where everyone has a voice...or something like that.
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