Last year, I preached an Ash Wednesday sermon that just all came together. I went back and read it, which was a mistake, I might add, and wondered how on earth I wrote it. It worked on a number of levels and was profound and funny and true.
A few years ago, I also did some extensive work with the lectionary text from Genesis assigned for Lent 1. Now that sermon had some good things going for it, but all the time and research and questions I asked about the text are still there, though I have some different ones this time around. I'm preaching then, too (and we have convention this weekend, so I'm trying to get a jumpstart on all this).
I haven't had too many multiple encounters with texts to preach yet; I'm still too new. The next time around has a different feel to it, and, right now, it feels a little off. I'm not quite sure how to work that all out yet.
Is the thrill already gone?
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Sunday, January 27, 2008
books #5 and #6
When is one actually done with a book of poetry? I'm not really "done" with it, but I have indeed read all the poems in Billy Collins' "The Trouble with Poetry: And Other Poems." Actually, to be totally honest, and this is definitely more than anyone needs to know, I kept the book on the back of the toilet to read at my leisure (magazine articles are too long, imho). But you know what? I think Billy Collins would get a kick out of that. So there.
Also, if you want to get some really weird looks, might I recommend taking Cornel West's "Race Matters" to read at the gym, particularly in eastern North Carolina, particularly if you're white? I thought it was good; he doesn't really let much of anyone off the hook. I found the essay "The Pitfalls of Racial Reasoning" particularly compelling.
Monday, January 21, 2008
book #4: reading challenge 2008
the great thing about this reading challenge is always having something to blog about (something about which to blog).i almost feel sorry for people who write the great american novel, you know? then you have to live up to yourself, which is way worse than trying to live up to someone else.
yesterday i finished don delillo's "falling man," which is certainly no "underworld." basically, it's the story of family in nyc after 9-11 (i'm not good at summarizing). it's not the kind of fiction that just flows effortlessly; it's the kind that forces you to slow down and pay attention. fortunately, it's worth the effort, or at least it was for me.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
book #3: reading challenge 2008
I finished "Queen Victoria: A Personal History" today. I wanted to read it because A- I like biographies and B- I'm interested in the stereotype of the Victorian period as being so sexually repressive. This book obviously wasn't about that, but:
The book really lived up to its subtitle. I was hoping to learn a little more about the history of the period, but the book was very focused on Queen Victoria's life; events that directly influenced her, or that she was intimately involved in, were detailed but not much else. That's okay. I found out other random stuff: like she reigned for 64 years, that all European royalty is related by blood or marriage, and that the Kaiser was HM's grandson (!), and that Queen Victoria was the one who said, "We are not amused."
Anyhow.
***
Last night I cooked a split pea soup, and tonight I made tuna casserole. Both are great ways to use up random veggies in the fridge that are threatening to go bad. I also baked a pumpkin pie and vacuumed yesterday. All of this domesticity is not entirely in character, but I got to thinking. I often clean when someone is about to come over, but I really enjoy the place more when it's clean. Why always do something for someone else? Deep thoughts, by me.
***
I am ready for all the interlopers at the gym to give up on their new year's resolutions so I can workout in peace again.
- She and PA certainly didn't seem to shy away from sex. They had eight kids. Supposedly, she got mad at her doctor when he suggested they didn't have more kids (because of her depression), as she thought he was asking her to "give up her fun in bed."
- Prince Albert, her husband and the Prince Consort, was, however, very morally upright, so to speak. He died (at the age of 41!) shortly after discovering their oldest son was sexually involved with some random woman. The general consensus is that he wasn't all that sick but had no will to live.
- Victoria also didn't let any person in her household be alone with someone of the opposite sex (or something to that effect). When her children became engaged, they were still not allowed to be alone with their fiance/e. Honestly, I think that was partially a control freak thing; she hated losing her ladies in waiting/her children to marriage.
The book really lived up to its subtitle. I was hoping to learn a little more about the history of the period, but the book was very focused on Queen Victoria's life; events that directly influenced her, or that she was intimately involved in, were detailed but not much else. That's okay. I found out other random stuff: like she reigned for 64 years, that all European royalty is related by blood or marriage, and that the Kaiser was HM's grandson (!), and that Queen Victoria was the one who said, "We are not amused."
Anyhow.
***
Last night I cooked a split pea soup, and tonight I made tuna casserole. Both are great ways to use up random veggies in the fridge that are threatening to go bad. I also baked a pumpkin pie and vacuumed yesterday. All of this domesticity is not entirely in character, but I got to thinking. I often clean when someone is about to come over, but I really enjoy the place more when it's clean. Why always do something for someone else? Deep thoughts, by me.
***
I am ready for all the interlopers at the gym to give up on their new year's resolutions so I can workout in peace again.
has anyone else ever wondered about the fact
that the category "foreign" movie is not only viable but apparently an acceptable one? the only thing "foreign" movies seem to have in common is the fact that i'm going to be reading subtitles. couldn't someone come up with something slightly more descriptive? just curious.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Book #2: Tobacco Road
Where I live, all the women are in a book club.
I was here a year before someone invited me to join their book club. I don't think it's me; I think people don't think of clergy people socially sometimes, the same way kids don't think about teachers as real humans and thus have mini-meltdowns when they see their teacher in the grocery store.
Anyhow.
In about two weeks, I'm going to go to a book club to discuss Erskine Caldwell's Tobacco Road. Now. Apparently, this is some sort of "classic;" one of the women who works the front desk said it used to be required reading when she was growing up. Set during the Depression in Georgia, the story revolves around a family of farmers who are no longer able to farm, due to lack of credit and technology. The characters are lacking in every way possible but particularly, and most unfortunately, in things like good sense, imagination, and the ability to adapt.
This is not the story I've heard of the Depression in the South. The story I've heard goes a little more like this:
If you're in the market for a life is short and brutal type novel, go for it. If not, do not touch with a ten foot pole.
I was here a year before someone invited me to join their book club. I don't think it's me; I think people don't think of clergy people socially sometimes, the same way kids don't think about teachers as real humans and thus have mini-meltdowns when they see their teacher in the grocery store.
Anyhow.
In about two weeks, I'm going to go to a book club to discuss Erskine Caldwell's Tobacco Road. Now. Apparently, this is some sort of "classic;" one of the women who works the front desk said it used to be required reading when she was growing up. Set during the Depression in Georgia, the story revolves around a family of farmers who are no longer able to farm, due to lack of credit and technology. The characters are lacking in every way possible but particularly, and most unfortunately, in things like good sense, imagination, and the ability to adapt.
This is not the story I've heard of the Depression in the South. The story I've heard goes a little more like this:
We were already living so hand to mouth when the Depression came, we couldn't tell that much of a difference. We quit selling crops and grew stuff to feed ourselves instead. The biggest difference was we didn't have new shoes. We would resole shoes with old tires from around the farm.I wonder what my granny, who I'm paraphrasing above, would think of this book.
If you're in the market for a life is short and brutal type novel, go for it. If not, do not touch with a ten foot pole.
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Book #1: Alexander Hamilton
My friend and fellow YCW board member Alex brought to my (and others) attention the paltry reading habits of American adults. Honestly, though, I didn't know people read as much as they supposedly do. I think they lied on the survey. It's like when you go to the eye doctor and you tell them you don't sleep in your contacts.
This is, of course, all coming from an insufferable, elitist prig, who read about thirty books last year (that'd be me). Whatever. I bet most of you reading this read more than I did.
Anyhow.
Book #1: Reading Challenge 2008
Ron Chernow's (creatively named) Alexander Hamilton. Before I read this, I thought of Hamilton as that slightly snobbish guy who wrote the Federalist papers and died in a duel with Aaron Burr. The reality is (as always) much more complex. For starters, though he's often labeled an aristocrat due to his association with the newly forming Federalist party, Hamilton was largely a self-made man, born in the West Indies as an illegitimate orphan. He eventually came to the US for college and then found himself as Washington's chief of staff during the Revolution. He was incredibly productive, prolific, and responsible throughout most of his life (that affair with a married woman was the exception, not the rule). He's probably the most influential American politician who was never president (besides perhaps Ben Franklin). He was highly instrumental in the Constitution being ratified, our national banking system, executive power/privelege, etc.
The book is completely and totally massive (whenever a new person was introduced, Chern0w apparently felt obliged to give them a little mini-biography, which added to the book's 731 page length), but if you like biographies, it's a pretty good one.
This is, of course, all coming from an insufferable, elitist prig, who read about thirty books last year (that'd be me). Whatever. I bet most of you reading this read more than I did.
Anyhow.
Book #1: Reading Challenge 2008
Ron Chernow's (creatively named) Alexander Hamilton. Before I read this, I thought of Hamilton as that slightly snobbish guy who wrote the Federalist papers and died in a duel with Aaron Burr. The reality is (as always) much more complex. For starters, though he's often labeled an aristocrat due to his association with the newly forming Federalist party, Hamilton was largely a self-made man, born in the West Indies as an illegitimate orphan. He eventually came to the US for college and then found himself as Washington's chief of staff during the Revolution. He was incredibly productive, prolific, and responsible throughout most of his life (that affair with a married woman was the exception, not the rule). He's probably the most influential American politician who was never president (besides perhaps Ben Franklin). He was highly instrumental in the Constitution being ratified, our national banking system, executive power/privelege, etc.The book is completely and totally massive (whenever a new person was introduced, Chern0w apparently felt obliged to give them a little mini-biography, which added to the book's 731 page length), but if you like biographies, it's a pretty good one.
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