You are Shetland Wool.
You are a traditional sort who can sometimes be a
little on the harsh side. Though you look
delicate you are tough as nails and prone to
intricacies. Despite your acerbic ways you are
widely respected and even revered.

What kind of yarn are you?
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Okay, I had a post about all the things I didn’t like about The Passion. I changed my mind, and I’ll talk about what I liked.

The personality of Jesus: He was pretty fun. He wasn’t a wuss, but he wasn’t impersonal.

Umm…this is kinda boring. Anyway, I thought the movie was okay. I mean, it was pretty good, ya know, for a movie. I just don’t know why people think this is the definitive film.

The blood and gore wasn’t as graphic as Ebert made it sound, but I was personally pretty grossed out. Gibson got his point across. I don’t think it’s nearly as graphic as I’ve always imagined the crucifixion to be, but I don’t usually dwell on the physical beating of Christ for 45 minutes straight. I was kinda glad when they put the cross in the ground so that I wouldn’t have to see any more blood, but then the soldier cut open his side and danced a jig in it…or something like that. I thought the blood and gore was over the top, but I think that’s kinda the point.

Um, this post is shorter than the last one. I’m tired.

Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return. The words hit me hard as I sat at the kneeler and my pastor ashened my forehead with a cross. Here’s something I wrote last Wednesday. The quotes are from Schmemann’s Great Lent (The italicized stuff is Scripture for those of you that think I’m just pushing baptismal theology.):

Thus Lent: Ruminations on a Paschal Journey.

Last September, my roommate was excommunicated from the Church of Christ. He called me over today to tell me he was moving to Texas and ask me if I wanted any of his old books. As I drove home from his house, I lamented that he would not be attending Ash Wednesday services with me this year. Attending last year’s Ash Wednesday services with him was one of the most vivid memories I have from our relationship. The day holds even more significance for me now, for the name “Ash Wednesday” originated from the medieval custom of sprinkling with ashes the heads of penitents under church discipline who wished to be restored to the Church.

My friend said his main reason for leaving the Church was that he was on a journey to find out what he really believed about life, love, and God. As soon as I came home, I picked up a book on my desk. Ironically, the first words read, “When a man leaves on a journey, he must know where he is going. Thus with Lent.” Lent is a journey, a microcosm for the journey of life. Its destination is Easter, the Feast of the Resurrection. As I see my old friend spiral down into meaninglessness, I am reminded that one cannot understand the journey of life without understanding the journey of Lent and its connection with Easter. Traditionally, Lent was a time of preparation before catechumens were baptized at the Easter Vigil. And while this connection no longer exists in many circles, the Church needs to recognize the historic connection between Easter and baptism as well as Lent and baptismal preparation because the biorhythmic cycles of life bring us back to the same place, over and over. The Christian life should be one of constant déjà vu.

While everyone knows Easter is about the Resurrection of Christ, we fail to recognize that Easter is also about our resurrection. For as many as were baptized into Christ put on Christ and were baptized into His death . Therefore, we were buried together with Him through the baptism into death, so that even as Christ was raised up from the dead through the glory of the Father, so also we should walk about in newness of life . And yet we don’t. We get busy. We forget the new life given to us in baptism. We forget God’s claim on our lives. “And through this forgetfulness, failure, and sin, our life becomes ‘old’ again—petty, dark and ultimately meaningless—a meaningless journey toward a meaningless end. We manage even to forget death and then, all of a sudden, in the midst of our ‘enjoying life’ it comes to us: horrible, inescapable, senseless.” And each time we fail, we eventually realize that we have alienated and exiled ourselves from God, from life. Drifting from God, we lose our joy, our soul, and our life.

Thus Lent. For most people, Lent is about what one has to give up. At first, we only see the monotony of Lent. However, if we begin to appreciate Lent by slowing down the whirlwind of life and realizing its powerlessness over us, monotony is transfigured into peace. Sadness is transfigured into a realization that we must recover what we have lost, what is all around us and yet so distant—God’s presence. Lent is a special time, set apart by the Church, to accept the reality that we do just about everything we can to ignore, escape, and evade God. But God calls us to die so that we may live. Lent is a special time in the rhythm of life in which we die with Christ to be raised with Him on the Resurrection Day. Martin Luther called this the Theology of the Cross. The Theology of the Cross is meeting God where He chooses to find us—in the darkness of our sin, in our rejection of His Word, in pain or weakness. As we die with Christ each day, and especially in this Lenten season, let us look forward to His raising us daily, at Easter, and at the Last Day. As we continually partake of His death and resurrection, let the pattern of His life become the pattern of ours.

Thanks to Josh and Shawn, my library is growing again. Thanks for the birthday gifts!

I’m in the middle of teaching violin, and yes, I’m blogging. I hate it when my students say that they practiced and then they have no clue how to play the ONLY LINE I gave them to practice throughout the whole week. OK, that felt better to vent.

This is extremely boring to most people, but I’m so excited - I cleaned my room and cleaned the carpet and reorganized my desk and I have pretty candles and flowers. Yay.

Chicago to Spokane: Friday, May 14 to Monday, May 17: $242 on orbitz.com

You people have no excuses.

Oh, and if you’re going to Woelke Leithart’s wedding on the 18th, you’ll be getting two for one.

It cracks me up when self-made “postmodernists” try to show how smart they are to the world by deconstructing something trivial. Of course, the more trivial it is, the smarter they think they sound. And what’s the deal with trying to impress, or even communicate, with subjective projections of reality? It’s the ultimate ego trip. If it’s all about esse, why communicate with your mind, all the time presupposing it’s a reality outside of yourself. I hesitate to use the word Tim used when describing a certain group of Christians, but it applies (so I won’t). If it transcends ontology and epistemology, it’s like stimulating yourself.