Healing of the Sick

This cartoon by Neal Obermeyer ran in the Lincoln Journal Star. He's a friend from college and I just love anytime he includes Jesus in his cartoons. I post this in honor of my friend Elizabeth, the badass Mexican woman who led me through Palestine and back and stayed with me recently for the CPT Congress where she spoke about what the Bible says about caring for the immigrant. She led the CPT Borderland project while it was in existence.

Top 10 Reasons Why Men Shouldn't Be Ordained

I'm reposting this from Christian Feminism blog. Enjoy!

10. A man’s place is in the army.

9. For men who have children, their duties might distract them from the responsibilities of being a parent.

8. Their physical build indicates that men are more suited to tasks such as chopping down trees and wrestling mountain lions. It would be “unnatural” for them to do other forms of work.

7. Man was created before woman. It is therefore obvious that man was a prototype. Thus, they represent an experiment, rather than the crowning achievement of creation.

6. Men are too emotional to be priests or pastors. This is easily demonstrated by their conduct at football games and watching basketball tournaments.

5. Some men are handsome; they will distract women worshipers.

4. To be ordained pastor is to nurture the congregation. But this is not a traditional male role. Rather, throughout history, women have been considered to be not only more skilled than men at nurturing, but also more frequently attracted to it. This makes them the obvious choice for ordination.

3. Men are overly prone to violence. No really manly man wants to settle disputes by any means other than by fighting about it. Thus, they would be poor role models, as well as being dangerously unstable in positions of leadership.

2. Men can still be involved in church activities, even without being ordained. They can sweep paths, repair the church roof, change the oil in the church vans, and maybe even lead the singing on Father’s Day. By confining themselves to such traditional male roles, they can still be vitally important in the life of the Church.

1. In the New Testament account, the person who betrayed Jesus was a man. Thus, his lack of faith and ensuing punishment stands as a symbol of the subordinated position that all men should take.

A Good Man is Hard to Find

My friend Tiffany and I were just talking last night about how many girls and women live in slavery, especially in the global sex trade. We remarked that after watching a movie like "Taken" which shows young women being sold into slavery and knowing that those conditions exist in the world for real women, it can be easy to direct a lot of angry, bitter energy to those people in this world called men (even despite having so many wonderful men in my own family and circle of friends!).

It seemed serendipitous today when I heard about a fellow Flobots.org Board Member and all-around great guy, Nic, who is a finalist in GQ Magazine's "Better Men, Better World" contest. He's nominated because he started an organization, Somaly Mam Foundation, to rescue girls from sexual slavery in Southeast Asia. He's also a graduate of my church's preschool! Encourage one of those men who's getting it right and help him maybe even earn $10,000 to free girls from slavery by voting for Nic here: http://thegentlemensfund.com/final_vote.asp

A Few of My Favorite Things

This fall I've been babysitting for a couple of adorable kids who I'll call BrownEyes, a 4th grade girl, and Shark Dr., a 1st grade boy. Their parents are raising them to be a couple of revolutionaries which I love. I picked them up from school and got a kick out of this conversation in my car:

BrownEyes: She even does it when she's driving!

Shark Dr.: What?

BrownEyes: (whisper) She's smiling!

Shark Dr.: (to me) Oh yeah, you smile all the time! Why do you smile so much?

Me: Just happy I guess.

BrownEyes: What makes you happy?

Me: Let's see...sunshine.

BrownEyes: Yeah.

Me: And good music.

BrownEyes: Yeah.

Me: And good food.

BrownEyes: Oh yeah!

Me: And family and friends and hanging out with you two.

BrownEyes: Hey! Those are the same things that make me happy!

Shark Dr.: Me too.


If I had been a better nanny I would have made up a choreographed song out of the conversation, torn down the curtains to use the fabric for playclothes, and then used our songs to outwit Nazi soldiers. Oh well!

God Bless the Freaks

NORMAL is getting dressed
in clothes that you buy for work
and driving through traffic in a car
that you are still paying for-
in order to get to the job you need
to pay for the clothes
and the car
and the house
you leave vacant all day
so you can afford to live in it.
- Ellen Goodman

For all three of you who still check this page, I’m back at the blog! I broke down and finally splurged for internet at my apartment which should facilitate posts more often.

Since returning from the Middle East my life has had a high level of transition. Some things are big like leaving the UMC candidacy process, starting a new job and taking on the Treasurer role of an organization with which I’m involved. Others are smaller, yet significant like an awesome new haircut and reconnecting with friends I missed with commuting to and from Nebraska last year.

This weekend I went to a Brandi Carlile concert in Boulder with two really great friends, Stephanie and Nicole. They were my first two friends when I moved to Denver five years ago to take a job as an Auditor right out of college. They are both brilliant and have been promoted in the company, are homeowners, and have lots of clients who rely on them. It is strange to think that my life would be similar to theirs if I had stayed on the same trajectory. Though I enjoyed my brief career as an Auditor, I had an irrational fear that at any moment a mob of accountants would gather around my cubicle chanting “imposter”, as if they had found out that I was not really one of “them.”

When I graduated from college my mom bought me a coffee mug (which I’m using right now – it’s filled with Apple Cinnamon herbal tea) with a quote from Thoreau: “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you’ve imagined.” It sounds cheesy to say, but I very much feel like this is what I’m doing, though I am more confident at some times than others. I’m experimenting with truth and beauty and living the life I’ve imagined, though it is not at all “normal.” I have moments when I lose faith in my beliefs about simplicity and security and panic about making so little money and not having a full-time job. I have moments when I feel like a freak for not living a “normal” life. At Convo the other weekend, my friend Tiffany and I found bumper stickers for sale that say “God Bless the Freaks”. They spoke to us immediately and I bought one for Tiffany and one for myself (I may put it up in the Middle School youth room).

What is normal, anyway? God bless the freaks.

Here's a little treat from Brandi Carlile, one of her new songs from her forthcoming album this fall:


P.S. Happy Birthday, Uncle Jerry!

Videos of At-Tuwani and Tuba

Here are some videos I found from another blogger, ibn Ezra, who recorded his experience doing some of the same things we did, with the same people, in the same places, at almost the same time. His first video shows shepherding in Tuba, the family featured is the family we stayed with. The situation he recorded is very similar to the one we experienced. The second video is about the school patrol and the route the children take in order to get to school. Shawn, the young American man in the hat, is one of the full-time CPT members in At-Tuwani who guided our team.

Strong, Savvy Women

I want to introduce you to one of my favorite places and one of my favorite persons from my trip to the Middle East: Nawal and the Women’s Cooperative of Hebron!

At the Women’s Cooperative of Hebron, we were greeted warmly by Nawal and her sister who invited us into their shop, served us delicious tea, and showed off their beautiful clothing, bags, wall-hangings, and other goodies embroidered by women. To support their families and become more financially independent, women from all over the West Bank learn skills like embroidery and make beautiful products in their homes to be sold in shops like this one.

Palestinians have been hit hard, economically, by the military occupation because of the violence, arrests, and restrictions of movement. In Hebron, the military ordered many businesses to close and several others closed themselves when the city was under curfew (they could not leave their homes) or the shops could not be profitable. Many men in Bethlehem can no longer go to their jobs in Jerusalem because of the separation wall and checkpoints. Farmers in the West Bank have a hard time getting their harvests to the market because of the roadblocks and restrictions on roads. Husbands and fathers have been killed, arrested, or deported to Gaza with no notice or explanation. All of these stories mean serious financial, social, psychological, and cultural implications for women and children.

Nawal's is the only women-owned shop in the marketplace and the male merchants often give them a hard time. It is especially difficult, Nawal said, on days when her son comes to work with her and he wants to run and play, not sit quietly in the shop! Our friend Kevin, a perpetual good sport, provided us all with lots of laughs when Nawal demonstrated how to wear the traditional Palestinian keffiyah. The women just loved that Kevin bought gifts for the women in his family there, including a coin purse embroidered with the words “Women Can Do ANYthing!”


When we visited the village of At-Tuwani in the South Hebron hills, we met Kifa, an entrepreneur who started a Women’s Co-op in her village. When Kifa first started the Co-op, there was little support in the village but her husband stood behind her. Little by little, more women (and supportive husbands) began to take part after seeing what a positive thing it was for the community and for their families. Now even some of the most conservative families take part in the Cooperative. Kifa told us that she does this work because it is good for women; it helps them financially, psychologically, and spiritually. She said it sets a good example not just for little girls but especially for little boys like her own sons whom she knows will grow up to be “good men”.

The full-time CPT members in the village told us that Kifa’s husband had been arrested a week earlier for taking part in a nonviolent demonstration against the demolition orders of homes and electrical pylons in their village. British Prime Minister Tony Blair had previously visited the village and promised, on behalf of the Quartet, that they would receive electricity so the village built electrical pylons in preparation. But the village recently received notice from the Israeli government that the pylons were illegally constructed and will be bulldozed. Building permits must be approved by the government and it is almost impossible for Palestinians to be granted permits. At our visit, Kifa's family did not know yet when her husband would be allowed to return or how much the fine would cost. You can imagine the stress this causes for Kifa and her children and how important a source of income is for them now. The demonstration was likely an excuse to arrest her husband, the team told us, because the government knows he is a respected leader and organizer in the small community.

Holy Shenanigans: ways to put your faith into action:

• Support fair-trade women’s products and businesses, like 10,000 Villages, which sells products from women’s co-ops around the world. Plan ahead when you take vacations or mission trips and save your souvenir money for women’s co-ops or shop in areas that need the money most.
  
  
• Ask the Quartet to keep Tony Blair's promise that At-Tuwani will receive electricity.
  
  
• Teach your daughters, and just as importantly, your sons, that women can do anything! Model gender equity in your sermons, Sunday School curriculum, church committees, and family life.
  

Watch this video to hear from Nawal in her own words:

Powerful Women from Alternative Information Centre on Vimeo.