Labels: grace, media, paradigm shift, personal bookmarks, readings, sustenance

Labels: 1st UU principle, LGBT, sustenance, theological sources

Labels: Community, ecology, sustenance, theology, Universalism

Labels: ecology, environment, homelessness, housing, personal bookmarks, renewable energy, sustenance

Labels: ecology, homelessness, housing, personal bookmarks, sustenance, theological sources, USA

One of my colleagues sends out these "Thought of the Week" messages weekly. I really liked this one. The picture is from Creative Commons.


pax hominibus,agape to all,joel

Labels: nuns, sustenance, theological sources

lyrics:
"oh the canvass can do miracles, just you wait and see"
from Sailing, by Christopher Cross

colors:orange blue yellow

mood: awake, overwhelmed, relaxed

chant/prayer/mantra: thank spirit of life for life

pax hominibus,agape to all,joel

Labels: art, Humanism, metaphor, personal religion, pet pictures, sustenance

Revjd's first four self-challenges: 1. Be mindful of breath and geartbeat for 72 heartbeats; 2. activate each of yr

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What the full message was supposed to say:

revjd's first four self-challenges: 1. Be mindful of breath and geartbeat[sic] for 72 heartbeats; 2. activate each of yr muscles fr 15 mins daily through yoga; 3. self-determine through weekly structured connected prayer; 4. remain non-anxious and focused while riding high biweekly (w/ or wo/ freakfactor on).

Also, on a separate message: "be the size you are, and claim your orbit"

Labels: personal bookmarks, sustenance, theological, theological sources

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Wow! Look at this, and note how stunningly small our sun is compared to the biggest stars!

lyrics: We are all made of stars, by Moby. Naturally...


pax hominibus,
agape to all,
joel

Labels: astrophysics, personal bookmarks, sacred texts, sustenance, theological sources

This lullaby is a really easy one to sing, and when I looked up the lyrics for it online, I was surprised to find that it had all sorts of archaic stuff, is clumsy with the rhyme scheme, and even tried to jam extra syllables in. Case in point: "dog named rover," "cart and bull"???

Anyway, I called up my sister to see what she recalled our parents singing, and she said these were the lyrics she used, so I'm going to go with that.

Here is the song as a printable image using one of my favorite fonts and a soft and soothing color scheme (click for full-size):




















Note that this key is awfully high, but it sounds just great and Henry loves it. The opening note is C#.

And here are the words as plain text:
Hush little baby don't say a word
Mama's* gonna buy** you a mockingbird
And if that mockingbird don't sing
Mama's gonna buy you a diamond ring |
And if that diamond ring is brass
Mama's gonna buy you a looking glass
And if that looking glass should crack
Mama's gonna buy you a jumping jack
And if that jumping jack won't hop
Mama's gonna buy you a lollipop
And when that lollipop is done
Mama's gonna buy you another one
So hush little baby don't say a word...
(rinse and repeat as needed)

*substitutions of "papa" "mommy" "daddy" or any two-syllable name may be admissable
**kind of a consumeristic song, huh? I envision GWB post-911 telling people "go out and buy more mockingbirds and lollipops people!"


chant/prayer/mantra: may all our babies and parents sleep soundly one day


pax hominibus,
agape to all,
joel

Labels: music, personal religion, sustenance

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I have over 10k unread email (stuff that isn't in my spam box). Some of it is from listservs I couldn't get to, some is from causes I signed up for that seem to send stuff my way weekly. Some is actually valuable. And each time I open my email inbox, I have a little trepidation because I know there will be more there than I can get to, and I'll need to triage.

Gmail is quite helpful in many respects. I have come to rely on the search features, the tags, and wish I had the time to set up real distribution lists in my contacts. I'll make time for that at some point (but then I have several hundred contacts to weed through...).

Anyway, here is a blog post by the folks at Google with some great advice for managing email.

lyrics: "And every day the paper boy brings more..."
-Pink Floyd


pax hominibus,
agape to all,
joel

Labels: google, personal bookmarks, sustenance, technology

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At the library where I work, there is a series displayed by Eva Bovenzi, an artist I had never heard of before. I really like her work. The name of the series is MESSENGER.















Here are a couple excerpts from her artist's description of the series:

Conceptually, they were born of my fascination with humanity's need to create a narrative that explains our presence in this unexplainable universe. "Who are we? Where do we come from? Where are we going?" are questions that can never be fully answered, yet we fight to the death over our constructions. Human beings insist upon meaning, and the stories we've told ourselves are both dazzling and poignant.

Angels have been particularly interesting to me, both visually and conceptually, and this work was made with the idea of angels in the back of my mind. Beautiful, powerful messengers, intermediaries between Heaven and Earth - human beings with wings: what a lovely, odd idea. Gabriel, the Annunciating Angel, is the most often depicted, and I have always found the story of the Annunciation resonant. A description of matter being charged by spirit, it speaks beautifully of our desire to unify our dual nature and of our longing to be touched by the divine - to "talk to God".

The diptych structure of this work obviously derives from the idea of two wings, but the inequality of the halves and their misalignment allude to the continuing imperfection of our knowledge. We see things askew, our answers don't add up, our efforts to improve the world often make things worse. And in these times, just whose God is or isn't talking to us? Human beings without wings: what a funny scary idea.

lyrics:
"Give it to me, please
I said to god.
It's only fair.
Instead, he sent three angels
To move the river,
So now it flows by my house,
So now it goes by my house."
From Angel, by Belly



pax hominibus,
agape to all,
joel

Labels: art, sustenance, theology

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I finally decided to devote a few minutes into stitching these pictures together. If you've never been to kites on ice, here's a little look at it from the end of Lake Street, where it meets Lake Mendota. Click for the very large version.


chant/prayer/mantra: Remember the beauty in life.


pax hominibus,
agape to all,
joel

Labels: art, recreation, sustenance

 I've been skydiving one time, and it was one of the most intense things I've ever done.  But it took a lot of training and had the possibility of serious injury.

Labels: heaven on earth, recreation, sustenance, technology

These are two pieces of art that I gifted to some people from the chaplaincy internship I experienced at a mental health / incarceration facility this summer.

Angel Slacks was a gift to one of the employees who had never heard of slack before, and was incredibly bogged down because of it.



Ecstatic Peace was a gift to the people on the unit I was working at, because knowing that I would be leaving, I wouldn't be able be present in the same way, but still wanted them to remember I'd be there.



lyrics:
My God is good in the kitchen
Make a good meal from bread and fishes
Feed the hungry pour the wine
Everybodys welcome to have a good time
Sit at his table enjoy the food
from "Save Us All" by Tracy Chapman

or

Gee angel, gee angel, I need some slack
There's nothing in this world that I'd rather do
Than buy a set of wings and fly away with you
from "Gee Angel" by Sugar

chant/prayer/mantra: May we be always with love, and love always with us.


pax hominibus,
agape to all,
joel

Labels: art, changing the prison paradigm, presence, sustenance

Now this is the kind of thing I"m talking about. It's passive solar technology done intelligently.

Consider that large bodies of water (and earth) can hold heat for quite a while, and consider the daily rhythm in which the earth heats up and cools down. In cool times, if you heat the water up during the day by having the water uncovered, then at night cover them, the heat from the water can warm the house. In warm times, you have the water uncovered at night and then it will help keep your house cool during the day.

The most interesting quote I came across was this: “One of the reasons he hasn’t had more success is that the entire solar industry, with few exceptions, has been undercapitalized.” If you check out the stats from this post, you'll note that the Bush admin requested less than a pittance for renewable energy research and development. The Obama administration MUST make energy production and conservation a priority. This is one way to do it.

lyrics: "low, low, low." R.E.M.

colors: color of the sun in the night time.


pax hominibus,
agape to all,
joel

Labels: economics, environment, renewable energy, sustenance

Here is something I posted on a slashdot poll the other day, which asked, "Who is to blame for the US financial situation?" I was responding to someone who blamed the American Dream. It's the first thing I've ever posted there that got modded to +5:

What we need is for people to start redefining the American dream.

Here's a start:

1. A modest two-bedroom home (house, apartment, or condo) within walking distance of a municipal train line powered by electricity.

2. A home that is energy efficient, and powered by local power off the grid.

3. A job within half-hour's travel from one's home. (Perhaps by electric car/scooter/motorized skateboard, but preferrably by public transport or bicycle.)

4. A grocery store with good produce, and some good restaurants, all within walking distance.

5. And a 30-hour work week.

6. A cute puppy, if you're into that sort of thing.

7. A modest wardrobe of clothes that you really like, with a classic style that matches you, so you don't need to buy into next year.

8. Three or four pairs of good shoes (dress, sports, knockabout, boots).

9. Well-maintained and funded municipal lending libraries and public workshops for tools, so that not everybody needs to own a reciprocating saw and a compound miter saw for those once-a-year projects, or try to set up and maintain their own home recording studio. (If you're super-serious about that avocation, then yes, you have your own private workshop out back, but often, owning and maintaining your own is more of a hassle and a waste of resources.)

10. A clean and safe park within walking distance.

11. An electric guitar or piano or something of your own to cherish, that reflects an authentic manifestation of your true self and your avocation.

12. An internet connection that is as robust as a phone or electrical connection, and secure, and as simple to access as a (70s-style) television.

13. A community, a job, and a government that supports me more and counts on me, but doesn't exploit me.

14. A partner and friends to enjoy life with.

That, to me, is the American dream. I could care less about impressing you that I'm keeping up with the Joneses. I'd rather impress you by being me, and by allowing you to be you.

While I offer that as a hope and as a new vector for us all to pursue, I recognize a few things:

First, it would require a little bit of reengineering our politics, government, and economy, so that we could establish these "sharing" things. It would also require a little bit of backtracking with respect to the draconian pursuit of individual achievement in the USA.

Second, this is not just a dream for the USA. This is something I'd like to see for everyone alive in the world.

Third, we may need to cut that dream back even more, unless we can get our population down a bit further. My list, while much more modest than the old American dream, may still not be sustainable, especially when we consider the trees, the bees, and the orangutans. Read Sustainability by John Cobb for more info on where I'm coming from.

And fourth, this is just my vision of how things ought to be, and I haven't elaborated on many of the complexities of these goals, so please try not to read in arguments against them or support them without spending a little time thinking of what they might mean to you, and what kind of backstory I would add in support of these goals.

lyrics: "Angel flying too close to the ground." -Willie Nelson

chant/prayer/mantra: "Change is coming. Now is my time." From Forty-six and 2, by Tool.


pax hominibus,
agape to all,
joel

Labels: heaven on earth, pax hominibus/bright shiny future, renewable energy, slashdot, sustenance, theology, tool, Universalism, USA

I'm supposed to be writing a sermon on spiritual health, but what I really want to do to pass the time right now is learn how to play songs by the Kinks on guitar. So far, I've been working on Catch Me Now I'm Falling, Art Lover, and Celluloid Heroes.

When I grew up, I used to listen to their One for the Road live two-disc album incessantly in my bedroom, and then Give the People What They Want, and Come Dancing with the Kinks. This brings me back so much, and now that I can play those chords, it makes me feel all sentimental.

lyrics: "I'm calling on citizens from all over the world. This is Captain America calling. I helped you out when you were down on your knees. So will you catch me now I'm falling."

colors: White, Grey, Black, Blue (and yellow and red). The colors of my favorite electric guitar.

mood: well... sentimental.

chant/prayer/mantra: music heals.


pax hominibus,
agape to all,
joel

Labels: music, sustenance

In case you need a little levity, check here.

lyrics: Something or other by the Melvins off the ACID30bTextMix.MusicForAGoodWorkday mix. See picture below (click for full view).

colors: Orange, blue, and grey.

mood: Overwhelmed.

chant/prayer/mantra: Focus.



pax hominibus,
agape to all,
joel

Labels: melvins, music, onion, sustenance