recklessly dreaming

Well - thats one more paper turned in and I am about to pack up and head to dallas so that I can fly out to KS tomorrow morning. We’ll catch you on the flipside.

-jen

Things that keep me from doing what I need to be doing:

1. Mary’s Paleteria
2. The internet
3. Jak II
4. Watching for a new Making Fiends
5. Getting ready for the upcoming weekend: Dallas to Manhattan, KS, to Dallas to Abilene to Lubbock to Abilene (thursday night after class and back in time for Monday’s class - total: visit with best friend, job interview, visiting the dentist to get my new perm. crowns, getting grown up clothes, and then back to work/class)
5. the t.v.

My thoughts tonight can best be summed up by a Barenaked Ladies Song - enjoy (thanks to itunes I’ll actually be able to hear them sing it)

Words & Music by Steven Page & Ed Robertson

Now I lay me down not to sleep
I just get tangled in the sheets
I swim in sweat three inches deep
I just lay back and claim defeat

Chapter read and lesson learned
I turned the lights off while she burned
So while she’s three hundred degrees
I throw the sheets off and I freeze

Lids down, I count sheep
I count heartbeats
The only thing that counts is
that I won’t sleep
I countdown, I look around

Who needs sleep?
(well you’re never gonna get it)
Who needs sleep?
(tell me what’s that for)
Who needs sleep?
(be happy with what you’re getting
There’s a guy who’s been awake
since the Second World War)

Who needs sleep?
(well you’re never gonna get it)
Who needs sleep?
(tell me what’s that for)
Who needs sleep?
(be happy with what you’re getting
There’s a guy who’s been awake
since the Second World War)

My hands are locked up tight in fists
My mind is racing filled with lists
of things to do and things I’ve done
Another sleepless night’s begun

Lids down, I count sheep
I count heartbeats
The only thing that counts is
that I won’t sleep
I countdown, I look around

Who needs sleep?
(well you’re never gonna get it)
Who needs sleep?
(tell me what’s that for)
Who needs sleep?
(be happy with what you’re getting
There’s a guy who’s been awake
since the Second World War)

Who needs sleep?
(well you’re never gonna get it)
Who needs sleep?
(tell me what’s that for)
Who needs sleep?
(be happy with what you’re getting
There’s a guy who’s been awake
since the Second World War)

There’s so much joy in life,
so many pleasures all around
But the pleasure of insomnia
is one I’ve never found
With all life has to offer,
There’s so much to be enjoyed
But the pleasures of insomnia
are ones I can’t avoid

Lids down, I count sheep
I count heartbeats
The only thing that counts is
that I won’t sleep
I countdown, I look around

Hala Hala Hala…

Who needs sleep?
(well you’re never gonna get it)
Who needs sleep?
(tell me what’s that for)
Who needs sleep?
(be happy with what you’re getting
There’s a guy who’s been awake
since the Second World War)

This discussion keeps coming up - and I going to add my thoughts here (further down in this post) that I have put on 2nd-Storey Window and in my schools online forums. This has been an issue for me that has become more difficult than some might imagine - and I am ending up where many wouldn’t expect me to because of matters of justice and social institution (vs. religious sacrament). So I am posting here some questions that have been shaping my thought processes (if some of them seem direct I was intially responding to undergrads who were patting themselves on the back for making such an easy decision without looking wholistically at it).

r than I wanted - but I was reading our school forums and watching some undergrads spurt opinions on this very topic without much thought. I am sure I will get attacked over there, but I needed to at least let them know some of the issues involved past the actual ceremony (and I couldn’t sleep tonight). I thought I’d put them over here and see what happens.

1. Is marriage as a sacrament of the church and as a social institution (an act of government) the same thing?

The lines get blurry when the government gives certain rights to spouses such as the right of inheritance, medical/health benefits, spousal social security and medicare, rights to adoption, etc. And add this into the mix - the government (can we say Justice of the Peace) and non-ministers perform weddings daily.

If we recognize marriage as a societal institution (rather than solely as a sacrament of the church) what are the ramifications?

2. Is American a moral nation that adheres to the scripture as its moral standard?

Just because one might appeal to similar moral standards for actions (murder is wrong, abusing kids is not good, living peaceably in a community is generally better than life in chaos) does not mean that both groups recognize all that the other does as moral right and wrong. We live in a democracy where the demographics of the religious and moral beliefs are moving post-christian. Can we really expect a post-Christian nation to have laws that are scripture based? (The legalization of same-sex marriage for a nation does not change the standard for Christians - whose ultimate moral example comes from the word of God (Christ) and that which attests to him (scripture)).

Should all moral things be prohibited by national law? (wait - what about porn its legal and it is definitely not for the moral good?)

3. Is separate and equal ever actually equal? (i.e. in response to civil unions or calling it something other than marriage).

Be careful with this one - because a change in name might make more people comfortable, but lets look at the historical precedent for separate and equal.

4. Where in scripture are we to hold non-believers accountable to the standard of scripture?

There is large amounts about within the Christian community and holding each other accountable - but look at context of scripture and see who the audience of the texts are for.

5. What about the issue of justice and equal rights?

We will allow people that live together for x number of years (depends on the state) to have common law marriages which entitle them to all the same rights as someone who actually got married the old fashion way. We also continue to recognize a marriage that was originally between a heterosexual couple after one of them has undergone a sex change and is now physically and hormonally a homosexual couple.

American is a nation that values the rights (sometimes this has taken longer for various groups to attain legally and in practice it is still an even lengthier process) and equality of all individuals.

I am tired and am trying to get out from under my assignments. Earlier tonight I turned in our group worship assembly on John 20:19-31 - Where Jesus appears twice after the resurrection - the believers are transformed, the church is formed - centered on Christ, and they are commissioned to go out. We have the confession of Thomas - ‘My Lord and My God!’ and the statement of Jesus ‘ You have seen and believed, Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.’ One thing I tried to do in composing this worship (in addition to the centrality of Christ) was to focus on the connectiveness of the church - temporally and geographically. I included a reading of the Phos Hilaron (see below) - read at vespers by early christians.

Phos Hilaron

O Gracious Light
Pure brightness of the everlasting Father in heaven.
O Jesus Christ, holy and blessed!

Now as we come to the setting of the sun,
And our eyes behold the vesper light,
We sing praises, O God:
Father Son and Holy Spirit.

You are worthy at all times
To be praised by happy voices,
O Son of God, O Giver of life,
And to be glorified through all the worlds.