The writing home of David Soliday
Check this out. I found it on a Greek site. (At least the text looked Greek to me–you know how the saying goes…)
There were several other adaptations on the typical smiley face there as well.
UPDATE: The link I had posted to the original image has gone awry. If you search Google Images for “Smile” you can still find it buried under many other happy faces.
I’ve dived into Richard E. Rubenstein’s When Jesus Became God: The Struggle to Define Christianity during the Last Days of Rome, and have really been enjoying it. It’s written by a Jewish professor of Conflict Resolution and Public Affairs, so it paints a very broad picture of the history of the Arian controversy. The biggest thing I’ve learned from this book about the Council of Nicea and surrounding personalities and events is that it’s a lot more complicated than you may have heard. You may have known, like I had, that the Council of Nicea (325) was when the Church declared Arianism, (the belief that Jesus was not fully divine,) heretical and wrote the Nicean Creed; well, yes, but… It’s a fascinating, intriguing, entertaining story. (We get to reenact it next weekend, and I’ve got the part of Arius!)
Well I hadn’t figured that blogs would be succeptible to spam, but I just had to block the first IP address from this site. The culprit left a rather disturbing comment to one of my earlier postings about this blog itself, (which I’ve also deleted.) Bloggers beware: it could happen to you.
Wasn’t there a Monty Python’s Flying Circus skit about some character persistently and repeatedly saying “spam”? Yes, indeedlededoo.
Continue reading “Caught by SPAM”A funny thing happened in Intro to Christian Education Ministry class today. (I have been getting a lot out of that class.) I was taking notes, and wrote down the word “God”. Immediately I thought of those who prefer not to use that word and are more comfortable with “Good”. And they suddenly blurred in my distracted mind into something entirely different, the best of both worlds.
Now in presenting this concept I’d like you to imagine Wayne’s Word from Between the Lions. On one side of the court is Sir Good on his noble steed. On the other side is Sir God on his gallant horse. They gallop fiercely at each other, both shouting their names. They crash, and as the dust settles a new sign is formed from between them:
G∞d
Notice that it’s not one or even two O’s in between that G and that D. It’s the symbol for infinity, indicating that it is infinitely better than either symbols that came before it. It starts with G, the 7th letter of the alphabet; 7 is the perfect number in ancient Judaism. It ends with D, which is also at the end of the word “end”; meaning that it is the end of all things as well as the beginning: the alpha and omega. It has three characters, which could represent trinitarian concepts to some, or three modes of material nature to others. It combines elements of alphabetic text and hieroglyphic symbolism that is reminiscent of the concept of Latin-American mestizo. I could probably go on…
What do you think?
Continue reading “Good God!”May you have a balanced beginning of Autumn, wherever you are!
Life is a question. Be the answer.
I was listening to one of the pop radio stations in town the other day, and one of their zany blurbs came on between songs that had some loony voice saying, “Remember, you can be replaced.” I commented to my kids in the back seat that that goes against our first UU principle. (We had been going over the UUA Principles at meal time.) It’s been weighing on me ever since.
A few months ago, as I was sharing lunch in the dining hall, I was telling some of the other students gathered at the table what UU’s believe. When I said that we believe that every life has worth and dignity, another student reached across the table to give me a high-five, saying “Now there’s a good Protestant belief for you!” I’m not quite sure if he was being sarcastic or not, but I really like this principle.
Holding human life in high esteem goes against not only depraved theology, but degrading materialism as well. Most UU’s who know the basics of our history can tell you that we reject the doctrine of original sin, but it’s a little more subtle to reject the notion that everybody is expendable. This materialistic culture of producers and consumers that we live in has that notion at its foundation. Everyone is replaceable and only the strong survive—no, we reject that as well. We believe that every life is inherently priceless and dignified. No person can truly be replaced and we all survive because we take care of each other. This is our faith.
You’ll note I’ve added another link under the side section “More” called simply “Links”. This will take you to a page where you can find links to other sites which I’ve found useful or which mean something to me. I thought it would be helpful to have a link to my home congregation and seminary, for those who might be interested. Accorningly, the title of my blogroll has changed to “Other Blogs” and links which belong on the Links page have been moved there.
Chutney at MyIrony.com asks, “Do UU’s do liturgy?” In response, I’ve just posted a UU Pentecost service I did for a class on worship and music. It includes the sermon I wrote much later, but I did the whole shebang at my home congregation just this past June. It includes a call to worship, collect, and benediction–all of which I had to write myself. And when I learned what a ‘collect’ is I said to myself, “so that’s what Grandma’s been using to bless meals ever since I was a kid!” I wonder if she knows the name of the form…
Anyway, I’ve also written hymns, but I’m sorely out of practice. I thoroughly enjoy creating multi-sensory and participatory, uplifting worship experiences. I’m all about poetry and metaphor, although my sermons may not reflect that so much. I hope my blog does…
Rev. Mark Belletini, the chairperson for the committee that produced our current hymnal, is still writing hymns. In fact, he wrote one for the ordination of Jim Bosveld, introduced just a few weeks ago.
Also, have you seen Boy in the Bands? He seems to be more high church, and has some archived posts on liturgy.
I think what we may be suffering from is a lack of good UU liturgists who also blog…
In just a little bit I’ll have my most recent sermon posted in the Documents section. “What I Learned During My Years with the Hare Krishnas.” Check it out.