Showing posts with label friends. Show all posts
Showing posts with label friends. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Quote of the Day
"You're a good person and whatever it is that makes you be that way, be it religion, Madonna's entire repertoire, and/or a fantastic bf, it's ok with me so long as you don't force it on me, which you don't." - My friend Dan after having been thanked for not being an ass about my faith.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Small #Episcopal Community
I don't usually put hash tags in my blog titles. I know that it'll catch some more hits if I do, maybe, but that's not the point of titling blogs for me. But I think it's appropriate today since it's what someone said. But before they said that, I sat on my floor and cackled.
Mid-afternoon yesterday I got a tweet from a New Yorker whom I've met once before. We ran into each other at church last fall but knew who the other was...by our Twitter handles. This is someone that I've followed for probably going on two years. I have no idea how it started, but my guess is one of us did a search for Episcopal something or other. So earlier in the day he tweets me asking about the Advent Lessons and Songs at the Seminary tonight. I think he came last year or meant to.
Well, just before the service starts, I see that he's tweeted, "As @erinwarde would say, ADVENT HYMN SING Y'ALL!" Even pasting it I'm starting to laugh. You see, the person who was tweeting (it's @_Barajas), to my knowledge, has never met @ErinWarde...who went to college with me and was one of my dearest friends through it and is still today. And a statement that ends in an all caps "y'all" is right up her alley. I retweeted it with "best tweet ever."
So yes, it's a small community. After the service tonight I talked to Christopher for a few minutes, just briefly, about someone in New York City coming to something at my seminary while quoting someone I went to college with. That is networking and building relationships. Some people say that that makes Twitter superior to Facebook, but I disagree. There are ways to meet new people and build relationships on both networks, though in different ways. One requires far more engagement for it to work, but it's easy to do that kind of engagement on either if you don't feel like a creeper chatting to someone you don't really know (yet), but are waiting to meet you.
Who might you be waiting to meet this Advent?
Mid-afternoon yesterday I got a tweet from a New Yorker whom I've met once before. We ran into each other at church last fall but knew who the other was...by our Twitter handles. This is someone that I've followed for probably going on two years. I have no idea how it started, but my guess is one of us did a search for Episcopal something or other. So earlier in the day he tweets me asking about the Advent Lessons and Songs at the Seminary tonight. I think he came last year or meant to.
Well, just before the service starts, I see that he's tweeted, "As @erinwarde would say, ADVENT HYMN SING Y'ALL!" Even pasting it I'm starting to laugh. You see, the person who was tweeting (it's @_Barajas), to my knowledge, has never met @ErinWarde...who went to college with me and was one of my dearest friends through it and is still today. And a statement that ends in an all caps "y'all" is right up her alley. I retweeted it with "best tweet ever."
So yes, it's a small community. After the service tonight I talked to Christopher for a few minutes, just briefly, about someone in New York City coming to something at my seminary while quoting someone I went to college with. That is networking and building relationships. Some people say that that makes Twitter superior to Facebook, but I disagree. There are ways to meet new people and build relationships on both networks, though in different ways. One requires far more engagement for it to work, but it's easy to do that kind of engagement on either if you don't feel like a creeper chatting to someone you don't really know (yet), but are waiting to meet you.
Who might you be waiting to meet this Advent?
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Tonight, I...
So, I saw Mary Poppins again Tuesday. Jenni, Anna, and Emily were in town and we got rush tickets. Throughout the show (well, before, at intermission, and after) we notice the guy who sold programs, umbrellas, and the like. He was really good at holding his arm up to showcase his wares. Tonight I saw Memphis. Who happened to be sitting in the front row (with us) but in the dead center? Same guy, or so Jenni and I thought, as we stared at him through most of the intermission.
When Anna came back from going to the bathroom she concurred that it was probably him. We continued to stare We wanted to know, and Anna wasn't having anything to do with that. Jenni and I paper, rock, scissored for it. I lost and was given the task of talking to him. It was time for the show to continue (it's great!), and so I had to do it at the end. After the band finished playing, Jenni and Anna made room for me to get to the aisle to meet him.
Tonight I said, "Not to be a creeper, but my friends and I were wondering if you work at Mary Poppins. We were at the show on Tuesday night." Turns out it was him. We were right. I didn't ask if he wanted a seminarian friend, although I wanted to...but talking to random strangers like that is right up there with asking random theater goers, "Do you want to get saved?" and following it with "Want to go hiking?"
When Anna came back from going to the bathroom she concurred that it was probably him. We continued to stare We wanted to know, and Anna wasn't having anything to do with that. Jenni and I paper, rock, scissored for it. I lost and was given the task of talking to him. It was time for the show to continue (it's great!), and so I had to do it at the end. After the band finished playing, Jenni and Anna made room for me to get to the aisle to meet him.
Tonight I said, "Not to be a creeper, but my friends and I were wondering if you work at Mary Poppins. We were at the show on Tuesday night." Turns out it was him. We were right. I didn't ask if he wanted a seminarian friend, although I wanted to...but talking to random strangers like that is right up there with asking random theater goers, "Do you want to get saved?" and following it with "Want to go hiking?"
Friday, March 5, 2010
Dialogueing
I have a friend that I met on Twitter. I actually have a few, but this is one I've had several meaningful conversations with despite our very different worldviews. He took issue with some of my entries from Tuesday. He's a Catholic seminarian, and I can track his views in Statcounter, although sometimes he reads via Google Buzz. I e-mailed him yesterday because he wasn't showing up has having read one that I wanted him to read. He replied that he had via Buzz, had some issues, and was going to reflect more. And I replied that I expected him to, but wanted his feedback. We have very different world views, but we listen to each other.
He and I are going to have a deeper, ongoing discussion about the Eucharist now, but it's going to take time and him not being in the midst of midterms (or me in the midst of them shortly). But we engage really well. A big part of that, I think, is that neither of us comes to the table suspicious of the other. I have some other friends with whom I've tried to discuss things, but the approach is different. The current friend and I aren't trying to prove the other wrong. Neither of us has felt wronged by the other.
We affirm each other. We may not necessarily buy into the others' ideas, but we're happy to share with each other, and we affirm the positions that the other has reached by his own volition. I think one of the things that lets me open up is that I don't feel him going on the defensive with the intention to tear me down; he disagrees, but he listens. He's listened to a good rant about a horrible sermon. He's made a safe space by not being defensive, but ceding points where I make them, and then responding for clarification or to add nuance to what I've said.
And we both take style into account. We both know that the other is where he is because he feels called there. We don't expect blog entries to read like Aquinas. We don't take (legitimate) critique of institutions to which we belong as personal attacks. Charges of heresy and hypocrisy are equally heard but neither of us feels as though he is being called a heretic or a hypocrite. I look forward to continued dialogues about what the Eucharist means to us and our churches, and potentially our personal objections to the others' postion, but as an exercise in articulation and thought, rather than personal attack or critique.
And for some reason I find this whole dialogue, which is just beginning, very Lenten somehow. I don't know if it's stripping away the pretenses about each other, or if it's making room and way for the presence of the Resurrected Christ through our conversation. Maybe it's the whole what I'm finding happening in my making more real connections (at least more in-depth) versus usually more shallow social networking and instantaneous electronic communication.
Look for a follow-up shortly. I've sent some e-mails and haven't gotten replies yet (e-mails in succession), and I'm ceding why I disagree with someone this person really likes (and why I have people that I like), but that perhaps there can be something that I affirm about my friend's person he likes.
He and I are going to have a deeper, ongoing discussion about the Eucharist now, but it's going to take time and him not being in the midst of midterms (or me in the midst of them shortly). But we engage really well. A big part of that, I think, is that neither of us comes to the table suspicious of the other. I have some other friends with whom I've tried to discuss things, but the approach is different. The current friend and I aren't trying to prove the other wrong. Neither of us has felt wronged by the other.
We affirm each other. We may not necessarily buy into the others' ideas, but we're happy to share with each other, and we affirm the positions that the other has reached by his own volition. I think one of the things that lets me open up is that I don't feel him going on the defensive with the intention to tear me down; he disagrees, but he listens. He's listened to a good rant about a horrible sermon. He's made a safe space by not being defensive, but ceding points where I make them, and then responding for clarification or to add nuance to what I've said.
And we both take style into account. We both know that the other is where he is because he feels called there. We don't expect blog entries to read like Aquinas. We don't take (legitimate) critique of institutions to which we belong as personal attacks. Charges of heresy and hypocrisy are equally heard but neither of us feels as though he is being called a heretic or a hypocrite. I look forward to continued dialogues about what the Eucharist means to us and our churches, and potentially our personal objections to the others' postion, but as an exercise in articulation and thought, rather than personal attack or critique.
And for some reason I find this whole dialogue, which is just beginning, very Lenten somehow. I don't know if it's stripping away the pretenses about each other, or if it's making room and way for the presence of the Resurrected Christ through our conversation. Maybe it's the whole what I'm finding happening in my making more real connections (at least more in-depth) versus usually more shallow social networking and instantaneous electronic communication.
Look for a follow-up shortly. I've sent some e-mails and haven't gotten replies yet (e-mails in succession), and I'm ceding why I disagree with someone this person really likes (and why I have people that I like), but that perhaps there can be something that I affirm about my friend's person he likes.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Optimism
I have a new friend that has been a breath of fresh air to me. It’s nice, first, to have such a good friendly connection with someone so quickly, but more than that it’s been great to hear his perspective on some things that have bogged me -- and others -- down. If you actually read this blog you probably know me. You know some of my experiences in life, heartbreaks, joys, celebrations, and sorrows. This new friend is new, but I think that his not having the same experiences is what has been great for me.
I have a great group of friends that does its best to “strive for justice and peace among all people,” but I feel like sometimes we -- I know I do, anyway -- get too caught up in “reality.” We’ve seen votes go the wrong way too many times to get excited about the possibility of their going the right way. We have some hope, but are more prepared to grit our teeth and try again next time, planning and strategizing. I don’t think there is anything at all wrong with working out some stategery and plans and breaking barriers and building bridges. *salsa interlude* (have a dance)¡Si se puede!
And bring it back. When speaking of a friend’s being denied certification for the candidacy process he said “She’ll get it.” Just a flat “it’s going to happen.” He knew why she’d been denied it, but that didn’t matter. She’ll get it. When talking yesterday about another injustice that happens in society he said “It’ll change.” People are working for it, and it’s not good now, but it won’t last forever.
His optimism has been good for me. I talk about things’ being made right in the fullness of time (Derek Webb’s “This Too Shall Be Made Right”; “In the fullness of time put all things in subjection under your Christ…”), and I do believe that. But I think that my qualifying things with “in the fullness of time” expresses some of the cynicism and jadedness I’ve picked up only after a few years, at least to a degree.
So, what now? This friend has helped me think more about living with hope, particularly the hope of the resurrection. Yes, in the fullness of time, I believe that all things will be made right, and creation will be restored to right relationship among all its parts and to God. And there’s some hope to that statement. But I think a more matter-of-fact “She’ll get it” or “you’ll get it” is something I need to work on thinking about, particularly related to church stuff, trusting in the power of the Spirit and her mysterious ways.
As an Easter people I think we’ve been given hope about the fullness of time and all things’ being made right. We’ve been given hope about sin’s being beaten and the grave having no hold. In our baptisms we are incorporated into all of God’s mighty acts of salvation, from saving the arc in the flood to the resurrection. We’re given the spirit as a mediator and advocate and a guide to help us as we discern in community. I do my best to think of things with hope as opposed to operating out of a fear instinct. Now I need to beat back some cynicism and jadedness, too, with a little bit of optimism.
I have a great group of friends that does its best to “strive for justice and peace among all people,” but I feel like sometimes we -- I know I do, anyway -- get too caught up in “reality.” We’ve seen votes go the wrong way too many times to get excited about the possibility of their going the right way. We have some hope, but are more prepared to grit our teeth and try again next time, planning and strategizing. I don’t think there is anything at all wrong with working out some stategery and plans and breaking barriers and building bridges. *salsa interlude* (have a dance)¡Si se puede!
And bring it back. When speaking of a friend’s being denied certification for the candidacy process he said “She’ll get it.” Just a flat “it’s going to happen.” He knew why she’d been denied it, but that didn’t matter. She’ll get it. When talking yesterday about another injustice that happens in society he said “It’ll change.” People are working for it, and it’s not good now, but it won’t last forever.
His optimism has been good for me. I talk about things’ being made right in the fullness of time (Derek Webb’s “This Too Shall Be Made Right”; “In the fullness of time put all things in subjection under your Christ…”), and I do believe that. But I think that my qualifying things with “in the fullness of time” expresses some of the cynicism and jadedness I’ve picked up only after a few years, at least to a degree.
So, what now? This friend has helped me think more about living with hope, particularly the hope of the resurrection. Yes, in the fullness of time, I believe that all things will be made right, and creation will be restored to right relationship among all its parts and to God. And there’s some hope to that statement. But I think a more matter-of-fact “She’ll get it” or “you’ll get it” is something I need to work on thinking about, particularly related to church stuff, trusting in the power of the Spirit and her mysterious ways.
As an Easter people I think we’ve been given hope about the fullness of time and all things’ being made right. We’ve been given hope about sin’s being beaten and the grave having no hold. In our baptisms we are incorporated into all of God’s mighty acts of salvation, from saving the arc in the flood to the resurrection. We’re given the spirit as a mediator and advocate and a guide to help us as we discern in community. I do my best to think of things with hope as opposed to operating out of a fear instinct. Now I need to beat back some cynicism and jadedness, too, with a little bit of optimism.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Funny How Lyrics Work
So, if one takes out the chorus, this song is really how I feel whenever I'm at home for long periods of time.
Best thing about tonight's that we’re not fighting
Could it be that we have been this way before
I know you don’t think that I am trying......
I know you’re wearing thin down to the core...
This is not what I intended
I always swore to you I'd never fall apart
You always thought that I was stronger
I may have failed
But I have loved you from the start
This is a time that I feel so bad that I would call JAL to chat/vent/cry/whatever if he were in the States. I e-mailed a bunch of people instead.
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