On a Happier Note, If There Wasn't a St. Valentine, there Should Have Been One

The truth is, we know nothing for sure about anybody named Valentine other than he was martyred like many other early Christians on February 14 and is buried outside of Rome. Maybe there wasn't even one Valentine. Valentine was actually a pretty common name and there were a lot of Christians martyred in Rome. 

Around this time there was another one of those Roman Pagan celebrations of romance.  We do love our pagan celebrations.  It's way too complicated to get to the bottom of it.

But around the middle ages you get this wonderful story about a St. Valentine, that like most beautiful stories, is a true story, regardless of whether or not it really happened.

The Roman Emporium Claudius was smart enough to know that bachelors make better soldiers than family men so Roman soldiers were forbidden to marry.  But Christian soldiers, ever the proponents of "Family Values" wanted to get married.  Valentine was the priest to oblige them.  His acts of civil disobedience ended him up in jail.

His  jailor had a lovely blind daughter who came to visit him.  He shared the gospel with her and she became a Christian.  Some stories even claim he restored her sight.  I prefer to think of her as blind, loving Valentine only through his stories of Christ. Theirs was a loving friendship, based on Christ.  There's a romance for you.  When he was taken away to be executed, he left her a note encouraging her to be strong in Christ.  He signed it "Your Valentine"

If it didn't happen, it should have happened.  And I'd be all for recovering a St. Valentine's Day about civil disobedience, not letting the State tell you who or whether or not you can marry, and friendship.  And chocolate, because chocolate is good.  As long as it's Fair Trade.  Happy Valentines Day. 

These Two Photos Have More in Common than You May Think

so it's funny how things seem to come to your attention in different circumstances.  I hadn't thought about Reconstruction and it's end since I don't know, when they showed Roots on TV?  Or maybe when I read "The Warmth of Other Suns a couple of years ago.   But a few days ago I was listening to my Great Courses Lectures on Turning Points in History on that very subject.  How the experiment of Northern radicals and Black freedman to share power in the South didn't last too long and was soon brutally repressed, forcing blacks back into slavery for intents and purposes through peonage and convict labor.  

Then the next day on NPR there was a constitutional professor talking about how the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments were able to be ignored for more than 50 years because the court chose to narrowly enforce simply the wording of those amendments, not the intent.

And then on PBS last night "Slavery by Another Name" on the very same subject.

And I thought about how there is still slavery with sex trafficking.  It struck me when the point was made about how convict labor was almost worse than slavery because at least slave owners had economic incentive to keep their slaves alive and in some kind of fair condition, whereas there was no such incentive for convict labor.  The same is true for young girls in the sex industry.  They sell for much less than the price of a slave in antebellum south.  They die at about the same rate that convicts died.   You never want to compare suffering.  But here's your choice....days or weeks or months forced to work in a mine, in knee high standing dirty water, never seeing the light of day, and enduring beatings and mental abuse or....days or weeks or months tied to a bed, forced to have sex with up to a dozen men a day, never seeing the light of day and enduring beatings, torture and mental abuse?  Does one sound better than another?

In the south, if you were black and ran away from your sharecropping landlord, the law would arrest you and bring you back to work.  If you are a 14 year old sex slave,  you will be arrested and put in jail.  Until your pimp bails you out.  Or maybe you'll be sent back to your home, which you probably were lured into the sex trade because you ran away from the sex abuse you were enduring at home to begin with.  Different circumstances but the hopelessness of your circumstances is the same.

I hesitate to say this, because it may sound as though I'm trying to justify what happened to Blacks in the south or make it okay, because I'm  not, but there was something to show for their labor.  Roads, public buildings, railroad tracks,  the entire economic progress and development of the south was dependent upon their labor.  And at some point later, to some extent, many are now able to benefit from some of that development and progress.   What is there to show for men having sex with minors?  

Or maybe it's just a difference in our economies.  When we were an industrial society, slaves were exploited for that purpose.  Now our economy is based on services.  I guess sex with underage boys and girls is a service.  

The PBS program pointed out how the Federal Government was not much help despite a few attempts at reform when it came to the exploitation of blacks.  Part of this was due to racism and apathy.  But I think it was also the sense of being overwhelmed at how to take on something that the entire southern economy was based on.   I think we're just as overwhelmed at trying to take on the problem of sex trafficking.  I think a big part of the tourism economy is dependent upon it. 

I don't know what to do about all this.  I just know we watch can't shows about slavery on PBS and feel good about how much more enlightened and kinder we are .

Diversionary Tactic

Yea you know that cartoon a few posts down? 

Here it is again.  It was more apropos than I thought.  I got this heads up from Diana Butler Bass's facebook page.   All this hang wringing about the poor oppressed church --- it's been a very clever diversion from the real story   a Vatican conference on clergy sex abuse, where it was just revealed more cases in Asia now   The media from the rest of the world has been on like white on rice.  While we've been crying about Obama's so called war on religion. 

Don't Think They Can't Take it All Back

Look at how women are treated  in many parts of the world.  Oh that's only "backward" cultures you say?  Look at what's going on in Israel.  Religious extremists in Israel are gaining more and more success in pushing women out of the public arena in the name of  *their* religious rights. 

Read this: Republicans Retreat on Domestic Violence  

Read some of John Piper and Mark Driscoll  go on about how poor men have been marginalized by the "feminization" of the church and culture.

And then read about the history of the end of Reconstruction after the civil war and how a combination of  Southern propaganda and Northern apathy made it possible for the United States to virtually ignore the 14th and 15th amendments for more than 50 years.

And all you young women enjoying the results of the hard work and sacrifices of the women before you so now you can bat your eyelashes and say "oh I'm not a feminist" don't think for a moment it can't all be taken away from us again if we aren't vigilant.  

It can.

Seriously? Religious Liberty means Thowing over Women's Reproductive Health and Freedom?

This is one of those issues that's really pissing me off. So much so I'm imposing the "You don't get to use my blog as a forum for your opinion".  That's right.   I don't want any comments about how this is about the constitution or religious freedom. You can spout that drivel somewhere else. Not here. And forget about trying to tell me how bad birth control is and how it's led to the objectification of women. If I could I'd make software that would smack you if you try to write that on my blog.

So this is the deal. The Roman Catholic church wants to run businesses, engage and yes profit in the world, but it wants to have special rules for itself, in that it doesn't want to have to include contraception coverage in their insurance for it's employees, like everyone else does.   And this is supposed to be about "religious liberty" and for that reason all us non-Catholics who care about religious liberty are supposed to say "SORRY WOMEN YOU LOSE AGAIN" and take up their cause. I call bullshit and say screw that.

I have no problem with making an exception for the church itself. I think if the Catholic Church doesn't want to provide condoms for their priests, then they should not have to. But if they want to venture out of the church and run a business in the world, then you play by the world's rules and you get your hands dirty. You can't have it both ways. And I say that for all churches who want to run businesses.

To me that is the bigger theological question. Not religious freedom. (and where in scripture are we told to force the State to give us rights?). It's about engaging in the world and how it can mean getting your hands dirty. And you can't engage in the world, profit from it or even help it and say "well I want to do this but I want you to make certain exceptions for me so I can be in business with you but can still claim that I'm better than you because I don't do these terrible things you do" .  Like provide reproductive healthcare for women.

But the fact that women are AGAIN the collateral damage from this is really what makes my head explode.

So What are We Supposed to do DO????

 

I get the impression those of us who are leaders of Mainline Churches are either defensive or in denial.  The folks in denial fall into to camps.  Those who think that there's really not a big problem and if we would just keep doing things the way we always have, or go back the the way we used to do things, it will all be fine.  The other folks are doing things differently and are experiencing some success and so they believe they can buck the trend.  Those are they type that tend to put the rest of us a little on the defensive.  If they can buck the trends it must mean that the fact I'm not is because I'm not as clever, charismatic, hardworking, spiritual, hip,  or whatever, as they are.

The truth is, it's not about us leaders.  I was up to Luther Seminary for their Mid Winter Convocation this week.  The topic was the one we all don't want to think about but we know we should so when we do it just makes us feel depressed, frustrated and defensive again.  You know.  The future of the church.  

This time although I was frustrated at times, I did not come away depressed or defensive.  I came away thinking.  And I'm still thinking.  The speakers were Diana Butler Bass who has a new book coming out which I've ordered already.  Christianity After Religion: The End of Church and the Birth of a New Spiritual Awakening

She started out saying something very helpful.  She talked about the difference between Climate and Weather.  Climate is the big picture.  Weather is the conditions you are experiencing right now.  Most church leaders look out the window, see the weather and and assume that's what's going on all over.  So those leaders who are experiencing a little growth and think they've bucked the trends are like those people who see that it's snowing and snort "Global warming, hah!"  She even admitted her book Christianity for the Rest of Us: How the Neighborhood Church Is Transforming the Faith  was more about weather and she received a lot of pushback about that because people complained it was too optimistic.  And I confess I have the book and never finished it because it made me depressed and and defensive because her weather was sunny and mine is dismal.

The trend is not looking good for the Christian church.  Not just the Mainline either, the Evangelicals are starting to experience the same decline.

The other speaker was Andrew Root.  He's very funny.  He spoke about how the world is changing and how growing up in a world of screens and media changes where we find our identity, how we think and relate to each other and reality itself.   It was very interesting. 

But like most of these things, most of the time spent was hearing the problem defined and explained. That's important.  You have to understand the problem, the challenge, the climate.  But after awhile it began to wear on me.  BUT WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO ABOUT IT???

I don't think anybody knows.  Both Diane and Andrew spent a little time on that.  Andrew spoke of the story of Jacob and opening the church to be a place where people can come to struggle with God.  A place where we are not afraid to show that this struggle will leave us with a limp.  When speaking how we have replaced reality with images (a presentation totally based on the French philosopher Baudrillard) he concluded that the church needs to be the place that speaks of what is real - the cross.  "The cross stands at the place between possibility and nothingness"

Well that sounds very nice in a presentation but what does it look like?  What does it mean?  How do we do that?  And will it really make any difference?

Maybe the truth is there is nothing we can do about the climate.  Maybe we just have to deal with the weather, understanding the weather is not the climate.   Keep it real.  Preach the Gospel.  Administer the sacraments.  Be honest about the struggle.  Remember it's not about you. 

Red Tails - The Star Wars Version

My daughter was home from college this weekend.  We took in "Red Tails" tonight.  As I said on Twitter "It was um, "Lucaesque"

Such a darn shame because this is a great story and could have been a great movie.  It's the story of the Tuskegee Airmen, African American pilots during World War II. George  Apparently HBO has made a really good movie--Tuskegee Airmen.  Rent that instead of wasting your time on this one. 

Unless you actually liked the storyline and dialogue of the last Star Wars Movies.  Because this is just as bad.  My daughter says the acting is terrible but I think the problem is bad dialogue that no amount of acting talent can fix.  

SPOILER ALERT (although you can see this coming from a mile away)

This is how it ended for us.  Final big fire fight  (In typical Star Wars fashion, there are loud flashy air fights) and the big bad German pilot (complete with a scar on his face) woodenly intones "Die you foolish African".  So when one of the guys who you knew was going to die because his Italian girlfriend who can't even speak English and he can't speak Italian has agreed to marry him...finally gets shot and is dying and dying and dying and telling his buddy he's dying (in the cockpit while flying of course) I couldn't help it - I leaned over to my daughter and whispered "DIE YOU FOOLISH AFRICAN!" and we both giggled and laughed as his plane went down.  Probably not the reaction Lucas was going for.

I'm giving it a thumbs down.

A True Gentleman

If last night during the State of the Union Address you saw a lone Republican standing during parts of President Obama's speech, it was not because he suddenly had Democrat leanings.  He was Representative Jeff Flake of Arizona's sixth district.  He had the privilege of sitting next to Gabby Giffords.  And every time she tried to stand up and cheer the president, he helped her up, rising himself.   Now that is a true gentelman.

Friday Five -Movies

 RevGalBlogPals has a relatively easy assignment - Movies

1. At home or at a theater?

I don't get out to the theater much, but I do love the whole going to the movies experience.  I love the previews (although not this new nasty practice of showing commercials.  Really I pay $10 and still have to watch commercials?), I love the large screen, the sound, the other people.  A movie in the theater is always better than it really is. 

But there is much to be said to snuggling under the covers on a snowy Saturday to watch an old movie at home.

2. With whom? 

I always enjoyed taking my kids to the movies.  But I don't mind going to see a movie alone.  I think going to see a movie is a bad first date.  First date you should go to dinner together so you can talk and get to know each other better.  Also nowadays all the movies have sex scenes and I find it excruciatingly awkward to watch an explicit sex scene on a first date.  Can't help thinking "sure hope he doesn't think I'll be doing that for him later..."

3. Movie you look forward to seeing?

I always think I want to see more movies than I actually get out to see.  Wanted to take the kids to see War Horse on Christmas, but all the dinky theaters around here were showing was Alvin and the Chipmunks.  And I'm torn because the idea of using horses in battle makes me so upset.

4. Movie you like to see repeatedly?

There are seasonal movies that must be seen a certain time of the year.  Must watch the Charleton Heston "Ten Commandments" during Holy Week. (I keep threatening to play a drinking game - chug every time someone moans "Moses Moses")  Must watch "Elf" around Christmas.  It used to be "It's a Wonderful Life" but I kind of got my fill of that for a while. 

5. Food with a movie?  Popcorn with butter and salt.  Junior mints that I try to buy somewhere else for 1/4 the price.  The mints are good to offset the salty popcorn then I don't have to drink as much and then I don't have to get up and go to the bathroom as many times during the movie. 

It's Not Really About Forgiveness

I didn't really pay much attention when the hullabaloo first began over outgoing Mississippi Governor Haily Barbour's pardons.  I began to pay attention when I heard his defense that the convicted murderers he pardoned had committed "crimes of passion".  It was disturbing to learn that Mississippi has a history of tolerance for "crimes of passion."  That's often code for "He killed his wife and she probably deserved it".  It was a little disturbing to learn 8 of these men murdered their wives.  

I didn't have much luck finding out how many of those pardoned were women.  There was a wealthy woman who killed two doctors while driving drunk.

I do know who he did not pardon.  He did not pardon Jamie and Gladys Scott, two sisters who were paroled last year on the condition that Gladys donate a kidney to Jamie. 

Jamie and Gladys Scott were serving LIFE sentences for being in the same car with some teenaged boys who robbed someone for $11.  The boys who actually did the robbery only served a couple of months in jail.  

Barbour defended his pardons by saying "You do not want to take away hope and the opportunity for a second chance, particularly when you see what our religion says," he said.

Second chances for wife killers - but not these women?  I call bullshit.  A lot of these so called "crimes of passion" are no better than the "honour killings" that we claim to be so outraged about when committed by people of a different culture and religion.  And it was an honour killing that Jesus stopped when he turned away the powerful men who sought to stone the woman caught in adultery.  To invoke Jesus to excuse and pardon honor killing is  a travesty. 

No doubt there is politics involved in these pardons as in all pardons.  But there's an ugly undercurrent of sexism and misogyny going on here too, wrapped up in Christian smugness and fake piety.  Like I said, I call bullshit.

What am I Missing Here?

I don't like Suze Orman.  Mostly because she is from the Dr. Phil "I won't help you until I've totally humiliated you and made sure you realize what a stupid piece of sh*t  you are" school of "self help" (which isn't self help at all) television.   I also don't like that she's always calling her viewers "Girlfriend"   Girlfriend, I am not your girlfriend.  I don't like her because she perpetuates the stereotype that all women are idiots when it comes to money and if it wasn't for her we would all be in the poorhouse.

Now I don't like her because I think maybe she's proving that we are all idiots.  She's hawking  her own pre-paid credit card that is the greatest card ever, if she does say so herself.   Its so wonderful because she's made a deal with one of the credit reporting agencies to report your usage of this card and maybe someday it will improve your credit score.

Um. No.  It won't.  Because a pre-paid credit card is not credit.  You can't miss a payment.   You can't screw it up.  So you can't prove that you can handle credit because it's um, NOT CREDIT!

Am I the only one that sees this?  I've heard this woman interviewed by half a dozen people on this and NOBODY has asked her about this little detail.  What am I missing?

Meat Loaf!

I remember the first time I went grocery shopping after both of my kids were away at school.  I wandered aimlessly down the aisles thinking "That's what Isaac likes, I don't want that.  What DO I like?"  It was so odd to shop only for myself.  And then I saw the ground pork.  MEATLOAF.  I hadn't made it since my husband died because my kids won't eat it. 

I love my meatloaf.  And it doesn't go bad because I have it cold for sandwiches the next few days.  I once had a roommate who claimed she couldn't stand meatloaf until she tried mine and then she ate practically the whole thing.

I can get my daughter to eat my meatballs, which don't tell anyone...are the same thing only in balls rather than a loaf.

1 lb hamburger
1 lb ground pork
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1/4 tsp garlic granules
1 Tbl  sugar
salt, pepper
 1 Cup dried bread crumbs or pulverized crackers or a combination of the two

Mix 1/4 cup tomato sauce and everything else together in a large bowl. Yes, with your hands.  Put it in a loaf pan.  Pour the rest of the tomato sauce over it.  Spread a little ketchup on top.  Bake it for an hour or a little more at 375.

That's all there is to it.  This is comfort food, Baby!

More Wild Life in My Back yard

Looked out my window today and saw this:

Then I realized there were two of them

 I love my zoom

Then I went outside and got closer.  

A little too close.  She flew off

"We, O Church, owe it to Margaret and yes, to Ben, to ponder this more deeply"

 Margaret Kritsch Anderson, a 34 year old Park Ranger at Mount Rainier and mother of a 3 year old and 1 year old was shot and killed in the line of duty by a troubled veteran.  She was a friend of ELCA Campus Pastor Jayne Thompson.  You need to read what she has to say on The Lutheran Blog.  Margaret.  That's all.

Bourbon Glazed Pork Chops & Sweet & Sour Red Cabbage for Dinner

We're too boring on New Year's Eve for my daughter so she's taking off to spend it with her friends.  This was my last night to cook for her.  She doesn't eat much meat at college.  The pork chops I made for her tonight should be enough meat for a month.

I'm really impressed with folks I know publishing their own books.  I think I'm going to publish a cookbook. I've already got a lot of recipes I've posted here.   So you will probably see more recipes here as I start putting them together.  Here's tonight's dinner.

I usually marinate pork chops in white wine but I didn't have any.  Then I saw the bourbon.  What a great idea.  I started with two thick Iowa Chops that I don't believe you can get outside of Iowa.   And if you could you'd have to sell your first-born to afford them.

Mix a dry rub of kosher salt, pepper, garlic powder and brown sugar and rub both sides of the pork chops with it.  Then pour a cup of bourbon over them.  Let them marinate for 30 minutes to an hour.  Turn them over every once in a while.

Sweet & Sour Red Cabbage

1/4 stick butter
1 small red onion, thinly sliced

1 granny smith apple, peeled and sliced

1/2 red cabbage, sliced.

1/3 cup balsamic vinegar

1/3 cup cider vinegar

1/2 Cup water

1/4 Cup brown sugar

Heat the pan to medium, melt the butter and cook the onions until translucent.  Add the apples and cook for a few minutes, then add the balsamic vinegar and cook for a few minutes.  Add the sugar and stir.  Add the cabbage, cider vinegar and water.  Turn up heat until it boils, then turn down to a low summer and cook for about 20 minutes until cabbage is tender.   You could add some bacon to this too. 

You should get a George Foreman grill.  Those things are great for cooking chops and steaks.  Heat up the grill.  Put the chops on the grill and pour the marinade in a sauce pan, add about 1/4 cup brown sugar and cook down until it is syrupy.   When the chops get some color on them brush them with the bourbon glaze every time you turn them, every 5 minutes or so.  They will cook on this grill in little over a half an hour.