7 Recovering Takes

Is it Friday? Who even knows.
One
Matt and I did go off to a church thingy this week, distributing the children amongst our friends and trying to remotely coordinate rides to things and encourage the recovery of lost musical scripts and indulging in a little medical freaking out. Marigold’s “spider bite” on Sunday morning, of course, right before we set off, came to look like a bullseye. The gates of hell were prevailing against me pretty well, but somehow I was shoved onto the airplane anyway and one of those afore mentioned friends took her to the doctor the next day and got her an antibiotic. As I said to Matt, every other mother I know would cancel her trip because no American really believes Hillary Clinton that “it takes a village.” I’m the only one, I think, who apparently lives that way. Only, it’s not a village, and certainly not the government (which is what Mrs. Clinton really means), it’s the church. If you don’t have a good church and make friends with all the people in the church, how are you even going to raise your child?

Two
Speaking of flying. Here is a long video about why all airlines are collapsing. (The narrator is a touch annoying, but the information is interesting.)

Three
Got home to the news that a Binghamton University professor won the Nobel Prize in chemistry, which is so cool. And, amazingly, that young Global Climate Change alarmist did not get the peace prize, but rather a person has worked really hard on making actual peace between Ethiopia and Eritrea. Such an interesting man.

Four
Also, would you believe it, our Interior Designing Betters have decreed that all the stuff they made us buy last year is no longer “in” and it’s time to rip it all out and buy the stuff they are, by fiat, declaring will take its place. Oh, and here are the kind of shoes you may now wear. Gosh, a lot of them are hideously ugly. Good luck!

Five
The church thing was so helpful. The main speaker talked about mediation and conflict management and helping people come back towards each other when they are bent on running as far away as possible and ruining the whole church in the process. We all, like sheep, hate conflict, of course, so it takes serious, thoughtful, considered effort to go against the grain and do what Jesus really wants us to do, which is to make peace. Also, he talked some about parenting, which led in to the question of congregational peace (can’t remember exactly how just this second because I’m too tired), and that part was really helpful too. Examined my own parenting under a new lens and feel better equipped to cope with the child who is screaming right now. There’s always one child screaming, and I’m lots more reactive than proactive. But now I will totally be calm and “intentional.” It’s going to be awesome.

Six
The sermons were really good too. Get this, did you know you can’t earn God’s love just by working harder? I know, right! Crazy.

Seven
All the while I was reading the twitter feed of the Evolving Faith Conference and trying to trace out the difference between where I am and all of those people are, because, you know, a great chasm is fixed between orthodox Christian faith and the kind of pseudo “faith” that says, “Those who try to make their faith secure will lose it. But those who lose their faith will keep it.” That little gem is by Barbara Brown Taylor and it utterly depresses me. Because, don’t you know, Christians aren’t worshipers of “faith,” they are worshipers of Jesus who gathers up and perfects the faith of the one who turns to him. It is good to lose your faith in stuff that can’t save you, and to lose faith in yourself, since you’re not even God, but I don’t think that’s what she means. I think she means you should double down on yourself and your own inclinations, hoping, “having faith in” some cosmic yes to make it all come right in the end. That is so foolish. That kind of faith is already dead.

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