Oh, Sweet Jesus

Artist Cosimo Cavallaro is planning to unveil his 6 foot tall, anatomically correct sculpture of the crucified Christ made completely out of chocolate in Manhattan on Monday, just in time for Holy Week. While the claim is that the timing is coincidental, I somehow doubt it. Catholic groups (and others, no doubt) are reacting strongly against the exhibit, calling for a boycott on the hotel that is hosting it.

"It's an all-out war on Christianity," fumed Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights. "They wouldn't show a depiction of Martin Luther King Jr. with genitals exposed on Martin Luther King Day, and they wouldn't show Muhammed depicted this way during Ramadan. It's always Christians, and the timing is deliberate."

Cavallaro, an Italian immigrant who was raised a Catholic, insisted he's not looking to offend anyone. "This person is talking from a very narrow window," he said of Donohue. "They're not allowing themselves to open their hearts. ... If it makes them feel better, I'll ask for their forgiveness and do 10 Hail Marys, but they should just lighten up and be more accepting of people."   (Quotes from NYDailyNews)

BestWeekEver comments that "from what I can tell, they [Christians] get up in arms over any depiction of Christ that’s not radiating a heavenly halo glow as rendered by Thomas Kinkade, 'painter of light'"

Now, I'm not a fan of Kinkade, but I'm also not entirely sure what I think of this exhibit. It's hard to critique it based on the chosen medium when Christians market Easter candy like 'Last Supper Chocolate Bars', eating the image of Christ. And I don't want to judge too quickly - the rapid and violent reaction to art like the Piss Christ is, to my mind, unwarranted and fails to make any honest attempt to understand what it is that the artist is trying to communicate. As it says on OldSpeak,

In reality, the offensiveness of Piss Christ is due at least somewhat to the patently unbiblical nature of much current Christian art. That is, the submersion of Christ in a jar of urine is offensive to evangelicals at least partly because the humiliation and scandal of the Incarnation is, in practical terms, typically ignored in contemporary evangelical art. When a Christian artist draws a portrait of Jesus serenely cradling children in his lap, the artist is portraying the gentleness and love of Christ, and this kind of portrait certainly has value—but in ignoring the tension implicit in the divine and human natures of Jesus, contemporary Christian art is often deeply unbiblical.

So it brings up the question yet again: what is 'good' art? And what responsibility do Christians have to look deeper at what art is communicating about culture and, in some cases, Christianity itself? Are we open to critique (we all remember the response to movies like Saved and Dogma, which I found to be wonderful satires that pointed to problems in Christianity we desperately need to hear) or do we become overly defensive at the first sign of offense? I'd love to hear y'alls thoughts... 

Update: The show has been cancelled due to the outcry.

Updated Again to Add:  Hearts & Minds Booknotes has a great review of a book on art (that I've not yet read) called It Was Good: Making Art to the Glory of God. Might be worth checking into.

 

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Thursday in Montreux

I love Thursdays. They are the one day a week that I can do precisely what I want: no more, no less. For the last month or so, what I've wanted is solitude. I've spent time walking my favorite mountain paths when the weather is nice, reading novels, writing like crazy as I attempt to unmuddle my thoughts, and knitting in the evening to movies I love. And, of course, watching the latest episode of 24 with the gang.

But yesterday, I decided to get crazy and leave Huemoz, heading to Montreux to spend the day with the larger portion of Bellevue. We shopped a little, but primarily spent the day on the rocks overlooking the lake, eating, drinking and laughing together. It was so beautiful that I couldn't resist sharing some pictures of it here.

Lac Leman

One of the swans that kept us company all day

Caitlin channeling St. Francis....

 

 

while Tori channels a slightly more inebriated St. Francis

 

 

 

The Gang

 

Jesse and Nate adding their own touches to the rock sculptures

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rock sculptures with a view

 

 

 

 

 

Jason  - gotta love him                                  Tara, Caitlin and I

 

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Ahh, Politics

A small collection of articles I've found interesting this week...

A recent article in Salon diagnoses some of the problems that the GOP will have in the 2008 elections. Some very interesting statistics were cited, including an increase in the number of people disturbed by the growing gap between the rich and the poor, including a nearly 15% rise in concern among people who make over $75,000 a year. Heartening. Less heartening? 43% of Americans polled say that torture is often/sometimes justified.  And 40% (down, thankfully, from 61% after 9/11) still endorse what amounts to "revenge as a guiding principle of foreign policy." And this in a 'Christian nation', with 79% affirming that "we  will all be called before God at the Judgment Day to answer for our sins." (Although I suspect that if pressed, most of those 79% couldn't say with any clarity what that even means to them.) We know that Jesus cared for the poor and the helpless and exhorted us to do the same, but, as the author asks, "what would Jesus think about torture?" There doesn't seem to be any consistent ethic that cuts across issues. Is life only important when it is American/Western life? Is our morality completely selfish - a Machiavellian 'ends justifies the means' scenario? I'll be curious to see where it all goes during this next election...

Also on Salon, there is a good repository of articles about the current U.S. Attorney scandal. Mr. Rove, methinks you've gone too far.

Read before you drink: Did you know that you probably drink over 20% of your daily calories? And that those calories likely contribute nothing to your health and may actually detract from it? But on the good side, caffeine may be good for your brain, and coffee/tea were second only to water as a drink of choice. mmmmmCoffee....

Hermeneutics in Islam - How do you translate this?  "The hotly debated verse states that a rebellious woman should first be admonished, then abandoned in bed and ultimately 'beaten' - the most common translation for the Arabic word 'daraba' - unless her behavior improves." Yet, the prophet also said "Do not beat your wife like you beat your camel, for you will be flogging her early in the day and taking her to bed at night." As so often in religion, the line between faith and culture is blurry, at best.

New use for the iPod: helping doctors detect heart problems.

Global warming hits Arizona

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Streams of Living Water

I'm reading Richard Foster's book Streams of Living Water: Celebrating the Great Traditions of Christian Faith right now, and just loving it.

 He begins by looking at Jesus as the perfect embodiment of all of the streams of spiritual life, and then goes into a discussion of each of the traditions. The format is excellent, each chapter beginning with three short biographies - one historical, one biblical, and one contemporary - that exemplify the tradition, or 'stream'. He then moves to defining the tradition, identifying the strengths as well as outlining some of the 'potential perils', always careful to note that the weaknesses aren't intrinsic to the tradition itself, but result from perversions of it. Finally, there is a section on practicing the tradition, with practical suggestions for ways in which to incorporate some of the ideas into daily life.

The traditions he discusses are:

• The Contemplative Tradition: The Prayer-Filled Life
• The Holiness Tradition: The Virtuous Life
• The Charismatic Tradition: The Spirit-Empowered Life
• The Social Justice Tradition: The Compassionate Life
• The Evangelical Tradition: The Word-Centered Life
• The Incarnational Tradition: The Sacramental Life

I like the way he draws attention to the overlaps between the streams, and calls us to seek a more holistic spirituality that draws on the strengths of them all. Also, the stories of the people he chose were interesting, inspiring, and sometimes, well, shocking. Some of the ascetic practices that people have done historically are just a little gross. And some seem almost unreal - the healing ministries of people like St. Anthony, the working of the Spirit in the Azusa Street Mission of William Seymour, the ability of John Woolman to nearly single-handedly overturn the practice of slavery for the Quakers with the force of his convictions and character. They all scream off the page at me, "Behold, the power of God."

At the end of the book he includes two very helpful appendices. One is a brief history outlining the 'critical turning points in church history'; the other is a list with short, one paragraph, descriptions of many notable figures and significant movements in church history, and identifies which tradition they are most strongly associated with.

In sum, a very helpful book, with stories both inspiring and convicting. It compels the reader to look again to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith (Heb 12:2), as a model for our lives. It also highlights the need to, as Greg often says, move away from the ambiguity of spirituality of our time and return to a spirituality rooted in scripture, an exciting, dynamic life lived holistically within the world, not somewhere apart from it. As Martin Marty says in the foreword, “Having a mooring at that source does not mean getting to stay at home while the winds would blow into the sails. It means knowing where the lighthouses and beacons are, where the harbor is into which to return for momentary retreat before the next sailing forth into the turmoil of the world.”

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In local news...

As reported in the International Herald Tribune: 

A Swiss man was sentenced to 10 years in prison Thursday for spray-painting graffiti over images of Thailand's revered king, the first conviction of a foreigner in at least a decade under strict Thai laws protecting the monarchy.

[King] Bhumibol, who is greatly loved by Thais and regarded by some as semi-divine, is protected from reproach by strict laws that forbid any criticism of the monarchy.

And in other news, Scotland's new ban on smoking in pubs has had some unexpected repercussions as, apparently, the smell of smoke was serving to mask the far worse smell of flatulence. Now at least one avid gas-passer has been banned from his favorite haunt. The tragedy! (HT: Luz)

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Quote for the Day

The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four Americans is suffering from some form of mental illness. Think of your three best friends. If they're okay, then it's you.
  - Rita Mae Brown

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Boom Goes The Dynamite

Awkward.... 

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Exit Interviews

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.
                                                   -- 1 Corinthians 4:20

I ran across this verse today as I was reading Richard Foster's book Streams of Living Water regarding the charismatic tradition of Christian spirituality. How easily we 'domesticate God', leaving little room in our lives for the powerful working of the Spirit.

I thought of it again as I read Ed Gilbreath's recent piece in Christianity Today, titled Exit Interviews: Why Blacks are Leaving Evangelical Ministries. He says,

As Christians, it's possible for us to do wonderfully holy things cross-culturally without ever experiencing a fundamental change in our thinking. To break out of the monochromatic status quo of today's evangelical movement, we must confront hard truths about ourselves and about the things that truly drive our institutions.

Which brings to mind Paul's words in Romans, that we are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.

This power, this transformation, isn't something that we can generate on our own. We're going to need the power of the Spirit individually as well as corporately if we ever want to bridge the racial divide in the American church. I know, I know. Thus saith the white girl living in Switzerland. But I've been confronted over the last few days with some of the 'hard truths' about myself, and I'm discovering that I'm part of the problem. And I probably don't know the half of it. I need to start learning, to start paying attention to voices I've ignored without even noticing I was tuning them out. So as I come across some of these resources, I'll continue to post them here.

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Attention, Multitaskers

An article in the International Herald Tribune today reports that the brain cannot efficiently process more than one thing at a time. You may wonder, is it different for the kids who grew up with all this technology? Are we adapting to the constant interruptions? Well, not really...

"The older people think more slowly, but they have a faster fluid intelligence, so they are better able to block out interruptions and choose what to focus on," said Martin Westwell, deputy director of the institute.

So that's some good news for you old guys. You're slow, but focused. And here's an alarming statistic for you business owners and managers:

The productivity lost by overtaxed multitaskers cannot be measured precisely, but it is probably a lot.

Sometimes, I just find the 'news' funny.

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Everybody's Doing It

I've noticed this on several people's blogs lately, and decided go ahead and do my own. Not exactly revelatory, but I did get this spiffy little widget to share. Some of my favorite diagnoses:

• When it comes to holidays, you'll take experience over comfort every time (true enough, but I do love a little luxury)
• Being a creature of the night.... (ummm, not in about 10 years)
• You have a relaxed approach to your life and your environment (some just say I'm sloppy. I like this verbage much better)
• When you think of freedom, you think of technology providing you with the links to communicate wherever you are (Need I even comment, as I'm posting this on my blog?)

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

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A Posture of Learning

A friend of mine and I were recently talking about some of the effects of race relations in America after she finished reading Wendell Berry's book called The Hidden Wound (which I haven't yet read but is now at the top of my list). After the conversation, I was struck by the fact that I've never really thought about race relations. I mean really thought about it. So, I sent off an email to a man I know who is very well versed on the topic to ask for a starting point for exploration, and he replied with some ideas of resources and suggested that I browse his blog as well. Which I highly recommend to everyone, as he's got some really excellent articles. In one of his posts (Feb. 5th) he links to a couple of lectures, which I listened to. They were both fantastic.

One, by Soong Chan-Rah speaking at Wheaton College on January 29th, talks about the changing racial make-up of the Christian church, and uses Acts 15 to draw a paralell between the predominant Jewish culture in the early church and the white western culture in America now. Think about it. He calls us out of our individualistic mindset (I've never owned a slave. I've never taken land from a Native American) and into corporate responsibility. He calls us to relinquish power and privilege in order to adopt a more Biblical mindset of inclusion and mutual embrace of what the other has to offer.

The other, by Oscar Muriu (a pastor from Nairobi) speaking at the Urbana '06 Conference, deals with the global church. He talks about the changing face of missions, as North America is now the 3rd most pagan culture in the world (after India and China) and the church is growing like wildfire in the non-Western world. He repeats the need to look outside of our individualistic interpretation of Scripture and seek a more global understanding. My favorite part was when he reframed 1 Corinthians 12, which we, as he said, usually read as pertaining solely to our personal gifts contributing to the local church, and brought it into a wider context. Here is an extended quote...

Now the body is not made up of one part, but of many. If the American church should say, because I am not African, I do not belong to the body, it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. If the Canadian church should say, because I am not Asian I do not belong to the body, it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. If the whole body were European, where would the sense of joy be? And if the whole body were African, where would the sense of order be? But in fact, God has arranged the parts of the body - every one of them - just as He wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body. The Canadian church cannot say to the Asian church, I do not need you. And the American church cannot say to the African church, I don't need you. On the contrary, the Asian parts that seem to be weaker, are indispensible. And the African parts that we think are less honorable, should be treated with special honor. And the Latin American parts that seem unpresentable are treated with special modesty. While the presentable parts like the big, wealthy American church need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body, and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it. If one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

As he spoke, I thought of my view of the African church. How I hear stories about some of the amazing miracles taking place there, am touched by the stories, but some part of me thinks "Well, that's great, but a little primitive. They'll grow out of it." And then I thought about how predominantly WASPy my community is. I wonder how many subtle prejudices taint my thought and action, and I pray that God will reveal some of that to me, and to all of us. We (I) need to start approaching people/cultures who are different with less of a patronizing attitude, and adobt what Muriu terms a 'posture of learning and humility'. May we truly be one body under the headship of Christ.

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Recent Knitting Projects

Since Dad appears to be on the road to good, and I feel like I can breathe again, I suppose it's time to return to regularly scheduled programming here on the blog. I've gotten a few projects off the needles in the last week (and cast a few more on), so here are some pics of a couple of completed objects.

Socks custom built for Kay, using Cat Bordhi's fabulous techniques on 2 circular needles, as found in Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Julian showing off his moves in his new cigar mitts, which were slightly modified to become 'guitar mitts', the closed 2 fingers on one hand still allowing picking, and the open hand can be used for chords.

 

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New Pics From Dad

Dad just sent a couple of pictures of 'the claw'. Warning for the faint of heart... they're pretty gross.

Mom and Dad at the hospital in Corpus Christi

The battle scarred hand. He got bitten near the thumb, and the incisions at the wrist and on the arm were done to relieve pressure on the nerves from the swelling.

Look Ma! No pants!

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On the Road Again...

I just got off the phone with Dad, and he is getting his final dose of antibiotics before they're letting him head home. Unbelievable how quick this whole thing has happened! He'll still need to see a wound care specialist daily for the next month, and the healing will be a long process. To keep the pressure down the arm has to stay elevated above his heart, and kind of restricts his movement and comfort. He's an extremely active person, and I suspect the next bit is going to be as emotionally taxing as physically, as a lot of adjustments are going to have to be made and life will probably slow down for a while more than he wants it to. Please continue to keep him in your prayers, and again, thanks for the huge outpouring of support to all of us. It has meant the world.

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Creature Feature

They don't have the cable to pull the wound photos off of the camera, but Josh sent me some visuals of the fanged offender. (By the way, judging from the photos I'm thinking I don't have the whole story - maybe it was a case of 'some things have been changed to protect the innocent' or maybe I just didn't understand - but if someone wants to comment with the full version, I'd appreciate it.) So without further ado, here's a small pictorial...

Dad, Louis and Jeb at the ranch in Freer, pre-attack

The offender, before running into large men with guns

After running into large men with guns

And a trophy to shake as he someday relays this story to his grandkids.

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It Keeps Getting Better

I called right before heading to bed last night, and Dad, Mom and Josh were in the middle of a game of moon dominoes. It even sounded like Dad was winning, and no matter how sick a person is our family never 'lets' anyone win, so he must be doing okay. He got on the phone singing (literally) and doesn't even seem to mind that the move to a regular room means a downgrade in space. They're all pretty cramped in, but they're managing to pass the time. I think he's getting restless and ready to go home, and hopefully that will be possible within the next few days.

Mom has promised me some photos of the arm, and I'll post them here as soon as I get them for any of you interested in a visual of the damage. Ick.

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Update

ETA: He's been moved out of ICU and into a regular room, where he'll be staying until the doctors judge that the swelling has gone down sufficiently. He's starting to regain a little feeling in his thumb and pinky, which is terrific; we're just hoping that he doesn't regain too much feeling - according to my mom, the 'tiny' incisions on his wrist and arm weren't actually that tiny. Other great news is that the tissue in his hand didn't die from the venom, so he probably won't be needing additional surgery. Surprising, wonderful news!

 

Talked to mom, and they are still waiting for the plastic surgeon to come by this morning. He's more alert, and the swelling in his hand appears to be decreasing and he's getting a more natural color back in his fingers. They can't see what's happening with the arm right now, as it's bandaged from wrist to elbow from the surgery last night, but the painful pressure seems to be going down. He's still in ICU, but they're hoping to move him into a regular room sometime today. Thanks again for all the prayers. He once told me that if you could count your true friends on one hand, you were lucky. He's also fond of saying that sometimes when you fall face first into a pile of shit, sometimes you come out with a gold nugget in your teeth. Well, I'd say he's right on both counts - this whole ordeal has shown him to be lucky, loved, and (maybe I'll wait awhile before telling him this as he may not find the blessing just yet) blessed beyond belief.

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Update

The fam (unknowingly) slipped him a chocolate malt at lunch, so they had to delay the surgery until 9 in the evening as he needed an empty stomach. It went well... they ended up making 2 incisions; one at the wrist and one a little further up the arm. My dad said he could tell a big difference as far as it feeling better and relieving some of the pressure, so all is successful. The doctor will be back by in the morning and we'll see where things stand.

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A Small Procedure

The surgeon will be doing the procedure to relieve the pressure on the nerves to his hand at 4:00 this afternoon. Again, it should just be a small incision to ensure that the nerves don't get pinched because of the swelling, and make sure that he doesn't lose the functionality in his hand. Please continue to pray that the swelling will recede and that there won't be any unforeseen complications.

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Update

A snake bite specialist met with him, and reassured us that what is going on is okay. This should be the plateau before the upswing. Everyone feels much better now that we have word from someone who really has experience in this area. The plastic surgeon is concerned about the swelling in his hand cutting off the nerves at his wrist that control his hand, and so if it doesn't go down by this afternoon, he will have a small procedure done. Just an incision to give things some room... nothing too major, it will only require local anesthetic. We're all very relieved - there was a bit of panic after the swelling had increased so much this morning.

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