Holy Crap!! (aka Prayer???)

What the????

Okay - I'm trying to be "interest catching" and controversial with that title...  I don't necessarily find the idea of prayer completely synonymous with "Holy Crap" - but often I think it is.  And, a bit of honesty (that may prompt knowing grins from my atheist friends, and exclamations along the lines of "aha!  I KNEW it!!" from some of my Christian friends...  )  At this point in my spiritual journey - I kinda...don't... pray.  I just don't.

If God isn't love...

I've been wondering whether to continue with the blog, however there's a thought rolling around in my

head that won't let me go, so here I am again!

I've realised something.  There are lots of ideas out there about what "God" is like.  They can't all be right - in fact, (& I guess this ought to be obvious) if we are talking about something as infinite as "God" - none of them can be, really.  I mean - nobody can possibly fit something that large into any kind of human explanation - not in its entirety, anyway.  But that isn't my realisation.

WHAT IF the notion that I hold dearly, that God is Love - and vice versa - is complete nonsense?  (I don't think it is but let's stay with that, for a moment, for argument's sake)   What if God REALLY is a demanding, legalistic, (dare I say, small minded, petty) tyrant, who insists on rigid rules and judges minor details of our lives, with eternal consequences....  (right now I'm looking at that description and wondering how something so petty and narrow could even be called God, but anyway...)

Crime and Punishment

I read this clever take on the old story about the woman caught in adultery, on Shane Clifton's Blog, this morning.

It really IS clever... but somehow, I can't quite agree with it.

Orson Scott Card frames the tension in this story as a tug-of-war between legalism and corruption.  Somehow, "Rabbi Jesus" comes out as having the perfect balance, able to both "preserve the law and forgive the deviation".

Now I might be on shaky theological ground, here... so I'm chucking it out there to see what others have to say... but I don't think Jesus was on the Law/Lenience paradigm at all, at all, at all.  Hear me out... then tell me what you think...

Against such things...

Recently I've been involved in some online discussions regarding the issue of same-sex marriage.  In the first, I posted what I thought was a fairly innocuous comment on facebook, in support of marriage equality.  The reaction was... astounding!!  I was quite unprepared for the level of vitriol - and the most vitriolic responses invoked "God" as their justification.  Ouch!!

Jesus as Performance Artist...???

Image Credit:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2010/oct/03/interview-marina-abramovic-performance-artist

Yes.  I know - this sounds kinda weird...  but I have been switched on to performance art, recently, after viewing a performance by Marina Abramovic, and learning more about her solo work, as well as her collaborations with German artist, Ulay.

Performance art is something I have never previously understood.  My first experience of it was when a friend and I visited the NSW Art Gallery, and attended a performance art event that just happened to be on.  I think we were all of 18 or 19 years old at the time.  We didn't know what to make of the bizarre behaviour of the performer.  It was confronting, to say the least!  Over the years I have seen occasional performance art pieces, but did not find the artform accessible.  The piece by Abramovic, linked to above, moved me to tears - in fact, I was a wreck!  I shared it with a good friend, and she had the same reaction.  Powerful stuff!

Hello again, cyber-space!

It has been quite a while since I have even thought about writing a new blog post...  Life has been hectic, wonderful, exciting, challenging and very full, over the last few months.  I do plan to pick up the blogging again, and finally, things have slowed down enough for me to have a few thoughts percolating...  but in the meantime, I thought y'all might like a glimpse of just a few of the things I've been up to over the last few months...

In full housework regalia (and by housework, I mean building the house - plastering walls, putting on cornice, architraves, skirtings, and painting!!)

House Renovations - have taken a leap forward!!  We have new STAIRS, I am now living in a proper bedroom with a REAL closet!!  My daughter has moved out of the study and into her real bedroom, and the upstairs living area is now an actual living area - not a "temporary-bedroom-camp-tool-storage-and-makeshift-office-mess-explosion"!!  What a difference it makes!  There is still a lot that remains unfinished, but the living spaces are functional now, and I'm loving the sense of space and order that has provided.

It was worth the weeks of hard work to get it to that point.  On the way - help from friends and family (my wonderful brother-in-law, Warren, came down for a week's "holiday", just to help with the plastering, and other friends helped with the clean up, shifting furniture, and other things that I really couldn't manage alone) made me feel very loved, and wonderfully connected.

Wazza risking life and limb above the stairwell!

Reno - glam girl!!! 

My plasterwork...  ready for painting

Finished - Doesn't it look beautiful??

We celebrated with a "renovation-warming" party in January...  Which was quite a spectacular celebration!  For me, after not months but years of "makeshift living", to be able to welcome friends and family into my space and have them celebrate with me was something very special and memorable.  We barbecued, ate, drank, laughed, sat around an outdoor fire, watched the kids running around in dressups, and playing with glow sticks and sparklers.  My belly dancing buddies and I performed (whoo-hoo!!) & then lots of the other girls, from the ages of two, to seventy-two (as well as one adventurous boy - who some of you have met on these pages, so I will dob him in - blogging buddy,  Andrew Cook  ) joined in just for the fun of it!

Since the renovation push, I've been concentrating on catching up some of the jobs that had been neglected outdoors, both because of the concentrated renovation efforts, and having been unwell for the last part of 2012.  I'm enjoying seeing my vegetable garden re-emerge from the jungle of weeds, have been doing some very overdue (and enjoyable) Autumn pruning, and am working on building a hen-house for the beautiful Barnevelder chickens I have acquired, and which are currently "agisting" with a friend until their palace is complete.

My beautiful Barnevelder Babies!

On a personal note, there seems to be quite a poetical symmetry between these physical and practical developments and the emotional and relational shifts and changes I've been going through at the same time.  During the time house renovations were being sorted, property settlement and divorce details were amicably arranged.  As with the house, it is not all quite complete - but the important parts are in place, and all is well.  I mentioned that I had not been well for the latter part of 2012, and this has also resolved, and I'm feeling better than I have in a very long time.  On multiple levels, there is a sense of resolution and of moving on.  It is a nice season to be in!