A General Convention Primer

For those of you heading to General Convention and for those of you just wondering what all the fuss is about, here is a really good video primer on what General Convention is and some major legislation for this General Convention from the Diocese of Southwest Florida. Enjoy!

BCP is a Girl's Best Friend

In case people still think that Episcopalians don't have a sense of humor, here is a lovely video about what a girl's best friend really is.

Straight Outta Compline

I know that I haven't written in a while and I do have thoughts stacked up but I really had to share this one today. I am giggling all over the place because of this really brilliant video. Such a creative pair!

Kevin Smith Last Supper

Continuing with the pop culture Last Supper theme, is today's piece from the great satirist Kevin Smith.

What I love about someone doing a Last Supper piece with the characters from Kevin Smith movies is that Kevin Smith is pretty honest about his love for religion and the Catholic church. If you look at Dogma he obviously knows his material on a variety of levels. His movies are an example of the way in which we can poke fun at ourselves and our beliefs to find a deeper meaning. One of my favorite moments was the night I got a call from the members of the senior high youth group who were sitting at Dairy Queen. They had watched Dogma as a group (on their own) several nights before and were discussing whether they were hypocrites for the beliefs that they professed to hold. I simply could not resist joining them in their discussion. It was one of the moments when I not only realized that I had helped to do something to make a difference but that I loved those youth more than I realized. I also realized once again how stone cold brilliant they all were. So this Last Supper is dedicated to Kari, Caitlin, Jody, Emmalee, Adam and Peter.

Star Wars Last Supper

Today a friend sent me a link to an interesting blog called Popped Culture. The blog has been running a collection of Last Supper paintings modeled after the great piece of artwork by Leonardo da Vinci known by Godly Play teachers and Dan Brown fans alike. I thought over the course of this week I might share some of the ones that particularly click for me. I am sure that regular readers and my friends will be utterly shocked by the ones that I have choosen.

First off is this piece by Eric Deschamps who was commissioned by Giant magazine to create a Star Wars Last Supper in honor of the release of Star Wars Episode III.

I love so many things about this idea, not the least of which is the way in which a piece of artwork that tells a story from the Bible has had such an effect on our modern culture some 500 years after it was painted. I wonder in what ways the church is still having this effect today?

A New Generation

My friends know that I have this unusual fascination with the Duggars. If you are not familiar with them check out this information from Wikipedia or from their own website. I am not a big fan of reality television and don't really watch any other reality shows, but I try to never miss an episode of the various Duggar shows. I even joyfully watch episodes that I have seen before. While I find them a little bit odd, I also find things to respect about them. I even admit that sometimes I am a little jealous of their certainty about their path. They seem to see the world in black and white, while I rarely see anything other than various shades of grey.

So naturally today when I saw the news that another generation of Duggars is breeding I was just a little bit excited. Oldest son Josh married Anna last fall and they just announced that they are expecting their first child on the Today Show. You can see the video from the announcement too.

Proud Iowan

Okay so most people know what my home state did a little more than a week ago. The state supreme court decided that a ban on same-sex marriage was against the constitution. YIPPIE! I am excited about this for so many reasons. Right now my biggest excitement though is because my cousin Michael is due to marry his partner Heath on May 9th in Des Moines. I am tickled pink about this.

Recently a good friend sent me this cartoon about Iowa's newest decision.
All sorts of people have written interesting pieces about the state. Including those who at one point were Iowans like this article from Ross Hyzer who was my neighbor growing up. Or this piece from the New York Times op-ed page which made me tear up. I honestly didn't know that Iowa had that kind of a history. Maureen Dowd wrote about Iowa in a piece that was semi-mocking but really all in good fun, as we Iowans love a good Iowa joke when we hear one, well as long as it is funny.

I learned a lot about Iowa over the past week. I didn't know that the University of Iowa in 1847 became the first public university to admit women and men on an equal basis. I also didn't know that Iowa in 1851 ended restrictions on interracial marriage, more than a century before the US Supreme Court ruled it illegal.

Today a friend wrote me that she felt she couldn't be a part of the Episcopal Church any longer because the Bishop of Iowa Alan Scarfe said that he couldn't allow priests in the state to sign marriage licenses. I wish that it were different. I know why Alan cannot do so and am disappointed that we as a church aren't there yet. I also feel though that part of my responsibility as an Episcopalian is to change from within and not leave. I know it isn't the choice that everyone will make, nor should they but it is the choice that I am making. Grumble, there is nothing like taking the hard way out.

The Choir of the House of Bishops

It is nice to know that Bishops do have some fun together. Here is a little video of the choir from the House of Bishops. I find it particularly fun to watch Eugene Sutton stand in the corner but that is just because I like to mock Eugene. Yes I mock bishops. Many of us do, I just am doing it in public. Really you should have seen what we did to him at work last spring. Then again that was before he was a bishop. Bonus points for the number of bishops that you can correctly name.

Iowa State Song

On Sunday morning I stayed very close to my radio awaiting the "Your Letters" section of NPR Weekend Edition Sunday. I had heard a rumor that my Uncle Tom's historical and vocal skills were going to be featured. Tom is currently on the staff of Graceland College, which has no connection to Elvis at all, and is the former head of the Iowa State Historical Society. You can hear the spot here, it begins about one minute ten seconds into the piece.

Tom was responding to the NPR story last week on the song for the State of Maryland, which takes a rather strong stance on "Northerners". When he wrote his letter, NPR called him to ask some questions and then asked him to sing a little bit of the song. Thankfully Tom is descended from Nana Lois and has a great set of pipes.

Congrats Uncle Tom on your 22 seconds of fame.

The Good Samaritan

Okay I confess, sometimes I get sick of the parables. I know they are the stories that Jesus told, and I know that they are special. Sometimes though it just feels like whenever those stories come up I hear the same damn sermon every time. Or the same fraking lesson when it is taught. So I am thankful to Mad Priest for putting together a bit of a twist and a retelling of the story over at "Of Course I Could Be Wrong". He retells the story as the Parable of the Good Nigerian. I enjoy it because it does deal with that continual issue of "What the hell is a Samaritan?" and "Why is it so unusual to have a good one?"

Best Video Ever

Okay so a brag moment now. One of my favorite people has a great video out there to plug the Minnesota Boys State Hockey Tournament for KSTC-TV. I am so impressed by this video. He is the editor and quite frankly I think that he just slammed this one home. I would seriously advocate for awards for this if I had any pull at all. But of course in this area I got nothing. So instead I share with you for your enjoyment. Nicely done Chad! Check out the video for yourself.

At the moment the video is only on Facebook, so you might have trouble seeing it, but if you are my friend then you can check it out. And if you are not my friend then I ask, why the heck not?