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A_Brittle_Bow
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Name: Catherine
Gender: Female
Interests: poetry, education, and the meaning of life
Expertise: forgiveness, irrationality, and lentil soup
Occupation: housewife & poet
Message: message me
Member Since:
12/14/2006
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| I got this post prompt from Pickwick12, and it sounded like fun, so here goes!
Directions: don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen books you've read that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes.
1. The Lord of the Rings. Reading it again this week is reminding me of all the reasons why I fell in love with it in the first place. Outside of Scripture, I don't think there's any more compelling story of sacrifice and salvation.
2. A Wrinkle in Time. I would cite every Madeline L'Engle book I've ever read, but I think this one is the one that started it all for me. The harrowing story of Meg fighting to save Charles Wallace is thrilling every time.
3. The World of Pooh. Still makes me laugh out loud.
4. Emily of New Moon. (And the other Emily Books). This series shaped me as a teenager. It made me believe in writing as a calling I might have, it taught me accept the miraculous, and it opened my eyes to grief that changes you without ruining your life.
5. The Betsy Books. Another series that shaped me as a youth. Betsy taught me who I wanted to be, and proved that girls could flirt and giggle and daydream and still be intelligent and interesting. If I had to choose just one, it would be Heaven to Betsy.
6. Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith. In my nerve-racked college years, and still today, this book gives me hope that Christian literature of high quality can be accepted in the secular world. I have rarely been so moved by literature.
7. Matilda. Another one that still makes me laugh aloud, although I see much more in it now than I did when I first read it as a child. This book taught me that intelligence might make you weird, but that's okay.
8. Carry On, Jeeves (and others by P.G. Wodehouse). There's almost nothing in the world that makes me laugh harder.
9. Vanity Fair. I started this book because I had to read a novel for a college class. I finished it because I was totally enthralled. Thackeray is a master.
10. Sense and Sensibility. Of course, I could put almost anything by Austen, but this one is my current favorite.
11. Homecoming. Not only have I been changed by loving this book, I am still being changed by it as I share it with a student. I am in awe of the writing and the story as I look at it through new eyes.
12. Mere Christianity. The most basic of Lewis' theological works, and the one that captured my heart and made me a lifelong devotee of apologetics.
13. A Few Figs From Thistles. I think this is my favorite of Edna St. Vincent Millay's collections, but in all honesty I'm hard pressed to choose.
14. The Complete Works of George Herbert. Awe-inspiring. There's just no other word.
15. The Complete Works of John Donne. Donne's verse is total genius.
These aren't necessarily my favorite, but they are definitely books that have has a profound impact on me, both as a person and as a writer. What are your favorite fifteen?
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| Last night at Bible study my pastor had a request for the attendees. He and an elder hold a service at the women's prison in town every Sunday afternoon, and the ministry has been bearing a lot of fruit. So last Sunday, when they took the written prayer requests they take each week, there was such in overwhelming influx of requests that my pastor couldn't handle them all. He brought them to Bible study and asked for our help, explaining that between church duties and his full-time job, he had only had time to pray for a few specifically and for the bunch generally. So everyone who was willing took a few off the pile, until they were all gone.
Last night, before bed, I broke out my little stash of requests and prayed over them. I had been planning to just quickly murmur a petition for each one, but as I read the scratchy penciled notes, I had to pause. I was overwhelmed. There is so much grief in the world.
These women have been on my heart all day. Since I've recently started work in the social services sector, I know that many of those women who scrawled their requests on crumpled paper have beloved children in the system I help to manage. I know many of them are grieved and frightened about their children's future, and about their future with their children. I know from their requests that almost all of them are struggling with addiction of some kind. Although mostly they didn't write about it, I'm certain that all of them have been dreadfully hurt, abused, and betrayed. And reading their words, praying over them, I couldn't help but wonder--what makes me so much more lucky than them? Why, in God's mercy, was there a place for so much sorrow, alongside so much peace?
But even as I prayed, I knew the answer. It is God's mercy that brought people like my pastor and our church, to stand alongside the broken and abused and to offer them grace. It is God's mercy that has kept them alive and seeking, that has brought them to this ministry of reconciliation.
The world is an evil place. Terrible things happen to innocent people every day. But the evil and terrible things are not the fault of God. It is the goodness in the world, not the evil, that is out of place. It is the grace and the love and the acceptance that don't belong in this life, not the sorrow. But God, in his great mercy, gives us blessings that have no place in a sinful world, and sends people to us who have been washed of their stains, to show us how to be cleansed.
So when you are dismayed at the state of our world, remember this: you are alive and whole, and that is the work of a God who has sent you. He has sent you to be a minister of receonciliation to those who otherwise might never escape death. And when your ministry to them falls into your hands (and it will, without a doubt), take it up and perform it with all the zeal of our God. Even if it seems as simple as whispering a bedtime prayer for someone you may never meet.
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| In the past several weeks, I have become increasingly concerned about the fate of faith in America. Not because I think Christians are off-track, or because I think the church is flawed. Rather, I have been concerned because I see our culture becoming increasingly intolerant of our beliefs, and I fear before my children are grown our faith may be culturally unacceptable, or even illegal.
A few days ago, I was watching Dr. Phil. Apparently he is the bravest man in the world, because his topic that afternoon was "Gay Marriage: Right or Wrong?" He had a panel of six experts, three representing each side of the argument, and he strove throughout the show to provide an open forum for discussion and to keep tempers under control. But one question was raised that concerned me, and nobody addressed it; one of the anti-Gay Marriage representatives raised the concern that, if gay marriage is legalized throughout the country, churches will be required to perform ceremonies uniting gay couples regardless of their stance on the subject. Doctors will be required to perform in vitro fertilization for gay couples regardless of their personal beliefs. Psychologists will be required to counsel patients whose sexual orientation they believe to be sinful. Christian organizations of all kinds will be stripped of their right to practice their religion freely. This is not an extremist or unlikely prediction: these things are actually currently happening. For reference, check out this article in The Washington Post.
The argument against Christians is this: once people enter the marketplace, they are providers of a service who must provide it without discrimination. This argument, which had been upheld in courts, is not Constitutionally defensible. In a free country, anyone who is not qualified or comfortable providing a voluntary service within a private organization should be permitted to respectfully refer a potential client to another provider for service. In the same way that a doctor may refuse to treat a relative because of an emotional compromise, a doctor should be allowed to decline to provide a service due to being religiously compromised. But that does not satisfy the homosexual community. Although the doctors and psychiatrists in the aforementioned cases referred their homosexual patients to other qualified practitioners who would be happy to serve them, the gay community sued and won. This battle is not about homosexuals getting the same treatment as everyone else; it is about forcing people to renounce their religious views via litigation.
This attack on religious freedom is visible in other areas as well. The one that particularly caught my attention recently (due to the murder of late-term abortion provider Dr. George Tiller), was the question of abortion. I read this great blog on the subject, which got me thinking and doing research. It turns out that the Freedom of Choice Act, which is supported by Obama, will actually make it illegal for Catholic and other religiously affiliated medical institutions to be protected from being required to perform abortions. Read about it here, at the Americans United for Life website.
I have heard people say that this issue is nonexistent, because gay couples wouldn't want to get married in a church that didn't support their lifestyle, and women wouldn't ask Catholic doctors to abort their babies. The evidence shows otherwise. These things are actually happening. This is not hypothetical; it is real.
These issues of growing importance have one frightening similarity: they strip Americans of faith from the right to live in a way that is religiously acceptable to them. If these issues continue to develop along the same lines, I believe that before I die I will witness the outlawing of morality based on faith. I believe we will witness the revocation of freedom of religion.
Is that right less viable than a woman's right to choose whether to bear children? Is it less essential than a person's right to sleep with the partner of his choice? God forbid! This is the foundational ideal of our country, the primary right upon which our nation was founded. I reserve the right to freely practice my religion in any way that does not infringe upon the foundational Constitutional rights of others. I reserve the right to attend a church that does not marry or ordain homosexuals and to teach my daughters that abortion is morally unacceptable. I reserve the right to petition my governmental representatives to oppose laws that ratify such behaviors. After all, this, like so much else, is a very slippery slope. If we start mandating the actions of religious groups in these areas, where does it stop? Where does governmental interference in organized religion end?
If you care about freedom of religion, join the opposition. It doesn't matter what you believe about homosexuality or abortion or any other hot-button issue; if you believe that every American has to right to practice his religion without fear of litigation, lend your support to the religious institutions endangered by this trend. Protect our freedom of religion. Write your representative. Sign petitions. And most of all, urgently petition God to intervene on behalf of religious America. Pray without ceasing that our right to practice our faith in any way we see fit will not be taken away, now or ever. Through the prayers of the faithful, God works miracles, and he will protect our right to worship him.
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| Mercy is one of the attributes of God that we don't often think about in terms of our relationships with others. And yet, it is one of the most renowned of his attributes. William Langland, 14th century poet of Piers Plowman, said of mercy, "All the wickedness in the world which man could do or think is nothing more to the mercy of God than a live coal in the sea." William Shakespeare wrote in The Merchant of Venice, "In the course of justice, none of us should see salvation. We do pray for mercy. And that same prayer doth teach us all to render the deeds of mercy." In Exodus, as God is passing before Moses, he declares his name to be full of mercy: "And the LORD said, 'I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.'" And repeatedly in the Epistles, the Apostles greet the churches and fellow believers with mercy. So what does it mean to display God's character by giving mercy to one another?
I think many people are uncomfortable with this idea because the act of giving mercy necessitates the need for judgment and punishment. Christians may think, since it's not our place to enact God's judgment on others, it's not our place to give mercy either. It may seem like the prerogative of God. I disagree with that view, and honestly I think that if people showed more mercy to one another, the church and the world would be relieved of so much bitterness. Although we may know that true judgment is reserved for God, often we do not hesitate to give people exactly what they deserve.
We need to show mercy when others are foolish and stupid. When you encounter someone who is making an idiot of himself, the world encourages you to ridicule him, to prove how much better and smarter you are. Have mercy, instead. Pass over the stupidities committed by others and you can hope to be spared ridicule in your turn.
We need to show mercy when others are cruel and selfish. The world teaches us that those people ought to be brought down so that they will cease persecuting others. It tells us that we ought to meet cruelty with better, more righteous, cruelty. The world is lying to us. Have mercy. Mercy and forgiveness are the only things that will change people and stop unkindness.
We need to show mercy when others have wronged us. Our culture is full of stories, movies, songs, that teach us that nobody deserves to be forgiven until she has acknowledged her wrongdoing and apologized. We are taught to never forgive someone who has wronged us or trust her again, unless she can somehow prove she is sorry and has changed. Give mercy. Some people will never realize how much they have hurt us, so the best answer is for us to heal regardless. Some people may never change, so the best answer is for us to be changed instead.
We need to give mercy to others because God gives mercy to us every day. The character of God is never one of resentment, never one of bitterness, never one that holds on to wrongs and withholds forgiveness.
I have a dear friend who has recently filed for a divorce. Despite all the pleas and exhortations of the church, she is determined to carry this through, not because she is sure it will make her happy, or because her situation is unbearable--her faithful husband is a nice Christian man who, despite admittedly contributing to their marital problems in the past, is really making an effort to save things now. But to her, it's too little, too late. She has hardened her heart. She is withholding the mercy she needs to give, because to her, the most important thing is that her husband get what he deserve for hurting her in the past. God forbid that this merciless vengeance should exist among us! God, in his great mercy, forbid that we should harbor such bitterness and resentment!
Give mercy to someone today. Give mercy to the coworker who is the butt of all the office jokes, and resist the urge to roll your eyes and sigh when he comes your way. Give mercy to the person in line in front of you at the grocery store, and don't glare at her as she fumbles through her wallet and takes ten minutes to write a check. Give mercy to your spouse who snaps at you, to your sibling who keeps making the same silly mistakes over and over again, to your parent who just doesn't seem to understand you. And realize that God is living and working in you, changing the world through his inexhaustible, unquenchable mercy.
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| I have heard a lot of people who berate the Bible in the name of Feminism. Now, I've never called myself a Feminist (in fact, I once wrote a poem entitled "Anti-Feminazi Manifesto"), and when women try to re-imagine the Bible based on their compulsive need to be better than men, I really start to get frustrated. An honest and unassuming reading of Scripture gives a portrait of a God who cares passionately about women and their needs, and presents many heroines who are excellent role models for any young woman. Scripture also gives significant guidance to women on how to behave, in addition to the general guidance given for all believers. You could almost say Scripture spoils women: we have a clear picture of the character God wants us to have laid out for us to follow.
The most blatant example of this is in Proverbs 31. One of the commenters on a Revelife post today got me thinking again about this passage of Scripture, which I believe is one of the most maligned passages in the Bible. As a young woman growing up, I heard interpretations of this passage that went something like this: "Proverbs 31 tells young men that God wants them to marry good women and to avoid contact with sinful women. A good woman is one who will be modest, faithful to her husband, a good mother, who will take care of the house and support her husband in his work." You can probably guess that I don't think that's a very accurate description of what is actually going on in this passage. As I got older, I began to realize that a much different picture is painted here.
The first definitive quality of "the Wife of Noble Character" is that her husband has full confidence in her. He knows he can count on her for anything. This doesn't just apply to keeping his shirts ironed and having supper on the table in time; rather, it refers to a trust so complete that it destroys need. He knows he lacks nothing because he knows he can trust her to make a wise decision about what should be done.
This "Wife" is also an incredibly productive, hardworking woman. She's a working mom, in fact. She's up before sunlight working at what she does best to provide for her family, and she is really good at her job. She's so good that Proverbs compares her productivity with a merchant ship laden with treasures. She's so good that she earns enough to buy her own property, which she uses as another source of income. She's tough, smart, and capable: "She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks." (v 17) And because she has accomplished so much, so well, when disaster strikes she's confident that her family will be okay: "When it snows she has no fear for her household; for all of them are clothed in scarlet." (v 21) And on top of all that, she dresses well and strives to present herself beautifully: "Her clothes are fine linen and purple." (v 22) But she is never stingy or selfish; she gives liberally to the poor (from her own earnings, we can assume) and has compassion on less fortunate people.
In fact, she is so remarkable that her husband is respected merely because of association. Her husband is accorded a place of honor because her goodnes reflects on him and raises him up. Proverbs speaks of her having strength, dignity, wisdom. And, despite what our culture might lead you to believe, this is not a thankless job for her. In fact, "Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her." (v 21) And the honor she receives is not just from her family--in public, before her whole community, she receives "the reward she has earned."
Feminism has never offered a vision of womanhood superior to this. This Biblical ideal, the Noble Wife, is everything I could and do hope to be. Confident, respected, capable, talented, generous. If I am half the woman described here, I will have reason to be proud. And reading this, I know that to God, no woman is a second-class citizen. Rather, He has designed women to be brilliant, vibrant members of their communities, who are honored by their families, their coworkers, and their world.
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