from Larry "The Peep" Craig!
It may be inappropriate to joke about Craig and his cruising for sex on Easter, but you have to admit that is an incredibly funny picture. The Huffington Post online has complied some political peeps and some other random peep dioramas for your springtime enjoyment.
This morning I drove home to enjoy a beautiful Easter service with my parents. I am not sure what I believe, I have my ups and down with faith, but I do know for sure that I will always support my church in Pasadena because of it's progressive work. It applies religion to real things in a good way, usually liberal and political, which I love. My church does not encourage conflict, which is often the real world application of religion (depressing I know!). My church pushes for gay marriage, peace in the Middle East, community, pro-choice, kindness and acceptance.
Ed Bacon, our rector, gave a wonderful sermon today. He mentioned Rowan LeCompte, the man who created most of the stained glass windows in the National Cathedral. Bacon spoke about the recent NPR story on LeCompte, and told the following quote:
When asked if he believe in God, Mr. LeCompte responds, "I believe in kindness and love, if that is God, then yes."
I agree with LeCompte. I also believe in kindness and love. Often I am turned away from religion because of negativity and hate, which is completely contradictory with the foundation of religion. I continue to support my church because is remains more open and kind than most religions I have experienced. That is unfair, it isn't the religion. It is the people who practice it. At today's service we even had some of our innerfaith friends attend. Oh, and Kenneth Turan was there too!
Here are two fantastic quotes I tend to identify with when considering religion.
"Lighthouse are more helpful then churches." - Benjamin Franklin
"I believe in God, only I spell it Nature." - Frank Lloyd Wright
I believe that most of religion is a show. Secular humanists are generally right in their views, but religion has an additional power of organizing people into a community. So, if done right, religion has the power to do great transformational things. Unfortunately, it often doesn't. For example consider the cartoon below from someecard.com.
This morning I drove home to enjoy a beautiful Easter service with my parents. I am not sure what I believe, I have my ups and down with faith, but I do know for sure that I will always support my church in Pasadena because of it's progressive work. It applies religion to real things in a good way, usually liberal and political, which I love. My church does not encourage conflict, which is often the real world application of religion (depressing I know!). My church pushes for gay marriage, peace in the Middle East, community, pro-choice, kindness and acceptance.
Ed Bacon, our rector, gave a wonderful sermon today. He mentioned Rowan LeCompte, the man who created most of the stained glass windows in the National Cathedral. Bacon spoke about the recent NPR story on LeCompte, and told the following quote:
When asked if he believe in God, Mr. LeCompte responds, "I believe in kindness and love, if that is God, then yes."
I agree with LeCompte. I also believe in kindness and love. Often I am turned away from religion because of negativity and hate, which is completely contradictory with the foundation of religion. I continue to support my church because is remains more open and kind than most religions I have experienced. That is unfair, it isn't the religion. It is the people who practice it. At today's service we even had some of our innerfaith friends attend. Oh, and Kenneth Turan was there too!
Here are two fantastic quotes I tend to identify with when considering religion.
"Lighthouse are more helpful then churches." - Benjamin Franklin
"I believe in God, only I spell it Nature." - Frank Lloyd Wright
I believe that most of religion is a show. Secular humanists are generally right in their views, but religion has an additional power of organizing people into a community. So, if done right, religion has the power to do great transformational things. Unfortunately, it often doesn't. For example consider the cartoon below from someecard.com.
That is one of the problems I have with Lent. People give up soda or other superficial things and don't really change or reflect on anything! It is like a vegetarian who refuses to eat meat because of how they treat animals but doesn't actually advocate for reforms. I try to buy good products - organic, fair trade, environmentally friendly... to encourage better treatments of animals and the environment, but I still eat A LOT of meat. The market is built on supply and demand and if you don't demand something better it won't happen. Anyways, back to God. So, that is why I don't give anything up for Lent. I just try and reflect and am better about things. Do good things instead of starting the Christian equivalent of failed New Years resolutions.
Here is my favorite Easter related e-card from someecards.
Really hard-hitting. I love it. If you want to know some of the history about why peeps and pastels are associated with zombie Jesus (phrase courtesy of my friend Zack, absolutely genius!) check out this article. It is pretty interesting.
The best part of Easter today was seeing my dad's illuminated manuscript suspenders. Classic. Literally.
Enjoy your peeps.
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