H. and I got engaged last night. I sort of envy the unchurched types for whom the pre-wedding period is also a church-going high and a spirirtual awakening. For Revd H. and I, church-going is about as exotic as your own backgarden. I guess we get a lifetime of a church-going high!

Tom Wright's overconfidence is rubbing me the wrong way

This guy clearly thinks that he's personally got a direct access to God's own mind and has an unparalleled personal grasp of the One and Only Correct Understanding of the One and Only Biblical Narrative. It drives me nuts.

Here is his latest appearance in the British media.

Life in the mainstream: Office at night

I love this painting by Edward Hopper. The guy is a genius at depicting 20th century urban loneliness and the people's humanity nevertheless springing out, vulnerable and beautiful. And I like the bizarre atmosphere of an office at night, when you're working with someone you don't really know all that well, the camaraderie that emerges as we offer each other a cup of tea.

I should really stop posting quotes

... but I like collecting them. So here comes the next one:

"Dwellers live in a stable place and feel secure within its territory; for them the sacred is fixed and spirituality is cultivated though habitual practive within the familiar world of a particular tradition. Not that they are untouched by social change, but they are relatively well anchore amid the flux. By contrast seekers explore new vistas and negotiate among alternative, and at time confusing, systems of belief and practice; for them the sacred is fluid and portable, and spirituality is likened unto a process or state of becoming. The language of the journey fits their experience"

Jackson Carroll and Wade Clark Roof "Bridging divided worlds: Generational cultures in congregations"

Mystical Disney Song

Look at this stuff
Isn't it neat?
Wouldn't you think my collection's complete?
Wouldn't you think I'm the girl
The girl who has everything?
Look at this trove
Treasures untold
How many wonders can one cavern hold?
Looking around here you think
Sure, she's got everything
I've got gadgets and gizmos a-plenty
I've got whozits and whatzits galore
You want thingamabobs?
I've got twenty!
But who cares?
No big deal
I want more

I wanna be where the people are
I wanna see, wanna see them dancin'
Walking around on those - what do you call 'em?
Oh - feet!

Flippin' your fins, you don't get too far
Legs are required for jumping, dancing
Strolling along down a - what's that word again?
Street

Up where they walk, up where they run
Up where they stay all day in the sun
Wanderin' free - wish I could be
Part of that world

What would I give if I could live out of these waters?
What would I pay to spend a day warm on the sand?
Bet'cha on land they understand
That they don't reprimand their daughters
Proper women sick of swimmin'
Ready to stand

And ready to know what the people know
Ask 'em my questions and get some answers
What's a fire and why does it - what's the word?
Burn?

When's it my turn?
Wouldn't I love, love to explore that world up above?
Out of the sea
Wish I could be
Part of that world

"Part of your world" The Little Mermaid.

I wish I wasn't so busy

... doing corrections and all sorts of other pressing stuff, because that book sure looks good: A Post-Capitalist Politics, and I'd rather be reading it.

And yet another quote of the day

"You eventually learn that true priorities are like arms, if you think you have more than a couple, you're either lying or crazy."

Hotdogsladies