#shes a bit Christian for me and some of the values she preaches are a bit . hm. but her wording

[bahoreal]

i saw a christmas carol (with chris eccleston!!!!) yesterday and they sang part of in the bleak midwinter and it punched me Directly in the emotions i Love that song and now its ghosts and a christmas carol that used it???? in the bleak midwinter appreciation! we love to see it

(also would strongly reccomend seeing a christmas carol if you can! chris is brilliant and the stage design and ambiance is inspired)

[rabbits-of-negative-euphoria]

Next up: But Daddy, I Love Him

There is a bit of confusion over exactly what this song is about; whether it's self-contained or it concerns her relationship with Matty Healy of the 1975; whether it's only about one guy (Healy) or two (Healy and Travis Kelce); etc., but I'm going to stick to the most face-value explanation:

It's about the public's scrutiny of her personal life, and her own fans are not exempt. She uses a series of illustrations for this, and "church" is but one of them.

The anti-Swift contingent is framing this as if Taylor is characterizing the universal church (ALL Christians, or at least orthodox Christians) this way. Maybe that is how Taylor views Christianity writ large--I wouldn't be surprised if it were--but she doesn't say so in this song. That is being read into it. All this song communicates is a specific experience that I think many of us orthodox Christians have experienced, too. The Bible Belt culture is frequently a legalistic one of whitewashed tombs and broods of vipers (and I would encourage Christians who find themselves caught up in such a church culture to find a different church).

Personally, I'm surprised the first verse is what everyone lost their minds over, because things get WILD later in the song.

Given the conclusion to the song (I'm getting there), I think it's fair to say the unbuttoned dress represents an unfulfilled/interrupted desire, as in the Disney's Little Mermaid scene from which the song gets its name. It's been noted by others that the "I'm having his baby" is reminiscent of "I'm keeping my baby" in Papa, Don't Preach by Madonna. Except Taylor throws in a little SIKE, indicating that the gossips (or "saboteurs," as she puts it) are sensationalizing her relationship with this guy, and it's not actually as torrid and taboo as they're making it out to be.

There are, however, a few lines that would indicate it's not been an entirely above-board affair:

(And why should we expect that a global pop sensation like Taylor Swift would value virginity in a culture like today's? Absolutely no reason at all.)

This is an interesting line. On its face, I don't think we could say this is a biblical concept, but within context it could be a different story. If the context is meta--meaning the song is about her relationship with Matty Healy--the "disgrace" in question was her association with someone who has said controversial things and whom the fans viewed as being "right-wing" (whether or not he actually is I have no idea). In this case, Taylor is falling out of the good graces of arbitrary public opinion, and yeah, arbitrary public opinion is not a good measuring stick for one's "good name." If the context is narrative--meaning the song is telling a story about truly legalistic and judgmental saboteurs--the "disgrace" is her breaking a community's arbitrary & man-made rules about what constitutes a good name. For example, if I decided to date a man who wore skinny jeans, nobody in my community would respect me anymore (I kid, I kid. mostly).

Here's another bit that got the barflies and the Baptists talking:

Certainly there's some irony intended here, but "God save the most judgmental creeps" is a pretty charitable line if you ask me.

The "soliloquies I'll never see" seems like a reference to fans on TikTok, but it could also refer to gossips in general.

Of course, Christians know that the beats of our hearts and the chemistry of our bodies are ALSO very poor compasses by which to make decisions about relationships, much less to divine destiny. It's always unfortunate when Taylor mentions fate or destiny, because as we all know, every relationship she's ever been in has ended. NEVERTHELESS, God is sovereign, so in that sense, you go right ahead and invoke destiny, Taylor. And in the narrative sense, she does seem to be telling a story of The One:

This part mirrors the plot of Love Story, which is such a great song for this exact reason. The lovers don't flee from accountability, they don't scorn their parents and loved ones, they stand on their convictions and earn the father's blessing straightforwardly. But Daddy, I Love Him is a bit different of course, in that the gossips & busybodies are featured along with her father, but are not participants in the lovers' triumph. and there's an F-word.

Blasphemy alert! Rating: Common. Featured in about 80% of pop songs, and 60% of conversations with unbelievers.

Now, normally, I would advise one not to spurn prayer:

But if the saboteurs in question are praying against the will of God, then yeah, their prayers are useless. And if they are praying for arbitrary things ("Please make her leave him for a man who wears bootcut jeans instead"), then their prayers are unnecessary.

I'll close this analysis with a few verses I think would have been helpful for Taylor and her fictional mans in this scenario:

Fortnight

all right, buddies, we are analyzing The Tortured Poets Department from a Christian perspective that makes sense.

Disclaimer 1! We are NOT analyzing whether TTPD is appropriate for young girls, or whether Taylor Swift is a good role model for young girls! The answer to those questions is NO. Moving on!

Disclaimer 2! TTPD is a super long album! So I will ONLY be looking at lyrics with overt religious imagery or which have stoked the ire of Christendom!

[firstumcschenectady]

“Interconnected” based on James 1:17-27

Welcome to the book of James. It is one of my favorites, despite the fact that it takes away one of my best preaching tools. That is, I usually spend a lot of time explaining context and making sense of a scripture in the time and place it was written. But James is almost a form of wisdom literature. It is universal. So, we're able to spend our time on the ideas in the book directly.

James is written to the followers of Jesus in the diaspora – that is, those who lived outside of the Holy Land. The ones who had been DISPERSED from the land of their ancestors in faith. This feels relevant right now too. I don't know any church members at FUMC Schenectady who would claim modern Palestine or Israel as their native land, but I think that all of us are displaced from the “land” we once knew, and have not yet settled into the “land” we'll live in eventually. The Pandemic has displaced us all (although not all the same amount.)

In this opening chapter of the book of James, we are urged to LIVE our faith. James wants faith in ACTION. He urges people not to just listen to preachers ;) but to LIVE their faith, and he gets rather specific about it. James believes that people who are followers of Jesus should be acting out different values than the world's.

The crux of the advice from today's passage is “let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; for your anger does not produce God's righteousness.” For James, this is integral in what it means to be “religious” - right up there with caring about God's beloveds who the world doesn't value (“widows and orphans.”)

As far as I can figure it out, the work of Christians is to build the kindom of God. The kindom, sometimes called the beloved community, is God's vision for the world. We will know it is here when the power of love overcomes the love of power; when the abundant resources of the world are used for the good of all people; when kin-ship connections cross all boundaries; when the poorest and most vulnerable people have enough to survive and thrive; when no one has to teach anyone about God because God is known by all. The kindom is God's long term plan for us, and our work to get there happens in two broad ways: first, by creating Christian communities where we practice kin-dom values and treat each other like we're already there and second by working with God to share love, to seek mercy, and advocate for justice so that the world is healed.

One of the parts of kindom building that can be hard sometimes is that it requires seeing clearly what the world is like now. We have to do this so we can hold it in tension with how God would have the world be in the kindom, but often the aching pain of the world as it is can be hard to let ourselves see clearly. For instance, we can't work towards a world without rape and violence unless we admit that we live in a world with rape and violence, and that there are barriers to changing it. So, we seek to see clearly. We seek to see how things are AND how God wants them to be.

Now, I don't want to shock you or anything, but the United States is a highly individualistic society. (The kindom is not.) We in the US have proven to the world how terribly individualism works – time and time again. Including in our responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

You might think that if you were looking at this pandemic with clear eyes that you would see that none of us can be well unless all of us are well- that we are collectively only as healthy as the least healthy among us – that every act of protection and prevention has enormous ripple effects. However, if we had learned this lesson, we'd be spending as much as possible to make it feasible to vaccinate every willing person in the world as soon as possible. We'd even do this before triple vaccinating our own population, because slowing down the spread of the virus is the most important way to keep everyone safe, healthy, and alive. The well being of all and the well being of the USA actually align! Yet, we miss the mark.

The book of James has an interesting perspective on the relationship that Christians have to the world. In the face of the injustices of the Roman Empire, the wealth inequality, the slavery, the power imbalances, the death rates of the poor, James urges the faithful … not to get angry.

I find that my first instinct is to argue with this a little bit. “Are you sure?” “What about when...?” Yet, even as I argue, I am convicted by this passage.

Society is rife with anger. Anger is pulling us apart at the seams. Some of the anger, I'd argue, is “righteous.” It is a response to injustice that needs to be seen, acknowledged, named, and addressed. We'll talk about that in a moment.

Most of the anger is misplaced. The anger is being used to create groups of “us” that stand against “them,” and those distinctions dismiss that everyone in both groups are beloveds of God. The anger is being used to provoke fear, sell products, pass unjust laws, and elect politicians. The anger is being USED.

And James points out directly that the people who want others to get angry are selling them on the idea that if they get angry enough, they will provoke God to action. James says it won't work though. God will act when God will act, and furthermore, prayer is a better way to go about it. Anger serves the people promoting it, not God.

But what about righteous anger? As I've been saying recently, anger is a “secondary” emotion. That is, it exists like a red flag to mark a place where something that is held precious is being violated. It lets us know when our values are attacked, and underneath that is another emotion. Most often anger is there to act as the bodyguard to sadness or the diversion to fear.

Sadness and fear are sufficient. They can guide us to good action, they can show us the ways of compassion, they can help us grow together. They are wise enough, that once we find them, we can let go of the anger that guided us to them.

Which means that the way to be “slow to anger” is often to identify anger, and then sit with it and find out what is underneath it. It means that we sometimes need to listen – to ourselves and our tender emotions. God is there, with us when we listen, with us when we feel, with us when we discover what is under our anger. This is, even, a form of God's healing, God's salve in our lives.

Of course, “be slow to anger” is the third piece of advice we're given in today's passage. The first two are to be quick to listen and slow to speak. It seems clear that James' advice is aimed at faith COMMUNITIES, because his advice is aimed at deepening and maintaining good relationships among the followers of Jesus.

For the past several years, I have participated in “listening circles.” These intentional spaces have careful guidelines that are aimed at making sure there is holy and sacred space for listening – and speaking. At times there have been 20 or 30 people in these circles, and you might think that there would be a lot more speaking than listening. But, there isn't. Often there are prolonged silences between speakers, and they feel like time to absorb the wisdom one beloved of God has offered. When the obligation to have a response is taken away, along with the tendency toward chit-chat, there is spaciousness for silence and listening.

When I hear James say, “be quick to listen, slow to speak” I think of how healing those circles have been in my life. I love being freed from having to have a response to something someone says, and instead just listen to them and receive their wisdom. And, when I do speak into such a space, I am astounded at the power that comes with being heard with love.

As much as I have loved these experiences though, it isn't clear to me how to live “be quick to listen, slow to speak” ALL the time. Really listening to another of God's beloveds takes energy and attention, and … let's be honest dear ones, those are finite resources!!! We will drain ourselves if we try to listen WELL all the time. (I've tried.)

That said, there is a being who is capable of listening with complete attention, and full energy, with love and compassion, with care and support – all day, every day, to all of us. God, the creator, sustainer, redeemer has gifted us with life, and God is with us breathing new life into us day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute, and even second by second. When we seek God in prayer and meditation, we find that God is close at hand, ready and able to offer us healing. When all we have to offer are sighs too deep for words, God knows what we mean. When we are full of words, God listens until we have exhausted them. When we are able to be with the Divine in holy silence, God meets us there. And, of course, when what we offer God is our listening, …

well, that's when things really start to happen ;)

James encourages us to an active faith – not just to worship God once a week, but to live out faith in every day. He reminds us that the very people the world dismisses (the “widows and orphans”) are the ones that followers of Christ take care of. James doesn't hate the world – though he isn't impressed with it either - but he doesn't think being angry with it is going to change it. James encourages the people of faith to act differently. Take care of the struggling and vulnerable, listen deeply, speak with intention, slow down anger and learn its lessons instead of acting it out. Don't replicate the brokenness of the world – change it.

So, dear ones of God, I invite you to God's restoration, God's healing of the world, God's work of the Kindom: be quick to listen; be slow to speak; be slow to anger. With such “simple” acts as these, we can heal the world. May God help us. Amen

Rev. Sara E. Baron 

First United Methodist Church of Schenectady 

603 State St. Schenectady, NY 12305 

Pronouns: she/her/hers 

http://fumcschenectady.org/ 

https://www.facebook.com/FUMCSchenectady

September 5, 2021

[fanfictionaries]

A Fine Line Between Lust and Hate - jbbuckybarnes Birthday Challenge

Thank you to @jbbuckybarnes for this fun writing challenge! Congratulations on over 900 followers and also happy 21st birthday! It’s a fun age, enjoy it! 

Prompt 1: Bookstore AU

Prompt 2: “Just gimme the book and fuck off!” 

Pairing: AU Bookstore!Bucky Barnes X female reader

Summary:  If there was one person you hated more than anyone else in the world it was James Buchanan “Call Me Bucky” Barnes. Or at least, you thought you did. As Bucky continues to press your patience, it becomes unclear as to whether it’s hate you feel, or lust. 

Words: 3.5k

Warnings: Swearing, smut, doggy style, oral (male receiving), NSFW/18+ only

Author’s Note: Man, I do love a good rousing debate over literature. 

***

You stood in one of the long aisles as you worked on putting the store’s most recent influx of donations on the shelves. The endless rows of historical memories stretched high above your head and all around you. However, the large stack in front of you currently sat untouched, a copy of Ernst Jünger’s Storm of Steel held tightly in your grasp, as you watched the events occurring at the front desk. Your coworker, James, was leant casually against the counter, once again ignoring his work duties as he openly and obnoxiously flirted with the woman in front of him.

God, you hated him. You hated his stupid long hair that he pulled up into a stupid bun. You hated his stupid tight jeans that hugged his thick thighs and his stupid red Henley that accentuated his muscular shoulders and arms. You hated his stupid handsome face that only fueled his overall cocky attitude. God, you absolutely hated James Buchanan ‘Call Me Bucky’ Barnes.

You hadn’t set out to hate him of course. Quite the opposite in fact. When your boss informed you of a new employee who wasn’t a billion-year-old woman, you had been ecstatic. Not to say you didn’t love Lucille, but to finally meet a person close to your age that loved books so much they were willing to work at the musty, expansive bookstore was a dream come true. For years now, you’d found yourself spending more time alone, tucked into the rows of books than you did with anyone your own age. You’d think that the kitschy bookstore would be a draw to the younger individuals in town, with the rise of intellectualism or at least the guise of intellectualism within today’s youth. Not to mention, the fact that it was nestled in between the cutest antique store and 50’s style diner. But, alas, it didn’t seem to be on trend for your town. Instead, you got the odd stragglers of older individuals who still enjoyed reading physical books, and local community college students looking to either sell or buy books for classes. That’s why the idea of coming into work every day to a coworker you could relate to was beyond wonderful. However, it hadn’t taken long for James to get so far under your skin, you practically wore him like a pair of itchy long johns.

It had started with his complete disregard for the books and their safety. As a self-proclaimed bibliophile, you took great pride in the care and safety of the books in the store. They were a mix of new and used, the older ones coming into your protective arms the moment you clocked the torn corners and dog-eared pages. You spent hours restoring them before putting them out to be appreciated by the next reader. That’s why, on his third day there when you’d spotted him using his copy of Catcher in the Rye as a coaster for his iced coffee, you’d nearly had an aneurysm. You wished that the situation was a one-time thing, but every time you turned a corner, he was bending spines, creasing pages, WRITING in the margins. He was a book sadist.

Then of course, there was the lackadaisical way in which he approached his job. Not once, not twice, but ten times in the last three months you had stayed late finishing work that had been assigned to him. Why did you do it, instead of letting him take the fall for shoddy work? Well, because it was always things that needed to be done either before the shop could close or before the shop could open. Closing out the till, turning off all the lights, locking the back door, fixing the displays, picking up the giant stack of books that had fallen near the back, changing a burnt-out light using the very old and very rickety ladder.

And lastly, the one thing you absolutely hated the most about him was just how incredibly flirty he was! From the very beginning, he took every opportunity to hit on you. At first it had been flattering, but incredibly jarring and confusing. What could he possibly want with you? He looked like that and you looked like, well people didn’t really want to date the weird bookstore girl that always smelled faintly of old books. Then, it had all come into focus. James flirted with everyone. Not just you. Everyone. The moment a woman under the age of forty walked through those front doors, James was there with his stupid charming ways; “Can I help you with anything today?” “What’s a beautiful woman like you doing in here today?” “I knew a woman of your caliber would have good taste in books.” All the while, he’d chance little glances your way, smirking at you and raising his eyebrows slightly. It was all a game to him. Prick.

“Now, see, that is a fantastic choice. I knew the moment you walked in you had good taste,” stated James pointing down at the copy of The God of Small Things that was currently clutched to the woman’s chest in her perfectly manicured hands. You rolled your eyes. Ridiculous. You glanced over again to see James smirking in your direction before he walked the woman to the front door and waved her goodbye, shutting and locking the door behind her. Last customer of the day. You sighed, turning back to the stacks in front of you and swiftly putting the books back into place. The quicker you got this done, the quicker you would be out of there and away from James’ mocking face and overall itchy personality. You continued to put the books away, probably harsher than you should have, as you listened to the faint sounds of James closing out the till. Well, at least he was doing that today. I knew the moment you walked in you had good taste, you mocked him in your head, huffing and puffing at just how infuriating he was. You winced at a particularly harsh shove of a book into the shelve. Quickly, you pulled it out and inspect the corners and sides of the hard cover.

“Careful there—” a pair of large hands came into your line of site, snatching the book from your hands “—What did Michael Herr ever do to you?”

“Nothing,” you huffed, turning to grab the book back, but coming up unsuccessful. “Although, I really would prefer it if you didn’t allow customers to stay so late past closing.”

“Why? Got somewhere to be? Hot date?” James asked, circling around you to lean against the bookshelves to your right.

You snorted, “As if that’s any of your business.”

“Come on. Lighten up a little bit (Y/N). She needed help finding a good book for her English class,” said James, pulling the book out of reach as you attempted to grab it back from him once again.

“Okay,” you scoffed, rolling your eyes and reaching back down to the stack of books remaining on the cart to your left.

“What? You got something against Indian authors writing about caste relations and cultural tensions?”

“No, but I think if Roy tried to squeeze one more literary device into the text, the book would literally explode. Nobody genuinely enjoys a work where the author is intentionally trying to be clever. It’s obnoxious,” you said as you continued to put the books into their correct spaces as quickly as possible.

“Oh, so I guess you don’t care for Shakespeare then? What about Vonnegut, Anne Rice, Tolkien? Every author thinks they’re clever (Y/N). If they didn’t, they wouldn’t be writers,” said James, crossing his arms and leaning towards you condescendingly.

“That’s-that’s just ridiculous,” you responded lamely, placing the last book in your pile away.

“Oh really? Then please, oh smart one, name a single author who didn’t take themselves so seriously that it didn’t bleed through their work in some way,” James challenged, once again pulling the book in his hands away from your reaching hands.

You stood there, glowering at the man in front of you as you tried to come up with some king of answer. “C. S. Lewis,” you blurted out, wanting to kick yourself at the obviously stupid answer.

A barking laugh left James, “Oh come on. The man spent most of his career preaching Christian values and what it means to be moral. He even went so far as to write a short story on what the afterlife looks like and how to get into heaven. Or are we just going to pretend like The Great Divorce didn’t happen? Just because he wrote a bunch of entertaining children’s stories bathed in Christian symbolism with little effort does not mean that he didn’t take himself seriously.”

His astute criticism caught you off guard and peaked your anger, mainly because to a certain extent he was right. That didn’t mean you were going to let him know that though, “Excuse you! I’ll have you know he wrote The Great Divorce after the death of his wife. What else was he supposed to write about? You know what James—”

“How many times do I have to tell you to call me Bucky?”

“Just gimme the book and fuck off!”

Your eyes widened at your outburst. You’d never spoken to anyone like that before in your life. Opening your mouth to apologize, you quickly closed it when James sighed heavily and pushed himself off of the bookshelf. He stared at you, his eyes calculating as he closed the space between you, slamming the good on the shelf behind your head. You jumped, turning so that you faced him head on, your back to the endless rows of books. James placed an intimidatingly large arm on either side of you, bracing himself against oak shelves. You swallowed thickly at the sheer size of him. Your pulse quickened. He had never been this close to you.

“You know what (Y/N)? I think you’re just jealous,” James murmured, tilting his head dangerously low to yours.

“Jealous? Of what?” you asked, your voice embarrassingly breathy, as your head began to swim. He was so close. So close you could smell his cologne, a musky warm scent mixed with the fresh scent of soap and…old books? Subtly, you tried to inhale more of the tantalizing smell without James noticing. But one glance up and you could see that familiar smirk and cocky gleam in his eye.

“Me, and every woman that walks in here ready to fuck me in the encyclopedia section.”

You gasped at his words, “That’s ridiculous. Why would I be jealous of that?”

“Because you want to fuck me in the encyclopedia section.”

“I—I do not—I do not want to—I hate you!”

James leaned closer, his nose brushing against yours, “Doesn’t mean you don’t want to fuck me—” His head titled, his lips brushing across your cheek, your jawline, and then to the shell of your ear. “—Just say the word and I’ll take you right there. Right then. Any time. Any day.”

You shivered at the offer. Never had his flirting gone this far. Sure, James had given you a flirtatious smile and charming little comment here and there, but never had he come close to propositioning you. You should say no. You hate him. He’s everything you despise and yet…

“Fuck it.” Rising up on the tips of your toes, you wrap your arms around his neck and press your lips to his in a searing kiss. James’ lips claim yours, never hesitating for a second, as if expecting it. The soft skin of his plush lips a stark contrast to the harsh way in which you both battled for dominance. Every ounce of anger, frustration, and tension that you held towards him fought its way through your body as you nipped, bit, and tugged. James’ hands moved from the bookshelf to your body, gripping your hips and tugging you harshly against him, revealing the same level of pent up aggression. His hands traveled upwards, cupping your breasts through your sweater, roughly massaging them as he slipped his tongue into your mouth. Threading your fingers into his hair, you tugged harshly earning you a growl from James. Breaking away from the kiss just long enough to pull your sweater up and over your head, your bodies reconnected, the feel of your bare torso against him feeling oh so right. You continued to hang onto him for dear life, as his kisses left you breathless and needy. Bringing a leg up around his hip, your pelvis rocked against him, searching for any kind of friction as you climbed him like a tree.

“Eager, aren’t we?” James teased, hands moving down to harshly grasp your ass and lift you up. Wrapping your legs around his hips, you allowed him to carry you the brief distance away from the bookshelves and lower you onto the rough carpet floor. Trailing kisses down your neck and towards your breasts, he roughly yanked the cups of your bra down before taking a nipple between his teeth. You arched into his mouth, loving the sting as he bit down.

“God, I knew you’d be a fucking little minx,” panted James, sitting up on his knees. “Look at you all sexy and needy. Just had to get you to let go.”

Pushing up onto your elbows, you stared up at him, “Shut the fuck up and take your shirt off James.”

Swinging his hand down, he swatted the inside of your thigh, “The name’s Bucky, babe.”

Your head fell backwards at the contact and your pussy clenched as you moaned low. Sitting up, you ripped his shirt from his torso and threw it behind you before pushing him down onto the ground. You made quick work of removing your bra, shoes, and pants before reaching for his belt buckle. This time it was his turn to push up onto his elbows as he watched your near naked form, undo his belt and then his pants. You tugged at his pants and then his boxers in a desperate manner, James kicking off his shoes and socks to held aid in their removal. Finally, when he was naked before you, you took a moment to admire the lean curves of his muscular form and the thick cock that sat just below his belly button, nestled in a patch of short brown curls.

Running your nails lightly up and down his thighs, you smirked as he writhed below you, sucking in a harsh breath through his teeth. Lowering yourself slowly, you positioned yourself between his thick thighs and grasped the base of his cock in your hand, wasting no time in wrapping your lips around the head and swirling your tongue around him. Bucky cursed, low and sexy as you took him in your mouth. You worked him with your lips and tongue as your moved lower and lower. Spit gathered in your mouth as you breathed through your nose, giving your all into pleasuring the man below you. You wanted to once and for all wipe the smirk off of James “Bucky” Barnes’ face. When you made it almost all the way to the base, you hollowed your cheeks, sucking as you massaged the vein on the underside of his cock with your tongue. His hands flew to the back of your head, fingers lacing in your hair and gripping tight. He held onto you for dear life as you attempted to suck the soul out of him through his dick alone.

“Jesus Christ! Fuck! (Y/N),” he yelled, his body shuddering. When you slipped down the last few inches, allowing his cock to slip easily down your throat, he stilled, body rigid before he pulled you off of him with a curse.

You fell backwards onto your hands, spit coating your lips and drool falling down your chin as you breathed in deeply. A low growl escaped James’ throat as he launched himself at you, flipping you onto your stomach, and ripping your panties down your legs. His hands found your center in no time, his fingers delving deep into your core easily, aided by the embarrassing amount of arousal there. James fingered you, curving and finding that special spot inside of you that made your see stars. You yelped, bucking your hips back against him. His teeth sunk into the supple flesh of your ass.

“You’re god damn dripping down my arm (Y/N). Did sucking my cock turn you on that much?”

“Yes!” you admitted, continuing to rock your hips against him. Pulling his fingers from you, you whimpered at the loss of contact. The loss was only temporary though, as soon James was pulling your hips up, placing you back on your knees, face still pressed against the carpet as he lined his cock up with your entrance. There was no slow and delicate start. No, in one swift thrust, he was seated fully inside of you, hands firmly grasping your ass as he began to fuck you at a punishing pace.

“Fucking hell baby. Your pussy is like a vice-grip. I don’t think I’m going to last long,” he admitted, continuing to pound into you, his balls slapping against your clit with every thrust. He reached down, finding your clit and rubbing light, fast circles around it until you began to feel the familiar pressure building in your lower abdomen.

“Yes! Bucky! Fuck. Just like that, don’t stop!” you cried, desperate to reach your climax. The carpet scraped against your skin, sure to leave burns after. But you didn’t care. The only thing you cared about was the delicious stretch of your cunt around Bucky’s cock and your imminent orgasm.

“That’s it, baby. Say my fucking name again. Say my name as you cum all around me.”

You chanted his name over and over again, Bucky, Bucky, Bucky, until finally you were approaching the edge and falling over. Your body shuddered and hips bucked as you came, loving the feeling of every hard ridge of Bucky’s thick cock inside of you. A few seconds late, he was pulling out of you and then you felt the warm streams of cum splashing across your ass. You collapsed fully onto the carpet below you, Bucky falling after you and rolling to lay beside you. You laid there, in post-orgasmic bliss. The feeling of Bucky’s fingertips trailing up and down your spine soothing you down from your high. After a little while, the two of your stood up and began to redress. Bucky, ever the gentleman, told you to wait as he ran to the front counter and came back with some tissues before wiping up the mess he had made on your ass.

Once you were both dressed, you finished closing up the store. Neither of you spoke, instead choosing to spare the other furtive little glances as you turned out the lights and locked the door behind you both.

“Looks like the diner is still open. Can I buy you a cup of coffee?” Bucky asked, looking down at you giving you a small, shy smile that you’d never seen on him before.

His question caught you off guard. He wanted to buy you coffee. “Oh, Bucky. You don’t have to feel obligated to—”

“—I don’t feel obligated. I, um, I want to.” He swallowed thickly, almost as if he was nervous. Was he nervous? “I know we just, well, I know we skipped a few steps, but I actually do want to take you out. I’ve been trying to hint it to you for the past three months.”

“So, all the flirting with the customers…?”

“Was me stupidly trying to make you jealous,” laughed Bucky, stuffing his hands in his coat pockets.  

“Ah,” you said, a smiling spreading across your face, “How about you buy me a coffee and tell me all your thoughts on Brontë.”

“How much time do you have?” asked Bucky with an exaggerated groan.

Holding your hand out to him, you reveled in the feel of his warm palm connecting with yours, “All the time in the world.”

Marvel Taglist:

@caffiend-queen

@hidden-behind-the-fourth-wall

[blessedarethebinarybreakers]

Someone told my friend, who has Crohn's disease, that sick and disabled people were "not made in the image of God" and "not fully human". He believed that disabled people should be exiled from their communities and left to die. Other Christians told her that she should pray to get better, or that her sickness was God's will. As an atheist, I believe that disabled people should get the evidence-based treatment and accomodations they need, and that they shouldn't be stigmatized. Thoughts?

cw ableism, violent ableism

I am outraged to hear what people have been telling your friend. My stomach is roiling just thinking about it. I’m so glad she’s got a friend like you to tell her otherwise. 

Sick and disabled people are made in God’s image; we are fully human; we are a vital and worthy part of our communities. 

All human beings deserve to exist and to have access to abundant life – it doesn’t matter whether we fit into what society considers “productive,” it doesn’t matter what support we need. 

I don’t know if this is annoying to share or if could be helpful for your friend, but when I was a chaplain this past fall i would do “rounds” in the hospital, basically just dropping in on as many patients as i could. one patient i stopped by to see turned out to be a guy with Crohn’s disease. 

he was super friendly, and he joked a lot. He called me “reverend,” which made me laugh – even after I told him I wasn’t ordained yet, he told me that if i one day would be, than he could call me reverend now! 

he said he didn’t understand why God would make him sick, and we delved into that a little bit. my job as a chaplain isn’t to feed patients my answers to their questions, but to help them discover what they believe. as we talked, what he came up with is that God could use his illness to show everyone that the ones we call “weak” have plenty to give the world. 

he proceeded to pull out his laptop and show me songs he’d composed in garage band. he’s published them and even does tours! but i can’t remember his name, so i’ve never been able to find his work again. it honestly wasn’t my cup of tea anyway, but i remember him telling me the album he was working on now would be called “God is a She.” (or something like that, i can’t remember exactly!) and would be about women who have inspired him throughout his life. i thought that was super cool and evidence of some deep theological wisdom in this man. 

so if your friend needs examples of people of faith who have Crohn’s disease, people who have Crohn’s and are living creative, happy lives – here’s one example of such a person. 

I’ve got some resources that you or your friend might find useful:

The first is non-religious-specific – a post about how we don’t need to be “useful” or “productive” to be beloved and important members of society; it’s got links to lots of articles about prehistoric people with disabilities!

I’ve written a paper that sums up the ideas of various disability theologians about how disabled people are a vital part of the Body of Christ and how it is urgent that we work to include them more fully in our churches 

For the people who tell her to pray for a cure!! I offer this quote!! 

For the statement that her illness is “God’s will,” I recommend my sermon on John 9, when Jesus’s disciples asked him “who sinned” for a man to be born blind. We find that disabilities and illnesses are not punishments; disabled people are not “lessons,” not objects for other people’s inspiration porn. These things just happen, and while it’s 100% valid for disabled persons to seek out and find meaning or value in their disability if they want, none are obligated to do so. God can work with anything that happens, good or bad, but that doesn’t mean God wills the messier or harder parts of disability (things like chronic pain and ableism). 

I’ve also preached on how Jesus rose from the dead with disabling wounds – that the Body of Christ is disabled. 

Here’s a story of a disabled woman who recognized that God had a special calling for her not in spite of but in many ways because of her disability. 

Finally, I actually just created a google doc for resources on disability for Christians!! Scroll to the last two pages for Christian-specific resources, including the books on disability that I used for the paper I linked earlier. 

You might also find useful stuff in my #disability theology tag. 

The God whom we encounter in the Bible – both the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) and the Greek (New Testament) – is a God of the oppressed. A God who gives special love and attention to the people whom our societies shun to the margins. A God who promises to lift up the lowly and bring us all into abundant life. 

God is always, always at the margins. Disabled persons have been shoved to the margins in our communities – and therefore, God is with disabled persons. If we were to exile disabled persons from our communities, we would be exiling God. God would go with them. 

Sorry this got long, but I have a lot of feelings on this topic. I will close with this passage from 1 Corinthians 12:

“There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit; and diversities of vocations, but the same Lord; and there are diversities of workings, but the same God is working all in all. …For just as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of the body, being many, are one body, so also Christ. …And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable. …And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if a member is given honor, all the members rejoice together.”

The human race is one body, a body that needs each and every member. We are all interdependent, and that is a beautiful thing. 

I hope this helps, anon. Your friend has the right to love and accommodations, not hate and exclusion. And she is deeply loved by God. 

[youmaycallmebrian]

Hey i understand how weird and intense and out of place this could sound, but i need to say it: I really want to have a big open discussion on religion, more precisely christianism.

Let me explain my context and my background so that it makes sense to you:

I was born and raised in Québec, Canada. Here, the “norm” in terms of religion has always been christian catholicism (historically speaking, it was like the official and most common one). That’s what my ancestors identified as. I know my grandparents were a lot more into religion than me when they were young: catechism was still part of the school curriculum, idk if they went to church every sunday but  i know they went a lot more than i do. My parents still had catechism as part of the school curriculum, but it was less present. They didn’t go to church every sunday. And now, me: Growing up, I was taught very very basic things about christianity. Mostly, it was my grandma who told me stuff here and there about it. I don’t think my parents taught me anything about it except maybe like the story of the birth of jesus. I understood from what she told me that Jesus was good and he loved me and all of us very much and he’s in the sky in heaven watching over us with God. He had a mom called Mary and a dad called Joseph (now I know it’s not really his dad but that’s what I understood back then).  In school, up until I was like 10, we still had what was called “religious teaching” in the curriculum, but it was a very very small part of what we were taught (I barely remember anything from it) and it was really vague. Then, they completely deleted this class and changed it for “Ethics and religious culture” (in the public school curriculum) because of various reasons.

I was baptized but (obviously) i don’t remember it because i wasn’t even a year old. I did my first communion at like 9 years old.  my parents did theirs with the school during their time, it was part of the curriculum. same for their confirmation. i did it bc i saw other people in my class who did it and i didnt want to be left out. my parents agreed but they were confused bc they thought the school was taking care of it but not anymore haha. The confirmation was supposed to be at like 12 years old but i didn’t do it bc i was starting to understand more about what religion meant and what it was and realized i didn’t care and didn’t really identified as a christian.  Later, my cousin wanted me to be the godmother of her son but i needed my confirmation in order to be officially recognized as the godmother during his baptism. So i did it, but only because of that. I was around 18 years old.

The things I had to do for my confirmation made me question my faith a lot. I knew for a fact that I believed in God (like, a superior entity or a superior kinda force responsible for the creation of the world) and i believed in Jesus (i mean theres scientific and historical proof he existed) and from what I understood and knew about him, I thought he sounded like a really neat guy. But I didn’t identify as a christian, really. Religion just wasn’t part of my life, period, so I never really thought about it or about my beliefs. But then, i started to be more and more interested in what the frick was in the bible and what was it that made people so so so so PASSIONATE about it. So i started reading it a bit and i thought it was a cool story lmao but i didn’t get very far, like i read maybe 1/20 of it. What really bugged me about it in the first place is that I knew that the people I hated (homophobes, transphobes, sexists, racists, etc.) were often really religious and often backed up their arguments with “the bible”. So i just assumed that i wouldn’t agree with the bible anyways bc it doesn’t match my beliefs.

I didn’t continue reading the bible (should probably continue, one day... like 5 years later lmao) simply bc i’m a procrastinator and i can’t keep up with my 109357976598 personal projects and ideas. But i watched many videos on youtube about religion, i watched a lot of debates, i listened to people with very different points of views and interpretations of the bible and of christianity in general. And it just confused me even more lmao bc i don’t know what the frick i believe in.

I questioned myself a lot on the validity of the bible. I know that for some of you christians, reading this probably makes you cringe and want to vomit but please understand my background and where i’m coming from.  I was confused bc so many conservative people are like “being gay is a sin, it says it in the bible”, but there are also SO many things that are considered “sin” in the bible that these people are actively doing... So, how do you know what to follow and what to ignore in the bible? How do you know how to interpret the messages? And how do you know if YOU interpret the messages right? Who can dictate us except god itself or jesus himself? I was so confused. It seemed like downright hypocrisy to me. Like... who are we to interpret god’s words? we’re just dumb humans. Maybe we got it all wrong. we’ll never know!!!! that’s scary to me...

Also... from everything i read about Jesus, i knew it was my boi. I loved him. I agreed and felt everything he preached. But then why do those conservatives who have like the opposite values as me love Jesus too? Is there something i’m getting wrong? Is there something that THEY are getting wrong? How is it possible? That means we must be interpreting things differently... so then the question comes again, HOW DO WE KNOW WHO’S GOT THE RIGHT INTERPRETATION AIUDGOIGHEOIRHJEROITHWIEUYG And then i started to dig deeper in my thoughts and to wonder: who REALLY wrote the bible? Men did. They are just writing down “god’s words” but dang, the words are still nonetheless written by men. mere mortals. human beings like you and me. How do we know they wrote down god’s words correctly? How do we know they were not imposters? And then, there’s the translation of the bible. I can’t believe there weren’t any translation mistakes? how do we know they did a good job?

Do you understand my concern? I’m just wondering how can we place our faith into the bible when we know it was written by men.

I know it may seem like a very bold question but please understand that I know next to nothing about christianity and religion, i’m new to all this. I am just trying to understand.

So now I would like to know, what do you guys think about this? Is there one of you who has a similar experience? Any one of you can relate? What’s your opinion? 

P.S. Just to make it clear, I am not here to start a debate or to attack anyone. I am currently pretty neutral in terms of christianity, like I’m just trying to view it from an objective perspective. As I told you, I don’t know enough about it to really take position. I am clueless. So please, do not view my questions and my invitation for discussion as an attack or the start of an argument. I’m just a dumb girl who wants to discuss and open up her mind. Whoever you are, christian or not, even if you’re an atheist, i’m interested in hearing your opinion.

I love you all and i hope i can learn from this. <3

[misscrawfords]

7 and 8!

7. Are most of your ships “pure” or “problematic”?

Congratulations, you got me on a pet peeve! What is up with things being “pure” or “problematic”? Is it this stupid American puritanical culture thing that is taking over everywhere? I refuse to categorise my interests like this.

Calling a ship “pure” is nonsensical. Does it mean literally virginal with not a whiff of that naughty sexual chemistry? Because sex is bad, guys! Is that it? 

Or does it mean that the characters have no flaws and never hurt each other or do anything wrong ever in themselves or their relationships? Because that’s… not very realistic. Has the person advocating this ever, you know, had a relationship of any kind with anyone ever? Also, why would anyone be interested in something so excruciatingly dull as flawless people being virtuous and happy and successful all the time?

Do people ship things for Christian moral validation or something? Because that is weird.

Or perhaps a “pure” ship is simply one that is not “problematic”. Because people who ship “problematic” ships are evil and support abuse in fiction AND real life and so a person who ships a “pure” ship can feel morally superior to someone who ships something “problematic” and we do all love feeling morally virtuous and superior, don’t we?

But what is a “problematic” ship? Does it mean a ship involving incest or paedophilia or rape or something equally unpalatable to many people? Well, perhaps. Certainly incest is quite popular at the moment thanks to GoT but hey, in various cultures incest has always been a thing. And what counts as incest anyway? Fanny and Edmund in Mansfield Park are first cousins which squicks out some people and not others. I guess Oedipus/Jocasta is a genuinely problematic ship… And there are certainly some ships that involve actual rape. YMMV when it comes to varying levels of sexual coercion and what is something that can be rectified within the text and what is a line that cannot be crossed. But surely that’s a matter for individual taste and there isn’t an actual rule about it. Astonishingly, the real police don’t care whether you ship Spuffy or not. And surely it also depends on your definition of shipping. Is a ship something you aspire to in your own personal relationships? Or is it a dynamic you find interesting and compelling for some reason? People have lots and lots of reasons for why they ship something.

Shipping doesn’t mean condoning the relationship or the characters involved in it.

But the majority of ships that are so-called “problematic” that I’ve seen aren’t even a rape fantasy of paedophilic incest. They’re just ships between people who aren’t always very nice… people who do bad things… or treat other people badly sometimes… And what constitutes “bad” or “not nice” varies greatly depending on the fandom. In epic fantasy, murdering 50 people might just be all in a day’s work, but in a high school AU is a bit more difficult to justify. Equally, in a high school AU cheating in an exam and punching the quarterback might be absolutely scandalous bad boy behaviour but would make the epic fantasy mercenary confused that this is supposed to be the pinnacle of evil.

Two things stand out.

Firstly, that fiction is interesting when people make mistakes. Most human beings do at some point. Fiction allows us an opportunity to explore the darker aspects of human nature in a safe and often non-judgemental way. I don’t know why people would be surprised by this or condemn it. This is literally what fiction is about. Go read some Greek epic or tragedy. So it’s hardly surprising that many people are drawn to ships that contain elements that are dark or difficult or not admirable either in the characters themselves or in the representation of their relationship. I mean, go read The Aeneid. Or Wuthering Heights. Dido and Aeneas - so respectful, such great communication, such excellent role-models! Heathcliffe and Cathy - so healthy, so virtuous! This is… not exactly a new phenomenon, ya know? 

Secondly, people are jumping on literally anything! I got anon hate for shipping Richard/Mary because Richard kissing her at Haxby was “sexual assault”. I’m just… Stop trivialising real world assault by slapping it unthinkingly onto fiction! Was Mary happy that her actual fiance in 1918 kissed her when she didn’t love him and their power dynamic was screwed up? Yes, almost certainly. But there’s something really bothersome about misusing these terms in this way. It divorces circumstances from context and context is really bloody important! Different countries, different cultures, different periods of history, different fictional universes have different cultural norms and not all of them can be described helpfully using the vocabulary and value systems of the 21st century “liberal” USA. It becomes like the boy who cried wolf. If everything becomes “abuse” or “assault” then I worry that the nuances that do exist in real relationships will get lost. 

That doesn’t mean, incidentally, that these things should be brushed over in the name of shipping. I certainly don’t intend to trivialise real world problems in real life. Or to suggest that people’s individual reasons for particular ships not appealing to them on a personal level aren’t valid. Everyone has their squicks and their NOTPs.

But I don’t think, most of the time, that shippers do trivialise the bad things that characters do in their ships. The most intelligent discussions of relationships and characters that I’ve come across have been from shippers of “problematic” pairings who don’t shy away from the challenging aspects of those relationships. The best fanfictions are the ones that engage with them on a far, far deeper level usually than the original source, teasing open every flaw and red light and giving characters depth and development that they are often denied in canon. 

You can do a lot in a 200,000 word fanfiction written by an intelligent, self-aware young woman that you’re not going to get for a secondary character in a TV show written by a middle-aged man.

Finally, it seems that this dichotomy between “pure” and “problematic” ships has arisen very recently and it’s all being pushed by the “pure” shippers, who have a real problem with what other people ship. Whereas the people who ship these “problematic” ships really don’t care what other people ship and often love those characters and relationships too.

When I was a teenager I was mainly a Harry/Hermione shipper but I also read plenty of Dramione fic and even Snape/Hermione fic (mainly because a friend recommended me some awesome fic for that ship) and nobody judged at all. Shipping wars have always been a thing but there was never any kind of moral judgement, at least not that I can recall. Canon or non-canon, healthy or deeply messed up… it was all just shipping, you know? And nobody was trying to claim that the fact I spent a weekend reading a NC-17 rated Snape/Hermione teacher/student dubcon fic at the age of 15 made me a terrible person who supported abusive relationships… It doesn’t, of course. (Though, looking back, I do wonder a little at my RL friend who told me I should read that fic. I mean…) Just as the fact that I think Medea is awesome doesn’t mean I think killing one’s children is a great idea.

But these days, it seems to me that a lot of people who advocate for “pure” ships are the biggest bullies in fandom and the least capable of a nuanced reading of fiction and the most judgemental both of fictional characters and of the people who think differently to them.

And again I’m forced to return to comparisons with a certain kind of puritanical, dogmatical Christianity which preaches peace and love while being deeply bigoted and narrow-minded. So much for being “liberal” and “caring”.

So, to conclude, I guess most of my ships are problematic. In that I like exploring relationships that have a bit of bite to them. Not that I get off on incredibly squicky things. And I like seeing what happens when the least likely people discover common ground and come together in whatever way. It’s fun! So then I can put them in a coffee shop AU where nothing bad ever happens. :P

But I would rather just destroy this entire concept of “pure” and “problematic” ships. I think it is deeply, deeply toxic and expresses a fundamental misunderstanding of what fiction is about.

8. Who is the most shippable person you can think of?

Mary Crawley lbr. I ship her with:

Matthew

Richard

Charles

Mabel

Tom

[loyolahcmass]

Homily on Faith by Galantis and Dolly Parton

Here is the preview of Fr. Rossi’s homily about the song Faith by Galantis and Dolly Parton:

“Faith” By Galantis and Dolly Parton "Know the road gets hard And you just wanna leave I ain't ever too far Just have a little faith in me.” “These two Swedish guys, Linus and Christian, were trying to track me down because they had this song.” The “two guys” were Galantis, the Grammy award winning EDM duo. The song would turn out to be the Billboard #1 track “Faith.” And the “me” was Dolly Parton, the Queen of Country Music. __________ “They were supposedly both big fans of mine,” Dolly says. In fact, “fans” is an understatement. Galantis admits that “Dolly had always been one of our dream collaborators. __________  “But we honestly thought getting her on the song was a total longshot." “We were working with the Dutch rapper Mr. Probz, and he said, ‘Do you think we can find her? “Do you think she’d do it?’ __________ “As soon as I heard it,” Dolly says,  “I thought, ‘Yes!’ “It’s right for me. “And this is a song the world needs right now. __________ “It’s all about uplifting us. “And believing in a higher power. “All the things we need in this dark, old dreary world right now. __________ Hannah Montana’s Godmother admits that she ”Dolly-ized’ the song a bit. “I wrote some more spiritual things inside the lyrics like: “Let me shine and radiate With your love and light, and help me make Any change I can in this world today Just show me the way.” “We talked back-and-forth and Galantis liked what I added. __________ “I always know inside myself what’s right and what’s wrong to do as far as a song is concerned. “I pray and God helps me to know. “And this felt really right." __________ Galantis also expresses the value of creating music they’re passionate about. "It’s important for us to have meaning behind our music. “And although this is EDM, the song “Faith” has lots of substance. __________ “Our album “Church” doesn’t necessarily refer to a building. “It’s about people banding together in similar belief for a better humanity. “Whether it’s advocating for peace or just lifting each other up – that’s our “Faith.” __________ As soon as “Faith” was released, Dolly said she was open to doing more with the duo . And she’s been true to her word. Galantis’ third studio album is arriving early next year, 2020. It will once again feature Dolly Parton and Mr. Probz. __________ It seems that the 73-year-old Parton and Galantis have faith that they can do it all! They even went to “Dollywood” for the filming of the “Faith” music video. Dollywood, Parton’s family amusement park is in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains. __________ The hip-shaking video sees Parton as a bus driver, as the passengers bust their best choreographed moves. "I'm driving the bus when it breaks down," Dolly says. “And the passengers are all frustrated and stuff. __________ “I guess it's kinda like traveling life's highway. “But I tell them they’ve got to have a little faith in Jesus. “He’s the real driver, you know! __________ "If I was His bus driver, I'd have to shine." And shine Dolly does in her Sunday-best: a bedazzling white jumpsuit with matching hat. "I can't dance, even for the Lord," Parton admits. "But they surrounded me with such good dancers, it made me look like I was all into that." __________ Personally, I love the track "Faith,” because it’s an uplifting call for unity and hope. And that fits in perfectly with the theme of Gaudate (Rejoice) Sunday in the middle of Advent. John the Baptist has been waiting with just such hope for the coming of the Messiah. __________ Now he asks Jesus the big question: “Are you the One?” John’s hope in the midst of all his challenges—remember, he’s in prison awaiting death—has kept him going. He really believes that “The Lord keeps faith forever,” as the psalmist says. __________ And I love Dolly, because she openly talks about God sustaining her in her life and career. “A belief in God is essential,” she says. “You have to believe in something bigger than yourself. “We grew up believing that through God all things are possible.” __________ Growing up in the little mountain church where her grandfather preached, Dolly started singing hymns and playing guitar at services when she was only six. Consequently, she has never been shy about discussing her faith relationship with God. “People say, ‘Well, I am surprised that you talk about your faith,’ and I say, ‘Why not? ‘That’s who I am. ‘That’s what keeps me going.’” . __________ Remember, she’s the one who “Dolly-ized” the song “Faith” by adding these lyrics: “I’ll be standing by your side.” Those are Christ’s words to Dolly. When you hear her sing them, you have faith she believes them with all her heart.

[joie-university-rp]

Dear JOSEPH HART,

It is with great pleasure we invite you admission to Joie University! Welcome to the Thunderclap family!

–

Congratulations, SHEEP! Please be sure to check the New Members’ Checklistand send in your character’s account within 24 hours from now. We cannot wait to see all that you will bring to this roleplay! We love you already!

OOC INFORMATION:

Name/Alias; pronouns: sheep, they/them

Age, Timezone: 21+, CST

Activity, short explanation: I’m on every weekday

Ships: chemistry

Anti-Ships: non-chemistry

Triggers: RFP

Preferred photo for Character’s ID (please give a link): here

Anything else: None

IC INFORMATION:

Full Name (First, Middle, Last): Joseph ‘JOE’ Samuel Hart

FC: Samuel Larsen

Age/Year at University: Junior

Birth date (MONTH DAY, YEAR): 12/26/1999

Hometown: Lima, Ohio

Gender/Pronouns: he/him

Sexuality: queer

Major(s):  Religious Studies and Music

Minor(s) [optional]: N/A

Housing request: N/A

Extracurriculars: Glee club

Greek Life Affiliation: N/A

CHARACTER PROFILE:

His father is a preacher and his mother is a stay at home mother. The two met after his mother moved to the states and fell in love instantly.

Joe had started his time out being home schooled by his mother until he was ready to go to high school. His mother had given him the option to go to school against her wishes. Even though he loved his mother and liked to spend time with her, Joe decided that it would be best for him to hang out with people his age.

At first, his parents considered a christian private school. But they settled on a public school, feeling that Joe could handle the task. Because of this, they pressured Joe to represent a true ‘christian.’ But preaching the word to his fellow students and keeping himself in the good sights of the lord. At least that’s what his father wanted. His mother feared much more.

His mother was nothing less than smothering. After going to school, she would be there everyday. Unfortunately, to the high school public, it came off over protective and a bit embarrassing for Joe. He could never just ‘hang out’ with his friends. His mother was almost always there to monitor the children. Eventually, kids would be hesitate every time when it came to inviting him over. Every time something happened, his mother would threaten the school to remove him.

It was embarrassing to say the least but through all of it, Joe turned to the lord to help his mother with her anxiety. He started to learn over the course of high school to deal with it and prayed that college would be less smothering. He prayed mostly for the day that he would finally leave his home since all he wanted was just some privacy.

To his mother’s worse nightmare, Joe had found himself a girl he had a crush on. However, it all turned out innocent when the two only went to the school dance together and had a respectful manner about dating. Even though his mother didn’t approve of him having a girlfriend, they still saw each other often. This caused Joe to get creative with his mother, finding ways to sneak around her and get away. To his luck, his father helped him out and found loopholes.

When it came time to graduate high school, Joe and his girlfriend decided it would be best to split up. Broken hearted, Joe understood and broke away from her to go to college single.

His mother didn’t want to let Joe go. To Joe’s worse nightmare, she had wanted to move to Joe’s new town and demanded Joe’s father find another job that’s closer to the University. Joe pleaded with his father to not follow to his mother’s wishes. To his luck, Joe’s father said that it would be okay for Joe to live on his own while at college as long as he had fit male roommates. He now lives in the house with roommates his parents approved of.  

STUDENT CENSUS SURVEY:

What made you want to attend Joie University? I wanted to stay close to home and not go that far. When they accepted me, my mom was really excited and even moved with me to the campus. So I can stay at home and help her while also going to school. It’s pretty cool that I get to stay close to her while my dad is out working all the time.

What are at least 3 positive or neutral and at least 3 negative traits that you believe you possess? Well, I can be pretty judgmental, not serious in situations that need it, and pretty hard headed. But hey, I ask Jesus to help me out. I mean, it’s part of what makes me human. I don’t really know what would be positive about me. I’d like to say I’m pretty dedicated, loyal, and fluid with the times.

Which of your traits do you value most? My singing. My mom said that the lord gave me the extraordinary voice. So she said that I should praise the lord with it. It also connects me with several people in my community and the lord.

How can that trait benefit the University (or its student body) as a whole? Of course, spreading the word of Jesus Christ. Every day, we read the lords words and I want to share the wealth of love and grace through out the campus.

What do you hope to gain from your experience at JU? I hope that I get to meet different people from all walks of life and see how the interact with the lord. Of course, I understand that there are different ideas and I’ll always respect that. I’ve always wanted to become a preacher and I think one of the important things is to involve yourself with the world.

What is a quote or song lyric that describes you?  There’s only artificial light here, my flaws hide well here. I used to be afraid of cluttered noises, now I’m afraid of silence

[savedfromsalvation]

CHRISTIAN CANNIBALS

An argument of why Christians are cannibals (and possibly vampires) from Christianity's own perspective

by Jim Walker (an ex-cannibal)

Originated: 07 January 2003Additions: 10 July 2006

How many Christians realize that when they eat that wafer and drink the wine during communion service that they, in effect, practice cannibalism by the partaking in the eating of human flesh and blood?

I certainly did not know that when I underwent communion in my religious days. It sounds so innocent and benign; "Communion" imparts the concept of sharing thoughts and feelings, or so I thought. Oh how the priests fooled me. They used other obscure terms too, like "Eucharist" and "Sacrament of the Last Supper." At no time did a priest or deacon explain to me that I would share in the communal eating of the human flesh and blood of Jesus.

Cannibal: A person who eats the flesh of human beings.

Since Jesus represents an actual human being, and I ate him, that made me a cannibal. And if you have ever undergone communion, then you too fall into that category.

The Church tricked me and turned me into a cannibal!

Not only did I drink blood and eat flesh, but they made me do it in front of a statue of a bloody corpse hanging by nails on two pieces of lumber, a representation of the human whom I had just eaten. (Imagine eating a hamburger in front of an image of a freshly slain cow.)

The Church indoctrinates cannibalism at an early age. Here we have a priest putting pieces of raw human flesh into the mouths of children.

While Popes and priests visit foreign countries, they also make sure to spread their cannibalism.

Did this priest tell this child that she would eat human meat before putting a slice of it into her mouth?

When I discovered the shocking realization that I had eaten human flesh, and drank human blood I felt like vomiting. Where in the world did this morbid practice begin, I wondered. I reread the Bible for clues. Could that explain the mystery of the empty tomb of Jesus (Luke 24:3)? Did the disciples eat him?

Several Christians tried to console me by explaining that Communion only represents the symbolic eating of flesh, not the real thing (I later discovered that many Protestant Christians don't believe in the literal eating of Jesus, although some do). I felt relieved for awhile until other Christians told me otherwise (virtually all Catholics and Episcopalians believe in the literal interpretation). I began to do a bit of research for myself from the Catholic Church's own position. My stomach began to churn again as I discovered what communion and the Eucharist really means.

Communion

Communion, or "Holy Communion" as the Church officially calls it, means the actual reception of the Sacrament of the Eucharist. As the Catholic Encyclopedia puts it, "For real reception of the Blessed Eucharist it is required that the sacred species be received into the stomach. For this alone is the eating referred to by our Lord (John 6:58)."

So you can't just put it in your mouth and spit it out. Oh no. You have to make sure you swallow it into your stomach!

I looked up the Biblical chapter in John 6 and found this diabolical revelation:

Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. (John 6:53-55)

Egads, I thought. Jesus really wants them to EAT HIM! It would make perfect sense if the disciples did eat his dead corpse. Of course you wouldn't want to admit your cannibalism to the unbelievers and you'd have to explain the missing body to the authorities. You might say something like, "He is not here, but is risen..." (Luke 24:6). Yeah, right, that's the ticket.

If the disciples did eat Christ, it may have looked something like this.

Eucharist

Eucharist describes the name given to the "Blessed Sacrament of the Altar," (older religions also used blood sacrifices to an altar. Some used virgin humans, bulls, lambs, etc.). The Christians use it to mean an actual sacrifice by Jesus where they truly believe the bread and wine turns into the actual corporal flesh and blood of Jesus Christ. Christians also use other titles such as, "Table of the Lord" (Mensa Domini) or the morbid term, "Lord's Body" (Corpus Domini).

From the Catholic Church and as far back as the pronouncement from the Council of Trent, the quintessence of the Eucharist means that "the Body and Blood of the God-man ARE truly, really, and substantially present."

Here we have a community of Christians lining up to eat and swallow the uncooked flesh of Jesus in what Christianity calls the "Blessed sacrament of the Altar" or better known as the 'Eucharist' during a ceremony of communion. Looks innocent, doesn't it? Not at all the image of cannibalism as usually depicted in folklore.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (1992), stresses the centrality of the Eucharist to Catholic life:

The Eucharist is 'the source and summit of the Christian life.' The other sacraments, and indeed all ecclesiastical ministries and works of the apostolate, are bound up with the Eucharist and are oriented toward it. For in the Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ himself, or Pasch.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 1324

So if you practice Catholicism, and wish to remain a Catholic, you must honor the connubiality of the Eucharist. Not only does it mean eating the flesh and blood of Christ as a sacrifice, it means a union with the gore:

In the Eucharist the sacrifice of Christ becomes also the sacrifice of the members of his Body. The lives of the faithful, their praise, sufferings, prayer, and work, are united with those of Christ and with his total offering, and so acquire a new value. Christ's sacrifice present on the altar makes it possible for all generations of Christians to be untied with his offering.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 1368

Moreover, you must never deny the priesthoods power of consecrating the flesh and blood:

If any one shall say that in the New Testament there is no visible and external priesthood nor any power of consecrating and offering the Body and Blood of the Lord, as well as of remitting and retaining sins, but merely the office and bare ministry of preaching the Gospel, let him be anathema.

Council of Trent, No. 961

Note: anathema means cursed, a malediction on your soul.

So how does bread and wine turn into actual flesh, you may ask? The Christians believe it comes from the concept of transubstantiation.

Transubstantiation

According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, Hildebert of Tours (~1079) probably first used the term transubstantiation and the Church later adopted the practice in the Fourth Council of the Lateran (1215) and the Council of Lyons (1274), and finally, the Council of Trent (1545-1563).

Transubstantiation basically means, the transition or conversion of one thing into another in some aspect of being. Turning water into wine gives one example of transubstantiation, and turning bread into flesh and wine into blood gives another. Transubstantiation, however, doesn't just describe a simple conversion of one thing into another but a substantial conversion (conversio substantialis). Transubstantiation differs from every other substantial conversion in this, that only the substance gets converted into another.

[Advice to the Church: Before converting the wine into blood, why not also transubstantiate water into wine? No need for expensive grape orchards, harvesting, or processing because Jesus would do the entire conversion for you for free. That way, you could give (or better yet, sell) bottles of wine to your congregations (you could call it "Jesus Juice"). You could establish Catholic wineries around the world! Just imagine the new converts you would get and, oh how your coffer cups would overflow. Just a thought.]

In the Eucharist, two extremes of conversions occur, namely the bread and wine as the terminus a quo, and the Body and Blood of Christ as the terminus ad quem (before and after). In other words, the substance of the bread and wine departs in order to make room for the Body and Blood of Christ.

Transubstantiation, as a conversion of the total substance, is the transition of the entire substance of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ, comes as the express doctrine of the Church (Council of Trent, Sess. XIII, can. ii).

This theophagy (god eating) of course did not come first from the Catholics but had occurred throughout pagan religions long before Christianity. The notion that eating another living human being lies at the belief of absorbing his nature into his own, thus becoming, in some sense, more godlike, similar to the even more primitive belief that eating one's enemies makes one more powerful.

No true Christian should doubt it. Eating that wafer and drinking the wine in Church actually means truly and really eating human meat and blood. In fact, it's the entire body: eyes, brains, gall bladder, spleen, rectum, penis, testicles, etc. Everything. If you've ever watched the TV program, Fear Factor, that's nothing compared with eating the components of an entire human body. According to the Council of Trent, if you deny the Transubstantiation, then you are accursed (anathema). You will also get to spend eternity in hell.

Bon appetit!

For the full reading of this official Church doctrine from the Council of Trent, click here.

How does transubstantiation work?

So how does transubstantiation actually work; what process does the Church use to transform bread and wine into human flesh and blood (and guts, etc.)? Apparently this remains a deep Church secret. However, we do know that the priests make verbal incantations, pass smoking incense about, and pray a lot during a rite they call "Offertory" (Offertorium). Apparently the actual transformation occurs during the Prayer of Consecration, by which the bread and wine cease to be bread and wine, and are converted into the flesh and blood of Christ. At just what miraculous moment during the prayer it turns into human flesh, I haven't a clue and I suspect the priests don't either. Apparently Jesus does the actual conversion, but I haven't discovered the method of how the priests know when this occurs or what test procedures they use to insure that Jesus made the transubstantiation (what if Jesus got lazy that day or just decided, enough is enough?).

In any case, by the time the priest places the wafer into your mouth, you can rest assured that you are actually eating Christ's meat. (It tastes like chicken.)

We do know that an industry exists to make the bread and wine. For example, S&M (I kid you not) stands as one of the companies that make official communion bread for the Church:

If you don't know what S&M means, in colloquial terms it stands for sadomasochism or the practice of sadism (sadistic) and masochism (subjecting oneself to abuse or physical pain).

Now I doubt that this company's name means or intends a connection with sadomasochism, but it seems an appropriate term if you consider what the eating of human flesh means to the recipient or the giver of one's own flesh. I cannot think of another word than sadomasochism to better describe the act of consciously eating the flesh of a human from another person (a sadistic act) who willingly gives them their flesh and blood to eat (an extreme masochist act).

Frankwright Mundy & Co. Ltd. sells communical sets. They even offer briefcases and shoulder bags for carrying around the flesh and blood of Jesus. What next, I wondered; will they one day build fast food outlets where a Christian can get Jesus meat anytime of day? McJesus? Christ-In-A-Box?

Vampirism

Not only did I eat human flesh in my communion sacraments, but I also drank the "actual" blood of Jesus. Doesn't this make me a vampire also? Although vampires supposedly suck blood instead of drinking it, this seems an insignificant distinction. On the contrary, the drinking and the whole swallowing of blood as opposed to sucking seems to me a bit more bloodthirsty if you ask me.

If you consider the folklore surrounding vampire stories and compare them with the beliefs of Christianity, the claims appear similar. Vampire myths (see Dracula) and Christianity both believe that by drinking human blood, you will live forever. Actually Christianity goes one step further by requiring the eating of human flesh along with the blood (John 6:53-55). And of course you're also eating the penis of Jesus (does that make one gay, I wonder?) and the small and large intestines of Jesus, and the bladder of Jesus, etc. Only by this cannibalistic act can you achieve "eternal life."

Consider also that vampirism and their drinking of blood and immortality represent fiction, whereas Christians actually believe their communal drinking of blood and eating of Jesus' corpse will earn them eternal life. Doesn't this, at the very least, put Christian vampirism in a more deleterious light than fictional vampirism?

Note that the actual Dracula (not the fictional one) lived as a Christian. Click here for more information. No doubt the real Dracula thoroughly enjoyed his communal ingesting of human blood.

Addiction?

Now I don't know why just one eating of flesh and drinking of blood won't get you to heaven, but I've yet to get a good explanation of why Christians need to eat flesh and blood every week. This continual practice of ritual cannibalism and vampirism brings up even more pressing questions about this gruesome practice. Does the act of communion lead to habitual use or an addictive need for more flesh and blood? Consider that Christians have done more to promote bloody wars throughout history than any other group, and their insistence on evangelizing every human on earth to their faith, should non-believers fear that the Christians might turn them into human flesh eaters too?

(

Click to enlarge

)They start this addiction at the earliest possible age. For the first communion, they actually give a reward for remembering their first cannibalistic act, usually in the form of a certificate. (You'd think the promise of everlasting life would serve as enough reward.) Note that nowhere in the certificate does it say that you've just eaten the human meat of Jesus.

Here we have a Christian boy eagerly awaiting his fix of Jesus' flesh. (Note the extra large portion.)

Christian Cannibalism and vampirism continues into elderly life.How many glasses of Christ's blood has this woman drank over the years?

Another concern involves the length of time of transubstantiated bread and wine. Just how long does this conversion last? We now know that you must swallow it for its effect to work, but at what stage does it turn back into naturally digested bread and wine? Does it remain transubstantiated even after digestion? Does it ever reconvert? If not, consider what this means as we move our bowels. Should we not treat the remains of Christ as sacred, just as we do the remains of the bodies of dead saints? Perhaps we might consider a better form of elimination of the excrement made from our Redeemer than just thoughtlessly flushing Him down the toilet.

I find the practice of sacred cannibalism disturbing and potentially life threatening, regardless of how many of the addicted faithful tell us it will give us everlasting life. I humbly make the following proposal: that the FDA and the CDC get involved in the study of the composition of the Transubstantiated bread and wine and the narcotic or addictive effects they may impose on the human body.

I hope that I have alarmed you enough to contact your local law enforcement office and state representative about this pressing matter. If you and I don't do it, who will?

Conclusion

Even if you still stubbornly cling to the belief that the Eucharist represents only a symbol of eating flesh and drinking blood, that still makes you a cannibal, if only a symbolic cannibal. If you partake in communion as a metaphorical representation of eating Christ's body, then that still makes you a metaphorical cannibal. You simply have no easy out of this predicament as a symbolic cannibal sits as a subset of cannibalism.

You might also want to question the metaphorical or symbolic stance because if the Eucharist presents metaphor, then what does that say for Jesus himself and what Jesus directly says from the Bible about eating his meat? Metaphorical also? How do you distinguish between metaphor and reality in the Bible when it treats all doctrines equally as the inspired words of God? Would you object to the title of Symbolic Christian or Metaphorical Christian? If you consider yourself a metaphorical or symbolic Christian, then you still fall under the label of Christian just as a symbolic cannibal falls under the label of cannibal.There simply exists no way out for a Christian to escape the cannibal label, except of course to exit Christianity entirely. I did just that and by doing so, I escaped cannibalism along with all the other nonsense. I wrote this article as satire but if you live as one of the millions of faithful that believe in the Bible and the doctrines of Christianity then you must take this article as a serious argument.

Sources:

Catholic Encyclopedia

Holy Communion

The Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist

Offertory Rite The Council of Trent The Thirteenth Session

[lesbiampire]

okay so i just have some notes on the bold type season two’s newest episode (betsy), aka what i’ve started calling ‘the gun episode’, because i have some serious issues with how the writers chose to do this one, as i’m sure many other people do.

so, i wasn’t surprised they chose to tackle this. tbt has always attempted hot-button topics, i just wasn’t expecting this one to feel so far removed from the characters, what they do, and what we know about them. did anyone have any clue sutton had a shotgun? has this ever been brought up before? if it has then i’m sorry, but to me it felt random and kind of forced its way into the narrative.

the episode starts and we find out that sutton’s instrument from school is actually a shotgun. okay. jane is understandably freaked out by this and sutton makes a show of how she thinks jane is overreacting - my first issue here is with this characterisation? because, has sutton been watching the same show as the rest of us? it’s pretty typical jane sloan behaviour to be freaked out by everything, and if sutton knew ‘she would react like this’, that shows just how much she should have told her. this isn’t just some secret from high school, it’s a weapon that has been living in their shared apartment! i’m sorry but sutton’s reaction is the most out-of-character thing i think i’ve seen all season, it was enough to make me pause the episode to let off some steam, it took something away from my viewing process.

my second issue is with jane’s reaction, or rather, the reason for her reaction. it’s very sensitive and i was seriously worried tbt would fuck it up. jane lived only a few miles away from columbine when it happened, and she even knows some people who died. introducing real-world events into tbt is nothing new and i commend its efforts for trying, but in this case it’s not the content of that so much as the way they consistently choose to characterise jane. my question is: why can’t jane just have opinions on things without having to have been influenced by some real-life event for her to feel that way? 

think about it. this is just one example - you also have her mom when it comes to the breast cancer episode back in season one, and also her reluctance towards christianity shown earlier this season is also because of a lived experience. they are painting jane as some kind of tragic heroine who has lived through a lot, and if she just has - fine! but it’s consistently used to validate her beliefs about things and at this point it feels tired, i look and jane and wonder why the writer’s seem to think she couldn’t have had an opinion on guns without this. any character who seems to have had no contact or knowledge about guns - for example kat - is shown to be almost apolitical towards the subject, and it’s not only lazy, in this episode it also subtly seems to be implying anyone who has an opinion on guns without this first-hand contact just... shouldn’t! what. isn’t that what most pro-gun people say when trying to defend their 2nd amendment rights?

it also feeds into my wider issues with jane’s characterisation, too. she was fired from incite because, true to her moral values or not, she does make things about herself. which is fine because personal, inward-looking journalism is interesting, and jane is clearly a-okay with being vulnerable and revealing in her work and that’s great. but she does it way too much, apparently so much the show now seems to think even outside of the writing room she can’t say or do or mean anything when it’s not in direct relation to herself or her own lived experience. in this episode, this comes across as particularly pointed and lacking because...

we’re being fed this “two sides of the story” bullshit. they’re utilising jane’s fault of not looking outward at those around her to preach that we should be paying attention to sutton’s point of view in this storyline. which, fair enough. usually i’m all for listening to those who have differing opinions - it’s the only better way to understand a topic and expand your own viewpoint. but, honestly, i’m okay to just not when it comes to gun control? especially when they make sutton say shit like “guns don’t kill people, people do.” i wanted to rip my own eye sockets out. i forgive sutton because she does seem to come around to the idea of guns actually being dangerous by the end of the episode, but they still never challenge that ideology and that leaves me questioning what the bold type was actually trying to say.

because, okay. if we absolutely had to do this, here’s how i would have done it. sutton has a gun, she has a gun for some very understandable reasons during her teenage years, she’s out with her friends shooting skeet (not birds, phew) and having a good time of it. i have no problem with this. what she’s doing in and of itself isn’t dangerous, and she’s doing it because she can’t handle the lack of control she seems to have in her own life. plus, she’s very good at it. okay - all that i can deal with. i'll even suspend my disbelief and say she hadn’t told jane due to her dreading jane’s reaction and the inevitable explanation. okay.

now, here’s where the bold type could have made an interesting statement: whilst sutton’s enjoyment of shooting skeet is valid and non-malicious, is her need to do that greater than other people’s need to be safe? the answer i would have gone for, as most viewers probably would have, is no. that way, they could have still explored sutton’s character and history without having to have her preach some scary ideology for the sake of “hearing both sides”. jane does need to hear more sides than her own, this is true, but exploring this issue with her character in this episode was not a good choice. having other characters like kat be completely neutral to this is almost unbelievable, and generally, the entire episode is a bit of a shambles. sorry to tbt, which i do adore, but you guys really missed your mark on this one.

[funkymbtifiction]

So I know you're a Christian and I think that's super awesome so I had I a question- have you typed anyone from the bible? Paul, Peter, David, Moses? I've wondered it tons!

I’m a bit rusty since I haven’t read my Bible in awhile, but based on memories…*

Jesus: clear INFJ. It may seem sacrilegious to type him, but… he had a clear Ni vision he wanted to impose on the Jews (and predicted their downfall at the hands of the Romans), entirely based in ‘all life is equal / treat everyone the same – with kindness’ /emotionally connected Fe and was an obvious introvert.

His brother James: ISTJ. Dutiful, traditional, reluctant to embrace new ideology.

The disciples I have opinions about are below; I’ll leave the rest out:

Paul: strikes me as an EXTJ with a strong emphasis on rules, discipline, and proper behavior. Once he decided to do something, no one could stand in his way. He clearly had Te-dom behaviors in play (rational reasoning, results-oriented, and very little respect for John Mark’s ‘incompetence’ and ‘cowardice’) and leadership qualities. I’m iffy on NiSe or SiNe but he could be ESTJ.

By contrast, I’d say Barnabus (who reconciled John Mark and Paul) was an EXFJ of some sort; his primary motives in his sections of scripture are to join people together and foster improved relationships; he offers many second chances and believes in the potential for change (ESFJ?).

Peter was an excitable opportunist known for his impulsive behaviors, who never let physical punishment stop him from preaching, so I’m guessing ESXP. I’m not sure about his axis; some of it seems attention-seeking (Fe) and some of it seems based in emotional reactions as things happen (SeFi).

John: … maybe an IXFP? Swift and often harsh moral judgments, which later softened into a pattern of love and acceptance.

Luke: INFX. Abstract writer.

Thomas: ISTX. Bold, but factual-based.

Martha: Total XSTJ. Her sister seems introverted and like a feeler.

King David: I lean EXFP, and if he really did write much of the Psalms, there’s an awful lot of indecision, symbolism, and waffling emotionally going on in there, which could indicate a Ne/Si axis. Clearly an emotional decision maker, and oblivious to external perceptions about his behavior, but also able to ‘move on’ quickly.

Solomon: ENTJ. An ambitious philosopher undermined by his political ambitions with Se issues of decadence, over-excess, lavish wealth, and a desire to experience all life has to offer (including many wives). Everyone came to him for advice / sought his intuitive wisdom. No waffling / indecisiveness.

Moses: He did not want leadership until it was thrust upon him, and even then hated it; he offered numerous excuses to God as to why he shouldn’t be the leader (and then submitted when God sent him anyway); he was super-cautious and careful, meticulous but also easily angered / temperamental. Extreme attentiveness to detail and prone to ritualistic behavior. ISFJ or ISFP.

Samson: ESTP. Nuff said.

Esau: ESTP, probably. Clear extrovert / Se-dom / experience seeker, all based in the present, little regard for Fi values.

Isaac: not sure, but probably an introvert and maybe a sensor.

Ruth: ISFX? Extremely loyal, but unafraid to give up all she knows and travel with her mother in law to a different land, then to leap at the chance to marry Boaz (though she needed to be told how to culturally get it done, heh).

Joseph: ENFJ? His issues with his brothers stem from being a Fe-dom show-off about being daddy’s favorite, and he’s opportunistic (Se loop?) at times.

* I may retype them at some point, if I get back into my studies.

-ENFP Mod

[driftwork]

a port story [1]

[ I am reasonably certain I will never go to Lisbon again, the only aspect of Portugal that will come into my life now are humans who have migrated here for social-political-economic reasons, which is the only reason anyone moves anywhere] I had never been to the city before and was intending to spend a few days there before traveling north. The hotel was a nice business hotel, the room anonymous and comfortable. I wandered around the city and was going to a restaurant in one of the nice squares,  neither of the names, the restaurant or the square matter, forgotten as they are, obscured by passing time.  The restaurant I remember  had comfortable chairs, mirrors on the walls, wooden tables, round, square and a few triangular tables, the cuisine was mix of international and local Portuguese.  Some of the international dishes were served with a delicate local reinterpretation, a few clams added, a red wine sauce reimagined with local fortified wine.  Either way I have fond memories of the place.  I think I took a bus from the square the hotel was in, or perhaps I walked, I am unsure. Let's say it was a bus with aluminum poles wrapped in yellow reinforced plastic tape that took me to the district, the square. Which was full of people, adults and children. It was early evening, before seven. I was early as the table was booked for eight. We had agreed to meet in the restaurant at eight, she would be on time, she was always on time, arriving in the district early and meandering slowly so that she would arrive ontime.  I had an hour to use so I went to an old cafe on the east side of the square, the sunlight poured like liquid gold onto the front of the cafe, crawling under the old sun-bleached awnings. The cafe served a vast array of different drinks, it had various types of billiard tables and a pinball machine with images celebrating yuri gagarian’s test flights and a trip around the moon. i ordered  a glass of Marsala and an espresso, and started watching a game of bar billiards being played between two old grey haired men,  one of the old men was using a walking stick to support his weaker left leg, clear blue eyes, his hair cut short and he was evenly matched with his friend,  he was hitting the pins and sinking balls with the sharp eyes of a professional billiards predator. Do you want a game ? He asked. No I replied, I cannot play bar billiards, though if you like and can tell me the rules as we play, honestly, we could play for who pays for the glass of port? He smiled at me, where are you from? Overseas?  A bit, I admitted carefully. Where from, Catus Minor, I said. I don’t know where that is, he said.  The south end of the  Haydes. That’s strange, still never heard of it, but there are so many new countries these days. He said scratching his head and then polishing his cure. So what’s your name? Petr, I said in english with the purely english home counties accent. Petr is the short version that friends and people call me. So youré baptised, a christian he said. Oh no,  we are all atheists in my family and culture. There are lots of deities here, but on Catus Minor there are none, nobody knows why. It's said that gods only exist here in  the entire galaxy… Really? he waved the waiter over and ordered drinks. I know what you need, a beautiful african, good price, about 19 or 20 from Mozambique, just arrived.  No thanks my partner would be upset, and besides I have to meet some people at the restaurant over the square, I said paused, so I have no time for girls or boys either.  So what are you doing here then?  I am meeting a woman and perhaps her husband in the restaurant.  I thought about lighting a cigarette, <cigarettes in those days were harmless again>  but decided not to, i am looking for a man and they may be able to help me. I am just here killing time. Just a second, why are you looking for the man? What for? he asked intensely.  Maybe nothing,  I simply lost track of him and need to connect with him again. I have come all this way from Catus Minor just to look for him,  i would like to speak to him again, its pretty urgent. So i have this appointment in the restaurant, its full of mirrors and memories. I have never been, it has triangular tables,  i  hope we will sit at such a table. I have never been before. Sounds quite exciting, he said, are you paying? no we’ll be splitting the bill, they have money i believe. Is it a place for fascists? He asked. Probably as its expensive, though they aren’t. I left him with the port and walked around the edges of the square to the restaurant…[We met when we were young whilst working in a decorating chain store that sold paint and wallpaper and the usual tools, paint brushes, poisons chemicals and so on. I think we were both about 20 or 21, he had recently got married to his deeply neurotic girlfriend, how could he be married at such a young age you might think, people simply did that in that place at that time.  Later though,  not that much later he became a near-legendary troublemaker primarily in the micro-political realm. At that time to be political, to be a socialist meant that you were focused on the micro-political as the enemy had almost filled the macro-political realm with lessor variants of themselves. Before that he’d originated from the mid-west, in a German high school there, to be in that private school meant you would probably be taught by anti-capitalist teachers and going to the German High school meant you knew of the world, that you’d go on trips across the Atlantic to Berlin, New York and Paris. Whereas people like me going to a Secondary Modern school on the outskirts of London were going to a terrible anti-intellectual school staffed by imbeciles who hated us and themselves  —— in this place we were taught about the history of the local monarchs, the great men of history discourses that the imbeciles liked. Now that I think of it in those days there were still teachers who left to travel to the colonies and ex-colonies to preach and convert. Others who were ex-colonials explaining how good the empire was for everyone.  A few years later, i remember it well, in a cafe in north London, their children were still explaining that American, French and Belgium colonialism was worse, they were children and couldn't count. Not long after that these same people decided to start murdering people again.  Eventually I took the line of flight as far away as I could travel, whilst he continued to drift around europe.  When we  finally separated we still spent a few summer vacations in various cities and seaside towns, Italy, south western France, the Balkans.  He dreamed of painting, his output consisting mostly of windows with shutters, still lives, iron bars, plastic frames and occasionally lace curtains that hinted at humans hiding, mostly from themselves behind the lace.  When he stopped painting or drawing we would go for a walk. It was on the last of these walks, the last time we were together that he said, someday if I kill myself, I'll do it slowly, as if I have a terminal illness over a six month or year long period, saying delirious goodbyes from the hospital bed. Did he do that, is my search in vain?]

When I arrived at the restaurant they were already sitting at a triangular table with a small crystal pitcher full with vodka martini, slices of lemon floating, there were three martini glasses on the table, theirs not quite full, mine empty. She poured some of the perfect liquid into my glass.  Hello, I said, how ae you?  They looked neutrally at my face, you look younger than we expected she said. Its the relativity effect. Time passes more slowly during space travel, even now. A friend is always a friend, he said philosophically. We exchanged small talk, briefly touching on the stories of our lives. The events, music, images and stories, the politics, communities and cultures we had passed through in the recent past.  I told them about the media at home, they told me about how their local right-wing discourse had become dominant by allowing itself to be subculturized, falsified and socialized.  They were, (I remember sitting there sipping the drink,) database animals... their social values and standards were always dysfunctional, which is why they felt a pressing need to  construct alternative values and standards. Eventually this faded away and it had become clearer who we were. Only then, when it may have become impossible, we began to talk about the reason why  I wanted to meet them... Eventually after  they explained about the suicide, the leap from the 22nd floor onto the plaza in the middle of the night. Wait, I said,  where was he buried? where are his remains I asked.  But most of all I wanted to know  what were his motives ? why ? We don't know his personal motives, he never told us about his personal motives for anything.  You must have known something, was he depressed, mad, pregnant, you had eyes to see the state of things?  He stroked his beard and eyebrows,  a strangely neutral and yet erotic gesture directed I thought at her.  He poured some more martini into his glass, ordered some more liquor. But they couldn't say anymore.  They couldn't say where he was buried, nor even how his body was dealt with, did someone inherit his kidney, heart, eyes, liver?  Cremated, buried, frozen... I ate  pan fried fish,  fried sweet potato chips,  some forgotten vegetables, an unmemorable desert.  They disappeared into Brasil.  Days later as I prepared to leave Lisbon  the doubts crept in,  I thought, that perhaps,  I should confirm he was dead by speaking to some other people, perhaps their were some family members still living in the  house in S.Ware,  I couldn't remember the number, the street must look the same though. Perhaps he is still alive.  That's all there is.... I had six months after all before the ship was leaving for home and needed to fill my time with something... [for Armando]

[woodworkingpastor]

Sunday, September 20, 2020--Barnabas and Saul are called--  Acts 13:1-3

One of the more challenging aspects of trying to be the church in the midst of a pandemic is the loss of the structures of congregational life, those patterns and rhythms that help us stay in proper relationship to God, one another, and the world around us. In the years I’ve been your pastor, there have typically been two of these structural things that happen in the fall that occupy a good bit of my summer in preparation: the Discipleship 101 class for new members, and the fall Stewardship emphasis.

If this were a normal year, I suspect today would have been week two of the Discipleship 101 class. That isn’t happening at the moment, because it’s a Sunday School event and we’re not able to all be together. But the Fall Stewardship emphasis is beginning this morning. Our Executive Committee is working on the 2021 budget and slate of officers, and in a few weeks you’ll be given a pledge card. The structures of our congregational life are radically altered these days, but they are not invisible.

Our focus this fall is on the theme Come build a church. It is centered around a love offering that the Apostle Paul was collecting for Christians in Jerusalem. Paul mentions this offering four times in three different New Testament letters. It seems that there was a famine in Jerusalem and the Christians there were struggling. We can understand why Paul would be motivated to receive this offering—Paul knew Jerusalem, he had a lot of connections there.

But there is something more than that at work here. Honestly, it’s related to what we’ve been talking about in Romans for the last several weeks—Paul is trying to build a global church united under the Lordship of Jesus, where the joys and sufferings of Christians in one place are recognized and addressed by Christians in another place. It’s not easy, and there are many reasons why it might not work. This love offering is one way Paul is building a church.

As I studied these texts over the summer, I came to a significant realization:

The love offering is bigger than the money. It is about our life together.

So that means we have a few things to talk about before we get to the offering, which brings us to today’s text on Barnabas’ and Saul’s call to ministry, Acts 13:1-3.

Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a member of the court of Herod the ruler, and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

Congregations need to have a method for calling persons to ministry. One of the more interesting ways of doing this comes from Mennonite churches that practice what we in the Church of the Brethren call the plural, non-salaried ministry. The leaders of the congregation would recognize the need for a new minister—possibly because a current minister was no longer able to continue in that role. They would identify potential candidates from within the congregation. After a time of prayer a number of hymnals would be placed on the table in front of the church; one of them would have a slip of paper inside. All the potential candidates would pick up a hymnal and open the cover; whoever had the one with the paper was set apart for the ministry, called by God. It’s a story with Biblical precedent—in Acts 1 the apostles replaced Judas by “casting lots.”

Imagine what that would be like—coming to church as a member and leaving as a pastor! You begin to realize that the Gospel we preach makes some very deep and personal claims on our identity. Who we are and how we see ourselves—including the role we play within the congregation—is not simply up to us. God has a claim on our lives!

The assumption behind a church that takes “calling” seriously is what we Brethren call “the priesthood of all believers.” What it means is that we understand our life in Christ to involve more than just our response to God’s invitation to “Come, follow me.” Having accepted the marvelous gift of God’s redemption, we become agents of redemption. (Wouldn’t that make an interesting Christian adventure movie!) Our whole lives—time, talent, treasure, and testimony—are available to God.

This is such an important concept that the Church of the Brethren polity document on Ministerial Leadership—the document that defines how we call, train, and support pastors—doesn’t begin by talking about pastors, it begins by talking about all of us:

Our life together as Brethren has long reflected a strong agreement with the concept of the priesthood of all believers: every sister or brother baptized into faith enters into the ministry of the Church. Ministerial leadership, then, begins with every member and grows out of strong congregational leadership. Deacons, trustees, Sunday school teachers and countless others offer their time, talents, and selves to keep congregations healthy and vital.

That committee or commission assignment; that invitation to teach in a Sunday School class; the call to serve as a Deacon or a greeter or a worship leader or a musician; each of these are so much more than a slot to fill on a slate or “one more thing that needs to be done.” When we are at our best, we recognize that we are participating in the realization of God’s kingdom. We live in contested territory, and there is a battle at work for truth and justice and righteousness. Lives are at stake and we are called to be agents of redemption, putting the world to rights in the manner of Jesus.

The work begins in prayer

It is significant that this text describes a prayer meeting. Prayer and worship is where the work of the church begins and is sustained. This is where we gather both to tell ourselves the truth and to “detox” from all the mental and spiritual junk we accumulate in the world.  But do we believe that something like this might happen in our lives?

Writer Annie Dillard is skeptical. She writes:

On the whole, I do not find Christians…sufficiently sensible of conditions. Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping god may wake someday and take offense, or the waking god may draw us out to where we can never return.

It’s interesting to me how “unremarkable” the Scripture text really feels. There are so many questions we’d like to know the answers to: what did it look like for the Holy Spirit to call? How did they know it was the Holy Spirit? How did they come to agree on the Spirit’s message? But none of these questions are answered.

All we know is that the church prayed, the Spirit called, and the ones called obeyed. Barnabas and Saul had received some good training in Antioch, and they had done plenty of good work there. But now God was calling them—40% of the church’s leadership—to serve somewhere else.

The New Testament is focused on missionary endeavors in large part because our lives are shaped by knowing the end toward which creation is moving. In our life together you see the beginnings of the end—not in some prediction on when the world would end, but in the way we shape our lives in response to the Gospel.

How do you live in response to the Gospel?

Some think that once they’ve “accepted Jesus” then they have done all they needed to do. In some cases, however, you might not recognize anything has changed.

For some, faith is a Sunday morning add on—like a good suit or nice dress; it’s there when we need it but spends most of our lives waiting to be worn.

Some live as if the Bible is a how-to manual to solve life’s problems. Whatever you mention to another person, they are there with three steps to a better marriage or words of comfort in difficult times. They always have just the right response for your situation—whether you’ve asked for it or not.

Some people live with a deep sense of thankfulness and gratitude for what God has done in their lives, and it shows in their demeanor.

But I believe it’s most important to recognize that the values of eternity are on display in the present, and that our life together is to be part of the greatest rescue and recovery operation in the history of the universe. We have the opportunity to establish outposts of another kingdom, embassies of another world in the midst of this one; our calling is to make disciples

So what about us? I made the point earlier that Paul’s desire to receive a love offering for the Christians in Jerusalem was about much more than raising money—it was about building a global church. So too our fall Stewardship series is about more than just our financial pledge—it’s about our commitment to be an agent of reconciliation.

So what about us? These hymnals aren’t here because we’re calling a pastor. For now, imagine that they’re here because God needs someone to do some new thing. Are you willing to pick one up and see if the slip of paper is inside, calling you to serve?

[musicgoonmail]

Guilt

In This Edition

In this week’s edition, I share about my giveaway on Instagram, personal SOLA article recommendations, and what's new with my book reviews.

I plan to enjoy Father's Day by ordering takeout, picking up some boba drinks, and staying at home. I know Father's Day can sometimes be difficult. I hope to point you to Christ as our comfort and our Heavenly Father who will help us find our way home.

Thanks for taking the time to spend with me here in this newsletter. You can always reach me by replying directly to this email.

Giveaway

Personal SOLA Network Article Recommendations

Online with Felicia Angkasa

Book Reviews

Extended Play

Lightning Links

Playlists

Coming Soon

Weekly Review

Giveaway

I'm celebrating the 1-year anniversary of my @diveindigdeep Instagram account dedicated to Bibles and books. Jess is helping me and we're giving away a set of minimal wood alphabet flashcards. I want you to win. Enter here.

What started out as a summer project last year has become one of my favorite things to do every day. To read and write, support Christian publishers, and meet Christians from around the world is a joy.

Personal SOLA Network Article Recommendations

Here is a personal reading list of SOLA Network articles with pieces regarding my church FCBC Walnut, written by my pastor, or written by my friends. There are over 10 articles in the list and I plan to keep adding to it as more content becomes available.

Speaking of SOLA, our IGTV video library is now open and you can view 30 short interviews on a variety of topics. The SOLA content library is huge and I'm glad to finally be making these a little bit easier to access. Check it out here.

Walnut Notes: Online with Felicia Angkasa

We're committing to spending our summer on current events and Christian worldview topics in our online Sunday School class. Felicia is one of my co-teachers and it was great to get her for an interview on our church Instagram. We talked about the blessings and challenges of online ministry and she gave some encouragement for young adults during this time. Watch it here.

Now that Instagram allows you to save conversations directly to your feed and IGTV, I hope to experiment more and find different ways to engage. It's fun for me to experiment online but I still hope to provide something of value for our church members. This one was done without much preparation, and I hope to improve on my interviewing skills when it's time to go online without much notice.

Book Reviews

This week was focused on books from Cruciform Press, the small publishing company founded by Tim Challies. I was able to stay on top of these reviews since they are short books. It was a good break from some of the bigger books I have coming soon.

In case you missed it, don't forget these 2 free eBooks. First is Christ and Calamity: Grace and Gratitude in the Darkest Valley by Harold L. Senkbeil. I have not yet read it, but his book, The Care of Souls, was one of my favorites from this year. You can read my review here. Second is Humble Calvinism by J. A. Medders. This was one of my faves from last year, and you can read my review here.

The Gospel of John Bible Study by Core Christianity

The Character of the Christian by Tim Challies

Set an Example by Tim Challies

Book Review: The Commandment We Forgot by Tim Challies

Extended Play

I have two throwback articles to share with you today. First is My Dad Learns By Reading. My parents impacted me in many ways, and writing this article was one way to help me understand where my love for reading might come from. Second is How I Feel Being a Father. I wrote this about 3 months after we adopted our first son, Linus. I have some more articles on parenting in the queue, but these throwback articles will have to do for now.

I love the ministry of John Piper and DesiringGod, and they just released a podcast episode detailing some of their recent work. There's a lot to learn from them in terms of ministry strategy and planning, especially in regards to the Internet and publishing. They were and still are the leaders in terms of giving away all of their resources for free. That's a huge inspiration for what I would dream for my own ministry endeavors. Listen to or read the interview here.

Throwback: My Dad Learns by Reading

Throwback: How I Feel Being a Father

Movie: Asian Americans on PBS

TV: Community

Podcast: Update from John Piper and How You Can Help Us

Book: George Whitefield: The Life and Times of the Great Evangelist of the Eighteenth-Century Revival - Volume 2

Music: Guilt by Earth to Jupiter

Lightning Links

These quick hits are exclusive to my newsletter readers. Some struck immediately before writing this newsletter. I don’t necessarily endorse the positions or lives of these authors. Some may contain adult language.

The First Black Man on Children’s TV Was Mister Rogers’ Policeman Friend

Theme Park History on YouTube

High School Students and Alumni Are Using Social Media to Expose Racism

Playlists

MUSICGOON: 7 songs I enjoyed this week.

SVRGNLA: Jess and I love these songs.

ETJ: Music that inspires my band.

DIDD: A crowd-sourced worship playlist.

TGIF: SOLA Network friends and faves.

This is FCBC Walnut: The songs we sing at church.

Coming Soon

My friend Joyce Ho is scheduled to teach our Sunday School class this weekend, and I hope to get her on an interview to talk about her life and ministry. This Saturday night, my friend Matt Tong is going to go LIVE on our church Instagram and share some music. We plan to save the video and premiere it on Facebook Sunday night. As the Social Media Officer for our church, these are things I've dreamed of and it's great to see it actually happen.

For SOLA Network, we have a video coming soon where I interviewed some members from Living Hope Community Church about worship ministry and technology before, during, and after the coronavirus crisis. It's a little bit nerdy but there's so much learn and appreciate. Here is the early link on YouTube.

I have an interview scheduled with Matthew D. Kim and Daniel L. Wong next week regarding their excellent book Finding Our Voice: A Vision for Asian North American Preaching. This will definitely be the most high-profile and academic interview I've ever done, so I hope it's encouraging. Would you please say a quick prayer for me?

Weekly Review

SOLA: Standing Between White Privilege and Black Disprivilege - An Asian American Perspective / A Compassionate, Counter-Cultural, Christian Response / Esther Ahn Kim - Steadfast in Persecution.

Thank God it’s Friday: Rooted Ministry: Asian Americans and Racial Reconciliation / Tabletalk: Columns from June 2020

SOLA Network: Personal Article Recommendations

Giveaway: Minimal Wood Alphabet Flashcards

Book Review: The Gospel of John Bible Study by Core Christianity

Book Review: The Character of the Christian by Tim Challies

Book Review: Set an Example by Tim Challies

Book Review: The Commandment We Forgot by Tim Challies

Walnut Notes: Online with Felicia Angkasa

Recommended Reading: Christian’s Aren’t Allowed To Cancel Anyone / 4 Tips for Discipling Younger Women / Peace in an Age of Outrage / 7 Traits of Meaningful Authenticity in a Small Group

[nerdylilpeebee]

On episode 20. Decided to take a break for a little bit.

Honestly, Astolfo is completely not what I was expecting at all. Given how the fandom depicts him, I was expecting a stereotype. You know, very UwU and flirty and creepily sexual. But he’s actually hella chill, and fucking tame as fuck. I am pleasantly surprised by this. He’s honestly my favorite character.

Mordred on the other hand is… she’s one of my faves, but she’s also kinda frustrating. It’s pretty abundantly clear why Arthur didn’t consider her capable of being King. Add some Sadism, and honestly she could come pretty close to being on the level of Joffery with how little I have faith in her ability to be even remotely kind as King. Not that she appears to be a total monster, but she doesn’t seem to understand the value of empathy, honor, and justice. As she stands now, in the state she is before I’ve finished Apocrypha, she just does not strike me at all as someone who’d make a good King.

Jeanne. I honestly really like her. But also there were so many times in her scenes where I was looking at the conversations she was having and just… really wanting to butt in and say something. XD Like, I have never wanted to put input into a fictional conversation more in my life.

As for the main plot thing… I can’t help but be a little furious at some of the characters for not bringing up the fact that what the main antagonist guy believes is “Salvation” may not be what everyone else considers “Salvation.” And honestly, for that matter, I wanna know what he considers Salvation to begin with. I know his plans will likely be revealed in future episodes, but still. It just frustrated that I don’t even know what he thinks Salvation is yet. Is it Judgement Day, since he appears to be Christian/Catholic? Is it death? Does he plan to use the Holy Grail to somehow remove our ability to suffer altogether? What the fuck is “Salvation”???? And better yet, why does he think it’s right to force that upon the world without their consent? Even if “eliminating suffering” is your goal, reworking how the world works without the consent of the people in it is just wrong. You could change so many things, make it so friendships never formed, families never became families, suffering isn’t all negatives, and people who preach about salvation always seem to forget that.

I’m watching Fate Apocrypha for the first time.

Astolfo. Firstly, was not expecting that voice from him. I should have, but for some reason, him having a feminine voice just wasn’t something I expected. His master… why am I not surprised she’s the thirsty dominatrix type? I do happen to fucking love Astolfo so far tho. XD I have to admit, he’s not what I was expecting given how much people sexualize him.

Ruler, or rather Jeanne De Arc. I fucking love her design. It’s amazing. :3 haven’t seen too much of her to formulate an opinion on her character.

Saber, or Mordred. Child of King Arthur. I honestly love her too, tho I am a bit surprised that she wears more revealing clothing than King Arthur did in Fate Stay Night.