(In which the author wades into the controversial territories of religion and politics. [Ed. *shakes head*])

I’ve had a day of conversations; conversations mostly about technology and church.  Not unusual perhaps,  given that I work in the technology dept of a church but it was great food for thought all round. (And hardly very conducive to achieving much at work today… Just as well most of the team are still in Hawaii).  Anyway, I love that my world is rich with great people who are open to quality conversation. 

I also, variously follow and interact with an internet circle of friends, acquaintances and personalities which is equally rich. I keep up with a whole bunch of fantastic writers and commentators whose thoughts span various spectrums of religion, politics, technology, sexuality and experience.  It’s absolutely fascinating.  I love the extent to which my life has been enriched by this interaction and I’m hopeful that in return my small contribution to the conversation provides similar enrichment.

Of late, I have found the following personal trend very interesting.

Most of the people I follow are out there on the left hand side of politics.  I find this fascinating and am not sure whether it’s because the blogosphere in general leans to the left or if I’m drawn to interesting people who do. (And at this juncture I shall nail my colours to the mast and say I’m interested because you may (or may not) be surprised that I’m a generally bit of a fundy and vote that way too.  [Ed. gasp – the readers, the readers, where will we be now that you’ve alienated the readers… double gasp!])  So I ask myself why it’s not the fundy leaning blogs I’m following? (I do presume they exist and that the internet is not  necessarily unilaterally left-ish…)

Actually, I’m less concerned about the way you or I vote than I am about the extent to which religion is enmeshed in American election… I mean, for a country that’s so sold out to the separation of church and state how did politics get so religious?  Furthermore, how is it that all the issues, or at least all of the discussion I’m seeing, seems to come down to ‘freedom’ versus ‘oppression’, ‘hip/cool v ‘staid/boring’, ‘acceptance’ versus ‘judgment’, ‘right’ versus ‘wrong’?

(I could go out on a limb here and also ask why it is that the very rigid/oppressive/boring/ rightness is not tolerated by those who would espouse their politics as being that of the oppressed minorities who are asking to be tolerated…should it not cut both ways? (I know, another gasp…) [Ed. *obliges*])

HOWEVER,  that’s an aside really… and actually I’ll go out on a different limb and ask my real question/s.

How is it that the person who was the very model of intolerance to the establishment, the champion of the poor, downtrodden, and oppressed has become the very symbol of oppression of the same? 

How is it that the one who by his own admission did not come into this world to condemn has become the face/voice/flagstaff of condemnation? 

How is it that the ‘body’ of the one who promised life, freedom and justice has become identified as the emblem of all that opposes these things?

This is not the God I know, and for all my fundamentalist tendencies, it makes me a little crazy that those who purport to act in His name use that precious name to rally a posse around a particular political viewpoint. Sadly, it’s usually an intractable viewpoint too… as if he can be so easily ‘nailed down’ (pun intended).

God is not a politician.  He doesn’t vote.  I guarantee if he physically walked the earth still, both the right AND the left would be floored in his wake.

This is the God I know.  He turned everyone on their heads.  He behaved in such as a way to leave people speechless, Love your enemies?  Do good to those who persecute you? WTF?

What are we doing by trying to say we’re right and they’re wrong? Surely as Christians we are called to engage meaningfully in all areas of life.  So let’s do it.  Engage in meaningful dialogue, rally around the issues, rally around a cause, whichEVER side of the fence you sit on. Get involved, and while you do? Let’s turn people on their heads by loving our enemies, even though in the process sometimes we have to agree to disagree.  While we do let’s be Jesus to people.  Because, people, the Jesus being peddled as a right wing, conservative, judgmental, bigoted, homophobic hater looks nothing the one who caused a scandal by being a friend of prostitutes, tax-collectors, sinners.  He looks nothing like the man who threw the moneychangers out of the temple and who called the rich man to give up everything.

That Jesus? Jesus the Radical?

He’s the one who gets my vote.

Have been messing about in Movable Type 4.2 and am in love.  It rocks my world.  Now I just need to figure out what I actually want to do with it.

Have been asked to write a story.  Real or Imagined.  Excited by the prospect.  Have the story turning over in mind… just need to do it. 

It is the ‘far too young’ boys who catch my eye. Am enjoying the nice change of having an object of interest but am figuring that history is repeating in terms of the likelihood of it actually going anywhere…

Wrote a farewell speech for work on Thursday.  No idea why.  Wondering if my subconscious trying to make me leave the safe zone… Worth thinking about… but not till I’ve applied for Uni.  Didn’t I tell you about that???  Will do so once I’ve applied in September…

Have been fasting for the last 3 weeks.  That has meant I’ve eaten nothing more than fruit, vegetables, nuts and seeds for that time.  There’s been a little bit of bread here and there, juice, water or peppermint tea to drink… so basically it’s a detox.  Would like to keep going on the healthier food options thing… however, I am gasping for both a coffee and a tequila (in that order, but not necessarily at the same time) and have a bit of chocolate stored up… so am not optimistic of long term change until the Griffins Coconut Macaroons are gone from my fridge…

Most of my co-workers will be in Hawaii this week.  You may remember that I was at the same conference in 2005.  i’m a bit sad not to be there but finances were a bit tight… and so not this time…  May well plan a holiday for there some time in the not too distant future.

Seriously, there’s no other news…

 

I had the great fortune today to spend time with a man who in one conversation taught me volumes about the kind of employer I’d like to be.

I’d like to see the value in each of my staff, recognizing that many of them will be able to do things I could never do myself, and furthermore are likely to already be able to do the things I can do even better than me.

I would like to cast the vision of my business to my team in such a way that they too can catch the vision, but I’d also like my team to know that my vision is useless without them being involved.  I’d like my team to feel like we’re all in it together.

I’d like to pay my team every penny of what they’re worth, not just in current employment terms but every penny that they’re worth to me as people with families depending on them and as co-workers in the vision of my business, bringing my dreams to pass.

I’d like my team to value the people they come in to contact with in the course of my business as more than just a means to an end, but as people with lives and families of their own who we’re partnering with to make their dreams happen too.

I’d like my business to have a heart not just for my community but for our planet as well.

I would like to be open to the ideas of my team; I’d like to be able to value their input into my business without feeling threatened. 

I believe that getting my team on board with where we’re going owes more to my belief in them than it does to me telling them where we’re going and how we’re going to get there.  Of course, telling us where we’re going is important, but I’d like to be open to their input about the journey to that destination.

This is the kind of employer I want to be.  Amazes me that I heard it from the mouth of an un-lettered builder from Harbord (and one who prefesses no association with God or the church).

Of course, this is all dependent on me wanting to own a business that employs more than just me… I really can’t see that far ahead!!  Right now, all I want to do is blog, and code.

Sigh.  Decisions, Decisions.

Hello Blog.

Remember Me?  I used to live here.   Lately I’m not sure where I am but here are a few random tidbits so you don’t get too hungry for lack of attention.

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I’m having a (delayed) birthday party Saturday (actual event was back in April) and have been taking a leaf out of the ‘it will be alright on the day’ school of party planning.  Also have notes in the margin of the ‘order everything online’ chapter and am fully immersed in the ‘cross your fingers and hope for the best’ epilogue.

Which is just fine if all you want to do is throw a couple of salads (as made by someone else) on the table, switch on the bbq for everyone to cook their own meat and basically just loll around and enjoy everybody’s company.  My kind of party… schmooze and cruise, no need to impress, decorations not required etc…

BUT

If you have this harebrained idea to get people up and entertaining the troops you perhaps ought to have read the ‘plan ahead and get organized’ prologue of the party planning manual and nodded even to the ‘if anything can go wrong it probably will’ chapter.  I have this on inside authority because it’s t-minus 36 hours and I’m still without a PA system. 

THANK GOD I have a mac and a usb input machine thingummy because at a pinch we can plug a mic and a piano into those and then even into a dodgy stereo and get some approximation of amplified sound…  (or hire something… which isn’t exactly fulfilling the ‘keep it under budget’ requirements.)

Either way I’m still holding myself to the ‘for God’s sake, don’t panic’ sub-title of the ‘So you want to plan a party – what were you thinking?’ addendum.

(Fi, you know that if you were coming you could bring the SingStar and I’d be having NONE of these problems… I’m just saying…)

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I have been writing to a [probably not yellow] submarine.  Or more precisely to an American Sailor who lives one one.

It’s a story that’s begging for a whole convoluted yarn I could string you along with but really, I’m just too tired to make something up.  Before you ask it’s not a romantic kind of writing, more like a pen pals kind of correspondence that has now been going on for more than 6 years. 

Pretty amazing really.  I never ever had a pen pal that lasted that long before.

That is all.  I just wanted to write some approximation of the phrase "I’m writing to an American Sailor on a Submarine and he’s writing back." 

Just because I could.

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Just to prove how geeky I am I now read Wil Wheaton’s blog.  He’s a geek/nerd writer and if you’re any kind of Sci Fi watcher he played Wesley Crusher on one of the Star Trek shows.  His blog’s about as geeky as John Mayer’s is cool.

Which for this chick is actually pretty cool (I mean geeky, I mean cool).  Oh, you know what I mean.

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