books and excuses

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I’m still not ready to pick up the threads from the comments on ‘just wondering’, and I logged on with the intent of effusing over a new book. But then Elizabeth’s comment makes me want to put the new book down and re-read Mists of Avalon. Sigh. Not enough hours in an evening. (Though Molly is pushing for Mists. More lap time.)

The new book is Disobedience by Naomi Alderman. I’m only 43 pages in, but it seems to be that perfect balance of light energetic prose, serious reflection on life and God, and sharp edgy humor. The central character is an orthodox Jew from London who runs away to New York to escape, and has to learn how to go home again after her father dies.

A fairly random sample:

I though of saying OK, he’s dead, but I never like the old sod anyway…

And then I thought of the garments that they would be dressing my father in: white linen with closed arms and legs… And I thought, in my father’s house, they would know what to do.
…
So, this is what you do, this is what I ought to be doing: the Jewish mourning ritual for close relatives… In the first week, you tear your clothes, you don’t cut your hair or wash in hot water and you cover your mirrors… You sit on a low stool and you don’t leave the house… and you don’t listen to music.

That is the first week. Then in the first thirty days, you can leave your house and wash, but you don’t listen to music or buy new clothes…
And at the end of the first year, they set the tombstone at the grave and you go, and you pray. … I could map out the whole of my next year, or next month. It’s supposed to make everything simpler.

Except that, for me, now, it makes nothing simpler. Because this stuff only works if everyone else knows what you’re doing. It works if you’re sitting on your low stool, in your torn clothes, and your friends and family come to visit… But I’m here, and I’m not that any more. And somehow it wouldn’t work to call up a friend and say, ‘I would now like to participate in the ancient Jewish grieving ritual. For this, I will need some volunteers.’

(I got so carried away with the books I nearly forgot the excuses. Probably no blog tomorrow since the electricity is due to be shut off for tree maintenance. A whole day without the computer. Blissful were it not for the amount of admin I should therefore be doing tonight.)

just wondering

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I’ve had a few conversations this week that have left me wondering what sort of ‘teaching’ usually goes on in church.

So, this is by way of a survey for anyone willing to answer:

1. Where did you (/do you) learn about prayer? If it was not through the ‘normal’ life of your church, have you ever received teaching on prayer in your congregation?

2. What shapes your understanding of scripture? Does your experience of church lead you to believe that there is one way to read scripture or many ways?

3. Have you ever had a chance to talk with others in your church about your understanding of (and your potential difficulties with) central aspects of faith (e.g. — love, forgiveness, resurrection, redemption, judgment…)?  If so, how did the conversation come about?

If you know of people who might be willing to answer but who don’t usually read this blog, please invite them into the conversation. I’d really like to know what people from different backgrounds have experienced.

Candian synod

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Those of you who are familiar with the dynamics of SEC synod may find it interesting to watch a bit of the Canadian General Synod. What strikes me is how calm it all feels, even though (as I type) they are debating same-sex blessings. I have heard one person sound nervous, one person sound confused, but most people seem to be presenting their arguments calmly and clearly. I wonder if it’s ‘cultural difference’, better procedure, or a sort of graciousness that gets lost in the family tensions in our tiny church.

Addendum: It’s getting really radical now. They are praying before taking a vote. Oh what we could learn.

…and there has been a splendid slip of the tongue from the chair: ‘in the order of laity, those opposed to the revolution… rev.. res…resolution please stand.’

10.19pm — The motion to authorize same sex blessing failed. [house of laity: 78 in favour, 59 opposed. house of clergy: 63 in favour, 53 opposed. order of bishops: 19 in favour, 21 opposed.]