"G-d"

I've been listening to the new mewithoutyou album, 'It's all Crazy! It's all False! It's all a Dream! It's Alright!' and I love the last track 'Allah Allah Allah' but I can see why it might leave some followers of Christ unsettled. In fact, the band themselves are followers of Jesus but they've chosen to use a name of G-d that most Christians are uncomfortable with for fear of praying to the 'wrong God'. But the fact is that Arabaic Christians use the name 'Allah' for the 'Christian God' with no hesitation because Allah is simply their vernacular for God. Perhaps Christians should first consider our usage of the word GOD as it's offensive to the Jewish believer in that you're not even meant to say it- it's such a holy name. Perhaps we should take the splinter from our own eye before casting judgement on those who use the word Allah in the Christian context? What do you think?

Conspire with Me!

I'd seen the Advent Conspiracy at some point last year approaching the Yule season yet didn't really get the chance to participate and I'm glad I found it again this year. Have a look at this video about the conspiracy and join me this year in living a revolutionary Christmas!

www.theadventconspiracy.org

Eccentricity is a delight.

New blog look, new blog post! I'm determined to end November on a good note!

This new layout actually reminded me about my little eccentricities and I thought I'd share. If you hadn't noticed my last layout also had a bird theme. You might assume that I'm a lover of birds. Strangely, I'm not overly keen on them in real life. I prefer artsy birds to actual foul. Real birds are loud and I see one and think automatically of poo.

Growing up we lived across from a row of eucalyptus trees and in them lived these big black birds. They had that ominous 'caw caw caw' and they were fierce. Come springtime they became protective and defensive of their nests, in spite of said nests being several metres in the air, and eucalyptus trees aren't all that condusive to climbing. One day when I was probably like seven I was walking out of my front door to a neighbours house when a big scary black bird mama came swooping down at my head, like a scene from a Hitchcock film, relentlessly trying to get me to go back into the house. I obliged and am still afraid of birds that come clamoring towards my headspace. Quite possibly this experience is what has led me to dislike actual birds.

But artsy birds are another thing entirely. They're lovely. They sit still and look pretty or cute. They're the type of bird I could cuddle with- mammal-like perhaps. I'm a little bit obsessed with artsy birds- kitsch, bohemian, cutsy, rockabilly- I've got a fair good number of them. My journal has a beautifully stitched purple and green bird. My top presently has little birds and my husband assures me there's something resembling bird poo on it as well. I've got a hoodie with a colourful bird on it, an earring and necklace set of sparrows, a skirt with a gorgeous peacock embroidered on the side. Finally, I've also got a beautiful rockabilly style sparrow inked onto my forearm.

Yet. I. Still. Hate. Birds.

I'd like to tattle a bit on my husband's quirk- 'quotables'. He's full of them. Slips of the tongue. Mixed up cliche phrases. He encourages me that I should either blog them or keep a book. So I shall.

Last night was priceless. Watching True Blood, (this is new to us) and at the end of the second episode, Sookie is left surrounded by deviant vampires. Rob is so impressed with the endings of both episodes we've seen that he says the following:

"This show has good cliff-hangovers."

Genius! I can't top that.

Autumnal Update

Yikes! Has it been THAT long since I've blogged? Good grief, next thing I know it'll be 2012.

The leaves are changing all over London and I really should get out more to lap up the colours enveloping the city. I went into central today to drop off CVs, looking for that dreaded second job, given that The Bridge will remain my first job, however flexible it may be. I haven't had a 'real' job in so long I fear that I've lost my ability to work in a public setting, especially within retail- and I know the reason I left to begin with was because I couldn't handle the people (little did I know at that point I'd end up in ministry, mind you). I figure I'll take what I can get up til we go to California for Christmas-January and then pick up when we get back, hopefully with a 'better' job. I'm keeping my eyeball on the Global Oceans Legacy project starting up in London which has been recruiting a Project Director and currently an Outreach Manager- two roles that ten years ago I'd have snapped up in a millisecond but now am vastly underqualified for. I'm hoping that there will be a role opening up in the office that will require less.

I'm pretty vacant on the crafting front presently- still needing to put the finishing touches on my Social D apron (and actually put the thing to use)- but have been tossing around the idea of selling Christmas stockings again this year- that being determined by whether or not I land full-time work. I've got a skirt that needs expansion (size uber-tiny) so that's on the to-do list.

I truly have nothing interesting nor inspiring to say on this post but just wanted blogger to know I still live.

Oh, two interesting things in the last two days. The first happened tonight when I dropped a pair of scizzors on my foot. Yeah. That hurt. The second, far more amusing incident was when Rob dunked his mobile phone into his cup of tea by accident last night. I coulda sworn he thought he was dunking a biscuit. Thankfully he'd already ordered a new phone which is due tomorrow. I haven't laughed that hard in a while. Good stuff.

Peace out til inspiration hits!

For the Love of God, Don't Call Me Pastor's Wife.

*WARNING: This post contains some serious ranting*

I just came from meeting with someone who is relatively new to our church community, an old friend of my husband's. I'm in no way having a dig at her because it's not about her- it's about what she, like so many people, have assumed about me. We were getting to know each other a bit when suddenly came the question: "So what do most of your days look like as a pastor's wife?"

I kind of felt like I could have exploded like the Ursula, the evil witch on The Little Mermaid. I emphatically stated, "I'm not just a pastor's wife!" When inside I was thinking 1000 other things such as "So you think *that's* my identity and great role in life, to support my husband and not to have my own calling in addition?", "I practice playing the organ and make sure his shirts are pressed and clean, duh", "I make sure that all the women in the church are cared for because as a woman I'm only able to minister to other women or children." SERIOUSLY, haven't we come further than this?! Would anyone think to ask my husband what his days are like as the church's community coordinator's husband?

I am very proud of my husband, proud that he's pastoring this group of people- but do not define me by who he is. I am my own person, I have been working in ministry for five years before we were married and I'd still be doing so if we weren't married. Prior to marriage, when we started The Bridge together, would anyone have thought to ask, "what are your days like as the girlfriend of the pastor?" I care for my husband the same as any other wife would, and I don't do it differently because he's a pastor- I'd love and encourage him and serve him just the same if he were a mechanic or had a newspaper delivery round. Sure, life is different because of the work we're involved in, but just because I'm a woman do not assume that I play a certain role, much like the First Lady in a man's Presidency.

To be honest, this question belittles me. I am not primarily a woman and certainly not primarily the wife of a pastor. I am primarily a human created in God's image and his servant. Equal with my husband in EVERY way, including my calling. So if you'd like to know what an average day looks like for me, ask but don't taint it with sexist assumptions or gender roles.

I could go on to rant about a lot of things people assume right now, but I'll keep it at that for now lest I become a sourpuss.

Facebooking God

At the start of the year I made a resolution. I'm not big on new year's resolutions because I kind of see them as fake starts- like bad reasons to make new goals based on the calendar rather than on a true desire for a timely change. Plants don't grow at a rate determined by what date it is- they change because of factors like sunlight, temperature, moisture and nutrients. And global climate change has shown us how plants' growth changes as a result of these factors rather than what particular moment in time is may be.

Back to my resolution: Early this year I decided that I would work on my relationships and communication. With so many friends and family members abroad, it takes a great deal of effort to stay in touch. I've been very grateful for tools like Facebook and Myspace to facilitate staying in touch. It's provided me with reminders that their lives go on and change right alongside my own and I can see some of what goes on in their days. I came to realise however that what was developing was an interactive show that I was viewing as an outsider. Like watching Big Brother I could see their actions and feel some of what they felt. I could voice my opinion and encourage or taunt them. But what's happened is that we haven't seen our friendships grown or strenthened. They've stayed the same or in some cases it's allowed us to keep contact very minimal.

One particular relationship in my life that thankfully has not been relegated to the form of a 15" screen came to mind recently and I realised that it's actually very similar in nature to those that have been. I suddenly have become aware of how the other individual is tired of a life of status updates, comments, 'likes' and only the occassional private message. And as a result of the way I often choose to relate to this person, our relationship has become increasingly shallow and I wonder how well we're really acquainted.

I, like many Christians, find myself 'commenting' God, posting brief messages on his wall just to let him know I'm thinking of him, or just 'liking' something he's done or said. I've fallen in a terrible discipline of not investing my time, energy or presence in our relationship. What would become of a marriage lived that way or of children brought up that way? Not only would the people not grow but their relationships would suffer.

I know so many followers of Christ who when asked how their prayer lives are or what that even looks like for them, they'll confidently say they spend time with God throughout the day, thanking him or saying brief prayers. While doing that is enormously important to our relationships with him, it simply cannot amount to that alone. Just as you cannot expect to know someone deeply via texting with only the occassional coffee meetup, you cannot begin to know the Endless One this way.

So how many of us are living the lie of belief ('I believe in God', 'I believe I know him') and not building a relationship with him ('I know him intimately more and more')?

Many of us shudder at the mention of the word I'm about to use because of the connotation it's taken on and the way it's been used as a weapon against people's consciences rather than as an agent of healing. But it remains a word- or rather a necessary action for the follower of Christ (notice I say follower, not believer). Repentence.

Repent, for God's kingdom is close! Change your mind- change your allegience- change your relationship with Him!

I reckon that if the Queen or the President were on Facebook a LOT of people would be in their 'friends' lists. A lot of people would leave comments. But a very tiny minority would walk with and know them deeply.

So where does our personal and communal relationship with God fall? How often do we 'see' him? Are we afraid of meeting up and investing time and our lives into this relationship? What keeps us from doing so?

The comforting thing is this: God is so gracious. He's not condemning or rejecting us based on what rubbish followers we may be (nor is he accepting and loving us more if we're great followers). Just like one of those friendships where you feel as if you were never apart after years of having not seen one another- you pick up where you left off- God remains waiting for us. He doesn't want us to visit him and spend our time apologising and grovelling or to allow us to feel so bad that our relationship is forever damaged. He just wants to move on.

So will you spend quality time with him today? Listening to him. Loving him deeply. Weeping or laughing hysterically.

He's waiting eagerly.

Pilfering the universe of anything joyous

There isn't really a point to that title, I just quite liked the idea of using the word 'pilfering' and pilfering the universe sounded like a grand idea and joy is always a welcome state :0)

I suppose this post could be more aptly titled, though it would be a bit dull, 'Clearing the air, pizza and calzonery, busted shoes, and crafty projects GO!'

I find myself sitting in our lounge breathing in fresher air than I breathed yesterday. Thanks to the green allergy goblins that are abounding through London's airwaves and the hubster's battling with sleeplessness and hayfever, we have procured two new ionic air purifiers and it really has made breathing in the London air that permeates our flat so much more enjoyable. I loathe to imagine my blacklung as a result of only a few years in the big smoke. At any rate, we've now cleared the air and managed to secure a good night's rest for us both once again.

On a more interesting note, we have also been enjoying the experimentation that is pizza making (and also the art of folded pizza making- calzones!). It's a great filling and versatile meal, and who the heck doesn't like pizza?! Not to mention that it can be done on a shoestring. We managed to perfect our dough (recipe below) on a spinach and ricotta calzone that was absolutely goldeny deliciousness!!! See for yourself!

After binging on calzones for several weekends straight, we decided to unfold the idea and have a pizza with what was on hand the other night. Rummaging around I saw that we had a few large onions, tomato sauce, mushrooms, yellow cheddar cheese and spinach along with some spices and other necessities. I thought I'd see what google would come up with for spinach and mushroom pizzas and I stumbled upon a recipe that also incorporated carmelised onions. Rather than using a tomato sauce it used a garlic cream sauce which made for a nice break from tradition. Here's the link to that specific recipe which also goes into carmelising onions (good thing we had some vinegar on hand as well). We tweaked it a bit according to what we had in our cupboards (substituting garlic powder, frozen spinach for fresh and cheese types for example) and it still turned out amazingly.

I'm so not looking forward to stir-fry tonight after seeing these! They're great not only because of their adaptability and budget-friendliness but also because you can work it well for vegetarians and vegans alike. That's a plus for us since we have so many friends of both persuasions! Here's that gorgeous dough recipe. It's measured for one pizza base or for one calzone (so if you make 2 calzones double it!)

Pizza dough recipe:
175 g flour
1 tsp salt (we found that doubling that for 2 calzones was too much)
1 tsp yeast
1/2 tsp sugar (since we use activated yeast which requires sugar we don't add any additional)
1 tbsp olive oil (we use veg oil since we po'folk)
2-3 tbsp cornmeal/polenta to roll out

Okay so here's the dealio: Mix all that stuff together and add just as much water as is needed (just a bit at a time, likely only a few tbsp) and knead for 3 minutes. Leave covered for 1 hour or until doubled. Deflate it and then roll it out, using cornmeal to keep it from sticking in a terrible mess. Bake your goods with the oven whacked way up til it looks done. I'm a professional with these recipes, I tell ya. It's somewhere around the 20 minute mark.

In other news, we've managed to get our wedding photos all printed up now, so on with the next project of getting the photobook all put together. I'm sort of half looking forward to it and half dreading it but mostly just want the damn thing done with. I'm also working on another sewing project which I shall not tell much of here since one of the creations will be a gift for a friend.

Finally I'd like to salute my pink shoes. I purchased an incredible and bright pink pair of Diesel slipons a few years back at The Rack. The fabric is a sort of oriental pattern, very delicate and every time I wear them I get compliments, either by words or by looks of seething jealousy. I love it. But alas, I've been holding the wretched things together with staples as of late (introducing the shoes to the punk ethos) and their time has come to move on. I truly wish I could recycle them (or heck, just replace them with the same exact pair!) but I'm drawing a total blank about how that could be done. If you see any lovely shoes that might earn my love and replace these dear ones please do let me know. For now, RIP darling little shoes and the staples that adorn you.