Brokeback Mountain

In light of our FANTASTIC discussion tonight at exhale, let me offer these thoughts about Brokeback Mountain et al.

Brokeback Mountain, the 2005 film directed by Academy Award-winner Ang Lee, is based on a short story by E. Annie Proulx, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Shipping News. Brokeback Mountain was originally published in The New Yorker in 1997 and appeared in Proulx's collection of short stories Close Range: Wyoming Stories. The screenplay was written by Diana Ossana and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Larry McMurtry.

This is the story of two young cowboys, Ennis del Mar (Heath Ledger) and Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal), who come together while working as sheep herder and camp tender in the mountains of Wyoming in the early 1960s. The two share a secret emotional and physical relationship that continues over two decades while they each marry women and have children.

Hhhhmmmm, interesting yes? Or creepy depending on your perspective. You certainly had lots to say about whether love is a force of nature or not. And the whole; do they love each other because they're gay, or are they gay because they love each other? was lively. There is little doubt that it spawns (no pun intended) deeper discussion around sexuality, love, fate, relationships, intimacy, friendships. Discussion that is needed not on its own merits, but for the potential familial, social and psychological clarity that it can bring. My friend Bart made some interesting comments:

I won’t waste your time here with yet another glowing review of Ang Lee’s period western, which stars Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Mother Nature herself. What I will do, however, is point out that, much like my favorite film of last year, Clint Eastwood’s Million Dollar Baby, this one makes its points the hard way, through extended dialogue and careful character development.

I will also point this out: While American society as a whole no longer enforces the kind of repression which ultimately undermines this love story and its all-too-human protagonists, the Christian community still does. Those among us who so easily prescribe lifelong celibacy for our gay brothers and sisters, thereby denying them any hope for the nurture and security of marriage, would do well to consider Brokeback Mountain's heartbreaking portrayal of the consequences of such denials.

I often wonder where I would be now had I been forced to choose between pursuing an intimate relationship with a woman and pursuing a spiritual relationship with God. Either way I chose, my love would have gotten a diminished, disintegrated man.

I do agree in a sense, however there seems to be little fury over the reality of two spouses having affairs (straight or gay--whatever), only to highlight the seemingly more important lure of homosexual undertones. Is it a love story or an infidelity story? Go and see the movie and we'll discuss more next week!

John Denver

Take off your shoes...

Wow!

What an amazing experience inhaling Jesus today with others. Some days He shows up with clarity and power,... this was one of them. If we're willing to listen He's there. He gently reassured and pulled back the curtain. What a privilege we have to be with God in a powerful way. If we love people with an agenda, then it really isn't love, is it. The way we love (speak about, treat, befriend...) others is the way we love Jesus. The one who has ears let them hear.

Hello, good morning, how you do?
What makes your rising sun so new?
I could use a fresh beginning too
All of my regrets are nothing new
So this is the way that I say I need You
This is the way that I'm

Learning to breathe
I'm learning to crawl
I'm finding that You and You alone can break my fall
I'm living again, awake and alive
I'm dying to breathe in these abundant skies

Hello, good morning, how you been?
Yesterday left my head kicked in
I never, never thought that I would fall like that
Never knew that I could hurt this bad

So this is the way I say I need You
This is the way that I say I love You
This is the way that I say I'm Yours
This is the way, this is the way

May you stop hiding under the covers. May you let God pull the covers back. May you embrace him. May your whole life become a response to the truth that you've always been loved, you are loved, and you always will be loved. May you forgive as you've been forgiven. May you give to others what's been given to you. May you set someone free and find out that it was you, and may you do it today, because you might not have the chance tomorrow. May you know, deep in the depths of your soul, that there is nothing you could ever do to make thim love you less. Nothing.

Prayer for Dummies

Are you Emergent?

Since the Emerging Church doesn't seem to like definitions, and they do seem to like images, I offer the following.*

You Might Be Emerging if...

You are a



from



-or-

-or-


-or-


-or-


You own an


Without me giving last names, You still know who these people are:

Brian
Anne
Bono
Tom
Andrew
Stan
Doug
Dan

You like to drink



and discuss one or more of the following:


with a liberal dose of


You are listening to:




on your



You use these words in a positive way:

Missional, Liquid/Aqua, Ancient-Future, Post ___________, Jesus, Community, Derrida, Liturgy, Global, Creed, Experience, Social Justice, Conversation, Spiritual, Ritual, Beauty, Art, Blog, Ooze, Journey, Discussion, Open, Random, Culture, Technology

You use these words in a negative way:

Foundationalism, Absolute Truth, Church Growth, D.A. Carson, Calvinism, Modernism, Fundamentalist, Bush, Seeker Sensitive, Preaching, Pulpit, Doctrine, Innerancy, Power, Enlightenment, Rationalism, Meta-narratives, Universal, Judgemental

You have


on the bumper of your



-or-



You have to look at these pics twice because it might be you:





Your worship service looks like



-or-



-or-



-or-


-or-



This is your leg:


-or-



You see this on a website and know exactly what to do:




* This "list" is neither exhaustive nor exclusive. No single one of these traits indicates that you might be part of the EC, but at some point, a cummulative weight will let you know if you are Emerging.

Let's just say it...

Let's just say it.
When does the next eclipse happen?
This too shall pass.
Amazingingly silly.
Never again.
Make God in your own image.
Who said it would be easy?
Hedkayce
What the hell were you thinking?
Thought I'd knock off early.
Livin for the minute.
In case this doesn't make it.
Jesus wept.
Pull the pin and throw it.
We never got caught.
clever
What once was.
Dreamin bout women.
take up your cross and follow me
Tubal-ligation
Crazier than a shithouse rat!
I'll bet you think this song is about you.
Flesh colored
Whatever
One sweet ride.
Breakin' the neck
Once a king always a king, once a knight...is enough!
pour it on
Throw it all away
God bless the freaks
Eat your ballot
What's the answer?
The latest mistake
Cars on a cable
You won't find me
someplace only we know
Or, so you thought
period.
Where is the rewind button?
The tribe has spoken
Dimpled chad
Red or White?
Sucker punch suck
Face to face
Love your enemies
Get over it
this is what it is
Spider guts spider guts
FLQ
In any other spoken language
It only takes a spark
Oh yeah, and let me ruin your life
Strawberry fields forever
eyes in the back of your head
It doesn't matter much to me
you'll see
SWEET
Rape the soul to satisfy your desire
intense
Yeah, thanks for nothing
The sound of your heartbeat
Sure, ok, that's what that means
Two line pass
Open up your heart and let the truth come out
Maybe you're not supposed to figure it out
Holy Grail
Delicious with a few chips, broccoli,
You can feel the cushions, but you can't have a seat
Double shift
NO ONE is to blame
endless hassle
You are fantastic
Dream
Let's soar
Between the eyes
Goin' on up to the Spirit in the sky
Can i have this dance?
Poor me
Blessed are you when people say all kinds of shit about you
By the way
and then the end will co

Google Moon

Ever want to pinpoint where the moon missions landed? Now you can with Google Moon.
Amazing to zoom in tight!

Bitter or Better?

From Michael Idov over at Slate...

I opened a charming neighborhood coffee shop. Then it destroyed my life. (more)

Rain

human

What is it about our 'selves' - who we are as people/humans that allows us to experience and express ourselves in terms such as 'exotic', 'erotic', 'spiritual'? And yes, those terms are all very similar--so much so that we have a God who refers to us as his bride whom he is jealous for. Read the ever-intimate pages in the Bible under the heading "Song of Solomon". Buried deep within our DNA are the seeds of spiritual verve and pulse which, if left without attention and nurture, leave us lacking (to say the least), incomplete, stunted.
We are diminished and disintegrated if we do not allow our appreciation, awareness, and craving for the spiritual to flourish. Perhaps this is why we feel sometimes enraptured when we hear a certain song, see a stunning painting, or feel the embrace of a true friend.

Vote

Great discussion Tuesday night at EXHALE...safe place to explore unsafe topics. In light of our topic, here's some political ads that might help you vote on Monday. Should be pretty historic.

Friends

Here's a gem from Frederick Buechner...

Friends are people you make part of your life just because you feel like it. There are lots of other ways people get to be part of each other's lives like being related to each other, living near each other, sharing some special passion with each other like P.G. Wodehouse or jogging or lepidopterology, and so on, but though all or any of those may be involved in a friendship, they are secondary to it.
Basically your friends are not your friends for any particular reason. They are your friends for no particular reason. The job you do, the family you have, the way you vote, the major achievements and blunders of your life, your religious convictions or lack of them, are all somehow set off to one side when the two of you get together. If you are old friends, you know all those things about each other and a lot more besides, but they are beside the point. Even if you talk about them, they are beside the point. Stripped, humanly speaking, to the bare essentials, you are yourselves the point. The usual distinctions of older-younger, richer-poorer, smarter-dumber, male-female even, cease to matter. You meet with a clean slate every time, and you meet on equal terms. Anything may come of it or nothing may. That doesn't matter either. Only the meeting matters.
"The Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend," the Book of Exodus says (Exodus 33:11), and in the Book of Isaiah it is God himself who says the same thing of Abraham. "Abraham, my friend," he calls him (Isaiah 41:8). It is a staggering thought.
The love of God. The mercy of God. The judgement of God. You take the shoes off your feet and stand as you would before a mountain or at the edge of the sea. But the friendship of God?
It is not something God does. It is something Abraham and God, or Moses and God, do together. Not even God can be a friend all by himself apparently. You see Abraham, say, not standing at all but sitting down, loosening his prayer shawl, trimming the end off his cigar. He is not being Creature for the moment, and God is not being Creator. There is no agenda. They are simply being together, the two of them, and being themselves.
Is it a privilege only for patriarchs? Not as far as Jesus is concerned at least. "You are my friends," he says, "if you do what I command you." The command, of course, is "to love one another," as he puts it. To be his friends, that is to say, we have to be each other's friends, conceivably even lay down our lives for each other. You never know (John 15:12-15). It is a high price to pay, and Jesus does not pretend otherwise, but the implication is that it's worth every cent.

God of the Tuesday afternoons

January is always a refreshing month. The month of new beginnings, resolutions, and new date books. It is time to breathe in the clean and refreshing air of making a new start and feeling free. Times of taking stock and enjoying the scenery are necessary before setting off again with a new confidence and a spring in your step.
This year is no different. Perspective is essential since it is always a temptation to believe that life as a friend of Jesus will be (and should be) a daily thrill. It is easy to forget the fact that every day will not be New Years Day or your birthday, or the day you become Mother Teresa. That there are a lot of regular days, boring days, even (horrors) dry days. And yet, as Eugene Peterson has quipped, God desires a "long obedience in the same direction." There will be days tucked away in the year where everything seems to be wrong, and God is busy blessing someone else, and it's times like that on those insane Tuesday afternoons, that we show our true heart. We hold on instead of going off half-cocked. We don't let go. Some days go slowly, some go so fast, but it's all a journey from lost to found and sometimes instead of grandiose plans, the best we can do is not to lose ground. Thomas H. Green put it well when he said; one sure mark of genuine spiritual growth, is a growing preference for the ordinary days of our life with God. We gradually begin to realize that it is when nothing seems to be happening that the most important things are really taking place. The clay is molded into a thing of beauty quietly and imperceptibly and our "work" at this time--we who now become the clay in the hands of the divine Potter--is really to learn to "do nothing gracefully, perhaps the hardest and most demanding thing we ever learn to do.
Some things last and some things fade away. Some days like sunshine and some days like rain. Some days bring life and some days tear you down. Some days are laughter and some days are outrage, and others still are quiet. 2006 is here and it's a fresh start, a clean and free feeling, but let's not lose God in the ordinary or frustrating days. And no matter what, do not lose your ground.

2006

Happy New Year!

Lion, Witch, Wardrobe...Spaghetti

Good times with the family and mom & dad Harbridge. Saw The Chronicles of Narnia then out to the Old Spaghetti Factory for a bite- mmmmm, holidays are good.