Thank you note and nonsense

I've been logging in once in a while, curious to see who's been visiting the site and wow!! Just want to say a big warm thank you to everyone who's stopped by, however you got here. Its really cool to think that someone in Australia, Russia, and all the other amazing places from which people are checking this blog from are interested in my posts.

PLEASE, feel invariably free to comment and follow this thing I call a blog. Its inspiring =)

On a different note, this past weekend I started my second job, and the days before that were disapointing and stressful. So today is recovery. I've just been sitting around reading, sipping the caramel iced latte I've been craving all week, and watching old movies. There's something so easygoing and comforting to me when I watch  them- I hate chicken noodle soup, so I guess I turn to Gary Cooper movies and Bonanza reruns instead.

 

Grew up watching episodes every saturday morning with my dad. I had the biggest crush on Little Joe Cartwright... Please tell me I'm not the only one...

Eternal Sunshine.

A Christian woman in Egypt shares her story. How can you deny or explain this powerful love? 

Dreaming of Greece.

Age to Age

Courage

Les Parapluies de Cherbourg

One of my top 5 favorite films! Its brilliant and visually beautiful. Someone was gracious enough to upload the whole movie on youtube :) French, every word sung and english subtitles- this is definitely for anyone who likes foreign or old films.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l25gYXilNzk

Its late.

And I still have a chapter to go for the poli sci quiz tomorrow. I dont want to do it!!!!!!!!!! My procrastintaion has gotten the better of me this week. But if I want to get where I want to be, its starts right here and now. So to get the motivational juices flowing, tonight I choose Chaka Khan. And an overflowing cup of columbian brew. From my cramming sesh to yours :)

Natalie

Truth



"Theological reflections on the death of OBL"

What is it that unifies us as a country?

By Michael J. Gorman

(link to article: http://www.michaeljgorman.net/2011/05/03/theological-reflections-on-the-death-of-obl-part-ii/)

Hopefully Miroslav Volf’s online piece for the Christian Century will appear later today. (On FB he has posted the first and last paragraphs.) In the meantime, lots of good reflections have appeared, including those listed here by Church of Christ minister David Smith, as I commented last night.


Two main, interrelated thoughts have struck me since yesterday. First, the common theme in Congress, in the media, and on the streets seems to be that this event has pulled the diverse and factious body of people called Americans together like nothing else in a very long time.

That should give everyone, Christian or not, at least a little ethical hiccup. How sad is it when the killing of a human being is the chief cause of human unity, even for a day or a week?

But wait–and here is the irony–for us who call ourselves Christians, the killing of a human being actually is the cause of our unity, only for us it is the being killed rather than the killing, the heroic role of victim not victor, that is the source of unity.

Which leads to my second main point. The values that are drawing Americans together at this point are not, as some have tried to argue, the high moral values of justice (in a philosophical or theological sense) and commitment to the good of the world. No, they are the old-fashioned values of nationalism, retaliation, vengeance, kick-a** power (witness the Naval Academy plebes’ video), and “American” justice, complete, in some cases, with a strong dose of civil religion. That these are not gospel values should go without saying, yet many Christian Americans are blinded to this truth by this powerful, seductive nationalism.

I conclude by quoting (as a Methodist) the Vatican’s statement issued yesterday by Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman:

     Osama bin Laden, as we all know, bore the most serious responsibility for spreading divisions and hatred      among populations, causing the deaths of innumerable people, and manipulating religions to this end. In the face of a man’s death, a Christian never rejoices, but reflects on the serious responsibilities of each person before God and before men, and hopes and works so that every event may be the occasion for the further growth of peace and not of hatred.

This is relatively minimalist, but good. Would that American Christians could at least take this statement as their starting point.

In the words of Dr. King...

"I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that." - Martin Luther King, Jr.