Day-Maker #74

Watching a little boy try to receive Communion.  His parents were ahead of him, so they didn't see; his older sister shook her head at the priest, who simply gave him a blessing.  The boy went away grinning at his near success.

Catch-Up

I missed Saturday and Sunday.  Shame on me!  Consider this Saturday's post.

In addition to the two papers I mentioned before, I am also doing a presentation for my bioethics class.  I am looking at the ethical discussion surrounded cesarean deliveries at the mother's request -- when a woman wants a c-section, in spite of the fact that no medical reason suggests it.

What I am swiftly learning is one undisputed fact: we don't have enough research regarding childbirth.  No one knows the range of medical risks and benefits.  Also what I am learning is that as a society we are seeking more and more control.  We don't like the idea of our bodies working, unless we can choose the when and how.

New Friends?

I no longer have room for friends in my car, so it's a good thing I don't have to drive people places.  I am carrying around a library in my car.  My backseat and passenger seat have been converted to bookshelves.  It's easy to tell that it's paper time!  This semester I am comparing Gregory of Nyssa and Augustine's views of gender in Eden and the eschaton (were we male and female in the beginning?  will we be in the end?) and I am reading everything there is to read about divine impassibility (God is not changed by the world; i.e. he cannot suffer)... at least what's been written over the past hundred years or so.

This state of affairs means that I eat, sleep, and breath theology, so these posts might be a little school-oriented.  I will do my best to moderate my inner nerd!

Resurrection Bodies

This semester, I am researching early understandings of gendered bodies at the time of the resurrection.  Will our glorified bodies be male and female?  St. Gregory of Nyssa thinks we will not be man and woman at the resurrection.  St. Augustine of Hippo disagrees:

In the resurrection, the blemishes of the body will be gone, but the nature of the body will remain.  And, certainly, a woman's sex is her nature and no blemish; only in the resurrection there will be no conception or child-bearing associated with her nature.  Her members will remain as before, with the former purpose sublimated to a newer beauty... Her womanhood will be a hymn to the wisdom of God, who first made her a woman. (City of God, Bk 22, Ch. 19) 

How beautiful is that!  I just want to sit and meditate upon it for a while.  Sadly, I have to keep working, so I am blogging it instead.

Day-Maker #73

As I was driving up to Ohio on Sunday, I pulled into a toll plaza and rolled down my window to take my ticket.  I encountered a common problem in my life -- I could not reach the ticket while remaining buckled in my seat with my foot on the brake.  At that exact moment, a toll worker was walking across the plaza... and he took the ticket out and handed it to me.  Thank you, kind sir!

The Things For Which People Die

I know I am just jumping on the blog/Facebook/Twitter/everything else bandwagon here, but today is election day.  People died so we could have the right to vote.  As a woman, I am part of the last group to attain this right.  Women have had the vote for under one hundred years in this country.  (Think about that, ladies!)  However, no matter who you are, someone sacrificed his life for you to be able to have a say in your government.  I know politics can be disillusioning.  I know there are few (if any) good choices.  But your vote still matters.  Go find a poll.

P.S.  If my little spiel didn't convict you, try reading this (from the maker of xkcd.com).

National Something Month

For a while, I have I have known that November is National Novel Writing Month.  Then I learned it is also "National Facial Hair Month" (to people not in my head, it is more commonly known as as "Movember" and "No-Shave November").  Much as the Novel Writing appeals to me, it does not appeal enough to make it happen.  And there is no appeal of the facial hair bit, so I will not be vicariously participating (much to a certain boy's disappointment). Then I discovered the bit of November for me: National Blog Posting Month -- the lazy-man's version of the Novel Writing.

I am getting on the bandwagon late, but this challenge will hopefully jumpstart my creative juices that have been sadly lacking on the blog-front lately.  Since I am starting five days late, I will go five days into December.  Wish me luck -- or better yet, read and respond regularly, so that I have some encouragement in this act of discipline.