snow day

It is currently around eight thirty this morning. My clinic experience was once again canceled due to the weather. And once again instead of doing actual work I am blogging. And once again I will probably follow that up by watching the Today Show and Sports Center. Wonderful.

Anyway…

I started to read the late William C. Placher’s work Narratives of a Vulnerable God. I got this book through ILL after it was suggested to me by the oh-so-wise and future Geneva chapel speaker Michael Sider-Rose. As of late this issue of being vulnerable and open to suffering has been on my heart. I have read a couple of works that suggest God’s vulnerability and suffering (Now and Then – Buechner, Lament for a Son – Wolterstorff, The Four Loves – Lewis), but this is the first work I have encountered that entirely focuses on this theme.

So far Placher has argued that only a God weak in power but mighty in love can be strong enough to take on the entire world’s pain and die on the cross. What an interesting concept. Today’s society it is all about power. Power over ourselves, each other, and situations beyond our control. Christians especially tend to create themselves in the image of a God that is all powerful rather than a God moved by grace.

Placher suggests that while God is powerful, he is also suffering and vulnerable. That constantly God is enduring the pain, falleness, and lovelessness of humanity and is vulnerable in his continuous love towards a sinful, rejecting, rebellious people.

Personally, I hate being vulnerable. I find it is easy to close myself off and barricade my fears and failures from others. Often we inwardly hide that which we are suffering, but in order to achieve the beauty that is rooted in God’s grace we have to become open. We have to share our selves and our burdens. C.S. Lewis wrote that “to love at all is to be vulnerable.” To love is to reveal our true selves and risk exposing our true nature.

So far the book has captivated my interests. I will let you know more as I do.

Also I forgot to mention the most glorious bit of news I have had in weeks - my grad apps are finally done! Woot woot!

vampire weekend (not the band)

Well the heat was out at our place all weekend. Needless to say it was beyond freezing. So what did my lovely roommates and I choose to distract us from our cold deathlike state? Vampire movies of course.

A total of eight films were consumed while we tried to retain our humanity in a subzero, frozen piped house. Our list tended to focus on the more popular of the vampire films and included Interview with a Vampire, From Dusk till Dawn, Underworld, Blade, Queen of the Damned, Thirty Days of Night, and Twilight.

Although this might seem like an absurd amount of movies (don’t worry too much it was spread out over a four day period) and some would argue that we had forgone a real life for an imaginary landscape, it was the perfect opportunity to discuss all kinds of random questions regarding our own humanity and truly allowed us to have a deeper appreciation for each other.

Questions and discussions arose that were inspired by the films. Some were serious and some not so much. How much do we truly value human life? Is immortality worth the cost? Why do all vampires wear leather? Why do strippers make crappy vampires?

I know some people disapprove of cinema and choose instead to dive primarily into their own journeys , but films are relevant to our lives. Movies force us to look at the course of humanity and what it means to exist. Even the movies that lack characters with souls have something to offer to this conversation called life.

Next movie marathon theme: stoners

Then the Garmin said: Recalculating

Constantly I feel road blocked. It seems like just as soon as I turn around from the last closure, I take another path that further leads me astray from my destination.

Sorry for the terrible metaphor. Needless to say I am struggling. Even though I consciously strive to embrace God’s will for my life and attempt to become content in the beauty that is around me, I still come up wanting.

Prayer has become my only comfort. But even that requires striving and imagining the impossible. For prayer is a matter of faith. It is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. It is hard.

Hopefully through prayer I will begin to perceive the things that I have failed to see. Maybe I will begin to understand the roadblocks in my life. Recalculating...

Look at you, ya beautiful bastard! You suited up! This is totally going in my blog!

Hello. It’s been awhile. However, I am not quite ready to dive back into thinking. So instead please enjoy the following works by Friedrich Kunath. Hands down my favorite contributor to the Life on Mars exhibit at the Carnegie Museum of Art (ends 1/11).

Ariel, 2008

it seems as men get older they turn towards the water, 2007

untitled, 2007/2008

Cancel Everything, 2007/2008