So I received a forwarded email today from a couple in our church. You know the kind...it's been passed around so much that the subject line simply reads "Fw: fw: fw . . ." and it's supposed to serve as some sort of rallying cry for Christians around the digital world, whose constitutional rights (given to them, of course, directly by God in God's great masterpiece the US Constitution) are being violated by those crazy atheists and Darwinists who keep insisting that the earth is more than 5,000 years old and that, in fact, praying during a day at public school is somehow a violation of their free speech! Almost unthinkable, huh? :-) Well, typically I just delete these and move on, but for whatever reason I actually read this one and ran across the following line toward the end: "Christians are just sick and tired of turning the other cheek while our courts strip us of all our rights. " Wow...one word of advice, folks: don't use the words of things that Jesus told us to do to describe something that you're no longer willing to do.

Anyway, all mocking aside, there's been a ton of stuff going on this week that you should know about. First, I absolutely love my job! We had the most wonderful youth group meeting on Sunday night, despite the persistence of my toothache and my lingering fears about what was going to happen on Monday morning. After sharing a meal of Babs's fabulous clam chowder, I had the youth divide into groups, draw Bible stories out of a hat, read and discuss them, and then mime them for the entire group. Afterwards, we played a great game of charades, using Bible characters and worship elements, in addition to the normal fun topics. Everyone had a really great time, and I was reminded once again of just what a remarkable and talented youth group we're blessed with at Hinton Avenue. We also got some pretty great pictures with the new camera, although the batteries died half-way through the meeting. Fortunately, Lee had brought a camera as well, so she could catch some of the other memorable moments.

After the youth group meeting and a quick dash to the Dwelling for some packing and some good conversation with the Coley, it was on to Colonial Heights for a couple hours' sleep before we had to leave around 5:30 to get to MCV for Brian's biopsy. On Monday morning, Brian, as always, was doing a lot better than the rest of us, and even kept our moods a little lighter by cracking jokes about his hospital gown and how long everything was taking. I have no idea how he can be so strong, but I know that he is constantly expressing a profound and mysterious faith. As it turned out, we ended up spending something like 6 hours in the pre-op room only to have them cancel the operation and send us home. It seems that the swollen gland, which the surgeon had intended to remove and have examined, is no longer swollen. After consulting with Brian's physician and with Brian and our parents, they decided to cancel the operation (since it's not really valuable to go in without knowing what you're looking for and then just guess) and sort of take a wait-and-see approach, running some of those same PET and CT Scan tests in a couple of weeks, to see if any places are still lighting up as problems. This seems like really good news, since Hodgkin's glands don't typically get smaller, so we're crossing our fingers.

We grabbed a quick bite to eat at the hospital cafeteria (which actually wasn't as bad as it might sound) and I made it back to Charlottesville just in time for my appointment with the oral surgeon. Not really much to say there, except that the wisdom teeth are coming out first thing tomorrow morning, which can't come soon enough, as it's beginning to feel like a vice is squeezing all my teeth together now. Any love offerings of soup or jello you want to bring by the house are more than welcome! It isn't really good timing, of course, as I'll probably miss tomorrow night's progressive halloween dinner in the residential community, and then my parents and lots of family from Tennessee are coming in Friday morning for all the Parents' Weekend festivities of Intermediate Honors and the Ring Ceremony and everything. Hopefully I'll be up and going in tmie for those activities on Friday afternoon and for all the rest of the weekend's craziness, but I may just be a pathetic, hopeless blob the whole time they're here. Perhaps the best news about their visit, though, is that my Aunt Tammy, who just lost her husband Gene, is coming up....it will be so great for everyone to meet this amazing lady whom I'm always talking about! Also, my 13-year-old cousin Johnathan, who really is one of my best friends in the entire world, is coming, and staying here in the house with the guys while everyone else is at the hotel!! This will be a great way, hopefully, to get my thoughts off my face for a while.

I'll close with one final word before heading out to CVS to pick up some drugs and then class to discuss some Achebe. It's really more of a call for advice than anything else. The applications to live in next year's Wesley Residential Community are now available. AND in a couple of weeks, the first informational meeting for Resident Staff positions at UVA is being held. The big problem is that if you want to be an RA, you don't find out if you've made it until mid-way through the spring, which is long after the community's deadline. Of course, I imagine there are other options for housing next year as well (I mean, obviously the Lawn selection committee will just be beating my door down and whatnot!), so click on 'comment' and let me know where you see me next year . . .

Wow! This is the most fun I've had in a really, really long time. Mad props to Missy, Sara, Geoff, Brian, Andrew & Will for great post-World Series 2nd dinner action and poor theology mocking! And, the best new of all, it looks like we're going here next week: http://www.scaremare.com/main.html What great fun, though it's sooo scary that so many people can buy this stuff....

Also, please take advantage of all the great new features Brian hooked me up with on here....leave comments, subscribe for updates, just show some love!!

The greatest thing ever happened in my World Lit. discussion section today. We have this girl in class, who has always been slightly annoying but had never before really gone over the edge. Well, this afternoon, as we were exploring religious themes, and particularly the importance of characters with biblical names, in Faulkner's Go Down, Moses, she first admits that she doesn't really know that much about the Bible and asks for geneological information about Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Israel) and then, unwittingly I imagine, makes a rather anti-Semitic remark having something to with "the wrathful God of the Old Testament." Then, to top everything off, she gives us an odd sort of Hebrew lesson, explaining that Isaac's name means "God laughs" and telling us how that relates to this novel. Now, I had always understood the name to just mean "laughter" and, in my reading of the story, Sarah and Abraham both seem more likely to be laughing than does God, but I'm by no means a Hebrew scholar, so I keep my mouth closed. Fortunately, Tamara, another student in the class, who is way smarter and less timid than I, steps up and asks her how she knows this. The girl then explains that, although she doesn't mean to act like she knows everything, she is a religious studies major and this is just something that she knows. Then, in the most beautiful moment of the entire semester, Tamara says that well, actually, she studies Hebrew and the name definitely does not so explicitly mean "God laughs" but instead means "he laughs" and probably isn't referring to God at all. The girl tried futilely to redeem the point by saying something about how it's all a matter of interpretation, but nothing could change the rare, and glorious, calling out that had just happened!

Okay, so maybe you had to be there to appreciate the moment, but in any event it felt incredibly important at the time!

"Let mutual love continue.. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it." --Hebrews 13:1-2
Ocassionally, it requires a particularly humbling experience to teach people (especially this person) an important lesson. Tonight, after running out to return a couple movies that the youth group had rented over the weekend to Blockbuster (they were late, of course, which is going to cost me big-time the next time I go in there!) and filling up the van at the Shell station in Barracks, I decided, since I still haven't been grocery shopping in over a month and hardly have any food at all in the house, to swing by Arby's to pick up some dinner before heading back home. There was only one car in front of me, so I quickly scrambled to find my money while waiting in the drive-through line. Just as I had gotten my wallet out, I saw a young Hispanic man, who was probably 12 or 13 years old, approaching my van on the driver's side. Now typically I think of myself as a rather positive person who takes seriously the idea of "letting mutual love continue" by having a kind word for everyone I encounter. But as I saw this kid coming, all I wanted to do was just shrink away. I knew he was going to ask for money, and I couldn't help thinking how inappropriate, and even dangerous, it was for him to be doing this at the drive-through. (Upon reflection, of course, I realize that it would in fact be neither inappropriate nor dangerous for a person to ask me, whose resources and lifestyle allow me to be driving my CAR to the RESTAURANT where I will eat food prepared by someone else, who probably makes a ridiculous minimum wage hourly wage for working harder than I actually have to in my salaried position, for some help, but unfortunately at the time my mind was not operating on that level). I was already trying to think of ways to get him away quickly (should I just hand him a couple bucks, or quickly explain that I didn't have any money on me and roll up the window?) when he politely said, "Excuse me, sir, but your gas cap is open." And wow, did my heart ever melt. For a moment, I couldn't really come up with the words to deal with the irrational guilt I was feeling over my earlier irrational prejudices. Finally, I managed to meekly ask him if he could shut it for me. He did, of course, and I, of course, cheerfully thanked him, bade him a good night, and managed a grateful smile and wave to his parents, who were sitting in the car in front of me. Suddenly, I was transformed from trying to find a way to avoid giving the boy money should he ask to wishing there were some way I could express my gratitude. As you can probably imagine, it didn't take long for me to realize that there was great wisdom to be learned in all of this. After all, by loving continually, "some have entertained angels without knowing it."

Another story, which isn't really related to that one at all, warrants telling before I depart to try and get a little shut-eye before my early morning meeting (gosh, I hope Geoff doesn't see the post time for this one...eeck!). It's the story of a young man named Chris Spitler. Chris attended the College of the Holy Cross in Massachussetts and played for the school's JV basketball team his freshman year. He desperately wanted to play varsity college basketball, though, so during the summer after that season he asked the school's head basketball coach if he could try out for the varsity squad. The coach told him that he could of course try out, but that there was no chance he would actually make the team. In the end, Chris did make the team, mostly because the coach liked his work ethic and wanted him to be a solid presence in the team's practices and on their road trips. It was simply understood by everyone that he was the #12 guy on the bench, who would never actually get into a game. About half way through the season, Holy Cross found itself sitting in last place in the Patriot League during one particular road trip. While he was reading a college basketball magazine on the bus, Chris ran across an article which ranked all 31 NCAA Division 1 basketball conferences. This list ranked the Patriot League at #31, or dead last. Chris then realized that, apparently, he was the worst player on the worst team in the worst league in all of college basketball. Rather than lamenting this fact, or even becoming discouraged about it, he owned it fully and even used it to his advantage. He recalls that, at school parties, he would go up to women and ask, "Do you know who I am?" When they replied with something like, "Yeah, you're just a loser who's trying to hit on me," he would shoot back, "No, not just any loser....but the worst player in all of Division 1 college basketball!" Eventually, Chris worked his way into the starting lineup and had a pretty solid career in basketball at Holy Cross, but his humility and humor in not taking himself too seriously is just amazing!!

Lots of great youth group action this weekend! Last night, we hosted a Parents' Night Out for families in the church, where we basically provided free child care so that parents could enjoy just a little bit of respite. We had about six families signed up to participate, but somehow none of them showed up (hopefully this isn't indicative of their thoughts on my babysitting skills...hmmm). It was really cool anyway, though...all the youth were still there, so we just ordered pizza and watched our movies by ourselves. Then this morning, I went to see Jeremy's soccer game over at Johnson Elementary School. It was awesome...he scored a goal, and his team won 6-2!

Heather and her parents are coming up from Richmond this afternoon for the football game! I haven't seen them in ages, so I'm really excited to hang out with them for a bit....maybe Mr. Kyle will put some more stickers on my car! :-p Then I'm heading over to the game with Wesley folks....go Hoos! In the meantime, it's back to work for me....words of encouragement, as always, would be greatly appreciated!

Wow! Lots of crazy, amazing things have happened to me in the last week!! Way too many to try and chronicle in the brief time I have now before running out to class, so here's just a rapid, insufficient rundown of recent events:

1) Dinner on Friday night with Sara's extended family in Harrisonburg. It was awesome for lots of reasons, with her really cool cousins and their adorable kids and learning to play speed scrabble (and then actually playing it till like 2am) and falling asleep really late back home after 2nd dinner and The Princess Bride), but my favorite moment of the whole night was in Hburg, when Sara's 4-yr. old cousin Toby, with his bright, fire engine red hair, climbed up in my lap, stared at me quizzically for a moment, and asked, with a slight lisp, "Who let you out of your cage?"

2) My mom and brother came by Charlottesville on Saturday with my van, so I drove them back to Colonial Heights in it. Then I stayed there for the evening to finish witnessing the miserable UVA loss to Clemson, help my brother pick out a new computer, and watch the race from Charlotte with my dad.

3) I spent all day Sunday at church. The DS and his wife joined us at our church for worship in the morning, and they even designated their offering for youth ministry! Then, in the afternoon at District Conference at Aldersgate UMC, I got to hear Alex preach one of the best sermons I've heard in a really, really long time. We didn't have youth group, so I joined the adult Bible study at Hinton Avenue, which was a lot of fun.

4) Monday was our big journey to the Holocaust Museum and Wesley Seminary in Washington, D.C. As it turned out, we spent a whole lot of time at the museum (thought still definitely not enough to experience everything there) and not much time at all at Wesley. I was impressed at the school, though, by professors who mock the same contemporary neoliteralist, the sky is falling, Left Behind apocalypticism that we do. They also have a really gorgeous campus, so we shall see! We had dinner at this amazing Thai restaurant in Dupont Circle (five spices duck for me!) and dessert at this great bookstore and cafe that Deborah knew about (where I ate the ever-classy goober pie!!).

5) Yesterday was a pretty hardcore work day. The highlight came around 3:30 this morning, though, when, after 2nd dinner at Little John's and a late-night run to Kinko's for some copying of articles on "the return to chastity" for Lauren Winner, we drove up to O'Hill and just looked at the stars for a few minutes. The sky was simply gorgeous....I hope you got to see it!

Incidentally, while doing research over the weekend for Lauren's new book on chastity, I ran across this website, which is so great that I'll just leave you with it for now...haha!! http://www.geocities.com/pinknun50/convent.html

I apologize for my lengthy absence here, but I had a crazy busy weekend, highlighted by candle shopping with the guys, tons of schoolwork, and a wildly exciting UVA women's soccer victory over Florida State with the youth group, and then I headed down to Tennessee to be with my family there. My Uncle Gene, who you may know has been sick for a long, long time now, passed away late Saturday night. You may also know that he and his wife, my Aunt Tammy, have been great sources of encouragement and inspiration for countless people, and especially for me. His funeral, on Tuesday, was truly the most amazing one I've ever attended...he had chosen much of the music, and his connections with lots of country gospel singers made it a really soulful celebration of his life and faith journey. Also, I had the great honor of delivering the opening homily at the service. I didn't actually write down any remarks, but I'd like to post here my brief message, as best I can remember it.

"Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.' " (Matthew 28:16-20)

The Reverend Tex Sample is an ordained United Methodist minister and a professor of homiletics and church life at the Saint Paul School of Theology in Saint Louis, Missouri. He's also a remarkably gifted preacher and speaker, so he gets invited to lead worship for lots of churches and conferences. I've seen him a couple times, and one of the refrains Tex always comes back to, in sharing his faith journey with other pilgrims on the way, is that "sometimes a faith in the Gospel requires that we say and do things that make absolutely no sense, aside from a personal relationship with the living Christ."

Now Gene liked to kid a lot, and he would often tell me that I did and said things all the time that made no sense at all, regardless of anything else. And sometimes I thought he did the same thing. But I sense that many of us find ourselves here today, to grieve and celebrate together, precisely because of some of those things that Gene said and did that didn't really make any sense, except that he knew personally the love of God.

According to Matthew's Gospel, this passage of scripture that we just read records the very last conversation that Jesus had with his disciples, the people who had traveled with him during his public ministry, seen him betrayed and crucified, met him in his resurrected form, and continued to be led and taught by him for some time afterward. Now, just before he re-ascends to heaven, he leaves them with what we usually call the Great Commission. He implores them to "Go into all nations and baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, casting out demons, healing their sick, teaching them to obey my commands" (the greatest of which, we know is just to love---to love God and to love those around us). He tells them all these things, and then he says, "Lo, remember, I am always with you, even to the very end of the age."

Gene and Tammy, in the life together, have known and shared this presence of God in such special ways. For some time, they have recognized what so many of us, what most of us, often either forget or never really see in the first place: that our faith has nothing to do with what we see around us, but rather with the One who we know is somehow behind all of it, that our prayers, even when they seem to go unanswered, are heard by One who knows and meets our every need, that the command to love comes above and before everything else we do. Their faithful presence and participation here in this faith community, the great generosity and compassion they have shared with every single person who has come into their lives, their unwavering faith, even during the darkest moments, their undying love for one another and for God, offer testimony to their trust that God has always been very present in their lives.

Their life and their witness challenge all of us to examine our own lives, to remember who we are, people who have also been promised this eternal presence of Christ and who have been asked to love others as Christ has loved us. We've seen this faith and commitment embodied in everything that Gene said and did, especially during the last six and a half years. May we learn from his example, that we must step out boldly in faith and do those things that make no sense, except that God is present and moving in our lives. "And remember, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Hallelujah and Amen.

YES!!! It turns out Shelly's reading this...that's totally the best news I've gotten in ages! I knew there must be someone out there who was interested in my ramblings! And so, on that note, we'll ramble some more . . .

Hospitality. If one word could define my feelings for the past week, it would be that...hospitality. Specifically, I guess it started last week when I went to visit Emily in northern Virginia for the evening. Here I was, invading their territory, crashing at their house on a weeknight, and her entire family just went out of their way to make me feel welcomed and at home. It was really great...I even felt guilty for not being able take them up on all their offers for food and everything! It occurred to me then, though, just how important that sort of hospitality is to our relationships with one another. Lauren told me that her fiance', Griff, always keeps his refridgerator well-stocked and his door open, in case any of his students or friends should decide to stop by at dinner time. Rather than just seeing this as an invasion of his personal time or a needless obligation, he's excited about the opportunity of sharing hospitality and fellowship with other people. So, informed by the intentionally gracious people at Iona, who modeled a degree of hospitality I'd never dreamed possible, the Eikes, Griff and others, I'm giong to do my best to make my world open and accessible for others. By doing that, I sense I may be blessed more than my guests anyway....So the moral of the story is: Stop by some time and see how I do! :-)

One more thing, then I run to do real work. Last night, for a Faith in Film session at Wesley, we watched The Wizard of Oz, which Alex maintains is the best theological movie of the twentieth century. A few people weren't sure if they could go that far with him, so we tried to think of alternatives to his theory. Although things like Groundhog Day and *cough* Bedazzled got a few votes, we had a really difficult time thinking of movies with deeper theological meaning than The Wizard of Oz. I'll try to make some submissions if I ever find time to watch a movie or two, but does anyone have any thoughts?