Paul House released this morning

If all went according to plan, Paul House was released this morning into the care of his mother. House's mother Joyce had planned to use a property bond against her house but an anonymous donor covered the cost of bail.

Paul House still awaits retrial in October and is under house arrest in his mother's home, but at least he is in a real home for the first time in 23 years.

When will justice be served for Paul House?

I can't tell this story and better than the Nashville Scene already has. How long must we wait for justice for Paul House?

But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an everflowing stream. Amos 5.24

Lord, hear our prayer.

A religion that feels like a religion

I want to share a post about the church from Katie, whose blog is called Quiet Garden, because I think that she has touched on some things that I felt when leaving Churches of Christ and searching for something else. I remember observing the Orthodox Jews in my Boston neighborhood and longing for a religion that felt like a religion. The funny thing is that although my felt need was for a different feeling, I've found that being in a church that uses a structured liturgy has freed me from needing to feel like worshiping. The focus isn't on what I feel, but instead it is on Christ. By contrast, sitting through a Church of Christ service feels like sitting through a city council meeting with a focus on the guy in the suit.

(As a side note I have to say that I don't mean to totally disparage Churches of Christ. I'm trying to describe what the difference has seemed like to me, but in the meantime I'm a bit afraid that I'm coming across like an ungrateful daughter who humiliates her parents for their failings in public. I owe much to my upbringing amoungst some very spiritual people in Churches of Christ.)

Anyway, Katie has this to say in her blog post:

"[S]omeone who has acted on the impulse to visit a church might actually prefer to find a distinctive experience, unlike what they find in other venues. If I visited Europe, I know how disappointed I would be to find that it had Americanized itself in an attempt to make me feel at home."

Also a quote that she came across in a Christianity Today article resonated with me:

Many 20- and 30-something evangelicals are uneasy and alienated in mall-like church environments; high-energy, entertainment-oriented worship; and boomer-era ministry strategies and structures modeled on the business world. Increasingly, they are asking just how these culturally camouflaged churches can help them rise above the values of the consumerist world around them. (Emphasis mine)

I've italicized "boomer-era ministry strategies and structures modeled on the business world" because these are undesirable things that are also, I think, a part of the leadership structure in my new church home. There seems to be so much of an emphasis on numerical growth without discipleship or sacrifice. I haven't visited a church in all of my wandering where this has not been the prevailing theme. I remember when I was in Churches of Christ a phrase that would often work its way into the prayers was "Lord, please help us to grow spiritually and numerically." While those two things may sometimes go together, very often they don't and we should be prepared for that. Growing spiritually may mean, for some churches, losing numerically as those who were just using church as a cheap substitute for a country club pick up and go. Are we prepared, if that is the case? Willow Creek, the huge prototypical mega church, has said recently that they screwed up when they equated getting lots of people to lots of programs with spiritual growth and yet so many churches are following in their footsteps and equating more programs and more backsides in the pew with discipleship.

So I guess that I'm saying that my church move has salved my desire for worship that is ancient and beautiful and transcendent but it hasn't relieved me of the yearning for a faith that eschews our culture's focus on all things that purport to be "bigger" and "more" while lacking substance.

I'm starting to ramble at this point so just go read what Katie had to say and maybe come back and let me know what you think.

Circumcision references

Here are the promised references to accompany my previous article.

From The British Journal of Urology:

O’Hara K, O’Hara J.The effect of male circumcision on the sexual enjoyment of the female partner(PDF) BJU Int 1999;83 Suppl 1:79–84.

And a letter to the editor of The New Zealand Medical Journal which references the above article and others:

Effects of male circumcision on female arousal and orgasm

Why we didn't circumcise

A while back Ruthie started a series about parenting choices and the subject she led off with was circumcision. I made a promise to respond, explaining why we chose not to circumcise our son, but I got busy with moving. So I've decided to go ahead and post it here.

If you've ever perused the left side bar of my blog you may have seen the link titled The Truth about Circumcision. Phoebe Gleeson of NOCIRC of Oklahoma has put together an excellent "Chat about Circumcision" which explains my reason for not circumcising. I have no desire to reinvent the wheel here so please go over and read her short comprehensive article on the subject. If you read nothing else on the subject, read this. It is full of informative links for those who wish to know more.

Growing up, I had always assumed that circumcision was just what you did. I didn't question it. When I was pregnant with my first child I checked out just about every baby book from the Boston Public Library. I came to the conclusion from the short snipits in the books that seemed the most reasonable to me that circumcision simply was unnecessary. I learned that non-religious circumcision in this country was started as a way to stop masturbation. Well, I thought that was ridiculous and I knew that it sure as hell didn't work. But I still didn't think that circumcision was all that bad, so I told my husband that my research said it was not necessary, but if he wanted to do it I would go along as long as the baby was given pain meds. I later found out that pain meds usually aren't given and when they are they don't work very well because the good strong stuff is dangerous for newborns. But we didn't know that then. My husband decided that it would be wrong to put the baby through even a medicated circumcision if it wasn't necessary. (Have I mentioned that I love my husband? I do.) It turned out to be a moot point when we found out we were having a girl.

After she was born, I learned a lot more about circumcision. Do you want to know what I learned? Go read that article I told you about. It's much more informative than anything I'm going to tell you here. I don't mind if you stop reading this. Go ahead.

Ok, you're back. Great. The more that I learned about circumcision the more horrified I was that my husband and brother and almost every man my age that I knew had been through this. Circumcision rates in the U.S. were around their peak when we were born and have been steadily declining since then. I was surprised to learn that in some areas of the country circumcision rates have dropped to 30 percent. That means more than two thirds of boys in places like California are being left intact (not circumcised). I'll be sending my daughters to college on the West Coast or Europe (where they rarely circumcise). Why? Now this is the kicker. I'm honestly embarrassed to admit this, but this little piece of information was the thing that turned me from riding the fence on this subject to being strongly anti-circumcision. Women who have been with both intact and circumcised men report that they are twice as likely to orgasm with an intact man and they prefer sex with an intact man nine to one. Of course we all know that circumcised men can be great in bed, but why do something that might hinder that for my son and future daughter-in-law? She had better appreciate what I've done (or not done) for her and wait on me hand and foot in my old age. Ha, ha. [By the way, I'll be happy to cite a source for this info as soon as I get back on my own computer with internet that's not stolen from the neighbors who were good enough to leave theirs unsecured. A blessing be upon their house.]

When I was pregnant with my second daughter I was fully convinced, so when my midwife asked if we would circumcise a boy I said no. She said, "Thank God." I had met my first real life anti-circumcision advocate. I've met others since then.

So my son is not circumcised. We have not had any problems, and I feel confidant that if we did that we could solve them the same way that we would if our uncircumcised daughters had problems. Many times as I've changed his diapers in the last seven months I've felt thankful that I found out soon enough to save my son from being hurt. I know several parents who found out too late and deeply regret what can't be undone. I know a few men who wish that they could undo what was done without their permission. And I know one mom whose child was circumcised without her consent. But thankfully I have a number of friends who have chosen not to circumcise (including the girls' fabulous godparents) and who have also had no problems.

So there it is. Foreskins are not some kind of scary things that we must do away with. They are normal body parts with a purpose and my son is keeping his.






[Click on the circumcision link in the labels below if you want to read my rant about the circumcision and AIDS propaganda.]

One dollar water

I wish that my husband had man boobs

10 random things about me

I've been tagged with this one a couple of times, and its easy to do when everyone is sick so here it is. I admit that I cheated and used an old similar list. I'm also too lazy to tag anyone.

1. I used to work as a security officer

2. We didn’t have electricity when I was a kid

3. I’ve dressed up as a prostitute for a church ladies day and a seminary class

4. I’m afraid of cutting my hair

5. I’ve been proposed to by two guys

6. I’ve kissed a guy who was wearing tights

7. Kenneth Star and I have written for the same newspaper

8. I’ve been bucked off a horse and a pony

9. I’ve been on national and local television

10. I once served pie to Mikhail Gorbachev

Do the WIC officials read my blog?

Last year I wrote about WIC giving me a lot more juice than the nutritionist said that I should give my kids. I picked up my WIC vouchers recently and they had dropped from three bottles of juice to two bottles. A grocery store clerk told me that they are doing this with others too. I'm sure that this is a coincidence that has nothing to do with me, but it is an interesting development. Unfortunately they did not replace the juice with fresh fruit.

To dust you shall return

More by this photographer

I was feeling horribly ill yesterday and didn't make it out to the Ash Wednesday service at church. That's the one where they make a cross on your forehead with ashes and say, "Dust you are and to dust you shall return" (Gen 3:19).

So in lieu of that stark reminder of my own mortality, I viewed some pictures of human bone artwork from the ossuary at Kutna Hora, Czech Republic. The chandelier in the photo includes every bone in the body. I'm not really sure what inspired this macabre art, but I guess when you have tens of thousands of left over bones from the black plague you have to do something with them. Why not make a chandelier?

Each one of those skulls represents a human who had a family and worried about day to day things like the rest of us and now they are decorating an ossuary for tourists to gawk at. The great thing about Lent is that the story doesn't end here. We are reminded of our mortality at the start of Lent and at the end, on Easter, we are reminded of our immortality. We remember that Christ rose, conquering death. We shall return to dust, but then we shall with Christ return to life. We walk through Lent with a mind to our brokenness, but also with a hope of the healer who will do his work in us.

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Here's a Lenten primer for those who wish to know more.

Advent

Advent starts on Sunday. Check out the article I wrote about Advent for our church newsletter.

A new stupid way to save the planet

Check this out. Abortion and sterilization as a way to reduce your carbon footprint. Hey, I have an idea. How about killing your yearly plane ride instead of your baby.