Sleigh Bells, Treats

absolutely fantastic. listen to the streaming album (here).

one of the inspirations for my missionary postcards.

(link)

wow

from jak&jil

Patti Smith

I listened to an interview today with Patti Smith on one of my favorite podcasts: To the Best of Our Knowledge (episode here). That woman has a way with words. Her life sounds fascinating. I put a request on her memoir at the library, Just Kids. I'm excited.

Living Levitically #9: Day Six

I wore a sweater today that had its tag ripped out so I did not know whether it was made out of one fiber or two. However, it was really cute and matched my outfit so I went ahead and wore it. My desire to do this assignment is slowly slipping. Sunday was wet and cold and all I wanted to do was wear pants. However, all of my pants or leggings had stretchy stuff in them. Because of this I got a rash where my rain boots (which were allowed although certainly made out of mixed materials) rubbed against my bare leg – ouch.

I actually did pretty okay in following Leviticus 23:3 – “Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work. It is a Sabbath to the Lord in all your dwelling places.” However, if you count talking to high schoolers in Sunday school then I did work on the Sabbath. I was lucky because on Sunday there was a Mini-retreat put on by the Women’s ministry at my church. So I spent a couple solid hours in solitude, journaling and praying. The fellowship I enjoyed with many generations of women was also a rejuvenating process. It was one of the most restful Sabbaths I have had in awhile.

On Monday in New Testament class we learned that the Sabbath was not only made for the Israelites but also for the nations surrounding them. I had not considered the evangelical benefits of practicing a Sabbath until now. Refraining from work for a day is a very noticible difference between cultures. Dr. Chapman said that the Romans considered the Jews to be lazy and thought of it as one of the weaker points of the religion and culture. Reflecting on how the Sabbath was spoken about in the New Testament, I love how Jesus defends the heart of the Sabbath to those who want to make it a burden. It seems quite kind and loving of God to institute it for us to enjoy.

Living Levitically #10: Day Seven

I am totally sick of this assignment. All novelty has worn off. I just want to wear a pair of jeans again. All of my jeans have some sort of stupid stretchy substance in them. I am now layering all of my one-fiber cardigans on top of each other in order to keep warm. I am really glad that this assignment came later into the Spring, because I would have been unable to keep the clothing law in the colder months. It’s kind of strange to think about how most things that go on the lower half of a woman’s body have some sort of stretch in them, but the tops usually don’t – at least in my wardrobe.

To give some sort of summary of the things I have learned, I would put at the top the experience I have had with the clothing law. I felt more consciously limited and submissive following this law than any of the other laws. The discussion in Wenham about the various animals that were determined ‘unclean’ was fascinating and opened me up to an opportunity to think about how God views human relationships with animals.

It was an interesting exercise to become aware of the people in my environment enough to stand up to honor those with gray hair in my presence. This also made me think about how age is not as valued today as (I presume) it was in the ancient near East. Any of the gray-haired people I discussed this law with seemed sort of embarrassed by the gesture. I attended a women’s ministry event at my church on Sunday and I was more impressed by the elderly women than I would have been had I not been participating in this assignment.

I had a discussion with a classmate today where he joked that he was focusing more on the “heart” of Levitical laws – quitting the clothing law specifically. We laughed about this and I thought later how different an experience this assignment is. When approaching scripture I usually try to engage my heart first and then focus on my actions afterwards. This week I am focusing on my actions and engaging my heart shortly afterwards. I love this, it is teaching me how connected my life is: my actions and my heart are intrinsically linked.