Quick clips from the awkward issue

by Staff

Privilege
I love the idea that moments of unease and awkwardness are teeming with potential energy. – Nicholas Klassen

I felt guilt and my guilt provoked a response, a metaphor of care, the words I might say if I really did, if I really meant it. – Jonathan Wright

I feel as though I am caught in an international tug of war between the nation I was raised in and the nation I came of age in. – Emily Mekash

How could I return to a continent permeated with needless consumption? – Nathan Mantey

It seems our world can’t get it together to prevent the inevitable. – Brian Hull

He took me into a field, picked up a handful of mud and tasted it. – Lorne Shukster

I am troubled that Obama seems to believe America’s greatness is a divinely mandated destiny. – Will Braun

Church Lady was motionless, microphone in hand, pre-packaged CD music not yet cued. – Carrie S. Martin

Going global
I used to travel. . . . I even used to write travel books. . . . But now I wonder whether it is right to guide anyone anywhere that he or she could not find on his or her own. – Anneli Rufus

It’s too easy to go to Africa and treat it like a Human Safari. – Brian Vernor

Misery
This kind of meaning-making soon has us believing God changes traffic lights for us on the way to work. – Katherine Munnik

I reach out as if to bury myself in god’s kimono. No, as if to protect the innocent. – Leslie Barnwell

Christianity
What I hate is that as soon as I stick on my Christian nametag, I get added to a monstrously diverse club. – Brenda Melles

The other kids were just different. Their families came to church every Sunday. They listened to the “right music” – Michael W. Smith, Amy Grant and, later, Audio Adrenaline and the Newsboys – not Mariah Carey, Nirvana and Weezer. – Anne Dayton

As I introduce myself, eight more guards wearing all black and carrying automatic rifles file in and line the walls around us. – Chris Hoke

My friend and I were sitting in his apartment drinking beer and watching Pat Robertson, when the toll-free number appeared on the screen. Without saying a word, my friend picked up the phone and dialed. – John Spalding

I feel some sense of liberation in not having an agenda, in not tripping a spiritual buzzer every time America gets blessed from the pulpit. – Robb Grace

How can we connect with Psalm 23 if we never sit by a stream or place our bodies down in the tall grasses? – Robert Jirucha

Dissent
The same laptop I am using to write this sermon . . . is directly tied to a system that funds armed groups, pads the pockets of obscenely rich mining executives and encourages low wages and labour abuses. – Dan Leonard

I just turned 20 and I’ll admit I’m scared. . . . I don’t want to think that what’s waiting for me out there is a 5×5 cubicle, a pile of papers and an extension number. – Janet Adamana

[From Geez magazine No. 14, Summer 2009. Subscription info here. ]

Comment

1. I am convinced that no religion has a sacred scripture that completely expresses the whole truth and will of God. And if o ne did, there is no one who has the ability of perfect interpretation. Would GEEZ READERS HAVE SIMILAR thoughts?

   — allan watson · Jun 27, 01:35 AM · #

Name		Remember
E-mail
Website
Message
	Textile Help