Today at U of M we had a dialogue about religion. I was in a small group of 5 people discussing many different aspects of religion and it sparked some great thought for me. Answer some of these questions truthfully.....

1. I worry about the ramifications of disclosing my religious identity to others? True or False?
2. I can easily arrange to be in the company of people of my religion msot of the time? True of False?
3. I can remain oblivious to the language and customs of other religious groups without feeling any penalty for such a lack of interest or knowledge? True or False?
4. I can be fairly sure that some hate group does not exist whose goal is to eradicate my religious group from the planet? True or False?


These are just a few of the questions that we had to fill out before partaking in the dialogue. The main topic was centered around this question.....

Do Christians have privilege in today's society?

I really began to wrestle first with the idea of religion, its institutionalism, and how it plays into my life not only as a person of faith but then as a social worker. I struggle to call myself a "Christian" at times, not because I am embarrassed or not proud of it, but because of the box it puts me in. Yes, I am a follower of Jesus and hold true to the values that he possessed (working with the poor, marginalized, accepting people for who they are, etc) but oftentimes that goes against the grain of Christianity because I don't try to "convert" people. Does that mean that I am privileged because at times, I feel persecuted for the people I hang out with, school I go to, or the values of acceptance that I hold.

One thought came up about Christianity that I thought was very mind-provoking. There is a comic strip with a man pointing at his cat saying, "Now, don't you dare go outside of your box" (meaning his cat litter box). Hmmmm....is that sometimes what Christianity says to people? Growing up, this was very true to me. I needed to stay within the Christian box, only have Christian friends, and abide by the "Rules."


I think of the Baptist Church whose website....www.godhatesfags.com represents "Christianity." Oh my. Is that Christianity? If so, I want nothing to do with that. I don't want to be in THAT box.

We then talked about how maybe we SHOULD let the cat poop outside the box, just like we should embrace the mess that exists when we embrace people different than ourselves. We should be hanging out with "Messy" people who are different than ourselves because that is where "Christianity" or "Religion" really lies. Embracing or Accepting People. This is where real freedom lies.

As I think about Christian privilege in our country I realize that many people would claim to be Christians but most of those people are not truly embracing what it means to live a Christian life. Sometimes I feel that I need to be quiet about some of the work I do or people I work with when I am around Christians just so they won't feel like I have strayed or feel like they have to pray extra hard for me. (Hopefully I don't get Justin fired by saying this!!!).

Maybe Christianity or Religion really means embracing the mess.....Living in the cat poop

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So I will continue to post pictures of Dwight from "The Office" hoping to encourage you to watch this show. He is truly hysterical. I wish that I had a friend like that in real life.....Frens may be the closest to him!! JK. I love Mark.

Speaking of Frens, he came over Tuesday night with Jill and we cooked dinner and hung out. I am officially learning how to cook many different things. I cooked a whole chicken, some stuffing, mashed potatoes, and corn. The best part was, it was edible. I was a bit nervous as I pulled the whole chicken from the bag and then had to look inside....what a surprise. Chickens are now on my "wierd" list.

So today in class we had a diaglogue (not discussion...they are different) about gender. We talked about when we realized our gender, what made us realize this, and how this plays into our everyday life. We came up with these thoughts.....

Males should be (according to our culture): Tough, the Provider, Athletic, Strong, Emotionless, The Pursuer, leader, etc

Females should be: the caretaker, the listener, emotional, weak, beautiful, creative, obedient, etc

Again, these came from my diverse class of people, not just from me. Then we talked about what happens if you go against one of these gender norms. For example, if a guy cries he is seen as a "wuss" or "weak." There are these boxes that culture tries to force people into so that we can abide by certain gender norms.

Is it possible to be outside the box? Does the box still exist? Do people who judge others trying to go out of the box do so because of ignorance or lack of understanding? Should gender norms be a part of culture or should we try to go out of our way to just be who we want to be?

Many people in the group said that going against the culture norms were much more difficult than staying in the box. I agree but also see the norms changing as the years go on and the younger generations (who seem more tolerant) come through.

Any thoughts? I'd love to hear some feedback on this issue. Until then....enjoy The Office.

First of all, if you haven't seen the show, "The Office" on Thursday nights, you are missing out on many laughs. Unfortunately I have to miss it each week because I have class but Justin and I just finished watching Season II and we laughed so hard. Some of the comments are crude, but if you can picture yourself actually working in a setting of this sort, it will become much more real to you. My favorite character is Dwight Schrute (the Assistant to the Manager) and Justin loves Jim (the office prankster). It has been a great way for us to just relax together and laugh. Laughter is good for the soul.


SOOOOO, after today's class and elections I have been presented with yes, another moment of confusion, which I would appreciate feedback to from anyone who is interested. We had a guest speaker come in today to talk about Gay, Lesbian, Transexual, Transgender, Bisexual, and Queer issues. Overall the exercises and thoughts were very mind provoking and caused me to think deeply about these issues.

He made a comment though that really hit me. He talked about how a Senator who was just elected on Tuesday will probably be bringing forth a proposal to allow Gay Marriage within the state of Michigan. At first my thoughts were, "oh no, I can't even imagine how this is going to go over." After much discussion from both sides, here I sit confused.

Do people in this country have a freedom to marry who they want and recieve the full benefits? I would answer yes.
Why do I mostly disagree with this idea? It hits me as more of a faith issue
Because most gay people agree to choosing this lifestyle and I, like them, have chosen to marry a man, does that change my reflection to this proposal? It does for me.
Where do we draw the line in telling people what they can and can't do? Not sure.

I agree that a Gay couple can raise a family just as well as Justin and I could. Is it fair that partners who have been together for 20 years can't have the same rights as a married couple in the state of Michigan?

Like I said....so many factors play into this but here I sit, struggling over this issue.

He also talked about how people may be born with certain body genitalia but choose to be both. People with this "issue" call themselves, Bi-Gender. We won't get into this issue.

Yeah! We finally figured out how to put movies on our blogs! Check out our video from Grand Haven with the crashing waves. It was beautiful.

This weekend Justin and I went up to Traverse City to celebrate my birthday (I am now a quarter century and 1/2 way to 50). It was such a great time. On Sunday we spent the day driving home and visited Ludington, Silver Lake, and Grand Haven. If you have a chance to read his post, that would be great. I thought I would put some pictures of what we saw and how is sparked our thoughts and feeligs about life on my blog so you can have a visual.

As we watched the waves (Nick you would have wanted to surf) crash against the piers and rocks, it truly moved us. I haven't seen anything so beautiful in a long time. Everytime the waves crashed against the rocks it left a rainbow. We tried to capture them by picture but weren't able to do it. What a wonderful reminder that God was there....right there with us, next to us, loving us, and enjoying us--All at the same time. Life seemed to just stop while we reflected on how God is present in all situations and keeps His faithful promises to us.

It is one thing to spend the weekend with the one you love most, but then knowing that God was there with us, made the experience so much more powerful and beautiful.

I leave you with a quote I heard today in class.....
"We must be the change we want to see in the world." Gandhi
This really sparked my mind as I sit in class all day today.