Lent at Mustard Seed

Reading the blog of the folks over at Mustard Seed Associates has helped me to tune into the journey of this season -- a time that commemorates the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness before this journey began. As they shared: "In the early church this was a time of preparation for those about to be baptized. Today it is more often regarded as a season of soul searching and repentance for all Christians as a preparation for the joy and celebration of Easter. Unfortunately for many of us our soul searching is as perfunctory as our sacrifices. We spend a little more time reading the bible and in prayer."

This Nouwen quote from their blog really also struck me as important:
According to Henri Nouwen, “Discipline is the creation of boundaries that keep time and space open for God – a time and place where God’s gracious presence can be acknowledged and responded to.” This is the kind of discipline we all need in order to mature into the people God wants us to be.

The short videos they are posting by Christine Sine are also wonderful.

Check it out when you have a few minutes.

Presidents' Day Weekend: French Connection - Breach - Borneo - and Mom

Friday eve we stayed warm at home with a fire and watched The French Connection. B hadn't seen it before and I had many years ago but remembered none of it. Great classic.
Then, Saturday, Breach: worth seeing...yes! Disturbing but not in an overwhelming sort of way. Utterly fascinating too. I really "enjoyed" seeing this flick with P, P & P.

and tonight.....
Expedition Borneo on Discovery Channel. Saw places no human has been known to traverse -- in modern times, anyway. Unbelievable footage of the rare, the previoulys unknown, the beautiful and the weird. Shocking, breathtaking and totally amazing. I have decided I want to spend one day (not a night - just a day - thank you very much) of my life as a gibbon, swinging thru the huge trees in this tropical rain-forest.

Exploring the amazing cathedral like caves...well.. I'll leave those for the dreams of the "Jet."
It's awesome to know that the work of this scientific / photographic team in documenting this rain-forest helped to result in the creation of the Heart of Borneo signed into being just last week (2/12/07)! One third of Borneo will now be preserved, as it well deserves to be.
Curious?? This 2 hour presentation will be repeated once more: Thursday night, 2/22 at 9PM on The Science Channel.

Today also included a visit to Mom and Connie over in the Berkshires. It was great to see them. Connie says he doesn't have as much get up and go as he did. Well, at 93, after all he's been thru in the past 2 years, and after pneumonia in the Fall, that's not surprising. We hope the Spring will provide him with some of his 'ole spunk.
Tomorrow: it's off to collect a few FreeCycle treasures and then B and I will walk up to the Amherst Cinema with Pete and Pam to see a new 35 mm print of the 1939 French film: The Rules of the Game (Renoir)

Then it's back to the "real world" on Tuesday.
Hope you've had a good weekend.

Jeremiah Wright's Speech at Amherst College

The content of Wright's speech has been made available on the web if you are interested, check it out here.

Wright was Rad and Obama's Fired Up!

Jeremiah Wright was at Amherst College Friday night... as was I (along with a bunch of others) and it was rad. Awesome guy. And..the very next AM he was back in Springfied, IL with Obama when he announced he is running. WooHoo!

Where Have I Been ?????

Wondering where I have been? Well, painting in A's new space for one thing and doing art stuff for another. Also starting to teach my 2 classes for the semester, based on the book Persepolis, about Iran this time around. I have actually created a blog for my CSL class! It is a closed blog (open only to the class) so I can't post a link but I am very excited about it. It will be used by my class as well as the other CSL class so that is about 37 people. Could be really fun. Time will tell.