Stuff I’m thankful for in 2011

I’m pretty sure that gratitude equals happiness.

I’m thankful for…my family,  my 5th graders and brow beating them, my 12th graders, that I teach Economics but really I teach ‘how not to be stupid with money,’ Brittany, Megan, Tatiana, Mark, Abby, Jourdan and my fellow social studies education folks, words like folks, pioneer and saying “oh, my word” and “that girl needs Jesus,” pie, having time to cook, having time to bake, having time to clean up the mess  from the baking and the cooking, my new laptop battery,my monthly planner, my weekly planner, fierce young women, that Caleb has returned and he’s still inspiring me, breaking up fights about why exactly lil’ Kim went to prison, UbD, Adele and that you can count on hearing her at least 3 times a day, for my 12th graders renditions of Adele songs, a clean kitchen, babies, professors who know their stuff, daily mass, the Early History of God, good movies, female altar servers,Mormon Stories Podcast Community, expo markers, when students ‘get it,’ for my 12th graders reviews of my fashion choices, Yips, Flavors, my mommy, warm blankets, socks, sweaters, when GAP has crazy sales, Traveling with Pomegranates, Hilary Clinton, Joanna Brooks, sister-in-law, brother-in-law,my twitter followers, blogging, good books, Ryan Gosling (feminist and typographer), history, my 32 oz water bottle, the color green, nap time, down time, me time, knitting after a stressful day, running ahead of schedule, waking up on time, caprese salad, headphones, Bobst 4th floor, cold rooms, Texas (minus Rick Perry), feminist theory, my daddy and my Almi, Mormonism, Arizona Tea, Zebra pens, mugs, soup, men in coats, The Jewish Study Bible, Lion Brand Yarn Studio, my brother, my nephew (he does the best cover of Biz Markie ever), meaningful arguments, Rev. James Martin, American Magazine, historiography, NYT, vacuum cleaner, zebra lunchbox, grading in pencil as to not invoke bleeding, gin and tonic, drinks with social studies people, B.’s couch, Halls vitamin C cough drops, the 6 train, movie giftcards, Trader Joes, avoiding Canal street on the weekends, Sister Wives, art magazines, Everyday Food, tall glasses of milk, breakfast cereal, watches, comfy shoes, lotion, light math,

and sermons about love and the actual teachings of Jesus Christ.

Understanding Purgatory on All Souls Day

“What’s with Mormons and their levels of heaven thing? How crazy is that?” a non-religious friend asked.

“Not so crazy.” I answered.

I’m a Catholic girl so the notion of places besides Heaven, Hell and Earth does not seem all that strange to me. Since I was a little girl I attended Rosaries and funeral Masses for deceased relatives for one very important reason, I had to pray the dead into Heaven.

I am Catholic and we believe–institutionally, that is–in Purgatory.

According to LifeTeen.com (a website that deserves its very own post) purgatory is a state of cleansing in which our souls are purified from sin. Frankly, I took the time looking up each of the biblical versus mentioned in this article and I am not convinced that there is a biblical foundation for purgatory but…

In a rather long conversation I had with my father we determined that purgatory does in fact exsist but the amount of time a person spends there is minimal.

Here’s what we came up with:

• think of eternity as a mile long rope and our time on earth is about an inch ( I got that from some Mormon source)

• think about how God experiences time i.e. His day is more like one million years to us

• think about how God knows our past, present and future

• God would know ahead of time that people are going to pray for us if we die with sin on our souls.

• the amount of time the average person spends in purgatory is minimal…nano seconds or whatever is shorter than that.

After wracking my brains about the space time continuum, God’s infinite mercy and the nice Mormon belief that we will be pretty psyched wherever we end up–except hell or outer darkness, of course—I am pretty on board with the whole purgatory thing.

So this All Soul’s Day I’m praying for all of our brothers and sister that have left this life for the next—may you go straight to heaven and should you stop along the way in purgatory, may it just be for a nanosecond or whatever is shorter than that

Because situations like this always happen to me…

Coworker #1: I had to get a ride to work today because my roommate was taking a bunch of people to some conference. I don’t know she’s Mormon. She’s always driving people everywhere.

Me: Oh, it must have been Stake Conference.

Coworker #1: Yes, that’s what it is! How did you know that?

Coworker #2: Are you Mormon?

Me: No, I just study it…as I hobby I guess. I’m Catholic.

Coworker #2: Cool, me too!

Coworker #1: My parents raised me Catholic but then I learned that all that stuff is made up. None of that Catholic stuff is in the Bible. I go to an Apostalic church now because Catholicism isn’t true.

Me: Oh, okay. I guess it’s good you found somewhere you feel at home.

Then this morning while I was out to breakfast with my dad a deacon from my parents’ parish stopped by our table with his wife.

Wife: How are you doing? When will you be done with school?

Me: Great! I only have a year left.

My Dad: She’s taking a lot of Religious Studies classes.

Deacon: Oh, you’re gonna be a priest.

Me: hahahaha and get excommunicated?

Wife: Well you should become a deacon?

Me: uh….and get excommunicated?

Wife: You could pave the way.

Me: I hear ya sister but I’m not giving up my membership.

Wife: Welll then some day.

I swear, Heavenly Father sends this stuff my way on purpose. To teach me a lesson? To drive me crazy?

 Remember last summer?

 

Blogging Vacation

School is winding down and I am falling way behind partially due to the mountain of  work I have and partially because of my own tendency towards procrastination. I’m not sure when I’ll be back from my blogging vacation but I do have some neat things lined up for my return. In the mean time here’s an update on a few things.

1. I love Mormons. I spent the weekend of March 25th with a wonderful group of Mormons of all stripes from Mormon Stories Podcast. We ate, prayed, sang, listened to talks and watched the Book of Mormon the Musical together. I was literally floating on cloud after meeting all those good people. One day I’ll post the outrageously long email I sent my friend about the weekend. Read about the play here. And hear a portion of our conference here.

2. I heard Elie Wiesel speak tonight and it was amazing even though I didn’t get to be in the same room as him because there were a ton of people there. He spoke about “respecting the other for their otherness,” and the importance of human love. I got all choked up when someone asked him about his faith. “Well, what am I to do? Say “God, I divorce you!”? I’m a Jewish man. I come from a long line of teachers and thinkers. I can’t stop being a Jew that would betray them. I have faith. It’s a wounded faith but I have it.”

3. I was pretty down after reading this letter about a priest who was excommunicated in 2008 for calling for the ordination of women and more recently resigned from his religious community over the same issue. It was such a beautiful letter filled with love and hurt and angst and appreciation for all sides of the argument. It was nice to see dissent minus vitriol and nice to see someone remind up about the Catholic teachings about conscience.  I feel obliged to say, for a million reasons, I’m not saying women should be ordained I’m saying we should have a chat about it.

4. Then I read this lovely and refreshing piece in the Huffington Post and remembered oh, yeah, we’re a diverse group of people dragging our beloved Church into the 21st century!

5. When I watch RealCatholicTV my face still gets all contorted with confusion and revulsion and I whisper to myself “we were baptized into the same body.”  Sometimes you just have to say no to RealCatholicTV even if they teach you words like jingoistic.

6. I love my Mormon missionary friend but if he writes me one more letter detailing how simple his religion is I might just scream via handwritten letter, in a well mannered, kind way of course.

Thinking of doing a little lying

My dorm room has exactly two crosses, one made of Palm Sunday palms, the other inscribed with the words Confirmed in Christ. I have two Virgin Marys that I take with me whenever I travel.

If you look a little closer there’s my New Jerusalem Bible, my Book of Mormon and half a dozen Mormon studies books.

I use to have wooden praying hands but I forgot them at home.

I’ve had three roommates since my Freshman year, all great girls and all within weeks of moving in told me “I saw the crosses and the statues and I thought you were a crazy Christian. It turns out you’re completely normal.”

One roommate said “You’re Christian but like not really.” And I still don’t understand what that means.

I never know what to say. Yes I’m Christian. But all that religious paraphernalia that I hold so dear is also next to plenty of other things that define me.

At this precise moment my Bible is wedged between In Cold Blood and A People’s History of the United States. My Book of Mormon is stacked above a row of novels. Dr. Strangelove is next to my copy of States of Grace. My Peace and Coexistence poster is next to my Rolling Stones one.

So come January I’ll get a new roommate and I’m considering taking down the crosses and other religious things. Let the new roommate get to know me, wonder where I go Sunday evenings, and why I’m always ordering religious studies books on amazon.

It’s probably dishonest. A form of lying. To my roommate, to myself and to my religion, right?