Friday Five: The Perfect Blendship

It's been awhile, so I'm gonna try and jump back in with a Friday Five, a little late in the day (but cut me some slack - I had to get the bulletin done first!)

If you're ever in a jam, here I am. If you're ever in a mess, S.O.S. If you're so happy, you land in jail. I'm your bail. It's friendship, friendship, just a perfect blendship. When other friendships are soon forgot, ours will still be hot.


Rev. Songbird at RevGalBlogPals writes: I'm thinking a lot about friends these days, the ones who rush to you in times of trouble, with a casserole or a socket wrench or an invitation for coffee or lunch or a trip to the foot sanctuary. We meet friends in school or on the playground or at church or in the workplace and even on the Internet. Even as blogging has experienced some decline, the community here has been strong.
For today's Friday Five, some questions about friendship.
1) Who is the first friend you remember from childhood? This may be cheating a little, because I vaguely remember playing with other children before this, but these are the first three real friends I remember. Real because they were who I first remember having that feeling of “Oh, I have to tell ____ about that as soon as I see them!” They were Phil, who lived down the block from me, and Lynn and Sharon who lived near by, were in my kindergarten class and later brownies. I have lost touch with Phil over the years, though when I have run into him I still think I had good taste in friends as a three year old! Lynn and Sharon are still two of my best friends – Sharon and I went out for drinks this last week, and I realized that I don’t just like hanging out with her because she’s known me most of my life, but because she is genuinely fun and down to earth and makes me laugh!

2) Have you ever received an unexpected gift from a friend? My BFFffff, Lydia, is one of the sweetest people in the world. Seriously. Take your grandma and multiply the sweetness. When Lyd was in college down in Iowa, we hardly ever got to see each other (compounded by the fact that she is my polar opposite, as I am sloth-like and she is a continuous ball of energy, so she is always on the go!). But she would sneakily put little notes with quotes, sometimes biblical, into my purse or school binders so that I wouldn’t find them right away. It always seemed that I would find them just when I needed her, which was a wonderful gift.

3) Is there an old friend you wish you could find again? Or have you found one via social media or the Internet? I have certainly reconnected with many old friends via facebook, but none that I have really been able to reform a strong bond with. I have one friend who I would love to get in touch with, another brownie pal, but she doesn’t appear to be on the interwebs. However, the silly thing is that her family’s name is theirs alone and her parents are listed – I could even just drive to their house since it’s the one she grew up in. But for some reason and I never reach out that far…

4) Do you like to get your good friends together in a group, or do you prefer your friends one on one? I do like group activities once and a while (karaoke anyone?), but I really like hanging out with just one or two friends at a time. I am a Capricorn through and through, so I don’t have that many good friends to begin with.

5) Does the idea of Jesus as a friend resonate with you? Yes and no. Yes when I sing songs like What a Friend We Have in Jesus. I guess it really feels more abstract… when Lydia does something so kind for me, or Sharon asks me how I’m doing, wanting to know the real answer, I see and feel Jesus in those actions, the actions of friends.

No because I often feel a bit maternal towards him. Is that weird? Maybe it’s just the Christmas fever I’ve got talking, but first Jesus is this little baby who, like all babies, reminds us of what it means to be human, bringing it down to a basic, primal level. Then Jesus grows up and says, “whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” And that makes me think of the way we try to help cloth and feed the poor and bring comfort to the suffering, which are all acts that connect me with my maternal nature. So yeah, I guess part friend part child part parent… man, that Jesus gets around!

the picture above is Lydia and me out to lunch during her graduation weekend

Crisis of Faith

I'm having a crisis of faith. Not my faith in God or my theology, mind you. No, I'm speaking of my faith in human decency.

I'm sorry to say I am prone to this particular crisis - it's one of the reasons I choose not to watch the news or read the newspaper on a daily basis. There's always something horrible going on to inspire doubt in my fellow humans; a car bomb here, a kidnapping there, and just plain disregard for human life.

Admittedly, my current crisis stems from a more personal place. But then, I also believe that a crime against one is a crime against all...

Gay Marriage. It's been on my mind a lot because I am doing a group project for my English class on the topic. Out of 5 people, one of our group is opposed, and there doesn't seem to be any way to get through to her. We present on July 9th, so I'm trying to hold out hope. But then, it's not just her. We surveyed the class, and almost everyone else is opposed.

It makes me want to scream and cry. I simply don't understand how these kids can think they have the right to make these hate filled decisions for everyone else.

One part that's eating away at me right now because I feel so awful about thinking/feeling this way is that many of my classmates are immigrants. I am whole-heartedly in favor of immigration...except when those immigrants want to then impose on my civil liberties. This is America, and there are plenty of countries around the world that don't have equality as the backbone to their structure, but we do, so why do you live here? (and yes, I realize that this may be one of the few places they could live... but ... ? ... maybe one of the reasons they can live here is because we try to respect human life and uphold our constitution that states that all men are created equally and have the right to the pursuit of happiness, so shoudn't they in turn respect that?)

I also will never understand how people, often Christians, can think it's their job to 'save' others from sin. What do you care? Besides all the other blatent ways in which this goes against the teachings of Jesus - let he who is without sin cast the first stone and all that - seriously, what do you care if I go to hell if you don't think you will? You want some extra brownie points when you get to heaven?

Feed the poor.
Adopt an orphan.
Donate blood.
Give change to and smile at that homeless guy, regardless of what you think he's going to spend it on.
Pick up litter.

There are so many ways to love God by loving others without HATING anyone.

I was also extremely disturbed by a comment made by a woman in my class, with whom I'd had a conversation about church the class before - "I'm a DEVOUT Christian, so I just know it's wrong." It felt as though she were saying that I wasn't a real Christian and that I am somehow intellectually inferior because I don't "know" it's wrong. Sorry, I don't know it's wrong. I don't know it's right either. I don't know much in fact. I just try to live and love in a way that makes me feel less hopeless. For all I know, God's a giant chicken.

And on that note, something silly to try and cheer myself up.

Sex with Ducks from Erika Lindhome on Vimeo.