More Obama Articles

I've been reading a copy of The Atlantic I found at the gym while I'm sitting in the sauna. (Honestly, who wants to sit for 30 minutes in the hot sauna with nothing interesting to do?) I've enjoyed the articles, so I looked them up to see if I could find links.

Goodbye to All That: Why Obama Matters

This one is really interesting, in that it divides the Clinton-Obama race according to generations and looks back to the polarization of the Viet Nam War.

Teacher and Apprentice

This one discusses how Obama's presidential campaign took the Clintons by surprise.

For the doubters out there (another Obama post)

So one Sunday, I put on one of the few clean jackets I had, and went over to Trinity United Church of Christ on 95th Street on the South Side of Chicago. And I heard Reverend Jeremiah A. Wright deliver a sermon called "The Audacity of Hope." And during the course of that sermon, he introduced me to someone named Jesus Christ. I learned that my sins could be redeemed. I learned that those things I was too weak to accomplish myself, He would accomplish with me if I placed my trust in Him. And in time, I came to see faith as more than just a comfort to the weary or a hedge against death, but rather as an active, palpable agent in the world and in my own life.

Read the whole thing here.




Image source here.

On being a godmother

I'm beginning to think that this whole godparent thing isn't just for the child (or convert). For me, the responsibility to pray for my godchild everyday has helped me take my daily prayers that much more seriously. I find I'm praying even more regularly for my own family, for my extended family, as well as for my godson (to be) and for his family.

Mara and I went to the Orthodox bookstore and she was looking at the prayer ropes. I tried to get her to say the Jesus Prayer for the knots, but she didn't want to. Then, Mr. P, one of the proprietors, modeled it for her (and also for me). He prayed, "Lord have mercy on me, Lord have mercy on Tamara, Lord have mercy on Mara." And just as I've been impacted by the overall simplicity and depth of the Jesus Prayer and all it means, I was touched at the simplicity and depth of that short (demonstration of a) prayer on behalf of me and my daughter.

I was raised with these huge elaborate prayers that had to be off the cuff--intercessory prayers. The Jesus Prayer, and the Jesus Prayer for someone else, is such a departure from the pressure of praying for others and for myself. It gives me a pattern, a model, and a feasible means of including all the people on my list. I don't mean to compare my little prayers to a true intercessor's, but I do not feel myself to be an actual intercessor (in the way it was taught as I was growing up). So, maybe my little prayers aren't nearly as powerful as those of an intercessor, but I do think that regularly praying the little prayers is a step up from trying to pray intercessory-type prayers (in the way I was taught as I was growing up) only every once in a while, when I could muster up the courage to try again.

Lord have mercy on me, a sinner.
Lord have mercy on Cade and Mara.
Lord have mercy on my family and Cade's family.
Lord have mercy on Mara's godparents and godsiblings.
Lord have mercy on my godson (to be) and on his parents.

Interesting article

You know, this issue is one I like to tread gently around, but for some, it's the biggest issue, the one they hold dearest to their hearts, and the one that defines them politically. Given that some of my readers (hello? hello?) are staunchly pro-life, and given that I've already turned this into a platform of sorts for Obama, I think I'll just post a link to an interesting perspective of a pro-lifer on supporting Obama.

Pro-Life and Pro-Obama

(This link should not be taken as an endorsement of the author. I really don't know anything about him. I just like that he likes Obama.)

I'm going to be a godmother!

My friend honored me by asking me to sponsor her son at his baptism as they join the Eastern Orthodox Church.

My family is also a recent convert family, having joined in April 2006. (Scroll down to posts beginning April 3, 2006 to see the write up and pictures.)

Please pray for B, G, and me as we prepare for this step on our spiritual journeys.

Lord have mercy on all of us!