MY FAVORITE TREE

Of all the things I love about our house, the tree out front is pretty high up there. I’m convinced that the tree in front of our house is by far the prettiest tree on the block. Every fall, it never fails to disappoint, putting on a dazzling display of colors and shades that literally take my breath away. Even now, in the dead of winter, without a leaf in sight, its bare branches give the tree a certain beauty that I can’t help but stare at.

I’ve decided to take pictures of my favorite tree every two weeks for the whole year, and weekly during the fall. I’m curious to document the changing seasons in Philadelphia through the lens of one tree. I’m looking forward to the end of the year, and to putting all the pictures together in a sequence.

Having grown up in California, I never thought I’d say this, but: I like having four seasons. I don’t have a favorite season (as in, “I wish summer was longer” or “I wish it snowed every day”), but rather I like that there are four different ones, and that they cycle through annually. Sure, 350+ days a year of 70-degree sunny days is hard to complain about, but there’s something comforting in the rhythm of each season giving way to the next.

This year, following my favorite tree will help me to capture this yearly rhythm.

THREE SEX BOOKS

One of my wife’s co-workers is into New Age stuff. He gave us three books for Christmas: one on Shiatsu, one on sexual massage, and one on Tantric sex. He and my wife have fairly candid discussions on religion, and he knows we’re devout Christians, so I think he was curious to know what we would think of these titles. So I took the time earlier this month to quickly thumb through each of them.

I have to say that after perusing the guidebooks, I felt a little sad. All of them spoke about the importance of loving one’s own body, of the beauty of sex, and of the health benefits of giving and receiving physical pleasure. It seemed as if the books were written in response to the prevailing fundamentalist Christian view of sex as dirty, perverted, and not something to be discussed openly and happily. It made me realize that a lot of the appeal of the New Age movement is not as much what it is but what it isn’t: the repression and shamefulness that is associated with mainstream Christianity. Who wouldn’t prefer a “religion” that endorsed pleasure and released people to be sexual and free?

And that’s what made me feel sad. Because true Christianity does not find the body or sex disgusting. Biblical warnings against sexual perversion and improper intimacy speak to God’s high regard for sex and intimacy, not His desire to repress and shame. When God formed flesh together and made man, He deemed it good; when He gave man a love partner, He deemed that very good. The Bible is full of exhortations and examples related to the bliss of marital intimacy. And God Himself, according to the Christian faith, took on human flesh. Christianity, foremost among all belief systems, upholds the goodness of the body and of sex.

So it saddened me to read a New Age book prattle on about how great it is to love your body and enjoy sex. Because a genuine Christian would be in hearty agreement with such a line of thought. But most people who have said no to Christianity are hearing a different message from Christians. And it grieves me to know that the God in whom I believe is being thusly misrepresented and thusly rejected.

(unposted)

WAITING FOR AN ANSWER

Well, I finally finished my book manuscript for Somewhere in Between: The Musings of a Newcomer to Urban Ministry. Then, I had some more writing to do: literary agents and publishers now require query letters, book synopses, author qualifications, and marketing proposals, to help them decide whether your book manuscript is worth the time and resources it will take them to get it to market.

But here I am, on the last day of 2003, and everything is done and ready to go. In early 2004, 40+ literary agents and publishers will be receiving an envelope from me, which contains everything they need to make a decision on whether to take a chance on this crazy book idea of mine.

I am a little nervous about what happens next, but mostly because I hate waiting. Still, I feel a certain sense of peace about the situation. I did as best as I could on the materials I wrote, and now it is in the hands of those who do this kind of stuff for living to decide if this book deserves to be on the market. I am bracing myself for the many inevitable rejection letters, and only hope for at least one interested party.

I said from the beginning that even if this book never saw the light of day, it would still be worth doing, because it will have helped me think through what it means to be an urban Christian. Now that I am at this point in the development of this book idea, my opinion hasn’t changed. It has been a rewarding experience, thanks especially to those who I gave a preliminary draft to, and who provided valuable feedback and insight. As a result, I feel sharper as a writer and as a Christian.

I do hope, though, for the chance for this book to sharpen other urban Christians. So while I feel a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction as of today, still I am nervously sending out my proposals to decision-makers, and here I am waiting for an answer.