R.I.P. Monkfish

Today is the day of the farewell party for Monkfish Abbey. This is really sad. I've only hung out over there 3 or 4 times over the last year or two, but it was really kewl just knowing there was a group of such like minded people right here in Seattle--a group of honest, pomo, smart, MTWABP, open, loving people. Seattle is losing one of its more brilliant eclectic communities. I feel zetta-bummed.

At least we can hope Rachelle keeps blogging You rock Rachelle. Thank you for being yourself. Your presence in the city shall be zetta-missed.

dragon virgin birth and self pity

In the news today: In a process called parthenogenosis, a female Komodo Dragon at the London Zoo has fertilized herself and is expected to give birth on or around Christmas Day, having never had sex with a male Komodo Dragon--a solstice virgin dragon birth. This process has been seen in smaller reptiles before, but never in these largest of reptiles. For a slide show of our very own Seattle Woodland Park Zoo Komodo Dragons, click here. Aren't they gorgeous?

So I am feeling rather sorry for myself, all alone at Christmas time, and the faith group which I would have like to attend tonite, Monkfish Abbey, is not meeting because some of them, including the abbess, are participating in the Fremont Arts Council Winter Solstice Feast. Poor poor poor poor poor poor me. Maybe I can find some nice fundamentalist kool aid or some polonium 210 somewhere.

monkfish, calvary fellowship, and HHJJ

(a monkfish)
I had a lovely time at ThursdayPM/Monkfish Abbey. I felt very … safe, and understood, and … familiar. Brilliant. Like the fact that such a time/place exists makes me lean toward believing in god and that she loves me.

(Calvary)

On the other hand … I’ve made a committment to do something service oriented every week for these 7 weeks while my family is gone–kind of an attempt on my part to stay out of trouble. So today I went with my excellent friend Walter to help out at the monthly … thing where guys from the church get together and go out and do service for people in the community. Oh–it’s a thing that they do at Calvary Fellowship in Mountlake Terrace.

I almost cried when Andy told us about the family we were going to help today–they have a one year old who has cancer. So about 10 of us went over to their house and just did a bunch of odd things that needed doing to try to help out. It was fun kind of working and talking with the guys.

The senior pastor, Wayne, was along, and he was a reaonably kewl guy, but he did try at least 4 times in our conversation to convince me to come to some event at their church. So that didn’t feel very … excellent. I find it especially … unfortunate since just now looking up their web site I see they have this almost at the top of their main page

Secondly, by being friendly, but without being annoyingly aggressive. Some people want to check out a church without being “cornered”, and we respect that.

I didn’t even want to check out their church–I said right up front “I don’t go to church”. Now I feel like maybe I was somehow wrongly taking advantage of the opportunity they provided for me to fulfill my service task for this week while failing to allow for the implied associated … aggresive invitations. Or maybe I’m excessively sensitive. Hmmmm….

(some) christians make me nervous. Like again, on Calvary Fellowship web site, in the “our purpose” section, right at the top they say

Our purpose at Calvary Fellowship is to glorify God by pointing people to Jesus Christ, Who alone is sufficient for our every need.

Now not only is it monga wierd to capitilize pronouns referring to god, it also strikes me as very very strange to say of anything or anyone “who alone is sufficient for every need”. What does that mean exaclty? Because it seems to me that in order to say something like that, you either have to seriously wrest the word “sufficient”, or else you have to be brain dead (I mean as in a human vegetable–oh dear–I don’t mean to be crude–Eliza could help me out here–I mean literally completely cut off from almost all sensory experience or even consciousness) so you don’t see or feel the gargantuan enormitude of the need.
(I seem to have climbed onto a soap box. I’m stepping down now)

I think this might be related to HHJJ…