Hola, readers! I was assigned by my book group to report on the book I'm reading, "Surprised By Hope," by N. T. Wright. It's a fascinating and dense theology, and I've found it ... well ... surprising and hopeful. Here's my take on it:
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LIFE AFTER LIFE AFTER DEATH: A NEW HEAVENS AND A NEW EARTH
(A review of N.T. Wright’s “Surprised By Hope”)
“Everyone who talks about Heaven ain’t goin’ there” says the old hymn. N. T. Wright takes this thought a few miles farther along: he avers that Heaven is not our final destination.
If we really read the Scriptural words of Jesus carefully, I think we have to admit that Wright is right. What did Christ mean when he talked about “a new heavens and a new earth”? What do we think we mean when we recite the credal words, “and He will come again to judge both the living and the dead; and His kingdom will have no end”?
Tom Wright contends that Scripture teaches us that the souls of the just will indeed be allowed to rest from their labors; but that everywhere in the New Testament it is proclaimed that the process doesn’t end with our bodies decayed and our souls resting on a fluffy cloud playing alleluias on a harp for all eternity (BORING!) ...
What we can read tells us that Jesus – the “first fruits” of the promise of eternal life – was raised bodily from death to life, and so shall we be, when he “comes again in glory.” Sleepers will awake, and the new heavens and new earth will be joined – and we shall see God.
If we believe this, Tom says, we can’t buy the image of the Pearly Gates and cloud-beds beyond.
If we believe Jesus when he said the Kingdom is at hand, this sort of negates the idea that we’ll all be transported to a meeting in the air and be carried off like space travellers to a place in the sky.
And here’s the clincher: if we believe Jesus, and understand that “these bones shall rise again,” as the old prophet put it, this puts a whole new light on the work we have to do in the present, on Earth.
The heresy that this world will simply cease to exist in any form, asks this question, then: why would the Spirit renew the face of the Earth? And why would it be important for us to work for the Kingdom to come? -- We could just let pollution and war and all the afflictions of the planet and the universe go on their merry ways; we’re bound for a different world.
But if we believe that “not all shall die; but the trumpet will sound; and we shall be changed, in the wink of an eye,” then it is an important task we have been given, to build up our world for the eternal life to come.
I’ll just end with a direct paragraphal quote from the final chapter of this book:
“The point of 1 Corinthians 13 is not that love is our duty: it is our destiny. It is the language Jesus spoke, and we are called to speak it so that we can converse with him. It is the food we’ll eat in God’s new world, and we must acquire the taste for it here and now. It is the music God has written for all his creatures to sing, and we are called to learn it and practice it now, so as to be ready when the conductor raises his baton. It is the resurrected life, and the resurrected Jesus calls us to begin living it with him and for him right now. Love is at the very heart of the surprise of hope; if we are people who hope as the resurrection encourages us to hope, we will be people enabled to love in a new way. Conversely people who are living by this rule of love will be people who are learning more deeply how to hope.”
Tuesday 14 September 2010
Monday 5 July 2010
It's the 5th of July -- Feelin' Independent!
Hope you all had as nice a "4th" as we did. John and I hosted the neighborhood (3 houses) block party yesterday, and it was a fine success.
I made Pan Bagnat, a 2-hour creation of one sandwich – but what a Sammie! (Large baguette cut lengthwise, hollowed out a bit and brushed with a Dijon vinaigrette, and filled with Italian olive-oil-packed tuna, fresh basil leaves, sliced hardboiled eggs and tomatoes, thinly slivered red onion and bell pepper, and chopped Kalamata olives – drizzled with more vinaigrette; then you top off the loaf and press down heavily over all, tightly wrap it in Saran, and weight it; chill for a couple of hours – when it's time, you slice it thickly crosswise, and serve it forth). The neighbors brought prawn cocktails, jicama-cucumber salad, guacamole and crudites; John made Margaritas; and we finished off the three-hour meal on the deck with NY cheesecake topped with fresh macerated strawberries and blueberries: a red/white/blue salute.
Otherwise we are having as quiet a 3-day celebration as possible, resting up for the end of July festivities.
June was for me a month of preparation for the Reunion, and July will be more of the same; and while there have been a few little changes along the way, the plans are going very well indeed. We look to have between 50-60 people at the Big Picnic on July 31st; and John and I are hosting an Open House up here at the cottage on Sunday afternoon, as everyone is leaving – especially for those who have not yet visited in Boulder Creek, but everyone is welcome to come up for sandwiches and lemonade (or whatever) and hang out in our garden on the deck that afternoon, before going off to Real Life again.
(In August John and I will need a real vacation! We may just go back to Carmel Valley and spend some days enjoying The Quiet!)
We're so looking forward to having all of our dear ones together from near and far; it is one of the great blessings of this huge clan to be able to experience this Group Love-In every few years.
I made Pan Bagnat, a 2-hour creation of one sandwich – but what a Sammie! (Large baguette cut lengthwise, hollowed out a bit and brushed with a Dijon vinaigrette, and filled with Italian olive-oil-packed tuna, fresh basil leaves, sliced hardboiled eggs and tomatoes, thinly slivered red onion and bell pepper, and chopped Kalamata olives – drizzled with more vinaigrette; then you top off the loaf and press down heavily over all, tightly wrap it in Saran, and weight it; chill for a couple of hours – when it's time, you slice it thickly crosswise, and serve it forth). The neighbors brought prawn cocktails, jicama-cucumber salad, guacamole and crudites; John made Margaritas; and we finished off the three-hour meal on the deck with NY cheesecake topped with fresh macerated strawberries and blueberries: a red/white/blue salute.
Otherwise we are having as quiet a 3-day celebration as possible, resting up for the end of July festivities.
June was for me a month of preparation for the Reunion, and July will be more of the same; and while there have been a few little changes along the way, the plans are going very well indeed. We look to have between 50-60 people at the Big Picnic on July 31st; and John and I are hosting an Open House up here at the cottage on Sunday afternoon, as everyone is leaving – especially for those who have not yet visited in Boulder Creek, but everyone is welcome to come up for sandwiches and lemonade (or whatever) and hang out in our garden on the deck that afternoon, before going off to Real Life again.
(In August John and I will need a real vacation! We may just go back to Carmel Valley and spend some days enjoying The Quiet!)
We're so looking forward to having all of our dear ones together from near and far; it is one of the great blessings of this huge clan to be able to experience this Group Love-In every few years.
Monday 14 June 2010
Bloggin, bloggin' along
The RU grows ever nearer, and I spend a lot of time on the net planning and making lists. All is going well, but it is time-consuming (my ironclad excuse for not working on my memoirs, although I did write a few paragraphs this morning).
Summer is here at last, and we had Joe and Kathie and Josh up for a chicken and corn BBQ last evening. They brought us a wonderful gift: their neighbor is remodeling her kitchen (copycatting Kathie, who just had theirs done!) and was getting rid of a nice 3-year-old dishwasher; they nabbed it for us, to replace our horrible old built-in that came with the cottage. Our handyman crew of Mark and Del will be here tomorrow to install it and we are very grateful!
Today I start my water aerobics classes (twice a week) at a local club pool; and Saturday I did a full hour of Pilates training (including on that scary machine, the "Reformer" -- which John calls "The Enforcer") -- it was actually a lot of fun!
I hope everyone is getting as excited as I am about the end of July revelries in Carmel Valley; we can't wait to see you all.
Summer is here at last, and we had Joe and Kathie and Josh up for a chicken and corn BBQ last evening. They brought us a wonderful gift: their neighbor is remodeling her kitchen (copycatting Kathie, who just had theirs done!) and was getting rid of a nice 3-year-old dishwasher; they nabbed it for us, to replace our horrible old built-in that came with the cottage. Our handyman crew of Mark and Del will be here tomorrow to install it and we are very grateful!
Today I start my water aerobics classes (twice a week) at a local club pool; and Saturday I did a full hour of Pilates training (including on that scary machine, the "Reformer" -- which John calls "The Enforcer") -- it was actually a lot of fun!
I hope everyone is getting as excited as I am about the end of July revelries in Carmel Valley; we can't wait to see you all.
Saturday 5 June 2010
Pomp and Circumstance in Junior High
What celebrations! What glory! We grandparents are astounded!
You young whippersnappers may not realize this, but in my day, there were no Junior High Graduation Ceremonies. Oh, we celebrated, all right – whooped out the school doors and ran for home on the last day of school, slipped into old shorts and tee top outfits, raided the freezer for ice cream bars, and flopped on a lawn chair to plan nothing but the endless days of summer ahead of us.
Having attended the formal commencements of our two grand pre-high-schoolers, Danny and Josh, on Thursday, I'm here to tell the world that it's a whole new era.
Danny Drysdale's midday ceremony was out of doors at the Cabrillo College campus, south of Santa Cruz. He was part of a large graduating class, but the process ran very smoothly, on a sunny, breezy sports field (parents and grandparents to the bleachers, graduates to the chairs on the grass). Afterward, the Drysdale parents took us old folks out to a lunch celebration for Danny's posse of buddies, and their parents and grandparents, at a nearby pizza parlor – the boys behaved better than the adults! The restaurant owner came by our table to tell us that these kids (who hang out at his place often after school) were the best behaved bunch he'd ever had in his restaurant: kudos to Julie and Bryan and the other parents in attendance!
The Drysdale celebration was twofold: that day Stephanie (who is just finishing her four years of high school this June) had learned that she's been admitted as a freshman at the University of Washington in Seattle! She starts college in September, and will have her Uncle Frank and Aunt Linda as mentors in the northwest, and cousins-in-college Caitlin and Justin, as buddies.
After we elders checked in at a Ramada Inn in Marina and had a brief rest, we then regrouped and went to the gymnasium of a local high school for Josh's evening commencement ceremony. As we entered, Kathie asked one of Josh's teachers where we ought to sit (in the bleachers again, of course) to get good photos. He said, "Josh is going to be in the front row – he's one of the 20 students from this class being honored for high academic achievement at this school – so sit right over there near the front, on the left side." With prideful smiles, we marched over and got good vantage places.
When the ceremony began, and when Josh walked up to accept his award as one of the most improved scholars in his class over the past two years, we cheered loudly and cameras were put to good use.
Joe and Kathie took us all out to a beautiful stone-walled old restaurant near Carmel for a gala late supper; Josh took the head of the table and chose his drink and his pasta with lobster-and-shrimp sauce with great style and poise -- and topped his meal off with a rootbeer float!
Now our boys are headed for high school next September: great times ahead..... much work, and fun, and a few more carefree years of youth.
You young whippersnappers may not realize this, but in my day, there were no Junior High Graduation Ceremonies. Oh, we celebrated, all right – whooped out the school doors and ran for home on the last day of school, slipped into old shorts and tee top outfits, raided the freezer for ice cream bars, and flopped on a lawn chair to plan nothing but the endless days of summer ahead of us.
Having attended the formal commencements of our two grand pre-high-schoolers, Danny and Josh, on Thursday, I'm here to tell the world that it's a whole new era.
Danny Drysdale's midday ceremony was out of doors at the Cabrillo College campus, south of Santa Cruz. He was part of a large graduating class, but the process ran very smoothly, on a sunny, breezy sports field (parents and grandparents to the bleachers, graduates to the chairs on the grass). Afterward, the Drysdale parents took us old folks out to a lunch celebration for Danny's posse of buddies, and their parents and grandparents, at a nearby pizza parlor – the boys behaved better than the adults! The restaurant owner came by our table to tell us that these kids (who hang out at his place often after school) were the best behaved bunch he'd ever had in his restaurant: kudos to Julie and Bryan and the other parents in attendance!
The Drysdale celebration was twofold: that day Stephanie (who is just finishing her four years of high school this June) had learned that she's been admitted as a freshman at the University of Washington in Seattle! She starts college in September, and will have her Uncle Frank and Aunt Linda as mentors in the northwest, and cousins-in-college Caitlin and Justin, as buddies.
After we elders checked in at a Ramada Inn in Marina and had a brief rest, we then regrouped and went to the gymnasium of a local high school for Josh's evening commencement ceremony. As we entered, Kathie asked one of Josh's teachers where we ought to sit (in the bleachers again, of course) to get good photos. He said, "Josh is going to be in the front row – he's one of the 20 students from this class being honored for high academic achievement at this school – so sit right over there near the front, on the left side." With prideful smiles, we marched over and got good vantage places.
When the ceremony began, and when Josh walked up to accept his award as one of the most improved scholars in his class over the past two years, we cheered loudly and cameras were put to good use.
Joe and Kathie took us all out to a beautiful stone-walled old restaurant near Carmel for a gala late supper; Josh took the head of the table and chose his drink and his pasta with lobster-and-shrimp sauce with great style and poise -- and topped his meal off with a rootbeer float!
Now our boys are headed for high school next September: great times ahead..... much work, and fun, and a few more carefree years of youth.
Saturday 29 May 2010
Summer Holiday #1
Yay! Just in time for the big opening weekend of summertime, we have bright sunshine and warm air at last, up here in the Santa Cruz Mountains. My beloved and I celebrated with a walk in the village and breakfast at the Old Mountain Cafe (fresh squeezed OJ!) followed by espresso at Rainbow's End (great coffee, bad live folk music). The bad music was ameliorated by KPIG playing Van the Man's "Tupelo Honey" as we drove back up to our cottage.
It's been a long, wet, cold springtime, but I believe it's all over now. We're cleaning up the gas grill and marinating a steak -- and planning to spend the next two days on our redwood deck, figuring out how many shades of green our garden forest provides. It's a veritable full palette after all the rainwater that's been soaking into the loamy forest floor.
We've made good use of the springtime, however -- much fixing-up of the exterior and interior of the house, serious South-Beach dieting, good exercise programs begun and pursued. Now all of that can be done outdoors, adding to the pleasure of every moment.
Our thoughts are often focused on the coming reunion in Carmel Valley, and we're hoping that as many of the gang as possible can drive up here after it's over, to see the cottage, while in Cali -- especially those who have not yet had a chance to experience this environment. We'll have an open house on Sunday afternoon, August 1st, so wherever you are heading as you leave CV, please stop by for refreshments, a walk through our idyllic grounds, and laze in the sun on the back deck, before heading homeward.
It's been a long, wet, cold springtime, but I believe it's all over now. We're cleaning up the gas grill and marinating a steak -- and planning to spend the next two days on our redwood deck, figuring out how many shades of green our garden forest provides. It's a veritable full palette after all the rainwater that's been soaking into the loamy forest floor.
We've made good use of the springtime, however -- much fixing-up of the exterior and interior of the house, serious South-Beach dieting, good exercise programs begun and pursued. Now all of that can be done outdoors, adding to the pleasure of every moment.
Our thoughts are often focused on the coming reunion in Carmel Valley, and we're hoping that as many of the gang as possible can drive up here after it's over, to see the cottage, while in Cali -- especially those who have not yet had a chance to experience this environment. We'll have an open house on Sunday afternoon, August 1st, so wherever you are heading as you leave CV, please stop by for refreshments, a walk through our idyllic grounds, and laze in the sun on the back deck, before heading homeward.
Tuesday 11 May 2010
How's everybody doing out there?
I haven't spoken for a while, so here's a quick update: the diet is still going well; our health has really been good this winter and spring; I'm having weekly Pilates lessons from our therapist and next door neighbor Teresa; I had a root canal (not so good, but it's taken care of now); and John is in Connecticut.
Re that last bit: Stella and Eric are having a house party for the Soule clan this coming weekend, to celebrate and congratulate daughter Louise (aka Lou-Lou) on her graduation from McGill University up in Montreal. John had enough mileage points to fly back, and will be there until Sunday. Kathy, Dave, and Rowan are going to the party on Saturday, so Dad/Granddad will have a nice chance to visit with them too.
We've been fixing up the cottage here a little more: adding a very needed railing to the outside of the back steps, and another alongside some small steps leading from the front patio around to John's "studio" .... and are having some necessary spring gardening done also.
Our focus from here on through summer will be on the big family reunion in Carmel Valley at the end of July and the attendant visits from family members; in early September we hope to be able to go to Ireland with Eileen and Greg for a week; and in early October our friends Alfredo and Olga Bacchelli are coming to visit Boulder Creek for a few days.
Meanwhile, we've had a very cool spring season, and are longing for summer to arrive soon.
I trust you are all doing as well as we seem to be; add your comments below!
Re that last bit: Stella and Eric are having a house party for the Soule clan this coming weekend, to celebrate and congratulate daughter Louise (aka Lou-Lou) on her graduation from McGill University up in Montreal. John had enough mileage points to fly back, and will be there until Sunday. Kathy, Dave, and Rowan are going to the party on Saturday, so Dad/Granddad will have a nice chance to visit with them too.
We've been fixing up the cottage here a little more: adding a very needed railing to the outside of the back steps, and another alongside some small steps leading from the front patio around to John's "studio" .... and are having some necessary spring gardening done also.
Our focus from here on through summer will be on the big family reunion in Carmel Valley at the end of July and the attendant visits from family members; in early September we hope to be able to go to Ireland with Eileen and Greg for a week; and in early October our friends Alfredo and Olga Bacchelli are coming to visit Boulder Creek for a few days.
Meanwhile, we've had a very cool spring season, and are longing for summer to arrive soon.
I trust you are all doing as well as we seem to be; add your comments below!
Sunday 25 April 2010
Phase 2
Yesss! We got through the Dreaded Phase One of the South Beach Diet, with great results. Now heading into the longer stretch, adding just a little of the carb/sugar stuff at a time and watching the results in terms of how we feel (how hungry?) and what the scales say.
We are both feeling much better generally; and during those first two weeks we really were not hungry at all, as the diet is so well balanced. I think the main thing I missed was fruit (which we now are able to have) – and the evening glass of wine or highball (ditto).
We are still having bi-polar weather in our mountain aerie: today is clear, 80 degree springtime – and an Arctic storm is threatening us on Tuesday, the fourth in four weeks. Mind-blowing.
Getting old and forgetful is not nice: I found on Saturday that I have inadvertently let my California driver's license lapse. No use pointing out to the DMV that they failed miserably in not sending me a renewal notice (which is true); it's still my responsibility to keep the license up to date. So tomorrow morning bright and early we go to Capitola to see what I need to do now; that odious expedition will be leavened by having lunch with Julie, we hope, and doing a little shopping for some decent, comfortable lounge chairs for the back deck (if we can ever put them out and declare that summer is really here!)
Otherwise all is well in our cottage, as I hope it is in your own dear retreats.
We are both feeling much better generally; and during those first two weeks we really were not hungry at all, as the diet is so well balanced. I think the main thing I missed was fruit (which we now are able to have) – and the evening glass of wine or highball (ditto).
We are still having bi-polar weather in our mountain aerie: today is clear, 80 degree springtime – and an Arctic storm is threatening us on Tuesday, the fourth in four weeks. Mind-blowing.
Getting old and forgetful is not nice: I found on Saturday that I have inadvertently let my California driver's license lapse. No use pointing out to the DMV that they failed miserably in not sending me a renewal notice (which is true); it's still my responsibility to keep the license up to date. So tomorrow morning bright and early we go to Capitola to see what I need to do now; that odious expedition will be leavened by having lunch with Julie, we hope, and doing a little shopping for some decent, comfortable lounge chairs for the back deck (if we can ever put them out and declare that summer is really here!)
Otherwise all is well in our cottage, as I hope it is in your own dear retreats.
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