Orange is the New Chicken: The Weekly Digest and Hodgepodge

Looking out the window....

People here in Colorado are hollering about needing to go to Aspen or upstate to see the fall colors.  Hey, y'all, just walk around the block.

This is the last of the Hibiscus blooms before a wind storm took them all away.

I don't know whose kitty this is, but he (or she) sure is pretty.

 There's sill more fall beauty around town...

These Dahlias were putting on a show in my friend Diana's neighborhood
before our first frost.

These were in a planter box in front of the Panda Express on Colfax.

I was heading home on a Sunday and got this shot while waiting at a stop light
on N. Speer Blvd. in Denver.  This may have been their last soiree before heading south.

As frost starts to zap the colorful blooms and fall foliage, I'm thinking about what kind of beauty I can find during the colder months.

Favorite quote(s) of the week... 

 

God will give us full assurance and close communion with Himself, as well as access into all truth, and boldness with power at the mercy seat. If we do not have these, it is from our lack of faith to receive, and not from any unwillingness of God to give. A calm and heavenly disposition, great patience, and fervent love – all these will He give as a result of holy diligence. - Charles Spurgeon, Faith's Checkbook, p. 321. 

 

In Authoritative Prayer we are calling forth the will of the Father upon the earth. Here we are not so much speaking to God as speaking for God. We are not asking God to do something; rather, we are using the authority of God to command something done. - Richard J. Foster, Prayer: Finding the Heart's True Home, p. 419. 

 

It's hard to make pain smooth, and jazz doesn't attempt to do so. Consequently, a jazz-shaped faith knows how to redeem pain. It recognizes that it is fashioned in the circumstances that cause the heart to ache. When we sanitize suffering, we create a soulless faith. - Pastor Robert Gelinas, Finding the Groove, p. 130. 

 

I have achieved my 70 years in the usual way-- by sticking strictly to a scheme of life which would kill anybody else. It sounds like an exaggeration, but that is really the common rule for attaining to old age. - Mark Twain, Mark Twain's Helpful Hints for Good Living, 2:40:24 in audiobook version. 

 

I'm thinking about...

From Hodgepodge questions:  Volume 623.

Join the fun! 

Come on over to 

From This Side of the Pond 

for the Hodgepodge link-up!

What does abundance mean to you? 

To me, abundance is being well cared for along with the ability and willingness to help care for others.   Being well cared for doesn't mean overconsuming for the sake of ostentation (being bougie); it means having what is needed when it is needed without having to go into crisis mode to handle the need, and having some of the things we want (within reason). 

I also think that like rich, abundance is relative to experience.  I was having coffee with a friend and we were discussing (of all things) credit cards.  

No, I'm not going to go all Dave Ramsey here....this time. 😁

She described her upbringing as middle-class, not rich.  Because of my experiences, I told her that for me middle class is rich.  So, it's all relative. 

What's a childhood memory that always comes to mind as the leaves start to fall? 

I don't have a specific memory; it's more of the "back to school" feeling. As I said here, a few traditions spark the feeling such as buying school supplies and new (or at least new to me) clothes and shoes.  As a teacher--even though I teach online--that feeling hasn't left.  I'm still working to start new traditions that scratch that "back to school" itch.

From Hodgepodge questions:  Volume 624. 

What's something in your life you have to do-watch-or participate in that's about as exciting as 'watching paint dry'? 

Umm... actually watching paint dry.  Hey, I'm an artist; what else did you expect?   😁

From Hodgepodge questions:  Volume 625.  

Do you like the color orange? Besides a pumpkin and an actual orange, what's something orange you love?

Orange is not my favorite color.  I know, that's blasphemy in Broncos county (and with friends and family who are Auburn, Tennessee, and Clemson fans), but my mediocre response to the color isn't team related.  Like yellow, certain shades of orange do not look good on me because of the undertones of my skin.  So, I don't have orange-colored clothing (save the orange dress my sister Ida gave me--it's a darker burnt orange, so I like how it looks).  Some of the orange items I do love are fall leaves and flowers.

From Hodgepodge questions:  Volume 626.  

What's your favorite candy? Would you say you have a sweet tooth?  

• Candy bar:  Snickers
• Hard candy:  Butterscotch disks or Werther's Originals
• Fancy candy:  Dove milk chocolate
• Homemade candy:  Crockpot candy.  The recipe I use is here (minus the sprinkles)

I certainly have a sweet tooth.  For health reasons, I have to reign it in like taming a spoiled child in the Wal-Mart toy section; I let her have something once in a while, but the rest of time the answer is no regardless of the fit she pitches. 

From Hodgepodge questions:  Volume 627.   

What's a food, trend, activity, or thing people love but you think is just so-so?  

Pumpkin-spiced lattes.  I know, I know, 'tis the season, but ew!  As sugary as Starbucks drinks are, it doesn't put a dent in the bitterness of pumpkin spice.   

From Hodgepodge questions:  Volume 628.

A song you love with the word thanks (or some form of that word)  in the title or lyrics?

Give Thanks by Don Moen

  

 Thankful Heart by Petra

From Hodgepodge questions:  Volume 629. 

Let's do our gratitude question first this week...what's the best thing about your home, and have you taken time to enjoy it lately? 

I joke all the time about my patio door that doesn't go anywhere.  As much as I hope our building owners buck up and build patios/balconies for all of us on the ends of the buildings who don't have them (we pay enough rent; they can more than afford it without jacking up our rent), I turned the annoyance into a feature.  I treat it as a big picture window.  It gives plenty of light in my living/dining area.

What I've read since the last digest...

• The Quilt by T. Davis Bunn  ✮✮✮✮  (a glorious reread)
• Prayer:  Finding the Heart's True Home by Richard J. Foster ✮✮✮✮   
• Practicing the Way by John Mark Comer  ✮✮✮1/2
• C. S. Lewis:  A Biography of Friendship by Colin Duriez  ✮✮✮✮   
• Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health by Donald S. Whitney ✮✮✮1/2 
• Ox-Cart Man by Donald Hall ✮✮✮1/2 (Category:  Kiddie Lit)
• The Quilt by Gary Paulsen ✮✮✮✮
• A Short Life of Jonathan Edwards  by George M. Marsden ✮✮✮✮
• Finding the Groove by Robert Gelinas ✮✮ (Please see my review here). 
• Augustine for Armchair Theologians by Stephen A. Cooper ✮✮✮✮
• Calvin for Armchair Theologians by Christopher Elwood ✮✮✮✮
• Mark Twain's Helpful Hints for Good Living by Lin Salmo (Ed.) ✮✮✮✮
• The Little Book of Hygge by Meik Wiking ✮1/2
• Reclaiming Quiet by Sarah Clarkson  ✮✮✮✮
• Why I am a Christian by John Stott  ✮✮✮1/2  

I'm currently reading...

• The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
• The Medieval Mind of C. S. Lewis by Jason M. Baxter 
• Mansions of the Heart by R. Thomas Ashbrook 
• Streams of Living Water by Richard J. Foster 
• Faith's Checkbook by Charles Spurgeon

Recent blog posts...

• My latest book review on Finding the Groove by Robert Gelinas is here.
• My previous digest, "Trail Blazer'" is here.
  
• Puppy Power:  The Weekly Hodgepodge is here. 
• My "25 for 2025" challenge is here. (Updated regularly)
• My "I Can Only Blame MyShelf" reading challenge is here.  (Updated regularly). 

From the Workshop... 

"Hibiscus 01"

 

This is one of the quilts I made with the Loving Stitches ministry.
I don't know the recipient, but her daughter-in-law let us know that she loved her gift.

I am thankful for...

• God's protection and provision.  
• An honest, trustworthy mechanic.
• My therapist.
• My support group. 
• The lovely fall we've had here in Colorado. 
• My class is finished and I can now relax and enjoy the holidays.
• The great people with which I work.
• I'm thankful that our lead pastor had a great time away on sabbatical.  His new sermon series has been intriguing.  
• The cathartic and creative nature of journaling.

 

 

 

2025 I Can Only Blame MyShelf Reading Challenge: 02

Title:  Finding the Groove: Composing a Jazz-Shaped Faith

Author:  Robert Gelinas

Info: Copyright 2015: Book does not reveal a publishing company, so I assume it is self-published.

Rating (on a scale of 1-4 stars):  ✮✮

Category (ies) - Recommended reads:  This book was a suggested read by the couple who leads our community groups ministry.  I'm on my second attempt at heading a book discussion group, and they thought one of our pastor's volumes would be a good fit.

Synopsis:  What do jazz and the Christian life have in common?  Should they have anything in common?  Pastor and self-proclaimed "jazz-theologian" Robert Gelinas uses Scripture and the history of the evolution of jazz music to give the reader an alternative to how traditional Christianity is studied and practiced.

For my First Line Friday "first thoughts" on this book, please see my post here. 

Select Favorite Quotes:

Syncopation is not limited to musicians; it just requires an eye and ear for that which goes unnoticed and unheard in life.  p. 17. 

When we make a “personal” decision to follow Jesus, it is simultaneously a decision to join a community. p. 65.

A jazz- shaped approach to the Scriptures emphasizes knowing them by living them in community. It is not just reading our Bibles, but letting the Bible read us. Instead of always interpreting the word of God, we desire more that it interpret us.  p. 91. 

It's hard to make pain smooth, and jazz doesn't attempt to do so. Consequently, a jazz-shaped faith knows how to redeem pain. It recognizes that it is fashioned in the circumstances that cause the heart to ache. When we sanitize suffering, we create a soulless faith. p. 130.

The positive

• My being a musician who understands (for the most part) the structure and history of jazz made the prospect of this subject matter exciting.  The three elements of jazz (syncopation, improvisation, and call-and-response) and their application to the Christian life was fascinating. 
• Gelinas mentioned several pieces of media to explore, including Ken Burns' Jazz documentary.  I found it on PBS's Roku channel and plan to watch it.  Also of note are several jazz albums and works of literature from the Harlem Renaissance.  My Christmas vacation may be a jazzy one. 
• I had to chuckle at his description of studying at the jazz club.  My thought was "How?"  Jazz is not all smooth and silky.  Most of the time it is hard driving, so how did he study with all that going on?  Hey, it even mystified one of the percussionists playing there who asked him, "What are you doing?" (See chapter three).

The Negative:

Since Gelinas is my pastor (and has several books published while mine are still drafts on my laptop), I hate that I have anything negative to say.  However, I'd be wasting mine and everyone else's time by writing a review full of lies and sucking up.  So, here goes. 

While the exploration of jazz was a unique take on Christian practice, I feel like there was too much race baiting that overshadowed the main message of the tome.  Yes, jazz was a part of black culture and used not only as a political statement, but a means of expressing the oppression and hardships of the times--in fact, good jazz still is.  However, incorporating too much of the oppression and hard times at the time of the Harlem Renaissance and the Civil Rights Movement would seem to alienate anyone reading the book who wasn't black.  In other words, does having a "jazz-shaped" faith only include those of African decent, or at least those who are not so long as they are weighed down with "white guilt" for something they are not responsible for or participants in?  

Like the author, I am of mixed heritage, but most of my ethnic make up is African.  As the book dove deeper into racial history and less into the how-tos of the subject matter, I felt more questions (and consternation) rise up in my soul.  The main question was "Why are we even going here?"  Things fell completely apart and I came unglued when the author brought up Methodist minister and "black theologian" James Cone's assertion that "Jesus is black."  Sure, he danced around it by saying that Cone wasn't talking about Jesus' ethnicity in his human form, but of how our treatment of others reflects our relationship with Christ (see Matthew 25:35-40).  However, I have studied a little of Mr. Cone's story and teachings (as much as I could stomach for my theology courses anyway).  During the Civil Rights movement, Cone was not on board with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s vision, but was more of a disciple of Malcolm X who asserted that Christianity was a tool of oppression used by whites to stymie blacks from seeking equality and to force them to worship a "white" Jesus (for more information, see Mary M. Veeneman's book Introducing Theological Method, pages 130-140).  

I cannot--and will not-- get on board with that.

Also, if you know anything about our church, you'll see that it is a culmination of Pastor Gelinas' dream: It is a multiracial, multi-ethnic, interdenominational congregation of all shapes, sizes, colors, and abilities.  It is the very picture of heaven in Revelation 7:9-10.  No one is left out, so I don't understand the isolating tone of this book

Conclusion/Takeaway:

Full disclosure:  The book study group I facilitated using this book only made it through two chapters before I lost both the participants to scheduling conflicts.  Though disappointed at first, I now see that as a mercy.  Why?  Both participants were of Asian decent, so not only was the jazz metaphor hard for them to incorporate into their spiritual practice, I believe that as they read further into the text, they may have felt left out and unnecessarily guilt ridden...and they're not even white.  

Am I saying no one should read the book?  Of course not; any not-so-stellar review I post isn't about that kind of curating.  In fact, I hope that any of you who are reading this review will read the book.  I want to know what you get out of it.  If you are of predominantly Caucasian/European heritage, I really want to know what you got out of it.  I hope I read it wrong.  I doubt it, but here's hoping.