Well, here's a change...

A real post!

Actually, it's only a real post to those of you who aren't my friends on livejournal. I post there to keep my entries private (well, mostly private, since no one from LJ really reads my blog unless I tell them to and no one from my blog reads my LJ because they aren't my LJ friend. So there.)

I'm going to edit and then copy and paste the post in. It's pretty much the lowdown on Brookie, and if you've been a longtime reader you'll notice how much I've changed since going to college.

THE POST

LIBERALS
Evidently my church is one of the most liberal out there. Woo? I mean, liberalism has been a long time coming for me. I'm very fundamental on some things but really liberal on other stances. I guess that I'm okay being PC USA because, in all honesty, it's something to stand behind. I can disagree with things that I have reason to disagree on but when something comes up and I don't really know what to think about it, I trust my denomination enough to just fall back on them. See next section:

GAYS
My church is fine with gays. Individual churches may have their own opinions, but my denomination doesn't see homosexuality as a sinful sexual identity. I mean, there's scads of theological research on both sides of the story. I've read it all. I've believed it all at one point or another. At this point, I'm kind of wobbly on where I stand but I'm essentially of the mindset that God doesn't care who you love. I go back to the "well heterosexual relationships biologically produce offspring so wasn't that God's design?" a lot, but when I think about how overpopulated we are... I am beginning to think that homosexuality could even be a blessing from God. Stop reproducing kids that you'll just screw up anyway, and if you're well-balanced enough to want a child and care for one and biologically don't make one with your partner and don't want to do artificial insemination, then adopt a child who needs a home! Care for the orphans, I seem to remember that being something that Jesus lauded. Anyway, at this point in time I can't say what I think on the gays... but it's not like they're hurting anybody. Live and let live, and if you want to get a gay partnership blessed, when I'm ordained I can do so. Woot?

V-DAY
And I don't mean Valentine's day. I'm talking about the Eve Ensler Vagina Day- empowering women, ending the silence, trying to end the violence toward women. My campus just had our own offshoot of the V-Day movement and it was empowering, liberating, and rewarding. For girls who have been victimized it was like a week of "Yes, this happens. It happened to me. Let's end it now" mixed with "I am FREE". I was so pumped that we have a V-Day movement here on campus and can't wait to get involved with it next year.

GOD
Has no gender. I wish that people could wrap their minds around this. God doesn't have a gender, doesn't have a sex, IS NOT A MAN. OKAY? Using "He".... whatever. Don't make a habit of it. It perturbs me slightly and if I'm cranky it can totally set me off (blame it on the Presbyterianism). But then I see this downright patriarchal theology and I want to scream. God doesn't care if I'm a man or a woman. God loves me for me. Nothing I can do will change that in any way. This is also why I'm pretty okay with the gays- there is no male or female in Christ... why do I care if sexless individual A marries sexless individual B? I don't. But this whole God thing goes so much further. Women repress themselves when they think that God's MASTER PLAN for them is to raise good Christians and keep a clean home and make their husband's life easier et cetera, et cetera, ad nauseum. Child-rearing is a SHARED job. Whether the wife stays at home to care for them or the father, it doesn't matter. It's not just one person's job. Neither is better than the other based on pure genetics. Maybe the wife IS the better full-time caregiver and that's fine with me. But the husband might be, too. Or heck, the other wife might be too. Or the other husband. Or whatever. God hasn't generalized an entire sex because God doesn't care what sex you are. God can't set gender roles when God doesn't care what gender you are. God is portrayed as a father. God is also characterized as a mother. Deal with it and move on. And stop putting my God, the creator of the universe, into a box. How offensive that must be!

BYE BYE PATRIARCHAL THEOLOGY
See GOD

FRIENDS
I am making them. I am also starting to puzzle them out, which is incredibly exciting. (insert rambling that I'm not including for the sake of anonymity).
Have you ever noticed that people can say a lot of honest things without ever actually saying anything?

Lenten grace and peace,

MAKE UP GIVEAWAY

I saw Emily's giveaway and thought- BLOG POST! I gave up makeup for Lent, so what better thing to do than let my readers win some products that I can't use? Of course I'm entering, too, and maybe after Lent I'll get to use the spoils should I win! Anyway, here's the link to Emily's blog, and I hope that you all are lucky!

Lenten grace and peace,

BOOK GIVEAWAY

But I'm not doing it! It's my friend Melissa Peacock at devasha.com and she's giving away the book Hear No Evil by Matthew Paul Turner. You know you want it! Follow the link to her blog and enter to win!

Want more info? Here's the book's blurb:
A collection of wise, compelling, and often uproariously funny essays built around the experience of music as a transformational element in a moment of truth, Hear No Evil mines Matthew Paul Turner’s humorous memories of his evangelical youth and invites readers to groove along on his journey.

From attending forbidden contemporary Christian concerts to moving to “Music City” Nashville, Hear No Evil chronicles Turner’s “life soundtrack” which morphs seamlessly into the stories of people, places, and experiences that have taught the music-editor-turned-author some new things about God, forced him out of his comfort zone, and introduced him to a fresh view of grace along the way.

If you’ve ever had the opening bars of a song transport you back in time or remind you of a pivotal spiritual moment, Matthew Paul Turner’s honest—and frequently hilarious—musings will strike a chord. Straight forward and amusing, Hear No Evil is an exploration of a life of faith lived to a personal soundtrack.

Lenten grace and peace,

Lent

I'm Presbyterian. This means that we don't generally "do" a lot about Lent. We leave it up to the individual. This individual chose to do something for Lent, and this is what I chose!

ADD SOMETHING
I'm adding serious prayer into my routine this Lenten season. It will hopefully mean less frivolous Facebook time and more time with God. Collegiate friends, did you all know that we have a prayer room in the campus center? That's where you'll find me!

CUT IT OUT

Getting rid of MAKEUP. Shock. I know. This child is practically the international makeup spokesmodel. I've done everything but be dispatched to the UN. And I'm giving it up. Why?
I think that I view makeup as something that does more than just improve an already beautiful face or complexion. I hide behind it. I don't feel comfortable in my own skin without it. I found myself wearing makeup because I didn't fit in unless I did so.
It became my mask.

So for 40 days I will not wear it, and you, my friends, can hold me to it. Hopefully I'll learn a lesson about being myself for myself and become more comfortable in the skin that God gave me.

Lenten grace and peace,

I survived...

The plague.
Now, when most people think of the plague they think of the Black Death or smallpox. When you're in college, though, the plague is that crazy illness that is running rampant through campus and will debilitate you should you catch it.
Drat my hand-eye coordination; I caught it!
After laying in bed all day wishing for something other than consciousness, I finally got over the 24 hour bug and was able to live my life once more. Hopefully I have an immunity to it now and will be able to avoid it from now on... but one can only hope!
How about you, dear readers? Have you gotten the plague, or narrowly avoided it?
Best wishes go out to all of you- stay in good health!
Grace and peace,

Summer Work

I have a few options for a J-O-B this summer. I'm a little freaked out because I've never had a legit, tax-deducting job before, but I need to grow up and get one. Since my call is to ministry, I have found to places willing to accept my application (although they haven't promised to hire me):
1. My home church (Presbyterian) as a youth intern to either high school or middle school
2. A summer camp that has to locations, one close to home and one several hours away.

I am applying to both. There's a very real possibility that I might work at both, since the internship at the church would only be 10 weeks, so I could spend the rest of the summer working at the camp. I have never worked at a camp before but I have been to camps before- does that count? haha.

Luckily I do have experience being a youth intern. I was an unpaid intern at my old youth group for a semester and did everything from busywork for the youth pastor to "Chaperoning" middle school trips and planning mission trips for them. That was one of those stressful but so awesome things (the planning part). It was a mix of "this is a TON of responsibility" to "I have the opportunity to make this awesome for a group of kids".

So let's hope that the application process and, hopefully, the hiring process goes well. Or we can hope AND pray. That would be super cool.


Grace and peace,

A Clean Dorm Room

Is a happy one. I cleaned, dusted, did all of my laundry, vacuumed and am changing the air. A clean room just feels good!

Now let's see if I can get my cosmological argument paper written. Samuel Clarke, your logic is over my head and yet, I must write about it.
Remind me what I thought that this class wouldn't be so difficult?

Grace and peace,


P.S. The pastor of the Presbyterian church that I'm an affiliate member of in my college town said I should be a liturgist one Sunday. BALLIN'!