goodbye summer goodbye

Today I pulled out the cold-weather accessories and acknowledged that summer is gone.

To commemorate the unoffical end to summer 2008, I share the recipe for the "Leninade" (as it's known at Pravda NYC and known elsewhere as The Southside). Do not mistake me for a cool kinda gal who regularly orders chic cocktails and knows how to be cool in a bar. But this one was refreshingly fun and will be fondly remembered as a highlight to an otherwise difficult summer.

A special note about the Leninade from our "best bartender in Manhattan" friend DP: "In the summer of 2002, this was the only classic cocktail that I had mastered, and it single handedly paid my rent for a year. In Manhattan. It's that good." His recipe below.

Glassware: Martini

2 oz Citrus Vodka
2 oz Fresh Lemon Juice
Pinch of fresh mint
Dash of Grenadine for color
Splash of 7-Up

Once done shaking, add the 7-Up. Strain, using a Julip strainer, into martini glass. It should look like lemonade with fresh mint lightly floating atop the surface. No need for garnish.

idol I.D.

At work this week, I had to read a lot about idols. So I wanted to share. Please note: This is ALL stuff that my gifted and brilliant colleagues at Redeemer have developed--I'm only a messenger hoping to avoid breaking copyright laws by sharing snippets here only...

Let's start with a definition:

“An idol is something within creation that is inflated to function as a substitute for God...Idols are not just on pagan altars, but in the well-educated human hearts and minds...in the dynamics of human greed, lust, craving and coveting...” Richard Keyes

So why do we care about understanding idols anyway? IF we submit that our hearts will always be restless until they rest in Him THEN substitutes for God like a spouse, a fabulous home, or amazing career--will never, ever give us the fulfillment, comfort, pleasure and happiness we expect them to. Idols are a big problem.

Take a look at some examples: (these are definitely some of mine)

A) Helping Idol--“Life has meaning/I only have worth if – people are dependent on me and need me”

B) Work Idol--“Life has meaning/I only have worth if – I am highly productive and getting a lot done.”

C) Achievement Idol--“Life has meaning/I only have worth if – I am being recognized for my accomplishments, if I am excelling in my career.”

Then try and use some tools to figure out what some of our idols might be:

Emotions as Indicators
A. When you are anxious or fearful--Is it because there is something too important to you? Are you telling yourself you have to have something? Is something being threatened which you think is a necessity, but is not?

B. When you are angry—are you being blocked from having something you think is necessity?

Other Diagnostic Questions
A. What is my Greatest Nightmare? What do I worry about the most?

B. What do I rely on or comfort myself with when things go bad or get difficult?

C. What makes me feel the most self-worth?

Now What?

I won't get into the gospel cure or way to 'dismantle idols' here and now. For that, you'll have to wait for the full version to be published (or you might already have an earlier version if you're a Redeemer leader)...OR even BETTER...figure it out with some your peoples.

But a taste of it:

“The faith that is able to warm itself at the fire of God's love, instead of having to steal love and self-acceptance from other sources is actually the root of holiness.” ~Richard Lovelace

happy mac!

And yes, it may be of interest to some that I am the proud owner of the brand spanking new Macbook!

It's beautiful.

But more importantly it means we're Skype-able.

Skype away!

south beach day 29

So it was not about losing weight.

Not primarily anyway.

A friend at the office raved about the South Beach Diet. He swore up and down that it helped him kick junk and sugar cravings, drop cholesterol, and yes, lose a few dozen pounds.

After the last half marathon, I was looking for a new health/fitness challenge. I was especially interested to find out if junk/sugar cravings could really be kicked. I was pretty skeptical. I was even more skeptical when friends like EC (who has done it at least twice) said I would end up enjoying dark chocolate. Blech. I've always written people who like dark chocolate off as suffering from pretentious, delusional, stuck-at-the-adult-table-itis.

Well, I've started to enjoy dark chocolate. During the first 2 weeks of the program (when you're basically eating nothing but low-fat cottage cheese, chicken breast and 20 unsalted peanuts a day) I began to unwrap small bars of dark chocolate, sniff it and put it back in my desk. (I know that sounds sick. But I did go to a chocolate tasting class this summer and the instructor kept talking about using your 5 senses to fully enjoy chocolate. So there.) And now that I can eat teensy bits of chocolate again--well, let's just say I'm converted.

I'm nearing the end of "Phase 2" of the diet which means I can start to eat almost everything again. But I'm supposed to have "learned how to make wise food choices" which basically means that all the foods that gave me such joy in my pre-South-Beach life will have to be eaten like once every 4 months. I draw the line at fried chicken, chicken wings and kalbi though.

I can say that overall, trying the South Beach did help me appreciate good, simple food like oatmeal, strawberries and fresh vegetables. I also realized how much mindless eating I do: eat junk to procrastinate, eat junk when I'm bored and eat all kinds of junk to make me feel better on bad days, at "special occasions" and just out of habit. The diet is not without critics of course. Sugar substitutes are featured prominently which I think is sketchy. You're probably better off eating small amounts of real sugar.

In the end, I did lose a few pounds, have more glowy skin and feel better when I run. It probably won't be that long before I start eating all kinds of junk again...but I guess I can always do a modified version of the South Beach again then.

prodigal revisited

I really thought we had heard all there was to hear about this parable already.

Last week, we learned that in the land where the story is set, disputing parties never reconciled on their own. A mediator was needed to help repair the damaged relationship, and the elder brother would have been the prime candidate. By refusing to assume the role of mediator, the elder brother reveals himself to be every bit as self-centred as the younger brother he despises; and just as callous to what would give their father joy.

I was really struck by this insight as a firstborn child who gets irritated at having to play the mediator between my parents and siblings. An important challenge to not shrink from ”mediating”: bringing people back to one another, and to the father.

More to come...

surfeit

Every so often, we go on a kind of arts & culture rampage, as if we're afraid it's all going to disappear...or that we will.

Coming up next weekend at Carnegie Hall, we'll have jazz with Keith Jarrett who has huffily led audiences in a collective cough because coughing during a concert drives him mad.



A trip to the Tenement Museum to see what life was like here before $14 cocktails at Pravda (though we've really enjoyed all trips to Pravda).



And today was a perfect day to check out the terrace of the New Museum, admire the way the building's design lets light fall in on all floors and...



see what the the deal is with the Elizabeth Peyton portraits.

first fruits

Blueberries, by Lauren Fatzinger

Throughout the year, works of art by Redeemer artists are displayed at our office for the congregation to view, and potentially purchase.

This tiny work has made me smile all week long.

"First Fruits" opens this Friday.

"The best of the first fruits of your ground you shall bring to the house of the LORD your God." - Exodus 32:26

stories to live by

On the subway today, I read a review of the book Nothing to Be Frightened Of in which an atheist turned agnostic tries to make sense of his fear of death.

For the author Julian Barnes, "religious faith is not an option" but this other kind of faith is:


"We are all dying. Even the sun is dying. Homo sapiens is evolving toward some species that won't care about us whatsoever and our art and literature and scholarship will fall into utter oblivion. Every author will eventually become an unread author. And then humanity will die out and beetles will rule the world. A man can fear his own death but what is he anyway? Simply a mass of neurons. The brain is a lump of meat and the soul is merely 'a story the brain tells itself'.

It's hard to say whether this kind of thinking makes me more angry or sad. Especially because Barnes ultimately acknowledges that:

"Stripped of the Christian narrative, we gaze out on a landscape that, while fascinating, offers nothing that one could call Hope."

Is it not disturbing that people would rather choose to believe that the soul is "a story the brain tells itself" rather than the story that we are fearfully and wonderfully made in God's image? That people would rather believe that life is basically meaningless, that nothing we devote our time and creativity now matters?

For me, this is such an incredible reminder of the power of the Christian story and that I have to keep finding ways to tell that story often, and out loud!