Seven Dolours of Our Lady

In honor of the Seven Dolours of Our Lady, Charles and Allie put aside their differences to sleep on my bed together. Here is the picture:

Friday Cat Blogging

Charles and Allie do not always get along in perfect harmony. Allie frequently growls and hisses at Charles, and even chases Charles and swipes at him. Charles is peace-loving and will usually just withdraw from the room when attacked (even though he is significantly bigger than she is).

So I was happy, a few minutes ago, to see them sitting next to one another in one of Allie's favorite spots, on top of the kitchen cabinet above the refrigerator:


For more pictures of Charles and Allie, see Chris Tessone's blog. He stayed with me before and after our jurisdictional gathering last weekend.

Bible Meme

In general, I vehemently oppose memes, and tend not to read posts responding to them -- but the Bible meme is kind of interesting, so I'll do it.

1. What translation of the Bible do you like best?

For liturgical use, I prefer the King James; for non-liturgical use (and for modern liturgies), I prefer the NRSV. My LEAST favorite versions are those that are paraphrases or rely far too heavily on "dynamic equivalence", such as the TEV, the NLB, and the NAB.

2. Old or New Testament?

I like both -- one thing I miss from my Baptist upbringing is the assumed familiarity with OT narratives. One reason I like the Revised Common Lectionary is that is much better about including those narratives.

3. Favorite Book of the Bible?

The Psalms.

4. Favorite Chapter?

Psalm 139.

5. Favorite Verse? (feel free to explain yourself if you have to)

Acts 2:42.

6. Bible character you think you’re most like?

Abraham. I've done a lot of journeying in my life, and am more concerned than I ought to be with other's opinions (see his dealings with Pharaoh and Abimelech and his being caught in the middle between Sarah and Hagar).

7. One thing from the Bible that confuses you?

The genealogies of Edom -- I can see the genealogies of the Israelites -- but why do they care about the Edomites? I can easily see why the Kabbalists came up with commentaries to say that the Edomite genealogies were in fact sources of deep esoteric teaching (even though I am decidedly not an esotericist).

8. Moses or Paul?

Moses. I can empathize with his murder of the oppressive Egyptian. I understand his control-freakish nature that required Jethro to point out that he needed assistants. I'm with him in striking the rock the second time out of frustration and breaking the tablets out of irritation with idolatry.

9. A teaching from the Bible that you struggle with or don’t get?

The teachings that are interpreted as referring to eternal damnation -- I'm pretty much a universalist.

10. Coolest name in the Bible?

Zophar the Nephite.