amictus sindone

мавзолей на Георги Димитров

2011-02-18T03:51:00.001+02:00

For my friends in the USA, a really good documentary (26 minutes) about Bulgaria (circa 2003).

уиски, сода, рок енд рол

2011-02-17T03:05:00.003+02:00

After a few vodkas, a certain Russian friend -Yuri- sings this to me...

Friday dog blogging

2010-10-09T03:41:00.000+03:00

Europe according to Bulgaria

2010-09-22T19:08:00.001+03:00

Лука 16:19-31

2010-09-22T18:03:00.001+03:00

Имаше някой си богаташ, който се обличаше в мораво и висон, и всеки ден се веселеше бляскаво. Имаше и един сиромах, на име Лазар, покрит със струпеи, когото туряха да лежи пред портата му,
като желаеше да се нахрани от падналото от трапезата на богаташа; и кучетата дохождаха та лижеха раните му. Умря сиромахът; и ангелите го занесоха в Авраамовото лоно. Умря и богаташа и бе погребан. И в пъкъла, като беше на мъки и подигна очи, видя отдалеч Авраама и Лазаря в неговите обятия. И той извика, казвайки: Отче Аврааме, смили се за мене, и изпрати Лазара да натопи края на пръста си във вода и да разхлади езика ми; защото съм на мъки в тоя пламък.
Но Авраам рече: Синко, спомни си, че ти си получил своите блага приживе, така и Лазар злините; но сега той тук се утешава, а ти се мъчиш. И освен всичко това, между нас и вас е утвърдена голяма бездна, така че ония, които биха искали да минат оттук към вас, да не могат, нито пък оттам да преминат към нас. А той рече: Като е тъй, моля ти се, отче, да го пратиш в бащиния ми дом; защото имам петима братя, за да им засвидетелствува, да не би да дойдат и те на това мъчително място. Но Авраам каза: Имат Мойсея и пророците; нека слушат тях. А той рече: Не, отче Аврааме, но ако отиде при тях някой от мъртвите, ще се покаят. И той му каза: Ако не слушат Моисея и пророците, то и от мъртвите да възкръсне някой, пак няма да се убедят.

Chambliss aide leaves threatening message on blog

2010-09-22T17:54:00.003+03:00

Chambliss wouldn't serve in Vietnam. Now his aides are posting death threats against supporters of revocation of DADT. Chambliss was a draft dodger. Maybe his personal sense of inadequacy and moral cowardice compels him to bash gay people who want to serve. I hope police deal with the death threat posted by Chambliss aide on blog Joe.My.God.

Luke 16:19-31

2010-09-19T20:27:00.000+03:00

Probably the best commentary I've seen on this pericope.

Don't Ask Don't Tell ruled unconstitutional

2010-09-10T04:41:00.004+03:00

A federal judge has ruled that DADT is unconstitutional. A Federal Judge in California has ruled that the ban on gays in the military violates the Constitutional rights of gay and lesbian soldiers to due process and to freedom of expression. District Court Judge Virginia Phillips -- a Clinton appointee -- also wrote that the policy has had a "deleterious effect" on the military and issued an injunction restraining the military from enforcing the policy, though the government may appeal. The Log Cabin Republicans filed the lawsuit against Defense Secretary Robert Gates, and Phillips cited in her ruling the Obama administration's desultory defense. "[D]efendants called no witnesses, put on no affirmative case, and only entered into evidence the legislative history of the act," she wrote.

lectionary blogging

2010-09-10T04:10:00.009+03:00

At first, I struggled to see a connection between the Gospel, Epistle, and Old Testament lessons. The Gospel and Epistle are about the experience of being lost then found. Jeremiah details a landscape of utter destruction, but concludes his prophecy with the line, "yet I will not make a full end." (verse 27) The utter desolation (literally a reversal of creation) in Jeremiah ends with a note of muted hope. Mindful of recent natural disasters and on a weekend anniversary of 9/11 this reading from Jeremiah is important. All three readings deal with mercy and redemption from being helplessly and hopelessly lost. St. Gregory of Nyssa wrote, "When the shepherd found the sheep he did not punish it. He did not bring it back to the flock by driving it before him, but by placing on his own shoulders and bearing it with gentleness." We have been the objects of gentle divine mercy, we ought to go and do likewise.

Muqtedar Khan

2010-09-09T06:46:00.003+03:00

"Where books are burned in the end people will burn." - Heinrich Heine

Muqtedar Khan, Associate professor, political science and international relations; Fellow of the Institute of Social Policy and Understanding, speaks about Koran burning. This is probably the best commentary I've read on this subject.

Gov. Jan Brewer speaketh

2010-09-04T02:13:00.000+03:00

More video of Governor Jan Brewer emerges.

Feast of Saint Aidan of Lindisfarne

2010-08-31T03:11:00.002+03:00

The British are considering him as a new national patron saint. Scotland has St. Andrew. Wales has St. David, England has St. George, and Ireland has St. Patrick.

"Torture and Eucharist"

2010-08-30T05:01:00.008+03:00

"The world did not change on 9/11; the world changed on 12/25. When the Word of God became incarnate in human history, when he was tortured to death by the powers of this world, and when he rose to give us new life—it was then that everything changed. Christ made friends of us who are enemies of God, and He thus made us capable of loving our enemies as ourselves."

" I am reading "Torture and Eucharist" by William T. Cavanaugh. The book, published in 1998, deals with Chile under the dictatorship of General Pinochet, but the author has applied the concepts of his book to the enhanced interrogation techniques under the Bush regime. Some members of the the U.S. Catholic hierarchy imposed excommunication upon pro-choice politicians. I can't name one U.S. Catholic bishop who imposed eucharistic discipline upon a torturer. This plus the ongoing horrors of the child rape scandals may be why the U.S. Catholic bishops are so lacking in moral credibility. Years ago, the Episcopal Church was called the Republican Party at Prayer. I think the American Catholic Church has assumed that mantle. "Torture and Eucharist" is an important book. I wish this text --Cavanaugh's doctoral thesis-- could be required reading for all seminarians and lay leaders. Has anyone else read this book? It's sad that torturers from the Bush regime have not been brought to justice in the USA.

Quote du Jour

2010-08-10T09:34:00.001+03:00

"In the name of Christ, I refuse to be anti-gay. I refuse to be anti-feminist. I refuse to be anti-artificial birth control. I refuse to be anti-Democrat. I refuse to be anti-secular humanism. I refuse to be anti-science. I refuse to be anti-life."
Anne Rice, author, discussing her decision to leave Christianity

Who is Bradley Manning?

2010-08-05T08:52:00.005+03:00

Excellent piece on CNN about accused Wiki-leaker: here. His sexuality as a gay man (and the accusations of leaking classified material), I believe, will be used by the right as ammo against the revocation of don't-ask-don't-tell policy. The charges against him are very serious with some calling for the death penalty. Here is a support website for PFC Manning.

Quote du Jour

2010-07-11T20:14:00.002+03:00

"Let us renounce that bigotry and party zeal which would contract our hearts into an insensibility for all the human race, but a small number whose sentiments and practices are so much our own, that our love to them is but self love reflected. With an honest openness of mind let us always remember that kindred between man and man, and cultivate that happy instinct whereby, in the original constitution of our nature, God has strongly bound us to each other."

John Wesley on Luke 10:25-37

Holocaust Survivor: "I Will Survive!"

2010-07-11T19:30:00.002+03:00

A Holocaust survivor dances with three generations of his family while visiting death camp memorials throughout Europe.

presented without comment

2010-05-28T03:06:00.001+03:00

New U.C.C. ad

2010-05-12T00:23:00.000+03:00

The Episcopal Church needs more advertising...

Gregory of Nyssa & ἀποκατάστασις

2010-04-28T18:48:00.004+03:00

I discovered recently that Saint Gregory Nyssa was a believer in the Origenesque theory of ἀποκατάστασις, the denial of the eternity of hell and an ultimate restoration of all creatures to the vision of God. I do agree with Jürgen Moltmann that the doctrine of an eternal concentration camp has made possible the existence of concentration camps on earth. I was reading some of Gregory's sermons earlier this week (this is where I learned about his eschatological thinking). I think I am an apokatastatic believer, too. Perhaps hell exists but no one has ever said we must believe that anyone has been sent there.

North Carolina beach community bans thongs

2010-04-28T18:15:00.006+03:00

The thing about thongs is that the people who shouldn't be wearing them are the ones who end up wearing them. I couldn't find a safe-for-work photo for this post -- just use your imagination (or Google "thong" and "fat" on Google images). I didn't think the guy needed to take a dig at us liberals in the article. I bet thong-wearing is bi-partisan behavior. I think the Bulgarian word for thong is каиш which can also mean "strap." But then again, it could be бикини. People and communities on Bulgarian beaches are not so uptight about seaside attire. I would rather select the glutes I look at as opposed to being exposed to glutes of the general public. Speedos on the wrong type of physique can be just as shocking as a thong-clad beachgoer. I usually wear the loose, boxer-style bathing suit.

News that got my attention this morning:

2010-04-27T14:36:00.015+03:00

The U.S. military uses PowerPoint to excess.

Young adults are less religious than previous generations. But there was a standing room only crowd of several thousand for a traditional Latin mass in D.C.

The new immigration law in Arizona is atrocious.

All hell breaks loose in Ukrainian parliament (like some vestry meetings I've seen).

I continue to follow with interest and concern the health status of two celebrities.

The Washington Post always has awesome religious reporting. I hit this link every day.

Something else to worry about -- a deadly fungus.

So where does your news come from? (TV or Internet)

thoughts

2010-04-20T15:59:00.001+03:00

Oui, c'est une vue exacte - et une vue strictement évangélique – des choses, que de se représenter la Providence comme attentive, au cours des âges, à épargner les blessures du Monde, et à panser ses plaies.

Yes, it is a perfect view of things – and a view strictly consonant with the Gospel – to regard Providence throughout the ages as brooding over the world in ceaseless effort to spare that world its bitter wounds and to bind up its hearts.

At morning prayer I read these lines from Canticle Q, A Song of Christ`s Goodness, by Anselm of Canterbury: `Jesus, as a mother you gather your people to you... you comfort us in sorrow and bind up our wounds. In sickness you nurse us...

This all resonates with a reading from Teilhard de Chardin`s expressing the benevolence and immanence of God.

As a gay American, my very existence has been used as blame by right-wing commentators for the terror attacks on September 11, 2001, Hurricane Katrina, and other disasters. For meditation today I will be focused on the Divine One who broods (without blame and spite) over the world like a mother.

Congratulations to Lutherans

2010-04-20T04:11:00.004+03:00

Our ecumenical partners in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, after 25 years of deliberation, have embraced the LBGTQ community. I am so enthused about these developments. I like the ELCA's liturgy and have frequently attended ELCA parishes when traveling or when an Episcopal parish was not available (or when I have been traveling through homophobic Episcopal dioceses).

Крыло и молитва

2010-04-17T04:46:00.002+03:00

Священник благословляет Союз ракеты до старта на 10 апреля.
Orthodox priest blesses Soyuz rocket on April 10, prior to flight to International Space Station. This is such a cool picture.

Easter III

2010-04-14T08:06:00.003+03:00

I use "Text this week" as a resource when I pray my way towards Sunday. The best item for Sunday III of Easter is this reflection by William Loader of the Uniting Church in Australia. I am curious to hear the insights of others about this text. And what is the significance of 153 fish? Lutheran Pastor Brian Stoffregen writes: "Even with all these large fish, 'the net is not torn' (schizo). This verb is also used of soldiers not tearing Jesus' robe (19:24). The related noun, schisma, is always used in John to refer to divisions among the people (7:43; 9:16; 10:19). Can the Church be composed of 153 different types of people and not break into divisions? What about 153 different views on issues, such as abortion, homosexuality, biblical interpretation, etc., and not break into factions? Are there any requirements for being 'in the net' and being 'out of the net'?" For some (like Maurice Sinclair and Drexel Gomez who authored 'Mending the Net'} the next cannot hold 153 viewpoints and is damaged. For my own meditation I am thinking and praying about the Eucharist as meal and reconciliation --in light of the resurrection-- as feast. This isn't an easy text and I would love to hear/read the insights of others.

quote du jour

2010-04-14T02:18:00.004+03:00

Tout accroissement que je me donne, ou que je donne aux choses, se chiffre par quelque augmentation de mon pouvoir d'aimer, et quelque progrès dans la bienheureuse mainmise du Christ sur l'Univers.

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
"Le Milieu Divin"

Le Milieu Divin

2010-04-14T01:35:00.007+03:00

Oklahoma is thinking about forming a militia that would be a defense of "state's rights" against the federal government. Sometimes I think I would fit in better back in Bulgaria. As a former soldier I cannot fathom taking up arms against my federal government and my fellow citizens. I abhor that thought. I tend to view militia members as people who are military wannabees who couldn`t cut it physically and psychologically in the regular military. The only person I knew who was associated with a militia was rejected for psychological reasons by the U.S. military.
I am reading "Le Milieu Divin" by priest/scientist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955). He dedicates the book "Pour ceux qui aiment le monde" and quotes John's Gospel "Sic Deus Dilexit Mundum" (John 3:16). It is fascinating and delightful to note that the Greek text can be translated "for God so loved the cosmos." This text is mind-expanding and it seems as though Teilhard's fingerprints can be found in the texts of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer. I suppose the creepiness and fear of (and suffering brought about by) things like violent militias could fall under Teilhard's conception of la "divinisation des passivitiés." I just have to grow to the point of confidence in Divine Providence and that all things and people are in le milieu divin. As for now I feel helpless and distressed by developments in Oklahoma. I also see the nuclear arms reduction talks in D.C. as a movement towards the Omega Point.

Supreme Court is losing its last Protestant

2010-04-10T08:29:00.002+03:00

Does this really matter in the larger scheme of things? The U.S. Constitution prohibits a religious test for public office. That said, I would find it difficult to vote for a fundamentalist with an apocalyptic worldview. Still, I hope the next Supreme is a well-qualified woman, maybe an Asian-American, and perhaps a Buddhist. But as the Rolling Stones sang, "You can't always get what you want..."

"But if you try sometimes you get what you need."

quote du jour: Bonhoeffer und die Taufe

2010-04-10T08:07:00.007+03:00

Du wirst heute zum Christen getauft. Alle die alten großen Worte der christlichen Verküngdigung werden über Dir augesprochen und der Taufbefehl Jesu Christi wird an Dir vollzogen, ohne daß Du etwas davon begreifst. Aber auch wir selbst sind wieder ganz auf die Anfänge des Verstehens zurückgeworfen. Was Versöhnung und Erlösung, was Wiedergeburt und Heiliger Geist, was Feindesliebe, Kreuz und Auferstehung, was Leben in Christus und Nachfolge Christi heißt, das alles ist so schwer und so fern, daß wir es kaum mehr wagen, davon zu sprechen. In den überlieferten Worten und Handlungen ahnen wir etwas ganz Neues und Umwälzendes, ohne es noch fassen und aussprechen zu können. Das ist unsere eigne Schuld.

Unsere Kirche, die in diesen Jahren nur um ihre Selbsterhaltung gekämpft hat, als wäre sie ein Selbstzweck, ist unfähig, Träger des versöhnenden und erlösenden Wortes für die Menschen und für die Welt zu sein.

Our church, which has been fighting in these years only for its self preservation, as though that were an end in itself, is incapable of taking the word of reconciliation and redemption to humankind and to the world.

Darum müssen die früheren Worte kraftlos werden und verstummen, un unser Christsein wird heute nur in zweierlei bestehen: im Beten und im Tun des Gerechten unter den Menschen. Alles Denken, Reden und Organisieren in den Dingen des Christentums muß neugeboren werden aus diesem Beten und diesem Tun. Bis du groß bist, wird sich die Gestalt der Kirche sehr verändert haben. Die Umschmelzung ist noch nicht zu Ende, und jeder Versuch, ihr vorzeitig zu neuer organisatorischer Machtenfaltung zu verhelfen, wird nur eine Verzögerung ihrer Umkehr und Laüterung sein. Es ist nicht unsere Sache, den Tag vorauszusagen -- aber der Tag wird kommen --, an de wieder Menschen berufen werden, das Wort Gottes so auszusprechen, daß sich die Welt darunter verändert und erneuert. Es wird eine neue Sprache sein, vielleicht ganz unreligiös, aber befreiend und erlösend, wie die Sprache Jesu, daß sich die Menschen über sie entsetyten und doch von ihrer Gewalt überwunden werden, die Sprache einer neuen Gerechtigkeit und Wahrheit, die Sprache, die den Frieden Gottes mit den Menschen und das Nahen seines Reiches verkündigt. Und sie werden sich verwundern und entsetzen über all dem Guten und über all den Frieden, den ich ihnen geben will. Bis dahin wird die Sache der Christen eine stille und das Gerechte tun und auf Gottes Zeit warten. Möchtest Du zu ihnen gehören und möchtes es einmal von Dir heißen: Des Gerechten Pfad glänzt wie das Licht, das immer heller leuchter bis auf den vollen Tag.

Widerstand und Ergebung: Brief und Aufzeichnungen aus der Haft

Die Kirche...

2010-04-10T03:35:00.003+03:00

Today is the 65th anniversary of the martyrdom of Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I had insomnia early in the morning, so I passed the time reading Bonhoeffer's “Widerstand und Ergebung: Briefe und Aufzeichnungen aus der Haft.” (Bonhoeffer's prison writings). My focus for meditation today has been this brief, simple, but profound quote from Summer 1944:

Die Kirche ist nur Kirche, wenn sie für andere da ist.

The Church is only Church if it is there for others.

If/When Supreme Court Justice Stevens retires,

2010-04-06T02:55:00.007+03:00

I believe the replacement SCOTUS nominee is going to be Susan Oki Mollway, currently a federal district judge for the U.S. District Court, Hawaii (Hawaii, as you'll recall, is the birthplace of President Obama). If this comes to pass, you read it here first. This particular nomination would really please me. Judge Mollway earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English literature from the University of Hawaii, taught English literature and language at the university level, and then began the study of law. Mollway graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School and served as editor-in-chief of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review. She was the first Japanese-American woman nominated to the federal bench (by former President Bill Clinton) in 1998. Serving over a decade on the federal bench makes her very qualified as far as I am concerned. Chief Justice John Roberts only served two years on the federal bench (on the D.C. Circuit) prior to heading to the SCOTUS.

Archbishop on papal offer: ‘God bless them, I don’t’

2010-04-03T01:29:00.001+03:00

The Archbishop of Canterbury comments on Pope's offer to disgruntled Anglicans.

Ut quid, Deus

2010-04-01T02:16:00.002+03:00

Psalm 74 is appointed for Evening Prayer tonight:
The enemy has laid waste everything in your sanctuary.
Your adversaries roared in your holy place;
they set up their banners as tokens of victory.
They were like men coming up with axes to a grove of trees;
they broke down all your carved work with hatchets and hammers.
They set fire to your holy place;
they defiled the dwelling-place of your Name
and razed it to the ground.
They said to themselves, "Let us destroy them altogether."
They burned down all the meeting-places of God in the land.

The imagery of this Psalm makes me think of kristallnacht. I bring my personal grief and my anxieties about the volatile political situation in the USA (with all of the incendiary rhetoric) and offer them, with this Psalm, as my evening sacrifice.

Srebrenica update

2010-03-31T04:25:00.005+03:00

The Serbian Parliament has passed a resolution offering an apology for the Srebrenica Massacre in 1995. As the BBC observes, this apology stops short of calling these events a genocide.

For more Srebrenica information, the best resource on the web is my friend Daniel's website.

American General Jack Sheehan has apologized in writing for blaming the Srebrenica Massacre on gay Dutch soldiers.

quote du jour

2010-03-31T00:29:00.005+03:00

French President Nicolas Sarkozy to President Obama at a press conference today (congratulating the president on the passage of the USA health care reform legislation):

"Bienvenue dans le club des etats qui ne laissent pas tomber les gens malades."

"Welcome to the club of states who don't turn their backs on the sick and poor."

A Gospel insight from "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane"

2010-03-30T23:51:00.009+03:00

Jane to Blanche: "You mean all this time we could have been friends?"

For me, this is one of the most poignant lines in this film. Instead of years of a corrosive relationship, the one sister realizes --too late-- the two could have been friends, not bitter adversaries. They could have helped one another in their vulnerability instead of carrying out a physical and psychological battle in the decaying splendor of their Hollywood mansion.

I was trained as a soldier to consider the Warsaw Pact countries as The Enemy. This mentality was drilled into my head. Once the wall came down, I realized they lied to me. The people on the other side of that wall were humans just like me. Eventually, I even took a lover from "over the wall." How easy it is to dehumanize other people! And how sad!

So today I feel a special sense of grief for the human beings in Russia who were victims of the suicide bombings. The Russians were never my enemy or our enemies. But for decades of Cold War we ended up in a Baby Jane dynamic with the East. The Russians, like you and me, are object of God's mercy. Would we have felt smug three decades ago? Would we have cared?

Two decades from now, what group of "enemies" will become our friends and objects of prayerful concern. I will never forget standing in Red Square and having the feeling of being Scout on Boo Radley's porch.

bwahahaha

2010-03-29T21:53:00.003+03:00

Republican National Convention asks for reimbursement for member's $2k tab at lesbian-themed bondage club.

Is sin or theology the problem?

2010-03-20T01:25:00.001+02:00

George Elerick is down on bad theology. I agree with George. What do you think?

preaching to bishops...

2010-03-17T02:47:00.000+02:00

...is like farting at skunks.

Weekly Joan Crawford Video

2010-03-16T01:58:00.001+02:00

Joan guest stars on the Lucy Show, obsessively housecleaning as a labour of love.

BossHoss - German Band - "I say a little prayer"

2010-03-10T18:06:00.001+02:00

I love Aretha and Dionne's version of this song. This is by a Berlin-based, country cover band. The video includes gratuitous use of the F word at the beginning and the end. This group is really fun.

I say a little prayer for all of you every day...

медитация

2010-03-10T17:50:00.002+02:00

Приближались к Нему все мытари и грешники слушать Его. Фарисеи же и книжники роптали, говоря: Он принимает грешников и ест с ними. Но Он сказал им следующую притчу: кто из вас, имея сто овец и потеряв одну из них, не оставит девяноста девяти в пустыне и не пойдет за пропавшею, пока не найдет ее? А найдя, возьмет ее на плечи свои с радостью
и, придя домой, созовет друзей и соседей и скажет им: порадуйтесь со мною: я нашел мою пропавшую овцу. Сказываю вам, что так на небесах более радости будет об одном грешнике кающемся, нежели о девяноста девяти праведниках, не имеющих нужды в покаянии.

hoti outos

2010-03-10T06:54:00.007+02:00

There is much about reconciliation in the upcoming Sunday Gospel text. The Greek illustrates how dehumanization is the antithesis of reconciliation. One must believe in a common humanity before reconciliation becomes possible. From the Sunday Gospel: literally "this one" receives sinners and eats with them. (Luke 15:2). In the Greek text I was struck by the dehumanizing language directed toward Jesus ("this one" transliterated "hoti outos"). They directed their speech to Jesus as an object or a thing, much less than a human. In San Francisco, ironically the Church of St. Gregory Nyssa has this verse engraved on their altar (perhaps mindful of Gregory's commentary on these Lukan parables). I am meditating on this aspect of the text to prepare for Eucharist. It is so easy to dehumanize others (those who offend us and frighten us) and to sabotage or even permanently derail reconciliation. As you can tell from my previous posts, I am offended and frightened by the far-right. God forbid that I reach the point of not thinking of them as human beings created in God's image (regardless of what they think of me as a gay man). As Saint Gregory of Nyssa observed, "When the shepherd found the sheep he did not punish it. He did not bring it back to the fold by driving it before him, but placed it on his own shoulders. And bearing it with great gentleness he returned it to the flock." I have to work on being more gentle.

Kentucky Fried Clickin'

2010-03-06T03:14:00.002+02:00

Here is a great article by Brad Friedman about GOP sponsored voter fraud in Kentucky. Apparently, this has been going on for decades. I don't believe George W. Bush ever won a legitimate presidential election. I feel a sense of schadenfreude seeing these folks in orange jump suits.

Julia Child presents: произхода на космоса

2010-02-03T07:17:00.013+02:00

В началото Бог създаде небето и земята.
Еволюционна супа (1976)

Good science is not antithetical to good theology...

ordinary people

2010-01-31T08:16:00.007+02:00

"There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations--these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit--immortal horrors or everlasting splendours."

C.S. Lewis
"The Weight of Glory"

Maybe the the hometown crowd in Nazareth thought they were more "special" or "extraordinary" in contrast to the ordinary masses. But in God's eyes, they were no better, more lovable, or counted more worthy of God's care than folks like the Syrians and others, according to Jesus. The come down they received from Jesus wounded their collective male pride, hence their violent reaction. If I am correct, first century synagogues were attended by men (not women). Male pride, once injured, is highly flammable and very toxic.

Yet I spent most of my working career training to kill other people (in response to potential wounds to our national psyche). BTW, isn't the whole war in Iraq about some president's unresolved daddy issues? The first Gulf War, for many, served as an emotional bandaid for male egos wounded by the disastrous mess in Vietnam.

Lewis is correct. There are no ordinary people.

This is a late thought on the Sunday lectionary Gospel -- took me a while to locate the Lewis quote, but still very fertile ground for meditation. Yes, I am guilty of sometimes mindlessly parroting the baptismal covenant about respecting the dignity of every human being. May God help me to change, to finally "get it." Every person is of infinite significance to God.

approaching Septuagesima: quote du jour

2010-01-31T04:27:00.001+02:00

What is sanctity in a creature, if not to adhere to God with the maximum of his strength?

Что такое святость в существо, если не присоединиться к Богу с максимальной силы Своей?

Teilhard de Chardin
The Divine Milieu

Вие не може винаги са това, което искаш ...

2010-01-30T02:27:00.005+02:00

But if you try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need.

Thanks, Father Matthew

2010-01-29T04:40:00.002+02:00

We should hold politicians on the far right (who pander to these preachers) accountable for this hate speech by Robertson and others. I wish more mainstream clergy would speak out against this hack theology.

Sorry I have been away

2010-01-27T06:23:00.011+02:00

I am sorry to have been away for so long. In some ways, the full impact of my loss didn't hit me right away. And then I suddenly felt overwhelmed and I reacted by shutting down. And, I think, this loss had a massive impact on my physical health as well as my mental status. Of course, things are far from perfect now. But I seem to be doing better. A blog posting is impersonal compared with emails to my various friends. I will be catching up with emails sooner or later. But it seemed more important to let everyone know how I was doing in general, sooner rather than later.

I am so enthused about the Gospel of Luke being the Gospel for the year in the Revised Common Lectionary. I've been reading Luke Timothy Johnson's Lukan commentary from the Sacra Pagina series -- it's a great jumping off point for study. I look forward to blogging more on the upcoming lectionary texts.

What have you been reading? Any other recommendations for studying the Gospel of Luke?

Tonight I watched a DVD of the movie Julie and Julia. Have you seen it? This is a wonderful film and, for some reason, the film made me incredibly hungry. I also developed something of a crush on actor Chris Messina (he was in the last season of Six Feet Under and is a handsome fellow.)

a dedication

2009-11-28T08:03:00.002+02:00

Dedicated to Amerikan Fascists: Republican Party members, the C Street Family Cult, kristianists, racists, homophobes. I have this wonderful song on my mp3 player. I've been copying and coverting my collection of 78rpm records into mp3s -- some very good stuff.

prayer request

2009-11-28T04:42:00.004+02:00

Четыре вагона пассажирского поезда "Невский экспресс" сошли с рельс, есть жертвы
Как сообщил пресс-центр пресс-служба ОАО "Российские железные дороги", в пятницу, в 21:34 произошел сход 4 вагонов пассажирского поезда №166 сообщением Москва – Санкт-Петербург. Происшествие произошло на перегоне Алешинка – Угловка. Есть пострадавшие. На место выехал президент ОАО "РЖД" Владимир Якунин.Работают правоохранительные органы, МЧС и медики. Причина происшествия пока не установлена, но отдельные агентства сообщают о наличии на месте катастрофы воронки.

Twenty-five persons have died in a derailment of a Russian train. Please remember them, their loved ones, and the injured survivors in your prayers.

Was this terrorism?

clerical sexual abuse in Ireland and elsewhere

2009-11-28T01:49:00.006+02:00

Roman Catholic clergy, religious, and laity have sinned. And Anglican clergy (the Episcopal priest who molested me is on this list -- I reported the crime after his suicide, but never wanted to sue anyone. I consider his suicide a tragedy) and laity (and clergy and laity from other churches, synangogues, and mosques) have stolen the childhood innocence away from countless young people. I wonder if many of the perpetrators were victims, too? The problem, however, seems to have been most severe in the Roman Rite. I have some ideas about why that is, but I am not an expert and it is not my place to offer speculation. What does reconciliation, justice, and healing look like in these cases. I have a feeling that if the Roman churches had vestries and elected lay leadership (working with their bishops) there wouldn't be any more cover-ups. I don't advocate dismantling places of worship. Upward promotions are never right. I do think places where senior clergy (involved in abuse cover-ups) live in old palaces like kings must be sold for cash reparations and treatment for victims. And the R.C. Church U.S. hierarchy (which is screaming about morality abortion) needs to do some inward reflection. Morality, like charity, surely begins at home. Saint Maria Goretti, pray for all victims of sexual assault.

Oh the humanity!

2009-11-27T07:20:00.002+02:00

The WKRP turkey drop!

Creation Spirituality in the Lectionary

2009-11-27T04:32:00.005+02:00

"There is grandeur in this view of life having been originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone on cycling according to the fixed law of gravity from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful, have been, and are being evolved."
From the last sentence in the book "On the Origin of Species" By Charles Darwin.

Did you know Darwin thought it was "absurd to doubt that a man might be an ardent theist and an evolutionist"?

The Revised Common Lectionary (with a nod to the old identification of Septuagesima with creation) has provided a set of creation-oriented readings for the Second Sunday Before Lent in addition to Creation Sunday kicking off four Sundays of a mini-season of creation being celebrated around the time of Michaelmas for four Sundays. BTW, I do miss the old BCP sometimes and all of those 'gesimas.

I want to learn more about Creation Spirituality, perhaps via Fr. Matthew Fox. Although we're only approaching Advent, this would be a great subject for Lenten study.

Credo ut Intelligam

2009-11-27T03:22:00.011+02:00

"Neque enim quaero intelligere ut credam, sed credo ut intelligam. Nam et hoc credo, quia, nisi credidero, non intelligam."

"Nor do I seek to understand that I may believe, but I believe that I may understand. For this, too, I believe, that, unless I first believe, I shall not understand."

Saint Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1033-1109

I am going to attempt to adopt St. Anselm's spiritually receptive posture (from his proslogion) during Advent:

"Escape from your everyday business for a short while, hide for a moment from your restless thoughts. Break off from your cares and troubles and be less concerned about your tasks and labors. Make a little time for God and rest a while in him. Enter your minds inner chamber. Shut out everything but God and whatever helps you to seek him; and when you have shut the door, look for him. Speak now to God and say with your whole heart: I seek your face; your face Lord, I desire."

Advent, as preparation for Christmas can turn into a season of ceaseless shopping. A time to prepare to welcome the impoverished, stable-born Christ child can be overshadowed by materialism (and in this day of much bad news, a time of worry).

St. John of the Cross (his poetry helps transport me to that quiet place) wrote:

Del Verbo divino
la Virgen preñada
viene de camino
¡si la dais posada!

With God's Word
the expectant Virgin
comes your way
if you give her lodging.

Not an exact translation, but it captures the essence of having room and making meaningful space in my heart for God. I'll be using poetry by San Juan de la Cruz and the Gospels (mostly from Luke, the Gospel of the upcoming year) as my own way of making the Divine Word welcome in my heart in Advent.

Oh, I do believe in order that I might understand!

Николай, Теб обичам.

2009-11-26T23:16:00.004+02:00

Here is a Bulgarian version of my favorite poem, one I wrote for Nikolai. He was still asleep, and I was delighted just to be in his presence that morning, touching him gently as it rained. I miss him a great deal today. I have received a large amount of very empathetic and kind emails today. Thank you, everyone, for reaching out to me on a holiday!

I am going to prepare a memorial card with English & Bulgarian translations and a photo, probably next week. Please email me off-blog [mpko217(at)telaugos(dot)com] and I will send you a card via postal mail. Also, I have to get over the unrealistic guilt of wanting to call Paul, Rob, Bob, and others. They have made themselves available and I have let my depression make me feel weird about reaching out to talk with my beloved friends. Guilt is so wasteful.

Николай,
Къде другаде бих пожелал да бъда, ако не по-близо до музиката на дишането ти в нашето малко легло? Почиваш като верен и смел рицар на Свети Георги с набола брада, разрошена коса, мощни ръце, стегната и топла плът. Раним войник, защитен единствено от бялото си бельо. Интимността и екстаза, които открих, докато лежа с теб, утехата в мислите за твоите сила и нежност. Пръстите ми проследяват ключиците, смрачени под окосмяването. Ти: дъх, корем, ръце, нозе, туптящо сърце, омиротворен, безтегловен в сатененото пространство между съня и дъждовното утро в Студентски град, където светлината се процежда през кристалните дъждовни ручеи върху прозореца. Частите и целостта на твоето тяло, Николай, всичко видяно и невидимо, докоснато и докосващо, отдадено и поето.
Теб обичам.
Mapko

Nikolai,
Where else would I want to be but near the music of your breathing in our small bed? Loyal and most brave knight of Saint George in repose, all stubble and tousled hair, strong limbs, taut and warm flesh, a vulnerable soldier clad only in your white boxer shorts. Intimacy, ecstasy found in resting beside you, comfort in the contemplation of your strength and gentleness. My fingers trace collar bones dusted with dark hair. You: breath, belly, arms, legs, beating heart, serene, suspended in that cotton-sheeted space between dreamscapes and a rain-soaked dawn in Studentski Grad. Light filters through the chaste opacity of rain rivulets on window glass. Parts and sum of you, Nikolai, all of you, seen and unseen, touched, touching, given, received,
You, I love.
Mark

A queen meets the princess royal

2009-11-25T19:11:00.001+02:00

Alan Cumming receives OBE. Alan was honoured by the royal family for “services to film, theatre and the arts and for his work as a gay rights campaigner.” Congratulations Alan!

My Gaiety -- Ich bin schwul - und das ist auch gut so!

2009-11-25T05:55:00.080+02:00

German politician, Klaus Wowereit mayor of Berlin, came out to the world in a famous speech.

He said, "Ich bin schwul - und das ist auch gut so, liebe Genossinnen und Genossen!"

["I am gay and that is a good thing, my comrades!"].

Klaus is also a socialist. Und das ist gut, too.

Did you know that QUEER GERMANS are visiting Papa Ratzinger whilst wearing t-shirts emblazoned with this exquisite Wowereit quotation? They were at Castel Gandolfo, of course -- Honey, you can't get away with that shit at St. Peter's. You'd prolly be busted as you boogied your way down the Via della Conciliazione by hunky-beefy, dark-suited, dark-sun glassed, Vatican Carabinieri (or by halberd-bearing Swiss Guards wearing their scandalously florid, Disney-style, medieval theme-park, uniforms).
Hrmph! Just leave it to the homosexuals!

When Nikolai and I visited His Holiness at Castel Gandolfo last summer, Nikolai (an old-school, Eastern European fatalist) wore a black shirt bearing the solemn Latin "incipit":

"Stercus accidit."
["Shit Happens."]

During our visit to the sunny papal country house, Nikolai (ever the fatalist, may he rest in peace) felt the need to remind me that Pope Pius XII (1958) and Pope Paul VI (1978) both died at Castel Gandolfo. And surely as Providence rises before the matutinal Disk of Helios, the two-decade cycle of papal death at Gandolfo was upon us.The current dude in the Petrine Chaise Lounge, the red-hatted, papal, rhinestone cowboy, Papa John Wayne (in spite of his crippling homophobia), is someone I love very much. I don't hate him for his views because I, too, have believed and said some very dumb things in the past -- I simply pray for his healing. Ratzi's book on Jesus --Jesus von Nazareth. Von der Taufe im Jordan bis zur Verklärung-- is a must-read in the original German. And I praise Almighty God that this Christian leader of 1 billion Catholics had the balls to condemn the Anglo-American War of Aggression against the civilians of Iraq as immoral and unjust. Certainly Pope Benedict hasn't started any yellow-elephant-wet-dreams-of-neocons-type wars. So many other Christian voices were muted in 2003 (just like they are in 2009 about the draconian proposed death penalty for certain "homosexual offenses" in Uganda) Moral cowardice is a loathsome character flaw. I don't know what reckoning George W. Bush will face with God, but newly converted Catholic Tony Blair (who seemed quite progressive 10 years ago) will, I hope, at least smoke a turd in purgatory for that one. G. W. Bush promoted a medical procedure known as abortion-by-bombing. But what else can one expect from pro-life and pro-family Republikanskis.

hyp·o·crite
Pronunciation: \ˈhi-pə-ˌkrit\
noun
1 : a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion
2 : a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings

Those reserved Prussians, of course, don't have the daring fashion sense of the Italians or the French (or even Amerikans). Existential-angst black has been "the new black" in Berlin and Munich for decades. But the Pontifical German Shepherd, a man whose taste in vestments reminds me of the über campy papal fashion show in a wonderful, old Fellini flick, has rather dapper and even queer fashion sense. And, BTW, I happen to like old men who drink beer every once in a while. I am taking 12 different medications (totally free, courtesy of the Veterans Administration, a "vile," socialist-style, government-run health program started by Republican Abe Lincoln) and, alas, I can't imbibe at the moment.

I, too, am gay.
I thank God for making me gay!
I embrace all aspects of my gaiety.
Damn the homophobes, full speed ahead!
I want the world to know that my gaiety is a good thing.
Part of me wants to put my Army uniform back on (and combat boots with a GOD-FEARING spit shine) and give 110% of my energy by participating in a humanitarian aid mission or U.N. peacekeeping. St. George is my witness, I love the Army. We need more Christians and fewer kristianists in the U.S. military.

I am gay and sometimes I want to paint rainbows on my neutral-bland bedroom walls. Instead of Army boots, I want to stroll outside to get the mail in pink, fuzzy-bunny bedroom slippers trimmed in gold lamé while wearing a Vera Wang housecoat trimmed with faux feathers (sort of Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard meets Gomer Pyle).

I love my three dogs, but would certainly welcome the company of a cat.

I have dreadful handwriting and the mathematical skills of a sixth grader, but I play the violin, guitar, piano, and banjo. I've also sung in Episcopal Church choirs since I was pre-pubescent. I have my parts for William Crotch's Magnificat (as I recall, this is #655 in The Hymnal 1940) and Charles Villiers Stanford's Nunc Dimittis (this piece makes me weep) memorized. My singing range is parked between baritone and tenor.I love classical music, but I am listening to a playlist on my mp3 player which I titled "Roadhouse" (classic country). Servant of God, Tammy Wynette, ora pro nobis!. I speak English, French, and Bulgarian fluently. I am gay. And I can speak enough of a few other languages to get myself slapped or to locate a public toilet in Europe. But as a native of Appalachia, I speak "Southern" best of all.

As a gay man, I yearn for the day when it is safe to fly a gay flag everywhere in the world (Iran, rural Bulgaria, Appalachia, Iraq, Dallas, Afghanistan, etc.). Currently, gay flag flying isn't safe everywhere -- even in the U.S.A. because of the violent fringe of the Amerikan far right. I don't want any young person to be targeted for violence or to feel the slightest self loathing, fear, or doubt about being gay. I want gay people to be able to marry the person they love without discrimination (and with all of the same benefits as heterosexual couples).

I want to see more gay political leaders, like Klaus Wowereit, proclaim the sheer goodness and delight of their gaiety.

Ich bin schwul - und das ist auch gut so, liebe Genossinnen und Genossen!

I am gay and that's a good thing!

Ставайки Бланш Дюбоа

2009-11-24T03:39:00.007+02:00

„Аз зависи за добротата на непознати винаги.“
Тенеси Уилямс, „Трамвай Желание,“ 1948

"I have always depended on the kindness of strangers."
Tennessee Williams, "A Streetcar Named Desire, 1948

I have been in hospital for the last ten days, depending on the kindness of strangers. I was hurt much worse than I thought, at first. I am --mostly-- getting better, but I am facing some physical therapy. I look forward to that treatment. I am feeling very weak and overtired, headed to bed. I did think about all of you good souls (Mimi, Paul, Michael, Geoffrey, et alia -- much love to all of you) while I was in hospital. And I am so glad to be back with you. Peace be with you! I missed my dogs and it is good to be reunited with them.

Ummm, can you believe that Advent I is next Sunday?

Tempus fugit...

... or as Virgil wrote, "Sed fugit interea fugit irreparabile tempus, singula dum capti circumvectamur amore."

["But meanwhile it flees: time flees irretrievably, while we wander around, prisoners of our love of detail"]

Republican ethics (rated R)

2009-11-14T19:31:00.007+02:00

Here is Christian ethical teaching from Republican party member, same-sex marriage opponent, and former Miss California Carrie Prejean: “God gave us our bodies, and it’s perfectly right that we use them in ways where we can give glory to God by making our bodies, our temples of the Holy Spirit, strong and fast.”

From "Still Standing: The Untold Story of My Fight Against Gossip, Hate, and Political Attacks" by noted theologian and biblical scholar Carrie Prejean.

In a spirit of bipartisanship, I plan on buying the upcoming Playgirl Magazine highlighting Levi Johnston's johnson. Mr. Johnson was the impregnator of the daughter of GOP vice presidential candidate Sara Palin. The Playgirl zine, with a largely gay audience, has been Internet-only in recent years, but there will be a special print edition for Levi. The Playgirl photo shoot will be on an ice rink! And I don't think they are using a fluffer -- although I have some friends who would volunteer to do that. And the New York Post has been fretting about the impact of the cold ice on Johnston's johnson. Can you imagine the moral outrage and the backlash if a Democrat impregnanted an umarried candidate's daughter and then posed in a porn? Levi is 19, has a kid to raise, and needs the money. And it sounds like West Hollywood resident Levi Johnston (who doesn't bash gay people) is being more modest than the star of the "eight biggest mistakes of my life" film collection by Ms. Prejean.

Are Republicans crypto pro-choice? The anti-abortion Republican Party, calling abortion "an assault on human life," chose for the last 18 years to provide insurance coverage paying for abortions.

weekend thoughts

2009-11-14T09:51:00.004+02:00

I read an awesome article by Jesuit Father James Martin titled "What should a gay Catholic do?" in America Magazine, a great publication (founded in 1909). One of the great responses to the article says, "The choice that I am very seriously considering is the Episcopal Church. It has been hearing the Holy Spirit on this question better than the Roman Catholic Church.." I admire so very much about the Roman Catholic Church, especially the work and legacy of Vatican Council II and Catholic teaching on social justice. I certainly don't want to be perceived as anti-Catholic when I discuss critique's of some of their teaching on human sexuality. I am grateful for the work of ARCIC. Their most recent work is "Mary: Grace and Hope in Christ." This is a great text, wonderful for reading and study during Advent.

I am reading "L'abandon à la Divine Providence" by Jean Pierre de Caussade. Almost a Zen quality to the spirituality in this powerful book.

Veterans Day 2009

2009-11-11T03:17:00.011+02:00

I was a gay man serving in the U.S. Army when the Don't-Ask-Don't-Tell policy was implemented. This is a stupid, anti-American, unfair, murderous, bigoted, wasteful, and immoral policy. I am disappointed that the Democratic majority in Congress and our progressive president don't have the cojones to keep their campaign promises and stand up against the homophobia of religious fundamentalists. I am fed up with voting for (and financially supporting the campaigns of) politicians who continue to break their promises. Ironically, the folks who promote military, anti-gay discrimination tend to be people who refuse to serve in the military. Here is a list of yellow elephants. DADT hurts our nation's military readiness. Because of the demands of wars being fought on two fronts, the military is accepting heterosexual enlistees convicted of felony assault, burglary, possession of hard drugs and even rape and other sex crimes. If you happen to be a queer (even if you are fluent in Arabic, a skilled and experienced pilot, or have speciality medical training) with a clean personal record, you are unworthy to die or lose a limb for your country. Heterosexuality and conservative religiosity aren't automatic guarantees that an enlistee will turn out to be a good soldier or a loyal American. Many nations ended anti-gay bans in the last decade. Our problem in the USA seems to be cowardice and a continuing willingness to pander to christianist fanatics.

On this Veterans Day, I salute and remember my colleague Major Alan G. Rogers, a good and honorable man who made the ultimate sacrifice for a nation still struggling to overcome intolerance.

насърчаване на чартърни за религиозни състрадание

2009-11-11T02:10:00.011+02:00

Дезмънд Мпило Туту, Карън Армстронг и чартърни за религиозни състрадание. Всички религии са обединени от състрадание.

"We have called on the world to sign up to a Charter for Compassion. Compassion is the principled determination to put ourselves into the place of the other and it lies at the heart of all truly religious and ethical systems. The charter, which will be unveiled Thursday, November 12, has been composed by leading thinkers in many different faiths. Thousands of people have contributed to it online. It is a cooperative effort to restore compassion to the center of religious, moral and political life."
إشفاق
חֶמלָה
σπλαγχνισθεις
състрадание
l'apitoiement
сострадание
mededogen
compasión
deernis
compaixão
pitye
pietà
Mitgefühl
compasiunea
саосећање
tosturi
saosjećanje
şefkat
sausesce
співчуття
compassion com·pas·sion (km-pshn) noun. Deep awareness of the suffering of another coupled with the wish to relieve it. See Synonyms at pity

Я мишка «ГуммиБер»

2009-11-10T21:32:00.006+02:00

Да, на русском языке! болгарской версии не существует. Возможно, скоро?

Я мармеладный вкусный пухлый мишка ГуммиБер...

Да, смех очень хорошо!

Moltmann: Die Angst Christi

2009-11-09T17:01:00.010+02:00

"Denn ich bin ganz sicher: Weder Tod noch Leben, weder Engel noch Dämonen, weder Gegenwärtiges noch Zukünftiges, noch irgendwelche Gewalten, weder Hohes noch Tiefes oder sonst irgendetwas können uns von der Liebe Gottes trennen, die er uns in Jesus Christus, unserem Herrn, schenkt."
Roemer 8:38-39

I am anxious and afraid. Perhaps sometimes you are, too. Some of this is due to my grief and it is overpowering, overwhelming, and even disabling sometimes. C.S. Lewis wrote, "No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear." There are days when I don't want to get out of bed. On top of this, I have a profound sense of empathy and connection with other suffering people: the Ft. Hood shooting victims, people suffering crises because of world economic situation, etc. Because I am a human, I cannot and I will not detach myself from the pain suffered by other people. Losing my sense of solidarity with others would make me less human. Can our fear and anxiety isolate us from God? It can feel that way sometimes. Jürgen Moltmann, astonishingly, asserts that our experiences of pain and anxiety actually can lead us into deeper communion with God:

"Isoliert die Angst auch vom Grund des Daseins, vom Sinn des Lebens, von Gott? Im christlichen Glauben isoliert Angst ich von Gott, sondern führt vielmehr tiefer in die Gottesgemeinschaft hinein. Christlicher Gottesglaube ist wesentlich Christusgemeinschaft, und Christusgemeinschaft ist wesentlich Gemeinschaft mit dem angefochtenen, leidenden und verlassenen Christus. In seiner Angst nimmt der Mensch an der angst Christi teil, denn Christus hat in seinem Leiden die Ängste durchlitten, die auf die Menschen zukommen."

"Do fear and anxiety isolate us from the foundation of our being, too, from the meaning of life, from God? If we believe in Christ, fear does not isolate us from God. On the contrary, it leads us deeper into community with him. Christian faith in God is essentially fellowship with Christ, and fellowship with Christ is essentially fellowship with the Christ who was tempted and assailed, who suffered and was forsaken. In our anxiety we participate in Christ's anxiety; for in his suffering Christ went through the very fears and anxieties which men and women encounter, too."

[Moltmann, "Wer ist Christus für uns heute?"]

In my own fear, anxiety, and grief, I feel deep communion with the Christ who wept, who grieved, and who experienced "anguish unto death"
"περιλυπος εστιν η ψυχη μου εως θανατου."

Спомени на социализма

2009-11-08T23:32:00.027+02:00

I am sitting here looking at a chunk of the Berlin Wall. I'll post a pic of my piece of the Wall when I can find my digital camera. I was 25-years-old, living in Germany in late 1989. In late summer 1989 if you had told me the Wall would come down I would have laughed at you. I was certain that Warsaw Pact tanks would rumble westward through the Fulda Gap (and we'd possibly face a nuclear exchange) before the Communist leaders would open the Wall. I did think that General Sec'y Gorbachev (a man I still admire) was a latter-day Dubček who would usher in an era of "socialism with a human face" and détente with nations in NATO. In 1987 I read Gorbachev's excellent book, Перестройка (Perestroika). And I even had a subscription to Soviet Life. But I could not foresee the implosion of Communism. And I never imagined that I would end up married to a (former) Communist soldier. It is difficult to believe that two decades have passed since those events. At the time, I was unaware of the behind-the-scenes efforts by courageous Christians. And only recently have I become aware of the radically merciful posture of (formerly persecuted) Christians in the Soviet bloc towards their former oppressors. Contrary to GOP talking points, the free-market, capitalist system in the West was not and is not coterminous with the reign of God. American leadership during the Cold War was far from perfect. Fortunately, there was just enough sanity, humility, and competence in D.C. and in Moscow to prevent mutual destruction. If the U.S.A had had an incompetent and arrogant leader (with a fundamentalist eschatological outlook) like George W. Bush during the Cold War, things might have turned out differently (and quite horribly). There was a wonderful painting on a section of the Berlin Wall depicting Erich Honecker and Leonid Brezhnev playing Socialist tonsil hockey. In Russian and German, the caption says "Lord, save me from this fatal attraction." (literally "God help me survive this deadly love.")

If we had a similar painting somewhere in the U.S.A. perhaps it could depict a threeway: Uncle Sam tongue kissing a Plutocrat while both are groped by a christianist pastor. May God save us from that American fatal attraction. This 20-year aniversary of the demise of the Berlin Wall should not be an occasion for gloating. The Communists were not the only goverment system where one could experience the maltreatment of workers, economic exploitation by a few greedy parasites, the use of torture, ever expanding use of capital punishment, arbitrary imprisonment without due process of law, environmental degradation, diminished civil liberties for purposes of state security, violations of citizen privacy, preemptive warfare, and other inhumane and immoral practices. If we learn any lesson from the events of 1989, we should be aware that the downfall (often sudden and rapid) of unjust governments (and morally corrupt leaders) is --thank God-- inevitable. I am reading "Und wir sind dabei gewesen: Die Revolution, die aus der Kirche kam" ["And we have been there: The revolution that came out of the Church"] by Pastor Christian Führer (retired Pastor of St. Nikolai Church in Leipzig). This pastor led prayer meetings for peace and justice in East Germany, sessions which began with the recitation of the Beatitudes. They began with a small group of people in the old church. Their weekly prayer meeting for peace expanded into peaceful marches of resistance against the Honecker-DDR regime, with 300,000 souls taking to the streets and chanting "Keine Gewalt!" ["No violence!"]. Thank God, the German revolution of 1989 was non-violent. Слава Богу! ["Thank God!"] The revolution in Bulgaria was non-violent, a rarity for the Balkans and credit to the civility of the people of Bulgaria. No situation is hopeless! Non-violent renewal of society is always possible!

Als Jesus die Menschenmenge sah, stieg er auf einen Berg. Er setzte sich, und seine Jünger traten zu ihm. Da begann er, sie zu unterweisen: Wen Jesus glücklich nennt »Glücklich sind, die erkennen, wie arm sie vor Gott sind, denn ihnen gehört die neue Welt Gottes. Glücklich sind die Trauernden, denn sie werden Trost finden. Glücklich sind die Friedfertigen, denn sie werden die ganze Erde besitzen. Glücklich sind, die nach Gerechtigkeit hungern und dürsten, denn sie sollen satt werden. Glücklich sind die Barmherzigen, denn sie werden Barmherzigkeit erfahren. Glücklich sind, die ein reines Herz haben, denn sie werden Gott sehen. Glücklich sind, die Frieden stiften, denn Gott wird sie seine Kinder nennen. Glücklich sind, die verfolgt werden, weil sie nach Gottes Willen leben. Denn ihnen gehört Gottes neue Welt. Glücklich könnt ihr sein, wenn ihr verachtet, verfolgt und verleumdet werdet, weil ihr mir nachfolgt. Ja, freut euch und jubelt, denn im Himmel werdet ihr dafür reich belohnt werden! Genauso haben sie die Propheten früher auch verfolgt.«
Matthaeus 5:1-12

Разделени при раждане?

2009-11-08T14:13:00.016+02:00

Gov. Piyush Jindal & Alfred E. Neuman

Separated at birth?

Does anyone else remember when a kid could purchase an issue of Mad Magazine for only 45 cents? That price point went the way of dime candy bars (around the time when Nixon's White House plumbers broke into DNC headquarters at the Watergate). When I was about 20-years-old I started reading The Wittenburg Door. Only in The Door can you read a headline like "Anglican Steel Cage Death Match Might Be Postponed."

Today: Feast of My Patron, Saint Willibrord

2009-11-07T23:46:00.008+02:00

In Frísia deposítio sancti Willibrórdi, Epíscopi Trajecténsis; qui, a beáto Sérgio Papa ordinátus Epíscopus, in Frísia et Dánia Evangélium prædicávit... Et álibi aliórum plurimórum sanctórum Mártyrum et Confessórum, atque sanctárum Vírginum.
R. Deo grátias..

from The Roman Martyrology

In Friesland, the death of St. Willibrord, bishop of Utrecht, who was consecrated bishop by blessed Pope Sergius, and preached the Gospel in Friesland and Denmark... And elsewhere in divers places, many other holy martyrs, confessors, and holy virgins.
R. Thanks be to God.

This year I missed the dancing procession in honor of St. Willibrord.

Eala Freya Fresena!
Lever dood as Slaav!

Mark 12:38-44

2009-11-07T23:12:00.009+02:00

"Jesus does not laud the woman. Contrary to many sermons delivered since which encourage people to this level of sacrificial giving, Jesus does not lift the beggar-widow up as an example, or suggest that anyone ought to emulate her. She is not a positive example, but rather the (barely) living representative of a crying shame. She represents the on-going exploitation of the poor by the Temple elite."

From commentary on Mark 12:38-44 by Lutheran Pastor John Petty, Aurora, Colorado (he has a wonderful blog).
At first, I understood the widow as an icon of kenosis, a model for discipleship. But I don't think the exploitation in this pericope offers us a healthy model for stewardship. So much of the economic exploitation and corruption in the USA (which has victimized the poor, the sick, and the most vulnerable among us) has been carried out by people (self-described as "pro-life") wearing masks of pious, Christian conservatism. I am a white male, not usually a victim of prejudice (although I do encounter some anti-gay stuff, I don't feel inordinately oppressed). I have excellent health care (all of my doctor's visits, medications, tests, hospital stays, etc. are totally free to me at the Veterans Administration). I have a good income. I have a nice home. There is a certain aspect of selfishness to my contentment. Sometimes it's too easy for me to tune out the need and suffering around me. This Gospel pericope makes my comfortable life uncomfortable, as it should.

Уилям Темпъл

2009-11-06T22:07:00.005+02:00

“The Church is the only society that exists for the benefit of those who are not its members.”
William Temple, 1881-1944, Archbishop of Canterbury

„Църквата е общество, което съществува само в полза на тези, които не са нейни членове."
Уилям Темпъл, 1881-1944, Aрхиепископ на Кентърбъри

Adams Æbler

2009-11-06T21:34:00.008+02:00

I just saw a wonderful Danish film called Adams Æbler ("Adam's Apples"). This film is a powerful meditation about good, evil, human suffering, and redemption. A synopsis of the film (complete with plot spoiler) can be found here. Repeated as a cinematic "question" (and finally, a powerful and affirming "answer") throughout the movie is a very poignant cover of the song "How Deep Is Your Love" by Manchester, UK boyband Take That. I certainly identify with the brokenhearted and damaged characters in the film. Okay, I'll admit I cried at the end of the movie. But these days my emotions are rubbed raw and I could probably find something that would move me to tears at the grand opening festivities of a supermarket. Has anyone else seen this remarkable film?

Ft. Hood shootings

2009-11-06T15:41:00.015+02:00

إِنَّ اللّهَ مَعَ الَّذِينَ اتَّقَواْ وَّالَّذِينَ هُم مُّحْسِنُونَ

"Surely GOD is with those who lead a righteous life, and those who are charitable."

The Holy Qu'ran 16.128

Some American military installations are in areas which have a lot of violent crime. As a soldier, once I entered the gates of a military base (access was controlled by armed military policemen and only people with military IDs were admitted or civilians with authorized business on post) I felt safe. I could let my guard down and relax. For example, Ft. McPherson is in a rougher neighborhood in Atlanta. Once I passed into Ft. Mcpherson I felt totally safe. I was totally protected among my friends and fellow soldiers on base. I can only imagine the horror the people at Ft. Hood felt yesterday. That said, I totally reject all Muslims being blamed for the actions of one, American-born, man known to be a Muslim (some on the far right in the U.S. media already are engaging in their typical bigotry and xenophobia). Charles Whitman (who killed 14 and wounded 32) from the university observation tower in Austin in 1966 was found to be suffering from a large gioblastoma which could have had an impact on his impulse control. And Timothy Mcveigh, a white male, U.S. Army veteran, Christian, registered Republican, and member of the N.R.A. murdered 168 people and wounded many others (including children in a day care center) when he bombed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995. Certainly no one held all Republican Christian members of the N.R.A. accountable for Timothy McVeigh's actions. We do not blame all Jews for the violent actions of an American-born Jewish physician named Baruch Goldstein who killed 29 people and wounded 150 others during the Festival of Purim in 1994. In our quest for justice, let's wait and see what was going on medically and psychiatrically with the accused shooter at Ft. Hood. If he is found accountable and cuplable (legally sane) for his actions, he alone is to blame (unless we know there was a larger conspiracy involving others). We cannot blame and should not retaliate against his entire religious community.

Please read (and share) the full statement from the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

"We condemn this cowardly attack in the strongest terms possible and ask that the perpetrators be punished to the full extent of the law. No religious or political ideology could ever justify or excuse such wanton and indiscriminate violence. The attack was particularly heinous in that it targeted the all-volunteer army that protects our nation. American Muslims stand with our fellow citizens in offering both prayers for the victims and sincere condolences to the families of those killed or injured.”

quote du jour

2009-11-02T14:37:00.015+02:00

"Cum enim nationes tum homines, qui avaritiae labe inficiantur, mores minus progressos quam manifestissime ostendunt."

Papa Montini, Pope Paul VI, Populorum Progressio, 1967

"Both for nations and for individual men, avarice is the most obvious form of moral underdevelopment.”

I've read the Gospel pericope for next Sunday. This text seems to be a stinging critique of greed and selfishness. Jesus targets people who rob the most vulnerable while they wear a mask of godliness. This form of "moral underdevelopment" wasn't unique to first century Palestine. Porcine rapacity is institutionalized and even canonized in the 21st century. Capitalist exploitation is embraced and promoted as pious praxis.

The impoverished and destitute characters in the Gospel text are the scribes -- totally selfish and devoid of all compassion. The widow is, for me, an icon of kenosis: εβαλεν ολον τον βιον αυτης, out of her poverty, prodigal in generosity, literally "casting the whole life of her" into the temple treasury. The enslaved, smug, self-aggrandizing, and morally underdeveloped scribes, turned and folded inward, cruelly act out their inadequacy at the expense of others. The widow, a free woman, confident in faith, liberated by God's love, in her cruciform gesture of radical self-giving, is a model for discipleship.

Shame our wanton selfish gladness,
Rich in things and poor in soul.

Свети Иван Рилски

2009-11-02T07:34:00.008+02:00

„Ръчната работа да не бъде пренебрегвана от вас, но, прочее, в ръцете ви да има работа, а молитвата: "Господи, Исусе, Христе, Сине Божий, помилвай мене грешния" да бъде постоянно в устата ви, както и в ума ви - споменът за смъртта.“ Свети Иван Рилски

"Manual labor must not be neglected by you, however, but work must be in your hands, and the prayer "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner" must be permanently on your lips, as well as the memory of death in your mind." Saint Ivan Rilski (Patron Saint of Bulgaria)

On All Saints day I read portions of the Testament of St. John of Rila. His emphasis on the dignity of human labor, the need to pray without ceasing, and the mindfulness of human mortality -- all of these things mirror Benedictine values. St. Ivan (like St. Benedict, who wrote: "Omnes supervenientes hospites tamquam Christus suscipiantur, quia ipse dicturus est: Hospes fui et suscepistis me.") also encourages radical hospitality to strangers: „Да пребивава братолюбието, не забравяйте странолюбието, понеже чрез него някои, без да знаят са угостили ангели.“

East and West are not that far apart -- "In Christ there is no East or West..."

And it is wonderful for me, on this Holy Day of All Saints, to find affirmation of Benedictine values from an Eastern spiritual master.

Господи, Исусе, Христе, Сине Божий, помилвай мене грешния!

Неограничен желание за приятелство

2009-10-23T04:35:00.014+03:00

The United States Senate passed hate federal crimes legislation yesterday. President Obama will be signing this legislation into law. This is wonderful news (after over a decade of hard work and much human suffering). The bill makes violence based on sexual orientation (disability, gender, and gender identity are included in the law) a federal crime. Sadly, we are not seeing any decrease in the frequency of acts of violence against gay people as time goes by. Since the murder of Matthew Shepard, there have been approximately 80,000 hate crimes reported in the USA. The passage of this legislation is a significant moral and ethical victory for all Americans. The Republicans who voted against this important civil rights measure will find out they are on the wrong side of human progress and social justice. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why --according to a Washington Post ABC News Poll-- only 20% of American adults self-identify as members of the Republican Party and why only 19% had confidence in congressional Republicans "to make the right decisions for the country's future."

Today I've been reading some poems by Jacob Israël de Haan, a gay, Dutch poet (early 20th century). Nikolai introduced his work to me last year. In a homoerotic poem titled "To a Young Fisherman," De Haan wrote of Naar vriendschap zulk een mateloos verlangen ("Such a boundless longing for friendship"). These words are inscribed on the Homomonument in Amsterdam. This text is, for me, a wonderful tribute to Nikolai, an open-hearted, hospitable, and most kind man who embodied „Неограничен желание за приятелство.“ ("Such a boundless longing for friendship.")

It should go without saying that the sublime human desire for companionship is antithetical to all forms of exclusionary violence. I can certainly understand longing for friendship. I can't grasp or begin to understand violent impulses rooted in bigotry against human diversity.

from Nikolai's ipod

2009-10-18T04:15:00.001+03:00

I found this video on Nikolai's ipod. This song, Eres Tú by Mocedades at Eurovision '73, is a love song. And this video is from the Eurovision broadcast that year. But the vivid imagery of fire, water, and wheat gives this piece a sacred, psalm-like quality. This was one of Nikolai's favorite pieces of music and he loved singing it in Spanish. I am in the USA right now. I still don't know where I will settle down to live in the long run.

Николай, обичам те!

2009-09-16T17:04:00.007+03:00

Nikolai was singing this (and, in typical fashion, very loud, slightly off key, and with charmingly mangled English lyrics) when he died. Thank you all for the emails, phone calls, and flowers. I won't be online for a long while. I will get back with everyone, but it may be a month or two. Oh, I will be OK. But the world is certainly going to be much more lonely and is going to be a lot less fun. I will miss his singing, his exotic and dramatic table graces, and his calm and bemused expression which made me think that he knew something the rest of us didn't know. When he told me, Если жизнь отвергает вас, я всегда буду защищать вас, this was an article of faith. And I still believe him! If you can, sing something to someone you love today. That's the best tribute one can offer for this good, gentle, and kind man.

Николай, my bosom buddy, обичам те!

Благодаря

2009-09-15T13:22:00.003+03:00

Николай умира в автомобилна катастрофа неделя 13 септември. Благодаря ви за имейли и телефонни обаждания. Thank you to everyone who has emailed me and called me since Nikolai's death (in car accident late Sunday, September 13). This was a horrible shock. I am so exhausted and it may be a long while before I am able to get back in touch with everyone. I do appreciate everyone's support and kindness.

cornholing

2009-09-12T18:59:00.011+03:00

We are in the USA, in my home state of Tennessee. I was intrigued to learn that cornholing is now a team sport, practiced --quite openly-- in broad daylight in the vacant lots of Tennessee's über-Republican first congressional district. I first tried cornholing on Good Friday 1986 with an intoxicated U.S. Coast Guard named Erik. Yes, you could describe me as a lifelong cornholing enthusiast. But I am really not into cornholing in public and I doubt that I will become a dues-paying member of the American Cornhole Association. And unlike my fellow Appalachians, I don't endorse cornholing as team sport. When certain innocent pleasures are overly commercialized, they lose their appeal. Call me old fashioned, but I think cornholing only belongs in committed, monogamous relationships. All of that said, I do respect the freedom of other people to engage in cornholing in a variety of contexts and milieus (as long as no minors are being exploited and as long is there is no coercion involved). People have been cornholing for centuries in Bulgaria. In Bulgarian, the sport is known as Анален секс. This is a fascinating topic. Please feel free to post and share your own cornholing experiences.

Дълбоки мисли

2009-09-12T17:23:00.005+03:00

Сара Пейлин е бебето на Розмари?
Do you think Sarah Palin is Rosemary's Baby?

Нил Патрик Харрис

2009-09-12T09:00:00.007+03:00

Нил Патрик Харрис ("Как я встретил вашу маму") будет транслировать Эмми. Он очень сексуально. Он приветствуем плюнуть в нашей ванной. Актер является открытым представителем секс-меньшинств. Он также не скрывает своего романа с актером Дэвидом Барткой.

[Фото от Rolling Stone Журнал].

преди осем години - Атентати от 11 септември 2001 г.

2009-09-11T16:02:00.004+03:00

Жертвите са 2 974 души, без 19-те терористи: 246 - на четирите самолета (от които няма оцелели), 2 603 - в кулите в Ню Йорк и на земята, и 125 - в Пентагона. Други 24 души са обявени за липсващи. Всички жертви са цивилни лица освен 55-те военни, убити във Пентагона. Сред загиналите има представителите на повече от 90 държави.

„Часовникът със двете саби
не ни допуска да се върнем
през входовете на минутите
в Безкрая.“

Владимир Левчев, НЕВЪЗВРАЩЕНЕЦ

[On 9/11/2009, from Refugee, a poem by Vladimir Levchev:
"The clock raises its two swords
across the path of minutes
we might have traveled to eternity."]

красивото нещо за днес

2009-09-10T19:31:00.005+03:00

Today's Most Beautiful Thing is David Mason's piccolo trumpet solo recorded 17 January 1967 in Studio 2 at Abbey Road during the sessions for the Magical Mystery Tour album, for Beatles tune "Penny Lane."

Днес най-хубавото нещо е соло Дейвид Мейсън пиколо тромпет записани 17-ти януари 1967 в Студио 2 на Аби Роуд по време на сесиите за албум Магията Мистерии обиколка, "Пени Лейн" от Бийтълс.

In Penny Lane there is a fireman with an hourglass
And in his pocket is a portrait of the Queen.
He likes to keep his fire engine clean
It's a clean machine.

This song makes me feel wistful for a time and place that never really existed.
Тази песен ме кара да се чувствам тъжен за време и място, което никога не е съществувала.

Почему?

2009-09-10T15:35:00.013+03:00

In his Rule, St. Benedict recommends reading the writings of John Cassian:

Aut quis liber sanctorum catholicorum patrum hoc non resonat ut recto cursu perveniamus ad creatorem nostrum? Necnon et Collationes Patrum et Instituta et Vitas eorum, sed et Regula sancti patris nostri Basilii, quid aliud sunt nisi bene viventium et oboedientium monachorum instrumenta virtutum...

Benedict points in the last chapter of his Regula that his own Rule is a point of departure and not the final word on justice or on community life. Maybe we should be suspicious of anyone claiming to have the last word. In like manner, John Cassian's writings don't always present answers, but simply ask good and even painful questions, like this excerpt from the Sixth Conference which addresses the 'Slaughter of Some Holy Persons':

The monks... men of outstanding life and holiness were suddenly killed.

Cassian asks why monks were senselessly murdered in the Palestinian desert in the 4th century.

We wondered why me of such great worthiness and of so many virtues would be slain and why the Lord had permitted such a crime to be perpetrated on his servants.

In light of this tragedy, Cassian goes on to describe his mood as melancholy.

Почему? Why?

Plus ça change, plus c'est pareil. The more things change, the more they stay the same. With my own melancholy feelings I struggle to understand why monks were murdered in Moscow in the 21st century. In spite of a criminal conviction we still do not know why these two gentle and good priests were murdered.

25го августа, приговором Московского городского суда Михаил Орехов был осужден к 14 годам лишения свободы за убийство священника Виктора Бетанкура и оправдан по обвинению в убийстве священника Отто Мессмера. Приговор суда основан на вердикте присяжных, оглашенном 21 августа. В ходе предварительного следствия Михаил Орехов признал, что 26 октября 2008 г. им был убит Виктор Бетанкур, а 27 октября 2008 г. он же убил Отто Мессмера, который по возвращении из командировки обнаружил тело Виктора Бетанкура. В судебном заседании Михаил Орехов от признательных показаний отказался, заявив, что двойное убийство было совершено неизвестным ему лицом. Потерпевшая сторона благодарна участникам судебного процесса. Суд проходил в серьёзной деловой обстановке, дал возможность сторонам обвинения и защиты высказать свои мнения, задать вопросы, представить доказательства. Противоречивым версиям подсудимого относительно мотивов и обстоятельств убийства священника Виктора Бетанкура дана надлежащая оценка - Михаил Орехов признан присяжными не заслуживающим снисхождения. В то же время признание присяжными недоказанности факта лишения жизни священника Отто Мессмера при указанных следствием обстоятельствах, предполагает недостаточность раскрытия преступления. Соответственно, встаёт вопрос о доказательствах и признании вины преступника, его совершившего. В связи с этим, иезуиты Российского Региона Общества Иисуса взвешивают возможные действия для достижения большей справедливости и ясности в этом вопросе. Мы благодарны всем кто с самого начала выражал свою поддержку в достижение правосудия. Настоятель Независимого Российского Региона "Общества Иисуса" священник Отто Мессмер родился в 1961 году в городе Караганде в многодетной католической семье. Двое его братьев также служат священниками в Германии и Казахстане. Один из его братьев служит епископом в Киргизии. Три его сестры, монахини, служат в Российской Федерации. Отец Отто вступил в Общество Иисуса в 1982 году. Окончил Духовную Семинарию в Риге. Был рукоположен в священники в 1988 году. С 1988 по 2000 год работал в приходе Матери Божьей Неустанной Помощи в Астане, где под его руководством был построен храм, который сейчас является кафедральным Собором. С 2001 по 2002 год он был ректором Духовной Пре-семинарии в Новосибирске. Последнее место его служения оказался город Москва. Священник Виктор Бетанкур родился в 1966 году в Эквадоре. Вступил в Общество в 1984 году. С 2001 года работал в Российском Регионе Общества Иисуса. Летом 2008 года приступил к работе в администрации Института философии, теологии и истории св.

расов напрежение главоболие

2009-09-09T04:11:00.005+03:00

RACIAL TENSION HEADACHE @ Yahoo! Video

President Obama made a speech to American school children. The speech was simple ecouragement for students returning for their fall term. With their typical violent rhetoric, some American, right-wing commentators (many seem to have a major problem with the colour of the president's skin) were denouncing the speech as "socialist indoctrination." I explained all of this to Nikolai (who is aware of GOP hostility to immigrants, gay people, the poor and uninsured). Nikolai (who has not seen this parody by Queen Latifah) says the Republicans give him a расов напрежение главоболие, a racial tension headache. Very astute, very funny!
Николай, обичам те

Забравете за момичета

2009-09-07T10:10:00.005+03:00

Laisse tomber les filles [Забравете за момичета] est une chanson française écrite et composée par Serge Gainsbourg et chantée par France Gall en 1964. Je suis né le 17 février 1964. C'est une chanson magnifique!

Хората на Уол-Март

2009-09-07T08:17:00.011+03:00

Това е оживен сайт с фотографии на американски клиенти пазаруване в Уол-Март. Уол-Март се съхранява предпочитан от американските членове на Републиканската партия. В Уол-Март те могат да закупят продукти, произведени в Народна Република Китай. Уол-Март има ниски цени и много ниски заплати за бедните работници и служители. Има магазини Уол-Март в САЩ, Канада, Япония, Аржентина, Бразилия и Китай. Има не Уол-Март складове в Източна Европа - Благодаря ти, Господи! Xaxa!

[Terse English translation: website showcasing candid portraits of Wal-Mart customers. Yes, I say other things about this company's praxis in Bulgarian that do not require translation.]

Червената къща: „да остави предразсъдъците навън"

2009-09-06T01:32:00.006+03:00

В България, "Червената къща" е център за култура и дебат. В САЩ, "Червената къща" е мебелна компания. Тази американска компания популяризира ниски цени, лесна условията на кредита, и насърчава расова хармония.

Пейте! Червената къща е мястото, където чернокожите и белите хора купуват мебели."

Червената къща е сграда в центъра на София, която е принадлежала на скулптора Андрей Николов. След смъртта му през 1959 г. неговите наследници даряват къщата на Министерство на културата за стопанисване и извършване на обществени и културни дейности. Построена в „духа на Италия” къщата приканва посетителя „да остави предразсъдъците навън”. Xaxa!

Porno zines vie for a look at Levi's Johnston

2009-09-05T23:15:00.009+03:00

Sarah Palin's former son-in-law to be, teen hunk, and "burgeoning gay icon" has been approached by Playgirl to pose nude. "Since that appearance, and after he’s stated publicly that he’d be willing to pose nude, Johnston has received a few offers: StraightCollegeMen.com offered him $25,000 for a solo masturbation scene and Unzipped magazine proffered a cover story and nude photo layout." Perhaps Levi is unaware that Playgirl (published only online) is targeted at a gay male audience. Sarah Palin, witch hunter and decalred enemy of serpent seed, resigned as Alaska's governor in July.

Кенди Мострa, извънреден Aмерикански Травестит

2009-09-03T02:26:00.013+03:00

Candy Samples, Amerika's sweetheart, our ever-blooming flower of Southern womanhood (and Atlanta, Georgia's Miss Pool Slut of 1995), presents her latest video: "Bring it! 'cause its already been broughten." [song title in Bulgarian: "Доведете го! Той е пристигнал."] I could have translated the lyrics of this song into Bulgarian for you, but to be candid I really didn't quite grasp the meaning of the song in English. Candy's long-awaited album will be released on 11 September. Many of you will recall Candy's touching 2008 video tribute to former U.S. Senator Larry Craig, "Tappin' in the Tea Room." Be sure to check out Candy's "Porn in the USA, Red, White & Boobs" website. Like so many other wonderful artists, Candy has supported our troops via Christmas in Iraq. The cute boy with the great voice is Jason Koth. "Трябва да се дама. Вие не може да надмине 180 градуса!" -- "You've got to be a lady. You can't surpass 180..."

What Putin Said

2009-09-01T02:26:00.007+03:00

On the 70th aniversary of the beginning of World War II, Vladimir Putin, Russian Prime Minister, describes the Soviet-Nazi non-aggression pact as "immoral." I think the Prime Minister's statement is articulate, sensitive, and very important. I look forward to a time when my fellow Americans can describe their current actions in Iraq as immoral and unjust. I hope it doesn't take them 70 years to reach that conclusion. I worry that President Obama, with his aggressive-expansionist approach to Afghanistan, is --tragically-- becoming a latter day LBJ. Prime Minister Putin, regularly trashed by the western media as an ogre and human-rights abuser (mostly projections of a guilty western shadow), looks rather fetching in his wifebeater. I have a feeling that PM Putin's commentary won't receive much attention in the West. That's a damn shame. He has something important to say to Poland and all of us. WWII lasted from September 1, 1939 until September 2, 1945. When I was younger, the six years of WWII seemed to be a long duration. But the U.S. war in Afghanistan began October 7, 2001 with no end in sight eight years later. The Anglo-American war of agression against Iraq began March 20, 2003 (with no end in sight) and has lasted six months longer than WWII. I don't think we've learned any moral lessons from WWII. And so I sit in an all-night cafe in Sofia Bulgaria at 3:00 a.m. EEST on September 1, 2009 thinking about Putin, reading Auden, praying and hoping for justice and peace.

September 1, 1939
I sit in one of the dives
On Fifty-second street
Uncertain and afraid
As the clever hopes expire
Of a low dishonest decade:
Waves of anger and fear
Circulate over the bright
and darkened lands of the earth,
Obsessing our private lives;
The unmentionable odour of death
Offends the September night.

Accurate scholarship can
unearth the whole offence
From Luther until now
That has driven a culture mad,
Find what occurred at Linz,
What huge imago made
A psychopathic god:
I and the public know
What all schoolchildren learn,
Those to whom evil is done
Do evil in return.

Exiled Thucydides knew
All that a speech can say
About Democracy,
And what dictators do,
The elderly rubbish they talk
To an apathetic grave;
Analysed all in his book,
The enlightenment driven away,
The habit-forming pain,
Mismanagement and grief:
We must suffer them all again.

Into this neutral air
Where blind skyscrapers use
Their full height to proclaim
The strength of Collective Man,
Each language pours its vain
Competitive excuse:
But who can live for long
In an euphoric dream;
Out of the mirror they stare,
Imperialism¹s face
And the international wrong.

Faces along the bar
Cling to their average day:
The lights must never go out,
The music must always play,
All the conventions conspire
To make this fort assume
The furniture of home;
Lest we should see where we are,
Lost in a haunted wood,
Children afraid of the night
who have never been happy or good.

The windiest militant trash
Important Persons shout
Is not so crude as our wish:
What mad Nijinsky wrote
About Diaghilev
Is true of the normal heart;
For the error bred in the bone
Of each woman and each man
Craves what it cannot have,
Not universal love
But to be loved alone.

From the conservative dark
Into the ethical life
The dense commuters come,
Repeating their morning vow,
"I will be true to the wife.
I'll concentrate more on my work,"
And helpless governors wake
To resume their compulsory game:
Who can release them now,
Who can reach the deaf,
Who can speak for the dumb?

All I have is a voice
To undo the folded lie,
The romantic lie in the brain
Of the sensual man-in-the-street
And the lie of Authority
Whose buildings grope the sky:
There is no such thing as the State
And no one exists alone;
Hunger allows no choice
To the citizen or the police;
We must love one another or die.

Defenceless under the night
Our world in stupor lies;
Yet, dotted everywhere,
Ironic points of light
Flash out wherever the Just
Exchange their messages;
May I, composed like them
Of Eros and of dust,
Beleaguered by the same
Negation and despair,
Show an affirming flame.

-- W. H. Auden

Мадона: лепкава и сладки

2009-08-25T21:49:00.013+03:00

Madonna (seen here enjoying a friendly session of lesbian орален секс) is coming! The Material Girl will be doing Sofia on 29 August 2009 (the same Saturday when Bulgaria's Christians will be commemorating the Beheading of Saint John the Baptist). On this most sacred feast day, Madonna could be said to be Detroit's own Salome, a cultural gift from Motor City to the people of Eastern Europe. Police and concert promoters have warned that the appearance of the
gracefully aging pop queen (now into her second half century of life) will shut down all traffic in downtown Sofia when she performs at Национален стадион „Васил Левски“ (Vassil Levski National Stadium) as part of her aptly named Sticky and Sweet Tour. In a country with high unemployment, 1,000 Bulgarians have found temporary work preparing for the show. Madonna (said to like Big Things with Substantial Girth) will be strutting her stuff on the largest stage ever built in Bulgaria (85 meters in length, and 40 meters in height). Workers started constructing the stage last Sunday. Concert tickets will cost 100 лв to 150 лв (roughly $75-$110 U.S.). The average salary in Bugaria is around 480 лв per month ($350 U.S.). So for Bulgaria, these are costly tickets! We live near the stadium. We saw Kylie Minogue and James Blunt when they visited Sofia and will probably get into the whole лепкава и сладки ("Sticky and Sweet") Madonna thing (seems like this concert is a holy day of obligation for gay men). Madonna's concert in Warsaw, Poland was on 15 August 2009, the Feast of the Assumption or Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Many Catholic Poles were pissed, but I guess they got over it.

Белая шваль: "Henri pis sa gang"

2009-08-25T09:37:00.012+03:00

My favorite American cartoon is "King of the Hill." We can view it via satellite television in French. This is the version re-voiced for Québec, but broadcast in francophone countries. The show is funny in any language (they run German, Spanish, and Italian versions, too). I don't know if this cartoon would "work" in Bulgarian or Russian. I don't think it "works" in Italian.

BTW, "Henri pis sa gang" is "Henry 'n his gang." In Canada, pis is a diminuitive-slangy rendering of the word puis. Pis (along with et) means "and." To an Anglo, pis may look like piss, but is pronounced pee.

I love Canadian French!

Dontcha just love languages? Perhaps the whole Tower of Babel debacle wasn't such a bad thing after all...

Oh, even the Russians understand the definitions of Белая шваль ("white trash") and "красношеий" ("rednecks"). One very astute Russian wikipedia editor makes this pithy, sociological observation:

"Бритни Спирс, несмотря на её богатство, выходец из белого мусора."
"Britney Spears, despite her wealth, comes from white trash." <--- NSFW!

Bwahahaha!

Hmmmm, I suppose "Белая шваль" ("white trash") is sort of analogous with (via Marx and Engels) the concept of Lumpenproletariat Люмпен-пролетариат. I haven't thought of an appropriate word for the violence-prone, reality-resistant, delusional, xenophobic, paranoid, bigoted, racist, anti-semitic, homophobic, right-wing nut cases rioting at congressional town hall meetings. Maybe the best word to use is Republican.

Roman Catholic Womanpriests

2009-08-25T07:30:00.004+03:00

Grandmère Mimi writes about Father Roy Bourgeois, a Roman Catholic priest who is in trouble with the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church because of his support for the ordination of women to the priesthood. Father Roy spoke recently at an event in the parish of Jean Marie Marchant, who was ordained as a priest on July 25, 2005 on a boat on the Saint Lawrence Seaway. At some point, male Roman Catholic bishops ordained female candidates as deacons, priests, and bishops. This practice in the RC Church in modern times goes back to ordinations of women in 1970 in the former, Czech, Communist-regime. This ordination of a woman to minister to persecuted and oppressed Christians parallels the story of Li Tim-Oi's 1944 ordination as an Anglican priest to serve a an Anglican congregation in the Portuguese colony of Macao (when a male priest could no longer travel from Japanese-occupied territory). These modern ordinations of women in the RC Church are not --currently-- sanctioned by canon law. But the ordinations of 11 women in Philadelphia in 1974 were not officially recognized until General Convention 1976. Because of the strict, top-down, conservative, male-dominated structure of the Roman Catholic Church, I admire the women who are taking these steps to respond to the Spirit's call to ordained ministry (and the men who support and help them). I do have a question. A male RC priest can be received into the Episcopal Church and can minister without re-ordination. Would the Episcopal Church receive and acknowledge the ordained ministries of Roman Catholic Womanpriests? These RC women are, no doubt validly ordained by bishops in apostolic succession, even though their ordinations are not, at this time, canonically licit in their church (being mindful that the 11 women from the Episcopal Church were validly ordained in 1974 even though their own ordinations were not canonically recognized until 1976 -- the 11 were not "re-ordained"). I grew up in the Episcopal Church. I remember life in the church before the ordination of women. I cannot imagine what our common life in the church would be like without women in ordained ministry. We would, I think, be impoverished (just as we would be if we wer deprived of the gifts of glbtq clergy). This is a fascinating topic. I don't think Roman Catholic Womenpriests should abandon the RC church for the Episcopal Church (although everyone is welcome in the Episcopal Church). But if they are forced out and do wish to minister in the Episcopal Church, will the Episcopal Church welcome RC Womenpriests the same way it welcomes male RC clergy?

William Calley apologizes for My Lai Massacre

2009-08-22T14:42:00.004+03:00

I was amazed and pleased to hear today that William Calley, a convicted American war criminal has apologized for his role in the My Lai massacre in Vietnam. During a speech last Wednesday, Mr. Callet said, "I feel remorse for the Vietnamese who were killed, for their families, for the American soldiers involved and their families. I am very sorry." The My Lai Massacre was the mass murder conducted by a unit of the U.S. Army on March 16, 1968 of approximately 500 unarmed citizens in South Vietnam, all of whom were civilians and a majority of whom were women, children, disabled and sick individuals, and elderly people. Sadly, individuals associated with the United States government are still involved in human rights abuses.

хомосексуализма и метеорология: странно науката и теологията опорочено

2009-08-21T21:22:00.003+03:00

Американец, десни, религиозен фанатик обвини гейовете за причиняване на торнадо.
American christianist pastor blames gay people for causing tornado.

Пасторът е глупаво копеле, лъжец, фанатик.

Lest we forget

2009-08-20T10:12:00.007+03:00

"It is with honour and humility that I stand today at the Potocari Memorial Cemetery. This place is a daily reminder of the horrors that visited the town of Srebrenica during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The crimes committed there have been well documented and have been recognized – and roundly and appropriately condemned – by the United Nations, the international community in general, and by the people of the region of former Yugoslavia. These crimes have also been described in detail and consigned to infamy in the decisions rendered by the court over which I preside, the International Criminal Tribunal of the Former Yugoslavia."

ICTY President Theodor Meron, speaking at Potocari Memorial Cemetery

We must never forget what we let happen when the international community abandoned the people of Srebrenica in 1995. And we must continue to admonish and rebuke all who deny the facts of this genocide. I am not alone in my fear that humanity could fall back into the abyss once again. I am concerned that economic collapse, paranoid perceptions about scarcity, and exacerbation of existing xenophobia and intolerance will create "perfect storm" conditions for violence on a large scale. In the last few weeks many spiritually sick Americans, exhibiting a hateful mob mentality, have made me recollect the simmering hatred which reached a violent flash point in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s (incited by vile lies and bigotry delivered via mass media). After seeing multiple incidents of delusional and irrational racism and threatening and intimidating behavior in the United States (over the benign possibility of the government providing health care for all American citizens), I am convinced that no nation and no people are immune or safe from genocide. After World War II, we said "never again." The events of the 1990s demonstrate that no one is totally safe.

Hvala Daniel!

Nikolai's prayer

2009-08-19T01:27:00.006+03:00

Nikolai, who continues on the path of improving his English language skills, offered a verse from a poem by W.H. Auden as our table grace earlier tonight. We had dinner guests (here for movie night cum living room drag show starring Евге́ний Evgeny, the amazing Sarah Palin lookalike from Russia). And they were hanging on his every, heavily-accented word:

Global Mother, keep our
bowels of compassion
Open through our lifetime,
Purge our minds as well;
Grant us a kind ending,
Not a second childhood,
Petulant, weak sphinctered,
In a cheap hotel.

Амин, така да бъде!
Amen, so be it!

Николай, обичам те!
Nikolai, you I love!