On the Musing of the Culture-Starved

This past semester I experienced the worst betrayal of my entire life! TV let me down for the first time ever! The justice issues of the Writer's strike aside, a great injustice was wrought on the American People. Drama and sitcom alike were cast aside to be replaced by ever less slick, ever less satisfying, ever less real REALITY Television. Nothing worth watching, nothing to enlighten, or to entertain. God, it was like living in Soviet Isolation!

Hungry for something at the end of the day to muse over with more depth of field than the Real World or Survivor reruns I happened on Dexter--a Showtime Original which was rebroadcast on one of the hybrid channels lower on the cable list. It was enlightening, entertaining, and simply a relief from the general boredom otherwise broadcast during the struggle for equity!

This past week while I was attending the most recent Annual Conference of the American Theological Library Association, held in Ottawa. I was grateful to discover the original novels on which Dexter was based:

Darkly Dreaming Dexter ; Dearly Devoted Dexter ; Dexter in the Dark all novels by Jeff Lindsay. I commend them to you because they are light and dark all at the same time. Just like real life!

On the Eleventh Sunday Per Annum

Exodus 19:2-6

They had journeyed from Rephidim, entered the wilderness of Sinai, and camped in the wilderness; Israel camped there in front of the mountain. Then Moses went up to God; the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, ‘Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the Israelites: You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine, but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the Israelites.’

Romans 5:6-11

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life. But more than that, we even boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Matthew 9:36-10:8

When Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest.’

Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness. These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, also known as Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax-collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him.

These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: ‘Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, proclaim the good news, “The kingdom of heaven has come near.” Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment.

A word of encouragement from Paul. God has acted before us, saving us from sin and death through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, when we were yet at enmity with God. Since God has shown his love to us before we knew to love him, can we not also have confidence in his saving purpose for us now that we are part of the community he has saved?

On the sayings of Authors

It seemed appropriate, this morning, to revive a practice exercised on these pages from time to time. I have recently had the opportunity to read Selfish and Perverse : a novel, by Bob Smith, an activity I highly recommend. As I was reading I found myself committing one of the 99 really tacky sins, turning down the corner of a page where I found a sentence or a statement worthy of remembering.

I assumed that nothing would come of it, that I'd iron the little creases flat today and return the volume to the Public Library. But moved by a force beyond my ken or power of resistance, I have noted them below. I do not vouch for their insight. Their power to enlighten may exist only in situ. At the time they struck me enough to break one of my own rules and dog-ear a page.

"So, you're a friend of Joe's?" I asked in an exaggeratedly "normal" tone. Pretending to be normal was a fib, but it is a harsh fact that expressing too much individuality means you'll always be single. page 14-15

The fantasy of having sex with a straight man never appealed to me, because I was a writer and could complete the narrative and knew I'd probably end up cooking and cleaning for him. page 29

Losing your parents while they were alive almost seemed to be a more devastating loss than having them die. page 55

"Scandinavian furniture's sort of the logical outcome of twentieth century design," I said while stroking my hand across a desk chair's nubby turquoise fabric. "Mission furniture designed by agnostics." page 106

Roy lead me into the bedroom, where I observed that he did know how to choose a good bed. It was severely modern and looked as if it had been built for a monk who had renounced everything but his sense of style. page 107

"What?" he snarled. The first snarled "What" between a couple is always a milestone. It's the most succinct contraction in the English language, abbreviating the phrase, "What do you want now?" to a single horrible word. page 133

I often felt that I participated in Manhood by maintaining my membership at the lowest possible level; I remained affiliated with the organization by paying the minimal fee each year, but they gained nothing from my support because my dues barely covered the administrative costs of enrollment. page 193

Checking out another man's penis was similar to observing a celebrity in a restaurant; it was all right to look but to be caught staring was uncool. Dylan's starmeat didn't have any more charisma than Roy's or mine. But then again, most penises are like actors; when they are not performing, it's hard to believe they possess any talent whatsoever. page 290-291