Paschal Homily

For born as a son, and led forth as a lamb,
Sacrificed as a sheep, buried as a man,
He rose from the dead as God,
Being by nature God and Man.

Who is all things:
In that he judges, Law,
in that he teaches, Word,
in that he saves, Grace,
in that he begets, Father
in that he is begotten, Son,
in that he suffers, the sacrificial sheep,
in that he is buried, Man,
in that he arises, God.

This is Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory to the ages of ages.


[Melito of Sardis, Paschal Homily, 169 A.D.]

Currently reading

I have not taken a course in philosophy before.  This Spring semester will include my first.

The Gradual Commercialisation of the Internet

Today, I logged on to my Twitter account.  It took me quite a bit of scrolling to come across a post from an actual person.  I think I've become disenchanted with the Internet itself.

Reminiscing about the good old days, I do recall when the Internet was fresh, exciting, and new.  I was in junior high, and the anonymity offered by AIM and Yahoo chat rooms made so exhilarating the chance to pick one's own username.  My friends and I discovered a place to create our own, simple webpages for free; this proved to be a place to learn a bit of basic HTML.  We'd impress each other with cool fonts, glorious color schemes, and GIFs of dancing hamsters and bananas.

In high school, the focus turned to LiveJournal and Xanga, the old-school venues for blogging.  Anyone online could post jokes, stories, or plain ol' accounts of fun in real life.  Friends all shared these sites with each other, but we were anonymous to the rest of the world.

In college, Facebook appeared.  Its novelty was found in the disappearance of the former anonymity of Internet users.  We connected with people taking the same classes as us, and posted photos of the ridiculous things we did the night before (which, by the way, required using a USB cord to download the photos off one's camera ...remember those?).  Facebook was the exciting, new social media for anyone with a .edu email address.

Then, high schoolers appeared on Facebook, and it became less cool.  Then, our parents appeared on Facebook, and it lost any "cool" appeal whatsoever.  Then, companies appeared on Facebook, and it became a sea of advertisements and news articles.

As a "millennial" who grew up with the Internet, I find myself scrolling and scrolling through Facebook every few days, hoping to see something interesting - but there is nothing!  It's become so boring recently.  It's all re-postings of Buzzfeed articles, viral videos (of people I don't know), commercials, and ridiculousness.  "Social media" has lost all that once was "social."  It used to be about sharing stories with friends through written word.  Now, our "feeds" feed us commericalism (which we consume enough of when we watch television).

The landscape of the US has been marred by the ugliness of billboards and advertisements (I so prefer driving in remote areas where no company would bother to put up a sign).  We see brand marketing everywhere, from our TV and computer screens to the tiny computers in our pockets to the trash on the side of the road (even there, those McDonald's and Starbucks logos stand out plainly).

I won't tirade against capitalism, but I am tired of companies trying to get me to buy stuff everywhere I look.  Marketing has its place, and gone are the days when companies just had a choice of what size newspaper ad to purchase.  But trust me, dear corporations of the world, I will never buy a new car; I will never purchase a "diet system"; I do not eat fast food; I have no interest in purchasing clothing online.

I still remember the days when I'd sit down at the desk, fire up the computer, and wait for the monitor to warm up to see what new excitement awaited me.  "Going on-line" was a former pastime of mine; and I'll probably continue to remember the "Hamster Dance" fondly.

However, all the noise of the new Internet does give good reason to keep investing in and spending time in books (paper books with ink on pages!); and to spend time playing outside. < / rant >

2015

Must be time for my annual blog post!  Apparently, January is the only month in which I have enough time to consider doing so.

Nearing one year here in Charlotte.  We travelled to Pennsylvania for five days of Christmas, only to experience mostly 50-degree days.  Funny:  on the day the temp was in the thirties, Greg put on his winter coat and found in its pocket the rental agreement from our moving truck!  The last time we experienced cold was the day we moved to Charlotte...  bahahahaha....

The Charlotte Chronicles: II

A few lessons from living in a new city for 2.5 months:

1.  Traffic

It's everywhere.  It's constant.  It takes at least 20 minutes to get anywhere before 9:00 PM.

People like to stop.  Just stop.  There's more risk of rear-ending other drivers here than on Amish country roads with horse-drawn buggies beyond every curve.

Drivers don't use turn signals here.  Ever.

2.  Food

It took some time to get used to the grocery scene here.  Fortunately, we have both Aldi AND Trader Joe's within driving distance!  I can find most basic items (beans, dairy, great produce) between those two stores.  However, I have to go to a more "mainstream" grocer (Bi-Lo) to get basic baking items like flour and yeast.

Harris Teeter is akin to Weis, in that it's a local, family-owned chain whose selection is okay and whose prices are unnecessarily expensive.

I really miss the Mennonite health food stores and farm stands of Berks County.

3.  Church

We've visited a few PCA churches (where fellow seminarians are involved), and have figured out that we're truly more in the reformed baptist tribe.  We have been attending a small, young, diverse church that we LOVE (truly a pillar of God's truth in the community, serving in many ways), but we may yet visit a few more.  One congregation that Greg wants to visit is offering a *paid* (!!!!) internship to a seminarian, which is really enticing for us.  I looked at their website, and photos of the staff, choir, and preschool make it appear to be an all-white church. :/. How does that happen in a large, diverse city?

4.  Climate

Spring is beautiful, but pollen is pervasive.  I simultaneously want to play outside and hide under a blanket all day.  *sniff*

Hopeful

Sunday Seven 9-2-2014

Ahoy!  Currently posting from my new home in Charlotte; here are a quick seven things to try:

1.  This book:  Elyse Fitzpatrick's Because He Loves Me.  Elyse is an exceptional speaker (!) and a gifted writer.  Here, she beautifully brings to light gospel truths about how Christ truly transforms us, even in our everyday lives, as we walk with Him.  A very refreshingly truthful book.

2.  This movie:  Wes Anderson's film adaptation of The Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl is AMAZING.  It's basically an adult action movie gift-wrapped as a stop-motion animation children's film.  The hilarious dialogue will dazzle you.  "APPLE JUICE FLOOD."  Treat yourself and rent this movie!

3.  This game:  The Game of Things provided a group of friends with two and a half hours of straight laughter last night.  It plays similiarly to Apples to Apples.  (My cheeks hurt from laughing so hard)

4.  This TV program:  Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood.

5.  This dip:  guacamole.  I could eat a liter in one sitting.

6.  This cheese:  Brie!  A French classic - try it on those Snaps pretels.  Mmmm!

7.  This organization:  The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department's Animal Care and Control Division helped us adopt our first baby this weekend!  Meet Phoebe:

Stories of this crazy kitty to follow!

Cheers!
Katy