Lura - ProfilesArchive

About Me

I am quickly approaching my ordination as a lutheran pastor. Does that define me? I don't know, but I love the work, I love the people. I feel like I'm doing what I was created to do, at least for now.I also hate that I'm part of a national church body that is so far from the ideals about justice I have: we're hardly a prophetic voice about poverty, race, war, the environment, and we're still discriminating against sexual minorities. And yet I stay.I was a case manager for several years, for homeless men and women. They will always be a part of me, in fact, I have imaginary tattoos around both wrists: the names of my clients and people I visited in the hospital.You'll also notice I'm a big nerd. I love to read. I love school. I love to have a beer and a good debate about the nature of reality.And I am just too square to discuss pop culture, our counter culture, with you. I'm sorry, can't do it. Your favorite band, cult film, whatever trend, sorry, won't know it. I'll listen for a little while if you're passionate about it, but you can pretty much give up on bonding with me about such things. Ask my confirmation class.But I think I'm good at striking up a conversation with just about anyone anyway.mspmb allowScriptAccess="never" src="http://lads.myspace.com/slides/photoslider.swf?u=481120 36" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="445" height="230"

My Interests

Theology: feminist and liberation especially. Equality. Good conversation, good friends. My nephew. A long walk on a beautiful day. Coffee and beer and maybe wine. Dancing, laughing, and heaven help me, church.

I'd like to meet:

People who excite my brain. Those who works for justice in the world. Anyone who knows how to be happy. People with a passion for what they do.If you want to be my friend, do me the courtesy of sending me a message first, okay? I've changed my account settings so that you need my email or last name to request me as a friend: but if I know you from a group, or you send me a message about how you found me and why you want to be my friend, I'll happily provide you with that information.

Music:

Sweet Honey in the Rock, Ella Fitzgerald, Leonard Cohen, Tracy Chapman, James Taylor, Louis Armstrong, Aretha Franklin, Nina Simone,Arlo Guthrie, Billy Holiday, and again, heaven help me, church music: Gospel music and the rhythmic music from around the world we've newly imported into our new hynmal, Brian Wren and Susan R. Briehl's words to the old tunes, Mark Mummert's beautiful setting one in the ELW...I'm boring you, aren't I?

Movies:

Little Miss Sunshine! Clerks II. Questioning Faith and Murderball anything dance: from Fred Astaire to Chicago. (Especially Mad Hot Ballroom, the documentary about 3rd graders learning ballroom. It has got to be one of the sweetest movies ever.) I fall off my chair at Shangai Noon and A Mighty Wind. Saved and Dogma are pretty high on my list too.

Television:

I grew up without a TV, and don't have one now. There were parts of my life when I watched, although, then, obsessively: Simpsons, Sex in the City, Ally McBeal, Friends (which isn't even a good show!) The News Hour, 60 minutes, the Antiques Roadshow, Changing Rooms (also not a good show) etc. Something about not ever having learned moderation with TV, it's just better that I don't have one.

Books:

Impossible question. I need seperate categories for the books that are classics in my life and have shaped who I am, (Like the Great Books Canon, the Chronicles of Narnia) the ones I use in every paper now (Elizabeth Johnson's She Who Is, Ivonne Gebara's Longing for Running Water: Ecofeminism and Liberation, Carter Heyward's Speaking of Christ) the novel's I escape to ("And then they were nuns" by Susan Leonardi, "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius" by Dave Eggers, "The Dress lodger" by Sheri Holman, "The Woman who gave birth to rabbits" by Emma Donague, all the Sarah Waters novels, the Harry Potter series, and Pullman's "His Dark Materials" series, even though they are very anti-"Chronicles of Narnia" which I have always loved.)) And then the non-hardbound reading: the NYTimes, Savage Love, The Onion.

My Blog

Sermon for the Seminary Chapel

Job 21:1, 17-34 Then Job answered: How often is the lamp of the wicked put out? How often does calamity come up on them? How often does God distribute pains in his anger? How often are ...
Posted by Lura on Fri, 14 Dec 2007 05:23:00 PST

Open Letter to the Seminary Chaplains

Thank you for opportunity, several weeks ago, for members of our community to come together over lunch and discuss chapel services.&n...
Posted by Lura on Fri, 14 Dec 2007 05:18:00 PST

My Candidate

I've decided who I'm going to going to vote for for president, assuming he wins the party nomination...Mike Huckabee.Now, before you act surprised, let me make my case. I think he's the perfect candid...
Posted by Lura on Wed, 05 Dec 2007 08:54:00 PST

Christina’s Grip

Job 21:1, 17-34 "How then will you comfort me with empty nothings? There is nothing left of your answers but falsehood." Job, his life destroyed, utterly disconsolate, rejects the explan...
Posted by Lura on Wed, 14 Nov 2007 06:02:00 PST

Dangerous Symbols

Epiphany 2CJohn 2:1-11The Holy Gospel according to John, the second chapter. On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee,and the mother of Jesus was there.Jesus and his disciples had...
Posted by Lura on Tue, 16 Jan 2007 03:13:00 PST

"Smiling While White" on Germantown Avenue

I catch the #23 bus everyday on Germantown Ave, outside the church where I serve as a pastoral intern. This part of Philadelphia isn't considered a "good" neighborhood, but it isn't...
Posted by Lura on Thu, 11 Jan 2007 11:42:00 PST

Feminist Theology

Hello lovely folks-Would you believe that, until two days ago, MySpace had no feminist theology group?! I found a Christian feminist group, and a non-religious feminist spirituality group, but n...
Posted by Lura on Fri, 13 Oct 2006 07:11:00 PST

Sermon on Mark 10

Mark 10:2-16 Some Pharisees came, and to test him they asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?" He answered them, "What did Moses command you?" They said, "Moses allowed a m...
Posted by Lura on Fri, 06 Oct 2006 01:47:00 PST

Tender twigs and tall cedars

This is a sermon I gave for a group of rising High School Juniors, who were at an event to talk about service and call in the church. I'm much less happy with it than some of my others, and woul...
Posted by Lura on Fri, 30 Jun 2006 11:10:00 PST

Invocation for Micah and Amy's Wedding

In the movement of the stars, the roar of the ocean, the life of all animals, and the growth of the grapes in these fields, The Spirit is moving. She is moving indeed! In all places wher...
Posted by Lura on Fri, 30 Jun 2006 11:06:00 PST