AfricanKelli

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My faith journey is quite a bit like sewing — a bit of perceived progress here, a bit of seam ripping there. Your comments to Sunday’s post about the “Novelist as God” have spurred me to once again consider what I believe and why. I’ll leave it to poor or rushed writing, but I absolutely did not mean to infer that I don’t believe in the Bible. For the first time in my life, I’m regularly reading the Bible and trying to understand the foundations of my faith. That said, I lead a life of social justice-fueled faith — one where everyone (and I mean everyone) is loved by Christ. Everyone is eligible for forgiveness. Everyone is expected to treat each other with kindness and great love in return. I am incredibly lucky to have found a church that promotes and supports this way of thinking.

So, when the authors of the Bible say that I’m not equal, I bristle. One commenter astutely said the Bible isn’t politically correct. So true. The politics of the time were completely different. Can you imagine sharing your husband with your sister and raising your children together in one giant tent of disharmony? Leah and Rachel did, loving and envying each other their entire lives. Or sacrificing your first-born? Or wandering the desert for 40 years? (How about 40 minutes? I think I’d be exhausted.)

The truth is, my view of the Bible is no more right or wrong than anyone else’s. Faith is completely personal and my relationship with God is too. There are several tenants of faith I’m currently working on, including humility (not my strong suit), obedience (ever tried fasting? Not easy.) and not being judgmental. I’ve got a long way to go but I’ve yet to meet anyone who had it entirely figured out. That’s the beauty of this journey — it’s never-ending. We get to keep searching for understanding and meaning in a relationship with God as long as we are willing. It’s like one of those around-the-world plane tickets that never expires. Each new arrival is a land of exotic appeal with both happy and sad lessons to be learned.

Books that have changed and encouraged  my view of faith include: “The Red Tent,” “Lamb,” “The Alchemist,”  “Love in the Time of Cholera,”  “The Poisonwood Bible,”  “Blue like Jazz,” and what I’m currently reading, “The Irresistible Revolution.” I’ve got “Velvet Elvis” sitting on my nightstand ready for the next read. (And while we are talking about media and things I need to change? Oh, this move to cable is slowly sucking my brain dry. I can actually tell you quite a bit about the Kardashian sisters and why I like them. Time. To. Unplug.)

~K

I love grocery shopping at ethnic stores. One of my local favorites is the Baiz Market. They have some of the best Middle Eastern food in town and aisles full of the most exotic ingredients you could imagine. The first time I visited, there were families preparing for a religious feast and very happy at the gaggle of skinned goats hanging in the deli. I was a little startled. I’ve seen a wide variety of butchered animals in African and South American travel, but goats with their little eyes watching passersby was a new one. I don’t know that I’ve ever eaten goat. Llama, yes. Guinea pig? I’m afraid to say, yes.* Rabbit, etc? Of course. But there is something about the garbage disposal nature of goats that makes me wonder how good the meat could be?

The spice aisle, however, was nothing short of delightful. Racks of cinnamon, cardamom, cayenne and even those that don’t start with C were screaming for my basket. I ended up coming home from my latest trip with two large jars of fava beans, similar to those I enjoyed in Bolivia, and a giant jar of fig jam. I love figs. The trees are beautiful, the fruit is succulent warm off the tree and the flavor tastes like honey bees made out with flowers. I knew exactly what I wanted to do with those preserves.

A little melted butter, some phyllo dough and a generous portion of fig jam =

A wonderful summer tart. We had this for dinner last night with friends and it was excellent! Three cheers for shopping outside of the conventional lines and for trying new spur of the moment creations in the kitchen.

~K

* Llama and guinea pig are delicacies in South America. When I was working there, I often didn’t have the choice to ask what was on my plate. Instead, I got to enjoy a beautiful meal prepared with great sacrifice (which the children hiding under the table enjoyed by the sneaky handful).

I listened to this week’s Speaking of Faith podcast twice because the idea of authors creating a new perspective of God and faith through novels struck my fancy. I’d never considered how literature influences spirituality — how a novelist’s relationship with faith shines through in his/her work — whether the subject is a bodice ripper or chick lit. In sum, a person’s faith is always reflected in his/her daily actions.

This got me thinking.

The author interviewed for the piece, MaryDoria Russell, wrote “Children of God” and “The Sparrow.“  She describes herself as an agnostic Jew. She was raised in the Catholic church and later converted to Judaism when pregnant with her first child. Today, she feels like God may or may not be there, but Judaism is the closest answer to a faith that makes sense for her. The title for her second book came from Matthew 10: 27-31:

What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops. Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground unperceived by your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.

In other words, Jesus is saying — go out and do good works in my name. You are going to be treated poorly. You’ll need to suck it up. If it were easy, everyone would be doing it.

Russell goes on in the podcast to say that if there is a God, he created man because he loves to tell stories. And that all stories are dependent on where you decide to start. She describes the Bible as a series of stories that are generational and depending on where you want to begin, you see the characters as good or evil, wronged or with justice. As a novice writer and a Christian, I find all of this fascinating. I’ve never considered how vast expanses of time certainly influence the outcome of characters through generations of family, etc.

She also says that if there isn’t a God, man created one because we love to tell stories too. While I don’t doubt God’s presence, the story-telling aspect is so true. I know some Christians and Jews feel the Bible (and Torah) were written by God, using man as a conduit. There are too many human flaws in the Bible for me to believe this — namely the way women are told to be quiet in church and to always submit. I’ve got no problem with being obedient to God but I’ve never been terribly good at keeping my mouth shut or blindly listening to anyone’s direction, especially in church.

Questions for the week:

1. Have you ever read a book (novel) that changed your view of faith?

2. Do you have a favorite faith-driven story? (I am very fond of both Esther and Ruth)

3. Do you think this is all a bunch of crap? I can take it, I promise.

~Kelli

Rosie had a stupid thing happen — her purse was stolen this summer when she was on vacation. We met  in Denver soon after the incident. When she lamented her new handbag had just arrived before she’d taken it on vacation, I knew good karma must soon be returned. She’s a sweet woman with a witty, spicy blog and it would be easy enough to send a little love her way.  Voila.

Is it the fancy handbag she’d carefully ordered? Nope. But it is made with her in mind and that’s something no sweatshop can say.

As for that contest earlier this week? The three winners, randomly selected, are: Trish, AmiS and Holly. Email me your addresses and I’ll get your baby bags in the mail!

~K

My friend Chris asked me to make him a Chevroleg bag months ago. I’ve been dragging my feet because it required going to Ikea, which is the equivalent of REI or Costco for me — $100 at a minimum seems to disappear on purchases that really don’t make sense. (2 gallons of shampoo? Really?) Without letting myself get distracted by the pretty fabric or section of plants, I  tucked shopping resolve in my pocket and came out with one of these $.99 blue bags. The plastic is heavy enough that it won’t fray and you can sew it with a regular sewing needle. Yet it is light enough that it makes a perfect cycling bag.

On this version, I added a small interior pocket for keys and change, per request.

I used velcro to attach the pocket so he could pull this out when going into a bakery after a long ride. I’ve ridden with Chris before. He’s a great athlete who loves his croissants too.

And so, you see the humor in lining the bag with a recycled flour sack.

Also, in contrast to the tutorial, I “splurged” and spent $5 on a clasp and webbing for the handle. We’ll later modify the length to his build and add an additional back strap to balance the weight of the bag.

I left the front Ikea webbing because it’s perfect for a carabiner key ring.

If you are looking for a couple sources of fabulous creativity, I ran across two lately that I think are bad ass:

1. Larissa’s appliqued messenger bag (thanks Ellen for sending this my way!)

and

2. This spectacular use of recycling and sewing for the home. How great is this swing? I am going to do this one day for my future backyard.

The beauty of the blog — sharing and inspiring!

~K